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 Nine: Imaginary

Glossary:
aa - yeah
ano - um
ara - oh
chikusho - damn
ee - yes
gomen nasai/gomen ne - I’m sorry
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
sugoi - amazing; cool; incredible

*****
Give unto me your troubles
I'll endure your suffering
Place onto me your burden
I'll drink your deadly poison
*****

"Seiya…"

"I’m really not sure," Seiya said in response to Usagi’s question. His eyes swept the living and dining areas once just in case, but he shook his head when he saw no sign of the kitten. "I actually haven’t seen her since she had her breakfast."

"Seiya…" Yaten repeated, gritting his teeth. He could feel several sets of eyes turn towards him this time, but Seiya continued on, ignoring him.

"She’ll probably be upstairs sleeping it off," Seiya continued with a soft chuckle. "She’s like Yaten that way."

Despite herself, Usagi smiled at that remark, and Yaten started to grind his teeth when Minako stepped up a little closer to him.

"Yaten-san, I *love* your pajamas," she said, her tone bordering on a gush.

/That’s it./

"*Seiya*," he said, his voice rising to a snap, entirely uncaring at this point of whether he made any sort of bad impression on their guests---*Seiya’s* guests. He watched, somewhat satisfied, as Seiya quickly turned his head, looking shocked by Yaten’s tone. Yaten glared at him, ignoring the stunned looks that spread over the girls’ faces, and the wince he caught on Taiki’s face out of the corner of his eye.

"May I speak to you for a second?" Yaten said with another sickly sweet smile, feigning politeness as he gestured towards the stairs.

"Of course," Seiya said evenly, nodding once before he turned back to the girls. "Please, ladies, make yourselves at home…we’ll try not to be long."

The girls nodded somewhat reluctantly as Seiya turned to Yaten and indicated the stairs. Yaten sent Seiya another glare before heading for the staircase.

"You coming, Taiki?" Seiya asked, watching as Yaten stomped up the stairs.

"Yes," Taiki said quietly, sounding mildly amused, one corner of his mouth twitching ever so slightly. Seiya turned back to wink once at the girls, trying to reassure them that there was no problem, before he followed the tallest Light up into the relative privacy of the upstairs hallway.

By the time they got there, Yaten was no longer in sight. Seiya cleared his throat loudly and knocked once on Yaten’s closed door.

"Wait," came Yaten’s curt reply from the other side, so Seiya folded his arms and turned to roll his eyes at Taiki, who smiled and shrugged, then decided to take Yaten’s cue. Seiya watched as Taiki disappeared into his room to get dressed, then shrugged again before heading into his own room.

No more than a few minutes later, just as Seiya was attempting to brush the worst of the tangles out of his hair, he heard a familiar harsh voice out in the hallway, thankfully speaking in an undertone for once. Seiya grabbed a pair of pants on his way out the door, and he must have presented a somewhat comical sight the way he was hopping around, trying to walk and get into his pants at the same time, because Taiki smiled as soon as he saw him.  

Yaten, however, did *not* seem amused.

"Seiya," Yaten hissed immediately, spitting out the name as though it was a foul epithet. "What do you think you’re doing, inviting them over here without consulting us!?"

"Oh, I don’t know…" Seiya said with a shrug, hopping on one foot for a moment as he made a more genuine attempt to get at least one leg actually into his pants, and ended up stumbling into the wall instead. Taiki had to lift a hand to cover his mouth, and ended up getting Yaten’s glare turned in his direction for his efforts.

"I guess I thought maybe I was being sociable?" Seiya suggested, pasting a thoughtful look on his face as he finally managed to get his pants on and then concentrated his full attention on zipping them up. The last thing he wanted to do at the moment was get anything caught.

"We don’t have time to be sociable," Yaten snapped, emerald eyes flashing. "Today is a studio day; we are *not* canceling."

"Who says we have to?" Seiya said with another shrug, this time adding one of his most winning grins. "It’s still early…we weren’t going to head to the studio ‘til three."

"But we were going to get caught up on homework before then," Taiki pointed out, and again he smiled lopsidedly when he saw the almost imperceptible flinch that passed across Seiya’s face.

"At least *someone* else understands reason," Yaten grumbled, folding his arms over his chest and glowering at Seiya.

"So?" Seiya said with yet another shrug. "We can do that too. But we need to work this in too. They’re seriously here to help, guys."

"With the cat," Yaten said, narrowing his eyes.

"Yeah, with the cat," Seiya said, returning Yaten’s stare. "We all want to get over this stumbling block, right? And get on with our lives, right? But giving up Shiruku is not an option, *right*?"

There was silence for a long moment…far too long for Seiya’s liking. Yaten was staring at the floor, frowning deeply, and Taiki was watching Yaten, his expression unreadable.

"Right," Taiki said finally, turning back to Seiya and nodding. Yaten glanced up at Taiki, obviously surprised, the frown fading slightly.

"Ne, Yaten?" Seiya insisted, keeping his gaze focused on the oldest Light.

Yaten paused for another moment while Seiya and Taiki watched and waited, then finally rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Right," he said, feigning reluctance, but he sounded oddly relieved, as though their insistence had taken some kind of weight from his own conscience.

"Right," Seiya said with a firm nod. "SO, I figure the girls can help us. They have more experience with this kind of thing than we do, for obvious reasons."

After another pause, Yaten finally sighed again and nodded.

"All right…all right," he said, this time with genuine reluctance. "I suppose it’s worth a try."

"Chikusho…you’d think you’d be happy," Seiya said with a little smirk, folding his arms and regarding Yaten with one eyebrow raised. "Odango brought along Luna, after all."

Yaten didn’t answer, instead rolling his eyes once before he turned on his heel and disappeared into his room. Taiki watched him go, then turned to Seiya, shrugged once, and started down the stairs.

"OK!" Seiya yelled as he bounded down the stairs and into the living room, where the girls were settled on the couch, chattering happily. They quieted when Seiya and Taiki appeared in the room. "So, girls, what’s next? What do you need?"

"Not much," Makoto admitted with a warm smile, obviously affected by Seiya’s apparent cheerfulness.

"A cat, to begin with," Rei added.

"Ah, that’s right!" Seiya said, clapping his hands together once and turning back to glance at the stairs. "Ano…I have a feeling that Yaten might be looking for her, actually…in the meantime, can I get you girls anything to eat or drink?"

"I could make some tea or coffee, if you like," Taiki offered with a polite smile, and when the girls all spoke up to say that tea would be nice, Taiki nodded to Seiya and then disappeared into the kitchen.

"Ano…I brought some cakes, if anyone wants any," Makoto spoke up, lifting the bag she’d brought along.

"Mm…you know I’d take your cakes anytime, Kino-san," Seiya said with a wink, and Makoto blushed slightly, obviously pleased, before she moved off into the kitchen to fetch plates. The others listened as Makoto and Taiki struck up a conversation which soon became quite animated, about the recipe she’d used.

Seiya smiled as he plopped himself down in the nearest armchair.

"Taiki’s been considering joining the cooking club ever since he went on that television show with Kino-san," Seiya said, noticing the surprised looks on some of the girls’ faces. Usagi blushed instantly at the mention of the cooking show she’d made such a fool of herself on, and the other girls, obviously thinking the same thing, all turned to look at her.

"You mean the one Usagi ruined on live television?" Rei said, verging on a sneer.

Seiya couldn’t help but chuckle at the way Usagi shrank down as though she was trying to hide herself from everyone’s prying eyes.

"Yeah, that’s the one," Seiya said, and he winked at Usagi when she sent him a pouty glare.

A moment passed in silence, until Seiya, who had an extremely short attention span, started to get the urge to fidget.

"Oi, Yaten!" Seiya called towards the stairs. "D’you think you’ll be coming down some time before next semester!?"

"Yeah…coming!" came the response, and a moment later Yaten came down the stairs, cradling Shiruku against his chest. As soon as the girls saw her, they all broke out in a chorus of squeals at how adorable she was and how grown up she’d gotten since they’d last seen her. Taiki and Makoto finished with the cakes and came back into the living room just in time to see what all the fuss was about, and Makoto added her own praises to her classmates’ before handing the plates around.

Everyone spent the next half hour as companionably as any group of friends might have: drinking tea, eating Makoto’s cakes, and chatting, mainly about what they all planned to do when summer break arrived, since the time was drawing nearer with each passing day. Minako was excited about the possibility of a camping trip, insisting fervently that one was sure to find romance on a camping trip, which made everyone laugh except Yaten, who was only half paying attention to the others. He was more interested in Shiruku: he was down on the floor, playing with her. None of the guests seemed to mind. In fact, a few times Minako even sighed, as though she found the sight of Yaten Kou playing on the floor with a tiny kitten particularly romantic.

Eventually everyone finished with the refreshments, and as Taiki and Makoto got up to clear them away, Seiya took the initiative and again asked the girls what they needed.

"No, nothing!" Usagi said, shaking her head emphatically and then getting up to physically shoo Seiya away. "We don’t need anything. You three do whatever you need to do, all that important idol stuff you’re always doing, and you just leave us with Shiruku-chan and we’ll take care of everything!"

She finished off this pronouncement with a somewhat mischievous sounding giggle that instantly made Yaten’s head snap upwards.

"Wait a minute," he said, frowning a bit as he got to his feet, letting out a soft sound of protest when she proceeded to shoo him towards the stairs along with Seiya. "I’m not so sure about…"

"Don’t worry!" "We’ll be fine!" the girls chorused as they all joined in, sweeping the two teens to the foot of the stairs before they turned their attention to the kitten, who had already been cornered by Artemis and Luna.

"Oh, and Yaten-kun!" Minako called merrily, turning back and waving at him as though he was across a parking lot rather than the room. "We’ll need access to the litter box, of course."

"Ah, of course, of course!" the girls all said, chuckling.

Seiya laughed, rubbing the back of his head.

"It’s in my room," Yaten said, grinding his teeth quietly as he contemplated, yet again, the worth of this exercise. He closed his eyes and sighed softly, resigning himself. "It’s the second door on the right, upstairs. Don’t touch anything but the cat stuff, all right?"

With that, he turned on his heel and made his way up the stairs, this time light on his feet in the hopes of being ignored. Luckily for him, the girls were back to paying attention only to the cats, who seemed to be getting along rather well together. Unluckily, he could feel Seiya’s eyes following him the whole way, and by the time Yaten came back out of his room with his keyboard under one arm and a fresh notebook in the other hand, Seiya was still standing at the bottom of the stairs, obviously waiting to see what Yaten was going to do.

"Homework can wait," Yaten said testily, seeing Seiya’s raised eyebrows. "I’m going to test out a few things before we head over to the studio."

"All right," Seiya said simply, watching as Yaten made his way down the downstairs hallway into the den and then beyond into the music room, shutting himself away there. A glance at Taiki, who was clearing away the kitchen table and setting up a fair collection of text books, told Seiya that he might as well resign himself to a slow day, unless he wanted to bother the girls, and he really didn’t want to until they decided to let him in on the secret to an obedient cat. Seiya sighed and ran a hand through his hair, fighting the urge to groan.

Homework. What a way to spend a Sunday morning.

*****

Seiya lifted his head and pulled down one of his earphones when he heard a soft tap and then the squeal of hinges as his door opened a bit. He blinked as a familiar set of golden odango poked through the doorway.

"And what’s this room…? Ara? Seiya!" A faint blush instantly spread over Usagi’s cheeks as she straightened. "Gomen ne, Seiya…I didn’t mean to intrude. I was just looking for the bathroom. Gomen nasai."

She started to bow her way out the door, pulling it closed behind her, but by then Seiya had already tossed aside his headphones and homework and bounced off the bed.

"Odango!" he called out, stopping her in her tracks. "It’s okay! You don’t have to skitter off…you’re perfectly welcome."

Usagi opened the door again, but the blush had grown worse.

"In your bedroom?" she asked uncertainly, and Seiya laughed.

"Sure!" he said, quickly checking around to make sure she wouldn’t see anything unusual, like a bra hanging out of a drawer. Usually he was careful about that sort of thing, but it was always good to make sure. "I don’t have anything to hide."

Usagi continued to look uncomfortable, but the promise of a look around the idol’s bedroom obviously interested her enough for her to get over her hesitation, because she did eventually step over the threshold.

"Sugoi…" she whispered as she eyed the collection of Three Lights memorabilia that was slowly collecting dust on his bookshelves. She spotted a Seiya UFO catcher doll and started to giggle, bringing up a hand in an attempt to stop herself, but he just grinned and shrugged.

"What can I say…I thought it was cute," Seiya said with a smirk. "You should see the Yaten one, though: it’s the greatest. He was completely scandalized…said it makes him look short."

Usagi wisely decided not to comment on that as she continued to look at his collection and then came to his desk. She blinked as she stared down at the messy collection of papers and notebooks, all covered in messy script that made her feel considerably better about her own neat, if juvenile, writing.

"You’re not the only one who’s had their writing bashed by Yaten," Seiya said dryly from just over her shoulder, and Usagi jumped, startled. She’d almost forgotten he was there, she’d become so engrossed in reading some of the writing on the scattered papers…bits and pieces of lyrics, jotted down carelessly as they came to him. She glanced up towards him, guilt spreading over her face, but she relaxed when she saw the warm smile on his face.

Her eyes moved up to the vase of fresh roses on the back of the desk, and Seiya watched curiously as the small smile on her face suddenly froze and then changed, becoming bittersweet, almost nostalgic. He tilted his head, feeling his heart beat starting to change, becoming the slow pound it always changed to when it was trying to tell him something. Again, that air of mystery surrounding this girl…she certainly had her secrets, that much was clear. What was she thinking about, when she looked at those roses? What could possibly make such a sweet girl so sad?

"Do you always keep red roses?" she asked softly, reaching out to touch a petal, stroking it with something akin to fondness. He blinked, surprised both by the question and by her actions.

"Yeah, I do," he said with a nod, and because her question implied another, he continued on. As he spoke, he reached out and pulled a single rose out of the bouquet, taking care to avoid the thorns---he always chose roses with the thorns intact, whether out of irony or just because he hated it when things had to be changed solely for the sake of appearances---and lifted it to his nose, gently inhaling the fragrance. Usagi turned, watching him, the same saddened look in her eyes.

"Their color, and somehow even their scent, reminds me of a woman who means a lot to me," Seiya told her, his voice growing quiet and low. When he lifted his eyes over the folds of the rose to meet hers, he was surprised to see the knowing look deep in her gaze.

"Is that the woman you’re looking for?" Usagi asked, her voice innocently curious, but that look in her eyes…

He almost shivered. For a moment it felt almost as if she *knew*…but then he shook that off. There was no way.

"How…do you know?" he asked, blinking slowly.

"In your songs, you often sing about a woman you’re looking for," Usagi said, smiling as she turned and walked towards the last bookshelf, eyeing Seiya’s books. "You sing about her as though she’s very important to you…more important than anyone."

Seiya stared at her. He knew he shouldn’t be surprised…he had always known that there was more to this girl than met the eye. But still, the fact that such insight lurked beneath her often bubble-headed exterior both startled and excited him.

"Aa," Seiya said, his voice rasping slightly. "These flowers remind me of her. I’m not even sure why. The color is wrong…nowhere near this dark…her hair is more the color of bright summer poppies. And the scent…hers is the scent of sweet olive blossoms…"

His voice trailed off into a whisper and he closed his eyes, his face twisted in an expression of pain.

"Olive blossoms?" Usagi repeated, sounding surprised. She stepped a little closer to him, and he opened his eyes, the pain vanishing as he looked down at her, at the curiosity on her face. He almost smiled when he saw it, and the concern that lurked deeper, in her eyes; she was trying to draw him out of the depression he was falling into.

"Is that the scent I catch sometimes around you?" Usagi asked, smiling slightly when she saw the warmth that passed over Seiya’s face.

He nodded.

"Yes…where we come from, there were many of them."

"I’ve never seen one…and I didn’t know what the scent was, until you mentioned it just now," Usagi confessed.

"Hm…wait a second, okay?" Seiya said with a quick wink before he turned and made his way to the closet, pulling something out of a box down in the far corner and brushing off dust before he walked back over to her. "Here…this is what olive blossoms look like."

He handed her a framed picture, a colored sketch done in some kind of artistic pencils. The subject of the picture was a beautiful bouquet of small orange flowers nestled together amongst large, brilliant green leaves. The picture itself was exquisite, obviously penciled by an experienced hand, someone with a true talent. Usagi gasped.

"They’re beautiful!" she whispered, brushing her hands over the glass of the picture.

"Yeah, they are," Seiya agreed, leaning over her shoulder to stare at the picture and smiling as he experienced a few fleeting memories of the day it had been drawn.

"And it’s so beautifully drawn," Usagi said, tracing the veins in the leaves with her fingertips, admiration shimmering in her eyes. She was sure Michiru would have loved to see this. "Who drew this?"

/A bitter-hearted little girl with a hidden passion for beautiful things,/ Seiya’s mind provided automatically, and he smiled to himself.

"Did you draw this, Seiya?"

"Me?" Seiya repeated, and then he laughed. "No…I couldn’t draw to save my life. It’s one of Yaten’s."

"Yaten-kun drew this?" Usagi gasped, staring between Seiya and the painting.

Seiya laughed again.

"I know, hard to believe, isn’t it? But Yaten isn’t really all arrogance and scorn. He just acts that way."

"No…that’s not what I meant," Usagi demurred, blushing. "It’s just…so beautiful. I admire Yaten-kun very much, to have such a gift. I had no idea he was so talented. To be a musician and an artist…"

She sighed, handing him the picture as she grinned.

"I’m jealous!" she said with a little giggle. He grinned back at her, then watched as her attention turned to the bed.

"Ara? What’s this…?"

His eyes followed hers, just in time to spot what her attention had turned to. His eyes widened, panic flooding him. Oh yeah. He’d forgotten *that* little bit of embarrassment.

"Ano…didn’t you say you needed the bathroom, Odango? It’s just down the hall…"

"Seiya, what’s this?" Her hands reached for a scrap piece of paper lying on top of his open math notebook, and without thinking, he reached out to grab it before she could and ended up colliding with her in the process. Their legs tangled together and, each of them letting out rather effeminate shrieks, they tumbled to the bed.

Seiya looked up a moment later, a bit disoriented, to find himself lying on top of her, one leg between hers, his face just inches from hers. More than that, their hands, which had both been reaching for the scrap piece of paper, had ended up grabbing for something to hold onto during the fall, and had ended up tangled together, fingers intertwined. With his other hand, he raised himself up off of her slightly and stared down at her, brow furrowing in concern, trying to stave off his embarrassment even though he could feel himself flushing. The beautiful pink blush spreading over her cheeks wasn’t helping him any, either.

"You okay, Odango?" he asked her, and he cringed slightly when he heard how husky his voice sounded.

"Ee…I think so…" she answered, blinking several times before she focused on his eyes, and her blush went from pink to bright red. Then, as though it gave her something else to focus on, she turned her head and noticed the paper lying just a couple of centimetres from their joined hands. Using her free hand, she twisted her body slightly, ignoring the way Seiya stiffened and caught his breath at the way she moved against him, and reached across to grab the paper. She felt him freeze again, this time with mortification.

"Seiya!" she exclaimed, startled. "I thought you said you couldn’t draw!"

"I can’t!" he groaned, slowly backing up off of her, letting go of her hand, and watching as she sat up, staring with fascination at the sketch in her hands. "Can’t you see that!?"

"I think it’s very good!" she said with her usual painful honesty, and he watched as, just with Yaten’s picture, she brought her fingers up to lightly trace the lines of the picture. His eyes followed her delicate fingertips as they moved along the silvery pencil shadows, tracing the outline of a slender face, sorrowful eyes and long hair that trailed off the page.

"It’s Yaten-kun, isn’t it?" Usagi asked, no inflection other than the same gentle curiosity in her voice.

Seiya fought not to groan again.

"Aa," he agreed, and he watched her face for a reaction.

"I think it’s beautiful," she said, turning to hand him the picture. "You should show him."

"No!" Seiya said sharply, and Usagi smiled slightly. "No, there’s absolutely no way."

"Why not? He might like it."

"Are you nuts? He’d make fun of me endlessly."

"You don’t know that," Usagi chided him, grinning as she got to her feet. "This isn’t like you, Seiya…you have more confidence in yourself than this."

"You have no idea," he said honestly, quickly hiding the drawing beneath his notebook. "Odango, please…don’t mention this to the others at all. Please?"

She glanced at him, at the earnest pleading on his face.

"Of course," she said with a slight bow, and then a look of pleading came to her own face. "Now can you remind me where the bathroom is, please?"

He laughed and got to his feet.

"I’ll show you…it’s just down the hall, that way," he said, pointing it out to her as he led her to his bedroom door and into the hallway. He watched as she made her way safely to the bathroom, and then his eyes moved to where Rei stood just down the hall, in the doorway to Yaten’s room. Seiya paused, about to turn back into his room, surprised by the intensity in Rei’s eyes as she regarded him silently.

Seiya blinked and swallowed. How much of all of that had she just heard and/or seen? He decided to act as though he didn’t notice the protectiveness she was wafting in his direction, instead giving her a roguish grin and a little salute before disappearing back into his room and shutting the door. Not that he’d be able to get any homework done *now*, he thought with a sigh as he let himself fall back against the doorway with a soft thud.

/What the hell am I going to do!?/

*****

Taiki glanced up, blinking a bit blearily, when a set of two shadows fell over the dining table, obscuring his textbook.

He instantly straightened in his chair when he saw Ami and Makoto smiling brightly at him.

"Ara, Taiki-san," Makoto said, a teasing note in her voice as she wagged a finger at him. "You looked like you were about to fall asleep."

"Haven’t you been getting enough sleep lately?" Ami asked gently, in a tone of genuine motherly concern, but there was a twinkle in her eye that, even from his limited association with her, he already recognized as somewhat mischievous.

"No…not really, to be honest," he confessed, and then he apologized as he had to hide a yawn behind a hand. The two girls chuckled, Makoto shaking her head.

"Well, I have some good news," Makoto said with a wink and a grin.

"Oh?" Taiki said, raising his eyebrows questioningly.

"You don’t have to worry about lunch today, because I’m making something for all of us," Makoto said, and she laughed when Taiki blinked in surprise. "If you don’t mind me using your kitchen again, that is."

"N…no, not at all," Taiki said quickly, and then he blushed a bit when Makoto chuckled and patted his shoulder before moving off into the kitchen. Taiki and Ami watched as she poked into the fridge, looking for materials.

"Hm…not good," Makoto murmured to herself. "Well…I’m just going to run to the store and get some things. I’ll be back soon, okay?"

"Do you need a ride?" Taiki offered.

"No, I’ll be fine, but thanks," Makoto said with a grin before she slipped on her shoes and disappeared out the door.

By the time Taiki turned his attention back to Ami, she…wasn’t there anymore. Taiki blinked, gaping, and then jumped when he felt a slight motion just behind his shoulder.

"You forgot to carry the two," Ami murmured, bending down over his shoulder and pointing to a number on the page in his open notebook. He glanced up at her, blinking in disbelief. Seemingly out of nowhere, she had produced her reading glasses, and now she smiled down at him warmly from behind them, meeting his eyes.

He followed the line of her finger down to the problem on the page, and took her words into account as he ran his eyes down towards where he had left a blank answer. Everything he’d come up with had seemed impossible. 

"I thought it didn’t make sense…" he murmured, erasing the earlier parts of the equation and then bending to correct the problem. He glanced up to watch as Ami settled into the chair nearest to him, around the corner of the table from him.

"How’s it going?" he asked politely, and she smiled, pulling off her glasses.

"Well, as far as I know," she said, and her smile widened a bit when he blinked yet again.

"As far as you know?"

"Mm," she agreed with a nod. "We’re leaving Shiruku-chan alone with Luna and Artemis, now."

"Oh?" Taiki asked, lifting an eyebrow.

She chuckled softly at the obvious skepticism in his voice.

"Yes," she agreed with a nod. "Usagi-chan feels that Luna and Artemis can best teach Shiruku-chan if we give the three of them some time alone together."

Taiki eyed her for a moment in silence before clearing his throat and adjusting his glasses on his nose. Ami held up a hand and laughed before he could speak, surprising him.

"You’d be surprised," she said softly, that same warm twinkle in her eye, and despite himself, he found himself unwilling to argue when she put it like that.

"All right," he murmured, shaking his head. After all…the last time he had felt something to be a certainty and she had surprised him, he had come away permanently changed. To say that he had faith in her ability to surprise him would have been an understatement.

"Mizuno-kun," he said, his voice strangely quiet due to the turn his thoughts had taken.

"Yes?" she replied, tilting her head curiously, brow furrowing slightly.

He smiled, but his eyes held a hint of a challenge.

"What do you think of the principle of…?"

He chose a random theorem he had been reading about over the last few days, something he felt certain would spark her interest.

Ami’s eyes lit up and she leaned back in her seat, folding her hands in her lap.

"Well, Taiki-san, I’m glad you asked, because recently I read an article on the website of the University of California, San Francisco, which stated…"

Some things, Taiki thought, were *infinitely* more interesting than math homework.

*****

Yaten sighed, closing his eyes and dropping his head to rest against his hand. It wasn’t coming…he couldn’t seem to pull his creative energy together today. Not that he had ever had Seiya’s drive, or Taiki’s discipline. But passion was something he usually had plenty of…when he thought of her, lost out there somewhere, *alone*, without her protectors…all it took, usually, was that simple thought, and he would and could do anything. Lyrics, music…whatever was required of him, all of the things that had once been so foreign to him, that he’d had to teach himself when they started looking for her, knowing that the only hope they had was to reach her through their song…

But it wasn’t coming. His fingertips were still and dead against the keyboard, the soft electronic hum seeming shrill and harsh to his ears as he cursed himself for his own weakness. What was wrong with him!? He couldn’t afford to be dull, couldn’t afford to be distracted…he couldn’t afford to have those kinds of luxuries. He had a sacred duty to uphold.

Sighing again, he placed the keyboard aside and moved slowly towards the piano, slumping down to sit at the bench and letting his fingertips drift lightly over the surface of the keys, familiarizing himself with them. He wondered if he might get some response from this instead… It wasn’t often that he played. He *could* play, certainly. Piano was among the dozens of instruments the three of them had forced themselves to learn not only to play, but to play *perfectly*, when they had come to this place. But piano was not among the instruments that Yaten had found a particular affinity for, unlike the others.

Taiki had a flair for the instrument, a charming and hip jazzy style that only accented the skill and precision with the piano that had won him his position as the Three Lights’ primary keyboardist. And Seiya…when Seiya’s hands met the keys of a piano, the melodies that were produced were usually so sweet and melancholic, so evocative of the nostalgia of yearning, *aching* for a lost home, that on the few occasions when he had played the piano in front of others, the fans had been left weeping or had had to leave, unable to take the grief in his music. Taiki and Yaten, for their part, could never leave the room when Seiya played the piano, transfixed by the sadness of it, by the anguish on his face as he played, and frozen in place by their own agony.

Now, as Yaten sat at the piano and contemplated the keys, the contrast between the pure ivory and the paleness of his own skin, he wished for either extreme…that he might possess either Taiki’s ability to close off his emotions and show only cold precision to the world, or Seiya’s natural tendency to let his emotions hang on his shirt sleeve for all to see, his only mask one of the genuine optimism and good humor he strove to keep with him in every aspect of his life.

He glanced up, carelessly looking over the notes on the page that was standing on the piano top, waiting to be played. As his eyes swept the page, his fingers began to move almost of their own accord, sliding along the length of the piano, fingertips caressing the keys with the gentle touch of a lover. When it came to music, he was incapable of holding back his passion, and he soon found himself closing his eyes, repeating the simple melody on the few pages after he’d finished turning them, after he’d memorized them, the memory fresh in his fingers. He found the melody quite pleasing…oddly calming. It would be lovely as a duet with a stringed instrument, perhaps a violin or a cello, or even played with a string quartet or quintet…

His thoughts were shattered by the sound of a sharp intake of breath somewhere to his right, and that single sound broke the bubble that had surrounded him, his hands instantly stilling against the keys. His eyes snapped open and he turned, even as his senses awoke from the pleasant haze they had fallen under and he recognized the presence of another person…not an entirely unknown person, but not familiar enough for him to tell who it was without looking.

Minako was standing just instead the doorway, leaning against the closed door, her hands clasped to her chest as though in prayer, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears. Yaten blinked, his frown fading slightly when he saw this.

"Beautiful…" Minako whispered, bringing up a hand to touch her lips, smiling softly. "It sounded so beautiful when you played it. Thank you so much, Yaten-kun."

Yaten’s eyes widened slightly and he relaxed a bit against the stool, trying to tell his senses that this girl wasn’t a threat.

"For what?" he asked her, honestly confused.

"My song," Minako said, slowly walking forward and pointing to the pages that still lay open on the piano top. She smiled again, a soft smile made all the more lovely by the silvery tears in her eyes as she gazed at him gratefully, and almost…lovingly. "You were playing my song."

"Oh…was I?" he said, turning to glance at the sheets and realizing that yes, it was the music she had given him for his birthday. He hadn’t actually paid much attention to it up until today, and he hadn’t realized what he was playing until she mentioned it.

Her smile widened slightly.

"Yes," she said, bringing up a hand to wipe away her tears. "You were, and it sounded beautiful. Thank you."

Yaten was silent for a moment, instead reaching out to touch the pages, his eyes narrowing for a moment as he remembered the turn his thoughts had taken as he’d been lost in the music.

"You have a true talent," he said quietly, and he heard her gasp softly.

"Do you…do you really mean that?" she asked after a moment, sounding torn between excitement and disbelief.

"I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t," he said somewhat sharply, glancing at her. She only smiled at the severity in his bright green eyes. When he saw her smile, he seemed to try to force himself to lighten up, and after a moment she saw his eyes soften as he glanced back to the music.

"Can you sing?" he asked, his voice surprisingly soft.

"Oh, yes, yes!" Minako said with a confident laugh, the shakiness she had felt when she’d first come in on Yaten playing her song finally fading, replaced by her usual confidence. "The truth is, I want to be an idol, like you."

Yaten lifted an eyebrow at that, then offered her a slightly bitter smile.

"Why?" he asked, simply, his voice even…almost frighteningly even.

She blinked, for a moment stunned into silence.

"Why…? Well…because I want to be able to sing and dance…I want people to look at me and see me shining. I want people to see *me* the way I’ve always wanted to be seen…"

Her voice trailed off into startled silence when he snapped the cover shut over the piano’s keys with a loud bang and scraped the stool back, getting suddenly to his feet.

"Then you don’t want to be an idol," Yaten said in a low voice that approached a growl. His eyes met hers for a moment, and for the first time she could recall, she found him truly terrifying, the pure emerald shimmer of his eyes haunting as they tore into her.

"Wh…what?" she whispered, a hand at her heart as she watched him walk towards the door, stopping only to pick up his keyboard and his notebook.

"Because," he said as he paused at the door, a hand resting lightly on the handle, "if you’re an idol people only see you as that…an idol. They see you as a name, as the face on the posters…as an IDEA, something created by someone else, or something they’ve imagined in their own minds. Not a person. They don’t know who you really are, and they don’t care. They won’t see your shine. They’ll only see the reflection, and soon you’ll find you’ve poured your heart out for nothing, and there’s nothing left but that reflection…nothing but an empty shell. It’s an empty sacrifice. It’s NOTHING."

Leaving that as the last word to ring through the harsh silence of the room, he made his way out into the hallway. She jumped at the sound of the door slamming behind him, then closed her eyes as she let out a long, shuddering breath, trying to calm her racing heart.

Well, that hadn’t gone quite as expected…but then, with someone like Yaten-kun, surely nothing really ever could.

Minako’s eyes opened, and she found them prickling with the sensation of fresh tears as she stared at the closed door. She was hurt, not only by his words, but by the obvious pain underlying them. She had seen some of that during her brief time as the Three Lights’ assistant, but she had wondered if perhaps she was just too sensitive…but now, this was proof. And her heart ached for Yaten…and for all of them.

What had happened to him, to all of them, to leave them this bitter and sad!?

*****

END PART NINE