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Chapter 4

Seiya sat on the edge of his bed, his eyes wandering the umpteenth time over to the clock on his nightstand, while he was fisting the hem of the bed linen in his hands. Two o'clock and still no sign of Hyoga. He had waited for hours for his friend, way until after midnight before he had finally given up, kicked off his shoes and gone to bed.

But rest wouldn't come. Three minutes and thirty-four seconds and a staring contest with the digital digits of his clock later, he had sat up again at the edge of the mattress, before lying down again. This resulted in him pacing his room not five minutes later. Since then he had done nothing but alternating between waiting, pacing and cursing, rendering himself into a nervous wreck. Seiya was worried. More than he dared to admit to himself. Of course, he knew that Hyoga could take care of himself even without Cosmo, but he also knew how emotionally vulnerable the Russian could be. Saori's words must have been devastating to him and the fact that the rest of them hadn't had the chance to make it right afterwards, made it even worse. He threw the linen down, stood and walked the short distance to the big window of his bedroom, looking out into the rain.

'Damn it Hyoga where the hell are you?' Seiya fought the urge to go to the front door to look if perhaps the Russian stood there, just missing the courage to ring the bell.

He had done that four times already. There was no sense in Hyoga coming here and not ring that bell anyway.

Had he found somewhere else to spend the night? Didn't the he think his friends would worry about him? He could at least give a call. Seya bit his lower lip. They had all been too shocked to react initially but what if Hyoga, in fact didn't know they worried, that they cared? Was the Russian mentally so insecure that he would think they'd agree with Saori?

Seiya balled his fist. That was ridiculous. They've been through too much together to doubt their friendship now. For any reason, whatsoever. Which left only one solution, he tried to convince himself. Hyoga was angry at them, all of them and was simply brooding somewhere to lick his wounds and plan his next move.

Seiya went back to his bed and let himself fall on it. "Okay Hyoga," he said to the ceiling above him, "if you wanna stay somewhere else tonight, fine be that way. I won't stay awake the whole night, waiting if you may or may not come here." He let himself fall onto his bed and pulled the cover over him, turning to face the wall.

It was then that a thought invaded his mind that he hadn't allowed entrance before. They've been through too much with Saori to think she'd banish and destroy one of them. For any reason, whatsoever.

The Pegasus Saint didn't sleep well that night, startling awake from every little sound.

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"You are a traitor!"

"A traitor to any saint worth his name! A traitor towards Athena."

Saori8 0s face was full of disgust and hate and soon to be joined by Ikki's.

"You should have died in the Libra-house. You would have done the world a favor. All you ever did was get your friends killed."

Isaac appeared next. "You had me killed, me and your sensei. You wore that cloth for personal reasons. You have always been too sensible and fragile to be a saint."

Jabu's face joined them now. "You stupid gaijin don't belong here."

"How could you do that?" Shun's face was full of hurt and tears.

"You are a liability, a disgrace," Saori spoke again.

"You are less than nothing. I will teach you your place." Tatsumi's voice boomed above all the other angry faces.

Hyoga bolted upright, panting heavily.

'A nightmare,' he thought. 'Just a nightmare'. He lay back down again, shivering. Turning to his side, he pulled his legs close to his body for warmth. Only a nightmare and still the truth.

Everybody knew it. Had probably known it for a long time that he would fail. Only he himself had not seen it until now. He looked up at one of the windows where the morning light colored the bit of gray sky visible from his location on the ground. His clothes were still slightly damp and felt icy against his skin every time he moved. His arm still hurt and he didn't feel at all like getting up. But he had no choice. He badly needed to get a job. If he got lucky with his new boss, he might be able to get an advance and spend the next night in a motel room. At the moment, however, he longed for a hot shower even more than for a bed.

Hyoga fought the weariness that seemed to have attached itself to his bones and pushed himself up on his feet. He shuddered again as damp clo thing rubbed against his body whenever he moved. It would take some movement to get even the resemblance of being warm again.

He walked to the window, getting out the same way he had come in the previous day.

Once outside, he made his way to the part of the port where the workers had already begun to load the ships. He stopped one of them by putting his hand on the man's arm.

"Excuse me, could you tell me, where I can find your boss?"

The man looked him up and down with a disgusted look in his eyes, freeing his arm with a jerk. He frowned, but then nodd ed towards one of the buildings.

"Thank you," Hyoga sighed and walked towards the indicated building without showing any reaction on the man's repulsed behavior towards him. He knew that he looked bad. He was damp, dirty and his clothes too had seen better days. He just hoped that his appearance would not scare off his eventual future employer.

Stopping in front of the wooden door Hyoga took a minute to straighten his clothing and hair as much as possible. Only then did he knock on the door.

He heard a muffled, gruff "Yeah?" opened the door and stepped in. The small office held only one tall armoire and a huge wooden desk. Behind which sat a tall, overweight man with curly black hair and beard. The man had his concentration on something he was writing on a legal pad on his desk and didn't acknowledge him at first. When he did look up to see the newcomer he raised an eyebrow in surprise. "What dog dragged you in here boy?" he said with an amused tone.

"I came to look for a job," Hyoga answered.

"A job, huh? I don't think you'll find the kind of job you are looking for here. We need men, who can work hard. No kids."

"I am no kid." Hyoga defended himself. "And I can do hard work."

The big man leaned back in his chair, looking him over carefully. "Maybe. But you are still too young to do this kind of work."

Hyoga sighed. This was happening quite often that they were considered kids. Especially Seiya had a hard time with that, since he was rather short build. People often judged him younger than he was and he complained about it regularly. It drove him nuts when people treated him like a kid. He who had saved earth more than once already. Of course, he had been only thirteen the first time he had fought with them against the Kyoko and the Gold Saints. But they all had seen and done things which had made them grow faster than their years.

"What's wrong with your hand?" The man asked, indicating the wrapped and splint arm with his chin.

"Nothing bad. It won't keep me from working. I'm used to hard work. I'm stronger than I look.

If you don't believe me, I can show you, " Hyoga tried to change the subject from his broken wrist. "I really need this job."

Hyoga hoped to sound convincing enough, rather than desperate, which would reflect his mood much better. He really needed this job, badly. And he was starting to be sick and tired that nothing seemed to work in his favor right now.

The man behind the desk looked at him intently for a couple of minutes, before he nodded.

"Alright. You get a job. Under one condition," he finally said, standing up.

Hyoga watched warily as the man came over and stopped one step in front of him. Then the man reached forward with a speed that belied his size and held onto Hyoga's broken wrist. Taken aback by the sudden pain, the Russian gasped, taking a step backwards.

"Not bad, Huh?" the man said with a frown. "Well, I don't believe that. I would say it is badly sprained, if not broken. I give you the job but only after your hand has healed, understood?"

Hyoga's hope sank. "I need the job now. I can't wait."

The older man looked at him with a stern, but not unkind expression. "You should go back to your folks, boy. Running away from home is never a solution, no matter how bad it may seem at the moment."

Hyoga's shoulders slumped. The guy thought he was a runaway. He realized that he would not find any help here. Resigned, he turned and left the office without any further word.

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The man watched him leave. He felt sorry for the lad, and played with the thought of calling him back. He could at least offer him something to eat and a place to sleep, for it was obvious, the boy had no place to stay. But if he did that, the youngster might not find the provocation to go home to his family, so he let it be.

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Shun woke late mid morning, feeling more rested and secure than he had in ages. He had talked to his brother and Shiryu until late last night, telling them what had happened while he was gone.

He deliberately left out some details, like Natasha abusing him. He might be able to talk to his brother about it some day, but not yet. Maybe never. His brother would go berserk if he knew and Shun felt the shame, hot and sharp at the thought of him, or anyone knowing. Talking to Hyoga had already helped a lot when it had still been fresh. He was glad that he had opened up in the end. It had been hard, but also kind of freeing. That didn't mean that he wasn't at least as much anxious to avoid the topic to any of the others. Even his beloved brother. Especially his brother, he thought, while biting his lower lip.

He was impatient to go see Hyoga and talk to him. He needed to thank his friend, and at the same time let him know that he would stand by his side, no matter what and return the favor, having the other boy's back. He had been shocked about what Hyoga had done for him, willing to give up everything, but Athena's reaction had even been the bigger shock. She hadn't acted like herself and he and the others would keep an eye on her. They didn't want a repetition of the Asgard war. Of course they didn't impose that she was possessed by some evil force, but they just didn't want to take any risk.

And he had told the police the location of the five bombs. They had found them the same day. Once found, it was rather easy to disarm them for good.

After he got dressed and ready for the day Shun went to the window in his room, opening it.

He stepped out on the balcony and inhaled the fresh morning air with a deep satisfied breath. His room was located at the first floor of the big Kido-mansion as were the others of the saints. But only his and Hyoga's had a balcony.

Ikki was never here to care about it and Shiryu preferred meditating in the wide open. As for Seiya. He had never wanted to stay here and got himself an apartment from the beginning. It was ironic that Athena's most devoted warrior was also the most independent.

A waft of wind drove the biting odor of smoke in his direction and he looked around. He saw Tatsumi throwing something small into a fire on the lawn. It took him a moment to understand what he was doing before he suddenly remembered Athena's orders the previous day and he felt a deep hurt in his heart. So she had really gone through with her threat to burn Hyoga's things. Thank God that Hyoga didn't have much personal stuff except for some books, which could be replaced easily enough. And all the photos he had possessed were photos of them all, of which copies could be made. He just hoped that she would not destroy the things h e had left in Siberia. He had more personal stuff over there he had told him once.

But suddenly, and with a feel of foreboding he recalled a conversation he had had with Hyoga, while they had eaten at the Russian airport. Hyoga had told him that he had dyed and cut his hair to not give himself away. He had even left his rosary home in his Nightstand, just in case.

"Oh Tatsumi, please not the rosary," he whispered to himself.

He didn't even close the window before he hurried over to Hyoga's room, pulling open the door in haste and stepping in. He stopped dead in his tracks. The room was blank. Nothing remained of his friend. There was still the same furniture, but no photos on the dresser or books in the shelf. The room was impersonal and cold. He hadn't expected that20the few items Hyoga had kept here had been enough to make this room lived in and warm. It was as if Hyoga's essence had vanished.

He shook off the strange sensation and sat on the edge of the bed, whose sheets had been taken off as well. Shun reached to the drawer of the nightstand, pulling it open with shaking fingers. He feared what he would find, or better said not find, but in his heart he hoped that Tatsumi had forgotten this drawer.

He hoped in vain. The drawer was as empty as the whole room. The rosary and everything else Hyoga had kept in there was gone. Destroyed by the fire outside.

Shun lowered his hands in his lap, feeling hot tears of frustration in his eyes. This rosary had been the most precious thing in the world for Hyoga. How could Tatsumi do that? How could Athena order something so cruel? She could have at least let him get his stuff, before she chased him away.

He didn't know how to tell Hyoga, when he saw him later on, that the cross from his mother was no more.

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Saori observed how Tatsumi burned the last of the books. She felt tears well up in her eyes but fought them before they could fall. She had had a bad night, Hyoga's pained and resigned eyes after she had hurt him so much with her words had haunted her dreams. She felt like a bitch and she would have wanted to call him back and tell hi m that she hadn't meant what she had said, but she couldn't. Her first priority had to be the people on this planet and not her Saints. Even though this responsibility hurt a lot sometimes. She only hoped that he would go see Seiya and get help and comfort from his friends since she was incapable to do so. They ignored that she knew why Seiya had left so suddenly yesterday. And why she was sure the others would find an excuse to leave as soon as possible as well. Athena had forbidden them to see Hyoga as it had been her duty, but Saori hoped that they would do so. She would keep on the facade and be as detached as the Goddess of Wisdom was supposed to be and she would keep up her duty as protector of the humans but she would gladly look the other way, when they disobeyed her this time.

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T.B.C.