Sorry about the late update, what with one thing and another, exams, back to college, coursework, thunderstorms and powercuts, and then actually trying to write it. It's all been very headachey this last week.

Anyway as always i don't own Sailor Moon which sucks but i'm used to it.

So enjoy xP


The apartment was empty when Seiya returned, for this he was thankful, he didn't need Yaten and Taiki's questions right now. He was still reeling slightly as to coming out of that place without a scratch; and even more confusing, on the best terms he'd ever been with Haruka Tenoh since the few minutes after the battle with Galaxia... apparently her gratitude for helping to save her world didn't stretch as far as putting up with the three of them remaining on earth. Admitted both had been following orders from a certain hyperactive blonde, but even so, Usagi had more than once asked them to be civil to each other and even on her request Seiya had found it far more difficult than that day.

He reasoned that it had something to do with both knowing roughly what the other was going through, but he didn't want to linger on the subject, the very idea that he had something in common with Haruka was a definite sign that the world was about to turn upside down.

Sighing and shaking his head he sat down at the dining room table, pulled the paper he had left there towards him and tried to focus on the song he had been trying to write. It was strange to be trying to write songs again, he hadn't really done much for the last year, as a result their more recent songs had been written by someone else and people had noticed the difference. They hadn't lost any fans, though they did occasionally get letters asking about the sudden change.

He thought it best to try to get back into it, writing had always been an outlet for what he was feeling, something Taiki understood, though he poured it all into small poems or hid it behind figures and certainty. Yaten, naturally, just didn't get it at all. It seemed strange on reflection that someone with the power of empathy, who could feel every star seed in the galaxy, and sense the emotions of others, could be so… un-empathic when it came to his own feelings. He turned his attention to the blank page in front of him and wrote a few words before scribbling them out again.

He did this again and again until he filled the page and simply screwed it up, this happened many times and by the time Taiki walked through the apartment door the paper was practically spilling out into the hall.

"You know that's a waste of good paper," he said with a hint of amusement.

"So sue me!" Growled Seiya not looking up, he was sure song writing had never taken him this long before. Taiki simply shook his head slightly and waded across the dining room to the kitchen. "You want anything?" he said before going in. Seiya still didn't look up but shook his head.

He looked down at the latest attempt; it was his longest so far which wasn't saying much but it was an improvement.

There are times when you make me laugh
there are moments when you drive me mad
there are seconds when I see the light
though many times you made me cry (Nothing to Lose - MLRT)

Strangely enough he found he was quite happy with it, it was certainly fitting, now if he could just add to it. He bent down to start writing again when the door slammed and two loud voices could be heard.

"Well you know what I don't care!"

"You are such a sore loser… just admit it I rock,"
"You got lucky,"
"Yeah three times in a row," Mina came waltzing into the dining room but stopped short on seeing Seiya.

"Ah," he turned to give her a smile that wiped her own off her face.

"Hey Mina!" he said in a voice that sounded little to friendly, she gave a nervous giggle and backed out of the room.

"Seiya… you're here… did you, erm see Haruka," he nodded and she gave another nervous giggle as Yaten came in.

"You mean you actually went… and you still have both arms and legs?" He said raising an eyebrow.

"So… it went okay then," Mina looked relieved but still wary.

"Oh yeah… we talked a bit… funnily enough you came up," she had now back fully out of the room and was looking in awe at her watch.

"Oh my… I had totally forgotten I have to be at the studio in ten minutes, I really have to dash tell me some other time okay… bye," and with that she made a dash for the door. Seiya smiled to himself slightly as the front door slammed. Yaten was looking at him like he was something incredible.

"What is it?"

"I don't know what you did to make her back off like that but… you have got to teach me," Seiya laughed and looked back at his lyrics, he made a couple of corrections and crossings out while Yaten seated himself across the table.

"Writing songs again?"

Seiya nodded without looking up, and so he missed Yaten's look of confusion.

"What's brought this on?" said Yaten leaning forward and grabbing the piece of paper. He leant back in his chair and scanned the page, raising an eyebrow.

"I just thought I should get back into it… what?" he grabbed the paper back and glared at Yaten who was still looking sceptical about something.

"Nothing… I guess I forgot how soppy your writing was… now I think about it…"
"Shut up," Seiya frowned and lobbed one of his rejected sheets of scrunched up paper at Yaten's head. Standing up, he folded the paper and put it in his pocket.

"I'm going out again!"

Yaten watched, shaking his head, as Seiya marched out of the dining room and out of the front door, slamming it behind him. Taiki stepped back into the room and sighed at the slam.

"What did you do to him this time?" He said in a despairing tone.

Yaten turned and frowned at him before also standing and making his way towards the door. Taiki simply sighed and went back into the kitchen.

Stupid Taiki… always my damned fault… I was only kidding, he didn't have to take it so personally. Yaten fumed as he walked out into the crowded street, he could still just see the back of Seiya's head a little way ahead of him. He wasn't exactly sure why he was following him.

Meanwhile just ahead of him, Seiya was ready to bash his head against a wall out of frustration, he didn't know quite where he was going, just that it was away from Yaten, Taiki, Mina… all of them. There was a little voice in his head telling him he was getting overly upset about the tiniest thing, but then there was the bigger and louder voice telling him that he had every right after the three years of holding back to finally let it all out.

Let it out he had, a few days ago, on Haruka Tenoh, and this was another thing that the voices were arguing about. The loud part told him she deserved it really, the little one that he supposed was called conscience, was telling him that nobody deserved to be broken like that, and the image of her breaking down continually played back in his head. A week ago he would gladly have exchanged that image for the ones of Usagi that had previously haunted him, he'd probably have laughed about it, but now every time it played he felt more and more sorry and angry at himself for what he'd said. That was probably the reason he stayed behind at her house to make sure she was okay, he'd have felt guilty if he'd just left her, and he already felt that more than enough.

He growled slightly, causing the woman who was walking past to give him a strange look. It was ridiculous quite frankly, he wanted to blame Haruka for seeking him out for a fight, Michiru for causing her to do so, Mina for making him go to apologise, Mamoru for being there in general, pretty much everyone, but that nagging little conscience was winning through and he knew that he had said it, and he had meant to it to hurt, even if he didn't actually believe it when he said it. It was his fault that he couldn't get the sight of her looking so scared and frail out of his head.

As he thought this, he was of course paying absolutely no attention to where he was going and so it was inevitable that eventually he walked into somebody. It was even more inevitable, due to the way fate tended to favour others, that the person would be none other than Haruka Tenoh, looking her normal angry self.

On seeing that the blonde and his brother were heading straight for each other, neither paying much attention, Yaten was almost tempted to rush forwards and pull Seiya out of her way. He'd probably been lucky earlier, if he knocked into her, he'd probably lose a limb. On the other hand he'd just seen Mina crossing the road behind him and he was preoccupied with ducking into a shop to make sure she didn't spot him, as the other two collided with shouts of "Watch where your…!"

"Oh god!" Haruka practically screamed "Can I not go half a day without running into YOU!"

Seiya frowned, all thoughts of being sorry for her blowing out of the window, the little voice seemed to be cowering in a corner of his mind. So much for her promising Mina to be civil with me he thought it's only been what four hours since she was taking my advice.

"Well you know you would hardly be my first choice as to who to just run into, where are you headed without looking anyway!" She froze a little and frowned back.

"Setsuna's…why got a problem with it?" She snapped, and Seiya knew that she must have actually done what he said she should and called Setsuna; he couldn't help but feel slightly smug. He was about to respond when both were interrupted by a loud

"Oh!" as another blonde almost ran into them and jumped back looking very awkward.

"Er Hi Haruka… Seiya," She said getting a hold of herself and putting on a breezy voice and calm-ish smile. Both just stared at her for a moment before she continued.

"You two seem to be getting on well… so don't let me interrupt," she started to back away, a little too slowly however as Haruka was next to her a moment later.

"Mina," She said with a smile, before bending down to say something in Mina's ear, which caused Mina to go slightly red and get very flustered.

"Er…well, yeah… anyway like I said…bye!" She turned on her heel and walked away leaving Seiya laughing and Haruka with a smile suggesting she was very pleased with the result of her words. She turned, still smiling, to a still laughing Seiya and it was a few moments before they both realised who they were standing opposite. At the realisation both abruptly stopped and went back to frowning.

"Anyway I'm in a rush so…"
"Yeah me too… see ya,"

"Right, see ya,"

With that they both walked away with a shared feeling of confusion as to why they had said 'See Ya'. A small white haired guy who was watching also shared this feeling. He turned around and started to walk home beginning to get worried about his brother, he had said from the very beginning sitting at that window for weeks was going to send Seiya crazy, and now he was beginning to see evidence to prove his theory.


Haruka cursed herself as she tried to search for a really good reason why she should hate Seiya Kou. Setsuna sat opposite watching her patiently as she battled inside her head. The problem was she couldn't even use what he had said to her a few days before because she had sought him out and what he had said was true.

She had arrived at Setsuna's about half an hour ago, for the first twenty minutes she had poured her heart out about Michiru, and it had helped, she wished that she could adopt Setsuna's patience. Then again, standing guard over the Time Gates for eternity will grow that quality in a person. However just a few minutes ago she had started a rant about Seiya, to which Setsuna had asked her what exactly it was about him that made her still able to hate him so much. She didn't know what brought that question on, but when Setsuna had ensured her that it was a serious question she had started to think about it; and maddeningly she could pinpoint an exact reason.

"Gah Suna what is the point in this… does it matter why I think he's a total ba…"
"Haruka, perhaps you dislike him because he has too much in common with you," Haruka laughed loudly.

"In common with that…"

"Think about it for a second, for an obvious one your both sailor soldiers,"
"Yeah well so are…"
"You're both headstrong, stubborn, totally devoted to your duties and your princess,"

"He stayed when she…"

"She practically ordered them to stay. Okay, well then you're both confident, flirtatious, and protective…"

"Well yeah but he…"

"And need I even mention the whole gender thing!"

"Hey I…" Haruka was about to get really mad when she noticed the mischievous twinkle behind the older woman's eyes. She folded her arms and leant back in her chair, straining to prevent the smile from forming.

"Did you just crack a joke?" she said in a would-be grouchy tone.

"Why no, I was totally serious," Setsuna was now smiling, "Okay not entirely, but still Haruka, if you keep focusing on blaming and hating one person, for reasons that you don't understand, it's only going to make the whole thing harder for you… and him… I think we all know the last month has been hard on him,"

Haruka grunted and frowned,

"Well believe what you like, but I still say you should give the guy a break, if only for your own sake,"

"I don't know if I like the new talkative, jokey you Suna. She's getting a bit out of hand" Said Haruka rolling her eyes, but a small smile was evident on her face. Setsuna just laughed.


Phew, glad i'm done, it was one of those in-betweeny chapters that i find really difficult to write... i may edit this a bit later, right now i'm too tired xP

Anyway as always Review and i'll love you a whole lot :)