Disclaimer: I don't own SS characters.
CHAPTER 3
Err…Gathering?
East Siberia…
Hyoga sat in front of Shaka, who hadn't opened his eyes since two hours ago. The young man kept swinging his hand in front of Shaka's face, but still the Buddha wasn't affected and kept closing his eyes. His legs were crossed as usual, and only God knows whether he was conscious or not.
"Shaka," said Hyoga, almost whispered. "Shaka. Fire…"
Shaka didn't move.
"Oi, Shaka…"
"Hyoga, will you stop bothering him?" cut Camus, slightly snarled.
Hyoga a bit chuckled. "I'm sorry, I'm just curious."
"Of what?"
"Of the thing that can make him opens his eyes. I mean, is fire not scary enough for him?"
Camus sighed in the middle of his cooking time. He cooked the menu from his hometown, chicken a la diable and French onion soup. "If you think fire is scary for Shaka, then you don't really know him. By the way, you haven't answered about why you suddenly popped in my hut."
Hyoga approached his father…his teacher hilariously. "I wasn't popping up, Sensei, I rode a plane."
"Whatever."
"OK, honestly…between Seiya, Ikki, and you, I prefer you," grinned Hyoga.
"Because I can cook something for you and they can't?"
"Well, sort of…"
"I've guessed it."
Hyoga laughed as he took an apron. He was about helping his teacher cooking. "Kidding!" he yelled in delight. "Ok…seriously. I popped up here because…," suddenly he hugged his master and placed his head on his chest. "…because you are easy to be hugged and they're not!"
"Hyoga—" Camus gasped upon Hyoga's action, but there was warmth in his face. "Who said I'm easy to be hugged?!"
"Your gesture!"
"OK…release me now…"
"Nope."
Then another miracle happened to the coldest saint in Sanctuary: Camus chuckled as he ruffled his student's blond hair.
On the corner of the room, Shaka a bit opened his eyes, looked at the heartwarming view, then smiled.
"Ok…now release me, child, otherwise you and Shaka won't have anything for dinner."
"Me and Shaka? Does Shaka need dinner?" chuckled Hyoga as he released his hug.
"You have no idea," said Camus.
The teacher and student then cooked together, sometimes joking. The food was ready to eat 15 minutes later. At the same time there were knocks on the door.
Camus took off his apron, walked to the door, then opened it.
He saw Milo (who wore probably thousand layers of coats) and the Gemini Saint in front of him.
"Don't ask!" growled Milo as he and the Gemini Saint entered Camus's hut without being asked to. The two unpredictable guests then sat on the couch in front of the fireplace to heat their bodies; their hands almost touched the fire.
Camus, Hyoga, even Shaka looked at the two men as if they were the people coming from another planet. Yet finally Camus managed to say something after recovering from his shock.
"Is this a dream?" he mumbled.
"No!" snarled Milo, his startling blue eyes looked at Camus irritably.
"Wh…," Hyoga muttered as he looked at the Gemini Saint. "Where's Saga?" He didn't know why he asked it, but it was the first question that popping in his mind.
"What do you mean 'where's Saga'?!" snarled the Gemini Saint. "I'm Saga!"
"Oh…," Hyoga gulped. "I'm sorry, I thought you're Kanon…"
"I swear I'll burn this hut if you dare to mention that must unimportant name in the world again!" grumbled Saga. He looked so irritated and angry.
Camus frowned his forehead before he asked, "What's going on?"
"It's Saga," answered Milo.
"What?!" Saga yelled. "You dare to blame me?!"
"Of course I do! If only you didn't shout and made your brother got angry and destroy that television into pieces!"
"That wasn't my fault, Milo, nobody wouldn't turn angry to have a moron like that!"
"You didn't need to shout, though!"
"Slow down, please, we don't understand even a word about what on earth you are saying," said Camus flatly.
Milo and Saga glared to each other.
"You tell him," mumbled Milo.
Saga sighed, then forced himself to look at Camus, Hyoga, and Shaka.
"Kanon exploded my microwave," explained Saga. His explanation made Shaka bursted into laughter.
"Sorry," said Shaka calmly as his fellows looked at him in shock.
"I haven't finished, Shaka," growled Saga. "All of us shouted at him then. As usual he only grinned and thought he only made small mistake," he sighed. "Afterwards, he joined us to watch the television and told us something which made me almost choke his throat."
Camus, Hyoga, and Shaka waited.
"He said we won't ever have any chance to get Kido's mansion back."
Camus and Hyoga were baffled, while Shaka smiled. "So you wanted to choke his throat only because he said such thing?" he asked.
"You didn't hear his tone!" snarled Saga. "He was serious, as if he knew something behind the purchase of Kido's mansion! And the twelve temples too!"
"It's only your imagination, Saga," sighed Milo.
"I'm his twin brother!"
"Which isn't a good thing," mumbled Milo. Luckily Saga didn't hear him. "And I can feel whether he's serious or not!" Saga continued.
Shaka smiled once again. "You really understand him then."
"SHUT UP!" yelled Saga furiously, replied by Milo's first laughter.
Saga then continued his story, telling them he was so angry that he couldn't help to shout in extreme loud voice to Kanon and told him he was so ashamed to have him as his brother.
"And he destroyed my television. I decided to leave the house afterwards," mumbled Saga. His eyes were gazing on the fireplace. Was it sadness in his eyes…?
Milo grinned upon seeing Saga's expression. "You don't want to leave him, do you?"
"What?!"
"You're sad because of leaving him."
"I'm sad because my previous television has broken into pieces!" grumbled Saga. But the flush on his cheeks showed otherwise.
"And then you followed Saga?" Camus asked Milo.
"I didn't want to follow him; Aiolos asked me to. He's worried Saga wouldn't have anywhere to stay in."
"Milo found me in one of the counters of the airport," Saga added. "I was in front of the counter. I was so confused upon deciding where I should go: Rozan, Italy, or Siberia. I asked for Milo's suggestion then, and he automatically said 'Siberia'."
"I was out of my mind when saying it!" snarled Milo. He got blushed. "I hate Siberia!"
"But you said it," Saga grinned for the first time.
"I was about to cancel it, but unfortunately the receptionist had printed two tickets to Siberia. There was nothing I could do! I regret this!" Milo bowed his head.
Everybody was surprised seeing the sadness in his face…
"I can't stand the weather, you see," he held his heart. "I have heart disease, the same as my incarnation Scorpio Kardia."
All of the people there gasped. "What…?" whispered Hyoga.
Milo suddenly roared in laughter. "Gotcha!" he yelled in delight, made Saga hit his head with his fist. And luckily Shaka didn't have his powers anymore, for he looked so ready to send Milo to his six worlds.
But Camus never stopped gazing at his best friend.
"Ok, ok, stop kidding," chuckled Milo, soon changed topic. "Honestly the weather here makes me extremely hungry," he turned his head on the table and yelled in delight as he saw the meals. He and Saga soon marched at the table; the faster they got the chicken, the better.
Camus sighed looking at his fellows. His hope to sleep peacefully that night had evaporated.
xxx
Three days later in Florence, Italy…
Shaina growled irritably. She swept the floor with never stopped cursing in her heart. Those three aliens! The thing they could do was only making her house got dirty and dirtier! It didn't stop there—everyday Deathmask never absented decorating her rooms with his hand-made dreadful masks, which only made the situation got worse. Everytime Shaina put the masks down, they returned hanging on her walls in mysterious ways. She swore she would kick Deathmask out of her house when the number of the masks turned twenty. Apparently her threat had an effect, for until present there were only nineteen masks hanging there.
"You have to be accustomed to his habit," confirmed Shura to Shaina the day before. "He wants to make the ambience here more…homey."
Shaina took a very deep breath after she finished sweeping the floor. She looked at her reflection in her big mirror. She was so beautiful; her curls hanged behind her back, and she wore casual white dress with no sleeves. Yet she thought she really needed a shower after cleaning every inch of her house.
She entered her bathroom after taking her towel, but her eyes suddenly widened when she saw that her transparent bottle of hair conditioner was almost empty.
"APHRODITE!" she screamed wildly. "You've used ALL my hair conditioner without my permission! You'll pay this!" she exited her bathroom, never stopped yelling Aphrodite's name. However, no matter how much she called the Pisces Saint, she didn't get any reply. Instead of Aphrodite, it was Deathmask who suddenly popped up.
"What are you doing here?!" snarled Shaina.
"Would you stop screaming?!" barked Deathmask. "My ears are getting deaf! You've annoyed me enough with those irritating animals, you don't need to do more!"
"Irritating animals?"!
"Your rabbits!" Deathmask shuddered. "They're dreadful, you see!" he soon walked away, left Shaina standing stricken on her place. Dreadful? "What a jerk," growled Shaina. "Dare to haunt my house with those masks…call my rabbits dreadful…" she walked to her backyard and approached her rabbits' cage. Looked like it wasn't only her who was bothered by Deathmask's 'reign'—upon looking at her rabbits' shivering features, she knew they felt the same way. She pulled the rabbits out and began to stroke their furs.
"Don't worry," she smiled as her cheek touched the rabbits' furs. "I'll always be right here."
She played with the rabbits for some time, until she heard a voice behind her.
"What a very lovely view."
Shaina turned her head. She saw Shura smiled at her. Seeing his warm smile, she couldn't help to reply. "Thank you." Well, she hadn't forgiven Shura for some messes that he'd done, but he was better than the two. At least he wasn't objected helping her cutting the grass.
"I thought you love snake," said Shura as he approached the young woman.
"Snake?" Shaina shuddered. "I hate snake."
"Really?" Shura took one of the rabbits from Shaina's hand carefully, then carried it affectionately. "You're not like certain someone—he's really fond of anything, including the pet, that is correlated with his zodiac sign."
Shaina felt slight blush rose to her cheek. Yet she tried to stay calm.
"But I think he's not that fanatic," continued Shura as he smiled slightly. "Regarding that he loves stroking your rabbit' furs as well. Do you remember the day when you brought your rabbit to Kido's mansion?"
How could she forget that day…? It was the first time she realized she felt something different towards him. She remembered that day clearly, as if it had happened only a second ago. Camus had been the first who had fun with her rabbit. Well…she hadn't been too surprised with that—she had known for long that the warrior of ice definitely had a very soft heart.
But seeing his best friend stroking and kissing the rabbit's furs…that was something else…
"Yes," Shaina answered. Her eyes were gazing on the grass. She was always be the one who gave. The same when she still had affection with Seiya, she somehow knew that right now she could only give, not take. But that was just enough for her. As always, she only needed to love him. And that was enough…
"I remember it," she continued.
Shura sat beside Shaina. Peaceful silence covered the backyard for quite long time.
"Sorry for the inconvenience," Shaina said.
Shaina was surprised. She'd never thought she would hear that…
The resentment in her heart suddenly disappeared when she saw the guilt in his eyes.
"It's ok," Shaina grasped Shura's shoulder as she smiled sincerely.
"Ummm," he murmured. "Deathmask wants to ask for apologize as well, actually, only he doesn't know how to express it…"
"You don't need to cheer me up, Shura."
Shura laughed, together with Shaina. They smiled to each other, until they heard her phone rang.
"Wait a second," said Shaina as she entrusted her rabbits to Shura. She marched inside the house and picked up the phone.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Shaina."
"Aiolia?"
"Yes. Please forward my message to Deathmask. No…I mean…Aphrodite…naah…I mean Shura. Yes, forward my message to Shura; tell him the new owner of Kido's mansion invites us to come to Japan the day after tomorrow."
"What?!" gasped Shaina. "Do they finally know who happens to buy the house…?!"
"No, unfortunately Seiya and co don't know," answered Aiolia. "They're only informed by a letter."
"It can be a prank," said Shaina in uneasiness.
"No, Seiya and his friends are sure it's not a prank. Anyway, we'll fulfill the owner's request—that's the only way left for us to begin solving this problem. Moreover Shion hasn't taken any step until now…"
"Ok, I'll soon tell Shura," Shaina put the phone down after Aiolia ended the conversation. "Shura!"
xxx
Rozan…
"Alright…," said Aldebaran on the phone. "Ok, thank you, Camus, I'll inform the others soon."
After ending the conversation, Aldebaran approached Mu and Dhoko (Shion was eating cookies and drinking tea in the common room). "My friends, Camus told me that the owner of Kido's mansion invites us to visit him the day after tomorrow."
"What??"
"He's got the news from the Bronzies."
"We have to prepare everything then," said Dohko.
"Yes," said Mu as he glared to his master. "Everything."
The virtuous man approached Shion then. Even a man like Mu didn't have unlimited patience. After enduring LOTS of ignorance the days before, Mu started to snarl. "Master, would you listen to me please?!"
Shion answered calmly in the middle of his tea time. "Later, Mu."
"Alright, which one do you choose anyway?! Me or that jasmine green tea?!"
"This jasmine green tea, of course," answered Shion, smiling.
Mu was ready to phone Kiki and saying that his grandmaster had had a kind of mental breakdown, but soon Aldebaran prevented him to.
Meanwhile Dohko was looking at his best friend in uncertainty. He couldn't believe that the wise man who had fought Hades twice had become so insensitive only for the sake of cuisine…
xxx
Next in Home Sweet Home:
On the way to Narita…
"Would you sit without crossing your legs, Shaka?! You conquer two seats only for yourself!" snarled Saga.
Shaka opened his eyes. "Are you complaining?" he asked in a deadly voice. At the same time the plane was slightly quivering.
Saga gulped feeling the quake, then answered nervously, "Ummm…no…," he stammered. "Of course not…"
But even after they arrived to Narita, the situation didn't turn better.
"OH NO!" gasped Aphrodite suddenly. "I left the Estee Lauder perfume in florence!"
Sweatdrops…
"Dite," said Shura in a low voice. "It's SHAINA'S perfume!"
"Oh…she uses Estee Lauder?" said Milo, smiled slightly.
Meanwhile, the Bronzies got heated.
"Look at this! Look at the signature! Look at the name beneath it!"
"I've told you I don't know anything about it!"
And two hours later in Kido's mansion…
Home Sweet Home: From Kido's Mansion with Shock.