The sun sat slowly that night, while the Ronin's, scattered around the house, tried to figure out what they were to do next.
    "Hey, Mia, how is she?" Cye asked Mia as she entered the kitchen.
    "She's still not awake. I had Kento take her up to her room. I figured she'd be more comfortable," Mia replied sighing.
    "So, that's where he is," Cye stated as a frown formed. Mia looked over at him and gave him a confused look.
    "I was wondering why it was so quiet in here. Usually Kento is trying to eat everything before I can cook it," Cye stated forcing a smile onto his face.  Mia
giggled a bit, but knew there was more to it, then just that.
    "Do you think she'll be all right?" Cye asked, worry in his voice.
    "Yea, she'll be all right. Kayura had to force the armor on her, so it took a lot of energy away," Mia said walking over to where he had been peeling the
same potato for the past five minuets, "Cye, what's the matter? You seem a bit more upset then the others."
    "I just don't see why it had to happen to her. She had just gotten here and now she has to fight," Cye sighed laying down the potato and peeler.
    "Cye, it is her destiny. Like being a Ronin is yours," Mia said trying to comfort the young warrior.
    "Maybe she doesn't want to fight?" Cye countered turning to face her.
    "We won't know until the time comes. Cye, I know your worried, but everything will be all right. She'll be fine," Mia responded putting a comforting hand
on his shoulder.
    "How can you be sure?" He asked looking up into her eyes, on the break of tears.
    "Cye, there is nothing I can say, or do to make the situation any better," Mia sighed.
    "I know Mia. I just wish they didn't have to involve more innocent people."
    "She's been involved ever since that armor found her. It picked her for some reason. I'm sure it chose her because she has the strength to use it. You just
have to believe on that," Mia said as she hugged him lightly and then turned to leave, "If you need me I'll be in the den," Mia looked back at him, 'I wish I
could do something to make you change your mind, but even I'm asking the same questions.'

    The sun set and rose with no problems.  The morning was bright and promising, but no one knew exactly what it was promising.
    "How do you feel?" Ryo asked Sarah as she entered the dinning room rubbing her eyes. The Ronin's were slowly picking at their breakfast, while other things
were on their minds
    "I'm still a little tired," Sarah replied sitting down at an empty chair.  They were all silent, not sure how to approach her when she finally asked, what had
been on her mind, "What exactly happened yesterday? I mean, all I remember is coming out of the house and those people kept saying that I had that lost
armor. I remember a bright light and a lot of pain, but that is it."
    "Sarah, those people were Kayura and the warlords. They have been trying to find the lost armor before this guy called Red Wing does," Sage explained.
 'Red Wing? Why do I know that name?' Sarah thought to herself.
    "That's why those soldiers attacked the other night. They knew you had the armor," Rowen continued.
    "The bright light and the pain was when Kayura forced the armor on you," Cye stated looking down at his eggs.
    "What is so important about this armor that this Red Wing wants it so bad?" Sarah asked, spooning some eggs onto the plate in front of her.
    "Kayura told us that because the armor was created from all of our armors it can control the five elements," Ryo started.
    "She also said that it could control our armors too," Kento added with a mouth full of food.
    "But that was about it," Ryo finished.
    "Well, how do I use this armor?" Sarah asked taking a bite of something that looked like sausage, but found out different and politely spit it out into a
napkin.
    "Maybe we should wait till your a little better, you said you were still tired," Cye said quickly.
    "I'll be all right. If this Red Wing is going to try for this armor again I want to at least be able to stop him on my own and not have to depend on you guys to
always be there," Sarah stated sternly, but with her eyes lowered. Cye lowered his head sadly and started picking at his food. Sarah looked up at him with concern.
    "If your serious, Sarah, when do you want to start?" Ryo asked
    "How about now?  There's no time like the present," Sarah shrugged poking at her eggs, wondering if they really were eggs.
    "Are you sure your rested enough?" Rowen asked standing up.
    "Yea," Sarah replied.
    "Ah, noo... Why don't we wait for a couple of hours. I think Rowen still needs to wake up a little," Kento suggested as he observed Cye's worried look and Rowen's yawn.
    "That is probably the best then," Sage stated standing up.
    "All right then we'll meet outside in two hours," Ryo finalized and everybody agreed. Ryo went up to check on Mia in the den, Kento grabbed some more toast and headed for the TV, Rowen went to his room to get a couple more hours of shut eye, and Sage drifted into another room to meditate. Cye and Sarah remained sitting for a little while poking at their food, silent. After a few minuets Cye finally stood up and started to collect the dishes.
    "I'll help," Sarah said gathering some dishes near her.
    "No, it's all right I've got it. You need to rest," Cye said taking the dishes from her hands.  Sarah grabbed some more and followed him into the kitchen.
    "Cye, I said I'd help," Sarah said setting the dishes in the sink. Cye didn't say a word and went to get the rest of the dishes.
     "Cye, what's wrong?" Sarah asked following him back out and grabbing the rest of the dishes before he could.
    "Nothing, why?" Cye asked taking the dishes from her and heading back into the kitchen.
    "When I said that I'd be all right you look disappointed," Sarah replied as she started to fill the sink with water.
    "I just think that you need more rest," Cye said putting some soap in the sink.
    "That's not it.  I can tell your not telling me something," Sarah said forcing him to turn around. They locked eyes for what seemed like hours, and in that time, Sarah could of sworn she could of seen something, but she wasn't sure quite what until Cye turned back to the sink.
    "You don't even like to fight do you?" Sarah asked leaning down next to him. "Do you?" Sarah asked again looking up into his eyes.
    "No." Cye said bluntly as he started to wash some dishes.
    "Then why are you a Ronin?" Sarah asked pulling his hands out of the water.
    "I really didn't have a choice." Cye said refusing to look her in the eyes.
    "And you were hoping that I would.  Is that it?" Sarah asked pulling his chin over so he would be looking at her, "Cye, I did have a choice. I could of said no to fighting and let you guys protect me, but I didn't, I wanted to fight," Sarah explained.
    "But aren't you scared?" Cye asked his eyes big and worried.
    "Of course I'm scared. I'm scared to death. I've never been in anything more then a little wrestling match with my sister, and that always ended when I sat on her
and she would scream and get us trouble." Sarah said trying to lighten the mood a bit.
    "You sat on your younger sister?" Cye asked settling down a bit.
    "I never said she was younger, she's four years older," Cye looked at her in shock. "What?! She's short and skinny. Nothing like me," Sarah replied shrugging her shoulders.
    "Buy how are you so different?" Cye asked very surprised.
    "She's adopted," Sarah answered flatly. Cye nodded his head in understanding and looked to the floor, it was covered in water.
    "Ahhh, the water!" Cye exclaimed turning on his heel to the sink.
    "Oh, I'm sorry! It's my fault," Sarah said grabbing a towel to wipe it up.
    "It's all right. We're both to blame," Cye said kneeling down on the floor next to her.
    "Oi! you got anything to.... Well, well, well. What were we doing in here?" Kento said as he waltzed into the kitchen to find the two on the floor.
    "Kento!" Cye exclaimed blushing.
    "We just spilled some water on the floor," Sarah said throwing the wet towel at his face.
    "Well, excuse me. I just came to get a snack," Kento said tossing the towel onto the counter and heading to the refrigerator.
    "You know, Cye, I'd have to say he's more of a bottomless pit. I mean, at least garbage disposals get full sometimes," Sarah giggled as Kento stuffed his
face with leftovers from the night before.

    The two hours had pasted fairly quickly.  Everyone met out in the back yard to start Sarah's training.
    "All right. How do I put this armor on?" Sarah asked looking at the cool brown crystal.
    "Why don't we just try the sub armor first. Then when your comfortable with that you can try the armor," Mia suggested looking at the others for approval.

    "I agree. You're still a little weak, the armor might be a little too much to start with," Sage added.
    "All right.  How do I put on the sub armor?" Sarah asked.
    "First you... umm..  Sage?" Ryo asked, turning to Sage who gave him a surprised looked with his one visible eye.
   "It's not that hard to explain, You just.. well,  Anoo... Rowen?" Rowen returned the bewilderment, to Sage.
    "Anoo.... Kento?" Rowen said shaking his head.
    "Cye?" Kento said turning to Cye who just shook his head.
   "Let's see, hold onto the orb and concentrate on it," Cye instructed as Sarah did as she was told, "Look for something inside it, and when you find it, concentrate all your energy on that one thing."
    "Whoa, Never realized it was so hard," Kento whispered in his ear.
    "It's not, she just needed something to get her started, I just made something up," Cye answered. The orb in Sarah's hand started to glow a light brown while a mark of the same color appeared on her forehead. The make on her forehead cleared to reveal the kanji 'honor'. A aura the same color engulfed her as wind came from nowhere and blew all her clothes off revealing the sub armor.
    "All right you did it!" Kento cheered.  Sarah open one eye cautiously and looked down at her new apparel.
    "Not bad,  the color could be better, but nothing to complain about," Sarah commented turning around trying to see all of the armor. "Now, does this do more than provide me with protection?"
    "Yeah, you can do lot's of stuff," Kento stated.
    "What do you mean?" Sarah asked, confused.
    "What Kento means is that it enhances all your physical strengths," Rowen answered.
    "You mean I can run really fast and lift really heavy stuff?" Sarah asked in mock excitement.
    "Yes, you can now run as fast as the others, though Rowen has always been able to run just a little faster," Mia said thinking.
    "Man, he can almost run that fast without the sub armor," Kento commented.
    "Exactly how fast can you run?" Sarah asked Rowen.
    "With or without the sub armor?" He asked back.
    "With."
    "Well, why don't we time you and you can see how fast I can run?" Rowen suggested, "We'll race to the cabin and back."
    "That'll take us forever," Sarah complained looking down in the direction of the lake, where the cabin was.
    "No it won't. Just try," Kento urged grinning.
    "All right," Sarah hesitantly walking over to Rowen.
    "You two ready?" Sage asked. Sarah and Rowen got into their ready positions and nodded.
    "All right. Ready, Set, GO!!!" Ryo yelled as the too took off. Sarah couldn't believe how fast she was going. Everything directly in front of her was clear, but everything to the side was just a blur. She reached the lake and just noticed Rowen heading back. Sarah decided to try and go faster. She picked up her speed going back. She broke out of the woods a minuet later followed by Rowen and rejoined the others.
    "You beat Rowen!" Kento stated surprisingly.  Sarah smiled and collapsed onto the ground.
    "You all right?" Cye asked kneeling down next to her.
    "Yeah, just...." Sarah started trying to catch her breath," I think I can finally beat my old time in the mile," Sarah said sitting up.
    "What was it?" Rowen asked interested.
    "14 minuets," Sarah stated watching all their expressions.
    "I never was a good runner," Sarah defended herself, "And I don't think I'll ever try that again."
    "All right, why don't we try something else?" Sage suggested.
    "Like what?" Sarah asked as Cye helped her to her feet.
    "Well, we can show you how to jump," Kento suggested.
    "I think I know how to jump." Sarah said mockingly.
    "Well, then jump to the top of the house." Ryo replied.  Sarah looked at him and then to the top of the house.
    "Riiight..." Sarah replied laughing nervously.
    "It's really easy, just crouch to the ground and jump." Kento said jumping to the roof.
    "Kento, I don't think she's ready to jump that high yet," Cye noticing Sarah's reaction.
    "I agree with Cye, can't we do it maybe to the second floor balcony?" Sarah asked hopefully.
    "No, problem.  Now, just do as Kento said. Crouch to the ground and push up."
     Sarah did as she was told and easily jumped to the second floor.
    "I think I'm going to like this," Sarah said looking back down at them.  Kento jumped down to her level, and helped her jump back to the ground.
    "I think that's enough for one day. You can start again tomorrow, after school," Mia said walking into the house.
    "I totally forgot about school," Sarah sighed hanging her head.
    "Well, we still have some homework to do," Rowen said banishing his sub armor.  Cye explained to Sarah the process and followed everyone into the house.
    "Oh, Sarah. We need to go into town real quick," Mia said grabbing her keys.
    "Why?" Sarah asked watching her look for her purse.
    "We have to get your uniform for tomorrow," Mia replied.
    "A uniform!?? I hate dresses. I still don't see why they wouldn't let me use a guy's uniform..." Sarah whined as they left the house.

    The rest of the week was spent going to school, and training Sarah how to fight.  It was hard since she had no prior training in her life, other then wrestling with her sister, and it was decided that sitting on Red Wing probably wouldn't work.  Sage took her to his family dojo several times and she was getting the hang of using her shinai, though she wasn't even close to fighting with it.  By that Saturday, they had accomplished quite a bit and thought she was ready.

    "I really hate having school on Saturdays," Sarah complained as they met outside after changing their clothes.
    "Don't you guys have school on Saturdays?" Rowen asked surprised.
    "Not normally. They used to have Saturday School, but that was for people that got in trouble a lot. You know like punishment," Sarah answered.
    "Using school as punishment?" Rowen looked bewildered.
    "They didn't teach anything. Whoever was there just had to sit and do something, like homework, if they had any," Sarah replied.
    "What if they didn't have any?" Cye asked.
    "Well, they were probably very bored," Sarah answered back laughing.
    "All right you guys. Let's get back to the reason were out here," Sage said getting everyone's attention.
    "Right, Sarah, we've all talked about it and we think that your ready to try your armor on," Ryo stated nodding.
    "Unless you don't feel the same way," Cye added.
    "No, I think I'm ready," Sarah said.
    "Okay! Now all you have to do is call your armor to arms," Kento said.
    "And how do I per say do I do that?" Sarah asked a bit sarcastic.
    "Well, first you say armor by it's name," Ryo said.
    "Then you say Dao Ji," Cye finished.
    "What does Dao Ji mean?"
    "It's pretty much asking the armor to come to you," Rowen explained.
    "Why don't you just watch us first," Cye suggested.
    "Sounds good to me," Sarah stated as she backed away so as not to get into their way.
    "All right. Ronin Warriors to ARMS!" Ryo yelled,

    "Armor of Strata!"
    "Armor of Halo!"
    "Armor of Torrent!"
    "Armor of Hardrock!"
    "Armor of Wildfire, Dao Ji!"

    Sarah watched closely as a black void appeared and flowered paper flew around them.  She was amazed and stunned by what was happening in front of her, and was enjoying the show when, instead of the guys armoring up she saw something else. The scene flashed again as the armor formed around the Ronins.
    All was quiet as the transformations ended. Cye placed his Yari on his back and looked to Sarah who was just standing there, her eyes wide and a single tear
fell.
    "Sarah, what's wrong?" Cye asked suddenly very worried about her.
    "Sarah?" Sage asked again walking towards her the rest following.
    "No," Sarah whispered over and over.
    "What?" Kento asked looking for the others to explain, but all her got were other confused faces. Sarah clutched her orb, her knuckles turning white. She
transformed into her sub armor, Honor flared to life on her forehead.

    "Armor of the Earth, Dao Ji!!!!"

     In a blast of cherry blossoms and flying wallpaper the armor formed around her.  Once the transformation was complete she fell to her knees and started
crying. Cye kneeled in front of her and lifted her chin.
    "Sarah, what's going on?" He asked worried about what could of happened.
    "He knew, why didn't he tell her?  She could of saved him," Sarah sobbed.
    "Who knew?" Cye asked, "Save who?"
    "My ancestor, I think... Red Wing took someone that was dear to her.  She had the armor at the time.  She could of stopped him," Sarah explained through her tears. Cye held her close and she cried into his shoulder. He looked at the others and they took the hint and went inside. They sat there for what seemed like an eternity. Their armors disappeared as the sun set behind the mountains. Cye looked back down to Sarah, she had cried herself to sleep.  Cye picked her up and carried her to her room.
    "What happened out there?" Ryo asked as Cye came back down the stairs.
    "From what I can figure, by watching us armor up a memory or something from one of her ancestor's lives surfaced," Cye explained.
    "What was the memory?" Kento asked.
    "She said that Red Wing had taken someone her ancestor had cared for and that she had the armor but didn't know it," Cye explained.
    "So she thinks that her ancestor could of saved him?" Rowen asked.
    "That and that maybe her ancestor could of stopped Red Wing," Cye guessed.
    "Then she wouldn't have to wear the armor now?" Kento said a little confused.
    "I think that's the point.  She really doesn't want to fight does she?" Rowen asked looking at Cye.
    "Not really, but she'd rather fight then to just be helpless." Cye answered, "But one thing is bothering me," Cye said thinking, "She kept saying that he knew."
    "Who knew what?" Sage asked.
    "That's just it, I don't know," Cye replied.
    "Well, I don't think we'll get any answers tonight. Why don't we turn in?  I don't want any of you to mention anything that happened today unless she starts.  Is that understood?" Mia stated sternly, everybody understood and turned in.