Title: A Nice Change
Fandom: Ronin Warriors
Characters/Pairing: Gen (Rowen Hashiba, Cye Mouri, Kento Rei Fang)
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Not mine, anything mentioned here by name isn't mine
Warnings: Canonical discussion of familial death.
Notes: Pre-series "how they met" fic! Well, for Rowen and Kento and Cye. This is Ronin Warriors-verse, so I'm hopefully getting away with these early 90s references since the dub aired in 1995. Regardless, I'm tagging this as AU to be safe. I read somewhere that Rowen and Kento met first out of all five of them, so I'm rolling with that. I only know a little bit about Shinto shrines, so I got anything wrong, please feel free to correct me.

It was the fifth day of his month-long visit with his grandfather, and Rowen was bored to tears.

The worst part was that he had prepared for such a scenario. He had bought his Game Boy, and after some strategizing with his father, even managed to pack his desktop into the car among the clothes and book. But Grandpa—wonderful Grandpa, who had always taken him out to the park for ice cream when he came to visit him and Dad—had laughed, insisted that there was no way a boy would need all those gizmos, and locked them away in the closet.

Rowen had begged his father to beg Grandpa for mercy, of course. But Dad had just shrugged, mumbled something about how the old man hadn’t mellowed out after all these years, kissed Rowen on the forehead, and promised to be back next month.

It hadn’t even been a week, and Rowen had already read every book, as well as solved all of Grandpa’s jigsaw puzzles. He supposed with all this free time he could try picking the lock… but as frustrated as he was with Grandpa, he couldn’t betray his trust like that. After all, all Grandpa was trying to do was get him to connect a little more to the shrine and their family history. And it was interesting learning about the shrine when Grandpa wasn’t too busy with duties and chores and business.

Grandpa’s other goal in this visit was to “Socialize the poor boy before he turns out like my son, whom I love, but that man’s second wife will probably be a computer.” (That was something Rowen had heard Grandpa say over the phone to a friend the second day.) To his credit, Grandpa was trying: he had suggested to Rowen, more than once, that they explore the town and meet kids his age. However… Rowen had met kids his age in school. Those aforementioned kids accused him of strange behavior, laughed at him if he nodded off in the day, and told him that he spoke like an old man. None of them were interested in how the world worked. He doubted things would be different simply because his location had changed.

“Rowen!” Grandpa’s voice boomed from outside the steps. “That’s enough ruminating for one morning!”

Rowen huffed with all the long-suffering patience that a twelve-year-old could manage and left for the steps. “I wasn’t ruminating,” he informed his grandfather. But under Grandpa’s intense/amused stare, he then added, “Well, not much.”

“Well, get ready for some fun, boy! Since you won’t go into town and meet the kids, I decided to bring one of them to you.” As if on cue, a sturdily-built boy about Rowen’s age appeared from behind Grandpa’s back. “This is—”

“Kento Rei Fang, your new best friend!” Rowen gaped in surprise since no one talked faster than Grandpa. “You must be Rowen, nice to meet ya! Now c’mon, let’s get some takoyaki! I know the best place in the world!” Grandpa laughed heartily as Kento grabbed Rowen by the hand and dragged him off.

--

The journey had been… unique, but Rowen would never turn down takoyaki, so he now found himself sitting on a park bench, dividing what was left between himself and Kento. “Thanks,” he said as Kento gave Rowen his share. “Are you sure you don’t want me to pay for my half? Because I can.”

“Don’t worry about it, I can cover it,” Kento insisted with a wave of his hand. “And I promise, I’m eating fast out of habit, not because I don’t want to hang out with ya,” he said around a mouthful of takoyaki. “When you’re surrounded by siblings, if you want your fair share, ya gotta eat fast.”

“Hm.” Rowen took a thoughtful bite. “I suppose that’s something I’ll never experience, for better or worse. I’m an only child.”

“Lucky,” Kento replied, still chowing down. “I can only dream of having my own room.”

“Perhaps. But it also means that you’re always alone.” Rowen flinched. He was probably sharing too much. Or talking too formally. Of course, not that he was expecting Kento to even want to see him again after this visit; Rowen just didn’t get along with other kids. But… but he liked Kento, and—

“Well, then, isn’t it great that I’m here!” Now that they were both done eating, Kento took his and Rowen’s trash, put it in the closest bin, and beamed at Rowen. “C’mon, let’s play tag!”

--

The next two weeks flew by in a flash. Kento came by every morning and they went into town to find a new restaurant to try out, and then play in the park. Now and then, Rowen convinced Kento to visit the library to check out books and use the computers (which, since they were not locked away in Grandpa’s closet, Rowen assumed that he was still obeying his grandfather’s wishes). Kento had been bored while Rowen explained King’s Quest, at least Rowen told him about all the ways you could kill the main character. Then Rowen spent the rest of the afternoon watching Kento learn every way Grahame could die in the game.

The night before the last week, they were working together to draw a map of Daventry while eating apple slices when Kento said, “Hey, you live in Tokyo, right?”

Rowen ate his fifth slice. “I do. My father and I have an apartment there.”

“What part of Tokyo? Which school?” When Rowen told him, Kento grinned. “That’s within walking distance of where I’m staying with my Uncle, bro!”

“But I thought you lived with your parents and siblings.”

“I do, but Ma and Pop are insisting I move to Tokyo for middle school. They’re not saying why, but hey, finally, I get my own room! And we’ll be going to school together.”

“I suppose we are,” Rowen said, and that was all he said. He thought about it a lot, especially after Kento left. He had never had a friend before, much less a friend at school.

Rowen had been raised by realists, so he was not prone to dreaming. But as he wished Grandpa good night and went to bed, he was plotting out study schedules and chatting after school and for once looking forward to more of school that wasn’t his favorite teachers and the computers. It was a nice change.

--

For the last week of Rowen's visit, Grandpa took Kento and Rowen to the beach. He also told both boys that they could play by themselves, as long as they remained within shouting distance. They both agreed and ran off to find seashells.

Instead, they found a boy about their age, sealing himself away from the world in a series of sandcastles.

Rowen was about to walk past the boy and his castles, but Kento grabbed Rowen by the wrist. “Hold on. I wanna talk to him.”

“O-oh. Okay.”

“Hi!” Kento waved to the boy, and now that Rowen had to take a closer look, realized he had shaggy brown hair and bright blue eyes. He smiled at Kento, but there was also something reserved in his greeting. Rowen decided to interpret it as snobbishness. “Did you build all those castles by yourself?”

“Most of them,” the boy said. “My big sister helped with the first three, but she’s got to study for a test in college, so she had to stop.” He turned around and waved to a young lady with dark hair and a blue one-piece suit, surrounded by books the same way he was surrounded by sandcastles. “Hi, Sayoko!”

“Hi, Cye!” She looked up and waved back. “Who are your friends?”

Kento was still enthralled by the sub-standard sand structures, so Rowen said, “I’m Rowen Hashiba and my friend is Kento Rei Fang.”

“Cool.” She smiled again, and Rowen was surprised friendly she was compared to her brother. “Cye’s a little shy, so maybe you two can get him to come out of his shell.” She chuckled. “Get it? Shells ‘cuz we’re on the beach, and… and I’ll go back to studying now.”

Cye rolled his eyes. “Sayoko’s just being Sayoko. If you two are just here to swim, don’t let me stop you.”

“Um, no,” Kento said. “This is what we’re doing. You’re gonna teach us how to make these cool castles. Then all three of us are gonna go swimming.” Kento knelt next to Cye, and Rowen knelt next to Kento. Kento immediately started working.

“Um… are you trying to murder the sand?” Cye watched Kento warily as Kento did his best to punch the sand into submission.

Rowen bristled. “He’s trying his best.”

Kento sighed, surveying the tiny mountain of wet sand glumly. “Actually, I could probably use some help. You know. Just a little.”

Cye almost smiled. “I think you’ll need more help than anyone can give, but I will try my best.” As Rowen watched the two work and traded verbal barbs (Cye mostly), he started to realize that they were getting along well. Very well. Maybe even better than Rowen and Kento. And Cye said something about how he and Sayoko were living in Tokyo at the moment so she could study and Cye could go to the same school Rowen and Kento would attend this year.

“Cool!” Kento said as they dashed off to the waves later when the castles were done. “We can all go to school together!”

“Sure,” Rowen said to himself as Kento and Cye started to play in the waves, leaving him behind. “Very cool.”

--

“You feeling okay?” Sayoko asked, sipping a soda as she walked up to Rowen.

“Yes,” Rowen lied. “I’m just not very fond of swimming.”

“Ah.” Sayoko nodded. “Me too. Our family’s really into it, so I’m a decent enough swimmer, but I’ve never been a big fan of wet hair and pruny fingers. Cye, on the other hand…” She frowned as she watched her brother and Kento play. “The sea is where he belongs, whether I like it or not.”

It was a joke, but something in her tone bothered Rowen. “Is… is everything okay with Cye?”

“Oh, yes! Gosh, sorry, didn’t mean to bring down the mood!” Sayoko took a breath. “Hey, listen, Rowen. I appreciate you and Kento being his friends.” Now she was smiling, but it was sad. “Cye’s reserved. To top that off, he can be sarcastic as heck as he wants to be. That’s not the formula for popularity at his age.”

“I can understand that,” Rowen answered, feeling guilty about… everything.

“But now he’s got two friends! Which means I’m on my way to knowing two families in Tokyo!” Sayoko stretched, raising her arms to the heavens. “I was so worried we’d be alone in the city, but I think we’re doing pretty darn well.”

“You are doing very well, Ms. Sayoko,” Rowen assured her. And for her sake, he did promise himself to remember that someone could have two friends, if not more.

--

As the school year began, it was very hard to keep that promise, though.

It was just so frustrating. Kento would bang pots and pans outside his door until Rowen got up (something they agreed on before school started). Then they’d talk about school and family until Cye showed up, then it was Kento talking to Cye.

That was unfair. Kento tried, more than once, to encourage Rowen to talk to the two of them. Sometimes it even worked. Cye wasn’t a bad person, it was just… something about him irked Rowen. He was too nice. Too serene. Yet somehow, he was also a brat to Kento all the time, but Kento never seemed to notice. How could someone so—so two-faced be friends with Kento? Or be Sayoko’s little brother?

“You know,” Rowen’s mother said as she helped herself to Dad’s leftover stir fry (she was staying for the weekend until her next assignment), “Maybe it’s because you and Cye are so much alike. Apparently, people who are similar can’t get along.” She chuckled. “Maybe that’s why your Dad and I split up; we’re just too brilliant and weird for one room or something.”

“Cye and I are nothing alike,” Rowen assured her, hoping he didn’t sound as angry at that remark as he felt.

“You’re both too smart for your own good. You both talk like you’re 30. You’re both more likely to pretend everything is fine than ask for help. Frankly, sometimes I wonder if you two are long-lost twins. But I doubt it, what with me being there at your birth and all.”

“Yes, I imagine you were acutely aware of what happened during that event.”

Then, suddenly, for once… Mom frowned. “Rowen, baby, do you not want Cye and Kento to be friends?”

“No, not that,” and he meant it. As much as Cye annoyed him, he couldn’t help but notice that Kento always seemed to be a little bit happier when Cye was around. Sometimes it was the only tolerable quality Cye had.

“Maybe you’re scared that Cye will take Kento from you.”

“N-no, that’s not it.”

“Then why don’t you tell Kento that you want to hang out with him alone sometimes?”

“I can’t, Mom.” Because if he did, Kento might get mad and not want to be his friend anymore. “Because… I’d like to at least try to be Cye’s friend.”

He doubted that Mom believed that, but she didn’t push it. “Well, Rowen, your birthday is coming up. You could invite Kento and Cye and do your best to be Cye’s friend.”

“Um, sure.” It wasn’t going to work. “Thanks, Mom.” There was no way it was going to work.

--

Good heavens, it might work.

Rowen had honestly thought he was going to spend his birthday watching Kento and Cye be best friends all night. But the second Sayoko had said good-bye he… smirked. Usually, he only did that when he was mock insulting Kento. Warily, Rowen asked him what he was happy about.

“Kento kindly informed me that you have a Famicom. Is that correct?”

“Yes.”

“Good, then I don’t feel ridiculous smuggling this into my backpack.”

“Whatcha got?” Kento was peering into the bag. “Something where you get to kill lots of grunts?”

“How barbaric. But accurate.” Cye’s smirk widened as he took out a Famicom game. “I brought Fire Emblem with me! Sayoko says I play it too much, but she can’t say much if I’m playing it someplace else.”

Kento groaned in frustration. “But that game’s so slow!”

“Only because you won’t give it a chance!” Cye huffed, and turned to Rowen. “Rowen. You’re smart, and you like puzzles, rights?”

“I.” It was rare for Cye to turn to Rowen for, well, anything. They talked, but it was mostly about Kento. “Yes?”

“Good, then I want to try to this chapter. Don’t worry, I’ll explain everything. It’s just math,” and with a wicked smirk he added, “which is probably why Kento can’t stand it.”

Rowen had told himself he was going to try the game just to be civil, but… but it was fun. And Cye was helpful with the lore. And before he knew it, he was comparing and contrasting it to King’s Quest, which Cye had never played, but it sounded interesting to him. Kento, despite being bored, was more than willing to critique Rowen’s strategy.

“Look, just have the horse guy attack the bad guy,” Kento suggested.

“He can’t do that,” Cye reminded him. “Otherwise, he loses the unit, and it’s not like Mario. If he dies, it’s forever.”

“Yes, which is why we’ll do this…” Gordin chipped at the enemy and received no damage. Rowen liked Gordin. “And now…” Prince Marth attacked and won.

“You did it!” And then Rowen did his best not to yelp when Cye grabbed him in a hug. “Thank you so much, Rowen!”

“Wait, what?”

Kento gave Rowen a knowing look. “Cye’s been stuck on that chapter for ages. He was hoping your big brain could crack the code. And, as usual, he was right.”

Cye smiled guiltily. “Sorry about that. I know asking for help would have been more honest, but I refused to show weakness around Kento.” He sighed. “Although I guess that was pointless.”

Kento nodded before helping himself to one more slice of birthday pizza. “I may suck at math, but I know when you’re losing a video game over and over, Cye.”

“But hey, now we can move on to the next chapter! And I’m sure Rowen will want to help, right?”

He was annoyed, but… it was fun. And it was nice to be included, despite everything. “Okay.”

--

They’d decided to camp out in the living room. Kento was parked near the hallways, Cye’s futon was near the TV, while Rowen had opted to sleep under the big window so he could see the stars. Of course, it was well before his bedtime, so he had all the time in the world to ruminate.

Cye wasn’t a bad person. Sayoko was his sister and Kento was his friend, and there was no way two such good people could care for a bad person. But… Rowen could not bring himself to like him. At first, he convinced himself it was because Cye was two-faced. He acted kind but was mean to Kento. But… but Kento would tease Cye back and laughed off any comments. And the more Rowen ruminated, the more he realized that Cye never said anything genuinely cruel. And when Kento’s baby sister was sick, Cye made lunches for Kento the entire time because Kento was too busy worrying to pack a lunch. When Cye spoke of his sister, he always had a gentle look on his face… and, okay, he was always nice to Mom and had good taste in video games. So why was it so hard to like him?

… Because he realized glumly, Mom was right. He didn’t want Cye to take Kento from him. Objectively, Rowen knew that wasn’t going to happen. But the heart wasn’t always so objective.

It was then that Rowen heard it. A small, strangled sound. Like someone was doing their best not to cry. It didn’t sound like Kento, so it had to be…

“Cye?” Rowen whispered as he crawled over to Cye’s futon. Cye was thrashing in his sleep, muttering something under his breath. Rowen could make out one word. Father.

“Hey… hey, Cye.” Rowen shook him as firmly as he dared. “You’re just having a nightmare.”

Cye didn’t bolt upright screaming like people did in books and movies. His eyes fluttered open, he gazed up at Rowen wildly, then groaned in embarrassment as he slowly became more awake. “I’m sorry.” Cye sat up, head in his hands. “I didn’t mean to wake you up.”

“It’s fine. I don’t usually sleep until three.”

“Seriously?” Cye pushed sweat-dampened bangs from his eyes. “Your… your dad lets you stay up that late?”

Rowen shrugged. “As long as I’m in my bedroom, I don’t think he notices.” The next question wasn’t going to be easy, but Cye was trembling, and Rowen had noticed how he’d stumbled when talking about his father. “Do you want to talk about your dream?”

“No, it’s just the same nonsense,” Cye grumbled. “My father died, and even though I barely remember him, I have these nightmares where he—I can’t even remember how he looked without a photograph, but it seems like almost every week I see him in my dreams, and…”

They didn’t have tissues. Just toilet paper. So, Rowen dashed to the bathroom for a roll.

“T-thank you.” Cye wiped at his eyes, then balled up the used toilet paper. Then he took some more paper from the roll to blow his nose (thankfully, Rowen had the sense to grab the trash can too, just in case). “I’m sorry. I ruined the party.”

“Cye, the party’s been over for ages. And it’s not like you can control your dreams.”

“I wish I could,” Cye said sadly. “Maybe then I’d have a happy memory of him.”

“If you don’t mind my asking, what do you remember of him?”

“He was nice. And tall. And he smelled like the ocean.” Cye looked up to the starry window. “I suppose I could ask Sayoko or Mum about him, but Mum’s always sick and Sayoko took Dad’s death really hard. She tenses up when Mum even mentions him.”

“That can’t be easy.” Rowen hated himself for stating something so obvious.

But Cye didn’t seem to mind. “It’s not, but I’ll make do.” Then he smiled at Rowen the way he smiled at Kento. “Rowen, thanks. You’re a true friend.”

Rowen’s face heated up. “I’m just doing what anyone would do.”

“Don’t be so sure.” Then Cye frowned. “I should apologize. For a long time, I was jealous of you.”

“Wait… what?” The young genius Rowen did his best to process the information he’d just received. “But… how?!”

“You and Kento were friends before I even met him. I’m not sure if you noticed, but I’m a little stand-offish sometimes, so Kento leaving me no choice but to be his friend was a blessing. I guess I was always worried you’d take him away from me.”

“I was always worried that since you and Kento get along so well, you’d take him from me!” Rowen’s hand flew to his mouth, but it was too late. The truth was out.

And Cye… laughed like it was the funniest thing he’d heard in his life. “So, we could have been friends from the very beginning, except we were secretly jealous of each other?”

Now Rowen was laughing, too. “Well, at least Kento didn’t overhear us.”

“I know!” Cye was still laughing. “He would never let us live this down… um, speaking of our beloved blockhead, even he would’ve woken up with all this crying and talking.”

Rowen looked over where Kento’s futon was, which was empty. “Maybe he went to get a midnight snack?”

Cye nodded. “I’m sure that’s what happened.”

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr….

Cye grabbed Rowen. Rowen grabbed Cye.

“We have to find Kento,” Cye whispered to himself as much as he did Rowen.

“Right,” Rowen managed as he helped Cye up. “And my Papa.”

Guys…. guys… help… The voice was coming from Rowen’s room.

“Kento,” Rowen breathed. “C’mon, Cye!” Urgency gave them the courage they lacked before as both boys dashed into the hallway, then to Rowen’s room, and were greeted by Kento struggling to take off a hockey mask.

“Hey, guys.” Kento waved at them weakly, voice muffled by the mask. “So, funny story. I thought I’d prank you two and it’d be super funny and we’d all laugh after the scare and stuff, but the mask kinda sort got stuck, so. Um. Some help?”

“Honestly, Kento!” Cye stomped over to his friend and started tugging on the mask. “I’m the one who terrorizes you, not the other way around.” The mask came off, and Cye tossed it on Rowen’s bed. “This is what happens when you try to upset the natural order.”

“Yeah, well, I’ll get you next time,” Kento grumbled, then yawned. “After some sleep, at least.”

“Tell me about it.” Cye smiled at Rowen. “Back to the futons? Also, what about your dad, Rowen? Do we need to explain what happened?”

Rowen smiled back. “Back to the futons. And no. He sleeps through anything.”

The excitement must have been a little too much for Rowen because for once, he fell asleep as soon as he closed his eyes again. This meant that he was awake with Cye and Kento for breakfast, instead of his usual habit of sleeping until mid-afternoon if it wasn’t a school day. It was a nice change.