It was happening again. The five ronin spirits were being divided by silly, pointless disputes, and none of them but him realized it! Could only Ryo feel the pressure and sorrow of the group falling apart? He had to put an end to it quickly, before all of them decided to try and kill each other again! Ryo briskly walked between Rowen and Kento, the two fighting, and pushed them away by their chests.

"Stop it, you two!"

"But I didn't do anything! Don't yell at me!"

"Oh, and you're saying I started it?"

"You usually do!"

"Stop spreading lies!"

"I'm not lying!"

"Well… you tried to kill Cye's fish!"

"That's ENOUGH, you two! Geeze!"

Ryo's loud yell managed to get the two of them to calm down, but it wasn't much of an improvement. They just stayed quiet, and turned away from the other. Sage was still sitting on the floor, looking just as concerned as Ryo. Sage, of all of them, probably understood what was happening, and he stood up, finally lending a hand.

"Hey… We shouldn't be fighting each other like this."

"Sage…"

Sage looked up at Ryo, who was smiling, thankfully.

"First off, you're both giving me a headache!"

That's when it went downhill.

"Well, sorry if we're hurting little Mr. Vanity! Maybe you're giving US headaches!"

"Yeah, what makes YOU so special? I mean, don't we matter?"

"I didn't say that!"

"Close enough!"

"Heh… he is vain, isn't he? Always looking out for number one!"

"Now, wait just one minute…"

"You always think you're so much better than us! You think we cramp your style, right?"

"Kento-"

" 'Oh, look at me! I'm Sage, and I'm a major suck-up and a sore loser'!"

"Stop it! Let me speak, damn you!"

"What? More bragging or something!"

"Man… you two are just so dense!"

"What was that?"

"Look, can't you see you're hurting someone ELSE'S head, now, too?"

Sage pointed behind the boys to Ryo. When the others turned to look, Ryo had his head in his hands, and he was holding his hand over his face so hard he was almost cutting into his forehead with his nails. But, it wasn't because of his headache. Sure, in the fight, his skull cracked a little, and a still-fresh cut was stitched up on his brow, but he was just distraught. He could feel his friend's anger on a completely different level, and for some reason, it put a lot of strain on his mind, and his armor and virtue.

Though, he was surprised when it suddenly got silent, and he removed his hand to see three pairs of eyes staring at him, worriedly. He jumped a little when Rowen got close to his face.

"Man, I'm sorry, Ryo! How's your head doin'?"

"Huh? I-"

"Dude, we just weren't thinking!"

"Hey, maybe you should sit down!"

"No, I'm-"

The others wouldn't let him retaliate as they took hold of his arms and ushered him to the couch in the living room. Even after he was seated, they didn't leave him alone. The problem wasn't his physical health, it was the boys' bond! But, he couldn't get more than two words out without being interrupted, so he decided to keep quiet. He slouched into the soft couch cushions and covered his face with a pillow to stop the others from trying to inspect his stitches. After a while, it quieted down again, and Ryo removed the pillow.

Each of the ronins was sitting in a different spot. Cye still wasn't there, and Sage was the only one looking at him. Seeing as the leader came out of hiding, he approached him slowly.

"I really should take a look at that now, Ryo. No hiding."

Ryo wanted to hide, but seeing as Sage was concerned, he deiced agreed to the simple examination. He sat as still as he could as Sage poked and prodded. He finally winced as Sage touched one of the pieces of thread that stuck out, and turned his head away.

"Ryo…"

"See? I'm okay, really. I'm worried about all of you!"

"What?"

"Say again?"

All of them looked at him as though he said something completely stupid.

"Ryo, maybe you haven't noticed, but we're nearly all healed. You're the only one left with still-open wounds."

"Not to mention that you just woke up about a week and a half ago from a coma-thing."

"No, that's not it at all! Look, you've all been acting strangely since that battle."

"We have?"

"Actually, we're usually this mean to each other, Ryo."

"No, you're not! You're friends, and friends shouldn't…"

They waited for him to finish, but they weren't getting it, anyway, so he shook his head and set the pillow back over his face, careful not to rub against the protruding, painful thread. Then, to his left, Sage sighed.

"I'm leaving."

"You are?"

"Yeah."

"What for?"

"I told you I had a headache, didn't I? I'm going to take some asprin and sleep it off."

Before leaving, he looked down at Ryo again.

"Do you need anything?"

Ryo shook his head lightly, and then listened as Sage excused himself.