"I think that we'll stop there for the moment," Hikari said, leaping lightly from her perch atop Teletran One's main terminal.
"Aw shucks," Bumblebee grumbled. "We didn't even get to the good parts."
"So the part where I was left for dead with my brains leaking out of my ears wasn't enough of a 'good part' for you?" Hikari asked coldly, as she nimbly hit the ground. "So sorry the story of my death isn't amusing you. Perhaps the part where I get run through with a twenty inch long serrated dagger will be more to your liking."
"Light-"
"Bee, I really don't want to hear it now. It hurts too much to think about, " Hikari muttered, running her fingers through her silver hair. "I'm going out for a while."
"Hikari, are you all right?" Prime asked.
"I don't know, Optimus. I just don't know," Hikari said, walking out of the Ark into the cool midnight air.
Grimlock watched the small figure fade into the night, then cuffed Bumblebee in the side of the head. "What in Primus' name were you thinking?"
"I didn't mean anything by it, Grimlock," Bumblebee mumbled, running internal diagnostics. "I mean, I just got caught up in the story."
Optimus stared out where the newest member of the Autobots had departed the group. "We have to remember that Light Gate and Hikari are like no other warriors we've ever known, human or Autobot," The Cybertonian leader mused, looking out into the darkness. "We may take our brotherhood for granted, but for Hikari, there may be no one who understands."
"No," Grimlock mused, gazing off into the night. "There is one other."
Kenshiro cocked his head to one side as his wristwatch began playing a soft haunting melody before he stilled it. "Yes?"
"Hey, 'Shiro? I didn't wake you, did I?" Hikari asked, concern tinting her voice.
"I don't need much sleep," Ken replied. "even with the broken arm."
"A broken arm?" Hikari exclaimed.
"Oh yes," He murmured. "I had a little 'discussion' with my hot tempered aunt. She dislocated my shoulder, I took out her knees. Fair exchange, I'd say."
"Oi vey." Hikari muttered, as the shaking of her head caused her clothing to rustle over the channel. "Can you talk for a while?"
"Of course," Ken said. "It's a little after five here, and I'm just waiting for Rikku to come down so we can spar. So, what's on your mind?"
"Ken, do you ever get the feeling... the feeling like you just don't belong?"
"Oh yes," Ken replied, staring pensively into the night. "I know I don't belong here. I belong back among my clan on the world of my birth, among assassins as cold as my heart. I belong on the world where I blackened my heart with the ashes of my first love. I belong on a world where darkness dances with shadow, indistinguishable from one another."
"But you don't belong here," Hikari said. "This isn't home."
"I didn't say that."
"But you-"
"Listen to me, Sakura," Ken said, his voice taking on an edge that said he expected his words to be taken seriously. "Home is not so much about being where you belong, as it is belonging where you are."
"I don't understand," Hikari whispered, her voice almost inaudible over the communicator.
"You're right about me not belonging to this world. Honestly, I think we've all grown and changed too much to really belong anywhere," Ken shrugged, bringing his focus back to the here and now. "but like it or not, I make this where I belong, and you'll have to as well. Rikku's here, so are you gonna be okay, kiddo?"
"I... I think so," Hikari said. "but um... can I call you?"
"Of course, Hikari," Ken said, allowing himself a rare smile. "You need me, just call. I'll make time for you."
"Thank you," Hikari said, closing the channel with a soft click.
"Problems fitting in?" Rikku asked sympathetically, carrying a two foot long ridged metal rod casually in one hand.
"We knew there would be. Ready to begin?"
Rikku stared slightly. "You're so cold, brother, sometimes you worry me."
"You know how I am," Kenshiro just shrugged, extending his hand. "My blade, please."
Rikku just shook her head, before twisting the rod at its midpoint and separating it into equal segments. "Our usual?" She said, tossing Ken one of the weapons.
"Of course," He replied, causing the weapon to hover in midair with an outstretched hand. "Power level two. Nonleathal, but you'll still have the burns later today."
"Oh, we'll see who gets burned, baby brother," Rikku grinned, lowering the power output and igniting the saber into a subdued golden glow.
"I don't know," Ken said, grasping his blade and filling the garden with a cool teal glow. "with this broken arm, you might be able to take me. But I doubt it."
"How is it the blades glow with different colors for different people?" Rikku mused, circling her brother. "I mean, the blades are always gold for me, but teal for you."
Ken made a feint as Rikku danced back out of range. "The crystals I use in the emitters not only react to the energy from the saber, but the bioenergy in the wielder as well."
"Is that why I can use this?" Rikku said, sliding under Ken's horizontal slash as she brought her own saber up in a vertical slash.
"That's part of it," Ken replied, flipping back and balancing himself on his good hand as he shot his left leg up, blocking the descent of Rikku's blade at her wrist. "There's also the fact that you've got magic within you."
Rikku lashed out with a powerful kick, propelling Ken back into the wall. "I hate my magic!" She snarled lashing out as her younger sibling rolled to his feet.
"I know," He said simply, catching her saber at the hilt and holding it calmly until her wrath subsided. "That's why you sealed it away, so it couldn't hurt you or anyone else ever again. I know the feeling. But still, that doesn't change the fact that we both have powers we'd rather not have, but we have them none the less."
"Your powers don't seep into everything you do," Rikku said, taking a step back and letting Ken reignite his saber as it flew back to his hand.
"Perhaps, but yours don't leave you with a task you can't ignore," He said bitterly, lunging forward to clash against his sister's blade once more. "Seems we both got a raw deal."
"What... what are we supposed to do now, brother?" Rikku asked, pressing hard against Ken's blade. The blue haired youth pressed the attack for a moment, then cut his weapon's power letting the elder Saotome's inertia carry her past him.
"I don't know," He mumbled quietly, leaning back to avoid a broad horizontal swipe. "I never claimed to have all the answers... just more than most. But I don't have an answer for that, my little phoenix."
"Funny," Rikku danced out of range and parried his attack.
"We've been so focused on getting home that I don't think any of us planned what
the hell we'd do if we made it home."
"We're like the dog that chases a car and then finally gets one," Ken
caught the tip of his sister's blade and twisted it downward. "This was never
really part of the plan."
"Of course it was," Rikku said, gathering a palmful of fire and slamming it into her brother's chest. "Just because we didn't foresee this didn't mean it wasn't coming."
Ken skidded back, sliding the deactivated saber into his sling as he raised a frozen hand to his chest to heal the wound. "So what do you propose we do?"
"I dunno," She murmured, warily circling opposite her brother.
"I'm so tired. I've been a warrior and a guardian for so long... I don't want to
fight anymore."
"There is always another fight, Rikku," He answered, shifting his weight
from side to side as he took the saber back into his good hand. "That's just the
way it is."
"But why does it have to be that way?" Rikku asked. "Why can't we just be normal?"
"Normal?" Ken countered, swinging the saber in a wide arc as he ignited it. "You want to be some simpering air head, giggling about clothes and obsessing over makeup?"
"Well, no," She blocked and thrust back. "but don't you want something more than this constant struggle."
"This struggle makes me feel alive," Ken whispered as he swept his siblings legs out from under her. "Not very much does these days."
Rikku tumbled back into a handspring, using her momentum to distance herself from her brother as her saber skittered in the opposite direction. "Even so, that can't be all you want from life. Don't you ever wonder what it'd be like to be normal?"
Ken warily positioned himself between his sister and her weapon. "I don't wonder about being normal, because I'm not normal. For me there is no sense in wishing for something I know will not come to pass."
"God, you're such a cold hearted little bastard!" Rikku lunged at her brother only to be forced back by his sweeping attack.
"My emotions are in check," Ken murmured. "Losing my temper would accomplish nothing."
"Argh!" Rikku rushed forward again and rolled under the second wide swing, collecting her borrowed weapon. "That's not the point!"
"You are rash. You always rush into everything with all your heart," Ken shifted to a defensive stance as Rikku blazed her saber and slashed wildly at him. He ducked under her frenzied attack and clashed his own blade in an upward block, forcing her saber from her hand with jarring force.
"AT LEAST I HAVE ONE!" Rikku screamed, throwing a wild punch. Ken took the verbal assault without response, electing to block his sister's wild swing and slam a knee hard into her stomach, doubling her over as the wind was knocked from her chest. "At least I'm not a cold hearted bastard who would rather push people away than risk hurting them!"
Ken's eyes flashed dangerously even as his body reacted, sweeping the elder Saotome's legs out from under her and punched her solidly in the chest with his good hand. The older teen coughed up blood as her sibling pressed the tip of his saber to her throat. "I grow weary of this sport. Do you yield?"
"God you are a bastard...," Rikku muttered darkly. "Since you broke some ribs with that move- and I'm none too crazy about continuing injured- I have no choice. I yield."
Ken deactivated his saber and tucked it inside his sling once more, before offering her his hand. "Don't think I have no heart, sister. It's been broken too many times for me to doubt its existence," Rikku stared dumbfounded as her brother pulled her to her feet.
"Ken-"
"It's nearly dawn, sister. We both have other places to be," With that Kenshiro took two steps back and melted away into the shadows. Rikku glared at the spot where he had been and turned and walked away.
Nabiki rolled casually off her husbands chest. "They're at it again."
"Nobody can push your buttons quite like family," Ranma replied, lacing his fingers behind his head as his wife bent at the waist to retrieve her top.
"Enjoying the view?" She teased, with a wink.
"Always," He responded sincerely. "So what are we going to do with
ourselves?"
"Well, we do have a wedding to plan and I was hoping to do something special for
Ken's birthday."
"Um, about that?" Ranma thought about how to broach the subject of his son's impending date.
"Oh, Ranma, tell me you didn't let him make some kind of plans."
"It's Ami, for mercy's sake, baby."
"Why did you let him agree to that?" Nabiki countered. "You know how he gets
this time of year."
"I do know, honey," Ranma said soothingly. "He's gonna want to be alone, same
as he always does. But he and Ami need to do this, and Ken doesn't even know
about this."
"You didn't tell him?" Ranma shook his head. "Were you going to tell me?"
"Of course I was, baby, but Ken needs this." Even as he responded he pulled
Nabiki down into his lap. "Love yas."
"Don't you 'love yas' me," Nabiki growled, playfully smacking her
husbands hands. "Do.... Do you think it's the right thing?"
"Honestly? No. I think it's about as far from right as it can get," Ranma replied. "My every reaction as a father is screaming to stop this before someone gets hurt. But I can't protect them from everything, even if I knew how."
The middle Tendo leaned back into her husband and looped her arms awkwardly around his neck in a hug. "Much as I hate to say it, whatever will be, will be. And as much as he infuriates her, Rikku will always be around to pick up the pieces," the brunette grumbled bitterly. Taking a deep breath to console herself, she looked up from where she lay sprawled in Ranma's lap. "So what are you going to do?"
"Well, we've got some down time while Kuno and the Amazons are off balance. I'll talk to mom about how long we can stay here, though I doubt she'll want us to leave," He answered closing his eyes in contemplation.
"I think I'll call Tenchi and try to arrange a visit to the shrine. The kids need a good remote way to cut loose and I can use Washuu and Rikku's help anchoring the doors."
"The armory, the lab, the sanctum, and the garden...," Ranma gave a thin smile, far more sincere than it's brevity would imply. "It feels like home."
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