Peggi: It's the fourth of July guys! I figured I should write something since I haven't updated in a while, and after an interesting night watching Saint Seiya, what better to write than a fourth-of-july-centered-around-saint-seiya fic! I don't own anything in this fic except myself. If I did, Shun wouldn't be so innocent on the show believe me! This is not centered around any original characters but I included some. This is mostly for my friends but it's something that everyone can read! R&R!
Shun had never been to the United States before, and so it was not a surprise to anyone when he came to his friends in confusion upon realizing that he was missing out on something big. He had heard several people wish each other a "happy fourth", which didn't make any sense to him, but that was why he had friends to tell him such things! Shun walked into a room of talking teens and sat down quietly, waiting for an opening.
His eyes met with blue ones belonging to Shaka and without saying a word, Shun had told him that he had something to say. Camus had just told a funny story to the group and everyone began laughing aside from the two lone wolves of the group, Ikki and Resa. Shaka took the brief silence after the laughter died down to let them know that Shun wanted to say something.
"Is there something on your mind, Shun?" Shaka asked loudly enough for everyone to hear.
"Well," Shun began quietly, "I have a question. What is a fourth?"
Everyone stared at him in silence, not sure of what he was asking until he felt someone hug him from behind.
"I think you mean the fourth. Like, the fourth of July," Peggi corrected him and everyone instantly seemed to know what he was talking about.
"It's a holiday!" Hyoga smiled widely, happy to answer a question and looking to his girlfriend Chinko for approval.
Eevee stood and walked towards her cousin and Shun, twirling her red hair around her finger as she thought of a better explanation, "Hai! It is a holiday that is meant to celebrate the independence of the United States! See, a long time ago there was a war for freedom and there was this contract called the Declaration of Independence that was signed by a whole bunch of people basically saying that we are free and independent!"
Eevee left it up to her cousin, Peggi to fill in some pieces of the story, "Yup! It's a really nice day where families spend time together, there are parades and fireworks! It's really pretty because at night a lot of people set off the fireworks to represent the bombs and explosions of the war. Some places have reenactments where they have skits of the wars and show people what it was like back then."
Ikki laughed a little, "You will like it. You'll probably think it's pretty."
Shun smiled at the thought of the pretty fireworks and was suddenly excited for the fourth of July to come more quickly. It all sounded so nice and it was only a few days away.
For the next few days the saints spent a lot of time making plans for a picnic that they would all share. They planned on going to the park and having a cook-out. It was the first time that all of the saints and all of their loved ones would be able to spend time together. Usually the saints had world saving and evil destroying to do but this time they were going to put their duties as saints aside and actually enjoy themselves. Shun walked into the kitchen and saw his brother doing something with wrapping paper.
"What are you doing?" Shun asked him staring at the strangely wrapped package he was fiddling with.
"Wrapping Sam's present for tomorrow," Ikki explained, referring to the next day which was the fourth of July.
Shun gasped, "Were we supposed to buy the girls presents?"
Shun hadn't realized that this was a gift giving holiday and was afraid that he would be the only saint to not give his girlfriend something for the occasion.
Ikki just laughed, "Don't worry. I'm giving a present to Sam because she is still mad at me for pulling Peggi's hair the other day. Hyoga is giving something to Chinko because she is leaving for a while and he won't see her in a long time. Tex is giving something to Natassia because he is always getting into trouble with her, and Shaka just wants to get rid of a sweater some distant relative gave him so he's just going to give it to Mu who will more than likely give it to Seiya."
Shun sighed, "Well at least Shiryu and Camus won't be giving a gift so I feel a little bit better."
Ikki just laughed again, "Camus already gave his gift to Resa. He didn't irritate her for a whole day about how his hands are cold and sticking them on her face. Also, he isn't going to remind her that Sorrento is out with her little sister on a cruise to some unknown destination. As for Shiryu, well if I tell you why he is giving Eevee a present you'll tell Peggi and then I'll be running for dear life."
Shun blinked a few times, laughed nervously and felt bad but figured that he was the last one to need to make up for anything, as he never really irritated people. Shun continued his job of finding out what everyone wanted to eat and Saori was giving the money to Seiya to buy everything. Shun found the girls sitting on the porch throwing marshmallows at each other and catching them in their mouths. Mu was levitating the marshmallows whenever he could and taking them for himself.
"Hi!" Shun greeted everyone, sitting down on one of the chairs.
"Hello, Shun," Mu greeted, the only one without a mouth full of marshmallow.
"Excited about tomorrow?" Resa asked.
"Very! I can't wait to see the fireworks! That will be my favorite part! I just hope that nothing ruins the day for us!"
Everyone suddenly got silent, thinking the same thing and hoping that there was not going to be some sort of trouble that would ruin it all for them. The only person who could be positive about the day was Peggi.
"Don't worry. We're going to watch the fireworks tomorrow, together, I promise."
Shun smiled, happy again and couldn't sit still much longer so he decided to find everyone else and see what they were up to. As he left, Sam turned to Peggi.
"You shouldn't make such a big promise if you don't know you can keep it. Shun gets his feelings hurt so easily!" Sam really did mean it, but she also laughed because she never cared much for sensitive boys, which was why she and Ikki got along so well.
"I intend on keeping it no matter what!" Peggi assured.
The next day, Shun was the first to wake up. Considering it was 6 in the morning, it was not surprising that he was the only one awake. Shun ran to his brother's room and knocked on the door. When he didn't hear any reply he opened the door and walked in, slamming it behind him. Ikki shot up in bed, turning on the light and staring startled at his younger brother who was smiling at him from the doorway. Ikki threw a lampshade at him and hid under the covers from the overly cheerful 13 year old.
"Wake up Ikki! Don't you know what today is?"
"The day where I murder my younger sibling for waking me up this early? And you need to stop walking into my room like that! What if I had a young lady in here?" Ikki realized he wasn't getting back to sleep.
"Nothing I haven't s-" Shun thought again, "sorry?"
Ikki leapt out of his bed and chased the younger boy out of his room and halfway down the hall. Shun locked himself in his bedroom and Ikki turned to walk back to his own. A very amused Aphrodite stood behind him, somehow already in his daily attire, makeup and everything.
"He's awfully excited for the events of the day," the older boy spoke to Ikki, "I hope he enjoys it. We will all be at Sanctuary next year."
Ikki nodded, dragging himself back into his room to prepare for the day and escape all of these morning people.
The day went by smoothly, everyone had fun and it was going to be dark soon. It was nice for everyone to be together in one place for an event. The lot that they were having their festivities at was just enough room for them all, and it was a good thing too! Everyone was just beginning to set up some fireworks for when the sun went down a little more when Saori approached Seiya.
Seiya rounded up the bronze saints and delivered the message, "Guys, we have a problem."
"Yeah, I noticed that the chips were getting low too!" Hyoga smiled.
"No," Seiya lowered his eyes, "not that kind of a problem. Apparently, the island just a little ways out from here that was being used for campgrounds was set on fire. There are a lot of people over there who need our help and-"
Shun cut him off immediately, tears in his eyes, "No! Let firemen do it!"
"Shun," Ikki tried to comfort him, "it would be a lot safer for everyone if we went. I know you were looking forward to the fireworks show tonight but people need our help and that is more important."
Shun just nodded and suddenly became angry that he was a bronze saint. The silver saints and gold saints would be troubled with such nonsense! All disappointed and wishing they could stay, the bronze saints stepped on to a boat that was waiting for them at the dock. As they were setting out for the island just in the distance, Shun saw an empty ship that had once been used for cargo and was now just for people to explore and wished he could hide on it and not go to the island but it was his duty as a bronze saint to miss out on everything exciting and live his life without any fun so that he could save the world and all of that glory glamour stuff.
The girls waited patiently for several hours to hear from the bronze saints. Finally, Saori Kido received word from Hyoga on a walkie-talkie.
"Everything is alright now. We just finished rescuing the last few people and they are all on rescue rafts headed to safety. The fire was really bad but everyone is okay!"
"We missed everything, didn't we?!" Saori heard Shun ask Hyoga.
She felt very bad for asking them to go out on a holiday and miss the fun that everyone else was having, but from the day they were sent to the orphanage it had been their duty to protect the Earth and its entire people.
Eevee sighed, wishing she could've spent more time with Shiryu and felt her cousin slip between herself and Resa.
"Where were you?" Eevee asked, receiving an odd look from Peggi.
Suddenly there was the sound of an explosion. The fireworks were already over and Eevee jumped when she heard the sound. Everyone looked to see the abandoned cargo ship on fire, flares exploding into the air and Eevee began to giggle, poking her cousin in the side.
"You never will break a promise, will you?"
The bronze saints began to sail away from the island when they suddenly saw red and green flashes in the air. Although Hyoga, Shiryu, Ikki and Seiya already knew what fireworks would look like, they were all amazed with how beautiful it looked against the black night sky. Shun was the most amazed of all. There were flares and fireworks mixing in the air and Shiryu walked next to Shun and stood next to him.
"I suppose you get to see them after all," Shiryu laughed, "but I just wonder where she found all of those."
They both imagined some very confused police officers looking for some flares or some families wondering where the rest of their fireworks were. Shun got his fireworks and his holiday after all.
"Happy first fourth of July!" Shun smiled happily, sitting on the deck of the boat with the rest of the bronze saints.
The bronze saints and the rest of the saints and their friends who were waiting for them watched as the last few flares began to go out in the sky, all of them watching together.
FIN
Special thanks to: Eevee, Sam, Resa, Harmony, Chinko and Tex, who help make Saint Seiya even more fun than usual! Especially to Eevee and Tea who helped being the little obsession!Happy 4th of July, everyone! And remember that while setting off fireworks and flares on abandoned boats so loved ones can watch them with you is fun, it is also dangerous! So have an annoying little brother or sister do it for you!
