Chapter Seven

A Little Sentimental

As Rowen awoke, the sun was just beginning to rise over the horizon. He pulled the blanket down from his head, a small stream of sunlight hitting him in the eyes. He shaded his eyes, and looked over at Sage's bed, only to see the thrown blankets indicating that he was not back from his meditating. Rowen pushed his warm blankets away from his body and sat up, stretching and yawning.

As he swung his legs from under the covers, thoughts of Kayura and what she had said to him crept through his mind. He pondered on the last piece of advice that she had said. What did it mean to tell his friends and loved ones how he truly felt about them? He was a bit troubled as to why she would want him to do such a strange thing. It almost sounded like she intended to take him away somewhere for a long time.

He reached for the clock on the bedside table; 6:30 am. Rowen moaned at the early time, but knew that Sage would be back in a few hours. Rowen grimaced to himself; not enough time to start what he wanted to do. Where could he go for some time to complete his task?

A thought came to his head, and he knew that it would be the perfect place for privacy and quiet. Quickly as he could move at this un-godly hour, he changed his clothes and made his bed. He thought about leaving a note for Sage, but thought better of it. Sage had been quite worried about Rowen's intentions with Kayura, and this would only cause an argument between them. Rowen sauntered out of the bedroom, and quietly latched it shut. He crept down the stairs and looked down into the living room to see if anyone was awake. As soon as the coast was clear, he quickly hopped down the steps and pulled his tennis shoes on, quickly lacing and tying them. Rowen dashed out the door, hoping no one had heard, and headed towards his destination.

At around 9 am, Sage headed back towards the house. The sun was hot on his head and shoulders, but the warmth felt good. He was a bit more relaxed since meditating for so long, but hadn't come to a conclusion about what Rowen should do for his next move. He walked across the huge back lawn that served as their practice field, and up to the back double doors. He could hear everyone chatting and laughing. He smiled to himself; it had been too long since they had met and laughed over nothing. He hoped that Rowen's current situation wouldn't dampen anyone's cheer. He swung the door open, and everyone looked over at him from their perches around the living room.

"About time you two came back. Kento was about to start without you." Mia laughed from the sofa.

"Yeah! What's the big idea of you guys taking off?!" Kento whined.

The smile on Sage's face changed into a look of confusion, "What are you talking about?"

"You know. We were going to eat a big breakfast and discuss our next move. But we can't do that with two missing." Ryo explained.

Sage moved towards the middle of the room to face Ryo, "You mean Rowen's not here?"

The laughing and talking ceased, confusion slowly setting in.

"No. We thought that he was with you." Ryo said shaking his head.

Sage hastily moved across the living room and up the steps. He opened the door to the room they shared, and saw Rowen's neatly made bed. He scanned the room quickly looking for a note or some other indication that he'd been taken. When Sage found nothing, he looked to the rest that had followed him up, "What time did you guys come up here?"

"I checked about eight. When I didn't see either of you, I thought that you'd gone off somewhere together." Mia stated.

"Let's search around the house before we start freaking out." Ryo offered.

Kento nodded, "Knowing Ro, he's somewhere he can sit and study or read."

"Alright," Ryo said, "why don't we split up. Kento, you and Cye look around the lake and the cabin. Mia and I will search the woods around the house. If you find him, send a signal to let us know he's okay."

"Sounds good." Cye replied as Kento and he set off down the stairs.

"I'll stay here and see if I can contact him via link." Sage said as he sat down on his bed.

Ryo nodded, and placed a gentle hand on Sage's shoulder, "Alright. And don't worry so much. You know how Rowen goes off on his own all the time."

Sage looked up into the warm eyes of his friend, "I know. But with all of the trouble that he's been having lately, I just want to make sure."

Ryo nodded and patted Sages' shoulder, then turned to grab Mia's hand as they bounded out of the door. Sage sat down on his bed, and tried to focus on contacting his friend before his concern fully engulfed his emotions and he was no longer able to concentrate.

A few hour's later, after Sage had exhausted himself on concentrating, he thought that he heard the front door close. He wearily got up and walked over to the threshold of the bedroom to look down the stairs. As he saw the blue haired Rowen bending over to take off his shoes, he sprinted down the staircase.

"Where have you been?!"

Rowen looked up after kicking off his shoe, and cocked his eyebrows with a smile, "Alright, mother hen, don't let your feathers get too ruffled."

"Well, considering that everyone is searching hell and high water trying to find you, I should be mad!" Sage yelled as Rowen filed past him, and began walking up the steps.

Rowen turned and motioned for Sage to follow him. Sage turned and stormed up the steps, not quite understanding why he was being so coy. Rowen led him into the room they shared and shut the door behind them. Sage sat down across from him on his bed, and he watched as Rowen sat down on the floor, pulling out a number of large manila envelopes, each with a name on it.

"I need you to give these to everyone for me," Rowen stated as he handed them up to Sage.

Sage thumbed through each envelope, and noticed that there was a letter to everyone except him. He heard a chuckle, and looked down at Rowen shaking his head.

"I wanted to do yours personally."

"Do what?" Sage asked cautiously.

Rowen sighed and placed his elbows on his knees, perching a porcelain cheek on one, "I know that you don't trust her. To tell the truth, I don't either. But she has my curiosity piqued, and I want to see what it is that she's up to."

"Ro-" Sage began, but was cut off when Rowen held up a hand to stop him from going on.

"I know. I'll probably end up wishing I hadn't done it, but I want to."

Sage studied his face for a moment, his sea-green eyes sparkling. Sage knew that the more he tried to argue with Rowen, the more set in stone he would be about his decision. Sage put his hands up in the air, and relented to whatever he was going to do.

Rowen nodded, and got up to sit down across from Sage on his bed, "Kayura told me that I needed to tell everyone how I truly felt about them without any regrets. So, I wrote everyone a letter." He added motioning towards the envelopes he had set down on the bed.

"But there isn't one for me. Because you wanted to tell me to my face." Sage said quietly leaning towards him.

Rowen nodded, "Right."

There was a brief silence, only interrupted by the birds chirping quietly outside. Sage watched as Rowen struggled to keep his composure. Rowen wringed his hands together, and looked down at the floor. Sage wasn't sure if he should sit quietly and wait, or prod him with a question.

Finally, he took in a deep breath and looked up at Sage, "Sage, I would not have made it through all of the craziness with mom if I didn't have you. And I mean it."

Sage sat silently and waited for Rowen to continue, "You know that all of us were willing to help."

Rowen sighed, "Yeah, and everyone did for the most part. But you saved my life."

Sage blinked back Rowen's last statement, stunned, "What do you mean?"

Rowen wiped at the tears suddenly forming in his eyes, and got up to sit beside of Sage on the bed, "Do you remember when mom wouldn't let me go to see dad last summer?"

Sage nodded, remembering the awful news, "After she told you that she couldn't wait to get you out of the house."

"She slapped and hit me around with everything she could get her hands on. I don't know what the big deal was, and every time I tried to ask, it only provoked her even more. When I finally managed to get away, I ran to Mia's house to see if I could talk with her, and she wasn't home. I felt so alone and so angry that I thought I might go the practice field to shoot some arrows and get the frustration out."

He stopped for a moment, and Sage put a comforting hand on Rowen's back. He was trying to get through his speech as bravely as possible, but memories are powerful. Sage was beginning to wonder what this incident had in store.

"I was so sick of living through her hell. No one deserves that kind of treatment. I felt so guilty running to you guys to try to work through it, and I couldn't help but feel so alone that night. I wanted to end it all."

Sage looked over at Rowen, the tears running down his face. He had never heard him talk like that before, and it scared him to know that thoughts such as those were running through his head. Ryo had mentioned on more than one occasion that it would come to that if things didn't work out at home.

"I grabbed an arrow and sat down on the ground, looking at the lake in the moonlight. I kept fiddling with the arrow tip, twirling it around in my hands, trying to muster up the courage to actually do it.

"I wanted so bad to just ram that arrow right through my chest, or wrist, or something to just make it go away. I was tired of living with her everyday, and I was tired of running. But just when things seemed hopeless,-"

"I showed up." Sage whispered.

Rowen looked up at him and smiled, "I know that you didn't realize what was going on out there, but it meant a lot to me. It was always odd that no matter where I ran to, or how bad it got, you always showed up."

Sage rubbed his eyes with his free hand, now realizing the impact of their encounter. He had never known that Rowen had been so unhappy that he would want to take his own life.

"You told me that we'd get through it, find some way to get away from her. You understand everything, and you always have, ever since we met in school." Rowen ended with a sniffle.

Sage chuckled as he remembered first seeing Rowen. They hadn't known each other through childhood, but as they entered high school, their kanji's had called them together.

"What's so funny?" Rowen asked as he dabbed at his eyes, "This is supposed to be sentimental."

Sage patted Rowen's back, "I was remembering when we first met."

Rowen sighed as he lay back on the bed, "God. In those damn glasses. I'm so glad I got contacts after that."

Sage laughed and shook his head, remembering how timid he had looked when Sage walked over to his locker to help him gather his stuff.

"I was such a geek." Rowen sighed.

" 'Was'? Still are!" Sage said as he looked down at Rowen's lounging body.

"You are such an ass." Rowen mumbled and punched Sage in the arm.

The chuckling had ceased, and Sage sat back against the wall, watching Rowen quietly. It scared him with the way he was talking, and he voiced this concern.

Rowen looked up at him, his one arm dangling over his forehead, "I'll be back. I need to see my mother, and I'm not exactly sure where she's at. It may take me a few days to talk to her and come back."

"How are you going to find her?"

"I was going to make a trip to my house and find the address of where she's staying." Rowen said as he rose from the bed.

"I'll go with you. We'll leave a note for the others letting them know that you're okay and where we're going."

Rowen thought on this for a moment. He wouldn't mind another person tagging along to help him with his little "quest". Rowen nodded and watched as Sage scribbled a note.

They ran down the steps and out the front door, headed for Rowen's home. Sage wasn't quite sure why, but suddenly he was getting a bad feeling about what might greet them when they arrived.