Disclaimer: Ronin Warriors do not belong to me. I am only borrowing them for awhile. Please Enjoy. ^_^

Cracked Mirrors

By Indy/Chance

Email: freedom_night@hotmail.com

Kayura sat alone in the room. It was a vast chamber, dark and gloomy. There was a chair in there. A throne.

A beautiful staff lay on the floor before her. Her great-great…--well lots of greats--grandfather's staff. The Ancient's staff.

Kayura stared at it, expressionless.

Dais was in a room somewhere, practicing with nunchuka, handsome despite his eye patch.

Cale, dark, talented Cale, was out on the grounds with the wolves.

Sekhmet was in the garden probably, and he was probably smiling.

Only a year ago today…

She had been bad then. Such a bad girl.

When she was told that the Ancient was dead that day, she hadn't cared. She had forgotten the Ancient clan altogether. All she knew was Talpa, her power, and evil.

Kayura closed her eyes.

When Shuten freed her, he'd given her her ancestor's staff. He had begun calling himself Anubis; he had redeemed himself. But he'd also given her memories.

She'd loved the old man. Loved him, loved him, loved him. When she was little, he'd played with her, taught her things, named her as his heir. Then she'd been taken. Mommy and Papa had been killed, and everyone else too. Ancient was away from home. He didn't even know for a while. And little Kayura had gone away with Talpa, and become a bad, bad girl.

Kayura reached out a hand and gripped the staff.

Talpa had warriors who fought for him. Kayura was for the big stuff. She was his special little one.

The warriors had fought against the Ancient for Talpa. They were responsible for his death. If they hadn't been so mean…he wouldn't have had to die. He could have found a way to help the Ronins defeat Talpa without dying. But Talpa's warriors had been mean. They'd been bad.

Kayura was 429 this year, but her body was only 13 physically.

She was still the little girl that the Ancient had named his heir all those hundreds of years ago.

Kayura picked up the staff and stood.

She opened her eyes.

The empty throne was only that. Empty. She couldn't kill Talpa again, even if she wanted to. There had been only one death for the Demon and she hadn't even been the one to strike the final blow. Instead, she'd taken responsibility for the Nether Realm. She'd come back with the Warlords to clean the place up. From the beginning, she'd had this chamber blocked, barred, off limits. Walls and locks everywhere. Even magic to keep it closed off.

Kayura's eyes were a dark, almost violet, blue. Kayura's eyes were filled with tears.

The Ancient was dead.

He was killed.

Kayura was a bad girl.

The warriors killed him.

Bad bad bad.

Kayura looked at the Ancient's Staff.

"I'm sorry. I'll do better this time."

Kayura disappeared.

Sekhmet finished planting the tree. It was small right now, but it would get big in a few years. Things grew pretty fast in this world, if given half a chance.

A pair of slippered feet, a young girl's, stepped beside him. Sekhmet looked up at her, smiling.

"Whadda you think?" He gestured at the tree.

"It's beautiful, Naaza."

Sekhmet stopped smiling. "Why'd you call me that? You know I hate that name."

"But it was the one he gave you."

"Kayura?"

"Talpa gave you that name, Naaza. You fought for him, killed for him."

Sekhmet rocked back off his heels, sitting on the ground. He stared at the Ancient girl. "Kayura, stop it." He was upset now.

She stopped talking. She smiled gently. "Are you sorry for what you did, Naaza?"

"Don't call me that!"

"Are you?"

He flinched. He looked at the fresh turned earth around the tree. "Yes, I'm sorry for it. I hated myself for what I did for a while, too. I would do anything to take it all back. I would like forgiveness… But I know that life goes on, that there's nothing I can do. I've forgiven myself. That's what counts."

"I can give you more forgiveness. True repentance."

Sekhmet looked up, smiling as usual.

He never even screamed.

Cale laughed as the wolf pup staggered out of the koi pond, shook itself ungracefully, and scampered after its mother into the woods. The little pup had fallen into the pond as he followed his mother and littermates back towards the forest from whence they'd come. Cale sighed contentedly as the last of the wolves left him. Things were so much nicer these days.

He heard a jangling sound behind him.

"Hello, Kayura!" he greeted pleasantly. "Beautiful day, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"Why the long face?"

"I went into Talpa's throne room."

Cale turned around, shocked. "What?!"

She cocked her head to the side, blank faced. "I went into Talpa's throne room. I was thinking about the war."

Cale walked over to her, hugged her. "It's over now. We need to move on."

"I'm not done yet."

"Huh?" He looked down at her, confused.

"I'm not done yet. How did you get that scar?"

"My scar?" He unconsciously lifted a hand to touch the scar on his left eye.

"Yes. How'd you get it?"

He closed his eyes and shuddered. "Kayura . . . I don't like to talk about it…"

"Tell me."

"While I was still with Talpa…when we were conquering the Nether Realm…there was a village. We attacked at night. Killed almost everyone, channeled their souls to the moats to be turned into husk soldiers. A young boy, protecting his little sisters, in one house…he had a dagger…I sliced his throat, speared his heart. I thought he was dead… He slashed my eye, and then he died."

"Did you know his name?"

Cale swallowed. "No. I knew nothing about him."

"But the villagers knew all about you. Talpa's Warlord of Darkness. The little boy knew your name. Didn't he, Anubis?"

"That's not my name!" Cale nearly struck her in his anger.

"It was. Talpa named you that."

"Shut up, Kayura."

"I helped Naaza. I let him leave his name. He really is Sekhmet now. Would you like me to help you, Anubis?"

Cale stood before the girl, unarmored and alone. "You could do that?"

"Yes. Would you like me to?"

Grieved by his memories, Cale looked down at his feet. He closed his eyes and nodded.

Kayura smiled.

Kayura watched Dais whirling, attacking an invisible enemy, leaping away from imaginary blows. He finally noticed her and stopped. He was sweating heavily, wearing only a pair of homespun cotton pants, his hair pulled back and his eye patch in position. He was grinning as he walked over to her.

She waited until he'd taken a drink of water from the pitcher that sat on the bench. "Hey, Kay."

"Hello."

Dais frowned. "Something wrong?"

"Only a little something. I've already fixed half of it."

"Oh? What is it?"

"Did you know that there isn't a single spider web in Talpa's throne room?"

"What are you talking about?" he asked, smiling again. He sat down beside her. "You didn't go in there, did you?"

"I did."

"Okay." He leaned back against the wall and looked at her over the rim of the glass as he sipped at the water.

"There are no spider webs in there because there are no spiders. There are no spiders in there because the room is so full of his evil that nothing can survive in there for long."

"Is that why you had it closed off?"

"Yes. But I went in today."

"Oh. Why?"

"I had to think. There are some things I forgot to take care of after Talpa died. I'm doing it today."

"Mmm." Dais watched her stand up and walk three steps away.

"Cale and Sekhmet did things that they were sorry for. They hurt terribly inside because of it. I showed them how to be truly forgiven today. But you never seem to be sorry for what you did in the war. Why is that?"

Dais grinned. "I'm a master of illusions, remember? I never killed anyone, not wrongfully anyway. Once or twice in self-defense, but that was it. I merely sent those I was sent to kill into a void. I couldn't do that anymore, of course. Back then I was only able to because I knew where a spirit well was and those disappeared with Badamon. They merely stayed in the void until Talpa died. Then they came back."

"Why did you do that?"

Now he sighed. "Truthfully, I thought it crueler than just killing them. Instead, they would suffer in the void, in nothingness, for however long Talpa was around. I wasn't so nice then."

"None of us were, I suppose."

"No… but I don't have to feel guilty about anything really serious like murder because I didn't kill anyone."

"I see."

"Something really is wrong."

"Yes."

"What?"

"Did you ever meet the Ancient?"

"Yes, why?"

"Did you look into his eyes?"

"Well, no."

"So you never saw the sorrow there, you never knew how hard life was for him, how much he loved everyone, even his enemies. Like you."

"Kayura, what's this all about?"

"Talpa owned you. You were his. But the Ancient still loved you, as if you were a child in need of guidance."

"Kayura…" Suspicious now, Dais rose and stood behind the girl. He placed a hand on her shoulder "Are you alright?"

"You killed him."

Dais jerked away, stepped back. "What?"

"You killed him, Rajura."

"What? What's wrong with you?! I never wanted that name. Talpa called me that. It's not real."

"It's real, Rajura." Kayura was turning around.

"Kayura, I think something's happened to you. You must've been poisoned by Talpa's chamber."

"No. I wasn't."

"Kayura, the Staff!" Dais stared at the object, which had just appeared in Kayura's hand.

"What about it?"

"It's covered in-in…"

"Blood?"

Dais could only nod. "Kayura, what…"

"I helped Cale and Sekhmet. I'm going to help you now, Rajura."

Dais stepped back.

The water pitcher fell to the ground, shattering into a million pieces.

"Don't you want to be forgiven?" In Kayura's hand, the Staff turned into a sword.

Dais grabbed his nunchuka off the bench. "Kayura, don't do this. You don't know what you're doing."

"I do, warrior. I'm forgiving you. I'm redeeming you. As Shuten redeemed himself, as I helped Sekhmet and Cale to be redeemed."

Dais watched her carefully, analyzed the situation. He waited.

Kayura stood directly before him. She looked up into his eyes.

His heart nearly broke.

In Kayura's eyes was an unfathomable sorrow. He could see himself reflected in them and he thought of a mirror. He also saw that Kayura wasn't really there anymore. She'd cracked. She was gone, retreated into some dark void like the one he'd sent all those poor people into for years, but she wasn't coming back.

"Kayura…"

"You and Cale and Sekhmet . . . you killed the Ancient… I forgive you," she whispered. She pushed the Staff sword forward.

Dais disappeared.

Kayura sighed. "Where are you hiding, Rajura?"

"It's Dais, Kayura. My name is Dais."

"Please, let me forgive you."

"I think you're forgiving the wrong person."

"What are you talking about?" She remained expressionless.

"You should forgive yourself, Kayura."

"I don't need to be forgiven. I was a bad girl. It is my punishment to be unforgiven."

"Then why are you forgiving the rest of us?"

That seemed to halt her. She tilted her head to the side. "I don't understand."

"You do, Kayura. Come back and face it."

"No."

"Come back."

"No!" screamed Kayura. She threw the sword directly at Dais where he was hidden.

He paused to calm himself. That was close.

"I can forgive you, Kayura. That's easy. But you have to forgive yourself too."

"Shut up!"

Dais stepped up behind her. "Come back, Kayura. Don't do this. It's wrong. You don't want to do it."

"I…I can't. I won't!"

Dais grabbed her.

She fought him with a surprising strength. She threw him off. He grunted as he hit a wall. Kayura seized his nunchuka from the floor and lunged at him, shrieking. Dais's hand found a hilt. He swung up the sword to block her attack. Using her own force against her, Dais knocked Kayura back.

Kayura's head hit the bench. She sagged to floor with a moan. Dais cautiously approached her, the sword still in his hand.

"Kayura?"

She closed her eyes. A minute passed, then she looked up at him. "Dais?"

He let out his breath and knelt beside her. "Are you alright?"

She closed her eyes again, tears falling down her face. "I'm sorry. I don't want to be back." She opened her eyes again and looked up.

Dais tried to grab her hand. He wasn't fast enough.

Blood gushed from Kayura's throat. Her hand fell limp, and the shard of glass from the broken water pitcher skittered across the stone floor. Dais knew better than to try to do anything for her. She had cut through both her jugular vein and her windpipe. He knew no healing.

Kayura had died.

Dais stood up slowly. He looked at the Staff sword in his hands, the blood of his friends staining its beauty. He looked at Kayura's open eyes, mirrors of a broken mind.

"I forgive you," he said.

There was nowhere he could've heard it coming from. But he heard it nonetheless. "…thank you…"

Dais found the village nearly eight years after Kayura went berserk. It was small, only about a dozen cottages. The people seemed happy.

A family invited him to have supper with them. The father of the house, a tall man with violet black hair, was a serious person but he smiled often. His wife was a lithe young woman, her eyes a deep blue, her hair a soft green. They had three children, two little boys and a girl. Dais couldn't figure out what it was about the family that seemed so familiar.

It would be half a year, and many meals with the family, before Kusaro--the father--would mention his ancestors.

"Kayura?" exclaimed Dais. Tori came running, worried that something had happened.

"Yes," replied Kusaro calmly. "Her mother hid her son away before the attack, sensing that something was wrong. He grew up, and I am one of his descendants."

"But Kayura said she had no surviving siblings."

"My ancestor's sister was stolen away. She was most likely led to believe that no one had survived. It is a family quest to find her. She was powerful enough to survive for centuries."

Dais closed his eyes, fighting back tears. "No need to search anymore. She died a few years ago."

"Oh." Kusaro and Tori bowed their heads at this.

After a few moments, Kusaro lifted his head. "But we have others we must find. Tori's ancestors also lost people to the Demon."

"Yes, their names were Sasaki Kujuurou and Yamanouchi Naotoki." Tori smiled, projecting strength for her husband's sake."

"Impossible!" shouted Dais.

"What?!" Tori recoiled, confused.

"Those names. Those were the birth names of my friends Cale and Sekhmet."

"You know them? Where are they?" Tori leaned towards him in excitement.

Dais sighed. "They died the same day Kayura did. I'm sorry."

Tori sat back. Kusaro wrapped his arm around her shoulders comfortingly.

Dais shook his head, not in grief but disbelief. "It's amazing. You're kin to my friends? How could this be? I thought I was alone."

Saturizaka, the oldest boy, spoke up then. "No one is ever alone. That's what father's ancestor's sister used to say. And she was only a little girl then. They say she was very wise."

Kusaro smiled. "Yes. Kayura was wise."

Dais smiled sadly. "She was that. Among many other things."

Tori spoke up now. "Dais, may I ask you a favor?"

"Whatever you want," he agreed eagerly.

"Would you take our daughter?"

"What?"

"We never told you what her true name is. We only call her Kari as a pet name. She is called Kayura."

"I don't understand."

"We would like you to take her back with you, to train her, raise her as a noble warrior," said Kusaro.

Tori's blue eyes pleaded with the warlord. "She seems to have the Ancient power within her," she explained.

Dais grinned.

Just then, the little girl walked into the room. She looked around, bewildered.

"You're speaking of me," she said. She cocked her head to the side, thinking.

Dais's breath caught in his throat. Kayura used to do that. Exactly that way.

"I would like to go with you."

"You would?"

"Yes. My namesake was a warrior. She had no chance to fight according to her choice. She believed she was bad and hated herself for it. I would like to regain her honor for her, so that she may rest in peace."

Dais wept openly then.

A century later, Kayura found Dais in the training room. He was sitting beside a wooden bench, turned on its side. Broken glass was scattered across the floor, a sword and nunchuka lay nearby. Dust and cobwebs gave evidence that the room had been undisturbed for a very long time. Kayura called the man's name.

Dais did not respond.

Days later, Kayura was meditating beside Dais's bedside. The man had not spoken since she'd found him in the training room.

Kayura felt something inside herself. She identified it. A soul, not her own. No, not even a soul, but a mere shred of one.

"You. You are my namesake, aren't you?"

"Yes."

"Why are you within me?"

"I've been with you since your birth. I have a purpose in this."

"What is it?"

"I seek forgiveness. I would forgive myself but for one thing."

"And you wish me to help?"

"Yes."

"…name it."

"Save him."

"Excuse me?"

"Save Dais. He is following me into the void. I don't want him to become like me, a cracked mirror. Bring him back before he goes too far, so that I can forgive myself and leave you. Please."

Kayura gave her answer and came out of her meditation.

Two days later, Kayura helped Dais out of the castle grounds. They walked out to a small building in the forest. There was a garden on one side of the building and a tree stood at enormous height in it. There was a koi pond on the other side, paw prints dotting the mud around the water. Beneath the tree were three palm-sized stone spheres. One had wings mounted on either side of it.

"Their graves," said Dais.

Kayura smiled at him. "They lie here? Together?"

"Yes, as they would have wanted. This is where I want to be too, when I go."

She laughed. "Well, you aren't going for a long time yet, Uncle."

He grinned tiredly. "No, not for a long time yet."

As they walked away a few hours later, Kayura heard the same voice Dais had heard all those decades ago. She heard it sigh in contentment, felt it lift out and away from her, drift away into something beautiful.

Dais looked at her questioningly. "You're tilting your head in the way that means you hear something. What?"

Kayura smiled. "I hear forgiveness, Dais. No more cracked mirrors."

OWARI