"What's the situation?" asked Sakurai immediately as his group arrived in the Courtyard.

Yukimura let out a small gasp and crumpled to the floor, pressing a hand to his forehead as he did so. "I didn't think it would take so much power," he murmured, frowning and shaking his head.

Sanada ran up to them, shouting, "SEIICHIIIIIIIIIII!"

Atobe put a hand on his hip, obviously annoyed. "Do you want them to find us?" he snapped ill-temperedly.

"They're making enough noise up there that this screaming won't tip them off to our location," said Saeki, walking up to them at a more sedated pace behind Sanada.

"You didn't catch him!" Sanada bellowed, pointing accusingly at Akazawa, who had been standing closest to Yukimura. "TARUNDORU!" he yelled, bitch-slapping Akazawa on the left cheek.

The slap was electrically charged and almost inhumanly fast. Akazawa actually fell to the ground with a hand over his stinging cheek, swearing like a sailor.

Unfortunately, he was completely ignored.

"We've been tracking their progress through Oshitari and Mukahi. So far so good; it doesn't seem like they're going to go looking for our tunnels. Marui and Ryuuzaki have gone over to the civilian tunnels and are in the process of sealing them shut. Ours have been left undisguised for the moment because if they find us, we can fight them off our property," said Saeki.

"Mm, good plan," said Sakurai, biting his lip nervously. "Will it come to that, you think?"

"It might," said Saeki seriously. "For now, be on guard and go say your last words to everyone. Some of us could die today."

The group dispersed then, because Saeki's words were true, and nobody wanted to die with any regrets.

It was a solid hour of nerve-wracking close calls. Strangers were stationed near every entrance to the network of tunnels. Jirou had set a weak illusion over every entrance in addition to the current camouflage the entrances bore with Yukimura's help, and hopefully if an American accidentally discovered one, they'd leave it alone because they would be too busy terrorizing the humans up top, trying to take over Tokyo.

But, obviously, once they'd achieved that, they'd look in every little crevice and then the Strangers would be forced to defend Tokyo.

"Aniki," said Yuuta quietly. Syuusuke turned to him, his face gentle and smiling. "Yuuta," he said cheerily. "Nee-san, Yuuta's here."

Yuuta waved weakly at his sister. "Hi, nee-san."

Yumiko glanced between him and Syuusuke, then smiled. "I'm going to go talk to Tezuka-kun over there," she said, winking at Yuuta.

"Don't traumatize him, nee-san," called Syuusuke mildly. Yumiko waved a dismissive hand back at him. "As if I could do anything to him that you couldn't!" she retorted, laughing. She turned away and took a slightly startled Tezuka's arm.

"Aniki," said Yuuta. "I… I–"

"Ne, Yuuta," said Syuusuke, eyes open and completely vulnerable for once. His smile was gentle and genuine. "Did you know? This is how it felt when… when they were on our tails. Do you remember…? Ah, of course you don't, you were only six then. But… can you feel it? The feeling of panic and fear. I remember so clearly, you were so scared then. 'What's going to happen to us, nii-chan?' you asked me, and I… I couldn't answer you. I didn't know the answer, and I didn't want to lie to you. Nee-san picked you up and cuddled you and told you that everything was going to be alright, and that we were being chased by bad men, but we would make it through it."

To Yuuta's horror, Syuusuke actually started crying. "I think… that must be why you prefer nee-san over me. I… I'm so sorry, Yuuta. I… I failed as a big brother. Please… forgive me."

Syuusuke was actually bowing to Yuuta now, tears still falling freely and hitting the ground with soft 'plip, plip, plip's.

"Baka," said Yuuta fiercely, grabbing his brother and pulling him up by the shoulders. "What the hell is wrong with you? I… I'm the one who should be apologizing here!"

Yuuta, too, was crying now, and Syuusuke seemed shocked to see the tears on his brother's face. "For years, Aniki, for years you've been so much better than me at– at everything. And I– I hated you for it. I hated the way you were so perfect, so naturally talented while I had to work so hard to do anything! But- but, Aniki, you made it so- so hard for me to hate you. Every time I tried to push you, to make you hate me just as much as I hated you– you just smiled sadly and let me go. "

"But Yuuta," said Syuusuke, eyes wide. "Ne, Yuuta, I thought that was what you wanted. I didn't want to get angry at you and yell; I thought that would make you hate me more."

Yuuta shook his head. "Maybe… maybe it would have been better if you'd gotten angry. If we'd had a great shouting match, I would have gotten all my feelings out in the open and– and maybe we'd have had this talk much sooner."

There was a silence, only punctuated by Yuuta sniffing occasionally. Syuusuke, who was also still crying, didn't seem to feel the need to sniff, something, Yuuta decided, that made his brother seem all the more perfect.

Then Syuusuke pulled Yuuta into a tight hug. "I love you, Yuuta," he whispered against his brother's cheek. "I love you so much. I'm so sorry, I didn't realize…"

Yuuta hugged Syuusuke back just as hard. "It's fine, Aniki, I… I love you too."

Yuuta could feel the weight of so many years' resentment lifting off of his shoulders, and he cried.

"Oh, this is so sweet," cooed Yumiko's familiar voice. "My brothers are so cute~" she added, wrapping her arms around them both.

Syuusuke chuckled, the sound somewhat distorted by his crying. "I love you both, nee-san, Yuuta," he said, winding his right arm around Yumiko's waist.

"We love you too, Syuusuke," said Yumiko tenderly as Yuuta followed his brother's lead, putting his left arm around Yumiko. "We love you too."

"Aww~!" cooed the crowd behind them, despite the fact that the majority of them were well-muscled males.

It was inevitable, really, everyone knew that. The only question was when it would happen…

And that when was now.

"They're coming," Gakuto announced for Oshitari, with Taki's help, to broadcast to every Stranger in the tunnels.

Takeshi was scared. There was no doubt about that. His own fear had been overshadowed by the fear of so many more, and it was freaking Takeshi out.

"Calm down," said Kaidoh lowly, his arms crossed against his chest. Takeshi opened his mouth to snap a reply, but thought better of it. After all, they could possibly be about to die, and he didn't want to spend his last moments fighting with Kaidoh.

"…Momoshiro," said Kaidoh after a moment. "You… You're my rival. And… my best friend."

Takeshi's jaw fell slightly slack, but he could feel the sincerity behind Kaidoh's words. "Yeah," he heard himself say hoarsely. "And you're mine."

Kaidoh didn't say anything, but he didn't have to. The swell of embarrassment and happiness had been too obvious for Takeshi not to notice, especially with all the fear as a backdrop.

Takeshi felt some of the fear alleviate, and he grinned as he nudged Kaidoh in the ribs. "Don't let Inui hear you saying that, though. He might get jealous."

Oho, so that's what set him off! Kaidoh's face burned a bright red and the embarrassment he radiated was almost enough to send Takeshi stumbling in surprise. "T-That's different," he grumbled. "S-Shut up!"

Takeshi laughed, and found that it wasn't completely humorless.

And then the American troops burst into the tunnels, coming to a stop right in front of Jirou's illusion of a dark cave.

"If anybody's in here, come out with your hands up!" one of them shouted in English. The tunnel, to them, was dark and rather creepy. They couldn't see the Strangers lurking behind it, ready to attack.

And then a younger, higher voice said, "Sir, it's an illusion, sir! Just go straight through." It was a shock to find that someone knew it was an illusion, knew that the scene before them was a work of a Stranger

They'd picked the wrong tunnel. Rikkai House, male and female (with the exception of Marui), tensed and nodded to each other. The nod, it meant, "We are Rikkai, we will not lose," it meant, "It's been an honor," it meant, "You're all my family."

Sanada and Yukimura, along with the Leader of the female Rikkai House, stood right in the front. Sanada tightened his grip on his katana and a bright yellow orb formed around the female Leader's hands.

Then the Americans barged into sight through Jirou's illusion, and all three of them yelled together, "CHARGE!"

Those American bastards didn't see it coming at all.

http:/s1195. photobucket. com/albums/aa391/stars_of_gold/?action=view¤t=wordcloud. jpg

^ that's my Strangers word cloud and it's pretty cool (remove spaces). The bigger the word, the more times it's been used. Apparently I use Gakuto's name a lot -.-'

Well, anyway. This is a short update because I forgot to post the link to that word cloud last chapter and because this seemed like a nice place to stop. Now things are serious as a terminal illness. Yes. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

I should be killing some people off soon. Perhaps not now, but, you know, later. And there's a totally awesome twist that I hope no one realized was coming because then it would be sad :(

Please tell me: Yuuta/Mizuki, Mizuki/Yuuta, Saeki/Yuuta? Yuuta/Saeki would be weird. Also, how popular are Ishida, Sakurai and Ishida/Sakurai? You know what, just tell me which characters you like and dislike. Also, who I shouldn't kill off because of your endless love for them.

I have to say that I hate Echizen Ryoma. If you haven't noticed, a lot of crap has happened to the poor bastard, on and off screen, because the past I've imagined for him is pretty tragic. Probably won't kill him off, though. He's pretty hardy and has never lost a bloody (official) match in the entire Prince of Tennis series.

Anyway. Review.

Love,

Stars of Gold