Busy busy busy! Added another one of my fanfictions to my list of fanfics to refurbish. I have a strange feeling that I'm starting to juggle a little too much on my plate now haha. Especially now that I've added 'regular exercise' to my daily regime. Gotta look after the health! ^_^

Special Thanks to: Merangelgal, TaliMoonAngel668, ScarletL, Stacey, Miss Katrina Malfoy, CharmedSerenity3, SerentiyMoonGodness, life705, UniversalBunny, Tam-chan (TamoumatheStarWarrior), Jenbunny, Moon Princess Selene, Usako, TropicalRemix and SulliMike23 for reviewing the previous chapter.

I'm going to do something different this week and instead of dedicating this chapter to a long-time supporter and reviewer, I'd like to dedicate this week's chapter to one of my newest readers who I affectionately call 'Tam-chan', but is more commonly known as TamoumatheStarWarrior. She leaves some of the loveliest comments and such supportive words of encouragement. She's just such a lovely person to talk to and has a number of Card Captor Sakura fanfics written that I will one day get around to reading. Tam-chan, you're awesome! ^_^


Title: Akai Ito
Author: Crystal Saturn
Rated: T
Chapter: 6- 4:12

"I'm so sorry I've been so down
I started doubting things could ever turn around
But I still can't believe that all we are
And that all of our dreams are nothing more than material"

The crimson digits glowed brightly in the dark corner of Serena's room. 4:12 they read. Darien ran his translucent hand through the flame of the small tea candle that he had asked Serena to light for him earlier. The flame flickered in response to his touch. He attempted once more to shift the tin base of the candle unsuccessfully. He sighed in boredom and frustration. Spirits did not need to sleep. This left Darien with eight hours every night with nothing to do. He gave up attempting to remember his number placements in Sudoku. It was almost impossible to play without a pen. He could turn the pages of books, but unfortunately, Serena did not own any. Most nights Darien roamed the streets and watched the sunrise. Tonight, he didn't feel like going out. It was cold and lonely out there, and he wanted to be close to her.

As he watched Serena sleeping peacefully, a stray thought entered his mind. He wondered what it would be like to be sleeping under those sheets, next to her. She looked so peaceful and comfortable. Since becoming a spirit, Darien had felt perpetually cold, yet Serena seemed to radiate constant warmth. Sometimes it was almost like he could feel her. He stood from the desk chair and made his way past her side table. His fingers grazed against the star locket. It triggered the mechanisms within as the dome lid flipped open and the familiar melody began to play.

"Darien?" Serena stirred in her sleep. She watched wearily as he reached out and closed the dome of the golden locket. "You can touch it. You moved it. Can you move things now?"

"No." Darien stated simply. "I still can't move anything other than paper. For some reason, the star locket is the only thing that reacts to my touch."

"It can sense you. It is a part of our past. It's Akai Ito." Serena gazed sleepily at the locket. "Sorry, I forgot." She blushed and retreated further under her sheets. "You don't believe in that."

"I didn't say I didn't believe in it, Sere."

"But you said you wanted to choose your fate and create your own destiny. That includes who you love, right? That locket plays only for us; our past and present selves. For some reason, only I can see you, and the locket senses you too. If you're such a firm believer in choosing your own destiny, then how can you say you believe in Akai Ito, the predetermined destiny of two soul mates?" Serena wearily sat up in her bed and shuffled around her quilt cover.

"I… I don't know. It's all very confusing. We shared some wonderful experiences in our past lives, but what do we share in this life? I just don't like the idea of having the person I'm supposed to love for the rest of my life chosen for me. Don't I get a say in all this?" Darien paced about in frustration.

"I see…" Serena pulled her covers up over a chest, almost to protect herself. "I'm not good enough for you, am I, Darien?"

"I didn't say that, Serena." Darien sighed in frustration. He didn't want to upset her, but he felt the need to express his honest opinion. Someone had to be the voice of reason and rationality.

"Yes, you did." Serena shot back defensively, attempting to stifle sobs. She didn't really know why she was crying. A part of her knew that Darien was right. After all, she wasn't really in love with him, but with Prince Endymion from her past, or so she thought. Yet it was one of the hardest things she had had to deal with since the Silver Crystal revealed their identities. They were lovers in a previous life, yet he didn't want her in this one. It wasn't easy for her. It never is when a relationship goes wrong. When somebody falls out of love, it's almost impossible for it to be truly amicable. It's almost unheard of to simply withdraw your heart from a love so deep, and expect to not have hers follow. Surely his heart, just like hers, still fluttered every time their eyes met, right? It couldn't be all just in her head, could it? Would fate be so cruel as to reunite two lovers all these years later, only to have one break the heart of the other?

Ah, there it was. The true meaning behind her tears. She was wrong. It was love she felt for him after all.

"Look Serena, it's evident that I will always be drawn to you. I will always be there to protect you. Something keeps bringing us together. Whether it is fate or not, I don't know, but I'm not like you. I don't have very many friends. I don't have a loving family to come home to every day. I'm independent, I live alone and I like it that way. In my life, I've made all my own decisions and I'm comfortable with that. I like having choices and I like doing things my way. I've never needed anybody else."

"Well then why are you here, Darien? If you're so independent then why are you following me around everywhere? What makes you think I want you around, Darien? Don't I get a choice too?" Serena glared stubbornly.

"Of course you get a choice. I don't need to be around you, Dumpling Head, but you're the only one who can see me."

"Well how convenient for you then." Serena hissed. "Guess what Darien? I don't need to be around you either, and right now, I don't want to be around you. So if I don't need you here and you don't need to be here, then what's stopping you from just leaving?"

Darien looked down at Serena's feet. A sliver of red light shone beneath her covers. His gaze followed the path of the light as it fell off her bed and cast a winding path across her bedroom floor and out the window. Was she right? Was he not the same Darien that lay unconscious on the hospital bed? The invisible red string that was tied around her ankle didn't also tie around his foot. It didn't unite them at all. It symbolized a bond between the other Darien, his physical self, and her. So where did that leave him? Who was he and why did he not also have his own red string?

"You're right." Darien lowered his head and followed her little red string. "I'll leave you alone." And with that, Darien chased the string and wafted through her window. As he reached the street below, he could hear the gentle melody of the star locket pierce through the silence of the night. Looking back up at Serena's balcony, Darien couldn't help but feel a sense of loss and regret. The light in his life had all but diminished. As he walked by the glowing red thread, he relived their last conversation in his mind. He cringed at his use of words and mentally corrected himself in an attempt to find the words that he should've said. The ones that he wanted to say.

"I just don't like the idea of having the person I'm supposed to love for the rest of my life chosen for me. I, present day Darien, want to be the one to choose you, Serena."

"Of course you get a choice. I don'tneed to be around you, Dumpling Head, but I want to."

"I'm independent; I've never needed anybody else… until now."

He remembered all the same things that she did. All the memories from the past, he remembered them too. The love they shared for one another, the countless conversations, the endless embraces. He remembered them all. But it wasn't him. It wasn't them now. Although he was attracted to Serena and cared for her deeply, he cursed fate for not allowing them time to explore their own present day feelings for one another. He wanted her to fall in love with him all over again, for who he was now. Although there was no red string attached to his foot, Darien knew that there was one connecting him to Serena, and even if he didn't believe in Akai Ito, it was undeniable that he still felt something for the blonde teenager. He enjoyed being around her and pushing her buttons. He enjoyed hearing her laugh and the way her eyes lit up at the sight of sweets. More than anything else though, he loved knowing that she believed in Akai Ito.

Sure, his lips tingled enticingly every time she was close, and his arms ached to hold her gently as he watched her sleep, but he knew that it wasn't right. It was too much, too fast. It wasn't possible for a person to fall in love so quickly, was it?

As day broke and the sun climbed ever higher into the morning sky, the birds chirped their morning symphony. Serena roused groggily from her slumber. As her vision became less blurry, she was greeted with the most curious sight. Twenty-four red paper origami roses lay before her on her bed.


. . .

That's all for this week. See you all next week. Please read and review!

Crystal Saturn