OBLIGATORY LEGAL DISCLAIMER : None of these guys are mine. The Sailor 
Senshi belong to DIC and Kodansha, while the Yoroiden are owned by 
Sunrise and Graz Entertainment. Okay? So don't bother suing me. I'm a 
student. 

                       RONIN SUMMER 2 : HOMECOMINGS 
            
         A Sailor Moon / Yoroiden Samurai Troopers cross-over

             by Morgan Hudson (dataraven_659@excite.com)


Part 3 : Ashes, Ashes...

	Seiji Date took a deep breath and closed his eyes. The sun
shone its light in through the open door, bathing his face with its 
warmth. He released his breath, and took another, trying to feel his 
inner calm. 

	Inner calm? He snorted softly. As if he could have any, after 
Korin was stolen from him! This was so stupid, sitting cross-legged in 
the middle of his family's dojo and trying to meditate on his armour. 
As if he could actually pull off this whole "one with the universe" 
stuff his grandfather had told him about, even though Minako was 
sitting in the ofuro and worrying about him...

	HELLO! Seiji tried not to lose his tenuous connection with the 
Sailor Senshi of Venus, even though he felt a bit like a hentai to be 
snooping like this. Focus on the water, he told himself, feel the 
water on her skin... try to relax... now stretch out a little. 

	Grandfather was standing nearby, frowning and gently tapping 
one foot as he watched his student meditate. Mother was making tea in 
the kitchen, and trying to calm her nerves. Satsuke was in her room, 
hanging an autographed picture of Minako, and Yayoi was in the 
darkroom developing film. Shuu Rei Fuan was trying not to drop a 
stack of trays at his family's Chinese Restaurant... Touma and Shin 
were in Tokyo, talking about Shin's new job and Touma's date with 
Makoto Kino... way to go Touma, Seiji thought, I always knew you liked 
her... now, stretch out a little more, he told himself. Find the 
yoroi of Korin...

**********

	Rei Hino stopped sweeping and stared blankly off into space 
for a moment. "I wonder where the yoroi of Korin is?" she asked 
nobody, and then wondered why she had said such a ridiculous thing. 
Shaking her head, she returned to her sweeping. 

**********

	Sho Fukamachi hissed as the Guyver armour formed around his 
body. Soon, KRONOS Kyoto would learn the error of attacking his 
friends. "Agito," he asked the black and red Guyver beside him, "do 
you know where the yoroi of Korin is?" 

**********

	Tenchi Masaki curled up under the tree and tried to pretend 
he couldn't hear Ayeka and Ryoko fighting again. Not only were those 
two causing more trouble lately than ever before, but Washu had been 
making noises over breakfast about wanting more "samples" from him, 
and he didn't even know where the yoroi of Korin was!

**********

	Ranma Saotome was in trouble. Mousse snarled and swiped at the 
young martial artist with a pair of steel claws. The man just wouldn't 
listen to reason, Ranma thought. After all, it was hardly HIS fault 
Shampoo had crawled into bed with him! He had been ASLEEP! And even if 
he survived this fight, Akane was going to mallet him into orbit when 
she found out... it was enough to REALLY make a guy wish he knew where 
the yoroi of Korin was... 

**********

	Rally Vincent set down the gun she had been cleaning. "Hey 
MAY!" she shouted over her shoulder, "Where's the yoroi of Korin?" 

	"The what of what?" A small blond girl poked her head into 
the room. 

	"The spare springs : I think this one's getting a little 
worn out..." Rally lifted the partially disassembled Baretta to the 
light and squinted at it.

**********

	Peter Parker clung to a wall and looked around suspiciously. 
His spider-sense was tingling... where was the yoroi of Korin? He 
blinked. WHAT was the yoroi of Korin? Why did he care? Shrugging, he 
shot a web-line and swung out into the hot New York air. A mystery for 
some other day, he figured... he had a Goblin to catch.

**********

	Ryo Sanada blinked and tried to keep his eyes open. He idly 
wondered where the yoroi of Korin was, and scowled. Probably with 
Seiji, he decided, and went back to the difficult task of staying 
awake. It wasn't that he was tired, it was just that he found 
computers mind-numbingly dull. And he REALLY wanted to keep his eyes 
open, too... Ami Mizuno made for a lovely view.

	"Are you following me at all, Ryo?" The blue-haired girl 
looked up to see her partner staring at her blankly. She calculated 
she had about two seconds before he fell asleep and banged his head on 
the desk... again. "Ryo? Pay attention!"

	"Hunh? Oh! Yeah, I'm right with you, Ami." Ryo picked up his 
book and began flipping pages at random. "Uhm... we were talking about 
variables and data types, right? There's... integers... real..." Ryo 
yawned. "Er... characters..." His voice trailed off as he rested his 
head on one hand. "Have I mentioned that you look beautiful today?"

	"Not for at least two minutes." Ami smiled shyly and blushed. 
"Get back to work, Ryo! What is the last data type?"

	"I don't KNOW, Ami!" Ryo wailed, and slammed his book shut 
hard enough to fuse the pages together. "And you know what? I DON'T 
CARE! If I ever need to know, I'll ask Touma! He's like a computer 
anyway ; except he doesn't give me error messages every time I ask 
him a question!" 

	Ami sighed in sympathy. The poor boy was trying so hard : he 
just kept getting distracted by something, that was all. And, of 
course, he was hopelessly inept. "Just try to remember CRIS, Ryo."

	"Who's Chris?"

	"No, not 'Chris'... CRIS. Character, Real, Integer, and 
String. It's an acronym, see? It will help you remember the four data 
types."

	"Kamis, you're gorgeous when you're instructing."

	Ami blushed even more furiously than before. "Ryo! Didn't you 
hear anything I just said about CRIS?"

	"Who's Chris?"

**********

	Class ended not nearly soon enough for either Ami Mizuno or 
Ryo Sanada, both of whom decided they needed very large doses of 
Asprin. As they walked to the drugstore together, Ryo offered to 
carry Ami's books. Since he was being so polite and considerate, Ami 
agreed to let him, and suggested they split the one bottle instead of 
buying two. 

	Sitting on a park bench, Ryo set their books down on the 
grass and fumbled helplessly with the bottle of medication. "Damn 
child-proof caps!" he grumbled. "Why can't I do ANYTHING right today?" 

	Ami giggled, and took the bottle from him. Of course, she 
opened it on the first try, and Ryo moaned in despair. By their 
arranged rules, Ami now got to take the first dose. She pulled out two 
of the small white tablets and grimaced. "I really hate taking these 
dry." 

	Ryo snapped his fingers and reached into his schoolbag. "Wait 
a minute... I think I have a bottle of Coke in here somewhere!" After 
several moments of searching, he retrieved the plastic bottle and 
offered it to Ami, who drank some and swallowed the pills. 

	"Your turn." Ami passed the bottle to Ryo and shuddered as 
his fingers brushed hers. Ryo noticed, and looked at the girl 
strangely. 

	"What's the matter, Ami?" After she didn't answer for a second 
or two, he nodded sagely to himself. "You've been having them too..."

	"I have NOT! Having what?" Ami asked in a way which made it 
perfectly obvious she knew exactly what he meant. Ryo smiled : she had 
always been a crappy liar, even back in the Moon Kingdom. He should 
play poker with her sometime... 

	"The dreams. The ones we kept having when the Dark One had us 
trapped in that crystal." Ryo reached over and took her hands, which 
Ami noted abstractly had begun shaking again. "The ones," he whispered 
in her ear, "where we keep doing this." 

	Ami swallowed dryly as she felt Ryo press his lips against 
her own. How very odd, she thought to herself, it wasn't at all as 
uncomfortable as she had always assumed it would be. In fact, it was 
a little... odd. She wasn't quite sure what was going on : should she 
be doing something back? Quietly, she began to wish there was some 
kind of manual or something. She really should have read up on these 
practices...

	Shut up brain, she told herself, I'd like to enjoy this in 
peace. Sighing slightly, she leaned forward into the kiss and felt Ryo 
wrap his arms around her. 

	Ryo hoped like hell he was doing this right. It certainly 
FELT right, but so far Ami hadn't really given any indication that she 
was enjoying it. If he leaned back, would she slap him? Come to think 
of it, what the hell did he do NOW? He felt kind of stupid sitting 
there with his hands still holding a damn bottle of Asprin. Maybe if 
he set it down over HERE, he could... no, that wasn't going to work. 
Ami sighed and leaned against him, and he nearly died. Throwing the 
bottle of pills over his shoulder somewhere, he put his arms around 
her. Okay Yoroiden, he told himself, mission accomplished. Now all you 
gotta do is get out of it alive... well, eventually.

**********

	Genichirou Hashiba sat at his desk and pored over the volumes 
of family histories and bloodlines his employer had arranged to be 
delivered to him. After capturing one gem and coming so close to 
getting his hands on another, he HAD to get ahold of the other three 
reputed to exist! Why, just studying the one gem alone had already put 
him light years ahead of his field : with others as proof, he could 
easily make his case for life exsting on other planets! True, his 
employer wanted one for personal use, but surely he could be convinced 
that the potential benefits for mankind would be so much better served 
in STUDYING the crystals, instead of simply USING them!

	"Hmmm..." he mumbled to himself as he tugged on his beard. "We 
can rule out any families that didn't exist at least one thousand 
years ago... and the families would have to be important, and skilled 
warriors, or they would never be entrusted with these artifacts. 
Clearly some form of alien gift, maybe given to assist them in their 
deeds? Hmmm..." Whoever had possessed one of these things would have 
become VERY powerful, if the Date boy had been anything to judge by. 
Such a person would be almost INCAPABLE of not affecting history, so 
he would start with the most legendary family names in Japan.

	For example, he had learned to his astonishment that the boy 
who had posessed the first crystal had been a direct descendant of 
Masamune Date, the legendary general known as the "One-Eyed Dragon". 
What he had to do was find other children, children descended from 
legendary ancestors. Like THIS one... 

	"Sanada..." Genichirou whispered, lifting the yellowed paper 
from his desk and holding it to the light. Amazing! The Sanada had 
been a feared clan of ninja warriors a thousand years ago, but most 
historians had assumed the clan died out long ago. Yet... Genichirou 
lifted a recent issue of National Geographic. There it was in the 
bylines : photos by K. Sanada, freelance wildlife photographer. Was it 
possible? One quick tour of the Internet later, and Genichirou had 
uncovered the son of Mr. Sanada : one Ryo Sanada, currently enrolled 
in Ha'na High School, in Tokyo. 

	It was too good a chance to avoid, he decided. "Ken! Send out 
the new, upgraded XR-71 prototypes! We're going to get another gem!"

**********

	Ami wanted to die. Since the kamis had failed to answer her 
prayers and crush her with a passing comet, she was going to have to 
say something to Ryo. 

	"Uhm... that was..."

	"Yeah." Ryo cleared his throat and rubbed his hands on his 
jeans. Desperately he prayed to the kamis for a way out of this 
awkward situation. Crushing him with a passing comet would be just 
fine right about now... "It, uhm, definitely was." 

	Turn your head, Ami told herself. Look at him! Unfortunately, 
her neck wasn't listening. Well, well, muttered her brain, look who's 
come crawling back for help... 

	Ryo started to stand, and was stopped by something. Looking 
down in confusion, he noticed he and Ami had laced their fingers 
together. When had THAT happened? "Uh... I'm kind of trying to make a 
cowardly escape, here, Ami. Mind letting go of my hand?" 

	"I'm not her." 

	"Huh?" Ryo responded intelligently. 

	"I'm not Princess Mercury." Ami released Ryo's hand and stood, 
turning her back to him. "I'm Ami Mizuno. I'm... I'm shy, and nerdy, 
and bookish... I don't wear fancy gowns or live in the Moon Kingdom... 
I'm just not the girl you're dreaming of." 

	"Huh?" Ryo responded a bit less intelligently. "Did I miss 
something, here? Are we both speaking Japanese, or did you switch to 
Swahili without telling me? I know who Ami Mizuno is. For some odd 
reason... I even seem to like her." He reached over and took back 
her hand. "I'm not Ken, either, you know. I don't serve Prince 
Endymion, I'm not the Crown Prince of Mars. That was a different life, 
and we were different people. I'm RYO SANADA, and Ryo Sanada wanted to 
kiss AMI MIZUNO. So he did. Do you hate me?"

	"No..." Ami didn't bother reclaiming her hand, and turned to 
face Ryo. "Ryo?"

	"Yes, Ami?"

	"GET DOWN!" Ami pushed Ryo, and he fell roughly to the ground 
with Ami on top as a barrage of energy blasts burned through the air 
above them. Looking around frantically, Ryo managed to pick out his 
attackers pretty easily : they were the four big metal things that 
looked like they had stepped out of a bad science fiction movie, he'd 
wager. In his year of experience fighting evil he had learned that 
anything that big and menacing was probably out to get him. 

	"What the HELL?" Ryo thought for a moment about why these 
things always happened to him, and decided he hadn't quite expressed 
his frustration properly. "WHAT... THE HELL!" 

	Ami was trying to get to some kind of cover, and eventually 
managed to crawl behind a fountain and drag Ryo after her. She looked
back at the bench they had been sitting on... where her bookbag lay, 
with a familiar blue pen peeking innocently out from the top flap. 

	"Oh... blast," she muttered. 

**********

	TOKYO! Seiji's eyes flew open. His yoroi crystal was in Tokyo! 
Smoothly, he rose to his feet and stared in confusion at the setting 
sun. It had been just barely rising when he first sat down... he 
rubbed his stomach. He was hungry : these out of body experiences 
always did that to him. He would have a late supper with his family, 
and then he and Minako were going back to Tokyo on the next train. 
Korin was waiting for him. 

	Seiji gently slid back the rice paper screen and left the 
dojo. Padding along the stone pathway through his family garden, he 
could already hear his family's voices floating through the darkening 
air. Stopping abruptly, he turned and looked over his shoulder. 

	"You can stop following me now, Minako. I'm perfectly safe." 

	A long haired blonde shadow detached itself from one of the 
trees and drifted onto the path. Smoothing her skirt self-consciously, 
Sailor Venus met his gaze evenly. "Sure you are, Seiji. But if one of 
those things attacked you while you were meditating..."

	"I can defend myself, Minako Aino. I have done so for a very 
long time." 

	"But without your armour..." Minako shrugged. "Please, Seiji. 
I... care about you. Let me protect you." 

	Seiji shrugged, and finally nodded imperceptibly. "Very well, 
Minako Aino. Shall we go inside?" 

**********

	Yayoi Date leaned over the kitchen table and sneered. 
"Fortunately," she said, as she set a stack of slightly damp photos 
on top of the wooden surface, "I have a good eye with the camera." 

	Seiji leaned back against the wall and folded his arms over 
his chest. "Why are you helping me, Yayoi?" 

	"Becuase, dear Seiji, nobody tortures my baby brother." Yayoi 
scowled visciously. "That's MY job." 

	Seiji's mother shook her head and picked up her chopsticks. 
"Darling, you really should be nicer to Seiji. He had such a rough 
childhood, after all..." 

	"She should know," Seiji spat, "she gave it to me." 

	"Why brother, it warms my heart to know how well you remember 
our little games..." Yayoi grinned and tilted her head. "We used to 
have SO much fun, before Grandfather turned you into a stick in the 
mud."

	Seiji glared at her. "You're the Devil." 

	"Why, thank you." Yayoi curtseyed and returned her attention 
to the photos. "These are the shots I have of those machines that 
attacked little Seiji." She spread them out with a practiced hand. 
"I enlarged some of the more intriguing sections..." With one 
well-manicured finger, she pointed out one of the most enlarged 
photographs. "And if you look very closely right here, you'll see 
a corporate logo. Rather amateurish of them, really..." 

	"Okay!" Seiji clapped his hands together. "It's settled then. 
Between my vision, and Yayoi's photo, we have a place to start. First 
thing in the morning, we're off to Tokyo!" 

	"Yes, we are." Seiji's mother said as she poured some tea into 
his cup, which he immediately dropped in surprise. 

	"We?" 

	"Of course. Your sister Yayoi will assist you..."

	"But she can't help me! She's stupid and evil!" Seiji 
paused and considered his words. "Mostly evil," he corrected himself.

	"And," his mother continued, ignoring him, "as this is a 
matter of family honour, your grandfather and I will also be going. 
And Satsuke has never been to Tokyo, and we're certainly not leaving 
her unattended."

	Satsuke looked up from her rice cake. "Aw, mom! I'm not a 
child! I can take care of myself : what could go wrong?"

	"That's what Seiji said when HE was twelve," said Yayoi, "and 
then he cut grandfather's bonsai tree when he was playing with the 
family katana." 

	"Seiji? Is this true?"

	Seiji gritted his teeth. "I truly hate you, Yayoi."

**********

	The first thing to go through the robot's mind was concern 
over the blast of energy it detected behind a marble fountain. The 
next thing to go through its mind was Ryo Sanada's foot. 

	Even as it fell, smoke pouring from the twisted lump of 
metal it used to call a head, Ryo was in motion. He spun his twin 
katana blades, the Rekka Ken, and dropped to one knee. A steel-plated 
arm swung over his head, and he drove the blades behind him, piercing 
its armoured stomach. 

	"Mercury!" Ami looked up as Ryo no Rekka jerked his swords 
free. "Do it now! Get that pen!" 

	Running as if her life depended on it (because, she admitted, 
it probably did), Ami bolted across the grassy lawn. A Cyberdroid 
swiped at her feet and she jumped forward, hitting the ground and 
sliding into the legs of the bench. Something in her shoulder snapped, 
and she bit back a cry of pain. Fumbling in her bookbag, she pulled 
free the blue wand and lifted it high.

	"MERCURY STAR POWER!" The temperature in the park dropped by 
at least five degrees, and a strange blue glow filled the area. Despite
himself, Ryo Sanada looked over his shoulder and saw Ami twirling in 
mid-air like a ballerina, ribbons of energy swirling around her 
glittering form. *Woah!* Ryo blinked. A steel fist impacted with the 
side of his helmet, and he started seeing even more stars than before. 
Nap time... 

	Sailor Mercury dropped to her feet and gazed icily at the 
three remaining machines. "I'm not sure who or what you are," she 
said, her breath coming out in puffs of fog, "but on behalf of 
the Planet Mercury, I WILL PUNISH YOU!"

**********

	Genichirou Hashiba stared at the monitor. "Fascinating," He 
murmured, "the girl actually admits to being from the planet of 
Mercury! Perhaps it is she who made these crystals..."

	"No," corrected his assistant Ken, "I think that's just 
Sailor Mercury. You know, from the Sailor Senshi?"

	"The who?" Genichirou stared at Ken in confusion and then 
shrugged. "Well, no matter. Now that we know this Ryo Sanada bears one 
of our gems, we can disrupt his energy and get it from him."

	"Right, Doctor Hashiba! Beginning procedure now."

**********

	Saior Mercury lifted her hands and frowned at the three 
robots. "SHINE AQUA ILLUSION!" She cried, and a wave of water slammed 
into the group. 

	Ryo sat bolt upright. Whatever the hell that had been, it felt 
like someone had dumped a bucket of ice cubes on him. "Brrrr! THAT 
sure wakes you up in the morning!" Looking around, he quickly grabbed 
the swords he had dropped. He shivered. If there was one thing he had 
learned, it was that his yoroi did NOT like the cold... 

	"Ryo! How could you let that robot get the drop on you?"

	"Uh..." Ryo rubbed the back of his helmet. "I kind of got 
distracted by... something." His face was nearly as red as his armour, 
by now. 

	"Well, this is no time for distractions!" With a touch, 
Ami's ice blue visor slid into place over her eyes. "Those machines 
aren't staying down for long. In fact, there seems to be some kind  
of energy build up... there's something oddly familiar about that 
signature..."

	Ryo screamed in anguish and fell to his knees, armour flaring 
into a ball of red energy as it flickered in and out of existence 
around his body. Clutching his head, he doubled over and began 
screeching in an unearthly tone. Being a rather bright girl, Ami 
didn't take too long to make the right connections and realise what 
was going on. 

	"MERCURY BUBBLES... BLAST!" A thick white fog quickly rose 
up, and Sailor Mercury took advantage of it to sling Ryo's one arm 
over her shoulders and lift him to his feet.

	Rule number one of the Sailor Senshi : Running is ALWAYS a 
valid alternative to dying.

**********

	The woods were dark and deep, but Ryo insisted he knew where 
they were going. Even after getting away from whatever the robots had 
been doing to short out his armour, he looked like he might be sick. 
Somewhere along the way a large white tiger had joined them, and Ami 
recognised it as Byakuen, Ryo's pet. He seemed to be leaning on it 
and her equally for support, and she wondered if he could even 
stand without their help.

	"Ryo, what were those things?" 

	"I don't know." 

	"What did they want from us?"

	"I don't know!"

	"How did they do what they did to your yoroi?"

	"I DON'T KNOW! Just... keep running." Ryo bit his lip until it 
bled. He knew that getting into a fight with Ami wasn't going to solve 
anything. Frankly, he was hurt, and sick, and he just wanted to go 
somewhere and curl up until the bad feelings went away. Unfortunately, 
the sun had already set.

	"Ami, we have to stop. My cabin is a nine mile walk from here, 
and we'll never make it in the dark. Not in the condition I'm in. We 
just have to hope those things aren't following us too closely." 
Letting go of both Byakuen and Ami, Ryo slumped to the ground and 
leaned against a tree. His breathing was laboured, Ami noticed now, 
and he was sweating profusely. A red symbol burned on his forehead, 
and a strange mist was rising from it. She nodded and sat down next 
to him.

	"Tomorrow," he gasped, "we'll get to my cabin. If my dad is 
home, he'll help us. We can... use the phone, get in touch with the 
rest of the Yoroiden." Ami closed her eyes. Her shoulder was throbbing 
horribly, now that she had changed back, and her fingers felt numb. 
She hadn't realised how tired she really was until she sat down...

	"Yeah," Ryo continued, "tomorrow." He was going to say more 
when he realised Ami was already asleep. Looking over at the giant 
white tiger, Ryo nodded. 

	"Protect us this night, old friend. For we can no longer 
protect oursleves..." He let his head slide downward and rest on his 
chest. Alone in the forest, Ryo no Rekka and Ami Mizuno slept, and 
Byakuen lay down in front of them, his big brown eyes glinting warily. 

	In the distance, crickets chirped, and all was deceptively 
still.

TO BE CONTINUED...