Mornings

By Cassandra Sisenta

A/N: Endo has a very simple, uncomplicated approach to things. He doesn't mean to discourage. He's just saying his opinions. And Suta…I hope I did her well. Review.

DISCLAIMER: I only own Endo. Suta is Sena-san's. The rest is Takeuchi original.

Chapter XI

Endo and Suta

Suta Kou sighed as she walked through the dirt path under intertwining olive trees, which grew on both sides of it. The cool morning breeze blew through the trees and teased her purple-blue ponytail as it flew behind her. She didn't seem to mind that the wind had come out to play with her hair. For the most part, the Neo-Starlight looked thoughtful that morning, ignoring everything else around her.

It wasn't exactly rare to see the girl in such a state, especially when she was alone. However, if one actually bothered to look they probably wouldn't have missed that sad light that was there in her light purple eyes. And that's exactly the problem. No one actually looked enough to notice.

All people usually saw was the sarcastic, meanish girl who could have her predecessor, Yaten Kou, running for her money. People have been the victim of her sarcasm enough to pinpoint it as her most defining characteristic, but they never realized how wrong it was of them to pinpoint things like that just to sum up someone in one word.

You couldn't always be nice.

You couldn't always be pleasant.

You couldn't always be kind.

Suta Kou couldn't always be sarcastic either.

"Watch it."

Suta turned her gaze up from the path under her feet when she registered the voice that suddenly spoke out of nowhere. Before her were a pair of well-worn brown boots that certainly looked like they've seen better days and numerous kinds of terrain.

"Sorry to interrupt on your meditation, but you were about to trip all over my boots."

The voice made her look to her right. Lying against the ground with his eyes closed was a man who looked like he belonged in one of those taverns in town and not in the middle of a path towards the castle. His long dark brown hair was loose around his shoulders and she could tell it needed a bit of brushing. His slightly unshaved face had a nasty looking scar that run down one cheekbone and his eyes were closed. He was stretched out with his arms tucked under his head, giving anyone who looked a good view of his powerful body underneath the worn clothes that he wore. Then there were the boots, those brown boots that covered his feet up to his knees.

It was hard to believe that this man who looked so out of place was actually one of the former Imperial Knights of Kinmoku.

Suta managed a small smirk at the sight of him, crossing her arms over her chest as she spoke.

"Well isn't that your intention in the first place, Endo-sama? I mean, with you lying down there like that?"

The man finally cracked open one brown eye at her words, but he closed it again. A smile played along his thin lips.

"Suta Kou, also known as Neo-Sailor Star Healer. I'm pleased nothing has changed much since I've left last. Nice to see you still have that bite. I was afraid it'd fade and the world had changed again."

She actually had to smile slightly at that. For some reason, Endo Akari's words always seemed to make her smile.

"You haven't been gone very long, Endo-sama. It's only been three months."

"Three months is plenty." He told her and finally opened his eyes. With one quick flip, he was standing up and dusting himself off. "A lot changes. Just like the time when I left before—"

"Which long journey are we talking about?"

Endo actually paused to think about it, but then he probably had no patience for counting back since he stopped. Living for a long time sometimes did that.

"Never mind. Anyway, I left once and when I came back Seiya and Yaten were married already. When I left, no one even saw that one coming. They were busy driving each other up the wall, but then again that just might be their way of showing how they loved each other."

Suta shook her head. "They still do that. Drives me crazy too. I don't even know why they do that."

"That's love, Suta-chan." The tall Knight sighed and shrugged. "Never really understood it myself."

Then they started to walk towards the castle together, the smell of olives wafting pleasantly around them.

"Endo-sama?"

"Hm?"

"Have you been around the whole Kinmoku?"

"Well let's see…hm, maybe. I'm not really too sure."

"You've been going around and disappearing out of the map for years and you still don't know?" She looked up at him, her expression full of disbelief. "How is that possible?"

"I just go around the place, Suta-chan. I don't really have a destination in mind." Endo answered with a shrug of his massive shoulders.

"But what if you were just going around in circles? Doesn't that seem like a waste of time?"

"Suta-chan, always so pessimistic." Endo said with a sigh and he looked like he would reach out to pat her head like a dog but he didn't. Suta didn't like it when people did that to her and this he knew. "No, it isn't a waste of time."

"Then what is it?" Suta stopped and actually stopped in front of Endo, blocking his path. She was looking at him with intent in her eyes. She didn't know why but she wanted her question answered so badly.

Endo answered without hesitation. "It's a journey."

Suta sighed and was about to launch into another one of her frustrated tirades when Endo held up a hand to stop her.

"Don't you want to listen or do I have to sit you down like a little girl so you would?"

Grumbling mentally about not liking how Endo managed to talk to her like this and that she allowed it, Suta closed her mouth and stared at him petulantly but nodded her head for him to continue.

And he did.

"It's not so bad to go around in circles sometimes, because sometimes you just need to do so to actually find where you want to go. It's a process we all have to go through. Not everything can be found in an instant and not everything could be given to you. It's just like finding out what you really want to do and who you really are."

"But, wouldn't it be—bad? If you didn't know where you were going or what you want to do?" She asked quietly, suddenly finding the topic quite close to home. Her eyes were once more fixed on the road under her feet. "And what about who you are. How can you be happy if you don't know exactly who you are?"

"Then what comes after that?"

"What?" Suta looked up at the strange question to fine Endo staring at her with unreadable eyes.

"What comes after when you've found out who you are and what you want?"

"Then…then…you're happy."

"Are you sure?"

Her answer was a shrug and she hated how she was suddenly unsure of how she felt. She hated everything she wasn't sure of. She hated how she never really knew why it had to be her who was Neo-Healer. She hated the fact that she would never be sure if Taiga and Yuki would still be friends with her if she weren't a senshi. She especially hated it when she felt so insignificant and so unsure.

She heard Endo sigh and she looked up again. She hadn't realized that she had clenched her hands into fists and that she was staring holes into Endo's boots.

"Certainty doesn't always bring happiness, Suta-chan. I'm not saying that you stop looking for the truths that you search for, but sometimes some things are better left unexplained because no one can really explain them. Like the meaning of self and existence and friendship for example.

"I just say that you should live with what you have and cherish it because you'd never know if it's still there tomorrow. Don't take up so much time thinking about it when you could just have these things with you.

"But then again, what do I know right? I'm just a traveler who probably walked around the last three continents and never really realized I was seeing the same sights."

Hearing Endo speak like that had given Suta new things to think about and she was sure there would be more than enough time to maul over them when she walked down this path again. But right now, taking Endo's advice for now, she needed to count her blessings and head to the kitchens for some breakfast.

The well-traveled former Knight was already going towards that direction.
"Oi Endo-sama! Wait up!"

Endo turned and smirked as she saw the Starlight try and catch up with him.

"I thought you were going to contemplate on what made hunger pangs so painful back there."

Suta pretended to look shocked. "Oh my God! Was just sarcasm there that I heard from the ever-so-wise Endo-sama?"

"Oh that's it. You're not getting any more life lessons from me."

"Oh yeah? Whatever more knowledge could you impart, oh wise one?"

"Respect for your elders for one."

"Right…"

"Not interesting enough e? How 'bout the many strange things that occur between men and women then."

"You're going to talk to me about that? You? You don't even have a girl friend, Endo-sama."

"What I have right now does not go against what experience I have had."

"When did you last have a girl friend, Endo-sama?"

"When are you going to stop scaring away the boys with your vile tongue, Suta-chan?"

"You're changing the topic!" Suta exclaimed with a laugh and a smile that couldn't have been seen by just anyone.