Hello and welcome! This is a companion oneshot to Love (You), in turn a companion novella to a self-insert collaborative fan series by myself and my co-author Rose. Please check out my profile to see what those stories are all about, beginning with From Dawn to Dusk. This story can probably be read without all that, but this is an established relationship in the context of a larger story, so some of the references made here might not make sense otherwise.

Enjoy!

Shoot For the Stars

(Between Constellations and Dreams)

—T—

"Are you nervous?"

The hint of concern in Rowen's voice prompted me to look up at my boyfriend. "Should I be?" I questioned cautiously, slipping my arm through his and leaning against him.

We stood on the plain concrete stoop of an apartment building in downtown Osaka, shielded from the late December chill by thick coats, fluffy scarves, and warm hats. Inside, behind locked glass doors, the orange glow of artificial lighting on red carpet beckoned invitingly.

The Ronin shrugged a shoulder, his breath leaving a cloud of steam in front of his face. It made him look quite dragon-like. "Only if she ends up not liking you." He smirked down at me, and I felt my heart beat a little faster; I couldn't get over how, over a year after we'd started dating, he could still elicit such a response from me with something so simple. "But I don't think that'll be a problem."

I returned his smirk with a small but warm smile.

At that moment, an elegant woman in darkwash jeans and a blouse the color of Rowen's hair exited the elevator directly across from the doors. Her hip-length hair, however, was the color of a new moon night and glowed with youth and health.

She swung the apartment complex doors wide, and didn't stop in the threshold.

"Touma-kun!"

My eyes nearly popped out of my head as I hastily withdrew my arm so the woman could tug Rowen into a lung-crushing hug.

This was his mother?!

Despite his squirming—she had tucked his head down against her shoulder, where she could ruffle his hair without a care for the beanie in her way—Rowen's voice was warm as he returned the greeting. "Hi, Ayako."

"It's so nice to see you!" Ayako Akiyama released her tall son, though her hands remained on his arms. He in part seemed to have gotten some of his height from her; even in low heels, she stood solidly six inches taller than me.

With a small gasp, as if she had just remembered something, she quickly turned to me and snatched my hands up in hers. "And you must be Tessa! Welcome to Osaka. It's so good to finally meet you. Oh!" Dropping our hands as quickly as she had taken them, she then spun on a heel to reopen the doors. "Do come in, please, where it's warm. I put some cookies in the oven just a few minutes ago…"

As we followed this vivacious woman deeper into the building, removing hats and gloves as we did, I cast a bemused look at Rowen. "She's always like this?"

"If you think she's a handful now, you should have seen her when she first met the others." He chuckled. "Sage's hair looked like a whirlwind had blown by. I wish I had a picture of his face."

I stifled my laugh and shook my head at that, among the many other swirling expectations that had been thoroughly shattered in the last few minutes. "I know you said she had you young, but…she looks like she could be your older sister!"

"The marriage was arranged. Her family had heard parts of Tenku's legend and, determined to reunite the scattered pieces from Hideyoshi Toyotomi's decimated clan, jumped at the opportunity." He paused a moment to answer a benign question from Ayako. "Genichirou is ten years older than her. He and Great-Uncle Makio are only sixteen years apart."

We stepped into his mother's apartment then, and my jaw—along with whatever I might have said in reply—dropped.

Artwork and framed news articles covered nearly every inch of the walls. The only spaces not occupied by them instead sported bookcases and display cabinets of all sizes, filled to the brim with trinkets, artifacts, and (of course) books from all around the world. It felt a little like I had stepped into the convergence of some multiverse.

"Earth to Tessa. You still with us?"

I blinked, and saw Rowen had casually taken up residence under the kotatsu's blanket in the middle of the room. Knocked out of my stunned stupor, I quickly traded my winter boots for house slippers and joined him. His arm fell comfortably around my shoulders as we settled in, blissfully warm after our brief trek through the chill day.

"This is an incredible collection!"

"She's one of the most sought-after reporters in Osaka, and many other places. The people she meets frequently offer her gifts for her time, or for how she covered their stories."

"Would you like matcha with the cookies, Tessa-chan?" Ayako called from the kitchen, interrupting Rowen's train of thought.

I wrinkled my nose. Matcha was one traditionally Japanese taste I simply couldn't get over, as much as I wanted to for my friends' sake. "No, thank you," I respectfully declined. "Do you have any milk, though?"

She answered affirmatively.

"After she left Genichirou, she really blossomed." He thanked his mother as she set a tray with cookies, a cup of coffee, and a glass of milk on the surface in front of us. I quickly murmured my gratitude, plucking one of the little morsels from the stack. "A lot of that, I think, had to do with both how young she had been, and how she hadn't had the support she needed from him to pursue that passion. We were able to reconnect just before I graduated—"

"Touma-kun, you're doing the thing again."

"—high school." Rowen smiled sheepishly, smoothing his free hand down the nape of his neck. "Sorry. Force of habit."

I stared at Ayako, then accusingly at my boyfriend. "Did she just…?"

The woman tipped her head back and laughed. Rowen grinned at me, idly twisting some of my hair through his fingers. "She's one of the few people who can tell when I'm holding a conversation in my head and in person. Kento calls it her superpower."

"Well when the person you're talking to is completely zoned out, you make it easy for me." His mom smiled sweetly at me. "Speaking of, did he ever tell you he was too busy analyzing the data he found about Tenku to realize its hiding place was right under his nose?"

Now I laughed at my boyfriend's expense; he merely sighed good-naturedly into his coffee. "Mr. Genius here? Mr. 250 IQ?" I asked, incredulous.

"He was using a computer to crunch numbers and all this other complicated information," Ayako explained, taking a sip of her matcha. "Unfortunately, simple number crunching doesn't tell you that Amanohashidate in its literal translation means "bridge in heaven"."

I blinked. That would make too much sense for an armor rooted in space energy. "I can maybe see how he missed it."

"To be fair, Amanohashidate isn't the only place associated with the heavens in Japan," Rowen defended.

"Of course. But it's the only one of the 'three scenic views of Japan' that is."

I hadn't heard of that, before. "Three scenic views?"

"Some scholar in the Edo period picked them, and since then others have expanded the concept to include nine more views, six of them at night. One is Osaka Bay seen from Mount Maya." Rowen smirked at me over the rim of his mug. "Which we're going to go see tonight."

"We are?" I asked, eyes wide.

He'd obviously already told me about seeing Amanohashidate. We'd been planning this long weekend getaway just before Christmas since the minute I'd gotten orders to my training base for January. The stop-over in Osaka on the way there was more due to nostalgic reasons than anything else, except for meeting his mother. By his own admission, I hadn't met her yet simply because she was rarely in Osaka to even make the attempt; it was more good luck than anything that she was around for the holiday this year, he'd explained.

There had been no mention of a nighttime jaunt into the mountains. …Although I couldn't say I minded. Because of course Rowen would want to show me a view of his home city at night.

Ayako laughed brightly. "He's only wanted to take you there since he first told me about you."

He actually flushed a little at that. I giggled, taking another cookie from the pile and snuggling closer under his arm. "Is that so?"

She nodded before launching into the story of how, exactly, she had found out—a full month after we'd actually gotten together.

We hung out for hours, the conversation eventually turning to childhood stories and our families' histories. Ayako quickly broke out an old photo album, filled with dozens of pictures of a much younger Rowen studying, playing tee-ball, and watching the night sky from all kinds of precarious positions. His penchant for climbing on rooftops—similar to my own childhood spent climbing trees—made even more sense, now.

On the other hand, Ayako idly wondering what children from two Bearers would be like made both of us flush bright red.

It was late in the afternoon when we departed, climbing into the sleek RC-F that Sage had rented for us.

When I'd asked just how he'd managed to get the keys to such a sports car, Rowen simply grinned and said, "Sage and I made a bet. He lost."

I stared at him. "...Tell me you weren't drinking."

His sheepish silence spoke volumes.

Twilight was just beginning to fall as we entered the trailhead, one of three leading up the mountainside. The path Rowen had picked, thankfully, was the easiest of them; I hadn't come prepared to climb, although the boots I wore were more than adequate for prolonged hiking. It was surprisingly busy for almost-sunset in the middle of winter, but still empty enough that we could take our time and enjoy quiet conversation.

About an hour later, we finally emerged at the summit and the small park situated on it. The first thing I noticed as we approached the edge of the open mountainside was a wide promenade leading away from the cable car station.

"Oh my god…" I breathed, staring at it wonder.

Sunset had come and passed not long before. Now, bright blue points of light dug into the earth glowed like dozens of thousands of stars in the shadows, winding away toward the observation gazebo to one side of the park. I hardly dared step on the pathway, the sight was so beautiful; like a swirling nebula brought to earth and enshrined in stone.

I wandered along its length, hand in hand with Rowen who trailed only a pace behind. As we stepped into the gazebo, the entirety of Kobe stretched out below the mountain. Billions of pinpoints of light glittered in the night, a dazzling necklace ringing the darkness of Osaka Bay beyond.

No words could do the view justice. I hardly even wanted to take my camera out of my purse to capture the image; instead I let my eyes drink it in. My gaze eventually drifted skyward, catching faint glimpses of twinkling stars that mirrored the vista below.

It reminded me of the poem Rowen had said lead the others to find him, during the War.

"Unmoored in the stream of the sky," I murmured.

"They call it the ten million dollar view." My boyfriend slid an arm around my shoulders, lips upturned as he looked down at me affectionately. "Amazing, isn't it?"

I chuckled quietly, leaning against him. "Gorgeous…"

He brushed his nose against my hair, breathing in deeply. His second arm came around me for a hug that I turned into, hands resting comfortably against his chest.

"Not as much as as you," he murmured.

My heart stumbled over itself, face warming against the chill night at the compliment. He'd paid me many, since we'd gotten together—but in that moment, I couldn't remember any one better than that. I hoped he could sense how much I basked in that feeling.

We lingered there for a while, enjoying the views and the silent companionship. Strata and Dawn nestled comfortably together, humming contentedly in the center of their elements. Winter nights, we'd been discovering, had the strongest effect. Their power was easier to access, the distances between us easier to cross.

As the chill began to settle in our skin, Rowen finally broke the silence.

"You hungry?"

When I laughed and nodded, he reached down to take my hand again. "Let's go check out the cafe. I hear they have some pretty yummy hibachi."