Shadows of Light: Chapter 2
Mia was waiting at the Jeep when she saw Kento come out of the mall. He looked less jumpy and definately more in control so she shrugged him comming here alone as a need to get away from the guys teasing and bantering. Looking at Kento as he got into the Jeep she asked. "So Kento, how was your time away from the guys??"
He looked up at her in surprise and then covered. "It was fine. Just needed some me time thats all." Mia nodded and smiled. "Believe me, I know what that is like. Can you imagine how it is for me to have the five of you living with me full time and a tiger and then having Yuli over as often as he is?" Mia smiled. It wasn't as if she resented the guys being there. It was just the fact that she has had to make some major adjustments to her life since they showed up the first time when Talpa started his attacks on Toyama.
As they returned to the Mansion they found the others out back practicing. as they walked out onto the porch Kento started getting the cat calls and hoots from Sage and Cye. "Hot date with Mia, Kento??"
Sage chimed in. "Yeah, how was it Mia."
Rowen stayed out of it but he could not help but smile as his friends tormented the two. "Alright guys, I think that We had better leave them alone, we all know what Kento is like in practice when we get him upset."
The guys looked at him strangely. "Have you been to high in the atmosphere Ro??"
"No, but I would like to be able to walk after practice." This shut all of the ronin up as they remembered what happened the last time they upset the big guy with their torments. None of them escaped the severe bruisings that he dished out.
Mia smiled and went back into the house to prepare lunch and the first aide kit for the possible cuts and bruises that accompanied some of their harder practices. Kento donned his sub armor and ran down to the guys and started in on practicing with the rest of them.
"You can do better than that Kento!"
"Oh yeah, how is this for better." Kento did a jumping 360 round house kick aimed at Ryo's head. As he ducked Kento was already on the ground sweeping his feet out from under him. Ryo fell flat on his back with a surprised "OOF! Hey buddy, where did you learn that move?"
"I have known it for a while now. I just never used it, never had a chance to." Kento shrugged off the implied complement and back flipped to avoid the flying side kick Cye had done. "Oooo Now you gone and done it bro, Now you have to fight me." Kento grinned as he faught. He was doing better than he ever had done before and the effect was not lost on the other ronin warriors.
"Jeez Sage, where did he learn all this stuff. I mean usually he sticks with the basics and holds his own. Now he's clobbering us in sparring matches." Rowen looked at Sage who was studying the Hardrock warrior.
"I don't know Rowen, but I'd hazard a guess that something has happened that is making him try. I mean we all knew he was good but I think he has been holding back on us. You know what happenes when he cuts loose on those dynasty goons."
"Your right, hmmm Makes me wonder if there is something wrong in his life right now." Looking at Ryo and Cye taking Kento on he noticed that Kento was holding his own against the two and it almost looked like he was having fun. Rowen whistled as soon as he saw Mia come out of the house and everyone stopped. "Hey guys, how bout we take a break?? I think its lunch time."
"Lunch? Goody!" In a flash of orange Kento was out of his armor and into the house. By the time the other Ronins and Mia got into the house Kento was at the table eating as fast as he could. Sage looked at Rowen and muttered. "What ever sparked him it has not affected his appetite."
The guys all sat down to the table and started their usual eating and fighting as Mia sighed and stood at the counter eating a sandwich. She zoned out and started thinking about their last battle with Kayura. Anubis died saving her and she did not fail the ronin in their expectations. She was the last of the ancients, or was she. Some how Mia did not think that Kayura was the last of the ancient's line. But what was the use of making the Ronin think that she was the last of the line??
Suddenly she was snapped out of her reverie by Cye's voice. "So Kento, tell us how your hot date with Mia went?" The tone was neutral but Mia saw the look in his eyes and decided to put a stop to this fight before it got started.
"Listen. There was no date. Kento needed some time away from you all and decided to spend it in town. We got into town and I did not see him for 3 solid hours. We met up again and came back to the house. Is that so hard for you all to comprehend??" Mia was upset but the only thing that kept her calm enough to stay with the boys was Kento's look of gratification when she set the rumors on their ears.
All of the other ronins were about as red as Ryo's armor when she finished explaining their day. Muttering to them selves Cye was the first to look up. "Sorry Kento, Mia." The others nodded in agreement and Mia sighed. "As long as I do not hear any more of this I guess you are all forgiven. But I can't say anything for Kento. He is the one you should be really apologising to."
Ryo looked at Kento and smiled. "Sorry man, Hope you're cool with us." Kento stopped eating long enough to look up at Ryo. "Its cool, just get your facts strait first alright??" Cye, Ryo, Sage, and Rowen nodded in agreement and they finished their meal. But Mia had one more surprise for them all before they could leave.
"As long as you are living here..." All five of the Ronins looked at her with something akin to aprehension in their eyes. "I have taken the liberty of enrolling you all in the Highschool in town. You will all be seniors But you all still have a lot to learn." The guys groaned. "School, why should we go to school?" That was Ryo from the back of the group. "Because if you don't go to school and actually go to class I will have you all looking for your own apartments in town. I can not have you here all day long with nothing to do. I can see that you all are already getting on each others nerves and I figure that you can spend some of that energy helping each other through the school work." She pinned a look on Rowen as she mentioned helping out with the school work.
"Ok, so we go to school, What are we taking for classes then??" Sage querried. You could see the wheels turning in his head about the possibilities of the girls that he might meet in his classes. Mia grinned as she passed out the scheduals. They went a like this.
Cye: Biology, Geometry, Gym, Concert Choir, English, History
Ryo: Geometry, Chemistry, Gym, English, Sociology, Pottery
Sage: English, Biology, Gym, Sociology, Pre-Calc, Band
Rowen: Trig, Bio Chemestry, Gym, History, English, Sketching
Kento: Algebraic Equations, English, Gym, Band, History, Biology
"Hey, We all have the same gym class!"
"That's right Ryo. I made the suggestions that they allow you guys to have the same gym class so that you guys could integrate better into the school. You will have your seperate classes but you will also have your gym class together to keep you all in touch with each other." Mia grinned to herself knowing that putting the guys in the same gym class spelled exaustion for the other classmates and the gym teacher. Especially if he put them all on the same team. She looked up and could tell that they were all thinking pretty much the same thing.
"Hey Mia? When do we all start?" Rowen seperated himself from the group and came up to her with the question. Looking around at the guys she smiled and went up stairs gesturing for the guys to stay downstairs for a few moments. When she came back down stairs she had six back packs with books, notebooks, pencils, pens and calculators for them all. She handed out the bags and let them look through them before she was asked another question.
"Hey, There are six bags. Who has the sixth?" Mia turned to Cye. "I do."
The others looked up at her in surprise. "I am going back to college to finish out my schooling. While you are in school I will be too. Tuesday nights you will have to fend for yourselves as I have evening classes as well as day classes."
"Whoa Mia, that seems like a lot of classes. You sure you can handle it all??" Ryo was looking around at the mansion, the guys and White Blaze who had just walked into the room.
"Actually Ryo, I don't have that many classes. My class times are just longer than yours. While you have 7 hours in school.. and hour for each class and lunch I have class times of 3-4 hours long, and only two or three classes a day." Ryo nodded understanding.
"Well I guess we had all better get some rest. Monday is tomorrow and I do not think it would be a good idea to show up with bruises from our sparring matches." Kento looked at the guys as they thought about his idea.
As they started to reluctantly agree Mia spoke up. "I know you do not want to give up your afternoon practice so How about you all spar with some one that can not do to much damage to you yet?" Looking at them she saw a moment of confusion on their faces before they realized that she was speaking about her training.
"Alright Mia, Sounds good to me." Sage looked at the others as they nodded their agreement. Normally they would have paired her with Kento as he was the best person to practice with, but after this morning's little display they decided it would be best for all of them if Rowen paired with her.
Mia was upstairs in a flash and got changed into the light sparring armor that Sage had brought over from his parent's Dojo. It looked a bit like the Ronins' Subarmor but she knew that they would still have to hold back on their attacks untill she became fast enough to dodge or block their attacks with out getting hurt.
As she came back down she noticed that all the ronins were out back already and to her surprise White Blaze was with them. Curious she walked out and noticed again that they were not in their sub armors. ~Make sense since they are all pretty fast and strong even with out the armors.~ She thought to herself. Rowen stepped out of the group and helped her warm up as she had not streached yet today. When she was warmed up Rowen took her through the moves that she had already been taught and then proceeded to teach her new ones.
When they were all certain that she knew the new moves Cye, Kento, Ryo and Sage moved around to make the corners of the sparring area. They had enlarged the area that Mia could spar in considerably since she first started and now that she was giving them a work out they found that she could really hold her own in a fight. To Mia's further surprise the tiger stepped into the square and stood between the two. With a look that plainly said. ~Do your best~ He lept out of the ring and turned to watch the fight.
Mia faltered at the beginning as she was used to Kento's heavier fighting style but she quickly adjusted her attack style and started making Rowen sweat. Rowen was on defence most of the time as he tried to figure Mia and her attacks out. Just as he thought he knew her angles he was surprised as she changed. ~Where did she pick this up??~ Rowen was surprised as he landed on his butt as she swept him while he was distracted. The guys were laughing and lightly taunting Rowen as he tried a few attacks.
Some of his attacks got through but Mia was cat like quick in the ring. A fact that surprised all of the Ronins when she did spar for the first time. It did not even look like she was thinking about her attacks but you knew that Mia never did anything with out thinking. Mia managed to land a side kick to Rowen's chest and as he fell she planted her foot on his chest preventing him from rising. Rowen tapped the ground in a sign of submission but Mia was not responding. As he looked up he noticed a strange glow to her eyes, and as the pressure from her foot increased he noticed that there was a Katana in her hands poised to strike. The guys in the corners of the ring donned their sub armors and called Mia's name. They were worried for their friend and yet they also wondered where the Katana came from as it had a peculiar look in both the handle and the blade.