Fate of the End: Chapter 2
It was late evening and Kento had been chased out of the kitchen by a spoon wielding Yulie on several counts until he was given a snack to tide him over until the other guys made their arrival. Mia could only laugh at the tendencies that Yulie picked up from his mentor of the kitchen as they kept on cooking. If Mia remembered anything, it was that the guys ate a lot when they were talking about earth shaking problems.
It was about 8pm when Sage and Cye showed up at the door. They walked in each carrying a couple bags. They had learned long ago that when one called they usually ended up staying at Mia’s until the problem was resolved.
Sage had that look on his face that told them all that he had yet another fight with Tara about how he was always running off to save the world, leaving her alone. The truth of the matter was that Sage’s family took Tara and Kai-chan in while Sage was away. They knew that he had his duties to the Halo Armor and to the Ronin team, but they also realized that his marriage was troubled. His grandfather had not foreseen Tara’s problems with his friendship and association with the guys and Mia.
Mia had gotten to know Sage’s family after the Dynasty was defeated, since he was a respected member of the family and the basin of knowledge about the Halo armor. As the family got to know her they found out for themselves that she was an honorable person and that she would never intrude on his marriage. Having accepted that they were patient with their son’s trips to Mia’s since they were a way for him to see his friends and perform his duties as one of the nine guardians of the Mortal realm.
Mia popped her head out of the kitchen to greet the two arrivals. "Konbon wa Sage, Cye. Dinner will be ready with the last of you guys get here. It will probably be Rowen since he is flying in. Sage and Cye grinned as she stressed that he was flying in. It meant that he was probably going to head for space first and look at his stars.
Rowen was well known for his discoveries, but no one ever figured out just how he was able to see the stars so clearly since the observatory in China was still years from being ready. Rowen never told the scientific community but he knew that there would be a small group back in Japan that would instantly know how he was able to get such clear shots of the stars and systems that he had discovered.
Ryo came in almost an hour later. Forgoing the car method that he usually used and most of the normal world used, he decided to let White Blaze stretch his stride and rode in on him. He hollered outside to announce his arrival as he usually did and Yulie took the five-gallon bucket of water out for the cat and to say hello to his mentor and hero. "Ryo, Hey how’s it going??"
"Pretty good Yulie, you know anything about this mess that’s got Kento so rattled?" Ryo ruffled the younger man’s hair laughing at the way Yulie backed away out of arms reach to straiten it out. "Man Yulie, I swear you’re almost as bad as Sage was when he was that age."
"Hey! I resemble that remark!" Ryo and Yulie turned to see Sage on the steps of the porch grinning at the pair. Ryo and Sage walked over to each other and greeted each other. "Mia thinks that Rowen should be coming down out of the Strata sphere sometime in the next half hour."
"That’s good, it’s about time the team genius came down out of the clouds to join the mere mortals of the world." Ryo smiled at Sage and putting his arm over the shoulder of his slightly taller comrade he grabbed Yulie and they started for the house laughing. They figured that Blaze would want to get reacquainted with the surrounding wooded area again.
Half an hour later they all noted a dark blue glow streaking across the sky. Yulie laughed as the guys had all heard Mia’s estimate for when Rowen would come down and were amazed. "Comon you guys, you can’t tell me that Mia doesn’t know you guys as well as she does. She would know that Rowen would show up last."
"I prefer to call it being fashionably late." The familiar New York accent spoke from the doorway. The grinning visage of Rowen came out of the shadows to be pounced on by the group.
"That’s my line you cheater!" Sage called out as he tackled his closest friend. Rowen threw Sage halfway across the room where Sage landed before Mia called out.
"Hey! If your going to rough house before dinner then I suggest that you do it in the dojo wing I had added for you guys two years ago. Remember??" Her stern visage was enough to make them all blush and mumble apologies as they did remember that Mia had put out of her pocket for a place for the guys to roughhouse or practice in and not destroy the rest of the place.
Mia grinned as she pointed down the new hallway towards the large practice room. Mia had it specially designed so that the guys could practice indoors should the weather become too inclement and they got cabin fever. Kayura came to the Mortal realm with the ancient’s staff to set the wards about the place that would allow the wing to stand up to the sure kills of the Ronins alone or combined.
Mia allowed them about half an hour to get some of the energy out of their systems at being together again for another world check then had Yulie go to the practice room to get the guys to the table. Yulie remembered Kento and grabbed the minigong that Mia had hanging just outside of the door and stepped to the end of the hall. Warming up the gong he banged it and called to the guys down the hall. "DINNER!!" He heard the thunder of the guys racing for the door to beat Kento to the table and he ran back to the kitchen for safety’s sake. Stampeding ronin were never a thing to get in front of.