A/N: A big surprise (I hope) is at the end of this chapter… enjoy!

School. I'd been dreading it to be honest. Just the thought of going back to where I'd spent so much time with Minako, Ami and Makoto made my stomach hurt. I didn't like the thought of not being able to take Chibi-Chibi with me, either. Seiya had gotten into contact with someone she knew from the business and a baby-sitter had shown up at the apartment that morning. She seemed to be perfectly nice but I made a mental note to find an alternate means of care for Chibi-Chibi as soon as possible, even if I had to find some way to hypnotize my family into doing it. I left the apartment reluctantly and joined Seiya, Yaten and Taiki in the limo for the drive. Taiki was the only one who seemed pleased to be going back.

"I hate this. Why do we have to go again?" Yaten grumbled. She was mad because they still had to pretend to be guys, although I think part of it was because it was so early. The three of them had slept with me again last night and I'd had a hard time falling asleep. I'd tossed and turned a lot before pure exhaustion dragged me under and I'd probably kept them up too.

"You know we have to keep up appearances, Yaten," Taiki said without even looking up from her book. "People thought we would be gone by now but we're not and after we sang at the service everyone knows it. We'll get into trouble if we don't keep acting like average high school boys. Besides, did you really want to send Usagi-chan to school all by herself?" She looked at Yaten expectantly.

Yaten sulked but she didn't say anything else; there was nothing she could do to argue against that and Taiki knew it. I reached across and put my hand on top of hers. I hoped she knew how much it meant to me that she'd chosen to come back. I knew that she could have stayed home. The chances of anyone actually noticing in light of everything that had happened was probably slim to none. She'd come because she knew I wouldn't be comfortable being at school without having all of them around me and I appreciated their indulgence more than she could know. She looked at me and then sighed, twisting her wrist so that I was holding her hand. We stayed the way until the limo pulled up outside of the school.

Seiya got out first and then me, followed by Yaten and Taiki. There were a lot of kids staring at us but no one seemed to be brave enough to approach. I noticed immediately that there were a lot fewer kids around than normal but I tried not to think about it as I followed Seiya across the courtyard towards the entrance. We went straight inside and up to our old classroom. I wondered if there would still be assigned seating or if that wouldn't matter anymore. I sat down in my seat and Seiya sat down next to me like she'd always been there. Yaten and Taiki took the seats right behind us. I felt protected on all sides.

Gradually the rest of the class started filtering in. The room was only about half full by the time the bell rang and our teacher came in. He looked around at us sadly. "You can see that our class has been hit by the disaster," he said. "In light of what's happened I think it's best if we just move on. We'll be having a week of revision to refresh our minds and then we'll continue with the curriculum. Please let me know if you feel the pace is moving too quickly or if you are unable to keep up for… for whatever reason."

He turned back to face the chalkboard and started writing. I stared at the board but I didn't even see what he was marking down. We'd been in the middle of exam preparation before and I wondered if they would be canceled this year. I honestly couldn't see myself passing if they weren't. I couldn't remember a single thing that we'd been working on and school suddenly seemed so insignificant when it came to what had just happened. I'd wanted to do good in school before because I thought it might be important for the queen of Crystal Tokyo, but now what would my future be? That wide open space might be comforting to some people but it was utterly petrifying to me. I knew, though, that getting good grades would be even more important now than before. I didn't have a future as a ruler to fall back on. This would be me, getting through life as best I could.

I clenched my hands into fists and tried to focus. I knew that Ami and the others would've wanted me to do well. They had always encouraged me to do my best, even if that meant I wasn't all that successful. I took out a pencil and started copying down the notes. None of them made any sense but I was hoping that Taiki would be able to explain them to me later. I had about half a page filled when I heard a crashing sound coming from behind me. I jumped and turned, my hand instinctively going for my locket, but the source of the crash was Yaten. She had stood up so abruptly that her chair had fallen over. I stared up at her, wondering what was wrong.

"Kou-san?" The teacher had turned around and was watching her as well. "Do you – "

Before he could finish his sentence Yaten had pushed away from the desk and passed by me as she rushed out of the room. I was alarmed to see that her eyes were filled with tears. I jumped to my feet and ran after her without even asking for permission. She was fast, I'll say that much. I had to struggle to keep the sight of her silver ponytail in view as she dashed through the halls. It finally dawned on me that she was heading for the gym. I couldn't imagine why she would be going there, of all places. It was well known by everyone that Yaten hated getting sweaty. I was panting for breath by the time I got there. She was standing in the middle of the room, looking at something. I didn't understand until I realized what: the volleyball nets. My heart squeezed so tightly that it hurt.

"Yaten," I said softly, taking a cautious step towards her. I wasn't sure if my presence would be welcomed or not.

"It's so useless," Yaten said, unknowingly echoing the words that had been passing through my mind minutes before. "What's the point? Don't those idiots know that the world will never be the same? All of those starseeds…" She spread her hands. "Some of them will just disappear. Not all of them will be reborn."

I hadn't thought about that, about the rest of them. The senshi had been preoccupying my mind. "I don't know," I said softly. "I guess that everyone just has the same thing in mind. The people who died wouldn't want our lives to stop just because they're gone, regardless of whether they'll be reborn or not." I smiled painfully. "You know, if it hadn't been for you guys and Chibi-Chibi I probably would've curled up into a ball and starved to death and my friends would've hated that. So you… you pick yourself up and try to keep going and hope that eventually it doesn't hurt as much." I licked my lips nervously. "Like you guys did after your planet was destroyed."

"But we had a goal." Yaten sounded miserable. "Princess Kakyuu would have been able to fix all of it. What's the point of all this meaningless wandering? Or of school where they don't teach you anything useful?" She turned a harsh look towards me. "How is knowing what X means going to help us?"

I had to laugh. Yaten's eyes widened and she stared at me. Before she could get angry or think that I was poking fun at her, I shook my head and said, "Teenagers have been wondering that for ages, Yaten. And they probably always will. Look, I know you guys have been through a lot." That was an understatement. I understood now that Yaten had never really grieved for her planet. None of them had. They'd pinned all their hopes and dreams on Princess Kakyuu, pushing away the pain until reality had crashed in and forced them to face up to it. I took a step closer to her. "Life on Earth is very different from Kinmoku. You'll have to adjust to how we live. I'm not saying it's going to be easy. But… I'm happy you're here with me."

Yaten sighed. "I just wish we could go home," she said in a small voice, staring at the nets. "Sometimes, right before we found the princess, I used to imagine what it would be like if we stayed. I didn't think it would be… like this. I thought…" Her voice trailed off.

"You thought you would be with Minako," I said softly in a burst of inspiration and she flinched, which told me that my suspicions were correct. "Yaten, I'm sorry. I know Minako loved you. She would have been thrilled to have had the chance to be with you for even a few seconds. I wish…" I closed my eyes and shook my head, knowing that it was useless. This was a wish that would never come true.

"Do you think they'll remember us after they're re-born?" Yaten asked.

I took another few steps closer and it brought me within distance of her. I reached out and took her hand. "I don't know. Maybe." I wondered if something would happen between them then, if Yaten's heart would be open enough to accept love from someone who wasn't but had been Minako. If so she was a better person than me. "I hope so, eventually. We'll have to wait and see."

"I hate waiting," she muttered and I giggled, squeezing her hand.

"I don't like it either but in this case we haven't got a choice," I said. "I hope that somehow you can be happy on Earth, Yaten. I know this isn't what you were expecting but…"

"But this is our life now," she finished bitterly, sighing. She started to say something else but I didn't get the chance to hear it. Someone screamed and then several more people joined in until that was all I could hear. For a moment, I was annoyed. I'd finally had the opportunity to get Yaten to start opening up to me only to be interrupted, and it was frustrating because I didn't know if she would ever be willing to talk to me again. I shook it off, though, and ran to the door of the gym to see what was going on.

There were some students outside having a gym class. Now, I saw, they were in the middle of running for their lives. Small black balls that turned crimson and exploded on impact were flying in every direction, like little meteors. They were falling down from the sky. Three of them hit the ground near me and I felt myself falling to the ground. It was a familiar experience but I couldn't remember why; there was too much going on. I could hear someone shouting my name and for a split second I thought it was Chibi-Usa, her voice small and frightened as she begged me to protect her.

I looked up. "Yaten, get down!" I shouted, grabbing her hand and pulling her to her knees. Just in time, as a handful of the balls flew over her head and struck the side of the gym. The resulting explosion sent debris flying in our direction and I instinctively shielded my face.

"What's going on?" Yaten yelled.

"I think it's…" I didn't have to finish my sentence. My suspicions were confirmed when I heard loud, familiar laughter, and a second later Crimson Rubeus phased into the air above us.

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