"What happened to Sarah?!"

"…Sir…we found her this morning…"

He practically fell through the door. He slammed it behind him. A framed picture on the wall crashed to the floor.

"She was in bad shape. We did all we could but…she didn't make it."

"TOUMA!!!"

* * * * * * * * *

"Kento, don't you dare!  I swear, if you touch my lunch—"

"Okay, okay!  Jeez, Cye.  I won't move a muscle, see?"  The stout Chinese boy crossed his arms and leaned back in his seat.  His British friend watched him with narrowed eyes.

"Ryo," Cye said to the black-haired boy on his left, "if the Bottomless Pit makes one move for my food, would you do me a favor?"

Ryo smiled.  "Like what?"

Cye got an inspired grin.  "Oh, I dunno.  Perhaps…oooh, yes!  How about what Mia did to Yuli the other day when he broke the clock in the library?"

Ryo's face lit up with a wicked smile…one Kento didn't think he liked.

"Guys, don't be silly.  You wouldn't do that to me, Ryo," Kento said uncertainly.  "Would ya?"

Ryo just smiled and Cye grinned, stood, and said, "I'll be back in a while.  Be a good boy, Kento, and Ryo won't have to punish you."  He walked out of the cafeteria.

Kento watched his friend go.  When he turned around again, he found himself looking straight into Ryo's fiery tiger-blue eyes.  He gulped and turned his gaze to the blond boy sitting on Ryo's left.  "Sage—"

Sage shook his head, causing the hair covering one of his violet-blue eyes to swing back and forth.  "Hey, if Cye and Ryo deem spanking you a worthy punishment for starving Cye to death, that's your problem.  Don't you think that that's Justice?" he said with nonchalance.

Kento glared at him.  "Well," he growled.  "Thank you for your Wisdom, Sage, but no—I don't think that's fair."  He sulked in his chair for the next five minutes.

Cye came back and took his seat.  "Thanks, Ry."

"Sure.  You can repay me when it's my turn to go find him," Ryo replied.  "So where was he this time?"

"Listening to the principal about taking classes at the university again, of course."

"And?"

"He said 'no', as usual.  Anyway, Rowen said he'd be here in a while, had to go get something from Sensei Miroko first."

"Oh.  Hey, Sage, ya gonna eat that?" Kento asked.

"No."  Sage pushed the food in question across the table to Kento, who scarfed it down eagerly.  Sage looked at Cye.  "Didn't you say you had him on a diet?"

"Yes, but I made the mistake of leaving him with his family at the restaurant.  Even I can't help wanting to eat Mama Fuan's food.  She must be one of the greatest cook's of our time," Cye commented.  "Though I'm told that Papa Fuan's even better.  He just doesn't cook so often."

"Looth vout!" Kento tried to say through a mouthful of food.  He had a panicky look.

"Huh?" all three of his friends asked…right before Ryo and Cye's chairs fell out from under them.  Sage jumped up quickly and Kento started laughing.  Cye stood up, brushing himself off, and blushing.  Ryo just lay on the cafeteria floor, stunned and a bit confused, looking up at—

"Um, hi, Ro," Ryo said.

"Hi, Ry.  Ya can consider that my repayment for that little prank you and Cye pulled on me yesterday."  Rowen walked around the table and sat next to Kento, who was still laughing his head off.  In fact, half the people in the cafeteria were laughing at the event.

"You mean revenge," Sage said, helping Ryo up.

Rowen shrugged.  "Same thing.  But, yeah, I guess ya could call it revenge."  He looked at Kento's plate and frowned.  "Ey, Kento, look!  There's a fudge cake bein' served in the lunch line!"

"What?  Where?" Kento turned to look at the aforesaid line.  Rowen took the opportunity to grab several articles of food from Kento's stockpile.  Kento turned back, looked at his tray, and glowered at Rowen.  "Hey!  Whadja do that for?"

Rowen answered simply, "I'm hungry.  You've got food; Sage gave ya his, Ryo already finished his, and Cye needs to eat his.  So, logically, I took some of yours."

"Why didn't you just buy your own?" asked Ryo.

"Umm…I don't have any money…" Rowen replied slowly.  He didn't look up and started eating the food he'd taken.

Sage watched his best friend with a raised eyebrow.  Something didn't feel right.  "Hey, Ro, why are you so hungry anyway?"

Rowen paused and answered slowly.  "Um…I forgot to eat breakfast this mornin'."

Ryo laughed.  "So?  You've skipped breakfast before without being this hungry."

"Yeah, uh," Rowen forced a grin, "but I forgot to have dinner last night, too."

Both of Sage's eyebrows were raised now and he was frowning.  Cye was frowning, too, a look of concern and sympathy on his face.  "Look, Rowen," he said.  "We know this whole thing is hard on you.  Maybe it would help to talk about it a bit."

Rowen still didn't look up.  "What's there to talk about?  My mom died in a plane crash four weeks ago.  That's it."

Ryo wasn't smiling at all, Sage was frowning deeply, and Kento had stopped eating and was looking from Rowen to the others and back again.  Cye tried again.  "Rowen, we just want to help.  Since it happened, you've been putting on this act like everything's the same.  You've been forgetting things, you space out a lot, and we can tell you aren't sleeping well.  We're your friends.  You can tell us—"

"Forget it!  I don't wanna talk about it.  Just drop it!"  With that, Rowen stood and stormed out of the cafeteria.

"Oh, boy…" groaned Kento.

"Umm, what do we do?" Ryo asked.  "He's upset and you know how he gets when he's mad or something."

"Guys, I'm really worried about him.  Sensei Yugi said Rowen actually forgot to do some work and I overheard Sensei Nuuman telling Sensei Son that Rowen's not running like he usually does at track practice.  Now, he's forgetting to eat and his attitude is dismissive and temperamental.  He's getting distant and it's not healthy."

"I agree, Cye.  But, what is there we can do?  Pretty much, nothing," said Ryo.

"And there's something else wrong.  I can't put my finger on it but something just doesn't feel right.  Rowen's keeping something from us."

"Like what, Sage?" Kento asked.

Sage sighed.  "I don't know."  He stood up.  "Unless we want to be late for our next classes, we should get going."

"What about Ro?" Kento pointed out.

"We'll worry about it after school," Ryo decided.  "I have the class after this one with him.  I'll try to talk to him then."

"Don't make him mad!" chorused the other three.

Ryo grinned.  "Fine.  See you guys later!"

* * * * * * * * *

            Sage finally managed to evade the three girls who'd been following him with all their awful giggles and flirting for over ten minutes.  Then he joined Cye and Kento at the picnic table under the shade of two sakura trees where their group always met.  Kento and Cye had—as usual—started a fight over something and were now rolling around on the grass and laughing.  Cye seemed to have the upper hand at the moment.

            "Hey, you two, where are Ryo and Rowen?"

            "Um, Ryo told me in the hall that he had to do something but he'll be here soon.  He said he needs to tell us something," Cye reported.

            Kento took advantage of his best friend's moment of distraction to flip Cye over and pin him to the ground.  "But neither of us have seen Rowen since lunch," he said.

            Sage shrugged and turned to watch the main doors of the school for his other two friends.  'I wonder if Ryo talked to Rowen.  I hope Ryo didn't lose his temper.  That might make Ro do something he'd regret,' he thought.  'Why did this have to happen?  Sarah was a nice person and it was obvious she loved Rowen.  Ro's parents getting a divorce was one thing, but his mom dying…I wish I knew how to help him.'

            "I win!" Cye shouted.

            "Only because I was going easy on you!" retorted Kento.

            Cye sat at the picnic table next to Sage, laughing.  "You just don't want to admit that you, Warrior of Strength, got beaten by little ol' me.  Strength isn't everything, mate.  Look at me; I'm smaller, swifter, and thus: superior."

            Kento scowled as he sat across from Cye.  "Whatever."  He slumped forward on the tabletop.  "Man, how long are they gonna take?  I'm hungry and Mama's making Western for supper tonight."

            "So, in other words, you want to go home so you can fill your belly," Sage clarified.

            "Duh!  Didn't I just say that?"

            "There's Ryo," Cye said.  "Hey, Ry!  What took you so long?!"

            Ryo joined them quickly.  "Hi, guys.  Rowen's not here yet?"

            "Nope," said Kento.  "Wish he was, though.  I'm so bored!  There's nothin' to do sitting here.  If he'd just hurry up, we could go and I could get home and eat!"

            "Impatience is a fault.  You shouldn't let it get the better of you," Sage commented.

            "And if you're going to sit there and yell about it," said Cye, "you might as well shout for the whole schoolyard to hear."

            "Hey!  That's a good idea, Cye!" Kento jumped up and stood on the tabletop.

            The color drained from Cye's face.  "Kento, don't," he hissed.  Too late.

            "Hey, anybody know where Hashiba Touma is?!" Kento bellowed.  Nearly everyone in the schoolyard stopped and stared.  For nearly three seconds silence reigned.  Then, the crowds erupted with laughter as they returned to whatever they'd been doing.  Kento shrugged and sat down.  "Can't say I didn't try."

            Ryo fell off his seat laughing.  "Oh, gods!" he choked out.  "Look at Cye!  He's redder than Wildfire!"

            "Urusai, Ryo!  Just shut up!" Cye scowled, still blushing.  "How could you, Kento?  That was so—"

            "Hey, China!" a voice called.  Kento grumbled and responded, "Whadda ya want?"

            A senior with his arm around his girlfriend walked up to their table.  "You're lookin' for Freak, right?"

            "Freak?" Ryo asked.

            The senior rolled his eyes.  "Yeah, Freak.  He's in my Biology class.  Teacher's pet, weird accent, ruins the curves, definitely not a senior, weird hair…Freak…also called Hashiba.  He's the one you're looking for, right?"

            "Uh, yeah.  Why?" Cye asked, biting his tongue to keep from saying something…unkind to the senior.

            "Well, he left the moment the final bell rang.  Practically ran down the street."

            Ryo nodded.  "Oh.  Well, thanks."

            "No problem."  The senior left with his girlfriend.  Cye scowled after him and Kento was growling under his breath.  Ryo and Sage held silent, unseen furies within.

            "Jerk," Cye said.  "If anyone's a freak, it's him!  The bloody nerve of that git!"

            Ryo stifled a laugh.  "Cye, calm down.  Your Brit blood's showin' up a little too much."

            Cye blushed but still said, "Bloody jerk," one last time.  Ryo stopped trying to stifle his laughter and fell off his seat again.

            Kento and Sage stood up.  "If Ro's gone home, why don't we?" voiced Kento.  The group headed down the street.

            "Ryo," said Cye, "you said you wanted to tell us something."

            "Oh yeah!  In Chemistry, I tried to talk to Rowen.  He just stared at the air as if he saw something and didn't even seem to realize I was there.  I waved my hand in front of his face, talked pretty loud right in his ear, whatever.  I even pinched him but…it was like he wasn't there, y'know?  Like his body was there but everything else was somewhere else.  When class was over, he just got up and left.  Anyway, it kinda freaked me out…Guys, I'm really worried about him.  I think he may need…you know…help."

            No one spoke.  They walked and each of the four was deep in thought.  Two blocks were passed without a word.  Then—

            "How 'bout Mia?" Kento suggested.  "She's got lots of friends who do stuff like that.  I bet she knows someone who could help Ro."

            "Good idea!" Ryo agreed enthusiastically.  "Sage and I'll bring it up at dinner tonight.  Er, or maybe Sage will.  Mia's still mad at me over that china plate I broke the other day."

            "Ry, are you ever not in trouble with Mia?" Cye teased.

            "Sure!  There was the time when…uh—or remember when…um…well, I can't think of anytime in particular right now but if you'll leave a message at the sound of my panicked screaming as I run from Mia, I'll try to get back to you once I get out of the hospital and have hired someone to protect me from her."

            Everyone started laughing.  They came to the bus stop where they parted ways.  Cye would go to the apartment he rented near the aquarium where he worked.  Kento would go to his family's restaurant in the Chinatown district, where half his family stayed during the school years.  Rowen, if he'd been there, would've gone to the apartment his father rented nearby a laboratory for the first three months of the Han a High school year.  Ryo and Sage would go to the house Mia had bought right after Talpa's final defeat.

            The Ronins had been dreading separating and returning to their respective homes: Sage to Sendai, Ryo to his cabin in the mountains, Rowen to Osaka, Kento to Yokohama, and Cye to Hagi.  Mia had finally called up all their families and worked out a way for the five teens to all attend Han a High together.  Being Mia, she argued her way through all disagreements and solved the problems.

            Sage and Ryo stayed with her, since Ryo had no one else to stay with and Sage's family wouldn't leave the family dojo in Sendai.  Cye's mother called in a favor from an old friend to get him his apartment for an especially low rent.  Kento's father already owned a restaurant in the are, so he just came down there with two of Kento's siblings during the school year.  Rowen's father worked at a local lab occasionally so he just rented an apartment only a block away and he and Rowen lived there the first three months of the school year.

            "See you guys later," Cye said as he boarded his bus.

            Kento caught the next one.  "Bye!" he said over his shoulder.  They heard him greeting the bus driver: "Hey, baby, how're you today?"  They also heard the woman tell him to shut up and sit in the back.

            Mia drove up in her old red SUV a few minutes later and Ryo and Sage jumped in.  "Hey, guys!  How was your day?"

            "Oh, fine," Sage replied.  "How was yours?"

            Mia grinned.  "Wonderful.  I got a letter from Mother.  She's doing great.  And today was payday and I got a bonus.  There's a new professor and he said he was impressed that I'm such a good professor's assistant myself at only 18 years of age.  He's very nice, an elderly gentleman sort of guy.  Oh, and Yuli's dad called, needing a sitter for the weekend.  I told him you'd be happy to do it, Ryo.  If they decide to pay you, you'll give me the money as a payment for the plate you broke.  By the way, White Blaze has an appointment tomorrow for a checkup.  You'll have to call ahead to the zoo to make sure they remember you're coming."

            "Okay," Ryo said, already miserable with the thought that he was going to be earning money only to turn it over to Mia.  He turned to Sage and whispered, "Considering her bitchy mood, it's gonna be a long weekend."

            "I heard that!" said Mia.

            Ryo slapped himself on the forehead.  "Damn."

* * * * * * * * *

            "Where were you?"

            "At school."

            "Why'd you take so long getting home?"

            "I got here as fast as I could.  I didn't mean to take long.  I'm sorry."

            "Sorry's not good enough.  You were late.  What were you doing, huh?  What kind of trouble were you getting into?"

            "Nothing!  Honest!  I came straight home, ran all the way.  I didn't stop once.  I'm really sorry!"

            "Shut up, you little liar!  Give me the money."

            "What money?"

            "Oh, so now you're a smart aleck, eh?  Well, we'll get rid of that!  Now, either give me the money or else."

            "I really don't know what you're talking 'bout!  I don't have any money.  What do ya need it for anyw—"

            "Whadda you think I want it for, you stupid brat?!  It's none of your business, anyway.  Now, give it to me!"

            "I don't have any!  I swear!"

            "Don't you yell at me, you ungrateful freak!  C'mere!  You need to be taught a lesson.  When I'm through with you, you won't dare open your mouth unless I tell you to."

            "Dad, please don't.  Please!  Dad, no…please…I'm sorry!  I didn't mean anything!  No.  Please, no…"

* * * * * * * * *

            He peeked over his arms again.  He'd been sitting in a corner with his legs drawn up to his chest, his arms folded, and his face buried behind them, for over an hour.  He glanced around the room cautiously.  He looked at the couch and sighed, partly out of relief, partly from exhaustion.

            "Thank God," he breathed.

            His father was passed out on the floor beside the couch, a half empty bottle, with contents spilled over the carpet, in his hand.  He'd probably been aiming to flop down on the couch but missed and just didn't bother to get up.  He was snoring loudly, a sure sign that he wouldn't wake up anytime soon.

            With a pained grunt, Rowen stretched out his legs.  God, he hurt!  He was aware of something warm tickling the back of his neck.  He hated to think what it was but it was a reflex gesture when he lifted his arm to feel it.  He winced and quickly lowered his arm, noticing for the first time that there was a nasty four-inch cut on the underside of his forearm.  It was bleeding quite a bit but not so much that he needed to worry for a while.  A quick self-examination told him there was another cut, six inches, on his left leg; that there was a wound on the back of his head, and multiple cuts and bruises were scattered across his body.  His rib cage was the most sore.  He'd been hit there the most.

            It was a struggle, and it was painful, but Rowen managed to get to his feet.  'Okay, step one complete.  Now…the hard part, he thought.  Gettin' Dad to bed.'  He took the bottle from his father's hand, scowling at the spill it had made, now a stain that would never come up.  He drained what was left of the beer in the kitchen sink and threw the bottle away.  Then he picked up the shards of broken glass scattered about from the bottle his father had broken when he was…

            For a minute, Rowen stood over his father, looking down at the man sorrowfully.  "And to think that four weeks ago, ya thought beer was disgusting and people had no business selling it.  You used to say drinking was for cowards and losers.  Now look at ya.  Drunk every night for three and a half weeks."

            With a sigh, Rowen maneuvered his father into a sort-of-sitting position, grabbed him under the arms, and started pulling him backwards across the room to the door of his father's bedroom.  "Wow, Dad, you've gained weight," he grunted.  "I guess I don't need to worry 'bout ya being too thin anymore, huh?"  He tugged the man another foot.  "Nope," he growled.  "Just gotta think 'bout how to hide the beer from ya, how to get ya sober every morning so you don't get in trouble," he pulled another two feet, "how to get money to buy groceries and stuff without you knowing there was money at all, how to—to—oh, man," he whispered.  He stopped pulling his father and dropped to the floor.  His arm and leg were bleeding badly now and his head felt too light and was throbbing, not a good sign.  "How to…to keep everyone, my friends included, from finding out 'bout what you've become…yeah…no problem at all."

            He closed his eyes, suddenly overwhelmed with exhaustion.  He felt strange in his chest, like there was something cold inside him.  He was so tired… No.  He didn't have time for a nap.  Rowen pushed himself off the floor.  He swayed a bit but stayed on his feet.  He couldn't help but feel angry, and consequently—as a habit he'd always had—wanted revenge.  He wouldn't be hurting like this if it weren't for his father… No, that wasn't true.  His father was hurting too.  That's why he was like this.  Both of them were suffering the pain of grief at the loss of Rowen's mother, his father's ex-wife.  Rowen just had to be strong; strong enough for both of them.

            He set to pulling his father again.  Four minutes later, he wrestled the unconscious man into his bed, covered him with a blanket, and shook his head with a sigh as he listened to the uninterrupted snoring the sleeper made.  Then he left the room, closing and locking the door behind him, before staggering down the short, narrow hallway to the bathroom.

            Leaning on his hands on the counter-top's edge, he looked tiredly at the stranger in the mirror.  The person staring back at him wasn't the same as the person who'd been only four weeks ago.  The boy from that seemingly long-ago time had been full of life and vivacity, energetic and eager to learn more about the world he lived in.  The person who was there now looked to be weary of life, exhausted physically, mentally, and emotionally, and the eyes…the eyes were too old for their 15-year-old owner, as if he'd seen too much—knew too much—to love life, to ever really live again.

            Rowen turned away from his reflection, disturbed by the look in his own eyes.  He set about cleaning himself up, bandaging the wounds on his leg and arm.  He turned the cold water on to a gentle pour in the shower and got only his head wet, feeling out the gash on the back of his skull with careful fingers.  It was hurting a great deal.  Rowen grabbed some ointment from one of the drawers in the counter and treated the wound with it, hiding it carefully.  Checking the bandages on his right arm and left leg again, he noticed here were splatters of blood on the white linoleum floor.

            "Great," he muttered.  "Just great!"

            He spent the next 45 minutes cleaning the blood he'd left all over the apartment as best he could.  He had to move the couch to cover the beer stain and set a rug over a stain of his blood from where he'd been sitting waiting or his father to either leave, pass out, or go to bed.  He knew it was hopeless to even try to wash the stains out of his school uniform, so he threw it away, along with the rags he'd used to clean up what'd been on the floor.  Finally satisfied that the place was clean enough again, he took an aspirin and went to bed thinking how lucky he was that today marked the start of the weekend.  He locked his bedroom door behind him.

            'One week till we're supposed to go back to Osaka, he thought.  One week to decide what I'm gonna do.'

            Rowen fell asleep with his closed eyes aimed at a duffel bag on the floor, packed with the sort of things someone planning on disappearing for a while would take with them.  His last thought before he slipped into blessed slumber was, ' 'Death be not proud'…but Life ain't so grand either.'