Disclaimer: I own nothing! But hey, I can dream can't I?

Short one shot waff. I'm new at this, so any R and R would be wonderful! Let me know what you think!

Stones of Perfection

Motokisighed as he wiped at the counter for the umpteenth time that afternoon. His usually bright and cheery face was clouded, casting his normally bright green eyes a darker shade than usual.

He prided himself on being able to let things roll off his back. The little barbs that his best friend Mamoru would send him never really hurt. Of course, knowing why his friend seemed so hostile took most of the sting out of his attacks. They still hurt, but Andy knew how to let things go. The occasional disgruntled little kid was easy enough to deal with too.

Today seemed very different. It all began in the morning when his alarm clock never went off. Apparently, the power went out sometime during the night and his alarm reset. Thinking back, he formed a smug grimace remembering his reaction. His forehead was still a little red from the impact of his stumble out of bed. His first class' reaction was one of amusement at his situation.

"That was wonderful," he said, voice dripping with sarcasm. When a passing kid stopped in front of the counter and stared at him, Andrew managed a grunted, "What?" as the kid jumped, shook his head, and scampered off.

"Ugh, just great. HappyToki is scaring off his customers."

Finished with his short rant, he finally noticed the rag in his hand absently wiping away at the countertop. Looking closely at the surface,Toki noticed a spot about a foot to the right of the register that was three times as shiny as the rest of the counter.

He threw his hands up and issued an exasperated cry, "How long have I been doing that!" His voice was mixed with despair and annoyance. He was always wondering whyMamoru would look at his hand every time he sat down at the counter. The scenario went like so:

"The usual, Toki," the tall, raven-haired college boy said to his friend. Sliding up to the counter,Mamoru would drape his form over the stool and direct his midnight blue eyes to the top of the counter in front of him. As soon as his eyes would connect with the offending object that captured his attention,Toki would cry out, "coming right up!"

Only moments after, that inseparable duo of hand and rag would return and flirt with his attention as he tried to focus on the morning paper. Somehow, he would always remember the time to leave to "run into" his daily drug.

Shaking his head,Toki brought himself back to reality as the form of one of his most loyal customers and friends gracefully moved to the counter in front of him.

The blue-haired genus sat dignified as can be on the stool and looked up from her book for the first time. Her smile faded as she took in the face of her friend who was always cheery.

"Are you alright, Motoki-chan?" She made no attempt at small talk.

Motoki's spirit seemed to lift only for a moment, until his attention was drawn back to the question at hand.

"Well, talk about blunt." He didn't know he had said that aloud until he caught the hurt look on his bluenette friend's face. His heart immediately melted.

"Ah, Ami I'm sorry. I'm just not feeling like myself today." He tried to change the subject, "So what would go well with today's selection of…?"

Ami shook her head adjusting to the new subject while still trying to figure out whatToki was feeling down about.

"Oh, it's a beautiful piece of American fiction. The story is wonderfully magical!" She noticed his distracted look and decided to be bold.

"Well, I don't know about you, but you look like you could use a good double chocolate fudge milkshake!" Her enthusiasm caught her off guard as much as it did Toki. His sad-looking green eyes lifted and the usual sparkle slowly began to filter back into them.

"I think you've been hanging around our favorite blonde odango, Ami-chan!"

He smiled slightly but couldn't shake those horrible demons off his back. Speaking of demon, the note in his pocket suddenly brought the hurt back to his face with renewed vigor. Ami's eyes never left her friend's face and she said, "Motoki, I'm sorry about whatever is bothering you. I won't force you to talk about it, but you should know that your friends are there for you." She reached across the counter and squeezed his hand, which had unconsciously renewed its wipe down of the counter.

As soon as the moment happened, she left and Andrew felt cold and alone once again. The note drove that latter point home. He was loathing doing it, but finding himself slowly opening the folded letter once again.

Dear Motoki,

Look, I'm sorry for not writing you sooner, but you know this archeology stuff is pretty time consuming.

Motokismirked and said, "Yeah, especially when you're digging up a new love at the same time a grave for your past one." He didn't need to finish the letter; he already read it enough to memorize the gist of it. A few phrases stood out to him, like, "So lonely," and "Don't feel the same as I used to."

"Ha. More like, 'You just weren't worth waiting for, Toki. I love a guy with a future and money!'" He felt very selfish as he thought about that last part. He was studying to go to medical school, and until this morning, was a fairly good student. This morning's tardiness and the wonderful "gift" that he had been waiting for from Reika sent him into one of the deepest slumps he ever experienced.

Sighing, he poured himself a mug full of the black bitter drinkMamoru frequented. Lifting the porcelain to his mouth, he blew the steam off the top of the mug. There was nagging voice in the back of his head that kept trying to be heard above all of the bitterness he was paying attention to.

Finally taking a sip of the liquid in front of him, he made a shocked and disgusted face as the bitter liquid burned its way down his throat.

"Blech! No wonder that old sourpuss likes this stuff!" He let that one out and started to think about the offending drink.

"If only they made it taste as good as it smells…"

Upon his revelation, he decided to just sniff at the beverage. Besides, having his hands full kept his hands from wiping the counter. Feeling his hand twitch at the thought, he knew that he had a problem.

Suddenly, that little voice seemed to break through for the faintest of seconds. He managed to catch a, "Any minute now." That sounded a lot like his usual self.

"Now what the heck was that?"Motoki suddenly looked at the clock and noticed that it was passed the usual time the girls would come in.

"Ah those girls." He sighed complacently and a small smile graced his face. Before he knew it, there was a louder voice that cut across his mind. "They'll eat me out of business."

As soon as he said it, he knew that something was really trying to get him down. There was something inside of him that was being repressed for far too long, that the feeling seemed to explode from his body. He wondered what today was so special for? Why did all of this happen to him today? Before he knew it, that little demon on his back exploded into a full fledged monster and it clawed its way out of him.

"UGGGHHH! WHY? WHERE THE HELL DID I GO WRONG? WHAT HAVE I EVER DONE TO DESERVE THIS?" When he finished his explosive vent, his ears finally stopped ringing enough to notice a slight sob, followed by a "Wha?"

Toki's heart instantly froze and sunk into the pit of his stomach. He was very afraid to turn around, but the sobbing began to hit him with a wave of grief.

Finally forcing his muscles to react, he caught a glimpse of the most beautiful blue eyes rimmed with tears. Before he could even manage a sound, the owner of those blue crystals vanished in a blur of golden hair.

Motokilet out a strangled moan and slammed his head down on the counter. Instead of landing on finely polished Formica, his head landed with a thud on a hard back book. Feeling like a complete looser and guilty, he looked up enough to recognize it as the same book Ami had with her earlier.

Curiosity consumed him and made him forget about where he was for a moment. Picking up the book, he got a good look at its cover. It had a beautiful wooden Wardrobe furniture piece that was surrounded by ivy and flower buds circling it. Opening the cover, he noticed a note on the inside and knew that he should just leave it alone. Instead, that voice that struggled so hard to be heard before came across a bit more clearly this time.

"You need to read this." He gave the matter no further thought and focused on the English note in the corner. Luckily for Toki, he was studying English and was fairly fluent.

Taking a breath, the meaning of the note and his troubles all seemed to click into place.

Hey! I know that you don't like to read much, but I think that you might actually enjoy this. It's a wonderful story of magic and action, and the man who wrote it also has a quote that has meant so much to me. I'll tell you what it is because it's important. Take this quote and know that it really is true. I really hope you enjoy this story! Happy Birthday Minako! Love, Ami-chan.

Tokilooked up from the book and noticed that the title of the book was blurry. Blinking his eyes, the tears that flowed from them almost landed on the book, but he managed to move it out of the way. Reading the title one more time, he closed the book, took off his apron and ran out the doors of the Crown Arcade. He only got a few feet past the doors before a voice stopped him dead in his tracks.

"Where do you think you're going?" The woman's voice held an edge to it that, though it was feminine, betrayed immense power. That power turnedToki around to face two girls with equally disturbed looks on their faces.

Makoto spoke up first, throwing her auburn ponytail back behind her shoulders. "You've got a lot of explaining to do." He raven-haired partner spoke up, "You've got that right!"

Tokijust shook his head and approached the pair fairly quickly with a pleading look in his eyes. "Where did she go?" He moved closer, and the look he gaveMakoto and Rei sent a chill through their bodies. The almost looked frightened as he repeated his inquiry.

"Please. I need to know!" His urgency forced out the answer he sought and he turned to leave. Casting a glance over his shoulder, he said, "Start a surprise for her. We'll be back shortly," he paused, "Or not at all." With that,Toki ran off to find his comfort.

The two girls looked at each other for a bit before saying, "How the heck are we going to plan a surprise in such a short time?"

Running toward his destination,Toki focused on his new epiphany. "I see it now. All of these things are good for me! One thing at a time. There girls are great to me. They provide wonderful friendships and not to mention a steady flow of income. Mamoru's just, well Mamoru, and I wouldn't have him any other way. He needs to vent to me, becauseUsagi means so much to him, that he couldn't bear to tell her all of his menial problems. Besides, he knows that I will pound him if he ever hurt her feelings. And finally, Reika," he stopped running and found that he was standing in front of a small house. The sun was beginning to set and a single light was on in a room on the second floor.

He could hear soft sniffling coming from the open window and he smiled, despite his guilt.

"Reika provided me a wonderful opportunity." He straightened his back and rung the door bell. Until today, he had tried to ignore his feelings for the blonde bombshell that suddenly graced his presence when he needed her the most.

"Yeah, I wanted to make sure that I was waiting for Reika, instead pushing my joy away." He turned around, losing himself in his thoughts. "I was sp blind, seeing my hope everyday and not telling her how I feel. I was so stupid."

He stopped his monologue when he heard a soft voice from behind him say, "Toki?"

Blushing furiously, he turned around to face a goddess. She was standing there in the doorway in her pajamas, little flannel shirt and bottoms, and her sapphire eyes were rimmed in red from crying. He golden hair was ruffled from lying on her bed, and her red bow was a little crumpled.

Tokinever thought she looked cuter and he said so.

She gasped and returned his blush with one of her own. Clearing his throat, he offered the book to her.

"You left this at the Crown," he said. She nodded and lifted her arm to take the book.Toki grasped her arm with his own and held on with a tender grip.

"I'm sorry. I was having a bad day, and it all seemed to collapse on me at once. But you know what?" He paused and she looked at him, a curious expression gracing her smooth face.

"Your birthday present, and more pointedly your note, made me stop and think about all of the horrible things that have happened because of all of the crap in my life." His sentence seemed to shock her, so he continued before she could respond.

"I have the best friends in the world, who visit me everyday and give me happiness in an otherwise boring job, a best friend who is so comfortable that he confides in me, and," he paused again. This time, the angel's crystal eyes pleaded for continuation.

"A chance to enjoy a wonderful relationship with a girl who has brought so much happiness to my life." Letting the meaning of his words sink in, green met blue in a tidal wave of emotion that brought out one of the biggest smiles on both of their faces. He pulled on her arm and brought the blonde into a crushing hug that she returned with equal passion a few seconds into.

"Since I didn't stop on the way over here, and I've got nothing else to give, I present to you myself as a token of my gratitude and love."Toki finished with a flourish and the girl looked up at him. "

"Happy birthday, Minako."

"Thank you," came the reply, and to Toki, it sounded like an angel had just blessed him.

From that day on, October 22 would mark three important events on the calendar. Besides the obvious of Minako's birthday, it also heralded the beginning of a relationship and the start of frame of mind that embraced all of life's trials as a challenge.

The plaque that hangs over the register in the Crown arcade today reads, "We are like blocks of stone out of which the Sculptor carves the form of men. The blows of His chisel, which hurt us so much, are what make us perfect." –C.S. Lewis

Well? What do you think? If this one went well, I plan on a few more shorts. I obviously don't own C.S. Lewis. Read and Review please!