TODOKANU OMOI- MY FRIEND'S LOVE
Chapter 6
Seiya was in a black mood. He seemed to be spending a lot of his time brooding recently. Yaten had gone missing for two weeks, Taiki refused to talk to him, and they were running out of breakable kitchenware in the house. He had tried jogging, midnight basketball, any type of exercise to get his mind off of his problems. It worked, for the short time that he was exercising. Afterwards, they'd haunt him all over again. His grades were suffering if his health wasn't, and it was a miracle his career wasn't suffering as well. By sheer good luck, Yaten had only been scheduled for one appearance this last two weeks, and that had been easily taken care of. Unfortunately, they had a spot on a variety show this week, and performing without Yaten would be impossible. They couldn't afford to be out of the spotlight for a long time, not if the great Plan was to take place.
He had often wondered why Taiki and Yaten had never contested his claim as their leader. Now he understood why.
/At least my mood isn't losing any of our fans, / he thought in an effort to cheer himself up. /Earthlings seem to be attracted to dark, brooding men who don't want to talk. I've never gotten so many love letters before. I should probably keep this image... it keeps the fans./ Glumly he lowered his chin onto his desk. /Except the emotional strain will kill me./
He looked towards Taiki, who was busy preparing for today's test. /He's lucky. He could study if meteors were bombarding the school. I wish I could do that./ He glanced towards Yaten's empty desk. /Where in hell are you, Yaten? You could at least call... or answer your cel phone./
In answer to Seiya's question, Yaten walked into the classroom, pointedly ignoring the swarm of schoolgirls asking if he was all right. "Leave me alone," he told them, nearly slamming the classroom door shut in their faces before slumping into his desk.
"Speak of the devil," Seiya muttered, glaring Yaten's way. Yaten casually sat down in his seat, took out a book, and began studying. /I can't believe this! He leaves for two weeks without even a word, and just sits down as if nothing has happened? He's got a lot to answer for!/ Brows together in fury, Seiya stormed over to Yaten's seat, determined to give him a piece of his mind. Just as he was near enough to yell, the bell chimed, and Mr. Kobayashi rushed in with an armful of papers. "Mr. Kou, please return to your seat," he said, looking pointedly at Seiya. "We are about to take a test."
Smoldering, Seiya reluctantly stalked back to his seat. /Next period, then,/ he fumed, glaring at Yaten who didn't even turn around.
Time and school proved to be against him, however. No matter how many times he tried to approach Yaten, something always prevented him: an errant girl with a love letter, Mrs. Akutsu's academic warning speech, the football captain telling him about practice today; it was always something. When lunchtime came around, Seiya was determined to speak to Yaten if it killed him.
He saw Yaten pull out a lunchbox from his desk and hurry out into the hallway. Seiya was about to give chase when a pair of blond dumplings stood in his way. He groaned inwardly. /Not now, Dumpling!/ "Yeah?" he snapped, irritatedly.
"You don't have to snap," Usagi pouted, "I just came over to talk to you!"
Seiya sighed. He was just going to have to catch up with Yaten later. "Sorry. I've been a bit on edge lately."
"I know." Her angry pout dissipated into concern. "I've been worried about you."
/Oh, great. Now she's going to give me sympathy./ "I'm fine, Dumpling," he snapped, snatching up his lunch and stalking off. "I don't need your sympathy."
"I'm just worried about you!" Usagi shouted after him.
"Yeah, you and over half the school," Seiya muttered. "I don't need that kind of sympathy. Not from you."
He managed to find a nice quiet spot to eat his lunch at, although now he really wasn't hungry. He had felt bad blowing Usagi off like that, but sympathy wasn't going to make him feel any better. Not when she was the problem. And he couldn't tell her. "Well, this is turning out to be a great day," he muttered sarcastically, hurling a rock at a nearby tree.
"What did that tree ever do to you?" a voice asked him.
Seiya nearly groaned. It was Usagi's friend, Minako. Two blonde encounters in one day; he was turning out to be really lucky. "Go away," he snapped.
"I saw how you treated Usagi," Minako plopped herself down beside him without invitation.
"So what? It's my perrogative to talk or not talk to her if I want to."
"Oh, really?" Minako snapped. "So it's your perrogative to act like a jerk too?"
Seiya glared at her. "What do you want?"
Her face changed from anger to sympathy. "I wanted to let you know that I know how you feel."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Will you stop the tough guy act! Everyone knows you're in love with Usagi."
"Thanks for the info. Think I should put that on the web page?"
"Seiya, I'm only trying to help."
"Well you're not, so leave me alone."
Crossing her arms stubbornly, Minako continued. "As I was saying, I know how you feel. I've been through the same thing."
"Really?" Seiya disinterestedly tossed another rock at a tree.
"What, you don't believe me?"
"Actually... no, I don't."
"It's true. I lived in England for a year in Junior High, fighting crime as Sailor V. This was before I met Usagi and the rest. In England, there was this dreamy boy..." her eyes clouded over, and a wistful smile crossed her face. "He was nice, kind, handsome; everything a Prince Charming should be."
"So Prince Charming refused to acknowledge you existed, right?" Seiya snorted.
Her wistful mood dampened slightly. "Not exactly. He fell in love with my sister."
Seiya instantly regretted his previous sentence. /You really are acting like a jerk,/ he thought bitterly. "I'm sorry..."
"It's okay." She gave him a smile. "It was a long time ago. I'm fine with it now."
He looked at her, thoughtfully. If she could do it.... "What did you do about it?"
She grinned sheepishly. "I left England."
"You ran away?" His eyelids lowered halfway. And here he had thought she had something important to tell him.
"I know, I know, it was a stupid thing to do. Childish, etc. But I was only thirteen at the time." She gave him a look. "What I'm trying to say is that this happens all the time. It hurts, I know it hurts, but you'll learn to get over it. What you can't do is let it rule your life."
"I'm not."
"Of course you're not. You're just brooding and acting rude towards everybody because you want a new image, right?"
Seiya only glared at her.
"Look, Seiya, you're a lot braver than I was, coming back to be with Usagi. But you have to move on. Date a few other people, go dancing, do things you want to do. Eventually, you'll find that Usagi's a dear memory, and you've gotten someone special."
Seiya ran his hands through his hair in frustration. "Move on, you say. That's easier said than done. You *left* your problems behind you."
"Yes, I did. But I hurt the ones I loved the most, possibly more than they had ever hurt me. It was a stupid thing to do, and I regret it. But I don't regret falling in love with him. Or ever being their friend."
He glanced towards her. It was funny; she was a real ditz, always late for class and chattering about the most inane things. Who would have thought she had been through so much? He suddenly had a new admiration for her. Maybe she was right. It was time to put Usagi aside, and move on. "It's a lot easier said than done," he said, leaning back and looking at the sky. "Moving on."
"I never said it was easy," she smiled at him. "Only that it could be done. Are you ready...?"
"I guess. I've never backed down from a challenge before," he grinned at her. "There's no reason for me to stop now."
She grinned back. "I'll even help if you want! Minako's Broken Heart service, at your service! I'm the warrior of love, and for love!"
Seiya chuckled, amazed that she could go from serious to silly in the time it took to blink. She was like Usagi in many ways. No wonder they were friends. Still, there was one thing he really needed to know. "So, Minako," he grinned wickedly, "if you stayed in England for a year, how come you're failing English class?"
She groaned dramatically. "Don't remind me! Do we have a test today?"
"Yep."
"Oh, no! I didn't even study! What am I going to do?!"
Seiya laughed, suddenly in a better mood. It would take time, and it wouldn't be easy, but he would get over Usagi. He would make sure of it.
****
"I'm home!" Seiya called out, dumping his football stuff in the hallway. It needed a good cleaning, and there was no way he was bringing something that muddy inside the house.
"Welcome back," came the answer from the kitchen.
/Yaten?!/ Seiya kicked off his shoes and ran to the kitchen to find Yaten carefully cleaning up the shards of broken dishes Seiya had left from yesterday's temper tantrum. "You're back."
In reply, Yaten held up the dustpan full of broken wares. "You've been busy."
Without thinking, Seiya punched him in the jaw. Slivers of cutlery spilled across the floor. "Where the hell have you been?" he exploded. "I was worried sick about you! You could have at least called to say where you were! How was I to know what happened to you? What if you were hurt or something, or if our Princess needed to talk to you? What was I going to tell her!"
Yaten rubbed his cheek. "I know. I'm sorry."
"Sorry doesn't cut it!"
"I couldn't stay here, Seiya. I had to work something out on my own. I know it was irresponsible for me not to call you. And I'm sorry. That's all I can say."
Seiya took a deep breath, anger ebbing. He had told Yaten off, that was enough. "All right, all right, apology accepted. But next time..!"
"Yeah, yeah, I know. I'll phone home." Yaten gave him a grin. "Mom."
"You better believe it," Seiya punched him again, this time playfully. "So, where were you anyway?"
"At Jiro's."
"Yamada? "
"Yeah. He forced me to watch anime." Yaten dumped the shards of dishes into the trashcan. "For two weeks."
Seiya chuckled. "Poor Yaten. Cooped up with an otaku and no escape. Must have been torture."
"You're laughing now. You didn't have to watch Pretty Sammy the TV version!"
Seiya laughed even harder. It seemed that Yaten had gotten his just rewards after all. "Maybe I ought to buy a copy of that."
"If you do, I'm never coming home again."
"Now *that's* a tempting idea... think Yamada will know where to buy these things?"
Yaten snapped him a glare. "If you even think about asking Jiro about anime, I'll put these in your bed." He shook the dustpan emphatically.
Before Seiya had a chance to respond, Taiki's voice came through the hallway. "I'm home!"
"In here!" Seiya shouted, then remembered that Yaten and Taiki were having problems with each other. /Oh shit... now what?/
Taiki stepped in the kitchen, gingerly avoiding the shards that were sprinkled everywhere. "Yaten, I see you're home early."
"I had to. *Someone* had to clean up his mess," Yaten pointed at Seiya accusingly with the dustpan.
"Good," Taiki poured himself a glass of cold tea. "Please try to be thorough. I'd hate to get glass in my slippers."
"You *could* help, you know," Yaten said, but with no real anger in his voice.
Taiki paused, considering. "I could. But I have other pressing matters." He smiled mischievously at Yaten and walked out, saying, "If you need me, I will be in my room."
"Thanks," Yaten muttered, sarcastically.
Seiya blinked. Something had happened; everything was suddenly back to normal. "Hey, what happened with you and Taiki?"
"Don't worry about it," Yaten said, dumping the shards of porcelain into the trashcan. "It's all okay now." He looked at Seiya. "You don't believe me, do you."
"Let's just say that after two weeks of you being gone and Taiki locking himself up in his room, it's a bit hard to swallow that everything's all hunky-dory now."
"We had a talk today, during lunch break. I told him I was going out with Ami."
Seiya did a double take. This was news. "And..."
"And he's okay with it." Yaten sighed at Seiya's incredulous look. "If you don't believe me, ask him."
Seiya paused, considering, then shrugged it off. If everything was fine, then why worry? He'd had enough emotional turmoil to last him for a lifetime. He watched Yaten clean for a while, then said, "You owe us a few dishes."
"Me?! It's not my fault you have the temper tantrum of a child!"
"Who's fault was it that caused this temper tantrum?" Seiya crossed his arms stubbornly.
Yaten sighed, resignedly. "All right, I'll buy some new ones."
"Good!" Seiya grinned. "I'll help."
"Pay, or shop?"
"Shop of course!"
Yaten wrinkled his nose. "No thanks. You have absolutely no taste. You'd probably buy some kind of football mug or something."
"Hey, now that's a good idea!"
"Seiya!"
Laughing, Seiya ran upstairs to change. He opened his door, and saw the framed picture of Usagi on his desk, staring at him. He held it for a moment, looking fondly at her face, smiling the smile that would never be meant for him. He bit his lip, debating whether to toss it in the trash or not. Finally, he placed it gently inside the first drawer. "Small steps, Seiya," he murmured, closing it. "Small steps."
He changed, then thundered down the stairs to drag Yaten into going shopping.
********
Author's notes:
First, as usual, I want to thank everyone who's replied to this fic. Reviews keep me going! ^__^
Second, I want to explain why I focused on Seiya in this particular chapter (since this *is* a Yaten/Ami fic after all).
In the first chapter, I hinted that Seiya hadn't gotten over Usagi yet. And, I ended up bringing it back in chapter four. Since it's in the fic, I really couldn't let it go (and keep people wondering "What about Seiya?") so I included it in a separate chapter.
Please Review!
Snarf ^__^