Kento slid open the screen door and stepped out onto the balcony that ran around the upper level of Mia's house. Closing the door behind him, he moved to lean against the railing and frowned out at the summer morning. A light breeze stirred the trees, turning the leaves briefly upwards; in the distance, sunlight sparkled off the rippling lake. The air was still cool, heavy and damp with dew and sweetly fresh, though the smell of the garage beneath him spoiled it slightly. Kento sighed, propped an elbow on the railing, and cupped his chin in his hand, his focus going vague and dissatisfied. 

The warrior of Hardrock usually woke with an optimistic outlook, especially on a day as pretty as this one, but there were exceptions and the morning after a night spent dreaming about the Throne of the Gods qualified. Worse, it had reminded him- as if he needed reminding- of what...who... had been nagging at him lately. Or maybe it was the other way around; maybe he'd had the dream because of who had been on his mind all week. 

That was probably it.

Kento rarely had trouble getting along with people, but in this case he had to admit: some people were just made to not get along well. Like him and Sage.

Their relationship had never been the smoothest, despite- maybe even partly because- Sage had been responsible for getting Kento out of the Throne of the Gods. Kento's frown deepened as he remembered the day, the fight...and the danger he'd been in. Sage and Mia had both gone through a lot of misery- Mia especially, since she'd been the one to distract Kale- to get Kento out of the rock before the Sword of Darkness snuffed him. Yet he could still remember clearly the look on Sage's face when it was all over: the sardonic half-smile, the insulting joke, the air of disdain...

It was hard to be grateful to someone who seemed to feel that their efforts on your behalf had mainly been wasted, now that they'd gotten a good look at you. Kento, feeling both insulted and defensive- what had Sage been expecting, Iron Man?- had contented himself with expressing his gratitude to Mia in numerous ways. Sage had affected not to notice, but Kento had no doubts on that score; why else had the guy been so aloof and sharp-tongued? By the time they got back to Cye and Ryo, the pattern was set: nitpicking and criticizing and not-so-subtle suggestions of unreliability from Sage; contradictions, bluster and challenges to do better from Kento. 

"It's weird how it works," he'd remarked to Cye one evening, another barely-civil exchange with Sage behind him. "Y'know, people say opposites attract and all, but I think it depends on what kind of opposites they are. Some do attract, and then some just kinda turn into sandpaper."

Cye had smiled a little, glancing up from his History book. "They do say that, but they also say birds of a feather flock together-"

"Exactly, only it has to be the right kind of bird. Some people who're a lot alike can't stand each other. Because they're alike." Kento sat heavily on the side of his friend's bed, bouncing a little. "You and I, we're pretty opposite too, but we get along fine. I'm not opposite of you the same way I am of Sage."

Cye had patted Kento's arm affectionately, a thoughtful look on his face. "That's true. Sage and I are pretty different, but neither of us are much like you."

"Yeah." Kento sprawled backwards across the bed, making Cye laugh in surprise at finding himself being used as a pillow. "Mainly, you're nice..."

There was a good deal more to it than that, though, and Kento knew it very well. Niceness probably had something to do with it, but the basic differences were in how they reacted to things. Kento was outgoing; Sage was reserved. Kento was impulsive; Sage was compulsive about planning out every detail. Kento, once set on a course, saw it through no matter what; Sage was always ready to change tactics or retreat and think up a different approach. Kento was loud, exuberent and casual; Sage was quiet, withdrawn and formal... The list went on and on. The only real similarity they had, as far as Kento could see, was that when pushed far enough, Sage would explode- just like Kento. 

Kento wasn't about to admit it, but he actually rather liked making Sage explode in a rage. It was the one time he could be sure he understood the guy, and it was pretty fascinating to prove that Sage did get hot under the collar and wasn't just an emotionless ice-cube all the time. And he wasn't the least bit intimidated by Sage's anger; it was too like his own to be daunted by. The only down-side to it was that Sage plainly resented being goaded into showing some emotion and invariably cranked up the ice for days afterward. 

It was a pain in the butt, dealing with someone who was either freezing you out or exploding at you in anger, Kento had concluded. And the freezing was definitely the worst of the two. Sage wasn't shy, wasn't unsure of his worth like Cye; Sage simply didn't trust anyone with his feelings and opinions. To Kento, who had no difficulty trusting his friends, that was not merely rude but inexplicable. Who was Sage going to trust, if not them? Couldn't he see they needed each other, the five of them shut away from the rest of society by their secrets and their battles and the things they knew and remembered that no one else did? Sure, Sage might've run into some nastiness at times for being so different- but Kento knew what it was like to be different, too. They all did; they were all 'different', and the ways they were different from each other were miniscule compared with how different they were from the rest of the world.

Maybe, Kento had concluded, Sage simply dealt with his feelings by pretending they didn't exist, but the result was that he was definitely not a nice person to be around. He wasn't nice, period; he seemed not to care about anything or anyone-

Well, maybe about Ryo, a little. He wasn't as cold towards Wildfire as he was towards everyone else; Ryo even got him to laugh once in a while. And he was kinder when he healed someone, too. More businesslike than anything about it, but he was very thorough and checked up on you a couple times and let you know exactly what he did so you didn't worry. He spoke more softly at those times, too, and his hands were always very gentle, careful not to hurt you any more than necessary. Even if you'd done something stupid that he totally didn't approve of, he'd save the lecture for when you were feeling better. But as soon as you were recovered, poof, the healer was gone and the ice pick was back, chipping away at you until you admitted you'd been wrong. And then he'd shun you until he felt you'd learned your lesson- a day, or three, or a week, or even longer. 

"Some of it is because he's a healer," Cye had pointed out when Kento griped. "Healing isn't easy- and seeing people hurt and knowing they're depending on you to make them better isn't, either. He probably worries that some day he'll run into something he can't heal, or won't be fast enough."

"Well, yeah, I guess I can see that," Kento replied, less crankily. "But that doesn't mean he can't trust us."

"But it does, in a way," was Cye's gentle disagreement. "I think he keeps everything to himself because he doesn't want us to feel guilty about asking him for healing. Maybe it's more difficult for him than he lets on- and maybe he doesn't want us to know how much it takes out of him. Or how tired of it he gets, sometimes. It must be hard, always being on duty and feeling responsible..."

"Aw, hell, Cye, we're all on duty and responsible, we never know when we'll get hit next," Kento had grumbled. "And Ryo's got the brunt of it, and you don't see it turning him into a lout. You might as well say he gets tired of protecting us- or we get tired of protecting him."

"You mean you don't?" Cye had whispered, very softly, and Kento didn't reply right away. A month of fighting the Dynasty to kick Talpa's butt, followed by another month of putting down all the lesser demons who wanted Ryo's new armor so they could take over the Nether Realm, followed by getting captured and hung up in Talpa's torture chamber for a while, followed by more fighting after they were finally rescued... A guy really could get enough of that after a while.

"Well, if I do, I don't get ticked at Ryo about it. It's not his fault he's got the big red target plastered on him, it's the Dynasty's fault for tryin' to take what ain't theirs and planning to obliterate life as we know it," he answered at last. "Not that this has anything to do with Sage, by the way. I never said we needed or wanted a full disclosure on every little thing he thinks, but he could at least make some effort to be a friend and not a nitpicky, disapproving robot. Rowen does."

"Maybe if you stop making him mad all the time, he'll feel more inclined to trust you," Cye had suggested. "You were a lot more patient with me."

"Yeah, maybe, but you were never a locked safe surrounded by guard dogs, either," was Kento's retort, and the image had made Cye laugh. 

The conversation had drifted off to other topics before the boys got sleepy and went to bed, but Cye's suggestion had stuck in Kento's mind and he had decided, a little reluctantly, to act on it. He'd stopped baiting and pestering Sage and deliberately let a couple of choice opportunities to annoy the Halo warrior pass unremarked. Sage appeared to neither notice or care at first, which irritated Kento, but after a while it became clear that Sage, too, was restraining his penchant for picking at Kento. He wasn't precisely nicer or warmer, but he, too, let several minor things slide without one of his trademark 'polite' barbs. Politeness was a big deal for Sage, but he knew the knack of making a totally civil statement sound really derogatory and it made a nice change for Kento to have less of that to deal with. So they had a truce, and maybe in time Sage would actually loosen up a little.

'Or not,' Kento concluded, staring out across the lake and turning the past few months over in his mind. 'Sure, we don't fight like we used to, but he's just as locked up and standoffish and cold as he ever was. He doesn't trust me- I don't think he even trusts Cye. Which is stupid. What is his deal, anyway? He can be nice if he wants to, he's nice enough to Ryo and sometimes to Rowen- he just doesn't want to be nice to me or Cye! It's not fair. Especially after we tried to be nice to him. He's got some major malfunction about us, and I wanna know what it is.'

The warrior of Hardrock glowered for a moment, then sighed. The thought was not a new one, but even to himself, his proposed plan of action didn't seem like a likely one. Marching up to Sage and demanding to know why he behaved the way he did was most likely to earn him a cold silence and perhaps a shrug. Unless he did it rudely, which would just earn him a reprimand about being uncivil. And it wasn't worth it to try and drag him into a yelling match...

Or was it? It would break their unspoken truce and maybe lose Kento any of the respect Sage had gained for him over the last eleven weeks, but Sage might actually let something slip this time. And it really wasn't likely that there was all that much respect to be lost. Sage wasn't much for compliments, but he did scatter a few, here and there, and naturally Kento ended up with the least and fewest of the lot. 'So, not much to lose, maybe something to gain, and if it all falls down then we can just write it off completely and be done with it. Better than hanging around in limbo and wondering myself nuts trying to guess,' the boy concluded, straightening up from the rail he was leaning against. 'All right then. Now I just gotta find him.'

Finding him proved to be easy enough; Ryo, when asked, glanced up from his cereal and newspaper long enough to say, "Down at the lake," before plunging back into the soccer scores. That figured; Sage often took a session of meditation down by the lake on Mia's property in the mornings. Kento gave a minute of contemplation to breakfast and decided to pass; if this went badly, he'd probably end up with indigestion. 

Not that confronting Sage on an empty stomach sounded all that great either...

As Ryo had said, Sage was down at the lake; he was sitting at the far end of the pier, facing the sunrise, legs folded under him in the traditional meditation posture. What was mildly surprising was that he was wearing regular pants and a shirt. Usually when he came back to the house after a session, he was in either his gi or the white hakama, both of which were a lot more traditional to meditate or practice in than Western clothes. Kento reflected on that for a moment, pausing at the end of the pier, then shrugged- only Sage knew why he did what he did- and stepped somewhat hesitantly onto the smooth boards, moving slowly towards the kneeling Halo warrior. 

Sage didn't look up as Kento stopped behind him. He didn't turn around or glance back or shift position at all. Kento frowned; Sage couldn't possibly be so inward-tuned that he hadn't noticed Kento's arrival, could he? No, not when the point of meditating was to open the senses... or so Sage always said. Anyway, the pier was old and not very sturdy; it quivered and rattled with every footstep, making sneaking up on someone completely impossible. No, Sage knew someone was there, and if his senses were as opened as he always claimed they were, he knew who the someone was. Kento's frown became a scowl-

"Did you need something, Kento?" Sage asked quietly.

"So you did know it was me." The words were out before Kento knew he was going to say anything. He was right: Sage was trying to ignore him, but had apparently sensed his anger at being ignored and decided to deal with him.

"I wasn't sure for a moment. You don't usually walk that slowly," the blond boy explained, still motionless. Kento's fist clenched; the brat could at least have the courtesy to turn and face him! 

"I see. Yeah, well, there was something I was kinda wanting to talk to you about," he said curtly. "But I can see you're really busy right now, so I'll just leave you to it. We can talk some other time, maybe."Not waiting for a response- not even sure one would be offered- Kento turned on his heel and stomped back to the shore, then made tracks for the practice-clearing. He needed to work off his temper before he went back to the house, else he'd be snapping at the rest of the guys- and none of this was their fault. 

The practice-clearing, as its name implied, was a small meadow about halfway between Mia's house and the lake. It had been an ordinary, somewhat overgrown clearing until Ryo and Kento, looking for a decent place to spar, stumbled over it and decided it would be wiser to do their practicing there than behind the house. For one thing, there was more room, and for another, it cut down on the chance of anyone seeing them armored or geared. The house itself blocked most of the view from the road, but there was always a possibility of a motorist spotting something and maybe reporting it. Or a student might turn up unannounced, or some of the University faculty or their spouses drop by...

Mia had found the idea a good one, and a few days of hard work had transformed the area from a scraggly meadow to a clipped and cleared practice-ground. Mia had even allowed them to plant a number of woodent target-poles in the ground, saying she'd rather see them sharpening their aim on the stakes than on each other. Kento didn't entirely agree- you needed to work against a thinking, moving target, not a stationary one, if you wanted to stay sharp- but the stakes did come in handy when someone was practicing alone. 

Like now. Kento stalked over to the 'weapons' area- a rack full of shinai and bokken- wooden practice staffs and swords, covered with a clear-plastic tarp to keep the weather off them- and selected a staff, absent-mindedly spinning it as he approached the nearest stake. A moment later he was beating the hell out of the unoffending pole, the sharp wooden cracks very satisfying to his angry, offended heart.

It was five, maybe ten minutes into his 'fight' with the stake that Kento felt an eerie yet familiar prickling sensation on the back of his neck, snapping him out of his single-minded attack. Someone was nearby...watching him. Raising the staff, he whirled- and scowled at the sight of Sage leaning calmly against another of the stakes, arms crossed on his chest. How long had he been standing there? And why was he standing there? Just waiting to see how long it took before Kento noticed him? "Don't sneak up on me like that," he growled.

Sage inclined his head in acknowledgment of the complaint. "Sorry. Did you beat him?"

"How long- What?"

"Your opponent...?" A pale hand gestured at the stake behind Kento, who turned and looked deliberately at the slender wooden pole and then back at his fellow Ronin. 

"It's a post, Sage. A wooden post."

"Well, yes," Sage paused, tucking his hand back under his arm. "I just wondered if that was all it was. When my sensei trained me, he told me to imagine that I was being attacked by enemies- one or more. Sometimes he would tell me what attacks they used, to test my skill at countering those attacks, but mostly he left it to my imagination. I got fairly good at turning nothing unusual into something threatening."

"Oh." Kento lowered the staff, letting one end rest on the ground. "That's an odd way to train," he mused, then shrugged. "Me, I just see a pole in the ground. 'Specially since it doesn't move."

"He wasn't well," Sage explained quietly. "I was his only student, so there was no one to partner me. And you're right about the stationary target, it's hard to imagine an enemy that would stand in one place all the time. It's why I don't use the posts much."

"Ah." Kento nodded; that explained Sage's unusual air-chopping technique on the rare times Ryo didn't spar with him. Then he lifted the staff again and let it twirl idly in his fingers. It was a frail thing compared to his naginata...he really ought to get a heavier one, or tie a few together or something... no point using the naginata itself, he'd leave a trail of broken stakes behind him if he did.

"So there was something you wanted to discuss?" Sage asked in the same quiet voice. Kento frowned again, pulled out of his musings, and halted the staff's lazy spin.

"Well, there was, but I changed my mind," he answered loftily. "No sense asking something when I already know what the answer'll be, right?"

"There's truth in that," Sage agreed, glancing up; the older boy's cold violet eye focused on Kento. "Out of curiosity, what would the answer be?"

"That it's none of my business," Kento said shortly, and turned back to his post. Silence behind him; he lifted the staff, angling it across his body, aiming for a backhanded swing-

"That would be a very unusual thing for me to say," Sage remarked, sounding mildly surprised. "It must be an unusual question...?"

An unusual question. Kento stood still for a long moment, staring at the target pole without really seeing it. He hadn't really had a specific question in mind; he hadn't planned out the potential conversation. He only wanted to ask why: why didn't Sage like him or Cye; why was he so cold; why did he try to pretend he had no feelings; why the aloof, uncaring, untrusting... 

"Yeah." Kento half-turned, narrowing his eyes at the other boy. "Basically what I was gonna ask was: do you trust anyone? At all?" 

Sage's eyes widened, his arms dropped to his sides and he straightened up from the pole. "I- what? Trust?" 

Kento restrained a grim smile at the obvious surprise in Sage's face. Even if he didn't get an answer, it was worth it to see that mask disappear for once. "Yeah. So you see- obviously, that's not my concern." He shrugged, turning the spindly little toothpick of a staff in his fingers, then loosing it to strike with a light thwack against the pole. 

"But-" Sage said slowly, sounding bewildered. "Kento, I- I didn't- I wouldn't say that."

"Oh, no?" Kento grounded the staff and regarded the older boy keenly. "Too rude for you?"

"I-" Sage hesitated, pushing his hand through the shock of hair that so often concealed his right eye. "I don't understand," he said at last, returning Kento's look with an expression more troubled than puzzled. "Why would you ask me that?"

"Exactly. It's not my business. So I'm not asking, and you can save yourself the trouble of snubbing me for it, okay?"

"I mean- that-" Sage began, then shook his head and took a deep breath. "To answer your question: do I trust anyone- yes, of course. I trust my friends. And I do consider that your business, since-"

"Oh, is it, now?" Kento inquired. Something about this conversation was bugging him, and it wasn't just the fact that Sage seemed to be thinking something else entirely. "I'd like to meet those friends of yours someday," he added. "It'd be interesting to know what kind of person it takes to win your trust." Then again, Sage's friends would probably be a lot like him; Sage was obviously not the sort to trust an opposite. Kento himself was evidence enough of that. Though he had to wonder if Ryo was counted among Sage's mystery friends...if so, then maybe some opposites were tolerated. After all, some opposites got along great...he and Cye sure did... Sage was staring at him again, and the expression on his face was not easy for Kento to read. He wasn't used to seeing any emotion on that placid face- except, occasionally, anger. "What's with you?"

"Why are you asking me this?" Sage burst out, taking several steps towards him. "And why are you saying these things? You know who my friends are, you know I trust them- and you know you're-"

"If I knew, I wouldn't be asking, now would I!" Kento snapped back. "It's not as if you've ever actually bothered to tell me stuff, Sage!"

"My friends are here!" Sage shouted, gesturing sharply around the meadow. "The ones I fought beside, whose lives depended on mine, and who my life depended on! The ones who know what happened and don't think me crazy for believing in another realm and a war that no one else remembers! How can you say you don't know that, Kento? After everything we went through? I trust you!" Sage's voice softened, almost pleaded. "I know we don't get along, but that doesn't mean I distrust you! I do- with my life!"

Kento stared, letting the far end of the staff thump into the ground. "With your life!" he repeated with a snort of contempt, his eyes narrowing. "So what's that prove? Trusting someone with your life doesn't even signify as much as trusting 'em with your car keys! Less; people get their lives saved by random strangers all the damn time, but they sure don't let a random stranger drive off in their car! Hell, people don't even have to like each other to save each others' lives- how many times ya think the Warlords backed each other up, huh? And you can't tell me that lot trust each other. Trust hasn't got crap to do with it, and you know it! Don't you even try that trick on me," he fumed, growing more incensed with every minute that passed. "You fought with us because you had no choice; it was either fight together and keep each other alive, or don't and let Talpa win. And you made real sure everyone knew what you thought of having to fight with me! If you could've left me behind, you would have!"

"I'm not trying any damned trick- my life may not mean much to you, Kento, but it means a great deal to me!" the blond boy insisted. "And I would never have left you- where in hell did you get that idea? I got you out of that cursed rock, remember? Is that the act of someone who'd abandon you?"

Kento glowered, unable to refute either the fact or the implication. "Yeah, you got me out all right, but only 'cause it had to be done, not 'cause you were worried about me-" 

"Of course I was worried! Kale nearly killed you! Kento, what's wrong with you, why are you flinging all these ridiculous accusations? I trust you, I've come to think of you as my friend- why don't you believe me?"

"Why?" Kento flared, dropping the staff and taking an unknowing step towards the taller boy. "Well, hell, where do I start, Sage? You didn't like me from the beginning! You don't approve of things I do or the way I think, you treat me like an idiot or a three-year old, and your favorite hobby is finding ways to insult me! And I know you don't trust me! Oh, maybe with your life, but certainly not with anything so personal as an opinion or a preference or an emotion! You don't have those. Always formal, always proper, never smiling, heaven forbid you laugh, let down your guard, act like a human being now and again! Shit, I have to fire up your temper to get you to react like a human being, and you hate it!" He dragged in a breath, pointing a fierce finger at the wide-eyed youth. "You don't want to be human, you just want to be Halo Ronin, the warrior with a lump of ice for a heart- and you're damn good at it!"

Sage's eyes closed and Kento thought he heard him swallow in the sudden silence. Kento drew in another breath, suddenly aware of the warm spring day, of the mild breeze, the scent of nearby flowers and the fainter odor of fresh water. Sage had lowered his head; all Kento could see was the shock of blond hair, but his body was taut and his hands clenched. 

"Then you- you want me to trust you?" came a low murmur. "You want me to confide things in you and, and be...a friend, a real friend? Is that what you mean, Kento?"

Kento blinked, feeling his face redden and wondering why. "What I mean is, don't call me your friend 'til you act like one," he growled. "And don't tell me I should 'know' you trust me when you haven't given me even one reason to think so."

"But that's- you want that from me? Friendship, and reasons to trust? From me?" Sage lifted his head slightly but didn't look at Kento- his eyes were still closed.

"If it's possible," Kento said warily, but with less heat, wondering at the odd emphasis. "I would just hate to ask too much of you." To his surprise, a faint, if pained, smile trembled on Sage's mouth for a moment. 

"It is possible and you would not be asking too much, but I will need you to be patient with me," the blond boy said softly, finally opening his eyes. "I need to get used to the idea that Kento doesn't despise me- that he would honestly want my friendship."

"I don't like the sound of that," the Hardrock warrior declared, frowning as he reached down to pick up the staff he'd dropped. "What's the honestly doing in there?" For that matter... "And not liking isn't the same as despising. I despise Dais, not you."

Sage shrugged, still regarding the grass intently. "You attend Hanai; you know all about backstabbing. Until I met Ryo, it was the only experience with ...friendship...that I had. And part of the reason for that was-" He shrugged again and ran his hand through his shining hair, then glanced up long enough for his eyes to meet Kento's. "Being different. The more different you are, the more people despise you, and I am quite aware that I'm extremely different."

Kento's frown relaxed to a more thoughtful expression. "Well, yeah, that's true," he admitted. "But jeez, Sage, I'm friends with Cye; he's about as 'different' as you are. Being 'different' doesn't matter to me. I'm Justice; people are just people, doesn't matter what they look like- what matters is how they act. 'Sides, I've gotten enough of the treatment myself not to give it to anyone else."

"You have? You mean, because you have blue eyes?" Sage looked up again, his cheeks redder than they had been. "I did consider your virtue, and your friendship with Cye, but I was- afraid. We fought so much- you- we both took opportunities...to be unkind to each other."

"Well. Well, yeah...yeah, we did." Kento sighed and chewed on his lip for a moment, then gave himself a shake. "That didn't help. But what I was talkin' about- the treatment- I've been called some crap in my day, too. Slave, parasite, unclean- shit like that." He cocked his head at Sage's uncomprehending look. "I have, ah, issues with that, so I wouldn't be getting on anyone else's case for who their parents or grandparents happened to be." 

"All because of your eyes? You must have lived in a very intolerant area."

A slow smile crossed the husky boy's face, wry but genuine. "No, not 'cause of my eyes, Sage. 'Cause of me. I was born here, but my parents are Chinese. So that makes me Chinese too, and therefore inferior. ...You didn't know?" He tensed as startled comprehension flashed across Sage's face, but after a moment the warrior of light simply shook his head.

"So you thought I looked down on you for being Chinese, like so many others have done, even though I'm-" Sage made a vague gesture at himself, "in no place to judge who's different and who's not?"

"I.....wondered. Sometimes," Kento admitted, a little startled to hear his nagging doubt voiced so accurately. "But you were- you weren't, like, specific about it. You, well, you were pretty standoffish to everybody."

Sage sighed, looked rather blankly around the meadow, then dropped to the grass and tucked his feet under him. "It's how I protect myself," he said simply, plucking several pieces of grass. "We- we didn't like each other, but I learned to respect and trust you. Enough to think of you more as a friend than not...mostly." 

"Mostly, huh?" Kento crouched down, putting the staff on the ground beside him. "Funny, if you'd asked me, I would have said mostly you ignored me and the rest of the time you were mad at me 'cause I always made you lose your temper. 

Sage's cheeks colored again and he pulled up more grass. "That...used to be fairly accurate," he admitted in a low voice. "I ignored you because when I didn't, you made me angry. You seemed to enjoy doing that..." 

"I kinda did that on purpose," Kento admitted uncomfortably, "but not 'cause I enjoyed it. 'Cause it was the only times I knew how you felt about anything."

"I see. I wasn't sure what to think when you stopped doing it, but I was glad you were being more civil and I tried to be civil back. You didn't revert, so I began to trust you more and think of you as my friend. I wasn't sure that you would appreciate that thought, though, so I kept it to myself." Sage paused, then met Kento's somewhat skeptical gaze directly. "I have always respected you, even when I disliked you very much and disagreed with you loudly. I was never sure you respected me, though. I never really knew what you thought of me, to be perfectly honest. So I assumed the worst."

"I guess I could say that right back to you; I never really knew how you felt about me and I tried not to care that it all seemed to be negative," Kento responded mildly. "Seems we both need to learn a thing or two about assuming."

Sage nodded and looked down, winding several strands of grass around his fingers. "So when you started being nice and I tried to be nice back, I hoped... and then suddenly you were furious and saying I didn't trust you and wasn't your friend-" he shrugged and the grass snapped. "It's a confusing day," he concluded, and sighed heavily.

"Hell, yeah," Kento agreed, and sighed too, propping his chin in his hand. "We have been pretty civil lately, and that was good, but that was it, you know? I mean, there's a lot more to friendship than just being civil. And nothing was happening. I kinda lost patience. Figured we should settle it one way or another."

A wan smile turned Sage's lips upwards for a moment. "I'm glad you lost your patience. Hearing that you want me to trust you, be more of a friend to you- that was a good feeling, even though you were yelling." 

"Hmmmf," Kento snorted, amused. "I'll try to be more patient and yell less," he offered, remembering the blond boy's earlier remark about patience. "But I hope it won't take you too long to get used to the idea."

"It's a good idea, I like it- it's just-" Sage hesitated, then reached across the small space between them to touch Kento's free hand. Kento smiled, straightened up, and wrapped his hand around Sage's, then lost the smile as he noticed how cold Sage's fingers were and how they trembled slightly in his clasp. 

"It's just what?" he asked quietly, enfolding Sage's hand in both of his own. Sage gazed at their hands for a moment, then shook his head slightly.

"I don't know. Ryo wanted to be my friend...then Rowen did... now you do. I don't have a word for that. I like it very much, but it... scares me. So much to lose. So much I could do wrong. I don't know how to be a good friend, Kento- Ryo and Rowen have had to make a lot of allowances... They say it's okay, it's normal, it's always like that-"

"And they're right. Being friends isn't about being perfect or not making mistakes. Especially when you're opposites like us. Being friends is- basically it's about still wanting to be friends with someone even when they drive you crazy, 'cause you value 'em- you accept 'em as is and you know they accept you too. There's times I wanna shake Cye and tell him not to be so dang stubborn or quiet or whatever, but I wouldn't stop being his friend just because he's stubborn or quiet. It's how he is, and sometimes it's real useful."

"Well, if you'll try to be patient, I'll try not to drive you too crazy," Sage murmured, mustering a smile. Kento smiled in return and patted the hand between his own.

"It's a deal."