A wandering shooting star piercing through the darkness…
Chapter 3: The faces of people…
August 3, 2001
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Disclaimers: The Sailor Star Lights and their alter egos, ids and super egos were created by Naoko Takeuchi. I just hope that the characters in this story correspond accurately to the Taiki, Yaten and Seiya Kou boys in Sailormoon Stars. Thank you for choosing this fic, please enjoy.
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The weeks slowly rolled by for our trio: Taiki studied intensely in their little apartment, Seiya searched through the classifieds and personals at the kitchen table, and Yaten watched movies on their television in their living room. As Seiya absentmindedly scanned the classifieds, he gradually grew envious of Yaten reclining on their green sofa, his legs curled up lazily as he laughed with the glowing box. Taiki was amazed at the machine when they passed by Radio Shack, and while Taiki wasn't normally as impulsive as Seiya, he had to have it. His only passion, besides reading and devoutly searching for their princess, was technology. And America was swarming with it; everywhere they turned, they saw beepers, cell phones, digital watches with liquid crystal faces, everything that clicked and beeped Taiki became instantly intrigued. Which brought Seiya back to Yaten…
"Hahaha! I'd just as soon kiss a Wookie!" Yaten guffawed wildly. He absolutely loved this movie, whatever it was. Yaten had no ambition whatsoever, he just loved watching the television. And while Seiya desperately tried to hold on to his job at the local grocery store, Yaten had hit the big time as a male model. It seemed like a miracle. The two of them, Yaten and Seiya, were in the park one brisk afternoon, after they had walked with Taiki to the never ending horror job he called "fun" (it was really a bookstore, but Seiya found the silence disturbing) when they noticed a crowd of people and cameramen surrounding a large platform. The weather was getting warmer, and without even a flicker of hesitation in their hearts, they raced each other to get a closer look. It had taken Seiya a bit longer to adapt to reading English but he could make out the sign on the table without any problems: "Model Auditioning. Nonexclusive, male and female types of all ages and sizes."
Yaten leaned over Seiya's shoulder, "What does it say, Seiya?" he asked innocently. 'Poor Yaten' Seiya smirked evilly, he still hadn't been able to make sense of the newspapers and had almost given up altogether. But his spoken English was the best out of the three. Seiya sometimes wanted to zone out in front of that wonderful talking square, the television, but just couldn't find the time. He was too busy imagining his football career during the graveyard shift in the produce section at the grocery store. That was something he did enjoy: American football. Someday, he hoped, if all else failed, that by being a famous football star, he could be on that TV screen and maybe Princess Kakyuu, in some form or other, would recognize him.
"Hey Seiya, what does it say?" Yaten waved his hand in front of his face to get his attention.
"It says, Model Auditioning. Male and Female types of all ages welcome. Sorry no one under 5 feet please." Seiya tried to stifle his snickers as Yaten punched him in the arm.
"What! It doesn't say that!" He shoved Seiya aside, by Seiya shoved him back, and soon they started fighting. They were about to duke it out in front of everyone when someone screamed, "Stop! You there!"
"Huh?" Seiya and Yaten darted their eyes to the voice. A woman, in her late thirties, dressed sharply in a dark knit skirt and pin striped top, hurried over to Yaten, followed by her business minions, and helped him up from the ground with her outstretched hands.
"You're absolutely perfect, young man!" the woman's voice sparkled.
"Well, it's not easy." Yaten grinned widely in Seiya's general direction, frustrating his friend to no end.
"My company is looking for young men of your quality. Attractive, but not overwhemingly masculine with a mysterious feminine look. It's exactly what we need." Her delicate British accent intrigued Yaten immensely.
"I think you've made a mistake, ma'am. He's too short!" Seiya yelled to them as he stood up; he had to yell, they were quickly walking away from him. He heard the faint traces of their voices, 'Calvin Klein this' and 'Have you heard of Mark Wahlber that?' Soon Seiya could hardly see Yaten's face as the little blond traitor stuck his mocking tongue out at him. At that moment, Seiya Kou cursed a small Kinmokusei curse- the kind you use when you wish you had your friend's luck but didn't. A few days later, the media had caught on to this little blond wonder, but when the three of them ventured outdoors, Yaten was yet to be swarmed with screaming female fans.
Seiya stared out his kitchen window wistfully, and angrily pushed his fist into the glass.
"There's nothing but gray and haze and buildings. Where's the green and the trees? Back home, it wasn't like this at all. When this is all over… when we find the Princess, will we change back? Will things be like they were before?"
"Ask Tiresias." Said Taiki, looking up from the pages of his book.
"What's that?" Yaten raised an eyebrow.
"According to Ovid's Metamorphosis, Tiresias was walking in the woods one day, when he saw two snakes coupling. He separated them with his walking staff and Tiresias became a woman. Seven years later, he found the two coupling snakes again---"
"The same two snakes?" Seiya asked.
"Yes, and when he separated them, he became a man again. The god Jupiter and his wife, Juno, asked Tiresias, because he had been both man and woman, which gender enjoyed sex the most. Tiresias said, 'Women' and Juno struck him blind."
"Serves him right," Yaten huffed.
"But Jupiter gave him the gift of prophesy in compensation."
"So what should we ask Tiresias?" Seiya leaned against the wall, deeply enthralled in Taiki's story.
"The point is that there are no coupling snakes here. We can't change back, Seiya."
"What do you mean," Seiya and Yaten stuttered, 'can't change back?"
"Unless we fall into the same circumstance as we did before, we will never change back, we will stay as men, but,' he paused, 'I did discover something." He pulled out a small box from underneath the pillow he had been resting his arm on. It had already been opened, and Seiya peeked inside. He pulled out two star-shaped lockets, each with tiny sets of silver wings. He looked back at Taiki, who was quietly reclining on the sofa, awestruck. How did he---
"Do you remember these? We had them as soldiers, but they were destroyed… along with everything else." Taiki closed his book and stood up to stretch.
"How did you get these, Taiki?" Yaten was equally perplexed. "I mean, you don't find these kinds of things in a comic book store!" He smoothed his fingers tenderly across the shiny metal star, as though he was recalling a long ago forgotten past. It made his heart ache.
"This package came today while you were out. It's because of you Yaten, you've been putting your face out by being a model, and now suddenly, people are taking notice of you. Just to check, I looked through the magazine section at the bookstore, and you're in there: Vanity Fair, Vogue… even Seventeen and Cosmopolitan. Princess Kakyuu, somewhere, must have seen you in one of these advertisements and recognized you in your new form. Look on the box; there's no return address. But she knows where we are." Seiya flipped the box over: To Seiya, Taiki and Yaten Kou followed by their apartment's address.
"She's out there but she can't come to us. And we can't find her. We have to be like Yaten."
"Aw shucks Taiki!" Yaten rubbed his fingernails across his chest and gave a smug grin.
"I mean it, we have to put our faces out there and be recognized. Seiya, tell your manager that you're quitting tomorrow, I've already told mine. We're going to focus, really focus on finding her." Taiki watched Seiya's eyes grow dark and silent, and Taiki was a little afraid he had said too much, too soon. What was Seiya thinking behind those eyes, looking at him expressionlessly?
Seiya left the room silently, and headed towards their one bathroom to take a shower. He quickly slipped out of his clothes and stepped into the cold spray of the shower. He had to admit to himself that Taiki's sudden decision had frightened him. Taiki had been geared towards finding the Princess since Day One, but now it leaned toward the obsessive—Seiya chastized himself. He was getting to use to Earth life, and it excited him, and he felt like he had not given himself completely to finding her, betraying his own love--- and that made him stop and wonder.
His own love, was that Princess Kakyuu? He did notice that when he thought about her now, his heart quickened and he felt his lungs tighten. But then the feeling vanished as quickly as it had come---was this a man's feeling towards a woman---a woman as beautiful as Princess Kakyuu? Her strange, exotic eyes, her small lips and slender body—Seiya shivered again. He turned the shower's faucet a little warmer, and his muscles relaxed. "Ahh…" he sighed, his voiced cracking slightly. It embarrassed him… this hadn't happened to Taiki, Seiya thought—but then again, Taiki naturally had a deeper sounding voice, and he never became vocally excited, unlike himself. Yaten was different; he had a higher pitched voice then all three of them combined, so Seiya couldn't pick up any difference. Seiya dropped the soap and slapped his forehead, "Yaten's birthday, that's the 8th!" He unbound his long black ponytail and started to shampoo it gently. "Ouch! Damn!" It was always such a tangled mess at the end of the day.
