Another week, another chapter, as promised. Many dramas, on top of uni work this week! A close friend of mine lost her mother suddenly, only 2 days ago. We're all still in shock. I didn't know her very well, but I just wanted to mention her this week, to show my respect, and to immortalize her in some way. So, Rest in Peace Audrey.

Thank you to: Tam-chan (TamoumatheStarWarrior), Kiwi-margarita, CharmedSerenity3, Miss Katrina Malfoy, life705, Stacey, Usako, Brizzy, SerentiyMoonGodness, Moon Princess Selene, Jessica, SulliMike23, UniversalBunny and Jenbunny, for reviewing the previous chapter.

I'd like to dedicate this chapter to Miss Katrina Malfoy. Who, over the span of five or so years, has left many humorous and supportive (and maybe a couple frustrated) reviews. I watched Just Like Heavenlike you told me to. You were right, I enjoyed it, haha!


Title: Akai Ito
Author: Crystal Saturn
Rated: T
Chapter: 5- Something More

"There's gotta be something more than what I'm living for
I'm crying out to you"

The following day, Serena roused at the sound of her alarm clock blaring at six in the morning. She groggily sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes slowly. Reaching out for the alarm clock, she pressed the little red button and slowly proceeded to lazily tumble out of bed.

"Why did you set your alarm so early?" Darien glanced up from her desk chair. He had a deck of cards spread out in a muddle on her desk in front of him.

"I'm going to the hospital again this morning." Serena stepped into her slippers and shuffled to her wardrobe, pulling out her school uniform. "What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to move things. I could feel when you held my hand yesterday, and you seem to be able to sense when I'm nearby. The locket closed when I touched it. Maybe, if I concentrate hard enough, I might be able to start moving things. I managed to shift a few cards earlier, but it seems I can only move paper objects, and that's it." Darien turned his head only to realize that Serena had already walked out of the room to take a shower. "We're going to have to work on this communication thing." He called out after her before mumbling to himself. "Especially if we're destined to be married."


"I don't get why we're here." Darien took large strides to keep up with Serena's pace as they walked side by side down the hospital corridor. He conveniently hovered right through a wheelchair and a refreshment cart. "I thought we had already established that I can't get back into my body in the conventional ways. We've tried it already."

"We're not here to try again. We're… I'm here to visit you." Serena frowned at the complexity of the deceivingly simple sounding sentence. It seemed that a part of her had identified Darien's spirit as a separate entity from Darien's body. It was as if Darien's body contained within it the part of Darien that was her prince, Tuxedo Mask, her past fiancé and love of her life. Whereas, spirit Darien seemed to be the colder, harsher pre-Silver Crystal Darien Chiba of the present that constantly teased her. In a way, she felt as though she was mourning the loss of her beloved prince and protector. Seeing his physical form gave her hope that maybe that lost part of Darien would return if he woke up.

"I don't understand. I'm right here. If you haven't already noticed, my body isn't really in any shape to be conversing with you when it's lying there unconscious." The couple stopped at the front of Darien's room.

"Darien, can you please wait outside? I'd like some private time." Serena turned towards the perplexed looking spirit, only to see an elderly hospital patient through his body. She looked at the young school girl strangely as she shuffled back into her ward.

"Are you kidding me? But that's my body. You're going in there to see me." Darien smacked his hand against his forehead in frustration. Serena simply eyed him down as she entered and closed the door behind her.

She proceeded to slowly walk further into the room and sat down by the comatose body of Darien Chiba. Meanwhile a mischievous thought ran through spirit Darien's mind as he waited obediently outside. Ever so gently, he peeked his head into the room, observing Serena's form facing away from the door.

"Darien, if you can hear me, please wake up." She pleaded quietly. As he leant in, attempting to hear what she was saying, Darien began to feel his hand tingle with warmth again. She was holding the hand of his physical form. "It's not like you're not around, but you're not quite you. I thought that if you woke up, you'd remember our past. I thought that maybe you would have the same feelings about me, as I do about you. I miss you. I know we never dated in this life, but I remember what it was like when we did in our past life. I liked it, I miss it. I want it back. You said we are different people now, but my heart tells me that my prince is still somewhere in you."

Darien withdrew his head from within the room. His curiosity had gotten the better of him and now he knew why she wanted to be alone. It made sense now. Why she wanted to see him and what she meant when she said she believed in Akai Ito. He now knew exactly how she felt about him and he began to pace up and down the corridor as he attempted to figure out and decipher his mind's mixed feelings for the young teen.

On one hand he firmly believed in controlling his own destiny. After all, what was the purpose of life if every aspect of it was predetermined? On the other hand, he had seen the red thread with his own eyes and it did explain why every part of him, in both civilian and hero form was drawn to Serena. His logical mind protested and rejected the thought of him having no choice in the matter of who he was allowed to love.

Although he attempted in every way to assess his emotions in a logical and methodical manner, he was too smart and knew it would be pointless to challenge the feelings he felt whenever Serena was around. He couldn't help but let his guard down around her. She brought colour to his world and excitement into his otherwise mundane introverted life. As Darien paced about outside his room, he came to the conclusion that he was not going to give up the fight to forge his own destiny, but conceded that he was happy that Serena was a part of it. Still, there was something in the way that she spoke to his unconscious self that made his heart pang with an unfamiliar emotion. Was it guilt? Maybe jealousy? The steel door handle twitched and turned as the short blonde school girl quietly slipped out of the room.

"It's time to go. I don't want to be late for school." She smiled even though it was evident she had recently been crying.


Serena felt her focus begin to slip as she stared out of the classroom window. She had absolutely no interest in Shakespeare and didn't understand why it was written so differently and yet still considered as English. As far as she was concerned, she was grateful to have not been alive in Shakespeare's period. No one seemed to ever come out of a play alive.

"Serena, please read out the part of Ophelia from where we left off." Ms. Haruna noticed the lack of focus coming from the school girl.

"I um…" Serena looked down at her playbook frantically. She hadn't paid any attention whatsoever and glanced around in an attempt to see what page everybody else had turned to.

"Next page. Line 43." Darien glanced over her shoulder briefly as he strolled up and down the classroom.

"Thanks." Serena whispered under her breath and gave the otherwise invisible man a quick smile of gratitude. To her and Ms. Haruna's astonishment, Serena found the correct place and began to read her part out loud. She read her lines until the end of the scene when Ms. Haruna assigned another student to pick up where she had left off. Almost immediately, Serena turned her gaze out the window once more.

"Stay focused. You'll get yourself in trouble again." Darien strolled toward her from the front of the classroom.

"It sucks. I don't understand it."She pouted and crossed her arms in protest. "Stupid Shakespeare."

"What did you say, Serena?" Ms. Haruna stopped the class, and all eyes focused on the airy, blushing blonde. Unbeknownst to them all, Ami had been watching Serena's strange behavior for a while now. It concerned her that Serena seemed to be having a bit of a conversation with herself in whispered tones almost inaudible to anybody around her.

"N-nothing. Sorry, continue." Serena smiled sheepishly as Darien approached and stood beside her.

"The play is about Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark." Darien knelt down beside Serena and began to explain the story of Hamlet. "His father, the King, dies and his uncle Claudius marries his widowed mother to claim the throne. The ghost of his dead father comes back to tell Hamlet that Uncle Claudius murdered him. Hamlet pretends to go a little crazy in an attempt to find out the truth to the rumor of his fathers' murder. Ophelia is his girlfriend at the time. You just read out the part where Hamlet broke off their relationship because he discovers she's been spying on him. He eventually kills her father, and she goes crazy."

'Almost everyone dies in the end, don't they?' Serena jotted down on her paper pad for Darien to read. He shot her a broad grin and nodded.

"But it's a good scene. There's a fencing match with poison tipped swords. There's poisoned wine and revelations of murder and conspiracy. It's great!" Darien struggled to contain his increasing excitement. Serena couldn't help but smile at his enthusiasm. She had never seen him so animated. He was a nerd and she found it cute.

'You explain it so much better.' Serena scribbled and she watched his eyes light up in mirth.

With a little more understanding of the play, Serena turned her attention to the text in front of her in an attempt to decipher the poetic language. Ghosts, murder conspiracies, star crossed lovers. It all seemed to hit a little close to home. She glanced up briefly to see that Darien was watching her intently.

"I can't believe my eyes. You're actually reading. You're reading a book. It's Shakespeare." He leaned over her desk just to make sure that there wasn't any manga hidden away between the pages. She crossed her arms and pouted at him like a petulant child. He let out a gentle laugh as he observed her change of emotions. A ruby coloured hue stained Serena's cheeks at the sound of his amusement. She felt her pout soon dissolve into a small bashful smile. It seemed to make her feel light and lifted her mood when he laughed. She liked it.

'Thank you for helping me understand. You're a great teacher.' She jotted down on the pad.

"You'd be surprised at how much you've taught me in the past few days, Dumpling Head."

"You know I hate it when you call me that"


. . .

So, that's it for another week. I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please review and share your thoughts ^_^ I will see you all next week!

Crystal Saturn