Yorodien Samurai Troopers:
Another Story

At Chibi Ryo's command, the five Chibi Troopers jumped off of the bed and scurried out of the room before anyone could say or do anything.

"Matte!" Nasuti cried. She dashed out of the room after them, only to find that they went missing. The hallways were completely empty and silent. Nasuti looked about from side to side in confusion. "Where did they go?"

Anubis and Naza joined her side, leaving Rajura with Byakuen. Naza sighed and said, "Did you see where they went?"

Nasuti shook her head. "No. They just... disappeared!"

"We'll go split up then," Anubis declared. Turning to Naza and Nasuti, he said to them, "You guys search the upstairs area. I'll go downstairs and check things out. Okay?"

The other two nodded. They began searching the bedrooms in the hallway as Anubis made his way to the stairs. As he started to take a step down, a dark blue blur flashed in front of his eyes. And then a green blur appeared, and before Anubis could do anything it slammed into him, sending him falling back onto the stairs. Anubis snarled as he lifted his head, and then to his surprise, he found Chibi Seiji sitting on top of his chest, smiling and giggling down at him.

"Anubis-san! What'cha doing?" Chibi Seiji asked innocently. "I--ack!"

Anubis grabbed the boy by the back of his shirt and got to his feet. Looking about, he mumbled, "I thought I saw another one--ooof!"

Anubis felt someone slam into his back, and he went head-first down the stairs with Chibi Seiji, who had slipped from his fingers and was riding on his back. They tumbled down the stairs like a slide going down a snow-covered mountain at high speed until they reached the bottom floor. Anubis crashed onto the ground chin first. Chibi Seiji was thrown off and sent flying across the room. He safely landed on one of the couches and was laughing.

"Yea! That was fun, Anubis-san! Do it again! Do it again! Hahahaha!"

Anubis cursed under his breath as he managed to get to his knees. His head was spinning a bit and he was trying to fight off the stars that were spinning around his head.

Just then, a familiar blue-haired boy landed in front of him. Bending down, Chibi Touma tilted his head and asked, "Are you okay, Anubis-san? Didn't mean to make you fall. I just wanted a piggy-back ride!"

Chibi Seiji started jumping up and down on the couch and shouting, "I want a piggy-back ride too, Anubis-san!"

"No way!" Anubis snapped. He staggered to his feet and glaring at Chibi Touma, he said sternly, "We are going to stay right here until the others find the rest of those brats! Got it?"

Chibi Touma and Chibi Seiji looked at one another before both sticking out their tongues. "You can't catch us! Nya nya!"

In pure annoyance, Anubis gathered himself and was about to punch the closest object near him, but after a few moments, he forced himself to relax. He walked over past the two boys and collapsed onto the couch, feeling a massive headache coming on. Soon Chibi Touma was over at his side and yanking on his arm.

"C'mon, Anubis-san! You can't sit out! You have to read us a story!"

"Yeah, let's go!" Chibi Seiji added cheerfully. "After storytime, we can go play!"

Anubis groaned. Somebody shoot me.

***

"Ryo! Are you in here?" Nasuti threw open the bathroom door but found it empty. Sighing, she closed it and went across the hall to open another door. Naza was on the other side of the hallway, poking his head into rooms but with no luck.

"This is ridiculous," he muttered as he entered one of the bedrooms. Bending down, he looked under the beds and growled, "I am a warrior! Not some blasted baby-sitter!"

Just then, something jumped onto his back and Naza crashed onto the ground face first. Naza heard someone giggling behind him. Lifting his head, he found Chibi Shu and Chibi Shin standing there with goofy grins on their cute faces.

"There you are," Naza whispered. "Kongo, Suiko--come here!" He lunged at them but the two boys jumped over him with great agility and landed on top of the bed.

Chibi Shu threw him a raspberry and chorused, "Ha ha ha! Can't catch us! You're too slow!"

"Why you little--!" Naza dove after the two but slid across the floor and slammed his head against the side of the door. A loud *BONK!* was heard and Naza's head slid onto the floor, slightly leaning against the door.

While he was in a daze, Chibi Shu started to make his escape past him but Chibi Shin grabbed hold of his wrist. "Hold on, I think he's hurt," said Chibi Shin, drawing his friend over towards where he was.

Chibi Shu knelt down and poked Naza with his finger. Naza was out cold with stars spinning around his head and moaning. There was a rather large bump on his forehead and it was starting to turn a very light shade of pink against his pale skin. Chibi Shu stood up with a worried look on his face. "Gee, you're right. Let's go take him downstairs so Nasuti-san can fix up, okay?"

"Yeah."

Chibi Shin nodded in agreement. He went over and pushed the door back wide open. Naza's head fell onto the floor and the two boys took a hold of each of his arms and proceeded to drag him out of the room and into the hallway.

***

"Ryo!" Nasuti called out. "Kids, where are you?" She poked her head into the room that Rajura and Byakuen were. "Any luck finding -- hey, where's Yaku?"

Rajura frowned and shook his head. "He insisted on looking for the Troopers on his own, so I let him go."

"And you didn't bother going with him?"

"He can take care of himself."

"Yes, but that was in his original body. Who knows what'll happen if--"

There was a loud crash heard from the room across the hallway. Rajura and Nasuti quickly dashed into the other room and were surprised to find Chibi Ryo trying to help Byakuen off from the ground. Behind Byakuen was a rug that looked as though it had been recently tripped on.

Chibi Ryo gazed upon the new arrivals with wide blue eyes and said, "Yaku-chan fell."

Byakuen sighed in frustration. "I'm very sorry, Nasuti. It's not easy just walking on two limbs, you know."

The young woman smiled warmly. "No problem, Byakuen. I know it's not going to be easy, but we're all here to help out. Right?"

Chibi Ryo jumped up and down happily. "Hai, hai!"

Rajura simply grunted something in reply. Byakuen managed to get to his feet once more with Nasuti and Chibi Ryo's help. He staggered a bit but regained his balance. Once doing so, he held out his hand and said to the young boy, "Let's go downstairs, Ryo-kun."

Immediately, Chibi Ryo took Byakuen's hand and the two of them made their way out of the room and downstairs. Nasuti and Rajura watched them in mute fascination. Ryo seemed to listen to Byakuen without a peep. Then again, the two of them DID grow up together somewhat, but it was a mystery how Ryo was able to figure out who Byakuen was automatically...

"Um, I wonder how the others are doing," Rajura thought aloud. "We should go downstairs. Nasuti?"

The young woman snapped back to reality. "Huh? Oh, right. I'm coming."

***

"Incredible," Kayura whispered to herself as she and Kiyemon stood in the middle of a beam of light. All around them, swirls of multi-colors flew by them like shooting stars. "So THIS is the Demon's Gate..." Turning to face the other woman, she asked, "So you were telling me that this place is like a Time Gate of sort? For both the Ningenkai and Youjakai?"

"In a way... yes," Kiyemon replied thoughtfully. Her face lacked any sign of emotion, making it difficult for Kayura to look at her. Kiyemon turned to the side and waved a hand in front of her, to display what they were seeing. "The Demon's Gate has been guarded since the beginning of time. I and two others have been its watchers. In another millennium or so, we shall be replaced by others of the Entity..."

She felt silent for a moment but continued onward. "Normally, we do not interfere within the flow of time, we just observe what goes on. However, the creature known as Arago has been a thorn at our side for many, many centuries."

"You knew Arago?" Kayura gasped.

"Yes. Long ago, he tried to take control of us, but he was not powerful enough at the time. He became persistent though, so that is why we created the Gates."

Kiyemon's eyes sparkled and suddenly, a very tall red door appeared before them. Kayura exclaimed, "That's the Gate we use to get to and from the Youjakai! You created those?"

"Many ages ago, humans and demons clashed within one plane of existence. Great wars were fought constantly between the two races so I and the others decided that they could not live together. So we separated the youjas and the humans and placed them into two worlds: the Youjakai and the Ningenkai. The Gates were formed to create a barrier between the worlds so that no one could come into the other. But as time passed, our powers over the Gates had weakened and soon the demons were able to come through. It is fortunate, though, that men like Kaos-sama were there to defend the Ningenkai."

"So how does Sachiriku fit into all of this?" Kayura asked. Although she was rather fascinated with Kiyemon's story, she wanted to quickly find a way to help out the Troopers.

"Ah, the woman, yes." Kiyemon's eyes sparkled in excitement. Suddenly, the colors that swirled around the two women ceased to exist. The beam of light which was shining down upon them disappeared as well. Kayura was shocked to soon find herself inside of an audience chamber that Arago used to have long ago. There they found two other women who looked almost exactly like Kiyemon floating in the middle of the room. It was awfully cold and Kayura felt herself shiver a bit.

Kiyemon murmured something in an unfamiliar language. The two other women turned and regarded the newcomers of their presence. "So it is the one with the shakujo," one of them spoke aloud. "A descendent of Kaos-sama."

Kiyemon nodded. "Yes. You both have seen what has happened to the Samurai Troopers."

"Indeed we have" the other woman spoke. "We shall leave you two alone. We must guard the other passages in case there are anymore uninvited souls who will try to come here." With that, the two vanished within a purple and silver haze.

Kayura grew uneasy but she allowed herself to be lead to the middle of the room. There, Kiyemon stood in front of her and said, "Sachiriku was a former warrior for Arago. This was long before you were taken into the Youjakai. She had an uncanny power over time and space itself. However, not even that power could satisfy her, so she asked Arago for more power. Arago grew enraged or possibly impatient and changed Sachiriku into a mutant. It is unknown why he did this, but afterwards she was never seen or heard from again."

Kayura nodded. "Yes... I have heard something or other about this in the past but never paid much attention to it." She lifted her gaze upward at the ceiling and said softly, "Sometimes when I would go past the dungeons, I would hear someone moaning inside. Could that have possibly been her?"

"Possibly. But right now, I must have you concentrate using the shakujo."

"Me?" Kayura fixed her eyes over at Kiyemon and asked, "Why me? I-I can't--"

"You have the strength and desire to save your friends, do you not?"

"Yes, but--"

"Good." Kiyemon turned away and a crystal ball appeared before her. "Go on, Kayura. Concentrate. Allow your true powers to awaken and focus them upon the staff. I will help you if you need it. Use the power to search for Sachiriku."

Kayura hesitated but managed to nod. "All right. Demo, what will you do in the meantime?"

"I will watch over your friends to see how they are doing." Kiyemon tapped the crystal ball with her finger. "Although I have made it so that Sachiriku cannot find them easily, they still are capable of running into trouble. I can only observe what happens. You understand that I cannot help them."

"Yes... yes I do." Placing the shakujo before her, she watched as it floated a few inches off of the ground on its own. Kayura knelt onto the floor like in a prayer and closed her eyes. Kiyemon watched as the crystal ball showed her an image of the group gathered around the living room of the Yagyu household...

"Well, it looks like everyone's here and accounted for," Nasuti declared as she surveyed the room over by the foot of the stairs. She glanced over at the grandfather clock and noticed that it was half past midnight. "I'll go upstairs and prepare the bedrooms for you all, seeing as how none of you can get home. Ara, not at this time and definitely at this state."

Nasuti turned around and proceeded to walk upstairs, leaving the rest of the group alone. She stopped for a moment to ponder her thoughts. Should I leave them alone with the kids? Have they even dealt with ortaken care of children before? Guess there's only one way to find out...

Shrugging, she continued on up the stairs. The Chibi Troopers were out of their little armors and into regular clothing (Nasuti had found some old clothes that belonged to her young cousins who were around the Troopers' age). Chibi Ryo was sitting on the floor, resting his head against Byakuen, who was sitting up against the wall over by the window. Chibi Touma and Chibi Seiji were running circles around Anubis' legs, chasing on another and laughing aloud. Anubis was simply standing there, with his arms folded across his chest and wearing a rather cross look on his face.

Rajura was sitting on the couch trying to swat Chibi Shu away as the child kept yanking on his shoulder-length curly white hair. Naza was lying on one of the other couches with his arm draped over his forehead, groaning. Chibi Shin was sitting on top of his chest and poking him with one finger.

"Stop it," he muttered.

Chibi Shin giggled and continued poking him until he sneezed and his hand smashed against Naza's forehead.

"Ouch! Hey, stop it!" Naza snarled as he lifted his arm away from his face.

Chibi Shin cried and fell back in surprise. He sat up and stared at Naza with big, round, blue eyes. The man wore a angry look on his face, his eyes glaring knives at the boy. "Naza-san... I-I'm sorry..." Chibi Shin sniffled. His eyes began to water and his bottom lip was trembling. "I didn't mean... mean to make you mad at me..."

He then started to cry, fresh tears streaming down his cute little cheeks. Naza winced at this; he never had to deal with children in his lifetime and hoping he never did... until the right time came, of course. But in the meantime, this was not the right time. Sitting up, Naza reached over and timidly patted Chibi Shin on top of his head, not really knowing what to do.

"Hey, please shut up!" he said with a light chuckle. "Um, no, wait! I-I mean, um, ah, I didn't mean to yell at you. I--hey!"

Glancing sharply to the side, Naza found that Chibi Shu had punched him on his arm. Pointing at him, Chibi Shu shouted, "You made him cry, you big bully! He was only trying to help!"

"Yeah!"

Suddenly, Chibi Ryo, Chibi Touma, and Chibi Seiji were over by the couch alongside their friend with their hands on their hips. Naza's face was stricken paler than usual. Chibi Shin was still crying over by his knees, occasionally hiccuping as well.

"Uh-oh," Anubis muttered under his breath, feeling sorry for Naza but relieved that it wasn't him that the Chibi Troopers were dealing with.

Nasuti quickly rushed back downstairs, hearing the commotion, and quickly shouted, "Kids! Who wants ice cream?"

The four Chibi Troopers turned around while jumping up and down in excitement, screamed, "Me! Me! Me!"

Sighing in relief, Nasuti smiled and motioned them over. "Why don't we go into the kitchen and see what I have, okay?"

"YEA!"

The young woman gave the others a weary glance before allowing the Chibi Troopers to lead her into the kitchen. Now this left the men with the responsibilities of taking care of Chibi Shin.

Nobody made a move.

Naza looked very uncomfortable watching the little boy cry continuously. Byakuen realized he had to do something and he slowly got to his feet. He reached out with a hand to steady himself using the wall. He then carefully made his way over to the couch where Naza and Chibi Shin were -- only to fall flat on his face.

"Shimatta," Anubis grumbled as he ran his hand through his blue hair. "Looks like it's up to us, since Byakuen can't even walk five feet without tripping over something. Rajura?"

Rajura winced but nodded in response. The two of them went over and knelt in front of the couch. Each of them took a deep breath before deciding on what to do.

Moments later, they started making silly faces at Chibi Shin. Anubis took his fingers to open his mouth and wiggle his tongue while his eyes went in all different directions. Rajura wiggled his hands from his ears and went, "Boogie, boogie, boogie!"

Chibi Shin had stopped crying and was squealed in delight. He even started clapping for their humorous performance. A hiccup escaped from his mouth as he laughed but he didn't seem to notice. Anubis and Rajura continued tothe boy with funny faces while Naza there looking frustrated. Byakuen yelped as managed to get to his feet, only to fall down once again.

"Hahaha! You guys are funny!" Chibi Shin shouted happily. "You're not mean, are you?"

Naza realized that the young boy was trying to provoke him. He decided to give it one more try. "Sui--I mean, Shin. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you," he told Shin in a kind, gentle voice which was relatively new to him. "I was just in pain. I really didn't mean it. I--" Naza shuddered. "Really like you. Do you forgive me?"

Chibi Shin bit his lip as if he was thinking about it. Finally, he turned to Naza and nodded. "Hai, I forgive you, Naza-san. Sorry for bugging you."

The green-haired man patted the boy on top of his head once more and said, "That's all right. You want some of that 'eyes cream' Nasuti has?"

"Hai!" Chibi Shin scrambled off of him and rushed out of the room to find the others.

After he had left, Anubis and Rajura stood up and started making choking and gagging sounds. Naza then groaned and thought, I can't believe I said I liked him!

Byakuen asked, "What's the matt--agh!" He fell flat onto his back.

Naza swung his legs off of the couch and rubbed his forehead. Anubis growled, "I have never been so humiliated in nearly all of my life!"

"We acted like total idiots in front of Suiko!" Rajura added in an angry tone. "I just hope nobody else saw us..."

"Hmph! At least he shut up, right?" Naza inquired as he stood up. "Shall we give Nasuti some assistance in the kitchen?"

The other two Masho nodded. Anubis wondered aloud, "What is this 'eyes-cream' stuff that the Troopers were excited about anyway?"

"It is an animal?" Rajura shrugged at his suggestion.

"Or perhaps poison?" Naza playfully put in.

As they continued to discuss this, Byakuen was on his knees, holding onto one of the couches' arms. "Um, hello? Guys?" he called out. "Hey! Where did everybody go...?"

Byakuen's voice seemed to echo throughout the living room, and he groaned in defeat.

***

A group of shadows were slowly approaching the beautiful mansion. The full moon revealed the shadows creatures easily. However, there was nobody else around and the ones they seek were lurking inside.

"Ah, I sense them," the head Shadowling spoke. "Five of the nine armors are at that house."

"Shall we attack now? Kill?" a second voice piped.

The Shadowlings's eyes glowed fiercely. "Not yet. We wait. The other man-tiger is coming, yes."

"Oh, I see him. He is from the Youjakai, no?"

"Never mind. We must please the mistress! But first we wait. When the right time comes, attack."

***

Byakuen sighed miserably. A lock of soft, white hair fell in front of his eyes, but he blew it out of the way with one puff of his breath. He had taken a seat over by the coffee table, his head lowered and his back turned away from the window. Wonderful. Looks like I'm going to be more of a problem then of help for the others. Kayura, Kiyemon... I hope you find that Sachiriku soon. I'm not too sure if I can handle being in this form. How can Ryo and the others walk on their hind legs? It makes my upper body feels so heavy! And I look so thin! Not to mention that all of my weight and muscles have decreased vastly...

"My thoughts exactly."

Byakuen scrambled to his feet and gazed over by the window. His brown eyes widened as he discovered the window had been thrown wide open and a silhouette was kneeling at the window sill -- the voice who spoke out to him? Behind the stranger, a full moon was out. Its bright lunar glow shined through and Byakuen gasped as he could clearly see the stranger's features.

He looked almost exactly like Byakuen with the same height and build. The only difference was that he had short jet black hair, yellow eyes with black irises, and instead of wearing a white body suit, he wore a dark gray body suit with black stripes.

Byakuen regarded the stranger with caution until he frowned inward upon recognizing the man. "Masaka... it can't be..."

"Ah, yes. Hello there, 'brother'. It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"It has, hasn't it... Kokuen-Oh."

***end of Chapter Two

Chapter Three