The roof of the hospital was designated as the smoking area for the building.  Wooden benches were bolted to the ground with cement ash trays sitting beside them.  The area was fenced in by a seven foot tall chain link so as not to take away from the views of the city around.  The sun was still in the sky, and the air was still warm when Shu found himself walking through the door and out into the light.  Surprisingly no one was smoking at this time and Shu found that he had the place to himself.  He sat down on one of the benches and leaned against the fence, looking up into the partially cloudy sky.
      “Shin, why are you questioning your virtue?” Shu asked as he followed the path of a bird into the horizon, “We all know our virtues, we discovered their power in Africa, what is there to question?” Shu clenched his fists and punched the seat next to him with his right hand creating a dent in the soft wood.  “I know what Justice is, damn it!” Shu turned his head and looked over his shoulder through the fencing at the street below.  People of all ages and cultures walked the terrain of the city day in and day out.  This day was no different.  They were like small animals being watched on a nature show on television.  Unaware that they were being watched at all, going about their business.
 
      “Lei Fuan-chan.  This is a great responsibility that I am giving you.  You must not use it rashly,” An older man with snow white hair kneeled down before a young boy, their equal blue eyes looked into each other, “Kongo will give you great strength, so you must gain the power to use it.”
      “I will Grandfather.  I promise.”
 
      My god, how did I forget this? A promise I made to him, to Grandfather.  He told me, that day in the museum.  I needed power to wield Kongo.  Not strength, but power.  I don’t have that power, I never did.
 
      “We’ll be friends forever right? Comrades till the end?” Shu asked his eyes bright with victory.
      “As long as another evil doesn’t destroy us,” Ryo laughed tossed the glowing jewel of life into the air and then tossing it to Jun.
      “As long as these yoroi and the kikkotei exist, the world will be safe,” Seiji stated coolly as he lightly laid his arm on Nasuti’s shoulders.
 
      That was only the beginning.  We thought that our yoroi plus the kikkotei were all powerful.  That nothing could defeat us.  I was shown this fact by Arago and Rajura.  I still didn’t learn what they were telling me.  We used strength not power to fight.  Even in the battle against the black kikkotei we relied too much on the strength of our hearts rather than the power that they yielded.
 
      “It’s my Justice.  That’s all it is, isn’t it? Nothing more than my own opinion,” Shu sighed as he continued to watch the people below, “But It’s not like I can go down there and ask every one of them what their justice is.  That’s just not logical.  What could ‘GI’ mean then.  What kind of power does it really have? What is this power of Justice?”
      With a grunt, Shu pulled him self away from the fence and stood up.  He followed the links of metal to the top, a small portion was turned inward to prevent people from climbing the fence.  With a firm jump, Shu grabbed onto the edge, the barbed wire cutting into his hands, and using one of the sturdy poles, he kicked himself over, crashing against the other side.  He turned to face the city before him, his fingers clinging to the links, his only source of safety.
      “I’m not the type to just sit and think about it.  I’m not exactly the patient kind,” Shu chuckled as a smirk crossed his lips, “If I am ever supposed to find out the truth of ‘GI’, I will force it to show itself to me.”  With a deep breath, Shu shoved his hands deep into his pockets and quietly fell forward.
 
      “Nasuti, calm down,” Seiji stated soothingly as he talked on the old cream phone that hung in the waiting room, “Are you sure? Okay, we’re on our way.” Seiji hung up the phone and looked toward the table where Ryo still sat.
      “Was that Nasuti?” Sayako asked as she walked into the room with four drinks in her arms, “Did Michio go to sleep okay?”
      “Seiji, what happened?” Ryo asked ignoring Sayako’s questions.
      “Nasuti just got home, Michio is doing fine, she had just laid him down,” Seiji stated easing Sayako’s tension at Ryo’s reaction, “With the urgency last night and all, Nasuti didn’t think about keeping the box containing our yoroi orbs with her.  She said she didn’t know why, but she decided to check it, just to be safe.  Kongo is missing.”
      “Seiji! Ryo!” Touma exclaimed running through the door, crashing into Sayako making her drop the drinks all over the floor.
      “Touma, Nasuti…” Ryo began but Touma continued,
      “I was looking for Shu.  I went up to the roof,” Touma gasped for breath, obvious he had taken the stairs to get to them, “I saw him standing on the ledge, on the other side of the fencing.  I called out to him, but he just smirked and… let go…”
      “HE WHAT!?” Ryo jumped from his seat, knocking his chair to the floor.
      “I ran to the fence, but by the time I got there I couldn’t find him.”
      “Damn,” Seiji hissed as he pulled his hair back to the nape of his neck securing it with a rubber band.
      “MOURI-SAN!!!” a young nurse skidded into the room, sloshing onto the wet carpet, “Mouri-san, your brother.  He’s gone!”
      “GONE!?” Sayako exclaimed her brown eyes wide.
      “I saw your other friend,” the nurse stated looking around the room at the others, “he was in the room and then when I looked back they were both gone.”
      “Come, we’re going to Nasuti’s,” Seiji stated as he wrapped his arm around Sayako leading her out of the room.
      “Seiji?” Touma questioned.
      “We’ll explain on the way,” Seiji stated as he led Sayako toward the elevators.
 
      The sun had just dipped below the horizon when the four of them had arrived back at Nasuti’s house.  As the cab driver pulled away, Nasuti emerged from the house, her eyes red from tears, “I tried to catch you at the hospital,” She sniffed, “Just after I hung up with you, Suiko disappeared as well!”
      “As did Shin,” Touma stated solemnly leading the dazed Sayako into the house.
      “Nasuti, let’s get Sayako settled with Michio, a lot has happened, I’ll fill you in,” Seiji gestured as he led Nasuti back into the house.
      “Nasuti, did you leave the box open?” Ryo asked as he saw the box sitting on the table.
      “No! Well, not while I was tending to Michio that is,” Nasuti hesitated, “I was looking at the yoroi, and Suiko just disappeared.  There was a flash of light and it was gone.” Ryo nodded as Touma and Seiji returned from helping Sayako into Nasuti’s room.  They stood in silence unsure of what to say, think, or do.  Suddenly a bright light lit up the horizon, and they turned toward the lake. “That’s it.  That was the light I saw when Suiko disappeared.”
      “That’s the same light I saw after Shu disappeared as well,” Touma whispered.
      “Ryo, Touma, go check it out.  I’ll stay here,” Seiji replied as he kept his eyes on the lake in the distance.  Ryo and Touma nodded and ran out of the house.
      They exited the house, and took a sharp turn around the corner and toward the forest that surrounded the area.  As the trees became thicker and thicker, a black and white shadow appeared just before them, stopping in their path.  Ryo and Touma stopped and looked at the brown eyed tiger before them. Quickly they mounted the tiger and it took off toward the lake, the trees of the forest seemed to jump out of the way of the powerful beast.  Byakuen stopped as they cleared the woods, Ryo and Touma slid from the tiger’s back. Byakuen sat on his haunches and watched as his charges made their way toward the dock.
      Everything in the area was soaked through as if a downpour had appeared on just this small area of the land, but no rain clouds were in the sky.  Ryo and Touma tread across the wet slippery grass carefully as they approached the figure that sat on the end of the dock.   The dark shadow didn’t seem to have a certain form, but it sat still as if were stone.
      “Shu?” Touma questioned as they stopped at the edge of the dock, their feet remained on the muddy earth.
      “Don’t worry,” Shu’s voice replied as though it were caught in a deep cave echoing against the rocky walls, “We’re fine.  We’ll see you again soon.” Ryo took a step forward, but Touma stopped him, as far as the Shu like shadow was concerned there was not going to be discussion. Touma grabbed Ryo’s arm and pulled him toward the cabin, locking the door behind them.
      “What’s going on?!” Ryo demanded as he stood by the window watching the shadowy Shu sit on the dock.
      “I don’t know,” Touma replied curtly as he picked up the phone and dialed the house, “Seiji,”
      “Touma!” Ryo exclaimed as he tried to pry the locked door open, fumbling with the lock.  Touma followed Ryo onto the porch and watched as the shadow stood up.
      “Seiji, I don’t know how to explain it. Some sort of shadow of Shu is here… and,” Touma trailed off as Ryo pointed off into the distance.  Standing on the surface of the lake was another similar shadow, only it seemed to be made of liquid, varying shades of blues and greens swirled within the figure. In one step the second shadow had arrived next to the one on the dock.
      “Thank you for waiting on me,” The second shadowed gurgled as if he was speaking from under the water.
      “I’m still not sure what’s happening,” the first shadowed echoed but was cut off by the first.
      “We can’t talk here, we have to go.”
      “Right.” Ryo and Touma watched as the first shadow seemed to crumble into dust and the second splashed into a puddle that trickled through the boards of the dock and back into the lake.
     
      A shout on the other end of the phone brought Touma back from the sight before him.  Ryo could hear Seiji’s shouts of urgency as Touma threw the phone back into the cabin, not even bothering to turn it off.  He ran from the porch to where Byakuen still sat waiting.  Ryo followed him, and they both once again mounted the tiger as it took off up the side of the mountain.  The trees once again bent out of the way so the tiger could safely carry its charges to the house where their friend was in danger.
      As they emerged from the trees into the clearing behind the house, Ryo and Touma were horrified at the scene before them.  In the middle of the clearing stood the demon, in the same black clothing, his gray stretched skin seemed even darker and more wrinkled in the dying light of day.  Seiji stood on the other side of the demon, an old sword that he had grabbed from Nasuti’s collection brandished before him.
      “Seiji, the yoroi!” Ryo exclaimed as he jumped from Byakuen’s back and took a fighting stance.
      “They’re gone, disappeared just after I hung up with you,” Seiji growled, glaring at the demon.
      “Two of your allies are no longer here,” The demon laughed, his yellow eyes narrowing to slits, “gone, not able to deal with their lack of power.”
      “You’re lying! You don’t know where they are anymore than we do!” Ryo exclaimed as Byakuen walked before his charges in an attempt to protect them.
      “Does it even matter? They are no longer here, and you don’t even have your precious armors, not that they did you any good last time,” The demon cooed turning toward the warrior of fire.  “Now you will get the deaths you and your ancestors deserved!” the demon lifted his bony gray hand and held it with its palm toward Ryo.  Suddenly, as if the wind itself had turned solid a force picked Ryo up and threw him against a large tree.  The force that had thrown him remained, holding him against the tree by the neck.  Ryo scratched at the force, gasping for breath.  Seiji roared in anger, his blue eyes cold as ice as he attacked with the ancient sword. With another wave of the demons hand Seiji was thrown back, sliding on the damp grass.
      “NO!!” Nasuti cried as she ran toward Seiji, tears running down her face.
      “Out of my way wench!” The demon growled throwing Nasuti through the wall of windows and into the dining room, “This is not your fight!” With another wave of his hand, the wind of power pounded the house causing all the windows to shatter, the sound of breaking glass, wood splintering and the screams of Sayako and Michio clawed at the helpless troopers.
      “Will you die fighting me?” The demon asked as Seiji forced himself to stand, using the sword as balance.
      “If that is what it takes,” Seiji seethed, as he brandished the sword in front of him once again.
      “With or without our yoroi, we are the Samurai Troopers and we will protect this earth and the people who inhabit it,” Touma stated as he rushed the demon in an attempt to knock him off balance.  Touma wasn’t even able to get into arms reach of the demon before he was sent flying across the ground, landing at the base of the tree where Ryo hung struggling.
      “Then your deaths are assured,” The demon laughed with glee, his yellow eyes widening in a sickly smile.