Disclaimer - I don't own Sailor Moon - How many times must i say it damnit.

Well girls and boys here's chapter five... enjoy.


"SEIYA KOU!"

Seiya leapt off the sofa and started to back away.

"Mina. What er… what are you doing here…"

"I've just seen Haruka… What the hell have you said…"
"Well I," His back came up against the apartment wall and he felt cut off and vulnerable in the wake of Mina's anger.

"That's the last time I ever take your word for anything,"
"Come on give me a break…"
"I'll give you a break!" She growled "Where would be most painful?"

"Okay, okay," Yaten stood in front of Seiya, from behind him he could see that Mina was now giving Yaten a glare that would make most men tremble and step aside automatically. Yaten however, though he shrunk back slightly, held his ground.

"I don't know what's going on, but…"
"There's practically no Haruka left," Yelled Mina "I stopped her to talk to her and she had this glazed empty look in her eyes, which for your information looked as if she'd been crying for weeks, she didn't say a word, she just walked away midway through my sentence,"

"Well how do you know it was Seiya's fault,"
"Who else would do it? He's the only other person besides the other scouts and myself that even knows,"

"Knows what?"
"None of your business…" She snapped and pushed him to one side, and Seiya cringed, when she spoke she had lowered her voice, which would have been a relief except now the tone was disappointed and it made Seiya feel even worse.

"Seiya you promised me! You told me you wouldn't say anything" Seiya's head was a mad mixture of guilt and anger at these words. Anger won through first.

"I believe my promise was not to say anything, if she didn't…and she practically seeked me out to start a fight, and then blamed me for all her problems" He said clenching his fist, then he looked at the floor as the guilt part of him took over, "I… didn't mean to go so far…"

"What did you say," Mina's voice was practically a whisper by now. "What could you have told her to break her in half like that…"
"I… told her the truth… a truth I don't think she even knew,"

Yaten was staring from one to the other, utterly confused. He'd never seen Mina so angry.

Mina looked at Seiya, searching his eyes as if she thought she could relive the entire event through them. After a few moments she drew back slightly, folded her arms and sighed.

"Well, I haven't got the faintest idea what you've done,"

"I…"
"But, whatever it was your going to go apologise,"

Both Seiya and Yaten were looking at her as if she'd just grown a tail, she couldn't honestly be serious.

"Your kidding… you expect him to apologise to her… after everything she's done to him," Yaten was pointing at Seiya who was still staring. Mina turned her frown onto Yaten.

"Maybe he should learn to be the bigger person… besides I believe I already told you this is not your business!" Seiya blinked and Yaten looked dumbfounded, Mina had never spoken to anyone, let alone Yaten, like that as far as they knew.

"You can't think for a minute I'm just going to march myself over to… wherever it is that she lives and come back alive."

"Well not right away!" Snapped Mina, "Give her a few days to calm down and get herself together,"

"I already apologised to her," Snapped back Seiya, who had just remembered how the conversation had ended, "But she…"
"Well you're damn well going to apologise again!"

"And what good will that do?"

"Well for starters it might make her feel better… besides it's about time you two tried to put your differences aside and started at least being vaguely nice to one another!"

"Have you told her this?"

"No… she hardly needs another person to have a go at her at the moment! She's going through a really tough time at the mo…!"
"And I wouldn't know anything about that!" Seiya said bitterly, he folded his arms and looked away from Mina who had stopped in her tracks, her mouth half open. She put her head down slightly and sighed again.

"I hope you haven't forgotten that it was her that made every effort to rub in the fact that I had to watch the girl I love walk down the aisle to be with another man."

Mina looked right down at the floor and shook her head.

"No Seiya… I'm sorry… It's just that, well I do understand… and I think that's the reason you need to step up, because you know what she's going through and… I think deep down she knows that too. Maybe if you show her that you're willing to at least be civil then… both of you can heal properly, without snapping at each others heels all the time and making it worse."

Seiya frowned slightly, he knew that Mina had a point, and he also knew why she had come to him; there was no way on gods green earth, that Haruka Tenoh would make the first move to apologise to anyone. The problem was he didn't relish the idea of having to apologise to the woman who'd tried to make his life hell, and was still a little terrified of being ripped limb from limb the moment Haruka opened the door.

The three of them stood in silence for a while. Yaten was still extremely confused on three counts. One was what on earth had happened between Seiya and the Wind Senshi to get Mina this mad, the second, why did Seiya look willing to compromise and how had he come to feel sorry for Haruka Tenoh and the third and most confusing of all was why he was suddenly contemplating how good Mina looked when she was angry.

Mina was feeling a little bad about how she had acted, but also quite pleased with the result, certainly Seiya looked like he was considering the idea of apologising and trying to be civil with Haruka, so far all was going to plan. Seiya himself was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Did he chance being murdered on sight by Haruka if he went to apologise to her, or did he chance being murdered on sight by Mina if he didn't? All in all it was a very confused silence that Taiki found himself walking into.


A few days later Seiya took several deep breaths and wondered silently to himself how the hell he'd been talked into this. As he stared at the door in front of him and the rain poured down on his head, he thought, for what had to be the first time in a long time, that he should have listened to Yaten's advice and just steered well clear. But instead he'd done the stupid thing and signed his own death warrant. Slowly he raised a hand and, taking one last deep breath, he knocked hard.

When after a few minutes there was no response Seiya allowed the breath he'd been holding out, he couldn't help but feel relieved. It wasn't his fault if she didn't answer the door. He was about to turn away when, to his disappointment, he heard someone behind the door fiddling with the lock and a few seconds later it was wide open framing a very confused looking Haruka. As he just stood there her confused look soon turned to one of annoyance.

"What?" She said finally in a frustrated tone when he didn't say anything. Evidently her barriers were back in place, she simply looked annoyed, not broken… Seiya wasn't sure which would be better for what he had come to say.

"I…" He turned around fully trying to think of exactly what it was Mina had advised him to say. He could see her getting more frustrated by the second.

"Look if you came to…"

"I just came to talk," he said before she could get any further.

"So talk!" She snapped.

"Um… could I come in it's kind of wet out here…?" he said motioning to the almost black sky. She stared at him in silence for a few moments and then rolled her eyes and moved aside so he could enter. As he went passed her he murmured thanks. Silently he was thinking so far so good, I still have all my limbs intact at least.

She lead the way silently into a large kitchen and pointed at a stool which he promptly sat on, he was slightly confused as to why she hadn't just made him talk in the hallway but he didn't ask.

"Do you want anything…"
"What… well yeah like I said I came to…"
"I meant to drink!" She said quickly with what looked like a very painful polite expression that confused Seiya as much as the offer itself. He wasn't sure what to say, he wasn't sure if she was kidding.
"Do you want anything or not?" She snapped, the expression becoming one of annoyance.

"No…no I'm fine!" he said quickly. She pulled out another stool and sat down opposite him.

"So… talk!"

Seiya silently cursed Mina for putting him into this situation, but a promise was a promise and she already felt he'd broken one this week.

"I came… to apologise…" He tried looking at her but her stare was piercing and it was much more comfortable to look at the table. "For what I said on Thursday evening,"

He chanced another look at her but her expression was still the same.

"So," She said, leaning back slightly "Mina got to you too," Ignoring the still unchanged expression Seiya looked up in surprise and straight into her face.

"You mean she talked to you too," That explains why she's being so polite… by her standards anyway.

"First thing this morning!" she said matter of factly.

"She told me she wouldn't say anything to you,"

"Told me the same thing, still I figured it out when I saw you standing outside." She said waving her hand, "One minute she's making me swear to be more civil to you and then four hours later low and behold you turn up on my doorstep… coincidence?"

"She practically threatened me with murder,"

"Gave me the puppy dog eyes… I should have known then she was plotting something!"

"She talks sense sometimes… but she's still not the sharpest tool," Muttered Seiya making a mental note to give Mina a long lecture on hypocrisy.

"Agreed, I…" she stopped and looked a little confused, her expression matched Seiya's. It was strange to think that this was the longest conversation they'd ever had with each other; that wasn't a shouting match. Both could suddenly see where this was going. It was all looking very much like Mina had set them both up on purpose to create common ground.
Seiya allowed a small smile to cross his face.

"That Mina… not as dumb as we thought," he said, "Really thought this one out…" Haruka seemed to be fighting the urge to smile as well. They sat in what was a strangely comfortable silence for a few minutes when the doorbell suddenly rang through the house. Haruka left her seat and walked out of the room leaving Seiya to think about exactly what to do about Mina when he next saw her. She'd probably avoid him for a few days. He vaguely heard the door open and then close a few seconds later and what sounded like footsteps up the stairs but he wasn't paying much attention. He simply stared into space wondering if he should excuse himself, after all he'd done what he intended and there was no reason forcing his presence here any longer.

He was just walking towards the kitchen door and out into the hall, when he heard a loud crash from upstairs. As he came out into the hall, a pretty woman in a white dress came rushing past, not even noticing him, her wavy teal hair flowing behind her, she was carrying what appeared to be a small suitcase. As the door slammed shut he distinctly heard a sob escape her. This was echoed with another sob that sounded like it came from upstairs. Seiya cringed and growled to himself, he knew what he was about to do could very easily get him thrown out of a window, but he was going to do it anyway, and with that he headed up the stairs in the direction of the sobbing.

Haruka stared at the scattered pieces of the vase that she had knocked so violently to the floor in her sadness and anger as Michiru had closed the door on her. It struck her that Michiru had always hated it, but it had been a present from an admirer of her music and she had been far too polite to throw it away. She was so always polite… she was also kind… graceful, beautiful… and gone.

Haruka jumped at the knock on her door and for a fleeting moment thought it might be Michiru.

"Hey Tenoh… um" Seiya… she'd completely forgotten him, "I… er… Are you okay," Seiya had thought it best to knock rather than simply walk in.

Haruka began furiously wiping her tears. She couldn't quite believe that the two times in her life that she really broke down and cried, were the two times she was around Seiya Kou. She just couldn't let him of all people see her like this. There was another knock on the door.

"Go away Kou!" She yelled furiously. The knocking stopped abruptly and she collapsed backwards onto her bed, closing her eyes and sighing, she curled up pulling one of the pillows towards her and hugging it tight.

It was another half an hour before she uncurled and walked towards the mirror, her eyes were still slightly red, but it was nothing noticeable. Maybe some fresh air would help. Her mind flitted to her car; she had always been able to jump behind the wheel and just drive, outrunning her troubles. The difference was, she had always had Michiru sitting beside her, her long hair blowing back in the breeze. Haruka looked out of the window, the car was exactly where it always was, but for the first time in her life she didn't think it would be enough to simply run away from the pain.

She opened the bedroom door and jumped back in shock to see that Seiya was sat across the hall leaning with his back against the wall. She quickly regained herself and frowned as he started to get to his feet.

"Finally I was going to give it five more minutes and then I was coming in," He said with a bored tone, she frowned harder.

"And why the hell would you want to do that… and what are you still doing here anyway," She snapped and he shrugged.

"I guess I was worried what Mina and the others would do to me if they knew I'd been here and you'd done something stupid,"

"Well thank you for your concern," She said sarcastically… when he still didn't move she rolled her eyes and pointed at herself, "Well as you can see I'm fine… you can go now,"

"Come on… I think we both now you're far from fine."

"Even if I was, you are the last person I'd talk about it with Kou." She snapped, "Now will you just go!"

"Alright… but you should call someone…Setsuna maybe… trust me, you shouldn't be alone in this!" Haruka felt a little disturbed by the sincerity in his voice.
"Why do you care all of a sudden?" she said suspiciously,

"Because we have more in common than you care to admit… and believe it or not, I know I've been through the same thing!" and, not waiting for a response, he turned and walked down the hall towards the stairs.

"Seiya!" he stopped in surprise and turned to find her standing in the middle of the corridor, her arms folded.

"What?" He asked.

"I guess… I'll take your advice and call Suna," she said with difficulty, he stood there for a second and then simply nodded and continued down the corridor.

As he closed the front door behind him he stood there a moment and took a deep breath, the rain had finally stopped. Right he thought to himself now to find Mina!


Hmm not sure what to make of this chapter... it worked out better than i thought.

Anywho the next chapter might take a while since i'm having a case of writers block 'bangs head on keyboard'

As always advice/criticism is welcome... but praise and love is even more welcome :) which reminds me: Thank you all so far for your lovely comments, i really value your opinions and they really help to inspire me to keep on writing. So i hope i can keep this as a really good story for you too enjoy.