Disclaimer: The Reality Benders own nothing of Sailormoon, only this unusual storyline.



Chapter Four:

Discovery

Yaten rammed his fist on his forehead, groaned and tried to think when Hotaru fled his presence. Now what had he done? He couldn't control himself again.

He'd felt rather worried when he saw her running across the corridor and ending up on the garden wall to regurgitate her morning drink. But he tried to say something that would lighten her up, she looked so tense and embarrassed. But he guessed that it didn't come out right. He was just quite awful at these things.

Then he knew that he'd somehow made her feel a whole lot worse and even more scared of him when they had the…conversation. Well…sort-of. It wasn't exactly one, because she barely replied to him, and he had to strain to hear when she did speak.

And it was also terrible the way his voice sounded so cold when he talked to her. He tried to make it sound normal, but it always kept sounding very cold. Perhaps it had something to do that he couldn't not forget the fact that she was still an Outer and how she had caused him a lot of grief the night before. But she was one Outer who did not dislike them at all. And still, he sounded so chilly.

For some reason, though, he felt so relaxed when he talked to her about Lotus. He didn't even know he was talking to her about it, it just came out, and for some reason he didn't mind. Usually, he'd feel a tight knot burning inside him when he talked about his twin to someone else, but when he told her about it, he felt very normal and (strangely) comforted. Maybe it had something to do with the soft understanding and clarity that he saw in her eyes when she looked at him as he spoke. It seemed to say, "that's all right…I understand…" He hadn't encountered anyone who made him feel like that.

But then, the way she kept saying sorry to him so much when she did nothing at all nearly drove him up the wall, so he snapped at her. But as soon as he saw how pale and frightened she went, he realized that he'd made such a horrible mistake to have done it. He'd forgotten how sensitive she was and the past events that made her so nervous around him. Truth was, he wasn't mad at her, really; he was mad at who was responsible for making her feel so afraid and down all the time. Probably the other Outers, but trying to argue with them was not an option.

She healed her hand, and he realized as well that he'd snapped at her when she was injured. It wasn't much of an injury really, but it still obviously hurt. Emotional and physical could be a little much at the same time.

Yaten then groaned again and thought that it was all over. She would never talk to him again, at least, and she'll try to leave again, with or without the Queen's permission (who could stop her from going anywhere if she wanted to?). He didn't know why he was so bothered about her, but he had a hunch: he just wanted to help her and get her out of the misery he'd once sunk in. And he ought to know, it was horrible to be in it.

But now…

He put a hand to where she sat, and jerked it back when he touched something. It was his handkerchief that he had lent her, and the yellow rose he had given her. He felt his heart sink, as if this was what would confirm their blocked terms with each other.

He took it carefully, and saw the thorn which had pricked her. It still glistened with a drop of her blood. He carefully wiped it away with his handkerchief. Then he sighed and leanded back, completely forgetting that he was at the edge of a fountain.

Splash!

Yaten knew that this certain fountain was deep, almost like a pond, and decided not to attempt to rise until about five seconds and mellow out for even a moment. It was temporary insanity, yes, but he was just so desperate for something to cool his shaken nerves. But before the five seconds was over, a hand reached into the water, and with a powerful grip, pulled him up. Spluttering, he sat up.

"What in heaven's name are you doing there, Yaten?"

It was Taiki, and he was looking at him in utmost shock and disbelief. Seiya hovered beside him, with Kakyuu. They were staring at him rather in surprise.

"Fancy taking a swim today?" asked Seiya, with a small smile.

Yaten bit his lip, unable to think of how to explain him out of this. How do you tell them that you've just spent ten minutes trying to talk to an Outer who you were really worried about because she was in some sort of depression and you made an absolute botch of it and you feel miserable?

You didn't, of course.

"I—um…" Yaten stammered, blinking the water out of his eyes, and he gripped the rose in his hand tight, not noticing the thorns piercing him.

Kakyuu's eyes widened and she gasped, "Yaten! Your hand—!!" She leapt forward and pulled his hand. She ripped the rose from his grasp and looked at his hand. It was bleeding. Yaten felt his cheeks go red. Then, as he felt the wounds stinging him like pins, he realized that it wasn't over yet. He would find Hotaru and finally clear this up. But first, he had to get past his friends.

Seiya and Taiki stared at his hand in horror so much that it was unspeakable. They looked from his hand to his face, too appalled to speak.

Yaten yanked his hand back and stood up, muttereing, "Forget it…I'll heal myself later…" And began to stride away quickly, his hand glimmering as he was healing it.

"Yaten!" cried Seiya, grabbing him back. "Where are you going?"

"Nowhere," he muttered, trying to get away.

"Is this about Hotaru?" Taiki said suddenly.

Yaten was so stunned that he stopped and turned to look at his grave face. Had he seen them talking? Did he know about what happened during midnight? What would he say?

Taiki then ticked off the reasons as to why his suspicions existed.

"She had something to do with you before she came in for breakfast. I saw your rose on her dress (and you never ever let anyone so much as touch one of those around here), Yaten, and you didn't come to breakfast this morning. And we just saw her running from the garden, when you were." He folded his hands over his chest. "Is there something going on that we don't know?"

He should've known better than try to hide something from Taiki. He should've expected him to suspect. But there was no time for that now, and he hadn't fully regained his senses. So he said, "Listen, Taiki, whatever's going on, you don't need to know. There is nothing wrong." Which is about the worst understatement I've ever made in my life…

Taiki stared at him incredulously. Yaten felt really annoyed now. He glared at him, wrenched his arm from Seiya and ran off, leaving Seiya, Taiki and Kakyuu standing on the garden, staring at him go.

Feeling his heart pounding with desperation, he wondered where Hotaru could've gone. She looked really pale when she left, and her eyes looked a little bleary. Cursing his so-called attitude and resolving to do something about it, he flew around hallways and corridors, wondering where she was.

Then he nearly slapped himself. Duh! Where would I go if I was upset? In my room, of course!

And he ran up the staircase and went to the chambers. But when he reached his corridors, he saw two maids whispering nervously to each other, unable to do anything. Yaten asked, "What's going on?" and pushed past them. He was met with a terrible sight. Hotaru was sprawled across the hallway, pale and lifeless, her long dark hair spilling over the floor like blood.

"Hotaru!!" Yaten cried in horror. He ran to her, knelt down, and lifted the girl into his arms. "Hotaru, wake up! What's wrong with you? Wake up!" But of course, she wouldn't.

Yaten felt her forehead. She wasn't very sick, but maybe she was just getting to one of her fainting spells. But still, her forehead was warm, and Yaten wasn't taking chances. He looked angrily at the two maids and snarled, "What're you doing standing there? Fetch a basin of water and a towel, quickly! Get it into my room! And don't you dare tell anyone about this!"

The two maids nodded nervously and hurried off. Yaten lifted the fainted princess into his arms and ran to his room. Kicking the door open, he hurried across and laid her on the bed gently. He sat down next to her, so that he'd be able to watch her should she wake.

He stared and her and wondered if he was doing the right thing. Everyone would probably kill him for this, but for some strange reason, he just didn't care.



Hotaru blinked and opened her eyes. The image she saw was very bleary, but it slowly cleared, and she saw Yaten looking down at her. She bit her lip. What happened? Why was he here? Where was she?

Yaten asked, "Are you all right?"

"Huh?" Hotaru managed to choke in spite of her pounding head.

Yaten just shook his head. "You're obviously not." Hotaru felt her cheeks turn red, and she tried to sit up, but found that she couldn't. In any case, even if she could, Yaten would've pushed her back down, because he held out a hand to steady her.

"Don't try to get up," he said, in a voice that seemed a good deal less cold than what he'd used before. "You're a bit ill. I suppose that entire milk-thing just got you worked up."

Hotaru looked away. She just couldn't bring herself to meet his eyes. He put a damp cloth on her forehead. "Just try and rest. If you try and heal yourself, you'll just get weaker."

He pulled the covers over her lower body and looked at her steadily. Hotaru nodded. "I-it won't bother you…to be doing this, You Highness?"

Yaten stared at her. "Why?"

Hotaru wasn't sure how to answer that. She just looked away again. Yaten took a moment before saying, "Why would it bother me…if it'd been my fault that I drove you ill in the first place? Wasn't it because of me that you got all upset?"

"What?" Hotaru said, surprised, but Yaten shook his head. "Just go to sleep. If I don't make you feel better, Haruka will probably kill me."

Hotaru nodded and whispered, "Thank you, Prince Yaten."

"Hey," he said, nudging her a bit, and she looked at him.

His smirked at her and said, "If you want us to get along, you're going to have to stop calling me 'prince', 'your highness' and any other rubbish that comes close to it. And I won't do it to you either. Everything normal—just plain Yaten and plain Hotaru. Got it?"

Hotaru almost smiled, but knew that it wasn't her place. She just nodded, suddenly feeling quite tired, and promptly fell asleep.



Yaten watched her fall asleep. He felt strangely relieved of this burden, and strangely lighthearted. She looked like she'd forgiven him. He was sure that he'd done the wrong, but she doesn't seem to. Still, she looked all right then. It was all right now.

He took the damp cloth from her forehead and put it beside the silver basin. She was going to be all right, she just needed a little sleep after that night and what had happened this morning.

He looked at the bedside table and saw the rose that he gave her. He'd taken all the thorns out of it (so she won't get pricked anymore) and pressed it into her hand as she slept. He whispered in his mind to her, This is yours…and I have no intention of taking it from you.

He didn't know whether she'd heard it or not, but she seemed to look peaceful and pretty in her sleep that he felt his cheeks gow a hint of pink. He supposed that she'd heard it.

He smiled in spite of himself and laid his head on the bed, his hand still on the rose. Maybe he'd take a nap too. It has been a harrowing night and morning. So he closed his eyes and dozed off.

But as their hands held as they slept, their two minds entered each other's, and they both saw flashes of the others' memories and past.

Hotaru felt so sad and hurt when she saw Yaten's horrible past. How he'd been so happy once with his family, but in an eyeblink, they had been taken away from him in such a horrible way, and all because of a treacherous grandmother. But he was taken in by Kakyoku, and spent a more or less happy time with Seiya and the rest. With a stinging heart and her eyes misting with tears, she remember that this past had been true for her as well.

Yaten was a witness to it. He saw Hotaru and her family, and how truly happy they had been. He saw how Hotaru's mother died, how her father always left her alone and lonely. Then the horrible day when Mistress 9 and Pharoah 90 came into their lives and twisted it to make it even worse. Her suffering under Kaolinite had been hard enough to bear, but then reaching to the point that she was Mistress 9, how everyone hated her at school because of her power, and how she was always been so weak that she just had to go along with what the Outers say. It was the source of all her conflict, and Yaten very nearly broke down at this.

Finally, with a blast of light, they found themselves atop a plateau, where they stood away from the other, back to back, still staring at the memories they had just seen—not theirs, yet of the same pattern.

Hotaru broke down and fell to her kness, sobbing. It brought such feeling of pain and anguish that she felt horrified at everything that had happened to him. And she had been so selfish! Thinking of herself when he, Yaten, had gone through as much trouble (if not more) as she!

Yaten was startled at the sound, and turned around. He saw her crying, and felt a pang of guilt stab him. So this was what was all going through her. He was right. She was just like him. She came from a past as horrible as his, and no wonder was he drawn to her. And at first, he even hated her!

She shouldn't be blamed for it, he thought. It's not her fault…it's everything that happened to her…I have to put it to right somehow.

He walked towards her, until he was standing right behind her. He hesitated, unsure of what to say or do.

Hotaru suddenly spoke, "How could I have been so selfish?"

Yaten jumped in surprise. He realized that she was talking to him, and that she had already sensed his presence behind him.

"I was only thinking of myself," she sobbed, slowly standing up, but still not facing Yaten. "Of everything that was wrong with me. Not once realizing that you have gone through much worse and…and causing you even more grief!" She broke down again.

Yaten felt truly sorry for her. She was just so…flustered. She had no idea that, if anything, her sufferings had been worse than his. Yaten put a hand to her shoulder. She was surprised and turned around to face him. He looked neither sad nor happy, but just stared back at her as she did him.

"…We're the same…aren't we?" he whispered. "We have…the same past. We're just the same."

Hotaru's lip trembled, and she burst into tears into his arms. Yaten felt surprised for but a moment, but eased as he tried to comfort her sobs and held her as she wept into his chest.

"I—I always thought I was alone…" she wept, her voice almost muffled against him. "I always thought that…that no one else would know how I feel and how badly things are in reality… But now that I see you…"

He voice trailed away and she cried again. Yaten closed his eyes and whispered to her, "I thought that I was alone too…but now that I've seen your past…" he took a breath, "the both of us will never have to be alone again…because we know how it feels…how it hurts…and how frightening it is. But no. We won't be alone anymore. Because we're just the same."

"We're the same…" Hotaru whispered.

Yaten nodded, and the light closed in around them.

~~*~~

Yaten awoke with a sudden start. He felt like as one would after having a bad dream, but he knew full well that the dream wasn't bad at all. In fact…it wasn't even a dream at all. It was real, the both of their minds converging with one another.

He looked to the bad, but felt shocked. Hotaru was gone! The bed was empty. But somehow he knew that she was all right. He looked down on the bed, and saw that the rose was gone. Instead, what lay before him was a piece of parchment, and written on it in purple ink,

Thank You

Yaten smiled. He knew that she was all right. And he'd never felt better. Because now he realized that they were—no matter how peculiarly—friends.



"Yaten, where have you been?" Taiki asked when Yaten met him, Seiya and Kakyuu in the front hall. He looked rather worried, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Yaten replied with a smile. "I am. Never been better."

Kakyuu looked at him disbelievingly. "All right, Yaten, what's up?"

"What're you talking about?" he asked with a laugh.

"How come you're so cheerful all of a sudden?" Seiya asked. "Last time we saw you, you were as white as a sheet and looked more desperate than I've seen you in ages!"

"I did?" Yaten shrugged. "Well, I'm not now. I'm all right." He saw the incredulous look on Taiki's face and added, "Really."

Taiki shook his head. Try as he might he never did understand what went on with Yaten sometimes. He sighed. "All right, fine. I don't care anymore, as long as you're here now."

Seiya said, "All right then, whatever. I suppose you ought to have your lunch now. We've already had ours. You better eat it quick—Kakyoku-mama wants to see us. Again."

Taiki rolled his eyes. "Goodness knows what the problem is now."

Yaten sighed. "All right, all right. I'll go have lunch now." He began to walk to the direction of the dining hall.

Taiki snorted. "That wouldn't be a very good lunch."

"Why not?" asked Yaten, turning back.

"One of them is in there," he replied. "She was late to lunch too."

"Who?" asked Yaten, though he knew the asnwer.

"Princess Saturn," Taiki replied, coldly. "Well, you'll have to go through with it then, anyway. We had worse, because we had ours with the rest of them. You'll just have to sweat it out by yourself—but if something goes wrong we'll be right here."

Yaten didn't have to ask what he meant by that. Obviously, his blood is still boiling, and he decided not to persue the topic any further. He just shook his head and left his friends. As soon as he was out into the corridor, however, he was running in full speed to the dining hall. Taiki had no idea that this lunch wasn't going to be bad at all.



The dining hall doors opened, and the only person at the table looked up to see the other latecomer come in. As soon as she saw Yaten, she dropped her eyes again. Yaten was only slightly disappointed, for he was really not sure as to what to expect after the incident.

He sat at the table and at a place just across her, the both of them not meeting each other's eyes, attempting to eat. Finally, their senses got the better of them and they looked up.

Hotaru took a moment before saying, "I—I'm sorry about your family…"

Yaten shook his head. "I told you. I've kind of gotten over it. But what about you? Your mom…and dad…"

It was Hotaru's turn to shake her head. "My father…he will be alright. Someday. But my mother…" she sighed. "I don't remember her very much so…so I don't really know."

"But you miss her," said Yaten. "You miss them."

"Of course," replied Hotaru. "And you miss your family too."

"That goes for everyone who've lost someone in their lives," Yaten sighed.

There was silence at the table. Yaten then gave a short laugh. "Why are we talking about this? This is all over. We ought to think about other things."

"Yeah," said Hotaru quietly. She sighed and reached for her goblet, but hesitated before putting it to her lips. She took a cautious look inside.

Yaten laughed. "No, it's not milk. We don't want you having to redecorate the garden wall again, do we?" He gave her a saucy grin and laughed.

Hotaru laughed with him. It was the first time Yaten had seen her do that. Her laugh sounded like tinkling bells, and her face completely changed when she did it. Her face lit up and she looked extremely lovely when she smiled. Wow…he thought. Suddenly he felt embarrassed, and looked down at his food, his cheeks turning red.

Hotaru asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he stammered, looking up at her and smiling.

It was Hotaru's turn to feel surprised. He looked different when he smiled too. It was different when he smirked or something at her, but this was a kind, friendly smile. He suddenly looked so handsome to her that she felt so embarrassed to look at him. She also looked down at her food and picked up her fork once again.

Yaten glanced at her, hesitated for a moment then seemed to have plucked up the guts. "Have you been to town yet?"

"Huh?" Hotaru looked up at him and shook her head. "No. I haven't visited the town yet."

"I'm going there later on to…look at some stuff," he said slowly. "Do you…want to come? I can show you around."

She was obviously surprised by this strange pronouncement. She didn't quite expect that Yaten would ask her that. Not so early on, anyway.

"Well?" he prompted her.

Hotaru smiled. "Oh. Of course. Thank you, Yaten."

Without knowing it, Yaten smiled. Hotaru, puzzled, asked, "What is it?"

"That's the first time you called me my name without anything else added to it," he replied. Hotaru felt her cheeks turn red as she glanced at his hypnotic green eyes and found that she was too shy to keep looking. She stared at her food again.

It was Yaten's turn to blush, and he looked down as well. He stammered, "I—I'll meet you later in the front garden. I have to go and see Kakyoku- mama after this."

"That's all right," Hotaru replied. "It'll give me time to get ready, then."

Yaten didn't trust himself to speak when he saw her smile. He just nodded.



After the awkward yet enjoyable lunch, Yaten flew to the queen's chambers once again and found Seiya, Taiki and Kakyuu, waiting. Taiki was scowling, and Seiya and Kakyuu only looked uncomfortable.

Yaten stared at them in surprise. "What's up?"

The queen looked up and smiled. "Oh, Yaten. I see you've arrived. I was just telling them something important."

Yaten carefully went forward to join his friends as he asked Queen Kakyoku, "What something?"

"Well, I have proposed to the Outers that you all would take them to the city later today and let them see the Harvest Celebration prepaprations. As you know, it is one of our most grandest celebrations of the year, so I wanted them to see the proceedings. However…"

Yaten smiled in spite of himself. He now needn't ask why Taiki was scowling. There was no way on this star that he was going to bring the Outers around like a tour guide. He'd sooner leave them alone in the city than do so. Seiya and Kakyuu might not mind, but they were quite uncomfortable on how the proceedings might go if Haruka decided that she wanted another argument.

He wasn't very happy about it himself, but he would've generally preferred it if Hotaru was the only one they'd be bringing along. He and Hotaru had somewhat gotten along lately, so there was obviously going to be no problem. But he didn't want to risk an explosion now, so he simply nodded grimly.

The queen sighed. "Well, I'm not finished. I've already told the other Outers about it, with the exception of Princess Hotaru who was not present, but I daresay that the others will tell her about it."

Taiki looked horrified. There was no backing out of it now, and even Seiya and Kakyuu looked appalled. But Yaten, as usual, had the sense not to react. The queen continued, "Well…they didn't like the idea."

"Obviously," snorted Taiki, and he clamped his hand over his mouth when the queen narrowed his eyes at him. He bit his lip and glanced at Yaten, who quickly looked away. Yaten could sense Taiki's puzzled glance at his direction, because knew that Taiki expected him to be worked up about the matter too. But he wasn't. After all, Hotaru was an Outer, wasn't she?

The queen continued, "Well, they didn't like it, and said that they would very well like to remain in the palace instead. I'm rather concerned about that." She looked straight at the Lights. "Now, I know that they are still in a fury against what happened yesterday. I want it fixed, and by 'fixed', I want you to do whatever you can to make them feel at ease in this kingdom."

"That's easy," snickered Seiya. "We'll just keep out of their way. They'll love that."

The Queen glared at Seiya, but Seiya shrugged and said, "Well, it's true, isn't it?"

"Well, yes, but…" the queen's voice trailed away and she sighed. "Well, you know what I mean."

"Not exactly, but somewhat," Kakyuu smiled ruefully.

There was silence for a moment, then Yaten summoned all of his courage to do this one thing. It was going to be awful (the way the others would react, that is), but he had to clear it up now before they ask questions later. He took a breath and stepped forward, and then bowed respectfully to the queen, with all eyes on him.

"Yes, Yaten?" asked Queen Kakyoku with a small smile.

"I—I—um…" Yaten looked up and blurted out, "I would like to—to ask your permission to take Princess Hotaru out—out to town this afternoon."

The sky seemed to have fallen on their heads at this point.

"WHAT?!?!" Taiki screamed.

Kakyuu's eyes went so wide that you could see the whites all around, and Seiya's mouth dropped open in shock, his face draining rapidly of color. They both were so perplexed that they could not utter a word. But Taiki seemed to be ready to say something, so Queen Kakyoku took this moment before hell could break loose.

"Yaten," she said gently, but looked very surprised herself, "what is the reason as to why you are to take her out?"

"Um…uh…" Yaten glanced at everyone else, and said, "Well…like you said, Kakyoku-mama…I want her to feel at ease in this kingdom, I mean. Besides… I think that…that she might like seeing the Harvest Celebration preparations."

"Well…that is up to her whether she would go with you, wouldn't it?" said the Queen with another small smile.

"I have—I have already asked her," said Yaten, and he winced as he heard the outraged gasps from around him. But he ingored these and continued, "Well…I asked her and…and she said that she would go with me."

That made everybody even more stunned. They stared, totally nonplussed and bewildered, but they couldn't seem to find their voices.

The Queen them beamed, apparently remembering how Yaten had acted just last night and how she should not be surprised now. "All right, Yaten. I am glad that you are cooperating so well with this."

"Too well," Taiki muttered skeptically under his breath, but fortunately, the Queen did not seem to hear.

Yaten looked delighted and straightened up. "Thank you, Kakyoku-mama." And before anyone could say anything else, he flew out of the chambers.

The Queen chuckled when she saw the amazement on the other three's faces. She sighed affectionately and said, "I am so proud of Yaten these days."

"Huh?" they all looked at her. "What do you mean, Kakyoku-mama?"

The Queen shook her head and smiled. "Let's just say that he's changed. For so much good. Not even I could've thought it possible!"

Taiki looked suspiciously back at where Yaten had gone, and took a step. However, the Queen saw him and said, "Oh no you don't, Taiki. I don't want you meddling in Yaten's affairs. Let him do as he pleases from now on. I'm sure it'll be extremely good for him."

"I don't quite follow you," said Seiya, looking puzzled.

The Queen shook her magnificent head again. "No. I suppose not yet. You'll find out in due time."

The others just stared back at her blankly. It seems, now, that the Queen knows something that not even Yaten himself suspects.