Disclaimer: Ronin Warriors do not belong to me. They are the property of Sunrise and Graz Entertainment. If you have any comments or suggestions, please send them to bhollan2@hotmail.com

This is the sequel to my fic titled ALONE. Please read Alone first because some references in this may not make sense otherwise. ^_~

Warning: This is partly a yaoi fanfiction. If you do not like that type of thing then please read no farther. I will not accept any flames for this fiction. SagexRowen Pairing. MiaxRowen pairing. MiaxRyo Pairing.

Rating NC-17.

ARIGATOU TO WINTERSKYE WHO HELPED PROOFREAD THIS FIC.

Saving Grace

By Wildfire's Flame

The wind whistled through the treetops, causing the limbs of a nearby tree to bend and scratch the glass of one of the second floor windows. The sound echoed around the room, compelling the single occupant to lift his head wearily from the thick novel he was currently immersed in. Slowly he stood and went over to the window seat to look out at the late fall storm that had begun to rage about fifteen minutes ago.

Lightening flashed and thunder cracked ominously across the darkened morning sky. Glancing down at his watch, he winced. Things were just too similar for his taste, and yet, he was the only one to remember. . . To remember soft touches, caresses that belonged to another, warmth, need, even desire. All of which was wrong and not what either had wanted. But they so craved another's touch and were so consumed with grief, that nothing else would do. A single solitary tear slipped down over a pale cheek, unchecked.

Sage stood in the doorway, his features hidden in the shadows created by the light behind him. The swordsman had come up to check on his lover and soul mate and was startled to find Rowen crying faintly in the window of their room. Calling his love's name, Sage received no response from the tearful archer. Worried now, the blonde strode quickly into the room and touched the other boy's shoulder. "Rowen?"

Rowen jumped at the gentle touch of his beloved's hand. Surprise was evident on his face as he spun around abruptly, crouched in a standard fighting stance.

Startled, Sage took a step back from the haunted look in his boyfriend's eyes. "Rowen, what is it? What's wrong?"

Rowen froze in his crouched position, almost transfixed by the violet orbs carefully watching him. Suddenly, he dropped his crouching stance; his shoulders slumping forward like a deflated balloon. Absently, he turned back toward the window where rivulets of rainwater ran down over the glass in an unseen pattern. Placing a hand against the cool glass, he closed his eyes and leaned against the frigid panel. "It'z nuttin', Sage. 'm fine."

Sage narrowed his eyes and tossed his head in an effort to get his blond hair out of his face, but the lock stubbornly returned to its former position of obscuring his left eye. Exasperated, he said, "the hell you're fine. You've been messed up ever since that Temple played with you. Rowen, what else happened during the time the guys and I were indisposed? What haven't you told me?"

Rowen turned to regard his partner with almost vacant eyes. "Just hold me, Sage. Hold me."

Sage bewildered, did as the archer asked and pulled the younger man into his tight embrace.

Rowen clung to Sage as if he was a lifeline that only he could see. Silent tears soaking through Sage's green silk shirt. After a few minutes, he lifted his head up and nipped Sage lightly on the shoulder. White gentle teeth flashed in the low light as he bit his love's shoulder teasingly, his hands going up to encircle Sage's neck.

Sage moaned low in his throat as his lover's talented hands ghosted across his body. "Ro . . . Rowen. . . Please. . ."

"Please what?"

Sage pulled away from Rowen's tight embrace with obvious effort. "We need to talk."

Rowen sighed and turned away once more. "That's all you ever want to do anymore, talk."

"Rowen. . ."

Rowen shook his head. "No, don't. Just go, Sage. I want to be alone."

"I'm not leaving you. Please tell me what is bothering you. What are you hiding from me?"

Rowen turned and regarded his lover coldly. "I said leave. This has nothing to do with you."

"The Hell it doesn't!! I know something happened between you and Mia during the time the others and I were entombed. You don't have to go through this alone."

Rowen laughed without humor. "Don't I? She doesn't remember anything. And you only remember from the time I woke you up, and the others? That's a laugh. They have no idea what is going on. How could they? They were spared all this. I am the only one who remembers everything. Every last detail of my life which by the way, I am reliving again. Did you happen to forget that point?"

His words were laced with bitterness that Sage had never associated with the blue eyed boy he had fallen in love with so many years ago. "No, I didn't forget. But Rowen, none of that happened. . . It was all in your mind."

But even as Sage said it, he had his doubts. His memories of that time often seemed contradictory, and one memory in particular continued to bother him. He could remember seeing scars on Rowen's wrists, however, when he looked at them now, the marks were gone as if they never existed. It was disturbing to say the least.

Rowen shook his head bitterly. "Naah. It was real, Sage. I remember it all so clearly. So clearly. . ." His eyes lost the intense look he had been giving Sage for the past five minutes, softening imperceptibly. "Do you really want to know what I have been hiding?"

Sage nodded his blonde head. He had a pretty good idea what had happened since Rowen had told him before how he missed his closeness with Mia.

Three months ago, Sage and Rowen had finally admitted their love to one another among the stone pyres of their barely alive friends. An ancient ruin had entombed all of them until Rowen figured out how to set them free. It took the archer five years to see what should have been plain as day. During that time, the archer had faded away to near nothingness and if not for the steady and persistent presence of Mia, he would have faded out of existence with nothing more than a whimper.

For that, if nothing else, Sage would be eternally grateful to the young woman who was currently giving them all a place to stay and food to eat. But the young woman remembered nothing of the years events, and it broke Sage's heart to see Rowen so shattered because of her cool detachment from all of them, except for Ryo. Especially when he knew she could be so warm and alive, if she would only give it a chance. He frowned slightly as the rest of what had occurred surfaced in his mind's eye.

Rowen finally managed to solve the riddle the Temple had placed before him, thus saving his friends. But when he solved it, reality fragmented around the two new lovers making them doubt everything they had just learned. The Temple had sent them all spiraling back in time to the point where they were first standing outside the stone and ivy-covered monolith.

However, the Temple had forgotten one major issue; it forget to erase Rowen's memories of the five years he spent living a life with a girl he now considered a sister. Mia, however, remembers nothing of that time. The only thing she knows is what Sage and Rowen told her when they arrived home, that the guys had decided to cancel their trip. There was never really a reason given why; she had simply accepted it. After all, why would she think otherwise?

Sage sighed as he thought about the past and what led them to this exact moment. True the Temple had given him what he had been desiring most in his life. But it had taken something as well; it had taken Rowen's innocence and shattered it. The boy had almost completely self-destructed, leaving a barely intact soul which was now crumbling in the blonde's palms. Sage pulled the archer toward him and held him close, breathing in the scent of the stars and heavens.

"Love, tell me. You have nothing to fear. I think I know what your saving grace was, but I would like to hear it from your own lips. Perhaps it would help for someone else to know?" Sage asked the trembling man in his arms.

Rowen tilted his head up and closed his eyes resignedly. "Fine. But remember you wanted to know."

Sage nodded and slowly, almost haltingly the bearer of Strata began his tale.

"Three years ago, I tried to commit suicide as you already know. Mia was there to save me; she held me and made all the pain go away. We were lovers for that one night Seiji."

Sage stared openly at the blue-haired boy. He didn't know which surprised him more, the fact that Rowen had called him by his proper name or that it hadn't taken more coaxing to get the Strata wearer to open up. The blonde couldn't even remember a time when Rowen had ever called him by his Japanese name, so either the archer was scared he was going to lose the blonde or had suddenly developed a new nervous habit.

Rowen continued with his story, oblivious to Sage's awestruck expression. "We both needed someone, anyone to keep from flying to pieces and we were all we had. We knew it was wrong but it didn't stop us. The desire for human contact was overwhelming and she was so concerned over my sanity that it just sort of happened. She thought that perhaps it might help stabilize me some and it worked. I made it through, long enough to retrieve you and the others. Without her, I would have fallen apart. She was my rock and my friend. Today is the anniversary of that morning and nature herself seems to be bitterly reminding me of such."

"What do you mean?"

Rowen shrugged. "It was raining that day too. Mia, she was supposed to be gone for several more hours but for some reason, she came home early. . . She was devastated that I had gone so far. That I would be willing to kill myself rather than face the day. I know that was a low point in my life, one that I do not wish to repeat, but Sage I feel myself sliding there, every day. It's just waiting, waiting for me to fall and fall I will. There's nothing I can do to stop it."

Sage turned the archer roughly in his grasp. "You listen here, Rowen Michael Hashiba, you are not falling. I won't let you!! I love you. . ."

Rowen placed a finger on Sage's lips. "I know you do, love, and I love you too, but until things are settled between Mia and I, I don't think I will be able to stop my descent."

Sage pursed his lips. "Fine!! Then we will settle things between you and she."

Rowen shook his head. "It's not that easy Sage. She doesn't know, remember? We can't work things out."

"Oh yes you can with my help. Will you let me help you?"

Rowen nodded uncertainly at his blonde lover.

Sage enfolded him in a tight hug, a smile tugging at his lips. "I love you and I won't let you go without a fight. I'll be right back." He started to pull away when Rowen grabbed his arm.

"Sage, wait. Doesn't it bother you that Mia and I. . . well you know?"

Sage shook his head. "No. You wanna know why?" When Rowen nodded his head, he leaned down and whispered in the smaller boy's ear, "because she saved your soul by making love to you. She will forever be in my debt because she delivered you to me. You're my angel, Touma-chan. Don't ever forget that." He gave the bewildered Strata wearer a kiss on the top of his head and vanished.

Rowen shook his head and gazed back out the window. "I won't forget Sage. I won't," he muttered quietly to himself before a thought struck him. 'He called me Touma. . . I can't believe he called me Touma. He must not be mad at me, then.' Happily, Rowen snuggled down into the blankets on the window sill, waiting diligently for Sage's return.

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