Despite these characters turning up in the previous chapter, each of these chapters are separate one-shots unless otherwise stated. Otherwise things will get very confusing VERY quickly.

This one-shot is set four or five years post-Nemesis.

Day 2

Long Distance

(established Hikaru/Tsubasa)

Their jobs kept them apart for weeks at a time. He all but lived at the office, getting calls from around the world at odd hours of the night. She travelled around the country, running training classes and helping to support small blading gyms as they started up. It was little enough to pay back her debt to the ones who had persuaded her to pick up Storm Aquario once more.

They tried to call each other in the evenings, but reception was bad in most of the smaller villages she ended up in, and a video-call from the far side of the world would regularly break into their conversation (Masamune, now co-director of the American branch of the WBBA, had never quite got the hang of time-differences).

So everyone was a little surprised when, during the three days when the WBBA was shut down over Christmas, Hikaru didn't come home.

"Maybe there was snow?" Hyoma suggested, looking around at the other three who had gathered in the small coffee shop just down the road from the WBBA building. "Transport's really bad in the winter months up in the mountains. When I lived in Koma we used to have to stockpile all kinds of stuff because we could never get down to the markets. I had to go once for some emergency medication and it took me almost the whole day just to get down – and I got hypothermia. For three days, it wouldn't be worth it."

Madoka frowned into her cup of hot chocolate. "And where's Tsubasa, anyway? I couldn't get hold of him. He shouldn't be alone at Christmas, that's just miserable."

"He'll probably be with Yuu," Benkei pointed out. "Yuu always invites him and Tithi over for Christmas dinner."

"Considering how hyper Yuu and Tithi can get when they're together, I'd think he'd try to avoid them," Hyoma muttered.

"Oh come on," Ryuto laughed, leaning back in his chair and draining his coffee cup. "Be nice. Tithi's a good kid. He's a decent treasure-hunter too – found all sorts of stuff on the last expedition we went on."

"I have the greatest of respect for both Yuu and Tithi," Hyoma told him. "Just... not together."

"It's sad, though," Madoka sighed. "Christmas is a time for family, and neither of them have much in the way of that, except each other."

Only Benkei saw the way that Ryuto glanced down, unable – or unwilling - to meet their eyes for a second.

"Tsubasa's got Eagle," Hyoma pointed out. "He won't be completely alone even if he's in his house."

"I guess," Ryuto said, putting his cup on the table with a decided thump. "Tell you what, I'll get hold of Tithi and ask him if Yuu's invited Tsubasa over this year."

Madoka's shoulders relaxed instantly. "That would be great, Ryuto. Thank you. I just... I get worried about him sometimes. He works so hard and he gets hardly any time off."

Hyoma smiled at her over the top of his cup. "He'll be alright, Madoka. With you to look out for him in the office and Hikaru to snap at him when he overworks himself, he's well looked after."

Madoka stifled a laugh. "She does snap, doesn't she?"

"That's why he loves her," Ryuto said wisely. "She's the only woman in the world with the guts to tell the Director of one of the world's biggest companies when he's being an idiot. Even Madoka can't do that – no offence, Madoka."

"None taken." Madoka took a sip of her drink.

Benkei folded his arms. "Well, I just hope that they'll be happy and warm – and with lots of food, wherever they are!"

.

Unfortunately for Benkei (well, technically for Tsubasa, though he didn't consider it so), the bearer of the Bull constellation wasn't going to get his wish that Christmas.

In fact, Tsubasa had spent Christmas alone, walking through the frozen forests beyond the outskirts of the city with only Eagle for company. The huge bird was almost twelve years old now, and a magnificent hunter. It was one of Tsubasa's greatest pleasures to watch his friend doing what he did best, out in the wilds where he had come from.

He had no intention of going back to his cold, empty house that night, and even less intention of making an appearance at the undoubtedly extraordinarily loud dinner that Yuu would have thrown. Tsubasa's job meant that he got precious little time to himself, and so he was determined to enjoy this as much as he could.

Eagle's skill landed him only two fish by the time it became too dark for hunting, but a rabbit caught in the forest earlier that day and the provisions in Tsubasa's bag made for a very nice dinner for the two of them, even if it was nothing on the banquets going on around the rest of the world.

Tsubasa had just finished washing the pots out and was wrapping himself up in his sleeping bag and blankets when a tinny noise from his bag startled him. He fished his phone out of the side pocket, slightly surprised that he had signal all the way out here.

"Hello, beautiful," said the voice on the other end, and he found himself smiling almost before the first word was out of her mouth.

"Hello, Hikaru-love. So you managed to find signal too?" He poked at the fire, bringing the embers leaping back into life.

"Yes. I'm staying in Koma for the next few days whilst the snow clears, so I'm out by the Green Hades stadium – remember when Hyoma brought us here?"

"I can remember. You're warm enough?"

She laughed, and he relaxed a little. "Yes, Tsubasa. What about you? Not too much work, I hope?"

"Not too much," he agreed. "Masamune's pushing for a special American tournament because they're the biggest importers of beyblades in the world, but I think he just wants to battle in it himself."

The sound she made was halfway between a snort and a giggle, and it made him smile. "That sounds like Masamune," she said. "Don't shoot him down too harshly, okay?"

"I promise."

"Hold on – he's the director in America, why can't he just organise a tournament himself? Is he just being lazy and making you do all the hard work? Because if he is then I refuse to let you take it on – you'll just exhaust yourself and..."

"Hikaru."

She stopped. "Sorry," she said after a second. "I'm just worried about you with all that work to do. I wish I could be there to help out, but..."

"But it's more important that you help the smaller gyms set up and get their feet on the ground," he interrupted smoothly. "I know. We talked about this, remember?"

"I remember," she said softly. "And I still think that it's important. Everyone deserves the chance to learn how to blade if that's what they want to do. But it doesn't mean that I like it. I miss you."

"I miss you too. Happy Christmas, by the way."

"And to you." But she sounded subdued. "Did you go over to Yuu's house for dinner?"

He shook his head, forgetting that he was on the phone. "No. Tithi decided it would be a brilliant idea to invite Aguma and Bao, though. I doubt there's going to be much left of the house tomorrow."

She laughed. "Oh, I can imagine that. Well done getting clear of it. I pity whoever has to clear up."

"Not me," he said firmly, holding out one arm to give Eagle a perch to land on as he swept down from the night sky. "I'll go over tomorrow afternoon to give Yuu his present, though."

"You're out by your river, aren't you?"

Now it was his turn to laugh. She knew him very well. "Yes. Eagle's been trying to work out where all the fish are hiding, and I don't have the heart to tell him that they've all hidden themselves under rocks for winter." The bird gave him a very stern look before hopping up onto his shoulder and starting to preen his murderous beak through his master's hair.

"I've got a present for you. Look up."

He tilted his head back. "Oh..." he breathed, automatically pulling the edge of the blanket closer around him.

Stars exploded across the heavens, a firmament of light to outshine all the Christmas trees in the world. In the clear, cold night, they were more brilliant than anything he had ever seen.

"They're the same stars I can see," she said, and it was as if her voice was no longer just in one ear, but carried on the wind. "So, really, I'm right next to you."

"We're always next to each other," he said, echoing the words she had said to him so long ago on their seventh date, when they had been seated on top of the WBBA building, wrapped in the same blanket and watching the sky above their city. "Aquila and Aquarius stand separated in the sky, but they twist to look for each other, no matter which of them is above the horizon and which below. As long as the stars shine, we cannot be parted."

"See," she whispered. "I told you I'd be with you for Christmas."

He took in a deep breath and just stared. He definitely didn't get out of the office enough. He'd almost forgotten this beauty could even exist, this extraordinary display that made up the very core of the sport that he governed. "Hikaru," he murmured. "I know that all the poems compare a lover's eyes to stars, but... but I can't. They're just... just so... so far away. They're bright, and they're beautiful, but they're cold as well."

He heard her hum on the other end of the phone. "I don't think your eyes are like stars either," she said. "I think... I think your eyes are like your eyes. They're warm and funny and clever, and I can look at them whether it's day or night."

He glanced up at Eagle, who had taken off to perch on a branch above his head for the night. "I love you."

"I love you too."

Separated by hundreds of miles, they fell asleep together, the sound of their love's soft breathing in their ears and the stars of their constellations blazing just below the horizon.