Hello!

I really hope to have some reviews soon. I know some people are reading but yeah, reviews are fun for the writers.

Important note: As I mentioned in the previous chapters, I'm not making Seiya look like he's a complete idiot. But there's a reason why I am involving Minako in this story this way and I'm hoping to branch her "case" out in a completely different (but a little related to this one) story afterward. She's one of my favorites too. Completely different huh, Haruka and Minako. But both cool :D

Chapter 19: The Senshi of Love

A strong, cool breeze kissed the faces of two people who were spending the night on the balcony of a five-star hotel. The night sky was cloudless, a million stars twinkling against the midnight blue sky. The skyline was as lovely, a view of the tallest twin towers was in sight, along with other magnificent architectural landmarks.

"Ow!" Seiya chuckled rubbing his left arm after he had been hit by the person beside him. "It's not my fault we had to have a stopover here for three days because my manager's sick." The woman's smile widened at what he had said. "You're going to be here for three days?" He smirked, making a face. "Yeah and instead of getting a nice, relaxing massage, I decided that I missed teasing and annoying my neighbor, ow!" he laughed again, receiving yet another playful hit from the short-haired blonde.

"Only to be beaten up by her the minute I showed up—ow! Hey! Hey! Take it easy on me," he exclaimed, now putting two hands up, flimsily defending himself against the teasing hits he was receiving from the wind senshi, who was now laughing with him as well.

"Come on, you've dealt with worse," she said in an airy mocking voice before leaning against the railing, looking at the magnificent view before her. The raven-haired man sidled next to her, both not minding what little distance there was between them. "But really, you didn't have to Seiya," she said quietly.

"I want to," he almost immediately said, facing her. At that she turned to him, her green orbs shining in gratitude, the gap between them slowly narrowing. And as if a spell had been broken, she cleared her throat, turning away from the railing, back into the room. The raven-haired starlight scratched his head and looked the other way as well, putting one hand to his pocket.

"Gelato?" She called out from the doorway. "Sure." He blinked for a second before moving to catch up to her.

"Seiya?"

Seiya furrowed his eyebrows in the dark, glad that the girl beside him could not see his features at the moment. Here he was, on what's supposed to be a romantic date with the woman he's been dating for a little over six months, but his mind was somewhere else, remembering his time with his neighbor. He was on tour and she was on a race, and his crew just happened to have a quick stopover at Kuala Lumpur. "Sorry Minako, I didn't quite get that."

The younger blonde quirked an eyebrow, crossing her arms. "Hmm, something's bothering you again, Seiya-kun."

Both eyebrows went up at that, midnight blues squinting through the dimly lighted place, barely registering the round features of her face.

"No, nothing's bothering me. Just remembered something. Sorry. So, what were you saying?" And so she continued talking. The feathery, golden layers of her hair sprayed across her shoulders as she bobbed her head up and down, as she continued with her amusing story. In the moonlight, her hair was like a rare shade of coral and her round blue eyes more pronounced among the shadows. Each feature on her body was a resemblance of a curve, making her look quite fresh and innocent, and most importantly, feminine.

Minako was indeed a very attractive woman. It was a wonder why no one had taken notice of her. Well people did take notice of her, in those short skirts and that cute, flirty yet innocent attitude. Her growing fan base as a rising artist was fairly a huge one—evidence that her beauty does not go unnoticed. But somehow, she couldn't seem to find luck in love—she can't seem to find that one man who would sweep her off her feet. Not that there's something wrong with her, because even though she was one blue-eyed blonde, he knew she was more than that. Behind that lovely, innocent face and bubbly attitude was someone who had a different kind of intuition and discernment, who had a soft heart yet a resolute conviction, a full personality that anyone can easily overlook if time was not taken.

Time, which he taken from his busy schedule for the past few months. Time, to get to know this bubbly, beautiful woman, more and see where everything else will go. And for a bit over half a year, he has learned quite a lot about her. And he found out what truly rare gem there is, hiding behind that bright, and sometimes loud personality.

He glanced down at her still giggling form, a dryness suddenly persisting through his throat. He never did conclude anything in what's supposed to be that defining date, the day Haruka disappeared. The wind senshi had been away for quite a few weeks already, and he still hadn't made that decision. Maybe, he was too chicken, or maybe he was just too confused.

Taking a step closer to the senshi of love and beauty, he gazed down, searching her eyes. Minako had stopped, eyes widening at his movement.

"Daijoubu….Chotto, Seiya…" she trailed off, moving back a little, but stopping as soon he started closing in the gap between their faces. Closing his eyes, Seiya moved forward, intending plant a kiss on the plump, pink lips of the younger blonde. Eyes fluttering slowly to a close, Minako prepared to receive it.

What he felt though, was a smooth, warm surface of soft skin. Opening his eyes, he realized what had happened—Minako had turned her cheek to him, not allowing him to kiss her lips. He pulled away, his eyebrows knit together in a puzzled expression, his midnight blues searching for her light blue ones, wondering. She had looked up at him, a faint smile at the corner of her lips.

"Doushita?" he asked quietly.

Minako sighed and shook her head, looking toward the side again. "Seiya…you know what's wrong." She simply said. They were both quiet for a while, only the sound of the crickets and the faint wind rustling through the garden could be heard. The raven-haired starlight looked away as well, wondering what to say. Of course she wasn't a dense girl. He knew, that if he didn't tell her, she'd figure it out herself, and he didn't want her to know without him telling her. But he was too late, she already had felt it. She was the senshi of love afterall.

"I like being around you, you're nice, you're funny, you're quite handsome, and you really try to make an effort to please those who you care about. Sometimes, too much of an effort." She barely muttered that last sentence, looking to the side. "But you don't have to always please everyone. I mean—feelings can't be forced Seiya." He looked up again at her, trying to gaze at her, feeling quite guilty of perhaps hurting her, of making it last this long.

"You have a lot of great qualities, and the attention you give me is quite flattering. But you love someone else. You love and deeply care for someone else. Am I right?" she asked. He gulped, trying to get rid of the knot was forming in his throat, his vision blurring. "And because of that, I couldn't really…form feelings for you."

"Minako, I…I'm sorry," he said, putting a hand on her shoulder, his voice strained but low. The senshi of love bit her plump lip, putting one finger at the corner of her eye. "Stop saying sorry. I really don't have feelings for you. So you did nothing wrong."

"Then why are you"— he started, tucking a stray hair away from her face as a few tears rolled down on her cheeks when she blinked. She laughed however, wiping away her own tears, as he put an arm around her.

"Oh I don't know!" She waved her hands around, trying to dry off her incoming tears. "I guess I'm just…frustrated. I just can't seem to find that one person who would really truly love me and…be with me forever...I knew it wasn't you. Sure, I always had a great time with you and I tried to be open and I tried to observe, but…" her voice rising a little as she explained further. The senshi of beauty sighed again, staring into space with a wistful smile.

"I just…can't seem to feel anything. And I know, you're not the one. I was just being hopeful that maybe destiny would change its course and I wouldn't have to analyze and suffer longer." She let out a sad laughter as he listened, a concentrated look to his face.

"It's so ironic. I'm the senshi of love but I'm the one having trouble with it. It feels like a curse," she breathed out, looking up as a fresh batch of tears threatened to break away. "I know I have someone in the future but I just can't seem to find him and he seems to be a lifetime away! And everyone's just…falling in love and I'm being left behind."

"No, don't say that," he was quick to say, pulling her close for an assuring hug. "It's all my fault." He added.

"It's not your fault," she vigorously shook her head at that. "It's not always a fairytale. People date, people figure things…and people decide if it's working or not. Anyway," Her tears dying down, she took a deep breath as she wiped all her tears away with her handkerchief.

"Stop analyzing Seiya."

"Huh?" he pulled away, an eyebrow raised at her.

This time, the young blonde laughed out loud, in what seemed to be an unrestrained delight, suddenly now dancing in her eyes.

"Oh stop being a chicken already. Will you ever do something about Haruka Tenoh?" her voice now filled with mirth, her smile widening as a deep blush started to immediately take over Seiya's face.

Chapter finished. While I'm inspired, I'll try and update as much as I can I'm really sorry for taking big long breaks, since my schedule can suddenly go really crazy

Again, I'm not trying to make Seiya look bad here. I'm sure those of you who've dated before know that stuff like dating and love and commitment, are lot more complicated than what Hollywood movies portray.

Anyway, please read and review!