Lost With You (part 8 of 9)

- FORGIVE ME BROTHER, CAUSE I HAVE SINNED -

Author's note: I don't know if this clarification is needed or not, I (unfortunately, I have to say) live in a catholic country, (no offense intended of course, I just have to say that Catholicism isn't too sympathetic with civil rights and 'different' people and right now things have gone a little harsh about gay people and their rights... and here I stop cause I don't want to bore you further) so I'm pretty familiar with the title's formula, for those who aren't it's a formula said during Confession, a ritual when you ask forgiveness for your sins, you tell that to the priest so it'd be 'forgive me Father, cause I have sinned', I replaced 'father' with 'brother', you'll realize why while reading the chapter.

WARNING!: Violence, language and angst.

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Tokyo airport, 9.27 AM

"Can we sit on the fucking bench? My feet are starting to feel numb!" The long-haired man told his companion. The other man looked amused.

"You will have all your life to sit and think about all your naughty actions, 'cause - believe me - that 'getaway-trick' won't work twice. And the reason you had to escape to Japan still eludes me."

Jade smiled to him, "I like sushi." He said winking.

"You're nuts, I can't wait till I'll lend you to Ricker's Island screws. Then you'll be their problem. Now stop fussing about your feet, you're starting to sound like my old granny." The shorter man concluded. He wanted to stay away from other people as much as possible, to prevent any unnecessary contact with his ward. He knew well he was viciously dangerous and if it hadn't been for his daughter's wedding he wouldn't have accepted that assignment. He was old enough to afford turning a job down, his boss would have understood, but then again, he wanted his young daughter to have the wedding of her dreams, she was her daddy's princess, after all.

"A penny for your thoughts..." The other's disturbingly mellifluous voice came in a low tone.

"Shut the fuck up!" The marshal ordered.

"Such a rude man! Let me guess... you were thinking about your family, am I right?" The marshal glared at him actually giving his thoughts away. Jade chuckled and continued, "Yeah, of course. Your adorable daughter maybe? That little cute pie-..."

He was suddenly cut off when his breathe stopped midway as he was violently slammed against the window wall of the departures area. As soon as he recovered from the surprise he chuckled again almost laughing openly till a hand tightened around his neck actually preventing him from breathing.

"You won't refer to her... Never. Again. Am I clear?" The marshal said between gritted teeth. When after a long moment the prisoner hadn't answered the marshal loosened his grip and tossed Jade away from the wall. The long-haired man stumbled and the jacket slipped from his lap revealing his handcuffed wrists. Soon the officer leaned down and collected the coat.

Jade looked down at the squatting marshal with eyes full of hatred, he pictured in his mind him kicking the man first on his jaw and then his stomach and torso, he figured blood staining the glossy floor but he wouldn't stop, not until the man laid unmoving at his feet.

"What are you staring at, asshole?" The policeman asked replacing the jacket on Jade's hands, covering them not to draw attention to them.

"I just had a vision." The prisoner said in a calm tone. "Someone won't live long enough to see the end of this trip..." He concluded while an evil smile crept across his handsome hard features.

"Whatever." The marshal said, then opening his coat he gestured to the gun in his shoulder holster. "But don't forget I'm the one with the piece of iron here."

Jade's look pierced him, the evil smile never leaving his face.

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Eleven days later, in the middle of the forest.

"Don't even think about it!" The aqua-haired beauty hissed, following the blonde's line of sight. "You can barely stand without help, there's no way you could chop wood for the fire! Now quit with the longing eyes, you can't move me." She said firmly while helping the car-racer walking around the clearing right out of the cave.

"C'mon Michiru! I'm gonna die out of boredom!" Haruka protested, but she had to lean on her escort for balance when she tried to sit on a big rock in a secluded spot away from the cave's entrance.

"And for Kami's sake don't even try that puppy-dog eyes of yours... I'm not that resolved." She added the last words in a softer tone.

"I knew it! You can't be that cold." Haruka said with a smile of victory on her handsome face.

'I wish I could be... that cold. I wish I could not feel so warm around you.' Michiru thought, sitting down beside her.

"My puppy-dog eyes never fail, but I have to admit I rarely have to resort to it. Only few can say they had been able to see it. So treasure that 'cause it won't happen again soon!" Haruka said solemnly why giving Michiru a hilarious version of a pleading look, with watering eyes and trembling lower lip.

Michiru couldn't resist anymore and burst out in laughter, a sound that never stopped to sound like refreshing water in a desert to Haruka. The same effect Michiru's expression of happiness had. The way the violinist's face used to lit up every time she was about to laugh was something Haruka had learnt to cherish like a precious treasure.

'I could really get used to it.' Haruka thought watching the other woman sat beside her, 'God, you're beautiful!'

"Ok, now what?" Michiru asked as she realized Haruka was staring at her face.

"Uh?" The car-racer asked, not sure what the violinist had just said.

"You're staring at me." Michiru stated looking the other significantly, "What's happened? Is there something wrong?" Suddenly worried, Michiru leaned forward to check Haruka's forehead with her palm.

"Hey! I'm fine..." Haruka exclaimed chuckling. Snapping out of her dazed state, she caught Michiru's soft hand midair, at first gently then she held it still firmly when Michiru tried to disentangle it. No more words were exchanged but a series of significant looks, some playful and amused some so intense that Michiru felt her heart racing and her hand – where it was touching Haruka's – burning.

Those sensations took her by surprise so much that she stopped fighting back the car-racer and let her pull their hands down till they were in her own lap. Though their little playful battle had been sedate their eyes were still locked and the intensity of the looks exchanged made the smiles on their faces disappear at the same time.

After a very long moment Michiru couldn't hold that gaze anymore and had to look away. She had to, cause she suddenly realized she was about to... 'Oh God, no! No, I wasn't about to... to lean over... a-and...' She couldn't even bring herself to end the silent sentence. 'She was. She was the one about to...' She tried to convince herself.

'Was she?' Her inner voice mocked her.

Haruka snapped out of it as soon as the magnetic stare of blue-ocean eyes was gone. She realized their hands were still entangled and she abruptly retrieve her own at the same time as Michiru and in a smooth movement she nervously passed it through her rebellious blonde locks.

'You were about to lose it, Haruka.' She told to herself.

'Admit it girl, you're in deep trouble. Deep deep trouble.' Her annoying inner voice said. If it could be said about a voice – an inner, unreal voice – Haruka was sure it was laughing at her... and she couldn't blame it.

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Unbeknown to the protagonists that scene had its little audience. In fact several feet away Mina was watching with interest and was joined by Serena who was chomping on a piece of coconut.

"Hey, look at the two lovebirds!" The pigtailed girl exclaimed giggling, Mina then turned around to smile at her friend when she realized they weren't alone.

"Gosh, they do make a beautiful couple! Don't they, Mina?" Serena continued, not getting why her friend's eyes had suddenly got so big.

"I bet Seiya would-... Ouch!" She said as she felt the dull pain in her toe, where Mina had stamp on. "What was that for?" She asked, then she followed Mina's look till she had to turn around to see Seiya's frozen face, where he was standing behind her.

"Oh! Hi Seiya!" Serena greeted him with exaggerate cheerfulness, but he seemed not to acknowledge her, or Mina. He was staring – make it glaring – at the two women in the distance. Silently he walked towards them in a measured, slow pace.

From where they stood, Serena and Mina could just see his unbelievably long ponytail slowly swaying rhythmically with his steps. The two girls held their breaths, sensing an impending storm about to burst. And was then that Michiru, still holding Haruka's hand averted her look and suddenly seemed to focus on the approaching man. She abruptly let go of Haruka's hand and looked at Seiya with what Mina could only describe as a guilty look. And then the younger blonde was sure deep down she hadn't been wrong about what was going on with Michiru and Haruka and that in some measure they were aware of it too.

"What's happening?... Oh!" Ami's soft voice came from behind Mina.

"Oh, it's him again." Rei had joined them, "Can't he leave her alone? What's his problem? He's been coming up here once a day since she got here!" The young miko shook her head.

"It looks like he's worried about her." The blue-haired girl stated. Then three pairs of skeptical eyes turned to her bringing a deep shade of red up to her ears.

"I meant Michiru-san." She hurriedly explained causing the others to sweatdrop.

"And what does he think it's gonna happen to her here? Kami! They're all so insecure, they are all over you saying they do it to protect you cause they care about you... but the truth is they want to be reassured." Rei bitterly commented, obviously feeling personally touched by the subject. The other three turned around for a moment and glanced for a moment to the young long-haired Japanese man who sat some feet away from them and was clearly observing them.

"At least he..." Mina was looking back at the main scene at the other end of the clearing, and she gestured to Seiya who had now reached Haruka and Michiru and was animatedly talking to the violinist, "has some reasons for his insecurity." The following silence among the little group made clear she wasn't the only one thinking that way.

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"C'mon kid! Don't wanna screw up your big day, do you?" The twenty-something man said impatiently, standing by the back door of the small squalid kitchen, his rough face looked way older than his actual age, his dark dirty clothes had seen better days but they would have served their purpose.

"Kurt? You're not going to get your brother involved in some of your so-called businesses, are you? You've been paroled just a week ago." The heavy, tired-looking woman in the pink diner's uniform said, putting on a worn coat that looked way too thin for the approaching winter.

"It's none of your business, woman! He's a big boy." He said rudely to shut her up. "Beside you can use a little cash now that the old man's gone, the fucking asshole!" As soon as she started to protest he cut her off, "Don't even start, he wasn't my father... and he was a piece of shit anyway."

She stared at him without saying a word, her look empty and blank. Then she picked up her purse and headed to the door of the little room.

"Neal, Jade," she called for her other two sons, "I'm off to the night shift, dinner's in the fridge." She shouted out before turning again to her eldest. She looked at him as if wanting to say something, but then he returned her an angry, resentful look, so she shrugged and went out.

"Jade! Carry that skinny ass of yours here. Now! The boys don't like latecomers."

A thirteen-year-old thin boy entered the room followed by a pale little boy about five in a baggy pajama at least three sizes bigger than him.

"It's about time! Here, I've something for you lil' bro'." Kurt handed Jade a gun, a black .38 semiautomatic. The younger boy looked at it in his brother's big hand but didn't move.

"C'mon bro', don't be a sissy!" Kurt said gesturing for him to take the weapon. "Yeah! That's my boy!" He laughed loud as his brother's trembling hand got closer - a laugh almost as hard as the lines on his face.

The gun was heavy, heavier than Jade had ever figured, and it was cold. Jade stared at it in his palm, his own silhouette reflected on the metallic butt. Then he slowly closed his finger around it, his hand was too small and in order to have a firm grip he had to tighten his grip and his knuckles became white. He rotated his wrist to look at it from all the angles and weighed, to get accustomed to its heavy sensation.

"Sweet, ain't it?" His brother said, and slapped him on his back laughing again. "If you get things right tonight, it'll be yours."

"Jadey?" A tiny little voice came from behind him and when he turned around – the gun still firmly in his hand – the little boy eyes were big and watery, locked to the black piece of iron in Jade's hand. In a minute he started to cry loudly.

"Oh, Christ!" Kurt hissed. "Make the brat stop! We have to go." He then said.

"Neal, c'mon, there's nothing to be afraid of..." Jade put the gun on the counter and got close to the little kid, he tousled his thin fair hair and tried to soothe him, but the result was a sobbing bundle in his arms.

"Shit! I can't believe this sissy is actually my half-brother!" Kurt was loosing his patience, he took Jade's arm and literally dragged him out of the house taking the gun.

Five minutes later they were driving down the road on an old van. "You could have waited till we were out, you know guns upset him." Jade said looking out the window.

"C'mon! He shouldn't be afraid of guns, after all he's not the one with this." He reminded his brother, pulling up his sleeve and revealing a purple scar on his forearm. "I'm the one the old bastard shot when I was nine but it didn't turn me into a sissy. It just made me want to shoot his shit-head off his neck!" He concluded angrily. "Too bad he did it himself..." He added.

Jade didn't reply. He kept looking out the window, the street lamps' light reflecting in his gray eyes.

"You nervous?" Kurt asked after a while, "Don't need to be, you're my brother, you've got it in your blood. The boys will be happy to have you on the team."

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"The boys have missed you, Michi-chan. They'll be thrilled to see you finally back." Seiya was cheerful, despite the fact he hadn't found out who attacked him almost a week ago, he had finally succeeded in convincing Michiru to go back to the beach. His perseverance had been admirable, he had made the trip to the cave almost every day and for the first days he had had to endure Michiru's cold shoulder due to the fact she was mad at him for not telling immediately about Haruka's condition and because – he was painfully aware of that – the violinist was very worried about the other woman. She seemed to care in a way he had never seen her care for anyone. Like now... he kept talking cheerful, but Michiru seemed miles away, she wasn't paying attention... not a little bit.

In fact Michiru was engaged in a very hard task, she was trying to figure out the real nature of the feelings in her heart right now. And it wasn't easy. Was it relief? Guilt? Longing? Fear?

'All of the above?' She finally thought bitterly. All different feelings but in a way they all fit in her heart right now.

Every time she tried to define it the first word that came to her mind was 'fear'... better said 'panic'. An almost physical sensation. But fear of what? She had spent beautiful moments at the cave, despite the whole situation, despite the reason she had got there in the first place. Being with Hotaru was something able to fill her up with pure joy. And Setsuna and the girls had been such a pleasant company to chit-chat and even talk about serious things... and then all those other moments... spent breaking jokes, teasing, talking, even confessing, and sometimes she had almost the feeling they were flir-

A pang of that familiar sensation came in her stomach, even considering the idea was dreadful. She kept being assaulted by a clear feeling of doom. Like something was about to break the perfect surface of her life in an irreparable way. And that was enough to bring panic along. And then she thought she was with Seiya and soon she'd be with his brothers, her old friends, familiar, harmless, not challenging, not even Seiya with his crush on her.

But then that thought brought another disturbing feeling, something less rational, deeper, a sense of emptiness, of something missing. And then came guilt, that was clear, she was aware she had been rude with her sudden leaving, with lame excuses or no words at all. She felt guilty about leaving Hotaru, about not being able to explain to Haruka why she was leaving and she was feeling guilty with herself cause she knew she was running away from something that made her feel better than she had ever felt her entire life.

"...away from that creepy cave at last! Though I admit having all the water you want at hand it's neat."

Seiya's voice registered in her mind only those times her feelings got too intense and the whole thing was getting on her nerves. It was upsetting to realize she was scared of growing attachment to someone. It wasn't rational. Beside she had always wanted to 'feel' strongly, to have friends, to love and be loved. But she had never had time for those kind of things, and whenever she did, no one could arouse her attention, or couldn't touch her deep inside her soul. At least not the people her parents or her agent had presented or recommended. All those 'just perfect' for her. But now... the mere thought of a friendship – just that - full of intense feelings terrorized her.

That and that alone had been the real reason she had so eagerly left the cave. She had had the clear sensation she was about to lose the total control she had on her own feelings - and her actions, that very morning – to lose control on her life.

All her detachment was almost lost already, she had forgiven things she usually wouldn't have, she had left a task half-done when people were counting on her just to run to someone, she had did regretful things due to anger, that wasn't like her at all. She was feeling like her life was about to be put upside-down even if she would have survived that misadventure.

"...Yaten-kun has caught two fish yesterday. You should have seen him, proud like he'd just won a Grammy!"

"Mmh, really?" She tried to turn her attention to Seiya and off her own issues. But after a few minutes she was back to her own thoughts and the dark-haired man's words were again some muffled background noise.

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Two days had passed since Michiru had left the cave and Haruka was getting better and better. And along with her strength also her frustration grew, the doctor had firmly forbidden every exertion leaving her with too much time to think and she didn't want to do that right now. No, it wasn't a very good idea cause the past days had been quite intense, and nothing that had happened since the plane had crashed down was less than disturbing: all the deaths, the danger, the responsibilities... - she looked at the black-haired kid right in front of her, playing with a makeshift rag-doll; let alone the very disturbing encounter with her father's ghost – about which she hadn't talked to anyone, she was having enough hard time trying to convince her own self she hadn't gone suddenly crazy. And then there had been the acquaintance of all those people, strangers... some of them getting so close to her she felt she wasn't able to run off anymore. Kami! She couldn't remember the last time she had actually missed someone – someone still alive, just absent.

But the truth was she couldn't stop recalling the soothing sensation of cool fingers on her forehead and whispered words the meaning of which was lost in her memories. She couldn't stop thinking about a way to say thank you even though she knew she'd never do that.

She smiled in her thought, if people could see her self-conscious, scared of telling two little words, so much for the almighty racer!

Haruka shook her head. Yeah, thinking was definitely a bad bad idea.

"Haruka-papa?" Hotaru reaped her off her thoughts.

"What is it, Hime-chan?"

"Did you have many dolls when you were little?" The kid asked taking the car-racer totally by surprise. She found herself blushing suddenly embarrassed by that innocent question.

"Ehm... Actually... N-Not many... I..." Stammering on a kid's question... that was embarrassing! And it got even worse when she heard a chuckle behind her. She turned and met two amused light blue eyes.

"I can hardly picture you playing with dolls at all." Mina said in English.

"Yeah that hardly ever happened." Haruka replayed scratching the back of her head and the two adults burst out in laughter much for the little girl's surprise.

The two blondes stopped abruptly when they noticed the scolding look of the purple-eyed kid.

"I want to laugh too!" Hotaru said almost miffed. Haruka after a brief moment of confusion smiled at the kid and translated the little conversation.

"Yeah, I thought that, Michiru-mama told me she used to have a huge dolls house when she was little. I bet you had lots of toy cars." Hotaru said with a serious tone. Haruka smiled at ther and tousled her pitch black hair.

"Yeah, lots of toy cars." She confirmed chuckling.

"You look better." Mina commented. She had been observing Haruka from a distance for a while, the car-racer seemed getting better, but her mood on the contrary had got worse in the past couple of days and the reason couldn't be mistaken, not by her at least.

"I am indeed. Better, I mean." She said with a sad smile, "You should tell the doc about that, cause she seems the only one not sure about it." The car-racer sighed with resignation, her shoulders slumped, her charming teal eyes down looking at her hands in her lap.

In that moment Mina couldn't help but think about at the much weaker but smiling and cheerful Haruka she had got used to look at only a couple of days ago, and she felt once again compelled to 'help' the situation. She had witnessed how something was evolving between Haruka and Michiru, and she suspected that that had been the main reason for Michiru sudden departure, and not just Seiya's persistence, she guessed Michiru to be the kind of woman who doesn't like to be told what to do. Maybe it was time to help things to move forward some more again, after it had been thanks to her Michiru had come to the cave in the first place.

"Well maybe I can do that." Mina said raising a questioning look by the taller blonde, "Tell doctor Mizuno." She explained and happily saw a flash of hope cross the car-racer's face.

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Two days had passed since Michiru had returned to the beach, life there had fallen into a routine. Everyone seemed to have found an occupation, even though there wasn't much to do other than look for some fruit or fish and – at least for Furuhata – trying to fix the radio device. Every couple of days someone had to make the trip to the spring and collect water, but that was it. And they all had a lot of time on their hands.

For Umino and Molly that time was easily spent enjoying each other's company. Lita tried to take an eye on Jade every chance she had. The three Ku brothers had a lot to rebuilt in the matter of trust. Particularly for Seiya time never seemed to be enough, cause he was spending a lot trying to gain Michiru's attention.

The violinist, on the other hand, seemed more and more distant, considering the eagerness with which she had agreed to leave the caves all of a sudden after days of cold shoulder and annoyance she had shown towards him he had thought she would display some kind of happiness, he had thought she maybe had made up her mind finally. Sure he hadn't been sure his speech had been convincing at first, when he had saw that scene, that exchange of looks, that tension between Michiru and the car-racer he hadn't thought at all, just stormed to them and he hadn't even tried to hide the fact he was jealous. Normally that would have infuriated Michiru, but then had come the unexpected. She had heard him out not speaking a single word, a confused look on her face as if she was trying to figure out what was happening, then she agreed with him. 'You're right Seiya-kun, I should come back to the beach.' Just that, in an empty, mechanic tone and then she had got up and turned her back to the blonde.

Thinking about that Seiya could only think seeing him jealous had made Michiru realize how much she really meant to him, but now he was at a loss of explanations again, cause since she had got back to the beach, Michiru had spent most of her time playing – and he knew all too well nobody was allowed to disturb her while she was playing.

It was frustrating for him feeling as he was loosing grasp of her a little more every day even though they had never been so close. The worst thing was that he sincerely cared for her, among the fact that he had never had to fight so much to get attention in his entire life, always being the outstanding, most talented, most handsome guy, and the hurt ego, he was earnestly worried about her cause she seemed troubled and upset, let alone lost on a desert island and in daily danger. But she wouldn't talk to him and he was starting to feel like he was starting to lose her as a friend too.

"Kami! She plays heavenly, like she's not from this planet!" Yaten said interrupting his older brother's train of depressing thoughts.

"Yeah..." Seiya agreed... who wouldn't?

"Hey, what about your attack?" Lita whispered to Seiya, as always afraid to disturb the almost mystic violinist's concentration. The brunette who used to be blunt and unrestrained had shown some sort of reverential respect for Michiru's playing.

"Nothing new about it..." The dark-haired man sighed, but then here it was, something to avert his attention from Michiru. Something to take care of instead of depressing himself about the violinist.

The truth though was that he didn't know a thing about his incident, he didn't know whether he had been so incredibly lucky to survive an encounter with the mysterious thing that seemed to live in the forest or something even more disturbing had happened: someone hit him to prevent the radio communication of the survivors.

And if that was the case... who? Whose interest would be for them to remain stuck in that dreadful place? Was it someone among them or was there someone else on the island they didn't know about? None of those scenarios was pleasant, not the idea of a mysterious and seemingly not good-intentioned inhabitant of the island, nor the possibility of a willing saboteur among them.

"Listen to me. He's the one!" Lita gestured toward Jade, who was sitting comfortably under his tent reading as always. "I don't like him." She added much for Yaten annoyance.

"We already know that. You make that detail pretty hard to miss." The younger singer said rolling his eyes.

"But you're the one saying you have hardly lost sight of him that day." Seiya reminded her.

"Yeah, but I'm not so sure, I had to take care of the food as always and he could have sneaked away into the forest. I did see him coming back from the wood at one point. It's just that you can't remember what time was it when you've been hit." She replayed.

"Oh yeah, I'm sorry I didn't take a peek at my watch while being knocked out!" He sarcastically commented in annoyance.

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His nimble fingers got the best of the lock in a minute and Jade and his two associates got into the nice two floor house. The owners were out as they were every Saturday. As soon as they were sure no one was in the house they split up to search for any valuable thing. While his partners stormed upstairs to the bedroom Jade he stayed downstairs to check the living room for LCD TV and other items he knew their fence had requested, and maybe search for a safe behind the furniture.

"C'mon, you guys have to have a little safe somewhere... you're such a nice little family..." He joked picking up a framed picture from one of the shelves. It actually was a nice family, the woman on the right was a young blonde cutie in her late twenties, with bright hazel eyes and a very sweet smile; the little boy was fair headed, with freckles on his upright nose and the same smile as his mother; the father has fair hair too, blue eyes, a straight nose and a good-natured handsome smile, the same smile... He really looked like... a smile he hadn't seen in a very long time. A smile very similar to the one he used to see every morning in the mirror.

"Hey, Mikey!" He suddenly called for his pal who immediately poke out from up the stairs.

"What?"

"What's the happy family's name, again?" He asked nonchalantly.

"Peterson. Funny, ain't it? Just like you pal!" He said laughing out loud, but when he looked don his partner seemed lost in his thoughts and hadn't even smiled at the irony of the situation. Instead he was looked down at a picture in his hands.

"Hey, Jade, they're not your folks, are they?" He asked suddenly scared.

From down the stairs Jade looked up staring at him for a moment then he smiled his usual wicked smile.

"Take your time boys, I've suddenly feel the compelling desire to say hi to the generous couple."

"What?!?! Are you out of your fucking mind?!?!?!"

"Don't worry man, no one's gonna turn us in." He answered confidently.

So they waited a couple of hours hidden in the dark of the living room with guns in their laps and balaclava hats on their faces. Until they heard a key turning into the lock.

"OK honey, I'll get him into bed immediately." A female clear voice called out.

"Yeah, poor boy, he's spent all his energy." A male voice chuckled. "Go ahead, I'll be up in a minute." He said before entering the living room without even bother to turn the light on.

He collapsed on the couch and loosened his tie sighing.

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"Long time no see... bro'." A familiar voice came from the shadows of his living room.

Neal Peterson wasn't a coward, he wasn't afraid of hard work, in fact he had worked really hard to obtain the scholarship that had got him from the poorest suburbs through college. He wasn't afraid of fighting: he had fight during lunch break every day of his junior-high when Jimmy McCutch and his friends tried to humiliate him in front of the whole school, and God knows how much he had had to fight to make Callie Marcus – one of the most popular and beautiful girls in high-school – notice him and then fight her former football player boyfriend, but eventually he had won, he had triumphed and now he was a wealthy accountant and Callie was tucking their son in bed upstairs.

No, Neal Peterson wasn't a coward, but that voice had been able to send a shiver down his spine the same moment he heard it.

And yet he wasn't even afraid of death, he had watched his mother die day by day in excruciating pain tending to her all alone, listening to her calling for her other two sons. And several years before he had seen his drunk, violent father shoot himself in the head ending his pathetic, miserable life.

But that mocking tone could turn him into a statue, afraid of moving or even talk. Of course he could remember a time when he had been very fond of that same – but younger – voice, when he would have believed every single word coming from it, when it would have said gentle, soothing words to him every night he had a nightmare.

But those times were long gone and Neal hadn't heard that voice in years... and he had been grateful about it.

"What is it? Aren't you going to hug your big brother?"

"What are you doing here?" Finally he was able to speak.

"Oh, I just thought to stop by and say hi, it's a pity that kid hasn't met his uncle, yet." Jade said mellifluous gesturing toward the stairs with his head.

"Leave him alone!" Neal hissed afraid of attracting his wife's attention.

"What? Are you ashamed of your own brother?" Jade said in mocked shock, "That hurts!" He whispered bringing his armed hand to his chest. "You think you're much better than your brothers, huh?"

Jade's companions watched the whole scene in utter silence while the long-haired man raised slightly his voice, now completely serious.

"Oh yeah, you didn't want to get involved in our business, huh? Not even when they killed Kurt..." He hit hard the shelf with his fist in anger, all the framed pictures fell, some of them crashing on the floor and either Neal and Jade's companions startled. "I had to shoot those bastards like dogs on my own... But guess what? Now you, your fancy car and this 52 inches LCD TV have become part of my business! Too bad now you're on the wrong side of the bargain!..."

"Neal, honey who are these people?" A trembling female voice came from the stairs.

Jade turned around and looked at the woman with his patented evil smile on his dry lips, "We met at last, dear sister-in-law." He said then gestured his partner to go and grab her. "Please boys, escort the lady down here, don't wanna lose the chance of making her acquaintance."

"NOOOO!" Neal protested but Jade's other partner showed him his gun eloquently.

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Mina's plan to help Haruka and Michiru to spend time together had been quite easily to put into practice, much cause Haruka had been eager to do anything other than keeping on staying at the cave doing nothing. So she had immediately accepted the proposition of accompany Ami to her almost daily trip to the beach to check on Molly, and to smooth things down Mina had suggested Hotaru going too, just to spend time with Michiru and of course the kid had been enthusiastic about it.

At the last moment she had decided to tag along cause it was her plan and she was too curious of seeing how it would have end up. She wanted to help those two cause she felt both of them couldn't or wouldn't help themselves. They seemed both afraid of getting closer but nonetheless they were obviously drawn to one another every time they had a chance to spend time in each other's company.

Michiru's departure had been suspicious to say an understatement, Seiya had been coming and going for a week and not once Michiru seemed to have even considered the possibility of leaving with him. She had been firm about staying and had treated him pretty coldly like she was mad at him or something. In fact the first couple of days she had barely spoken to him at all, but then again she had hardly left Haruka's bedside. The blonde was in life-danger situation and Michiru had sat at her side refreshing her forehead, trying to make her drink some water and mostly soothing her through her delirious sleep. Sometimes with the risk of being hit by the delusional racer when her nightmares were so realistic she wanted to stand up and fight whatever her feverish mind made her see. Seiya's presence at that moment seemed only to annoy the very committed violinist. But when Haruka's conditions had got better Michiru relaxed too and her attitude towards the pop-singer had sweetened a little bit.

But Mina couldn't stop thinking the kind of commitment Michiru had shown towards Haruka was something special. And that was the reason that, after several days spent bonding with the blonde in a very special way, Michiru's eagerness to leave without even a word had been odd.

Mina felt sure about the fact that it had been a Michiru's independent decision, nothing to do with Seiya's outburst, in fact seeing the connection those two very special persons had developed between them Seiya's presence looked more and more as an intrusion.

But then again that same morning the violinist had left Mina had observed a scene that could have ended in a very different way, to be honest she had thought it would, for a moment. It had looked like they had been about to kiss but then both had stopped and then Seiya had stormed between them.

"Mina, you really need to get a life on your own!" She finally said out loud to herself, realizing she was obsessing over someone else's sentimental life.

Ami, Haruka and Hotaru all turned to her, a questioning look in their eyes, the long-haired blonde blushed and said: "What? Don't you guys use to talk to yourself sometimes?"

Haruka and Ami blushed and averted their looks sweatdropping, while Hotaru kept looking confused at them not being able to understand the English conversation.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Life at the beach was very different from life at the caves, and not just cause there was no kid to take care of or convalescing friend to tend to. At the beach people weren't resigned: Furuhata had his devices to mess around with; Umino and Molly used to spend most of the time travel over the horizon looking for a ship; ; Taiki and Yaten had recently come up with the idea of building a raft; the only one who seemed not to care at all was Jade who kept reading his novels under his tent, and whenever he had the chance he would have grin evilly and knowingly at Michiru when no one else was looking; even Lita and Seiya weren't resigned, in fact they were both very resolved in trying to accomplish their tasks: the young chef wanted to maintain order and justice among them and she was sure jade was the real threat right now; the pop singer was determined to finally find his assailant.

He had seemed kind of obsessed in the last few hours, questioning everyone on the beach about everyone whereabouts. He had also asked Michiru, which had been distracted as she always was lately, when Seiya had complained about that she felt guilty and tried to look interested in the matter when in fact she was wrapped into her own troubled mind and that made her feel even more guilty.

"I'm losing hope, Michi-chan..." He finally said sighing. They were sat leaned against a tree, it was almost midday and the sun was hot on the skin and the shadow provided by the tree was pleasant. Michiru turned to him and saw defeat in his dark eyes and her heart had a pang of compassion, wanting to help him she tried to seriously consider the facts and give him her opinion. She looked around but whoever she saw didn't feel like a saboteur, surely not Umino or the young pregnant woman, Molly; nor Furuhata always engrossed in his work; Lita was always so blunt and almost rudely sincere she couldn't figure her being subtle and deceitful; and sure she hasn't even consider the idea of Yaten or Taiki having anything to do with it.

Then her look crossed two steel gray eyes and a vicious smile. A shiver run down her spine as always, but not just for the evil viciousness of that face but mostly cause it reminded her of the kiss and again she felt dirty. She unconsciously passed the back of her hand on her lips as to brush off that sensation and as always she tried to seek comfort in another memory but this time trying to remember the softness of Haruka's cheek on her lips brought back the vivid image of the blonde's thin lips that had been so close to hers and she could feel still now the almost painful desire to lean over... to give in... and get lost...

"You're spacing out on me again, Michi-chan." The resignation in Seiya's voice brought her back on the actual matter.

"Gomen nasai, Seiya-kun. I'm a terrible friend right now." She sincerely said.

"Don't be... sorry, I mean. It's not your fault." That passive attitude got to her, he seemed really upset by the situation.

"Seiya, the more I think about it the lees I can figure anyone of them wanting to hurt you." She said gesturing in the general direction of the other people on the small beach. "That said if I had to watch my back from someone... well it'll be that Jade, you know. After all we don't know exactly what he was convicted for." She said it casually as she could have said it to Haruka or Setsuna or anyone who knew about the mug shot, only when she noticed the silence from her interlocutor she realized what she had done.

Seiya was staring at her almost shocked, obviously stricken by the news, "He's what?!?" Finally he managed to ask, still incredulous.

Michiru knew it was too late to take it back so she decided to fill Seiya in on the whole story: about the mug shot she and Setsuna had found and Haruka and Darien finding the marshal's body in the plane wreckage. He didn't try to hide his disappointment knowing she had kept that detail from him all that time, but he was mostly upset about Haruka and Darien knowing it and not bothering enough to share with him. He felt excluded from that special group in charge and that wasn't something he was used to. Now he felt compelled to reestablish his position as an active and manly member of the community. So he stood.

"If you'll excuse me, Michiru." He said solemnly, getting a questioning expression from the violinist, but he didn't explain, he just walked away straight to the long-haired man's den.

"Seiya don't!" She exclaimed as she realized what was on his mind, but he didn't stop so she stood and run after him. When she reached the two men they stood already exchanging fiery looks.

The tension between the two was broken when Jade addressed Michiru with one of his usual smiles. "Mmmh, you decided to give away our little secret..." He didn't seem shocked nor upset, he rather looked... amused. On the other hand Michiru was surprised by the fact he knew that she knew, and he promptly explained – as he could read her mind. "Oh yeah, I saw you finding my little picture. Not one of the best shots, I have to admit." He then added to Seiya in mocked seriousness. Then again to Michiru, "I hope you won't reveal all our other secrets, you know, the intimate ones." He winked at her.

Seiya stood dumbfounded for a minute looking from Jade's smirk to Michiru's pale face.

"You're disgusting!" She hissed, hating that he had so much power over her, and most of all hating the fact she herself had given him part of that power.

"Cut it, smartass!" The young singer exclaimed, trying to regain the man's attention. "Just say it! You're the one who attacked me!" He ordered.

"Maybe..." Jade answered openly challenging the younger man, who was starting to lose his temper.

"Don't try to be a smartass with me!" Seiya raised his voice.

"Or else?" The long-haired man straightened his shoulders gaining a couple of inches of height but still was shorter than the long-limbed pop-singer.

"Or else this!" Seiya jumped forward, but Jade easily ducked his blow and instead grabbed Seiya's arm and twisted it behind the man's back.

Michiru gasped as she saw Seiya wincing in pain, then Jade let the singer go and he stumbled forward as Michiru blocked him with her body.

Seiya was mortified and immediately left off the woman not able to cross her eyes. He wouldn't be any more humiliated in front of Michiru!

With that resolve he turned around and faced again the convict who now was smiling obviously amused by the other stubbornness, and silently hoping he would keep going at it, he was enjoying that unexpected diversion from the boring island life.

"Seiya come on, lets go away. It's not worth it." Michiru tried to convince him. But Seiya wouldn't listen. "He'll hurt you." She stated the obvious seeing as Seiya was trying to get rid of the numbness in his arm. Then she tried to grab him but he freed himself from her grasp.

"Michiru stay out of it!" He yelled at her, not averting his eyes from the man in front of him, who was now smiling pleased by the turn the events was taking.

Michiru remained silent for a moment, surprised by the anger in his friend's tone. Then familiar muffled voices got her attention and she turned around to see four figures appear out of the forest and she immediately walked to them with no hesitation.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Haruka-papa, do you think Michiru-mama's gonna like it?" Hotaru asked again, lifting the large white flower she had in her little hand while Mina was telling some funny tale about her friend Serena, who seemed to never put a foot right. But Haruka hadn't a chance to reply to the little girl cause they were promptly intercepted by a serious faced Michiru.

The violinist greeted them with a curt wave of her head and got straight to the point talking to Haruka.

"Seiya's in trouble." The tone and expression on her face couldn't be mistaken. The situation seemed serious and deeply troubling her. Haruka didn't hesitate further and gestured her to lead the way.

With a quick pace they walked to Jade's place to find him and Seiya already engaged in a fist-fight. And Seiya was obviously getting the worst of it. His nose was bleeding copiously and he was massaging his left arm. But the pop-singer hadn't been completely passive in the fight, in fact Jade with a bloody lip was panting in front of him.

The difference between them was on their faces: Seiya was the image of boiling rage, his dark eyes bloodshot, his usually handsome features twisted in a grimace of pure hatred and his teeth gritted in exertion; on the other side Jade stood with a smirk on his rough lips, his gray eyes were even colder than usual but with a twinge of amusement in them, he was obviously enjoying the situation and the fact that the more he smirked the more his opponent's anger grew.

By the time Haruka and Michiru got there Seiya had again threw himself at Jade with a cry and soon the two men were a tangle of limbs and grunts.

"Please..." Michiru begged, squeezing Haruka's arm. The blonde didn't hesitate and stepped forward trying to part the two fighters.

"OK guys, that's enough." The racer said firmly.

"Oh, look! It looks like the cavalry's here." Jade exclaimed sarcastically. Seiya didn't seem relieved, instead he looked at her angrily.

"Mind your own fucking business, Tenoh!" He yelled and pushed them so hard than both Jade and Haruka ended up on the ground. Now Seiya was giving her the same challenging angry look he had sported for Jade a few moments before.

The car racer stood seriously considering leaving Seiya to his destine – which would have been surely bad with his being so completely unfocused and uncontrolled. But she nonetheless intervened when she heard Michiru's soft cry the same moment Jade – taking advantage of the little distraction - hit Seiya with a strong blow to his ribs.

"You're just a brat." The convict spitted, looking down at the kneeling singer.

"Seiya!" Michiru leaned down to him. "Oh god, are you OK?"

"This will stop right here!" Haruka exclaimed pushing Jade away from Seiya and Michiru. The man chuckled evilly and suddenly blow a punch at her. Not being distracted this time, Haruka easily dodged it and kneed the older man, then she hit him again on the nose and he stumbled back and eventually fell on the ground on his butt.

Haruka was hoping he had had enough, cause even though she tried to look casual that little exertion was already getting the best of her still weak body. Cause of that she froze when she heard a low laugh coming from the ground.

Jade was touching his now bleeding nose and was laughing, but much for the blonde's relief he didn't seem intentioned to get up any moment. She kept glaring at him, she didn't like to be laugh at and he was starting to really piss her off.

"OK, OK Tenoh, there's no need to be rude." He said keeping laughing softly, not once his evil look left his eyes. When Haruka was about to turn around and leave he stopped her.

"Now now Tenoh, I'm surprised. Why have you got in the way? I thought you agreed with me: the moron really needs to be taught a lesson... and I thought you'd be one of the volunteers for teaching him." He said laughing. He had obvious been observing them in the past days and probably knew about them a lot more than Haruka was comfortable with...

"Yeah he does, but..." She admitted.

"But what?" He insisted, his sharp look piercing through her.

"..." The blonde remained silent, sensing he was trying to provoke her, but he wasn't one to give up easily, especially when he was having fun like he was now. In fact the tall woman was obviously upset by where the conversation was heading.

"Oh, sure... She wouldn't approve, would she?" The older man said with a knowing smile. He looked for a flash of confirmation in the teal eyes, that remained downward. He had obviously scored.

Haruka was resolved not to give him that sort of power over them, she didn't intend to give him any hint about was going on personally in their little community, so she tried to dismiss the subject firmly.

"If I hear of you bothering them again you'll be the one taught a really painful lesson..." Her tone was low but threatening. Too bad Jade had had to do with much more scaring people in his life and just the fact that Haruka had proved to be a skillful fighter made him keep himself to slap her for even daring to threatening him. But surely he wasn't scared enough to silence.

"Such nobility!" He made fun of her, "You know Tenoh, in reality the brave knight in shiny armor ends up being eaten by the dragon... or more often ends up spending his life waiting for the beautiful princess to make up her mind..." He laughed loudly, looking behind Haruka's back.

Suddenly conscious of the meaning of their speech, the car-racer turned around afraid of Seiya and Michiru listening to it, but they had long gone and were now sat in the distance. When she turned back to the convict he had a large smirk on his face and she realized with her conduct she had just admitted Jade had a point.

"Besides... I can see your armor is not so shiny..." He then concluded, winking at her.

She decided it was better for her to get gone before hitting him again, and this time out of anger. She may have won their fight physically but he had been able to mess with Seiya's and Haruka's minds enough to make the tension between them grew even more. And Haruka wasn't aware of it but he had messed up with Michiru too.

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"C'mon Seiya, let me take a look." Michiru asked for the third time. She had escorted his friend away from the fight's location while Haruka was still dealing with Jade. Since then Seiya had said nothing and he had never lifted his look once. Now they were sat by the food storage, near Lita's pallet. The young chef was watching them in silence from a couple of feet away, she hadn't had the courage to ask what happened, but she was starting to form an idea and soon she was walking with big steps towards Jade's den.

"Ami's here, let her tend to it." She said trying to reach for his eyebrow that sported a pretty bad gush with blood slowly running down the side of his face. But he rudely shoving away her hand. Michiru gasped then she sat back and sighed resigned, remaining there looking at his still form.

Several minutes passed and Seiya hadn't lifted his look yet. The silence was starting to win Michiru's natural patience, it was frustrating cause she just wanted to help... Why she had always to deal with people too proud to admit they needed help?

'You're one to speak!' Her inner voice said. 'Someone too proud to admit her own feelings even to herself!' Michiru didn't like to admit that was a good point, instead she stubbornly insisted until Seiya finally lifted hi look from the sand under him, and then Michiru regretted her insistence... cause the resentment filling his dark eyes was something she was totally unused to.

"What do you want Michiru?" He asked in a low tone, "I told you to stay out of this."

"I..." It was one of those rare moments Michiru was completely speechless, not even a sharp cold remark to make out of regard for her own ego.

"You just couldn't mind your own business, could you?" His eyes pierced through her, "It was me the one being attacked, it was my head being bashed!" He pointed out vigorously. "It was me! Me! Where were you, huh? Where were you? Running to her! Running to the fucking cave!" His face dark with repressed anger, his voice not up to a yell point, yet. "You wanted to be there for her, well... since you weren't there for me, then you can stay out of my business!"

So this was what was all that about? Seiya was still being jealous. She had come back to the beach with him, hadn't she? He had what he wanted and still... Now was her turn to be angry and frustrated... two feelings coming from deep in her heart and still not completely understandable for her, but strong nonetheless.

"Again with this stupid jealousy!" Michiru stood as to gather some more energy. "I can't believe it..."

"Oh, you can't now, can you?" He mocked her and with much more effort got up too. "Well... and I can't believe of all the people here you asked her to intervene!" He was fuming, and had raised his voice, now their conversation wasn't private any more. Even though no one had the courage of moving closer to the two arguing.

"He's a convict for who knows what crime. He could have killed you." She reasoned.

"Yeah, but why her? Why you always run to her, Michiru?" He asked looking in her eyes intensely.

Yeah, why? 'I don't know why... I... I just I wish I didn't...' She wanted to say, but her heart wasn't ready to be spoken out like that and certainly not to him.

"This jealousy-thing has to stop here, Seiya-kun." She instead ordered and turned to walk away, but he grabbed her hand firmly, stopping her.

"Then there's no reason I should be, right?" His look was intense. "I'm asking you, Michiru. Is there any solid reason I should be jealous?" That question lingered in his eyes... she was just hoping the answer wasn't showing in hers.

Then his grasp on her hand loosened and she turned around and walked away.

Not too far two teal eyes filled with concern for a moment, glancing at her strolling away.

"OK, Haruka, I'll take a look on him." Lita assured, noticing she had no longer the blonde's attention.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

The cave was quiet in the early afternoon. The sun filtered through the thick vegetation and graced the entrance. Those remained there were all in silence, Setsuna systematically going through Tomoe's notes and this time writing down some notes of her own, doctor Mizuno was reading a book, Darien was carrying inside wood for the evening fire and Rei's grandfather was napping, snoring softly. Only Rei and Serena were talking quietly, sat in the clearance outside the cavern.

Their conversation nothing more than casual chatting, when suddenly a painful sensation, like a pang tightened the miko's stomach and she gasped.

"Rei, are you OK?" Serena asked.

At first Rei didn't answered, still confused. The pain had been just an instant, now only a sense of uneasiness lingered in her, something she couldn't exactly place.

"Uhm... I-I'm fine, Serena-san." The black-haired girl said, trying to go back at their conversation. Unfortunately the sense of impending catastrophe didn't leave her and after a minute she had to excuse herself.

'What is this feeling?' But the right moment she asked herself that she found herself looking around frantically, he was looking for something... No... someone. Someone that clearly wasn't there cause the more she looked around the more her panic grew.

She ran inside the cavern and didn't hesitate shaking her grandfather and waking him. The old little man at first dumbfounded then swore softly for being awakened.

"Where's Yuiichiro-chan, granpa?!" She asked anxiously.

"He's out looking for some coconuts, why? Is there something wrong, Rei-chan?" He asked calmly, trying to calm her too in the process.

"I have a bad feeling, ojii-san!" She declared.

The bald man looked in her dark eyes, she was worried, very worried. He knew his granddaughter had the gift, but she was so young and her sensations weren't always accurate. Recently he had noticed a certain tension between her and the young apprentice working in his temple, so he thought she was being a little too emotional. He tried to reassure her with a calm tone

"The coconut palms aren't far from here, we've been there often, it's safe. Don't worry Rei-chan." Darien and Serena watched the conversation from afar, not being able to understand it, but they perceived the young woman has to be upset.

"You know what's out there, grandpa! How can you be so sure he's all right?" Rei protested. In fact the older man had seen a lot in that forest, and most of that he hadn't shared with his companions... at that time it had seemed a wise choice... There's no point in getting worried over something you can't fight... or better said win.

"Rei-chan, I think Yuiichiro-kun is perfectly OK. But if you insist I can go looking after him."

Her grandfather words had been so calm and pacific she felt her panic subsiding.

"No, there's no need to, grandpa... It's probably as you say..." She didn't sound completely sure but she seemed to back off nonetheless.

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He should have known that that backpack wasn't big enough for all those coconuts, but he didn't want to show up at the cave with a meager haul either, so here he was, with a tottering armful of coconuts, walking unsure on the flawed path. And as it was predictable he fell down along with his load of nuts.

"Shimatta!" He said out loud. After having massaged for a minute his sore back he got up and squatted to pick up the coconuts, suddenly he noticed the big depression on the ground that had made his fall: it had a weird regular outline, in fact it consisted of one almost round big hollow and four other much more little holes also round. That looked very similar to a... an animal's footprint though it was big. Yuiichiro wasn't sure it was a footprint until he noticed it wasn't only one but there was a whole track of big footprints.

At that moment any other sensible person would have run back to the cave as fast as possible, but Yuiichiro's mind was crossed by a dangerous idea... what if he showed up at the cave not with plain coconuts but with a large amount of meat... or maybe with the certainty that the thing they feared was dead? What if he could make Rei-chan proud of him for a change?

In the back of his mind he knew it was crazy but he found himself leaving the trodden path and penetrate more and more into the unfamiliar forest.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

After the incident between him and Seiya it was impossible to keep Jade's identity a secret, soon everyone at the beach knew about his conviction and they were all talking about that while Ami was examining Seiya under the worried look of his brothers.

Of course Umino too had learned about him and so when they found themselves together by the water counter helping themselves with some water the spike-headed man showed all his nervousness on his tanned face. Jade that was enjoying the fact that almost everyone now feared him couldn't skip a chance of messing around with the younger man's mind.

He started looking Umino straight into his spectacled eyes and as was easily expected the young man uneasiness begun to show on his face and his fidgeting body. Sweat drops started running down his spine as he got closer to the plastic bottles that were their equal target.

Jade cruelly slowed down as much as Umino so their encounter was inevitable and so they reached the storage at the same moment. Umino's hand slowly reached out for one bottle trembling heavily.

"Here." Jade had waited for the right moment and had preceded him and was now lending him a full bottle with a steady grasp, his offer came along with a smile that lacked the usually mocking hint, or the clear malevolence. His rough unshaved features and his light gray eyes, the hard lines of his face made it impossible to describe that smile as 'sweet' but it was charming and... unexpected.

"Arigato..." Umino was so nervous he thanked in Japanese and when he saw the amused expression on Jade's face corrected himself, "I mean... Thank you." He then took the bottle from the older man hand.

"You're welcome, pal." The other said casually. Umino relaxed a little and took a sip from the bottle enjoying the fresh sensation of the water on his sore throat.

"No one here is what they appear, you know. The truth is we don't know anything about the people we're living with." Jade's tone was pensive, as he was troubled by that fact.

"You're right." Umino agreed after a moment.

"Take that blonde, she's been on the verge of death just a week ago and still she put me down in two blows." He considered, meaningfully grazing his sore nose. "It's something you can expect from me, I can't deny I had to learn a couple of moves or else you can't survive behind bars... but you don't think car-racer need to fight all that much. Not to mention that cook, you saw that thing with that knife?" He said chuckling as to give the idea he wasn't resentful, just curious.

It was true, Umino - who had never been involved in a fight in his entire life – had been surprised and a little startled by Lita's knife throwing. And he had noticed lately that violence – minor violence, but violence nonetheless – had become an usual way of interacting between the crash survivors.

Being naturally curious and some kind of a gossiper Umino had frequently wondered about all those strangers, some of whom were even famous, but he was also quite timid so he had merely watched and listened from a distance or just exchanged a few words. Sure he had never considered chatting with Jade but now that he did it, the man didn't seem so awful, instead he seemed to have a clear view of the situation. He seemed also not resentful about being feared... in fact Umino thought it looked like he was upset. Maybe he was just looking for someone who cared to listen to him and be his friend instead of people ready to accuse him or attack him every given chance.

During his consideration the spike-headed man hadn't shifted his look from the smiling older man. Jade sat down there, in the shadow of the first row of trees near the beach.

"C'mon, pal. Go ahead and ask." He said in a good-natured tone.

"What?" Umino asked, but he still sat beside Jade.

"About the conviction. I know you all want to know why I was convicted, so go ahead and ask me. It's only fair you know." Those words made their way into Umino's heart, he thought it couldn't do any harm knowing something about him, maybe he wasn't as scary and dangerous as the others thought.

"OK, if it's not a problem to talk about it." He said showing a sensitivity that made Jade inwardly smiling in satisfaction.

"Oh, I won't lie, I deserve to be in jail, I'm not proud of what I did. You know... I caused my own brother a lot of pain. And I'll never forgive myself for hurting him cause I love him... he's my little bro', you know?" While that confession Jade never looked Umino in the eyes, he just stared at the sand down in front of him.

"What...?" Umino asked timidly. Not able of completing the question fearing his interlocutor wasn't able to go on talking of the clearly painful subject.

"I robbed his house... and I beat him. Don't get me wrong, I didn't know it was his house until I was inside. I was in a bad patch, I had no money... but that's not an excuse, I know. Well truth is we were any good as burglars so we made a mistake with the time and so the owners came back to the house while we were still inside and I... well I panicked." He chuckled in self-loathing. "What a fool! I knew that if he would have seen me like that he would have been disappointed in me, I couldn't bare that. He was my little brother he had always looked up to me when we were kids, I didn't want to... Well I panicked so I waited for him to enter the house and I hit him hoping he couldn't figure out who did it but..." He paused, the husky, low voice uncertain for a moment. Umino was listening attentively, not once he interrupted Jade's tale.

"Well..." He continued, "...it turned out I wasn't able to give enough force to the blow. The cruel irony was that I hurt him but he was nonetheless able to recognize me." His laughter was bitter and he shook his head then for the first time he looked up at Umino with intense eyes.

"Then he was the key witness at my trial... but I can't blame him for it. The thing that pains me the more is that I had to see the hurt and disappointment in his eyes when he deposed."

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Please Mr. Peterson, tell the court what happened after they dragged your wife downstairs."

"Then my bro-... that man made me sit on a chair - one of our living-room chairs - and strapped my arms to the armrests." The blue-eyed man paused a moment. "Then... then he asked me where was the safe."

"What did you do, did you tell him?" The D.A. asked him to encourage him to continue.

"No, I didn't at first. So he asked my wife... and when she didn't answer he hit me." He paused again to gain some strength then went on, "And then he hit me again and again. My wife begged him to stop, but he wouldn't. And then he grabbed his gun by the barrel and hit my hand." He lifted his right arm, still in a cast, only his fingertips sticking out.

"The hand you've been told by your doctor won't be completely functional again?" The D.A. asked.

"Objection!" The defense counsel protested.

"Rejected." The judge announced.

"What happened after your hand has been crashed, Mr. Peterson?"

"I cried and my yell woke my son up. He came down the stairs when I was hit again, I couldn't see exactly cause my view was blurred and I had blood on my eyes, but I could tell cause my wife started to cry telling him to run."

"When was that you told eventually the location of the safe to your torturer?" The attorney stretched the last word, but the defense counsel had no pretext to object.

"They took my son. He's only five!" His voice suddenly gained a couple of tones. "They took him even though I couldn't see clearly he told me... my own brother told me he would have hurt a five-year-old boy if I wouldn't tell where the safe was... So I told him." The district attorney waited a moment to let his witness's words sink in the twelve jurymen's minds, then he asked:

"Is the man who did this to you present in this room?" All the eyes were on Neal Peterson when he lifted his left arm and pointed to the long-haired, gray-eyed man sat behind one of the desks.

"Please, be put on record the witness indicated the defendant." The district attorney said.

Then all the eyes turned to Jade Peterson who wasn't shocked nor he seemed troubled, instead he was looking Neal Peterson straight in the eyes, and he was smiling... and no one in that room who saw the cruelty of that smile could repress a shiver and the cold sensation of uneasiness.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

It would have been much more responsible to insist with her grandfather and accept his offer of going and look for Yuiichiro when he proposed it, but back then the feeling in her guts hadn't been convincing enough, a pang followed by a sense of uneasiness... she was just starting to get used to her gift, she still couldn't figure every premonition from a hunger craving.

But then she had closed her eyes and a clear image Yuiichiro laying on the ground unmoving formed in her mind. And then it was panic, real, palpable panic. She had looked in her napping grandfather's direction for a moment then she turned and run into the forest, lead only by her instinct.

Now she had been running for several minutes already and she had reached the place where the coconuts palms were but no trace of the young man. She turned around looking into the shadowed forest. Not knowing where to go she stopped remembering one of her grandpa's lesson. Then she stood in the middle of the path, her hands joined, her fingers interlocked with the exception of her indexes that pointed up to her downward head, she closed her eyes and tried to calm her breathing. In a couple of minutes her perception reached out to the world around her, she concentrated on Yuiichiro and another image formed, an image of her own self moving to the left leaving the path and entering the woods.

She did as she had been showed and in a couple of minutes she saw a figure laying on the ground: it was Yuiichiro.

She got to him and noticed immediately the large crimson puddle beneath him. It was enlarging by the minutes probably from the large three gashes on his belly. The miko kneeled down and lifted his unconscious body in her arms then, not caring about getting the attention of whatever did that to him she yelled. She called for help at the top of her voice.

She shouted and shouted for what she felt like hours but in reality her grandfather and Darien got to her in a couple of minutes. When they tried to lift Yuiichiro's body from Rei's arms she was clearly in shock and she wouldn't let go at first. Only the raucous feeble voice could rip her out of her dazed state.

"M-Man... ugh... bbbbbear... turn... demo-..." He formed confused and broken utterances but at least they knew he was still alive.

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"Hey, Michiru-san..." Umino greeted the aqua-haired woman passing by him on the beach, she lifted her head and looked at him for a moment before giving her greetings back. She seemed deep in thought. In fact Michiru hadn't been able to free her mind from Seiya's last words to her. That allegation... was it possible that he was more aware of her own feelings than she was?

'Of course it's possible, being you so scared about them.' He inner voice said.

'What's there to be scared of ?' She challenged that annoying wise part of her.

'You tell me.' Was the useless answer. 'Maybe cause something like that would rock your perfect life-...'

'My life's not perfect!' She protested, her life had never been perfect. But the more she tried to make it perfect the more she felt like rebelling against it.

'No... it's not. So what? It's never supposed to be.' Her inner voice was being even more wiser then usual and that was annoying.

'It's not like myself...' Her feeble excuse seemed even more ridiculous when her mind was invaded by images of the very recent past. Sure a lot of things in the last two weeks hadn't 'felt' like herself: it wasn't like herself to feel responsible for a stranger kid, to care so much; it wasn't like herself to forgive so easily lies and intrusions in her life; it wasn't like herself to humiliate herself in order to hurt somebody... it wasn't like herself to want to hurt somebody so bad... somebody she cared so much for...

"What a mess I am." She whispered to herself realizing how self-contradictory those thoughts were, how incoherent her behavior had been lately.

"Look who's here, have you come back for more?" The rude voice ripped her out of her thoughts but this time it wasn't a relief. Though the icy look she gave him he winked and went on, enjoying the fact he too could get to her in a upsetting way.

"I knew you that deep inside you... you liked it." It was clear he was teasing her about that unfortunate episode she wished to forget but she couldn't.

"Don't be ridiculous." She hissed, even though she knew it was futile, he was just playing with her-

"Don't worry, it was mutual. I like you... who wouldn't like that?" He said laughing lustfully, gesturing to her body.

No matter how many times she said to herself those rude remarks were meant to get to her, she couldn't help shivering.

"Oh yeah... I can tell you like me too." He smiled evilly at her skeptic look, "Oh, don't play dumb with me... why wouldn't you tell your friend about my last living arrangement? You didn't want to giving me away." He stated. They both knew tat wasn't the reason but it didn't matter, she couldn't debate and he was enjoying that situation too much.

"Oh... and you know you shouldn't have called your blonde lap dog for help, I was doing perfectly fine." He chuckled when her face couldn't hide her anger and frustration any more.

"Someone had to stop that craziness! You could have killed him." She raised her voice and he laughed equally loudly.

"Oh... now you're overestimate me." His fake modesty was disgusting. "Oh yeah... daddy's perfect ladies like you always have a soft spot for the bad guys... like me." He winked again.

That reference to her family shook her and the real Michiru got back in charge, the one who used to fight back, not being passively in anybody's power. Her ocean-blue eyes turned icy again, a contemptuous smirk now grazed her elegant, stern features.

"I've always wanted to see my father with a disgusted face, but believe me, dating a criminal never was on my list, it'd just disgust me." She said, but the reaction wasn't one of resentment, more amused she was fighting back now.

"Oh, I see, so what? What was on your list? Dating a pop-star?" He said with mocked skepticism, "Oh yeah... A cross-dressing dyke? That would certainly make the trick!" The knowing expression on his face infuriated Michiru... not him too!

But she didn't react, she just turned around in silence and walked away, one moment longer facing him and she would have lose it, now she just wanted to go away, tears stinging already in her eyes.

In that moment she couldn't say if Haruka was the person she wanted to run into more or the last person she wanted to see her in that state. But then fate decided for her and Haruka came walking straight in her direction. The violinist wiped her eyes, getting rid of any evidence of her emotional state and greeted the blonde with a casual smile.

She didn't know if her eyes gave her away or Haruka just had become a psychic but as she was in front of her, the tall blonde leaned down to look Michiru in the eyes and asked:

"Are you OK?" She seemed really concerned, she even timidly put her hand on Michiru's shoulder.

"Sure, I'm fine." The aqua-haired woman hoped her smile was convincing enough, but the skeptic look in teal eyes told her it wasn't. But she was determined in keeping her cool attitude, so she act non-chalantly. "Why?" She hoped to dismiss the subject by giving the impression of being surprised by such a question.

What Michiru didn't know was that she had hardly left Haruka's attentive watch in the last hour. The blonde was inevitably drawn to the violinist, no matter how much she tried to think of something else. So she had saw the violinist talking with Jade and she had saw Michiru leaving and then brushing away tears? The truth was Haruka could understand all too well Seiya's feelings when he had seen Michiru crying cause of Haruka and why he had punched her... now she knew better than going to punch the man, but she had been unable to pretend not to notice. But as always facing the beautiful violinist all her confidence had gone and she was self-conscious all of a sudden. She retracted her hand from Michiru's shoulder and look down to the ground.

"I... I thought you were..." She had the vivid sensation she was making a fool out of herself so she gathered her confidence and dropped the subject.

"I were...?" Michiru was as always astonished by that side of Haruka, the stuttering, self-conscious woman, the one seemed to come out only with her or sometimes cause of Hotaru innocent, insightful remarks.

"I thought you were cr-... Nevermind. Well, I'll see you next time. Now I have to get back to the cave." Haruka said with a little urgency and turned back in the general direction of the others, where the path to the cave emerged from the wood. Michiru unconsciously followed her look and saw Darien talking with the other who were all gathered around him.

"Did something happened?" Michiru was worried.

"Well... It's about Yuiichiro, I don't have time to explain, now. The others will fill you in. Bye." Haruka turned to walk away and Michiru was so overwhelmed by the thought of the absence of the blonde, she couldn't stop herself before she called Haruka's back.

"Haruka-san, wait!" It had felt so warm and reassuring, so safe being the object of Haruka's concern, no matter how much of a challenge the blonde was, no matter how much she was able to upset her, her closeness always managed to soothe Michiru's troubled heart. "I'll come with you." Screw Jade, screw her inner voice's 'I told you so''s she tried to follow her heart for once, and right now her heart wanted – longed – for Haruka's presence.

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The sun had set a couple of hours ago, and those remained at the beach was gathered around the fire: Lita, Molly and Umino, Furuhata and the three brothers.

After Haruka, Michiru and Mina had left along with Darien having heard the news about Yuiichiro's attack and his critical conditions, only Ami had stayed behind with little Hotaru. She had had to bind up tightly Seiya's torso. She couldn't say for sure not having x-rays but she suspected the pop-singer had a couple of broken ribs. Then she had left with the little girl in quite a hurry, wanting to be back to the cave before setting.

The conversation lacked enthusiasm, depression hovered on the little company. Mostly it was cause of the bad news from the other group, but Seiya was still more upset about his wounded ego, than he was about the physical pain... and Michiru's parting even if out of concern for Yuiichiro and Rei hadn't helped, cause no matter what, he couldn't get rid of his jealousy and the longer he thought about it the more depressed he got. Every time he tried to be reassured by Michiru, she seemed more and more involved with the blonde. He was stubborn and not ready to give it up, yet... but it was getting harder imagining Michiru to come around.

The awkward silence got to Umino who started to look around trying to avoid anyone's look. By doing that he noticed the little fire a dozen of feet away, the man sitting by it reading as usual. He was the only one alone at that moment and Umino couldn't help but think about his story. So he stood and took one of the fishes roasting by the fire.

"What are you doing?" Lita broke the silence, a suspicious look in her green eyes.

"I'm bringing some food to him... He's... he's not bad as you all think." Sure the tall brunette could be intimidating, and Umino wasn't much of a self-confident person, so he didn't sound too convincing.

"If he wants our food he has to help." She stated and snapped the stick from his hand.

"I think we should give him a chance. You don't know why he was in jail."

Lita shook her head, "I don't care why."

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"Why, Peterson? Why?" The warden asked to the cuffed man in the orange jumpsuit. "You were here for assault... it was bad but... you're not a killer. Why did you do that?"

The long-haired man sat in front of the old man with an evil smile on his rough face, he seemed calm, even amused by the other's concern.

"I think I didn't like their faces. No wait... I'm sure I didn't." It was clear he was teasing the warden.

"Well, I really don't care that much." The older man sighed, "Now you'll be transferred in a security risk facility and tried for double murder... And - hopefully - you won't be my concern anymore." Even though - as warden - he was used to deal with psychopath murderers, he couldn't help but shiver when the evil smile on the man in front of him enlarged.

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"Give me the key!" The urgency in the long-haired man's voice cleared for a moment his mind. "C'mon marshal! You're stuck, we have to get you out of here!" It was true, he couldn't move his legs, even though he had been pitched out of his seat and the convict along with him, he had ended under another seat but his companion wasn't. He couldn't see clearly cause he had blood in his eyes, but that seemed the case.

With a trembling hand he searched in his coat's pocket and extracted a little silvery key. "Here..." He whispered weakly.

Jade grabbed the key and opened the cuffs that kept the two men linked together. "Are you sure you can't move?" He asked, looking around for something.

"Yeah, but I can still feel my legs, that's a good thing, right?" There was no point in asking a burglar/murder about this medical matters but he wasn't reasoning much, right now and he needed hope. Hope of coming through all that alive, and being able to be at her daughter's wedding.

Those thoughts faded from his mind the moment he realized Jade had found what he was looking for, and it was a pillow... one of those traveling pillows. You can't lift a plane seat with a pillow...

The moment realization filled his eyes the pillow was already on his face and the last thing he saw was an evil smile, then air stopped entering his lungs and after a minute of weak resistance he went limp, dead.

Jade looked around making sure no one had seen him, then he tossed the pillow away and slipped a hand into the dead marshal's coat.

"Shit!" He cursed, then he turned around frantically but the gun was nowhere to be found.

"Well, I'll have to do without it." He murmured shrugging. "Now it's better get out of here! Goodbye Marshal Harris, see you in Hell." And he run out of the crashed fuselage.

End of Chapter 8.