"I'm tellin' you, sis," Sage sighed from his seat against the oak tree. He held his head and smiled, "You need the arm-"

"No," the over confident strawberry blonde persisted. She held up her bow and let loose her arrow. "See? There's no need for an armguard, not now. Wait 'til I get a bigger bow, then I'll need an armguard. I'll blow the socks right off your feet, y' know!"

"Aimie," Sage looked up at her, "I'm telling you, I have a friend who-"

"That's wondrous, Sage," she said, aiming her arrow at the tree ahead of her. "Now let me practice. Am I holding this right?"

Sage looked at her stance. He'd seen it so many times from Rowen's battles. "Yeah. Go ahead," he sighed.

The bowstring launched the arrows straight into the tree. Suddenly, there was a blood curdling scream. "Yah!! Oniichan!" she screamed, her voice ringing through the forest.

Sage raced to her side. "Damn it, Aimie, I told you to use that arm guard!" The bowstring had peeled away her left arm's skin, revealing tender muscle tissue. Fresh blood dripped from her fingers and elbow just as fast as the tears streamed from her cheeks. "C'mon! We have to get you home. You know, Aim, Mom's going to flip," he commented, leading her back down the path from which they had come.


*****************

The phone rang. All five heads turned their necks back from their seats on the couch to stare at the phone. Cye stood up. "Fine. I'll get it this time," he sighed.

"Hello?" It was Sage.

"Hi, Sage. 'ow's the US?"

" 'Ow' is right. Can I speak to Rowen?"

"Not going to well fo' you?"

"Well...not really. My sister skinned her arm with a bow today."

"Your sister what?"

"Never mind. I'll tell you when I get back. Is Rowen there?"

"Yea' hold on." Cye put his hand over the phone and looked back to Rowen. "Ro! It's Sage. He wants to talk to 'ou!"

Rowen stood and walked over to the phone. He took it from Cye and said, "Sage?"

"Rowen? How are things there? Anything exciting happen?"

"Not really. You? What's up with your sista?"

"Nothing much, just an injury from-"

"Nothing Much!? Nothing Much?! Sage this was not 'nothing much'!" a random voice wailed.

"Aimie, go calm down," Sage said over the phone.

"Your sister?"

"Yes. She's just mad because I was right and she wasn't. I told her to put that armguard on. Now, she has this huge piece of skinned arm under this bulky, bloody bandage."

"Is she any good at archery?"

"Sure she is."

"Why don't you bring her back here? I'll give her a few pointers."

"Rowen, she won't listen to you."

"We'll see about that."

"Whatever. I've got to go."

"See ya."

"See you." Rowen hung up the phone and shrugged.

Kento laughed, waking by Rowen. "You shouldn't take a student when you're still one yourself!"


Rowen gave Kento a disgruntled look and commented. "How would you know anythin' about that, huh? I have passing grades, thank you."

Kento stared for a moment and snuffed his nose in the air, as he entered the kitchen.

"So, you're going to take on Sage's sister for a few lessons?" Ryo asked from behind him. Rowen turned and shrugged.

"I guess so. We might want to start thinkin' about our life in the long run too. We'll have to recruit new Ronins one day, why not someone like Sage's sista?" There was silence. Rowen was the only one that had really thought about anything futuristic.

"I suppose, Rowen, but c'mon we are still in high school...you remember, right?" Ryo asked, slightly concerned.

“Yea’, I remember, Ryo," Rowen said.

"That'd be just wonderful. All we need now is our genius to go all Alzheimer on us," Kento chuckled, bringing in a sandwich from the kitchen.

"Very funny, Kento."

* * * * * * A Week Later* * * * * * *

It was a bright day outside. The sun shined warmly on the treetops overhead the road. Every so often, a green leaf would fly by the window, and Aimie would reach out to catch it, failing each time. One began to pass the silver bumper. Aimie spotted the stem and threw her upper torso out the open car window, and reached for it.

Sage sighed, "Aimie! Get your ass back in this car! What do you think you're doing?!"

Aimie looked back at Sage, driving, and smiled as the wind blew in her face, "But, Oniichan, my ass is in the car!" she giggled playfully.

Sage reached over and took her by the shoulder, pulling her back in. The window rolled up and locked.

Aimie looked to him. "You're no fun!"

She crossed her arms and grunted, leaning back in her seat, like a little child having a fit. A minute of silence passed, neither speaking.

He looked to Aimie out of the corner of his eyes and laughed a bit. "You just can't sit still long enough can you? You're like a little kid; the Aimie I can still remember."

She bounced forward and placed her elbows on her knees as she looked to Sage, "Do you really think so? Maybe I'm just more outgoing and happy about life, unlike someone I know. You've been gone for so long, I don't know if I even know you anymore. You obviously don't know me that well."

"Hey, now. Don't talk like that. I haven't missed any of your birthdays so far."

" 'So far'. What happens in the future, huh? What are you doing over here in Japan that's so important, that you can't come back home for good?"

Sage sighed, watching the dirt road, "It's something I can't quite tell you yet. I'm not sure you'd be ready to understand."

"What's there to understand? You aren't like married or something are you?"

"NO! God no! I'm not married."

"No commitment?"

"No.. Well-uh- yes I guess."

"Like what? You engaged?"

Sage slowed the car and stared for a moment at his sister, "No. No engagements, Aim'. Sorry to burst your bubble."

The car stopped in the mansion's driveway. As Sage and Aimie opened the car door to go inside, Aimie giggled. "Ya right! You're the lucky one! I'd probably pin the girl to a tree and leave her there for dead if you were!"

***

"Sage's here," Kento said, fingering the controller. "Just pulled in with someone."

"Must be 'is sister," Cye walked to the door and opened it.

"I'm back. What'd I miss?" Sage said, walking into the house. No one was behind him. Sensing this, he turned to see Aimie cowering just outside the door. "What's wrong, Aimie?"

"Uh...n-nothing! I just...am..."

"Afraid? Of what, Cye?"

Kento laughed from his seat on the floor. "Bah hahaha! Cye? Cye? 'Who's afraid of the big bad Cye?! Gah!"

Cye's eyes shifted from the self amused Kento back to Sage and Aimie. "Come on in."

"Come on, Aimie. If you want those lessons, you've got to learn how to walk first," Sage said.

"I don't want your friend’s stinking lessons, Sage! I came because I'm your sister and I never see you!" She stomped into the house and stopped next to him.

"Uh-huh." Sage doubted mentally, rolling his eyes to the side.

"Do you want to kno' where Rowen is? 'e's out back with Ryo," Cye stated.

"Hello? He speaks English?" Aimie looked to Sage. "That's cool. What's his name?"

"Why don't you ask him instead of me?" Sage directed.

Aimie rolled her eyes in the same manner and looked to Cye, "What's your name?"

"Moi name is Cye," he said with a smile, "Whut's your name?"

"Aimie Datier," she answered, "And who's Ro..wen?"

"Your teacher."

Her eyes shifted from Cye and looked behind him, at the back door. She frowned and brushed by him aggressively. "I don't need a teacher," she snapped back at him. Sage followed behind her, shrugging at Cye as he passed by him. "I'm going to find out who exactly this Rowen person is and tell him to get lost."

"Aim, you don't want to-"

"Shut up, Sage. I can do whatever I want!"

"Listen, I respect your urge for independence, but if you keep running for help you'll never get better."

"I'm not running, Sage. I'm meeting it head on." She swung open the door and looked around in the back. There were two guys standing in the back, discussing something.

"Hey!!" Aimie yelled from the doorway. Sage walked up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder. She rolled her arm and began to walk over to them. "I want to know something."

"Aimie, get back here," Sage said, leaning against the doorframe. He crossed his arms and watched.

"Hello," Ryo said, "Who are you?"

"I'm Aimie Datier, Sage's sister, and I want to know which one of you is Rowen," she said, placing her hands on her hips.

"Well...I am," Rowen said, "Oh! You must be that girl I'm going to teach."

"Yeah. About that, I don't need lessons from you, okay? I'm already a really good archer."

"Aimie-" Sage sighed from his standing position.

"Really? Why don't we just see then?" Rowen suggested, handing her the bow, "Look ova there," he pointed at a tree off across the lawn.

"Which one?"

"The birch one, way in the back," he said, pointing at it.

"Yeah? What about it?"

"Shoot through the fork in that tree, and take out the leaves behind it."

"What?"

"Go ahead."

Aimie brought up her bow and positioned her feet, one ahead, one to the side. She pulled back the string, past her cheek and moved her eyes over the back of the arrow to aim. She blinked once, and the arrow was gone from her grasp. It shot through the trees, but jammed into a root at the bottom of the birch. She stared. "But- that's an impossible shot. You don't have enough momentum to make it through the fork from here. You'd have to-"

Rowen took the set from her hands before she could finish, and aimed his own arrow. Sage smiled from the door and waited. "This'll be interesting," he told himself.

A moment passed, Aimie backing up to watch Rowen. Then, he released the arrow, her head following its flight. She watched it move that same way as hers. That's when she realized it was moving far faster, with more momentum. It launched through the fork, and pinned the leaves to the tree behind it. Aimie stared.

"I neva thought someone like you could do so well," he commented, looking at his arrow. She growled and walked off.

"Shut up."

"I'm bein' serious," Rowen stated as she turned her back to him. She stopped.

"Why would you say that?"

"You weaved your arrow through those narrow spaces through the other trees. That's hard to do. You've just got to work on your style."

Sage watched Aimie for a moment. "This could get interesting...,” she said smiling. She turned and looked at Rowen, "Okay then, where?"

"Tomorrow right 'ere," Rowen said.

She nodded, and turned back around. As she passed Sage, she hinted a smile. Sage did a double take, just to make sure. Then, he looked to Rowen, smiling in all his victory at Sage. He smiled and walked over to Rowen, "Now, I know you're going to say something sarcastic. I never seen anyone completely dismiss my sister like that."

"She's alright. What was her name again?" Rowen asked.

"Aimie. Don't get any ideas about her yet, Ro," Sage turned to peer back at the empty doorway, "She's not easy to control. Believe it or not, she's a rebellious maiden."

"I can believe that." He paused. "Call it prevarication, but somehow I knew that already."

"Rowen," Ryo said, "I probably wouldn't even be able to spell that."

They laughed, and then went inside, the sun beginning to set behind the lush treetops of the hills.