A/N: The same warnings as everyone. This is a 'fanfic' website, right? Please review me. Thank you kindly. And it's not like you would at chapter two if chapter one didn't intrigue you into it so, read on!

Chapter 2

"What do you want me to do?" Sye reached for his head. It hurt and he was sure he felt blood there.

"Do whatever you want." He dropped Sye. "Just do it out of my way!"

Seiji was done changing and waiting for Ryo only a moment.

"See you next class." He sighed and left with only a glance down to Sye's limp form.

The two brunets left out of their changing areas quickly, but Ryo was quicker, he came up in a stride faster than theirs' and they jumped aside and out of his way.

"That's the ticket." The one that had sat next to Sye whispered aloud. "Stay out of their way." They both left as well.

Sye hurt too badly to move. Rowen came up to him and he expected more abuse, but Rowen offered him an arm. Sye unsteadily stood and fell on Rowen's front. Rowen supported him with one arm. His other held his blazer and book bag. Sye rested his head on Rowen's chest for a moment.

"I know it hurts." He stated with a sigh. Sye tried to regain his balance and did. He still stood with Rowen's help.

"Does he really hurt everyone like this?" Sye wondered.

"No, he must like you." Rowen joked.

"Sadist." Sye growled. Rowen frowned.

"No, you've got it totally wrong."

Sye's gaze snapped up to look at him.

"He's a very gentle person." Rowen caressed his cheek gently and Sye gasped. Rowen ignored him. "He's very gentle, he just likes to establish that he is the leader. He likes to be respected. Isn't that what that teacher told you?"

Sye blushed. "I didn't get that part."

"All great leaders demand respect from their followers. When he has total respect, he's quite laid back and calm." He sighed. "We're going to be late for class." He released Sye quite abruptly and walked off. A small crowd was at the door watching them. They knew Rowen was a part of Ryo's inner circle and had obviously respected him enough not to say a word. They didn't even know who was being spoken of, but the respect was still there.

Sye changed quickly and was off. After he collected his late slip, he headed to class and found it almost exactly as it had been before.

Different room, different side of the school, different setup, but Ryo was still in the farthest corner from the door, against the wall with windows, back of the room, feet up, eyes closed, legs up, chair back, and the seat next to him was open once again. Seiji was in front of Ryo and leaning his back against the cabinets that lay just under the windows. Science class, but still there were desks. They wouldn't enter the lab for a few more classes.

The teacher took Sye's late slip and threw it in the garbage without looking at it.

"Sit in an empty seat." The teacher waved his hand in no general direction.

Sye figured it would be kind of big of him to demand that someone move so he might have their seat and it would be challenging Ryo more than his bloody head could take. There was blood there, but not much and not an appreciable amount. If anyone noticed, they didn't say anything about it.

He walked over to the seat, half expecting Ryo to claim them both for himself, but Ryo remained calm and asleep it seemed.

The Science teacher droned on about Chemistry and what it had to do with your life. He made several jokes, but it didn't help. He was trying to get their attention and make them all laugh, but only a few laughed. Sye assumed it was mostly because Ryo and Seiji didn't laugh or smirk. Sye remained quiet, not just because they were bad jokes, and not because of Ryo in any way, but because he was extremely tired and couldn't keep his head up.

He pushed his chair back quietly and laid his head in his arms on his desk.

Sye was abruptly woken up by a foot nudging his side. He looked up to Ryo quickly, who was still at his desk and still relaxing, but now his eyes were open and looking past Sye. Sye turned his head and saw the teacher leaning on his desk. He gasped, nearly falling out of his chair. The class was staring at him.

"Have a nice nap, Mr. Anderson?" He asked and the class giggled.

"Not really, I've got a bit of a cramp." He massaged his neck for a moment. "You really should get better chairs. The extent one must go through to get a comfortable sleep in this class is agonizing." Sye leaned on his hand while he got a few chuckles from the class. His dry sarcasm was just a reflex to being caught off guard, he hadn't done it for attention.

"See me after class for your detention, Mr. Anderson!" This teacher was far snappier than Mr. Brenek. Sye groaned as the guy walked away. He leaned his head down again. "Mr. Santana?" The teacher continued from the front of the room. "You may pick one up as well before you leave."

"Lucky number two-hundred one." Seiji stated teasingly in a sing-song voice and glanced out the window.

"What for?!" Ryo asked angrily. "I got shit to do today!"

"We'll make them both for tomorrow then. You're giving a bad example to your classmates." The teacher made a little note in a book.

"He ain't my classmate!" Ryo growled and glared hatefully at Sye.

"He is and be glad I don't give you two for swearing."

Ryo leaned back and spent the rest of the period glaring at Sye.

"Do you have a will?" The girl on the other side of Sye politely asked.

"No." Sye replied.

"You'll be needing one, then." She handed him a blank piece of lined paper and turned her attention back to the front of the class.

This day can't get any worse. But it did.

Ryo was secretively talking to Seiji the rest of the day and in every class Sye was sitting next to Ryo because no other person in the class would do it.

The end of the day finally came and Sye was relieved. Unfortunately, his detention was for the next day with Ryo, but today he was free and maybe tomorrow Ryo would be in a better mood and he might be able to suck up to him and not be abused so hurtfully again.

Walking out of the school, Sye saw Ryo at his motorcycle.

He kicked the stand up and Seiji walked over and got on behind him. Seiji wore the helmet and leaned against Ryo, wrapping his arms comfortably around Ryo's waist.

Are they lovers? Sye wondered as he saw Seiji gently caress Ryo's inner thigh, then they drove off leaving a black skid mark on the pavement.

He saw Rowen walk by him and he ran after him. Thinking wisely on it, he decided not to say anything to Rowen or even make his presence known until they were out of sight of the rest of the school.

Rowen glared back at him as they strode side by side together. They were heading the same way anyway. It turned out they lived on the same street too, and Rowen lived only three houses down from Sye!

"So you just had to dig yourself in a little deeper, huh?" Rowen questioned and started to snicker.

"It's not funny. He's going to kill me!" Sye kicked a can and watched it fly up and not land for another three houses.

"Nice kick!" Rowen commented.

"Thanks." Sye murmured carelessly.

"No, I'm serious! Do you play soccer?"

Sye turned to him sharply, shocked. He remembered the story that the gym teacher had told him and he exploded. "Are you nuts?! Ryo plays soccer!"

"Yeah." Rowen nodded. "And if you're really good at it he might forgive you for everything that happened today. Get it?"

"I get it, but I'm afraid I might really get it and end up in the hospital emergency room before he accepts me." Sye thought about something, then seriously looked at Rowen. "How'd you get in with him?"

"Long story." He replied blushing lightly.

"I got plenty of time." They slowed to a halt on the sidewalk. No one was around. Rowen leaned his back against the stone wall and placed his foot against the wall.

"I knew Ryo through his destructive period. It was a few years ago, when he was very depressed and angry. Believe it or not, people used to pick on him too. It was before he decided to dominate his schools. We lived in Africa for a while, our parents had just met and they wanted us to be friends. At first he thought I was against him, but slowly he came to trust me as his only friend. I didn't have any friends either, so we were perfect for each other. Sometimes he would blow up in anger from the torment of other kids, or if we got in a fight or something. He would lash out and usually end up hurting me."

"You stayed his friend?"

"He was in pain and I knew if he didn't do it to me, then he would do it to himself and I would never allow that. I endured it, but it wasn't all like that." Rowen blushed. "He could be very tender and take care of my bruises after he'd given them to me. I finally convinced him to train with me so we would both become strong and so it happened. We did every conceivable sport, every exercise, every daunting task, and it toned us up, then we moved when his dad died. It was a hunting accident. We took a boat over here, his mother died from some virus on the way over and so my family has always offered him a home. The parentals (A/N: When he says parentals, he means his own parents.) promised his parents they would take care of him, but he's been roughing it the whole while. Somewhere along the lines he got much stronger than me and he has been ever since."

Sye was speechless, he just started walking again and Rowen walked next to him. Something snapped in Sye quickly.

"Hey! Wait! He doesn't live with you, does he?!"

"Not really... sometimes." Rowen snapped defensively.

"Oh, god!" Sye fell back against the wall himself. "What the hell? What did I do to deserve this?! I've never done anything to deserve this punishment." He turned to Rowen and grabbed his button down in one fist quickly. "Please, don't tell him I live right there! He'll assassinate me in my sleep!"

Rowen started to laugh hysterically. "You're overcautious." He laughed.

"Better safe than sorry!"

"Look, I won't go out of my way to tell him, but if he asks me, I'm not going to lie."

Sye nodded. "Fair enough."

They kept walking and then parted ways as Rowen walked farther down toward his house. Sye's home was a tall, two story Victorian, with a nice balcony on the side with his room and his mom's.

He lived with his mom alone, but he could tell by the spiffy red convertible in the driveway, that she had company. He walked into the house and dropped his bag down. When he heard some conspicuous sounds coming from the upstairs bedroom, which was his mother's, he grabbed his duffel bag which had a change of clothes, and he turned back to the door and left.

He caught up with Rowen quickly.

"Can I crash at your house for a little while?"

"I thought you were afraid of Ryo?"

"I'm more afraid of going back into that house." He sighed and rubbed his eyes.

"What's wrong?"

"My moms, got a guy on her... I mean, over."

"So.... Oh!" He shut his mouth quickly and kept walking. "Yeah, sure. My dad's a bit of a slob and my mom's tired of cleaning up after him, so the place is a bit of a mess, but if you don't mind that..."

"Anything." Sye assured stopping him. "You're a saint."

"We'll see if you're still going to call me that after you meet my folks." He sighed.

Sye walked into Rowen's three story house, found the bathroom and changed quickly. When he came back out, he noticed the walls were painted green, and the rest of the house was decorated like it was a forest. Plants everywhere and plenty of ferns on the staircase railings.

"Did I just step into the jungle or what?" Sye whispered.

"You did!" A man laughed from behind Sye. He spun around and saw an older man, with some gray hair, but still looking remarkably like Rowen, with the dark blue hair and gentle eyes.

"Hello!" A woman came up on his other side and startled him again. She wiped her hands on her dirty apron, but Sye wasn't staring at that, he was gawking at her fire-red hair. "You like my hair?" She asked seductively. She was beautiful for the age she must have been, but Sye would have thought her to still be in college, if his instincts didn't tell him this was Rowen's mother. She was really something to look at, but the eyes still resembled Rowen's. "You must be another friend of Rowen's." She took Sye's hand and squeezed it firmly. "It's a pleasure to meet you..."

"Sye!" Rowen snapped, glared at his parents, and walked up to Sye. Rowen was a bit taller than his mother, but she didn't back down. He wrapped his arms around Sye's neck and pulled their faces close enough to kiss. "Leave him alone, Ma!"

She took a step back. "You're no fun, Rowen!" She purred.

"The people I invite into this house are off limits, Witch!" He growled, still holding Sye tight. Sye would have objected, but he really didn't want to be touched by the woman, so he endured Rowen being so close their crotches made contact.

"It was nice meeting you, Sye." The mother smirked and left the foyer. Rowen's father nodded a goodbye and left as well. Finally, Sye was released after another minute, while Rowen waited. Sye was baffled, but he tried to smile.

"Uh, Rowen, what was that?" He asked.

"Ma figures it's alright to hit on all my friends, but she leaves them alone if I put claim on them."

"Claim?" Sye repeated timidly.

"It's alright, we don't have to date now or anything, but she doesn't know that. It just basically means I can touch you and she can't."

"Okay." Sye replied looking around the house some more.

"You can come see my room, then I'll change and we'll get out of this nut jungle."

"Where do you want to go?" Sye asked, following Rowen up the blue carpeted stairs. The blue was almost as dark as the ocean.

"We'll head up to the soccer field and see how good you are." Rowen answered and Sye felt an inner twist of pain.

And hopefully, Ryo won't be there.

Sye stopped by his house and snatched his bike from the garage quickly. They were off to the park which was pretty big. It had the outline for a football field which was used for that and several other games and a baseball diamond was off to the side.

Rowen pulled a soccer ball out of his own duffel bag which he had brought along. He dropped it to the ground and knocked it back and forth between his legs.

Sye looked around worriedly for Ryo.

"Don't chicken out on me now, man! I came all the way out here and Ryo isn't anywhere around; he's with Seiji. Now come on. This is just a friendly game between us. I want to see how good you are, how long you can keep running and still endure long enough to play."

It turned out to be a lot more of a rough competitive game between them. They played on the whole field for fifteen straight minutes without stopping or letting up before a lot of other people decided to join in. Soon it was twelve on twelve and the score was tied between the two teams.

"One more and we call it quits!" Sye shouted for all the players to hear. Sye and Rowen were the leaders and no doubt the best people on the two teams. Rowen smirked.

"Next goal wins!" He shouted to his team and Sye and Rowen went to the face off. Rowen saw Sye completely distracted and a twitch of fear in his face and he knew that Sye saw Ryo somewhere. "No!" Rowen growled leaning in close to him. "Don't give into your fear. He may be there, but I'm here!" He pointed sharply at the ground. "Look at me, not him, and concentrate on the game!" Rowen paused. "Don't show off, just win." He whispered and they both smiled.

The ball was dropped and they went at it. They kicked it quite hard at the same time, sending it flying into the air. Sye's teammates were already running to the other teams side to help once the ball landed and Rowen's mates, the same. The ball was still in the air when Sye leaned down on one hand and pushed his foot into the air. The kick he had aimed for the ball made it shoot clear across the field and another new guy on Sye's team named Kento, kicked it in past the goalie and the whole team jumped up with happiness.

Sye flipped back up so he was standing and Rowen glared at him, hands on his hips.

"What ever happened to not showing off?" He raised his brow, trying to fight a smile.

"I forgot?" Sye shrugged smiling and Rowen grabbed him. Sye's whole team grabbed a hold of Sye and they were all hugging him and patting him on the back. Most of these kids were older than Sye and they were all from different schools around the area. Sye was thrilled, then he remembered Ryo and looked over to the goal post. Ryo was spinning the soccer ball on his finger like a basketball. He was leaning against the post of the goal at first, Seiji next to him, then they both started to walk over.

The crowd dispersed, now playing their own games of anything and talking about the close game that had been so fun instead of competitive.

Rowen and Sye stood poised together, staring at Seiji and Ryo as they approached. Ryo tossed the ball to Rowen and he caught it frowning.

"Hey!" Ryo gestured to Rowen. "What's up?"

"A little built up energy is all." Rowen replied coolly. "I saw Sye kick a can nearly an entire block and I thought he might make a pretty fair soccer player. I wanted to see how he did against me."

"And the other players?" Seiji wondered curiously.

"They kind of just joined in." Sye answered nonchalantly.

"Who won?" Seiji asked curiously.

"It was a tie." Sye replied, faster than Rowen could and Rowen glared at him for a moment. "I gotta head home. Bye." Sye turned and left, seeing no point in staying any longer.

"You want me to go with you?" Rowen asked.

"I think I can find my way home." Sye retorted sarcastically, with a bit of a laugh, then waved without looking and grabbed his duffel bag, swinging it over his shoulder.

Whoa! That was almost uncomfortable.

As Sye turned into his driveway he heard a motorcycle coming up behind him. He dropped his bag on the ground, his body covered in sweat. He steadied the bike with a foot on the ground and looked back as Ryo and Rowen went by, each on their bikes. Ryo glared at Sye as he passed.

"I'm doomed." He sighed as he just dropped his bike against the wood fence and went inside with his bag. When he went inside and still heard those sounds going on, he growled angrily. "Mom!" He screamed and he paused. The sounds stopped and Sye could breathe again, he was still furious though. "Perhaps you could tell me when you're going to fuck someone so I can just not come home!" He hollered, rage in his voice and he slammed the door, walking back out.

"Baby!" She yelled out the window. "Where are you going?"

"Out!" He shouted back.

"Where?" She yelled back, trying to sound innocent.

"Like you give a fuck!"

He didn't want to hear her shit, or any apologies. As he walked over the path back to his driveway –still hearing her shit behind himself- he saw Ryo standing there, leaning against the fence that was just behind himself.

Sye ran his fingers through his hair, grabbing a fistful and threatening a rather rash stream of words he wanted to throw at Ryo, but he knew he would regret it, so he bit his lip until it bled.

"What?" He snapped. Now tears were stinging his eyes.

Ryo walked up to him, the perfect definition of calm. He scowled as he came closer, and pulled the bandana out of his hair. He was covered in sweat as well.

Sye looked at the red mass of cloth as Ryo extended it to him. His worries floated away, and he didn't care about anything anymore. He took the cloth, dumbfounded, and realized his lip was indeed bleeding quite a bit. Ryo just turned and walked away without a word.

"Ryo." Sye gasped. Ryo turned back to him from the fence, his brows raised. "Thanks."

Ryo nodded and walked away.

The next day at school, Ryo was again late. As he strolled into the room, he didn't see Mr. Brenek. It was only the student teacher from the day before.

"You're late." He sighed as Ryo scratched his chin carelessly with the back of his hand. It was another way of telling the guy to fuck off.

"No duh!" Ryo replied and went to his seat in the back. That same kid from the day before was sitting in Sye's seat now, and quite fearful of having to sit next to Ryo. "Out." Ryo growled and the kid started to shake, but didn't move. Ryo turned and glared at the teacher in the front, knowing that he had made the student sit there.

With the threat of a detention firmly in hand, the student-teacher watched Ryo carefully.

Sye stumbled into the room a second later, before Ryo could do anything to the kid. He seemed somewhat distant, as if he had had a few drinks before coming to school, but no one seemed to notice. The teacher glared at him and Sye saw the detention.

The teacher was about to say something, but Sye bravely spoke out:

"You know what?" Sye smiled. "I don't give a fuck." The teacher was kind of in awe, then he regained his composure. "Give me a detention or shut the hell up, I'm not in the mood. Oh, by the way, you have another new student." Sye jutted his thumb to a tan, thickly built kid behind himself.

Sye pointed to the vacant seat in the front and the new kid walked in, handed the teacher a paper and sat down comfortably in the front seat.

Walking to the back of the room and his own seat, Sye saw the problem through weary unfocused eyes.

"Now what?" He growled to himself, dropping his school bag on his desk. He scowled looking down at the kid. "Move!" He snapped and the kid jumped up from the seat. Ryo and Sye sat down simultaneously and sighed. Ryo put up his feet while the brown haired kid gathered his detention and pulled up a chair next to his friend's desk.

"What gives you the right to order others around? If..." The teacher growled hastily stomping to the back of the room and standing over Sye.

"A pissed off mood!" Sye replied. "That's what gives me the fucking right! You don't like it, tough! Now piss off, you're standing in my light." Sye crossed his legs and looked over to Ryo, who merely continued to stare at him.

The teacher grabbed Sye by the shirt and pulled him out of his seat. Sye did nothing but scowl at him as he was held. He raised his hand to Sye.

"Go ahead. I dare you. You touch me at all and I'll file a Title 9 on your ass. You'll be out of here so fast your head will spin!" (A/N: Title 9 is a sexual harassment charge... here anyway.)

"I could say the same thing for you." The guy whispered leaning closer to Sye's ear. "Your little episode in the locker room."

"I didn't touch anyone." Sye snapped quietly.

"No, but your friend did, and I could easily put my influence upon the principal to sway the board of directors to have him kicked out of school. He won't be admitted anywhere so long as I put it in the newspapers."

Sye's glance shot to Ryo and he was released. The whole class was in a state of shock. The teacher just turned and left the room after that. Sye sat down, suddenly feeling dizzy. He closed is eyes and laid his head in his arms.

"So sorry I'm late!" Mr. Brenek shouted as he came in a moment later. He saw something immediately wrong with the class. "What's wrong?"

The whole class wanted to jump up and start telling him everything, but they knew if Ryo wanted it to be told, he would tell it.

"What happened, Ryo?" Mr. Brenek came to the back of the class and leaned against the windows –resigned to the fact, a long time ago, that Ryo was the ring leader- crossing his ankles.

"You forgot to come in with your birthday suit on today." Ryo complained, looking the man up and down.

"What's really wrong?" He glanced at Sye and went over to his desk. Sye's head was still down as Mr. Brenek shook him awake.

Sye immediately stood up upon contact, scaring Mr. Brenek and startling the rest of the class. He grabbed his bag and walked out the door.

"I need to go to Guidance." He spoke as he walked out. Seiji and Ryo exchanged a glance.

"I'm going to Guidance too!" Rowen stood up, but Mr. Brenek gently pushed him back into his seat.

"No, you're not." He made a phone call, then started class.

A/N: Anyway, so please review. I'd like some feedback on this and if it should continue or not. Thanx.