The New Edition
Chapter 11: Overacted Confessions and Bad Visions
By: Winter Peacecraft-Yuy, Trowa'sgal2004, and Meilin Rae

Disclaimer: Winter: dis-claim'er, n. 1. A denial or renunciation, as of a claim or title: 2. A statement made to save one's own ass.

Rekino knew without a doubt that her cheeks were a bit pink as she woke up. She opened her eyes and the wonderful mental image of a certain topless, blue haired man left her thoughts. She knew that eventually, she would have to get out of bed. And that's something she just didn't really feel like doing.

She stretched lazily and yawned as she sat up in bed. Am I dreaming? She thought as her eyes focused on a small piece of paper that seemed to float in front of her face. But she wasn't dreaming. It really was floating in front of her face! The handwriting was delicate yet masculine, strong yet soft. A faint smile made its way to her face as she read the note Rowen had left her.

Rekino-

I have to tell you. This is the first time I've "spent the night" with a girl I've just met. But, I can honestly say, I had a good time.

Thanks a lot,
Rowen

Rekino could not suppress the goofy grin and girly giggle as she read the note. And again, that mental image of a shirtless Rowen embedded itself in her mind. In all honesty, Rekino hadn't known what she was thinking when she had invited him over to stay. She knew that he was a friend of Ryo's, and yet, she stepped back to look at the bigger picture. He had needed someone that night, and she sure as hell was glad he chose her. Though she still didn't know why.

And it was then that something hit her.

A sudden gush of wind caused Rekino's amethyst eyes to sharpen. The ruffling of the sheets and the chiming of the wind chimes outside her window made her turn. What the hell? I didn't leave the window open?

A considerable recognizable voice sounded in the room, "You're sick, you know that. You had that man laying in your living room and you did nothing to him."

I should've known he'd show up to gloat, Rekino thought in dread.

Her eyes narrowed and she frowned when she saw the Balance, sitting in the windowsill, staring at her as if he was highly amused. Wiping the small amount of saliva off her chin, the mistress of the guardian armor of fire knew she was in for some verbal sparring.

"What are you doing here?" She was now angry as a wet cat and ready for a fight.

The Balance smiled, "I ran out of coffee, and I need something bitter-sweet first thing in the morning. So naturally, I thought of you!" he said in a tone that could've been sarcastic, could've been serious. Rekino was too worried of what the answer would be to press the issue.

"I'm really not in the mood for your quirky, cosmic riddles this morning." She said as she pulled back the covers and stood up beside the bed.

"But I can have coffee, right?" The Balance's booted feet hit the floor without a sound as he stood next to her and examined her sleepwear. "And I must ask, does it lick itself? Because I don't remember any human in history that wasn't double jointed that could."

Rekino rolled her eyes as she stepped past him to leave the room. "Couldn't you find someone else to terrorize this morning? I hear the Prime Minister is looking to take the day off. Why don't you go ruin his day?" She opened the door only to run straight into the Balance's chest. Damn, she thought, I wish he wouldn't do that.

"Well, for your information, I've already been there. He didn't have any coffee either," He said in a disgruntled tone.

"We mere mortals have this new thing that comes in pretty handy when we run out of coffee. It's called a grocery store! Maybe you should check one of those out in the near future." Rekino said as she shoved her way past him and made for the bathroom door. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have some personal business to take care of."

She closed the door behind her and leaned against it to take a calming breath, but when she heard his voice right in front of her, she was anything but calm.

"Really, all beverages aside, I can't believe that you had him taking his clothes off, willingly, in the living room, and you didn't take him to bedroom and finish taking off the rest! How many hints do you need? It's technically not rape if he doesn't struggle."

Rekino's eyes went wide at The Balance's statement. "What makes you think that I would even want Rowen in that way, you sick bastard!" she yelled.

The Balance's cynical look only made her want to squirm.

"Look," she said, her patience wearing thin, "The coffee is in the kitchen, go get it."

"We need to talk, little one," He said in an almost understanding tone…almost.

Her bladder had already reminded her why she had came in here in the first place. He had to leave, before her body exploded.

"Fine, we'll talk. Go make the coffee and I'll be out in a minute. And for God's sake! Would it kill you to use the door, just this once?"

"Okay, okay. You're obviously exhausted, I'll humor you," he said as he stepped to the door.

Rekino wondered what smart-ass comment he would have when he stopped at the door and seemed to get lost in thought, but what he did say made her want to scream and laugh at the same time.

"Uhh…how does this thing work again? I've never had to use the knob ones, just the push kind that, well, actually I never have to touch those either. You see, I--"

"Enough!" she shouted, her patience completely gone. "It's simple, you turn the knob and pull!" She demonstrated the simple device for him and he walked out into the hall.

Before he could say another word to exasperate her she slammed the door in his face. A muffled sound of 'ouch' was all she heard. He walked so softly she couldn't even tell if he went to the kitchen or if he was standing outside of the door.

She leaned against the door and listened hard. She slowly turned the knob to check if he was, in fact, waiting outside the door. Rekino nearly lost control of her bladder and jump out of her own skin at the same time when she heard The Balance shout from the kitchen.

"Hurry up! I said I would humor you, didn't I? Just relax and do what you have to do. I promise I'll stay in here."

There were simply no words to describe the fury Rekino wanted to unleash on the whole world at that moment.

Ring

The figure stirred under the many sets of blankets as she popped her head out. Her dark blue hair stood out everywhere as she made an annoyed groan. No way someone was calling her at--what time was it anyways?

Ring

Josephine Rei Faun glanced at the alarm clock on her nightstand and almost did a double take. The bright orange letters read six twenty-three a.m. Oh hell no, this wasn't funny. Burying her face in the pillow, she tentatively reached out for the phone.

Ring

Groaning again, she picked up the phone pretending to sound like an answering machine, "Hello, this is Josephine, I'm currently asleep right now, so leave a message after the tone and--"

"Hey cuz!"

Click

There was no way in the seven pits of hell Josephine was talking to Kento this early in the morning. With another groan, she rolled over, cocooning herself in the covers again, settling down into the warmth, but the moment was short lived.

Ring

"God dammit!" Josephine had reached the end of her patience. She picked up the phone angrily. "What the hell do you want, Kento? It's too early to be calling!"

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning."

"I haven't even had time to wake up, dammit!" Josephine was becoming all too annoyed. This conversation was taking way too long.

Kento made some sort of noise, "I was only calling to ask Amaya if she wanted to eat breakfast with me and my roommate. Is that a reason to become all flustered?"

"When it comes to waking me up, YES!"

There was a knock at Josephine's door before it opened, and Amaya stepped in, still in her sleep shirt, which barely touched the top of her thighs. She was a light sleeper and tended to wake up if any sort of noise sounded in the apartment.

"Is something wrong, Jo?"

"Hello Amaya!" Kento screamed into the phone.

Josephine held the phone away from her ear, "Phone, 'Mya. It's Kento." She tossed the cordless phone to her friend and caught a quick glimpse of Amaya fumbling with the phone before she threw the covers over her head. "Good night."

Although her many sets of blankets provided for a good noise blocker, Amaya's perky voice still reached her eyes. How could someone talk so happily at six thirty in the fucking morning? And, more importantly, it was Kento. They man must have brain damage to call someone so early. Josephine rolled over, throwing the covers off her body and immediately regretting doing so. It was awfully chilly.

"If you going to talk to him, go away! Someone is trying to sleep!"

Amaya frowned at Josephine's statement, "Hold on please, Kento." She placed the phone away from her head and covered the receiver with her hand. "Must you be so rude?"

"How the hell can I not be?!" Josephine retorted. "God, how can you be so damn cheerful in the--OW! Stop hitting me!"

"Then stop cursing and using the Lord's name in vain!" Amaya replied and started talking back to Kento, "I'm sorry. Josephine was being ill. Oh, breakfast with your roommate and yourself?" She took a quick glance at her friend in the bed. "I'm terribly sorry, Kento, but I'm afraid I cannot…oh no, it's not you…I'm sure…how about lunch instead? Yes! That sounds wonderful…I'll be there at twelve…bring your roommate with you as well. Oh, and I'll bring Josephine along with me! Yes…you too, bye!"

At that moment, Josephine knew her life had ended. Silently damning the Gods for her curse, she fell back on the bed, covering her face with her hands. Dammit! Why, of all people, does Amaya have to see my ditzy, dorky, too stupid to realize it's too early to call someone, cousin?! Argh! My life is over! And she had to invite me to lunch with Kento and his roommate!

"Is something wrong, Josephine?" Amaya asked as she sat down on the bed beside her friend and placed the phone back on its cradle.

Josephine removed her hands from her face and eyed her friend, "One, why are you dating my cousin? Two, why did you invite me to lunch with them? And three, why are you still in my room?"

"I enjoy being with him, I thought it would be a nice gesture, and you're my friend and I do live here," Amaya replied coolly. She stood up and headed for the door. "I'm sorry he woke you up, but you need to be a little nicer to people who care about you, Jo. You never know if something could happen to them."

Josephine watched Amaya leave and immediately felt bad for being so mean. But the mistress of Kongo couldn't help that she wasn't a morning person.

As the nineteen year old rolled over and cocooned herself within her five sets of blankets once more, she made a mental note to apologize to Amaya as soon as she got up.

After reliving herself of her bodily functions, Rekino walked into the hallway and headed for the kitchen. She knew that with the Balance there at the butt crack of dawn, things were going to get interesting. And when she walked in the kitchen and saw the Balance standing in front of the coffee machine, just staring at it, she knew she may have a long morning after all.

"What are you doing?" She cocked her head to one side, examining him thoroughly.

The Balance turned to look at her, pointing down at the machine, "Don't tell me I have to use this infernal contraption."

Rekino rose an eyebrow. She knew what she wanted to say, she just wasn't sure if it was legal in the country of Japan to use that kind of language. Without another thought, she just shrugged and said, "No. You don't. Just do whatever you need to do. Stop bothering me."

"Okay," The Balance replied. He grabbed two mugs from the cabinet, placed them on the counter, and snapped his fingers.

Rekino didn't think the morning could get any weirder, but it did. When the coffee came pouring out of the sky and into the mugs, the guardian of wildfire almost jumped out of her skin. The Balance seemed almost unimpressed. He inspected his immaculate nails, and then, just as the coffee would have flowed over the cup, he made a quick motion with his hand across his neck, and the coffee stopped.

"How do you like it?" The Balance asked.

"Uhhhhhhh…two sugars and a cream?"

Once again, the sugar cubes and cream seemed to fall out of the air and into the cup. Well, she thought as she looked around the kitchen and couldn't see anything to explain what she just saw, my only question could be how does he run out of coffee when he makes it appear out of nowhere in the first place.

However, the first words that left her mouth was different, "Is it safe to drink?"

"Of course!" The Balance said in a rather sickly happy tone. "Do you not trust me?"

Rekino gave him a sarcastic look, "I trust you about as far as I can throw you."

"Well, if it helps, you could throw me pretty far. I can fly, you know," He replied.

"Shut up," Rekino said dryly and stepped up to the counter, hesitantly reached for the mug. She glanced at the Balance again before wrapped her fingers around the holder, and bringing the mug to her red lips. She inhaled the scent before sipping on the coffee. Her eyes immediately lit up and she smiled.

"I'll be damned. This is actually good!"

"Well, if you actually feel that way." The Balance said as he raised his arm and then stopped, "Oh, haha. You were just making an expression, weren't you."

"I swear, if I didn't know you'd 'phase' away, I'd throw this mug at you," Rekino glared angrily.

The Balance smirked, "And waste good coffee?"

Rekino almost screamed, "Shut the fuck up! Why must you fucking bother me at the ass crack of dawn, dammit!"

"Actually, it's a quarter till seven I believe. At least that's the thing on your wall--"

"Does it fucking matter?!" Rekino wailed and sat her mug down, proceeding to stick her right index finger, poking him in the nose with her manicured nail, "What did you come here for? I know it wasn't the coffee."

The Balance's ears twitched as his nose crinkled at Rekino's poke. He reached out and grabbed her hand, removing it from her face, "The Earth is in danger."

"Well no fucking duh!" Rekino came back as she yanked her hand from his and placed both hands on her hip. "I could've told you that."

"You don't get it, do you? You're too naïve to see that you're world is in more danger," The Balance pulled out a chair, sat at the bar, and reached for his mug of coffee, sipping on it lightly.

"As we speak, more and more demons are planning to attack the Earth, and there's not anything I can do to stop it. But you--you and the others can."

Rekino stared in disbelief at his last statement, "How can you say that when we were nearly defeated the last time. Fighting those demons isn't a piece of cake, you know. We can't just up and go every time you call for us! Our bodies have limits, dude. The armor may be hard to defeat, but the power depends on the person wearing it."

"Yes!" The Balance said in a sharp voice as he slammed his mug down on the counter with such force, Rekino thought it would break. "Your power, the power of the others, must not falter now. The Obscurité, do not show concern or mercy. It will not be enough to simply defeat you…The Obscurité, knows only to kill."

Rekino could only sit with disbelief in her eyes. From the very first, The Balance had been flippant about every battle the Ronin Warriors and their counterparts had been in. With all they had faced and nearly lost their lives to, The Balance had never shown concern. This has to be bad, Rekino thought. I've never seen him act this way.

"What are they?" Rekino asked in a quiet voice, barely above a whisper. "What are these Ob…Ob…"

"The Obscurité," he said again. Rekino couldn't help but notice that, for the first time, The Balance wouldn't look her in the eye.

"They look a little like your mythical dragons." He explained as he began to actually pace the kitchen floor. "Big, ugly, red and black Dragons. They have chameleon abilities so they can blend in with the environment as to hide their presence. These creatures of the night are fearsome." He stopped and turned to her in an effort to seem light-hearted. "But the good news in that they're only about sixty feet long and weigh several thousand pounds."

"Oh," Rekino said, trying for the same light-hearted tone, and failing just a miserably as the omnipotent being before her.

"I can see the future as it lays now, but as I've told you, it can change. And it definitely needs to change. Rekino…you have to tell your brother the truth." The Balance said in a low voice.

That news snapped her back into reality in a hurry. Rekino couldn't believe her ears. He couldn't, she thought, he couldn't have said what I think he just said. Is he crazy? He must be crazy.

"No," The Balances' voice invaded her thoughts. "I'm not crazy, and I'm not just saying it to drive you that way either."

Rekino knew that his observation wasn't just a good hunch. She could feel his gentle probe in her mind.

"Stop that!" She said, her voice more than cranky.

"I have to make you understand." The Balance said in a low, sinister tone. "I can't help you, my powers are quickly diminishing, I can't defend this world on my own anymore. Hell. I can't even defend myself anymore."

She wanted to go to him. She wanted to comfort him like a mother comforts a child. No longer able to contain herself, Rekino stood and walked around the counter to him. Still, he could not look her in the eye. Only one thing to say came to her mind.

"I promise you," She said as she raised her hand to his face. At Rekino's simple, soft touch, the façade that he kept in place for the sake of the others, the human look, evaporated and his true appearance was shown to her. Soft skin with an unearthly blue tint, white fine silk hair down his back, ears slightly pointed, and eyes…his eyes held the past, present, and future. You could see the goodness, and the hate of the world in his weary-looking eyes. The look of those eyes almost brought her to tears herself.

"I promise you, we will do all we can. Not only to protect the earth, but I promise, I will protect you as well. I will protect you with the last breath in my body." she said. She could feel his breath on her face. It was cold.

"Rekino," The Balance whispered in a nervous tone. "I've done many things over the centuries, seemingly good and bad, but I still can't find the words to make

you understand how dangerous this battle is."

"How dangerous can it be?" she said, trying to sound unconcerned. "We have faced alot of bad situations, and they were always dangerous. We can handle this."

The next words from The Balance took several minutes to register. These words were the one thing she never wanted to hear, she was instantly chilled to the bone.

"Rekino," he said softly as he circled her with his arms. "Someone will die. There's no way to stop it…victory or defeat, one of you will die."

Rekino stared in disbelief at his downcast eyes. "Who?" she said softly as the reality hit home.

"WHO?" she screamed as she felt a panic rise up from the pit of her stomach to make a lump in her throat.

"I can only show you what I have seen, nothing more." The Balance said in a shaky voice as he looked her in the eye for the first time since he dropped this bomb in her lap. "Will you let me show you? Can you handle it?"

Rekino thought of all the tragedies in her past. Loosing her parents, her brother, everyone she ever cared about she had come close to loosing them all at one time or another. She decided that the pain would have to be endured. Rekino had to know what the future could hold. She didn't have the strength to voice her permission, so she simply nodded her head.

Rekino didn't know what to expect when The Balance held her closer to his body and placed the darkening jewel on his forehead against hers, but in an instant, she began seeing images in her mind. The images were so horrifying; she wished she could turn away. But it wasn't that easy, this was not a dream that she could willingly wake up from. The sounds in her ears were deafening. Screams of pain and fury were everywhere and nowhere at once. Fires, fallen trees, rubble from destroyed buildings were everywhere. And blood. Blood seemed to flow like a river that had broken it banks. The sorrow Rekino felt went beyond crying or screaming. There was not sound or emotion for the destruction she saw. She thought it couldn't get any worse. There was no way the imagination of man or beast could conjure anything worse than she saw thru The Balances' eyes. She was wrong…very wrong.

The images were running thru her mind so fast she could barely keep up. Hana. Sweet, gentle Hana. Her body broken like a porcelain doll dropped on the floor. The others, Lady Guardians and Ronin Warriors, thrown with such force it hurt Rekino to watch. Destruction everywhere, all the images ran together as all were destruction and chaos, and then, the worst sight of all…Ryo.

Covered with a large scaly claw, Ryo's body slowly went limp as the claw squeezed the life from her brother. Rekino wanted to scream. She wanted to fight for her brother's life with every ounce of hers, but there was nothing she could do. She could only watch as Ryo's lifeless body was released by the giant claw and dropped to the ground with a sickening thud. And just as soon as the images came to her, they disappeared into nothingness and Rekino was once again, standing in her own kitchen. The Balances' human form had replaced his true form at some time, when, she didn't know.

"Are you O.K.?" The Balance asked in a quite voice.

"I'll be fine" Rekino responded in a weak voice. As she tried to step back from the embrace of The Balance, she found that her legs were a bit weak as well. Understanding that Rekino would never show weakness to him, The Balance picked Rekino up and placed her on a stool at the bar. She could only come to one conclusion. She was in shock. She knew she had to get the gears turning in her mind. She had to ask The Balance questions. She had to know if these events could be changed, but it seemed her mind was rusted solid. She couldn't speak. She couldn't concentrate on The Balances' words. She knew he was speaking to her from somewhere close by, but she simply couldn't focus on it enough to comprehend his words.