Sailor Star Fighter paced back and forth across Kakyuu's study. The red and gold colors of the room reflected the liquid sunshine entering through the large bay window behind her desk, and illuminating everything.

            Today was the day Usagi would arrive, and Fighter wasn't sure how to respond to this news. In many ways she was excited, Usagi would be back here and they would spend time together… on the downside, however, Usagi would probably be married by now, and Fighter wasn't sure how she would take the news.

            Usagi. The name pained Fighter to speak, or even think about. She'd loved Usagi when she was on earth, unconditionally… but it was one sided, and almost fruitless knowing that Usagi only care for her 'Mamo-chan'. Fighter new that Mamoru was a lucky conniving bastard, and she deserved Usagi more then anyone else… although selfishness would get you no where, especially when it came to Usagi.

It seemed like it was so long ago… now that Fighter thought about it had to be … three years… yes, three years now. It was long ago, would Usagi remember her? Remember him? Remember all those times? Would she even recognize her?
            Fighter tentatively turned and looked at herself in the large mirror across from her current position in her line of pace. She had grown taller, slimmer, and more developed in places where it mattered to a woman. Her hair had grown much longer and turned a magnificent shade of navy blue, which looked almost sapphire when it caught the right light. Seiya, was almost the same way. He was taller, more muscular, and his hair was the same lovely shade of navy.

            'I wonder… I wonder how Usagi looks… she'd have become Neo-Queen Serenity by now…' Fighter thought, tucking a stray piece of her hair behind her ear.

            "Fighter, aren't you coming to greet her?"

            'Damnit,' Fighter thought again, her eyes glued to the ornate carpet on the floor. 'The one place I thought I'd be safe from her discovery.' She slowly turned around to find a very beautiful woman with sparkling sapphire eyes and flaming red hair, dressed in robes of burgundy and gold.

            "I… I thought she wouldn't want to see me… Kakyuu-hime…" Fighter bowed her head in embarrassment and slight shame, as her cheeks flushed an amazing shade of magenta.

            "And why wouldn't she want to see you? The whole reason her senshi sent her here was so she could be with long time friends." Her eyes bore into Fighter like spears, though the navy haired woman didn't look up from the floor.

            "She won't want to be with me… she'll have forgotten me by now…" Fighter whispered in response to Kakyuu. She had thought this for a while now, ever since yesterday, when the news came to her. She thought Usagi would have completely forgotten her, and she didn't want to force her to remember, it would be too painful.

            "Oh, nonsense! Sheer nonsense! If the other senshi didn't forget about you, why would she!" Kakyuu's voice was commanding, and irritated with the childish way, fighter was acting. "Now! I order you right now to change, and go greet her with Yaten and Taiki!"

            Her voice was like a fire and Fighter looked up in surprise of her words. "Nani?" She questioned. With Yaten and Taiki… but that would mean that she would… have to…

            "Go on, Seiya. You haven't gotten leave of being a Sailor Senshi since you returned home three years ago. I'm ordering you to take the time off and be with Usagi." Kakyuu nearly growled, she was growing impatient, and it wasn't fun to see Kakyuu-hime impatient.

            "But-"

            "Oh, shut up! Just shut up!" Her voice suddenly became softer, as if she seemed to understand all the things locked up inside of Fighter at this very moment. "Seiya, I know you want to do this, I can see it in your eyes… they still sparkle the way the used to, but now they seem to be hidden by sleepless nights and tormenting dreams. I want you to have fun the whole time she is here. I order you…and it's a sad, sad world when I have to order my most flamboyant senshi to have fun." She winked, and with that said, Kakyuu turned on her heel and walked out of the room.

            Fighter's full lips suddenly curved into a sparkling smile, lighting the room to a full degree. She would get to be with Usagi… the whole time. This could either be heaven or hell sent, but either way… she was glad.

            "What are you waiting for, Fighter?" An irritated voice said from the doorway. Fighter looked up into a pair of deep jade eyes, shaded by long shinny, silver hair. She smiled in response to the visitor.

            "Yeah," spoke a tall, chestnut haired, cobalt eyed man next to the first, feminine-looking man. "Usagi's gonna be here any second. And I want to hear all about earth and the others, and I have absolutely no intention of waiting for you."

            The feminine looking man next to him laughed, "Taiki's right, Seiya. I wanna hear all about earth."

            Fighter laughed. "Alright. Alright… I'm getting ready."

            The three people smiled at each other before a flash of light encased them all.

            Usagi stood patiently waiting, with Rei and Makoto at her sides. She coughed, and it echoed through out the large hall. She paused a moment to gape at the magnificent architecture. It looked like that of the European Renaissance, and was decorated in red marble and covered with many brightly colored stained glass windows, depicting coats of arms and plants that may have been native to the planet.

            "Usagi-san!" A voice called. Usagi abruptly pulled her eyes away from the magnificent room, to look into shinning sapphire eyes, surrounded by flaming red hair.

            "Kakyuu-hime!" Her face brightened considerably at the sight of an old friend. Suddenly her sickness didn't seam so awful.

            "Oh, Usagi!" Kakyuu rushed forward and embraced the blonde like a sister. "How have you been?"

            "I'm well. How about you, how has the reconstruction been doing?"

            "Very well, we finished by the mid-year! It was quite the event!" Kakyuu then turned to Rei and Makoto. "And how've you two been doing? Keeping up with, Usagi-san here?" She winked and everyone laughed, though Usagi's was sort of hoarse and weak.

            "Oh, I'm well." Rei smiled, after she had finished laughing.

            "Me too," Makoto smiled also.

            "That's wonderful!" Kakyuu exclaimed, her eyes lighting up and sparkling like the jewel they resembled. "And is your world fine? No new enemies?"

            "No, we seem to be ready for Crystal Tokyo-" Makoto was cut short as she felt an elbow jabbed into her side. She turned to stare at Rei who glared.

            Usagi felt her chest tighten at the name of Crystal Tokyo… she knew that after her vacation all her troubles would be back there, waiting for her like a poisonous snake, ready to suck the life from her.

            "We don't want to be a burden on you, Kakyuu-hime, and we want Usagi to get as much rest as possible she needs it," Rei said quickly, forcing an almost too pleasant smile at both the princess and the blonde next to her.

            "Yes," Makoto agreed, with the same façade. "It's been a long time since Usagi rested. Besides, she appears to have caught a virus."

            As if on cue, Usagi coughed, then sneezed. "Gomen," She said pulling out a tissue.

            Kakyuu immediately knew that this was the work of the crystal, she had been told the full details and knew what Usagi had been going through the last couple of years. She nodded and patted Usagi's shoulder reassuringly. "I hope you feel better, maybe some time here is what you need." She smiled brightly, then continued to speak. "Well, I'll go get your guides, Usagi, as you say goodbye." Kakyuu smiled then rushed off to get her 'guides'.

            "I want you to rest, and I want you to enjoy yourself. Promise?" Rei said, looking Usagi sternly in the eyes, after Kakyuu had left.

            She nodded, before sneezing again. "I promise."

            "Good!" Makoto grinned, giving her a big hug. "Then you enjoy yourself! And we'll see you in a few weeks, okay?"

            "You will keep in touch won't you? And you'll tell me when you can contact Mamoru, okay?" Usagi begged, her voice filled with worry that something might happen while she was gone.

            "Of course we'll keep in touch!" Rei said, smiling. She avoided the statement of Mamoru on purpose, she hated him for what he was doing to Usagi, and she did not intend to tell him where Usagi was, and whom she was with.

            "We promise." Makoto hugged Usagi tightly; then Rei did the same.

            "I'll see you at Christmas too?"

            "Of course! Tell Seiya, Yaten, and Taiki they can come and join us too! Goodness knows it's been a long time!" Rei smiled. Usagi nodded slowly in agreement.

            "Hai…" She said softly, knowing that within the day, she would probably meet Seiya.  It seemed… strange in a way. She knew she missed him deeply, and it was so odd to know that he would be coming back into her life. How would she feel? How would he feel?

            "Usagi-chan?" Makoto questioned. Usagi quickly discovered that she had spaced out. She blushed quickly.

            "Gomen-ne! Must be the cold!"

            Both Makoto and Rei looked skeptical of her, as if they knew some how who and what she was thinking about.

            "Okay, Usagi. We'll see you soon." Rei hugged her friend tightly.

            "We promise!" Makoto hugged her again, one last time before her and Rei left. Usagi watched them as a ball of golden light carried them back home to where everyone else was. Her heart suddenly felt very heavy as if the world was balanced on her chest. She missed them already, and they were barely gone for a few seconds.

            There was a dead silence in the large hall. It was eerie and gave a creepy feeling down Usagi's back. Then, the clicking of shoes on the tiled floor interrupted the silence. Usagi felt a cold chill run down her back as a voice echoed through the hall.

            "Usagi?"

            The voice was tentative as it questioned from across the hall. Usagi knew this voice… she heard it on the radio, she heard it joke to her, laugh at her, whisper in her ear.

            She swallowed hard and her body went stiff. She could have sworn this person heard her heart echo like the bells of Notre Dame, through the hall. Swallowing her fear and worry, she slowly turned around to look into a pair of indigo eyes.

            "Seiya…" She whispered. She felt her body go numb and her temperature rise at his presence.

            He was on the other side of the hall, nearly fifteen meters away, but Usagi could see him as if he were only a meter from herself. He had grown taller, now a whole head and some neck over her own unchanged height; his hair, had grown longer and it almost looked softer some how… and was it a different… color?; his eyes were still their amazing shade of indigo and they sparkled as they had once before; his stance was different too, as if he had new troubles he had to worry about… but past all the changes she still saw the same, charming, adorable, handsome Seiya of sixteen years.

            Usagi felt a flush creep over her cheeks.

            "It's been a while…" He whispered again, mustering courage to walk across the hall to where Usagi stood.

            "It has…" Usagi said softly, when he had reached her. Usagi's eyes fell to the floor in shame. "I'm sorry Seiya… for not keeping contact with you… I…"

            "No… it's not your fault. You're… you're married now…." his heart leapt to his throat, choking his own voice. He didn't want to remember that she was married. He wanted her for his own.

            He took advantage of the silence that was bestowed upon them to take a better look at Usagi. She was the same height and her eyes were an amazing shade of crystal blue; she had grown more feminine, and matured and grown the same way and places Fighter had; but the thing that intrigued Seiya the most, was her hair. It now dangled near her feet and was turning, what appeared to be, silver. She looked like an angel… sent down to him from the heavens of earth.

            Usagi slowly shook her head, after the silence and feeling Seiya's eyes cutting into her like fire; and feeling her neck and face burn in response. "Iie… not yet…"

            Seiya's eyes brightened in response to this news. "You aren't… married yet?"

            Usagi flushed again. "Iie… Mamoru says it isn't time…"

            "Oh…" Seiya said.

            'What in blazes is he waiting for!?' was what he thought, 'If she was my girlfriend I'd lay claim on her before anyone else could!'

            "I'm sorry to hear that," he said quietly, "I'm sure you two will have a wonderful life together, just the same."

            "Mmm." Usagi just said in response. The more she was around Seiya and his intoxicating presence, the more and more she doubted her 'perfect life' with Mamoru.

            Being around him already brought back images and feelings she had long since buried within her subconscious.

            "How are you?" She asked quickly to get the attention off herself.

            "Fine… I'm fine." He seemed displeased with his answer to her question, as if he should have answered it in a different way.

            "Just fine?" Her eyes pleaded with him to tell her more, she knew that he was holding back from her. That there was so much more that could be told.

            Seiya felt his cheeks rise in temperature. How could he resist her? The way her blue eyes shone at him with such a fresh, new innocence, made him weak at the knees.

            "Things have been… different around here lately…" He said slowly, thinking quickly and firmly about the things he was to say.

            "How so? I hear the reconstruction went over well…" She tried to force as much information out of him as soon as possible. She wanted to know everything, in spite of her exhausted state. She longed to hear the news of the world, which she had no contact with. She wanted to bring back 'the old times' and talk with Seiya as if they were still sixteen and didn't carry the burdens they did now.

            "It did… better then I had planed," He smiled at her.

            "Usagi!" two distinct voices rang clear as a brass bell across the hall. She looked up and saw two very familiar but slightly changed figures.

            Yaten hadn't grown and inch, he was still short, but his eyes sparkled like they never had when he was on earth. Taiki however, had still grown a few inches and his hair had darkened deeply.

            "Yaten! Taiki!" She smiled brightly as they rushed across the hall to greet the tiny blonde.

            Seiya turned around and smiled at them as they came forward.

            "Usagi!" Taiki said, stooping down to embrace the young woman in a deep hug.

            "It's been so long!" She said brightly, a grin spreading across her face.

            "How's earth?" Yaten asked, after he had his fair share of hugs.

            "Wonderful! Everyone misses you… it's not the same with out you," She said, her eyes shining as if they hadn't sparkled in years.

            "How's Minako-san?" Yaten questioned tentatively, as if saying something relating to her would spark faulty thoughts.

            "She's doing well. She misses you too, Yaten," Usagi said, smiling as his cheeks burned bright red.

            "And Ami?" Taiki said, thinking about the blue-haired girl, whom he'd been intrigues with back on earth.

            "Wonderful, she's in medical school now, she's very excited."

            "And Crystal Tokyo? How's that coming along?"

            Usagi's face fell. She didn't want to think about her 'would-be-kingdom', she didn't want to think about anything that had to do with her future… and with Mamoru. She forced a smile and looked up at the two of them.

            "Crystal Tokyo won't be started for a while," She said kindly, her voice soft but strained, as if she was desperately trying not to cry.

            "Oh? What's the matter?" Yaten asked, he didn't notice the way Usagi looked at the moment.

            "Mamoru says it isn't time…"

            Seiya spoke for the first time in a few minutes, "And how do you feel?" His eyes looked angry, but not at Usagi. It was as if he was angry at some third party that was not in their midst.

            Usagi's cheeks flushed in response to his burst of unrest. "I'm… not sure."

            'Why couldn't he just keep his mouth shut! It isn't his business!' She thought angrily, tears entering her eyes in emotional pain.

            "Um… Seiya!" Taiki said quickly to break the tension, "Why don't you show Usagi her room, and we'll tell the chef that out guest is here. Dinner should be served about seven, unless there's something wrong…"

            Yaten chuckled, "Yeah… with Torako, that's a possibility… he's our new kitchen servant… he's got issues with having fingers made of butter."

            Usagi smiled, and chuckled a little.

            "Well, why don't you two be off? We'll see you in a little bit, Usagi," Yaten and Taiki smiled, then left the hall quickly.

            "I'm sorry, Usagi…" Seiya said, after then had excited the hall. "It wasn't my place to pry… especially not in front of Yaten and Taiki."

            Usagi thought for a moment, then nodded. "It's alright, Seiya… I mean… I… I know how Mamoru can… upset you."

            Seiya looked inquisitively at her. "Do you?"

            Usagi blushed then held up her hands in defense. "Or maybe I can only surmise! I know nothing!"

            Seiya looked at her for a moment, then stooped down and kissed her lightly on the cheek. "Come on, your room was specially prepared."

            Usagi's cheeks burned like fire. He had… kissed her! Well, true he'd done it before on an occasion, but that was three years ago! She hadn't felt his lips since then… and… and it was hard not to wonder what a real kiss from him would be like.

            Her eyes narrowed on his lips for a moment, before she blushed even deeper and looked away, to the architecture and murals on the ceiling. There were beautiful scenes of what must be the countryside of the city, and what looked like their gods they worshiped.

            "Usagi?" Seiya asked, yanking Usagi out of her reverie.

            "Hai?" She asked, jumping slightly, and snapping around to look at him. She noticed that she had suddenly been guided into a room. On the wall farthest from her were floor-to-ceiling windows and French doors that lead onto a white marble balcony that over-looked the gardens. Afternoon light poured in like a golden waterfall.

            The room it's self was decorated in varying shades of red and gold, and rubies adorned almost everything. There was a white and gold fireplace to her left, and a large four-poster bed to her right. She was quickly pulled away from the sights of the room as Seiya spoke to her.

            "Are you… okay… with… I mean… I… the kiss?" he stuttered over his sentence as he tried to find the right words. Usagi just blushed again, then she thought slowly, then nodded.

            "It's… it's alright, Seiya… I didn't mind…" She hated feeling like she was fourteen again. Unable to deal with her emotions, but sometimes it was as if wasn't sure how to react to them.

            Seiya was one of her best friends, and most loyal companion… however she was betrothed to Mamoru… on the other hand, it had been a long time since she had seen him… and she had matured, as well as himself.

            She paused for a moment to get a better look at him… he was so handsome. Usagi wanted to throw herself into his arms and claim that she was his! She quickly dismissed the thought and scolded herself for betraying Mamoru the way she had.

            'But hasn't he betrayed you?' a little voice inside of her head questioned. 'What about those times he disappears? Where does he go? What does he do? Is he anything remotely like Seiya?'

            'You shut up,' Usagi told the voice. 'You don't know anything!'

            'Oh, don't I?'

            "Usagi!" Seiya grabbed her shoulders firmly.

            "Anou?" She blinked and looked into his indigo eyes. They were filled with worry and flashed as though a deep fear had crossed over him. What had she done? Was he angry with her?

            "Nani?" she questioned.

            "You totally spaced out for a while… are you feeling well?" He pressed his hand to her forehead, and she pushed it off quickly worrying that if he felt her fever, he would know about her and the crystal.

            "I'm fine! I guess I'm just a little tired from the trip… that's all." She tried to smile reassuringly at him, but all that came from her was a sort of limp, half-smile.

            Seiya didn't buy anything from her now. He'd noticed the first time he saw her, it was her shine. It was different. It felt stripped in places, as if it was strained and stretched far beyond its capacity. But it still wanted to shine before, more then ever… and it was as if something was holding it back…

            "Usagi…" He said finally. "I think you need this vacation more then you know."

            Her eyes averted his. "You can tell something is wrong… can't you?"

            He stepped forward and cupped her cheek to guide her gaze towards his. His eyes were filled with worry and concern, it was as if something terribly drastic was happening to him inside. As if what was happening to Usagi, was also happening to his own self.

            "Your shine," He whispered. "It's beginning to fade."

            "I know…" She whispered, and tried to avert her eyes again, but his gaze was too demanding.

            "You do?"

            She nodded. "It's… it's the crystal. It takes everything from me, because… because I'm not strong enough to handle it on my own… I'm sorry Seiya, for not telling you before…"

            Seiya leaned forward and kissed her forehead, sending chills through Usagi's body. "I want you to rest," he said, stroking her cheek lightly. "Then we'll talk, okay?"

            She nodded slowly.

            "Kakyuu had clothing made for you, it is in the wardrobe, in the bathroom. Just in case you wish to change."

            She just nodded again.

            "It's alright to speak you know."

            "Are you angry with me?" She questioned softly, her eyes wide.

            "Of course not, Usagi. How can I be?" He brushed bangs out of her eyes, then smiled gently. "Why should I be?"

            Usagi looked out the window, then back into her friend's face. "Thank you, Seiya… for everything…"

            Seiya just pulled her tightly into his arms. "I don't want to lose you, Usagi. You are my shining light of hope."

            Usagi nodded, feeling tears rush to her eyes. She couldn't say anything, feeling that if she did he would know she was crying, and she didn't want to worry him any more.

            "I'll let you rest now," He said finally, letting her go. "I'll be back in a little while."

            "Alright…" She whispered slowly, her voice strained with tears.

            "Sleep well." he smiled one last time before quickly exciting the room. As soon as the door was closed he fell against the wall and sank to the floor. Silent tears gushed over his cheeks as he thought about the tiny blonde inside. She was his shining light… and she was fading fast…