Author's notes: Here is the chapter 2 of my fic. Some explanations are given, and the plot thickened! Stay tune! ^_~ Sentences between // are the thoughts of the characters. And to prevent the fans from being disappointed this is not a RowenxSage story, even through they do tease each other. The pairing will come later.

Warning: Same as before. Fighting, cursing, yaoi, straight, rape in later chapters, still NC-17 for later chapters.

Disclaimer: I don't own the ronins, just the fic idea. Happy now?

Does Gender Matter?

By Shadow of Arashi

Chapter 2:

A sleeping form turned around in their bed, moaning softly as sunlight fell gently through the large window, caressing the delicate face and making a pair of closed eyes fluttered opened.

Sage blinked sleepily as she slowly awakened from her slumber, casting a disoriented gaze across the room. She blinked again a few time before yawning, and almost jumped out of her skin when she spotted Rowen asleep in the armchair, on the other side of her room.

She panicked for a second, before her memory from the day before came back to her and she relaxed with a sigh, dropping back against her bed.

Rowen knew her secret. He knew, and he had taken it very well. He had even promise to keep silent until she was ready to confess it to the other. Through he had refused to leave her alone that night, pretending that as her best friend it was his duty now to be at her side till she felt better.

/This boy knew me way too well./

Sage smiled softly to herself at the cute picture her friend was making, all curled up into the armchair and get out of bed, taking her pillow with her.

Knowing that sleeping in that position couldn't be comfortable, she gently raised the blue haired boy's head and swiftly putted the pillow between his head and the armchair; almost laughing out loud when the boy sighed in contentment like a big cat.

Contented with her work, she took a pair of dark green pants and a simple white shirt before leaving the room for the bathroom. Once she was clothed and cleaned she went downstairs to take her breakfast.

She was hungry indeed and more over, she wanted to escape her best friend's watchful eyes for a little while. She knew Rowen well enough to know that that as soon as he would be awake, he would try to get the truth out of her.

She suspected that he wouldn't really force her, but Rowen was curious and worried enough to be persistent. Pushing those thoughts in the back of her mind, the blonde haired girl stepped into the kitchen with a small smile, and was greeted by the usual morning greeting ritual.

/Yes, those things definitely can wait a little more. Right now I'm enjoying my life as it is as much as I can./

****

Rowen sighed in happiness in his sleep, feeling a warm, very welcome softness under his head, contrasting sharply with the uncomfortable chair he was sleeping in. He almost went back to sleep when his still foggy brain finally registered the fact that logically, he wasn't suppose to feel this at all.

Groggily opening sleep dazed eyes, Rowen blinked when he identified the softness as belonging to a pillow. He then glanced at the bed, to see that the blonde was already gone.

It took a full minute before his brain process the information, effectively confirming to boy that yes, it was his friend who had gave him her pillow and had left him to sleep.

"Damn you Sage. You knew I was going to question you as soon as you were better. You sly thing…"

Rowen threw his head back with a laugh, running his head through his hair. The blue haired boy glanced at the pillow then, before getting up and throwing back on the bed. Since he was awake now, he should at least take his shower and eat before talking to Sage.

The archer smirked at the thought. Nope, no matter how smart his friend was, she won't escape Rowen Hashiba's questions.

****

Cye has just finished washing the dishes when he caught sight of a familiar blue haired person.

"Rowen? What are you doing up this early? Usually you still sleep in for at least a hour. What happened?"

"Nothing, I was just awake so I decided that for once, I could use the time. Beside I want to talk to Sage, did you see him?"

Rowen answered, quickly spotting his share of the breakfast and happily started munching on the leftover, which were made of pancakes today.

"Yes, he left to train in the dojo 20 minutes ago."

"Thank you!"

Cye watched as the bearer of Strata shallow the last of his pancakes and ran out of the door in a flash of blue, waving at the sea warrior in thanks. Shaking his head, Cye dried the last of the plates with a smile.

****

In the Dynasty…

"ARGHHHHHH!!!! I can't believe it! Halo was a girl, all this time! The little liar! It was bad enough that I was beaten by a child, but a girl??! Argh!"

Badamon watched, hidden in his corner as Cale yelled his head off, sulking like a kid and voicing his frustration alone in his room as he nursed his wounds. The whole situation amused the dark priest immensely, especially as he knew that the anger the warlord of darkness was feeling wasn't only due to his defeat.

Badamon had always watched out the dark warlords, under orders from Talpa of course. He had always been looking for the smallest clue as to what could give him more power or influence on the warriors of his master, entering their minds when they weren't on their guards, searching for a break or a weakness to use.

As such, he was greatly surprised and delighted by the strange bound, it was bordering on obsession really, that Cale had shown toward his light elemental counterpart. As soon as he had realized the dark warlord interest Badamon had been watching him even more closely, and couldn't help but find it amusing.

Cale didn't even realized the extend of his attraction to the warrior of Halo yet. As far as the blue haired man was concerned, it was a warrior rivalry and a question of honor. But the evil priest knew better. Only the power of the Dynasty prevent Cale from having a clear view on his own feelings.

When Badamon had reported what he had discovered to Talpa, the dark emperor had been as delighted as him. They had always been interested in the powers of Halo, who had shown very useful healing and empathic powers, and now they had the perfect opportunity to turn the table and have Halo on their side.

And the newly discovered true about the young *girl* made it all the more easier, for Talpa already had a perfect plan concerning the future of Halo now. A plan to use the girl's powers for their own and more over, a plan to keep her on their side.

Badamon grinned as he watched Cale, preparing the spell he had to use. He started humming softly the words of his spell, noticing that the dark warlord suddenly looked uncomfortable.

/It's a little too late to worry now Cale, it will be too late before you even realize what's happening to you!/

Badamon thought to himself, smirking now as Cale stopped dead in his track and stood up, face twisted in something close to pain, looking for something he couldn't see.

As the priest finished his spell a dark wind started to blow inside the room, throwing the unexpected warrior against the nearest wall, knocking his breath away.

The blue haired man gasped in pain as he crashed against a wall, gazing dizzily at the nether spirit floating above him in shock. Cale's eyes narrowed as he recognized Badamon, betrayal and hate flaring bright and bitter in his clouded, midnight blue orbs.

"What the hell?! Badamon what do you think you are doing?!"

"Now don't be difficult and let me finish my task. Those are master Talpa's order after all. Don't resist, it will only hurt more if you do. You should be honoured, as master Talpa choose you for this important mission."

Cale glared from his painful position on the floor, not understanding the spirit rambling and was not even sure he wanted to. All he knew was that right now, he was in pain, and the responsible was the trusted right hand man (or rather priest) of his master.

Still glaring, the warlord of darkness tried to move, only to end up literally glued to the floor by a powerful burst of wind. Furious Cale was about to yell at the nether spirit to leave him alone, when the arrival of a new presence in the room stopped him.

A power so evil and strong it left him petrified.

A power he knew.

"Master Talpa?"

Cale murmured, eyes wide as he stared at the ghostly appearance in his room, fear finally clawing it's way into his heart. The emperor didn't even glanced at the fallen warrior, gazing at his priest instead.

"Badamon, how is the process going?"

"It's now finished master. Everything is ready for you my lord."

"Perfect."

Talpa smiled darkly, apparently pleased with whatever the nether spirit had done to his warlord. He then looked at Badamon, who nodded before floating a few feet away, leaving his master to deal with Cale.

The warrior tried to crawl away when Talpa inched closer to him, feeling more scared than he had ever been of the emperor.

But his attempts were stopped when a ghostly, but horrifyingly strong hand caught hold of his head, keeping him from moving. Petrified, Cale could only watched in horror as blazing eyes of deep ruby fire gazed into his.

"Don't move and let my power wash over you Cale. Do not fear, I have no intention of hurting you. After all I wouldn't want to scar my new body ne?"

Cale's body stilled completely at those words, as if frozen. And even through he couldn't talk the look in his eyes spoke volumes of what he was feeling. And so even as the midnight orbs glazed over with sudden, deep pain as he felt Talpa's evil presence forcing itself into his mind and body.

The tortured screams of the unfortunate warrior were the only things heard in the room for the next half a hour….

****

"What the…? Did you felt that?"

Dais asked, startled as he dropped the sword he was holding, his one visible eye unfocused in concentration, seemingly catching on something only he could see.

Next to him Sekhmet and Anubis nodded warily, having both felt the sudden disappearance of their comrade's familiar presence in the back of their mind.

They glanced at each other, a knot of uneasiness starting to form into the pit of their stomach.

"I don't like that… what could have happened to him?"

Anubis wondered, a deep frown on his face. Things like that just didn't happened out of the blue without reasons, especially to one of them.

"I don't know. But I have the bad feeling that we will know soon enough…"

Sekhmet answered cryptically, eyes narrowed as he glanced into Cale's apartment general direction.

Something was on, and he could feel it. And he also knew that soon it would involve the whole of them.

Just when was now the important question.

****

Sage gasped slightly, trying to regain her breath as she wiped her forehead, her no datchi firmly in hand.

She closed her eyes, preparing herself to try her kata again when a familiar voice stopped her.

"Sage!"

Surprised, the blonde stilled her movement and looked toward the door, spotting her best friend leaning against the wall, a grin on his face.

"Rowen?"

The blue haired boy's grin widen as he made his way to his friend's side, and Sage couldn't help but grin slightly in answer.

"Yep, that's me! You naughty girl! Leaving without so much as letting me now if you were all right or not. I should spank you for that one you know."

"I would love to see you try Rowen."

Sage replied, raising an eyebrow at her friend. Rowen seemed to realize the implications of what he had just said then and blushed brightly, his eyes widening to comical proportions.

"NO! Not like that! I can't believe you Sage!"

"Hey don't look at me like that! I'm not the one who suggest that you know."

Rowen just gave her a look, making Sage blushed herself before she playfully slapped the other boy on the head.

"No need to hit me geez. What's the big deal anyway Sage?"

The blonde looked unsure, before glancing at her friend. Gazing into those blue eyes she understood what Rowen meant and with a sigh, sat down on the floor. Rowen joined her a second later.

"Hey, you okay? If you don't want to talk about it…"

"No it's alright Rowen. It's just… it's hard to explain."

Sage explained, running a hand through her hair in a nervous gesture. Rowen stayed silent at her side, managing to convey his support by his presence alone. The blonde took comfort in it and closed her eyes.

"Where do I start? Well, you know how my family is. Very traditional, very proper… My grandfather wanted a heir, but there wasn't any boy in the family. So he tried to see which one of his grandchildren would do to take over and continue the family line. For some reasons he decided it would be me and started to train me, just as he would have if I had been a boy. He treated me as such and spoke to me as such. Never once did he raised me any other way. I wasn't allow to play like my sisters and after the first few years of my life, I even was expected to wear clothes that were more fitting to men. It rub deep into me, since I was a little child and I really wanted to make my family happy… You see the result."

Sage finished, eyes opening slowly, slightly watery with the abrupt call of old memories. Rowen still wasn't saying anything. Sage looked down at her feet, hiding her face behind her hair when a hand on her shoulder make her look up.

Her body gave a slight jump at the contact, and she titled her head to the side to glance at her friend.

The blue haired boy was smiling.

"It's alright Sage, it's alright. I understand how important your family is to you. You don't have to say anything else."

Sage's eyes became a little more watery, almost blurry and the blonde shook her head, quickly hiding her currently high emotional state with a wide, rare smile.

"Thank you Rowen. I don't know what I would do without you."

The archer laughed at this, giving a light slap on his friend's back.

"I'm sure you would be perfectly fine Sage. You are smart! You just need to open up sometimes, that's all."

Sage snorted, rolling her eyes at the answer.

"Easy for you to say, mister I-never-had-a-friend-before."

Rowen actually blushed, before laughing nervously. Sage smirked and punched his arm lightly as she get up, giving a hand to her friend who accepted gratefully.

"Maybe but I did get you to chase the angst away right? You don't look as worried as before now."

"That's true, I do feel better. But please keep this a secret for a while longer, I don't want to tell the other before I'm ready."

"Hey I already told you I would, don't worry so much. The only way they could find out now is if you start walking around the house half naked."

Rowen announced with a large grin, already running away from a furiously blushing blonde and outside the dojo.

"ROWEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

****

Blazing eyes of deep ruby fire stared eerily at the two teens, never letting the blonde out of it's sight as their owner chuckled darkly, hidden in the shadows...

"Soon…………Yeeeeeeessssssssssss s soon………."

****

Sage froze suddenly, feeling a shiver running up his spine. She glanced uneasily around her, puzzled, her friend forgotten for the moment. God know it would have been best if Rowen had noticed it when his friend stopped following him.

The cold, unnerving sensation of being watched tickled at the light warrior keen senses, making her break into a light sweat. The sensation was eerie, definitely dark and evil and something she just did not want to go into.

Shaking off the oppressing feeling, Sage quickly made her way back inside, for once not feeling safe in the usually beautiful and comforting forest around Mia's mansion.

She was about to step into the house again when a quick movement to her side caught her eyes. Alarms went off in her head at once as she jumped into a fighting stance, but the movement was too fast and the blonde was unable to identify it's source.

Now visibly shivering and disturbed, Sage started to feel really scared. She was ready to call one of the other ronins when she was suddenly knocked into the ground, her breath leaving her lung in a gasp.

Someone or something had attacked her from behind.

/But how?! I should have feel it coming!/

Sage didn't lose time in useless thoughts after that and tried to move away, her instinct kicking in. Unluckily she didn't had the time to do much as another blow, aimed right to her head, send her unconscious as she fell limply onto the floor.

The blonde could swear she heard a familiar laugher as her mind fight tooth and nails against unconsciousness, and lose.

Above the prone form a dark figure laughed in triumph, before picking up the out cold ronin of light and disappearing in a flash of power.

****

"What the hell was that?"

The archer thought out loud, freezing in mid step. He was already back into the mansion for the last few minutes, waiting for Sage to show up when he suddenly felt as if a link inside his mind had been cut off.

/What the? Only the mind link with the guys should have that kind of effect so what…/

"What the matter Rowen?"

The bearer of Strata blinked, startled out of his thoughts as he glanced at the wondering face of one concern Hardrock.

"Nothing Kento, nothing."

Kento gave him a look, then let the matter drop.

"If you say so. Where is blondie anyway?"

"He was right behind me when I left the dojo, it shouldn't be long before he show up. You know him."

Rowen answered, and at once the pieces seemed to click together in his sharp mind.

/No… it can't be. The Halo armor would have warn us if that was the case. I must be imagining things.../

****

In the Dynasty…

A small figure watched from the shadows as a familiar person walked down the corridors of the castle, carrying a slender blonde in their arms.

The figure watched as the person disappeared into one of the countless rooms of the castle, and raised an eyebrow in surprise and interest.

Stepping out of the shadow, the figure thrown their hair back with a half annoyed, half worried expression. For they know that things were not what they seems, and that something was definitely wrong here.

"What was that all about? What are you doing Cale?"

Kayura whispered to herself, her amulet flashing faintly against her chest, unnoticed.

Her voice stayed unheard into the now empty corridors.

To be continued….