Chapter 4: Worthy

Serena was walking with Rowen as they were heading over to the Date's dojo to see Sage's kendo rematch with a student that had challenged him, because he had missed the original competition. "Are you okay?" she asked as she wrapped her arm around his.

"Yeah, I'll be okay," he replied, "Just hope Sage and I can patch things up between us."

"Of course you will, you two are best friends," she said beaming.

Rowen smiled as he let her hand go and wrapped his arm around his friend's shoulders. They looked over to see Sage and Lita talking quietly off on the side. They could tell that he really didn't want to do this but his grandfather was forcing him to agree to the match. "I'll find a spot for us," she told him smiling. She pressed a kiss to his cheek before she walked over to the benches to watch the rematch.

Rowen walked over to Sage, his heart as thumping in his chest because Sage had every right to be angry with him. "Sage," he called out. His friend looked up, surprised to see him there.

"Rowen," Sage answered.

The blue-haired teen sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Listen…man…I'm sorry for saying what I said and leaving like that. I was angry," he told his friend. Sage stared at him.

"Ro, I'm sorry too. I was angry, I was angry at the fact that this guy is supposed to protect you but instead he beats the crap out of you," Sage answered.

Rowen held out his hand to shake his friend's hand. Sage instead grabbed his hand and hugged him tight. "Don't scare me like that again, man, alright?" Sage asked, "You scared the hell out of me, bro." Rowen hugged him back, closing his eyes tight. Sage has been like the brother he never had. Always came to his defense, his indigo eyes scaring away any bully that would cause him any problem when they were kids. And he always came to Sage's defense when kids started calling him "demon child" because of those eyes. He respected Lita because she protected Sage just as much as he did.

Letting each other go, they gripped forearms with grins on their faces when Sage's grandfather walked over. "We are ready," he stated.

"Go get 'em, bro. You've got this," Rowen said with a grin.

Sage smirked before he kissed Lita's cheek. Rowen led Lita back over to the bleachers. "Lita, meet my new friend, Serena," he told her smiling.

"Hi, Serena! Hey, way to go, Rowen. You never told us about liking any girl!" Lita said grinning after shaking Serena's hand.

Rowen's cheeks flushed. "We're just friends, Li," he answered, "She has a boyfriend."

"Wow, what a grip you have there," Serena commented, shaking her hand a little.

Rowen smirked as he pulled Serena close as the rest of the guys walked up. "Hey you guys," Ryo greeted.

"Hey, Ryo, Rei. Meet Rowen's new girlfriend, Serena," Lita said with a big grin.

"Serena? Well nice to meet you, Ro, you never said anything about a girl," Ryo commented as they sat down.

"Seems to be the comment of the day," Rowen answered, "We're just friends."

Kento and Mina took their seats behind them with Cye and Ami coming up. Introductions were made and then the match got ready to begin. They watched as Sage circled his opponent, Shingo. Lita leaned forward, watching every move her husband-to-be was making. His form was perfect, of course it was his grandfather trained them both every day as children when they were forced to live with them because of their rebellious natures.

Sage was easily defeating his opponent, but then they could see that Shingo was getting frustrated especially when Sage easily kicked him to the ground.

Just as the blond was about to strike the final blow to finish the match, Shingo had a handful of dirt and threw it into Sage's face. Sage backed up, letting out a shout from shock nearly falling over. Thankfully, because of the hair covering his right eye, he was able to push it out of the way easily since his left eye was blinded from the dirt. Seeing nothing but red because of the fact Shingo tried to cheat, Sage let out another shout of anger and struck out with his sword the blunt blade connecting to his opponent's head and knocked his face protector off.

He had hit Shingo so hard that the other teen fell over unconscious and Sage's eyes grew wide when he realized what he had done. "SAGE!" he heard his grandfather roar in rage. Thinking quickly, Sage dropped to his knees in front of his grandfather as the old man made his way over to him. "You broke the etiquette I had taught you," his grandfather said angrily.

"It wasn't my fault…" Sage started to say.

"You have won this duel dishonorably," his grandfather scolded, "I taught you better than this."

"Yes, sir," Sage answered ashamed.

Kento stood up. "Hey! That's no fair he cheated!" he exclaimed. Lita grabbed his arm tightly before he could run out onto the field.

"Kento, don't! You'll make it worse for him," she hissed.

Sage winced when his grandfather grabbed him by the back of his shirt, yanking him to his feet. He practically dragged the teen back to the house. "You will go into the basement as punishment for your dishonor!" he snapped, shoving him towards the door. Sage didn't say a word as his grandfather opened the door and practically shoved him towards the stairs.

Making his way through the darkness, Sage removed his kendo armor and sat on the floor of the basement, closing his eyes as he fell into his deep meditation to try and regain his composure for what he had lost when Shingo attacked him.

Lita, however, ran down the bleachers and over to Sage's grandfather. "Master Date, punishing Sage was too…" she started to say.

"Are you going to argue with my decision?" Master Date demanded.

Lita was silent, her eyes were lowered to the ground. She knew better than to argue with the man. "Remember, Lita, you are going to marry into this family. There are things that will not happen in this family. Dishonor is one of them," he told her. She bowed her head slightly, her eyes going over to the house.

Sage was relaxed in his meditation, slightly scolding himself for his actions. He knew better than to lash back, but at the same time he couldn't regret his actions. Shingo was a fine fighter, just angry that Sage was once again that he was going to win the position as Vice-President of the Kendo club once more. Jealousy made Shingo lash out. He let out a deep breath, but then he realized something. The basement was brighter than it was a moment ago.

Opening his eyes, he saw a green light in the middle of the room. Standing up, he made his way over to the light. "Sage, you have proven yourself worthy to be the Warrior of Light, the protector of Wisdom. You have proven yourself worthy to hold the armor that has been told in stories for generations in your family. Sage, it is time for you to receive the armor that once belonged to you long ago once more," a voice echoed through the basement.

"Who's there?" Sage demanded.

Turning around toward the light again his eyes grew wide when he saw an armor sitting in the middle of the room. "What…" he said in confusion, his hand reaching out to touch the armor. Suddenly, the armor disappeared and Sage's head began to throb. "What's happening…" he muttered as he fell to his knees on the floor, "My head!"

Suddenly, flashes of what seemed like images raced through his mind. He saw himself as a boy thousands of years it seemed being led away by a man he didn't recognize, he saw himself training throughout his life in the ways of Kendo like his grandfather had, he saw his friends all of his friends training in the same arts. He saw himself picking a sword up off a table. He saw Lita, beautiful Lita she looked like a Princess. Wait, she was a princess. Her name wasn't Lita then, no, it was…what was it? It was Jupiter! His Jupiter! "Seiji! Wake up, you can't leave me alone like this!" he heard her beg. She sounded so far away. Then everything had gone black.

Letting out a gasp, he fell on all fours gasping for air as if he had run a marathon. He looked at his hands to see the armor was on his body. "I remember…" he said quietly. Just as he said those words, the armor disappeared from his body and he was holding a green orb in the palm of his hand that had the symbol "Wisdom" in the middle of it. Hearing the door to the basement open, he stood up.

"Sage, you may come up now," his grandfather called to him.

Sage walked up the stairs, wincing from the sunlight hitting his eyes. "Grandfather, forgive me for my dishonor," he murmured.

"Don't worry, Sage, Shingo woke up and admitted to everything," Master Date answered, "In fact if you hadn't reacted, he would have been kicked out of Kendo for the rest of his life, nothing is worse in Kendo that cheating."

"Yes, grandfather," he answered.

Master Date gripped his shoulder and went to speak with Shingo's parents when Sage looked over at his friends. He saw Lita and his heart actually missed a beat. "Jupiter," he thought. Of course he couldn't say that to her, she had no memory of their lives together so long ago. He walked over to the group.

"Hey, we tried to get your grandfather to bring you up sooner," Kento told him.

"Yeah we knew once that guy woke up and he knew we saw it all he fessed up," Ryo put in.

They saw that Sage wasn't really responding, just staring. "Hey, dude, you okay?" Kento asked.

"Huh? Yeah, fine, at least it's over now," Sage answered.

Lita saw that something was off and stared at him quizzically but he gave her a slight smile as if to tell her not to worry.

After everything was cleaned up and everyone else left, Sage went into the house while Lita was downstairs reading a new cookbook Sage had given her for her birthday.

Standing in the shower the hot water was rolling off him as he rested his forehead against the tiled wall. His head still throbbed, remembering everything from a thousand years ago. Meeting Lita, the fact that they had always been close and their meeting wasn't an accident. It wasn't even fate, it was his destiny to find his Jupiter again. They were sent to the future to find each other again.

He was supposed to have his armor back, did that mean danger was around the corner somewhere? Was Beryl back? Was she going to send her army of minions after them? Why make him remember if Lita didn't remember their life together? It was as if a gift and a cure all at once just hitting him as he stood there in the shower, the hot water turning cold.

Getting out of the shower finally, he got dressed and made his way downstairs. Lita looked up to see that he was clearly distracted. "Sage," she called to him, making him look up. She set her book down and stood up from the chair, making her way over to him. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, just…just trying to shake off what happened today," he replied.

"Well, you would've won fair and square everyone knows it," she said smiling.

Sage smiled back, his indigo eyes locking with her brown eyes. "Lita," he said softly.

"Yeah?" she answered.

"Can I try something?" he asked.

She stared at him quizzically. "Okay…" she said slowly. Sage rested his hand on the back of her neck as he pulled her close and kissed her lightly. Lita was stunned, but then she kissed him back. Pulling away, she stared at him surprised. "W—Wow…" she stuttered, making him smile.

"Wow good or wow bad?" he quipped making her laugh.

"You know, Sage, I don't think this'll be so bad after all," she answered, hugging him.

Sage hugged her back, resting his head on top of hers.