(insert disclaimer here)

A (not very) quick note: this afternoon someone emailed me and asked me (after admitting to extreme embarrassment at emailing me, but, she said, it absolutely couldn't be helped) to PLEASE update this. I rattled off a naturally, spectacularly charming reply along the lines of "I'm busy, busy, busy, the story isn't even half written, here's a fiction link to distract you."

Then, to my shock and horror, I sat down and wrote the one chapter that I couldn't possibly seem to finish in its entirety. _I_ think it's really cool. So kudos to Kit Kat Bar. Obviously bothering the hell out of me is the way to go! (Okay, she didn't bother me at all. I loved hearing that someone was agonizing or me. ME! Wahahahahaaaa...! You should all do this more often. Good for your health.)

Monkey see, Monkey do

Part I: The Long Trip Home

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I wish Hana would leave me alone sometimes.

I just...I just like happy endings.

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CHAPTER 9: Winding Down

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Mia turned the car towards home. There was something...odd about the drive. The whole atmosphere felt odd. She was almost giddy.

Rowen put in a cheerful CD, soft and pleasant, and everything turned peaceful. Even the rain.

If you want to sing out, sing out! If you want to be free, be free!

He grinned at her when she glanced his way.

Forget heroes, she thought. What good is drama anyway?

~~~~

Sage watched stoically through the car window as they pulled up to the red-painted house. Minako flounced out of the van and hopefully out of his life... at least for now. Kento watched through the dwindling rain. He glanced curiously at Sage, but Halo was not particularly interested.

With a sigh, and a few muttered complaints, Kento started to back the car out of the driveway.

Sage sat up straighter and frowned. "Kento!"

Kento looked up. As the door opened to let Minako in, a small child looked out and dashed into the rain.

"Yuli?" Kento asked in disbelief. He turned off the car and opened the door.

The last of the rain turned to drizzle and stopped. Yuli ran up, happy and excited. "Kento! Kento! What are you doing here?" The car door clicked as Sage got out.

"What am I doin-" but Yuli wasn't interested. He tugged frantically on Kento's arm.

"It was raining and raining and I got lost...until Ryo found me. You couldn't see anything. Cye was pissed as all hel...um...heck! And then Chou took us to his house, which is here (duh!), and got hot cocoa stuff. It utterly rocks! Chou has playstation. But the cocoa was good since Ryo got hit by a car!" Yuli took a breath. He looked curiously up at Kento, asking, "Um...did you get our message?"

Kento needed a moment to sift through that. What?

Coming around the van, Sage questioned softly, "Ryo got hit by a car?"

"What!" Kento roared surging towards the house.

Yuli started. "Um..."

The front door opened again and Minako came back out, faint confusion painting her pretty face. A mug of cocoa in hand, Ryo came after, blue eyes wide with surprise and interest at their arrival.

He looked devastatingly healthy.

Cye walked briskly behind them both. His face was sad and unfriendly. 

"Mina!" Yuli waved happily.

Sage asked again, looking at Ryo. "You got hit by a car?"

Ryo stopped, and flushed somewhat adorably. "Well...no..." he seemed uncertain about continuing, instead glancing cautiously back at Cye who walked past him to Kento.

"We've had a horrible day," Cye said, stopping in front of Kento. "There's a bit of a lake around Mia's car. We ran into Yuli's friend, Chou, who helpfully," here Cye frowned and paused. Something about calling Chou helpful didn't seem quite right, "helpfully invited us to use his phone. Did you get the message?"

Kento looked to Sage and shrugged. "No."

"No way. You lucky bastards," Minako murmured. "Chou's my brother." She gave them all a last once over. Perhaps her eyes lingered on Sage, but not for long. She took Ryo's mug from him and went back into the house, mystery solved. The door shut behind her with an air of finality.

"Um...should we thank them or something?" Ryo asked, watching the door apprehensively.

"No, I did," Cye said numbly. He shivered. "Let's...just go home please?" He waved Yuli towards the van and followed, pulling Ryo protectively behind him by the wrist.

Sage raised a curious eyebrow. Kento ignored him. "Cye?"

Ryo turned and managed to gesture with his one free hand that Kento should drop it and Ryo would explain later.

Kento wasn't satisfied but he reached for the door handle anyway. Sage got in on the other side.

The ride was mostly silent. Kento only broke it once, after dropping Yuli home. He cleared his throat.

"So why didn't you call?"

Ryo looked up as if suddenly remembering. "Yeah, why not?" he asked Cye.

Cye pulled the beleaguered little cell phone out of his pocket. "It died," he said simply. "Kind of stupid, huh?" he whispered.

"...Yeah," Ryo said, certain that there had been a right and a wrong answer to that. He'd probably picked the wrong one. "It's okay, Cye." He gave Cye a half-hearted pat on a weary shoulder.

There was a tiger waiting at the back door when they got home. He lunged to his feet as they arrived. The inquisitive head-butt nearly knocked Ryo over. Cye, still attached at the wrist, steadied him.

The tiger snorted and snuffled at his charge's clothing. Some hidden test was passed and the tiger trotted off into the damp night.

"Okay, 'Blaze. Uh...Bye." Ryo blinked. "He's kinda moody, isn't he?" Cye stirred from lethargy to glare at him.

"You," he declared archly, "aren't worth worrying about."

"Maybe you shouldn't then," Ryo sounded miffed.

Kento wanted to smack some sense into both of them, but he honestly hadn't the faintest what was going on.

Jeez. At least they were home, weren't they?

Sage rolled his eyes, and shooed them all into the house.

~~~~

Cale stared and the office-type building that rose above the street. Here it was. No second thoughts now.

Swallowing his traitorous nerves, Cale hefted the book bag onto his should and walked in the office, all thoughts fixed on the letter in his back pocket.

Time to start life over again, if he could.

~~~~

In the flickering darkness of Mia's house, Sean Connery, strange special effects, and Japanese subtitles played rough on the television screen. Rowen was entranced, but Mia glanced up at the opening door and Kento's entrance into the small T.V. room.

She stood quickly with relief when Ryo, Sage, and Cye followed after. Rowen who had never been really worried, stayed on the couch. To him, the heroes' return was something of a non-event.

"Bond?" Kento asked, interested.

"Yeah," Rowen replied. "Connery is the only one worth his stuff. Hey, sit down." He waved a hand at the open couch and the armchair on the other side of the room.

Mia huffed impatiently. "Oh, who cares about that! Ryo, Cye get in here. You wouldn't believe how worried we've been. What a stupid storm, making us silly." She waved them past the doorway.

Kento grinned, gave her a playful shove. "Heh, dork, you were worried?" Kento got a slap on the arm for that, soon ended as Mia leapt to engulf Ryo in a hug worthy of the earth Ronin.

She released Ryo and stopped at Cye's morose expression.

"Do you know," he sniffed, with offended horror and a pointed glance in Ryo's direction, "what he did?"

Mia glanced at Ryo questioningly. Ryo half rolled his eyes, but still blushed. "No...I don't. What did he do?" she asked in polite confusion.

So Cye poured out the whole dramatic story in heart-wrenching melodramatic detail. "I thought," he ended on a mystified plea, running a hand through his hair weakly, "that I was going to strangle him!"

Mia was the perfect audience. The two of them engaged in a brief cult of Ryo-worry where he would not worry about himself. Ryo ignored them out of irritation and some embarrassment, throwing himself into the old chair near Rowen's sprawled figure at the end of the couch.

As the drama unfolded, both onscreen and off, Rowen watched and cackled. Sage listened with veiled interested. He did not, however, manage to dredge up any concern about something over and done. Something that hadn't even happened.

He remembered the brief touch of cold fear that Yuli's excited ramblings had wakened. That was enough for him, though Ryo's idiot lack of common sense usually irritated him.

But then again the story was actually kind of...funny. He almost smiled.

Cye noticed. Noticed and stalked over to where Sage still waited just inside the door. "It isn't funny!" he insisted.

And against his better judgment, Sage looked up and favored Cye with a bright, but cautious smile. "_I_ think it is."

Cye was at a loss for words. Finally he threw up his hands. "Oh I give up!" he said. Sage allowed himself a quiet laugh.

Kento shared a knowing look with Sage before grabbing a couch cushion and tossing it to the carpet by Ryo's chair. He sprawled out on the ground, content with a job well done.

Mia was still distraught, the worry of the storm not quite faded.

"Hey, come on. It's all better now!" Rowen protested finally and leaping up to grasp Mia about her hips, he pulled her back down onto the couch.

She landed nearly on him, pushing him away indignantly with a startled cry. Cye joined her ruefully as expensive cars and impressive explosions blossomed on the screen.

"Shhh...," Kento counseled, "this is the best part!"

The room grew silent and attentive.

~~~~

"So who was he?" Kayura asked one more time, standing on the suburban street, the downtown bustle left behind.

"Who was he?" Sekhmet repeated tonelessly.

"Your 'nephew', yes." Kayura's eyes locked onto his face while he, for his part, kept his gaze elsewhere.

"I don't want to talk about it."

She was skeptical. "You don't want to talk about it," she said.

Sekhmet let out a heavy sigh. "We sound like a broken record.

Kayura frowned. "Record?"

"Yes. Nevermind. I don't want to talk about it. And," he paused, gathering his strength, "and that's that."

"Alright," Kayura agreed. He didn't believe for a second that she was actually giving up.

"So..." he said awkwardly.

"So lets go home." Turning, she raised her hand to call the gate that would briefly break the seal between the two worlds. Whatever their little field trip had been, whatever consequences it would have, it was over now. Time to go home.

End Chapter 9.

The end.

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Well, that worked out better than I'd thought it would.

I kid you not: this was conceived with three original young magic-wielding females, supernatural bad guys, and at least one romance. (sigh) Needless to say, _that_ didn't last. As such, this really is pretty directionless in parts.

AND AMAZINGLY CONTRADICTORY! Cye's cell phone (in so many ways), the time difference between Japan and England, the newscast that just fades away, and above all – Mimi! Hana!

I've admitted in the second chapter that Mimi meets the Ronins. ...Wait, I'm pledged to write in a Mary Sue? (sighs)

Huh. Go figure. 

There may be a sequel. Interested?

P.S. if that newscast bugs you unbearably, email me. I might tell all.

Maybe I'll even finish that other thing I started. Ohhh, look at Ryo's widdle fuzzy-wuzzy kitten ears!

Actually you haven't gotten to the part with the ears yet...

Melee

P.S. I didn't reply to any reviews this time. If you leave your email address, be warned that I _will_ reply. If you, however, actually WANT me to, go ahead. Or be anonymous. It's a free country, damn it all! ~__^