The Ronins' Return

By stargazer86

DISCLAIMER

I do not own the Ronin Warriors/Samurai Troopers. The show is the rightful property of Sunrise Entertainment and is licensed under the title Ronin Warriors by Bandai Ent. and Graz Ent. companies.

Any characters featured in this story part from the original series are mine and are as such subject to my ownership. Any use of my characters without my express permission will be considered plagiarism and abuse and will be reported to staff.

Chapter One

Ryo opened his eyes and took a panicked breath. He shot up from dead sleep, startling Whiteblaze from the foot of his bed. He could feel the cool breeze of the midnight air wafting through the room over his shoulder, but his skin was still hot.

For a moment the Ronin leader sat there in silence, taking in calming breaths. He took a moment to realize that the seats were saturated with cold sweat. After several moments, he climbed from his bed and wondered warily to the bathroom.

He instantly regretted turning on a light, which blinded him for a moment. But Ryo squinted through the blinding blaze and slashed his face with cold water. Whiteblaze continued to wait by the end of the bed, ears perked forward and listening as the Ronin leader turned out the light and wondered out of the bathroom again.

"Oh…" He groaned. "My head…"

Ryo sat down next to the tiger and held his throbbing head in his hands. He wanted to kick himself for not getting any aspirin while he was up.

Whiteblaze leaned in and rubbed his head against his charge's shoulder. The action was met with a hand that missed his fuzzy brow and lightly rubbed his cold wet nose instead. As far as Ryo was concerned, the young man was not completely awake yet.

Then came the faint mumble. Whiteblaze's head snapped about at the words, words he hadn't heard in a very long time, but was completely aware that their meaning meant something awry was about to happen.

"I…haven't had a dream like that…for a year now…" Ryo murmured, half awake, yet rather coherent.

A look of utter shock seemed to flicker through the animal's eyes as he listened more. But the Ronin leader fell to his side and blinked lazily in distant thought at the far wall. He was slowly drifting back to sleep, regardless of the consequences of possibly dreaming again.

The tiger watched and listened closely, as Ryo Sanada's breath became faint…and his eyes fluttered close again.

There was a sound from the bathroom. Whiteblaze looked up through the slightly cracked door to see the faint outline of another man standing in the room, also slightly drunk from sleep…yet more awake than his charge was.

The light flickered on and Sage looked in on Ryo to see if he might have woken the other man up. When he was sure, the warrior of Halo turned away from the door and went quietly to his business of bring order to his own inner demons that came in the night.

Whiteblaze laid his head to rest on the bed again, watching and listening into the night.

Something had shaken the balance.

It was the only way the armors could have affected them.

Sage sighed as he heard the bells ring. He had wanted to stay by the window and bask in the warm sunlight, but classes were beginning again from break. The remaining students took their seats towards the front of the room.

He sat down in his and lowered his head. Last night hadn't been a good night for sleep. The blonde sighed again and started to close his eyes when the door opened and their professor walked in.

"Class, attention please." Professor Himeto set his books down on the table in front of him and cleared his throat. "I have good news, the school recently accepted a transfer for an American exchange student. I'd like you all to meet Miss Jackson."

Sage looked up as the door opened and a young woman walked in with the escort of a counselor. The students all looked at each other after taking in the site. For someone who was American, she looked a lot like Japanese. Her hair was to the small of her back and as black as night, with fine bangs that flared off to one side. She wasn't very tall, but it was clear she was leggy in a sense…and nicely shaped as according to the Han'A High school uniform she wore.

When she turned to look at the class, the essence of her Japanese appearance vanished. She was very American now, with bright pristine blue eyes and the sharper shape of her face. Her skin was also lighter in color, but not completely Caucasian white.

Sage could clearly assume that her lineage was marked with Japanese genes though.

She looks like she could be a sister or something to Ryo. He thought with a little smile. Maybe he'd talk to her later and see about having the two meet for his own comparison. It was cute to think so.

"Class, this is Lea Yotomia Jackson." Himeto informed again. Sage nodded when he heard her Japanese middle name. "Please, Lea, tell us something about yourself."

Lea looked over to the teacher and smiled weakly. "Um…" She looked at the class before clearing her throat. All air of uncertainly seemed to vanish around her as she looked up again and addressed the class in delicately spoken Japanese. "I live in New York...outside the major city with my parents. My father is a police officer and my mother works in landscaping."

Himeto nodded and motioned for her to towards the students. "Please, choose any seat you like. I know that the one in the 3rd row has been vacant for some time."

Lea nodded and walked down the aisle towards the empty seat right across from Sage. The blonde smiled as she sat down and leaned in.

"I'm also Japanese-American." He said kindly. "My name is Sage."

Lea looked over and smiled a little. "Nice to meet you." She said as he offered her his hand. She frowned a little bit, considering shaking it before reaching out and clasping his outstretched hand.

Sage snapped his hand back as if it had been touched by fire.

Lea also lurched away, looking wide eyed at the young man. Her eyes had ice over, first stunned, and now turned to steel as she kept blinking at him.

Sage whipped his head around to look at her again from his hand all feeling of exhaustion has vanished from his body. He felt power…power from an armor. One that he knew—

"Mr. Date, are you paying attention?" Himeto demanded from the front of the room were he was reading out of his own private text. "Mrs. Jackson has already had a tour of the building. You can socialize after class." He informed in a cool voice.

Sage nodded as he opened his text book and looked down at the page in front of him. But the words were nothing more than garble on paper as he kept thinking. Lea had turned away from him and was looking ahead at the front of the room…trying not to glance at him out of the corner of his eyes.

Its an armor. He thought. I know it is. I know what one…but it's been so long… Sage took a deep breath as he closed his eyes and drew on his inner powers. His ability to see auras. He opened then again and concentrated on the feeling, finding Lea's amid the room and singling in on it. When he turned to look, her aura was tinted red, and not various shades of neutral colors among the other students.

There can be no way… Sage thought as the feeling came back to him. The only other person with an aura like hers was Ryo.

"Mr. Date? Will you answer the question?"

Rowen wandered into the room with his lunch in hand, finding Ryo sitting at his desk reading through a book. "How are you doing with algebra?" He asked.

Ryo shook his head. "I'm too tired." He murmured, letting his head fall on his text and closed his eyes. "I couldn't sleep at all last night."

"Did Whiteblaze keep you man?" Rowen asked as he pulled up a chair and sat with it's back as a means to rest his chest and arms on besides the exhausted young man.

"No. He hasn't bothered me in a while. I…I just couldn't sleep. I know I had a dream last night but…" Ryo sat up and leaned back. "I can't remember what it was about for the life of me."

Rowen smiled a little as his lunch dangled from his hand. "Come on. Get your food and we'll go to the roof. You can catch a power nap before class starts again."

Ryo nodded as he closed his book and stuffed it away in his bag. The raven haired man thus produced a neatly backed lunch in one hand and began to stand up when Sage appeared in the door way.

"Ryo! Rowen!" He called quickly.

"Hey Sage, how was class?" Rowen asked, but found his question fell on deaf ears as Sage marched across the room and grabbed Ryo by the arm.

He looked ready to jump out of his skin as he let go.

"Dear god." Sage whispered in horror.

"What?" Ryo asked, blinking in confusion. "Did I do something wrong?"

Rowen stood up and leaned into Sage's stunned face. "What's goin' on?"

Sage shook his head quickly. "We need to find Cye and Kento." He said under his breath. "We need to talk about this…"

"Kento is on the roof waitin' for us and Cye will be out of his class in thirty minutes." Rowen informed. "What's your problem man?"

The blonde took a deep breath before reaching out and clasping Ryo's shoulder again, this time not snatching it back. A look of sudden shock and clear horror came across his face, which normally didn't read such sudden emotions.

"I found…another armor." He whispered under his breath to the two of them. Ryo lurched back out of Halo's reach just as Rowen straightened up in surprise.

"Another armor?" They said together.

"Dude, are you alright?" Kento demanded.

Sage shook his head as he took a long drink from his mug. "No. I can't shake the feeling." He said, leaning against the fence that surrounded the roof.

Rowen was standing next to him, arms crossed and a toothpick in his mouth. "You're certain this is what you saw?" He harked.

Sage nodded this time. "I saw her aura…and I felt the armor's presence. I reacted to her the same way I would to Ryo's." He said. "The same touch of energy that crosses in contact. The signature of our armor's powers."

Cye was sitting on the bench next to them with Ryo, listening intently. "Then why didn't you feel it the way you are use to feeling it come off of Ryo."

"Our armors have been inactive for a year." Sage said. "We suppressed that power. So the feeling isn't as strong. Hers is not suppressed. It is the same as Ryo's."

Rowen's eyes narrowed. "If we carry a certain sign with us about our armors…then that means this girl is wearin' a Wildfire armor?" He said in a deathly voice. Ryo flinched as he reached the conclusion himself.

Rowen turned and looked out over the yard below. "Where should I look?" He demanded from Sage. The Warrior of Halo turned also and glanced over the quad, scanning the area for the aura. There was nothing there. He shook his head and started to pull back when he sensed it. Her aura. He's head whipped up to look across the quad to the other roof directly across from them.

There, standing by the opposite fence and looking out over the city, was the girl.

Sage started to open his mouth when something slammed into him.

Halo fell back on the ground, wincing.

"SAGE!" Ryo and Cye yelled together, rushing in as he started to get up. Kento was sitting over him, frozen in mid sip of his drink.

"Jesus Christ! What was that?" He demanded.

Sage shook the feeling off, but was overwhelmed with a huge headache. He sat up and held his head in his hands, letting his armor's powers release in him. The pain started to dull as soon as he did.

He looked up with hazy vision to see Lea with her back still too them. The wind blow her raven black hair and skirt as she turned her head and looked in his direction. Rowen looked back between him and her, his sharp vision catching the expression on her face.

A look of acknowledgement…

"Sage! What happened?" Rowen demanded. "Stop using your power!"

Sage stared in complete shock in Lea's direction.

So you do have an armor. Her thought came across the gap to Sage's head. He gasped in horror as the young woman then looked away and started walking towards the stairs back to class.

"SAGE!" Rowen and Ryo yelled.

Sage looked up at them, horrified. "She…knows what I am…"

"Sage…you just fell over! You cracked your head on the ground!" Cye said quickly. "What happened? You look like someone hit you with a brick…"

Rowen turned away from the fence and looked down at Halo. "You heard her say something to you?" He demanded, watching Ryo get up and wonder down the fence line. Before they could say something, the Ronin leader took off running to catch the young woman as she went down the stairs.

"Ryo! Stop!" Kento yelled, taking off after him.

Sage looked up at Rowen and nodded slowly. "She…must be…telepathic or something…"

Rowen kneeled next to him and watched as Cye check to see if Sage had split his head open. "You say she has an armor?" He said quickly. "You shook hands with her and made contact…"

Sage nodded.

"I think she just tried to seal a link between your armor and hers…" Rowen whispered. Cye's head shot up in surprise.

Halo's eyes widen in realization. "She…forced me to let go of my powers! To seal it!"

"Come on!" Rowen ordered, grabbing his arm and pulled him up. The three took off in the same direction Ryo and Kento had gone.

Ryo lunged down the stairs and came to a stop in the middle of the empty hall. Kento came barreling down behind him, throwing his empty drink in the nearest trash can. They stood there in, looking around.

"Ryo…we're chasing a girl that we don't know what she looks like!" Kento muttered.

Ryo looked back. "Armors sense armors right?" He produced his crystal, which for some reason he had been compelled to pick up this morning before going to school. He had no idea what had possessed him to do so.

"Dude, the girl just laid a mental smack down on Sage! You think she is gonna be nice about this when we other Ronins comes strolling up to her!" Hardrock hissed as they went marching down the hall.

Ryo clutched his armor orb tighter as he moved. "We can take her." He said quickly.

"WOAH!" Kento's hand lashed out and caught the Ronin leader by the shoulder. "Stop right there!" He barked, dragging Ryo to an abrupt stop in the middle of hall, regardless of who was watching them look like total asses.

"This is a girl we're talking about! I'll all for getting to the bottom of this too!" Kento muttered. "Just cool off for a second. Maybe we can reason with her…"

"Do you remember anything about Lady Kayura?" Ryo asked, slightly annoyed.

Hardrock stood there and blinked for a second before realization hit him upside the head. "Oh."

Ryo's eye brows shot up in a mocking expression of realization as well.

"Oh..." Kento blinked. "Um…I guess…let's go get her." He said.

Ryo nodded when Rowen and the others came around the corner. "Stop. Just let her go." He ordered.

"Come on Ro! She could be part of the Dynasty." Kento muttered.

"No." Rowen said, this time more sternly. "Leave her alone." He shot Ryo a questioning look before grabbing their sleeves and dragging them into the nearest classroom, devoid of other students and prying eyes and ears. Sage and Cye followed after them.

"Look, she was testing Sage." Rowen explained. "With our powers suppressed like they are, she must not have been very sure he was a Ronin Warrior. She forced him to release it and established a link between their armors like we have."

You mean like this? Kento asked the group.

Suppress it! Sage thought back, snappy.

Kento slumped as he turned down his power. "So what are we going to do?" He asked.

"We're going to leave her alone." Rowen said, looking over at Ryo. "She only meant to force Sage's hand in releasin' his power. If she meant us any real harm, we should have seen it comin' right?"

Cye nodded. "We can sense bad intentions miles away. She isn't giving any off."

"For right now, she only knows Sage is a Ronin Warrior." Rowen informed, "So we're goin' let it be at that. She'll come to us in her own time…if she wants to talk to us."

Ryo crossed his arms. "How the hell did she hit Sage like that?"

Rowen shrugged. "I don't know." He said. "I do know that once she figured it out, she looked really weak."

Cye scratched the back of his head. "Do you think she might have a special power that allows her to do that?" He asked. "I mean…unless we wanted to throw a wall of emotions at each other…nothing like that could have caused Sage to topple over like that."

Sage nodded. "I think she might have other powers outside of the armor." He said. He sighed as the bells rung overhead.

"I guess we'd better talk about this later." Ryo muttered.

AN: And at last, the long awaited rewrite of The Ronins' Return. The being of the saga, the introduction of Lea, the alternate universe story that takes directly after the TV series…This is the beginning of what is currently a 7 book series of the Ronin warriors that cover near to six years of the Ronin Warriors and the new cast of characters. The Ronin Warriors are around 16 (at their respective ages). Just to give you a hint, and some information I didn't have at the beginning has been worked into the story. For those interested, http/phoenixknght86. has a few drawings of Lea in the SCRAPS section. Most if not all concept art will go there. I will have drawings up of school uniforms and all that jazz soon.

Thanks for reading and reviewing!

-Stargazer86