**Author's Note: Ok, here's the 6th installment. Sorry it took so freakin' long, lol. This story is just about done. I see maybe one more installment, and an epilogue perhaps. I'm working on the next chapter to A Return To Arms as well, don't worry I can juggle (not well, but I can ;) Enjoy, and please review!**





Episode 6



"They're what?" Kento nearly choked on the eggs he was eating. Ryo sat across from him at the kitchen table eyes still wide with disbelief. "But....I ... gotta see this!" Kento jumped up from the table. Ryo shook his head and followed after Kento.

"Guys, if they're...hey, wait for me!" Cye chased after the two leaving the kitchen and going towards the stairs.

The three stood crammed in the doorway staring in at Rowen and Sage, sleeping comfortably in one bed, Sage cradled in Rowen's arm like a teddy bear with his face buried in Rowen's chest. "Can he breathe?"

"Forget that, what the hell....?!"

"Can we wake them up and yell at Sage now for scaring the shit out of us?" Kento demanded.

"They look peaceful, we should leave them be," Cye whispered tugging at both Ryo and Kento's sleeves as they continued to gape at the scene before them.

"But..."

"Come on, breakfast is getting cold. You can yell at Sage all you want when they come out to join us for the day, alright?" Ryo stepped out of the doorway stealthily and helped Cye manhandle Kento away from the door. Gently he closed it, but not before taking one last look at the scene on the bed with a light smile. In the web he felt a warming sense of peace emanating from the both of them.

Maybe Sage would be ok after all.



Rowen was awake long before Sage, and was quite surprised to find that the blond had not only fallen asleep in his arms, but had turned towards him in the night. He stared at the wavy crown of blond hair beneath his chin with a grin; he was sleeping, Sage was actually sleeping.

Sage was sleeping...and he needed to pee. Dammit, there was no way he could get up without taking the risk of waking the blond. He supposed he was going to have to hold it. Geez... He settled back against his pillow, still staring at the gold of Sage's hair, Dreamer, you're lucky I like you.





~*~ ~*~



*"All you have to do is put it on. Don the armor and the torture will stop."

White hot electric bolts of pain ran throughout his body causing it to shake against the harsh steel restraints. The voices in his head began to speak louder to be heard over the white noise flooding his senses.

He wouldn't break...he wouldn't scream. Grandfather.... Grandfather wouldn't scream. Father, Father wouldn't break. Show them, show them your strength, your honor. They'll never get what they want from you, never!

"I know this hurts, stop being so stubborn boy."

He gritted his teeth, never. He'd die first. They'd have to kill him. The pain intensified; Grandfather wouldn't scream.

Louder, the voices were getting louder.

Father wouldn't break.

"His will power is impressive Lord... Pain does not seem to be working, and if I keep it up at this level he will die. We'll have to resort to chemicals, and maybe a form of hypnotic suggestion?"

Grandfather wouldn't scream.

"Do what you feel needs to be done."

"As you wish Lord Shikaisen."

Father wouldn't break.

But....but I did both....I did both!*



~*~ ~*~





Sage woke with a start, and could barely contain his anxiety when he opened his eyes to total darkness, and was encased in a smothering warmth that stifled his breathing. He pushed against the body, and jumped when it let out a noise of surprise. It had sounded like... "Sage, calm down. It's me, Rowen, Blue Boy."

Sage stopped struggling, as he felt the pressure around his back being released. He was able to scoot away from Rowen, and stare into his face. Rowen lie on his side gazing at Sage curiously with one eyebrow quirked. "Another bad dream?"

Sage felt himself stiffen. Another bad dream? Another one? He frowned, he'd never told Rowen about his nightmares... Had he? He tried to recall the previous day, and found soft orange haze in place of clear memories.

He sat up slowly trying to get his bearings, and nearly gasped when he realized he wasn't on his side of the room. He glanced down at the dark blue sheets he was tangled in...he wasn't even in his bed. "Rowen.... what am I doing in your bed?"

Rowen chuckled a bit, and sat up as well, ruffling his bed tousled hair, "You don't remember last night?"

Sage shook his head slowly.

"You had a nightmare Dreamer, and woke up screaming. You and me had a little talk, and you insisted I not leave you alone."

"So I climbed into your bed?" Sage asked, looking disgusted with himself.

"No, I kinda dragged you here, cause you wouldn't let me out of yours. We could have slept there, but your sheets were all wet."

"Wet?"

"No, no, you didn't.... Ah geez, you sweated up a storm in your sleep, and the bed was too damp to be slept on. You wouldn't let me change the linens, and I wasn't sleeping on a wet bed."

Sage frowned as he tried to remember... nothing, nothing but haze...and...and...

*"Don't leave?"

"Never ever Dreamer, I promise."*



"Oh gods, Rowen," Sage let his head fall into his hands, "what's wrong with me? I don't remember anything from yesterday. I... Did something happen?"

It was Rowen's turn to frown, he studied Sage carefully before speaking in a low voice, "Yeah Sage, yeah...something did happen."

"It was bad?"

"Yeah, Dreamer, it was bad."

"Of course it was bad. Why did I even bother to ask? If it's about me, then of course it's bad. Everything is bad..."

"Oh Sage, no. You were...you were just confused yesterday, and you tried to... you tried to hurt yourself. We helped you Sage, and brought you home."

"Why?"

"Why? Because... dammit Sage, stop looking like that!"

"Looking like what?"

"Like you're beneath me, your eyes...you won't even hold my eyes!" Rowen grabbed Sage by the chin and brought his head up. "Look at me when I talk to you, and when you talk to me!"

Sage jerked his chin away with a glare, "Don't touch me like that!"

"Like what, Sage?" Rowen demanded, growling in frustration when Sage didn't answer him, "Sage, talk to me! Tell me what bothers you so I won't do it anymore...please?"

"I...I don't like to be touched forcefully. I don't like it when people try to....try to move me, adjust me. It reminds me of..." he shuddered. "I was conscious when they strapped me to that torture device. They held me down while they bound my arms and legs, and then they...they used this cold gel and smeared it on my temples, and on other parts of my body and attached electrodes to shock me... And when that didn't work well enough, they started stabbing needles into my skin.... I don't like being touched, Rowen, not anymore..."

Rowen shut his eyes briefly, wanting nothing more than to hold his friend right then, but knew the human contact would have an adverse effect on the blond. Sage lie back down on the bed, curling up in a fetal position. "What can I do for you Sage? Is there anyway I can help you?"

"No."

"How about I just lie here beside you huh?"

"It's your bed."

"Are you hungry?"

"No."

"You need to eat, Dreamer. You're wasting away."

"Good."

"Well, *I'm* starving."

"Go eat then."

"I'm not leaving you alone."

"I won't go anywhere."

"Sage...I don't trust you not to hurt yourself buddy, not right now. If you starve to death, then I'll starve right along with you."

"Baka."

"Maybe."

Rowen sighed deeply and pulled himself out of bed. There was no arguing with Sage that morning. He pulled a sweatshirt over his head and pulled a pair of gym shorts over his boxers. "I'll be back."

He stared at Sage's silent form wistfully before exiting the room, leaving the door open a crack. He traveled down the stairs, mind planning out the quick breakfast of toast and coffee he would have before running back to his room. The aroma of eggs and bacon wafted from the kitchen, teasing his olfactory senses into telling his stomach it wanted more to eat than it actually needed. He entered the kitchen, casting glances at Ryo, Cye, and Kento who gazed up at him oddly.

"What?"

"Where's Sage?"

"In bed," Rowen nodded, pouring himself a cup of coffee, "he won't come down."

"Oh."

Rowen grabbed two slices of bread and popped them into the toaster. He turned to look at his friends again who were staring at him... "What? Do I have something on my face?"

"Uh..." Cye scratched his nose. Ryo looked away fiddling his thumbs. Kento looked like the only one who was going to say something. He looked back and forth between Ryo and Cye before exploding, "What the hell were you and Sage doing all cuddled up in bed together?"

Rowen didn't so much as blink, "He had a nightmare, and I comforted him. He slept the entire night."

"He did?" Cye's face broke into a wide beam. "That's wonderful! Is he still asleep? I'll have to set some breakfast aside for him. He's bound to be hungry." He stopped talking at the look on Rowen's face. "What's wrong?"

"He doesn't remember what happened yesterday," Rowen said biting into his toast, "and I'd appreciate if none of you bring it up."

"Rowen, he tried to...to kill himself. We can't ignore that!" Ryo objected.

"I'm not asking you to," Rowen said calmly. "But he's so fragile right now, and I don't want to push him. He's actually talking to me about what happened, and if someone starts hollering at him now I'm afraid he'll clam back up."

"What did he say?" Cye asked, his eyes wide, as he wrung his hands in excitement. "You actually got through to him then?"

"A little," Rowen shrugged. "He tells me bits and pieces of what happened in there... From all of the different fragments of thing he's said, I gather it was a real physical and mental hell in there. They did things to his body, and his mind simultaneously. That thing was telling him all sorts of crazy things, and showing him all sorts of wild images. He says there were other dark spirits in there too, that Shikaisen could have conjured...and he said the souls of the dead, the ones taken by Halo... he said they accuse him in his dreams. It's why he won't sleep."

"If Shikaisen wasn't already toast..." Kento uttered cracking his knuckles angrily."So what do we do for Blondie? I mean, we can tell him it's not his fault until we're all blue in the face...but that's not going to help him."

"I don't know if there's anything we can say that can help him," Rowen sighed.

"But we can be here for him, just like you were there for him last night Rowen. You said he slept in your arms, and spoke more freely than ever just because you were close. We make him feel loved and safe, and maybe he'll come back to us," Cye said firmly, gathering a few soiled breakfast dishes to put in the sink.

"And if he leaves the house, we make sure it's with one of us?" Ryo suggested, looking pleased when Cye nodded his approval.

"So our plan is to smother Blondie until he can't stand anymore and has to admit that we love him, so he can breathe?" Kento licked his plate, and glared at Cye when he smacked him and took it from him.

"Sounds great to me, Kento," Rowen patted Kento's back. He fixed himself a simple plate of eggs and bacon. "I'm going to eat this upstairs with Dreamer, don't wanna leave him alone for too long..."

"Um, how long before you think he might wanna see the rest of us?"

Rowen blinked, "If you leave that to him, he'll never see you. Just come in when you feel ready. Find something nice, and away from the subject of hm trying to impale himself the other night on his sword, and you got a winning subject."

Kento, Cye, and Ryo looked at him blankly as he grinned innocently, and made his way up the stairs, "See you guys later."







~*~ ~*~





"Sage...your Mom is gonna get really suspicious if you don't start returning her phone calls," Cye said softly. He held a cordless phone at his side dejectedly, Mrs. Dr. Date had been calling to speak to her son for 3 days. Cye feared the woman would be jumping into the expensive luxury car she was bound to have, and driving out to see about him soon. How would they explain Sage to her then? Or perhaps he would put on his "perfect" mask, and hide from her, fooling yet another person into thinking he was fine.

"Tell her I'm sleeping," was the reply. At least he had answered that time. They were making a little progress. They were taking tiny steps in the right direction. The others, besides Rowen, were beginning to see more of him around the house. He would go downstairs in the afternoons with Rowen, and sit picking at the food Cye put in front of him while Rowen wolfed down his brunch. Then sometimes they would see him again in the evenings after they'd all had their dinner. He would slip into the kitchen and let Cye make him a plate of whatever he wanted. Cye would start a new meal from scratch just to tempt the blond's appetite. He was getting so thin.

None of his clothes fit him neatly anymore, they were all too large and baggy. His hair was getting longer, and he used it to further obscure his face so he didn't have to look at anybody.

"Alright Sage, but this is the last time I will lie to her for you. If she calls again, I'm going to tell her you're avoiding her!" Cye shouted through the door, hoping he'd made his voice sound threatening enough. He was never good at scaring people into doing what they should. He knocked on the door one last time, before opening it and peering in. The blond lie flat on his back on his bed staring blindly up at the ceiling. He didn't look at Cye, though he knew he was there, and Cye let out a deep suspiration and shut the door. He took the phone off hold, "Hello, Dr. Date…he's resting right now. No, no he hasn't been feeling well. Yes…I will, goodbye."

Well, he hadn't exactly lied, Sage was not feeling well, it just wasn't a physical ailment like he'd led her to believe. As he headed for the stairs he met Rowen coming up with a bag of potato chips, "He didn't take the phone?"

"No," Cye shook his head.

"You look in on him?"

"He's on the bed, as usual, staring at the ceiling."

"I'll see if I can bring him down for dinner with me tonight," Rowen offered Cye a chip. The auburn haired teen declined, and brushed passed him to go down the stairs himself, wondering what he should make for dinner that night.





~*~ ~*~



"What are you thinking about, Dreamer?" Rowen asked the blond, as he thumbed through the pages of Lord Of The Rings. He'd read it so many times, he had his favorite parts memorized. His eyes were scanning the battle for Helm's Deep.

"Nothing."

He blinked, erasing the images of Legolas and Gimli tallying up their dead in contest, and looked to Sage. He was on his side, back to him. Anyone else might have thought he was sleeping, but through the web Rowen could sense his restlessness. It was comforting that Sage had let himself become part of the web once more, that way at least his friends could feel that he was close by in case another incident occurred. "You're never thinking about nothing. What's on your mind?"

"I told you."

Frowning, Rowen closed his book and slid off of his bed to join Sage. He laid down next to him on his back, and tucked his arms behind his head, "Well then, I'll just lie here and think of nothing with you."

"Get off, Rowen."

"Not until you tell me what's going on behind those big grey eyes."

"I told you..."

"Yup, you did. Now shut up, I'm trying not to think."

"You're invading my space."

"You didn't say that last night when you got in my bed."

"I was cold."

"Sure you were," Rowen smirked. "Well I'm cold now. Your turn to keep me warm."

Sage did something equivalent to a huff, and Rowen began to chuckle. "I'm scared to talk to my parents Rowen. My mom always sees right through me... I'm afraid, I don't want them to know how... how..."

"Sage, you can't tell them fully about what happened, remember? You don't have to tell them the bad parts with the armor... You just, if you want to, and only if, tell them you were taken against your will. They know something happened...they know it was bad, and they'd like to talk with you, for real. They don't want to hear you sounding like some recorded message telling them everything is fine. It's not."

"But then...they'll know I was weak. I let myself be fooled, and I let myself be taken. My father...my grandfather, they'll be so...so shamed by me. I'm the heir of the clan, I'm supposed to be respectable. Who can respect a fouled, dirty, weak toy. That's what I was...I was played with like a toy."

"They won't think that, Sage. They are your family."

"I know...which is why I fear them. If they reject me, then who...who will I have?" He trembled, and scooted back against Rowen's warmth. Rowen turned slightly so the boy would be against his chest, as they slept at night. He rested his chin in his tangled blond hair, inhaling the soapy scent... he wasn't using the expensive shampoo and conditioner anymore. He used harsh, abrasive soaps. He still scrubbed until he bled, and came limping into the room with a robe pulled tightly around his body. He changed in the darkness of the closet where Rowen couldn't see the damage...but he always saw the towels afterwards when he did their laundry, stained with dried blood.

"You'll have me, and Cye, and Ryo, and Kento, and Mia, and Yulie....even White Blaze. You'll always have a family, Sage. But your primary family, they'll never reject you. You're their angel, they revere you."

"They do not."

"They do," Rowen insisted. "When you're home, everything centers around you. I've seen it. I'm surprised they let you live here. I know how long it took you to get them to agree to let you come with us."

Sage trembled harder, "I want them, I want my mom so much... but... I'm just so scared. I can't talk to her, because I know she'll come. She'll hear my voice, and know something's wrong. I couldn't deal with it, if she was disappointed in me, ashamed of me... I'd kill myself, I'd really do it. You wouldn't be able to stop me. I'll get far, far away from you, and do it."

Rowen's eyes widened with shock ad panic, "Sage, no! We're past this, we've moved past this! You're not killing yourself for anything, you got me? You promise me right now!" He wrapped his arms around the blond and gripped him tightly, crushingly. "Dreamer?"

"I can't promise anyone that..." Sage wheezed painfully. "Let me go, it hurts."

"Not until you promise."

"I can't," Sage rasped, "I can't!"

Rowen let out a frustrated wail, before letting go. His own arms had been starting to ache from the tight hold. Sage panted, and rolled away from Rowen's body, "I can't make promises I'm not sure I'll be able to keep. Do not make a liar of me, Rowen."

Rowen didn't respond to that. He lie still, staring at the frail shell of his best friend so close to him, but yet so far from his reach. It was like space travel, they could launch the shuttle from the Earth, and just touch upon the vastness of space, but they couldn't break through the Earth's gravitational field to go much further than their own blue planet. He could only get so close to Sage, close enough to get excited about his accomplishment, before he was restricted by gravity to only be allowed to take in depth pictures, but never to explore.

There was a knock at the door, and Kento's head poked in, "Dinner guys."

"Alright, we'll be down in a bit."

The door closed, and Rowen sat up, "I'm going to go down to dinner, you coming with me this time?"

"I had breakfast with you."

Rowen sighed, "Will you go down later then, to eat?"

"Not tonight. I don't feel very well."

"Fine. I'll bring something up for you then." He ran a hand through his hair to bring order to it, before getting off the bed and heading for the door. He left the room without looking back. He was tired of viewing intangible things.

"Kento, I haven't had anything at all yet, can you wait to have seconds?" Rowen demanded, wiping the fuzz from his eyes and glaring at Kento refilling his plate.

"Dude, you should get down here earlier..." Kento frowned and looked at the kitchen wall clock, "Hey, it's 10:30, what the hell are you doing up? You ok, man?"

Rowen rolled his eyes, "Sage is cleaning... He got up at 5 this morning, and started reorganizing EVERYTHING, even MY stuff! He's vacuuming now. Nothing's clean enough for him."

"Tell him to get Cye and me's room next, I got stuff growing under the bed, and my favorite ball rolled under there. I'm afraid to reach in and get it!"Kento began scarfing down his second breakfast ignoring the glares he got from the rest.

"His mother called again really early this morning, around 5:30... what time do they wake up in that house, to think that is a normal time to call?" Mia complained. She was working on her third cup of coffee.

"Late night, Mia?" Ryo chuckled at the woman. Mia shot him a dirty glare through her shaggy brown bangs.

"Yes, for you information. I had to read 65 papers on Hemingway's For Whom The Bell Tolls. I hate that book now, and will be redoing my lesson plan for next term to take the book out."

"Lucky them, I think we're going to have to read it this semester," Cye said glumly.

"I've already read it. It's a good book," Rowen shrugged with a large yawn.

"What haven't you read?"

"Good question."

Rowen filled his plate, and sat down beside Cye to eat. "So what did you tell Dr. Date?"

"That he was in bed..."

"Wrong thing to say, that whole family is up at 5:00 every morning. She already knows something's wrong, you just set off the fire alarm," Rowen said.

"I should call her, talk to her for real. I was just so tired this morning," Mia looked guilty. "I'll call her after I have another cup of coffee."

"Are you even putting sweetner in that stuff?" Kento asked, gazing curiously at Mia, mouth full of food.

"And dilute the caffeine?"

"Sugar doesn't dilute caffeine," Rowen uttered, as he slurped at his own cup of black coffee. "I think I need to eat this stuff right out of the pouch, it's just not strong enough when there's water in it."

"That is so gross."

"You know they have candy that's just coffee beans wrapped in milk chocolate."

"Gross!" Kento moaned. "Even I wouldn't eat those."

"They're delicious!" Rowen insisted.

They ate their breakfast making pleasant conversation. The sun was out and shone in through the unveiled windows, predicting a beautiful to day to celebrate. "We should go somewhere today, guys."

"Where?" Ryo looked at Kento, interest brewing in his eyes.

"The park, the mall, the arcade, somewhere. It's time to get out of the house. Hey, maybe we could go swimming or something at the lake."

"Sounds nice," Cye said with a nod. "Maybe Sage will come with us. Go and ask him Rowen, he listens to you."

Rowen snorted, and continued sipping his coffee. "He won't go."

"But maybe you can..."

"If we take him, he'll sit in the car."

"We could rent videos then. We'll go out to the shopping strip, and get some ice cream, the videos, and come home. He can't object too much to that. I know he wants to go outside and feel that sunlight," Kento suggested.

Rowen shook his head, "He won't even let me open the curtains in our room. When he comes down here, he sits in the shadows if he can't pull the blind."

"When the hell is he gonna snap out of this! I'm not hanging around this house all day, and night babysitting Blondie! Nobody hates him, geez! Why couldn't that freak Shikaisen have taken me? I don't care about honor and shame and crap. After you guys let me know you didn't hate me for it..."

"It's not just us, he's afraid of us his family."

"Families love you regardless."

"He has nightmares about the people who died."

"Oh..." Kento frowned, "now that's a problem."

Rowen sighed, "He's been sleeping in my bed every night since he tried to...well you know. He goes to bed in his own bed, wakes up in cold sweats, then climbs in with me for rest of the night."

"He's been a looking more rested," Cye commented.

"He's averaging about 3 or 4 good hours a night."

"As opposed to none at all, that's good," Ryo said. He looked up at the ceiling as a large crash came from above their heads.

"He's trying to get behind the bookcases now," Rowen rolled his eyes.

"He's going to overwork himself," Cye stood. "I'll see if I can stop him, since Rowen seems to object to talking to him today."

Rowen didn't look up from the coffee cup he was refilling. Cye grunted, and marched toward the stairs, stopping short as he gazed out of the window, "Guys, who do we know that drives a black BMW? They're pulling into the driveway."

"Black beamer?" Rowen stood up bumping the table and spilling his coffee.

"Hey watch it!" Kento snapped, barely saving his toast from being drenched with the caffeinated mess. Rowen sneered and stumbled to the window to see, "Oh shit... that looks like Dr. Vi's car..."

Two women emerged from the driver's and passenger's side of the car. "Oh man..."

"Who is that?" Cye frowned, and Kento, Ryo and Mia joined them in the window. "They have blond hair...like....is that Sage's mother? And who's the other with him, one of his sisters?"

Rowen looked at the group, that was right. He was the only one who'd been to Sage's house and met his family. "That's Yayoi, Satsuki has black hair."

The doorbell rang, "I'd better let them in," Rowen rushed to the door.

"But Rowen..." he was still in his ratty t-shirt and shorts he'd slept in, his hair saluting North, South, East, and West.

"They've seen it!" Rowen shot back, as he jogged to the door. Mia wrung her hands, "I'd better go out too. Dr. Date might want to meet me. Oh my, what do we tell her about Sage...?" She hurried after Rowen.







~*~ ~*~

"Dr. Vi, Yayoi!" Rowen exclaimed as he threw open the front door and rushed to meet the blond women. He went to the older one first, embracing her as if she was his own mother. The woman smiled warmly at him and attempted to smooth his hair, "Just getting up Rowen?"

"Yeah," Rowen muttered shyly. He looked at Yayoi, "Hey."

"Hey yourself, where's my brother?"

"Upstairs, he's cleaning our room," Rowen said, not flinching at the harsh greeting he'd received from the younger blond woman. Yayoi was never known for being sweet, and punctual. She was a straight-to-the-point, no nonsense bitch, who ate men who couldn't hold up their end of a political conversation for lunch. She stared at him with hard grey eyes, so unlike Sage's. Though they were the same color and shape, her eyes held no languor. "Well, I hope he's dressed."

"Hello there!" came Mia's kind voice, and all turned to see her. "You have to be Sage's mother, and sister."

"Yes," Dr. Date moved toward Mia to shake her hand, "I'm Vivian Date, you must be Mia Koji."

"Yes, you can call me Mia, all the boys do."

"And you may call me Vivian," Dr. Date said, "and this is my daughter Yayoi. Its very nice to finally meet you. I'm sorry to wake you up so early this morning. We sometimes forget the rest of the world likes to sleep a lot later than we do. I'm here to see my son. Is he...?"

"He's in his room, Vivian, come inside won't you?"

Dr. Date, followed Yayoi, and Rowen followed Mia inside the house. "He just hasn't been returning my phone calls, and that isn't like him. He sounded so... strange, when he returned from New York. What happened Mia, really? Did something...?"

Mia frowned, "Let me offer you a cup of coffee in the living room, we can talk there."

Dr. Date nodded gravely, her grey eyes full of worry. She followed Mia into the kitchen where she was introduced to the rest to Cye, Kento, and Ryo. A few minutes later, Cye, Kento, and Ryo scattered into the foyer to break the uncomfortable silence between Yayoi and Rowen.

"You have to be Sage's sister," Kento beamed at her, admiring her figure.

Yayoi glared spitefully, and looked toward the stairs, "My brother's up there?"

"Yeah," Rowen said, "but..." the blond woman was already storming to the stairs and taking them by two.

"H..h...hottie!" Kento whooped. "Geez, but her ice glares are better than Sage's... he needs to take lessons from her. I'm still thawing, but she can freeze me any time!"

"Shut up you pig!" Cye snapped, smacking Kento, "She can't go up there! Who knows how Sage will react to her? From the stories I've heard, she isn't very pleasant."

"She's not..." Rowen muttered, jogging for the stairs two and bounding up after Yayoi's vanished form.

"Oh man... why do I suddenly think our plans to get ice cream and videos are cancelled?" Kento groaned.

Ryo ruffled Kento's ash hair, "Come on Big Boy, I think we might be needed for damage control."

The remaining three headed for the stairs quickening their pace at the sound of splintering wood.







**Author's Note: I hope you guys liked this one. The next one won't take half as long, I promise lol. Please review!**