Rowen laid on the soft grass, watching the stars come out of hiding one by one. Usually the stars brought him a great comfort, but not tonight, it seemed like nothing could make him feel any better. His heart weighed down in his chest, aching dully. Never in his life had he felt this miserable. They were all leaving, too soon for Rowen's liking. Cye was going back home to his mother and sister, to help them out over there. Kento had a big family to home to and his family restaurant. Mia was going to sell the mansion and buy a smaller house, Ryo was going to move in with her, it was easy to tell that those two had been going out for over a year now, even if they did try to hide it. Sage, his dear Sage, was going to his family and to take up his duties at the dojo. Everyone had something to go back to. Except for Rowen. What was there for him? His father rarely ever home and when he was it was never a pleasant experience. His father had a short temper and Rowen had a habit of getting in the way of his fist. His mother was never around ever since the divorce, he had forgotten where she lived now and he doubted that she knew that he had been living at Mia's house for over two years now. All there was for him was a lonely apartment in Osaka that he vowed to himself he'd never go back to.

He knew it was time for his friends to go back to their normal lives, back to their families. They didn't know though, that once they left, his family would be gone, going back to the people that they cared most for. Rowen would be alone again. Even though he wanted to drop to his knees and plead for them to stay, he would never want to deprive his best friends of the compassion and comfort of their own families. He didn't tell them that he had literally nowhere else to go. If he asked Mia, he knew she'd let him stay with her and Ryo, but he didn't want to be a burden on the couple.

Everyone was packed now, all of them were ready to leave. Rowen had packed all of his things, which wasn't that much. Earlier that day, he had stood in the doorway of the room he shared with Sage, it was terribly empty, it almost made him cry. To think that he would hardly see his friends now, that he'd only see Sage once, maybe twice a year, it tore at his heart. Could he survive on his own? Would he be able to live without having the people he loved constantly around him? He would have to.

Rowen blinked in surprise as he felt a rain drop fall on his face. He was unaware that the sky had clouded over and it began to rain. Slowly standing up, he walked back to the mansion.



Cye was the first to leave the next day. He tried to hide his tears as he hugged each of his friends good bye, but he broke down as he pulled out of the driveway.

Kento left next. He gave everyone a bear hug, he didn't try to hide his tears, they came down freely as he left. It was very unlike Kento, but Rowen wasn't surprised.

The moment Rowen had been dreading for was now there. Sage was going to leave. After Sage gave Ryo and Mia hugs, he gave Rowen an extra tight one.
"Ro," Sage said softly.

Rowen didn't dare say anything, he knew that he'd start crying if he did. His stomach twisted as Sage lifted his hand, only to place it on his shoulder and give it a good squeeze.

"I'm going to really miss you, Rowen."

"I'm going to miss you too, Sage," Rowen was proud that he said something without totally breaking down.

"Bye," Sage whispered, he gave Rowen another tight hug and he left.

Rowen said his good byes to Ryo and Mia and gave White Blaze a pat on the head before leaving. He didn't know where he was going, he just drove his dark blue jeep.



That night Rowen found a hotel to stay at, it was somewhere at the edge of some city, he didn't even bother finding out where he was. After taking a shower, he stepped into the room and shivered, the air in there was nippy. He had only a pair of flannel pajama pants on, so he grabbed one of his bags and opened it up to look for a sweater. His heart leapt into his throat when he found a dark green sweater. It didn't belong to him, he must've packed it by mistake. He knew who it belonged to though. Sage. Trembling, he clutched the sweater and fell onto the bed.

"Sage . . ." he cried into the sweater, hot tears running down his cheeks. He could no longer hold back his agony, he curled up on the bed, still holding Sage's sweater and sobbing harshly. "Where am I going to go?" he asked himself as he sobbed even harder. "I have nowhere to go. Sage, my love, I need you . . . What am I going to do?"