Gundam Wing Fan Fiction / Ronin Warriors Fan Fiction ❯ True Bloods ❯ Chapter 1

A/N: We're back…

Kathrine: The horrible demon known as Writer's Block is slowly being driven back into the pits of hell that it came from.

JC: Drama Queen… Anyway, this story won the three-way tie that we had going on between CftH, CoH, and TB. It was really strange seeing as CoH wasn't even a choice, but hey…whatever the fans want, right?

Kathrine: Don't feel like we cheated ya out or something cause we just pulled the name out of a hat in the end. (Shrugs)

JC: We are definitely having a little trouble though because this is the THIRD version of this story that we've written. The other two follow each other more closely, but this is completely different. Hell, we even changed the main pairings!

Kathrine: Yall can thank Bunch-o-Nuts cause she go us thinking, What if we did put this all in a more normal time setting and put each brother in his 'World'?

JC: So this is what came out. See Bunches? This is the one we were talking about. ^_^ It's still in the future compared to 2003, though not too far. Oh, and we changed a few things to fit our convenience. Hey, it's AU, isn't it?

Kathrine: We hope yall enjoy and will be patient enough until we can completely vanquish the WB demon.

Disclaimer: We don't own either. We wouldn't be writing stories if we did. Instead we'd be turning them into movies and not giving a damn if people didn't like YAOI. Wait, we don't give a damn if people don't like YAOI…

Warnings: Pretty safe in this chapter, just leading up to the first big thing. YAOI is a given and the story is still dedicated to the same people as before.

True Bloods

By JC and Kathrine

Chapter 1

Many, MANY Years Later

" Hurry up! We'll be late for school," he heard a voice downstairs shout to him. He sighed, putting on his sunglasses and allowing the few usual stray locks of pale golden hair to fall in front of his right eye. His black button-up shirt felt very light and comfortable against his skin even though it was quite hot outside being as it was early June. He quickly put on his black leather boots and checked his braid, happy that it was in pristine order. It was the one true thing that he kept as a treasured reminder of his past.

" Sage!" the same voice yelled again.

" I'm coming!" he replied to shut the voice up. He then opened the door and walked out, heading towards the wide staircase of the boarding house he lived in. He could see that it had been none other than his fellow housemate, Kento, who had been shouting for him. The boy had ash/blue colored hair that fell into his eyes on occasion, forcing him to use a yellow bandanna to keep it up, and was brawny, but not in a way that titled towards being overweight. It only showed how well he kept up his physical fitness.

" What takes you so long anyway?" he asked in a huff. " You get up before all of us and yet take the longest to get down here to leave. It's the last day of school, like we need to be late and get an extra day."

" Leave him alone Ken," a black-haired boy with bright blue eyes told him. " You're making us late by asking him." The other boy sighed before walking out the door towards the red jeep that was in the driveway, two other passengers already in it. The black-haired boy then smiled at him with a wink.

" Arigato Ryo," the blonde thanked him in his usual soft, yet easily carried voice.

" No prob," he shrugged and they both left the house. That's when a red-haired woman in her early twenties hurried to the front steps from the kitchen. " I won't be here when you get out of school," she told them. " So one of you better have your key."

" Don't worry Mia," the blue-haired boy in the driver's seat waved goodbye to her, " Sage always his if one of us don't, right Sagey?" The blonde said nothing to him from the back seat and turned his attention to the view beside him.

" Rowen…" The auburn-haired boy beside him started, not wanting something to happen.

" Okay Cye, okay," the boy nodded in defeat before starting the jeep and heading down the drive.

Mia continued to wave to them as the pulled off, sighing at the sight of the boys she took care of. It had been her grandfather's, Dr. Koji's, want to spend the last years of his life taking care of children who needed it when he turned their large mansion into a free boarding house for teenagers who needed a little extra help in their lives. He'd already dedicated his early years to his work and felt that after retirement he should put forth the effort to help those that most overlooked or thought lost causes.

Most of them had only been with her since the beginning on the last school year and she hoped that she'd helped them all in some way. The blue-haired boy, Rowen Hashiba, had come to her by order of the courts. His parents had divorced, leaving him highly neglected and alone to where he had tried to commit suicide at the age of twelve due to severe depression and anxiety. He'd been sent to an institution and three different foster homes before she'd heard of his problems and asked if he could stay with her and her grandfather. To her shock she'd found that the boy was a genius and her grandfather had enjoyed his company in his studies before he'd died just the previous summer.

Then there was their personal chef, Cye Mouri, who had come to their care on the plea of her grandfather's old friend's daughter. Her husband had died in a boating accident of which only Cye had survived. The boy became depressed and blamed himself for his father's death. It seemed that no one could reach him. Rowen had agreed to try and help the boy as much as he could and it seemed that the change of location had indeed helped the boy. But still, he vowed never to go near an ocean, lake, or any large body of water again.

Kento Rei Faun had been an angry, repressed teen that wanted to put his pain out against anyone he could. His family had been quite successful in their restaurant business and not one person had not heard of the bombing that killed both his parents and his youngest two siblings that were too young to attend school. The culprit was never found and the remaining three children were sent to live with relatives. Unfortunately, nothing could calm the rage that burned in Kento's heart. His relatives didn't know what to do and Mia's grandfather eagerly took him on. He was better now, less angry, but there were times when he would lock himself in the basement to exercise, a technique he learned to help control his emotions when they became too much for him.

The one who had been with her the longest was Ryo Sanada. The boy was the first to come to them eight years before after his grandmother died, leaving him alone in the world. The little ragged eight-year old by she'd met back then wouldn't even talk for three months. But her grandfather believed that he had a deep passionate fire that had just been extinguished and would do anything he could to rekindle it. Eventually he was able to bring the shy boy out of his shell and found him to be loving and passionate about everything he cared for. (Well…as much as one could when they watched their grandmother die of a heart attack.) Mia had come to look at him as a younger brother, more so than any of the others, and her grandfather had at one point even asked the boy if he could adopt him. Ryo though had politely declined and stated that they already were a family and didn't need papers to prove it.

Then came the last one of their bunch, the quiet, mysterious, and self-secluded blonde, Sage Date. He'd been brought to the House by a young black-haired woman with nothing, no real past, nor explanations, save a birth certificate that gave his mother's name and his father's surname and other forms of identification. She'd only seen it after finding it on her grandfather's desk the day Sage had arrived. It had been after a long two-hour conversation with the blonde and the black-haired woman (whose name Mia believed was Kay or something of the like) that he agreed to allow him to stay. None of the other ever asked him what his past was and he never felt the need to tell them. They all just believed that it was something bad seeing as he was so withdrawn from people and tended to remain alone.

Mia believed that Sage was the only one that hadn't made much progress since he'd come to them. He seemed to be a little more accustomed around the other four boys, but the only one he ever really talked to was Ryo. It seemed that he had found a somewhat understanding spirit within the other boy. She hoped that maybe this summer would allow the blonde to open up more and all five of them to become closer, more like the family that they should be.

*****

" DUO!" the voice sounded angry and he knew that whatever he had done this time had brought about the usual ranting and scolding from his friends and fellow 'wandering souls'. He winced before peaking outside his door and staring straight into brown eyes so dark they appeared black most the time.

" 'Fei-chan," he smiled brightly at the black-haired teen, hair that was currently falling down his back and into his eyes. " Anything you want?"

" What have I told you about taking my hair-bands?" his frown deepened into a cold glare. " And why did you take ALL of them this time?"

" I just thought that you needed to wear your down some times," he replied with an innocent look in his eyes. " Your hair is so pretty and you need to show it off. It's not like your religion goes against it or anything, does it?" He watched as the glare fell away to reveal a look of confusion and a slight blush.

" No," he quickly recovered, though the blush was still there.

" See? No harm done," Duo smiled. " And I was right, you do look better with your hair down." He winked at the slightly taller boy before shutting his door again. Wufei just remained staring at the door for a moment before returning to the room he shared with his boyfriend and lover, Heero Yuy.

" He make a pass at you again?" the chocolate-haired boy questioned as he stepped into the room. His lover was lying on the bed and could clearly see the partial blush from his position.

" Yes," Wufei sighed before sitting on the edge on the bed next to him. " I swear he does these things just to get a rise out of me."

" Well, you could just ignore him," Heero replied in his usual matter-of-fact tone.

" You know he's not someone you can easily ignore," The Chinese boy told him. " And I tried that, he started to mess with my incenses and herbal medicines. He purposely does something even more irritating to get me to pay attention to him."

" Well, you have all summer to work on it, seeing as your family allowed you to come here for vacation," the other boy sat up and Wufei leaned closer to him.

" To think I would have been married right now if Meiran hadn't fallen in love with my cousin," he said dryly. " And then Duo would have probably gone after you."

" Only because Qautre won't let him near Trowa," Heero explained. " Now we better get downstairs before Qautre sends one of his servants to get us." He stood and Wufei pulled his hair back from around his face.

" But what am I supposed to use to put my hair up with?" he asked out loud. Heero pulled a black rubber-band from his pocket and handed it to him with a slight smirk. " You had that this entire time," Wufei accused as he pulled his hair up at the nape of his neck, but his boyfriend said nothing.

*****

Duo heard the silent walking of Wufei and Heero as they walked downstairs to eat breakfast. All of his friends knew he didn't like breakfast so they didn't bother him, even though all of them were curious as to why. He'd join them when they were finished. He sighed, lying back down on his bed, and stared up at the dark blue ceiling of the room, and every other room, he kept whenever he came to visit his friend, Qautre Winner.

They'd all met at the summer camp that had been hosted by the wealthy and world renowned Winner Family Corporation as a charity benefit one year. Qautre, being the youngest and only son of Mr. Winner had been allowed to attend the camp. (More or less ranting until he was given permission.) Wufei Chang was the only son of a prestigious Chinese family and had been sent to the camp because he family believed he should interact with children that weren't from his clan before getting married. They didn't know that his 'bride-to-be' would fall in love with someone else or that he would find his own love, Heero Yuy, at that camp. And seeing as his 'bride', Meiran, was too honest a woman, she refused to marry a man she felt nothing for. (Luckily they were from the same family.)

Heero was a genius when it came to computers and codes, even a master hacker though he didn't let too many know about that. He lived with his adopted father and adopted grandfather in his home country of Japan when he wasn't traveling around with his grandfather half the time. Wufei had fallen for the usually silent and often stoic boy immediately, though it took half the vacation to get him to do anything about it.

And then there was Trowa Barton, star of the most famous circus the world had at the time. He and his sister, Catherine, were both great performers and a team act. But she'd been worried about how much he actually got to live a normal teenage life so she sent him to camp as a way to meet more teens like himself. Qautre had thought the silent and well-mannered boy was the most interesting and gorgeous person he'd ever met.

Now Duo himself just joined up because he was bored. His current home was an orphanage run by a priest and his sister. He liked it there and tried to help out as much as he could with the other little ones and the two siblings seems to like having him around. They didn't know about much about him besides his name and he was an orphan and didn't ask so he didn't feel the need to tell.

All five boys had shared a cabin, Qautre only being allowed to do so because he argued with his father that he should get the same treatment as the other children at the camp. It had taken the first week, but Duo and Qautre hit it off and so Duo went on a mission to loosen the other three boys up. It worked after the first month and he was even able to trick Wufei into admitting his feelings about Heero and getting Qautre to talk to Trowa.

Ever since then the five had maintained contact and kept their friendship alive for two good years. Whenever they wanted to have a 'get together' Qautre would pay for them all to join him at one of his many estates around the world seeing as his homes were the only ones large enough to house all of them for any amount of time over two days. And now they had a full summer together again to do things that normal friends do, like hang out and have fun, which Duo believed that Trowa, Heero, and Wufei lacked on.

Sure he teased Wufei and made passes at him, but he didn't truly have any type of romantic feelings for him. He just liked to watch the boy blush whenever he did so because he knew that he was unsure on how to react towards such things. Both he ad Heero were that way when it came to others talking about how they looked. Trowa just ignored you completely and Qautre was left blushing till the roots of his almost-bleach blonde hair turned red. It was cute, but the little blonde never tried to fight back against it, too shy at times to actually say anything about it.

He stood and stretched, deciding to take a walk around the many gardens that the estate had. He turned in the mirror above his dresser and could see that his braid was just fine, not coming out of its usual perfection. A solemn reminder of a life he'd never forgotten, that was scarred into his very soul. It was then that he felt it, the strange sense that something was wrong, but ignored it and exited his room, shutting the door quietly behind him.

*****

He exited his second period class without even paying attention to any of other students around him. It wasn't like he actually needed to go to school. He knew everything that was being taught by the teachers and could even correct them about some of their 'facts'. He walked gracefully around the groups of teenagers dallying in the halls before going to their next classes. Next thing he knew he felt a familiar irritating presence behind him.

" Go away Shingo, today is not the day for this," he replied in a cold, warning voice that showed his irritation.

" But I just wanna talk to ya Blondie," the black-haired boy behind him replied before wrapping and arm around the smaller boy's shoulders. " See, we wanted ya to join up with us on the kendo team."

Sage held in his revulsion quickly smacking the other boy's arm off of him and turning around to face both him and his two friends. " I have told you before my answer and I won't repeat myself," he stated in the same, apathetic tone. With that he turned on his heel and started back down the hall. He didn't expect the hand that grabbed the end of his three-and-a-half-foot long braid and tugged on it harshly.

His eyes widened behind his sunglasses and he was pulled backwards, but didn't lose balance or the books in his hands. Other students stared in shock, seeing as no one had ever done something like this before. They all knew of the problems between Sage and Shingo, but never had he, or rather, anyone tried to touch his braid, let alone grabbed it like Shingo just had. To most it seemed like an unvoiced sin to even go near enough the stoic blonde to do so.

Sage turned his head around slowly, one visible eye hard behind his black shades. He lifted his free hand and moved the sunglasses partially from his face, allowing one dark eye to glare at the other boy hatefully. " Let go," he commanded in an eerily calm voice. Shingo's eyes were trapped, unable to turn away from the other boy's as he removed his hand from the silky golden braid. He watched and the blonde's visible eye sparked red for a moment before Sage returned his glasses to his face and headed on his way to his next class.

No one moved as he walked down the hall, not sure of what to make of the previous events. Then everything erupted as students started to chatter back and forth between each other, hurrying off to their class before being counted as tardy. Shingo remained where he was, eyes still trained on the direction Sage had gone. One of his friends put a hand on his shoulder and asked, " You all right man?"

" I'm gonna get him, he's soo mine," Shingo whispered in determination, something not unlike want hidden in his eyes.

*****

Ryo scanned the cafeteria and could see three of his friend sittings together closer towards the lunch-line as usual. It was Kento's favorite table in the room. Another look and he spotted his blonde companion sitting quietly at the table farthest from all the others in the back. His decision made, he meandered his way through the students and around filled tables until he came to the large, yet nearly empty table where Sage sat.

" Hey," he smiled at him sweetly as if trying to appear like tiger sweet-talking its prey, only not doing a very good job of it. " Day go okay?"

" I know you know what happened this morning so don't try to be innocent," the blonde said, slowly turning his eyes up to the other boy from behind the glasses. Ryo could see the small glimmer of amusement in his lavender/blue eyes. " Yes, my day has been acceptable so far."

Ryo grinned as he sat down next to the other boy. " Since you now I know, why don't ya tell me it from our side?" he asked. " Everyone else has really freaky ideas about it."

" He asked me to join his pathetic team again and I declined," Sage replied.

" Uh-huh, and…?" he waited.

" He grabbed my hair and I told him to let go," Sage went on. " He did and I went to class."

" That's it?" Ryo asked in nothing short of disbelief.

" That's it," Sage nodded.

" Man, people were talking about your eyes turning red and you snapping at him like a dragon or something, fangs and all," Ryo chuckled dryly.

" Fangs?" Sage raised a brow before snorting, slowly removing his glasses and setting them beside his tray. Ryo was the only one he really took his shades off around, though occasionally he did so around the other boys he lived with and Mia. The raven-haired by was the only person he felt 'comfortable' around enough to do so on a regular. Others seemed to stare at him with eyes full of questions and accusations, but Ryo just accepted him as he was and he did the same for the other boy.

Rowen seemed to want to ask him things, though he usually held back and tried to get him to have a 'sense of humor.' He was smart, quite smart, but tended to talk too much about things he was interested in and left you more confused then you were to begin with. Cye believed that something bad happened to him and wanted him to let it out before he did something suicidal or homicidal. He cared to a point that could be dangerous to his health and seemed too overly sensitive in his eyes for anyone's good. Kento was just Kento, curious and stubborn more often than not. It wasn't that he didn't like the brawny teen (or any of them for that matter) for he admired his loyalty and tendency of sticking up to bullies and the like; he just found him irritating and pigheaded at times.

Ryo let him be, didn't ask questions, didn't try to get him to be open, and didn't try to force his way into his life. It was like Ryo just slipped in easily without being an inconvenience or taking up too much space. For that he was grateful. He turned his attention to said boy, realizing that he'd become somewhat quiet.

" What is it Ryo?" he inquired.

" Just thinkin' about something," he replied a little more quickly than normal. Sage could also sense embarrassment coming from him.

" Anything you need to talk about?" he asked.

" Not really," he shook his head. Sage nodded to him, letting him know that he was backing off. If Ryo wasn't going to intrude on things he wanted let alone, he would show him the same consideration.

The raven-haired boy stared at the blonde for a moment before turning his eyes away. He still didn't know how to explain what he felt towards Sage. Was it just a simple attraction, or was it something more? He couldn't deny the pride and honor he felt that he was practically the only one Sage even tried to get to know when it came to the boys at the Koji Mansion. he also knew how many students at school thought they had something going on because of it.

He didn't care about what they thought though. But isn't that exactly what I want? He asked himself. No, we're just friends, that's all, and I should be thankful for that. He settled his inner conversation and turned back to his food. It was actually edible that day, though he wasn't sure how edible. Looking over, he noticed that Sage's food remained untouched.

" Guess the food at Mia's is better than this shit, huh?" he chuckled.

" Yes," Sage agreed, half-heartedly. Ryo though for a second and realized that Sage never joined them for any of their meals at home. He always just said that he would take it in his room, but there were times that he'd seen the blonde disposing of something in the woods on the outer acres of the estate. It's like he barely ever eats, he thought. But what if he's like anorexic of something? Does he need to get help?

But he'd seen Sage during gym class in the locker room. He sure wasn't overly skinny or anything. Sure, he was slim, but it was like he was supposed to be towards the more slender size than normal. And I've seen him eat a few times, so its probably just something he feeds to the animals at night, he told himself.

It wasn't farfetched anyway, if Sage wasn't in his room, he was out in the forest, in nature. He'd even joined him before on the blonde's walks about the woods that covered most of the Koji estate. Ryo himself had lived with his grandmother in a cabin before she died and enjoyed being out in the open with nothing but nature around him, letting him soak in its serenity.

" It's time to go Ryo," Sage told him as he stood, sunglasses already back in place and holding his tray disdainfully. He hated school foods and wanted to get rid of it as fast as he could. He only bought the food so as to look less conspicuous than he already did being blonde, wearing dark clothing always and sunglasses, though his medical papers approved them for an 'eye disorder'. Ryo followed him as they disposed of their trays and left the cafeteria.

*****

" Yeah, summer vacation!" Kento praised as he rushed out of the doors of the high school. Cye simply laughed at his childish antics and followed after him with Rowen. Ryo and Sage were behind them as Sage still needed to get the things he wanted to keep from his locker.

" Go ahead without us guys," Ryo told them. " We'll meet ya at the jeep in a few minutes."

Kento waved to them and left, but Cye and Rowen shared a knowing look. They were not oblivious to the raven-haired boy's crush on their blonde housemate and neither was Kento, though he preferred to just leave it alone and let them work it out themselves. Rowen and Cye knew that Sage was completely ignorant of the other boy's affections and refused to let it be because both knew Ryo would leave it that way. But for now, they weren't going to do anything and simply decided to wait at the jeep.

Sage walked to his locker, which was close to the front doors, but quite far from his final class, Physics. He stood in front of the locker, about to perform the combination, but noticed and strange aura around it and well as an unknown scent. It was as if two people's auras had been brought into one. Not sure what to think, he opened his locked and was shocked at what he found. On the door was a white piece of paper covered in a red substance, dripping to the floor.

" What the…?" Ryo stared in confusion. The red formed letters dripping like blood from the sheet. I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE, it read. In smaller, more normal letters like from a marker, it read, Meet me behind the school at eight. " What kinda shit is this?" he wondered in anger. " Did Shingo write this to get back at you?"

" I don't know," Sage said with a low growl that Ryo had never heard in his voice. (Though he though it sound somewhat animalistic.) " But I'm going to find out."

A/N: That good enough for ya?

JC: Bet ya wonderin' why the boys are separated, right? But it wasn't forcefully either so don't think we forgot pat of the prologue.

Kathrine: Well, we really, and I mean REALLY, need to work on our YGO story, but it just ain't comin out right so you'll have to wait and see when we update next.

JC: We'll try to make it soon, seeing as we have a few ideas now for some of our other stories. Now please review and Bye!