<><><>

Mia sat in the delivery room; her hand clutching onto Kento's and Cye's. Her throat hurt from all the screaming she had been doing. Her back was starting to hurt and she was growing weak from all the pushing she was doing, "God! WHERE'S THE MORPHINE?!"

"You said that you wanted to have natural childbirth, Mia. Now, tough out the pain!" Josephine said.

Mia's eyes twitched, "I'LL SHOW YOU TOUGHING OUT PAIN! WHY DON'T YOU GET OVER HERE AND PUSH FOR ME?!"

Josephine slowly backed away and hid behind Amaya, who was standing behind Kento.

"Come one Ms. Koji! Push!" The doctor yelled.

"I'M PUSHING!" Mia yelled. She took in a deep breath and let it all out when she started pushing. She gripped Kento's hand harder than she had before.

"AHH! Mia, you're killing me! Let it go! Let it go!" Kento screamed.

"You're doing great, Mia! Keep pushing!" The doctor yelled to her.

Amaya put a hand on her forehead, "You guys are gonna confuse her!"

Mia's grip on Kento and Cye's hand slowly decreased, "I can't. I don't have the energy…"

"Doctor! Her vitals are dropping!" A nurse yelled.

Kento and Cye started to panic while Josephine and Amaya knew exactly what to do. The put their hands together, like they were praying, and their kanji's flashed for a quick second. They sent their powers over to Mia, whose kanji flash quickly too. She felt Rowen's power as well. With her newfound strength, she sat back up and pushed with everything she had.

The doctor stood there stunned until he realized that he had to do something, "That's it! He's almost out!"

Mia screamed one last time as she pushed her last push. She fell back on the bed. Her brown hair clung to her sweaty head. She heard her son's soft cries. She watched as the doctors cleaned him up and handed him to her.

"Here you go. Hiroshi Koji," The doctor said, writing out the birth certificate.

"No. It's Hiroshi Sanada," Mia said silently. She stared down at her son. He had big greenish blue eyes and a wad full of black hair on his head. She smiled and lightly kissed her new born son of the forehead.

"Aw, he's so cute!" Josephine squealed. She poked the baby in the stomach and he giggled, "He's Ryo Jr.!"

Amaya shuddered, "That's a scary thought."

"He looks like his dear ol dad too. That's the bad part," Kento laughed and let the baby hold his thumb. His eyes widened when Hiroshi grabbed his thumb with a great force, "AH! Get it off!"

The little baby's eyes sparked and they all saw the virtue kanji flash quickly then disappear. They all stood in shock, except Kento, who was still complaining about his finger.

<><><>

Flash went into the kitchen and saw Rekino sitting by herself eating crackers. The girl looked awful. She could see tearstains on her cheeks and her eyes were blotched and red. She frowned deeply and went over to her immediately.

“Rekino, are you okay?” she asked in a worried voice.

Rekino raised her head to look up at the older girl and once again the tears came back. “R..R..owen.. do.doesn’t love me!” she blurted out before staring back down at the table.

Flash frowned more. She sat down beside her. “What do you mean? Of course he loves you.”

“No, he doesn’t! I.. I overheard him and Ryo talking.. Rowen doesn’t want to marry me!” More tears poured down Rekino’s face and she shook. She could barely eat any crackers now; her stomach was doing flipflops.

Flash pulled her close and tried to give her comfort. She wasn’t sure what else to do. She hated seeing her friends upset like this. So all she could do was offer consolation to her.

Rekino cried on Flash’s shoulder for a good solid hour. The whole time Flash sat there, allowing her to. She never complained, she never told Rekino to get revenge. She just sat there, hoping she could calm the girl down. Finally Rekino sniffled and pulled away from her.

“Thanks, Flash. I feel better now. Well, not really, but better than I did before.”

Flash nodded. “Anytime you need someone to cry on, you come find me okay?”

Rekino smiled a little. “I’ll do that. Thanks.”

It was then they both heard their names being called, inside their minds. They looked at each other strangely at first, then they heard it again.

It was Thunder.

Flash spoke first. ‘Thunder! Hey, how are you holding up?’

‘Not too good, I’m afraid,’ Thunder admitted.

‘What happened?!’ Rekino demanded.

Thunder seemed to hesitate before he answered. ‘My.. my father.. He’s so cold hearted.. He’s slapped me twice already in the same place.. And now I’m being forced to marry.’

That had the girls both in shock. They couldn't answer for several long moments. The silence rolled on until Rekino finally spoke, 'Okay, who's ass do I have to kick? I'm in the mood for a good fight!'

'You're not going to kick anyone, Rekino. Right now would be too dangerous.' Thunder said. 'Come to the castle tomorrow and request an audience with my parents and me. Maybe things will work out for the best!'

'I hope so. We all miss you, Thunder.' Flash said sadly.

'Yes we do!' Rekino heard a beeping noise in her head, 'Hold on, I'm getting another call! Hello?'

Flash and Thunder continued to talk while Rekino was chatting with the other 'caller'. 'So, what's been going on?' Thunder asked his friend

About that time, Rekino popped back into the conversation, 'Guys! Mia had her baby! I got a nephew!'

'Really?!' Flash and Thunder said chorused.

'What did she name him?' Thunder asked.

'Hiroshi Sanada!' Rekino said with pride in her voice.

'Hiroshi?' Flash asked curiously.

'It means 'generous' in Japanese! I love the name!' Rekino said.

'Next time you talk to Mia, tell her I said congrats!' Thunder said. He heard footsteps coming down the hall, 'Listen, I have to go. I was supposed to be in bed. I'll contact you guys later…'

'All right. Take care Thunder!' Rekino said. She was rather sad he had to go.

'We miss you. We'll come and see what we can do.' Flash said sadly.

'Especially Hana, right Thunder?' Rekino interrupted him.

'Bye!' Rekino and Flash closed the connection. They both sat there until Flash looked at Rekino curiously and spoke something that had been on her mind.

"Rekino?" Flash said.

"Yeah," Rekino looked at the older girl

Flash put her elbows on the table and placed her head in her hands, "What do you think Hana's going to do when she finds out Thunder is going to get married."

Rekino's eyes widened. She leaned back in her chair until she was only being supported by two legs, "There ain't no telling, Flash. I honestly don't want to think about that right now. All I can see is Hana running around in her armor with lots and lots of blood on her body."

"That bad huh?"

"Yup."

Thunder laid as still as he could, eyes closed, keeping himself as relaxed as possible. He could hear the door opening but he didn’t turn to look to see who it was.

The guard shone a flashlight on him for an instant, checking on him. That was all he had to do. He stepped back out, closing the door softly behind him.

Thunder let out a sigh of relief. That was close. Then he yawned. He really did need to go to sleep. It was already 6:00 in the morning, and he had had no sleep at all. He let his body relax more and he soon drifted off to sleep.

Hana woke up and forgot where she was until she remembered. Oh yeah, Berlin, Germany.. ‘Those bastards will pay for forcing Thunder away to this place, she thought. She climbed out of bed and headed for the bathroom. Thankfully it was unoccupied. She took a quick shower, then returned to the room and found some clothes to wear. After dressing, she brushes her hair out. ‘I wonder what’ll happen if we manage to get Thunder back? Wait, manage? We’ll get him back. He’s probably miserable though. I feel sorry for him. But I can’t believe he’s a prince either. And I can’t believe that I fell in love with him. I always thought it would be Sage. I have no regrets though. I just wonder if Thunder’s in love with me?’

She let her thoughts fall away and fixed her hair up. She put her brush away and did a quick check of herself. She needed some makeup now. She found her makeup kit and added eyeblush, mascara, some blush, and lipstick, and then some perfume. Finally she was ready for her day, and for any ass kicking. She left the bedroom and walked through Flash’s and Shades’ bedroom. Flash was up, she could see, but Shades was still asleep. She left the bedroom and walked down the tiny hallway until she came to the kitchen where Flash and Rekino were seated at the table.

Both looked up at her and greeted her.

“Oh, Hana,” Rekino said suddenly. “Mia had her baby!”

Hana’s eyes widen and she clapped. “Really?! What was it!”

“A boy!” Rekino told her excitedly. “He looks like Ryo, but he’s got Mia’s eyes. His name is Hiroshi Sanada.”

“How kawaii!” Hana added and sighed dreamily.

Both Rekino and Flash looked at each other, each one willing to bet they knew what Hana was thinking about.

Sage was in deep meditation in his room. He had not gone out of the hotel room to search for woods in which to meditate. He did not need to get lost in this country. In the nearby bed, Rowen slept on, his snores wafting across the room. Sage was not bothered by it, allowing his mind and body to be in deep relaxation.

In the living room, Ryo was shedding happy tears. He had just learned that his son had been born and he felt like running out into the streets, shouting, I have a son! But he didn’t. He stayed put, hardly able to contain his excitement. Wait until everyone heard the news!

Scorpio was in the bedroom he shared with Ryo. He was worried about his dad, worried about Thunder, and it was just eating him up. He was certain sooner or later he was going to have nervous breakdown. But he had to be strong. He got up from the bed and left the bedroom and went into the living room. ‘Ryo sure looks happy,’ he thought. ‘Wonder what’s up?’ “Hey, Ryo,” he greeted.

“Scorpio! I’m a father!” Ryo blurted out.

Scorpio’s eyes widened and he smiled hugely. “Congratulations!”

Ryo smiled back. He felt like he was floating on air.

Soon enough Sage had stopped meditating, and he came out into the living room. He, too, heard the news, and said congratulations to Ryo as well. Never before had he seen the Bearer of Wildfire so happy before. He could just imagine how Ryo would react when he held his son for the first time.

Rowen soon awoke and stretched. He looked toward Sage’s bed and saw it was empty. He got up and took a shower himself, then got dressed and headed to where he could hear all the voices. He soon found himself in the kitchen and looked around. ‘Okay, Ryo was happy, the others are congratulating him.. Hrm.. Okay.. I think I know what’s up.’ “Ryo, did Mia have her baby?”

Ryo whirled around. For one moment he had forgotten he was angry at Rowen. He nodded several times enthusiastically. “Yes! I’m a father! I’m a father!”

Rowen had to smile. It wasn’t everyday you got to see Ryo this way. Too bad there wasn’t a camera around. He congratulated him on. It was an hour before Ryo settled down.

Sage went to make them some breakfast in the kitchen. He checked the cupboards, then the fridge.

“Hey, Sage?” Rowen said. “I don’t think they provide food for us.”

Sage closed the freezer door. “I thought they might have with how much Flash paid for all of this. They bring the food up to us don’t they?”

Rowen nodded, then studied Sage closely. “You were at a hotel once where they did have food already, weren‘t you?”

Sage nodded. “Yes, I guess I got quite used to it.”

“Well, we better see if the girls are up,” Scorpio spoke up.

“Scorpio’s right. We need to get started on getting Thunder back, then get back to our lives.” ‘And to my girl and my son,’ Ryo added silently to himself.

Everyone nodded. They all put their shoes on and left their suite, going through the door that led them to the girl’s suite.

Rowen could see Rekino in the kitchen sitting with Hana. Flash and Shades were no where in sight. He decided to go say morning to Rekino and headed off that way.

Scorpio looked around, wondering where Flash was, then he heard it.

“OWWW!!!”

That cry made everyone jump to their feet, and almost caused the Ronins to get into subarmor. Then they relaxed a bit when they heard the next sounds.

“DAMNIT FLASH!!”

“WELL, GET THE HELL UP! COME ON! WE’VE GOT THINGS TO DO, PEOPLE TO GET, PEOPLE TO SEE!”

“PISS OFF!”

There was another crash and a yell, followed by a bang and another yell. Finally minutes later, Flash came limping into the living room. “Shades is up!” she announced triumphantly.

Everyone just stared at her in shock, all except Scorpio.

When things finally settled down and Shades was awake, they all sat together in the living room. The whole time Rowen noticed Rekino was ignoring him and no matter what he said to her, she would give him a cocky answer. What was wrong with her?

Ryo finally remembered he was angry at Rowen too, and he didn’t blame Rekino for treating Rowen that way. The only things that were keeping him from snapping off to him, was the fact he was now a father, and the fact they needed to get Thunder back, and the fact he wanted to be with Mia.

Mia held her newborn son to her, suckling him and whispering his name over and over again. She was alone in the room, the nurses having chased out Kento, Cye, Amaya, and Josephine to give Mia some privacy of breast feeding. Mia was grateful for that, and she knew her friends would understand. They probably either went to eat something or to go home, shower, and rest up. All of them had been up all night with her and she was grateful for their help and support.

She kissed her son’s forehead, calling his name softly to him, and thinking how beautiful he was. She had already been shown the correct proper way to feed him and how to take care of herself. She was advised to bathe her breasts after every milk feeding so her breasts would not get crusty and cause the milk to taste unpleasant to the newborn.

She finished feeding her son, then propped him up against her shoulder and gently, but firmly patted his back until he burped. She smiled tenderly and held him in her arms. Hiroshi yawned and became still, his tiny chest rising and falling. She had been told that he would sleep and feed most of the time for the next few weeks. She had been given a book called The First Year With Your First Newborn. She was certain it would come to be a big help.

She laid him down in his basinet beside her bed and laid back. She yawned. After she took a nap, she would see if she could get either Josephine or Amaya to watch Hiroshi while she showered. Right now, she needed sleep, and sleep is what she did.

Kento slept soundly back at the house. He had decided to go home to keep an eye on the place in case anyone got any bright ideas. Josephine and Amaya had stayed at the hospital and Cye had gone out shopping for the baby, getting a few things that would be needed. Everything was peaceful, and he’d return to the hospital within two hours.

Cye, himself, had just picked up a huge package of diapers, at least a hundred, some bibs, and a car seat. He checked out and paid for everything, then loaded it all in the trunk of the car, jumped into the driver’s seat, and drove off back to the house where Kento would be waiting for him.

At the hospital both Josephine and Amaya were in the luncheon. They were eating a meal and talking about several different things, from Mia and her newborn baby, to Rekino and the others, to Thunder, and even about the food in this place.

Josephine was eating a huge whopper like building while Amaya had risotto, a French side dish.

“Man, I just can’t believe how cute Hiroshi is!” Josephine said.

“I know,” Amaya said with a smile. “But I wonder if he’ll act more like Mia or like Ryo?”

“Hard saying,” Josephine replied, taking a bite of her sandwich.

Amaya nodded. She was still curious about one thing.. The kanji that had suddenly appeared on Hiroshi’s forehead.

The two girls finished their meals. “Well, we better get back to Mia and see how she’s doing,” Josephine said.

“Yes, we should.”

And the two girls threw their trash away and headed back to Mia’s room.

King Thaitus made his way through the halls of the castle. He was heading towards his son’s room with two servants behind him. One was carrying some clothes and the other had a tray of food. The king walked into his son's room to see him still asleep. He frowned in disgust. Those Americans have ruined my son. I thought I told him to be up at dawn.

"Sire, what would you like for me to do with his majesty’s clothing?" Taylor, one of the servant girls, asked him.

"Nothing. Lydia, hand me that glass of water," Thaitus asked the other girl.

"Yes sir," Lydia sat down the tray she was carrying and picked up the glass of water. She handed it to the king.

Thaitus took the glass and rolled Thunder over. He drew his hand back and dumped the contents of the water on his son's face. Thunder shot up in to time and shook his head. His face was dripping with water. He eyed his surroundings and found his father with two servants beside his bed.

"What was that for?" Thunder asked.

Thaitus snorted. "I told you to be up at dawn for your training. You have already missed breakfast, but since your mother is so kind, she sent Lydia to bring you a morsel of what we had. Now, get up! You have a busy day ahead you!" The king of Germany turned on his heel and stalked out of the bedroom, closing the door behind him.

"I'm sorry about his majesty, young prince. He just had a lot of his shoulders," Taylor replied, "These are your clothes for the evening. The ones on the top are for your training session with General Anthony."

Lydia spoke next, "Her highness also wanted to tell you to come to the dining hall after you finished eating and dressing. She will take you to meet your father and the general."

"All right. Thanks," Thunder said. He saw the two servants leave and he got out of bed. He walked over and took a bite of his food, which was bacon, eggs, biscuits, and sausage. After finishing that, he eyes his clothes and made a weird face. He saw a pair of spandex pants and an elegant coat of some kind. He raised an eyebrow and grabbed his clothes. He also saw some kind of dress shirt in them as well. He walked into the bathroom and started to get dressed.

After getting a shower, Thunder walked out of the bathroom fifteen minutes later. He took another glance in the mirror, grabbed a biscuit, and walked out of the room towards the dining hall. He found his mother sitting at the table waiting for his arrival, "Hello mother."

Queen Lila turned around in her chair and smiled at the sight of her son. She got up gracefully and walked over to her son, giving him a hug, "It's good to see that you're better. We must go to the training room. Your father and General Anthony are waiting there for you."

Thunder nodded and followed his mother. On the way there, he had to ask, "Why does father want me to fight the general?"

Lila sighed, "Your father believes that the Americans ruined you. So, he wants to see if you have any sort of fighting skills."

"Well, what he doesn't know won't hurt him," Thunder said under his breath. In no time, they walked into the training area to see King Thaitus talking with a man in about his sixties with black hair that was streaked gray. Thunder came to the conclusion that was General Anthony.

"About time you showed up, my son," Thaitus said disgusted.

"I have a name you know," Thunder shot back, "And I was eating and getting dressed."

"Does it matter?" Thaitus asked, "This is General Anthony."

General Anthony saluted, "It's an honor to finally meet the heir."

Thunder nodded and eyes his father, "So, you wish for me to fight with him?"

"Yes," Thaitus replied.

"Okay, Thunder's in trouble, guys. We need to get to him," Flash said.

"Easier said than done," Hana mumbled, "Look at where we are! We're in Germany. A big as hell country and we have to find the castle or where ever he's at!"

Rekino smirked, "Well, at least we know it'll be a big place with a huge lawn and guard dogs."

"Shut up, smartass! I didn't need to hear that!" Hana growled.

The Lady of Wildfire held up her hands, "Sheesh, chill out, blondie. I was only stating a fact. Anyways, let's go ahead and start looking for the palace."

"And get something to eat! They have to have food here!" Sage whined.

"Okay, Kento, you chill out, too," Rekino said to Sage's comment. She grabbed the pillow Sage threw at her, "Touchy, touchy!"

"Guys, let's not argue. We don't have time for it," Ryo said.

"He's right. We have to find Thunder and get him back so we can all go home," Shades said, "So, do you split up into groups or what?"

"That's a good idea. We could cover more ground that way," Scorpio said.

Hana sat in the chair deep in thought, "What if we get lost. We won't have anyway of getting back."

"Good point," Flash said.

All eight of the armor bearers sat in the living room in thought. If they split up, they could get lost, but they would cover more ground that way. If they stayed together, less ground would be covered. Five minutes passed before someone spoke up. It was Rowen, "What about tourist attractions? I'm pretty sure that they have functions that relate with people visiting the palace."

"Took him long enough," Rekino said.

"I didn't see you think of anything, sis!" Ryo shot back.

"Shut up," Rekino said.

"That's actually a good idea, Rowen," Flash said, "We need to see if a company gives tours of the palace. That way, we'll be able to know where it is for sure."

"Hello! Problem! Who knows German?" Shades asked.

The whole room went silent. All of them staring at Shades until Hana finally blurted out her feelings, "MY GOD! What the hell is wrong with us?! We're never going to get him back! Stupid Germans! God damn country! I WANT HIM BACK DAMMIT! WHO THE HELL KNOWS GERMAN! SPEAK NOW!"

Rekino swiftly got up and slapped Hana across the face, "SHUT UP!"

Hana pouted, "Okay."

Sage eyed his counter part closely, "Makes me wonder if you're really in love with him, Hana."

The Lady Halo shot Sage a look that could kill. Her midnight blue eyes held no emotion as she looked at him, "I'm going to say this one time and one time only, it's it any of your business?"

Sage shrugged.

"That's what I thought," Hana said.

"Okay, let's just go out and see what we can do. I'm tired of sitting around here and doing nothing," Scorpio said. He got up and walked out of the suite.

"Let's go," Flash said. She and the other got up from their seats and walked out of the suite as well. Rekino locked their room door and Ryo locked the other one. After that was done, the siblings ran to catch up with the others.