A/N: I know Shion's birthday isn't until March, but out of special request, I decided to post this early. Have the old guys first, and then do the young ones. Please be advised, though, that no other requests will be taken. I am posting the fics in birthday order, on the characters' birthdays. Milo will be starting off the young guys on Nov 8th. That is all. Enjoy!

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Shion, former gold saint of Aries, now Sanctuary's Kyoko-samawas not young by any means. He especially was not young like his student, Mu, who currently lay by his side, snuggled against his lap. He'd been reading to the boy, but some time during the story, the child had fallen asleep and Shion didn't really feel like moving. Absently he brushed his fingers against Mu's soft lavender hair. It'd been a long time since he'd been so innocent and carefree. He'd never really had the chance to be a child, but he'd managed to have a few reasonably careless years in his childhood. Those days, however, were long gone.

Shion sighed and leaned back, thinking about how the day was his birthday. He closed his eyes, willing sleep to take him. There'd been a time when he used to enjoy his birthdays, when he and his best friend, Dohko, would go to new areas and explore. He'd started the tradition on Dohko's seventh birthday, and Dohko had found the experience too exhilarating not to continue. While the card Mu had presented him had put a smile on his face, it couldn't compare to nights out in the wilderness. He'd experienced ten wonderful birthdays, twenty amazing nights out, and if asked about them, he could recall to memory each one in vivid detail.

Then, in a flash, birthdays had gone from joyous occasions to days he fought tears and dealt with loneliness and extreme sadness. The saddest day of his entire life had been on his 19th birthday, a mere two days after the last war. A groan escaped Shion's lips as a memory over two hundred years old dug at wounds in his heart that had never fully healed.

"I found another one", Dohko called as he lifted the body of a blond-haired young man from a pile of rubble.

"That makes seven...Silas and the girls are still unaccounted for..." Shion's voice wavered.

Dohko carried the blond's body a few feet and laid it down where the bodies of six other young men were lined up. While he did that, Shion picked through rocks and debris, hoping to locate the remaining three bodies. He gave a strangled cry and staggered back as his fingers brushed over someone's brown hair. He'd found one of the girls, and the sight of seeing a woman so badly battered hurt him in ways he hadn't thought possible.

Dohko was at his side in a flash. His green eyes flickered with grief as he knelt down and started pulling rubble away from the woman's body. She was tucked firmly in the arms of a man-Silas.

"Neoma died in his arms...", Shion whispered thickly. Tears filled his eyes.

"We'll bury them together...", Dohko murmured. "Let's see if we can find her mask."

Shion lifted two broken shards of a golden mask from the rubble. "We can't put this back on her."

Dohko nodded. "Help me move them. We don't have time to separate them yet."

Together Dohko and Shion lifted the couple and moved them to the line of bodies. They were both exhausted both physically and emotionally, but they could not rest. Nimue was still unaccounted for, and once they found her, they had to bury everyone.

The rain that started two days prior pounded on their bodies as they searched for the last body. Shion's head was pounding and pain from a wound that had not healed yet tugged him. His eyes fluttered, and it was so tempting to just hurl himself on the cold, wet ground and sleep for maybe ten or twelve years. He shook his head to clear his thoughts and pressed on. He would not leave Dohko to do this task alone.

"They scarified their lives for Athena. That is the most important thing to remember right now", Shion said.

"I agree with you, Shion", Dohko replied. "It's sad our friends had to leave so soon, but they went honorably."

They fell silent and continued on with their somber task.

"I found her...", Dohko called to Shion after what felt like an eternity.

"She doesn't look beat up at all...", Shion marveled. "Her Cloth hardly has any scratches."

"One can only wonder what happened to her...", Dohko murmured, lifting her up and bringing her over to the rest of their fallen comrades. Ten fallen gold saints. Ten friends. Shion sighed heavily.

"Now's the hard part...we've got to clean them up and but them in their white burial gowns...", Shion's voice broke.

"Come", Dohko said, his own voice weary. He sounded ancient, much, much older than his eighteen years. "Let's finish this task."

Shion would never in his life forget the sounds of his friends' arms and legs breaking as they straightened their limbs to make them lie more naturally. Then there was the part where they stripped their fallen comrades of their cloth and washed the blood and grime from their bodies. The lacerations and bruises on some of them were so grotesque Shion thought he would be physically ill.

The absolute hardest part for Shion, however, was when he pried Neoma out of the arms of her beloved Silas. Silas's arms let go with a horrible snapping sound, and when he gazed down at the body now in his grip, he could see Neoma's face, her brown eyes wide open in shock, as though the sound of her boyfriend's arms breaking had shocked her, too. Shion gently pushed her eyes closed with his thumb and set about cleaning her up. He washed her, rinsed the grime from her hair, and brushed it. After he'd placed her in her gown, he covered her face with a white cloth since her mask had been broken.

Dohko came over with Silas's freshly washed body in his arms and set it down beside Neoma's. Shion looked down at Silas and shook his head. The white gown did little to hide the marks on the fallen Sagittarius Saint's body.

They continued to work in silence until the last body had been washed and placed in a gown. Then the two friends situated their friends' bodies into nine wooden coffins.

Both of them feeling ready to collapse, they dragged the coffins and situated them into the large grave they'd dug earlier that day. They lined the coffins up into the communal grave that would be their friends' final resting place. It only seemed right to them-they'd spent their whole lives together, they should all be buried together.

Shion slipped to his knees as the last bit of dirt was pushed over the huge grave. Nine coffins bearing the ten bodies of the only family they'd ever really had.

Dohko knelt down beside him. "Shion", he whispered.

Shion lifted his head to gaze at his friend.

Dohko reached out and gently wrapped his tanned hand around Shion's pale fingers. "It's time to say goodbye, Shion."

Shion nodded, but did not move. He bowed his head and shut his eyes.

His mind filled with memories of their childhoods. Goofing off and training sessions. Meal times, even bath times. They'd always been together. Unity had been stressed to them above all other things. The only thing more important than teamwork and cooperation was protecting their Goddess. From the time they were old enough to understand the meaning of the words family and friendship, they'd been told they could win any battle as long as they stood together. Their unity was important. Conflict and strife among the gold saints, the strongest warriors of Athena, could only end in death. To be truly successful in their job as Athena's protectors, they were taught to stand together. Failure to do so would result in their deaths-or worse yet, harm to Athena herself. Shion was proud of his friends. They'd stuck together and given their all...

"Shion...", Dohko's voice pulled him from his thoughts.

"Come on. Let's go back", Dohko said when Shion looked at him.

Shion tried to stand and swayed. Pain shot through him and he winced-he was still bleeding from that re-opened wound.

Dohko's strong arms slipped around his waist and Shion leaned against his friend's shoulders, even though Dohko was shorter than him, and the horns around the collar of his cloth made it quite awkward.

A breeze tossed Dohko's dark reddish-brown locks into Shion's face and he could smell the blood and sweat in it. He imagined his own hair smelled just as bad and he wondered if the stench of blood would ever leave them. His eyes started to slip closed. He felt Dohko prod him to keep him awake.

The walk back to Sanctuary was long and grueling. Shion could barely move one foot in front of the other and Dohko hardly had the strength to keep himself up, let alone to support Shion's weight, but somehow, by some miracle, they made it back to sanctuary and got into Aries temple.

Dohko helped Shion clean his wound and change into a clean pair of brown pants with a matching tunic. He then helped him get situated on his pallet and made him a cup of herbal tea to discourage infection.

Shion sipped the tea, watching Dohko from the corner of his eye. He knew they were both thinking about the new assignments Athena had given them. Shion would remain in sanctuary as the new Kyoko-sama.When the time came, he would help shape a new generation of Saints. Dohko would go to the Rozen Peaks and guard the seal there. Both of them had important jobs-jobs that, once they recovered from their wounds, would probably keep them from ever seeing each other again.

Shion finished his tea and lay back down. Dohko took the cup and placed a moist cloth on Shion's forehead for extra protection. A fever could prove fatal. Too tired to even form words, Dohko opted to mind-speak with his friend. Will you be alright?

Shion stared up at him. Physically I think I will recover just fine, but please, don't go.

You want me to stay with you?

Shion nodded. He hated the thought of being by himself. If you don't mind.

Very well. Dohko helped himself to a set of Shion's clothes, even though Shion was both taller and thinner than he was, and settled on the floor beside Shion's pallet, curled up under an extra blanket.

Thanks, friend, Shion thought.

The two young men laid side-by-side in silence in the dark, drawing comfort from each other's presence, until they finally fell asleep.

"Master!"

Shion's eyes fluttered open to his student's voice. Mu was staring at him with round, anxious eyes.

"Are you sick, Master? You're sweating and you kept groaning."

Shion smiled at the child. "No, I'm not sick...". He trailed off as he noticed something glinting on the table.

Shion carefully side-stepped the still-worried Mu and gazed at the table. There were three glittering rocks. His stomach dropped and he gripped the table for support. No way...

A note under the rock confirmed his suspicions.

Shion-

Guess what the Rozen Peaks are. That's right. The very same place we went on our first excursion. I hope you enjoy these. I thought you might. Happy birthday.

-Dohko

Shion read the note four times over before he gave up trying to puzzle out how Dohko had snuck in without him noticing. Dohko was a clever old man, and if anyone could pull it off, it was he.

He placed his arms around Mu's shoulders and gazed down at the boy. "Mu, today I think I will give you a long over-due lesson in friendship."

"I don't understand, Master", Mu replied softly.

Shion smiled warmly. "Don't worry, Mu. You will."