A Hidden Past

Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Ronin Warriors. Wish I did. Oh well, I do own the characters I made up. Ok here it is.


Running, running I can't let it get me. She kept running not knowing where she was going or what she was running from. She ran through the darkness. Her heart was beating fast in her chest. It felt like at any moment it would thump right out. A cold sweat began to form on her face and back. Not even looking behind her she just kept right on running. She could feel it, hear it following her; chasing her. She ran until she reached the end. She turned around to face her attacker. Turning around she met eyes with a horrible creature.
It had red eyes, that's all she could see. The rest of it was all black. The creature smiled evilly and a row of pearly white sharp fangs gleamed at her. Its red eyes pierced through her, right through her soul. It made her shiver. The creature then pointed one long claw at her and said," Your time has come. You shall return once again, to do my bidding."
She gasped and took a step back making a few rocks fall over the edge. She looked behind her and saw she was at the edge of a cliff. She turned back to look at the creature as it laughed and started to walk towards her.
~~~***~~~~***~~~~****~~~~****~~~~****~~~~****~~~~****~~~~****~~~~*****~~~~

"Aiyah!" Katie woke up with a gasp and sat up right in her bed. She was drenched in sweat and breathing heavily. Shaking some from the nightmare she had just woke up from. Catching her breath and somewhat calming down she sat in her bed. She closed her eyes as the events of her nightmare came back to her. She held her head in her hands as she started to shake and silently cry, waking her roommate as she did.
Christine looked over at her. Seeing her shaking and crying she decided to get out of bed and see what was wrong. Sitting down on her roommate's bed in front of her, she looked at her with concern. "Katie, what's wrong? Was it another nightmare?" Christine, her roommate, best friend and partner in arms asked her.
Katie didn't say anything, she couldn't. She hadn't even really heard anything Christine had asked her. Images of the creature and her running flashed before her eyes. "Oh, Katie what am I gonna do?" Christine asked as she hugged Katie. She tried to comfort her the best she could. Not having any luck she finally gave up. "That's it, I'm getting Ryo and the guys." Christine said as she got up and walked towards the door.
"No! Christine, you can't!" Katie shouted at her making her stop dead in her tracks.
"And just why the hell not? He's your brother, Katie. He deserves to know what's going on." Christine replied as she put her hands on her hips.
Katie sighed and looked over at her clock. "3:30 in the morning. Dang I have to get some sleep." Katie thought completely forgetting Christine's question.
"Katie...." Christine said kind of impatiently like she was getting very annoyed. "This has been going on for almost 3 weeks now. He needs to know."

Katie nodded. She knew she was right, but she still didn't want to tell him. She didn't want to have to hear his you-should-have-told-me-as-soon-as-they-started speeches. She cast tired eyes over at her best friend. "I don't want to tell him or the rest of the guys just yet, OK?"
Christine sighed and held her hands up in defeat. "Alright, alright. I guess we're not telling them yet. I just hate to be you when he does find out." She said as she pointed a finger at Katie.
Katie smiled some and yawned. "Yea, yea whatever. I can take it," she said as she waved it off.
Christine smiled some at her friend's behavior and yawned too. She glanced over at the clock, it read 3:40 a.m. She walked over to her bed, stretched and climbed in. "I'm to tired to argue with you, Katie. I'm going to sleep," she said as she closed her eyes.
Katie laughed some and decided she had the right idea. She laid back down on her bed as she closed her eyes and tried to fall back asleep. Sometime later she drifted off to a sound sleep.


BEEP **** BEEP **** BEEP **** BEEP ****


The alarm clock rang signaling it was time to get up. Sage Date laid a tired hand on the alarm clock. Pressing the off bottom he turned it off. Rolling over he swung his legs over the side of his bed and sat up. Rubbing his eyes he yawned and stretched.
He looked over at the pile of blue blankets that Rowen of Strata was supposed to be under. Chuckling to himself he got up and headed for his dresser, not even bothering to wake the sleeping Rowen. He had learned fast not to wake Rowen up when he didn't want to get up. A person could get hurt trying to. Taking his clothes from the drawers he left the room and headed for the bathroom before someone else got first dibs. Downstairs he could hear Cye in the kitchen making breakfast. How he could cook for six hungry teenagers and one adult was beyond him. He rolled his eyes as he passed Kento and Cye's room, glad that the bearer of Hardrock was still snoring; sound asleep.

Cye Mouri stood over the stove cooking breakfast, already dressed. He loved cooking and was a VERY good cook. Nobody went hungry when he was cooking. He usually made too much and they had some left over. Even after bottomless pit Kento was done eating. He chuckled thinking about his best friend and his large appetite. He flipped the pancake that was in the skillet and cracked an egg in another one. This morning he was making pancakes and eggs.
It was Monday again. "Man how time flies." He thought. As soon as the weekend came it was gone and here it was Monday again. Time for school, Cye liked school yea, he just wished the weekends were longer. Oh well you can't change it he thought as he sighed and flipped the egg over. He then looked over at the calendar on the refrigerator. Big X marks were made on the days that had already gone by. He smiled some looking at the calendar. "Not too much longer now," he mused to himself as he continued to cook.

White Blaze looked impatiently at his master. It was time for him to get up, but here he was still sleeping. Curled up in his blankets totally oblivious to the beeping alarm clock. White Blaze growled and grabbed the corner of the blankets and tugged, pulling him off the bed and onto the floor with a loud thud. "OW!" Ryo opened his eyes, rubbed his head and glared at the huge white and black striped 'cat'. "White Blaze!" Ryo growled at the tiger. White Blaze simply turned and padded out the door and down stairs, completely ignoring his masters cry of anger feeling very smug.
"Stupid tiger." Ryo sat up and rubbed his head. He looked at his beeping alarm clock and then got up to shut it off. After that he promptly got up to get his school uniform and hopefully get into the bathroom if Sage wasn't in there.

Christine Martz woke to the sounds of her alarm clock. Quickly shutting it off she sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Grabbing a hair tie from her night stand she pulled her long black hair up into a ponytail. She looked over at her best friend who was sleeping soundly with her thumb in her mouth and her blankets bundled up around her. She snickered thinking about taking a picture of her like that and using it as blackmail later. She decided against it when she thought about how mad she would be. An ass kicking from Katie was not very a fun thought to her. Not wanting to wake her she quietly got out her school uniform from her closet and quickly left the room.
Walking downstairs she found the downstairs bathroom open, surprisingly, and went in, closing the door behind her.

Kento Rei Faun slept soundly in his bed snoring and dreaming about fighting Talpa and his goons again. The smell of food drifted slowly up to his room, slowly reaching his nose. The smell of cooking pancakes and eggs was enough to wake Kento of Hardrock from a sound sleep. Quickly getting up and getting dressed he hurried downstairs. Coming into the kitchen he saw Cye busy cooking. Quietly he sneaked over to a pile of pancakes on a plate. Before he could even lay one finger on the pancakes, Cye's spatula came crashing down on his unsuspecting hand. Kento pulled his hand back in protest and cradled it.
"Leave the food alone, Kento," Cye said as he stood, spatula in hand ready to hit him again.
"Awww come on, Cye, just one?" Kento pleaded.
"No," Cye said sternly. "You know the rules. You have to wait until everyone's down here."
"Man, that could take forever," Kento whined as he pouted and crossed his arms.
"What's that I hear? Is that Kento whining?" Christine asked as she came into the kitchen wearing her school uniform and her long black hair half pulled back from her face. Her green eyes twinkled as she smiled.

"Yup. He wants to eat, but not everyone's down here yet," Cye said matter-of-factly as he glared at him.
"Oh, I see. Why don't you just sit down and wait, Kento, like everyone else?" Christine asked as she poured herself a glass of orange juice and sat down at the table.
"Just sit down and wait? Christine, do you know how long it could take to get everyone up and down here? I could starve before they're all down here!" Kento protested angrily as he waved his arms to emphasize his point.
"Oiy...why do I even bother?" Christine asked herself as she rolled her eyes and shook her head. Kento grinned seeming to be happy he had annoyed her.
All three then heard yelling and grumbling from upstairs and sighed. Ryo and Sage were into it again. Fighting over the bathroom.
"Those two are impossible." Christine stated.
"I'll say, why doesn't Ryo just use the other bathroom?" Cye asked.
Christine shrugged. "Who knows. Like I said impossible."
Kento nodded. "I agree."
Cye chuckled and continued to cook. A few minutes later a now fully dressed and showered Sage came into the kitchen wearing a very big grin. "Morning," he said as he took his usual seat at the table.
"Morning, Sage," Christine said with a smile.
"Morning," Cye said.
"Hey." Kento added flatly and waved.
Sage looked around the kitchen. "Hey, where's Katie?" he asked.
"Ummm...she ahh..." Christine stuttered trying to think of something mean and clever to say. Thinking of it she grinned evilly at him. "She left sometime last night. Something about she couldn't stand living here anymore and had to get away from here." Christine replied as she tried to act serious.
Sage turned pale, VERY pale. "What do you mean she left? Where'd she go? How long ago did she leave?" he asked sounding very concerned as he got up from his seat.
"Ahh..she ahh..." Christine stuttered. Kento and Cye tried their best not to crack up laughing.
"Who left? What's going on?" Ryo asked as he came into the kitchen. He had showered, brushed his teeth and was now dressed in his school uniform.
"Your sister, Ryo. Katie's gone!" Sage said as he looked over at Ryo.
"She's WHAT?!" Ryo shouted as he blinked.
Kento and Cye couldn't take it any more. They both cracked up laughing. Ryo and Sage both looked blankly at them. Christine tried her hardest not to laugh to keep a poker face, but it when she looked at Sage's face she couldn't help it. She started laughing along with Cye and Kento.
"Christine?" Ryo asked as he crossed his arms. "Is there something you want to tell us?"
Christine held her hands up in defense. "Hey, I was only kidding. Katie's upstairs sleeping." She said as she smiled and pointed up towards the stairs. Sage glared at her. "Very funny, Christine."
"I thought it was." She said and smiled at him. Sage chuckled some and grinned as he started to walk toward her. Christine began to look scared looking at the look he had on his face. She slowly started to get up and walk backwards away from him.
"Come on, Sage, I was only kidding." she said to him.
Sage smirked and kept walking towards her with a very evil grin on his face. "Is that so?"
"Yea..." she said as she laughed nervously and kept walking away from him. "You know just kidding around."
"Sure didn't seem like it." he said as he lunged at her trying to grab her. Christine dodged him and ran behind Ryo.
"Ryo, help! Sage's gone crazy! Don't let him kill me!"
"She's still asleep?" Ryo asked seeming to have not been listening to her.
"Yea, sometimes she's just like Rowen. It’s like waking the dead." Christine replied as she kept her eyes focused on Sage.
Ryo nodded. "Yea, I know."
"Speaking of Rowen who's going to wake him up?" Cye asked as he turned from the stove to talk to them.
Ryo looked at Christine. "Well, since you like to play jokes on people, Christine, why don't you?"
"But, Ryo that's not fair." Christine whined.
"Yes, it is, now move it or I'll make it waking Rowen and....." He moved aside giving Sage easy access to her. "I'll let Sage have you." Ryo said as he crossed his arms over his chest. Sage looked at her and grinned.
Christine looked at Sage and ran upstairs to the room Rowen shared with Sage.
"There that problem’s solved." Ryo said as he sat down at the table.
Sage smiled and sat down at the table. "Did you see the look on her face?"
Ryo laughed some. "Yea, you really had her scared."
Sage polished his nails on his shirt and smiled arrogantly. "Well, what can I say other than I'm good." He then had to dodge a newspaper that was thrown at his face by Ryo. "Hey!"
Ryo smiled innocently at him. "Sorry, it slipped."
"Yea, I'm sure it did." he said as he picked up the paper and began to read it.
After a few minutes of silence the front door opened and then closed followed by the sounds of foot steps and keys jingling. Mia walked into the kitchen. "Hey guys."
"Morning, Mia." Cye greeted her.
"Good I'm only waiting for Katie and Rowen." Kento stated.
"Morning Mia, have a seat." Sage said as he pulled a chair out for her.
"Thanks." Mia said as she sat down next to him.
"Classes end early, Mia?" Ryo asked her from across the table.
Mia nodded over the brim over her Latte. "It was a small class today so I ended it early."
Minutes later they all heard a thud followed by muffled yelling, then foot steps coming down the stairs. An out of breath and smiling Christine ran into the kitchen and sat down. The others could only look at her and wondered what she had done.
"Well, I think he's up," she said with a huge grin.
Mia laughed some. "So you got the honors of waking Rowen this morning Christine?"
"Yea, you can kinda say that," she replied and shot a glare over at Ryo who grinned at her.
"Isn't Katie eating?" Mia asked as she looked around the table.
"Yea, she'll be down any minute now." Ryo answered as he shot Christine a warning glare. Christine stuck her tongue out at him in return.
Rowen walked into the kitchen then dressed and hair brushed. He glared at Christine as he took his seat in front of her, Christine gulped.
"I think I'll go get Katie up," she said as she quickly exited the kitchen and went up the stairs to her and Katie's room. Sage chuckled and looked over at Rowen. "That's twice now that look has worked on her today."
"Twice?" Rowen asked seeming confused.
"I'll tell ya later." Sage said as he went back to his newspaper.