Iridescent
By: Liquid Ice

~*~*~*~

Hiiro's footsteps crunched underneath him, the sidewalk paved with rocks and salt as it had snowed last night. He hugged his jacket closer to him, searching for warmth that began to disperse in a hurry.

It was Christmas Eve. The crystal hidden in the depths of his pocket (jacket) and his hand tightly wrapped around it.

Dusk settled comfortably in the sky as well as the dark clouds, the wind exuberating with hidden excitement that Hiiro can't seemed to fathom in all its mysteries.

The wind, air - breeze, after all, has a life of its own. The crystal...the crystal was alive, the lull glow of before was incomparable to the sight the crystal was at the moment.

His mind had restlessly forced him to take this walk. Where he was going, he had no idea. Like he had no idea why he was here in the first place or why Usagi had become the center of his life or why he never denied the possibility of being in love with her. But somehow, his feet knew where it was going and the crystal seemingly cooperating.

Hiiro wondered if there were some hidden forces out to get him.

Or make his life more pathetic than it usually was by making him walk outside the cold environment and in the end killing him.

That would be news. Ex-soldier killed by a whiff of cold - very - extremely cold wind. And to think I've gone through more than this.

That would be his first time in making a joke.

Go me.

Every house he pass, iridescent lights illuminated with an ethereal glow, pathing him a way that seemed almost preordained. His eyes darted from house to house, seeing families celebrating Christmas.

The path before him stance a dreamlike state. Far to blurry for his own tastes but clear enough to let his feet know where to take him.

His feet paused slightly and Hiiro felt content to look up at the dark midnight sky. It was going to snow soon.

"EXCUSE ME COMING THROUGH!"

A blast of wind ignited from his left and Hiiro narrowly avoided a speed demon colliding at him.

Only to collide with large boxes of presents.

He ended on his butt, and he scowled at the scattered presents that propelled off him and to the ground.

"Oh my god!" The speed demon had cried out, Hiiro scowled even more when said speed demon was more concerned with the scattered presents than apologizing with crashing into him with it's presents.

The first thing he saw was blond hair. Then blue eyes. Then height that was suspiciously similar to -

"A good thing that none that I bought was breakable," the speed demon muttered, picking the presents up one by one and balancing it on its hand, "I'm so late...I -"

So the demon had finally noticed him.

"I - I, I'm so sorry!" And the demon dropped her present to the ground and darted towards him.

Hiiro blinked. No. It wasn't her. But she was very similar to her, like twins.

"Are you okay?" she asked, concerned written all over her features, "I'm very sorry, I'm late for this party and I was in a hurry - I did say excuse me but I guess I took most of the space and you didn't know and - " She frowned suddenly, her focus trailing off to the pocket of his jacket.

The crystal was hanging slightly off its hidden cloak, enough for the Usagi-look alike to see.

"Where," she finally breathed, "where did you get this?"

~

"Wait! Please wait!" She called out.

Hiiro didn't stop, but he decreased his speed to let Usagi catch up to him although why he chose to do so was beyond him.

Her breath was rapid and uneven, hands on her knees as she paused to let her heart decrease to its normal rate and regain the air inside her lungs.

She looked up and curiously looked at him with wide, round eyes, unable to utter any words that had died in her throat. He had the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen. It was prussian, bright and it sort of glowed in the dark.

Silence thickened the cold air around them.

"Where - where did you get this?" she finally said, producing the crystal out in front of her for Hiiro to see. It shimmered slightly.

He was then reminded of his earlier encounter with Minako, who had introduced herself after forcefully dragging him to the party she was headed to. He had let her, curiousity getting the better of him. But he was forced to carry half of the presents she brought.

After a few minutes of waiting and ignoring the questions that Usagi's brother had asked, he had given up to the point that he realized it was stupid.

'This was never going to happen. Ever.'

So he had left unnoticed and he was three blocks away when he had heard her voice.

Hiiro stared at her, unveiling no emotions whatsoever, even though his insides had begun to boil.

"Just go." He continued to walk away.

The unbearable silence had thickened, a throbbing headache surfacing.

"You know who I am don't you?" A whisper, her tone cracking in control. Hiiro wondered why she sounded like she was about to cry.

"I sold the crystal because it was useless to me. It had promise me something I used to have. It never came."

Hiiro winced slightly but was determined to walk away.

"The crystal has a life of its own and tends to make strangers get involved in my life," she continued, "so I found it fascinating that of all people it chose you and you found me. Why did it choose you?"

Hiiro stopped and turned around.

Usagi's eyes were brimmed with tears and he noticed something dancing in her eyes. Another reminder, a butterfly. A vision, a winged goddess.

Hiiro nodded and resumed his walking.

"Stop." He obliged and a hand enclosed around his, the crystal in between.

"It's yours. You keep it. It found you." Her hand tightened around his, to indicate the meaning of those words and her actions. After a few moments, she dropped her hand to her side.

She walked beside him and sighed irritably, "Do you ever wait for people? Kami, you are such a prick."

~

"Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!" The crowd chanted.

Usagi narrowed her eyes at her families and friends, "drunk. So typical. I wondered who spiked the punch. Good thing I only drank one glass."

The crowd roared in disappointment as Usagi gave him a pecked on the cheek, the mistletoe still dangling above them.

"Oh come on guys, be a sport and you know, kiss on the lips," Minako inclined, her eyes twinkling.

"Humph. Fine," she turned to Hiiro, "Do you want to do this?"

"Usagi you are such a grouch," Rei commented, but there was a pleased smile on her face. So the prince had finally appeared.

Before Usagi could retort back an insult, a warm mouth covered hers and...and...

It was soft and gentle and her body sparked with fire, Hiiro's hands had found itself on her waist drawing her closer to his body, the world lost to them.

Stunned amazement was their reactions.

In many realities we existed,
We were together
We were never meant to be together
We are together
We are to be.

~*~*~*~

Haha, if nobody has it yet, so I'm being an idiot and not clearing a thing or two; Mamoru doesn't exist. Hiiro is Mamoru-ish (no not really, Hiiro is Hiiro). The crystal has been feeding him images of Usagi (see chapter one), and umm, sorta making him fall in love - Hiiro let the crystal do the job. The crystal has been disabled of all its powers, except its still able to retain certain significance that is able to help Hiiro find his way to Usagi. The crystal is the silver crystal.

Transcendent Wow, another thank you for another lovely constructive review. But heh, still glad that previous chapter has achieved decency on your behalf. I fixed all the mistakes you informed me. (I decided to take out the Hiiro and pretty walls thing, now that I thought about it, it was icky) ^^ I can assure you that this chapter, has definitely surpassed your 'ew' point, lol. So cringe - ick of the fluff but I love it nonetheless. Happy Christmas!

P.S. As for the two segment part thing that you pointed out. I didn't noticed, but I think I'll leave it this way.

Gackt Camui I'm so sorry for your headache, umm, don't think, just read, and hfff, you've figured it out. The general part of it. The crystal...umm, strange neh? As for writing more, check out my bio, I've got the list of future stories I have planned and to think I've got more...*wearily* so tired. I think I might need help with them (the bigger fics because hell, they really are big and mind boggling), so I'm off to search for a decent writer who could help me. But I'm so glad this is done! And I'm happy with it! Merry Christmas!

Angelight Trigun is good, which is justified that you've caught the bug. I've only caught it for a couple of weeks, unfortunate but nonetheless, I still caught it! And hehe, that was a good interpretation of the general idea of the story, and you've described it far better than me. Mine was like Hiiro gets obsessed with Usagi, stalks Usagi and gives the crystal back to Usagi and tries to run away only for Usagi to catch up with him and they get forced to kiss under a mistletoe but they really don't mine. @_@ Run-on sentence, hehe. As for the fluff definition, hehe, I still believe that mine is wierd, although I am goo right now. I love that kiss scene, I think I put my heart and soul into it more than I intended (haha, okay, I lied no, not my best kiss scene, I think I could do better). (So cheesy of me...) Merry Christmas!

Thank you everyone else who reviewed and Merry Christmas!

As a treat for you guys who reviewed or at least read this, here's umm a preview of Ode to Moonlight: (you can find the summary in my bio. ^^)

::fragmented sequence of chapter something::

The bile liquid bubbled in her throat and she forced the tears back, unable to retreat to the normalcy of despair, to the sadness, to drowning in that dark oblivion ever since Chibi-Usa died.

She had to be strong. For her friends. For Hotaru most of all. They needed her, she was their queen, their sister and friend. She can't afford to break apart now that alliances that had been made was threatening to break and a possibility of war.

A single tear escaped, severing all walls in which the sanctity of her forced will to not cry, and more tears followed. Blindly she walked aimlessly inside the rose garden - her favourite place, her sanctuary. Quietly, she cried out to the heavens; to those who had dared and take away her daughter.

'What right did you have to take her away from me? What did I ever do to make you do what you did? Why can't I bring her back?'

Anger boiled within her and she clenched her fist tighty. Her nails biting painfully on the palm of her hand. She closed her eyes, feeling - unfeeling. Emotions were lost to her. She...she wanted out.

'How dare you take her away from me?! It WASN'T HER TIME! IT WASN'T! IT WAS MINE! I WAS SUPPOSED TO DIE NEXT!'

Neo Queen Serenity suddenly gasped and fluttered her eyes open. The air constricted around her, it was hard to breath. Her stomach designated with butterflies, more tears streamed down her cheeks.

A hand came out of nowhere and gently wiped the tears off her face.

She looked up startled and met a pair of startling bright eyes. Cold and distant. Emotionless.

'I'm coming to get you.'