Notes: I wanted to be sure everyone was aware of the whole thing with Seiya, Yaten, and Taiki's first name: Kou. That's right, ladies and gents, Seiya Kou's first name is Kou. Funny, huh? Guess Takeuchi-sensei thought it'd be funny.

Special Text: Italics as a single word means emphasis Italics as sentences mean thoughts

Warnings: AU, shounen ai (boys kissing boys, people)—got a problem, click the "back" button.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Rather, I don't own Sailor Moon. I own my computer and my cats and—you get the idea.

Life's Little Surprises
By Rosethorn

Chapter 3: Red and Purple

"Wait—what?!" Makoto exclaimed, trying to make sense of what the bouncing, blonde female in front of her was saying. Minako shook her head in exasperation. She hadn't been able to believe her eyes when she had seen her idols, the Three Lights, sitting in Crown Arcade of all places! Eating ice cream, no less!! It was definitely her day. It was made even better by the fact that Mamoru knew Seiya Kou! How surreal was that? But the really terrific part was where it was revealed that Seiya-sama had been the "girl" that Mamoru had met!

"I told you, Seiya-sama kissed his hand, and Mamoru turned bright red and ran away." Makoto shook her head again.

"So the girl that Mamoru met was really Seiya Kou?" she asked, puzzled. At Minako's slow nod, she frowned. "And then Seiya kissed Mamoru?"

"On the hand, yes," Minako replied, starting to lose patience. "Look, Mako-chan, it's not rocket science. Mamoru was attracted to Seiya-sama in the store, but thought that he was really a girl. Seiya-sama was attracted to Mamoru, and kissed Mamoru's hand when they were introduced. Mamoru lost it and ran away. End of story so far." Still puzzled, Makoto nodded, deciding that just nodding and smiling would be the best course of action in this case, as Minako could start getting rather nasty when she was annoyed.

"Are you retelling the story again, Mina-chan?" Motoki asked from the door. Both women jumped and Minako smiled sheepishly at him.

"It's just so…amazing that Mamoru likes Seiya-sama!" she exclaimed, starting to bounce in place again. Makoto started massaging her temples, knowing that today was going to be a rather long day. She sighed and made her way to the front part of the arcade, not wanting to leave it unattended. As she reached the counter, she noticed two figures at the far end, very close to the doors.

"Have you been served?" she asked, walking over. Getting closer, she noticed that the two figures were none other than Taiki and Yaten Kou. Both jumped at her unexpected question, and Yaten shot her a rather poisonous glare. Makoto merely raised an eyebrow, used to the poisonous looks that the other girls would give her when they found out that Motoki was married—to her. It was rather entertaining.

"We have, thank you," he said flatly, turning back to his ice cream dish. Taiki rolled his eyes and gave Makoto an apologetic look. She smiled in return, and motioned that it was all right. Taiki half-smiled in return before putting on a rather long-suffering expression.

"I can't ever take him out in public," he said, sighing. Makoto started to giggle, and Taiki responded with another wry smile—which quickly faded when Yaten elbowed him in the side. Makoto was almost on the floor with laughter at this point, and missed the entrance of the third member of the Three Lights.

"I have returned!" Seiya posed dramatically at the doors and was rather less than amused at the laughter that greeted his entrance. He had thought it was a very Dramatic Moment, but it would appear that it had not been enough to warrant the attention of his fellow band-mates, much to his disgust. Grumbling to himself, he made his way over to where his two "brothers" were sitting, noticing that they were shooting daggers at each other via eyes. He also took in the site of the waitress at the counter doubled over in laughter. "I see I missed a few things for being gone for ten minutes…" he commented dryly, causing all three to jump. Yaten threw up his hands.

"What is it with people and being sneaky today?! Can't a poor guy eat his ice cream in peace?" Seiya got a wicked grin on his face. Taiki, recognizing the expression, frantically made motions with his hands at Seiya behind the other man's back to not bait the silver-haired man, but to no avail, as Seiya merely pretended not to see them.

"I told you that you should've had that operation, Yaten," he drawled. "Then you could be a normal girl eating your ice cream—body as well as spirit!" He watched the shorter man turn five shades of red, before starting the purple end of the spectrum. Seiya raised his eyebrows, deciding to go in for the kill. "Oh, and Yaten? That purple color your face is turning really doesn't match your outfit…" He noted that that vein over Yaten's left eye was pulsing, and decided that it was time for a Strategic Retreat—or run like hell. He bolted for the door, Yaten fast on his heels, cursing Seiya the whole way.

"Seiyaaaaaaaaa!! Stop running so that I can kill you! Get back here you—you…ARGH!! Seiya!" could be heard from the street outside. It was followed up by many threats that both Makoto and Taiki wondered if they were anatomically possible—although it would be interesting to see, if Yaten ever got Seiya into that position. The cursing faded into the distance as Taiki looked at Makoto calmly.

"So…" he began. "How much will I owe for the sundaes?" They stared at each other for a few more seconds before both burst into laughter.

"Hello, Usako," Mamoru whispered, kneeling down before his fiancée's grave. His mind was still in uproar over the kiss that was bestowed upon him earlier. He had decided to visit Usagi's grave to see if talking to her would help ease his mind—or at least let him forget for a few moments. The pain was still there; it was always there, though it had eased slightly over the past few years…at least to the point that he could sit at her grave and not try to slit his wrists, although he couldn't face the grave or her name if someone was there. He felt a very gentle breeze blow, almost as though it was Usagi there, letting him know of her presence. He smiled sadly.

"I miss you still, Usako," he murmured, knowing that somehow his dead love could still hear him…somehow. "There isn't a day gone by that I don't miss you. But I also know that you want me to move on, to not be miserable for the rest of my life. So I wanted to tell you about this person I met." He proceeded to tell all about his first experience with Seiya and how he was attracted to her—him. "The funny thing is, Usako, that Seiya isn't female. But I'm still attracted to him. Am I going insane, Usako?" He shook his head slightly, and ironic smile on his face. In his mind, he could almost hear Usagi's replies of not worrying about it, and that he was already insane, so he really couldn't "go" any further in that direction.

Usagi had always possessed a knack of knowing exactly what to say to Mamoru to make him feel better. Whenever he found himself upset while she was alive, she would always give him a rather large hug and then joke until he started laughing. Soon after the laughter came, he briefly would forget why he was upset in the first place, although that didn't always happen. In this case, she probably would cuff him over the head for being so dense about another chance staring him in the face. That was, at least, what she told him before he had started to go out with her friend Rei, after his ex-girlfriend—a rather vicious woman named Beryl—had torn his heart to shreds. He sighed again, tears starting to fill his eyes from the memories. It was then that he heard shouts coming his direction. The shouts seemed to be comprised of swearing and curses that definitely sounded vicious. Mamoru turned—just in time to have his arms full of a black blur.

"Well, Mamoru! What a surprise!" one Seiya Kou said from one shocked Chiba Mamoru's lap. Seiya smiled widely, throwing his arms around the other man's neck, much to Mamoru's embarrassment. "It must be fated! No less than an hour since we last saw each other!"

"Seiya!! Get out here and fight like the idiot you are!" could be heard coming from about 100 feet away. Seiya's smile dropped to a look of panic. He buried his head in Mamoru's chest—again causing the other man to blush—and wailed for Mamoru to protect him.

"He's psycho, Mamoru!! Crazy, I tell you!! Save meeeeee!" His arms tightened, causing Mamoru to be slightly short on air—although his embarrassment could have factored in there somewhere. Looking down at the head of hair currently resting on his chest, he glanced at the gravestone before him.

Well, Usagi, he thought to himself. What would I have done if it were you and I when Rei or Mina-chan would be chasing you? Ah yes…Grinning wickedly, Mamoru raised his head slightly and yelled to Yaten.

"Oi! Your friend's over here!" Seiya's eyes widened as he looked at his "protector", and his jaw dropped with disbelief. He shook his head slightly, as though not believing what he had heard before glaring at the man "holding" him.

"You're a very cruel man, Mamoru. A very cruel man." When Mamoru shrugged, still grinning, Seiya shook his head with disgust and got up slowly—only to speed up the process as he heard Yaten approach. "I'll get you for this one, you…ACK!!" he ended up yelling as he caught sight of Yaten. He quickly ran off in the opposite direction. Mamoru watched with amusement as he fled, and started chuckling as Yaten ran past him, pausing to thank him, before taking off at top speed, still yelling at Seiya from the top of his lungs. After the silver head of hair was out of sight, he turned back to Usagi's grave and realized that it was the first time in a long time that he was smiling in her "presence".

"That was him, Usako," he said, shaking his head slowly, smile still firmly in place, although it had taken a slightly sad edge. "I'll admit. Being friends with him would never be dull." The gentle breeze seemed to swirl around him in agreement, and he could swear he could hear Usagi's own laughter in the breeze. It was peculiar how that laughter sounded similar to Seiya's.

Death threats, mad dashes through the bustling urban jungle, frantic scrambling of ducks and geese out of the way as Seiya ran his ass off to escape the enraged Yaten, who was hell-bent on making the raven-haired man suffer. Oh yes, and suffer well. Seiya didn't get it. All he had done was make that comment about Yaten's well being for surgery to woman behind the counter in the arcade…And really, it wasn't his fault if she took it to mean that Yaten was interested in becoming a transvestite. But Yaten apparently didn't see it that way, which was why Seiya was now high-tailing it around Tokyo for their apartment. He thundered up the two flights of stairs and flung open the door, only to hear Impending Doom and his battle cries behind him.

Breathing heavily, Seiya made his way to his bedroom and locked the door, making sure to use the deadbolt that Taiki had so generously installed. The installation had come after a round of practical jokes, the final one being against the brunet himself. It had been a rather ingenious one, Seiya had thought, though it had taken both him and Yaten to accomplish. The truce had come on the heels of Taiki's new "two squares of toilet paper per person" rule. To protest the obvious stupidity of the new regulation, the pair concocted a Devious Plot. Two rolls of twine, a bottle of honey, a bicycle, and a bucket of water later, Seiya had found himself with a deadbolt on his, Yaten, and Taiki's door, courtesy of Taiki himself—though the older man had installed three locks and the deadbolt in his room. While Taiki was installing the locks, Seiya and Yaten had fun nettling him about it.

"It's sad, Yaten, it really is," Seiya would start, making sure his voice carried to his "brother" upstairs. Yaten, noticing Seiya's tone, would soon chip in. If it was one thing Taiki hated, it was dramatics.

"Yes, indeed it is, Seiya. I mean…there's no trust in the world today." The blond would then make a rather good fake sniffle. "It's depressing really." Seiya would nod his head in agreement, patting "poor" Yaten on the back and hand the shorter man a tissue. He then would pretend to wipe his own eyes.

"I mean, it's like he doesn't trust us anymore! His own brothers!!" he would wail, and Taiki would yell down the stairs that they weren't biologically related—it was only by some fluke that they shared last names—and that he didn't trust them.

"And you both very well know why, so shut it already!" he would finish with a rather emphatic bang of the hammer—normally right onto his fingers. Mechanically inclined Taiki Kou was not. Seiya and Yaten would laugh hysterically and—

"Seiya Kou!!" came a bellow from downstairs.

And it would appear that Yaten is back, the raven-haired man thought to himself as he double-checked the lock and deadbolt on his door. He flopped onto his bed and pretended to not be home. It didn't work; less than a minute after the bellowing came the banging—on Seiya's door.

"Seiya! I know you're in there!! Get out here and take your punishment like a man!!" Seiya raised an eyebrow and stared at the door. He shook his head slowly, a slight smile appearing on his face.

Yaten definitely has some lungs on him, he reflected as the man in question kept bellowing at the door. Either he'll run out of steam or break down the door. I'm thinking the former though, due to the fact that Taiki will have his hide if he breaks down the door again; it'd be the fourth one we'd have to replace this month.

He grinned at the mental image of Taiki holding Yaten by his braid over their balcony and decided that he'd rather take a nap, given that it had been a rather long day—Yaten-baiting did wear one out so. Closing his eyes, he was fast asleep within minutes—and definitely unaware of the continual pounding on his door.

Revision 03!

Rosethorn

Thank you's:

Veve: Thanks! I hope the notes above (points up) cleared up any questions/concerns you have/had about my story!!

Athena Kyle: Thanks!! I'm glad that it's not going super-fast or anything. I was actually worried about that. I couldn't help the whole hand-kissing thing or the Haruka thing…actually, the Haruka thing came to me after a discussion with a friend of mine (not the one who made the challenge) about what would happen if Mamoru dated Haruka (assuming Haruka was straight at the time…) Oh geez…I'm seriously blushing here. I just glanced in a mirror and I resemble a damn fire-engine. Thanks (blush)!

Snoggitz: Thanks! I'm glad that it's not over-used. Huh…never thought I'd help start a new craze…

Chou ni Natte: Thanks!! I had hoped that I'd manage to do this pairing without it being too much of a stretch. They seem to fit—if you move Usagi out of the picture (or bastardize her, which I refuse to do). I'm glad that it doesn't get too melodramatic (glances over the fic) Hm…maybe I should be worried that it's too silly? Oh damn…fire-engine time again! You guys are so sweet!!

Thunder-Heart: Thanks! I've noticed the definite absence of Motoki/Makoto fics. It's a bit disappointing actually (sigh). I may write a lot of shounen ai, but when it comes to Sailor Moon, I'm a regular romance girl at heart (this challenge story non-withstanding).

Thanks again to each and every one of you for reviewing!! You have no idea what it means to me!