Welcome back! Here's the 3rd part of the story. I hope you guys are liking it so far; I haven't ever done a date fic, so this is totally new for me ._.

italics = first one is recap of last chapter. 2nd is thoughts

Disclaimer: Don't own Ronin Warriors. Never have, never will

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"So where would you like to go?" asked Saki, as she held onto Kento loosely. She didn't want him to fall over, since from what he had told her, this was the first time he'd been out of the house and his own bed since he left the hospital. Suddenly, she heard a stomach growl.

"Eh, sorry about that," he said sheepishly. "I haven't had much to eat today."

"That's alright, I haven't either," she said, smiling. She felt her own stomach grumble a bit. "How about lunch then?"

"Sounds great to me," he told her. "Where would you like to go?"

"Hm…"

Ryo, Sage, Cye, and Rowen peeked into the window of the café that Kento and Saki had ended up at for lunch. They had managed to follow the duo all the way to the eating establishment, only nearly being caught once when Kento had turned around. Cye said that he could tell (through the Hardrock/Torrent bond) that the hurt warrior was feeling like something was up, but not sure what.

So that meant that the four following had to be careful. If Kento caught them, he would throw four kinds of fits…or at least try to.

"What are they doing?" asked Ryo, who couldn't see them that well from where he was kneeling. Sage tried to get a closer look, but it was Rowen who could see every detail.

"Well, it looks like they're just sitting at the table," Strata told the others. "Saki is taking a drink and Kento's talking to her."

"Wonder what they're talking about," Cye said aloud, though he hadn't meant to.

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"So why exactly did you end up in our hospital?" Saki asked, taking a sip of her orange soda. "I don't mean to pry, but I did end up taking care of you for most of the week, and those wounds were…were unlike anything I've ever seen."

Kento frowned, biting his bottom lip. He wasn't sure how to tell her about it; true, during the week, she had changed bloody bandages from the injuries (that were mostly) on his chest, so she had some right to know he guessed.

But how to say it?

"Well," he started. "It's…kinda an odd story. See, these guys that don't like us so much got a hold of me, and had me pinned-"

"You? But you look like you could kick the crap out of anyone," she said, fiddling with the soda straw.

"You'd think that, but I don't like to fight unless the reason is good," he told her. Wow, what a lie that is. The others would say I like to fight anything that moves… but I guess, now that I think about it, all the times I've fought were justified in some way or another.

"Anyway, they got me, knocked me out, and kidnapped me. I don't even know where I was, that's how bad it got. My friends eventually found me and got me to the hospital."

Saki's gray eyes widened at those words. "But…some of the wounds looked like they had been somewhat treated," she said. "A few of the really bad ones could've been a lot worse."

"That's another thing. One of the guys who was in the group didn't really want to be," Kento told her, sadly. "He was forced to be in their gang, and only had to be because of a threat to his life."

Saki gasped. "That's terrible!" she said.

A waiter suddenly walked up to their table, and placed the meals they had ordered in front of each person. Kento and Saki both bit into their different sandwiches and savored the tastes before Kento continued.

"I know it's terrible," he said, as she continued to eat. "Oddly enough, he had been my archenemy at one time, and now he's a friend."

"Enemy? You mean you guys were once rivals?" she asked, picking up a chip to eat.

"…you could say that," Hardrock finally answered. "We used to fight over a lot of stuff back in the day. And I hadn't seen him in awhile. But when I saw him with the rest of those guys, I thought I was a dead man. But…"

"He helped you," Saki finished.

Kento smiled a little. "Yeah, he helped me. He even helped my friends find me." He took a few more bites into his B.L.T. sandwich, thinking about how Dais had helped him.

Saki swallowed her last bite of a chicken salad sandwich. "I'm sorry your friend is stuck with those guys," she said. "It's bad enough to be forced to do something, like a family member making you work when you feel bad or whatever, but something like that…that's even worse."

Hardrock sighed and frowned. "Yeah, it is."

They sat in silence for a few moments as Kento finished his sandwich and Saki kept eating her chips. After Saki finished her last chip and Kento his sandwich, she spoke up first.

"I'm sorry I pried," Saki apologized. "I was curious, and I shouldn't have asked. It's your business, and it's not exactly first date stuff to talk about-"

"No, it's alright," he told her. "You were my care-taker for most of the week, your mind probably went in all kinds of directions." Kento then smiled. "If I were you during those days, I probably would've come up with a bunch of different stories in my head about it."

Saki gave a little smile. "I guess I did come up with a lot of different stories in my own thoughts," she admitted.

Kento grinned. "Then what else shall we talk about now?"

Saki grinned like a cat. "How about ordering a sundae as we discuss other details of our lives?"

"You've got my attention."