Disclaimer: I do not own Ronin Warriors. Nope. Not me… but SOMEDAY…. Who knows:heart: ()

The day was March 14th, and Cye awoke to a quiet morning. Things started as usual. He was up before anyone else, and as he proceeded to cook breakfast, the others gradually awoke. Rowen was the last to get to the table, as usual, and Cye was the last to eat. Yes, this day was the same as all the rest… only it wasn't. Cye was turning 18, and no one even remembered. After eating, he cleaned up the kitchen, and the others disappeared into their rooms. Cye was vacuuming the hallway upstairs when he heard raised voices coming from Ryo's room. He guessed the ronin leader was talking to Mia over the phone, but though he was curious as to what, Cye knew better than to eavesdrop. He continued on his way.

Around lunch time, Cye was in the kitchen again. He called for the others, but none of the came. When he set the food out on the table, he found a small note. Reading it aloud, he wore a melancholy smile.

Cye,

We had somewhere to be. Sorry. We'll be back later.

The guys,.

That didn't bother Cye, or at least not on the surface. Sure, he was upset that his best friends left him on his own on his special day, but he was happy that they at least left a note. Later in the day, Cye got a call from his mother. She was happy for her son, but it was unfortunate that she was unable to visit. Cye lied and said he was alright, and said goodbye. He usually wasn't one to lie, but he really didn't feel that bad.

Cye fell asleep on the couch after the phone call, and when he woke up, it was getting dark out. The others still hadn't returned, and as Cye stared at the kitchen door, he became less and less happy, and even less hungry. So, instead, he walked out the front door. Moments later, he found himself staring down into the water off the dock. Mia was so fortunate, he thought, to live near such a pretty lake. Cye found himself removing his shirt, and in the next moment, he found himself diving in.

The water was cold against his bare chest and back, but after swimming around for a while, the cold didn't bother him. Cye ducked under the surface, and swam down to the bottom. Rocks and glass and shells glistened, and Cye stared awhile before starting to collect some of them. He would often do this. Soon, some small fishes that lived there came to visit with him, and to wish him a happy birthday. Thanks to having his armor orb with him, he could stay underwater for extended periods of time. However, it was quickly growing cold, and his body had reached its limit.

He broke through the surface of the water and was immediately bombarded with blistering cold air. He didn't know how long he had been under, but it was dark now, and the moon would have been visible if the storm clouds had not been moving in. Cye climbed back onto the dock and he sat on the edge, holding his arms close to him. He was cold, but he didn't feel like going back into the lonely house. Then, he jumped as a towel was suddenly draped over his shivering shoulders. He looked over as his best friend sat next to him.

"…Kento?"

"Hi, Cye."

"When did you get back?"

"Hm… about an hour ago, really."

"Don't tell me you waited out here hat WHOLE time!"

Kento didn't answer. He just smiled and stared out at the quiet water. Soon, Cye got tired with staring at his friend, and looked out, also. He jumped again as Kento's stomach growled, and then he laughed.

"Wow, was that a bear, or what?"

"Hey, give me a break! My poor stomach was deprived of your delicious cooking all day!"

"Ha ha! Okay… why don't we go and get you something to eat, friend?"

"Just what I was thinking!"

Kent jumped up onto his feet and held out his hand to help Cye up.

"We've been waiting for you, anyway."

Cye didn't quite understand, but he accepted the extended hand and the two of them trudged on back to the house. When they got there, however, all the lights were off. Cye questioned Kento about it, but he claimed he didn't know why. Cye walked in first looked around, trying to adjust to the dark, and Kento moved to the light switch on the wall. Out of nowhere, a large white blur jumped out and tackled Cye to the ground. That's when Kento turned the light on. The bearer of torrent stared in shock, with wide, surprised eyes as all of his friends, as well as Mia and Yuli jumped out and shouted a happy birthday. The white thing that had tackled him and was now lying on his lap was White Blaze. Ryo got the tiger off and helped the boy up.

"Happy birthday, Cye!"

He just couldn't get over the sight of the living room. Streamers and balloons were hanging around everywhere, and Rowen and Yuli were having a party poppers war, and poor Sage was in the middle of it. Finally, Cye could react, and a large smile came over his face, especially when he stared at a large, white cake. There was a picture put on it of all of them together, happy. Finally, Cye shouted and threw his arms around Ryo's neck.

"Thank you, everyone! I love it!"

Ryo smiled.

"I'm glad! It took us all day to get this stuff!"

"So that was where you went! Oh, and all this time, I thought none of you remembered!"

"We could never forget one of our own!"

The others gathered around, and Cye hugged each and every one of them. After that, they settled down to play some games, like cards, pictionary, and other games. Then, they sat down to eat. Cye didn't want to ct into the cake, but ended up doing it anyway. Yuli got the piece with Ryo in it, Mia got the piece of Cye, Kento got Sage, Rowen got Yuli, Ryo got White Blaze, and Cye got Mia. The rest of it was put away in the freezer (Ice cream cake!)

The real trouble started, however, when Rowen brought in a case of beer. Each of them tried some, with Mia as the supervision, and the only ones who liked it were the older ones. Nevertheless, they all had a good time. At about three in the morning, Rowen helped a tired and slightly tipsy Cye up the stairs. He led him into his and Kento's room and set him on the bed. Cye just lay back over the middle of the bed and set a hand over his face. (this was after his trip to the bathroom, if you catch my drift.) Rowen smiled and left. Cye was smiling. The smile widened the more he thought about the party and his friends, and a single tear fell over his flushed cheeks.

"This… was the best birthday EVER."