"Behind Dynasty walls, the power to shatter one's sanity lies sleeping…"

Shattered

(Inspired by Weiß Kreuz)

Written by Lord Lykouleon

Act I ~ Preservation Of Memories

+Chapter Four+

Fragment Of Normality

It wasn't till mid summer that we got our first hint of a real problem. By then everyone had settled down. Like I mentioned before, the guys were a bit edgy at the close of the war. They'd never admit it, but I'd see the little things that they'd do… Ryo unexplainably turning around to look across the front yard… Sage keeping vigil by a window or a door whenever all of us were together… Rowen waking up earlier… Though only half an hour, it's still a change. Cye was generally stressed and Kento got jumpy whenever we went into the city. But by the time that weeks turned into months and still no signs of a Talpa reincarnate or whatnot, they started to lower their guard. I could tell that they were more comfortable and at ease with themselves and the world around them. It was a nice change… Made me feel like the war was really over… But it was their laid back attitudes that tipped me off. When they began to switch back to their wary selves… I noticed it immediately. Ironically, the subtle change didn't occur in all of them. Just two… Rowen and Sage.

[Han'a High: July 08, 1989]

"No, that is impossible."

"But it is possible. Within the dimensions of reality it is possible!"

"Mr. Hashiba." Sensei Yuko crossed his arms over his chest, pressing the bridge of his glasses up his nose with the butt end of his dry erase marker. "I am aware that you are a genius, but what you claim cannot be true within the confinements of geometry. Triangles cannot be formed by three 90 degree angles. The very property that defines a triangle does not allow it. Triangles cannot exceed 180 degrees."

"I am aware of that," the boy stated from his seat. "But, if you take it out of its two dimensional status—"

"Then, it is no longer a triangle," the teacher countered. "Take it out of its two dimensions and it becomes a pyramid."

"That's not what I meant. If you take the properties of a square, which consist of four 90 degree angles, and apply it on a much grander scale—let's say the latitude and longitude lines of the earth—you can form a triangle with three right angles."

"Well, then Mr. Hashiba. Since you are so convinced of the validity of your theory…" Sensei Yuko held out his dry erase marker, pointing it directly at Rowen. "Prove it."

He stood up defiantly, accepting the challenge. "I will."

"Oh boy." Ryo watched as Rowen made his way to the front of the room, taking Sensei's marker and sketching a sphere on the board. "There he goes again." He put a hand to his face, leaning slightly to the side. "Do you think he's bullshitting?"

Sage was in the middle of writing some prose, taking the break in the lecture to get a head start on that night's homework. "Rowen?" He scoffed. "No, he's very much convinced of this one."

Ryo looked over the blonde for a moment, thinking to himself before he spoke again in a dry, knowing tone. "You've heard this theory before, haven't you?"

"Argued every aspect of it last night," he replied, his voice equally level. Sage then directed his companion back to the board. "You should pay attention. It's going to get interesting."

"Hmm. You mean the theory?"

"No, I mean how Rowen's going to convince Sensei that the laws governing geometry are only theoretical, since they can't be duplicated in real life 100% of the time."

"Hey, if the stuff we're learning in geometry isn't true, doesn't that mean that this class is pointless?" Kento asked, leaning forward in his desk, joining in on the conversation. "We shouldn't be getting any homework then."

"Doesn't matter." Ryo turned towards the Chinese boy, getting more comfortable in his seat. "Either way, Sensei's not going to give us any assignments." He motioned towards the washboard where their teacher and Rowen were having their own personal debate in the name of applied mathematics. "He'll be too busy arguing with Rowen to notice when the bell rings."

"Gotta thank boy genius for that," Kento grinned. "He's the most effective teacher-distracter I have ever seen."

"And he doesn't even know that he's doing it." Sage set his pen down, his friends' chatter being more tempting than his English homework. "He's a genius alright, but in my opinion, he's lacking some good common sense."

"Unless it has to do with battle strategies," Ryo added in.

He gave his onetime leader a hard look. "Since when did knowing how to take out demon soldiers fall under the 'common sense' category?"

"Since it became 'common' to us."

Sage rolled his eyes. "Now that was just lame."

Ryo had to agree with that. "Kento, you have got to write some new material."

"Hey, my material is working for me just fine," he huffed. "And who are you to judge? You—" he looked directly at Sage. "—have no sense of humor. And you—" he then turned to Ryo. "—laugh at practically anything you hear."

"I do not!"

"Excuse me, but aside from the thing about Ryo not being able to discern between a good joke and a bad one—" Said boy turned to glare indignantly at Sage. "—you are mistaken. I do have a sense of humor."

"A very dry one."

"A sense of humor, nonetheless."

"Although I am in the middle of something right now…" Sensei Yuko began, arms crossed over his chest. "Do not think that I cannot hear you three in the back." The boys quickly stopped their chatter, trying to look busy at their desks. Sensei Yuko surveyed the room, seeing that the other students also shifted to look less conspicuous, not wanting to be singled out as well. Raising an eyebrow, he turned back to the board. "Homework for tonight is page 283. Problems 1 to 50."

There was a collective groan from all of the students. "You don't have to thank me. Thank Mr. Sanada, Mr. Date, and Mr. Rei Fuan for your assignment."

Sage made a conscious effort to hide his face when dark glares were directed towards him and his friends. Ryo slumped in his seat, turning red, and Kento was laughing nervously behind him.

But the Chinese boy's embarrassment didn't last long, Kento leaning forward to whisper in Ryo's ear. "I think I've found Talpa's match."

The raven-haired boy snorted, chocking back on his laughter, but his action was too loud in the suddenly quiet room and Sensei Yuko once again turned around to face his class. "Make that 1 to 100." The protest from the students was louder this time. "And you two will have a quiz on this material first thing tomorrow morning."

"What?!" Kento cried out. Ryo visibly paled.

"Mr. Rei Fuan, is there something else you'd like to say?"

He quieted down, grumbling out his reply. "No, Sensei."

"Good." He turned back to the board, examining the diagram that Rowen had drawn out. "It's on a curved surface."

"But it's a triangle."

"But it's on a curved surface," he insisted.

"But you can't deny that it's a triangle." Rowen pointed out. "A triangle with 270 degrees. See—" He uncapped the marker and traced out the path he drew on the spherical shape representing to Earth. "—you start at one of the poles—" He pointed to the north. "—and travel directly due south to the equator. One side of the triangle. Then—" The point changed direction. "—turn exactly 90 degrees to the left and go due east. Second side. Turn again another 90 degrees due north and it leads right back up to the north pole, where you first started. Third side." He capped the marker and smiled triumphantly at his teacher. "And voila. A triangle."

"That is not a triangle."

"It looks like a triangle. Look." Rowen pointed to all three corners. "Three sides, all touching. Doesn't that meet the qualifications of a triangle."

"Triangles also have 180 and only 180 degrees."

"Well, it's not a square."

Whi~r! Sage blinked, turning away from the amusing dispute to see a small red blur speed across the floor. Whi~r!

"What are you doing??" Sage hissed under his breath, watching as the palm-sized remote controlled car weaved in and out of the desk and chair legs.

"I'm bored," Kento replied back, turning the dial of his remote, making the car veer hard to the left.

"You're going to get us into more trouble. Cut it out."

"Suck it."

Sage growled, but didn't say anything, deciding to leave Kento to his own moronic devices.

Kento nudge the base of Ryo's chair with his foot, leaning in when the boy turned slightly to his call. "Hey, what do you think of Rina over there?"

"She's cute," Ryo answered, then added when Kento's silence pressed him to say more, "But a bitch."

Kento grinned. "Watch this."

The miniature sports car turned towards Rina's seat, the toy stationed underneath another student's desk nearby. He continued to fidget with the controls, wanting to get the angle just right. The grin on his face widened when the front of the car stared directly down the girl's slanted book bag.

Eyes sparkling in plain mischief, Kento gunned the little motor in the car, the red vehicle speeding across the tiles. And using the strap of the bag as its own personal ramp, the toy shot through the air, brushing by the base of Rina's shin. Whi~r!

"Aaaahh!!" She shrieked, jumping out of her seat and inevitably, forcing back the desk behind her, which in turned slammed into the stomach of the unsuspecting boy behind her. Chaos soon ensured at that far corner of the classroom, some other girls trying to calm Rina as she clamored around hysterically about some kind of rat and a few other students checking on the boy, Josten, to see if he was alright. The remainder of the class was laughing at the scene.

Kento had a grin so wide that it almost looked like it circled around his entire head as he secretly slapped Ryo a high five. He was ready to steer his little car home when a shadow fell over his desk. The room had fallen deathly quiet.

He looked up to see Sensei Yuko standing in the isle, arms on his hips and a not too pleasant frown on his face. Kento grinned sheepishly, sinking in his chair as all eyes were on him. Busted.

"Man!! I can't believe he took my car!!"

The wail was heard across the cafeteria, making heads turn. But once they saw that it was Kento, they turned their heads back. Word got around fast of that little 'incident' in Sensei Yuko's geometry class. And it had only been during third period.

"I had warned you."

Kento stuck his head up in the air. "Yeah, yeah. I know. But… why did he have to take my car!! It didn't do anything!! If Sensei wanted to punish someone, it should have been me!!!!"

Sage rolled his eyes as they approached their usual table, Rowen and Cye already there. The auburn-haired upperclassman gave Kento a stern look. "Will you pipe down?? Half of the school already knows about what happened this morning. There's no need to broadcast it to the other half."

Kento stuck his tongue out at the British boy, but complied, broodingly scarfing down his food in record time.

"Why are you concerned, Cye?" Sage asked, sitting across from Rowen and a bit farther away from Kento. "You weren't unfortunate enough to be a part of that entire fiasco."

"It's called, guilt by association."

"Hey!!"

"Kento! That's sick! Close your mouth!!"

Kento closed his mouth, but then that impish gene of his suddenly kicked in and he leaned forward into Cye's face, opening his mouth and sticking out his tongue, food and all. Cye had his jaw hanging agape, twisted in horror at the disgusting sight. Sage, despite his seat on the other side of the table, also shared witness to Kento's take on 'seafood' and cringed.

Kento pulled back into his seat and swallowed his food, a smug grin on his face at both of their expressions. Simultaneously, Cye and Sage pushed their trays away.

"That… was repulsive."

"Ugh! Kento!!" Cye shook his head, starting to feel slightly nauseated.

Ryo walked up to their table, finally arriving with his lunch, and taking the seat between Kento and Sage. "Hey guys." He looked around the table, catching the disgusted looks Sage and Cye had and the unusually happy one on Kento. "Did I… miss something?"

"Yes," Cye replied, massaging his temples.

"Don't worry about it." Ryo turned to look at Sage, who had a strained look on his face. "Consider yourself lucky that you weren't here."

Dark eyebrows rose in confusion. "O~kay."

"Hey Sage, are ya gonna eat that?"

"No Rowen. Knock yourself out."

"Cool." A hand sneaked out from behind the book he was reading and snagged the side of Sage's tray, pulling it towards him. Pale, violet eyes regarded the scene curiously, finally realizing this to be the first time Rowen spoke ever since they arrived at their table.

His gaze fell on the front cover of the thick paperback that current occupied the youth's mind, reading the title. Time and You: A collection of essays on the art of time travel. "Rowen, what are you reading?"

He lowered the book, opening his mouth to speak when he suddenly found himself incapable of talking, courtesy of Cye. "Don't you even dare," he warned, his hand still clamped tight over Rowen's mouth. His threatening glare was then leveled at Sage. "Ask him later, okay? I'd really appreciate it, if you'd ask him later."

The blonde blinked, briefly dumbfounded at the request before comprehension began to show in his eyes. "Did he distract your physics teacher with this topic?"

Ryo swallowed abruptly when Cye nodded, almost chocking on his drink. "What??"

"Isn't his physics class right after our geometry one?" Kento whispered to Ryo, who was gawking at Rowen in utter amazement.

"Do you argue with every teacher on campus??" Rowen had tried to answer, but Cye still had his mouth gagged.

"So for how long?" Sage asked curiously.

"All period." Three sets of eyes widened at the response. "It wasn't the normal 'Sensei, I was wondering…' type of question because our teacher didn't lecture today. Instead we had an open debate on any subject having to do with theoretical science and guess what I had spent talking about—no, let me correct that—listening to for the past hour."

"How it's possible to time travel in our day and age," Sage remarked, giving Rowen a dry look. The boy only shrugged his shoulders in his defense.

Cye finally removed his hand, sitting back down with a sigh. "I'm thoroughly convinced that we can time travel now when I distinctly remember that I was on the opposing side of the argument. …Isn't that sad?"

"So, you mean to say that I actually convinced you to my side?" Rowen asked.

Cye eyed him warily. "I'm going to say 'yes' for right now because if I don't, you're going to reopen the debate we just had in class, and I don't feel like hearing it."

Ryo leaned in to his right. "Isn't Cye supposed to be the resident nice guy among us?"

"He is," Kento said. "Just… not when he's fed up, cooking, or sarcastic."

"You forgot tired," Sage pitched in.

"Yeah. That too."

"Ah."

Cye gave each of them a hard glare, and the three wisely kept quiet.

"So…" Rowen stashed his book away, stealing some fries off of Ryo's tray. "What's our agenda for today?"

"Arcade!!" Kento immediately hollered, shooting both of his fists in the air. Ryo nodded in agreement.

"Kento and I have a score to settle against one of the machines."

"Oh? Which one?"

"House of the Dead," Kento replied. "The zombie hordes kicked our asses three-fourths into the game. So we're in for some hard payback."

"Well, have fun."

"What?? You guys aren't coming with us??"

"Incase you've forgotten," Cye began. "I have class at the university today."

"You mean you have a date."

"I have class," he emphasized, staring pointedly at Kento.

"With Juli~ne," he sang tauntingly. "You're little honey mu~ffin."

There was a pause. Then Kento bolted out of his seat, Cye in hot pursuit with his physics book raised threateningly in one hand. Ryo, Rowen, and Sage, along with the rest of the students eating in the cafeteria, watched the chase with mild interest as Kento continued to tease Cye, screaming out Juline's name until Cye had enough and threw his text book at him. The hardcover slammed into the wall behind him, missing his head by a few inches, but the sound of the impact was enough to startle him, Kento pausing for a moment. That was enough time for Cye to close the distance, and by the time Kento regained his senses and ran out of the cafeteria door, Cye had tackled him around the legs and both boys skidded out of the room, yelling and screaming at each other the entire way.

While the screams and shouts continued outside of the cafeteria doors, everyone else had resumed their lunch, the excitement over for the moment. Rowen had continued to pick off food from what remained on everyone else's trays while Ryo and Sage kept their gazes on the double doors that their two friends had fallen through.

"Do you think…" Ryo began after a moment's pause. "…that we're doomed to a life of violence?"

"Looks like it."

"So…" Rowen folded his hands together, looking at the two of them with an inquisitive smirk. "What are we doing after school?"

"Sa~ge!!"

"Whine at me one more time and so help me I will throw you out of this car."

Rowen pouted, throwing himself against his seat in annoyance. "You could have let me play just one more game."

"With who's money?"

"…Okay, you made your point." He folded his arms behind his head, staring at the ceiling of Sage's Honda Accord, the pearl green Coupe a fitting present for the speed-driven teenager. Was it only last month that they celebrated his 16th birthday? "I still don't understand why we needed to leave early. Ryo and Kento were still there."

"Between eating and killing zombies, if we had waited for them, we would have been there all afternoon. Besides, they said they were going to take the subway back, like they planned. It was you who wanted to go to the arcade all of a sudden."

"Well excuse me for acting on the whim of things," he huffed, crossing his arms. "You need to learn to loosen up. It'd do you some good."

Sage was about to give a rebuttal to that remark when a soft giggle from the back seat grabbed both of their attention. "Strata and Halo arguing? I never would have guessed."

"Kayura!?" Rowen jumped at the sudden appearance of the young Ancient, Sage responding in the same manner. And in his surprise, the car pitched to the left. "Sage!! Watch out!!"

He jerked the wheel and swerved back into his lane, narrowly avoiding a collision with the car next to them. Sage ignored the driver's insults and pulled up to the sidewalk, shifting the car into park before massaging his temples.

Kayura blinked innocently at Sage, unaware of the trouble she had just caused. "Wow. Strata's right. You are tense. You should try to relax."

"Kayura," Rowen called gently, hoping that the tone of his voice would somehow offset how sharp Sage's was going to be. As calm as the blonde was in normal circumstances, a girl magically appearing in his back seat was not normal, and it didn't help that her stunt had nearly killed the three of them. "Please, explain to us what you're doing here."

"In my car," Sage added not too nicely.

Kayura looked down at her fingers, suddenly finding interest in the glossy shimmer of her long nails. "I need to speak with you."

"Okay," Rowen said after a moment, motioning in the direction that they were traveling. "We're heading towards the manor right now, so—"

"No," she shook her head. "Not all of you. Just… you two."

Both boys exchanged looks, Sage being the one to speak, now that he had adequate time to calm down. "Kayura, is there something wrong in the Nether Realm?"

"No," she immediately replied, then retracted her answer. "Well, yes. I mean…" Kayura sighed, lowering her head. "…I'd like to hear what you think before I decide on anything, if that's alright."

"I guess that's fair," Rowen agreed. "But why speak to us?"

"Because…" Kayura pause, wanting to formulate her words properly. "I've gone over this with the ex-warlords a million times and we haven't gotten any headway. I need a different opinion. And to be honest… of the five, the two of you possess a very sharp intuition and an insight that I believe are part of the reason why you won the war." She met each of their eyes, her own dark ones serious and imploring. "And it's those same abilities that I'm asking you to use for me right now. …I need your help."

Gazes shifted and moved, Kayura keeping her own gaze firmly on them, watching and waiting. They were unsure of what to do. She knew her request was sudden, and for her to appear to them like this when the last time they saw each other there were battle lines drawn between them… She just hoped that her own instincts weren't wrong in asking two Ronin Warriors for assistance.

Finally, they nodded to each other, as if sealing a pact, and Rowen turned to face Lady Kayura. "We're going to find a more comfortable place to talk," he told her, a playful smirk on his face. "How does a stroll in the park sound to you?"

She smiled back. "Perfect."

~+~+~+~+~

Reference Note:

The theory that Rowen Hashiba is trying to prove to his sensei is based on a lecture from a HS Senior AP Calculus class. I'm uncertain if the professor teaching this class came up with this observation himself, being a regular genius, or if he had read it in a book somewhere.