Crystalized Flowers I think I can explain the Ai\Haru relationship. Ai knew a little bit of Haruka's plan, so he just implied that he knew more than he did and had Haru tell him everything without her even realizing. It was a cut-away scene back in chapter 10. And thank you for trying this story even though Aus aren't really your thing. Truth be told, I would love to write something Canon but I just can't stand Haruka's personality.

SK

Part IV

Trace the Stars

5974

Haruka pushed her hair back into place. This place, Kasmeon, was so... familiar. She couldn't place why, it was just a gnawing nostalgia that she couldn't shake. But that feeling was soon replaced with annoyance as she pushed her hair back into place once again. The wind had picked up, and being in space had made her more accustomed to not having to fix her hair every three seconds.

The heels of her shoes sunk into the green grass. She grimaced upon pulling one foot out and seeing the soft dirt that stained her favorite pair of shoes. Shaking her head she said to herself. "It's just mud."

"Isn't this place great!" Syo exclaimed, leaping out of the door, not even caring to use the ramp. He landed with a soft thud next to Haruka. His blue eyes looked up at her in wonder. "How come we've never been here before?"

"I didn't know about it." She said, half lying. Even before meeting Ai, she had heard of the planet. But it seemed to far from anything to be of any use to her. And if things weren't useful, then she didn't need them. To her, that made perfect sense.

His eyebrows went up as a smirk graced his face. "Something the great Haru didn't know about."

Her features hardened. "What have I told you about calling me that when others are around?"

"Not to." He pouted.

Her lips pressed together in a thin line. She didn't want to yell at him, but having a little kid call her by such a cutie nickname in front of everyone... It made her seem soft. And while she did have a small, almost nonexistent, soft spot for children she wasn't going to be questioned or called out on it.

Raising a hand to her brow she looked forwards. There was nothing but plain fields of grass for as far as the eye could see. "Is there even a town here?"

"There wasn't even a port." The blonde commented.

"I didn't think there would be, but I did expect us to be near a town." She muttered more to herself than the teen. Her sharp gold eyes then looked at him, while he just idly stared at the grass. "Go find Ai for me."

It didn't sound like an order, but it definitely was a question. Syo smiled at her. "Sure."

She didn't watch him scamper off to find the cyan haired male. She just watched the pale sun as she bit her lip. Her voice all but muted asked a single question. "Where are you, Van?"

Tomochika stood with her hands on her hips. They had landed half an hour ago and Haruka had yet to come get her. Usually the shorter woman would make sure it was safe then let Tomo out on the town with Syo. This time was different apparently. Syo had been allowed out when they first landed, Otoya had been napping at the time and didn't care much about the new world they were on. And Ai had locked himself in his room.

What was with people locking themselves in their rooms recently? Didn't they have anything better to do than sulk all the time? It was really starting to play on her nerves. She knew that with Ai it was probably nothing, but when Haruka locked her self up, the whole ship's mood became heavy. Maybe it was just her, or maybe it was the blonde who had been pounding on Ai's door for the last twenty minutes, but her mood was turning sour.

"Haruka wasn't to see you." He beat his fist against the door endlessly.

"Syo!" Tomochika finally called out, unable to take the noise.

He looked back at her with his deep blue eyes, apologetically. They always looked darker when he was frustrated. "Sorry, but he won't come out, and we can't find the port."

Her anger washed away and was replaced with confusion. "Can't find the port?"

"Of course not!" Ai's voice came from inside. "This planet doesn't have a place for spaceships to port. Next to nobody comes here."

"Then what do we do?" Syo asked, his fist flattening against the painted wood.

"You'll have to walk."

"Walk?"

"Yeah." Ai opened the door, catching the blond and pushing him back upright as he almost went down when the door swung in. He had a smug look on his pale face. "I guess for someone as spoiled as you, that might be a foreign concept."

"I'm not spoiled!" Syo shouted.

"I beg to differ." Ai leaned forward to meet Syo at eye level. "You look like the type who gets everything he wishes for, and still has to want for more."

Tomochika snickered at the accusation. He wasn't entirely wrong. But an upset glance from Syo made her stop. "Come on Syo, I'll walk with you. We can leave mister grouchy here."

"Thank you." Ai commented with a heavy sigh.

Syo turned to the long haired female. "I'm not spoiled, right?"

"O-of course not." She gave him a pat on the back. "Let's grab Otoya, too. Can you go find him for me?"

"Ugh!" He threw his hands in the arm, storming off. "What is today? Syo has to find everyone day?"

"Spoiled." Ai laughed.

"Don't let him hear you." Tomo grinned. "Are you coming to the town?"

"I've been there before."

"And...?"

"No." He deadpanned.

"Fine, suit yourself. Everyone else is going though. To scout and stuff."

"I promise that you guys won't find anything you want here. It's a small planet with a small town."

"Says you." She waved to him, walking away. Once his door was closed again, she closed her eyes and mumbled. "There's always something that can be sold."

As it turned out, at the bottom of the valley (on the opposite side of the ship from where Haruka had originally observed) was the small town of Embar. And when Ai had told them small, he meant it. There only looked to be a few hundred people in the valley.

"What are we even doing here?" Syo whined for the millionth time.

"Do you ever stop complaining?" Haruka snapped in response.

He pouted. "You don't have to be mean."

"Can you blame her?" Otoya yawned. "First you were excited and wouldn't stop talking because of it. Now you're upset and won't stop talking because of it."

"Who asked you?" Syo playfully shoved him while they walked.

"So what do you expect to find here?" Otoya looked back at Haruka.

"That's a secret." Her golden eyes met with Tomochika's red ones. "You guys just have fun."

"Fun?" Syo raised his eyebrows and smiled. "Really? Who are you and what have you done to our Haruka?"

"Next planet we go to you're grounded." She said strictly.

His face fell. "I was kidding!"

"I wasn't." She frowned. "You two have fun, don't get anyone's way, and leave my business to me."

"Fine." Both boys sighed.

At the entrance to the town there was a sign, though no one could read it, welcoming any visitors. That was where the crew split from Haruka and Tomochika. That was where Otoya and Syo broke away, after seeing an exciting food shop.

"Haruka?" Tomochika looked at her. "Do you know what we're doing here?"

She nodded. "From a very reliable source, I've learned that one of the residents of the planet we are looking for fled here."

"Planet? I thought you had found Van, with how excited you were and all."

"No, but this is the closest I've come to finding him in years."

Tomochika bit her lip. On one hand, she wanted Haruka to find Van, so they could both get some closure. But she fear that if they did, everything would just end. What reason would they have to continue the life they lived until now, if they weren't searching for Van. Haruka had a family back on their home planet. What if she wanted to return to them.

"Do you think this person will help you?"

"They will." Haruka sounded so sure of it. Like there was no way she wouldn't get what she wanted.

"How can you tell?"

"Because Kasmeon is a planet of healing."

"Did Ai tell you that?"

"He did." Haruka confirmed. "Now help me look."

Glancing around, to see a few people on the street, Tomochika asked. "Who are we looking for?"

"His name is Ringo."

"My name is Ringo." A rather girly voice said, as (what looked like a) she walked up to them. In her hands she held several varieties of flowers. Her long yellow sweater fell just passed her butt.

"O-Oh?" Haruka stood stunned.

"Is there something you wanted with me?" The pink haired sweater-wearing person asked.

"Yes!" She shouted. Realizing how loud she was, and that she was drawing unwanted attention. She gave a little cough and started again. "It's about your home planet."

Both women watched as the other person's face fell. "Well then..." Ringo said. "Would you both like to come back to my house. My son Shion is waiting for me."

"Sure." Tomochika smiled happily before Haruka could say anything.

.

They entered the brick house, only to be greeted by a paled hair boy. "Welcome home father."

"Father?" Haruka whispered to Tomo.

To that Tomo could only shrug. "Uh?"

"And you brought friends." He said with a smile. "I'll make tea."

"That isn't-" Haruka tried.

"That sounds lovely." Tomo interrupted her with a nudge to the ribs.

"Come on, both of you." Ringo ushered them in.

Ringo sat in a pale, flower patterned chair, motioning the others to sit across from him. "What would you like to know?"

Haruka eyed Tomo as they sat. "Everything."

"Sharda was a very beautiful place. Lush a full of life." He started, closing his eyes so he could picture it in his mind. "Most people who arrived from outside world thought that they had landed in a paradise. But it wasn't. Underneath all of the beauty was something ugly."

"Ugly?" Tomochika tilted her head.

"It's like Sharda it's self harbored a monster."

"Can you tell us where this Sharda is?" Haruka asked.

"In the Betra Star System."

"I've never heard of that." Tomochika said.

Ringo blinked at them. "It's on the other side of the Obsidian Abyss."

Haru's jaw went slack. "The other..."

"Side?" Tomo finished.

"Well you didn't think that was it did you?" Ringo laughed. "Of course there's another side."

Haruka stood. "Let's go Tomo."

"Already?"

"Yes!"

"Tea's ready." Shion called, bringing the cups in on a small silver tray. but both redheads ignored him and continued on their way.

"Haru?" Tomochika voiced as they entered the ship. "Shouldn't we get everyone back here?"

"Uh." The smaller one stumbled, then straightening again. "You start the ship, I'll deal with that."

"Okay."

Haruka only watched her until she turned with the hall. They didn't have time to gather everyone back to the ship. Besides, Sharda was probably dangerous.

She smiled, wiping her hands on the hem of her dark dress. Finally, she was going to find Van. Half of her couldn't wait.

"Haruka?" Ai popped his head out from around the corner, where Tomochika had just gone. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. "What are you doing back?"

"We found out here he lives, where his home is."

"Who?"

"Van." Her face looked a little crazed.

"You found out he lives on Sharda."

She smirked. "Well now I know for certain. And once Tomo starts the ship, we're leaving."

"Wait." He said, realizing his mistake. "What about everyone else?"

"We'll come back for them." She shrugged him off, bumping his shoulder as she passed.

Ai grabbed her shoulder. "You can't leave them. At least go back for Syo and Otoya, they're still kids."

Haruka looked back at him, anger flaring in her eyes. "Don't tell me what to do."

Her eyes lingered on the the door of the observatory. Ai pushed his way passed her, trying to block her from reaching the control room.

"I'm just saying-"

"It you are going to keep putting in your two cents and try to distract me from what I need to do, then you can wait inside." She gave him a shove. He teetered back on his heels before falling onto the metal landing of their favorite room. She smirked at him before closing the door. "We can talk about what's right later. For now, I have to find Van."

"No wait-" By the time the cyan haired male got back to his feet, he was locked inside the glass room.

After he was removed from her path, it took no time at all to reach her destination. The door opened to Tomochika leaning over the navigation's panel.

"Oh, Haruka." She didn't look up. Everyone knew the sound of Haruka's boots. "I didn't expect you back so soon. Where are the boys?"

"Change of plan." She said, flicking a switch and starting the engine herself. "We're are leaving now."

"But what about-" She looked over her shoulder.

"Don't worry." Haruka shot her a brilliant smile. "Trust me."

"O-okay."

After Tomochika's nod, Haruka lifted the ship off the tiny planet, grateful for once that it was so near the Abyss. Her mind was so set on where she was going that time passed her so quickly. She didn't even listen when Tomo tried to talk to her again.

"Haruka!"

She blinked. "Huh?"

"Haruka, what's really going on?"

"Don't worry about it."

Tomochika slammed her hand down. "Haruka this is serious! I want some answers."

"Look, there it is."

Tomo drew her red eyes away from Haruka to look out the small window. But just as her eyes saw the brown planet, the ship hitched forward.

"What are you doing?" The longer haired woman yelled.

"It's not me." Haruka looked up at her. "It's the gravitational pull."

"What?"

The ship hitched again, they were being pulled in faster, tilting the ship up throwing both redheads up as they plummeted to the planet's ground. The feeling of falling filling them before they blacked out.

Part IV

Trace the Stars

End