Ronin Warriors Fan Fiction ❯ Why, Sage? ❯ Chapter 1 ( Chapter 1 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

A/N: This is a fanfic mainly between two Ronin characters. It is somewhat graphic and contains psychology and emotional issues such as anger, depression, hatred, and what not. It also contains extreme violence at the end. If such a thing bothers you, don’t say you weren’t warned. I will not say exactly what this extreme violence will be as it takes away an important element. But again, you have been warned.

Second Notice: I have been planning on a fanfic of this nature for quite some time now. Probably since January or before. I wanted to see and show what it would be like if the Ronins had normal problems associated with normal human living. Needless to say: No armor or magic will be used in this fanfic. Characters may seem OOC. It is critical to the point of this story.

Third Notice: I have combined the dubbed with subbed. Which means I am using the dubbed Ronin names, but for their parents, if they are introduced, I am using the Japanese names. Also, I am aware that everyone knows Ryo plays soccer. In Japan, it is called football.

Fourth Notice: Please be aware this fanfic is not meant to copy off anyone’s life. Everyone has a hard time now and then, and everyone who uses the internet, rants about it online. The Ronins would be no different in my opinion. Thus, this piece is not associated to anyone on the internet, and any similarities are completely coincidental. Thank you.

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Why, Sage?

Chapter 1

Rowen sat down with a frown as memories of a happy Sage filled his mind. He had enjoyed their time together, such as the time when they took that trip to Netherlands with Rowen’s mother and Sage’s mother.

But then, Sage suddenly seemed to change overnight. Rowen did not know what had cause it, but it had been shocking to say the least. Sage had merely snapped at Kento one day for eating too much, thus saying the world wouldn’t be starving if Kento didn’t eat like a hog.

When confronted by the other Ronins, Sage had blown them off and locked himself in his room, refusing to speak to anyone or eat dinner.

Rowen had tried to speak to Sage, but after being blown off a few times, felt it was better to back off and give Sage time. But then upon accessing the internet, he came across an updated journal entry written by the Ronin of Halo.

Entry 1: I Swear Everyone Is Against Me.

I cannot get out of this bad mood I’m in. I feel hurt, rejected, and alone. No one wants to even understand how I feel or even ask me what’s wrong. I can’t stand people any more. They’re nothing but for themselves. You would think one of my so called friends would at least reach out and ask me what was bothering me. I guess I really am all alone.

Rowen frowned deeply as confusion hit like a ton of bricks. How could Sage think he was alone, or that no one understood how he felt? Perhaps the latter part was true. How could they know how Sage felt when he never told them what was bothering him? Sage had just suddenly gone from a good mood to a terrible mood and took it out on people, finding their flaws as points of target.

The Ronin of Strata sighed. He wanted to help Sage, and since talking him directly only seemed to bring back snappy comebacks, perhaps this would reach him. He replied to the post, choosing his words carefully as he typed his response.

Sage, I’m sorry you’re not feeling well. I wish I and the others could help you. We can’t understand how you feel because you won’t tell us what’s wrong. What happened to make you this way? Did someone hurt you, abuse you? I wish you would talk to us. Well, it’s your choice. I’m here if you need me. You know where I am, so whenever you’re ready for open dialogue, feel free to call me.

Rowen rubbed his head and felt discontented. He felt bad for Sage and he wanted to help him. Yet, he would have to let Sage make the first move. To ultimately rush into help without knowing what was wrong was just like diving into a strange body of water. Unless you checked it first, you would never know there were sharks swimming around.

Rowen turned to other sources of the internet, such as finding out his homework assignment from his Literature Professor. This was something he’d get started on right away.

Yet, he found out he was unable to concentrate. His thoughts kept going from Genji monogatari back to Sage. He hadn’t seen Sage all day which made Rowen feel a bit depressed himself. Usually, the blond came over to have tea with Rowen and his father, or to share some interesting news. Not today.

He tried to return to his assignment, analyzing the novel in his own terms of why it needed to be critiqued and what was the most important element about it. For a while he managed to type out a half page in about ten minutes. He was a fast typist with a typing speed of eighty words per minute if he wasn’t looking at something, and seventy-two words per minute if he was.

Sage… Sage.. Sage.. The Ronin of Strata could not get his friend out of his head. Wondering if Sage replied to his comment, he sneaked a peek. No. Nothing there. Sighing to himself, he went back to writing.

A knock came at his door. “Come in.”

“Rowen, did you want some latte?” Genichirou asked.

Rowen looked at his father in surprise. It was unusual for his father to leave his lab, but he quickly brushed the thought aside. “Sure, dad.” He pushed himself up from the chair and followed his dad out. Over a cup of latte and rice cakes, small talk was made.

“How is your research coming?” Rowen asked.

“I was about to ask you of your assignment,” Genichirou said.

“You first.”

“Well,” Genichirou said before sipping some latte and taking a bit of rice cake, “I’m at the breakpoint of how electrolytes can be configured in animals, thus enabling to provide them with more energy during times of illness.”

“Sounds interesting,” Rowen said, a bit distracted.

“It is, and time will tell if it works or not. Now about you.”

So Rowen told him of the research and how he was doing with it. Which, needless to say, was somewhat poor compared to his usual standards.

“Well, it’ll come along when you need it the most,” Genichirou stated. “But what else is on your mind?”

Rowen stiffened a bit as he took a drink. He wiped his mouth. “It’s Sage.” He took a deep breath. “He’s been different as of lately. He’s snapping at everyone, saying no one knows he feels.. It’s hard to deal with.”

“Sometimes, people go through a stage of bitterness brought on by past mistakes and regrets. Sometimes, it occurs because of a chemical reaction in the brain.” Genichirou paused briefly as he looked to see if he had Rowen’s attention. “There really isn’t anything you can do for your friend, except be there for him and to let him know. If it becomes too difficult, then all you can do is back off to give him space and hope that when he is ready, he’ll come to you.”

Rowen considered the words carefully and nodded his head. It didn’t seem that easy, but he knew there could be no other way. “I’ll try, dad.”

“I know you will, son.”

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Later that evening, Sage sat gloomily at his computer. It had been another terrible day, and he was positive his professors were out to get him. Three Fs and one D. And after all the time he put forth into studying too! He slammed his fist in frustration against his desk.

Why couldn’t anything go right? Even just once? His car broke down this morning right on the freeway, making him late for his class. Then the apartment manager over drafted his rent, claiming Sage was two months behind. And now he had only a hundred dollars to his name. He hated people. And people hated him.

Sage refused to consider homework at this time. He had to write his feelings out, hoping someone would notice them, find out what was wrong with him. He opened his journal account and was about to begin a new entry when he noticed one comment to Everyone is Against Me. He clicked the read link button.

Sage read it over and over. He felt aggravated again and before he could stop himself, he hit reply and typed out a response.

Rowen, if you can’t figure it out for yourself what is wrong with me, then that’s your problem. Not mine. I don’t have to talk to anyone if I don’t want to, so you’re lucky to be even getting a response from me. I’ve had it with people. But yeah, thanks. If I do need you, I’ll call or something.

He hit the send button and sighed to himself. There had to be a way to get rid of this horrible feeling. He decided to distract himself with homework after all. His messenger was off, and all that showed on the web browser was his journal and an online news source.

The homework helped him to escape from his feelings and he cheered himself a bit when he actually finished. He looked at the clock. Wow, was it seven in the evening already? He should eat.

In the kitchen he found some left over egg rolls to heat up. Hopefully this would tie him over until he finished work tonight. He inwardly groaned. Working at the United Financial of Japan Group Holdings was putting a strain on him. As their night time security guard, his job was to keep his eyes and ears on any unwanted intruders after hours from nine pm until two a.m. Often, he would come home more tired than a dog.

There was so much on his plate. Going full time at the local college, giving kendo lessons at his grandfather’s dojo, working the night shift, and being expected to one day take over the family’s place as leader. Why couldn’t they all just back off and leave him be?

He ate his egg rolls and drank some milk. He really didn’t want to go to work, but a job was a job and he needed to pay upcoming bills, such as the gas bill. A quick shower relaxed his taut muscles and eased his headache, and he dressed into his uniform. In the meantime, he would catch some television before heading to work.

As usual, nothing seemed to be on. Flipping through the channels soon proved to be pointless and he felt annoyed. One hundred and fifty channels and nothing on to hold his interest. He flipped back to another channel and came upon the sports channel. This time it caught his eye. A national game of football was on, and as he noticed the names at the bottom of the screen, he found Ryo’s listed.

‘Heh, I didn’t know Ryo had a game. It’s just like him not to tell anyone. Unless he didn’t tell just me. Fine, whatever.’

He watched the game for awhile, but felt too angry to even cheer whenever his friend made a goal. He already knew Ryo was good at football, so why bother to cheer him on? In fact, it came to no surprise when Ryo’s team won. Sometimes, he thought Ryo was nothing but a show off, always had to be the best at every thing, including sports.

It was suddenly time to go. He flipped the TV off and left for work.

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Rowen was glad to be home from class the following afternoon. He had finished his assignment and had turn it in a day early, leaving him open for other things. So he had had lunch with Kento and Cye, and found out that Ryo won his football game. He would have to send a congratulations card to his friend.

But now at home alone, and with his father at work, he felt he should check to see if Sage replied. He checked the messages on the phone first. There were only a few. One was from his study partner with chemistry, a cute girl named Tono that he liked. Another was a reminder about his upcoming dental appointment. And the third was from his mother. She was doing all right, and she was currently visiting France. She was lucky in a way, to be able to travel so often.

Rowen decided to call his partner and his mother back later. Right now, he needed to check on Sage, to see how he was doing. Hopefully, Sage would tell him what was wrong, and then he could offer his help, or ask Sage what he planned to do about it to help himself.

But the response wasn’t anything he expected.

Rowen was stunned, shocked even. He was certain the color drained from his face and he felt a bit weak. Was his blood sugar going low? He hoped not. He swallowed and reread the reply as his heart felt heavy. He felt confused. Why was Sage so cold to him? All he did was tried to reach out to him. He cared so much about Sage, that this was a total blow to the head.

But at least one good thing he supposed. There was a bit of a positive response. Sage had agreed to call if he needed to talk. He hit reply and began to type.

Sage, I admit that I am surprised and hurt by this response. But I suppose to announce that is selfish of me, particularly when you’re going through a difficult time it seems. I admit I can’t figure out what’s wrong with you. I’m not a mind reader. Though right now I wish I was. It’s true you don’t have to talk to anyone you don’t want to, and no one is forcing you. Just know we’ll be here when you decide to open up.

After he hit send, Rowen needed to eat. Cooking a box of macaroni and cheese took only about twenty three minutes and after eating, he felt back to normal. His low blood pressure aggravated him, and to top it off, his blood sugar nearly dropped.

‘I need to learn to eat breakfast again,’ he chided himself.

He took some chocolate milk to drink and enjoyed a couple of hours reading a book to himself. It felt good to read a different novel. The Mage‘s Daughter was very intriguing, powerful, mysterious, and open edged.

Rowen wondered what it would be like to live back then, to have magic at your disposal. In a way, the Ronin Armor could be considered magic, but it was more mystical than anything else. Like the hippogriff or the unicorn.

There were times Rowen missed using the armor, but with no evil demons or powerful humans attacking there was no point in using them. Still, to be on the safe side, each Ronin carried his orb close to his person.

As Rowen turned a page he was suddenly hit. He had forgotten to call his lab partner! He set his book down and picked up the phone and punched in the numbers. It rang and rang and rang. Finally her voice mail came on, followed by the beep. “Tono, it’s Rowen. I got your message. If you still want to meet this Saturday, let’s meet at the community library at the front entrance at one o’ clock if you’re available. Call me back and leave a message if I don’t pick up. Later.” He sent his message and hung up.

With that taken care of he went back to reading his book. He could always call his mom later.

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Sage was not in a good mood again. He had nearly fallen asleep on the job, and even though he woke up in time to prevent a break in, it still didn’t make him feel any better. On top of that his partner for his Literature Project had decided he wasn’t doing the work, which meant Sage had to it by himself. And then at the dojo a young learner had fallen on the mat and twisted his ankle. Now his parents were upset and blamed him for not watching their son.

Life really did hate him right now.

Needing to rant to get it off his chest he sat at his computer and opened up to his journal. He caught a new comment and opened it. Rowen had replied back. He sighed and unwillingly read the response.

Heh, what to say. Maybe he should just ignore this one. Besides, he felt so angry at the moment. And rather than break something he would use his journal as a source of outlet for his bad mood.

He exited the comments page and returned to the main page where he clicked on New Entry and began to type away.

Pissed Off

Today was terrible. I am in such a bad mood right now that if anyone said the wrong thing to me today, I’ll snap at them so fast and so hard that they’d wish to be hit by a train instead. I was sick of people before this, but now I’m point blank fed up and disgusted. People only care about themselves and it’s been proven over and over again. Earlier, my lab partner decided to not do his share of the project, which means I have to do it on my own. Well, he can go screw himself. I’ll do it on my own. On top of that, a young kid gets hurt at the dojo and suddenly it’s my fault! Don’t parents realize a kid could possibly get hurt in a dojo? Accidents happen. But it’s still my fault because I was suppose to be watching him. Well, mommy and daddy, if you didn’t want your baby getting hurt, you need to take him to the kiddie playground than bring him at the dojo.

And finally, work sucked last night. I was so tired I nearly fell asleep, and missed scaring away an intruder. No doubt I’ll get reprimanded for this one. But at least I have tonight off so I’m looking forward to that much at least.

He posted his message and yawned suddenly. Damn, he felt tired. But he was hungry too. Another yawn came. But then his stomach growled. Argh! He clenched his fists tightly and tried to relax in order to make a good decision.

Well, he probably wouldn’t be able to sleep if his stomach kept growling. He pushed himself away from his desk and headed to his kitchen to grab something small at least. A hotdog seemed okay.

After eating, his hunger subsided and he drank some water. Now he felt a bit better, but still tired. His homework could wait until the evening. Heading into his bedroom, he flopped face down on his bed and fell asleep.

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Extra Note: The Mage’s Daughter is a real novel written by Lynn Kurland.