Starseed of a Leader; Desirable Love
Part Eight

Shiruba_Yatchan@hotmail.com

Notes: Gomen it took so long, and be proud -- it's not raining today! (See, CSF, 
I'm updating. :P Slowly..) Also, this fic isn't based on solely the anime anymore.. 
I'm gonna go ahead and make it a mix of anime and manga. This way what I'm 
trying to do will make more sense. You'll see. (Hopefully, because I don't. 
^^;;;;)


* * * * * *

	9:15 pm.

	Minako had control of the remote for the past two hours. She was searching
 deserpatly for a horror movie that they could watch so she could cling to Yaten
 and be all romantic and such. That was her plan. Whether it would work or not
 would be known if she could only find a movie..

	"Minako-chan, maybe you should just give up.." Makoto laughed nervously, a
 sweatdrop clinging to the side of her head.

	"No way!! It's not everyday I get to sleep in the Threelights apartment!" she
 cried, her eyes getting all starry and shimmery for a moment as she 
disappeared into her daydreams. "And we can sleep together.. And cuddle.. And 
he can hold me if I get scared.. And Luna can tell me how she managed to take 
a b--"

	"Minako-chan!" Usagi screamed, bright red. But it was too late to stop her, 
Minako was off into her own little world.

	Rei stared at the scene alongside Ami, an eyebrow twitching as a reaction to
 Minako's twisted dreams. She shook her head, as Ami looked down, bright, 
bright red and coughing nervously.

	"I can't believe we're friends with her.." Rei shook her head.

	Ami laughed a bit, a hand on her cheek. "I guess we should have expected 
this reaction from her.."

	"Ah, Ami-chan! So you're going to admit you like Taiki-san now?" Makoto 
asked suddenly, leaning in closer to the blue haired girl. Ami jumped up, turning 
redder as she shook her head wildly in response. That made even Rei laugh, 
seeing the truth.

	"I see..."

	"It's not- it's not that!"

	Usagi blinked, leaning back on her seat on the couch, sighing happily. She 
was so happy that all their differences were finally put aside, even though it 
may be only for a limited amount of time. Without even moving, she could 
suddenly smell the aroma of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. Her mouth 
started to water and she got up, sniffing her way to the kitchen, eyes still 
closed.

	 "Oh! It smells so good!"

	She opened her eyes and peeked into the kitchen, watching Taiki carefully 
pull the tray of cookies out of the oven. "Taiki-san! When did you make these?!"
 Usagi ran over to him, beaming.

	Taiki sweatdropped at Usagi's sudden burst of enthusiasm. "Kino-san 
helped. She's a good baker, Tsukino-san."

	Usagi took a step back, nodding. "Yeah! She's always been great at 
cooking.." A starry sparkle formed in the odango-haired girl as she put her 
hands to her cheeks, sighing in happiness. "She made strawberry pies.. Cherry 
pies.. Cream puffs with fudge.. Flan.. Lemon pie with icing! Uhhhhm.. Oh! And 
her tea is wonderful!!"

	Taiki stared at the blonde in question before he started to chuckle, shaking 
his head. 

	"You have quite an appetite. That's good for a girl your age."

	He turned around and eyes widened, twitching slightly. Usagi was nodding, 
half a cookie in her mouth, the other in her hand. "Yaaah! Dey goo tuu!"

	"Y-yeah.." Blink. "..they're good too.."

	Seiya and Yaten watched the scene unturning in the kitchen from the 
doorway, grinning a bit at Taiki's shock. "Geez, you never said she liked food 
THAT much.."

	"I didn't think I'd have to.." Seiya whispered, smiling at the sight. 'Never 
change, Odango.'

	"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"

	Seiya, Yaten, Taiki and Usagi all stood straight up at the scream, rushing into
 the living room thinking something had happened. They nearly fell over when it 
was just Minako jumping up and down in excitment, pointing at the TV.

	"Yaten-kun, Yaten-kun!! I found a movie, I found a movie!!"

	"...you got us all freaked out for THAT?!"

	Before he could protest, Minako lauched forward and clung onto Yaten 
tightly, dragging him to the TV. "You wimp! The movie hasn't started yet and 
you're all scared!"

	"..I sometimes feel bad for him," Taiki whispered, staring. The only response
 Seiya and Usagi could give was a few simple nods in agreement. 

	Taiki went over to join the group while Seiya and Usagi went to get the 
cookies, bringing them back to the living room before they sat down and 
watched the TV. The movie was about a group of teenagers who were having a 
party by themselves where the lights go out, and when they return one of the 
guests would be missing. And the lights would go out again, turn on, and 
repeat. They would later find the missing guests scattered around the house, 
dead with knives protruding out of their backs. 

	Minako was pratically completly destroying any chances of circulation to go 
through Yaten's body as Seiya and Usagi kept moving closer to each other, 
every once in a while reaching out to grab a cookie. Usagi kept her eyes glued 
to the screen as her left hand went out to grab a cookie, but her eyes widened 
and she began to blush when she felt skin and not the cookie. She turned her
 head and blushed a bit more, realizing it was Seiya's hand she had captured 
instead of the cookie, and he had done the exact same manuver at the same 
time. The two stared at each other, blushing, before turning away -- not before 
each grabbing a cookie.

	On the TV, one of the girls screamed loudly, causing the group in the 
apartment to do the same. Ami shook her head, coughing nervously once again.
 "Maybe we should change channels.."

	"No WAY!!!" Minako shouted, letting Yaten go for a moment. "I've been 
looking for a decent movie for HOURS! Now that we've found one, I'm not losing 
it!"

	Usagi's shaking hand reached out to grab another cookie, gulping. "Y-yeah! 
A-anyway, it's n-not like this movie is re-real.."

	And as if on cue, the moment Usagi finished her sentence.. The lights went 
out. Usagi let out a loud scream, jumping over the cookie sheet and latching 
onto the nearest person to her -- who just happened to be Seiya. Minako 
reclaimed ger deathgrip on Yaten, and Taiki, Ami, Rei and Makoto were on alert, 
looking around.

	"Not fair!! I wanna know what happens next!" Minako whined.

	"If you're lucky.." Yaten mumbled, "you'll get to LIVE IT OUT."

	"You mean..?!" Minako turned. "The movie is coming true!? Minako.. kowai 
yo!!" She tightened her grip, oblivious to the slap she heard rather close to her -
- which was Yaten slapping his forehead in defeat.

	"Well, it seems that other apartments lost their power too.. It must be a 
power failure in the street," Makoto said.

	"It can't be.. It's only from this floor up that lost power. And if it was a fuse 
it'd be a lot more flights than that," Ami replied.

	"That, and the rest of the apartment buildings across the street have 
power.." Taiki added. "Something's up."

	"Well then what do we do?" Usagi whispered, frightened.

	"I don't know.." Rei replied, trying to feel around for a flashlight. "Don't you
 guys have any flashlights around here?"

	"There's one beside the TV.." Minako replied, reaching out with her right 
hand without letting go of Yaten with her left.

	"Don't worry, Odango," Seiya whispered, suddenly. "That bodyguard offer 
still stands."

	Usagi grinned slyly, turning her head a bit in Seiya's direction. "Oh? Does 
that mean you're going to come out of the shower half naked again?"

	"................"

	"...................."

	"........"

	"WHAT?!" Yaten and Taiki turned, looking in the direction they thought Seiya
 was in. Ami, Rei, Minako and Makoto stayed completly silent, trying so hard not 
to laugh. Seiya was as red as a crayon.

	"Seiya.." Yaten said, quietly. "Is there something you want to tell us?"

	"I DIDN'T MEAN TO! I SWEAR!" Seiya screamed.

	"Oh..? What does Tsukino-san mean when she says 'half naked', Seiya?" 
Taiki added.

	"I came out in a towel!! I didn't know the others were there! So sue me!"

	"..but you knew Tsukino-san was there?"

	"I didn't mean anything by it!"

	"So... How long was the towel?"

	"It was Chibi Chibi-chan's towel," Rei replied.

	"....................."

	"SEIYA. DID THAT TOWEL ACTUALLY COVER ANYTHING?!"

	"YATEN. I meant nothing...!"

	"Damn.. Even on the mission you're perverted.."

	"Usagi-chan.." Ami whispered, suddenly, as red as ever but thankful no one 
could tell. She cleared her throat, turning on the flashlight and pointing it at 
Usagi and Seiya. "..you're impure."

	"......A-Ami-chan..not again.." Usagi whispered, covering her face.

	"All right, all right.. Let's just turn the lights back on and question Seiya 
later," Taiki said. Everyone nodded, following him in the direction of the door. 
Taiki reached out, turning the doorknob and opening the door to reveal 
darkness throught the hallway. 
	
	"It's scary!" Minako cried.

	"Please stop it!!" Usagi cried, wailing. The others laughed a bit, continuing 
down the dark hall which was only dimly lit by the flashlight held in Taiki's hand. 
They headed toward the elevator which meant that they were getting closer to 
the stairs, and started going in that direction to get to the basement.

	"Why don't we just take the elevator?" Minako asked.

	"The power's out. You really think we'd get anywhere?" Yaten mumbled, 
annoyed.

	With that, the eight started down the stairs, turning off the flashlight once 
they made it to a floor that had power.

	"Yatta!" Usagi cried, releasing her cling on Seiya's arm. The eight walked 
down the hall, not taking in that everyone around them was oblivious to what 
was going on.

	"All right, we should split up and find the source of the problem.." Ami said. 
"There's eight of us, so we can split up evenly intoo four groups of two."

	"Why are we making such a big deal out of a power outage?" Makoto asked.

	"Because we don't know if those two Animates will be back since it's dark. 
We won't have a way to defend ourselves," Rei explained. Makoto agreed.

	"Besides," Usagi continued, "I don't like the dark!"

	"..." Yaten shook his head. Minako clung a tad tighter, if possible, nodding in
 agreement to Usagi's statement.

	"I'll go with Yaten-kun!"

	"Why do you continue to call me that even though you know I'm a--" Yaten
 started, but stopped when Minako's hand covered his mouth.

	"Don't stop fate, lover-boy."

	"...?!"

	Rei sweatdropped, nodding to Ami's idea. "I'll go with Mako-chan." Makoto 
nodded in agreement, the two heading for the lobby.

	"Lover-boy and I will go to the attic! Maybe there's something up there!" 
Minako cried, nodding as she dragged Yaten along with her.

	"God, somebody must really hate me.." Yaten muttered, as he followed.

	"Hmm, this must be pretty serious if Yaten's letting her call him 'lover-boy'.." 
Seiya said, shrugging. "I'll go with the Odango.. Meaning.." he grinned.

	"....meaning me and Taiki-san.." Ami started, blushing a bit. Taiki cleared his 
throat.

	"All right. Seiya, you and Tsukino-san go to the basement. Mizuno-san and I
 will check out the last floor left in darkness."

	The four looked to each other and nodded, separating. Seiya and Usagi got
 into the elevator, pushing the button marked 'B'. The elevator made a ding 
sound and they started the trip down. Usagi sighed, leaning against the back 
wall of the elevator. "Seiya..?"

	"Hnn?" Seiya looked over to her, folding his arms.

	"..Are you all right?"

	Seiya blinked, seeing the sincere worry filled in Usagi's crystal blue eyes. He 
smiled a bit, nodding. "Hai, I'm fine. Don't worry about me, Odango. I think I've 
finally recovered."

	"You better!" She pointed an accusing finger at him, looking to the mirror 
behind her. "Something tells me this happened on purpose.. I'm sorry we put 
you in danger."

	"Odango.. You did no such thing. Stop thi--" Seiya fell forward, so did Usagi. 
The elevator abruptly stopped, the lights going out inside. Seiya winced, 
rubbing his arm before pushing himself up to a sitting position, looking around. 
"Kisama.. It got this floor too.."

	"D-does that mean we're stuck in here?! Seiya..!" Usagi pushed herself up, 
eyes wide.

	Before Seiya could reply, the elevator jolted a bit, a little more, then just 
froze. Seiya and Usagi quickly stood back up, staring at the floor underneath 
them. The elevator started to move a little, like centimeter by centimeter.

	"...It's going to fall.." Seiya whispered, sounding like the air just flew out of 
his throat.

	"N...nani?!"

	Suddenly, a snapping sound could be heard and the elevator started to 
plummet downward, 'causing Seiya and Usagi to fall up, so to speak, hitting 
their heads on the ceiling of the elevator as they continued to scream inside, 
their screams bouncing off the walls of the elevator. As rapidly as they hit the 
ceiling, they collapsed back on the floor, wincing in pain.

	'So..maybe I DIDN'T fully recover.. Damnit!'

	'Chibi-Usa..! Mamo-chan..!' Usagi shook her head, shutting her eyes tightly 
in fear. Not even Sailormoon could be able to help her get out of this one.

	Seiya held onto his head, wincing. It started to hurt more than it did before. 
He felt kind of light-headed again, and was sure he was going to pass out. The 
first attack by Tinnyanko which he blocked from hurting Usagi, then the phage 
attack at Megapolis, when the attack on the roof, now this, he felt like someone
 took a hammer and was just hitting him with it non-stop. He couldn't even think
 straight the pain was so intense.

	'No.. I have to ignore it.. If I don't.. The Odango will be..' He looked up, 
seeing her shivering, trembling body in front of him as the fall down the elevator
 shoot seemed to go slower by the minute. 'There has to be a way.. There has 
to be! Princess..'

	'Minna..!'



	From the lobby, the attic, and the two floors underneath the Threelights' 
apartment, the three other groups froze in place, realizing something had 
happened. And it was going to get worse.

	'Seiya!'

	'Usagi..!!'

_____________________________________________________


Cliffhangers are fun.. :B And just to make sure,
Minako kowai yo! = I'm scared (In Minako's pov) / Minako is scared

Ja!