~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.

~*~

Ryo pounded his fist on the table, groaning loudly.

"Damn, Ryo. Chill out. Don't hurt yourself," Kento replied, raising his eyebrows as he looked at Ryo.

"It's not my hand that hurts," Ryo mumbled, resting his head on the table.

Cye squinted his eyes as he quickly ran his index and middle finger down his face, "What's bothering you, Ryo?"

Ryo grumbled and sat up, "Sage is up there making out with Gabrielle and you're not the least bit bothered? What the hell? What the hell did I miss?"

Cye suppressed his laugh, "I can't really answer that for you, Ryo."

Kento nodded, agreeing with Cye. "I'm just as bit dumbfounded as you, man."

Ryo grinded his teeth. "Well, someone figure out a reason for me to go and get him."

~*~

Sage grabbed a handful of Gabrielle's hair at the base of her neck and tugged at it playfully, a small groan filling his throat. Gabrielle was a good kisser and she was making him experience sensations that he had never felt before. It was all new to him and, surprisingly, he was loving it.

"How am I doing for you not having a girlfriend in forever?" Gabrielle asking, a mischievous smile floating across her lips. She pushed her hands up his shirt and ran her hands up and down the sides of his chest.

Sage opened his eyes, staring into the blue ones that were starting right back at him. He paused for a little bit, thinking. "All I have to say is-"

"Sage!" Ryo pounded on the door twice and opened it, too quick for Sage or Gabrielle to make a move. He stood in the doorway, shaking his head, "Figures."

Sage sat up and ran a quick hand through his messy hair, "What do you want, Ryo?"

"I just came to say that there is a storm coming in and if you," Ryo paused to glance at Gabrielle, "want to get home safe, I would leave now. But if you want to stay, I guess it's okay."

Sage's big smile hid the fact that he was pissed off. "Thanks, Ryo, but you didn't need to open the door. This IS my room, you know."

"Sorry." Ryo stalked off, leaving the door open.

Sage exhaled heavily, grabbing his temples, "I'm sorry, Gabi. Ryo is an ass sometimes."

Gabrielle laughed a little, "It's okay. But it was nice of him to tell us what's going on. And speaking of, do you want me to stay?"

"Of course." Sage grabbed her waist and pulled her onto his lap, kissing her forehead. "Why would I want you to leave?"

Gabrielle shrugged, "I don't know, I was just asking."

"Well... you don't need to ask." Sage replied, running his lips over hers.

"Okay." She whispered, giving him a sweet kiss.

~*~

Later that evening as the snow blew down on the house, everyone was seating around the fireplace, talking. That is, everyone except Ryo. Ryo sat off in the kitchen, playing with his own hair, trying not to think about Sage. But it was so difficult.

Sage was sitting on the couch, leaning against the armchair, his eyes always glued to the blue ones that called to him. Kento and Cye sat in the chairs across from them, casually throwing marshmallows at each other and laughing.

After catching a few in his mouth, Kento looked up around the room, noticing the missing body, "Whare's Ro at?" Kento muffled, his cheeks puffing with marshmallows.

Cye pointed to the kitchen, "He's in a bad mood."

Sage rolled his eyes, "He's just jealous," he said to himself, smiling at Gabrielle.

"What's wrong? He's been in there for hours." Gabrielle stated, curling the blanket up beneath her chin and rubbing her feet against Sage's.

Sage huffed, "He's just being a ass, like usual."

Kento tried not to laugh but couldn't help himself. "So go in there and find out why he's being one and bring him back out here."

Sage chewed on his bottom lip, "Yeah... whatever. I'll go see what's eating him. Even though I already know." Sage dragged his feet into the kitchen, already done talking to Ryo even though he haven't even started.

Ryo was in the kitchen, gloomily sitting at the table.

"Alright, Ryo. Help me make this short. What the hell is your problem?" Sage asked quickly, setting his hand on the table next to Ryo and tapping his fingers.

Ryo shook his head, making a disgusted face, "You are my problem! What the hell is going on, Sage? What are you doing with Gabrielle?"

"What do you mean what am I doing? She's my girlfriend now, what am I supposed to do?"

"So what happened with Rowen... you just don't care-"

"Just because I'm with a girl, you have to get all bent out of shape, don't you..."

"No! It's not like that, Sage! I just don't think she's the right kind of girl-"

"Because you're fucking jealous!" Sage hissed back, trying to not raise his voice so as people in the next room wouldn't hear.

Ryo blinked his ballooned eyes, "Wh-What? What the hell are you talking about?"

"You know very damn well what I'm talking about."

Ryo took a huge breath and looked at the ground, "I just want to know what is going on with you. What's with her?"

Sage rolled his tongue along his lips, "You want to know the real reason?" He waited for a response from Ryo, but he really didn't get one. "Honestly, Ryo, she's...." Sage took a second to think, breathing deeply, "She's just everything that Rowen was."

Ryo glared hard into Sage's eyes, not completely believing what he just heard, "You found someone to replace Rowen?"

Sage shook his head, "Replace? No. But to make me as happy... yes."

Ryo looked back on to the ground, "Oh."

"But you need to chill out, Ryo. I know the whole thing at Mia's party, but," Sage stopped, wanting to just leave the conversation at that. But he knew that Ryo was hurt. "It's just no one else is Rowen. But Gabrielle comes pretty damn close."

Ryo nodded, showing he understood.

"Now... will you come inside and join the rest of us instead of sitting here all by yourself, pouting?"

Ryo closed his eyes and smiled, barely covering the hurt that still lurked inside of him, "Yeah. I'll be there in a second."

"Good." Sage reluctantly grabbed Ryo's shoulder and squeezed it. "I'll see you inside."

Ryo waved him off, waited for him to exit the kitchen, and squeezed the sides of his head. He didn't know what was going on. The one rule he had promised to himself broke as it fell from his heavy blue eyes and hit the table. He looked at it and traced through it with his trembling index finger. His ears picked up the light laugh of the one girl that was in the next room, and then an idea sparked in his head.

'No girl is perfect... I WILL find something wrong with her.' Ryo promised to himself. Then he stood up strongly and walked back into the family room.

~*~

"Look at that snow!" Kento shouted as his wide curious eyes stared through the window. "Man, it's crazy out there."

Cye started to laugh, "So why don't you go out there and make us a lovely snowman?!"

Kento rolled his eyes at Cye, "Yeah, right."

"If you go out there, I'll help ya!" Gabrielle spoke up, her smile stretched ear to ear.

Kento's eyes got wide, "Are you serious? You DO know that it's like 7:00 and snowing like hell out there... right?"

Gabrielle nodded, "That's half the fun!"

"Shit, alright! Let's go!" Kento yelled, standing up and heading towards the front door. He followed Gabrielle out the front door as soon as they got their coats and gloves on.

Gabrielle ran out the front door, purposely kicking up snow and swooping down to grab handful to toss at Kento as he followed her.

Sage wasn't far behind the two of them, his lips curled in a wide smile. It didn't take him long to catch up to Gabrielle, as he grabbed her waist and swung her around, laughter filling the air. He picked her up off the air and tried to throw her in a nearby snow bank, but she held onto him and pulled him into the fluffy snow with her.

Kento stood by them, laughing and throwing snowballs at them.

"I thought we were supposed to make a snowman?!" Gabrielle shouted, laughter trailing.

"I don't think so!" Kento yelled back, grabbing a handful of snow and shoving it in Gabrielle's face, making her scream.

"That went down my shirt, Kento!" She hollered, shivering and shaking out the front of her jacket.

Kento only replied with loud snorts and laughter.

"Well, then. Prepare for a fight you can't win!" She declared, raising her fist in the air and then rushing into the woods.

Sage followed after her, "Gabi!"

Kento stomped his foot, "I'll win! You just wait and see!"

Gabrielle ran into the woods, soon out of breath and bearing rosy cheeks. Sage trampled in behind her, immediately wrapping his arms around her waist. She reached behind Sage's neck and pressed her cheek against his. "Help me find a fort," she replied, grinning.

"A fort?! How old are we?"

Gabrielle laughed, "Oh shut up. I need a fort to make snowballs. And besides, it's fun and I'm going to enjoyed beating Kento's ass with tons of them."

"Why don't you just let me take care of it. I can easily pummel his ass," Sage replied with a cocky chuckle. "We don't need a fort, we need surprise. Kento's strong, but he's slow."

Gabrielle laughed to that. "He is kinda big." She looked around in the woods, scanning for big drifts of snow. "Hey, what's that over there?" She pointed towards a big clearing in the distance.

"Oh, that's a small lake-" Sage didn't have time to finish talking before Gabrielle started to walk over towards it. She stopped when she stood right next to the dock. "Is it safe?" She asked, looking back at Sage for an answer.

Sage nodded, chuckling, "Yeah, of course."

Gabrielle grinned and started to walk out onto it. She stopped at the edge and looked down at the frozen surface. "I bet this is really nice during the spring," she said softly, the wind suddenly picking up.

Sage looked out over the horizon of the lake, memories returning to him. "Yeah... it's not bad."

She turned around and glanced into his eyes.

Sage soon got uncomfortable with the way she was staring at him, "What is it?"

"Can't I just look into your eyes without you asking me why?" She replied, bringing her hand up to the side of his face and running her thumb along his cheekbone.

Sage closed his eyes, failing miserably in hiding his smile. He opened his eyes again and only saw her eyes, her blue eyes. He closed his eyes again and saw Rowen in his mind. Sage pushed Gabrielle away and stared hard at the water's surface.

"What's wrong, Sage?" Gabrielle asked, concern in her voice.

Sage licked his lips, his eyes still down, "I can't explain it Gabrielle. You just remind me of someone I once loved... but, it's hard to talk about."

"Well, Sage, if you want to talk about it, I'm here. But if you don't, then don't worry about it. Whatever makes you feel right."

"It's not that easy, Gabi. I really need to tell you but... I can't, I just can't."

She rubbed Sage's shoulder, staring at the ground with him, "It's okay,"

"I'm going to tell you Gabrielle, and I want you to listen hard. This is going to be difficult for you to understand, but I need to tell you. You remember the Rowen guy I asked you about?" Sage started, sighing as he looked for a reply. Gabrielle nodded and Sage continued. "Well, he was my best friend, and I mean best friend. I could tell him anything and wouldn't think twice about it. Soon, like became love and we grew into lovers." Sage paused, swallowing the lump that attached itself inside his throat.

"And?"

Sage stopped breathing, expecting Gabrielle to say something about what he just admitted to, but she didn't. The worst out, he started again, "Rowen and I grew close, extremely close, and one day he got a letter from a school he was dying to get into. Thinking about future more than love, we both agreed that it was best for him to go. I didn't hear from him for months."

Gabrielle could feel how tense Sage was inside. "So... what happened? You haven't talked to him since?"

Sage shook his head, "No. He finally called one day and said he was coming down to visit over Christmas break. He apologized and said that school had kept him really busy. But he came down and things instantly went back to normal. We had a little party two days before Christmas and everyone got a little drunk," Sage stopped, a smile crawling over his lips, "but we ran out and someone needed to drive to the store. We all agreed that Rowen had the least amount of drinks and sent him off." Sage paused again and roughly put his hands into his pockets, then closed his eyes. "Two hours passed and there was still no sign of him. We called up the store and the guy said he had left over an hour ago. We were confused, praying that he was just a cautious driver, taking his time. But not more than 20 minutes after that call, we got a call from the police department, saying that Rowen was..."

"Sage, stop. You don't need to tell me anymore." Gabrielle took a hold of his shoulders and turned him around so he was facing her. "I'm really sorry."

Sage swiftly wrapped his arms around her and hugged her in comforting force. "You're the only person that I've been able to talk to about that," he whispered. "But, I know it's awkward, but you remind me of him."

Gabrielle pulled away from their embrace and gave him a confused glance, "So, you are only-"

"Before you assume anything, no, I'm not with you because you act like him and things along that line. It's just... you." Sage brushed his hand up against Gabrielle and pushed away the hair that was covering her face. "Your eyes. That's what first made me attracted to you." He leaned his head forward and bound his lips to her, soundly.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a few snowballs came flying down on them. An echo of laughter filled the air around them.

"What the hell?" Sage asked to himself, looking around.

But they were too late. Soon, they were being attacked by snow, and on top of the fact that it was already hard to see through the snowstorm, Gabrielle soon lost her footing. She grabbed Sage for balance, but he was already stumbling. They fell off the dock and into the bone chilling water.

"Oh, SHIT!" Kento screamed, running as fast as he feet could carry him to the dock. Ryo wasn't far behind. Their ears filled with cries for help and a particularly long scream from Gabrielle. They both rushed to the edge of the dock and fell to their stomachs, reaching for the two that fell in.

Ryo shot his eyes around, looking around the black water, finding no sign of either of them. But then, a small cloud of something blue floated towards the surface. Ryo reached his freezing hand into the water and attempted to grab whoever it was. He felt a hand grab onto his and with all his might, pulled it up. But he got a glimpse of something that wasn't expecting.

Rowen.

Those two blues eyes stared back at him and the more Ryo tried to blink the image out of his head, the more it was him.

"What the fuck?!" Ryo screamed and pushed himself back onto his behind. His eyes were wide and full of horror.

Kento screamed at him, cursing for him to get back and help them up. But Ryo didn't move. He was too stunned.

After a few seconds of thrashing water about and many curse words, Kento succeeded in bringing Sage to the surface and onto the dock. Kento cursed at Ryo again and reached his hand down to search for Gabrielle.

Ryo could only stare at Sage, coughing and shivering on the ground next to him.

Kento finally pulled Gabrielle up onto the dock, breathing hard and shivering. He gasped and shook his hands free from the ice cold water. "Sage, Gabi... are you guys alright?" Kento got up and held out his hands to help both of them onto their feet.

Sage struggled to stand, but he made a noise assuring Kento that he was fine. He looked down at Gabrielle, who hadn't moved from where Kento had placed her. "Gabbb-eee," Sage muttered, shaking. He rubbed her back, but she didn't respond.

Kento cursed again, "Let's get her inside."

~*~

Author's Note:: Hey, sorry. I know all of you are thinking, "What's with the all the mushy stuff and EVERYONE falling into the lake?!" Haha. Don't worry. I only have 2 more chapters left SO this story boils down pretty quickly. Be ready for some surprises.