Nothing belongs to me except the storyline and these CHOCO STICKS! Man, these things are frikkin' awesome! Anyway, enjoy!
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I can see her now, shining brightly in the depths of space. It's not often that I can see Venus sparkle too happily for the lights of this bustling city are far too numerous and bright to even see half of the stars closest to earth. Even the Moon is sometimes out shined by these luminescent demons. She's just a little sparkle. A little glitter of orange which strains the eyes to find and would blind the eyes to watch. How I wait for the day when I can go back… go back and recover everything I had lost. My memories are slowly returning and I can't wait to put them to use.
I sigh light-heartedly as I wait for him… it's still a couple minutes yet until the clock will strike our previously agreed-to time. He has been visiting me for the past week, never missing a night. It is forbidden, we know it, but we just can't be apart. It… it hurts. There is an ache when he isn't around. An indescribable ache that I have never felt before… and never want to feel again.
They call it puppy love. It's not. They've told me to stay away from him… all of them. They're not to be trusted. And his friends tell him the same; to stay away from us for we also are not to be trusted.
They have their mission… we have ours. In truth, it is the same mission, but they work alone. They see us as simply an annoying distraction. We wish to help them, but the difference is… they don't want to help us. They only want to get her and leave to rebuild. They don't wish to stay and help us, though we need it. This is their home too, if not their first home, but at least a decent, temporary second.
There he is… I can see the whip of his hair as he runs under the towering trees planted around my apartment building. In under a minute he'll be at the door and I'll be ready and willing to great him with a warm smile and open arms.
Good God, if Haruka knew that he was over here right now… if she knew I've been catering to the enemy every night for a week now… she'd have my head on the tip of that Space Sword Blaster. The other girls got over it quickly once they learned of their true identity. Even Usagi, under the watchful eye of Rei and Haruka, was able to keep away from them. We no longer follow their tours, go to their concerts or even listen to their music. Though they've made their mission clear, Haruka and Michiru believe that somehow they're trying to brainwash through their music. By using a slow process in an attempt to find their princess... even a possibility of recruiting people to take back for the rebuilding of their planet.
I open the door promptly as he knocks and let him in with a bright smile. "What did you tell them tonight?" I ask as he walks past me, taking his jacket off and hanging it up on the nearby coat rack. He just shakes his head and huffs slightly.
"We had another fight… I told them I needed air." His light, angelic voice is slightly raspy, probably from yelling at Seiya so much. His sparkling green eyes are heavy and hold bags beneath them. They look more sorrowful than tired… they hold regret but for what? Because he has lied to them? His closest friends, his comrades, just to come and see me? The one he is forbidden to see by…by everybody?
I walk over to him and wrap my arms around him, nudging my head in the crook of his neck. I feel his arms wrap around me in a tight hug before they slowly wind around my arms and up to the fronts of my shoulders where he gently pushes me away. He looks straight into my eyes as I look into his. They are tired… but hard.
"Minako… we can no longer see each other. We can't be together. If Taiki or Seiya find us… I can't tell what they'll do."
"Yaten… if we just…"
He shakes his head and places his thumb over my lips. "We are warriors first and foremost. The mission will not be jeopardized because of pretty eyes…" He pauses for a moment and runs his soft hand along my cheek bone. "Such beautiful, caring eyes."
The eyes he is both criticizing and cherishing now begin to well with tears. These words can not be coming from him… from my Yaten… from my love.
"Ah… Minako… don't cry. We've heard enough of that from your Usagi friend. I've never known a warrior to whine so much."
I pull away from him slightly and look up into his evergreen eyes. "But… Yaten. We can make this work. What if we just talk to the others? Explain to them how we fe-"
He shakes his head and put his hand over my mouth, cutting me off and silencing me once more. "That might be how things work here, on this planet. On Kinmoku, that is not how things work. We are from two completely different worlds. Some things just cannot work together, Minako. Our love and my mission… they just can't co-exist." His eyes hold something akin to sorrow… but anger also flares within those lime-green orbs and distracts me from what I think I see is pain.
I can't take this anymore. Those hurtful words that fall from his soft lips. The tears which threatened to stain my cheeks before now do that very thing. They run freely down my pinked cheeks and drop to the floor. I push away from him hard as my breathing becomes ragged. "Why won't you give this a chance?"
"Because I know they won't! Damnit Minako! Why don't you understand that we are different? Our world is different from this one!" He shouts at me and I find myself cowering slightly at his seemingly towering size. I come back, screaming at him.
"STOP SCREAMING AT ME!" I shriek and find that he's not intimidated at all.
"STOP BEING SO FOOL…ish…" He quickly brings his voice back down, realizing what he's just said. "Minako… I… Do you now see what kind of chaos this brings?"
I cup my hands over my now red and swollen eyes and back up until I find a wall supporting my weight. My entire frame begins to shudder as tears and wails are let loose from my being. Slowly, I find the floor as I slide down against the wall. He just stands there and watches me cry. Why? Why won't he come to me? Why does he not comfort me? Why must he remain silent? It hurts… the silence hurts so much more than his words.
Out of my peripheral vision, I see a shadow moving and I look up to watch as he begins to put his jacket back on and proceeds toward the door. "Yat-chan… please…" I whisper between sobs. "I love you." I choke out and watch as he just looks at me… such judging eyes; the same ones I fell in love with at first glance.
"I know." is his only answer. His voice is so cold; his words carry a thick frostbite.
"Will we meet again?" I whisper out as he opens the door. I know the answer, but this is the last little bit I have to hold on to. I shut my eyes tight, awaiting his answer.
"No." It's straight-forward and simple with no frills… just like him; and that's what hurts the most. He walks out and shuts the door behind him without another word, leaving me there to wallow within my own self-pitying nightmare.
Once outside, I hear the thunder crack a split-second after the lightening electrocutes a rip in the sky. Turning around, I look up to that window a couple floors up. The light is still on, the shades cracked open. I made a Goddess cry tonight… I made her hurt… and I hate myself for it.
"One day, my beloved Venus, I will be known as Anchises and I will be yours and you will be mine. Please be strong. 'Til then, I love you too, my Aphrodite."
With that, he walks off into the stormy night to reap the painful sadness he has sewn.