I don't own Sailor Moon or its characters, etc. etc.

I haven't written anything in eons (much less fanfiction) so please excuse any crappy sentence structure and/or absence of writing ability. There is a sorry lack of Seiya/Yaten fanfiction on the net and I want there to be more! I love them together, and this fic is me trying to get the creativity flowing and rationalize their relationship in my mind. - Please R/R, Thanks!

CHAPTER 1

-

TAKEN

In an instant, Seiya was gone.

There was a moment of silence as the two remaining boys watched the corner to see if their friend would reappear. Lazy snowflakes drifted down all around them, and the dull rumble of automobiles on the street set a peaceful backdrop for so many people out shopping for last minute holiday gifts.

"He's not coming back." The taller of the two finally spoke when he felt the silence had dragged on long enough. Watching his friend's face, he gestured in the opposite direction, off towards the festive holiday lights and bright shop windows. The moon was dim, hidden behind a thick layer of clouds, its glow was pale compared with the thousands of tiny lights strung throughout the trees lining the side of the road and decorating nearly every storefront.

When his friend continued to stare at the street corner, he cleared his throat, "Yaten, you know-"

"Is he ever going to stop with this?" Yaten sighed, still watched by Taiki, and conceded to walk back towards the city filled with lights.

"You know our princess would have wanted us to look after her-" Taiki's defense sounded weak even to him, and he gave up even trying to push further argument. Particularly when he noticed that once again the shorter boy was carrying on this conversation mostly with himself.

"Of course." He tucked his hands into the pockets of his tailored black winter coat, and sidestepped a patch of ice on the sidewalk. With his bad circulation, there was hardly any point at all in wearing winter gloves. They just seemed to seperate his fingers and make them colder. They were rather fashionable though. "I don't mind keeping an eye on her, but Seiya..."

Taiki shook his head gently, "I know." Nothing more really needed to be said. They both knew that Seiya's interest in Usagi was more than a passing respect for their departed princess's wishes. His disappearances seemed to be more and more frequent, and he had finally stopped making excuses to his two closest friends. Or maybe they had just stopped asking.

After walking a city block in silence, Taiki watching the lights in the trees and Yaten mostly just observing his feet with as much concentration as possible, Taiki broke the silence. "Home?"

Yaten didn't look up, and a noncommittal, 'yeah' was his only response.

Feeling far more tired than he had a few minutes ago, Taiki set them on the path for home.

- -

The digital clock glared an angry red 3:12 at Yaten. His eyes barely poking out from beneath the voluminous black feather comforter. Somewhere in his still sleep-fogged mind he wondered why he was awake, while another part of his brain tried to convince him that he wasn't and that if he just shut his eyes again he would fall right back into his dream and wouldn't even remember waking up in the middle of the night. But there it was again- the noise that must have woken him in the first place. He heaved himself further from sleep and set his brain into motion. Slow motion, but still better than nothing. Someone was in the entranceway. Who the...? Finally coming awake enough to have some thought return to him, he settled himself further under the comforter, wishing he'd resisted his curiousity and gone back into his deep sleep when he'd had the chance. He shifted, admiring the perfect temperature that he had achieved under the covers. It was so inviting to just fall back asleep. Particularly since he was now awake enough to realize that the noise was most likely Seiya returning home.

Why even bother, really.

3:13. It sounded as though something heavy had been dropped by the door. Yaten glared at the clock while his laziness battled with his curiousity for what odd sight might greet him in the hallway. Finally his curiousity won out, and with every intention of grouching at Seiya for waking him up, he slipped out from beneath the warmth of the comforter and padded quietly to the door. How come he acts as though he's somehow above the rules? It's like he expects to be held to a different standard than everyone else- and now he's off wasting time with that girl rather than spending it with us, his friends. You know that once her boyfriend returns, Seiya's just going to be brushed aside and we're going to have to put him together again.

A light was on in the hallway, shining through the cracks around Yaten's door, and he cautiously slid the door open a fraction.

"Seiya!" It was Taiki's voice that had shouted, more paniced than anything else. Startled by the sudden outburst, Yaten hit his foot on one of the legs of a small table by the door. He winced and supressed an annoyed curse. Something flashed across his vision as Taiki hurried down the hallway past Yaten's door. Giving up all pretense of sneaking up on the scene, Yaten slid the door open the rest of the way and stared down the hallway to the front door. The sight that greeted him wasn't the one he had expected.

Seiya lay partially curled up on the floor by the door, his smooth black hair unbound, splayed over his shoulders as Taiki knelt over him and made a move to turn him over and puzzle out what had happened.

"Seiya!" It was instictive. As Yaten covered the few metres to Seiya, he heard his own voice, sounding frantic, asking what had happened. Falling to his knees on the other side of his collapsed friend, he watched as Taiki gently lifted Seiya into his lap. He was still breathing but his eyes were no more than slits. Even keeping them open that much looked to be a struggle. Taiki seeemed to be checking Seiya over for any injuries.

What happened? Hadn't Seiya been out with Usagi doing... whatever it was that they did together-? Why was Seiya back like this- and if Seiya was back-

"Usagi?" Yaten blurted out the first thing that came to his mind. This seemed to bring a little more light to Seiya's face, and Yaten was inwardly disgusted at the situation. He hoped it didn't show.

It took the other light a moment to get the words out, "They took her."

- -

Under the circumstances it didn't seem particularly appropriate to be sitting around in the kitchen sipping on tea. However, it appeared to be the only thing that they could do. Taiki had volunteered to alert Usagi's friends- and rather than running out the front door had vanished into his room, only to reappear moments later. He gave a quick, muttered, explanation about the marvels of modern technology and the many uses of the internet before setting a pot of tea to boil. Yaten was watching Seiya with unveiled concern. Seiya had obstinantly refused to lie down or rest at all (and had in fact made an attempt to rise and go back out the front door) and was now sitting at the kitchen table with his two comrades, a particularly ugly crocheted yellow blanket wrapped around him.

Yaten and Taiki watched Seiya quietly as the third light stared into the depths of his tea mug without looking like he really knew it was there. After a very long minute passed this way, Yaten spoke, an edge of irritation coming into his voice, "So? Are you going to leave us sitting here or are you going to tell us what happened?"

The horrible kitchen light buzzed as the silence began again. A bit of mud or caked blood was still clinging to bits of Seiya's hair, making him look more bedraggled than Yaten could recall seeing him since the fight with Galaxia. What the hell, Seiya? I'm going to shake some sort of explanation out of you if you don't volunteer one soon, this whole stoic quiet brooding thing is getting stupid... what HAPPENED?

Finally, the dark head lifted a little, and Seiya met Yaten's eyes. "When I arrived at Odango's house she was frantic." It sounded as though every word was strained and exhausted, but he managed a slight smile, "You know how she is though, I didn't think it was anything unusual. She couldn't find Luna, so naturally I volunteered to help her search for her."

At this point, Seiya once again returned his blue-eyed stare to the mug of tea. "We couldn't find her anywhere- she called Minako and even Artemis didn't know where she'd gone to."

Another exhausted breath, then Seiya continued, "It... isn't unusual for Luna to go to the park. You know, to be alone sometimes. So we went there." This time he looked up into Taiki's eyes, "It's like they were waiting for us. As soon as we were outside, it felt like something was watching us."

Yaten couldn't help himself, "You know who it was?"

Seiya paused, and if the situation hadn't been so serious, Yaten would have accused Seiya of trying to fit as many dramatic pauses as humanly possible into one conversation.

"No. We arrived at the park, Luna wasn't there- Usagi screamed, and then I was hit." He lifted his hand to gently touch the side of his head. A fleeting look of disappointment crossed Taiki's face, he had clearly been hoping for more information than that. Yaten couldn't help but second the feeling.

"When I finally came around she was gone and I felt as though I'd had all of the energy just sucked out of me. It was all I could do to get back here." The exhaustion was still evident in his voice, and it was clear that he wasn't going to be staying awake much longer.

The silence that followed this was short-lived as the musical chime of the doorbell announced their visitors. Seiya looked as though he was tottering on the edge of consciousness, his eyes half-closed and shoulders slouched. "It's them." Taiki announced unnessicarily as he rose from his chair to answer the door.

"You tell them what happened, I don't think Seiya's going to be making a second run through of that story tonight." Taiki glanced at the drooping Seiya, nodded, and walked back towards the entryway.

With a sigh, Yaten crouched beside his dark-haired companion, slid his arm around his waist and looped the other light's arm over his shoulders and gingerly stood. There was an awkward moment as Seiya tried to resist Yaten's help, bumped against the kitchen table and made the mug of tea wobble precariously for a moment and slosh a bit over the rim before he gave in and rested his weight on Yaten. He gave an exhausted grumble, and despite the situation Yaten smirked. Seiya was clearly beyond the point of exhaustion and was behaving like a surly old man.

Yaten distantly heard the barrage of questions as Taiki opened the front door and the four inner senshi demanded to know what was going on.

Come on... Seiya's arm was snagged on Yaten's ponytail and pulled uncomfortably on it with every step, but he half dragged/half walked the other light in the direction of his bedroom regardless. He didn't want the already-panicked senshi to see Seiya like this- they would either flock and coo with concern or demand answers of him that he couldn't give in this state. Probably the latter. He had the impression that they were a bit more concerned for their own princess' disappearance than with Seiya's welfare.

Luckily, Seiya's bedroom was in the back of the house- he wouldn't have to go down the hallway and take Seiya in sight of the other senshi. Yaten spared a moment to feel sorry for Taiki, who sounded as though he was currently trying in vain to get the girls to shut up so he could explain what had happened.

Seiya was fully unconscious now, and far heavier than Yaten thought he had any right to be. How could someone so thin weigh so much? They were out of the kitchen now and into the darkened hall right before Seiya's room. Yaten heaved his companion along, across the threshold of the room and fumbled around for the lightswitch for a moment before remembering that Seiya's room didn't have one. Seiya mumbled something incoherent in his sleep and Yaten paused to glance down at him. The blood or mud or whatever it was was still caked to the side of his head. Blood... Yaten decided, realizing that there were a few tiny spatters of it marking the side of Seiya's face, trailing along his cheekbone and under his eye, where long dark lashes brushed his cheek. Before he realized it his eyes had strayed lower, taking in the strong but delicate curve of his jaw swooping up to the soft earlobe and smooth neck with a few wisps of the purest black hair just barely resting against it- Yaten quickly averted his eyes, feeling his face grow warm.

He was suddenly very aware of every inch of his body that Seiya was pressed against. His arm, shoulder, the side of his chest, his hip. The body against him was warm- and very solid. The more he tried to think of something else, the more aware he became- the shift of Seiya's weight against him with every breath taken was fascinating and caused him to shake his head in frustration and resume the trek into the room. Shit, I'm tired. He pressed himself to think of something else, grasping on the first subject that came to mind.

Taiki has to be going mad with irritation at those girls by now- not Ami of course. She's not nearly as troublesome as the rest. Dull though. A goldfish has more personalilty than that girl- nothing personal, of course. He refrained from saying anything negative about the studious girl in front of Taiki. You didn't have to be an empath to tell that he had some unspoken feelings towards the girl.

Yaten pulled Seiya the remaining few steps to the bed and tried to set him down as gently as possible. Shouldn't I have known that something had happened to Usagi or Luna... or at least Seiya? He picked up Seiya's legs and pushed them onto the bed after the rest of him, trying to keep himself from thinking too much about anything. It was warm in Seiya's room, Yaten wasn't sure what he was supposed to do in this situation- was he supposed to undress Seiya and clean him up? The thought horrified him for a moment- it was something he could see Taiki doing, but he wouldn't want anyone undressing him and cleaning him up when he was unconscious... Seiya would be fine as he was, Taiki had already checked him over for injuries, he was clearly just physically and mentally exhausted and needed to rest.

The distant buzz of conversation could be heard coming from the kitchen, growing fainter as the guests were presumably ushered into the living area. Yaten stood a moment longer in Seiya's room, caught feeling as though these would be the last few calm moments he would have before the real storm hit. Then he turned and walked from the room, closing the door behind him.

- -

By the time Yaten emerged into the living area Taiki had managed to seat everyone and set a pot of tea out on the table for them to help themselves. They had calmed down significantly from the herd of shouting that had made its way into their small house, and though they all still appeared to be pale and anxious, they were at least allowing Taiki to speak now. Yaten stepped quietly into the room, realizing as he did so that he was still wearing his silky black pajamas and everyone else save Taiki was fully, if hastily, dressed. Mako was wearing a shirt and skirt, which together constituted a fashion crime- and Yaten found himself wondering why this surprised him. Everyone glanced up at him as he stepped into the room, except Taiki, who appeared to be finishing up retelling what Seiya had told them only a few minutes ago. He took a seat to Taiki's left, ignoring the coy glance shot his direction from Minako, and reached for the pot of tea.

"So no, we don't know where she is. Or who took her. Or what they're planning to do-" Taiki reached up to adjust his glasses, a trace of irritation wrinkling his brow, "Really, we don't know much of anything."

Rei slammed both hands down on the table, "We've got to find out where she is!"

No shit. Way to state the obvious there, Rei. Yaten barely managed to restrain himself from rolling his eyes at her. He was sure that his face displayed a telltale sour and impassive expression. Taiki, patient as always, nodded his agreement.

"If Seiya can show me where it happened, I may be able to figure something out from there." Ami chimed in. No doubt she had plans to use some sort of strange technology which made sense only to her- and possibly Taiki.

"Seiya is unconscious right now." Yaten said abruptly, putting an end to any thoughts they may have had about bothering the injured starlight.

Rei and Minako exchanged a look, which said very clearly 'He's in one of those moods.'

Hardly caring what they thought about his attitude, Yaten poured himself a cup of tea as Makoto spoke up.

"You're an empath, couldn't you find the place that it happened?" Yaten paused mid sip and stared at her, just long enough for her to start feeling uncomfortable. How her reasoning made sense to her, he wasn't quite sure- some events left an impression on the area in which they occured. However, those events tended to be of the monumentally tragic variety not of the randomly-abducted-moon-princess variety. He supposed that Makoto's thinking must have run along these lines, that was the only way he could rationalize the suggestion anyway.

"No." He set the tea back down on the table and continued to watch it, "I didn't pick up any part of it while it was happening. I've always known in the past when something happens to Taiki or Seiya. There was nothing this time." He swallowed, or Kakyuu he added mentally. I've always known when something was wrong with any of them. That just made it that much worse. He'd had the horrible feeling of being entirely in the dark about this whole thing.

There was a bit of noise at the far side of the table and Minako bent over and lifted Artemis into her lap. "Artemis knows where Luna visits in the park- we could start by looking there?"

"It's better than doing nothing." Rei nodded, a gesture mirrored by the other girls around the table.

"I had better go with you-" Taiki added, rising from his seat. "There's no time to waste, we don't know what might be happening elsewhere." The others rose with him, gathering their things. "Yaten," Taiki turned his eyes on the silver-haired light. "This shouldn't take long, but we can't leave Seiya alone here..."

Yaten gavea brusque nod. He wouldn't be much help in solving this bloody mystery anyway. As the group moved towards the door following a very somber Artemis, Yaten collected the various tea cups and brought them into the kitchen. It only took a moment for the senshi to find their shoes and jackets and hurry out the door.

Yaten massaged the back of his neck, he thought that situation would be worse. Running over the events in his mind he had expected Ami to start crying, Mako to break something, and Rei and Minako to scream about it until they were hoarse. When he looked at it that way, things seemed to have gone well even He stared out the kitchen window briefly, watching thick snowflakes drift down to rest on the sill.

Now there was nothing to do but wait. I hate waiting. He sighed and dimmed the kitchen lights before wandering in the direction of Seiya's room. Hopefully Taiki and... no, just Taiki, would be back soon with some information. The house was eerily quiet like this. With no one practicing or singing, no clicking of fingers on computer keyboard as Taiki researched another obscure subject.

Yaten pushed open the door to Seiya's bedroom. The only light came from a small star-shaped nightlight on the far wall by the bed and it took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the extremely dim light. Seiya appeared to be sleeping peacefully, still lying as he had been left. Yaten closed the door behind him and sat down on the floor beside his friend's bed. Seiya... What was going to happen when he woke up and truly realized what had taken place?

I really don't understand why you care for that girl. He folded his arms on the matress and rested his head on them, watching the other light for a moment. Seiya's lips parted slightly and he began snoring quietly.

Yaten had to restrain himself from laughing outright, and managed more of a tired grin. Classy, Seiya. Sleeping half sitting and half leaning against Seiya's bed wasn't exactly the most comfortable thing, but he couldn't quite bring himself to sleep in his own bed and leave Seiya alone. Wouldn't that defeat the point of him staying behind to watch over him anyway? He was sure to wake up with a horrible neck cramp- that was if he managed to get to sleep at all. Seiya had stopped the quiet snoring and was now back to the heavy rhythmic breathing that indicated deep sleep.

A sleepy haze crawled into Yaten's mind as well, and he suffered a moment of almost-irritation that even with dirt and mud and whatever else spattered all over himself, Seiya managed to look extremely comfortable. Still smirking, Yaten closed his eyes. In a much-guarded corner of his mind he grudgingly admitted that even with the male forms they had adopted while on this planet, Seiya still managed to be beautiful.

-.-.-.-.-

Yay! I finished a chapter! Lots more to come, I know it's off to a slow start! Sorry! x.X