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The Warriors' Sacrifice

"Gaining strength from immortal fire"
--The Ronin Warriors

by Ami

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"TOMBOY!!!"
"PERVERT!!!"
"Don't you two EVER stop fighting?!"
"NO!" they yelled, simultaneously.
The young man sighed, flicking at a stubborn lock of blue hair that insisted on falling between his eyes. It was always like this. You could set your watch by those two... he thought, heading toward his room while pulling his long blue locks into a hair tie behind his head.
Once there he took a shower and dressed for bed, stopping to listen for the sounds of fighting. Nothing... he thought. Maybe they finally agreed on something... He winced as he heard a crash, followed by an onslaught of thuds and curses. Or maybe not...
He looked out of his room in time to see a very miffed Shiro muttering Japanese curses while trying to get up from the avalanche of items thrown at him. Taro laughed, his blue locks of hair dripping water down his back. This also happened every night, right after every fight. Taro stepped back into his room, trying to stifle a few more laughs.
He grabbed a book at random and lied down in bed, taking a moment to gaze at the picture on his night table. The man in the picture was about the same height and size as Taro, as well as the same age. He wore a simple university sweater even though it was clear that he was still in high school. The faded deep blue jeans matched his blue hair and eyes.
His hair was a bit messed and he carried a pile of books under one arm and held up a deep blue orb in his other hand. Taro stared at the orb and then at his own, admiring the deep blue color. He then looked at the young man's hair and let a laugh escape him as his own lock of blue hair, one that matched the young man's in place, length and color, fell back into its usual position above his nose. It must be hereditary... he thought as he returned the picture to its place and began to read his book. He fell asleep in no time and the book slipped from the bed and onto the floor with a thud.

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What a JERK!!! she thought as she stormed into her room. He is the most stubborn, hot tempered, perverted DOLT I have ever met!!! There's no way I'll marry him!!! she thought as she changed into her pajamas, making sure to set her alarm clock. She got into bed, the events of the day catching up to her as she drifted off to sleep.
She found herself in the ruins of a city, dressed in her street clothes. The kneepads she wore holding up baggy leggings that ended just above her knee, her green tunic slightly blowing in the wind. She looked around for signs of life but only saw the crumpled buildings. What a strange dream... she thought, walking around. You'd think there'd be more--
--she turned around, instinctively taking a fighting pose toward the noise of a battle. She began to run toward the noise, trying to see who was causing it. She dove her hand into a small leather bag hooked onto her belt and retrieved a small green orb. She transformed into the thin subarmor with less thought than it took to run. She reached her destination quickly only to gasp in shock at the scene before her.
Two men were fighting each other, both wearing exquisitely decorated armors. She recognized both men immediately. The older one had pitch black hair and a tatoo going down his eye. His armor bore a red cape and was mostly a light brown. His sword had a yellow handle and gave of the appearance of absorbing the light around it.
The other, clearly younger, bore a deep green armor, the symbol of a stylized lightning bolt on it. His sword was much larger than him but he handled it with ease. He turned around, aware of her presence. When she realized this she quickly got over her shock of the scene and realized what was happening. The young man's opponent, clearly taking advantage of his enemy's moment of distraction, lunged for him, an evil grin on his face.
"EYES FRONT, IDIOT!!!" she yelled at him, seeing him turn too late. The sword slid through his armor as if it was made of paper. The man in green's eyes widened from the shock, his body crumpling to the ground. She stared in shock, unable to move as the man's eyes shut and his breathing stopped. She shook off the shock and ran to him, falling to her knees as she reached him.
She took the boy's limp body in her arms, tears streaming down her cheeks. As she sat there, staring at the boy in disbelief, a shadow crept over her. She turned to see who it belonged to, only to find that it was wrong, that the boy shouldn't have died. That he shouldn't have died since his opponent didn't exist when he was this age. She stared, eyes wide as saucers as the man spoke.
"I told you, I ALWAYS get my revenge."
She screamed.

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Taro sat straight up in bed, the blood curdling scream ringing through his ears. He looked around in his room, trying to realize what was going on. Then he realized who the scream had come from.
"...Krystal....." he whispered, jumping out of bed and tripping on the fallen book. "...dammit.." he muttered, pulling himself up from the floor. He was greeted in the hallway by two of other boys, all clueless as to what was going on. The ran down the hallway as another scream cut through the air, this one more bone chilling then the first. They ran into the bedroom and stopped short.
Shiro had gotten there before them and was holding a shaking Krystal. She had her face buried into his shoulder, trying to stop the incessant sobbing. They would have thought that she'd had a nightmare, but they all knew that she wasn't that lucky. Krystal didn't get nightmares, she got visions of things to come.
Though they usually happened during the day in pieces, flashes of light that lasted a few seconds, she occasionally got visions at night. She had once said that those at night were as clear as crystals, not showing fragments but the whole story.
Taro left the other two and walked over to the bed throwing a worried look at Shiro. He returned the look with one of worry mixed with surprise. Taro bent over and looked at the girl. Her short blond hair was wet with sweat, as was her face and clothes.
He gently touched her on the shoulder and smiled when she looked up at him, her emerald green eyes wide with fear. "Krystal?" he asked, still looking at her shaking figure. They all knew that Krystal wasn't one to scare easily and when she was the reason was always earth shattering. "Are you all right?"
"My vision..." she whispered, her voice hoarse from crying. "...was as clear as Kanji." she looked at the other two boys behind Taro, seeing their looks of concern. "They've come back to take their revenge."
"Who's come back?" Taro asked, even though he already knew the answer.
"The Dynasty...the DARK WARLORDS OF THE DYNASTY."

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Sage sat straight up in bed, gasping for breath.
"Gods no, not again..." was all he managed to say before pain filled his body and everything went black.

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AUTHOR'S NOTES

1. All right everyone, it took me a very long time to get this story done so... YOU HAD BETTER TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK OR I'LL LEAVE YOU ALL HANGING!!!!

2. I will have a background story out soon, so don't worry if you have trouble guessing who's who since you will all be enlightened by my genius...

3. I'd like to thank my good friend Sara Faith Wright for not only reminding me to finish my story but for also putting it on her page. (Thank you Sara! ^_^)....now if I could only get her to finish hers......

4. Please e-mail me about any spelling mistakes I made while typing this story but I DO HAVE A GOOD EXCUSE IF I DID! (It's kinda hard to see with a swelled up black eye....)

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