Again, the best thanks to Kittyluv, who is a great Betareader and to all the reviewers. Your reviews are love

Chapter 9

"How dare he leave me!?" Natasha raved, pacing the computer room, ignoring the frowning young man who was taping frantically on the keyboard of the computer, and Igor, who hovered over him with blazing eyes.

Igor had regained consciousness early in the morning and it was soon to be discovered that the Saint had fled. They found two guards laying in the snow in front of the main gate, unconscious as well and half frozen by the cold.

Natasha had been furious once they had woken and informed her about what had happened. Striding to the computer room, she had nursed all intention to fulfill her threat about the bombs. She didn't allow anybody to deceive her. But when she had started the computer, all that was showing on the screen was an incredible amount of numbers making no sense at all. Ivan had already suspected something like that after he had surprised the new kitchen help here. He knew that part of this was his fault. The boy had intrigued him the minute he had seen him but he had hired him anyway. Oh. He had done a thorough check on him, but not carefully enough, it seemed. Natasha had visited the old witch, who had provided her with the shield in the first place. But the old wrench who lived in a remote, dark part of the castle, had assured her that the shield was still working properly.

So Saori had sent a man of hers who wasn't a Saint.

A middle-aged man hurried into the room with a folder in his hand, which he handed Igor with a nervous sideways glance at the angry woman.

Igor took the folder and stepped up to her.

"My lady. Here is the file about the boy who helped him."

He walked over to a small table and opened the file. Natasha followed and picked up the snapshot, attached to the first sheet of paper by a safety pin. She intently studied the face on the picture while listening to Igor rumble about unsuspicious background and second checks he did.

Natasha wasn't really interested in his excuses. The face on the photo seemed familiar. She was sure that she had seen him before, but she could not place were that had been.

She underestimated Saori, she knew. But she would never have guessed that she might be able to send a spy who would fit in so perfectly. She knew that Saori Kido had no Russians working for her, with exception of….

Her head jerked up and she gasped, eyes wide. That was impossible.

Hurrying over to a desk, Natasha opened the top drawer. She leafed through a pile of folders, before she took one of them out and headed back to the small table, where Igor stood and observed her frantic movements.

She laid the new folder on top of the other, opened it and took off another photo, closed the folder and laid the photo on top of it, together with the first one.

Igor looked over her shoulder at the two pictures. One of the two boys on them had brown, short hair, brown eyes and was wearing glasses, the other had blond, shoulder length hair blue eyes and no glasses. But the features were exactly the same.

"That bitch sent one of her Saints. That stupid whore really sent one of her Saints, even though I warned her!" Natasha yelled out in rage.

She turned with a start, looking up at Igor with blazing eyes. "Find them. Do whatever has to be done to find them. You will bring me back my Sasha, and I will make sure he'll never attempt anything like this again. I'll teach him who has the say here."

"What about the other?" Igor asked.

"Hyoga?" She practically spat the name. "Make that traitor to his land regret that he ever came here. Kill that son of a bitch, but make sure he suffers."

"Very well, miss," Igor said, turned and started to leave. Natasha was blinded by her fury. It would do no good telling her that they had no chance to catch two Saints, even less kill one of them.

He addressed the man who had brought the file earlier. "I want all new personnel fired immediately. And nothing of this here will leave this room, understood. Go get Mikhail's stuff that might have been left behind and destroy it. If anyone asks, he has been fired as well. As for the Miss' fiancé, he left for personal reasons and is expected to be back soon, understood?"

The man nodded and left to carry out his orders.

Igor left as well, to prepare the pursuit of the fugitives. He had to get it done with his most trusted men who would keep their mouth shut. But the number of his men was unimportant anyway, since they had no chance to take them out in a fair fight. Absently, he rubbed his hurting head. He was lucky to be alive as it was, since he had been taken out by a Saint.

STSSTSSTSSTSSTSSTSSTSSTS

Alexei woke from a loud banging sound on the door.

Moaning he sat up, still dazed.

"Why can't I remember the party?" he murmured, rubbing his hurting temples.

"Mikhail. Go open the door," he said, but received no answer from the neighbored bed.

"Mikhail?" He looked over to the other bed, only to find it empty. His young roommate was not here. He frowned in confusion, but stood up and moved on shaky legs to open the door.

One of the senior guards stepped in, pushing him back in the process. The man moved over to the other bed without a word. He opened the wooden chest located at its bed's foot side and started pulling out clothes.

"Hey," Alexei protested. "Those are Mikhail's clothes."

"Mikhail and all the other new employees have been fired. He has already left early this morning and I will send him his things."

Alexei stared at the man open mouthed. "You gotta be kidding. Mikhail would never just leave without saying good bye first."

The guard didn't interrupt his actions while he answered. "He was notified earlier this morning and not given any time to collect his things or say good bye. You still slept when he left."

Alexei narrowed his eyes. He would have waken up if Mikhail had left, wouldn't he? Even with his headache.

"There have been threats against our lady from a neighbored landlord and she is not taking any risk having spies here," the guard continued. He pushed the last piece of clothing into a bag and exited the door without any further comment.

Alexei sat heavily on the edge of his bed, staring at the empty bed on the other side of the room.

Mikhail wouldn't have left without saying good bye. He wouldn't have. Or maybe Mikhail had never considered him a friend in the first place. Alexei suddenly felt foolish, having told him about his dreams. He remembered Mikhail's mocking smile when he had told him about the ice-Saints. Now he knew why. Mikhail had probably never taken him seriously in the first place.

STSSTSSTSSTSSTSSTSSTSSTS

It was slowly getting dark when the two fugitives stopped at a clearing. They had wandered until now without resting or eating more than a cereal bar, which Hyoga had dug from the duffel bag.

"I think this place will be okay for the night," Shun said, looking around. He had sidestepped Hyoga's every attempt at questioning and after the second time, Hyoga had given up asking. But that didn't mean that he would not keep on trying to know what bothered Shun. His friend would tell him when he was ready to do so.

"They won't search for us at night. It will get too cold for them to keep up the search," Hyoga responded.

"What about you? My Cosmo is protecting me from the cold."

"I brought a sleeping bag. We won't both be able to sleep anyway, just in case Natasha's men will catch up with us. One of us has to stay up at any time. We will take turns sleeping and holding guard."

Shun nodded and Hyoga set the duffel bag on the ground and crouched down beside it.

"I brought some instant soup and a small pan. We can melt some ice. Bringing water would be added, useless weight. It would be frozen by now anyway," Hyoga said, while starting to unpack the large bag. "Could you go see if you can find some dry wood for a fire?"

Shun nodded again and walked off to the trees.

After he was out of sight, Hyoga halted his actions and pulled off the heavy gloves with his teeth. His fingers had long since gone almost completely numb and looking at them now, he noticed the bluish hint to them. He cursed inwardly, rubbing his hands together, blowing at them, trying to get them warm and improve the circulation. He felt that his feet were not much better off but he knew he would be able to get a little warmer, once the fire was started.

Fortunately, they didn't have to be careful to hide their whereabouts. Their traces wouldn't be easy to follow in the frozen snow no matter what they did.

After getting some stinging sensation back in his fingers, he untied the cord around the sleeping bag, unrolled it and opened it after some fruitless tries, handling the zipper with his almost numb fingers. Hyoga put the open bag around his shoulders for additional warmth, held it closed around his shoulder with one hand and placed the lighter and one of the bags with the soup on the ground with the other. He put his gloves back on and then waited for Shun to come back.

He didn't have to wait for long and Shun returned with his arms full of branches of all sizes.

The younger Saint put them on the ground and wipped away the worst of the snow, before he laid some dry looking moss on the floor and built a small pyramid out of thin sticks on top of it. He then took the lighter and started the fire.

Hyoga just stood beside him, watching. He would not have been able to light the small lighter with his half frozen hands and was happy that Shun had taken on this task without any questions.

An hour later, they sat quietly in front of a warm fire. Hyoga sat close enough, so that the flames had brought some warmth back into his feet and hands and they now lost their numbness and he felt them sting slightly, as circulation began to normalize itself. They had heated some water for the soup and it had felt good to ingest something warm.

While eating and cleaning up afterwards, they hadn't spoken much. Only the necessary, Shun still being pretty much closed off and only giving evading one word answers to any attempt at conversation Hyoga made.

So Hyoga looked up surprised, when Shun, without taking his eyes off the flames, addressed him out of the blue.

"Hyoga, could you do me a favor?"

Hyoga narrowed his eyes. "Sure, what is it?"

Shun looked up, meeting his eyes. "Could you please take off the lenses? You just don't look like yourself with brown eyes."

Hyoga smiled. He had taken off the glasses earlier that day himself, putting them away in the bag. But he could understand Shun's request. He barely recognized his own image in the mirror those last days, since he had lost his Cosmo and become Mikhail Tovish.

"Sure, No problem. They started to bother me anyway of the late. It is not very comfortable to keep them on all the time."

He lowered his head to one side and reached up to take out first one lens, then doing the same with the other side. He blinked the tears away, which the irritation removing the lenses produced and smiled at Shun "Better?"

Shun gave a shy smile himself, which didn't reach his eyes though and nodded slightly, before he lowered his gaze to the flames again.

Hyoga stared at him for a long time. Shun seemed so sad and subdued it hurt him deeply.

"What is wrong with you, Shun? " he asked softly.

"Nothing," came the blunt reply.

"Shun," Hyoga began. "I'm your friend. Talk to me, please. Maybe I can help."

He saw Shun biting his lower lip and in the flicker of the flames, Hyoga thought he could see tears shining in his friend's eyes.

"There is nothing to talk about," Shun finally said in a hoarse voice, and rose with a start. "I'll go take a look at the perimeter, then I will take the first guard. You better try to get some sleep. I'll wake you in three hours to switch places." And with that he left.

Hyoga sighed. He didn't know how to get Shun to open up to him. So he zipped the sleeping bag closed, moved his body inside and let the warmth of the near by fire and the bag lull him to sleep.

He woke seemingly only one instant later, when a warm hand shook his shoulder softly. "Hey Hyoga, time to switch places."

Hyoga blinked a few times to chase the worst sleep out of his body and sat up. A cold breeze blew over his body, when he slipped out of the warm sleeping bag and he shivered involuntary.

He reached over for his boots and gloves - the only clothing he had taken off - by the fire. The soft furred leather felt warm and chased some of the cold of the night air.

He stood and Shun took off his own shoes and laid down in the sleeping bag, closing his eyes. Hyoga sat beside the fire, hugging himself for additional warmth. The night was freezing, as he had expected, but he didn't expect how unpleasant it could feel.

It had been such a long time since he had experienced it as a non-Saint. And he was even good off, since he grew up in a cold climate and his body showed more resistance against the cold than normal peoples did. But still he felt it. His gaze wandered over to Shun, who slept peacefully. His friend wore only a light coat and shoes, not meant to be in the outdoor for so long, but Shun showed no sign of being cold or physically uncomfortable. His Cosmo warmed him and made him not even feel the freezing wind.

Hyoga closed his eyes involuntary and felt for his Cosmo out of a reflex, finding only the hollow feeling, which accompanied him since he had visited the old lady in Tokyo the last time.

He felt himself shiver, but this time not from the cold.

STSSTSSTSSTSSTSSTSSTSSTS

Natasha climbed the stairs to the dark quarters of the old witch.

She opened the heavy wooden door, once she reached the end of the short hallway on top of the stairs. She felt very uncomfortable being here, as the old woman was giving her the creeps. But the witch had proven her usefulness a few times already, being in service of Natasha's father before her, so she tolerated her presence, being glad that the old woman stayed in her small rooms in the most remote part of the castle and only ever ventured out to search for herbs and things she needed for her magic and potions.

Natasha entered the dark quarters, greeted by the typical strong scent she had come to associate with the old witch.

The castle's mistress carefully crossed the room, stuffed with bottles and cans on seemingly every available surface, finding the old woman sitting on a chair, mixing some liquid in a bowl on her lap.

"One of Athena's Saints has come to my land, unnoticed," she accused. "You said nobody with Cosmo could come here without being noticed."

"As it is the truth."

"Then how could the swan-Saint get here without you knowing it!?" She yelled at the old woman, who didn't seem a bit intimated by the young woman's outburst.

"No Saint can come through the barrier without me knowing it," she said calmly.

"Are you listening at all to what I'm saying?"

"No Saint can come through the barrier," she repeated, emphasizing each word.

"Well you're wrong. The Cygnus-Saint WAS here."

"You mean the former Cygnus-Saint."

"WHAT?"

The old woman smirked. "He has no Cosmo. Even if he used to have one at one time, he doesn't now."

Natasha looked at her incredulous. "But you said it was impossible to hide a developed Cosmo."

"It is. But there is one way to destroy it."

"So that means he would be as vulnerable as any human?"

The old witch lifted one finger in a silent warning. "Beware, and don't underestimate him. He has no more special powers but he still is a valiant warrior.

But he would not be used to fight without Cosmo. That, you could use as an advantage."

Natasha smirked. She had to make Igor know that little detail. It could help him get Sasha back.

Without a word of thanks, she left the room at a fast pace.

STSSTSSTSSTSSTSSTSSTSSTS

The old woman watched her leave and then stared out the small window by her right, a slight smile around her wrinkled lips. "So, it seems that you want to fight me, dear sister. We will see who will win in the end."