(insert disclaimer here)

Monkey see, Monkey do

Part I: The Long Trip Home

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Only Mimi would write a story without knowing what happens next. Ha!

Don't give me that face. You and her both, you think I have no compassion. I have plenty of compassion – I want Ryo's sexy ass intact as much as the next girl. Hmm... is Mimi diabolical enough to kill him off just to spite me?

Well, she is getting trickier. She tried to hide her laptop from me today... ME!

I laugh at her.

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CHAPTER 8: Where the Hell Is My Tiger?

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Kento gripped Sage's shoulder as his friend sagged in his seat. "Sage?" the earth ronin sounded almost panicky.

Minako was simply too shocked to react, only watching as Sage gasped, attempting to speak.

"Did something happen? Sage, did something happen?" Kento demanded anxiously, suspecting and fearing a more supernatural cause to the collapse.

Sage scrambled to regain some fraction of self-control. While his breath slowly came back to him, he tried franticly to decipher just what had happened. That done, he turned to Kento suddenly, in lost confusion.

"No... Nothing happened!"

~~~~

Ryo looked up at the cry, eyes meeting Cye's for one confused instant before he looked up into the lights of the truck barreling toward him.

Cye's heart stopped. It seemed at that instant of time that Ryo might be quick enough, smart enough to run off the road, that he wouldn't die a horrible, horrible bloody death right here, right now in front of Cye's terrified eyes. In that moment Cye urged silently, Do something, Ryo!

But Ryo didn't move out of the way. He just stood up slowly, in a daze.

And the truck hit.

Cye clasped his hand over his mouth, as he let out a little anguished cry. His eyes shut tight against the aftermath he didn't want to see and against the tears he could feel leaking out, mixing indistinguishably with the rain. Numbly he felt Yuli next to him, small hand gripping Cye's pant leg in terror. Cye was deathly afraid that it would fall to him to speak first.

Strangely enough, it didn't.

"Jeez, Cye. Breath, would you?" came the frantic, concerned voice, oddly clear through the roar of the rain.

Cye's eyes flew open to see Ryo walking across the pavement towards him, untouched with eyes wide and face worried. In one hand he held the small dinosaur toy. "Cye, are you okay?"

"Am I okay?" Cye managed to gasp. There didn't seem to be any breath in his lungs. "Of course I'm not okay! The truck – what – you – how?" he finally squeaked, far too shocked for coherency. His heart was beating like he'd just run a marathon. He couldn't seem to get his breath.

Ryo blinked, then glanced behind him before looking back at Cye. "It was on the left side of the road, Cye – I...uh...wasn't?"

The idea was for a moment incomprehensible. Slowly, Cye turned his eyes to the spot on the pavement where the toy had dropped, the spot that was ever so slightly on the other side of the median of the road.

Enough so that if Ryo had been bound and blindfolded, the truck still would have passed him by.

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Cale flicked distractedly at the string of the tea bag draped over the side of the cardboard cup. He leaned his face over the steaming liquid and breathed deeply but even the sweet smelling aroma of the hot tea couldn't calm his jittery nerves. Arriving after the lunchtime rush, Cale was pleased as usual to find the popular coffee shop mostly deserted.

He drummed absent fingers quickly against the wood and attempted to read the morning paper that had been left on the table. Unfortunately, even when he wasn't stressed, written English wasn't his best subject.

"Eh...Cale. So, you start tomorrow?" a casual voice asked.

Cale jumped, jarring the table and sloshing hot water onto the paper. He turned terrorized eyes towards the tall young waiter. A local College student who worked part time, Kevin Minor probably thought Cale wasn't more than few years his senior. He tended to buddy up with Cale in a most disconcerting way.

Well, Cale admitted, talking to the younger student did help his English.

"...Yes," he admitted with a nervous smile. "Yes, tomorrow's the day."

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Minako was shaken. A second ago, the beaten old van had been thick with the petty tension born of short-lived high school romance. It had degraded with frightening speed into something unbelievable and incomprehensible but undeniably grave.

There was something wrong with Sage. He'd just collapsed like that, with a cry of real pain. Nausea tangled with fear to push her off balance, and she didn't bother with dignity. "Sage...are you okay?" It sounded painfully inadequate.

Until Sage flipped her the bird without even a passing glance.

His friend in the driver's seat gaped at the gesture. Minako herself hadn't thought Sage capable of it.

Still, insults were back in the realm of familiar. With an irritated short, Minako fell back in her seat, determined to let her ungrateful boyfriend handle his own problems.

Kento became aware that Minako really presented a problem. With her in the car Sage was pissed and upset – my god, had he really just flicked her off? Must get this girl's name and number- and Kento would never be able to grill him properly about what the hell had just happened.

Which brought up another worry. What did she think was going on? With any luck, she would think it was a migrane or something. A really hard-hitting, stealth ninja migrane. He cleared his throat nervously. "Er...so where do you live?"

Minako turned a calculating glare his way. After a moment, she smiled charmingly. Kento raised an eyebrow at that. Obviously, she wasn't through giving Sage hell. "About fifteen minutes away. Of course, I'd be happy to give directions."

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Mia walked out into the rain, carefully holding her hood up with one hand and pretending Rowen wasn't staring at her like he was deciding whether or not he wanted that puppy in the window.

Behind her, Rowen bit his lip to hide a sudden, smirking grin.

Then he tackled her. Her hood fell down, her coat that she'd not bother to zip flew open, and cold, icy rain hit her head and front. "Yeeeeeee!" she squealed in shock. 

Rowen ducked away, cackling and highly satisfied. His jacket was tightly fastened though his head was uncovered and therefore already wet. 

Clutching the edges of her coat closed, Mia swore that if she'd actually fallen, she would have killed him. Almost as an afterthought she swung a foot at the puddle under her feet, shoe turned sideways to shovel the water towards him.

The spray arced up in a wave that broke over him in a most gratifying manner. His pants, which had previously been mostly spared by the rain, were now soaked through.

Rowen winced from the cold, but looked, more than anything, impressed in spite of himself.

They stood there in a silent tableau until Mia raised one finger to point at him wordlessly and started laughing.

Rowen grinned and Mia realized that it wasn't just temporary. She was cold, she was wet, she had been assaulted in front of a Pancake House, and now she standing in a puddle in the rain.

No wonder she'd been cheered up.

And the rain...was it letting up a bit?

~~~~

When Cye fell silent, not having anything else to say, Chou readily filled in the gap.

"That was so...cool!" he cried in awe.

Ryo spared Chou a puzzled glance, naturally failing to grasp any sort of danger or excitement as long as it was his life on the line. Idiot. Self-consciously, he tried to run his fingers through hair that rain had plastered to his scalp.

"Uh, yeah...maybe?" he said absently while he peered nervously at the other Ronin through wet bangs and dripping eyelashes. "Cye?" he ventured. Cold rain continued to fall, dripping down through the branches.

Cye glared.

"Why are you taking care of me?" he burst out. "I'm just – you almost – I thought – you're the one who... Christ!"

"Yeah, Cye, but...I'm fine," Ryo said with a small, frustrated frown.

"Maybe so! But – but – You know what, Ryo?"

"No?"

Cye leaned forward, narrowed eyes intent on Ryo's face. "That's the first time – ever – in your life that you've said that and it's been true," he accused.

Cye got sort of a pouty glare for that. The everyday reaction brought the other possibility into sharp relief, the possibility of a broken body spread across the road.  Cye stepped forward and locked both hands onto the front of Ryo's sweatshirt, pulling Yuli with him where the younger boy was clutching Cye's pant leg.

"Ryo," Cye started weakly though he had vaguely meant to be threatening, "just..." he hiccupped and the rest came out in a tearful rush, "just don't-ever-do-that-again!"

That surprised Ryo. He opened his mouth as if to reply but only nodded numbly.

"...okay...?" Cye finished lamely. His energy was spent. He sort of fell forward and let Ryo catch him in wonderful platonic, brotherly love type of hug that made everything all right. Ryo's sweatshirt was damp and uncomfortable against his cheek, but it was all so real and so marvelously not mashed up by a large, fast moving truck.

"Bloody idiot," Cye sniffed.

They passed a few minutes like that in the trees that offered paltry sheltered from the rain and in the mud that sucked stubbornly at their shoes. Yuli remained attached to Cye's leg while Chou watched in objective fascination. Cye finally pulled himself together and away from Ryo, blushing in embarrassment and urging them to continue because the rain wasn't letting up and they really ought to get home soon, you know.

Even so, Cye walked with one hand in a death grip on Ryo's sleeve. He'd recovered his self control maybe, but there was not a chance he would be letting go anytime soon. Not until he was completely recovered from his little heart attack, thank you very much. And until then, Ryo could just – could just –

Well, he could just deal with it.

End Chapter 8.

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You weren't really...worried were you? I mean, I say 'a weakness for melodrama' but this is me. I have a weakness for romance too. You saw that in the little waltz scene, didn't you?  X__x.

This chapter was shorter. Oh well. One more left to go.

Lemons are yucky. They're sour and taste bad and I have no idea why people squeeze them over seafood.

Melee

Nagia- Well, hello! You're the first constructive criticism I've gotten. Too many people who could offer advice don't post reviews or feel that reviews should only say very good things. Thanks very so much.

And thanks for the suggestions. The hints _do_ have a place in the plotline... My problem is that, while I have plotted out the story generally and the chapters ahead of time, the story has still changed drastically as it went on. This was much more of a farce when it began than it is now. However, I plan to finish it anyway (not much longer now!) and then work on those revisions I threatened. Fix it up, make it coherent.

Today ff.net, tomorrow the world!

Maryd- 1) Sekhmet has innumerable personal problems that aren't necessarily serious but that he handles about as well as Heero Yuy.

2) Kento, like the rest of the ronins, knows Sage better than most everybody. He is laughing because the idea is frankly absurd. And he's right. Do those two look like a healthy relationship to you?

3) Ah yes, I'm really beginning to like messing around with Rowen and Mia.

4) HURT RYO? HURT RYO? I did NOT! Sheesh, I thought you'd have been a little suspicious at least.

5) Kay and the Warlords aren't part of the main plot, but I have to cover them because there will be a test later. The Ronin plot will conclude whether or not I get around to closing whatever our little x-cons have been doing.

Svelte Rose- Ah...Mia, Mia, Mia. I'm actually a Ryo/Mia fan, but more often than not Ryo/Mia fics annoy me. I love reading fics that are persuasive enough to convince me of a couple I wouldn't have believed before. "Ronin Summer" for example, has Mia/Sekhmet...it was like the greatest thing I've ever read. And Broken Symmetry's Ryo/Kento! Oh my god...(dies happy)

Still I have my snobbish habits. I dislike Anubis/Mia ~ die! And stay dead! and most Sage/Mia. However, I would like to read a good Rowen/Mia fic or even one where it's a possibility. Without one, I'm not too fond of the couple...Suggestions?

Kit Cat Bar- You don't want to ask how many times I looked at your name before I saw the candy reference. You really don't.

Poor Ryo, you say? Eh...I'm not much for long angsty hospitalization sequences (because I can't write serious drama)...because Ryo would be all beaten up and hooked to machines...and I like my Ryo pretty...