- MY TIME TO PLAY -
WARNING: If you are Seiya's fans please be patient, I'm not and I'm not treating him gently in this fic.
"I can't believe it!" The tall, attractive young man with black hair and a very long ponytail said stretching his face in a big, charming and extremely fake smile. Soon his companions figured out the reason of his behavior. A quite big crowd was waiting for them in the airport hall. There were reporters, paparazzi and many regular travelers drawn by curiosity towards the commotion and already searching for whatever could do for being signed as paper sheets, clothes, even parts of the body.
"How could they know?" The silver-haired and shorter of the men exclaimed annoyed, approaching a couple of girls who were crying for him. When he was close enough he sweatdropped when one of them offered him her own belly and a felt pen. He shot an incredulous look to his brothers, Taiki sweatdropped while smiling kindly at the young girl in front of him while Seiya winked to Yaten gesturing the already bunch of belly-buttons circled by his own autograph. Yaten rolled his eyes and grabbed the pen not wanting to play second fiddle to his older brother.
Their female companion had less noisy but equally enthusiastic fans. They were mostly boys and men who offered her flowers, stuffed animals and marriage proposals. But they were in general more classy, some of them wanted her to sign their copy of some classical score, CD of her solo concertos or their violin case.
When the crowd was held back a little by the agents of the airport security they decided to answer a couple of questions by the reporter to get over with that and continue their travel peacefully.
Like always Taiki was the one dealing with the serious matters like respond to boring questions, meanwhile Yaten and Seiya were engaged in a silent game about who had the bigger amount of fans. So they tried to draw all the girls towards their spot. They got close to each other and talked sideways while signing more autographs.
"I can't believe it, our departure had been sudden even for ourselves how could they know?" The younger brother said as he tried to disentangle himself from a little too enthusiastic redhead.
"You should stop questioning this kind of things, we're pop-stars the world concern about every move of ours!" Seiya said never loosing his smile. Then he noticed the distant expression on the beautiful face of the aqua-haired beauty at his side, so he circled her waist with his left arm pulling her closer.
That gesture didn't passed unnoticed by the several photographers kneeling in front of the four young celebrities who cheered them and took lots of pictures which were supposed to be on every tabloid the next day.
'The world will talk about the perfect couple and we can be that Michiru-chan, a perfect couple. You indeed are perfect...' The dark-haired man thought to himself looking right in the camera and winking.
Fortunately he didn't know those pictures would have shown a charming smiling Seiya Kou embracing a distant looking Michiru Kaioh at the Tokyo airport just before their departure to run a tour of concerts in the United States, and that an attentive observer could have noticed she wasn't participating to his personal portrayal of the 'perfect couple'.
The fearful cry echoed through out the beach and everyone's attention went to the spot near the wrecked airframe at the eastern end where the young woman stood breathing heavily.
After few seconds she was circled by some of the others come to her help. Lita had one of her cook's knives secured in her hand, Darien, Mina and Haruka ran just behind her. When they arrived Molly was clutching her round belly and was panting.
"It's nothing... I think they're gone... just cubs..." She said between deep intakes of air. She soon calmed down and was able to tell what had happened. The wart-hog's cubs had come back, probably looking for something to eat and drawn by the smell of the wreck. They had ran out and towards the bushes and had startled her who was just coming out of the wood.
After a couple of minutes everyone except for Jade were there around the pregnant girl. Dr. Mizuno was checking on the girl, she had warned about the risks of stress for her and was trying mostly to calm her down making her breathing regularly. Michiru held Hotaru's hand tightly even if the little girl wanted to get closer to peer at the fuss.
Soon Rei's grandfather, Haruka, Yuiichiro and Darien inspected inside of the airframe to make sure there were no more hogs in there. When they were inside the smell wasn't pleasurable and they tried to make their tour as quicker as possible. When they were out again they all agreed about the necessity of getting rid of the remains that were still in there. A burial wouldn't have done any good and just drew more animals and whatever could smell flesh, so they decided to burn the section of the plane on the beach.
While they were discussing about the way Hotaru managed to escape from the loosened grip of Michiru's hand and ran towards something emerging from beneath the sand. When Setsuna and Michiru reached her she was cradling in her hands a little leather covered note book, it had something printed on the black surface dirtied and scratched by the sand.
"It's Papa's note-book. He writes his notes for his projects on it." She was looking at the pages marked with a nervous and sharp handwriting. The two women looked at her in silence not failing to painfully notice the kid's use of the present tense. Then Setsuna noticed an envelope half buried near the spot the note-book had been and grabbed it. It was a letter addressed to Prof. Tomoe, she carefully took it in her pocket intending of reading it later.
"Well it's not my major thought right now." The elder of the Threelights spoke without moving his eyes from the sheet of paper he was reading.
"C'mon Taiki-kun! I think they're good melodies and you can think about the lyrics when you have a little time. And it's not like we have lots of things to do here." The silver-haired boy had a honest smile on his face but his brothers seemed to be bothered by his insistence.
Sensing Taiki's discomfort and seeing a hurt expression rising up on Yaten's face Michiru decided to get the younger boy's attention. Maybe Taiki wasn't in the mood for hopeful thoughts but she didn't want to see Yaten's hope to be dried off by his brother's dark mood.
"Yaten-kun, let's listen to them." She prompted him. The green-eyed singer didn't let them wait any more. He hummed a couple of tunes with enthusiasm and skill. One of them in particular seemed to be a very catchy tune and soon the expert musicians were able to hum with him. At least Michiru and Seiya, cause Taiki was literally fuming, looking at them with troubled eyes. But no one seemed to notice it and they went on with their little choir.
Michiru's heart kept to beat fast... she was realizing just then that she had missed the music. It were three entire days she hadn't had time to even think about the music, she hadn't sang, she hadn't played and that seemed extremely wrong to her. While Seiya and Yaten were engrossed in a playful duet she looked at them smiling. That was how it was supposed to be, that was what put them together, a common passion not just a similar job. They seemed to be happy while they were singing despite the situation, despite the fact they were checking the belongings of dozens of dead persons, despite the amount of blood they had seen in the previous couple of days. Despite they couldn't tell anymore that they hadn't seen someone dying they were able to smile and even laugh when Seiya performed a convincing imitation of Frank Sinatra and took Michiru's hand in his and kissed it.
That gesture brought her a sense of deja vù. Someone kissing her hand... well it wasn't like it hadn't happened dozens of times. She was a lady and always inspired those kind of gesture in her suitors or just her chaperons, but that was different... and soon her look drifted to a certain spot where a tall blonde figure was talking intently with the black-haired miko. Haruka's kissing of her hand had been the last time her heart had skipped a beat cause of something pleasurable and not cause of a horrific view or sadness. But then she also remembered how she had felt when she had discovered the car racer had lied to her about Jade's identity. With the blonde she had never smiled for more than a teasing and there had always been something dark and painful between them, like the blonde had something that prevented her to completely enjoy herself and her company. That darkness, that sense of hid pain wasn't part of the mood when she was with her three colleagues. Yes, maybe she wasn't totally in tune with their way of living their success and the music. Hers was a different kind of music and a different way of expressing it, but music was her real passion, her heart's favorite language, the only thing that could make her feel completely at ease... at ease with people, with the world and with herself. The music and swimming - especially in the sea. The music was all those things for her and music was what she had in common with them... and something she surely didn't have in common with Haruka Tenoh.
"Would you quit it, please?" Taiki's irritated voice tore Michiru out of her reverie.
"Taiki-kun, you should relax a bit! We're working for our next album, you're the one always complaining about the two of us fooling around and not working hard enough!" Yaten said not loosing his smile.
"Just stop! We don't even know if there will be an other Threelights' album!" He hissed, his eyes never leaving Seiya's.
"Taiki-kun!" Michiru scolded, "That's not a constructive attitude!" She said firmly.
"Michiru-chan is right, Taiki, there's no need to stress such topics." Seiya's look was one of challenge but only Taiki noticed that.
"It's none of your business! I'm not a kid anymore." Seiya replied never turning around to look directly to his older brother, looking at him in the reflection in the mirror in front of him instead.
"You know this is gonna break his heart, this and what you are going to do to... us." Taiki had tears in his deep eyes but he didn't want to give Seiya the satisfaction of seeing him distraught.
"He's not a kid any more too. He will deal with it and you too." His voice was trembling, but it wasn't because of the emotion. No, right now he wanted only one thing, for his brother to be gone and to leave him alone!
"You're better than that, Seiya..." And with this painful words Taiki left the dressing-room, Seiya searched his pocket relieved by his brother's leaving. His bitter words were already just a shadow in his troubled mind, but soon he would have been calmer, just a minute, just a minute.
'Here it is!' He extracted a little plastic envelope from his pocket triumphantly, his brothers soon forgotten.
"Now it's time for you and me to have fun, my friend..." Seiya said that out loud even he was alone in the small room. His forehead was wet with sweat and his eyes were feverish. "Yeah... it's not like I can't live without you, it's just that I don't want to." And with that he poured the powder down on the counter.
He acknowledged the car racer but lifted his hand to signal her he was trying to perceive something.
She got it and stood there waiting for a couple of minutes, the sun was bright and she found it hard to keep her eyes open. She was fighting against the light when a hand on her shoulder startled her.
"Hey I didn't want to startle you." Setsuna smiled slightly to her.
"You didn't." The blonde replied curtly, then she recomposed and asked, "How is she doing?"
"Well, no one likes to be lied to, but I think she'll be fine." At the confused at first and then annoyed expression on Haruka's face, the tanned woman smiled mysteriously. When she realized the blonde woman's patience was thinner than usual she softened her smile and pointed to Rei, Yuiichiro, Rei's grandfather and little Hotaru all engaged in a seemingly funny conversation, judging by the laughs. "Hotaru is doing fine... with a little help."
"Ok." Haruka turned again to Furuhata who was franticly turning and shifting the numerous devices in front of him and obviously without having any success.
"I wanted you to do something for me, Haruka-san." This time Haruka looked at the older woman curiously. The insightful and mysterious attitude was something unnerving, but she felt that woman to be... one of the good guys, beside the strange interceptions and the 'thing' they had encountered at the cockpit were something needing an explanation and Haruka sensed Setsuna was one to count on for it.
"Shoot. I'm listening." She passed her hand through her blonde hair even lighter for being exposed to the sun for long in the last days.
Setsuna gestured Haruka to follow her to a secluded spot, then she showed her the paper-sheet she had found near Souchi's note-book. It was a letter addressed to him by the company he seemed to work to. It was something concerning DNA experimentation and there were some words underlined.
"I'm not supposed to understand this, am I?" She lifted her look from the paper.
"No. But I want to understand more about that and what he had said to Hotaru about his previous reservations. He had booked seats on another flight but he and Hotaru ended up on this flight, he seemed concerned about that topic..." She explained.
"Well, it's pretty obvious. I think we all should be concerned about having reservation for a flight that didn't fall down on a deserted island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean." Haruka was sarcastic and reasonable but Setsuna continued explaining her point of view.
"Something is wrong. Almost everything is wrong and he seemed to know something about it..."
"Of course there's something wrong! We're drying off on this damn beach!" Haruka snapped, then recomposed herself and looked around to see if her little outburst had got someone's attention. Seeing everyone was oblivious she returned her look to the tanned woman who looked at her indulgently.
"I was saying... He seemed to know something about this flight and in his notes I found the word 'island' more than once. Sure it could be coincidence... or it could be not." She concluded with an emphatic gesture of her hand.
"I see... so what I can do for you?" Haruka was, now, curious.
"I want you to search for any Prof. Tomoe's belongings into the airframe before we burn it. I think there would be other things, Hotaru says he had his briefcase with him. She says he never left it unguarded." She explained. Haruka nodded and was already walking to the airframe when Setsuna's voice came clear.
"I asked Michiru, too. I only can trust you two." Haruka stopped in her tracks. The last conversation she had had with the aqua-haired violinist wasn't a friendly one and in the state of mind she was in meeting Michiru was the last thing in her list.
"Enough! I don't want to think about it any more Yaten-kun, now we have a lot of other things to be concerned about." He tried for the umpteenth time to stray his younger brother from that topic without any success, the silver haired boy went on with his speculations and Taiki's well-known patience was stirred more and more.
"C'mon Taiki, that's a great chance for me." He was calm, too calm for such a situation, he was almost cheerful while he was probably dooming not just their career even their brotherhood to a painful end.
"No no, you can't. Beside you can't write a note nor decent lyrics, how are you supposed to have songs to sing?" Now Taiki was trying to be reasonable but his brother seemed to not being willing to use his common sense.
"Oh, well... you know it's me that they come to see and listen to. It's me who has them by his feet all the time. It's not cause of Yaten's un-classy and ordinary tunes or your sloppy lyrics... it's because of meMe and my pretty face and warm voice. It's me!" Now Seiya was yelling, his demeanor had turned from cheerful and indifferent to arrogant and enraged in dozen of seconds. His forehead glistened from little beads of sweat and his eyes were bloodshot. His pupils were small like needles heads and he was panting.
"You didn't quit Seiya... Shit! You promised me! You promised me... for Yaten's sake..." If Seiya would have been lucid enough he would have flinched at his brother's disappointed and pained tone, but he wasn't lucid. He just felt like his brothers were holding him back preventing him to show the world he was the best... the best singer, the best of the Kou brothers. The most charming, most elegant and talented. He felt like... he had to leave the band and he had to go on on his own to be unique. He deserved to be unique. He deserved to be the one who had the whole admiration, the whole attention for himself.
"Seiya, you're dooming our career - Yaten's career - for Kami's sake! And you're dooming yourself, you're killing yourself with that damn thing!" This time Taiki couldn't help but let his long-held tears fall down his cheeks. He was the elder, he wasn't supposed to fall apart, he had never fallen apart before... but this time... this time he felt so helpless.
So he cried, sobbing like a little baby, a grown up thirty-one years old man. Taiki Kou, international pop-star, elder brother and always self-possessed was sobbing loudly, his head bowed in shame and defeat.
Seiya looked at the distraught figure of his brother. He was confused... why was he so helpless? Why did he seem so hurt?
'It isn't my fault. It can't be my fault, I love Taiki, I could never do something bad to him... it's not my fault... it's not my fault it's not myfault it'snotmyfaultit'snotmyfaultit'snotmyfault...'
Soon Seiya had slumped down on Taiki's side sobbing himself. They stayed there for an hour or so, each one steaming off his turmoil with refreshening tears. At some point they even found themselves hugged comforting each other. Then Taiki recomposed himself first and stood concerned about Yaten's imminent return. He didn't want him to see his brothers like that.
"C'mon Seiya, stand up-..." He was cut off by his brother's murmur.
"It's not the drugs, I want to give it a try on my own, anyway. I can quit with drugs, but I'm not giving up my chance of success. It will be until the end of the US tour with Michiru-san, then I'm off." During his speech his voice had gained energy and now his tone was steady, his blood-shot eyes resolute.
"It's wrong Seiya, it's wrong not just for us but for you too. You can't make it without us." Taiki's voice was firm, then it became cold, expressionless, as his look was when he turned his blue eyes to his younger brother, "But if this is what you want to do, then you can do it, but from then on you won't be my brother anymore."
In that particular moment Michiru hated silence. It was so different than the small session she had had just minutes ago with the three brothers, the mood was so heavy, almost suffocating. Then again she was the one resentful, she was the one who had cold-shouldered the other.
Michiru lifted her head looking to Haruka's back in front of her. They were going to the airframe like Setsuna had asked them to, the blond was walking at a fast pace and hadn't looked at her once. Her shoulders were slumped down and she was very pallid. Michiru had wanted to ask her if she was ok, but then she had remembered why the situation was that way, why she was resentful with the blond car-racer.
'Why?' She thought, she had met Haruka only four days ago, she didn't know her even if she had felt quite the contrary so far, even if she had felt a familiarity with this strange woman that she had never felt towards any stranger before. That was something she had thought about a lot lately, that and the fact that the sudden distance their quarrel had put between them was very uncomfortable for her. She wondered if Haruka felt the same way but she hadn't had the courage to ask. Now looking at the slumped figure before her, Michiru could tell Haruka wasn't in a good mood, she seemed tired, dispirited and even sick even if she tried to act cooly.
'Maybe she lied for a good reason...' That indulgent thought was crawling out from her heart with more and more force as they got nearer to the metal wreck. She couldn't think about Haruka in bad terms, that was Seiya's job, she had seen how lovely and noble she could be, how affectionate – even if she always tried to hid it behind a cold and nonchalant demeanor – it was the reason she had been so hurt by Haruka's omission about something dangerous, cause she had felt like she could trust Haruka with her life...
"Here... you have to cover your mouth and nose." Haruka's husky voice reached her suddenly tearing her apart from her thoughts. The blond was lending her a piece if cloth, she grabbed it and brought it to her nose, it smelled strongly of mint. She looked at Haruka inquisitively, raising her brows.
"I could only find some toothpaste, the stink in there is nothing pleasurable." She responded, then she put her own piece of cloth on her nose and entered the airframe. Michiru followed her right behind.
Inside the plane was darker and Michiru had expected warmer, fortunately a thick group of tall trees prevented the sun to hit directly the plane. Despite that the smell of putrefying flesh was strong and Michiru was hit by a sudden retch, after a moment she recomposed herself and followed Haruka deeper between the rows of the economy class. Row by row they reached the business class, there weren't lots of corpses anymore, and anyway Michiru tried not to look at them if not necessary. Suddenly she bumped against Haruka who had stopped unexpectedly, they regained their balance without falling, then Haruka looked around searching for Souchi Tomoe's seat.
"There." She said after a while, pointing ahead. She reached the seats and started looking for the briefcase.
"Are you sure that's the right seat?" Michiru asked while searching for anything resembling a briefcase.
"I'm sure, that's my bag, up there, so they were sat here." She pointed up to the trunk where a black leather trolley hanged half-crushed by a sheet steal.
"Ara Haruka you're not going to burn up your luggage, are you?" Michiru was looking at her like a mother scolding her ten-years-old child, with a mixed look of disappointment and indulgence.
Haruka instinctively dropped her look and blushed, then she recomposed herself and mumbled something about forgetting and having something more important to do than thinking about her luggage, but nonetheless she grabbed the small bag and with a couple of pulls she succeeded in having it out of the trunk. When she looked at the aqua-haired violinist she saw an amused look in her blue eyes and she could guess a smile behind the cloth on her mouth. She frowned and the smile turned in a small chuckle.
"What's so funny?" Haruka's frown deepened.
"Nothing... It's weird, you know... but sometimes you look just like a child." Michiru said that with a smile and Haruka's protest and blushing made it grow.
"And your scolding me, makes you look like an old nanny." The blonde mumbled. Michiru chuckled again and looked at the blonde who was bent to search behind a seat for Souchi's briefcase, feeling herself being watched Haruka lifted her head and met the shorter woman's look. They looked at each other for a long moment during which their playful expression turned serious.
Michiru tried to study intently those teal eyes, here again the strange feeling of belonging and familiarity she had every time she was with Haruka, why couldn't she get rid of it? Why did she felt like she knew her? And why... did she wanted so bad to forgive her?
"You're not going to lie to me again, are you?" Michiru suddenly broke the silence her look piercing through Haruka.
The blonde gulped and passed her hand through her hair nervously but didn't answer.
"I see..." Michiru's said with a renewed hurt expression.
"No! Please... it's just that... I-I don't..." Haruka's words failed her and she cast her look down in frustration.
"You don't... what?" Michiru looked at her for a minute with burning eyes, Haruka couldn't stare her out, "That's it, I got it." And with that she turned to finish their job.
"I don't want you to be scared... and hopeless..." Haruka's voice lacked in strength but was clear enough to be heard, when Michiru turned to her the blonde's look was hard, determined.
"Haruka... How can I not being scared? Look around, look... this people are dead. Dead... Maybe you see dead people every day, but I don't... of course I'm scared." Michiru's words were relieving even for herself. And when she stared back at Haruka two tears had escaped her eyes silently.
"I know... please, forgive me. It's not going to happen again." Haruka said with unusual tenderness in her voice. And Michiru accepted her smile and dried her cheeks with her hand, nodding.
'Coward!' Haruka's inner voice accused. 'Liar!'
'Oh, shut up!'
'You're lying again.'
'I can't tell her we're doomed, it won't be any good.'
'You don't have the right to decide for her.'
'I told you to shut up!'
'If you really wanted me to shut up... you'd make me. I'm in your head, after all.'
"Shut the Hell up!" Haruka's pained voice reached Michiru who turned to her frowning. The blonde was shaking her head violently and had her eyes shut tightly.
"Haruka, are you ok?" The calm tone of her voice seemed to made the taller woman return to reality, she opened her eyes and looked intently to her companion like she was trying to recognize her, then her expression relaxed and she smiled.
"I'm fine, thank you. Now it's time to get our task done and be out of here." Michiru was skeptic, Haruka didn't look well, but she didn't want to stretch the subject fearing to rise the blonde's irritation, so she returned to her task shrugging.
The violinist was searching the floor of the plane while Haruka searched between the seats and in the trunks due to her height. It wasn't easy, the smell was starting to make its way through the cloth she had secured around her face and more than once they had had to collaborate to move every kind of debris getting in the way. She knew they were looking for a briefcase but they couldn't find any after half an hour of searching. It was clear by now that if it was still in there it wasn't near the seats Souchi and Hotaru had occupied, so Michiru decided to shift her field of searching further deep between the rows of the first class. The corpses they had been able to move had been removed, but it hadn't been possible for every one of them, the young violinist was trying to ignore the unknown faces and clothes still trapped under metallic pieces of the airframe. Then a strange symbol got her attention: it was a five-pointed star with the symbol of infinitive in the middle of it. She kneeled down to get a better view of the symbol and noticed it wasn't just one but it was a piece of patched fabric and it was like the lining of... a briefcase. She tried to pull the opened case to her but something was preventing it to move. She pulled with more force and suddenly the case hit her with enough momentum to make her fall down on her butt. With the briefcase in her lap she sat down looking in front of her to what the object of her searching had been stuck under, then she saw the dirtied white shirt and the dark red scarf. Soon she could make out the contour of the arms and torso and down to the legs barely covered by the dark red skirt, it was the uniform of the airline and then the brown hair still half tied in two pigtails at the sides of the young face. That wasn't an unknown face, that was a face she could have been relate a voice to and expression of face and even brief thoughts.
'What was her name?' She asked herself, she felt suddenly incredibly guilty cause she couldn't remind the name of the young girl whose dead body was abandoned on the floor and covered of so many things she hadn't been able to acknowledge its presence only a minute ago.
When Haruka reached her Michiru was still sat on the floor staring in front of herself and holding tightly a briefcase in her arms, when the racer was behind her she didn't turned.
"Now I can remember her name... It was Yumi. It's a cute name, don't you think?" The aqua-haired girl's voice was weird, almost lacking every color, "Don't you think Yumi is a very cute name?" Her insistence for such a trivial topic while the dead body was lying before her was what made Haruka worry a little. So the racer bent down and literally lifted her from the floor. When she turned Michiru to face her her cheeks were streaked by tears again and her eyes were so sad Haruka's own heart skipped a beat just in sympathy.
"Yes, it's a very cute name." The blonde said smiling a little, then she sweetly brushed the tears from Michiru's cheeks with her hand and took the briefcase from the aqua-haired girl's arms.
"They're dead... they're dead and we're not." Michiru said, they had lost the clothes for their mouths and noses but no one of them cared about that, "There isn't a reason why they're dead and we're not, is there?"
"No, there's not." Haruka felt compelled to answer honestly to that rhetorical question.
"Or maybe there's a reason... maybe it's destiny..." Michiru was slowly regaining her composure as they made their way through the rows of wrecked seats and out of the airframe.
"I don't believe in destiny. We decide about our own life, the rest is coincidence." The blonde answered while carrying Souchi's briefcase and her own small trolley to the spot where Setsuna was waiting for them.
"But we did it at least three times already." Lita stated matter of factly.
"I know, but you can never know... If you don't want to I can do it myself, I don't mind." The black haired boy offered. The tall cook shrugged and returned to her disposing of the hog for storage.
"I think that it's better safe than sorry... One more checking won't kill anybody... I hope." Dr. Mizuno said half-joking... half not. The fatalist woman tried to hide her lack of hope for their rescue behind her sense of humor but more and more often the reception was cold if not exasperated.
"Mom!" Ami scolded.
"I'll take the risk." Seiya said winking to the girls in the group, especially Serena who seemed to be the more sensitive to his charm.
When he set off to the plane Taiki watched intently his back seemingly thoughtful for a minute then he followed his brother with a resolute expression on his face.
"Taiki-san! Don't forget something to protect your mouth and nose!" Ami yelled to the leaving man. He stopped and turned then smiled thankfully waving a white handkerchief in front of himself. When he turned back Seiya was already near the airframe. He walked to him and during his journey he crossed path with Haruka and Michiru. The aqua-haired girl was pale and clearly upset and the tall car-racer, who had a small black leather suitcase in one hand and a dirty briefcase in the other, seemed worried and visibly tired. Taiki and Michiru exchanged a small smile and Haruka nodded to him out of courtesy.
When the elder Kou brother reached the plane Seiya was already entered. Taiki put the cloth on his mouth and stepped in the wrecked plane. Soon he was assailed by the smell of decaying flesh and for a moment reconsidered his decision, then he saw his brother moving with confidence in what seemed a deliberate searching of something. His wonders were being confirmed and he tried to move closer to him without arousing his brother's suspicions. When Seiya turned to him Taiki faked to be engrossed in his own searching.
Seiya wasn't totally oblivious about the weird and suspicious demeanor of his brother, and he wasn't totally happy about his company but he didn't want to argue again so he kept himself from asking annoyed about the necessity of the elder brother's presence.
After a while he relaxed and went on with his searching and finally he could inspect the spot he had intended from the very beginning.
'It has to be here...' His hand was too big to search the narrow space in front of him and he scratched his skin painfully before succeeding in grabbing what he was searching for. He nonchalantly reached for his pants' pocket and was soon checking another spot.
Out of the corner of his eye, Taiki saw Seiya's movement and his fear was confirmed, he closed his eyes for a moment. 'Seiya... why?' He thought bitterly.
Hearing all those people cheering for them was almost intoxicating.
Finally the lights went off and the three exhausted but enthusiastic brothers stepped down the stage. They were sweating and panting but no one could tell if it was for physical exertion of for the huge emotion. It had been the first concert since when they had released their unexpectedly successful album. They hadn't expected all that enthusiasm for their music and were absolutely gratified.
"Hey Seiya-kun you were amazing tonight!" Yaten hugged his brother, "Your voice had never been so beautiful..." The younger and usually snobbish brother had watery eyes and was on verge of tears.
"Oh, it wasn't just me, it was your music, Yaten-kun and Taiki-kun's inspired lyrics. It was the Threelights!" Seiya tried to prevent his brother's tears with his positive enthusiasm and succeeded even in that.
"Well... I can say it was a total success..." Taiki always calm demeanor made his brothers sweatdrop.
"Oh Taiki-kun, you're impossible!" They burst out in laughter and made their way to their dress-room. During the short journey lots of people stopped them and congratulated, someone even asked for autograph and someone was proposing contracts and sponsors. It was overwhelming and they were happy when they reached the room and were able to shut all that 'noise' out.
When they were inside Yaten ran to his bag and after a minute of frenetic searching he took out a small camera, he gathered his brothers and with his hand stretched in front of them he clicked.
"Oh, Yaten-kun you could have warned I think I had my mouth open..." Taiki scolded.
"Don't worry big bro', you couldn't look more handsome than me anyway!" Seiya playfully winked and the result was that he took two punches from each side on his arms by both his younger and older brother.
On the other side of that door, in the hall, laughter could be heard for long that night.
"Hey... you've already done all those on your own? Do you need help?" The timid and imperfect English was something unbelievably comforting for her. Umino, the weird and sweet Japanese boy sat beside her and was watching her intently through his thick eyeglasses.
"Oh, I feel like I knew all of them now. I can say what job or hobby each one of them used to do... they were good people." Though the morbid subject she managed a smile for him and he blushed sweetly.
They looked at each other for a minute then the boy couldn't stand her look anymore and dropped his glass-covered eyes and took a little package with some ID's inside and begun checking and tick off them on the list of passengers Furuhata had – strangely enough, for some of them – found in the cockpit.
Not far from them Serena was searching for Rei, she had searched for the miko for half an hour already and finally she was able to find her, she was meditating in a secluded spot at the edge of the wood. When the blond American girl was close enough she whispered a calling to get Rei's attention.
"If you intend to disturb me anyway why are you whispering?" Scolded the Japanese girl quite rudely as she opened her eyes.
"Oh, sorry." Serena smiled apologetically, then she got closer and continued, "Actually I was sent to ask you something." She smiled at the black-haired girl and soon the serious miko had to return the smile.
"Well, it's not like I lack time to meditate here..." She softened, "What did you want to ask me?"
"Well, you already know that we're going to burn up the airframe, do you?" She said and when the dark haired girl nodded she continued, "well we wanted to do some sort of... you know... some sort of service. And well... we... I-I thought you are the more indicate person to do such thing... I had been in Japan for a very short time but I was told about priestess and I was able to recognize your clothes. So...?"
"So... you want me to perform some sort of funeral?" Rei asked but it was really for information she did can understand the needing of that little forced community for some reassuring performance that could make them feel like they were still in a sort of civil world.
"Yes, I think that's it." Serena said, when she saw the reluctance in the red and white clothed girl she added quickly, "I know the main part of us aren't Japanese nor Shinto but I think it's not as important as giving these people a decent burial..."
"Sure, sure... you're right... it's just that... well, of course. I'll ask my grandfather and maybe I can translate." She concluded with a smile as she stood up.
"Great!" The blonde's enthusiasm could have been out of place in those circumstances but Rei thought that girl had a spontaneity that was refreshing and couldn't help herself from smiling to her comment and the blushing that came next.
"Well... maybe..." Having expected a negative answer Haruka's attention was excited and she got close to the older woman and stopped behind her looking at the papers on her lap from above her shoulder.
"What?" Feeling the close presence Setsuna lifted her head and realized she had answered without being completely conscious.
"Oh... Sorry, I think there's something in these," and she lifted the paper sheets in her lap indicating she was talking about those, "but I still can't say exactly what is it. It's just a feeling." Then she was back absorbed in her reading. Haruka shrugged and turned to go and help collecting enough wood for the airframe burning.
She hadn't completed two steps when she heard a tiny voice calling her name – or to be exact her new nickname.
"Haruka-papa!" Haruka turned to see Hotaru with her little hand stretched out for her. The tall blonde looked at the child for a moment but Hotaru didn't say anything, she just shook her hand to invite the car-racer to take it and follow her. And this is what happened, Haruka took Hotaru's tiny hand in her large one and silently let herself to be led by the little girl.
After a short walk Hotaru stopped, she squeezed Haruka's hand and pointed through a couple of bushes towards the seashore, there, with her feet in the water, stood Michiru. The wind ruffled her silky aqua hair as she was embracing herself to keep the chill of the wind away.
Haruka thought immediately that was an incredibly beautiful sight even if quite melancholic.
"She's sad." Hotaru's little voice stated with her peculiar way that made her seem much older.
"I know." Haruka replied never looking away from the violinist in the distance.
"She needs to play." The black-haired girl said as she moved towards Michiru dragging a submissive Haruka with her. Then she stopped again and turned, the tall woman was looking at her with an inquisitive look.
"When I'm sad I play with my dolls and then the sadness go away." That comment soon reminded Haruka that little girl was only five and she smiled down at her indulgently.
"Maybe she needs another kind of playing..." The blonde said out loud without realizing it and rising the child's curiosity.
"What kind of playing, Haruka-papa?" That question made Haruka realize she had voiced out her thoughts once again and she scolded herself silently for the umpteenth time in the last few days.
Hotaru pulled Haruka's sleeve for an answer so the car-racer started to walk again towards the lonely violinist with the little girl by her side.
"Well, Michiru... -mama is a musician and I guess she uses to play her violin when she's sad."
"Oh..." Hotaru was fascinated at the idea of someone playing an instrument, she looked at the approaching figure of Michiru then at the tall blonde whose hand she was holding tightly then again at Michiru. They were already a couple of meters from the unmoving Michiru when Hotaru asked the question that had been in her head the last two minutes.
"Haruka-papa, what do you do when you're sad?" The question took the blonde by surprise and she didn't answer for the time needed to reach the aqua-haired woman and once there she eluded the question addressing her attention – and hopefully Hotaru's – to the just reached violinist.
"Hey..." Michiru's pained look moved from the shore to Haruka's teal eyes then down to Hotaru softening in the end. The young violinist kneeled down to be eye-level with the little girl then she caressed the tiny cheek and smiled.
"I think she runs." That statement was greeted with a questioning furrowing of little black eye-brows that made Michiru chuckle before explaining herself.
"When Haruka is sad I think she runs." Hotaru then smiled cause she had obtained the answer she wanted.
Michiru stood looking intently Haruka in the eyes, the blonde was hardly keeping eye-contact, her awkwardness growing.
"She runs when she doesn't keep punching poor innocent trees..." The at first intense tone turned in an amused and playful one and the violinist winked at the little girl when a very embarrassed Haruka blushed and looked down.
Hotaru followed Michiru's amused look to the big hand holding her tiny one and then she saw the big red scratches sticking out from under the stained tissue wrapping Haruka's hand.
That was too much and, as Hotaru and Michiru burst out in a conspiratorial laugh, Haruka blushed even more and disengaged her appendage from Hotaru's and buried it deep in her pocket mumbling something about a 'crime association' to make fun of her. Then the laugh became contagious and soon Haruka found herself joining the other two in their laughing. Relieved by seeing Michiru's smile she relaxed a little.
"It's quite beautiful here." The blonde commented and soon the little girl nodded.
"Yes, it is..." Michiru agreed.
In a couple of minutes Hotaru was already collecting seashells on the shore with her little black-haired head bouncing in joy every time she could find one. The two adults found themselves left behind alone watching the child engrossed in her personal quest.
"So, have you unpacked already?" Said Michiru never shifting her look from Hotaru in the middle distance.
It was obviously a joke but Haruka was taken aback by the totally serious tone.
"Emh... well... actually no, I haven't."
"Oh..." Haruka was surprised to notice something like... disappointment in her interlocutor's voice, so she felt compelled to lighten up the mood with a joke.
"Well, you know, I couldn't find a closet to store my clothes so I had to keep them in the suitcase." She said with a smile and after a minute she was rewarded with a similar smile from the aqua-haired woman, a smile that never reached those ocean-blue eyes.
After that short exchange the silence took its place and they walked on without talking, each of them lost in her thoughts.
Suddenly Haruka heard someone call for her and then she saw Furuhata running towards them with a paper in his hand. When he had reached them and he had regained his breath he showed them the sheet of paper with his thin and nervous handwriting.
"I intercepted them again!" He said smiling but his enthusiasm didn't break through Haruka's distrust in lucky events and Michiru's sense.
The young violinist was a very attentive observer and she had the gift of understanding personalities: Furuhata was a good boy and part of his goodness was his strong faith in the 'happy end' eventually, he was an incurable optimist.
With a kind smile Michiru prompted him to tell them about his interceptions. She didn't fail to notice the short glance between him and Haruka, but she couldn't give it a meaning to that right now so she just stored the information for later on.
"I transcribed what I was able to understand, you know the signal isn't too clear." He showed them the wrinkled sheet of paper and read it out loud to them. It wasn't a very long transcription and it was often interrupted by words he hadn't been able to discern.
"Ara, I don't get what is it about those animals?" Michiru voiced her perplexity.
"I don't know, but I tried to send them an S.O.S..." Furuhata said with sparkling eyes. Haruka and Michiru looked at him, Michiru's were curious and a little exasperated, Haruka's teal one were clearly impatient.
"So?" Haruka couldn't wait anymore and she bluntly prompted him to to tell about it.
"You know, we can't even receive properly..." He hesitated his eyes cast downward.
"Furuhata-kun..." Michiru gently invited him to continue having sensed Haruka's patience thinning by the seconds.
"Well... they hadn't acknowledged it... they hadn't received it!" He concluded without the courage of looking them in the eyes. "But!... but you know, we haven't a proper antenna. I f could find a way to amplify the signal maybe..."
"Yeah..." Haruka said seeming very upset, with a dismissive gesture of her hand she gave her attention back to Hotaru who had got quite far from them. The blonde car-racer walked away along the shore towards the little girl without a word.
Furuhata frowned slightly hurt by the rudeness of Haruka who had been friendly before since their first contacts.
"I don't know why, but we can receive their signal clearer than they can receive our." He considered as he returned his look to Michiru who was still there with him.
"You're doing an incredible job, Furuhata-kun." She said sincerely.
"I try..." He replied casting a rapid glance to Haruka's back already far enough to be out of earshot.
"You're doing fine, believe me. And don't worry, she thinks the same, I can tell." Furuhata looked at her skeptically but she continued, "It's just that she's very tired and worried even if she won't admit it. After all we all are." She concluded with a reassuring smile that made Furuhata smile back.
"Yes, you're right. Actually she doesn't look well at all." He noted.
"Yeah..." Michiru's worried eyes were on the figures of Haruka and Hotaru busy looking for seashells in the sand, "beside I don't think she has much of a patience." She ended off smiling slightly, Furuhata agreed with a benevolent smile too.
"By the way Michiru-san, did you hang with Seiya-san today?" Michiru started like she had been pinched, inside her a slight guilty feeling: she had forgotten about Seiya, actually she had forgotten about everything. She had been so absorbed in her own troubles and dark thoughts. The tour in the plane and the sight of the hostess' corpse, the sense of unfairness of her being alive then her quarrel with Haruka first and then she had been with Haruka and Hotaru and that had been enough to push anything else aside for the time being. Everything and everyone, even her friends or the fact that Haruka had lied to her...
"Just this morning, why?" She answered.
"Oh, nothing, it's just that... I saw him and his brother a little on the edge today, if you know what I mean, and they didn't seem the kind of brothers who argue a lot."
"No, actually they're not. But thank you for telling me. I think I'll go check I saw them fighting too." She thanked him and was about to take off to go and tell Haruka and Hotaru when she stopped and turned to the leaving Furuhata.
"Furuhata-kun, thank you again for your job at the radio and please go on... you're our only hope." She smiled and left.
Furuhata beamed and replied loud: "Of course I'll go on!"
With these inner conflicts between reason and heart Taiki proceeded into the wood oblivious of having been already noticed by Seiya who was walking several meters up ahead.
'What the Hell does he want now?' Seiya had passed the annoyed-phase and now was quite enraged. He felt like suffocating and wanted to be left alone more than any other thing but it seemed impossible. I t had been hard to leave Yaten, his younger brother was always looking for his company and while in the past the rock hard admiration had felt pleasurable now he felt it as overwhelming and quite annoying.
'Maybe it's cause I feel guilty for leaving the band...' Seiya thought honestly.
With Taiki had been completely different, their conflicts had become normal, maybe they didn't argue all the time but it was just because they didn't want to upset Yaten. By now the trust on one another had disappeared and with the lack of trust something between them had been broken. And Seiya was starting to think it was something that couldn't be mended, no matter what. Even then that they had faced death together it hadn't been useful for bringing them close again. Even in those extreme condition they seemed to farer and farer every single day.
Yaten was still shocked by what had happened in the forest though he acted like it never happened. Taiki seemed to have become even more paranoid and the fact that he was following him that right moment trying – unsuccessfully – to not be noticed was a proof of that.
Seiya suddenly decided it was time to face his brother again and maybe definitely so he stopped and hid behind a big tree.
When Taiki realized he had lost his brother's traces he swore under his breath.
"It's so rude... your swearing." The tone was only sarcastic, nor scolding neither playful. Taiki was wordless, he turned to see his brother standing behind him tall and resolute.
"What do you Hell think you're doing?" It was obvious that Seiya was hardly keeping himself from yelling freely.
"What do you mean?" Taiki felt all his own shame for his childish behavior.
"Don't play games with me, Taiki!" Seiya was now clenching his fists and his voice became louder. Taiki dropped his look for a moment in shame then he remembered why he had behaved that way and looked his brother with burning eyes.
"You know perfectly why I'm here. I just wanted to be sure you're not going on with that shit."
"Oh! Now now Taiki-kun cursing and swearing it's so not you..." Sarcasm was something familiar for him, his usual way to be defensive and Taiki knew that, but he was so tired of being understanding and indulgent.
"That's enough Seiya! Despite everything I trusted you... you had told me – looking me right in the eyes – that you had quit it." Taiki's tall frame shook with emotion and then his shoulders slumped down in resignation.
"I told you the truth damn it!" Seiya yelled at his brother, "Why can't you believe me for once!" He was enraged beyond bounds.
"You're asking me why I can't trust you!" Taiki was incredulous, his eyes larger than usual. "You had betrayed us, you had betrayed your own brothers and now you can't believe I don't trust you?" The older man had burning eyes, "Trust is something you have to gain and your behavior wasn't one trustworthy, Seiya-kun..." He said shaking his head.
Seiya knew his brother was right, he had lost his right to be trusted by them...
"Please, stop it. Stop lying to me," Taiki murmured after a minute of heavy silence, "I'm tired of it. Stop." Seiya was taken aback seeing his older brother on the verge of tears, his taller frame seemed smaller and smaller and his resignation seemed to weight on his shoulder physically.
Taiki did felt like the entire world had been on his shoulder and that he had collapsed under it miserably. He felt all his failure as a older brother, one of his siblings was killing himself with drugs and had betrayed his own blood; the other one was about to be heartbroken at his own brother's hand. He had failed to take them together.
As he thought such things Seiya was looking at him intently, he was shocked by seeing his always controlled older brother in such state but when the first tears run down Taiki's cheek Seiya felt such guilt it was unbearable so he did what most people do when conscious of his guilt, he attacked and he did it furiously to overpower his own feelings.
"Oh Taiki you're pathetic, you're crying like a little baby. I'm sure now you're blaming yourself for everything! You're so weak..." He laughed in the face of his brother defeat mercilessly. Taiki didn't answer, he just looked at the ground trying to control himself and stopping making a fool of himself in front of his obviously unsympathetic brother. "Please, can't you be more egocentric? It isn't all about you! It's me, only me. You're good just for spat moralism in face of those who have more gut than you!" Seiya was being mean and he knew it, but right then it wasn't his reason the one in control, right he just wanted to hit his brother... to hit him with his words until he could be left alone without someone telling reminding him all his mistakes.
Taiki was literally torn in pieces but suddenly he felt his resignation disappear leaving room to his pride, he straighten himself and stood his all tallness towering his younger brother.
"Enough! I don't intend to let you throw your shit over me anymore! You're just a mean pathetic man who can't see the right thing to do cause you're locked in your own little world in which you can felt great cause you know that out of it you're just a vacuous person who can care only for himself. Now I have enough of you! Go to Hell Seiya, for what I care!" When Taiki turned to leave he stopped in his tracks immediately: in front of him, his pale green eyes full of tears, stood Yaten shocked.
"Oh, Yaten-kun..." When he tried to comfort his little brother with a hand on his shoulder, supposing he had been there for a while and had listen to their entire fight, Yaten withdraw abruptly glaring at him.
"Why? Why are you talking to Seiya that way?" Yaten's eyes were full of pain and disgust, "You have no right-..."
"You don't understand Yaten-kun!" Taiki realized Yaten had misunderstood and cut him off before more hurting things could be said.
"Oh, no Taiki-kun, I noticed, I'm not stupid. In the past month you had lost little chances to get at Seiya-kun, always criticizing and scolding. But now it's too much, I don't want to have something to do with you anymore..." Yaten tone was one hurt and resolute. Taiki was incredulous again, that couldn't be happening...
Seiya had the chance to calm himself after Taiki outburst, he now was calmer and he had perfectly got the situation. He shook his head as wanting to delete the all happening. He now understood the absurdity of all that but he was like stuck to the ground here where he stood.
After the first minute of shock for the craziness of the situation Taiki had a impulse of rebellion and forgetting everything about protectiveness he was led by his hurt pride.
"Oh no! Yaten-kun it's time for you to know where your trust and admiration goes... Ask your dear brother Seiya what is he hiding in his pocket?" He said pointing an accusing finger to Seiya. But Yaten just furrowed his brows and remained silent with a questioning look towards Seiya. Seeing him hesitating Taiki insisted, "Come on Yaten... ask him. Ask him what it's in his pocket that he was so anxious of recovering from the plane..." Still no one of his two brothers seemed wanting to do something. "Ok, if you don't want to I'll ask him... or better still I'll tell you, just to be sure..." Now Taiki was feverish, he finally could see his victory within reach, the end of his humiliations. "You have to know Yaten... it's heroine." Taiki said triumphantly.
Yaten eyes went wide like lemons, he immediately search Seiya's look for a reaction but when he just stood there without defend himself from those horrible accusations he searched his look again this time for an explanation as his own green eyes were filling with painful tears and his heart broke in hundreds of pieces.
"Seiya-kun say something! Come on! This is ridiculous..." His voice trailed off when he realized Seiya wasn't denying and he even seemed to surrender to the accusations. He realized he wasn't defending himself cause he was guilty... "Oh Kami-sama no..." Yaten brought his hands to his mouth in shock, silent streams of tears was descending down his smooth cheeks.
Taiki couldn't stand the sight of his little brothers falling to pieces and turned his head. Seiya was like petrified, he couldn't move nor talk, he even could not breathe.
The disappointment, the hurt he could see in Yaten's clear eyes felt like stones thrown directly at him with furious rage, he could feel like his own heart was being penetrated by hundreds knives and tore up. After almost a minute he had to breathe and the spell seemed to be broken and he could bury his hands in his pockets searching furiously, then he extracted the left one and moved a couple of steps to be right in front of Taiki.
Yaten saw that and snapped out of his shocked state to get near his brothers and when he was there he saw what Seiya had took out of his pants-pocket...
It was a picture, a wrinkled and dirtied picture of the three of them, it was quite lopsided and their faces seemed magnified by the nearness with the camera. Taiki who was on the left had his mouth comically open wide, Seiya who was in the middle had on his patented smile and Yaten was on the right with his arm stretched in front of himself like he was holding the camera in front of them to take the picture.
Yaten remembered immediately when that picture had been taken, it had been after their last concert before their 'successful boom' as their manager called the fact that their song had reached number one in the hit-parades. They were happy in that picture, they had all their dreams within reach and they had never felt closer... or so was what that picture meant to Yaten.
Suddenly a transparent drop wet the picture Taiki was holding in his hand. Yaten look up to the sky by instinct for sign of rain then he realized that wasn't a raindrop... it was a teardrop. Taiki's teardrop. But before he could say anything Seiya hoarse voice came to him.
"I thought I had lost it, and I couldn't bear it... but..." He gulped down the lump in his throat, "...but what Taiki had told you is right, about the heroine... I was drug addict... I had been for over a year..." He couldn't say any more due to the emotion so he just turned and left his brothers behind.
In the distance, unseen by the oblivious brothers, a figure turned back and continued their tour in the forest, the flashing of a large blade on their shoulder.
As she was near the tent she met Ami who was walking to the tent too with a little sheaf of herb in her hand, she greeted her with a smile.
"Ami-chan, have you seen Seiya, Taiki or Yaten recently?" Ami smiled back and soon replied in the negative.
"Ara, it seems like I'm unable to find them." Her tone was normal but inside she was starting to worry, they knew there wasn't a place that could surely be considered safe.
"I'm sorry Michiru-san but I didn't see any of them since the morning." As she replied to the violinist from inside the tent her mother's voice came indistinct. Michiru had a flash of hope, Ami saw that and started, "Michiru-san I don't think anyone of them is in there..." Michiru was about to enter the tent when she almost bumped against the exiting Haruka. Michiru was quite surprised of seeing the tall blonde coming out from the doctor's place slowly massaging her previously injured shoulder.
"Is everything ok?" She asked immediately.
"Of course." Haruka replied quickly buttoning up her shirt. "And you?"
Michiru was blushing seemingly for no reason and quickly turned away from the car racer, after a little while not receiving an answer Haruka asked again.
"Michiru-san, are you ok?" Haruka had been quite surprised to see Michiru at the doctor's and wanted to be sure everything was ok.
"Ara Haruka, actually not..." She responded. Haruka's worried look made Michiru explain herself to reassure she was fine but that she was worried about her three friends. Haruka, after the first seconds realized the matter and smiled reassuringly to the now clearly worried aqua-haired woman.
"Oh, I see. Well actually I saw them." And she gestured Michiru to follow her.
Ami had watched all the exchange and when they left waving to her she looked down to the herb in her hand dumbfounded.
"Haruka-san..." Right then doctor Mizuno went out from the tent.
"Oh Ami-chan have you got the herb?" she looked at her daughter nodding then she followed her look to the two figure going off to the camp. "Well I see you have found the herb but you have lost the patient." She commented with an amused smile.
When Haruka and Michiru had reached a quiet spot the blonde stopped.
"I saw them, don't worry, they're safe." At the questioning look by her interlocutor she continued, "I was in the forest to gather some wood and I saw – actually I heard – them. They were... ehm... arguing quite animatedly." Michiru didn't seem to be reassured by that, quite the contrary. "Hey, they're brothers, it's standard procedure to argue to solve problems out." She smiled to the smaller woman.
"Yeah... I know, but..."
"Listen, I saw them returning to the beach, if you can't found them it can be cause they don't want to be found. Maybe they just want to be alone for a little while." Her words made sense but Michiru couldn't relax completely.
"But... you said you saw them..." Haruka nodded, "... Who exactly did you see?"
"I saw Taiki and Yaten walking back to the beach-..." She was cut off by Michiru.
"I know you're not too keen about Seiya, he's not exactly friendly towards you, but I'm worried about him." Haruka smirked suppressing a positive and quite unkind remark about the black-haired singer.
"Mmh... well, he was in the forest and believe me I don't think he want to see anyone at the moment. He was walking to the beach anyway. I think it would be better if you let him calm himself down a little then you can go to him." Haruka didn't like Seiya a bit and his behavior towards her didn't help that but she was being sincere with Michiru.
"Ok." Michiru answered convinced by Haruka's words. They started walking again heading to the spot where Setsuna and little Hotaru were.
"Why were you visiting the doctor, anyway?" Asked Michiru.
"Nothing in particular." Haruka dismissed the subject quickly, or rather she tried to, but Michiru could be very persistent sometimes.
"Haruka-san..." The violinist scolded, "You does not look good, you know?"
"Why thank you! You surely know how to make a compliment!" Haruka joked.
"Oh, baka! You know what I meant!" Michiru replied emphasizing her words with a punch on Haruka's shoulder.
"Ouch!" Haruka looked at the violinist surprised and massaged her shoulder, suddenly red faced instead of the lately pallor. Michiru turned wide eyed when she saw Haruka's pain-filled eyes and realized she had punched Haruka's left – and previously dislocated - shoulder.
"Sorry!" She cried out blushing furiously. Haruka had intended to give Michiru a fake scolding but she couldn't hold her laughter despite the pain in her shoulder. After a moment Michiru realized Haruka was laughing.
"What's so hilarious? If you want I can punch your shoulder again..." She said slight irritated lifting her small fist.
"Oh no no no! Please!" Haruka managed to say in her laughing.
"So what?" Michiru insisted.
"Nothing it's just that you were so... cute blushing and embarrassed..." Haruka's laughter died off as she realized what she had said and then was her turn to be embarrassed. Michiru saw that and despite she was embarrassed too cause of the blonde's words she smirked in vengeance at the sudden blushing of the taller woman.
The end of the funny exchange found them already within the area Setsuna, Haruka and Hotaru had chosen as their dwelling. They didn't want to disturb Setsuna still doing her research of Suoichi's papers so they passed past her silently and then Michiru could notice Haruka's small suitcase was untouched. A pang of longing flashed through her heart and probably through her eyes cause Haruka was looking at her questioning.
"You haven't unpacked..." It was a statement but Haruka felt like she had to justify herself. This feeling made her snap at Michiru quite rudely and then immediately regretting it.
"Why are you so obsessed by my luggage?" Haruka was loud and even the engrossed Setsuna lifted her head from the papers in her lap for a moment. "Sorry, please forgive me..." The immediate apology got Michiru and she smiled indulgently to the blonde who seemed to have feverish eyes.
"No, you're right... I'm being intrusive. It's just that... you know... I have to admit I'm a little envious about that." And she pointed at the little black trolley laying on the white sand.
"You haven't found yours, have you?" Haruka asked softly. Michiru shook her head weirdly on the verge of tears. She bent her head to hid her watering eyes behind the curtain of her aqua colored strands.
"Hey..." Haruka got close to Michiru, bent down to be eye level with her and lifted the smaller girl's chin gently with her hand, "What's wrong?"
Michiru saw real concern in Haruka's teal eyes and couldn't suppress a sob, soon, though her disliking of emotional moments that made her unbelievingly awkward, Haruka encased the smaller woman in a comforting embrace. The violinist then felt free of let go herself and began sobbing and crying freely. After a couple of minutes she disentangled herself from the incredibly comfortable embrace – not without a little regret – and looked up at a purpled faced Haruka. The deep blush run up from the blonde's neck to the tip of her ears.
"I'm sorry, I'm being silly." Michiru apologized.
"Emh... don't be... sorry! I mean don't be sorry. You don't have to." Haruka's speech abilities seemed to have disappeared with the pallor of her face.
"It's not for my suitcase, it was in the plane's hold, but in the trunk..." She sniffed again.
"What was in the trunk, Michiru-san?" Haruka asked.
"My violin." A flash of sympathy shot through Haruka's heart, it had to be painful, for someone who had made a living out of music, not to be able to play. "Oh, I'm bothering you with such silly things, try to forgive me please." Michiru dried her eyes with a very graceful gesture and with ladylike manners she recomposed herself.
That kinda cold and contrived demeanor felt odd for Haruka but she could recognize in that the Kaioh Michiru she had ever seen on TV, concerts or magazines. The always composed and graceful musician, the sophisticated and quite cold beautiful lady so different from the intuitive, playful and caring young woman she had known those last few days. The only thing that seemed the same was her unbelievable beauty.
Haruka soon scolded herself for indulging in such thoughts and forced herself to turn her own attention to something else. She looked around and her eyes stopped on her leather case.
"Well I've not a violin in there, but you can help me unpack, if you want." The excuse was incredibly lame and she knew it, but Michiru didn't seemed to object so she unzipped the small black case even if the top cover was so much tore that the content had been already visible before.
Right then Hotaru decided to join them drawn by the new thing. Far from being annoying the little child was welcomed by both adults: Michiru saw the chance of distracting from her thoughts and Haruka welcomed Hotaru's presence cause it could prevent any further emotional moments concerning Michiru.
They started unpack Haruka's suitcase checking if her clothes could be still wore of if they had suffered irreparable damage. The first thing even the little child noticed was the smallness of her luggage.
"You weren't planning to stay long, were you?" Michiru's comment had intended to be just small talk but Haruka seemed to be troubled by the question. She nonetheless answered.
"Yeah, just a couple of days." Haruka turned suddenly laconic but Michiru was very curious, she opted for subtle investigation so decided not to be pushy that right moment to let Haruka loosen up a little before inquire again.
In the suitecase there were two neatly folded suits, two pair of shoes one of which was – unsurprisingly for Michiru – of runners, two identical white buttoned up shirts. In the top compartment there were some night-clothes, pajama bottoms and tank tops and a couple of T-shirts and running shorts, these items were less neatly folded like they had been thrown in the case hurriedly. Michiru observed all of that with lively curiosity but was Hotaru who noticed with simple naiveté the main detail.
"Haruka-papa do you like black clothes?" Hotaru asked, caused she had imagined Haruka to be someone to like casual clothes rather than classical ones.
Haruka who had busied herself differently wasn't looking what they were doing and with her back to the kid answered distractedly. "Not particularly."
It was then that Michiru realized the occasion that more likely required black wearing and a short stay... and maybe a sudden leaving. She had known Haruka enough to not dare mention such a subject, she had seen Haruka's dark mood to be beyond the crash, she had imagined some pain hurting the tall blonde before the crash and now she could guess something. She remained there looking intently at the back of the tall car-racer with sympathetic eyes wondering how good could be for a person to stifle her feeling the way Haruka was doing. Sure, she had met her just few days ago but she could not imagine Haruka confessing her feelings, troubles and pains to anyone...
"Michiru-mama, are you ok?" Hotaru asked at the spaced out Michiru.
"Oh, sure Hotaru-chan. I'm ok." She said still looking at Haruka who seemed to sense the piercing eyes on her back cause she turned abruptly.
"Shouldn't you go looking for that bak-..."
"Haruka-papa!" Hotaru reprimanded her in a quite comical picture of the very small child scolding the very tall adult.
"... mmh ...for Seiya?" Haruka concluded quickly with Hotaru still glaring at her like a strict mother.
Hadn't been full of dark thoughts Michiru would have sure laughed at the scene, but she just nodded and after kissing Hotaru cheek walked off to find Seiya and reassuring herself he was ok.
'It will be hard Seiya-san. I should tell it will be worst than hard, it'll be Hell. You have to reach the bottom to start your resurfacing, and if you haven't reached the bottom yet, be sure you will do it here. Here with us you're just a someone, another poor soul who had hurt himself and those who care for him. Here you'll learn to be a no one to remember who you really are.'
He had to remind himself he had chosen himself to be there, that it had been a willing choice, he had to remind himself that nobody knew where he actually was. That he hadn't to face the shame, Yaten and Taiki thought he was in a relaxing holiday with some girl and that he didn't want them getting in the way of his fun, his manager knew he was in a beauty farm where he could take care of his profit-making body and get rid of some stress, the audience knew the Threelights were working on a new surely inspired and amazing album to climb the hit-parades again.
The pangs had started as the counselor had foretold, the horrible pangs in his stomach like his guts were trying to escape his abdomen. The pain! The pain was unbelievable, but when the pain subsided his mind never cleared. When the pain subsided he could just remember those menacing words... '...and when the pain will be so ferocious that will make you swear all gods and your own parents for having let you be born, well, then you will only think that nothing of that and nothing of the numerous other things that had happened to you or your beloved either are your fault... so I'm telling you now it's bullshit! It was your fault. It was just... Your. Fuckin'. Fault. I'm telling you this cause I have to be sure that when the pain will double you you remember clearly all of my words.' He had thought that was a pretty lame try to intimidating him, but now he was realizing that - though lame - the try had been successful.
He was in pain and he was scared, he was furious too, he wanted to hurt someone, he really wanted to kill... Yes, he wanted to kill someone, anyone was responsible for all his pain... now he understood... he understood the counselor's words and understood why he was in an empty room unable to hurt even himself.
'You have to prove you're worthy living again...' Those were the last words the counselor had said before leaving him to enter the main building that would have been his home for the next weeks, maybe months.
'But I'm not just no one...' Seiya thought pulling out from under his undershirt the one item he had succeeded in keeping from the clinic staff, something they didn't want him to have. But had fooled them. He had managed to get what he was sure could remind him who he really was: Seiya Kou, not just someone. He slipped the small envelope out of his clothes, his hands trembling wildly.
"Here you are... you'll save me, you'll made me again what I was... who I was..." He murmured the senseless words of a crazy person... or so was what anyone of the staff would have thought.
"Here you are..." He kept mumbling as big sweatdrops fell from his forehead and his entire frame was shook by tremendous shivers. He kept mumbling as he held tightly in his very cold hands a wrinkled picture showing three happy boys full of dreams of a brilliant future.
The entire group with the only exception of Jade was gathered around the fireplace, nineteen somber faces around a fire and a pile of belongings of dozens of strangers.
Rei's grandfather started performing his ceremony while Rei translated for those who couldn't understand Japanese. As she talked Michiru turned to her right side where Seiya stood looking directly in the fire and seeming miles away from there. She hadn't been able to talk to him yet, when she had left Haruka and Hotaru just before dinner she had found him sitting on the sand alone, shaking his head sadly and totally oblivious of the world around him. Then she had decided to follow Haruka's advice and she had left him alone some more time.
'Later...' She thought resolute to offer her help to him if he needed some or just her comfort if he would have let her.
She then turned to her left to see the taller figure of Haruka beside her. The blonde had been quiet all evening and Michiru had just stayed in the distance watching her with a little concern. Every passing moment the blonde seemed to look worse, more and more tired and her mood darker and darker.
At the dancing light of the fire Michiru noticed a flash of metallic light at Haruka's neck and she soon recognized the gold cross attached to a thin necklace. She had noticed it the first time she had seen Haruka shirtless during the reduction of her shoulder's dislocation. It had been weird imagining the tall car-racer praying even if she would have prayed God, and the more she knew her the more she couldn't conceive Haruka bending to a (superior) will that wasn't her own.
"Isn't it weird for you such service?" She – or better said her curiosity – asked the blonde with a whisper. When she was rewarded by a questioning look she gestured towards the blonde's neck. Haruka reached to her neck with her hand and then understood.
"I told you I lived in Japan for more than half my life, beside I'm not Christian." She whispered back.
It has passed less than a minute when Haruka went on, "I'm nothing... I mean I'm not religious at all." And with that she thought she had dismissed the subject. But for Michiru it had just begun and she was even more curious than before.
"Well... then why have you that?" She asked meaning again the gold cross.
Haruka rolled her eyes but answered nonetheless. "It's an heirloom, my grandmother gave it to me when I left New York to go living in Tokyo." Unfortunately for Michiru but luckily for Haruka the ceremony needed their participating and their whispered conversation had to come to an abrupt end.
He was sitting near the flames but in a quite secluded spot, if possible. He buried his right hand in his right pants-pocket and pulled out a transparent little packet. He had it swirling slowly in his hand for several minutes. He was watching it intently like it could give him some precious answers and someway it could have. He knew that inside that very small packet lot of people searched answers, courage, happiness or just fun. He had searched those kind of thing too, but in that small packet he hadn't found answers he had just found the way or forgetting the questions. He tossed the small packet and its light brown contents into the flames.
Behind him, half hidden by the thin trunk of a palm, the young, still smooth face irregularly illuminated by the fire, stood Yaten.
'I'm proud of you Seiya-kun... even if you disappointed me beyond forgiveness...'
Those who was looking at the sky and just them could notice a blinking light passing rapidly on their heads...
'Maybe... we're invisible, or we are just not supposed to be found... After all this enormous fir can't pass unnoticed...'
"Hey... tough day, wasn't it?" A light weight sat beside him, he didn't move, "Mine too... do you want to talk about it?"
Michiru embraced the dark-haired boy as he laid his head on her soft chest, she squeezed his hand and they remained there in silence for the rest of the night.
End of chapter 5.
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