Behind the Music ~ Three Lights
Chapter 5
The morning sky was painted a dusty orange when she awoke. A warm olive scented breeze blew in through her open window, reminding her of just where she was. A smile, that displayed her true happiness, beamed across her face. All of her thoughts were immediately on the night before, all of her dreaming and wishing had finally paid off.
Not wasting any more of this new day, Usagi threw the covers from her body and sprung from the bed… only to land in a loud thud. "Oww…" She cursed as she looked back to see her legs tangled in the sheets of her bed. "What a way to start the day." She muttered as she unraveled herself from her twisted assailant and proceeded to the bathroom.
Once properly dressed and her mood back on the up side, Usagi ventured out into the palace in search of her life's necessity… food! Her stomach growled loudly and it caused her to pick up her pace along the marble floor. "I know, I know…" She spoke aloud to her grumbling nuisance of a tummy. Then suddenly, without warning she found herself face down on the hard marble floor for a second time that morning.
"Gomen nasai…" Usagi quickly apologized as she rubbed the sore spot that was bound to form from her endless klutz attacks. She smiled when she recognized the girl she had run into, it was the same girl from the day before. "We'd better not make this a habit, ne?" Usagi laughed as she offered her hand to Sazuki.
Sazuki smiled with a certain glint to her eyes that sent a chill up Usagi's back. "Were you heading to breakfast?"
"Uuh…" Usagi stuttered on her words, there was something in Sazuki's eyes that made her feel very uncomfortable. "Yes."
"Well then you were going the wrong way." Sazuki giggled and lightened the mood. She watched as Usagi sighed in relief and then offered her arm to the blond moon princess. "Here we can go together."
Usagi accepted her arm and smiled, giving her a warm and inviting look. "We didn't have very much time together yesterday, I'd like to know more about you."
"That at least gives us something in common, because I myself would like to know all there is to know about you too." Sazuki winked down at the slightly shorter girl. "What is your palace like at home?"
"Palace? We don't have a palace, the people of Earth don't even know our true identities as senshi!"
Sazuki's blue-green eyes shot Usagi a puzzling look. "You mean to tell me that you protect your solar system and home planet facelessly with no praise?"
Usagi shrugged, she had never really thought about it that way before. "We have to, we can't just let everyone die. You understand that right? I mean you're a senshi too aren't you?"
"No, I'm not." Sazuki shook her head. "I'm just the daughter of a Nobleman that serves the Princess." She looked over at Usagi to see what she thought. A slight giggle escaped her lips when she noticed the blond looking around trying to take in everything all at once. She had simple innocence… but she was trying to take Seiya.
"Oh well you must be very close with the Starlights anyway, ne?" Usagi asked bringing her face back level with Sazuki's.
The taller girl cringed a bit at the mention of the Starlights, she didn't like to think of them in the female form, that was just something she could never seem to get past. "Hmm… I had never met them until Kinmoku was rebuilt. That's when my father was moved to the position he is in now and we came to live in the palace. I like to think that the four of us are kinda close though." She smirked at other obvious thoughts coming to mind.
"I'm jealous, it must be nice to live with your best friends." Usagi smiled naively up at her as they neared the banquet room. "You get to see all of their little strange quirks that they don't allow others to see. You know like how Seiya sings into his hairbrush when he gets out of the shower or…"
"He does?" Sazuki questioned, totally unaware of this. She had never seen or heard him singing to his hairbrush, he never let that kind of childish behavior show through to her.
"What the… Oh hey Usagi, Sazuki!" Yaten waved from the breakfast table while everyone just stared at them.
Seiya was just about hyperventilating at the scene before him. His girlfriend and the woman he had just practically cheated on her with last night walking into breakfast arm in arm? This had to be some sort of cosmic joke, right? Quickly standing, to be the gentleman that Sazuki had come to expect him to be, he pulled her chair out for her. He noted that Usagi was looking at him quizzically and tried to keep his eyes from meeting hers.
Usagi took her seat, pulling it out for herself, next to Kakyuu at the head of the table and across from Seiya. After placing her napkin onto her lap she looked up at Seiya with a smile. Out of the corner of his eye, Seiya could see Sazuki watching them and pretended as though he hadn't noticed Usagi's presence while looking off out the window. This was hell.
Down the table further sat Taiki and Yaten, both were trying in vain to hide their snickers and giggles. A threatening glance from Kakyuu soon put their fun to an end and the whole matter was left up to question with the inners.
"What's there to do on this planet?" Makoto asked trying to start a conversation, but keeping her eyes on the shortest Light who seemed to be fidgeting in his seat.
"Don't ask those three." Rei pointed out, referring to the Three Lights. "… For heaven's sake, look what they did for fun on our planet."
A small voice piped up from among them. "It wasn't that bad guys."
"Ami!" Rei scolded her. A heavy blush covered the blue-haired girl's cheeks as she looked down into her lap.
"I don't care what we do as long as Yaten's there." Minako smiled hungrily at Yaten who just became more uncomfortable and fidgeted in his seat.
The conversation went on, as the planetary senshi discussed their activities for the day and Usagi kept quiet. She was confused and couldn't understand what was going on. Did that kiss mean nothing to him last night? She thought to herself as she stole yet another glance at Seiya. This time he had been looking at her but quickly turned his vision away when he met her eyes.
Usagi watched where his eyes wandered to and followed them down the table to come to rest on Sazuki. The strawberry blond caught her attention and flashed a flirtatious little wave back. Usagi smiled and started to eat her breakfast. It was too early in the morning to be thinking of such things.
Kakyuu watched the little show between Sazuki and Usagi from the moment they walked in the door. She didn't trust Sazuki and she certainly didn't think she was good enough for her Starlight. But who was she to say anything? The important thing was that Seiya had recovered from his heartbreak and found someone new. She wanted to believe that, REALLY she did.
"Alright, we'd better get going before the entire day passes us!" Seiya spoke up, finishing his breakfast quickly, trying his best to get out of this tense situation.
Minako cheered and Usagi groaned, she was barely done with her first helping and there were so many other things on the table that she wanted to try. "Already? I just got here!"
"It's not our fault you sleep in and get lost everywhere!" Rei scolded her like only Rei could.
Princess Kakyuu rose to stand and address everyone. "That's alright, I need to speak Usagi privately so why don't the rest of you get going with what you had planned and she will catch up later."
Usagi looked up at Kakyuu with a gratifying look before quickly reaching for the tempting Inshin fruit she had just sampled the night before. She failed to notice the fire-haired princess surveying certain members of the table as they left, mainly Seiya and Sazuki. Kakyuu knew she was up to something, she just had to be.
"So how are you finding Kinmoku so far?" Kakyuu asked Usagi as she sat back down once everyone had left.
"Delicious!" Usagi smiled, juices from the fruit in her hands encircled her lips.
The fireball princess had to let a giggle slip as she looked upon her companion. "You truly are a piece of work Usagi."
"Can I take that as a compliment?"
Kakyuu nodded, not quite knowing what to think of her. "I wanted to apologize to you personally for Sazuki."
"Apologize? For what?" Usagi asked, not skipping a beat in shoveling the food into her mouth.
"Well I know that she can be a little… over protective, and I just want you to tell me if she makes you uncomfortable in anyway." Secretly Kakyuu was hoping Usagi would confess to her some inner insecurity that she felt when near Sazuki so she would have a reason to boot her out of her kingdom. This thought spawned an interesting mental picture of the whole scene:
Kakyuu: Sayonara sucker! *grins evilly as she picks Sazuki up by the back of her dress*
Sazuki: Princess no please! *begs and pleads for her life seeing how Kakyuu has chosen to drop kick her off the highest tower of the castle*
Announcer: Welcome to Princess Bowl XXXXVI!! Today we have Princess Kakyuu of Kinmoku-sei going for a long punt on the 30yrd line. Can she do it?
Starlights: *jumping around acting like her cheerleaders* GO KAKYUU!!! WHOOHOO!!
Maker: Healer why is your skirt so short?
Healer: When you have legs as cute as mine you've just GOTTA show them off!
Fighter: *busy trying to light a fire down below for Sazuki to land in*
Announcer: And she goes up for the kick and it's going… going… going… it's outta here!
Sazuki: *flying through the air flailing her arms*
"Uh… Kakyuu?" Usagi waved her hand in front of the princess' face. Her eyes seemed so distant. "You ok?"
Kakyuu shook suddenly, realizing there was a wide smile plastered across her face she immediately tried to straighten herself out. "Gomen Usagi."
Usagi sweat dropped but continued to confront Kakyuu. "What do you mean over protective? She told me she wasn't a senshi? What is she protective of?"
Kakyuu blinked a few times as she looked at the blond princess before her. She knew Usagi had spent a good portion of the day with Seiya yesterday and she couldn't believe this hadn't come up. Had he not told her? "She's protective of Seiya of course."
"Seiya? Why would she be protective of Seiya?" Usagi was confused to say the least and didn't see the connection. Although, Sazuki did say she was rather close with the Lights, maybe she was protective of Seiya as a brother?
"Usagi, Sazuki is Seiya's girlfriend."
That hurt. Usagi stared blankly at Kakyuu sitting beside her. Was she serious? It wasn't so much a shock that the girl was Seiya's girlfriend as the fact that he HAD a girlfriend. The warm emotion of love that she had felt since his lips touched her's last night had been wiped away by the cold hand of destiny yet again. "His girlfriend?"
Kakyuu looked at Usagi with concern. Her happy and cheerful mood had just been flushed down the toilet leaving her looking absolutely heartbroken before her. "Yes Usagi, Seiya didn't tell you that he had a girlfriend?"
~Of course he has a girlfriend you odango atama! So what if he liked you four years ago? Did you expect him to wait for you forever?~
The blond could feel the tears coming to her eyes and felt ashamed to cry in front of Kakyuu, especially over her own stupidity. What had happened last night?
~Was he just trying to see if he had any feelings left for her so that he could be sure he could move on?~
No Seiya wouldn't do that.
~Ah, but he did. His reaction this morning only proved it, ne?~
He could never do that, he's too…
~You're right, maybe he just felt bad for you and your pitiful state last night!~
"Excuse me Kakyuu, I'm going to head out now." Usagi stood, her tone weary, her apparent torment showing through in her demeanor.
Kakyuu rose to respect the exit of her guest and wondered if she hadn't made a mistake.
^v^v^v^
The day had been filled with sightseeing and mini-adventures, one which even landed Makoto in jail for attempted manslaughter. Minako laughed as she remembered the scene and Makoto trying to plead her innocence, well you could call it more ignorance than anything. Taiki had let her drive –big mistake- and failed to tell her of the different traffic laws on Kinmoku. Soon a sixty-car pile up had been created right in the middle of down town Imperial City. The one thing that had been missing was Usagi.
The blond haired senshi of love took out a tube from beneath her bed. She had snuck off by herself while they were shopping to pick it up specially. When she popped the top a brilliant smile lit up her face. Inside were large sheets of blue paper, blue prints to be exact. Along the diagrams there was a partial plan laid out.
Step 1: Obtain Seduce Yaten
Step 2: ???
"Duh Minako you haven't gotten that far yet!" She cursed herself as she went over the plans. Reaching further into the tube she pulled out a sandwich baggie filled with a white powdery substance. "This should do the trick!"
Before Minako could conceal the VERY incriminating evidence that surrounded her, the door to her bedroom opened. "Minako? Can I talk to you?" Usagi approached her.
Minako grinned sheepishly as she held the hefty bag of cocaine behind her back. "Uh… sure."
"What's that you have there?" Usagi asked closing the door behind her.
"This?!" Minako stuttered. "It's uhhh, candy! Yeah that's it, it's candy!" Nose candy! Minako giggled to herself.
"Ooo!! Can I have some?"
"NO!!" Minako backed away. "It's special candy I got just for Yaten."
"Oh." Usagi's face went from pure bliss to immediate down cast.
Minako looked at her and knew this sudden mood swing wasn't just from her not giving up the candy. "What's going on Usagi?"
"I want to go home." Usagi said plainly.
"NANI?!" Minako shrieked. "We can't leave yet?! I haven't even set my plan in motion!" Shouldn't have said that out loud!
Usagi sat on the bed with a huff. "Don't worry, I'll go back myself."
"Usagi what happened? Why do you suddenly want to leave?"
"Oh Minako!" Usagi threw herself into her friend's arms. "I kissed Seiya last night."
Minako beamed. "That's a good thing isn't it? It's about time too!"
Usagi shook her head frantically. "No, it's a bad thing! Minako, Seiya has a girlfriend."
"You've gotta be shittin me!" Minako looked utterly and completely shocked. "No way!"
"Kakyuu told me today. I never thought he was the type of person to do that. I don't want to come between them." Usagi was confused and hurting at the same time.
Minako didn't want to leave Kinmoku just yet and she certainly wasn't ready to be away from her Yaten again. As a determined look swept over her face she stood before Usagi strong and tall. "Seiya hurt my princess' feelings right?"
Usagi looked up at her as if she was nuts. (perhaps she ate too much of Yaten's candy ^_^) "I Minako Princess of Venus will set right this injustice Sailor V style!"
"Minako what are you going to do? I just want to go home and forget about it. I don't want anyone else to know, especially not Sazuki!"
"Usagi sometimes innocent bystanders must be taken down for the benefit of the cause!"
"You're scarring me."
Minako was suddenly dressed in full army fatigue and standing over her blue prints. "We will take the enemy general down by force."
"Uh hello? Minako?"
"Here! Marked on this map are all of the secret passages of this castle."
"What's this one with all the hearts around it?" Usagi asked pointing to the map.
"That's the one that connects my room to Yaten's!" Minako cheered getting huge hearts in her eyes.
Usagi sweat dropped and nearly face faulted on the floor. "Of course, why didn't I see it?"
"Never mind that! We have to get Seiya back for hurting your feelings."
"Minako you're high, I don't want to take revenge on Seiya." Usagi tried to talk some sense into her blond friend but was getting nowhere.
"Well if not revenge, a couple of practical jokes should be called for!"
^v^v^v^v^
Today had to be one of the most stressful days of Seiya's life. All day long he tried to pretend, for the benefit of the inners, that there was nothing between Sazuki and himself, while at the same time trying to keep Sazuki happy, and blissfully unaware of the situation. He was exhausted.
As tiring as the charade had been he had to confess. It was eating away at his insides, his true chance at happiness was a mere walk down the hall now. He had to tell Sazuki what had happened and that it was over. Walking very determinedly, he stalked up to her door and knocked a little too forcefully. When there was no answer from the other side he opened the door and walked in.
There were no signs of the strawberry blond in the room, so he ventured to her bath quarters, where, once again, he got an eyeful. "Seiya, I wasn't expecting you." Sazuki stood, taking the steps from the bath slowly, prolonging her exposure.
Seiya turned away immediately, he didn't blush any more in situations like this, she had calculated them too many times for him to display modesty. "I need to talk to you."
"Oh so I see you've heard then."
"Heard what?" Seiya eyed the curtains on the window waiting for her to signal that she was dressed.
Without answering him she made her way back into the bedroom chamber and laid down on the large soft bed. "The suppression isn't working any more."
"What do you mean? The doctors said that it was a sure thing and that it would prolong the attacks." He tried to seem genuinely concerned for her, but he couldn't help it if he wasn't.
Sazuki shook her head. "The doctor said I would relapse into my comatose state if a new suppressant isn't found."
"I'm sorry." Seiya sat down on the bed beside her trying to give her comfort. The situation seemed more serious now. "Is there anything I can do for you?"
"What did you come here to talk to me about?" Sazuki asked weakly smiling up at him from the bed.
"Nothing, it was nothing." Seiya answered quickly to avoid any more of her questions or suspicions. He couldn't do this to her… not now. How could he tell her of what he did while she lay here practically on her deathbed? "Do you need anything?"
"No." Sazuki smiled once again, her complexion pale. "Will you stay with me until I fall asleep?" Her plea seemed innocent enough and Seiya had no choice but to give into it. Laying down he wrapped his arms around her midsection as he spooned her on the bed. It felt so wrong to have her in his arms after having his Odango in them he night before.
He was slowly killing them all. Sazuki who he was lying to, pretending to give his love to her. Odango, who now saw in him what he had seen in her all those years ago and now he was pushing her away. Himself, torturing his mind with the decision to make, staying away from HER. How could he keep himself away from Usagi now that she was near and WANTED to be with him. It was all too much coming into his mind, he needed a rest.
Seiya waited until Sazuki had fallen asleep in his arms before he stow away to the kitchen again. It was dark in the palace and he was thankful for once that she hadn't let him go without talking his ear off. He didn't feel like dealing with anyone right now.
By now Seiya had known the pantry of the kitchen very well. Top shelves on the right, above Yaten's caviar were the bottles of liquor that were used to stock the bar. Reaching high, his hand grabbed an aged bottle of scotch and he returned to the kitchen to sit on a stool at the median.
"Drinking alone?" A voice asked him in the darkness.
"Apparently not." Seiya stated and poured an extra glass.
Yaten smiled at him as he accepted his glass. "Women trouble?" Yaten asked.
A redness grew on Seiya's face and it was hard to tell if it was from blushing or blood staining his cheeks in anger. Flicking his eyes up, the raven-haired man could see a hint of madness in his associate's eyes. Yaten had been at it again, no wonder he hadn't commented on his drinking. "It's Sazuki."
Yaten laughed disdainfully at his friend's situation. "I told you it was no good from the beginning." Seiya sighed and rolled his eyes taking the rest of his drink down only to fill it back up again. "What brought about this bout of guilt?" Yaten asked, a light smirk playing on his lips.
"Odango." Seiya answered flatly. Yaten knew his pathetic situation too well to try and hide it from him.
The silver-haired man leaned back smugly in his chair, precariously tossing his free arm over it's back. "So what's the problem? Drop Sazuki and continue your endless pursuit of your 'Odango'." The way he said it so mater-of-factly made it all sound so simple, as if he hadn't weighed the consequences of the necessary actions he needed to take. That was Yaten for you though, never looking before he leapt, but that was also Seiya.
"She's sick again."
"It's a vicious cycle isn't it?" Yaten sneered, clearly showing his distaste for the strawberry blond Seiya had taken as his girlfriend. "Can I ask you a question though? What binds you to Usagi?"
What kind of question was that? What binds him to Usagi? "Are you that ignorant? I love her?" Seiya answered without any more thought, and it had come straight from his heart.
"Good. Now, what binds you to Sazuki?"
This one Seiya pondered for what seemed like ages. He had no idea what had kept him with her all this time, only knew that it would be wrong to leave her. "I don't know."
"Guilt. Guilt is what binds you to Sazuki. If she wasn't sick, would you have stayed with her all this time?" Before Seiya could answer, Yaten shot his own answer back. "No you wouldn't have, you would have been free to leave her, but as you granted that dying girl's wish to be with you, you sealed your own fate."
Seiya didn't answer with words, but his actions did all the talking. The bottle had quite the dent in it and Yaten's glass was still half full. Sure the green-eyed light had seen his companion drink quite a bit before, but this was quick even for Seiya. "I can't say that it's all your fault." Yaten sighed swirling his drink in his glass. "We did all see this as a good thing, well kinda anyway, in the beginning. You couldn't be with the one you loved, but you had possibly found someone that could make you happy."
A humph sounded across the table from Seiya as he poured himself yet another glass. Yaten eyed him curiously, wondering how he was coping with the burning sensation that the scotch was undoubtedly causing in this throat and stomach. "We didn't know what she had done to you. I sometimes blame myself for not seeing it sooner."
"Yeah well that makes two of us."
"You're just a sucker."
"What would you have done?" Seiya answered back callously with a hint of remorse in his tone.
"Me? What would I have done?" Yaten laughed a bit. "I would have referred her to a good doctor and told her that I had more self worth, that I hoped she did to, not to go along with a desperate plan like the one she had formed." Yaten stood, the bottle before Seiya was empty and he wasn't sure he wanted to stick around to see if he opened another one. "Seiya, only one of you is dying. Don't throw your life away to make the last minutes of someone you don't really care about life happy, live your life and make yourself happy. I think you owe it to yourself at least after all we've been through."