Done in first person as Ryo Sanada.

This has taken a 4 years after the fall of Talpa and after the OVA series. There will most likely be some correcting and updating later, since this is my first and there will be errors that I have over looked.

I woke up to the warmth of sunlight hitting my face and the bare skin of my lower and upper back. It was just another morning to me. Actually, it wasn't just any morning! It was a great and fantastic morning! Whiteblaze was sleeping at the foot of the bed and the sun shinning through the curtains. I looked at the clock…damn it all, it was only seven thirty A.M. in the morning. Cye must have gotten up really early this morning. The scent of orange pancakes with freshly squeezed grapefruit juice was drifting it's way through the two story and multiple room house. If I remember correctly, Rowen was still passed out in his bed from low blood sugar and that it was my turn to help him. I love the days that I have to get him out of bed. Seeing him slowly come to life when you give him some juice or something with a large amount of sugar in it.

I rolled onto my back and stretched until I could hear my joints crack.

"Ah," I sighed, closing my eyes and rolling over onto my stomach. "Good morning, Whiteblaze. Did you sleep well?"

Whiteblaze must have moved from the bed to the door because when I finally opened my eyes I could see him pawing at the it. I sat up and gave him his normal brushing and rub down before I let him out.

Yuli ran past me and then ran back with big bright eyes.

"Hey, Ryo! Did you sleep well?" asked the small boy.

"Slept pretty good. Whiteblaze just couldn't find a comfy spot on my bed or the floor."

We both laughed and I then noticed that he had his suitcases packet and his skateboard in his bag.

"Where are you going, Yuli?"

"Mom and Dad are back in the city so I'm going back to live with them. I mean, come on! It's been four years! I need to head back home and go to school."

"Right. Then you should get going. Take care, kid. Make sure that you come visit us. I know that Whiteblaze will miss getting his daily exercise."

"You too, Ryo. Make sure that you kick some ass if evil comes back to take over the world!"

I couldn't help but laugh at his comment. It just shows how long Yuli has been living with us. After a certain amount of time you start talking like Kento with Rowen's accent. I'm surprised that Yuli didn't pick up Cye or Rowen's accents. Even I caught myself saying "bloody hell" or "bollocks" but that's probably because Cye and I were in a two year relationship.

"Sure thing. Bye, Yuli," I said patting him on the head.

"Bye!" Yuli said hugging me and then quickly running off.

I watched the young man run down the hall and down the stairs. I could hear him and Cye talking for a few minutes about how things were going to be different without him. I could hear them saying their good byes and then with a door slamming behind him, Yuli was gone.

I put on a shirt and slowly walked to the bathroom. I then paused to hear the abnormal coming from the room across the hall in Rowen's bedroom. It was Sage yelling in a furious manner at someone. He was most likely yelling at Kento for messing up his hair or something. But even then, Sage just wasn't the type to go yelling at someone over something so petty. He was always cool and collected even with the girls that were always following him where ever he went.

I slowly crept out of my room and passed Sage's room while making my way to the stairs. I stopped and pushed my ear to the door, hoping to hear a little of what was going on. This time I could hear Rowen yelling and I could hear his voice crack from the stress on his vocal cords.

"You're cold, man!" Exclaimed Rowen.

"I just like my space! You're clingy and never take anything seriously," Sage yelled right back at him. "The only thing that you took seriously was when we fought Talpa years ago and even then you still didn't take it seriously. Now you're just as clingy as those girls that follow me!"

"Well those girls only go after you because they think that you are all that with your looks and what they call a 'cool personality.' "

"And why did you go after me?"

"Because we both thought that we belonged to each other! I truly and honestly love you and I would do so much for you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you…"

"And that is why we need to stop. I like my space and you know that. We have been together for almost six months, it's too quick for jumping into something so serious."

"Is that the only thing, Sage?"

"No."

"What would that other reason be?"

"My parents. They want me to marry a woman and carry on the Date name. Besides, they know about your history. They'll completely shun us. I love you but…we can't be together."

Silence fell and I heard a little whispering. I could tell that what Sage just said cut deep into Rowen. I could hear feet stomping towards the door so I knew that was my sign to start heading downstairs.

The door opened behind me and I looked to see Rowen on the verge of tears exiting the room with a slow and soft click of the lock on the door. I didn't want to make it seem like I was eaves dropping on what just went down but I knew that eventually he would tell me. He always did. We were thick as thieves and told each other anything and everything.

I walked slowly down the stairs with Rowen slowly, but right behind me. The silence was tense between us because I assumed that he knew that I heard the argument through the walls of our bedroom and that I felt that it wouldn't be right to ask him something that we so personal. The walls were thin enough that you could hear anything and everything, even if you didn't want to hear it. That's how most of the drama started around here. Nothing was a secret here, even if you tried and prayed to the gods.

"So you heard."

I couldn't tell if that was a question or a statement. Rowen said it so quietly that I almost didn't hear him. So I didn't really know how to respond to him. So this was all that I could reply with, "What?"

"I am assuming that you heard what happened. I'm not going to lie to you, man, so I'll be straight with you," Rowen muttered as he walked a little faster so he could keep up with me since I was a few steps down from him. "We had our first fight and I think that it's going to be our one and only fight. He broke up with me because I wanted to spend more time with him and that I didn't like the fact that all of those chicks were clinging onto him and just squealing over him. I just couldn't take it anymore. I felt that he was drifting further and further away from me…"

I heard him sigh and I had a hard time looking at him. I knew what it was like to go through a rough break up. Cye and I just went through that a couple of months ago. It's still hard to look at Cye when we are in the same room. It's even harder when you have to talk to him when the last thing you say to him is that he was a weak person and that he was a cold and loveless bastard. That's one thing that you should never say to anyone.

"So what are you going to do now," I asked, reaching the final step.

"Don't know. I think that I am going to…just stay out the dating scene for a while and sort things out. I don't want to rush and use someone as a rebound. That's the worse thing that I could ever do to someone, man," Rowen said as he continued walking past me. Though I knew that he needed some time to himself, but I also knew that someone needed to be there for him. I was that guy, or at least I hoped that I was.

After watching him walk away a little, I couldn't help but to find myself thinking about how great his ass looked in those jeans and then it hit me. Was I falling for him? A guy whom I have been friends with since the beginning battle against Talpa and his Warlords? And over all, why am I, the leader of the Ronin Warriors and a dude, falling for another dude? It's a weird feeling but I think that I can sort it through and find out what I want. I don't know if I feel for him like a brother, a best friend or if I really do want to have a boyfriend-boyfriend relationship. Why do things have to be so complicated when it comes to feelings? This is why I am thankful that I am not a girl. I wouldn't know what to do with all those feelings and mood swings and all that shit.

I continued to follow him into the kitchen, still having a little trouble trying to keep my eyes off of him.

"Good morning, Rowen…Ryo," Cye chirped, setting out plates, silverware and drinking glasses. I didn't really notice his greeting, I was still a little too focused on a certain blue haired teen that was sitting across the table from me.

"Hey! Hello! Is anyone home in that fire brain of yours?" Cye snipped, waving his hand in front of my face. I quickly woke up from my daze and smiled up at him.

"Hey," was all that I could say.

Cye probably thought that I was either having a hard time talking to him or that I didn't want to talk to him. He slid two orange pancakes onto my plate that already had a large helping of eggs and bacon on it and brought it over to me along with a glass of grapefruit juice. He quickly spun on his heels so he could do the same for Rowen. I looked around at the table and saw that Kento, Sage, and Mia were not at the table.

"Where is everyone," Rowen questioned looking at Cye while stuffing a large chunk of egg into his mouth.

"Sage said that he wasn't joining us, Kento…I have no clue, Mia is out getting a new computer since her computer died last night and Yuli moved back in with his family since they are now back in the city," Cye quickly informed and sat down at the table between me and Rowen slowly eating at his food. "I have a feeling that Mia is going to be out of the house all day and that she won't be back home until late evening."

"Well if you ask me…,"I said and then quickly stopped talking after sniffing the air. "Is something burning?"

Cye quickly ran to the kitchen and started putting out the flames, "Someone get their bloody ass in here and help me!"

Rowen and I quickly dropped our forks and ran into the kitchen. Smoke was pouring out of the kitchen and fire was coming out of the burners.

"What the hell, man! Are you trying to kill us?" Rowen coughed trying to find a window to open.

"I thought that I turned off the burner!"

"Well it looks like you didn't," I exclaimed, filling up a bowl with water and pouring it over the fire.

Cye gave me a deadly glare and I knew that if I continued that when the policed found me, they would rule my death as a suicide drowning.

After a good thirty minutes, we finally got the fire put out and sitting outside so we could clear our lungs. We didn't feel like eating the rest of breakfast since we all had the feeling of wanting to puke. Plus, we didn't feel like cleaning the kitchen yet. We thought that we should leave that to Sage since we saved the house.

"I'm sorry guys…," Cye sulked and rested his forehead on my shoulder. He whimpered a little bit and grabbed onto the sleeve of my shirt.

"It's cool man. Good thing I saved my grapefruit. Maybe we should have had orange juice," Rowen chuckled and smirked, poking a Cye's head. "Just keep chill, man. We saved the house and the kitchen."

"Besides, if we had a burnt kitchen, we would have to eat out every morning or have to deal with Sage's love of raw food," I laughed, wrapping an arm around Cye's shoulder.

Cye let out a groan and I just looked up at the sky still pondering if I should pursue the chase for Rowen or if I should keep my feelings to myself and keep him as a friend. This…is going to be a long and hard journey for me and Rowen.