~Disclaimer: I don't own these sweet and innocent characters that we've all come to shape and mold like clay... but, as always, they don't belong to me. Just have fun reading and enjoy the moment.

~*~

Sage caught himself not breathing. He was too shocked.

Ryo and Cye were dumbfounded. "Why the hell are there freaking feathers right there!?" Ryo asked, getting even more freaked out by the second.

Cye creased his brow with worry, "I don't know, but Ryo, we gotta get him inside."

-~-~*~-~-

Kento took one look at Sage and got angry. So angry that you could see it. "SAGE!? Are you fucking stupid or something?!" Kento screamed, waving his arms in the air. "We don't need BOTH of you dead!"

Ryo glared at the Ronin of Hardrock, "Kento, don't."

Kento just exhaled noisily and squeezed his eyes shut, "Just stay away."

Sage, shivering, sat down on the couch. Cye stood next to him and ripped off his ice-cold shirt and put on him a clean, warm sweatshirt. Cye also threw a towel over Sage's head and rubbed his hair dry.

"There. Are you feeling better, Sage?"

Sage nodded faintly. He kept nodding until he burst into a storm of tears, sobs, and wails. "My... my Rowen...."

Seeing Sage cry made just about everyone cry again. Cye sat down next to him and tried his best to comfort his poor friend with a hug. Ryo clenched his fists as angry tears streamed down his cheeks. He couldn't take in the fact that Rowen was dead. No one could.

About an hour or so later, all the Ronin's were asleep. They were all overcome with emotion, stress, and irritability. Sage and Cye were passed out on the couch, Ryo was sleeping in the chair and Kento was in bed. Mia was also upstairs in one of the other bedrooms.

Ryo twitched in his sleep, waking himself up. He blinked a couple of times, getting his sore eyes adjusted to the light of day. He sat up and stretched, his body weak and limp from spending all night seated in a hard chair. Ryo yawned, "I hope Sage makes this day go by easier..." he thought to himself.

Ryo didn't take more than three steps into the kitchen when he heard someone behind him. It was Sage.

"Hey, morning." Ryo replied, trying to smile despite the gloomy appearance plastered on Sage's face.

Sage faked a weak smile, "Ryo, I'm sorry."

Ryo arched a brow, "For what?"

Sage pointed to Ryo's arm. "That."

"Gods, Sage. Forget about it."

Sage's eyebrows creased and tears formed in his eyes, "I'm lost, Ryo. What are we gonna do?" he replied, his voice cracking under his hoarse throat.

Ryo didn't take another breath before he stepped into Sage, embracing him. "Don't cry. You're just making it harder on yourself, Sage!" Ryo squeezed his arms around him tighter. "But I can tell you something that will make you better..." Ryo pulled Sage back so he could look into his eyes. "We are all here for you and we love you just as much if not the same as you had for Rowen."

Sage bit his bottom lip as he brought out a smile. "I know."

"Good." Ryo gave him another hug. "But I do have one question,"

Sage broke away and sat down at the table, "What's that?"

"What happened.... you know, at the lake?"

Sage shrugged, "I really can't tell you. I want to, but I really don't know what happened."

Ryo licked his lips. "Because no one was out there. I just want to know who found you and pulled up on the dock."

Sage shook his head, "I'm sorry. I just don't know. I blacked out when I fell in the water and when I woke up I was still in the water, and I pushed myself off the bottom and after that..." Sage paused, "I woke up on the dock and you and Cye were there. That's all I know."

"And those feathers... unless there's a fucking bird flying around in the snow storm, there is no explanation."

Sage nodded, "Don't know."

Ryo sighed, giving up and started to make a pot of tea.

Cye walked in about ten minutes later and plopped his seemingly heavy body next to Sage. He groaned softly, "Is everyone okay?"

Ryo nodded as he poured himself a cup of black tea. "Yeah. We all just need to chill out today."

Sage sighed, making a noise in agreement.

"Ryo, pour me a cup," Cye retorted.

Sage sighed, "Me too."

"Does anyone know what time it is?" Ryo asked, looking around the room, trying to find a clock.

"A quarter to noon." Cye replied, glancing at his wrist watch. He looked up at the ceiling as he heard rustling. "I bet that's Kento."

A few moments later, Kento stumbled downstairs. He was in his clothes from last night, his eyes were bloodshot, his hair was messed up, and to top it all off, the blue and purple bags under his eyes drooped down to his cheekbone.

"Damn, Kento," Ryo started, "You look like you didn't sleep at all."

He rubbed his eyes and pushed back his unruly bangs, "Yeah, I didn't," he replied, a cocky tone trailing in his voice. Kento stopped at one of the cupboards and grabbed a cereal box. He poured himself a bowl and sat down at the table.

"Are you guys okay? Did you guys sleep alright?" Kento started, twirling his spoon in the cereal.

Sage nodded slowly, "Yeah, we're doing okay."

"Gods... I still wanna know how you got outta there, Sage." Ryo mumbled, hitting the countertop. "It's so fucked up."

"What happened?" Kento asked, taking a bite of his food.

"Sage fell into the lake and he doesn't remember how or who got him out. All he remembers is waking up on the dock."

"AND there were feathers floating in the hole through the ice." Ryo commented.

Kento stopped eating, "What the fuck?"

Sage nodded firmly, "Don't ask, though. I have no clue."

Kento took a deep breath and exhaled with the same amount of force. "Gods." he pushed his full cereal bowl away from him, "I'm not even hungry anymore."

-~-~*~-~-

It was somewhere in-between 10:30 and 11 at night when Sage aroused from his light sleep he was taking in Rowen's bedroom. He blinked his eyes open, gazing around the moonlighted room. He had to bit his lip to keep from losing himself like he did before, then rolled over into the damp puddle of tears he had cried on the pillow an hour ago. He snorted and grabbed the pillow, flipping it around anxiously, not wanting to ever remember or go back to that emotion again.

He sighed, and closed his eyes. "Why can't I fall asleep and STAY asleep?" he asked himself. He rolled over onto his back and stared at the window shadow across the room. He listened peacefully to the wind blowing through the trees and every once and a while, a small echo of a lone wolf cry. Sage grabbed his forehead and shut his eyes.

Sage was just about to drift off into sleep when the sound of someone stomping through snow woke up him and woke him up fast. It was right out his window.

Sage bolted out of the bed and ran to the window. He scanned the scene like he was some hungry eagle scouting for prey. But what he interpreted to be the noise of someone walking through the snow, he found out that he was right. There was a trail of footprints leading up to his window down below. He could see them very well because of the moonlight and their freshness. But one odd thing stuck him; they stopped just below his window and there was no more. No more footprints suggesting that the person left.

"Where the hell are you?!" Sage rasped to himself, eagerly looking around in all directions. But he didn't find that person. "What the hell is going on?"

Sage jumped about 5 feet in the air when something hit the roof right above him. "Shit!" he cursed to himself. He waited, listening as whatever it was took a coupled of steps towards where the window was. Then it stopped.

Sage stood there, paralyzed in fear. He stared at the window, expecting whatever it was to drop down in front of it. He waited anxiously, so anxiously that he could feel his heart throbbing in his throat. Something flickering against the moonlight just above the window caught his eye. He took one step forward, wondering what it could be.

A single feather floated down in front of the window, followed by another one. They were white, almost exactly like the ones Sage had seen in the lake.

Sage couldn't take it anymore. He ran to the window and opened it.