Disclaimer: I don't own Sage nor the other Ronin Characters. Please note, that I am basing Sage off the RW and not of YST. Thanks.

Dear Journal… god that sounds corny… Okay, Journal…. No, that won't do… ah, forget it! Today was rather a slow day. Even though I had awakened at my normal time at 6:00 a.m to meditate and practice my Kendo, I could tell it was going to be a rather bad day.

How did I know? Let's just say: it's a gift.. Anyhow, after I had showered and dressed for the day I went downstairs to come to a ringing telephone. If there's one thing I hate it's a phone ringing at 6:30 in the morning. Well, I answered it anyway, thinking it would be someone for Mia or Cye's mother. Not even close.. It was a telemarketer! Telling me I had won a free trip to Orlando, Florida, an all expenses paid trip, free hotel room and accommodations for four close friends for a five day getaway.. Oh but here was the catch. They wanted me to pay for it! Now excuse me, but if I had won something, it should be free. I shouldn't have to pay for it. So I did the polite thing… well it was polite compared to how Ryo would have been.. I said to the guy: "Excuse me, but don't you have better things to do than to go prank calling people's houses at 6:30 a.m with your pathetic attempt at a hoax?! Surely you can think of a better plan than that. Or maybe you should just give up the hoaxing business and find a real job. Like sweeping the prison floors, because when I find you, I'm turning you in!" Now, you see, Ryo would have been a lot meaner. He would have threatened to beat the crap out of the guy, then sue him, then beat him up again and maybe burn his car up just from calling with that hoax.

After I had rudely hung up, I had myself toast and coffee. One thing I can't stand is Cye's constant nagging on nutrition. Toast and coffee are healthy for you. After all toast is made from grain wheat and processed into flour before being turned into bread, and coffee comes from coffee beans. Sure I eat other foods though. Like Wonton soup, rice, curry, shrimp, and fish. Uh.. don't tell Cye that.

After I had eaten I put my shoes on, and headed to my favorite spot to meditate, train my kendo abilities, relax some, and get some thinking time in. I never got that chance. Why do you ask? Because Cale had suddenly appeared, and for once he wasn't trying to attack me! No, he was drunk, sick, and sobbing like a little kid! I'm telling you for a moment there I thought I had stepped into the Twilight Zone, because I had never seen anything like it in my life. It was unnerving. At first I wanted to run away and I tried to. But then he latched himself onto me, so I couldn't move at all.

When I finally decided to talk to him and got him calmed down, he fell asleep, and I left as quickly as I could. I found another spot to do the things I wanted to do. I don't know how long I was gone, but when I started on my way home, I noticed that it was much hotter, so it had to be around nine in the morning.

The moment I arrived home, I noticed that Kento and Ryo were outside sparring. Ryo was barely breaking a sweat, but his countenance showed determination, whereas Kento's showed something else. What that was, I couldn't place. But I've seen it many times before. He looked as if he was having the time of his life though, and that none of Ryo's moves against him could falter him. How wrong he was. It just took one swipe of Ryo's katana and Kento was landing on his back in the dusty ground.

I paused to watch them for a moment, taking in their efforts, labored breathing, fierceness, and determination. If there was one Ronin Warrior I had more respect for, it was Ryo. The boy was practically an orphan, well his father was alive and all, (yes, I know some say his father died, even some of my other fics says he died.. In this short one, Ryo's dad is alive and well. ) but the man was never home. Always off on some wildlife expedition for a few photo shots. Ryo may got on my nerves at times, especially with his lame comebacks and retorts, not to mention the way he blames himself constantly. My respect ran past that though, so it wasn't really all that infuriating I guess. I admired the way he handled us a team, how he kept us together even if Mia told us how to, how he led us into battle, and how if Rowen's plans failed, he'd always think of something quick to get us out of danger.

As I watched them, I had no idea that something was going to happen that would change my entire day and my mood from bad to worse. I had turned myself to head back to the house where I was content to get a refreshing cold glass of lemonade. No sooner I had stepped forward, when suddenly, I found myself unexpectedly riding Yulie's skateboard, and going downhill at an incredible speed.

I screamed, wanting to get off, however even if I was a Ronin Warrior, that didn't mean jumping off an accelerating toy going about fifty miles an hour downhill, was going to save me. At my luck, I'd fall to the ground and roll downhill, injuring my body along the way.

I could see that Mia's house was getting closer and so were some thick heavy trees. I immediately braced myself for impact as I slammed hard into a cherry tree. The collision was enough to shake a few branches and send a few petals floating silently to the ground. The skateboard was broken in two, and I, numbed and dazed with pain just silently fell backward, in time to hear Ryo and Kento frantically calling my name. I passed out after that.

Sometime later, I'm not sure how much later, I woke up, having a splitting headache that made me want to actually curse out the light that shone on my face from my left side. Weakly, I looked around to find myself in my room, lying on my bed and wrapped up in my thick green and white comforter, and next to me was the stuffed deer my grandmother had given to me when I was first born. I call him Pookie. Don't laugh!

Strangely my right shoulder hurt most of all, compared to my ribs. I tried sitting up in bed, only to have the pain force me back down with a cry.

The door opened just then, and Rowen, full of concern, walked in. "Sage? Oh man.. Thank goodness you're awake. We thought we'd have to take you to the hospital if you didn't come around soon!"

I turned to look at him through blurry eyes. "How long was I out?" I asked him in a slur. Good thing we were best friends. He would have never understood what I had just said. In fact, I'm surprised I even understood what I had said.

"Six hours," Rowen told me as he sat down in a chair next to my bed. We've been taking turns guarding you, but I've mostly been here. Mia and Ryo gave Yulie quite the scolding when he came home today. He's not allowed to bring anymore skateboards here."

"I should have watched where I was going though, Rowen," I said as I began to close my eyes.

"Hey," he admonished me, "accidents happen, but this could have been prevented."

I decided to change the subject. "Just how bad am I?" I asked him, almost dreading what the answer would be.

Rowen paused for a long moment, and at first I wondered if he was afraid to tell me himself, or if he didn't know at all. But I was wrong on both. "Your shoulder blade is pretty busted up, but it's not broken, more like knocked out of place. Your mother will be here tomorrow to take a look at it, and your ribs are pretty bruised up. Mia doesn't think you'll be getting out of bed any time soon."

I sighed heavily. I had dealt with the Dynasty, fought beside Ryo and the other Ronins against a man known as Makura who was stronger than we were. I had come face to face with death during battle so many times. Now I'm suddenly confined to a bed because of one accident which Rowen strongly believes could have been prevented. Right now, my life was beginning to stink.

Rowen stood up and handed me two Motrin Ib and a cup of water. "Here, take these. Cye says they'll help you."

With his help I managed to swallow the two pills, then let my head lie back against the pillow and sighed deeply. Rowen studied my face for a moment, and I almost cringed. I never liked to be stared at that way. It makes me think the other person is either pitying me or getting ready to snap at me, much like the way my grandfather did when I was younger. But this was Rowen and I knew he was only worried about me and wanted to help, so I relaxed.

"Get some sleep, Sage. Sleep will help heal you too," he said, and then he reached over and shut my lamp off, and left the room, leaving the door open a crack.

I sighed into the darkness heavily. Sleep? With this pain? Yeah, right. It would never come.

But I was wrong. I did fall asleep, and into a deep and peaceful one at that. When I awoke the next day I felt strangely better, but still a little sore. My mother made good on her promise, and came over, checking me from head to toe. She was professional, ignoring my protests and checking to see if I had really damaged anything at all. She even snapped my shoulder back into place. I was sure the entire city had heard my scream. After my shoulder was bandaged up, I was again forced back into bed. My ribs would need no bandaging, just an icepack on either side to bring down the swelling. I felt cold and wet from the two packs.

During the next few hours, I was given medication, had meals brought to, even got a TV hooked up. Plus not one girl called to ask if I was going out with anyone. I'm still wondering how they managed to find out I was single and that I was living with Mia. Oh well, I guess.

During the next few days, I slowly healed. By five days later, my mom called Mia to tell her to let me out of bed, that exercise would be good for me. I wanted to jump for joy.

I had to take it easy though.

I couldn't practice my Kendo, nor go for jogs with Ryo or Rowen, could not wrestle with Cye and Kento, nor give Yulie a piggy back ride. I was a little annoyed at how careful I had to be. The only thing I liked about this, was that it gave me a chance to relax from school, fighting dynasty monsters, and having girls at my school up my butt. I don't mind talking to girls. (okay, before I go any further, this is a RW story. In YST, Seiji is shy of girls due to his sister Yayoi teasing him, and his family dressing him up as a girl. Even Theria herself said there is difference between Ronin Warriors and YST. See her site for proof. Basically, I put Sage as a flirt, because of my character Thunder, who I designed before I even knew Sage. Thunder is very shy of girls too, and if I write Sage being shy, I'll end up writing about Thunder, and I don't want that. ; okay, back to the story.) It's just that sometimes having about fifty of them walking beside me, clinging to me, is just.. Gah, it annoys me after a while. What's worse, is that some of them even ask me when will I marry them. If I marry a girl, she better love me for who I am, not what I am or what I've got. If she prefer looks, then she's not my type. I'm a picky person. Just ask Rowen when we go school clothes shopping. We'll be in the department store for four hours before I even choose one outfit I like. (okay, interruption#2. I know in Japan they wear uniforms at the school, but in this fic.. they don't wear them. ^^; )

So the only thing I could do was just lay around on the couch and watch TV or read, or relax and play cards or board games with anyone willing to do so. Talking on the phone was kind of rough for me, because it involved me holding the phone a certain way that was uncomfortable. I'm glad Mia got a speaker phone. Makes things so much easier for me.

Well, of course the hours passed, and I grew bored. There wasn't a lot for me to do and I was getting restless. I began to walk around the house, begging anyone I could find to at least let me do something. Case in point Ryo.

"Please, Ryo," I whined, "at least let me brush White Blaze!"

Ryo was putting away a jug of juice in the fridge. He looked back up at me with that serious frown on his face, the one you know he doesn't agree to something you say, and plainly said, "Sage, I know you want to do the normal things you've done, but right now you can't. You might injure yourself more."

"Well, can't I heal myself?" I sounded pathetic whining like this, but at the moment I didn't care.

He shook his head. "No, because the rule of the Ronin Warrior healing code is, you can't heal yourself if you're in an accident. Sorry, Sage."

All hope faded away. So I turned around and left him, grumbling to myself angrily. Life just wasn't far. So the only thing I could do was just sit back on the couch and watch a documentary on geese.. Yeah, I was that bored.

Later that day, around 7:00 p.m. Cye played a game of Wizards with me. It's this weird board game where you have to roll the dice a few times, pick up a card with that number of it, and move your little figure to the square with the same picture as the card. The object of the game was to get to gather up as many spells you can and get to the end of the board first. Whoever did so was the winner.

We played for about an hour and half, before it was declared I was the winner. Cye congratulated me and asked if I wanted to play again. I shook my head. "No, but thanks anyway, Cye. Hey, is dinner going to be done soon?"

Cye did a quick check to his watch and nodded as he looked back at me. "I'm going to get started on it now and it should be done in thirty minutes." He left me sitting there on the couch and disappeared into the kitchen.

Considering the time it was, I was surprised that Kento wasn't down here bugging Cye as he cooked. To tell the truth, I could have used a good entertainment at the moment. Usually, I get irritated at having to chase those two around the house, trying to keep Cye from using his Frying Pan of Death attack on Kento. But today, I was actually bummed out because there would be no chasing.

Instead I had to resort to watching a game show on the television set. A very boring game show that nearly but me to sleep had it not been for the constant high pitched yells coming from the training room. Yes, Ryo was practicing. He never seemed to quit. We all told him that someday he was going to overdo it, but he just shrugged us off, and said, "Evil never takes a break, neither do I." And so we left him alone, trusting him to rest when he felt he needed it.

Soon it was dinner time and I was helped, rather unwillingly into the kitchen. Cye had made a scrumptious meal and I didn't realize how famished I was until my stomach growled more than Kento's.

Kento looked right at me with his mouth a little wide open. "Geeze, Sage…" He could think of no more to say me, but he continued to look at me as if it were a crime against him to be more hungry than he was. I only shrugged with a sheepish smile.

We ate dinner and enjoyed one another's company. I began to realize that even if I was injured, I would not have to feel so down in the dumps. And my friends would see to that. They were there to make me laugh, to put a smile upon my face, to see my through the next few weeks of difficulty.

And so during the next two days as I healed, they continued to help me along. I was able to start moving a little better now, and the desire to pop about thirty Advil grew less and less. Then one day I had been sitting calmly eating some late breakfast. It consisted of eggs, sausage, and a couple of biscuits. I had been minding my own business when suddenly Kento sneak up behind me and stole one of the biscuits.

My eyes narrowed into slits as I whirled around. "Kento Rei Faun! You give that back right now!"

But he turned and ran for it. I growled and jumped from my chair and chased after him. There was no way he was going to take what I wanted to eat for myself. We ran through the living room, dodging White Blaze and around the couch. Then before he even realized it, I leapt into the air and tackled him down to the floor.

"Sage! Kento!" Mia's stern voice came from behind us. We both looked up at her, expecting to see an angry look to her normally calm face. However it was one of shock. She was staring at me, her mouth slightly opened. For a moment none of us spoke.

"Um, Sage, get off me," Kento mumbled a few minutes later.

"Uh? Oh, sorry," I apologized. However as I stood up I snatched my biscuit back. Ignoring Kento's groan, I faced Mia, raising a questioning eyebrow. "Um, Mia, are you okay?"

"Sage," she began, her eyes lightning, "you knocked Kento down.. You didn't cry out in pain."

Realization had hit me. She was right. I looked at my shoulder and massaged it. Then I moved it up and down several times and from side to side. I felt no pain at all. A smile came to my lips and I let out a whoop. I was so happy no words could describe it. In time, my mother had been called over. She tested my shoulder out, had me move it around again, felt the bones and muscle, and said, "Well, it seems to be healed pretty much. However, I'd like to get an X-ray of it just to make sure."

Ryo nodded in agreement as he looked at me. "Yeah, always best to find out for sure. Just because something feels healed doesn't always mean it is."

So it was arranged. Two days later I found myself sitting in a hospital room with Rowen and Cye. I had already filled out the necessary paperwork and signed it, then sat in the waiting room.

"I don't like hospitals," Rowen said with a sour look to his face. "They give me the creeps."

"I don't like them either," Cye said softly as he glanced around. The waiting room was crowded. I wondered how long I would have to wait. I knew the reason Rowen didn't like hospitals was because he was often brought in for severe headaches due to the constant migraines he usually got. As for Cye, he hated to see people sick or injured.

It was a twenty minute wait before I was called back. The nurse told me to sit down and left the room after saying that the doctor would be in shortly. I sat down on a plastic chair and looked around the room, waiting for the technician. The wait was only about ten minutes. He was a short plumped man who was smiling, though he seemed to be serious about his work. He asked me to explain what I had happened and I did, concluding that my mom wanted an X-ray to prove it had healed. He nodded his head and had the machine set up.

I laid down on the bed per his request and laid down on my right side. He was behind the door now, taking the pictures. When he told me to turn a certain way, I complied. After the doctor was finished he had me wait in the chair while he finished up. I sat there, looking around the room, and realizing just how boring a hospital could really be when you brought no magazine. Then after about fifteen minutes he approached me, carrying a closed envelope with my name and a Do Not Bend label on the front. "Your mother wanted to see these for herself. I trust you can take these to her?"

I nodded as I took them from his hand. "Yes, Dr. Rao," I said.

"Alright then. Good luck, Sage," he said as he shook my hand. I thanked him and left the room. When I returned to the waiting room, I was joined by Rowen and Cye and headed for an exit.

"What did he say?" Cye asked me.

"He didn't say anything. Just said for me to give these X-rays to mom."

"Maybe he thinks your mother can tell you?" Rowen suggested. I nodded in agreement as we left the hospital, walked across the parking lot, and got into the trail blazer. The ride home didn't take long. As I expected, Kento, Rowen, and Mia asked me the same thing. "What did they say?" I told them what I told Cye and Rowen, and then called my mother to come over.

While we waited for her to come over, we all played a card game of Spades. The game lasted for three rounds in which Ryo won the first time, then Rowen, and then finally Rowen again. We realized someone had pulled into the driveway when White Blaze stood up and rumbled at the door.

Ryo stood up and approached the door, placing one hand on his tiger's back. "Easy, White Blaze," he said and opened the door. My mother greeted him and stepped inside. She patted White Blaze on the head, then approached me. "Let me see them," she said.

I nodded and headed over to the nightstand by the sofa and opened the drawer, taking out the manila folder. I gave it to her.

She set her bag down on the coffee table and sat down on the couch and opened it. She was careful as she took out the three X-rays. We were all silent as she studied my shoulder blade. For a while no one spoke as she carefully observed each one. Then she returned them to the folder and looked at me. "Well, you were right. You're healed up."

A smile instantly came to my face. "See, I'm not even a doctor and I knew that!"

She smiled back and pointed her finger at me. "Like Ryo said, just because it felt healed didn't mean it was. But you were right, so be glad you can use that shoulder again. I trust next time you'll be more careful?"

I nodded my head in agreement as Ryo spoke up. "We've already warned Yulie not to leave his stuff out where they don't belong."

My mother nodded. "Yes, good. Well, I have to go home now. Your grandfather, father, and sisters will be expecting dinner soon. You take it easy, all of you." She turned to face me. "Especially you."

I nodded my head, then hugged her thankfully. She returned the hug, bid us all good-bye and left the house. I sighed in relief as I sat back down on the couch.

"Well, I bet you're happy," Kento said to me.

I nodded my head. "Definitely."

"Hey, let's get back to the game," Cye suggested. It was a good idea. We started the game all over again. It was going to be a relaxing evening for us all. So inclusion, Journal, this is all that had taken place. I'm better now and I've returned to school. Yes, my life was definitely getting better. Good-bye, Journal.

Sage Date