As the other three fought, Yuli kept his eyes glued to the girl that was quickly approaching Sage. She had short , dark brown hair with faded gold streaks. She stood about 5'5" and wore a black, long-sleeved shirt, black pants and a bright green vest. Her skin was darker than a Japanese person's but she still looked pretty to Yuli. If only he was a few years older, he thought. That thought was drowned when he felt a hand drop on his shoulder. He looked over at the guys and noticed that they were staring at him, instead of torturing Rowen.

"What are you drooling at, little man?"

"Huh? Oh!"

Yuli blushed and wiped the droll from his mouth. Then, he turned back to the window and pointed. The others saw the girl and smiled.

"Wow… you found a pretty one, Yuli! Too bad she's too old for you! Especially if she's a student here!"

"Hmph!"

"Nevertheless… she's pretty, and clean-cut."

"And… she's heading strait for Sage!"

They stared shockingly as the girl reached Sage, who was turned away, holding his family's sword over his shoulder, and grabbed onto his free arm. She was being clingy, and he looked over, smiling.

"Sorry for being late, Sage!"

"I don't mind, Mae."

Then, he leaned over and kissed her. Kento hurriedly covered Yuli's eyes before he could see, and the others stared in astonishment.

"He went in with a sword, and came out with a sword and a girl!"

"Damn… Sage gets all the luck!"

Rowen and Kento and Cye glared at Ryo.

"You're going out with Mia, remember?"

"I know, I know!"

"But hey, if you're looking around for someone ELSE, I could get with her, if you want!"

"Over my dead body! I-"

"Guys!"

They stopped fighting again to see Yuli hopping out of the car.

"Sage is gone!"

In their fighting, Sage and the schoolgirl had walked away, leaving the ronins to guess where they may have gone. So, they abandoned the jeep and walked around the city. They went to the park, but didn't see the two sitting on the grass halfway down the hill. Sage was laying on Mae's lap and she was watching him read while she played with his hair. Next, the group thought they saw the two enter the arcade, but they walked right past the photo booth, where they were. The two also played racing games. Then Kento saw a big crowd forming around a Dance Dance Revolution game, but since he couldn't get through, he moved on. On the stages, however, Mae was dancing to the beat, hitting all the marks, and Sage was lucky if he got two moves correct in a row.

The day had only reached four PM, and already the group was tired of running around. Ryo spotted an ice cream stand and went with Yuli to get some for the group.

Kento sighed and slouched where he sat on the bench beside Rowen and Cye. Behind them, there was a bush.

"Man… I'm beat!"

"I can't believe we've been all 'round here, and not seen 'im!"

"I know! He should be here, but…"

All of them sighed in unison. Then, they heard giggling behind the bush and smiled.

"Sounds like a happy couple…"

"Yeah…"

"Hee hee! Sage… you're so funny!"

"So are you!"

"Wait here, I'll go get something for us to drink."

"Okay."

Sage! Had they heard right? Well, being the curious ronins they were, they HAD to find out! So, the three of them turned around and stared through the bush. Rowen's nose got scratched in the process, but that was not important. And there, sitting on the bench on the other side of the bush was their lively, blonde haired ronin companion. Forgetting their sneakiness, Kento smiled and poked his head up from over the bush and yelled a greeting.

"Sage! It is you!"

The blonde jumped and turned to see the warrior of stone staring at him. His jaw nearly dropped and he kept looking back from Kento to Mae, who had her back turned. Next, Rowen popped his head up.

"Hi!"

"Don't 'hi' me! What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you! We were gonna meet you at the University, but when we saw that girl, we had to investigate!"

"No! you guys have to LEAVE! I'm trying to have a date her, and you're going to ruin it!"

"We will not! That's not what we came for! We just wanted to check up on you!"

"Well, I'm fine, so just go now!"

Sage looked back again and saw that the girl was walking up, but hadn't seen the guys yet.

"Go!"

"No! Why not introduce your best friends to your girlfriend?"

"NO!"

Sage pushed their heads down, but once they were down, one of them got free and popped back up. Sage was playing whack-a-mole with his friends, and he could sense Mae coming closer. He gave the boys' head one last bop, which made them go back down one last tie before Mae spoke.

"What were you doing, Sage?"

He turned back around, trying to act cool and collected, but he was obviously failing.

"Nothing at all! Why do you ask?"

Mae didn't answer. She just looked behind Sage. He followed her gaze back to the bush just as Cye's head popped up. Mae jumped, but when Cye smiled and waved, she did the same.

"Is this your friend, Sage? He's very polite!"

"- Sigh-"

Then, they heard a plop noise behind the bush, and Sage, followed closely by Mae, ran around the bush to see that Rowen had fallen to the ground, half on and half off the bench. Cye looked back, still kneeling on the bench backwards, and Kento was currently poking Rowen.

Minutes later, Ryo and Yuli came back with ice cream, only to see a dizzy Rowen sitting on the bench and everyone gathered around Sage, who was checking him out. Mae stood next to Sage.

"What happened here? Can't we leave you three one minute without you getting into some kind of trouble?"

"Oh, they're not the ONLY ones in trouble! They told me you've all been stalking Mae and I all afternoon! Would you care to explain yourself, oh fearless leader?"

Ryo wasn't fearless at all, especially when staring into the angry, almost insane Sage's eyes. But he retained his composure and put his hands up in defense.

"We were just curious, Sage! We were going to surprise you with a visit, but you ended up surprising us with this lovely young lady!"

Ryo kissed her hand, and Mae giggled. Sage just glared. He pulled her away and held her shoulders.

"I'm sorry about this. My friends tend to go a little overboard."

"Oh, I don't mind at all. This was sure an interesting turn! It was fun while it lasted."

"Yeah, it was."

"So, when will I get to go out with you again?"

"Um-"

"What about tomorrow night?"

Sage turned around and looked at Yuli. Sage had a grim look on his face.

"T-tomorrow?"

"Why? What are you doing tomorrow, Sage, dear?"

"Sage dear…"

The others snickered.

"Tomorrow is movie night! We all get together and watch scary movies!"

"Ooh! That sounds like fun! Can I come, Sage?"

"Y-yeah…!"

Sage was shocked as she leaned forwards and kissed his cheek before running off. He stood there waving happily for a moment before turning to the others and put on an annoyed/ almost joking face.

"You guys are so dead!"

He chased them around for a bit, almost fearing the next night.

---Will Sage die of embarrassment? Will he kill the other ronins for spying on him? Will Cye work them all to death in getting the house clean? You'll fin out in the next chappy! You'll have to wait and see!