Rowen's Problem

Cye Mouri woke up late during the night, feeling very thirsty. He threw back his covers and walked quietly over to the door so he would not wake up his roommate. Than again Kento Rei Faun was a heavy sleeper, and his snoring matched that of a garbage truck.

He walked quietly down the hall, not wanting to wake up Ryo Sanada, Sage Date, Rowen Hashiba, or Mia Koji, the owner of the mansion where the five teenaged boys lived.

These five boys were actually the Ronin Warriors, heroes with mystical armor that came from the enemy himself. At one time, a thousand years ago, the evil emperor from the Netherrealm, the Dynasty, Talpa dared to take over the world. One man stood in his way though. He was called the Ancient, or Kasou. He took Talpa's armor and created nine mystical armors and with them special assigned attributes. Wildfire, with the attribute Virtue, Halo, with the attribute Wisdom, Strata, with the attribute Life, Hardrock, with the attribute Justice, Torrent, with the attribute Trust. These were the armors worn by Cye and his friends. The next group was worn by the Seasonals, or Warlords. Cruelty, with the attribute of Loyalty, Darkness and Corruption, with attribute Obedience, Illusion, with the attribute Serenity, and Venom, with the attribute Piety.

Cye headed down the stairs, wanting to get a nice glass of cold water. He thought about the battles with Talpa and the Warlords and wondered why on earth did the Warlords decided to join that evil emperor anyway?

Cye noticed the living room lamp was on. A figure with blue hair sat in the recliner, a large book on Physics was in his lap. "Rowen, what are you doing up at this hour?" he asked.

Rowen glanced toward the younger boy. "I have a big test coming up in a week," he replied. "I need to study as much as I can. I don't pass that test, I won't be able to go the college of my choice, and they'll just put me wherever."

"But you need your sleep. We have school in the morning. It's already after three in the morning!"

"Cye, chill! I got one more chapter in this book, and then I'll be up to bed."

Cye seemed doubtful. "OK." He headed into the kitchen to get his desires water.

Rowen watched him go before turning back to his book. Cye came back a few minutes later and headed upstairs. "Good-night, Rowen."

"Good-night, Cye," Rowen said and returned to his reading.

Sage awoke just as the sun came up. His hand automatically shut the alarm clock off before it could even start. He glanced at the other bed, expecting his roommate to be lying there, sleeping.

The bed was empty. Maybe Rowen's up for once, the blond teen thought as he climbed out of bed. He got out his school uniform, then hurried to the bathroom to take a much needed shower.

Ryo awoke with a jump, then turned and glared at his large white Himalayan tiger. "White Blaze!" he scolded. The tiger had roared at him. When Ryo hadn't move, the tiger grabbed a hold of his pajama shirt with his large fangs and dragged him out of bed,

"Ouch! Alright! I'm up! Stupid tiger!"

White Blaze roared at him, then stuck his nose up in the air as if to say, fine then. See if I ever help you up again!

Ryo got dressed in his school uniform, then left his room. He passed Cye's and Kento's room. Kento was looking for his shoes, and Cye was buttoning up his school shirt.

"Where are my shoes?" Kento asked frantically as he peered under the bed,

Cye sighed and shook his head. "Kento, if you would learn to put your stuff up, they wouldn't get lost."

"I did put them up!"

The young boy only sighed again and left the room. He ran into Ryo. "Good morning, Ryo."

"Morning, Cye."

The two boys headed downstairs and joined Mia who was cooking, and Rowen.

Wait a minute! Rowen downstairs?!

Rowen glanced up at their surprised faces over his book and a plate of eggs, bacon, and toast. "Morning guys."

"Rowen, this is the first time I have ever seen you up this early," Ryo stated as he and Cye helped themselves to some breakfast.

Rowen only shrugged and went on reading his book.

Sage opened his locker with a sigh. He wanted to get his books and get to class as soon as he could without any of the high school girls swooning over him. He grabbed his books, closed the locker shut, and quickly headed for his first period class.

Rowen did not glance up when he sat down beside him. Sage glanced over at him. "Rowen, are you all right?" he asked

Rowen did not glance up, but kept on reading. "Yeah, why?"

"You were up all night studying, and you were up early this morning. That's never happened before."

Rowen smiled. "Sage, I'm fine. Cye was worried about me too. I'm just studying as much as I can for that big test I have coming up."

"You mean the Math finals?"

"That's the one."

"Class, please cease your talking and face the front while I teach," the teacher said to the class.

Rowen marked his page in his study book and put it away as he and everyone faced the front.

Sage was paying attention to the Science teacher, but deep inside he was very concerned about Rowen. He really didn't know why he was so concerned, but there was just something that was bugging him. Rowen was hiding something. Something that may infect them all. Sage just didn't know what.

Ryo tapped his pencil against his math book. Mr. Ling made this class so boring. Behind him Kento snored a little. Ryo let a smile come to his lips. Kento would be lucky if the teacher didn't yell at him for falling asleep again.

Ryo hit Kento with the mind link. 'Kento, wake up!' he ordered. Kento slept on. 'Kento, wake up, or I'll tell Cye not to cook!'

Kento's eyes shot open, and he glared at the back of Ryo's head. 'You better not!' he warned.

'Pay attention before you get in trouble!' Ryo hissed at him. Kento muttered under his breath as he looked up at the blackboard where Mr. Ling was writing down problems for them to solve. He's probably going to give us like a hundred problems to work with, Kento thought. I don't see how Rowen can like this class.

Cye slammed his locker shut just as a very familiar person went by. "Hey! Rowen! Rowen!"

Rowen stopped walking and lowered his book. "Yeah, Cye?"

"Aren't you going to lunch?" Cye asked as he gripped his lunch bag.

Rowen hesitated. "Yeah, but I have it packed. I'll be eating in the library today."

Cye watched him go. There was something funny going on with Rowen.

He headed for the cafeteria and found Ryo, Kento, and Sage already there at the Ronin table, eating their lunches. Cye joined them at the table.

"Oh, hey, Cye," Ryo said as he slapped Kento's hand away from his buttered roll. Cye smiled lightly back.

"What's wrong?" Sage asked.

"I thought Rowen would be joining us today," Cye said as he wrapped a turkey and cheese sandwich. "I guess not."

"Where is he?" Ryo asked.

"Said he's eating in the library. He has his lunch packed."

Sage shook his head. "How could Rowen have his lunch packed? He didn't even bring his backpack to school!"

That had them all thinking. Rowen was acting very strangely, and none of them could feel it more than Sage. He picked at his food, wondering what his friend was hiding. Sure he had those tests coming up, but why lie to study? And Rowen had been doing that a lot lately. What was wrong that he had to sneak behind his own friends' backs?

Rowen felt his eyes growing heavy. He hadn't any sleep in a week. The most he might have gotten was a couple of hours everynight. The rest were spent studying for his big test. He had to ace that test! If he didn't, then they would put him in a college close to his home, and he did not want that. His dad would make him live with him, and then the abuse would start all over again. No way was he letting that happen!

He blinked his eyes once, forcing the words to come into focus. He reached for something in his pocket and popped it into his mouth, swallowing some pop afterward. A few minutes later he felt refreshed and continued with his studying.

Fifteen minutes later, "Mr. Hashiba?"

Rowen looked up, startled. It was only the Liberian. "The bell is going to ring in a few minutes. You better get to your next class."

Rowen nodded and gathered up his books. "Thanks, Mrs. Sui." He left the library and headed for his next class as quickly as possible.

His next class was History with Ryo. As Rowen sat down beside him at his desk, Ryo glanced over and blinked. Was it just him or did Rowen's eyes looked glazed?

"Rowen, are you OK?" Ryo asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"Your eyes."

"What about them?"

"They're glazed for one."

"Oh, I took a pill earlier. My eyes kept burning. That's probably why they look like that."

Ryo nodded. He wasn't really sure if he believed Rowen or not. Before he could say anything else, the teacher walked in.

"Alright, class, no talking. I will be handing your tests out to you today. I hope you all studied."

Rowen probably did, Ryo grimaced. It doesn't matter if we we're exhausted from battling the Dynasty or not.. He always found a way to study and work on his homework. Unless he was knocked out or something.

The tests were passed out. Rowen immediately got started, while Ryo just stared blankly at his. I knew I should have studied.

"You have fifteen minutes to complete the test," the History teacher warned.

Crap! Ryo put his name at the top of the paper and read the first question. He wrote down what he thought was the answer.

Rowen was going through the test like taking a stroll through the park. It took him only five minutes to finish it.

By the time Ryo finished his, the time was up. A student groaned that he hadn't been able to finish the last three. The teacher shook his head. "You'd never make it as computer worker, Mr. Lonez."

"Who said I wanted a job as a computer worker?" the boy replied.

The class laughed as the teacher placed the completed tests onto his desk and looked directly at the green haired boy.. "In this day and age, Mr. Lonez, every job or career will have you working at a computer or at least some knowledge of it."

"In that case then, I'll just be a stripper."

The entire class laughed, except for Rowen and Ryo. Rowen was awfully silent and eyeing his large math book. The math book that had every subject of math. Ryo couldn't understand why he had to take all of those tests just to get into a college. And why study so hard? Anymore all Rowen ever did was just study. He had missed supper yesterday and didn't even join in the pillow fight they all had. He just stayed up in his room studying, and when Sage had gone up there to go to bed, he had come back downstairs, studying.

Rowen, I wish you would tell us what is going on with you. You never act this way for a big test. Ryo was beginning to wonder if he should exercise his rights as leader to make Rowen tell them all what was wrong.