Fandom: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon: Sailor Stars (anime)
Date Finished:
Classification: Romance, Humor, Angst
Pairing: Seiya/Yaten, references to past Fighter/Kakyuu, shades of Seiya/Usagi
Rating: NC-17

Give Unto Me
By Elsewhere
elsewherecw@shaw.ca

All other information in Part One.

Part Thirteen: Falling

Glossary:
ano - um
baka - idiot
bento - lunch box
bishounen - beautiful boy
chikusho - damn
e? - huh?
gomen - sorry
hai - yes; okay
itai - ouch
kare ga suki da - I love him
konnichiwa - hello
kono baka - you idiot
kono yarou - you jerk
kuso - shit
maa - well
ne - sort of like ‘eh’ or ‘hey’…a word used to emphasize a point or get someone’s attention
Odango - dumpling---Seiya’s affectionate nickname for Usagi
oi - hey
shin no Starseed - true Starseed

*****
Can't fight it all away
Can't hope it all away
Can't scream it all away
It just won't fade away
*****

Yaten drifted slowly towards wakefulness when she heard movement in her room. She might have been able to ignore it and go back to sleep---if the presence in her room had been unfamiliar or dangerous, her senses would have informed her long since---but for some reason she felt inspired to turn over and reach out her arm along the width of the bed. Even as her fingers groped out over the mattress and her still-sleepy mind tried to comprehend why it should feel confusion over the fact that her fingers found nothing, a sudden soft pulse of power swept through the room. There was no outward sign---no dramatic blast of light or telltale shower of sparks---but to a fellow magic user, and an empath at that, even in her sleepy state, the fact that a magical transformation had just taken place was obvious. Yaten opened her eyes and blinked groggily as she watched Seiya stretch and yawn before turning to look at her.

"Ah, sorry…did I wake you?" Seiya murmured, padding back over to the bed and smiling down at Yaten.

"Mm…" Yaten grumbled softly as she rolled her eyes up to look at the large red numbers of her radio clock. "What’re you doing, Seiya…? It’s still too early to get up for school."

Seiya’s soft, masculine chuckle sounded pleasant mixed with just a touch of sleepy roughness, Yaten decided.

"Nope…this is how early some of us have to get up in order to take a shower before a certain little silver-haired bishounen wakes up," Seiya said with a grin, eyes twinkling, his tone becoming conspiratorial as he watched Yaten’s expression slowly change from confused to bemused. "You see, he’s not exactly a morning person, and to top it off, he’s *extremely* vain…tends to spend all day in the bathroom fixing himself up if he can afford the time. So the rest of us have to get out of there before he wakes up."

"I see," Yaten deadpanned, her expression now extremely nonplused, reaching up to rub the back of her neck as Seiya chuckled and turned to head for the door. "Hey…wait, Seiya."

Seiya stopped, glancing downward at where Yaten lightly gripped his wrist.

"You’ve been tired lately, and I know you didn’t get a good sleep last night," Yaten said evenly, sitting up and silently telling her body to shut up as muscles groaned at her in protest. She definitely hadn’t managed the fourteen hours she preferred to sleep last night.

Seiya tilted his head, obviously wondering what her point was.

"You need the sleep more than I do," Yaten said, glancing at the clock again before turning to fix Seiya under green eyes that were slowly regaining their usual chill. "Go on…take the extra time. I’ll shower first today."

"E? Yaten, you don’t have to…" Seiya began, eyes widening slightly, startled by the offer.

Yaten sighed with annoyance as she slid off the bed and gathered up her bathrobe.

"Look…I’m awake, and I’m claiming the shower. Whether you choose to use the time to sleep or not is your choice," Yaten said breezily as she sidled out the door, not turning to look back, but nonetheless allowing herself the slightest of smiles. Even as she walked away, she could feel Seiya giving in, and even though he didn’t speak up, she could feel his silent gratefulness. He was tired…more tired than he wanted to admit, to Yaten or anyone else…even himself.

Yaten permitted herself another quiet sigh as she stepped under the hot spray of the shower and allowed some of the remaining tension from the night before to melt away under the warm press of the water. Against her will, she found herself running over various events from the previous evening in her mind as she lathered up a sponge and ran it languidly over her pale skin. Almost instantly, she found herself blushing slightly, the sponge pausing against her stomach, just because of some of the memories that ran through her mind.

/"I meant…do you ever touch yourself…here…"/

Now she was blushing furiously, and frowning thunderously at herself at the same time as she scrubbed hurriedly at her arms.

/Why am I thinking about that right now? Why am I thinking about that at all!?/

She didn’t like the sensation of uneasiness that kind of thought put in the pit of her stomach, or the heat in her cheeks when she turned this red. She struggled to focus her mind on something else as she bent to soap her legs, finally closing her eyes. She snapped them open again, straightened so abruptly she nearly whacked her head on the dangling cord of the shower head, when the image that appeared behind her closed eyelids was one of Seiya’s dancing blue eyes.

"Chikusho," Yaten muttered, genuinely irritated now. She blew out a breath from between pursed lips, listening to the sound that was created, and tried to focus on counting the tiles of the shower stall as she pulled her hair over one shoulder and lathered her back.

/"Sometimes, you do things like that…things that don’t make too much sense or that have a bad side to them, because they make you happy enough that the bad stuff doesn’t matter…"/

Yaten closed her eyes again and gritted her teeth.

"Get out of my head…" she whispered, but the memories were taunting her…they didn’t want to go away.

/"We’re allowed to have other things…little pleasures that make us happy."/

Yaten sighed as the last of the soap washed away from her back and she leaned forward to rest her forehead against the cool tiles of the shower stall.

"Chikusho, Seiya…" Why couldn’t she stop hearing Seiya’s words? Why couldn’t she stop seeing Seiya’s face…that warm twinkle in her eyes? Why couldn’t she stop thinking of how different it had felt---how *right* it had felt---these last few nights, to be held by someone, after so long of being alone?

These thoughts led her again, perhaps inevitably, to contemplate that particular look Seiya had been getting in his eyes more and more often lately. The look that frightened Yaten so much. The look that spoke of such…wanting…such hunger… Yaten shivered, arms coming up to cross protectively over her breasts even as she thought of it. But still, as she pictured it in her mind’s eye---pictured that soft, smoldering, heated look in Seiya’s bright blue eyes---she started to feel something else, something very different from the fear, confusion and distaste she was used to.

She almost groaned when she realized what the new feeling was---when she realized that thinking about the fact that Seiya wanted her had managed to make her aroused yet again. The unpleasant feeling in her stomach had become a pleasant warmth that spread throughout her abdomen, and as she turned and pressed her back against the tiles, she could feel a slow, even pulse deep within her, in a place where she had very rarely felt much of anything at all.

"Chikusho…" she whispered again, letting her head fall back with a slight thud against the wall, which made her wince. This was not good. Not only did she have only the barest understanding of what was happening to her and the possible ramifications, but she really didn’t have *time* for this kind of thing right now. There were much more important things to think about, like finding the princess.

Time…school day! Yaten cursed again under her breath as she leaned forward, pushing herself under the spray of her shower, suddenly aware of the fact that the minutes were ticking by, and she was wasting them. She rolled her shoulders once before summoning her magic for the briefest moment, resigning herself to the realities of a typical day at school. Even as Yaten picked up the shampoo and poured out a handful, the power she had summoned lightly passed through her body, and within little more than a minute, the change was complete. Muscles had grown and reformed, bones had stretched and realigned, mammary tissue had vanished to be replaced by hard pectorals, and facial features had broadened ever so slightly.

Yaten tossed his head impatiently, shaking out some of the water before he started to shampoo his long mane of silver hair. He tilted his head down, and was about to gather up the hair that draped past his butt and along his thighs to shampoo the ends when he suddenly noticed something odd. He nearly stumbled, letting out a soft gasp of surprise.

He was more than halfway towards having an erection. He’d had them before, of course---it was a reality of becoming a man that he’d had to adjust himself to---and he’d always found them unpleasant and annoying, but he’d never actually seen one. He’d always just ignored them, left them alone, and he’d never managed to have one while he was naked during the time they’d been on Earth. Not only that, but this time he *didn’t* feel immediately uncomfortable…instead, that same pleasant feeling lingered on in his lower abdomen, but now it was focused in his penis. And the more Yaten stared, wide-eyed and blushing about as deeply as it was possible to blush, the more the feeling grew.

And…that wasn’t the only thing that was growing. Yaten watched as his penis, which had until then remained mostly flaccid, twitched slightly, lengthening and broadening.

Yaten quickly bit his lip to hold back the soft groan that built up in his throat. What the hell was he doing!? Or more appropriately, what the hell was he feeling!? What was this slick heat in his belly that made him curl his toes inwards, made him want to arch upwards towards…what?

Almost in spite of himself, he found his hands, slick with shampoo, snaking downwards. He stopped himself just in time, stilling his hands against his stomach and staring down at them in shock. He stood that way for several moments, shivering and struggling to catch his breath.

/What…just happened to me!?/ he thought, almost desperately, closing his eyes and leaning back against the tiles. /Just focus, Yaten…focus…remember to breathe…/

*****

"Ne…Seiya…*ne*…"

Seiya opened his eyes and looked up blearily at the silver-haired boy who was leaning over him, lightly touching his shoulder.

"Ne…time to get up," Yaten said, his voice unusually soft and friendly for this time of day.

"Mm…already?" Seiya murmured sleepily as he rolled over to look at the clock, and then blinked, suddenly a lot more wakeful. "Kuso! It’s really getting late. I’d better get in the shower! Why didn’t you wake me earlier?"

"You needed the sleep," Yaten said, sounding mildly amused as he watched Seiya bound out of the bed and sprint towards the door. "Breakfast is waiting for you downstairs when you’re done, and Taiki packed your bag and made your lunch."

"Ah, really? Thanks!" Seiya called before he disappeared into the bathroom, shutting the door behind himself.

"Baaaka," Yaten murmured to himself before making his own way out of the room and down the hallway. He was already dressed and ready for school, and had already eaten his breakfast.

"Oh, Yaten…"

Yaten stopped when he heard the sound of the bathroom door opening, and Seiya’s voice hailing him. When he turned back, he saw Seiya poking his head out of the door and looking at him, mild concern in his bright blue eyes.

"You okay?" Seiya questioned earnestly.

Yaten blinked.

"Fine…why?" Yaten asked.

Seiya shrugged.

"Your eyes…you just seem…troubled," Seiya said simply before offering a smile. He obviously noted the way Yaten flinched slightly at Seiya’s words, but decided not to press the issue. "I’m probably just imagining it."

"No…I’m just…thinking, that’s all. I’m distracted," Yaten said, tilting his head. "It’s nothing important."

"Ah," Seiya said, and then he smiled again. "Maa…see you in a few minutes, then."

Yaten nodded and watched as Seiya closed the door before he let out the breath he’d been holding. He eyed the closed door ruefully.

/You watch me so carefully, don’t you, Seiya? How long have you been watching? How long have you noticed every little detail like that?/

He tried to shake off the uneasiness that returned to the pit of his stomach as he turned and made his way down the stairs.

*****

That day at lunch, Seiya briefly considered ‘bothering’ Yaten over the short break rather than following Usagi around as he’d taken to doing lately. Of course, ‘bothering’ is probably what Yaten would have called it, if Seiya had actually made the attempt, but in truth, Seiya was genuinely concerned about his silver-haired companion, and some niggling part of his conscience kept telling him that he had every right to be concerned. After all, if Yaten seemed moody today, Seiya was likely the reason, as he well knew.

So, he had every intention of seeking out Yaten at lunch and spending some time with him, trying to draw him into conversation, in the hope that he wouldn’t retreat into another shell. Regardless of all the other things that had happened the night before, Seiya felt like they had also made some genuine progress. Yaten had *asked* for something---for Seiya to stay with her, and for Seiya to hold her---and that was something new, in Seiya’s experience. If Yaten was learning to open up to other people, to trust…Seiya didn’t want him to back out of that now.

But by the time lunchtime came around, Yaten seemed to have grown even quieter and more solemn than before, and when he quickly made his way to his favorite tree and sat down, placing his lunch box aside and burying his nose in a textbook, Seiya felt forced to reconsider his plan. He liked to think he knew Yaten pretty well, and generally, that kind of behavior meant it was as much as your life was worth to bother him.

Seiya contemplated his choices only briefly before deciding that he’d catch up with Yaten later, after he’d had some time to brood---and hopefully to decide that it might be nice to interact with other creatures again---and that it’d be better to go looking for Odango instead.

He ended up finding her on the rooftop, of course, and as usual, he was courteous enough to wait for her to finish the letter she was writing to her boyfriend---or curious enough, depending on your point of view, considering the fact that he always did stand close enough to listen to her reading her letters out loud to herself.

"Yo, Odango!" he greeted her when she finally finished the letter.

"Seiya!" she exclaimed in return, waving. "Sit down, sit!"

He accept her offer, sitting down on the concrete next to her and grinning when he spotted the size of her lunchbox: about twice as large as his own. Truthfully, he’d planned on trying to pass off the majority of his on Yaten, simply because Yaten had been looking entirely too thin lately. He supposed that now most of his lunch would end up getting pinched by Usagi at some point during the next few minutes.

They ended up chatting about a few inconsequential things, and subsequently arguing about a few inconsequential things---or rather, she was arguing, while he was teasingly leading her on---which was what always happened whenever they conversed. It was why he tended to seek her out. He found her company refreshing. She was bright and happy and carefree, and they could speak about anything they wanted. With Taiki and Yaten, it was always school, or work, or finding the princess. Hardly ever anything casual or fun, and for Seiya, that was…suffocating.

Odango was like a breath of fresh air…the first fresh air he’d managed to find on this planet. She was the first person who made him forget his homesickness, and he didn’t want to let go of that.

"So, did you ever manage to get those concert tickets, Odango?" he asked her, winking at her as he stole a tiny piece of fried shrimp from her bento. She smacked his hand before casually replying.

"Yes, we got them."

"Yes? I’m impressed! How’d you get ‘em? I heard they were all sold out within a couple of days of going on sale," Seiya said, pretending to nurse his wounded hand for a few seconds before he took up his chopsticks and picked through his own bento, trying to ignore the fact that she was also salivating at the food Taiki had packed for him.

"It’s a secret," she said with a slight sniff, and when he blinked at her, surprised, she giggled and grinned. "Let’s just say we have our sources."

He blinked at her once more before shaking his head and laughing, turning back to his food.

"Huh…there’s quite an air of mystery around you, Odango, you know that?"

"Air of mystery?" she repeated, and then she smiled and leaned back on her hands, looking up at the sky. "Maybe."

He turned to look at her, at the secretive look that had come into her bright blue eyes, and found himself, not for the first time, feeling a strange pull towards her. She had the strangest energy about her…he felt sure that she must have an extremely bright Starseed, if not what he’d heard the enemy refer to as a ‘shin no Starseed’. Looking at her, and talking with her…he could feel the brilliance of the life within her, and somehow, to find someone like that here on Earth gave him hope. He’d hadn’t met anyone who impressed him so immediately since Kakyuu.

The brief thought of his missing princess and the ensuing memories that flickered through his mind left him trembling slightly, while the food he was eating suddenly tasted like ashes. He closed his eyes, sighing softly as he put down his chopsticks.

"Seiya? Are you okay?"

Her voice…so sweet, so soft when she was concerned.

But nothing like Kakyuu’s. Kakyuu had the most beautiful, lyrical voice, and by the stars, how he longed to hear it again…

"Yeah, Odango. I’m fine."

It was a lie, of course. Had he ever told Odango a truth?

Perhaps it was an unfair question. Perhaps it was unfair to expect truth when his entire chance of survival had come to hinge on his ability to lie.

*****

Almost the second the lunch bell rang, Yaten was on his feet and on his way down to his tree, with every intention of spending the lunch period alone, as he usually did. Today, of all days, when he felt like he had so much to think about---so much to sort through in his mind---he thought that he would need the time alone more than ever. But he was only a few minutes into the lunch break when he realized that the last thing he wanted to do was think about what was bothering him, and that really, he wasn’t in the mood to be alone.

By then, however, it was already too late. He looked around for Seiya, and ended up running into Makoto on her way to the greenhouses. She told him she’d seen Seiya on his way up to the roof of the school, probably to eat lunch with Usagi. Yaten thanked her and gave a long-suffering sigh as soon as she was out of earshot. He had no particular opinion of Usagi either way, actually, but he really didn’t want to spend lunch with Seiya *and* Usagi. He had a feeling that watching Seiya moon over some other girl at the moment would confuse his own thoughts even more.

So, that left Taiki. He checked around several old haunts before he finally remembered the place Taiki had taken him to just recently, hidden in the bushes around the front of the school. He headed there last, and as soon as he approached it, he could tell that he’d picked the right place. He could feel Taiki’s familiar presence. But even as he pushed aside the bushes to step inside, his empathic senses alerted him that Taiki wasn’t alone, giving him a few seconds preparation, so that he was already wincing by the time he made his way into Taiki’s little secret place and interrupted the conversation taking place inside.

"Yaten!" Taiki exclaimed, a small smile coming to his lips when he saw his smaller companion emerge from the protective wall of bushes.

"Yo," Yaten said simply, his eyes scanning only briefly over Taiki’s expression before coming to rest on the intruder to his plans, that rather small and shy girl that Yaten knew only by the barest of terms.

"Konnichiwa," Ami said quickly, a charming blush moving up her cheeks, which only made Yaten’s focus narrow even more towards her. Ah yes, that’s right…hadn’t Taiki mentioned that she held the twenty-fifth membership in their fanclub? Evidently she’d become accustomed to Taiki’s presence, but she probably wasn’t quite used to two Lights at once.

Yaten offered her a brief and rather careless smile before turning his attention back to Taiki.

"Sorry…I didn’t realize you had company," he said, and if he noticed that there was a slight bite to his voice, he didn’t bother to check it. It was true---because Seiya had taken to teasing Taiki about this girl, this ‘Mizuno-kun’, Yaten had taken to doing so as well, but Yaten hadn’t truly thought there was anything to it. To find Taiki here with the human girl was rather disconcerting. He wasn’t taking after Seiya in that tendency after all, was he?

"I’ll leave you to whatever you were doing," Yaten said, turning back towards the bushes.

"No…don’t go!" Taiki said, with such emphasis that Yaten stopped and turned back, lifting an eyebrow. Taiki’s eyes seemed to challenge him, as though he was aware of the drift of Yaten’s thoughts and had a few thoughts in return about the validity of his choice in company. Yaten’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly.

"Stay…join us," Taiki offered, getting up and gesturing to his former place on the bench, while he moved to sit on an overturned bucket that he had probably brought there just for such a purpose. Yaten looked at him suspiciously, then blinked in surprise when the girl spoke up.

"Yes, please…join us, Yaten-kun," Ami said softly, waving to the seat beside herself on the bench. "Or, if you came to speak to Taiki-san privately, I can leave…"

"I’m sure that won’t be necessary," Taiki said simply, sending a reassuring glance towards Ami before glancing up at Yaten. "Go on, Yaten…have a seat. Mizuno-kun and I were just talking about the concert this weekend."

At the sound of Taiki’s quiet, even voice, Yaten finally allowed himself to relax, to consider the possibility of accepting their offer. He let out a slow sigh as he sank to the bench.

"Ah…I suppose you and your friends did manage to get tickets after all?" Yaten asked Ami, reminding himself of the last time he’d seen her at the apartment.

"Yes, thankfully," Ami replied with a smile. "I’m so happy we’ll be able to attend another of your concerts; I enjoy them so much."

"And we’re grateful for that, of course," Taiki said, smiling towards Ami.

/I think I’m going to be sick,/ Yaten thought to himself, trying not to roll his eyes in front of them.

He tried not to be too startled when he realized that Ami’s eyes had been on him for several minutes, and then she spoke abruptly.  

"Yaten-kun…forgive me if I seem too forward, but I wondered if at some point you and I could discuss the anthology you’ve been reading," she said, her eyes shining with warmth as she smiled at him. "When I read it, there were quite a few questions I had about it, and I wanted to know what your opinions of it were."

Yaten almost flinched. The book---the book he’d been enjoying reading, the one that this girl had given him for his birthday…the very same girl he’d spent the last few minutes treating like some kind of non-entity. He didn’t think she’d deliberately meant to imply any such thing, but the thought wavered in his own mind nonetheless.

He cleared his throat, and when his voice came, it was softer than before.

"What did you want to discuss?"

Her smile widened at this response, and out of the corner of his eye, Yaten thought he could see Taiki’s eyes twinkling with amusement.

He ended up spending the rest of the lunch hour discussing the anthology with Mizuno Ami. Once she got him started, he couldn’t seem to stop. They spoke about their impressions of the book, of how different it was to experience a story in another language, of what the original authors may have intended…they talked about every subject they could think of, and though Taiki occasionally spoke up to contribute his thoughts, because he hadn’t read the book---or perhaps because he wanted Yaten to have his time---he remained silent for the most part, listening to Yaten and Ami chatter on.

When the bell rang to call them back into class, Yaten found that he didn’t know where all the time had gone, he’d been enjoying the conversation so much. He could see Taiki’s amusement at this, and as he watched Taiki bid Ami good day, he began to wonder if he hadn’t been tricked or cornered somehow.

"Did you plan that?" Yaten demanded, as he walked with Taiki back towards their classroom.

"No," Taiki said with a smile as he polished his reading glasses and placed them on his nose. "I honestly didn’t expect you to appear so suddenly…I thought you intended to spend the lunch period alone. But I’m glad you did join us. It was nice to see you so animated, and I’m sure Mizuno-kun enjoyed the conversation as much as you did."

"I…I…" Yaten stuttered for a moment, and just before they moved into the classroom he hissed up at Taiki, "It wasn’t because of *her*. It was the book. It was a good book."

"I’m sure it was. Human literature is an extremely rich field of endeavor," Taiki murmured before he stepped into the classroom, effectively ending the conversation.

Yaten was left to open and close his mouth several times, trying to come up with a suitable reply even though he couldn’t have said anything out loud if he’d wanted to. Of course the book he’d been enjoying had been written by a human, just as it had been given to him by a human…the same human he’d been enjoying talking with just a few minutes before.

Suddenly, not for the first time since coming to this wretched planet, Yaten felt an overpowering urge to scream in sheer frustration. Instead, he ended up mostly burying his face in his arms, pretending to hide his papers from Minako’s prying eyes, when the truth was he was trying to hide his face from Seiya’s curious gaze. Strange, that such a soothing blue could at times like this seem so searing…

*****

That afternoon, as usual, Yaten was the first to go home from school. Of the Three Lights, he was the only member of the ‘Go-Home Club’. This particular afternoon he chose to spend his time alone in the house doing his homework, hoping to get it done so that he could take a nap while the others were working on theirs, and avoid Seiya asking him for help.

A couple of hours after school had ended, the car pulled into the driveway, and Yaten glanced up as the door swung open and Taiki shuffled inside, a grocery bag tucked under each arm. He used his foot to push the door closed behind him, moving immediately towards the dining room table and setting down the groceries.

"Wasn’t it Seiya’s turn to cook tonight?" Yaten questioned, lightly tapping his pencil against his cheek.

"Yes, but football practice is going to be running long, so he and I are switching duties," Taiki said simply, adjusting his glasses on his nose. The gesture aptly served to cover whatever expression might have flickered across his face in the moment he spoke; did he feel the same flash of disapproval that Yaten did, hearing Taiki speak those words?

"Football practice?" Yaten repeated, eyebrows lifting.

"Yes," Taiki said with a simple nod, and then he tilted his head, lifting an eyebrow towards Yaten. "What’s the matter?"

Yaten frowned slightly, then shook his head, forcing his expression to relax.

"Nothing," he muttered, then leaned forward to peek into the nearest bag, from which he could distinctly smell fresh French bread. "What’re you going to make?"

"Nothing special," Taiki said with a slight smile, a look of fondness flashing through his bright lavender eyes as he watched Yaten’s expression swiftly change from annoyance to interest to delight when he saw the assortment of favorite foods in the grocery bag.

"It looks good to me. Better than whatever Seiya-baka had planned," Yaten said, still peering wide-eyed into the bag as Taiki laughed and reached out to pick up the other bag. As he passed Yaten, he reached out to gently brush his hand through Yaten’s hair, a familiar yet rare gesture that made Yaten lift his head and smile.

"That’s good," Taiki said, turning to favor Yaten with a gentle grin before he emptied the contents of his grocery bag out onto the counter and set to cleaning and chopping the vegetables.

The phone rang just a few minutes later, just as Yaten was closing up his textbooks, having finished for the night.

"I’ll get it," Taiki said, wiping off his hands and swiftly moving towards the phone. Yaten sighed and rolled his eyes. Taiki probably didn’t trust him to politely answer the phone, but he was perfectly capable…as long as it wasn’t someone annoying and pointless.

"Ah…Mizuno-kun! Thank you for calling!"

Yaten stiffened a bit when he heard those words. He listened idly to Taiki’s side of the conversation as Taiki spoke for several minutes to Juuban’s other resident genius.  

"That would be wonderful. Thank you, Mizuno-kun. Absolutely. Thank you. Wednesday, then. Good day."

Taiki placed down the phone and sighed softly, running a hand through his hair, thinking to himself about the schedule for the upcoming week. The thoughts flew out of his head, however, when he wandered back into the kitchen and saw Yaten at the counter, sleeves rolled up to his elbows, carefully chopping vegetables.

"So? What does the illustrious ‘Mizuno-kun’ have to say?" Yaten asked, not bothering to turn around as he made swift work of a carrot.

Taiki blinked, then pinched the bridge of his nose.

"She and I are meeting on Wednesday to do a project for the computer club," Taiki said, lowering his hand and lifting an eyebrow, even though Yaten remained turned away from him. His voice became a bit sarcastic as he continued to say, "Is that all right with you?"

"Hm…I don’t care. As long as you mooning over her doesn’t interfere with doing your job and us spreading our message, I don’t care," Yaten said, shrugging one shoulder casually. The loose neckline of the shirt he’d changed into after school followed the motion of his shrug, sliding down off his shoulder, exposing quite a bit of pale skin. He didn’t seem to mind, merely shaking his head slightly, but Taiki swallowed sharply.

"Why are you nervous?" Yaten questioned evenly, still without turning around, his hands almost mechanically picking up each vegetable, cutting it up, and then moving on to the next one.

Taiki didn’t respond by asking how Yaten knew he was feeling. Unlike Seiya, Taiki was always mindful of Yaten’s empathy…he would have found it impossible to casually forget.

"I…" Taiki swallowed again, glancing downwards. "It’s Seiya. There’s something I had wanted…"

"What about me?"

Finally, Yaten turned around, seeming mildly startled by the bang of the screen door as Seiya stepped inside.

"Yo," Seiya said, grinning and giving a light-hearted salute as he exchanged his shoes for his slippers, then moved further into the room, dropping his sports bag on the way. "Mm…French bread. Good choice. But, sorry, Taiki. About not making it in time to cook dinner, I mean."

"Not at all," Taiki said, waving a hand and smiling.

"Seriously though, what were you guys talking about? I heard my name," Seiya said with a grin as he moved up behind Yaten to check out the assortment of vegetables, probably trying to guess what was for dinner.

"Get away from me, baka…you smell like a men’s locker room," Yaten said, wrinkling his nose as he turned back to the cutting board.

"Oh really?" Seiya said, grin widening as he closed his arms around Yaten’s shoulders from behind, laughing when Yaten cried out in louder protest at this. "That’s funny…I didn’t even know you’d ever been *in* a men’s locker room."

"Let me go, Seiya!!" Yaten said, squirming back against Seiya, trying valiantly to get an elbow into the taller boy’s gut. "You’re probably getting your disgusting sweat all over me."

"Aw, you’re no fun," Seiya said, letting Yaten go with a last tug on his ponytail and turning away.

"Itai!! Kono yarou!" Yaten yelled, turning almost by instinct, luckily remembering to drop the knife before he adjusted his balance and kicked outwards, aiming quite clearly for Seiya’s butt. His expression shifted into one of surprise and then quickly frustration when Seiya swiftly turned and caught Yaten’s leg before his foot connected.

"Now, now…temper temper," Seiya said with a quick smirk before he jerked upwards and twisted his hands. Yaten cried out in dismay as he was pulled sharply upwards, entirely off balance. In the next second, his back hit the kitchen floor hard, and he grunted, instinctively lifting his knees, preparing to spring back up. But Seiya was too fast for him, already leaning over him, pinning him to the ground.

Seiya opened his mouth to speak---undoubtedly to say something extremely smug and annoying---but before he could even make a sound, the breath whooshed out of him as Yaten drove a small yet powerful fist up into his friend’s stomach. When Seiya instinctively started to curl, Yaten used that moment to buck upwards, throwing Seiya’s balance off. Within a second, Yaten was behind Seiya, an arm around his neck, forearm so tightly against Seiya’s chin that Seiya’s next breath was towards a choke.

"What’d you say?" Yaten murmured into Seiya’s ear.

Seiya coughed slightly when Yaten relaxed his grip just enough for Seiya to vocalize.

"Ano…I think I was just apologizing for bugging you?" Seiya ventured, turning his head just enough to offer Yaten a grin, his eyes twinkling.

"Damn right," Yaten said, tilting his head and offering the slightest smile of his own before he relaxed his grip entirely, arm sliding away from Seiya’s neck.

Taiki had been watching all of this from one side, leaning against the table, somewhat out of the way.

"Are you quite finished?" he asked, adjusting his glasses and regarding them both with a look of vaguely exasperated amusement.

"Yes," Yaten said as he got to his feet, Seiya slowly rising next to him. "And don’t look at me like that. I was only demonstrating my…"

"…overruling power and authority; yeah, we all get it," Seiya said as he casually stepped in front of Yaten and, bending slightly, scooped Yaten up and over his shoulder in the style that a fireman would have carried someone out of a burning building.

"Oi!!" Yaten screeched, shocked and offended by this sudden motion, not to mention Seiya’s hand on his butt, keeping him steady. "Seiya!! Put me down!!"

"Hai, hai," Seiya said with a grin, taking the few steps towards Taiki. "Hey, hold out your arms."

Taiki sighed, but held up his arms, preparing himself for the next step.

"Hey!!" Yaten shouted as Seiya swung him around and deposited him neatly into Taiki’s arms.

"Take care of this while I’m in the shower, would you? Thanks," Seiya said, patting Taiki on the shoulder. "I think he only eats three times a day, and luckily he naps most of the rest of the time, so he shouldn’t be too much trouble."

"KONO BAKA!!!" Yaten yelled at the top of his lungs as he struggled in Taiki’s grip, trying his damnedest to leap after Seiya, who was by then well on the way to the bathroom.

"Oh, and one more thing," Seiya said, still grinning when he turned back and pointed a commanding finger towards Taiki. "Make sure you’re good to him while I’m gone."

His gaze focused on Yaten’s with an odd intensity for a moment, and Yaten froze in Taiki’s arms, breath going suddenly, disturbingly still in his chest.

"Kare ga suki da," Seiya said, and then he winked, laughing uproariously as he disappeared into the bathroom. Within moments, they heard the sounds of the shower.

"Freons," Taiki murmured after a moment, almost under his breath. But Yaten heard him and looked up, feeling as though Taiki’s voice had shattered some kind of spell.

"Huh?"

"Freons. I suspect it may be the freons in the air," Taiki mused, eyes twinkling as he glanced down at Yaten. "They say the effects can be devastating, after all."

Yaten merely stared at him, apparently entirely lost.

"Never mind," Taiki said with a patient smile. "Would you like me to put you down now?"

"E? Oh…yes," Yaten said, brow furrowing as Taiki gently lowered him to the ground.

"Excuse me," Taiki murmured as he slipped past Yaten and made his way to the counter to finish with the last of the vegetables, leaving Yaten to stand still, staring at the wall across from him, contemplating his situation in silence.

Each moment he spent with Seiya, matters seemed to become more and more serious. Why was Seiya so intent on badgering him lately, and why did Yaten respond when usually he would just ignore it? What was this urge to…to touch, to interact, to talk…to do *anything* other than ignore?

How much longer could he take this?

*****

END PART THIRTEEN