Been a long time. I like it. Relationships are coming along nicely, and isn't that what this is all about, relationships? It has come to my attention I'm supposed to put up a disclaimer. Okay.

I don't own Rayearth or anything CLAMP has ever produced, if I did, their endings probably wouldn't suck so much, in my humble opinion. Enjoy!

Hikaru couldn't sleep. Lantis lay next to her heavily, his breathing deep and hollow. His words that day echoed through her mind. What if it had been him? What had stopped that from happening? And what had kept him strong enough? Hikaru's imagination repeatedly filled the blank in the statement she hadn't allowed him to finish. She didn't know if she regretted that decision. A part of her burned with a desperate curiosity to find out what had kept him going all those years, while another feared the answer he would give. She didn't really want to know, did she? All sorts of answers to the question she couldn't ask crept in and out of her mind until she tossed and turned so much she felt him stir. The last thing she wanted was to have him confront her, or ask tenderly what was troubling her. And so she eased out of his bed painstakingly slowly and dressed in the dark.

As she walked quietly down the torch-lit passageways she remembered with relief that she and her companions from Tokyo would be setting out for the shrines first thing the next morning. She only had to get through Lantis' goodbye without letting him know that this was bothering her so much, or at least without allowing him to corner her about it. Was this what their relationship was coming to, after less than a week together? She didn't want to hide anything from him, but answering these questions that she had would just hurt him more.

The lights were lit in the kitchen. It looked like she would have company after all.

"Morning," Yasuo greeted her.

"Do you know what time it is?"

"Not yet dawn. Don't ask me for numbers; I've got no idea." He shrugged and offered her a piece of the sandwich he had thrown together from leftovers of the previous meal.

Hikaru shook her head and sat down across the large table from him. She wasn't hungry, yet.

There was an awkward silence. "Can't sleep?" he asked.

"Guess not."

"Any special reason?"

Strangely, Hikaru felt like being honest, "I'm worried about me and Lantis."

Yasuo choked on his sandwich, "Really?"

Hikaru laughed, "Unbelievable right? Yeah. It's just something he said that I can't get out of my mind."

"Wanna tell me what it is?"

Hikaru shook her head. She felt like Lantis' desperate confession was too private for him and too recent for her to speak about. And she realized, she didn't really know Yasuo that well.

"I don't really know you all that well, Yas."

He looked up startled, "Is that why you don't want to talk to me about it?"

"Oh no! No, that's not what I meant," she reddened, embarrassed. "Well, I guess it's partly true. But no, I just thought – I don't know you that well."

"Okay."

"I mean, we should get to know each other," she chirped.

"Um, okay."

Silence.

Umi rolled over on top of Kakeru. "Do you know how hungry I am?" she whispered in his ear.

"I suppose I'm about to find out," he mumbled into the pillow.

"Come on," she poked him in the ribs, "We can get an early start on everybody."

As she pulled him out of bed he muttered, "Glad you're feeling better."

Fuu woke early, as usual. Well, maybe a little earlier than usual. She didn't know what the matter was. Everything seemed wrong, now that she had come back to Cephiro. She laughed quietly at herself. She had just begun to straighten out her life in Tokyo. The room was dark, and she didn't light a lamp as she dressed in the clothes that Sierra had given her and all the knights from Tokyo. No one saw the point of them traipsing around Cephiro in the clothes they had visited Tokyo tower in. Her new garments were a combination of homespun wool-type material and a cotton-ish cloth in green, of course. Fuu smiled as she dressed and her mood lightened: she liked feeling like a real Cephiran.

She stepped out of her room and shut the door as quietly as possible. Fuu glanced down the hall and jumped.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." Ren stood in the passageway, wrapping a black cloth tight around his forearm; for the knives, she realized. Ren must use a style where he keeps the blades close against his arms. "We just keep running into each other," he said after an awkward silence. He didn't sound happy about it.

She looked down the other end of the passage and mumbled as she turned back to him, "Small fortress." He laughed out loud. Feeling better about their relationship, she smiled back and they walked down toward the kitchen together.

The silence continued until Yasuo started choking on his sandwich, again. How embarrassing, Hikaru had to hit him on the back repeatedly before he coughed up the hunk of meat that was stuck in his windpipe.

Kakeru stood in the door and laughed at him. Umi stood behind her fiancé, looking worried, while Yasuo felt his face getting hotter and hotter. "Okay, okay, 'Keru. It wasn't that funny."

Kakeru continued to laugh silently, leaning against the doorframe, while Umi moved into the kitchen and took the stairs down into the pantry.

"Come on, Hikaru," she said from the pit in the stone wall, "We're going to make some real breakfast."

Kakeru quit chuckling long enough to wheeze, "You aren't letting Hikaru near food are you?"

"Don't worry," Umi replied, carrying a basket of eggs and a sac of something else out of the pantry, "I'm going to supervise."

Ren liked walking next to her. Their hands brushed, yet he didn't like the little clench he felt in his gut as she quickly, but inconspicuously, raised hers to fix a stray hair, keeping it well out of his reach. This was not supposed to happen. Why had he been pulled into this? Just so he could be tortured by some girl, who basically stole his life?

That was unfair and totally impossible. But was with the similarities in their pasts? It couldn't just be coincidence, could it? Too many questions, to which he had too few answers. He didn't like this feeling, it was dangerous.

He saw her looking at him, "Where are we headed?"

She smiled, "To the kitchen, don't you remember the way?"

He hadn't noticed where they were before. He recognized the way now, though he pretended he didn't, forcing a laugh.

"You're lying," she saw through it. "I don't know why."

They stopped walking. "Habit," he shrugged.

She stared at him. He didn't like the way her beautiful round eyes stared at him. "I don't know what that means," she responded.

"It doesn't mean anything," he lied.

"It does," she was wonderful. "Why do you hide how bright you are?" she asked, reaching out to him. He flinched back – reflex – and she stopped, almost realizing what she had done wrong. He had to do something.

Ren reached out, and pulled her toward the door, "Why do you hide how hungry you are?" He pinched her, teasing, and somehow they fell laughing into the kitchen. And faced all four of their companions' astonished faces.

But he relaxed; it had been too close,

Hikaru looked like she was about to burst, "Fuuuuuu –" she started, but Umi elbowed her in the ribs before she said another word. Ren was glad, neither of them were ready to answer the question Hikaru was about to ask.