:::Chapter IV:::

It was third period and this day seemed to be taking forever to get on. Class was boring as usual. Usagi had to find something to occupy her mind. She brought her head up from its resting place on her arms below. Her head turned from side to side to see if any of the other students were paying attention or if it was just her. As usual it was just her. Then her eyes fell on Minako. She was face down on her desk also, Usagi was sure that if the teacher hadn't been so loud that she would have been able to hear Minako snoring.

Usagi's eyes traveled further around the room until they landed on Yaten. 'What the hell is he doing?' She thought to herself as he closed one of his eyes and squinted with the other. His tongue came out of his mouth and she realized that he was taking aim at something. Or rather some one. The rubber band in his hand became apparent to Usagi as she saw him pull it back with force. She then turned her gaze to what he could be aiming at and realized that it was Minako. She tried hard to contain her laughter and quietly thanked herself for turning around at that exact moment.

A yelp was heard over the teacher in the classroom. Minako had jumped about a mile out of her seat as the rubber band branded her but with a painful red mark. No one had noticed the snap of the rubber band but everyone heard Minako. "Miss Aino! Get out of my class. As if it wasn't bad enough that you were sleeping, now you are disrupting my class also. Go to the Principal's office, NOW!" The teacher pointed to the door as Minako collected her things and sulked out to the hallway.

Usagi turned back around to face Yaten to see what his reaction was and she was surprised that he actually had look of guilt on his face. 'Yeah right, like he actually feels bad about what he did.' Usagi turned back around and huffed to herself. 'But that gives me an idea!' Her face lit up as she saw her target in front of her.

She began by kicking the legs of his chair and looking off to some other part of the room so that when he turned around he would think that she didn't even notice that she was doing it. Seiya did turn around, and when he did he found Usagi looking up at the ceiling counting the holes in the tile. He grinned at her and knocked her book off of her desk onto the floor. He wasn't going to lose this battle.

Usagi realized what he was doing and fumed as she picked up the book from it's new home on the floor. 'He'll pay for that!' She thought to herself as she began to wad some paper up quietly at her desk. Usagi giggled to herself quietly congratulating herself before she had completed her task. She lined the little paper balls up on her desk and began to fire them one by one at the back of Seiya's neck when the teacher wasn't looking. With each shot Seiya flinched but knew he couldn't say anything.

Seiya took it for a while but then finally turned around to meet a smiling Usagi. Seeing her smile made him forget that he was getting frustrated with her acts. He smiled back seductively. "There are better ways to flirt with me you know." He waited until Usagi's face turned bright red and then turned around to face forward once again. Needless to say that Usagi left him alone for the rest of the class.

As she did everyday after school that she didn't have detention, Usagi sat on the park bench with Seiya. "What no sketches today?" He questioned her as he saw her empty handed.

There was a pleasant breeze blowing over the landscape as though it was inviting others to join them outside on this beautiful day. "I left my bag in Mamoru's car. I'll get it back tonight." She smiled at him.

It was just the two of them as usual but now that Usagi didn't have her sketchbook to use as a scapegoat when she was with him it was different. Seiya was glad because now he knew he had her full attention. "I'm glad that you still make time for me." Seiya said as he contently stared at her.

Usagi was surprised at this comment. "What are you talking about? Why wouldn't I make time for you?" Her expression showed her confusion.

"I don't know. I guess I just thought that you wouldn't be spending as much time with me now that you've gotten your boyfriend back." He looked up at the leaves above them that were giving them shade.

Usagi got angry at the comment that Seiya had just made. He noticed this when he returned his gaze to her. He didn't understand why she would become mad at this. "What are you trying to say?" Usagi looked at him sternly. "Are you trying to say that I was just using you as a substitute for Mamoru while he was gone?"

Her question hit him hard and he didn't quite know how to respond. "No. well. I was just." He fumbled his words but then stopped as he saw her expression turning softer.

"I never thought of you as a substitute. You could never be anyone's substitute." She smiled at him and brought her hand up to his cheek. "You are very special to me and I will always make time for you, no matter what." She stared at him the entire time she spoke to him.

Seiya didn't know how to react at what she said or the fact that she had touched him. And it wasn't just any touch, she had pretty much caressed his face. It wasn't like him to become shy, and he wasn't, he was just surprised at her forwardness. He soon calmed a bit. "Thank you." He spoke. "That means a lot to me since you are very special to me also." He smiled back at her and they looked at each other for a little while before resuming their regular conversation.

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The day's events were washed off of her with her shower. She actually didn't eat that much at dinner. Well not that much may still be a lot to you or me, but to Usagi's family this was a small portion for her. She was deep in thought and was oblivious to the world around her. What had come over her today?

When dinner had ended she retreated back to her room to supposedly do homework. She didn't have her book bag so it was lost cause. "I should call Mamoru so I can get it back but." Usagi stopped what she was saying as her thoughts had interrupted her. Suddenly she wasn't thinking of Mamoru any more but instead Seiya.

She thought back on the days events playing with him in class, him turning around to tell her to stop flirting with him, and their conversation in the park. Usagi blushed with her thoughts. A smile crossed her lips as she turned to look out the window at the sky hung above the city. Unknowingly her thoughts had slipped back to the last time the Starlights were here. Usagi began to remember how much she used to blush when she was around Seiya. The thought had never crossed her mind, she had always thought of him as a good friend, perhaps her best friend. Could they have been more than friends? She had begun to miss him more and more after they left and she began to realize that she wasn't just missing him in a friendly way. He was always there for her without question, and he always made her feel so good.

Usagi shook her heads to get these thoughts out. 'How can I compare Seiya and Mamoru? They are my best friend and my boyfriend.' She went to her desk and picked up the picture of her and Mamoru, her future. How could she deny her future? Was it right to be with Mamoru if she was having these feelings for some one else?

"I have nothing to be confused about." She spoke confidently to herself. Usagi was standing alone in her room. "I have Chibi-Usa in the future with Mamoru!" She smiled at the memory of her child and then picked up the phone to call Mamoru for her bag. "But still. I wonder." She was saying as she brought the phone up to her ear.

"Hello?" The voice on the other end asked.

"You have beautiful dreams Seiya." Nehelenia sat next to him on the couch while they enjoyed their tea. The little girl was more like a little lady than a child. She had such pose and grace for her age, this just made her more beautiful.

"Thank you, but what do you know of my dreams?" Seiya asked her figuring that it was just the ramblings of a child. Kakyuu smiled at the two of them as they sat across from her. She liked to see the two of them together, they made each other so happy.

"I can tell that you have beautiful dreams, that's what makes your shine so bright." She casually took a sip of her tea when she finished.

Nehelenia's words made Seiya practically spit his tea out. 'What does she know about people's shines?' He thought to himself and then quickly looked up at Kakyuu to see her reaction. She was enjoying her beverage and didn't have the same shocked reaction as he. Maybe he was just over reacting.

"You dream about a girl." Nehelenia placed her cup back to its saucer. "You should go and see this girl, otherwise she won't know how much you love her." She turned her petite face up to him and smiled.

The childlike grin that she gave him didn't go with the words that she had just spoken. "Yes Seiya, you should go and see her." Kakyuu urged him. "Nehelenia and I will make our way home, we'll be fine." She waved him to leave.

Seiya didn't know what had come over these two but turned to speak to Nehelenia. "You are very wise for your age." He commented and excused himself from the table. He walked to the pay phone at the end of the restaurant and glanced back over his shoulder to see his two companions smiling at him. He slipped his card into the phone and began to dial. The phone hadn't even rang when he heard Usagi's voice on the other end.

"Hello?" He questioned her. She didn't answer the phone the way that she usually did.

"Seiya?" She asked when she recognized the voice. "What are you doing on my phone?"

Seiya laughed at the fact that she had no idea what was going on. "Odango, I just called you. What are you doing?"

"I was going to attempt to do my homework, but I still haven't gotten my bag back yet." She explained.

"Do you mind if I come over and see you?" He asked knowing that she would probably say no, but their earlier conversation came to mind and he had a new air of confidence in her answer.

Usagi saw no reason why he couldn't come over, besides she had nothing else to do tonight. "Sure, come on over but you have to do me a favor."

"What?"

"You have to bring me a chocolate milkshake! I've been dying for one all night and I know it's on your way, so don't try to weasel out of it!" She warned him as she heard him laughing at her on the other end.

"Sure Odango, I'll be over in a little while. Ja!" He hung up the phone and rejoined the two at the table.

"You shouldn't let anything get in the way of your dream. They are all we have." Nehelenia told Seiya as he was gathering his things and leaving money for the check.

Seiya arrived shortly at Usagi's house. 'What am I doing?' He thought. Torture, this is pure torture that he's been putting himself through everyday. Seeing her everyday and knowing that they could never be together was driving him insane. It wouldn't have been so bad if she had shown some sign that she wasn't happy with Mamoru but she hadn't and Seiya knew she was happy. He brought his hand up and knocked on the door.

Usagi answered the door and quickly came outside shutting the door behind her. "Quick this way." She directed Seiya to a secluded area around the side of the house.

"Odango, what are we doing?" He asked as she made herself a seat on the lawn.

"My father would have a hissy fit if he saw you here!" She told him as she pulled him down to sit next to her.

"What he doesn't like me?" Seiya was confused but joined her on the lawn, like he had a choice.

"No, it's not you. He doesn't like any boys that come over to see me." Usagi laid back and looked up at the sky.

Seiya was happy that she had allowed him to come over even with the danger of her dad seeing her. She had made the extra effort to see him. He looked down at her, she had sunk in the thick grass and had her arms folded underneath her head. It was now dusk and the stars were just starting to peek out in the night sky. "So what did you want to talk about?" Usagi asked Seiya with a turn of her head.

Seiya was still sitting up beside her. "I didn't have anything in mind, I just wanted to be with you." He looked down at her. "Is that so bad?"

Usagi smiled up at him. "No, I guess not." It was a funny coincidence that he had called right after she was thinking about him but left that to fate. "You saw me two times in one day, what you couldn't get enough!" Usagi joked with him as she saw the mood taking a serious turn.

"You could say that." He said as he reclined and laid beside her.

Usagi felt a bit uncomfortable with their closeness and tried to take their minds off of that. "Look a shooting star!" She exclaimed while pointing up at the sky. "Did you make a wish?" She asked turning her head side ways to see his face.

His profile was still looking straight up at the now night sky. "Why would I make a wish?" He asked furrowing his brow.

"You're supposed to make a wish when you see a shooting star! But you can't tell anyone what you're wish is otherwise it won't come true."

"Why on a shooting star though?" Seiya asked still looking at space where he had come from.

"A shooting star is rare and a very beautiful thing, you have to seize the moment when you see it because it is so special." Usagi turned her gaze up to the sky also as she realized what she had just said. She realized that Seiya was a shooting star, and he perfectly fit the description of one. He was rare, beautiful and very special. But could she seize the moment?

The same thoughts didn't pass through Seiya's mind however, he hadn't noticed Usagi's beautiful description of a shooting star, of him. He was too busy thinking about what a shooting star was. "You know, it's not always a happy moment when you see a shooting star pass through the sky." He said in a rather dour tone.

Usagi couldn't understand how a shooting star could be bad. "What are you talking about?"

"When you see a shooting star pass through the night sky they are burning out, they are dying." He seemed to have no emotion to his voice or maybe it was that he had too much emotion that it seemed to drag ever word out. "Stars don't go on forever, eventually without love they will burn out and be cast into oblivion." The silence was heavy. "When Kakyuu had found us she loved us, Yaten, Taiki and I, as her family, therefore saving us from burning out."

Never had they mentioned this, Usagi couldn't believe what she had heard. She sat up and saw Seiya join her. Before she knew what she was doing she threw her arms around his neck and held him tightly, perhaps afraid that he would disappear. "You have a very bright light. You'll never burn out." Unbeknownst to Seiya she was silently crying because she knew that she couldn't be the one to save him from this fate as she would have wanted to.