Konnichi-wa, minna! Well, the worst has happened - I smashed into a brick wall on Dreamweaver. So, I'm going to write yet another story, this one about Yaten. Cool, huh? I hope you enjoy it, and any tips or things for Dreamweaver are MORE THAN WELCOME!!!! ^_^ *~!~**~!~**~!~* Absolute Zero *~!~**~!~**~!~* Wake up at 3:00 AM every morning. From 4:00 to 7:00 we practice. From 8:30 to 3:00 PM we have school. After that, it's all a matter of whatever we have scheduled. This is my world, and welcome to it. It really sucks, if I think about it. All the fans, sending me stupid love letters, which I really couldn't care less about. I am more intersted in.. someone else. Today we had to go to a signing event. Those are ALWAYS fun. Sarcasam? Well, duh. You think I like being a superstar? You're wrong. And let me tell you why. This is a usual day in my life. Be prepared to be bored, 'cause that's what it is. Boring, dull, whatever you call it. *~!~**~!~**~!~* "Yo! Yaten, get up! You're going to make us late!" hollers a voice from outside my room. I growl and put the pillow over my face. "Go away," I shout. "I'm not getting up." The door opens and the pillow is yanked from my face. "Oh yes, you are," says the voice. "Come ON. Get up. Taiki is cooking breakfast for us." "All the more reason NOT to get up," I mutter. Not that I don't like Taiki's cooking, don't get me wrong. However, I'd much rather sleep. "Don't be so snide, Yaten," snaps the voice. "I'm not going to put up with you today. GET UP." Seyia leaves my room. I groan, then sit up in my bed. The room is dark, with the exception of a beam of light shining in through the open door. My clock says 3:15. I got a total of 4 hours of sleep last night. "Great," I say. "Just great." I stumble out of my room and into the kitchen, where I plop into a chair. "I'm up," I say. "Happy?" "Not really," grumbles Taiki. "At least we won't be late now. Here, eat this, then go get dressed." He drops a plate of food in front of me. "Yes, Mother," I mock him. I eat the food as fast as I can then run to the bathroom and lock the door. Seyia bangs on it. "YATEN! Open up! I'm showering first!" he yells. "Not this time!" I reply cheerfully. "I beat ya to it." "JUST YOU WAIT," yells Seyia. "I'll get you when you get out of there, you little freak!" "Not unless you can catch me," I taunt. "Now go away so I can shower in peace." I hear his angry footsteps retreating, and I silently laugh over my victory as I step into the shower. I reach for my bottle of shampoo. It feels light.. too light. "Oh, don't tell me. It's empty." Sure enough, when I tip it over, nothing comes out. I throw the bottle at the wall and grab Taiki's. He won't mind if I use a bit of his shampoo. A guy's gotta keep his hair looking tip-top if he wants attention. After washing my hair, I step out and dry off. I stand in front of the mirror and carefully comb it. Upon looking around, I discover that the hair dryer is gone. I open some cabinets, looking for it, and don't find it. "ALRIGHT," I yell. "WHO'S GOT THE HAIR DRYER??" The door opens and Taiki pokes his head in. "Look in the cabinet under the sink, genius," he says. I do, and find it. I turn and stick my tongue out at him. He leaves, and I dry my hair. Pulling it back into a ponytail takes time, especially if you want to get it right. Finally, I got it just the way I wanted it and retreated to my room to get dressed. I hate my school uniform, but I put it on anyway. I'll get yelled at if I don't wear it. Finally, fresh and clean, I walk into the living room where I grab my bag. I didn't get time to do some of my homework last night. Not a big deal. My teachers will understand. "Come on," says Seyia. "We've got 15 minutes to get to rehearsal. You are so slow, Yaten." I roll my eyes and follow them out to the car. The sun isn't even up yet, and I know it will be a VERY long day. The ride to the studio takes about 10 minutes. When we get there, we have to run to make it in time. Seyia opens the door just as my watch beeps 4:00. Right on time. The director looks up at us. "Good, you're here. Get your stuff ready and we'll begin." She stands up and walks over to fiddle with some sound equipment. I hook my guitar to the amp and take a cautious strum. When I do this, the amp screams and sparks shower out of it. Startled, I nearly drop my guitar. I stare at it angrily. "Fine," I say. "Break. See how much I care." I yank the cord out of the amp and turn to the director. "You'll have to do without," she says. "We're already running late." "Very smooth," says Seyia. "Did you forget how to plug in a guitar?" I decide not to waste my time yelling at him. Instead, I ignore him and start to play. My others join in, and in a few minutes we were singing away. "CUT!" yells the director. "Seyia! Did you suddenly loose your ear? You were flat!" "Sorry," he says. "I couldn't hear that well. Yaten's guitar sounds strange without the amp, and it throws me off." "Sure, blame it on me," I mutter. "Well, deal with it," snaps the director. "Take it from the top!" We start over. This time, we make it all the way through the song, without incident. Seyia adds a cymbal crash at the end, and the director yells at him for it. Taiki and I glance at eachother and sigh. Every day, Seyia and the director fight. It seems to be their ritual. I close my eyes and turn away from them. "We're wasting time," I say. "We have to be out of here in an hour." So, do we make good use of the remaining hour? Hell no! I think we played our worst on purpouse, just to see the director's reaction. She is not happy with us at all, and that suits me just fine. Let her be mad. It's not my problem, it's hers. "You boys don't work hard enough! Get here an hour early tomorrow to make up for what you goofed off on today! Now get out of my sight!" she screeches. She storms out of the room. We quickly put our stuff away and run back to the car. Once we are safely driving down the highway, Taiki says, "THAT was sure fun." "About as fun as getting beaten up," Seyia mutters. "I don't want to go to school. Those girls never leave me alone." "Funny," says Taiki. "I never have that problem." I grin and can't help myself. "No, you don't," I say. "The sight of your face is enough to make any girl loose her breakfast, that's why they stay away from you!" Taiki is hurt by my comment, I see it in his eyes. Good. It serves him right. He's always Mr. Perfect, he needs to learn what it feels like to be vulnerable. I keep a wall up. Nothing anyone says can get to me, and that is the way I like it. If I keep that wall up, I can successfully save myself for.. someone else. "Oh, lay off, Yaten," says Seyia. "You're so cold sometimes." "It's how I am," I say cooly. "If you don't like it, too bad. Deal with it, 'cause I'm not gonna change. Not now, not ever." "Have you forgotten about.. that person? What will SHE think of your behavior?" The wall cracks a bit, and I hurry to fix it. "Get off my case," I snap. "She's the most important thing in the world to me. When we find her, I might change. But until then, forget it!" I spend the rest of the car ride staring silently out my window, while Seyia and Taiki talk about girls. They seem to have forgotten our mission. Eventually, we reach the school. When we get out, we are almost immediately swamped. I worm my way out of the crowd and walk away, head down. I don't want to be noticed. I want to be left alone. I walk to my favorite tree and sit down to read. Maybe nobody will notice me. Too bad, I seem to have no luck today. A girl shyly sits down beside me and begins to read her own book. With a sigh, I turn to look at her. She's fairly pretty. "May I help you?" I ask cooly. She looks up. "No," she says. "I'm only reading." I raise an eyebrow. "Why are you reading HERE? This is my spot." She studies me carefully, then shrugs. "This place is as good as any. I'll leave if you wish." "I do," I reply flatly. She stands up and walks away. Glaring, I watch her go, then return my attention to my book. I really don't want to be bothered. The bell rings, and I am once again interrupted. I get up and walk to my locker. I work the combination, and go to open it.. and find that it's jammed. "Oh, GREAT!" I groan. "I'm gonna be late!" I sigh and run to my classroom. I'm in my seat JUST as the bell rings. Great timing, I suppose. The teacher walks in and looks at us. "Good morning, class," she says. "Please take out your textbooks and your homework, and we will begin." Of course, I have neither. What a great way to start the school day. I raise my hand and the teacher looks at me. "Yes, Yaten?" "My locker is jammed. I can't get my book or my homework out. May I go get it fixed?" She studies me carefully. "I suppose," she says. "But hurry along, we have alot of stuff to do today." With a nod, I rush out of the room. After the door is closed, I sigh and walk down the empty hall. My footsteps echo eerily. I don't want to stay here, I think. I'm going to leave. And so, nobody noticed when I simply walked out the door. It was a nice day, too nice to be in school. I started towards my tree, then changed my mind. It wouldn't do if I got caught. I decide to go straight home, to change out of this nasty uniform. *~!~**~!~**~!~* After I've changed into shorts and a T-shirt, I flop onto the couch with my book. Maybe NOW I can read. "And so, then I said.." Seiya jabbers on and on as he opens the door. He freaks out when he sees me. "What are YOU doing here?" Taiki appears in the doorway behind him. "Reading," I say icily. "What are YOU doing here?" "Coming home for lunch," he replies, tossing his bag onto a chair. "Decided to skip today, I see." "Yeah," I reply. "What's your point?" "Sounds like a good idea to me," says Taiki, neatly placing his bag on the table. "I think I'll take the afternoon off as well." "Great," I mutter. "Now I'll NEVER get any reading done." With a sigh, I put my book down. "So, why'd you decide to skip, Yaten?" calls Seiya from the kitchen. "Because I didn't feel like staying today," I growl. "Leave me alone." I stalk out onto the balcony, not wanting to be bothered. This time, I'm left in peace. The wind ruffles my hair, blowing my ponytail this way and that. It's a great day. Someone has their radio playing full blast. I can hear the song very well, and it brings tears to my eyes.. "Look into my eyes You will see What you mean to me Search your heart Search your soul When you find me there, You'll search no more Don't tell me, it's not worth trying for You can't tell me, It's not worth dying for You know it's true Everything I do I do it for you Look into your heart You will find There's nothing there to hide Take me as I am Take my life I would give it up, I would sacrifice Don't tell me, it's not worth fighting for I can't help it There's nothing I want more.. You know it's true Everything I do I do it for you There's no love Like your love And no other Could give more love There's no way Unless you're there All the time All the way Oh, you can't tell me It's not worth trying for I can't help it There's nothing I want more Yeah, I'd fight for you I'd lie for you Walk the wild for you Yeah, I'd die for you..... You know it's true Everything I do, Ohhhh.. I do it for you." I close my eyes, and a single tear slides down my cheek. "Kakyuu," I whisper. "Ai..Aishiteru.." I sink to my knees and clutch the rails of the balcony. The sunlight reflects off of the bay. Happy couples walk along below me, holding hands. Tears stream down my face. I close my eyes again, and just cry. I haven't cried like this since we first arrived here. Taiki and Seiya must have seen me fall, for they are at my side almost at once. "Yaten! Yaten, what's wrong? Why are you crying?" Seiya asks, fear in his voice. He must think I'm sick. "N - Nothing," I choke out. "Leave me alone.." Taiki puts his hand on my arm. "Yaten?" "Don't TOUCH me!" I yell. I smack his hand away and run to my room. I know I'm acting like a spoiled brat, but that's okay. If it keeps them away, I'll keep doing it. Until we find her, I don't want to come out of my room again. "Come on, Yaten!" calls Seiya. "Open up! We want to help you, you know, and we can't with you acting like this!" "Never," I shout. "Never! Leave me alone!" I bury my face in my pillow to avoid saying something I'd regret later. When I hear their footsteps retreat, I roll onto my side. I see my reflection in the mirror. Pale, sad face. Wide green eyes, filled with tears. Long silver hair, draping my body like a blanket. I look like hell, and for once, I don't care. I want this all to end. I want to go home. "It's like a nightmare.." I say softly. A voice from beside my bed speaks. "Don't talk to me about nightmares, Yaten. How do you think I feel, waking up every night hearing you screaming?" I sit bolt upright, fury running through me. "Shut up, Taiki," I growl. "I'm warning you." He shakes his head. "No, Yaten! I'm serious! Seiya and I feel horrible when you do that! I sit here and listen to you cry yourself back to sleep, and what am I supposed to DO about it!?" "SHUT UP!" I scream. I feel myself loosing control, rapidly. I jump up and hit him, hard across the face. "At least I'm not a stupid, immature child!" He dodges and grabs my fist. "Maybe if you'd TALK to me about it rather than trying to take my HEAD off.." I slowly sink to the ground and hide my face in my hands. I'm visibly trembling. "Leave me alone.. leave me alone.." I whisper. He kneels down beside me and brushes my hair aside. "Yaten, I didn't mean.." I jerk away from him and look up at him. "Leave, please, just get lost Taiki!" His face hardens, his eyes become cold. "We all lost things when Galaxia attacked, Yaten! All we have left is eachother! And all you can do is act like a little baby!" He strides over to me and slaps me across the face. I look up at him, stunned. "You.. you don't care at all, do you? We lost everything.. and you don't even CARE!!" He closes his eyes and sits down beside me. "Yaten," he said softly. "I do care, you just don't notice. I hide it well, so does Seiya. It tears us apart to see you like this.." I look over at him, but don't reply. "We always peek in your room until you fall asleep again, Yaten.. we do care about you.." I sniffled. "Wh.. why do you just stand there?" He frowns slightly. "What would you rather us do? Come in and try to comfort you? No, you'd sooner see us both dead." I wipe a tear off of my face. "Have.. have you ever tried?" He looks up, off into the distance. "Once.. when we first got here.. Seiya was still out and you woke up screaming.. I came into your room and held you until you fell asleep again.." He stopped, and chuckled softly. "Good thing you don't remember. I wouldn't be here if you did." "Maybe, maybe not," I say softly. "Maybe, maybe not," he repeats. "You can say that now, but would you have then?" "Never mind about then," I growl, then stop myself. "Taiki, if you want to chew me out, just DO it. I can take it." "I.. I never should have said what I did, Yaten, but you really should talk to me or Seiya.. this will never end, unless you do.." I look at him, eyes quivering. Should I tell him everything, all the pain I've felt? "I.. I want to go home!" My sentance ends with a sob. He pulls me into his arms and strokes my hair. "I don't want to be alone!" "You won't be," he says softly. "Never, never. Seiya and I.. we'll always be here for you, do you understand?" I sniffle and nod. "Taiki?" "Yes?" "If I.. If I ever wake up screaming again.. could you.. well, could you come in here and hold me.. and help me calm down? It's hard.. by myself.." I feel something warm hit my head. A tear.. "Yeah," he says softly. "I will.." "Thanks," I murmer. I slowly close my eyes and fall asleep, leaning against him. *~!~**~!~**~!~* When I open my eyes again, Seiya and Taiki are sitting on my bed, looking down at me. I blink, clearing my eyes, and sit up. "What are you guys doing here?" "We came to make sure you were okay," Seiya says softly. "We worry about you, Yaten." "Yeah, like it or not, we're your brothers, and you're stuck with us," says Taiki with a grin. I manage a faint smile. "Thanks, guys. I'm sorry about how I acted earlier.. I'm just.. homesick." "We all are," Seiya murmurs. "But we have friends here. We'll pull through if we try hard enough." "Gotta try," quips Taiki. "Now get up, Yaten. We've got stuff to do!" I growl playfully at him and throw a pillow, which hits him in the head. "Get lost," I laugh. "I'm not moving." "No way!" he cries, and throws the pillow back. That, of course, starts a huge pillow war. It lasts about an hour, and finally we all collapse in a heap. I stare up at the ceiling. For once, I actually feel happy about myself. I'm starting to realise how important my family is to me. And, I know in my heart that Seiya is right. We will find her.. and then we can go home. Until then, we have to put up with a bunch of screaming fans. Oh well.. I guess you can't have everything right away! *~!~**~!~**~!~* The End *~!~**~!~**~!~* Did ya like it? Did ya hate it? Let me know! ^_^ Talk to you all later.. Oh! Waitwaitwait! Don't leave yet! I didn't get to put my list of thank-yous up yet! Kaos - You're such a freak sometimes. =P Sidnei - Keep up the awesome work - you're a GREAT writer! Razzz - Sis! Where have you been! Email me sometime! ^_^ Lianne - You too! =P Rain Ayo - Hey girl! Love the stories! ^_^ Forever636 - Let's keep making those pies!! And maybe we can have a tasty FROG for dinner!! ^_~ Person wm - What the heck, I'll thank you too. I'm in a good mood. Sailor November - Can't wait to see the next part of ALC! Technuma Saturn - You're a great Darien.. thanks for being there for me! Commander Galos - You're a cool person. ^_^ Star Fighter - Nya nya! Yaten's MINE!! =P ^_^ You're cool too. Stay that way! 'kay.. I'm done now. ^_^ Tiga Shadow http://members.tripod.com/~PaladinStar Tiga2@hotmail.com http://www.crosswinds.net/kansas-city/~stargazer stargazer@kansas-city.crosswinds.net Sailor Moon dosen't belong to me. ^_^ Ja ne minna! Stop reading!! I said STOP!! =P =P