This is a little shorter than I originally intended, but hey it works out at the end. Although, I think Sage and Hoshi could fight a little more...but meh. ^^;

Chapter Fifteen

She was thankful that her and Ryo had finished the pizza long before she went to her lecture class. He had left her for his job at an animal sanctuary and said Kento would be by later. She was fine with that, Kento was laughs. A little low brow, but laughs none the less. However, her jaw nearly dropped when she saw Sage walk in to her class. She composed herself as he took a seat in the back, and she silently cursed at herself but she went talking about Hamlet, which was one of her favorite plays on stage. Thankfully, she only planned a lecture for the day, which took all of the class, and she reminded them about their reports that were due and who was on her "shit" list for not turning in the last one.

Sage clapped sarcastically after the last student left.

"I have nothing to say to you," she said definitively as she packed up her bag.

He shrugged, "sorry, if I upset you last time..."

"Don't try and take the high ground with this, where's Kento?"

"I switched with him," he answered and she shot a glare at him. He realized he had really rubbed her the wrong way, and he really wanted to try and get along with her if Rowen wanted her so badly.

"Now, why would you go do that, I thought you didn't like me after your last visit," she mumbled as she erased her board filled with notes. He noticed she also did little drawings to go along with them, which were pretty good.

"I never said that," he replied as he thought back to the last time. Well, he did tell her bluntly that he thought she was bit un-lady like. He didn't think that translated into he didn't like her.

"You said, I quote, you are a little harsh for a Lady, unquote," she paused to stare at him, his look was so cold. "So, I don't really care, I have semester finals to plan and you can either be quiet or be ...whatever you're doing right now...either way I need to get it done."

Sage sighed, "okay...look..."

She shrugged, "you don't have to say anything, I completely understand."

She walked out quickly and he followed reluctantly. This was going to be harder than he originally had planned, he forgot she was as stubborn as Rowen was. He came to her office and knocked, he saw her sitting at her desk working on her computer. He felt a chill run up his spine, and saw a shadow appear in the corner of her office. He saw her glance back at it, like she felt it appear. He sat down in front of her, "How long have you been seeing the nether spirits."

She gasped, "wait...you see it?"

"Of course I do," he said as he looked at the hovering thing. "I'm the ronin of light..."

She didn't look over, "since the wolf appeared they've been showing up."

He grabbed a paper of hers and scribbled a prayer symbol on it, he wasn't sure it would work, but he hoped. He let the paper fall near the shadow was and it evaporated, "have you told, Rowen?"

"No," she paused, "I didn't want to worry him, they don't bother me. They just sort of bug me about how they can give me power and stuff."

He frowned, "this seems like something you should have told us..."

Hoshi starred at him upset, there were tears welling in her eyes, "I guess you can tell Rowen how I messed up..."

"Is that what you think this is about?" He paused to see her starring at him sadly, "you think I'm out to break you and him up?"

"What else would it be? I don't understand why else," she stopped bbefore she finished her sentence.

Sage sighed and realized that they had a misunderstanding from the very beginning. He had to clear this up, Rowen had been bugging him to treat her better. Truth was, he found her to be almost like Rowen. Even he annoyed him when they first started fighting together, and even when they stayed at Mia's sharing a room, he annoyed him. Rowen was not neat, stayed up at all hours, and could be a little full of his own self knowledge. Over the years, he had gotten better, but that was part of growing up he guessed. He wasn't as cold to women as he used to be, he had even upset Mia once upon a time. Now he was upsetting Hoshi because of his sometimes off putting nature.

He decided to try again, "I'm really happy Rowen found you. In fact, I'm ecstatic that he could find a girl who could challenge him. I haven't seen him grin ear to ear like that since...welll...since we beat Talpa, but I also don't want to see him hurt like when we went to America."

She paused, "he told me about Runa."

"That was my fault," he paused and silently remembered how he had gotten captured. "I had been taken hostage, and they were using my armor as a way to terrorize New York. First, they killed this girl's brother, but she was so enthralled with their life that she ran with them to find me in La. She paid the price for saving us, it was really Ryo who was upset the most. I think he had actually fallen in love with the girl, I guess they all had..."

She starred at Sage unblinking as he continued, "I just don't want them all to hurt again."

Hoshi sighed and fumed, "dude, even Ryo was saying something similar earlier! He was tactful about it though..."

Sage laughed as she stood up, "Ryo, tactful?"

"Yes, he is quite tactful," she grumbled and then said, "I get it. You guys have been Boys to Men for some time. Even the lady in your group has never really been more to you guys than a teacher or a guide... I'm not Mia. I don't know about this, but I'm also not Runa. I'm not a naive American girl who goes running into battle because of silly moments of temporary judgment."

Sage paused, "then what happens?"

"Like I told Ryo earlier, I'm not easily broken, but you have to trust me to trust in you," she said as she buried her head in her hands. He could see she was shaking ever so slightly. "I won't say I understand everything, but I understand the consequences of foolish actions. I also understand this is real and could kill me or one of you."

He starred at her and realized she was looking at him harshly. She was serious, and seemed like she had put a lot of thought into her words. He groaned, maybe he had been an little bit of ass for assuming she didn't understand anything. He could see her scars clearly, an realized he hadn't thought of them as more than just an attribute. Had he been foolish enough not to remember that she had bore those scars for a reason he dared not ask of. That she had dealt with the worst of humanity on a daily basis, and he probably didn't make it any easier for her.

He sighed, "I'll trust in you, Hoshi, but I don't think I could forgive you if you broke his heart."

"Understood," she answered, "but I don't plan on it."

He nodded, she was just as stubborn as he was, "you have to talk to Mia about those shadows though asap."

"I'll go tomorrow, I really have to submit this syllabus," she answered as she looked at her computer. He got up to go stand outside like he normally did, but she smiled and said, "Sage, I'm going to order some dessert? Me and Ryo had pizza earlier, so I was expecting Kento...but do you want ice cream?"

He smiled at her invite, "as long as its not that American place again."