The Power of Friendship

"Surgery?!" Everyone said at the same time. They could hardly believe their ears. Was Cye that messed up? Kento covered his face to hide his tears.

"Yes," Dr. Date said with a sigh. "Half his muscles are torn and need to be repaired. He also needs it because he has swelling in his brain, due to a large gash in the back of his head. Now I must warn you, when you see him you won't recognize him. And he may be unconscious for a while. But please come with me and sign that form. He must have that surgery!"

Shianne nodded and stood up. Sage quickly grabbed his mother. "Mom, let me have a pass to see Cye. I can help him!"

Dr. Date nodded and wrote him a slip. The blond boy took off through the double doors. Dr. Date led Mrs. Mouri the same way, telling the others they would be able to see him after the surgery. Sayoke sat down, wanting to be with her brother. She didn't want to cause any problems though. She could only pray that her brother would be all right.

Sage walked into the room and right toward the still figure lying on the bed. His mother was right. Cye was in terrible shape. His head was wrapped tightly with blood slightly leaking through. His throat had a large patch across it. His left leg was inside a cast, his right arm lying limply at his side in a cast. His face had a few stitches here and there. His left arm had five stitches. He had a tube down his throat, and an IV with fluids going into him through his left arm. There was an oxygen mask over his nose and mouth. He was swollen.

Sage swallowed back some tears. He shifted to second sight so he could see Cye's hidden injuries. His brain was swelling and filling up with water and blood. His right side had twenty stitches going straight down. He had four broken ribs, a cut across his back that had ten stitches, and the large gash in his head had thirty stitches. And he had countless bruises on him.

Sage looked toward the heart monitor. He looked back toward Cye and placed both hands over him. He closed his eyes. Sage's body glowed a bright green, which transferred over to Cye. The blond Ronin of Halo concentrated and fed all his healing energy into his friend.

Sage felt that Cye's injuries had healed up some. Half the water in his brain was gone as well as some of the blood. He would still need surgery though. Then Mrs. Mouri and Dr. Date walked in. Dr. Date saw that her son looked flushed. She knew what he had done.

Shianne walked up to her son and broke out into tears. Mrs. Date was right. She hardly recognized her own son.

"How did this happen?" she asked through her tears.

Sage shook his head. "I don't know, Mrs. Mouri. You'll have to ask Kento. He knows more than I or the others do."

"Mrs. Mouri, we should let the orderlies get him into the surgery room. The sooner the better."

Shianne nodded. She bent and gently kissed her son's bruised forehead. She stood and backed away. Dr. Date signaled for the orderlies to come in.

Two strong men came into the room wheeling another bed. They gently lifted Cye and placed him on it. The two women and Sage followed them out the room.

Dr. Date turned back to Mrs. Mouri. "It's best if you go back to the waiting room. Sage can go with you. I'll let you know how he is after the surgery."

Shine nodded. "Thank you kindly."

Dr. Date nodded and turned away, and Sage gently guided Mrs. Mouri back to the waiting room.

"Well?" Ryo demanded.

"How's my brother?" Sayoke screeched.

Shianne could not answer. Sage swallowed a lump. "He's in terrible shape, guys. His brain is swollen just the way my mom said. His left leg and right arm are both broken. His face has stitches, his left arm has stitches. He has stitches in his right side, and his throat has stitches. He also has four broken ribs. His back has stitches too, and his body is swollen. He's also covered with bruises. They just took him back for surgery. We won't know anything until my mom comes and tells us."

Sage let out a sigh, and prayed that Cye would come through. And so they waited.

The hours went by as they waited. Ryo was trying to figure why he and the others had not felt Cye's pain. They were still wondering how he had got hit in the first place. Apparently Kento knew more than he was telling. Ryo would get the full details from him when this was all over.

Rowen was in shock. Cye was the youngest out of all of them, and the smallest. He had survived all of Talpa's attacks. Would this accident kill him? Rowen hoped not.

Kento was numbed. All he could see was Cye's hurt face at his cruel words. He wished with all his heart that he hadn't had a craving for seafood. Because Cye was the bearer of Torrent, he had a connection with the water and the life within.

'Cye, I don't know if you can hear me or not, man, but... please... please forgive me. I'm... I'm so sorry.' Kento covered his face and his body shook.

Sage felt Kento's shaking and gently placed his hand on the quaking shoulder. He wanted to help his friend's pain. He knew deep down that Cye would be all right. But it would take a lot to convince Kento.

Shianne and Sayoke sat there, holding on to each other. Both were praying that Cye would be all right. There were no words to explain their fears.

Finally after what seemed like an eternity, Dr. Date came out. Everyone stood up.

"How is my son?" Shianne demanded.

Dr. Date smiled. "The surgery was successful. He is in recovery right now, and you should be able to visit him within a few hours. If I were you, I'd go home, get something eat, rest, a little, then come back. If you want, you can stay here. Sage knows his way around the hospital, so he can show you where the cafeteria is, and where you may rest.

Ryo stood up. "I'm going to call Mia to let her know what happened. She'll be pissed if we don't tell her. Rowen joined his side.

"I'll go with you," he said, and the two went off in search for a payphone. Sage looked at Kento. "You want to go to the cafeteria, Kento?"

Kento shook his head. "N...no, thanks. I... I'll just sit here."

Sage frowned at him. Kento sure was hiding something. Sage wanted to ask what, but didn't want to pressure the issue. Trying to force Kento to do something was the worst thing anyone could do.

Sayoke was crying. "I wish I could see him! He's my brother!”

Shianne sighed. "Sayoke, please. This is going to be a long night for all of us. We'll see him just as soon as the doctor lets us know."

"I still can't believe he got hit a by car!"

And it's my fault too, Kento thought bitterly.

Shianne let out another sigh. She had always taught her children to be very cautious when it came to crossing the road. Something must have upset Cye bad enough to make him not look where he was going. Not unless it was the driver's fault.

Mia took the phone the second it rang. "Good afternoon. Shio University. Professor Koji speaking."

"Mia?"

"Ryo? What's wrong?" Mia stood up, her chair rolling backward a little. Then she thought better of it, and dragged her chair back and sat down. Somehow she had a feeling this was bad news.

"It's Cye, Mia. He was hit by a car."

Now she did stand up. "WHAT?!"

"I don't know how it happened. He and Kento were in town several hours ago, and Kento called us about five hours ago. We didn't have time to call you. We had to get here as soon as we could."

Mia wasn't happy about that. But she let it go. The main concern right now was Cye. "How bad is he?" she asked.

"He's pretty banged up," Ryo said. "He came out of surgery not long ago."

"Surgery?"

"Hai. He has swelling in his brain. His arm and leg are both broken, he has stitches in his face, his throat, the back of his head, and his back, and his one side. He's covered with bruises and he's pretty swollen. Sage healed some of his injuries, but he's going to be out of it for awhile."

"Don't talk anymore. Which hospital are you at?" Ryo told her, and Mia hung up. She told her boss there was an emergency and that she had to leave. Without explaining any further, she left the building, got into her jeep, and raced off for the hospital.

Mia felt tears coming to her eyes. How could this have happened? she wondered bitterly. All of them were usually very careful when it came to crossing the roads or other things that could put them into danger.

She made it the hospital and found White Blaze hiding behind the shrubbery. The large tiger had stepped out when he had picked up Mia's scent. He stared at her sadly, his massive head down.

Mia frowned at the poor tiger. "Oh, White Blaze." She wrapped her arms around the tiger's neck and sobbed. She hadn't seen Cye yet, but according to Ryo he was in terrible condition.

Mia let go of the tiger. "As soon as I find everything out, I'll let you know, OK, boy?"

The tiger rumbled in response and turned and hid again. Mia sighed, opened her purse, took out a tissue and dabbed her eyes before going into the hospital.

Ryo looked up when Mia ran into the waiting room. She looked at each distraught face, and could only imagine what his mother and sister must be feeling.

"How did it happened?!" Mia demanded to know. She was trembling slightly. Ryo looked toward Kento. "He knows more than us, Mia."

Mia looked toward the owner of Hardrock. Kento's head was down and tears were streaming down his face. He had not spoken since they had arrived at the hospital. Images of his and Cye's fight still flowed through his mind. He shouldn't have been so selfish! If only he would have just kept on walking past that seafood restaurant, then none of this would have ever happened, and Cye would be all right.

"Kento?" Mia said softly.

Kento managed to lift his head slightly to look at her. His lip quivered. "It's...it's my fault!" he whispered as he bent his head and buried his face in his hands.

"Say what?!" Rowen gasped as he and everyone else looked at him. Shianne looked at Kento funny. What was Kento talking about? He and Cye had always been close ever since Kento had protected her son from a gang of bullies on his first day of school. So how could this have been his fault?

"Kento, what are you talking about?" Sage asked.

But Kento did not answer. Instead he got up and ran from the waiting room.

"What was he talking about?" Sayoke asked.

"He blames himself for Cye getting hurt," Mia said.

"Was he with my son when this happened?" Shianne asked.

All three boys nodded.

Shianne let out a small sigh. She felt bad for Kento, but she was still worried about her youngest child. There was going to be a lot of questions and much needed answers.

The boy's fingers curled slightly and his head moved. The lifelines on the monitor started to pick up more as conscience slowly came back to him. His eyes finally opened, and they took a look around the unfamiliar room.

Cye felt pain, but he also felt heavily drugged. His eyes began to close when a soft, gentle voice called his name. "Cye. Cye, can you hear me?"

Cye moaned a little and forced himself to bring the person into focus. The doctor stared down at him with compassion. Cye stared up at him for a little while before closing his eyes and drifting off to sleep once more.

Kento had hidden himself in a small waiting room, far away from the others. He was alone in the room which was fine with him. He had to be alone. None of the others would understand what had happened between him and Cye earlier. And he knew if he told them the whole story, they would probably just shun him. Mrs. Mouri and his sister would be totally against him. So what was he to do anyway? Guilt flooded his heart as tears flooded his vision. He absently wiped his eyes. Before he had never cried, but the pain was just too much. His best friend could die and it would be all his fault.

"Why?" he asked himself in a choked whisper, "why did I have to hurt him? Cye! I'm so sorry!"

And the room was filled with his sobs.

Rowen leafed through a magazine, trying to find something else besides worry about Cye. How long had they been here anyway? One quick look at the clock told him they had been there for over eight hours. It was nighttime now. In the seat beside him, Ryo had fallen asleep with his head on Sage's shoulder. Sage was also asleep. Mia fidgeted nervously. She had not seen Cye. In fact none of them had seen Cye except for Kento and Sage, who had already explained that Cye was pretty messed up. And Mia could only imagine what Yulie was going to feel when he found out what had happened.

"Mia?"

Mia looked up to see Rowen standing over her. "Yes, Rowen?"

"Mrs. Mouri, Sayoke, and I are going to the cafeteria to pick up something for us to eat. Do you want anything?"

Mia nodded and fished out some money. She knew it would not be good if she and the others went hungry. "Yes, get me a chicken sandwich. And pick something up for the two sleeping beauties."

Rowen nodded as he took the money and left with the two women. Mia wiped her eyes and leaned her head back. Cye, please be all right."

The doctor walked quickly through the hospital halls, searching for the boy's family and friends. He was excited, no relieved, no, ah hell, he didn't know what to call it. But in all his thirty-one years of medical practice, he had never seen anyone come through so quickly. This boy was truly unique. He passed a waiting room, then stopped and double backed when he noticed an auburn haired woman, and two young teenaged boys asleep in the chairs. He stepped into the waiting room and cleared his throat.

Mia jumped but regain her composure when she noticed the doctor. She quickly shook Sage and Ryo.

"No, Mommy, I don't want to go to school today!" Sage mumbled in his sleep as he turned away.

"Sage!" Mia hissed, shaking him even harder. The shaking caused Ryo to wake up.

"What's wrong?" Ryo asked sleepily, then noticed the doctor staring down at them. He shook Sage. "Wake up, man. There's a doctor here!"

Sage finally opened his eyes and looked up. He straightened immediately.

"Are you friends of Cye Mouri?" the doctor asked.

"Yes. Yes, we are," Ryo said.

"How is he?" Sage demanded.

"Where is his family?" the doctor asked, ignoring Sage's question.

"Oh, they went to go get something to eat," Mia explained. "They should be back shortly. Is there something wrong with Cye?" Her voice took on a hint of worry.

The doctor smiled. "Quite the contrary. He opened his eyes about five minutes ago. It wasn't a long time, but I think he's going to be OK. I must find his mother though. She is at the cafeteria you say?"

Mia nodded. "Yes, with her daughter Sayoke, and our friend Rowen Hashiba."

Ryo stood up. "I'll go get them!" And he took off in a blur of red and blue.

The doctor gaped in surprise. "How?" he asked as he stared at Ryo's disappearing form.

Sage shrugged. "You get used to it after awhile."

Ryo ran through the cafeteria doors, and found Mrs. Mouri, Sayoke, and Rowen near the vending machine. The two women held trays of different kinds of food. Rowen was putting money into the vending machine.

"Hey!" Ryo called to them.

All three turned. Shianne paled. "What! What is it?! Is it my son?!"

"Yes! He woke up!"

"Nani?!" Sayoke cried in surprise.

"Come with me!" Ryo exclaimed. "There's a doctor who'll explain everything!"

Rowen quickly got what he wanted, and he, Shianne, and Sayoke quickly followed Ryo back to the waiting room.