End of Pain

Ryo was asleep on the couch in the living room. White Blaze laid on the floor beside it, chewing a huge stuffed toy, Ryo had bought for him. It was halfway gone. Upstairs Mia sat busy working at her computer, and Cye was in the kitchen.

The scent of something really good drifted into his nose, forcing him to abandon sleep. Cye, why do you have to be such a good cook for? He got off the couch, stepped over White Blaze and headed into the kitchen.

"Oh, hi, Ryo," Cye greeted as he strained some hamburger. "Did you have a nice nap?"

Ryo nodded, staring at the food. "Hai. What are you making?"

"Food," Cye said. Ryo smirked at him, and Cye laughed. "It's just spaghetti casserole."

"Sure smells good. New sauce?"

"Yeah, I wanted to try something a little different."

Ryo nodded, then grabbed a coke out of the fridge. "So when is it going to be done?"

"Well, after I put it in the oven, about 35 minutes."

Ryo nodded again and left the kitchen. He smiled. If that would have been Kento, Cye would have chased after him with the frying pan!

He sat on the couch and flipped on the television. He searched through several channels until he found something interesting to watch. But soon he was distracted again. His thoughts turned to that girl, Firestorm. There was something about her and her friend that he just couldn't place, but he wasn't sure what exactly. And then.....

"Ryo! Cye! Come up here!"

Ryo set his pop down and headed for the stairs. Cye was right behind him. Both of them made it to Mia's computer room.

"What's up, Mia?" Ryo asked.

"Guys, there's more to the poem!" Mia said excitedly. They crowded over her shoulder.

"Torch of Spirit sought through seven: Drinking strength from immortal fire. Darkest prison sheds the light. Swirling beneath a sea of salt. Twirling with a burst of fire. Burning within a throne of rock. Gleaming with power in the night time sky. Floating amongst the eyes of ages, unmoored in the stream of the sky."

Cye raised his eyes brows. "Is this poem saying there's more armors out there?"

"Yes, Mia said. "My grandfather must have kept this hidden somehow, and set a specific date for it to be revealed. The others will have to know about this right away."

Ryo reread the poem again, then headed for the door. "I'll call them right away.

Rowen ran as fast as he could down the street, his vision was blurred with his tears. His father had done it again, only this time he was going to shoot Rowen. Rowen had knocked his dad out of the way, and took off like a bat of hell, running as fast as his feet could carry him. He could hear his dad several feet behind him, cursing and yelling for him to come back. The gun went off, and he cringed. He ran faster. He was getting away one way or another.

Up the road, Star and Firestorm were walking. They were on their way to the park to play some games and just relax from all of the homework. They rounded the corner, and then something smacked right into Star. She fell down, and whatever smacked into her fell down right with her.

"OW."

Firestorm stared in surprise. She was about to say something, when a blue haired teen climbed off Star. He was shaking badly. "Please help me!" he begged.

Star gaped. "Rowen?" she said in surprise. She stood up and helped him to his feet, and looked into his eyes. He was crying and he looked scared.

"What's the matter? Are you OK?"

Rowen shook his head furiously. "Please help me! He's gonna kill me!"

"Who?" Firestorm asked worriedly. She heard a gun go off. Rowen jumped, and looked fearfully behind him. "My dad."

Star narrowed her eyes angrily. "Now's not the time, Star-chan!" Firestorm warned. Let's go! We have to hide him!"

The two girls led Rowen in an opposite direction. They could hear Rowen's father shouting for him. Firestorm could tell the man was drunk. They led him to their house.

Rowen sat on the couch several minutes later, trying to calm his nerves down.

"You poor thing!" Star said as Firestorm handed him some hot tea. He thanked her quietly and managed to drink some without spilling it. He set it down on the coffee table. "Thank you for hiding me," he said in a very shaky voice. "He would have killed me."

"Why? What kind of father can do that to their own child?" Firestorm asked angrily. It wasn't directed at Rowen. She couldn't stand child abuse.

Rowen shook his head as more tears poured out of his eyes. "I always try my best to do what he wants. But it's never enough. He has to beat me just to get his fun." He started crying, feeling embarrassed by it, but not really caring at the same time.

Star couldn't take it any longer. She gently wrapped her arms around him and held him, letting him cry on her shoulder. She stroked his hair. "Shh, it's going to be OK I promise. You can stay here with us."

Rowen was starting to feel better. He sniffled. "I wish I could, but everytime I stay away for more than two days, he sends the cops right after me!"

"Don't those idiots know he's abusing you?" Firestorm asked.

"My friends and I tried to tell them," Rowen explained. "They wouldn't believe us." He hung his head with a sigh.

"Bakas," Firestorm rolled her eyes.

Star held Rowen to her. She wanted to help him all she could. She felt terrible that he had to go through so much pain at home. Firestorm seemed to understand a great deal. Her mother had unwillingly sent her to a foster home, where she had been abused. And boy was her mother pissed off when she learned what had happened to her daughter, and her other two children. She looked down at Rowen.

"What about your mother?" she asked.

Rowen sniffled. "I don't know where she is. She and my dad divorced when I was twelve. I haven't seen her since."

"I'm sorry."

Rowen nodded, then caught a glimpse of a shadow moving past the window, and a shape of a gun.

"Kuso! He tracked me down!" He began shaking again. "I have to hide!"

The girls frowned. "Any place you can go?" Firestorm asked.

"My friends. I can hide there!"

"Let's go!" Star said. They ran to the back door, with Firestorm's dogs right behind them. All of them took off, heading away from the danger that was sure to come.

Sage stared at the computer screen, reading the poem. For some reason he wasn't surprised. He had been getting a feeling that were two more Ronin Warriors somewhere out there. He only wished he knew who they were.

Kento stared in disbelief. And yet he had to believe it. Mia's grandfather's files were never wrong. They had always been right. But where the new Ronins? More importantly were they babes?

Ryo let out a sigh. He had tried calling Rowen's house, but the phone had kept on ringing. He had waited for the answering machine to pick up, but it never had. And for some reason, he couldn't get this terrible feeling out of his head. He clenched and then unclenched his fists again. Something was not right!

The front door downstairs suddenly opened. "Guys?!"

Ryo, Kento, Sage, Cye, and Mia all jumped. White Blaze ran down the stairs, and they followed after him. What they saw was a panicky looking Rowen, and two girls.

And one look at Rowen, and they knew. They just knew that his father had done it again.

"Rowen, are you OK?" Cye asked in concern. Rowen was shaking like a leaf. Ryo stared angrily. He hated when one of his teammates suffered. Sage frowned. His anger was different than Ryo's. He could actually feel his friend's pain. And it made him want to kill Rowen's father. Rowen was like a younger brother to him. How could his own father treat him this way?

"He did it again, didn't he?" Ryo said as calmly as he could.

Rowen sat on the couch and nodded quietly. His entire body ached, and his heart would not pounding against his chest.

Firestorm spoke up. "The bastard came at him with a shotgun too."

At this all of them turned and stared at her in shock. She was dead serious. Star stood next to her, looking worriedly at Rowen. They recognized the two girls from school, but now was not the time to discuss that.

"Rowen, I think you should stay here tonight," Ryo said firmly. Rowen didn't argue. He was too scared to go home. He simply nodded.

"Come on, Rowen," Sage said. "Let's get your wounds tended to." He helped Rowen up and guided him upstairs.

Star watched in concerned. "I hope he'll be all right."

Cye smiled warmly. "He will be. He just needs some resting. Sage'll take care of him."

Star nodded. "I'm Star Guardian. This is my friend, Firestorm."

Kento nodded in greeting.

"Yeah, we know," Ryo said. "You're in some of our classes. Firestorm's the poetic one."

"Only when school and homework are involved."

Firestorm was looking around. She whistled. "Nice place you got here," she said.

"Thank you," Mia said. "My grandfather left me this place when he died."

Firestorm bowed her head. "I'm sorry."

Mia smiled and nodded.

Star let out a sigh and glanced toward the upstairs. She hoped Rowen was OK.

Sage noticed how Rowen practically jumped everytime he cleaned a wound. The Warrior of Wisdom sighed. Going over to Rowen's house and strangling his father seemed quite pleasurable right now. He used his healing power to calm the warrior down some so he could finish tending to the wounds.

"There," he said when he was finished.

"Thanks, again, Sage," Rowen said.

Sage nodded as he put everything away. Mia was going to have to restock again. He watched as Rowen left the bathroom and headed down the stairs. Sage let out another sigh. An angry one. How he wanted to just leave and go after Mr. Hashiba! He could have dead less than twenty minutes! But no, he thought. A Ronin Warrior does not kill. He must restore. And with that in his head, he went downstairs.