» I See Your True Colors, Seiya

[Yaten Kou]

Beautiful was a word that described many things related to Yaten and the room in which she resided inside the Crystal Palace made no exception. The room was big and the colour of white easily dominated it. The walls appeared to be marble, white with delicate black vines, intertwining themselves in a variety of abstract patterns. The furniture was luxurious, of a white wood essence delicately carved with floral patterns. A double-sized bed, of an antique design, dominated the central part of the room.

Inside this beautiful room Yaten had secluded herself for the past couple of days, ever since she had returned from that disastrous shopping trip. They could have easily been described as the most painful days she had yet to live. The small empath's life had dramatically changed for the worst from the moment she had realized that Seiya was in love again. She had realized that she was weak, that she couldn't stand the idea of losing Seiya, that she needed her more than ever and that she couldn't just feel happy for Seiya's happiness any more. No, time had been cruel and had made her loneliness impossible to bear. She wanted someone by her side, she needed to feel loved, she needed Seiya... but she couldn't tell her anything and she hated herself for that. Yaten would spend long sleepless nights crying over her situation. During the days she had tried to keep an appearance of normality, though, gradually, she had begun spending more and more time inside her room, all alone, slipping into the world of her own thoughts. Meeting Seiya that day had just made things even worst than they already were.

From the second Yaten had entered her room, that day, she had locked the door and begun crying desperately. Since then she hadn't left her room, having cried rivers of tears. Hearing Seiya talk about the woman she loved had simply been too much. Knowing exactly how important that woman was to Seiya, hearing her say how special she was, knowing that Seiya was probably cursed to be unhappy again because that woman didn't even know about her feelings and would have rejected her is she did – all of these made her heart ache so much that she wondered why wouldn't it just break in under the pain, to put an end to her long existence of solitude. The silver-haired woman was ashamed of herself for thinking that way, for letting her thoughts betray every single thing she had ever believed in, everything she once was. Too ashamed of what she had become, she had decided not to leave her room again unless it was absolutely necessary, to avoid the company of anyone who could realize that she had become just a weak shadow of her former self.

Earlier that day, Yaten had walked out of her room for a few minutes, just to have something to eat from the kitchen. She didn't have too much of an apetite but, despite her rather dark thoughts, she didn't want to starve herself. Luckily, she hadn't met anyone familiar during her small escapade. Upon returning into her room, Yaten had left the door unlocked, knowing that no one would bother to come see her anyway. Going straight into her bed, she curled up onto her side, her eyes gazing absently at a floral carving into a piece of furniture. Dressed in a white simple spaghetti strap dress, wearing white ballet flats, with her pale skin and silver hair, Yaten was almost one with her white satin sheets. Once more, she was gradually losing herself into her own world filled with pain and despair.

[Seiya Kou]

After her little mishap with Yaten the other day, Seiya had decided that she was going about this the wrong way. She knew two things right at this moment; Yaten was obviously down about something and she wanted to cheer her up. She also knew that she was completely and hopelessly in love with the woman. There was nothing really stopping her from saying those words, except maybe the fact that she had known Yaten almost her entire life. That wasn't really a very good reason, but it was the truth. Looking back on all the other times, she decided that it was probably a sign that she was having so much trouble working up the nerve to say it to Yaten. The previous two times, it had been ridiculously simple to tell the object of her affections just how she felt - and both times had ended badly. This time though, she was actually a bit afraid to say the words again. While not a very good thought in itself, she was going to take it as a good sign. That didn't mean she was having an easier time working up the courage, but surely this time would be different.

So she had returned to the store the next day and bought that book that Yaten had been eying before, deciding that since the silver-haired woman had seemed so fascinated with it, it would make a good gift. The idea of just giving her the book the next time she saw her and hoping that would help had occurred to her, but Seiya quickly banished that thought. No, she was going to give it to her and it was going to be meaningful. Even if she couldn't say the words just yet, she would still make the gift special. Truth be told, she was looking forward to seeing the look on the smaller woman's face when she handed it over. In a fit of brilliance, Seiya had wrapped the charming book in a shiny silver foil she had picked up specifically for that purpose. After a bit of debating on where to go from there, Seiya had decided to just leave the book in her room and figure out a place and time to give it to Yaten in the future. Hopefully that day would be today, but before that could happen she would have to find Yaten and convince her to cooperate for a bit.

That thought caused her to grin as she made her way through the halls of the crystal palace, toward the door that led into the other woman's room. Rather than knocking and risk being told to go away, the raven-haired woman just reached out and tried the knob first thing. A triumphant grin curled her lips as she found it to be unlocked, and a couple of seconds later she opened the door, stepping into the room and nudging the door closed behind her. She had to admit that Yaten's room did suit her. For a moment she just stood in the doorway, her eyes roaming the area. At first she didn't see the fair-haired woman anywhere and she might have believed Yaten had gone out. But then her gaze flickered to the bed and she made out a telltale lump in the bed that had nothing to do with the blankets. Quietly, she padded over to stand beside the bed, just gazing thoughtfully over at the woman resting there. She wasn't sure if Yaten was asleep and honestly she didn't want to disturb her if she was dreaming. Still, it would be difficult to convince Yaten to go with her if she didn't say something.

"Yaten. . . are you awake?" she questioned lightly,deciding to just be direct. The worst that could happen was that Yaten could turn her away or refuse to come with her, but she would deal with that if the situation called for it. Personally, she was hoping the smaller woman would be in a pleasant enough mood to be agreeable, as that would make what she wanted to say a bit easier. Still, part of Yaten's charm was her sometimes snappish demeanor and despite the fact that it tended to put most people off, Seiya had to admit it was kind of endearing; at least in her own personal opinion. Then again, Seiya had known Yaten a lot longer than most people so she was used to the shorter woman's particular moods. As she awaited some form of response, the raven-haired starlight allowed her gaze to linger on the smaller woman's form. She couldn't help but notice how beautiful Yaten looked, just lying there like that. The urge to reach out to the other woman, to run her fingers through Yaten's hair suddenly struck her, but she somehow managed to curb that particular urge. No, perhaps another time. . .

[Yaten Kou]

In her world of pain and despair, Yaten had sliped again into the painful whirl of “what if” thoughts. Once again she was wondering how things would have been if she would have worked up the courage to tell Seiya how she felt when she originally intended to, after they found their Princess. After everything that had happened on Earth, between Seiya and Usagi, the risk of her being rejected was immense. Still, now that she looked back at it, maybe it would have been worth gathering the courage to face that risk, rather than living like she did. Losing Seiya as a friend was scary, but having her as a friend into a life where each new day was more painful than the previous had proven itself to be an even worst choice. And yet, another “what if” arose: what if Seiya wouldn't have rejected her back then would she have spoken? Not that Yaten imagined that Seiya could have accepted her out of love. Maybe she would have done it out of pity, or just because it would have been a change for her to actually have someone want her and believe that she was good enough. It would have made her sad to be by her side without being truly loved, but at least she wouldn't have been alone and forced to hear Seiya talk about a new lover. None of her “what if”'s however took into the account the possibility of Seiya actually telling her that she loves her as well, not at that time nor at any other time at which she could have possibly thought to just confess her feelings. That was just an impossible dream as far as Yaten was concerned. She was so different from the women Seiya had loved before, she had always been so rude and mean towards her. Unlike the other women which Seiya had been in love with, beautiful and delicate flowers, Yaten knew that she was nothing but a rose with far too many thorns. This one impossible dream had made all of her other dreams become impossible. A long time ago, like all young girls, Yaten had dreamed of getting married and starting a family. Falling into an almost millennium-long one-sided love had made her lose all faith in that dream and now, that dream was shattered. Maybe she should have allowed her heart to open to someone else? When she still had a heart, no one seemed to be interested in her, except for Minako. Now, even if someone would have shown any interest in her, she no longer had a heart, it had been permanently broken that day when she met Seiya during her shopping trip.

Oddly, Yaten didn't have any more tears to cry while her mind was filled with all those painful thoughts. Still staring absently, she didn't even hear the door getting opened and closed, nor did she hear footsteps or realize that she wasn't alone. Only the familiar voice calling her name brought her back to reality and she blinked a few times, shrugging and curling up even more. The petite empath was scared that Seiya might have come to her just to ask for more advice about the woman she loved and for a brief second she mused the thought to just remain quiet and pretend she was sleeping. But since Seiya probably saw her move and react to her voice, she chased the thought away and weakly whispered, without turning around: ”Yes, Seiya. Why are you here?” In such a circumstance, Yaten would have probably screamed and called Seiya “baka” but she just couldn't bring herself to do it anymore. The silver-haired woman just wanted to know why Seiya had come to her room, as much as she dreaded the answer. The sooner she spoke, the sooner she could make her leave her alone.

[Seiya Kou]

Honestly she wasn't sure whether or not she was hoping Yaten would respond at all. Just standing here watching her like this, Seiya felt calm. It was something she had always noticed really, how completely at ease she felt around the smaller woman, despite the fact that they were constantly at one another's throats in the past. She supposed if Yaten was asleep she could always come back another time and try to convince her to come out of her room for a bit, but truthfully she was kind of hoping the other woman was awake now. Though the notion of just waiting around until she woke up on her own was quite tempting, the starlight figured she would probably be just asking for trouble if she did something like that. As the seconds ticked by and silence lingered in the air, her gaze once again fell to the woman's distinctive hair. How she longed to be able to run her fingers through its silky length just once. If she was careful she could probably even do so without disturbing Yaten; assuming she was in fact asleep. After another few seconds in which the silver-haired woman did not speak up, Seiya took a few hesitant steps forward, her hand outstretched as she drew closer.

The sound of Yaten's voice caught her by surprise and she froze, the corners of her mouth twitching into a small smile. "Oh good, I hope I didn't wake you up?" she questioned further. "I'm here because I miss you," she replied honestly. Alright so that wasn't the entire truth but it was all she was gong to say about that matter right now. "Actually I was wondering if you felt like going for a walk. It's a nice day out and it's a shame that you're in here all alone." So that was probably not the most convincing thing in the world but she couldn't say much more without giving away the surprise. Ideally, Yaten would agree, at which point she would use the excuse of needing to stop by her room for something, and pick up the gift. After that, their completely innocent walk would lead them to the gardens. Seiya knew for a fact that Yaten was absolutely crazy about flowers, so the gardens would be the absolute perfect place to take her. Of course she wasn't really expecting her to just agree immediately; that would be too out of character for her. Yaten was not the most agreeable person in the world on a good day. "Please?" she questioned finally, as though that simple word would make all the difference in the world.

[Yaten Kou]

”Don't worry, I wasn't sleeping” Yaten whispered faintly. During the past days her sleeping had been very chaotic. She would cry until she fell asleep, sleep until nightmares woke her up and wake up only to cry again, over and over, until she completely lost all track of time. It was the first time when she was wide awake without crying and that was a good thing considering the fact that Seiya was there.

The next words spoken by the raven-haired woman made Yaten slowly turn around into her bed, facing Seiya, locking her gaze with hers. The empath's eyes had lost their usual shine, they seemed to be of a tarnished green colour and yet, when they met Seiya's gaze, a small sparkle of hope seemed to have brought them back to life for a couple of seconds, animated by the thought that she had been missed. But Yaten quickly suppressed that silly hope, telling herself that it was wrong to let Seiya's words mean too much to her when they obviously shouldn't.

When Seiya addressed her invitation, Yaten averted her gaze away from her to a random spot, curling up in bed and replying weakly, almost mechanically: ”No, I'd rather stay here...all alone...” The silver-haired woman remained silent to the added plea. She was touched that Seiya had thought about her but she would have expected the other woman to notice that she was obviously not in the mood to go for a walk, as well intended as the invitation might have been. ”Leave me alone, Seiya, please” Yaten added, still avoiding eye contact, hoping that, for once, the other Light would listen to her and not try to have her way.

[Seiya Kou]

It was only because she was standing so close to Yaten that she'd been able to hear her at all. Blinking a bit, Seiya stared down at her outstretched hand and finally settled for letting it fall back to its place at her side. Surely if Yaten was awake it would be less than smart to entertain any odd ideas, lest she find herself on the receiving end of a nice bitchslap or some kind of crazy remark. "Good, I really would have been upset if I had woken you up," she replied after a moment. Since the last time she'd seen Yaten, her thoughts had consisted of almost nothing else. It was clear that she had done a stupid thing and this was her chance to make up for that. Honestly she was still a bit frightened of actually saying what she wanted to and she had the feeling that if Yaten seemed in any way displeased, she would be absolutely crushed. She'd never asked to feel this way about her sister in arms, but at the same time it didn't seem at all wrong. Truth be told, it felt right, and she wanted more than anything to just blurt it out and run away before the other woman had the chance to respond at all. But that was not what she would be doing.

Seiya's throat constricted and she swallowed nervously as the silver-haired woman shifted her position in the bed. Her blue eyes locked with Yaten's green ones and a light smile tugged at the corners of er lips. To be honest she hadn't been expecting Yaten to agree right away, and so when the other woman declined, it wasn't much of a shock. Still, she couldn't say she wasn't disappointed at all. Standing there, she gazed thoughtfully down at the other woman for a moment as she pondered over what to do. Clearly Yaten wasn't in the mood to be friendly. She had spent enough time around the woman to know her moods fairly well, or so she liked to think, and ordinarily she might have turned and walked away, leaving the sometimes unpleasant little empath to her own devices. But she was a woman on a mission today and nothing was going to get in her way. "You don't have to be alone, come out for a walk with me," she urged. She was well aware that the words could be taken one of two ways and in fact that had been done deliberately, mainly to see if the other woman would notice.

It wasn't the best idea to bait the other woman when she was like this, mainly because doing so would never end well. Still, a part of her was just a little bit dependent on the constant bickering back and forth. She needed it like a flower needed rain, and unfortunately the fact that Yaten had seemed to be avoiding her as of late was doing less than beneficial things to her sanity. "Please?" she asked again, pointedly ignoring the woman's other plea. She was well aware that Yaten wished her to just go away and find someone else to pester, but there was no way in hell that was going to happen. The package waiting for her back in her room was not going to unwrap itself and she had decided against bringing it with her to convince Yaten for obvious reasons. Briefly she entertained the idea of mentioning that she'd gotten her something, but in light of the botched shopping trip a couple of days ago, it seemed wiser to just hand it to her and go from there. A slender eyebrow arched as she took note of the way the silver-haired woman seemed to be avoiding her gaze.

[Yaten Kou]

Yaten had pretty much expected Seiya to say something which she wouldn't want to hear at that moment from the second she had heard her voice. It didn't take too long before that actually happened, the silver-haired woman shrugging visibly when Seiya told her that she didn't have to be alone. She was all too well aware that Seiya had meant nothing more than her being alone in her room but still she couldn't help herself from interpreting her words as more than they meant. No, Yaten didn't want to be alone any more but it was far too late to change anything about that. Even if being all alone with her thoughts was driving her crazy, because it gave her too much time to think about things which she didn't want to have on her mind any more, Yaten didn't want the company of anyone because she didn't want to be pitied for her depressed state. About the other aspect of loneliness, all hope of anything ever changing for the better had been completely lost and Yaten was aware that she was doomed to be alone forever, even if she didn't want to. She wished she would have had enough energy to yell at Seiya to get out of her room and stop saying things which hurt her. That energy lacked however, so Yaten just remained silent, blinking a few times to chase away some tears that were threatening to fall from her eyes.

A soft sigh escaped her lips when Seiya asked her again. The other woman really didn't know how to take no for an answer. If she had her mind set on something, there was no way to stop her and even though her stubbornness was irritating, it was part of what Yaten loved about Seiya. She was imagining that Seiya wasn't there just because she missed her, because that thought just seemed far too odd at that moment. Whatever Seiya's real motivation was, it was certain that she wouldn't give up until she had her way. Since the prospect of having her in the room, nagging her for who knows how much time to go for that walk wasn't the least pleasant, Yaten decided to just accept and go with her. ”Fine, I'm coming”, the silver-haired empath whispered, her face indifferent despite her efforts to mimic annoyance.

Completely avoiding to look at Seiya, Yaten slowly got up, standing up next to the bed for a few moments and blinking to chase away a slight sensation of dizziness. After smoothing out some creases of her dress – a mechanic gesture more than anything else – Yaten pulled her silvery tresses back into the familiar ponytail, throwing just a very quick glance in the direction of the mirror, to make sure her hair was in order. The difference was immense from her usual long minutes spent in front of the mirror to make sure everything was perfect before going out. Silently and slowly she walked towards the door, opening it and stepping slightly aside, finally looking at Seiya. ”After you...”, Yaten finally broke the silence, waiting for Seiya to lead the way and intending to just follow her around until the other woman would eventually get bored and decide to end the walk.

[Seiya Kou]

She wasn't going to deny it; she had been hoping that Yaten would pick up on the possible double meaning of her words. But if the other woman had in fact done so she was keeping quiet about it, and either way was just as disappointing. No, it was too much to hope for that Yaten had caught onto her intentions. The nonchalant little shrug told her that much at least. A self-satisfied grin tugged at her lips as Yaten sighed and slowly climbed out of the bed. Her eyes followed the shorter woman's form as she walked across the room to stand in front of the mirror. Since she had been expecting Yaten to stand there for quite a while, she was quite surprised when not even a full minute later she was walking across the room to the door. That was definitely odd. Yaten had always been the most feminine of the three; often spending countless hours in front of the mirror to ensure she looked absolutely perfect at all times. While she had often teased the other woman about it, she had to admit that the silver-haired woman's efforts weren't in vain. . .

Shrugging that thought away for the time being, she casually made her way over to the door and paused beside Yaten. The message was crystal clear, she was expected to leave first. Ordinarily she might have thought nothing of it, but knowing how Yaten could be sometimes, Seiya decided she would have to keep an eye on the shorter woman. Finding herself locked out of Yaten's room with no way to get back in would make her job very difficult. Chances were slim to none that the object of her affections would actually take that drastic a measure to avoid spending time outside of her room, but she supposed anything was possible, and so it would be wise to keep an open mind in this situation. "Ladies first," she insisted, offering Yaten a cheerful smile. Despite the fact that they were both woman, Yaten was more of a lady than she would ever be and that didn't bother her in the least. It was a well-known fact that one of Yaten's weaknesses was her appearance. That fact had managed to save her on several occasions, because a surefire way to distract her was to compliment some aspect of her appearance.

It really wasn't that difficult finding something to comment on; Yaten was one of the most beautiful people she knew, so the fact that she seemed to know this fact and revel in it as all the more amusing to Seiya. Probably one of the things that fascinated her the most about the empath was the fact that she appeared so delicate, like a fragile china doll one would put in a glass case to keep it safe and protected. But that illusion was generally shattered when the woman decided to open her mouth. She could be downright cruel sometimes with the things she said to strangers and her friends alike, but for some unknown reason that had never managed to deter Seiya. If anything it made her want to work at least twice as hard to get closer to the woman. Now that she thought about it, that fact might have had something to do with her current situation. Well now wasn't really the time to worry about things like that. Now was the time to see that Yaten left her room first, however.

[Yaten Kou]

Yaten's eyes followed Seiya as she moved towards the door. She blinked when the other woman stopped beside her, instead of just walking out like she was expecting her to. Her invitation made her smile weakly before she whispered: ”Since when are you so polite?” Yaten wasn't exactly sure herself how she managed to make that small sarcastic comment, given her current state of spirit, but she was intrigued by Seiya's behavior. Seiya had manners, she was aware of that, but the raven-haired Light rarely showed them, specially in such tiny insignificant gestures or when it came to her. In fact, she wasn't even sure if Seiya had ever invited her to walk out of a room or into a room before her. Only after a few moments of thinking about it, did Yaten realize that Seiya probably wanted to make sure she wouldn't trick her into leaving and lock her out. The idea would have been good, very good, but it was too late to think of that. And if Seiya's gesture really was motivated by that, then she could only be even more curious about what exactly had gotten into the woman to make her be so intent on getting her out of her room.

Sighing softly and shaking her head, Yaten took her eyes off Seiya and slowly walked out of the room, stopping into the middle of the hallway and turning around to wait for the other Light. She couldn't exactly go anywhere until she led the way, because she hadn't been told where they were going anyway. It was probably silly to hope that their walk would just take place inside the Palace, because Seiya had mentioned the fact that the day was nice. Gazing thoughtfully at the other woman, with her sad green eyes, Yaten wondered again just what was the real reason behind Seiya's sudden urge to take her out for a walk. It felt nice to think that she might have cared enough to actually miss her and not want her to be all alone in her room but Yaten couldn't ignore the fact that even in her better days she had had times when she would lock herself in her room and not once did Seiya seemed to be bothered with it, since she knew she would be fine and that it would be better to just leave her alone. Granted, this time she wouldn't be fine after a few hours or a couple of days, like she used to back then, but Seiya had no way of knowing that. Yaten was just genuinely scared that Seiya needed some more advice about her significant other and that thought alone was enough to bring her close to tears. Wiping her eyes just to make sure she didn't start crying without knowing it, Yaten suddenly found herself speaking: ”Seiya, what are you up to?” She blinked, surprised that she voiced that thought out loud, averting her gaze to the ground and shrugging slightly as she wrapped her arms around herself. ”Never mind, I shouldn't have said that. Whereto?” Yaten added immediately in a rushed low voice.

[Seiya Kou]

Yaten's smile was a victory, albeit a very small one. But at least it was a start; she was out of the bed and not staring at the wall anymore so that was a good sign wasn't it? "You should smile more. . . you're a lot prettier that way. And I can be polite when I feel like it!" she responded with another grin. She was barely able to contain herself when the smaller woman finally shook her head and walked out of the room before her. Victory! she cheered silently. Perhaps this was going to be easier than she thought. After a moment, she gripped the doorknob and pulled it closed as she walked out, double-checking to be sure that it wasn't in fact locked. It was a small relief to see that it wasn't; apparently she had just been imagining that. But no matter, Yaten was out of her room now and there was no way she was going back in there for quite a while! When she turned around, Yaten was waiting for her and she offered the silver-haired woman another charming smile before turning off in the direction of her room. The innocent question caught her off-guard because honestly she had been expecting the other woman to be pretty silent.

"You'll see," was her vague answer to that one. For a moment she was tempted to reach for Yaten's hand but then she remembered the shorter woman's reluctance to take it the other day. That may just have been for another reason entirely, but Seiya figured it was safer not to push the empathic starlight too far just yet - and especially not when they were so close to her room. When Yaten spoke again, Seiya glanced over at her out of the corner of her eyes and quirked a brow lightly. "It's a perfectly logical question with a complicated answer; but again - you'll see soon enough." There, that didn't sound too ominous, right? Worst case scenario; Yaten probably thought she had gone completely out of her mind by this point. Best case scenario; she was intrigued and wanted to find out just what it was that Seiya was up to. It was fairly obvious which one she was counting on, but she would find a way to deal with either of those really. Yaten's second question snapped her out of her thoughts and she shot another grin in the other woman's direction.

"Oh! You don't mind if we stop by my room first do you? I think I might've forgotten to turn the water completely off after I had a shower and I don't want to come back to find a wet floor again!" It was a completely ridiculous excuse but it was the first thing that had popped into her head. She couldn't very well say 'Oh well we have to stop at my room first because I want to grab the ridiculously expensive present I bought for you' now could she? Something told her that wouldn't go over very well right at the moment. No, she would just have to keep that a secret for a bit longer. The look on Yaten's face when she handed it over would be worth it though, she thought. "Hmm well you have two choices; I can drag you to the pool for a while, or we can go wander around in the gardens. I don't feel like going into the city today. . . unless you do?" Truth be told, it was tempting to drag her off to the pool, if only because she hadn't gone for a swim in a while, though to be honest, she couldn't honestly remember the last time she had seen Yaten actually get into the pool. The very few times she had noticed the silver-haired woman there she had always been sitting off to the side.

[Yaten Kou]

”I don't have any reasons to smile” Yaten faintly whispered to herself, mildly intrigued by the fact that Seiya's words sounded too much like an honest compliment and not like her usual teasing. She shrugged the thought away, deciding that either Seiya was acting far too weird or, if Seiya was acting normally, maybe everything had just gotten to her up to the point where she had lost her mind and she was now imagining things.

Yaten turned around to Seiya's direction, her gaze still fixed into the ground. The raven-haired Light's answer to her question made her lift her head and look at her, quirking her brow and tilting her head slightly. Why could it be so complicated for Seiya to explain what she was up to anyway? She couldn't possibly find a logical answer to that one. Yaten only knew one thing: she didn't like the way Seiya avoided the answer nor did she like her odd behaviour and the situation was just beginning to scare her because she knew that she wasn't in the condition to put up with any crazy idea the other woman could have come up with. For a moment, two thoughts crossed Yaten's mind. The first one was to demand Seiya that she speaks up and tell her why she is suddenly acting so weird and paying so much attention to her. The second was to just quickly go back to her room and lock herself in for another couple of days, until Seiya would just brush off whatever weird thoughts she was having. Although both thoughts were tempting, Yaten just couldn't decide for either of them because, by now, she was already very curious to see what Seiya wanted from her. The empath decided to remain quiet at the other Light's answer.

However, Seiya's next words made her shake her head and sigh before she stated flatly: ”You're an idiot.” Obviously, only an idiot could have decided to pull her out of her room to go for a walk, only to remember that she might have left the water on. Yet again, she had already decided that Seiya's behavior was crazy so probably she shouldn't be surprised. ”Whatever, go ahead. Let's get this over with already, please” she added with indifference, although her eyes preserved their sad and absent look. She didn't really care that Seiya might find it rude that she was treating that walk as a burden, not as something pleasant. To her, it was a burden to be with Seiya even for five minutes. When she heard the locations Seiya had thought of for the walk, Yaten flinched and closed her eyes, turning pale and answering quickly, in one breath: ”Garden!” Although she had managed to control her phobia of water over the years, she still refused to imerse herself into anything larger than a bathtub. Yaten felt very uncomfortable when she was around the pool. While she could handle being there when people such as Ami and Taiki were with her, she dreaded being there alone with Seiya. With the other woman's way of acting, there was no telling when she could decide to pull some prank on her and the thought alone made her tremble. If she really did have to go through the ordeal of that walk, at least they could do it in the garden, her favorite place on the entire planet. It was the only place she missed whenever she decided to seclude herself in her room and the only place in which she felt relaxed, almost forgetting about all of her pains. Opening her eyes again, unwilling to wait and see if Seiya would get the bad idea to question her reaction, Yaten silently started walking towards her friend's room, stopping just opposite to her door.

[Seiya Kou]

At the very least, she had been expecting Yaten to make some kind of snippy comment about what she'd said. Instead, the silver-haired woman didn't seem to acknowledge it at all and honestly Seiya couldn't help but feel a bit discouraged by that. She was trying to be genuinely nice for a change; not that she wasn't teasing just a little, but it wasn't like the way she usually did it. She had meant what she'd said too. Truth be told, she loved Yaten's smile. The way her whole face seemed to light up and her eyes shone with happiness was one of the most beautiful things she had ever seen. But unfortunately the shorter woman didn't smile so much anymore. In fact she couldn't honestly remember the last time she had seen a genuine smile grace the other woman's lips. She was beautiful regardless of whether she was smiling, but Seiya would have preferred to see her lovely smile rather than a scowl - or more commonly now; a blank expression. She couldn't help but grin at the expression on Yaten's face. If she had to guess, she would say that Yaten was probably wondering what had suddenly gotten into her. Well, she would get the answer to that question soon enough.

The fact that the silver-haired woman had yet to speak might have been discouraging, but at least she wasn't insulting Seiya or demanding to know what had gotten into her, so that was a small relief. Her ridiculous excuse had gotten the reaction she had been expecting however and Seiya fought the urge to snicker at the shorter woman's critical words. "Gomen, I should be more careful next time," she responded, hoping the look on her face looked convincing. A small part of her took pleasure in the fact that she was apparently a convincing enough actress to fool Yaten that way. Of course she supposed it did sound like something she might do and so it was only natural for the silver-haired starlight to react that way. "Oh good, I promise it won't take that long. I'll just pop in and check really quickly. You don't even have to come in with me," she added. "It's kind of a mess and I know how you feel about that kind of thing. . ." admitted the raven-haired woman, letting her voice trail off as she gazed over at Yaten. Her eyes widened slightly as the other woman visibly paled and squeezed her eyes shut. "So the garden it is then. Just relax, chiisai," she responded lightly, not really thinking much of letting the little nickname slip.

For a moment she considered asking what the big issue was, but she figured that it was probably something she didn't want to know - and that if Yaten wanted her to know, she would tell her. Or maybe she just didn't like the pool; there was always that option, she mused. By this point she realized that Yaten had started walking off in the direction of her room, and she hurried to catch up to her side. The walk was relatively short, mainly because her room was fairly close to Yaten's and she offered the silver-haired Light a cheerful grin as she reached out and opened the door to her room. "Wait here, it'll only take a second!" That said, she disappeared into her room and closed the door behind her before Yaten had a chance to respond at all. Chuckling to herself, she headed immediately for the desk. Once there, she snatched the book from its resting place and cradled it in her arms. Well she hadn't really thought about how she would explain the sudden addition before, but she supposed she would have to do so now. There was still the option of telling her the truth - that she'd gotten it for Yaten. Surely that would be unexpected news for the other woman.

[Yaten Kou]

Yaten had remained indifferent to Seiya's apology and explanation, observing that the other woman was truly acting odd. What bothered her more than the thought that kept nagging her that Seiya was up to something more than just a simple walk, was that she couldn't feel anything from her either. Too used to block herself from foreign emotions, initially Yaten didn't even notice that she felt nothing coming from Seiya. Only now, when she was trying to figure out what was happening, the empath realized that she wasn't even blocking her powers when Seiya walked into her room. Despite that, she hadn't even been aware of the other woman's presence until she had heard her voice. Even when purposely trying to read the raven-haired emotions she couldn't feel anything. The thought that she would ever get rid of her empathy had always seemed impossible to Yaten and still, it seemed that it might have happened after all. She couldn't help but wonder if the state she had been in for the past days had affected her skill to such an extent.

The petite woman watched as Seiya entered her room, then averted her gaze to the ground, her thought drifting to the beautiful palace garden. As this happened, she suddenly processed the way Seiya had called her when confirming the fact that they would go to the garden: chiisai. For the second time in the past minutes, Yaten found herself noticing the fact that it didn't sound like she was being teased; it sounded more like Seiya had used that word in a more... affectionate manner. Closing her eyes, she curled up her fists, squeezing them so tightly that her knuckles turned white. It was ridiculous. She was being delusional with herself and she felt like screaming. It was more than common knowledge that Seiya had always loved teasing her about her height so probably she had just found a new word to use instead of the usual “shrimp” and “midget”. However, as silly and delusional as it was, for a brief moment Yaten thought that she actually liked the way it sounded and that she wouldn't mind being called like that by the one she loved. But she loved Seiya and Seiya was just using that word to tease her, that was all there was to it. Warm tears began falling down her face as she just stood there in front of the door, her head down and her small body trembling as Yaten tried in vain to regain a bit of self-control. Slowly, without waiting for Seiya to come out, she turned around and started walking, her feet walking a familiar path without her putting too much thought into it. The feeling of fresh air and the rays of the sun made Yaten stop and look around herself, wiping her tears. She was in the garden of the Crystal Palace.

[Seiya Kou]

Truth be told she had been expecting a bit more of a reaction than what the silver-haired had given her. It was almost disappointing the way she seemed so indifferent, as though she expected this sort of thing from Seiya all the time. Then again, the raven-haired woman mused, she was kind of notorious for doing things like this more often than she was comfortable admitting. Perhaps Yaten knew her better than she had thought. that wouldn't have been much of a surprise really. She and Yaten were fairly close, and despite the fact that they seemed to enjoy bickering back and forth far too much, the silver-haired woman was one of her best friends. After counting a full minute in her head, she made her way back over to the door and reached out, grabbing hold of the knob and turning it before stepping out into the hall. After pulling the door closed again she turned back to where she had left the silver-haired light, only to notice that she was no longer there. Blinking a bit, she turned her head from side to side as she glanced up and down the hallway. The notion that Yaten had returned to her room briefly crossed Seiya's mind, but then she remembered their previous conversation.

The walk to the garden wasn't overly long. Within minutes she was standing in the lovingly tended royal gardens; flowers of every imaginable variety in full bloom. Almost immediately, she spotted Yaten standing there quietly, her back to Seiya. For a minute she just stood there, watching her long-time friend. The thought of calling out to the woman standing in front of her was tempting, but then that raised the risk of Yaten deciding she really didn't want to see Seiya right at that moment. Instead, she approached the woman and came to a stop when she was standing directly behind Yaten. "Thought you could get away from me, eh?" she questioned lightly, a grin spreading across her face as she awaited some sort of reaction to her teasing question. Chances were good that the other woman would be less than amused by her insistence on teasing her still, but it was a hard habit to break. Hopefully the package in her arms would help with any ill will the shorter starlight might have been feeling toward her. Truth be told she was beginning to feel slightly nervous about this, now that she was actually here with Yaten. But there was no way she was going to chicken out of this.

[Yaten Kou]

Yaten just stood fixed to the spot in which she had stopped, admiring the garden. No matter how often she would visit it, she would never be ceased to be amazed by its beauty. She had to admit that it surpassed even the garden of the Kinmokusei Palace in splendour. Her love for gardens and flowers was probably another thing which she had inherited from her father, aside from her eye colour. Yaten felt so calm and relaxed when she would spend her spare time in a park or a garden, just watching the flowers and inhaling their scent. Now, not even the marvellous sight of the many species of bloomed flowers nor the intoxicating combination of fragrances could put her soul at ease. Her green eyes slowly registered every little detail of the garden before eventually resting on the rose shrubs fairly close in front of her. Perfect roses of all colours varieties but only two stood out for her: the crimson red ones and the yellow ones. Ironically, even in the garden the two were separated, just like... she and Seiya would always be.

It didn't come off as a big surprise when she heard Seiya's voice so close behind her. Yaten was sure that the other woman would find her, since she obviously had her mind set on not letting her alone. Maybe the only slightly surprising thing was the confirmation of the fact that she couldn't pick up the other woman's feelings any more. Sighing softly, Yaten allowed a few tears to fall from her eyes as she softly replied: ”I tried, I always try. I wish it weren't that hard...” She didn't care if her words would confuse Seiya, she didn't care if she would think of her as mad, maybe she was after all for not having tried harder to supress her feelings and for putting herself through so much sufferance. If she was lucky enough, maybe Seiya would just decide to leave her alone with her thoughts, again trying to pick herself up and put herself together, to build a facade of normality as she confronted herself with the new reality of knowing more about Seiya's love.

Without even turning to look at the other woman, Yaten advanced towards the shrub of yellow roses, leaning above it to inhale their scent, gazing at them with eyes filled with sadness before bringing a hand to gently touch the petals of one of the flowers. ”Poor things...”, the petite woman spoke all of the sudden, her sorrow apparent even in her voice. As her fingers slowly slid down from the soft petals, to the stem, she continued to speak softly, slowly and mechanically, addressing the flowers. ”So many people say they love you... Liars... They like the petals, they like the colours, but... they hate the thorns...” Pressing her finger slightly on one of the many thorns, Yaten continued, her gaze fixed on the bright yellow petals: ”They tear them away, they cripple you, just because they're scared of getting hurt... All they want is your beauty... how many of them accept you as you are? How many of them are willing to hold you close, without caring that they could get hurt in your thorns?” Her voice trailed off, chocked with tears. Yaten had always been too similar to a rose, one with too many thorns. Now she was just a wilted flower, a rose that had lost its beauty and brilliance because of the lack of sunlight.