Disclaimer: I do not own the Ronin Warriors/Yoroiden Samurai Troopers, but then you probably already knew that huh...

Yet Another Author Note: Yup I'm back and thanks to all who reviewed! I truly appreciate all the compliments, rants, and criticism. For those of you who didn't read the note I posted before this, I'll repeat for good measure: I had a damned trojan on my computer for the longest time and couldn't use it until recently. This virus attacked after I posted my other stories so we can all blame our lousy computers or for not being able to get all parts of the stories (Peaks through the blinds to find two rather large men in dark suits standing on the street corner....'nervous swallow'). I also made it so that anonymous reviewers can submit reviews... the oh so kind 'Soon to be World Renowned Gracie' pointed this out to me. And so I leave you to the story to read and review.

Heroes' Plight (Part Four):

By Rekkanotara

The next morning started off without a hitch. Cye was busy having a nice warm cup of tea thinking about nothing in general.

It was too early in the morning to be thinking of anything earth shattering so he found himself staring out the kitchen window at the clouds that blotted the otherwise blue sky.

At that moment, Kento stumbled into the kitchen looking somewhat depressed. This was one of those particular mornings in which Cye wasn't cooking. Which meant that he would have to cook his own breakfast.

It wasn't that he was an awful cook, far from it; he just loathed the effort it took to prepare everything... pan and all.

Cye knew all to well what the look on his friend's face meant and laughed inwardly. It still bugged the auburn haired boy to no end that everyone who knew them thought that he always did the cooking for the others. Letting out a slow sigh, the warrior of the water was shocked out of his thoughts by an overly happy looking Sage.

The blonde had strolled into the kitchen in what could only be characterized as skipping.... at least in Cye's mind and there was something else...

Then it hit him.... Sage was humming! Sage never showed so much emotion at least not to the point to where he'd be humming and skipping about.

Kento had noticed Sage's odd behavior as well and stopped Sage in the middle of his raid on one of the cabinets to ask the warrior of light the only thing he could think to ask, "Umm Sage...." Kento paused slightly...

Amused somewhat by his friend's action, Sage replied as chipper as ever, "Yes Kento?" as he cocked his head to the side.

Kento continued his question, "Did you meet a girl or are you just drunk?" Biting his bottom lip Kento waited nervously to see what the reply would be. He always seemed to incur the blonde's wrath as he always did whenever he'd ask the swordsman questions which hinted at him acting in a strange way.

Cye cringed a little; he knew that if Kento made Sage mad again that he would end up with several bruises and injured body parts that he never knew you could injure.

Seconds later, Sage's eyes grew wide as he started to laugh whole heartedly as though he'd heard the funniest joke in the world.

This unnerved Kento and Cye even more so as they exchanged glances with each other and at the teen standing before them.

Kento nearly jumped out of his skin when Sage's hand landed on his shoulder.

Sage continued to slap Kento's shoulder while trying to reply to his friend in between fits of laughter, "That's a good one Kento meister... Where do you come up with this stuff?"

Kento just looked back with a nervous smile and said, "T-thanks, b-but are you feeling alright Sage?"

Calming down a bit, Sage looked at the other two boys in the room and inhaled deeply and exhaled just as heartily as he replied, "Never better guys...."

Suddenly a shout was heard from upstairs, "Guys you better get up here now! Something's up with Rowen!" Ryo yelled down to whoever was still in the house. Loud thumping sounds and screams could now be heard at least now that they were paying attention to them.

Everyone bolted upstairs to see what the commotion was about. Upon arriving upstairs, they found a scraggly looking Rowen holding on to a wooden chair leg that had been broken off from a nearby desk chair. He had Ryo cornered in one of the empty bedrooms looking ready to strike the warrior of fire down if he dared to even move an inch.

Kento was the first to enter the room, next came Cye, and then Sage bounced into the room as though he didn't have a care in the world.

Cye was the first to speak up, "Ryo what the bloody hell is going on around here? First Sage is all loopy and now the two of you? Did I miss a memo?"

Ryo turned his head to face Cye with a look that said, 'I have a bit more pressing matter to take care of at the moment.' Pushing himself further up against the wall, Ryo tried to explain what was going on. "Look, all I did was come in to wake Rowen up because I had heard him wrestling in what appeared to be a nightmare and when he woke up, he started screaming hysterically. Next thing I know, he's up and about throwing things aside and breaking anything that's not bolted down. And last but not least, he seems to be angry with me for some reason and feels bent on bashing my head in." Ryo yelled back to the others becoming a bit angry himself at being attacked for no reason.

Cye gave Kento a seconds glance which was enough to tell warrior of the earth what to do. Slowly the two moved to either side of the blue haired boy in question and moved in ever so slightly to grab the distraught teen.

Cye moved to where Rowen could easily see him and began to speak to Rowen as Kento moved to a position where Rowen couldn't easily see what he was about to do.

Raising his hands in a calm manner Cye proceeded to try and get Rowen's attention and for the moment, it seemed to be working. "Hey Rowen.... Why don't we sit down and talk about this like civilized gents? I'll bet your hungry... am I right?" Cye stated in a motherly tone not wanting to result to physical violence but would subdue Rowen if the need called for it.

Rowen seemed to be relaxing a bit and let the wooden leg fall to the ground as he started to cry.

Kento took this moment to pounce as he jumped Rowen from behind and held the sobbing warrior in a strong bear hug.

Panicking, Rowen began to scream again, "Let me go you big jerk... Lemme go!!!" He tried to struggle free to no avail. Kento was just too strong. Finally he just gave up and began to sob even more letting himself fall to the floor bringing Kento along with him.

Cye looked on in amazement too stunned to say anything.

Kento loosened his grip some to allow Rowen some comfort as he sensed the worse was over for now.

Ryo pushed himself off the wall and made a motion to kick the wooden implement away when something or rather someone caught his eye.

There was Sage at the farthest end of the room, not moving, but staring on with tear filled eyes and sniffling every now and again looking like he was about to break down into a fit of tears as well.

Concerned with Sage's apparent emotional instability, Ryo walked up to Sage and placed an arm on his shoulder as he calmly addressed the other boy. "Sage.... Hey Sage.... You okay? What's got you all upset?" Ryo questioned.

Tears now flowing freely on his face, Sage gave an angry glare in Ryo's direction and shrugged his hand away from his shoulder as he made his way over to Rowen, pushing Kento aside with ease. He knelt down besides Rowen and began shouting at the other occupants of the room, "You big meanies! Can't you see my blue bunny is upset?!? And all you do is lie and try to hurt him...?!"

Both boys simply sat there embraced and crying.

Sage had been trying to soothe the other ronin by rubbing his back and speaking to him in a tone slightly above a whisper, "It's okay Rowen. I'm here, I wont let the bad people grab you again." As he finished with his reassurance, Sage looked in the directions of the other ronins and stuck out his tongue at them in a sort of childish defiance.

Trying to take control of the situation, Cye spoke to the two boys on the floor in as soft a voice as he could muster given his current state of heebijeebies. "Don't worry mate, no one will bother you again and you don't have to talk if you don't want to. I think what you need is a nice big yummy breakfast and you'll feel better after that. I'll get started on fixing you up something special with Ryo and Kento.... and Sage can stay up here with you. Does that sound okay Rowen?"

Sage seemed comfortable enough with Cye's presence, but Cye's presence alone would be tolerated around himself and his friend.

Rowen wiped away at the tears in his eyes with his hands as he looked up at Cye with a rather large sniffle he mumbled, "You bean id? Danks Cye." As though his recent outburst wasn't creepy enough, Rowen started to smile a childlike grin as he turned to Sage and perked up; "Did you hear that Sage?!? I'm gonna get nummy food and Cye's making it especially for me. And I'm gonna let you have some too." Rowen spoke up almost ecstatic now.

Sage also had a goofy grin on his face as he replied, "Yay yay, nummy yummy food. Made by the bestez cook in the world, Cye."

Cye was all but blushing at this compliment as the three sane ronins left the room.

Heading down the stairs, Kento rubbed the back of his head as he poked fun of Cye, "Geez I wonder who their favorite person is right now."

Reaching the bottom of the stairs, Ryo glared at Kento, "That's enough Kento, this is neither the time or the place for jokes right now. I kinda learned fast the hard way that Rowen was a bit unstable, but what's up with Sage? And what do you suppose is going on with the two of them?"

Cye started fixing up a major breakfast while Kento filled Ryo in on what they had experienced with Sage a little while earlier...

"Are you serious?! Mr. Mature was actually humming?" Ryo swallowed again before continuing, "And he was skipping?"

Kento nodded solemnly, "Yeah, it was a pretty freaky experience dude."

"Do you guys think it was a good idea leaving those two upstairs all by themselves?" Ryo questioned.

Cye replied, "Well there's not much we can do for them until we know what's going on."

Ryo pounded his fists on the table he was sitting at in frustration, "Arggh! First things first. We need to know how long they've been acting like this and why they are acting like.... like...."

Kento continued Ryo's tirade, "Like raving loonies?"

Ryo sighed in defeat, "Exactly."

Finishing up the last bits of the meal, Cye took control of the situation as he ordered the two boys sitting before him, "Okay; Ryo, you and Kento check the forest for any signs of Dynasty activity or some sort of major chemical spill and I'll take care of Rowen and Sage until you guys get back."

Ryo looked up at torrent in agreement but with some confusion, "You think the Dynasty is involved in this?"

Cye replied, "I don't know, but we can't rule anything out and I know for a fact that those two were acting fine yesterday before we all did our separate things for the day. So whatever this...this thing is, it was sudden."

Kento also perked up joining the conversation, "But a chemical spill Cye? Isn't that a little far fetched?"

"No and we have to explore all the possibilities if we are to help those two." Cye retorted.

With a quick nod, Ryo and Kento headed out to check the woods near the mansion.

Getting ready for a mind numbing day, Cye yelled for the two unstable warriors to alert them to the food that was awaiting them, "Rowen! Sage! Your food's ready! Get it while it's hot!"

At that moment, a loud ruckus was heard on the stairs and finally, Sage and Rowen burst into the kitchen with a huff and began to sing the song they had come up with just minutes before...

"Yay yay! Nummy yummy food!...." Sage and Rowen sang as they began to stuff their faces with just about everything on the table.

Cye stopped Sage from nearly inhaling the flowers that had adorned the table which earned him a slight annoyed look from the blonde himself.

Cye just thought to himself, 'This is going to be a long... long day..... Oh bloody hell, Rowen's trying eat his napkin again...'

xxxxxxx

Hope you liked the chapter :) I have to get started adding onto my other stories as well. Thanks all! Please read and review.