It was late in the night as the stars happily glittered across the moonless sky, unaware of the saddened atmosphere of the Yagyu estate.
            “How are they doing?” Nasuti asked as she carried a tray of tea from the kitchen.  Kentarou looked over at Nasuti from the couch along one wall of the dining room where he had been gazing blankly out the window.
            “Touma, Seiji, and Shin are still out cold, but stable,” Kentarou sighed as he took the tea cup Nasuti was offering him, “Shu and Ryo have woken up, however…” Kentarou turned his head and looked back out the window.
            “I imagine it will take a while before either of them will tell us what happened out there,” Nasuti let out a deep breath over her tea trying to cool it down before she took a sip.
            “Ryo suggested something, and Shu agreed to it…” Kentarou started as he stood and walked over to the table where Nasuti sat, “Do you have a box? A small one that will lock?”
            “Yes, my grandmother’s jewelry box,” Nasuti answered curious as to what this had to do with what Ryo had suggested.
            “Please empty it and bring it here,” Nasuti looked at Kentarou, her brow furrowed in confusion.  Kentarou didn’t offer additional information and only turned to look out the window again.  Slowly Nasuti stood from her seat and walked across the dinning room to the room on the other side.  She returned shortly with a small cedar box in her hand, its wood had been sanded smoothly and a shiny polish protected the surface.  She set the box down on the table and unlocked it, opening it to the velvet lining of its interior.  Without a word Kentarou walked over to the open box, the smell of cedar wafted to his nose as he held out a handkerchief which had been wrapped around something.   Slowly he lowered the handkerchief into the box.  Letting go of a corner he allowed its contents to freely fall into the box tinkling like broken crystal.  Nasuti’s eyes went wide as she saw what he had deposited into the box, red, orange, cyan, blue, and green crystals which sparkled up at them.
            “They want the yoroi locked away so that they cannot be controlled by the demon anymore,” Kentarou explained as he took the key and locked the box, “Ryo wants you to keep it with you at all times, and no matter what they say, never let them have it.”
            “But…but how are they supposed to defeat the demon without their yoroi?” Nasuti questioned her eyes still wide in shock.
            “Ryo said that they would just have to figure that out when the time comes.  But for now, to concentrate on healing,” Kentarou pushed the box over in front of Nasuti and laid the small key on top, “They should be fine.  I’m going to go home and get some rest.  You should do the same.  Good Night Nasuti.” Nasuti watched as Kentarou left the house.  Her gaze returned to the cedar box in front of her, the most powerful objects on the earth sealed inside.
 
            Shu leaned on the banister looking down into the dining room where Kentarou and Nasuti sat talking.  He watched as they locked the five elemental yoroi away in Nasuti’s grandmother’s jewelry box.  As she closed the box Shu gave a silent farewell and apologized to Kongo for not wielding it properly.  Shu sighed as he pushed off the banister and headed for his room.  He glanced at Ryo’s door as he passed, wondering if Ryo had fallen asleep or if he was crying into his pillow with only Byakuen to comfort him. For an instant he thought about going into the room to talk to Ryo, but he knew it was better to leave him alone.  As quietly as he could, Shu opened the door to his room, entered and just as quietly closed it again.  He stood there for a moment, just inside the room, looking at his own empty disheveled bed.  Slowly as if he was fighting with his head to keep it from turning, Shu looked over at the other bed that occupied the room.  Shin lay silently under the light blue blankets.  Shu thought it looked as if he was strapped down under the covers, unable to move.  Shu suddenly found himself next to Shin’s bed.  He folded the top of the blanket so that Shin’s shoulders could be seen.  Shu lifted the blanket slightly and reached under it, pulling Shin’s one arm free of the imaginary restraints.  Shu smoothed out the wrinkles in the blankets and laid Shin’s arm so that his hand rested on his chest.  Satisfied, Shu laid down in his own bed.  He rolled to his left side.  He could see Shin’s peaceful face looking up into an abyss.  Now, rather than looking bound, Shu thought he looked dead.  Standing up, Shu placed his pillow at the other end of the bed and readjusted his covers.  Shu lay, facing the wall unable to sleep, his mind wandering back to the lost battle and his failed attack.
            A thin sliver of light fell across Shu’s face, cutting its way into his sleep.  Shu wasn’t sure when it was that he fell asleep, but wished he had had just a little more sleep.  The previous days events slowly made their way back and Shu found he could not go back to sleep.  Sitting up, Shu glanced over at Shin’s bed expecting him to look the same as he did the previous night.  Shin’s bed, however, was now empty and neatly made.  Confused Shu stood up letting the blankets just fall to the floor.  He rubbed his eyes and made his way out of the room.  The faint sound of a hiss from a rice cooker and the clinking of plates could be heard as he made his way to the railing that overlooked the dining room below.  An image of the night before flashed through Shu’s mind as he looked into the brightly lit room.
            “Oi! Shu, it’s about time you got up,” Shin called up to him, “Lunch is about ready.” It took a moment for Shu’s eyes to focus on the room below him and for his mind to process what was being said to him.  It was like a freight train had just crashed as Shu realized where he was.  He leapt down the stairs taking them two and three at the time almost crashing at the bottom.
            “Shin…Why? Shouldn’t you be in bed?” Shu stuttered.
            “I feel perfectly fine.  I even took a nice long shower this morning,” Shin replied as he headed into the kitchen.
            “But… what about the water?” Shu questioned as he followed him.
            “What about it?”
            “You couldn’t bath before yesterday… or… or was I just imagining it all…” Shu mumbled sitting down at the kitchen table.
            “No, you aren’t imagining things,” Shin sighed as he sat down across from Shu, “I don’t know why it is that I was able to take a shower, but it seems that Touma and Seiji are free of their ailments as well.”
            “Are you sure?” Shu asked looking up at Shin his eyes wide.
            “Touma was up bright and early, so early Nasuti thought that something horrible must have been wrong.  He’s been out on a run since breakfast.  Seiji’s been sitting out in the sun all morning meditating,” Shin explained.
            “But why?” Shu repeated as he laid his forehead into his hands.
            “My theory,” Touma announced as he walked into the kitchen, toweling his wet hair, “is that he showed us how powerful he is.  He can control our yoroi.  There’s no reason to bother playing with us like he was.  Now’s he’s just got to force us to wear our yoroi so he can play with us some more.”
            “He got bored then, huh?” Shu looked up at Touma worry evident in his eyes.
            “Shu, don’t worry so much.  We’re all okay now.  We’ll figure it out!” Shin chirped standing up to attend to the rest of Lunch, “Come on, help me get the rest of this out to the table.”
            “Great, I’m starving!” Touma proclaimed as he followed the fish Shin was carrying out to the dinning room.  Shu sighed as he stood, grabbing a couple bowls of miso soup as he made his way out of the kitchen.  The table was silent through most of the meal.  Shin had been able to convince Ryo to come from his room to eat, and even Nasuti had invited Kentarou, but still no one could find anything to say.  When it seemed that they were all done eating, Nasuti finally spoke up,
            “I still have one question. You three said you saw your armors leaving when you saw those embers.  Yet you were able to armor up yesterday.”
            “We thought we saw our armors leaving us,” Seiji replied laying his chopsticks neatly horizontally on his empty bowl of miso, “What we saw was our control of the yoroi leaving us, not the yoroi themselves.”
            “But how did you figure that out?” Nasuti questioned.
            “When Sakamoto-san told us of Shu and Ryo’s plan we tried to sense Rekka and Kongo,” Touma explained, “I guess it was out of instinct rather than an active thought.”
            “When we found them, we realized that the yoroi didn’t leave us at all, so we armored up and went to help,” Seiji finished crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair.
            “But do you have any idea what you are going to do now?” Kentarou asked, voicing the question they were all asking themselves.
            “The only thing we can do is to sit and wait,” Ryo whispered softly, “Without our yoroi we aren’t strong enough to fight, yet even with our yoroi we are defenseless against that demon.”
            “Maybe if we can figure out who the demon is, we’ll be able to figure out how to defeat him,” Shin suggested resting his chin on his folded hands, elbows resting on the table.
            “How are we supposed to do that? It’s not like he announced his name to us like the Masho did,” Touma pointed out as he stacked his empty dishes.  Nasuti stood and began collecting the dishes as they discussed the issue,
            “Isn’t there a way to contact Kayura or the Masho?”
            “I’ve been trying all morning,” Seiji announced flipping the shorter stands of his long hair out of his face, “Something is blocking any communication between the Ningenkai and the Youjakai.”
            “The demon,” Touma suggested.  Seiji nodded assuming the same.
            “Then we have nothing to go on,” Shin sighed as he started to collect some dishes to help Nasuti.
            “There is something,” Everyone looked to see who had uttered the phrase; it seemed as if they had forgotten that Shu was even in the room still.
            “What do you mean?” Ryo asked eyeing his friend.
            “Don’t you remember Ryo? When he first appeared.  He said something that was extremely odd,” Shu looked up at Ryo, but Ryo could only give him a confused look.
            “What did he say Shu?” Seiji asked sitting up, his interest peaked.
            “He said that I was of no concern to him,” Shu informed them his eyes remained downcast as he spoke, “When Ryo asked him what he wanted, he said that he wished nothing more than to see his dead body hanging in the wind.  Then again, he warned me that if I was foolish enough to fight with you, then I would die too.”  A deadened silence hung around the room as Shu spoke, no one was quite sure what to make of this news, but they knew one thing was for sure,
            “That would mean he isn’t fighting us because of the yoroi,” Touma stated his eyes widening, “which means he was only playing with us.  If he does intend to kill us, he’s going to do so while having fun.”
            “That’s horrible,” Kentarou whispered in shock, “But why would he single out just four of you?”
            “Maybe it was just a random choice,” Shin suggested, “Or maybe it had to do with the elemental connection to the yoroi, like maybe he’s weaker again Kongo or something.”
            “No, Shin, he’s just as in control of Kongo as he is the others.  The fact that I was not able to control my attack and injured you all is proof enough of that,” Shu practically growled.
            “Either way, it’s something to go on,” Nasuti cleared her throat attempting to bring the attention away from Shu, “Touma, Seiji, let’s go upstairs and start looking through some books, and such.  Maybe we’ll find something.”
            “Is there anything we can do?” Ryo asked standing up, “I really couldn’t stand just sitting around anymore.”
            “Shin, take Ryo and Shu into Tokyo.  Go to the library and start looking things up.” Nasuti instructed.
            “What are we looking up?” Shin asked as he grabbed the keys to the jeep, which lay on the fireplace mantle.
            “Anything that you can think of.  Elements, armors, demons...  Whatever you can think of, look it up.”  Shin, Shu, and Ryo nodded as they headed out of the house.  Kentarou stayed for a while and helped out Seiji and Touma in their search of Nasuti’s resources before he had to return to Tokyo himself.  Nasuti and the Troopers spent the better part of the next few weeks looking through all the books they could come across, but with no luck.  They couldn’t find anything that would help them with the demon.
            After almost a month they were no nearer to a solution then before.  Having looked up every possible book in the library in Tokyo, Shin, Shu and Ryo stayed dormant in Nasuti’s house.  Even Seiji and Touma were finding themselves with nothing left to look up or do as Nasuti attempted to organize what information they gave her.  With the idleness in the air, the five troopers found themselves thinking of the worse, and finding themselves in deep depressive states.  Nasuti kept her word to Kentarou and kept the cedar jewelry box by her side at all times, not even trusting them to stay out of her room, she carried it with her never letting it leave her sight.
            Though they were helpless against the demon, he did not attempt another attack.  This of course worried the troopers even more so.  Not knowing when they needed to be ready, not knowing if they even had a chance against him, not even knowing why he sought to destroy them as he did.  The five Samurai Troopers found themselves isolating themselves, trying everything to keep horrid thoughts from entering their minds, knowing that at some point one of them was going to snap, they just didn’t know who and when.
            Shu had locked himself in the small one room basement that existed under the balcony of the main floor of the house.  Nasuti had renovated it so that they would have a room to work out in, life weights and such.  Shu did only that.  Lifting weights endlessly forcing himself to become stronger so that the day when he’d have to prove himself again, he would not fail his friends.  Taking a short break, Shu sat upon one of the many benches wiping his sweat off with a clean towel when something in Shu gave him a weird feeling that he couldn’t shrug off.  Lying back down on the bench, Shu once again began to lift the weights.  Time passed and the weird feeling he had never left him.  Not being able to concentrate Shu gave up his weights and headed into the house.  He entered via the back door near the kitchen, noticed Touma and Seiji in the living room staring at the walls and headed for the stairs and the bath.  Suddenly Shu felt it; he realized what that horrible feeling had been.  At the same moment, Seiji and Touma had appeared from the Living room and Ryo had bounded down the stairs.  The four looked at each other and then out the windows on the other side of the dinning room toward the lake.  They could no longer sense Shin.