**A/N: Hello, I just want to say thank you to every one who has given me reviews. They really inspire me to want to work on this story and crank out new chapters faster lol. Although the faster I get the chapters out, the shorter they tend to be. I'm sorry about that, but on a good note I have been working on this story non-stop. I think updates will come out much faster from now on, until I'm finished :). But until then bear with me bad grammar and all, lol. I swear one day I will learn how to use a comma correctly! Thanks for reading, and please review. **



Episode 3

"Jet lag sucks," Kento was grumbling as he lumbered into the kitchen. "I swear I slept for more than half of the plane ride, I slept all day and night after we got in... and I'm still tired as hell!"

"Stop complaining Kento," Cye said rolling his eyes. He flipped another pancake, and then set the finished product down on the growing tower of golden pancakes.

Kento snatched the one just settled off the top and stuffed it into his mouth, "I know it's burning the roof of my mouth, but I swear I'm too tired to feel it."

"You've done a lot of swearing this morning," Cye said pouring more batter onto the griddle. Kento frowned taking another pancake, "I thought you hated making pancakes Cye. The only ones we ever get are the hockey pucks Mia makes."

Cye watched the pale batter fan into a circular shape and begin to bubble around its edges, "Hmm...?"

Kento made his way to the fridge to pull out the orange juice, "The pancakes, you hate making them."

"Oh... I don't know, I just felt like it this morning."

"I know you are as tired as I am, and you and being tired is usually not pretty. You did not wake up this morning in such a great mood that you decided to make something you hate. What...oh..." his sleepy brain finally awoke. Sage liked pancakes.

Cye rolled his eyes over to Kento, "Figure it out?"

"Yeah... cool. I guess I'd better stop eating them all then."

Cye blinked looking dumbfounded, "Kento? Are you being... compassionate?"

"Uhh..." Kento took a big swig of orange juice directly from the carton, and Cye groaned loudly, "Oh never mind!"

**********************************************************************************************************************************************

Rowen woke late, as usual when left to his own devices, but due to jet lag he was sure his friends were probably just getting up themselves. That meant, maybe he'd get a taste of breakfast. If he could beat Kento down the stairs. He slid out of bed to stretch, and glanced over at Sage's empty bed beside his. Of course Sage would be up before him. He'd probably been up at the butt crack of dawn. Rowen yawned and left the room to take a shower.

The bathroom door was locked. He knocked a few times, hopefully Cye wasn't in there. He was known to take long bubble baths, and to sink down in the tub until the water covered his ears. "Hello?" He called, "It's Rowen, anyone taking a bath in there?"

No answer.

"Well I need a shower, can I come in?"

Silence.

Did someone accidentally lock the door and close it? It happened from time to time, "Anyone in there?" Still nothing. Ok, time to pick the lock. He ventured to Ryo's room. He knocked briefly before entering. Ryo sat up in bed with a start, blankets falling away from his bare chest, "Wha....? Ro? What are you...?"

"Somebody locked the bathroom door by accident. I need something to pick a lock with..."

"So you're going to use my shoelaces?" Ryo questioned, "Why not your own? You woke me up to steal my shoelaces!? Argh!" He flopped back in bed, then sat up. "I gotta pee." He hopped out of bed and snatched the shoelace Rowen was retrieving from Rowen's hands and breezed out of the room.

"Hey! I need a shower!"

"Yeah... that's a good idea too," Ryo said, a smile growing on his face as he quickened his pace to the bathroom door. He heard Rowen running behind him.

"Ryo you shit! You know I got to the bathroom first this morning! I got first dibs!"

"Hey, you left. Move your feet, lose your seat."

Ryo laughed as Rowen leapt onto his back, struggling to bring Ryo to the ground. True, Rowen was taller than Ryo, but he was so damn scrawny, Ryo was sure he weighed more. He continued to walk with Rowen struggling on his back. He stuck the end of his shoelace into the lock hole in the door knob and began to wiggle it around. "Tell you what, I'll pee, you shower. I can wait to be clean, I'm gonna work out after this."

Rowen nodded sliding off of Ryo's back, "Good choice, Ryo."

Ryo snorted and the door came open as he pushed it, slightly. It moved as if there were a heavy weight resting against it on the other side. "What the hell...?" Suddenly the door was closing again, with a hard slam that rattled the wall.

"I thought you said nobody was in there?" Ryo questioned Rowen who shrugged. "I called like 5 times and no one said anything."

"Hey, sorry about that. Who's in there? I need to pee!"

Quiet.

"What gives?" Ryo whispered to Rowen. They both glanced at the door, and suddenly had the same idea, "Sage? That you in there? Are you ok?"

Nothing.

"Get back, I'm gonna kick the door in..."

"No you idiot. You saw the way the door moved when you pushed it. He's gotta be sitting right up against it!" Rowen hissed.

"Well how else are we gonna get in? He could be doing...." His voice tapered off, and Rowen stared at him wide eyed, "Shit."

"Can I kick it in?"

"Yeah, just don't be all Bruce Lee about it. Just knock it off the hinges to where he can't close it again," Rowen nodded.

"Sage...I'm gonna break the door. You might wanna move."

"Please leave me alone."

Ryo and Rowen froze at the soft voice. "What are you doing in there?"

Nothing.

"Sage?"

"Go away."

"Are you ok?"

"I'm fine."

"You don't sound fine. Why can't one of us come in? I really do have to pee," Ryo said lightly. "I won't bother you or anything."

Silence.

"Ok...door's coming down. Stand back Sage," Ryo said giving Rowen a nod. He took a deep breath and delivered a swift kick to the door that knocked it neatly off of it's metal hinges. As it began to fall forward Ryo moved in to catch it. He looked into the bathroom to see nothing looked terribly out of place or obscenely wrong. "Sage?" The blond moved out of the path of the door, his eyes grey eyes red rimmed and wet with angry tears, "Why couldn't you just leave me alone?" he demanded. Ryo lowered the door to the floor, vaguely hearing the sound of feet coming up the stairs.

"Sage, what...?" He wore nothing but a bath towel around his waist, the exposed parts of his flesh were an angry red, as if he'd been scrubbing himself with sandpaper.

"Can't I even take a bath in peace?"

"You wouldn't answer us..."

"The door was locked."

"We didn't think anyone was inside. Why are you all red? What did this to your skin? Rowen brought himself close to his best friend trying to take one his arms and look at the raw flesh...portions of it was bleeding. "Sage?" Sage stepped past Rowen trying to dash into the hallway but was trapped by Kento's bulk in the fallen doorway. "What's going on here?" He caught Sage by the arms, and nearly jumped when Sage cried out in pain, "Woa...hey Sage, what the hell happened to you?"

"You're all scraped up," Cye observed.

"When did this happen?" Mia pushed herself between Kento and Cye, and took Sage by the hand to look him over. Sage paled, his eyes huge with an emotion none of them could quite fathom. He shook his head, damp blond hair flinging water in every direction, and once again tried to bolt out of the small room. Kento grabbed at him again, holding him tight despite his cries of pain and protest, "When did this happen, and how?"

"Look at this..." Cye was murmuring looking at Sage's arms, legs, and torso, "How's his back?"

"As bad as the front," Rowen muttered. He touched the hot skin, his eyes darkening with suspicion. He backed toward the tub and pulled open the shower curtain. A pocket of steam hit him like it was escaping from a tea kettle. In the tub was small face towel stained with blood. He frowned as he reached down and lifted the towel, he held it out to Ryo who took it. "What's this.... blood? Where did it..." His blue eyes looked from the tub, to the towel, to Sage in sudden understanding.

"You did this," he said simply.

"Huh?" Kento's eyes went round as he stared at Sage. Cye and Mia looked horrified. Rowen simply nodded, "You took a scalding hot bath, and scrubbed yourself raw. Then you got out of the tub and collapsed against the door."

"If you already know, then why humiliate me further by keeping me here!" Sage spat angrily trying to free himself again, "Let me go!"

"Why?"

"Why should you let me go?" Sage sputtered indignantly, flushing to match his reddened skin.

"No, why did you do that to yourself," Kento gave Sage a shake. "Man, you've been acting funny ever since New York. You been through so much, and well, maybe it's time you talked to us about it. You talked to that shrink and got her to think you were ok, but that was bullshit. What did those jerk-offs do to you?"

"Let me go!" Sage struggled against Kento only to be brought against his chest in a restrictive bear hug. "Not until you talk to us, Blondie."

Sage's only responses were grunts of exertion as he fought to get out of Kento's hold. Cye looked on with concern, as did Mia. Ryo and Rowen looked ready to assist Kento in holding Sage in one place.

"We only want to help you Sage," Ryo said comfortingly, he approached the angry blond, and laid a hand on his bare back. Sage gave a scream loud enough to wake the dead, "Leave me alone! Stop touching me!"

Cye frowned, "Kento, perhaps you should let him go. Remember how he reacted the last time you touched him in a way he didn't like?"

Kento strengthened his hold, "He ain't breaking this hold Cye, I don't have to worry about any retaliation from him. Come on Blondie, we're gonna take you to your room so you can get dressed. Then we're going to have a nice little chat over some pancakes. Cye made them just for you."

Kento hefted Sage over his shoulder like a caveman and backed out of the bathroom. Ryo and Rowen, and Cye followed. Mia excused herself, knowing she should not interfere with what was happening. It was a good thing Yulie's parents had picked him up from the airport, and took him home with them. He didn't need to be there to see his heroes at such a disadvantage. White Blaze met her at the base of the stairs and nuzzled against her leg, "You gonna keep me company, huh?"

The tiger purred and followed her into the kitchen where she collected her car keys, "Come on boy, let's go for a drive."

**********************************************************************************************************************************************

Sage got dressed in the closet with the door closed as Cye, Ryo, Rowen, and Kento waited for him to come out. Kento stood blocking the door so that Sage had any ideas about making a beeline for the door, he'd be stopped. Ryo, Rowen, and Cye sat on Rowen's bed. They gazed at each other in silence wondering what was about to commence, as the closet door opened.

Sage stepped out dressed in an oversized t-shirt and baggy jeans he'd obviously taken from Rowen's side of the closet, his hair was a golden disarray of waves. The others blinked at his appearance that could only be labeled as...sloppy. Sage Date was never sloppy, in anything. He always took great pride in his appearance. Or always had taken, for the past few days he'd been wearing what was given to him by the others, and leaving his hair a mess. Well as messy as his blond mane could be, it was too fine to really tangle and look wild. "Why don't you sit down?" Cye said gently gesturing to space in between him and Rowen.

Sage looked at the empty space, then at his empty bed and moved toward it to sit. "Ouch. That hurts," Rowen said trying to lighten the mood, and catch Sage's eye. Sage stared at his feet his blond hair once again becoming a veil over his face.

"Well," Cye said after a short uncomfortable silence, "how are you feeling Sage? Did you sleep well?"

Sage said nothing, so Rowen answered for him, "He didn't sleep at all. I think the last time he slept was the night we rushed him to the hospital. Am I right Sage?"

Sage gave a sigh, and brought his hands up to rest on his cheeks, elbows on his knees. Rowen rolled his eyes and stood up walking to Sage's bed and taking a seat beside him. "Sage...can I touch you?"

"No."

"Just wanna put an arm around ya, you're shaking buddy." He was, from the other side of the room the others could see the fine tremors running through the troubled warriors frame.

"Dammit," his voice was softer than a whisper, his shivering slowed in a way that let his friends know he was fighting to get control of his body's stress reactions, and mask himself from them.

Rowen practically growled at him, "No, you will not put on a show for us like you did for those doctors." He put a strong arm around Sage pulling him close to his slender body wanting to feed some of his warmth to his best friend. Sage tensed but didn't try to pull away from him. "Tell us what happened to you, Dreamer. Tell us what they did, and how it's making you feel now, so we can help you. It's eating you up inside, and it's eating us too, cause we're watching you fall apart and are helpless to stop it. Maybe we can make it easier for you."

"I don't deserve easier..." He was rigid and cold in Rowen's one armed embrace.

"Why do you say that?" Cye asked, switching beds as well, and coming to sit on Sage's other side.

"Please..." Sage pleaded again wanting to shrink away again, but he was surrounded. "I don't want to talk about it...not at all."

"You can't go on like this, Sage. You have to let it out," Cye said softly. "I can feel how bad your hurting, and you would feel so much better if you would just..."

"Get out of my head!" Sage shrieked, giving Cye a good shove and moving very quickly to get off the bed and rush toward the door. Ryo was faster, he rolled from Rowen's bed and threw himself in Sage's path bringing him down onto the floor in a heap of arms and legs.

"Get off me!" Ryo held Sage down as he fought and screamed. He was panicking, Ryo realized, and he was afraid the blond would soon be in hysterics. He let him up gently, moving to sit on his knees as he watched the blond make a mad dash out of the room not bothering to slam the door after himself. They heard his clumsy speedy footsteps down the stairs, and winced every time they heard him take a spill, but he'd get right back up and begin again.

"What the hell did you let him up for Ryo?" Kento asked, walking to Ryo and laying a hand on his shoulder. His voice was dazed, rather than angry as he question might have suggested he was.

Ryo shook his head, "He was scaring me Kento. He was working himself into a panic attack."

The silence from Cye and Rowen's part of the room was broken with a slight sniffle. Ryo and Kento gazed over in their direction to see that....Cye was crying, and Rowen had put an arm around him to comfort him.

Kento helped Ryo to his feet, and they made their way over to the bed, "What's wrong?"

Rowen looked up from Cye's bowed head, "He's still sensing Sage."

Cye raised his head and wiped his eyes, surprised to find Ryo and Kento so near..."Where...where's Sage? Where's he gone?"

"He ran out. I let him go, he was freaking out," Ryo said frowning when Cye's features contorted in fear.

"You let him go? You...did he leave the house? Oh gods..." Cye jumped up from the bed pulling Rowen with him, "We've got to find him, now."

Kento, Ryo, and Rowen jogged after Cye who had bolted out of the room. Just as they reached the base of the stairs they heard the roar of an engine in the drive way. "Shit..."

"Cye?" Rowen asked.

"We'll have to call the police...we'll call them and give them the licence plate number to Sage's car, and give them Sage's description. We'll tell them he's on medication, and shouldn't be driving, and to bring him home..."

"Cye?" Ryo asked, fear building inside him.

"Perhaps we..."

"Cye?!!" Kento grabbed the auburn haired teen by the shoulders and shook him, "What is it?"

Cye's light blue eyes went wide as they stared into Kento's darker ones, "He felt so hopeless Kento, so undeserving, fouled, and...and dishonorable. I....I'm afraid of wait he'll do when he's alone. You saw what he did to himself in the bathroom. It was some sort of self punishment. If he did that with us here, what will he do alone?"

Ryo blinked, Kento gasped.

"I'll call the police," Rowen said shakily running to find the nearest phone.

**********************************************************************************************************************************************

Hours later, after the sun had set there was still no sign of Sage. The police had been polite enough to do a swift search looking for Sage's car, but found none fitting its description. They told them to call back if Sage had been missing more than 24 hours, and they would be more thorough.

Ryo, Rowen, and Kento had gone out with White Blaze in search of the lost blond, hoping that maybe the tiger would have better luck than the police at finding their comrade. They had taken Mia's jeep and let the big cat run alongside it.

Mia and Cye sat by the phones in the downstairs parlor waiting for a call. Please let someone find him. Mia absently cracked her knuckles and stared vacantly at the empty fire place. Someone should start a fire, that would be nice. It would take the chill out of the room. She looked to Cye, about to suggest it to him. Cye sat tense, his hands in his lap were shaking. He felt guilty. He was blaming himself for not stopping Sage from pushing him away, and not crying out to Ryo to not let Sage get away from them. Now he was lost.

"Cye," Mia said softly. Cye turned his head away from her, knowing what she had to say already. "Cye, stop it." His body tensed even more as she reached for him. She grabbed him firmly by the shoulders and brought his adolescent thin body to hers and held him tight, his back against her chest. "You have to stop blaming yourself. It's not your fault."

"If he's hurt....if he's dead...it will be. I knew! I knew he was feeling so wrong, and I let him push me away! I left it up to the others to catch him, but they didn't know, they couldn't have! Gods, if Rowen had what I do, he wouldn't have let Sage out of his sight. Oh Mia...I'll never forgive myself, ever."

She rocked him back and forth even after his sob subsided, and stroked his hair. They'd all been through so much to be so young, and every now and then the gods felt the need to remind them cruelly that they were still human children.

The phone rang suddenly, startling them both out of their trances. Cye nearly knocked the phone off the table as he lunged for it, "Hello?"

"Hello, this is Officer Asano with the Toyama Police Department calling to confirm the licence plate number of a vehicle you called in earlier. Is this the Koji residence?"

"Y...yes," Cye's voice shook.

"We've located the vehicle about 2 miles outside of town."

"And the driver?"

"There was no driver present, the keys were left in the ignition, driver's side door open. Looks like the driver got out in a hurry. We had a few men scout the area, but no one fitting the description you gave has been located nor even seen in the area."

"Oh gods..."

"What would you like for us to do with the vehicle?"

"Tell me exactly where you found it...and leave it there please. We'll come and pick it up shortly."

Officer Asano waited for Cye to get a sheet of paper, and then told him the car's precise location.

"A few officers will be waiting for you to arrive."

"Alright, thank you officer. Good night," Cye hung up the phone, and raised his eyes to meet Mia's fearful gaze. "They've found his car, but no Sage."

"Oh no."

"We're going out there where the car is Mia. The police can't find him, but I bet I can."

"I'll leave a note for the others."

'I'm coming Sage....please don't have done anything stupid.' Cye followed behind Mia folding and unfolding the paper he held that had the directions drawn on it. Mia scribbled down a short note, doodling the direction Cye showed her, then she collected her car keys. They climbed into the jeep, headlights cutting through the thick blackness before them.

'I'll never forgive myself...ever.'

To Be Continued...