The sky was blue, the clouds were fluffy white, and the grass was green. It was the perfect day to walk around and do nothing. The perfect day to be completative and rethink life. The perfect day to visit those whom we have not seen in a long time.

Kamui opened his eyes again to see the stone in front of him. He leaned forward, smiling, and carefully traced his fingers on the engraved letters.

“Well… I guess I’ll see you later, huh?”

He stood up, brushing the slivers of grass off of the knees his black pants as the wind blew his jet black hair away from his eyes.

It had been a year since the second War of the Elements. And, honestly, Kamui hoped it was the last. The sacrifices made at that battlefield had been enough.

More than enough.

Ever since that night, everyone had tried to get their lives back on track again. The good thing about being a Star is: despite what’s going on with the Elements, the rest of your life isn’t affected. The hard thing about being a Star, though, is: you can’t really confide in your friends when they ask why you zone out at times. Why, for seemingly no reason at all, you suddenly feel like you just want to shut yourself out from the world for a second. No, you couldn’t tell that to your friends, no matter how sympathetic they may be.

No, Midori and Rei will never understand. The whole deal about the Elements was just something to experience in order to be understood. What was so great about Midori and Rei, though, is that, eventually, they did understand even though they still knew nothing. They eventually just let it go. And for that, Kamui was thankful for his friends.

As for the rest of the Stars… Kamui didn’t see them much anymore, even the Kazetenshis, who lived so close to him. It wasn’t like before, when they would converge in an empty classroom in the afternoons to talk about the Roses’ next move, or when the whole Group would hang out in the Spazio practically every day. In fact, it had been weeks since Kamui himself had been at the Spazio. The Stars had simply become busy, and the intervals between their meetings grew longer and longer.

And today…

“Thank you, sir. Have a nice day!”

Kamui snapped out of his reverie at the greeting. He gave a small bow, smiling at the security guard, before he stepped through the gates and out of the cementary.

——–

And so, here he was again. It had been a while since he last stepped foot in this place; although he had, admittedly, avoided going there for a while. Honestly, he knew that the palace was quiet, especially since Kaji and Yuki had left to live on the Ground. But it never really bothered him. It was his home. And, even though he had lived alone, he never really felt alone.

Odd that, now that everything was over, now that everything seemed OK, now was the time that it felt wrong to stay there. Then again, maybe it was wrong to stay there, now that he had no reason to do so.

Eventually, though, he got over that eerie feeling he got whenever he thought of the palace. As Kamui had said, maybe it was just a psychological thing, that maybe the only thing keeping him from going there was himself. The girls had made it their project, then, to “warm” the palace again, and, soon enough, the rare visits slowly became frequent. And now, whenever he went there, what flooded his thoughts were fond memories instead of sad ones.

Ran looked up from staring at the table when he felt the sofa cushion shift. He smiled at the girl sitting beside him, holding a hot cup with both her hands.

“That smells nice,” he said.

She smiled, inhaling the delicious aroma of her coffee. “Yes, it does. Would you like me to make you a cup?”

“No, thanks. I’ll make some popcorn, though. Would you like some?”

She raised an eyebrow. “Coffee and popcorn?”

Ran raised an eyebrow, as well, his grey eyes smiling.

“Why not?”

“Uh…No thanks.”

“Suit yourself.”

Just as Ran left the room, he heard Sara’s cheery voice exclaim “Hikaru-kun!” as she bounced in.

“Hey, Sara,” Hikaru greeted her without looking up.

“You’re here! Long time no see! You didn’t get fired again, did you?”

The brown-haired boy then looked up, narrowing his eyes at the ever-smiling Sara. He wasn’t exactly sure if she was joking or not.

“For your information, no. As a matter of fact, I’m getting promoted. The boss just gave me a day off.”

“Ah, congratulations, then, sir.”

“Thank you. Now, if you don’t mind…”

Sara blinked, only then noticing what Hikaru had been doing.

“Oh, please, do continue,” she said apologetically. She then went to sit down on the sofa. That sofa was ultra-comfortable, really, and in perfect condition even though no one bothered to take care of it. Sara was the one who most frequently visited the palace — even more frequently than Ran — but she never really bothered to maintain the place. It wasn’t that she was lazy, unlike what Kamui had playfully accused her. It was just that everything in this place was in perfect condition, whether or not anybody maintained it. It was one of the mysteries of the Elementals that Sara gave up trying to figure out.

“Hello, Mai-chan!”

“Hello, Sara,” Mai answered, smiling at her.

The blue-eyed girl took a moment before asking, “So how are you?”

“I’ve been fine, thank you…” She paused, glancing at the table. “But I’ll spare the details. Oniichan forbade me to share stories with anyone while we’re not complete yet.”

“Ah,” Sara said, laughing. It was typical for Hikaru to say that. But it was great that Mai was doing well now. It had been a while before the raven-haired girl completely got over her loss. For the first few weeks, Mai didn’t even answer whenever she was asked how she was. It wasn’t until two month later that Mai actually said she was doing good, and was honest about it. Of course, Sara would know if she was lying or not.

Mai was taking another sip of her coffee when Sara slightly leaned towards her.

“How long have they been at it?” she asked.

“I don’t know, exactly. They’ve played six games since I arrived, but they started earlier than that, I think…”

“Are they ever going to stop?”

“I hope so,” Mai said, grinning, “I don’t want Oniichan to strain his brain too much.”

With that, a comfortable silence ruled the room until…

“Checkmate.”

“What?! No, it’s no— … Oh…Right, it is. Drat.”

“Want another match?”

A deep sigh. “Nah, I’m pretty tired already…”

“Finished already? But I just got here!”

“We’re only human, Sara-chan,” Yuki said, grinning, as she started picking up the chess pieces. “Besides, we just played to keep ourselves busy until your brother arrives.”

“Yeah, what’s taking him so long, anyway?” Mai asked.

Sara opened her mouth to answer, but she never got to, as Ran entered the room with two bowlfuls of popcorn.

“Come and get it while it’s hot.”

“Arayt popcorn!” Hikaru exclaimed. “I wish we had a movie to watch, though…”

“Who needs a movie as an excuse to eat popcorn?” Ran asked, as if defending his favorite snack. “Oh, are you guys done with your game? Did Hikaru lose again?”

“Of course.”

“Mai!” Hikaru exclaimed, looking slightly offended. “Don’t make it sound like I always lost!”

“Well, how many games did you lose?”

“…Uh…Well…” Hikaru frowned as Sara and Mai exchanged knowing glances. “So she got lucky!”

“Hey!” Yuki objected, quite uncharacterstically. “What is that supposed to mean?!”

“That you got lucky,” Hikaru answered calmly.

“She didn’t get lucky, Oniichan. She got really good, but that doesn’t mean you’re not good, either.”

This seemed to settle well with Hikaru, as he just shrugged before proceeding to eat popcorn and chatting with Ran and Sara.

“Always the diplomat, eh, Mai?” Yuki asked.

“I try what I can to keep Oniichan out of trouble.”

Yuki laughed a bit, but Mai only smiled, her eyes unconsciously drifting towards the door again.

“Don’t worry,” Yuki’s voice came once more, “I’m sure he’ll be here any minute.”

Mai quickly turned away from the door, a light blush creeping up to her cheeks. “Who said I was worried about Kamui?”

“Who said I was talking about Kamui?”

Mai’s blush deepened, making Yuki laugh again and say, “Mai, you’re so cute!”

“No, I am not!”

“Actually, yes, you are.”

At the sound of that cool voice, Mai sharply turned towards the door again. Chocolate brown eyes met cobalt blue, and Mai felt her cheeks grow even hotter.

“Hi,” Kamui said, smiling, as he walked towards them.

“Hi.”

“Naaaa, Oniichan! You missed seeing Yuki beating Hikaru at chess countless of times! Well, actually, I did, too, but that’s not the point.”

“It wasn’t countless times!” Hikaru wailed. “It was just… Just…”

“A hundred?”

“Sensei!!!”

Kamui laughed before taking a handful of popcorn. “Good work, Yuki.”

“I couldn’t have done it without you, though.”

“AHA! So you’re the one to blame!”

Kamui rolled his eyes as he took his seat. “I just taught her the basics, Hikaru. Besides, you better be happy she actually got better at chess. I almost lost hope when I was teaching her, at times.”

“HEY!” Yuki objected, this time, while Hikaru laughed and exchanged high fives with Kamui.

“OK, OK, guys, settle down,” came Ran’s voice from the head of the table. “Everyone— I mean…almost everyone is here… Let us, therefore, begin our meeting.”

“Don’t make it sound so formal,” Hikaru stated.

Sara snickered, saying, “That’d be something Kaji would say…”

It was just a simple statement, a harmelss one, but, suddenly, it seemed like everyone’s mood changed. Sara bit her lip the moment she realized what she had just said, while Yuki turned to her in slight surprise. Mai suddenly found her shoes to be the most interesting thing at the moment, and Hikaru’s fists clenched, his eyebrows furrowing angrily. Only Ran and Kamui didn’t react.

“OK,” Ran said, clearing his throat. “I’ll make it sound formal, because, as you know me, I like to make things dramatic. Life is, after all, a drama.”

At this point, the serious air had lifted again. Sara scratched her hair, while Hikaru rolled his eyes as Ran continued.

“We are, undeniably, the actors in this huge production. But, we must remember that we are still at the dress rehearsal. The main production is our life still ahead of us. We are to embark on a journey, and each of us has a road to follow. Our roads may not be side by side all the time, but, thankfully, there are corssroads where we can meet friends, old and new. This, my Stars, is one of those crossroads.

“And, from one crossroads to the other, we may encounter bumps along the way, and let me tell you: it may be a pebble, a rock, or a boulder, but never fail to learn from them. Sometimes we take things for granted… We only realize their importance when they’re already gone.”

“Well said,” Yuki quipped, half-joking, half-sincere, matching her Master’s half-exaggerating, half-serious speech.

“Thank you. Well, then, we shall commence. Being the Sensei, it gives me the privelege to go first. The investments I’ve previously bought are, thankfully, doing well, and are providing for my needs quite nicely. The Potentials are behaving well, and I see no need to take anyone in at the moment. My observations are continuing without a glitch, and that, by itself, is a very good thing.”

“You got that right,” Kamui agreed.

“Next… Hikaru, being the eldest of the group?”

Hikaru nodded. “College is… well… college. It’s hard, but I’m surviving. Uh… I finally gave up my one job as a student assistant, and just focused on the one at the cafe near my house. It’s doing real well, and I’m hoping to reach the managerial staff soon.”

“Don’t overwork yourself, though,” Yuki told him.

“Don’t worry, I’m not. But I really AM working hard for it so I could move to a better apartment. The one I have right now just isn’t condusive to studying… And…yeah. That’s it.”

“Yuki, would you like to go next?”

Yuki cleared her throat, smiling at the Stars with her. “I’m pleased to announce that I have improved my chess game—”

“Oh, man, not this again… Rub it in, will you?”

“Calm down, dear, let me continue,” Yuki said, placing a hand on Hikaru’s shoulder to stop him from possibly standing up and walking out. “I was, in fact, invited to the chess club. But, seeing that I’m at the bottom of that club while I’m practically at the top of the skating club, I decided to stay with where my gifts are.”

“Wise decision,” Ran said.

“I’m also pleased to announce that my parents—”

“Lord and Lady Mizuno,” Hikaru whispered under his breath, making Sara give a muffled laugh.

“—are finally convinced that I, indeed, did not elope with Hikaru.”

“Really?” Kamui asked, smiling. “What made the Lord and Lady decide that?”

“Please refrain from calling my parents Lord and Lady with the underlying meaning of them being dominant and scary, guys… They’re actually very nice.”

“I’m sure they are, Yuki,” Sara said, “But, it’s just…Well, whenever they’re trying to chop off Hikaru-kun’s head…”

“Well, they won’t. Not anymore. I convinced them that my cover story — of course, I didn’t call it a cover story in front of them — of going off to attend an exclusive school was true. I suppose they saw that I was ‘refined’, though they didn’t say it like that. And then I reminded them about Kaji, who came with Ran to pick me up all those years before, and they went, ‘Ah, yes, that delightful nice boy with wonderful manners?’”

“They have GOT to be sarcastic about that,” Kamui stated, laughing.

“Actually, no. They literally lit up when I mentioned Kaji. I think that pretty much convinced them, plus the fact that I finished high school among the top 25 students of my class.”

“Oh, that’s cool, isn’t it? So does that mean that Hikaru-kun can officially visit you at your mansion now? That he doesn’t have to climb up your balcony just to see you?”

“I never climbed up her blacony!” Hikaru protested, looking absolutely flustered in an instant.

“Yeah, you flew up,” Mai stated.

“Wha—” Hikaru started, but stopped as he glanced at Yuki, who, at that same moment, just happened to glance at him, too.

“All right,” Ran cut in again, “if Yuki doesn’t have anything else to add, let’s move on. Kamui?”

“Finished top of the class, I’m sure,” Hikaru said.

Kamui only smiled. “The competition has been tough, but, yeah, I did. And I got into Tokyo U, too.”

“Really?!” Hikaru exclaimed, just as the others also expressed their congratulations. “That’s awesome! Wanna be roomies?”

“Sure. I was just about to ask you about that.”

“That’s just so awesome!” Hikaru repeated. “Mai, how come you didn’t tell me?”

“I haven’t told anyone yet,” Kamui answered for Mai before she had a chance to defend herself. He then nodded to Ran, indicating that he was done.

“Typical that school is all you’re going to report about,” Ran commented, smiling. “Sara? Do you have anything to share?”

“I don’t think I have anything that interesting to tell,” Sara started. “I mean, I’m still in high school, I haven’t dropped out. I’m still in the gymnastics club, and I’m likely to be the president next year… I think that’s it. Everything’s pretty much the same.”

“No boy problems, Sara-chan?” Yuki asked.

As everyone expected, it was Kamui who answered.

“Well, she does have that annoying kid following her all the time.”

“Oh, Oniichan, don’t speak about him as if he was a stalker,” Sara told him. “Besides, he isn’t following me around. He just happens to be in the places where I am. And it’s not like we like each other or anything. That’d be, like, yuck.”

Kamui snorted, crossing his arms. “Of course he won’t tell you he likes you. And, really: he just most conveniently happens to be where you are? Yeah, right. Do you honestly think that I don’t know what a guy does just to catch a girl’s attention?”

“Well, I don’t see YOU trying to catch Mai’s attention.”

Mai blushed deeply, while Kamui — his face also an attractive shade of red — opened his mouth to retort, but Yuki beat him to it.

“He doesn’t need to catch Mai’s attention, Sara. He already has it.”

“Yuki-chan!” Mai exclaimed.

“Mai, would you like to go next?” Ran interjected, effectively stopping anybody else from saying anything. Kamui then resigned to glowering at Yuki and Sara, while the two girls grinned at each other.

“Um… Well… I’m… I don’t have anything to report, really,” she said, fiddling with her fingers.

“Yes you do,” Kamui objected. “C’mon, Mai, tell them.”

When Mai just blinked innocently at Kamui, Hikaru leaned on the table, eyebrows furrowed.

“Tell us what?” he asked, eyes narrowing at his black-haired friend.

“Yeah, tell us what?” Sara echoed. “Did Oniichan finally ask you to be his girlfriend?”

“Noooo,” Kamui said, once again glaring at his sister, who just smiled cutely. He turned back to Mai, who still looked clueless. “Didn’t you take the entrance exam to Tokyo U, too?”

At this, Mai flushed. “Well…Yes, I did…”

“How was it?” Hikaru asked, finally stopping from eyeing Kamui suspiciously.

“I…don’t know,” Mai finally said. “I haven’t checked.”

“What?” Kamui asked, blinking. “Why not? The results came out yesterday, didn’t it?”

“Yes, but I didn’t check it yet. I was planning to do it tomorrow. I just…” Mai paused, sighing. “I didn’t want to come here disappointed, that’s all. Just in case I didn’t pass…”

To her surprise, Kamui laughed.

“No way! Really? But you did pass, Mai. I looked for you on the list, too.”

“Arayt, sis!” Hikaru cheered, while Mai simply stared at Kamui, dumbfounded.

“Are you serious?” she breathed. Kamui just continued smiling at her.

“This is great!” Ran exclaimed, this time. “This calls for a celebration, ne?”

“Oh, definitely,” Yuki agreed.

“Well, Mai, do you have anything to add?”

“Um…” Mai started, again. This time, though, she was smiling widely. She laughed a bit before continuing. “I think that’s it. Unless you want to include the fact that people still call me Aiko.”

At this, Hikaru laughed. “I don’t think you’ll get out of that, Mai. It comes with being twins.”

There was a pause, now that everyone in the room had shared their general stories. There’s still much to be said, that’s for sure. But most details come a little while later, probably during lunch. Or perhaps after a spar or two.

“How is Aiko?” Ran asked, breaking the silence.

But then, there was silence again. Yuki turned to Mai with her full attention, while the smile on Hikaru’s face disappeared once again to be replaced by a scowl. Mai, Kamui and Sara glanced at each other, unsure of what to say. Kamui was very tempted to cheerfully say “Well, she passed Tokyo U, too!” But he knew what Ran had meant. Everybody knew what Ran had meant.

It was Mai who finally spoke.

“She’s holding up,” she said with a small smile.

“When I get my hands on that idiot,” Hikaru said, his fists clenching, “I’m gonna kill him.”

“No, you’re not.”

“Yes, Yuki, I will. Seriously. I mean, what on earth was he thinking, leaving like that?! Without a trace, without even the slightest bit of warning! And before Aiko woke up, too! I always knew he’s impatient, but come on! Is one week too long for him to wait?!”

“Apparently,” Sara said. “It’s hard to know what’s going on in his head sometimes.”

“He has his reasons, Hikaru, I’m sure,” Ran provided.

“Yeah, well, I’m still gonna kill him,” Hikaru insisted. “You can’t just kiss someone and then leave them! Didn’t he know how affected Aiko was going to be when he left?”

“Maybe he didn’t,” Ran said. “Listen, Hikaru. Not to put you down, but there’s a lot about Kaji that you don’t know, OK? He may look confident, even over-confident at times, but he’s got a number of skeletons hidden in his closet. He’s been through things that you — and even I — might never know. So cut him some slack, yeah?”

Hikaru sighed, crossing his arms. “I know…” he said after a moment. “It’s just that… Well, she’s my sister…”

“I know, kid,” Ran said, smiling. “I understand, and I’m sure Kaji will also understand your desire to kill him.”

“I think Aiko’s going to beat you to it, though,” Kamui added, making Hikaru laugh.

“Yeah, most probably.”

“Where is Aiko, anyway?” Ran asked, finally noticing just how late Aiko was.

“She’s on her way,” Kamui said. “She just had to make a quick detour.”

——-

It was here.

Aiko took a deep breath as the wind blew. She tucked stray locks of her midnight blue hair behind her ear as her grey eyes scanned the horizon, her necklace glistening in the morning sun.

When she had “woken up” after her accident — the accident that changed her life as she knew it — she was several hundred feet above the very spot she was standing on. She smiled, remembering how she felt when she realized that she was floating in mid-air. She couldn’t remember what she had yelled in panic, but she was sure that it was something senseless. But before her adrenaline could even subside, she had been startled out of her wits again when Kaji suddenly appeared behind her, saying…

“Kazetenshi Aiko, ne, ojoosama?”

Aiko’s smile faded as her eyes widened ever-so-slightly. That sarcastic, confident, smirking voice was unmistakable, but she didn’t dare hope.

He’s not there, Aiko, she told herself. This wouldn’t be the first time you hallucinated.

Cynical as it may sound, she knew she was right, out of experience. When she had woken up a week after their fight with Youko, Kaji was nowhere to be found. Nobody knew exactly when he left, where he went, and why he did. And for the first few months after that, there were times when Aiko would imagine hearing his voice saying something sarcastic about what she was doing. Mai had said that maybe she was showing withdrawal symptoms from seeing Kaji everyday. Maybe she was right. Hikaru had said that she was dangerously close to going into depression, although Aiko didn’t want to think so — it wasn’t like her whole world revolved around Kaji, right? But it was just unfair. Whenever she would hear his voice only to be slapped in the face with the reality that he wasn’t there, she just felt hollow. Good thing Kamui was always there to snap her out of it…

Better get this over with, she thought, sighing, as she turned around, half-expecting to see no one.

Aiko had never been one to cry so easily. It would always have to take something really serious to make her cry. But, at that moment, tears stung her eyes as she suddenly felt a lump in her throat. The wind blew again, and, with her legs suddenly feeling like they had turned to mush, Aiko smiled.

“Hao…”

Seven young people.
Two separated brothers.
One beautiful, unpredictable life.

————–

From the Author

Blue Star is officially finished…

But the story continues! Harhar… Sorry, I just can’t seem to make myself put a lid on it. To tell you the truth, I didn’t know how to end this story with a bang. So the epilogue turned out like this. Hope you guys aren’t wanting to shishkabob me right now. Who knows, maybe I’ll change it later :Þ

Please gimme comments about the epilogue: Was it clear, what had happened with each of the Stars during the past year? Was Aiko’s part too short? Was everyone suddenly out of character? Did it suck? Should I scrap this and just make another one? Speak, people, and I shall listen.

And, oh yes: If you read Episode 24 before November 26, 2005, you might want to reread it. I added a scene. Instead of just Mai thinking about the dream, I added the dream itself.

Since I love my brainchild so much, I’ve been considering turning it into a series of “books”…sort of. Since we already have Ribbon as a side story, I was thinking of making optional prequels and sequels. By ‘optional’ I mean they can be read as a prequel to Blue Star, or they can be read as a standalone. But they’re all under one umbrella story.

Here are the arcs I was considering writing…I haven’t decided on the titles yet

- A prequel revolving around Ran, Youko, Yume, and all the other original Elementals

- A prequel telling the story of Rieka, Megumi, Ken’ichi and Nobuyuki

- A prequel exploring Yuuji and Fuu’s back story

- A prequel about Yuki’s past

- A sequel which reveals just where Kaji disappeared to

- A sequel following Sara in high school

- A sequel that puts Hikaru in the limelight

- A sequel continuing Mai and Kamui’s story

If you notice, Aiko isn’t mentioned anywhere… Maybe it’s because she’ll inevitably make an appearance in almost every single one of these arcs… Also, she has the most exposure in Blue Star anyway, so… Ehehehe. Yeah.

So, drop me a line! It’d be awesome if you can write a review, even a small comment, about how Blue Star turned out as a whole story. Also, vote for which side story you want me to write, or if you think I should just stop with Blue Star and continue on to other fics. :Þ

I’ll release a final word from the author by next month (I think).

And stared.

And stared.

But the scene before her didn’t change.

Aiko watched as the Blue Stars —including herself— made their way through the halls of the Deathrose palace. She looked at the floor she was sitting on. She wasn’t moving at all, but at the same time she WAS moving. It was like she was watching the Stars on a 3D TV. It was the strangest thing Aiko ever experienced. And, frankly, it’s the hardest thing to explain.

And here I thought things couldn’t get any weirder…

Looking at herself slung over Kaji’s shoulders, she couldn’t help but wonder if she had died again. But, that can’t be right, right? Stars don’t die. And, besides, even if she DID die, Kaji should have noticed it, and he should have stopped making it hard on himself by carrying her on his back, right?

“Actually, no,” came a new voice beside Aiko. “You’re not dead, you’re just floating between the conscious and the subconscious.”

Aiko blinked at the woman now standing beside her. She looked young, but definitely older than Aiko. She had strawberry blonde hair, blue eyes, and a gentle smile. She was wearing a pink dress, and she looked absolutely dainty, but there was something about the way she stood that told Aiko that this woman was no prissy.

“I’m sorry?” she asked. The older woman chuckled.

“Floating,” she repeated, “between your conscious and your subconscious, and at the same time between yourself and the self that Youko developed.”

“OK…” was all Aiko could say.

“Just as your sister explained,” the woman added. She didn’t say anything else as she continued smiling, waiting for Aiko to process the situation.

“So… we’re in my brain?” Aiko asked tentatively.

“Yes, that’s correct. We can see your friends because, even though you are physically asleep, your senses are still working, thus they send the information they get to your mind, where we are now.”

“OK…” Aiko said, “So, the reason you can read my thoughts is precisely because we’re in my head?”

“Precisely.”

“Uh-huh… So… If we’re in my mind, then why is it that I don’t know who you are?”

The woman smiled — not that she ever stopped. “My name is Yume. You do not remember me because I am not supposed to be in your memories to begin with. I am from Youko’s memories, some of which have been transferred to you when he altered your mind. That, though, was not supposed to happen. I suppose he was trying too hard to penetrate your mind.”

“You’re from Youko’s memories,” Aiko echoed.

“Yes. Although the real Yume does not exist anymore, I am her as Youko remembered. Add the information in Youko’s mind that was also transferred to you, plus the information in your mind, and —viola!— you have me, the Yume in your mind. That is why I am able to explain these things to you, which the real Yume would never be able to, due to her limited knowledge.”

“This is getting more confusing by the second,” Aiko honestly blurted out.

Yume chuckled, and, randomly, Aiko wondered if Yume’s patience had a limit or not.

“That is expected,” Yume said. “Perhaps you can ask Ran to explain how brainwashing works, and the complications involved. Perhaps he can present it to you in a more comprehensible fashion. I never was able to teach well.”

“What the…” came Mai’s voice, catching Aiko’s attention. She realized that the Stars had stopped running, and Mai was now trying to push heavy, dark brown doors open, but to no avail.

“This is wrong…” Mai said. “The doors here should open for me.”

“May I try?” Kamui asked.

“Sure,” Mai started as she turned around, “but the locks are ki-sens—”

Mai’s reasoning was cut short when vines suddenly burst from behind Kamui, whizzed past Mai, and crashed through the heavy doors that she had been trying to open.

“How’s that?”

“That’ll work,” Mai said as she stepped through huge hole in the door. She made her way to Youko’s desk and examined it. Then, she carefully slid her hands across the glass panel on the desk, as if she was feeling for something that the eye couldn’t see.

“If my memory serves me right— AHA!”

Hikaru watched in awe as a huge 3D hologram of the Deathrose palace suddenly appeared on the desk. The palace itself was a white color, the intensity varying in different parts of the palace. And, there, in one certain part of it, were several colored blobs — for lack of a better word— were huddled together.

“Whoa. Cool gadget,” he quipped.

“Only Youko-san and I have the ability to use it, he said, but he never did let me…” Mai trailed off as she scanned the whole palace. “OK. This shows the ki concentration in the palace to detect foreign presence,” Mai explained as she scanned the whole palace. “There’s no one else here except us,” she said, pointing to the blue blobs in the diagram. “That black one is me.”

“Hey…How come Ai-chan’s black, too?” Sara asked, squinting.

“Maybe because Youko-san’s ki is still mixed with hers.”

“Is the whole palace shown on this thing?” Kaji asked.

“Yes. Even my garden is on here…”

“Maybe they’re outside the palace,” Hikaru suggested.

“Yeah, maybe they’re fighting outside the barrier,”Yuki agreed.

“Or, maybe they’re at the Blue Star palace.”

Mai turned to Kamui sharply, her eyebrows furrowing.

“Just a suggestion,” he added, shrugging. “I know it’s unlikely, but I just thought… anything’s possible and—”

“Kamui…” Mai breathed, interrupting Kamui’s explanation (which was most likely senseless, anyway). “Kamui, that’s it.”

He blinked. “You think they’re there?”

“I’m sure they’re there,” Mai said confidently. With a wave of her hand, she made the 3d hologram disappear. “He must have planned this from the beginning! He captured Oniichan so we’ll be forced to come here and fight a brainwashed Aiko so that he can duel with Ran-sama without us getting in the way! Youko-san must be thinking he can change history by killing Ran-sama at the exact same place of the War! It’s totally logical! Kamui, you’re absolutely brilliant!”

Kamui blinked again, his brain still processing Mai’s long explanation. “I am?”

“Wait a sec,” Kaji started, his eyebrows furrowed. “What do you mean, ‘the War’?”

“It’s a long story, Kaji—”

“You don’t mean the one where Shindou fought against the Elementals, do you?”

Mai blinked. “Yes, but…”

“ARGH! I knew it! I freakin’ knew it!!!”

“Wasn’t that just a legend?” Yuki asked.

“Ran may have told it as a bedtime story, but I knew it ain’t no fairytale.”

When Yuki looked unconvinced, Kaji challenged her.

“Ever wondered why the princes’re the only ones in the freakin’ story who don’t have no names? There’s Gansei and Zai and Shindou and Yume an’ everyone else, but the princes, the main characters, don’t have any names. Ever wondered why the story’s so long and detailed, but there ain’t no inconsistencies and Ran doesn’t get anything wrong? It’s because it’s his story, Yuki!”

“Well, fine, if Ran-sama’s one of the princes, then who’s the other one?”

“Uh…Excuse me,” Hikaru interupted, raising his hand. “Might we continue this on the way? Mai did say this is gonna be a long explanation.”

“Good one, Hikaru,” Kaji said before kicking the ground to fly out the door.

“Wait, Kaji, you haven’t answered me yet!” Yuki called, flying after him.

Hikaru and Mai followed right behind her. Sara was about to fly through the gaping hole on the door, as well, when she realized that Kamui had not moved from his spot, staring blankly at the space Mai had occupied.

“Oniichan?”

Kamui’s head snapped up. “Huh?”

“What’s wrong?” Sara asked, worried. Did her brother finally sense Ran? She bit her lip, praying that nothing bad had happened to their master.

But then she found she didn’t have to worry at all: Kamui smiled.

“She thinks I’m brilliant,” he said.

Sara fought the urge to laugh. “Yeah, Oniichan. Whoopee. So does practically every girl in your school.”

“But she thinks I’m absolutely brilliant,” Kamui insisted.

“Hai, hai…” Sara said, rolling her eyes before proceeding to pull on Kamui’s arm. “Let’s go, Brilliant Boy, your princess awaits.”

“Wait a second…” Aiko said, turning to Yume after Kamui and Sara flew out of Youko’s office. “How come we’re still here? I mean, aren’t we supposed to be watching them still?”

“Perhaps the effect of the Roses are completely diminishing now.”

“Wha? So the weird things that I was supposed to see… That’s it?”

“Yes, perhaps. Your resolve on the truth seems to be strong.”

“But aren’t I supposed to be waking up if the effect has diminished?” Inwardly, Aiko winced. She was starting to get annoyed with her own inquisitive voice. But Yume didn’t seem to be bothered at all.

“Yes, that is the way it is supposed to be,” Yume answered, smiling. “Somehow, things are happening differently with you. But almost everything is different when it comes to you, anyway. You are different from the rest, in more ways than one, Kazetenshi Aiko.”

————–

The flight to the Blue Star palace seemed tremendously longer than their flight to the Deathrose palace, even if it was the same distance. It may have been because the Stars had already engaged in a battle. Then again, perhaps it’s because they were in a hurry. That was how it usually is, Yuki mused: when you’re waiting for something, it seems to take way longer than it actually does.

The Stars finally broke through the barrier, and each one of them came to an abrupt halt. They stood there, frozen, for a moment, until Sara spoke.

“You’ve got to be kidding.”

They had never felt Ran’s ki flare so wildly. They didn’t have to look for his ki. It was all around them, so powerful around them, that Yuki was almost sure that if there wasn’t a barrier around the Star palace, the potentials on the ground could feel it, as well.

First to recover, Kaji continued flying to the battlefield Ran told them about when they were young.

Go straight through the main hall, turn right when you reach the hallways, and then turn left at the end. Eventually, you’ll come acorss black doors covered by dark green drapes. Those doors open to a wide, less lighted hallway, the end of which will lead to another pair of black doors behind white curtains. When those doors open, one should see the Stars’ destination.

But since following that route will make him simply run along the perimeter of the whole palace — and he’s far too impatient to do that at the moment — Kaji flew across the main hall, straight through the main hallway, and burst through the doors that lead to the huge staircases. Kaji crouched for a split-second in the middle of the room, then almost literally rocketed upward, straight towards the glass dome serving as the roof.

“Ka…Kaji?!”

The maroon-haired boy smirked. Yuki must be thinking that he planned to crash through the glass dome. Well, that idea seemed to be appealing, except he was carrying Aiko behind his back.

Hold on, Aiko… This’ll be over soon…

Five seconds more, and he would have hit the glass. But Kaji stopped flying, letting the momentum carry him, and he changed direction, heading instead for one of the window panes. Pushing at the metal frame with all his might — at the same time being careful not to break the glass — Kaji opened the windows, letting the cold night air momentarily shock his skin. From there, the Stars took to the skies, cutting though the palace from outside.

And there, at the opposite end of the Blue Star palace was their destination: first, a courtyard with a magnificent fountain in the middle, past which would be a field of green that goes as far as the eye could see.

But that had been what was there yesterday. Now, the fountain in the previously serene courtyard was ruined, and blazing white and ominously black orbs and flashes swiftly flew back and forth, further destroying the garden. The source of these attacks, however, remained unseen to everyone’s eyes. Except for one Kazetenshi Hikaru, whose brain can only think of a string of three simple words.

Ran. Is. AWESOME.

Hikaru’s brown eyes could barely keep up with the two fighting men whose feet never touched the ground. He tensely watched as Ran and Youko exchange punches, kicks, and attacks that looked nowhere near an Element, their weapons swiftly switching from spheres to swords to a number of other forms that Hikaru couldn’t identify. Neither man showed exhaustion, neither man did so much as wince.

“I don’t see them. Do you?” Kaji quietly yet urgently asked no one in particular.

“No, they’re too fast,” Yuki answered beside him.

“I do,” Hikaru finally spoke up, not taking his eyes off the fight. “I hate to say it but I think Ran-sama’s—”

The last word of Hikaru’s sentence got stuck in his throat as Ran’s black sphere suddenly sped towards the Stars. And while his brain was registering that, Sara suddenly ran forward, flinging her arms wide. And while his mind was registering that, the black orb disintegrated with a slivers of energy, if you can imagine with me, as it collided with Sara, lifting — no, thrusting her into the air and slamming her on the ground.

“SARA!”

His sister winced as Kamui helped her sit up. “It wasn’t deadly.”

“What?”

“It was Ran-sama’s attack. Youko threw it towards us. It wasn’t fatal.”

Kamui’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Well, obviously it wasn’t fatal: Sara was still alive. But it didn’t make sense, did it? Why would Ran, after finally getting the chance to fight his arch-nemesis head on, use such an attack?

“Dammit,” Kaji hissed to himself as he set Aiko down on the floor. The girl was sleeping as if there was nothing going on around her. And Kaji wanted nothing but to keep her safe. If anything happened to her…

Kaji closed his eyes, blocking the thought out of his mind. What he needed to do now was think. He needed to think how they was going to defeat an opponent this fast, lethal and freaking unbeatable…

Mai swallowed painfully, her eyes trying to follow the occasional flash of silver, but to no avail. The calm that had rest on her during the past hour suddenly dissipated, almost leaving her shaking. This was the first time she ever saw Youko fight so seriously — not that she’s actually seeing him right now — and this was going to be the first time she was going to fight him. Youko. The man she grew up practically idolizing. She knew she was to join the swift exchange of black and white orbs, whether she wanted to or not. To say that she was scared would be an understatement. But, as scared as she was, she was determined.

“All right,” Kaji’s voice came, breaking through her thoughts. His eyes never left the unseen battle even as he spoke to the Stars at an urgently rapid pace. “I’m not sure why Ran’s not trying to kill Youko right now, but since he isn’t, then it gives us no reason to do so. Our objective will be to wear Youko down, unless Ran tells us otherwise. Toriyama, stay with Aiko and Sara for a sec—”

“Right.”

“—Hikaru, keep alert for any second we’re going to need a distraction—”

“Roger that.”

“—Mai, I know this is gonna be hard, but I’m going to need you to focus—”

“Got it.”

“—And Yuki?”

“Yeah?”

“I think a little rain might help.”

Droplets of water promptly fell from the sky, letting the Stars catch a glimpse of two shadows breaking the rain’s fall. It was still pretty vague and hard to follow the Masters who didn’t even seem to notice the rain, but at least it gave the Stars an idea where they were.

“GO!”

It seemed like only Kamui was surprised that is was Ran who shouted the command: the rest of the Stars jumped in the fray without hesitation. But the surprise wore off quickly — he was sort of used to Ran surprising them all the time — and he turned to see how his sister was doing beside him. Seeing what he saw, his jaw dropped, and immediately yelled in disbelief:

“What the heck are you doing?!”

“What does it look like I’m doing?” Sara asked, not looking at her brother, “I’m trying to Heal Ai-chan here.”

Kamui groaned in frustration. “Sara, you don’t have to do this right now. Rest for a second, will you?”

“While you guys are fighting for your life? I don’t think so.”

“But you need it! You’re already weak—”

“This is my job, Kamui!!!” Sara fiercely yelled at her brother. “This is what I’m here for! Let me do my job so you can do yours!”

For a moment, Kamui just looked at her. She was right, he knew. But still…

“Oniichan, you don’t have to look out for me all the time.”

“I’m your brother, Sara,” Kamui said, a small smile gracing his face. “I’m supposed to look out for you even when you don’t need me to.”

With that settled, the two Toriyamas went and did what they were there to do: Sara healed Aiko while Kamui watched the battle with keen eyes. It was pretty strange to watch the fight since the Stars seemed to fight an invisible enemy. But their actions seemed focused and determined as their Marks shone bright. Kaji and Yuki seemed to be in the frontlines as they weilded their swords. Mai only occasionally jumped in, and it always seemed like she did just so that Kaji and Yuki could a second’s rest or to gather momentum. Hikaru was also there, throwing light, and even deflecting the orbs with something that seemed to work like laser. Kamui concluded that maybe their eyes were catching up with Youko’s speed, now that they were in the battlefield with him.

Sara’s eyebrows furrowed as she released Aiko’s hand. It seemed that Aiko didn’t need to be Healed, after all. She was about to share the news with Kamui when Kaji suddenly stopped her.

“Sara!”

Her head swiveled to the battle, blinking when she found that Kaji had his full attention on fighting Youko. After a couple of seconds that Kaji didn’t even glance at her, Sara tilted her head to her brother, her eyes still waiting for Kaji to call her in any way.

“Did Kaji call me?”

“Hino? No… Why?”

Before Sara could answer, though, Kaji’s voice resounded in her ears once more—

“SARA!”

—without him opening his mouth.

“What on earth…” was all she could mumble.

“Sara, if you could hear me, say something will ya?!”

“Huh?!”

“What’s wrong?” Kamui asked, obviously confused, but still trying to watch the battle, as well.

“I’m tryin’a communicate through yer head, Sara. If you can hear me, say somethin’!”

Through my head?! Sara thought, incredulous. How—

“Aha! So you CAN hear me! Awesome!”

Sara only blinked as she tried to get over the sight of Kaji fighting so fiercely, while his image in her mind was almost jumping around in delight. What a weird mental image that was.

“Listen: you’ve always heard my thoughts even though you never really intended to, so I guessed that you’ll prolly hear me if I TRIED communicating to you. All I did was think real hard that I was talking to you even though I wasn’t. Look, I need ya to do something: I need you to concentrate an’ try to call out my shots to the others. I can’t call ‘em when Youko could hear me, yeah? We need the element of surprise right now—”

But, Kaji, I never really successfully relayed a thought before! I never—

“Woman, -I- did it without training! You can do this, I know you can! It’s yer GIFT, Sara!”

At this, Sara’s mouth clamped shut, most of her doubts suddenly disappearing. Except for one…

But, Kaji, if I can do this, then can’t Youko hear me, too?

“Maybe, maybe not. Look, let’s just try, OK?”

Concerned as he was of his sister, Kamui knew he had to focus on the battle. Although he couldn’t read the look on Sara’s face, she seemed to be fine as she stared at Kaji, so Kamui supposed that would have to do for now.

Kamui couldn’t help but grin as he watched his teammates. True, they were a team enough, almost thinking alike so that their movements complemented each other, but, suddenly, their timing got even better. It was as if they were actually thinking alike. It was as if they were moving as one person! Although Youko was still as swift as ever, Kamui could now see more and more glimpses of him as the battle wore on. It was evident that the Stars were gaining ground!

But then, Kamui’s mental celebration was cut short when, suddenly, three things happened at once: A huge, blazing white sphere barrelled towards them, Yuki’s scream pierced the air, and then Ran was suddenly hurtling out of the battle.

Kamui’s instincts kicked in, and then suddenly, it was as if his body moved before he commanded it to. The earth erupted before him to form a shield, plants burst from the ground to catch both Ran and Yuki, he grabbed both his sister and Aiko and jumped away from their position, all in three seconds. If he had been a second late, large pieces of the earth would have hit the three of them quite painfully. That, or they’d probably be dead.

Kamui didn’t stop running until he reached the unconscious Ran. He let go of Sara who immediately check Ran, just as he realized that Youko didn’t follow up his attack. Sparing a glance at the battle, Kamui released a quick breath of relief, seeing that Kaji was keeping Youko busy with his ever-reliable fire sword, and that Yuki, although unconscious, still seemed OK. Near him, the Blue Star sensei wasn’t moving, but Kamui decided not to worry. Settling Aiko on the floor near Sara, Kamui turned to his sister.

“OK?”

“I’ll handle it. Go!”

He needn’t be told twice. In the next second, he was running into the heat of the battle.

Mai winced as she landed stumbling on the ground after an attempt of an attack as Youko struck Yuki. Although she knew she shouldn’t keep her back at the enemy, she had to stop to catch her breath. She hated to admit it, but fatigue was getting to her. And she knew it wasn’t too different with the rest of the Stars, even though they were increasingly effective since Sara started being their channel. She turned in her crouching position, once again readying herself to fight, readying herself to try and catch her evasive Master.

But Mai saw Youko clearly; not just a flash of silver every once in a while. His lips straight as his eyes were glued on her. His silver gaze did not waver in the slightest, even as he stopped Kaji’s sword with his bare hands. His gaze did not waver even as he pulled the flaming sword so he could clamp his free hand tightly on Kaji’s neck. His gaze didn’t waver even as he threw Kaji away like a ragdoll. Not wasting a second, Mai charged at Youko with her twin swords. In the corner of her eye, Mai saw Kamui running towards them, too, and several meters into the sidelines, Kaji landed roughly, but thankfully on his feet.

Youko smiled. With one wave of his hand, he sent Kamui flying back where he came from, and it took every once of Mai’s self-control not to lose her focus. Youko easily stopped Mai’s fire with his own blazing white Sword, but Mai didn’t give up. She returned with a series of swift attacks of her left and right swords, but Youko kept up with her.

Once again, the swords clashed, holding the two Roses at equilibrium. Mai narrowed her eyes as Youko brought his face closer to hers.

“My, Princess, I have to admit you’ve improved greatly since the last time we sparred.”

“Don’t tell me you’re actually proud.”

“As a matter of fact, I am. Who do you think taught you everything you know for the last 12 years?”

“Thanks to you, it wasn’t my mother!”

Mai pushed herself away, landing a several meters away from the silver-haired man, her feet grinding across the dirt. After regaining her balance, Mai took a moment to take in the sight before her. She noticed how her Master’s appearance finally showed signs of fighting. His white clothes were soiled, there were several tears, and his shoulders rose and fell with each breath he took. Though his hair was still as sleek as ever, and he looked nowhere near exhausted, it was a new thing for Mai to see him exerting effort on something as simple as breathing.

So Youko-san’s power has a limit, after all…

“Look around you, Princess,” he told her.

Although skeptical, Mai did as she was instructed. To her right, Hikaru was looking at her worriedly as he held an unconscious Yuki in his arms. To her left behind Kamui was Sara looking utterly exhausted, but trying to Heal a still unconscious Ran. Mai could only wonder what Youko did to the Blue Star Master. Kaji was also there, hands on his knees and breathing heavily. Mai thought it was a wonder he was still standing, considering that he arguably fought the most tonight, and took the most hits for everyone. Despite the fact that he was obviously dangerously close to collapsing, he still stood his ground, his eyes still determined to fight.

Mai’s eyes flicked back to Kamui, only then taking in the details, her eyebrows furrowing in slight confusion. He had his bamboo sword in one hand, while his other fist was up in the air, his face clearly spelling frustration. What on earth was Kamui doing?

“It’s just you and me now, Mai,” came Youko’s voice again, making Mai turn to him. “Forgive me, but I decided to give your newfound friends a break, seeing that they’re already terribly tired…”

With a flick of his wrist, a white sphere appeared. Mai’s eyes widened for a second as she recognized it. To those unfamiliar with Youko’s attacks, his blazing white orbs all looked the same: from those that were simply a ball of pretty harmless concentrated ki to those that could actually damage you. But Mai knew exactly which attack this was.

When Youko took a step towards her, Mai involuntarily stepped back, making the silver-haired man laugh.

“What, Mai? Are you scared?”

“No,” she answered with such conviction she surprised herself.

“Oh? You do recognize this, don’t you?” Youko asked, indicating the sphere.

“It’s the Void,” Mai answered. “But I doubt you’re going to kill me.”

Again, Mai blinked. Where did THAT come from?! It was as if Mai didn’t know what she was saying, but at the same time, she did. It was as if something else was giving her the words to speak…

“Oh?” Youko asked again, his eyebrow rising in curiosity. “Then, pray, tell me how you reached such a conclusion…”

“You fought with Ran-sama this whole time. You fought the Stars whose level is nowhere near yours… Yet you have yet to inflict real damage. It makes me wonder if you really want to eliminate us at all.”

At this, Youko’s smirk fell, and his eyes darkened.

“Then I suppose I’m going to have to prove it to you, yes?”

Mai opened her mouth to answer, but, Youko suddenly disappeared. Before Mai could think of jumping away to dodge anything that may be going her way, something hard hit her cheek solidly, making her vision to spin. She braced herself, knowing that she was going to hit the ground, but instead of feeling the brutal roughness of the floor, a different kind of pain rippled through her body starting from her stomach. And then, suddenly, she was airborne.

“DAMMIT!” Kamui cursed a tad louder than he had wanted as he helplessly watched Mai get chucked into the air. His fists clenched so tight that his knuckles almost turned white. In frustration (and with a little bit of hope) he pounded his fists on the barrier Youko had created around Mai and himself. Kamui had never felt so desperately useless. There he was, the so-called prodigy, and he could do nothing to help his friends. The rest of the Stars have already done their part, but what about him?!

Kamui spared a second to glance behind him. Ran was still unconscious, even though Sara had apprently done what she can to Heal him. His sister was sitting there, eyes transfixed on the duel inside the barrier. Tears were already streaming down her cheeks. Turning towards the battle — no, torture — again, Kamui hit his head on the barrier, this time.

“Tell me what to do…” was his almost inaudible plea. “There has to be something I can do…”

“We can’t go inside…” came a voice that was vaguely like Kaji’s, causing Kamui to look up at him. Despite Kaji’s obvious condition, Kamui suddenly wanted to vent out his frustration at the maroon-haired Star.

“Gee whiz, I didn’t notice that,” Kamui said, his voice oozing with sarcasm. “How smart of you to figure that—”

“We can’t go inside,” Kaji repeated, “and our Elements can’t, either… But the ground under his feet is there whether Youko likes it or not.”

Kamui blinked, his eyes widening.

“Hino, you’re a genius.”

“I know. Now, get to work!”

Mai finally landed on the ground after being tossed around in mid-air, and, for the first time ever, she was happy for feeling the impact of hitting ground zero. One, because it meant that she was still alive as she still had the sense of touch, and two, because it meant that Youko had stopped, even for a few seconds, hitting her. But when Mai opened her eyes, she momentarily doubted her first conclusion: all she saw was WHITE.

“Well, well… I wonder what your brother is planning now,” came Youko’s voice, and Mai felt relief wash over her.

So the Stars have a plan, and, as an added bonus, she wasn’t dead yet, after all! All the muslces in her body screamed pain. Even so, she tried to sit up, allowing her to see Youko with the Void in his hand once more.

“Good bye, Princess.”

And then he was running towards her. Mai knew she had nothing against Youko anymore, and she could only wish the Stars’ plan, whatever it was, would work out fine.

No more, she mentally pleaded as her eyes slid close and her back hit the ground once again. Please, Youko-san… No more…

Finally, after running on pure adrenalin for so long, the Princess succumbed to exhaustion. That’s why she didn’t feel the earth shake, making Youko lose his footing. Undaunted, Youko jumped to continue on his course, but he was distracted once again when rocks shot up from the ground below him. Small as they were, they hit Youko painfully, tore his clothes at several places, and even drew blood. Gritting his teeth, Youko threw a wind wave at Kamui…

…or rather, where Kamui had been standing a couple of minutes earlier.

Outside the barrier, Kamui smirked as the wind wave hit nothing but the castle wall. His smirk grew wider as Youko’s eyes swivelled from left to right, trying to find them. But, of course, Hikaru’s Light blinded him of the Stars’ location.

“Toriyama, get her out of there,” Kaji commanded suddenly.

Kamui’s eyebrows furrowed. “I thought we’d already established that nothing can pass through the barrier.”

“Nothing can go in, but Youko just demonstrated that things can come out.”

In his head, Kamui hit himself for not realizing that, as well.

“ONIICHAN! Youko—”

At Sara’s exclamation, Kamui turned to the battlefield again to look for their opponent only to find him gone.

“What—”

“GET HER OUTTA THERE!!!”

Acting as quickly as he could, Kamui took the block earth under Mai and lifted it. He was about to rush her out of the barrier when Youko suddenly appeared directly above her—

“MAI!!!“

—and in the blink of an eye, the blazing white sphere finally came in contact with the Deathrose Princess. Mai didn’t emit a single sound, even as her life force ebbed away.

But then, without the tiniest bit of warning, lightning struck Youko, making him yell in pain as he was flung into the air with the shock. He, of course, landed — albeit roughly — on his feet. In his crouching position, he violently shook his head, trying to get back on track.

“Mai…”

Aiko chose to ignore everyone’s stunned gaze at her. She wouldn’t know what to do even if she did take note of that, because even she didn’t know how she got to teleport so quickly after waking up that no one, not even Sara, realized that she had regained consciousness. But, right now, it didn’t matter.

“You’re going to be OK, Mai,” Aiko whispered, brushing a stray lock of hair from her twin’s now dirtied face. “Everything’s going to be all right…”

She then turned around to face Youko, and, before she could blink it back, a tear escaped her eye and slid down her cheek.

“Oh, don’t be so sad, Wind Angel. You’ll be joining her soon enough.”

At this statement, Kamui felt the last of his patience shrivel up and die.

“I’m getting them out of there,” he stated, in a tone that clearly implied, ‘Just try to stop me and I will hurt you very badly’. But before he could do anything, Kaji clamped a hand on his shoulder.

“No, wait.”

“Wait for what?” Hikaru hissed, beating Kamui by a split-second.

“For Youko to be completely distracted,” Kaji answered, unfazed. “We can’t risk grabbing his attention right now.”

“But we’re losing Mai, Hino!” Kamui countered. “Can’t you feel her ki? It’s practically gone after she got tossed around and struck down by a man who just killed five of his own men — women— I mean men and women—”

“Roses.”

“Whatever!”

“Yes, but she’s not exactly gone yet. Right, Sara?”

“Well…” Sara hesitated, looking from the amazingly calm Kaji to the alarmed Hikaru and impatient Kamui, “I think she can still hold out for at least a few more minutes. Five, at the very least…”

“I’m not sad because of my sister,” Aiko said, breaking the argument between the Stars over the twins’ welfare. Her eyes met Youko’s silver gaze without the slightest bit of fear. “I’m sad because of you.”

When Aiko took a step forward, the silver-haired man did nothing but narrow his eyes at her. At this point in the battle, everything seemed to be so unpredictable…

“What the hell is she thinking?!” Hikaru hissed at no one in particular.

“She has a plan, obviously.”

Hikaru found it very hard to resist punching Kaji. “Hino. My sister is walking towards the E-N-E-M-Y. Are we seeing the same thing here?”

“Yes.”

“Are you not going to do anything about it?!”

“I am doing something, Hikaru…” Kaji said as Aiko took yet another step.
“…I’m letting her go.”

“Youko-san…”Aiko said, “You don’t have to die for this to end.”

“Is that a threat, Kazetenshi?” Youko laughed. “And who’s going to kill me? You?”

“No.” Another slow, deliberate step. “You are.”

Youko flinched. And there, in the silver depths of his eyes, something passed. Something that further saddened Aiko, at the same time filling her with hope. But as soon as it Aiko saw it, it disappeared. And as soon as it disappeared, Youko summoned the Void once more.

“Stop,” he said, his voice dangerously low. “Stop speaking as if you know me.”

And then, in the next moment, Youko was gone.

Closing her eyes, Aiko calmly jumped away a split-second before the ground she was standing on exploded from the air pressure of Youko’s punch. Quickly recovering, Youko followed Aiko into the air.

As he watched the intense duel, Hikaru could only pray for his sister’s safety. The Stars had finally regrouped, but everyone was exhausted. Although she still couldn’t move much, Yuki was already awake, and Kamui had finally gotten Mai out of the barrier, and Ran was in the process of Healing her. The only ones who were left actually standing was the two boys Kaji — who looked too exhausted to even use his Element, but was standing, anyway — and Kamui — who looked like he was exerting a LOT of effort not to jump in the middle of the duel to fight for Aiko.

“Youko, please stop this,” came Aiko’s voice, surprising Hikaru.

Amidst the intensity of the battle, amidst the punches, the lightning, and the blinding, searing heat of Youko’s attacks, Aiko still managed to speak so calmly. In fact, it was not only calm. She had pleaded to the enemy not in a fearful tone — she was not begging, although it seemed that she was close to it — but instead in a tone that was almost akin to someone speaking out of…love?!

“You blame yourself for the War, don’t you, Youko?”

“Stop it!”

“You think that it was your fault for falling for Shindou’s plot, for not seeing his plans in motion—”

“I said stop it!”

“—for not being able protecting Ran like an older brother should. “

“Shut up!”

“You blame yourself for the War, so, everyday, everything you do is simply to provoke Ran, so that, one day, he would just kill you. But he just won’t.”

“You know NOTHING!!!”

At that, Youko gathered an amazing amount of energy between his hands while Aiko landed gingerly on the ground.

“HAAAAAH!!!!!!”

Kaji stood dumbfounded at the scene before him.

What stunned Kaji wasn’t the simple fact that the energy that burst from Youko’s sphere was just unbelievably intense. It wasn’t because that blast was barreling towards Aiko, who seemed to be a tad too calm about everything right now for Kaji’s liking. It wasn’t even because of the Star Mark glowing on her right shoulder. It was because of the bright, angelic blue wings that gracefully yet majestically sprouted out behind her.

She raised a hand, and, seemingly without exerting the tiniest bit of effort, she deflected the attack. However, Youko kept feeding the sphere, thus the onslught of his energy didn’t stop, and even seemed to intensify.

“There has to be something we can do to help her,” Hikaru said. “Ran-sama, can’t we do soemthing like a long-distance Healing or something?”

Ran paused, shaking his head. “Healing needs contact, Hikaru.”

“But, haven’t you tried transferring ki without contact, Sara?” Kamui asked his sister.

“Yes, but that’s objects, Oniichan, I haven’t tried it on people!”

“Wait,” came Mai’s broken voice, making everyone turn to her. “I have an idea…”

As for Aiko, even though she looked like she was calm about everything, she was starting to feel exhausted. She knew that, even though she had had her rest, it was not enough to hold her throughout this whole fight. She needed help, but this was her turn to fight Youko, now. She wasn’t about to put her friends into any more danger—

“AIKO!”

Her eyes widened when, suddenly, bright light streaked right in front of Youko’s eyes, catching his attention, so that he didn’t notice the vines that burst from underneath him, swiftly surrounding and swallowing him. Now that her opponent was momentarily held, Aiko had the chance to turn towards her team. And there, running towards the large mass of green, bamboo sword in hand, was…

“Kamui?!”

As expected, the vines were ultimately not the answer to their problems: they burst to a thousand slivers of green just as Kamui kicked off from the ground for his turn to finally face off with Youko. Aiko was about to shout her best friend’s name again when, suddenly, maroon filled her vision. And, as it usually was whenever she looked into those deep eyes, time stopped.

She felt Kaji’s warm hands on her neck, and, without looking down, she knew that he was once again giving her his gift. The necklace that he had kept for years. His treasure.

“Fly, Aiko,” he said, smiling at her. “Spread your wings and fly…”

And then, he jumped away, shouting “Toriyama!” as he went. Aiko saw Kamui throw one last bamboo shoot at Youko as he barely avoided one of Youko’s attacks. He headed back to the Stars, throwing Aiko a small salute. But because of that, though, he didn’t see at once that Youko was generating another attack…

“KAMUI!”

Following Kaji’s advice, Aiko kicked the ground and flapped her wings, and flew so fast that even she was surprised. In the next second, she deflected Youko’s attack with her bare hands that were glowing like her necklace. But then Youko was charging at her again, and Aiko was able to block his Sword with her own twin lightning swords. After a swift exchange of stirkes and slashes, Youko generated yet another sphere. He punched it at Aiko, who jumped away and drew her hand to throw icicles at her silver-haired opponent.

Wait a minute.

Icicles?!

Youko seemed to notice this, as well, as he aimed his outstretched arm at the Stars down below. But his aim was destroyed when a vine wrapped around his wrist, making the sphere he shot hit the palace wall instead of the Stars.

Aiko wasn’t sure how it happened, but for some reason, she had all the Elements at her disposal. And, for some reason, she knew exactly what to do.

She pulled at the vine, making Youko whirl around to face her again. As Youko’s Sword materialized, the vine in Aiko’s hand disappeared to be replaced with a bamboo sword, while an ice blade froze out from her left hand. Aiko threw her bamboo sword to her left hand, which fused with the ice sword, in time to clash Youko’s Sword. Her right hand now free, a fire sword blazed forth, which joined the other two swords as soon as Youko was thrown off by a blast of wind. She landed on the ground crouching, her Sword of multiple Elements blazed white, electricity crackling around it, before it turned black.

Aiko winced as energy surged through her body, and she had to pause to adjust to the newfound power.

So this is how it feels to be a powerful Kurobara.

Scary.

That pause was a hundredth of a second too long. Aiko looked up, her eyes widening as she barely blocked Youko’s Sword. She rolled away, then the Swords clashed again. And then, as she tried hard to keep up with Youko’s speed, a voice resounded in her mind, once again giving her the words to speak.

“Will you please, for once, stop thinking that you need to sacrifice yourself for everyone?”

Aiko had thought that maybe Youko was going to get angry again. But, instead of shouting at her, his silver eyes widened, and, for the first time, Aiko saw pure, sincere surprise, and even something that could nearly be categorized as longing. And even as their swords remained as they were, Youko involuntarily spoke, his voice in a hoarse whisper.

“Yume?”

Through everything Yume explained to her, Aiko eventually decided not to be angry at Youko, hard as it was. But that look on his face was just…breaking. And suddenly, Aiko finally understood what Yume had been trying to tell her. That, out of everyone involved, Youko was the one who most needed his friends, his family, his brother. Out of everyone, he was the one most desperately lost.

“Despite everything that had happened, Ran still sees you as his brother, Youko. And you see him as yours…” And then, Aiko felt herself smiling. “You deserve to be happy, too.”

To this, Youko said nothing, but instead jumped away from her and into the air. The fury in his eyes was now gone, but that look in his face simply scared Aiko. This time, though, she was not scared of him, but for him.

For a moment, nobody did anything, and the wind blew against Youko’s silver locks as Aiko waited for his move. He lifted his hands, “Universe” glowing on his left palm. No one but Aiko saw it though, for a white sphere materialized between his palms in an instant.

“So, then,” she heard Youko’s voice in her mind as the sphere grew, “give me my rest.”

And then the attack was released.

Aiko stretched out her hands towards the sphere hurtling towards her, and she felt Yume’s sorrow tugging at her heart…as was Ran’s… as was her own. And then the sphere in her hands shot out to meet Youko’s, just as she heard Ran’s strangled cry.

“NO!!!”

The two spheres collided with each other, held equilibrium for a split-second, then exploded into each other, causing the Stars to shield their eyes despite the barrier Sara put up for them at the last instant.

“AIKO!!!”

The dust hadn’t settled yet, but Kaji was already running towards the fallen Wind Angel. Not really caring to check if Youko was indeed defeated, he cradled her in his arms. Her wings were gone, her necklace glowed no more, and she was frighteningly pale. For a second, he suddenly thought that maybe they shouldn’t have let her fight Youko alone, after all.

“Aiko?” he asked, cupping her face in his hand. To him, her skin was simply too cold.

No…No, please, no…

Kaji looked up when delicate fngers took Aiko’s hand.

“There’s a pulse,” Sara said. “Faint, but still there. She’s still breathing, too.”

“And her ki?” Kaji asked. When he had frantically searched for her life force earlier, he felt it unstoppably ebbing away. He wished with all his might that he had been wrong out of panic, but Sara’s silence and that look in her eyes didn’t help to ease him at the very least. Kaji looked from one to Toriyama to the other. Kamui was silently kneeling there, his eyes fierce as he looked at his best friend. He looked like he was going to break down in about a second.

Well, Kaji was close to breaking down, too.

“C’mon, Aiko… Please… Open your eyes…”

As the sun rose in the horizon, no one but the wind heard his plea…

Ran kneeled beside Youko as the wind blew his silver bangs away from his face. After a moment, he lifted his right hand, “Power” shining faintly, but shining nonetheless, on his palm. He was about to touch Youko’s shoulder when, suddenly, a hand grabbed his wrist, surprising him.

“Don’t…” came a hoarse voice. “Don’t even try to Heal me…”

“But…”

“I shot the Void, Ran. As the Wind Angel said, I‘m the one who’s going to stop this nonsense.”

“But, Youko—”

“I’m sorry,” Youko interrupted him. “I’m sorry for being a blind, selfish, idiot. I wasted not only 300 years of my life, but of yours, as well… I should have listened to you, and I’m sorry. I know this won’t give anybody’s life back, but I’m saying sorry, anyway.”

“You don’t have to apologize. I can’t believe you actually blamed yourslef for—”

“Just say I’m forgiven, will you?”

In spite of the situation, Ran grinned. He never thought he’d be glad to hear that joking impatience in Youko’s voice.

“You’re forgiven. On behalf of everyone involved, I’m forgiving you.”

“Thank you. And I forgive you for being the foolish little brother who never thought about the consequences of your actions, and for always getting me into trouble.”

Ran’s grin turned into a smile, but, not a second later, it fell.

“Youko, you don’t have to go…”

Ran watched in wonder as Youko laughed hoarsely. Only then did he realize that he missed seeing Youko laugh at him, not mockingly, but with sincere amusement.

“Ran, you’re a big kid now. I think you can take care of yourself without my help.”

“But still…”

There was a pause, and Ran felt Youko’s grip on his wrist loosen. In a desperate attempt to hold on, Ran caught his brother’s falling hand.

“I’m tired Ran…” Youko told him, his voice weakening with every word. “I think I’m going to sleep now. Try not to go and run into scrapes again, yeah?”

“Of course… Oniisama…”

With his black bangs shielding his eyes, Ran watched as Youko’s chest rose and fell…

until it rose no more.

————–

The End.

————–

Ahaha. Nah, just kidding.

Next on Blue Star

As they always say, all things must come to an end. But every ending is the beginning to something new.

“Sometimes we take things for granted… We only realize their importance when they’re already gone.”

Epilogue: Crossroads

—–

From the Author

Although this is the last episode, there shall be an epilogue. A word of advice, though: don’t expect a happy ending. But don’t expect a sad one, either… Heck, don’t expect anything at all.

Random comment #1: Man, oh man, that episode was so looooooooooooooooong!!!

Random comment #2: Arrr… I have GOT to give proper names to those attacks!

Random comment #3: Waaah… Blue Star is almost done… I think I’m gonna cry…

Review Topics

This spans Episodes 26 Parts 1 and 2. Aside from your own violent reactions and raves, you have a LOT of review topics to choose from today. Let’s do this by character:

Aiko: Seeing that she had somewhat disappeared since Episode 22, I was wondering if I was able to reestablish her well. I felt that Aiko being the heroine in this ep kinda got diminished. I hope it wasn’t.

Kaji: Do you think he lost authority in this ep? After rereading it, I kinda thought his role as the Stars’ leader kinda got lessened, as well. And that should NOT be so.

Yuki: Do you think she’s too… uh… stiff? Seeing that she keeps reminding people what they ought to be doing instead of… well… whatever they were doing, I think I went overboard with trying to maintain her character as the most focused Star. She also kinda disappeared in the second half of Ep26. Arrrrr…

Kamui: Brilliant Boy. Hehe. What do you think is going to happen to Kamui-Mai now? Establishing the Aiko-Kamui-Mai triangle was already a challenge; I realized just now that sorting it out is tremendously harder.

Mai: Was she way too cool that she took most of the glory? Although it WAS Aiko (and everyone else) who ultimately defeated Youko, Mai had a key role while Aiko was out cold. I was wondering if I overdid it.

Sara: I really hope she doesn’t look like a bench-warmer here. She DID do a lot of Healing although it isn’t so noticeable.

Hikaru: Did you expect him to know about Mai? Is his behavior in this episode consistent with his character?

Ran: I realize that this is only the second time we’ve seen him fight. Is he cool enough to be the Blue Star leader? Was he being too soft towards Youko?

Youko: Was he too antagonistic? Was his turnaround too sudden? Was his defeat too cheesy and anticlimactic, or was it believable and fitting?

That was the only thing the Stars felt. Everyone stopped. Everything stopped. All eyes were on the grey-eyed, midnight blue-haired girl giving them a cold — almost emotionless — smile.

Seeing one of your teammates smiling at you so menacingly was already creepy. But knowing that that teammate was supposed to be standing right beside you at that same moment was nothing short of something that can qualify for the Twilight Zone.

What the hell?!

Kaji looked from the black-haired, brown-eyed Aiko he came to the palace with, to the blue-haired, grey-eyed girl who could pass off as her twin. Aiko was looking absolutely stupefied. Frozen. Unbelieving. Well, Kaji thought, if I saw someone looking exactly like me, I’d be freaked out, too.

But nothing could have prepared him for what the black-haired girl said next.

“A–… AIKO…?”

Kamui blinked. No, no, that can’t be right. Why was Aiko calling this other girl by her own name? There can’t be two Aikos, now, can there? Aiko didn’t have any sisters, and it’s not likely that she had been cloned. Aside from a crazy mad scientist’s theory that this Aiko was from another dimension, the only possibility that Kamui could think of was that there existed a perfect stranger who, coincidentally, looked exactly like his best friend. But even that seemed crazy.

Although there was Mai, and she looked like Aiko, but with brown eyes—

Again, Kamui blinked. Suddenly, everything clicked into place. The hair dye and contact lenses. The personality-altering speech. The slight ki change that Kaji noticed. The occassional times when Aiko would forget things she was supposed to know. The talk she had with him earlier that night.

“Kazetenshi Aiko never uses ‘Hi’, but this isn’t the first time I used it.”

“Don’t worry. After tonight, I don’t think it’s going to be so confusing anymore.”

So what did that mean? Was the black-haired, brown-eyed Aiko actually Mai? But that can’t be right, either. Mai wasn’t a Star. She was just a normal girl Kamui met in the carnival.

A girl who coincidentally knew someone named Maya who, like the Rose, looked too young for her age.

A girl who had said that the wind was her element.

A girl whose mysterious chocolate brown eyes always made him want to gaze at her forever.

Unconsciously, Kamui shook his head.

How could I have been so STUPID?!

As for Mai, the shock on her face melted, replaced with a smile of pure joy. Suddenly, she didn’t care that Aiko was wearing a black cloak, that the air around her was nothing but sinister, that she had just attempted to attack them, and that Mai had just dreamt of Aiko successfully killing everyone. Suddenly, nothing else mattered.

To everyone’s surprise, bewilderment and horror, Mai ran towards Aiko with open arms.

“AI-CHAN!!!” she exclaimed as she hugged Aiko happily. “You’re all right! You’re alive!” Mai was so wrapped up in relief that she didn’t notice that Aiko remained stiff in her arms. “I thought—… Oh my goodness, when I saw you yesterday, I thought Youko-san had killed you! I thought I was never going to see you again! I’m so glad you’re all right! I’m so glad you’re all right!!!”

It took a moment for Mai to finally realize that Aiko wasn’t responding. Looking up at her twin, she saw the grey eyes that were looking at her with utter disgust. Mai didn’t even have the chance to ask what was wrong. She gasped when Aiko put her hand on her shoulder, her grip a little bit too tight for Mai’s liking, before she roughly pushed the black-haired girl away.

“Don’t… you… touch me.”

Mai could do nothing but stare at Aiko, even as she stumbled backwards. In one fluid motion, Aiko whipped out her lightning sword and charged at Mai, her stance clearly saying that the blue-haired girl was ready to kill.

“AIKO!” Mai exclaimed desperately as she dodged the swift strokes of Aiko’s sword. “What’re you doing?!”

“I’m trying to get rid of you, you filthy witch!!!” Aiko yelled as an answer. “You killed her!!!”

“What?!”

“You killed my mother!”

Mai nearly tripped, stunned, and she could only mentally thank Youko for training her. If he hadn’t, Mai would’ve been dead by now under Aiko’s sword.

“Wait a second! I didn’t—”

“If it wasn’t for you, she wouldn’t have given up being a Star!” Aiko yelled at her, her ki flaring madly as she continued to attack Mai. “If it wasn’t for you, she wouldn’t have been killed! YOU killed her!!!

Aiko raised her sword to violently slice Mai in half, but, suddenly, Mai’s hands sped towards her wrists, stopping her before any damage was done.

“Aiko, listen to me—!”

Mai’s plea fell on deaf ears. With a great heave and a growl, Aiko successfully wrenched her wrists free, making Mai stumble backwards again to finally land on the ground.

“I said, don’t touch me!!!”

In the next second, Mai looked up to see Aiko’s blazing sword descending on her. Mai knew she couldn’t roll away. It was too late. In the last fraction of a second, Mai threw her arms in front of her in a desperate attempt to shield herself.

Flames burst from beneath her, and Mai could only pray that Aiko wasn’t seriously injured.

“Yuki.”

“Yeah?”

“Freeze her.”

“What?”

“Freeze Aiko. Right now.”

“Which one?”

“The evil one, the one who tried to kills us; which do you think?!”

Although Yuki wanted to punch Kaji for yelling at her so harshly, she instantly obeyed. The blue-haired Aiko gave a start when ice shot up from under her. She tried to jump up to avoid the growing wall of ice encircling her, but she wasn’t fast enough: the ice closed up in a dome above her. Yuki fortified the ice walls, and, soon, it was so thick that it became white, totally hiding Aiko from view. Before Yuki could ask Kaji what to do next, he was already marching towards the sphere of fire. With a wave of his hand, the flames disappeared, revealing the black-haired girl.

“HEY!” Mai prostested when Kaji grabbed her roughly by her arm and pulled her to stand up.

“You! Explain!” he commanded none-too-friendly.

“Now is not the time for explanations, Kaji!” Mai exclaimed, trying to wrench her arm free. But Kaji’s grip was strong.

“EXPLAIN!”

It was then that all the other Stars joined them at the center of the throne room. Mai looked around. Everyone was looking at her, and, even though their facial expressions had varied degrees of surprise, wariness and suspicion, it was obvious that everyone was waiting — demanding — for her to speak up. Everyone, even Kamui, whom Mai didn’t even glance at, fearing what she would see in his cobalt blue eyes.

“OK,” she finally said. “I’m not Aiko.”

“Mai?”

Hikaru’s hesitant voice made the owner of the name look at him in surprise. He was still looking at her disbelievingly, but the joy, concern, and excitement in his eyes was undeniable.

So I was right, after all, she thought, He already knows about me.

“Hi, Oniichan,” Mai said, allowing herself to smile for her brother. She turned back to Kaji, who was impatiently waiting for her explanation. “I’m not Aiko. She is Aiko, I’m Mai. We’re sisters. We’re twins—”

“Twins?!”

“Yes, —only nobody knew about it because I was raised as a Rose, and I thought the Stars were the bad people, which was disproved when Aiko and I met by accident, and we decided to unearth the truth about how our mother died, so we switched places two weeks ago so that I could investigate Ran—”

“Investigate?!”

“Yes, —but I couldn’t bring myself to, and Aiko stayed here at the palace as she was investigating Youko, but he found her out, so he tortured her and now I think he brainwashed her—”

“Brainwashed?!”

“Yes! Kaji, must you repeat everything I say?!”

“I ain’t repeating everything you say!”

“Yes, you are!”

“No, I’m NOT!”

“All right, you guys, STOP IT!” Kamui finally yelled, getting impatient, himself.

“We better hurry up,” Yuki pitched in, glancing at the ice dome, “Aiko might break free out of that soon.”

“Right,” Kamui said, “Mai. So Aiko’s brainwashed, what do we do?”

“Well,” Mai started, ignoring that sinking feeling she had in her stomach caused by the stern look Kamui was giving her, “what happens when someone is brainwashed is: parts of the person’s memories are tweaked or magnified, therefore leading — forcing, rather — the person to think a certain way. In Aiko’s case, Youko made her angry at me using what happened to our mother, then magnified it. And, since I think Youko has led her to believe that Ran killed our mother, then I suppose she’s angry at everyone connected to Blue Star.”

“So…she’s still our Aiko, but her perspective has changed?” Hikaru clarified.

“In a way, yes, but we are only seeing part of her, the brainwashed part of her. As you probably already noticed, her ki is slightly different. That’s because the brainwasher’s ki is mixed with hers. But still, her original life force and Seed are still there, so it follows that the real Aiko is still there; the rest of Aiko’s persona is confined at the back of her brain.

“Initially, the real Aiko could still see and feel what is happening outside her body, and, even though she cannot control it, a small part of her still appears in the brainwashed person. After a certain period of time — depending on the person’s willpower — she receeds lower, until it comes to a point that she does not know what’s happening at all. It is like she falls asleep. I think, by now, that’s what’s happening, judging from the deviation of her ki. If we do not wake her up soon, the brainwasher’s ki will swallow her entirely, and the rest of Aiko’s personality totally disappears.”

A tense silence ruled the group, only to be broken by a muffled crashing sound as Aiko tried to break Yuki’s ice with her sword.

“Hikaru, disorient her for a sec, will you?” Kaji asked, jerking his head towards the ice dome. “I think lights-on-lights-off should be fine.”

Hikaru nodded, and the crashing promptly stopped.

“How do we snap her out of it?”

“We need to get a reaction from the confined Aiko. But not just a slight reaction, like surprise that can fade after a few seconds. It has to be something major. Youko-san told me that the death of a loved one never fails to awaken brainwashed people — but of course that is not included in our options.”

“Can’t we fake death?”

“I don’t think so,” Yuki said.”This angry Aiko means business. We can’t gamble that.”

“Well, what else is there?!” Kamui exclaimed. “Ai-chan’s mostly just cheerful; I can’t think of anything that we can do that can make her majorly happy right now. I don’t think chocolate’ll be enough.”

“This is way harder than picking out the perfect birthday gift,” Sara muttered.

“I can’t believe this.” Hikaru himself looked frustrated. “We’re her family and friends, for goodness’ sake — I’m her brother, for goodness’ sake — and we can’t think of anything that’ll get a reaction from her!”

“I suppose we can resort to making her angry,” Mai said. “Anger is one of the most powerful emotions.”

“But she’s already angry,” Sara pointed out.

“Yes, but, at the moment, she’s angry at us — at me — for a specific reason. We can make the real Aiko angry because of something else. Can you remember any major fights you had with her recently?”

There was a pause.

Then, as if they were choreographed to do so, everyone turned to look at the one person who could hold the key.

“W…What?” Kaji asked, blinking.

“If it’s about making Ai-chan angry, you’re the pro,” Sara simply said.

“HEY! I—”

“Uh…guys?” Yuki said, “The ice is breaking. I think Hikaru’s light tricks aren’t working anymore…”

“She does have lightning at her disposal,” Hikaru defended.

“So do I fortify the ice?”

“YES!”

“NO!”

Kaji turned sharply to look at Mai. “Why not?! We haven’t thought of anythin’ yet!”

“The sooner we wake her, the better, Kaji!” she said. “Besides, since you have such a quick brain of a genius, I’m sure you can think of something.”

“Touchdown in about T minus 15 seconds,” Yuki warned them again as the ice started to crack.

“Guys, let’s stay around her and Hino for support,” Kamui said. “Be ready with your Elements—”

“OEI!” Kaji exclaimed. “I‘m the strategist, Tori—!”

“10 seconds!” Yuki yelled, preparing her sword.

“Well, you were, but since you’re the frontman right now, and you’re supposed to be thinking of something that’ll get Aiko’s reaction, I thought I should take the initiative.”

“3 seconds!”

“But I haven’t thought of anythin’ yet!”

“Well, THINK, then!!!”

If Kaji was planning to counter Kamui again, he didn’t have a chance to do it. The roof of the ice dome burst to pieces and a strong wind howled in the throne room. When Aiko emerged from inside the ice walls, she was still holding her lightning sword, her grey eyes were burning, and her midnight blue hair flowed around her face. Kaji couldn’t help but be amazed at how magnificently beautiful she was. If he thought she glowed at the Tokyo Skating Open with the snowfakes falling around her, that was nothing compared to how she looked like a goddess right now.

Kaji’s train of thought suddenly stopped.

Skating…

“Any time you’re ready, Hino,” he heard Hikaru’s voice behind him as Aiko’s eyes wandered around the room, looking at each Star one by one. “I won’t accept that you haven’t come up with anything yet.”

Kaji inwardly winced. “She’s gonna wanna kill me if I do what I’ve thought.”

“That’s the whole point, man.”

Aiko’s eyes turned to Kaji, and, for a reason Kaji was sure he won’t be happy about, she smirked.

“So… You want to die first, eh, fire-boy?” she said as she jumped down to the floor.

“The thing is…” Kaji whispered, “you’re gonna wanna kill me, too.”

Hikaru’s eyebrows furrowed, but he didn’t ask anything else as Kaji finally summoned his fire sword. In response, Aiko took her cloak and whipped it off to reveal an all-white suit that made her look regal but deadly.

“Ready, fire-boy?”

“Ready when you are, Rookie.”

Lightning clashed against fire. Watching them, Yuki couldn’t help but be worried for Kaji. His movements, although they were as swift as ever, were obviously restrained. Judging by the look on his face, he seemed waiting for something. It can’t be an opening to strike her because Yuki had seen many openings that Kaji could not have missed seeing, but didn’t take. She watched his every movement, waiting for the slightest hand signal, or the quickest glance, that could be her cue to jump into the fray. But there came none.

Yuki’s eyes widened when Aiko’s lightning sword grazed Kaji’s arm, finally drawing blood.

“KAJI!” she yelled in alarm. But her intention of finally helping out died when Kaji just raised a hand, signalling her — as well as everybody else — to stay in their positions.

“I’m fine,” he said. Yuki thought he was just being stubborn. But, even though he was already breathing quite heavily — this, Yuki thought strange: Kaji had always had strong stamina — his maroon eyes were focused, and he seemed to know exactly what he was doing.

You BETTER know what you’re doing, Hino.

But then, Kaji suddenly decided to increase Yuki’s worry: his fire sword disappeared from his hand.

“What the heck are you doing?!” she heard Kamui hiss from where he stood.

As for Aiko, she seemed to be having a ball. She laughed out loud, totally amused with Kaji’s move.

“OK… You got wounded even though you were weilding your ever-mighty fire sword,” she said, “so you decide that you’ll do better without it.”

“Yep,” was Kaji’s simple answer. Yuki just wanted to go on over to him and literally knock some sense into his head.

“Fine,” Aiko said, shrugging. To everyone’s surprise, Aiko’s lightning sword disappeared. “Seeing that I still have the honor of a warrior, I’m going to fight without a weapon, as well,” she said. “That is, IF it’s all right with you…”

“Suit yourself.”

Aiko was the first to strike. Punch after kick after punch came. Although Yuki saw that Aiko’s hand-to-hand fighting skill had undoubtedly improved, Kaji was still too fast for her. But the question remained: Why did Kaji keep dodging her when he already had several chances of taking her down?!

The answer came in the next 5 seconds.

Aiko threw a punch, which Kaji dodged by changing his footing, allowing him to catch her wrist and whirl her around, making her lose her balance. With a gasp, she stumbled forward and collided into Kaji.

“Gotcha.”

Looking up, Aiko seethed. “Why, you—!!!”

Silence.

Sara blinked, making sure her eyes weren’t deceiving her.

Mai’s eyes widened, her belief in Kaji being a genius strengthened.

Yuki’s eyebrow rose a few millimeters as she almost dropped her sword.

Kamui didn’t know why, but he suddenly felt like laughing.

Hikaru’s jaw dropped. Suddenly, he wanted to kill a certain maroon-haired sister-stealer; never mind that they had been friends.

Kaji opened his eyes as he gently pulled away. His heart thudded in his ribcage so loudly, he thought it could burst any second.

It was nothing Kaji expected. There was the excited rush of blood from his feet up to his head because he finally got to do something he’d been dying to do for months. But then there was that uncomfortable sensation of gravity violently pulling at his stomach because he knew he did it against Aiko’s will. Sure, he knew that may well be the solution to their problem, but… Kaji just wanted to pull his hair out just thinking about it.

And, just to make things even harder for him, Aiko’s lips were right there, a mere inch from his, and Kaji had the most irresistible urge to lean in and kiss her again.

Aiko’s eyes finally opened. Slowly, as if from sleep, her eyelids lifted to reveal her grey eyes that were still slightly out of focus. She blinked, and, since he was gazing at her eyes so closely, Kaji knew the situation was starting to sink in. Suddenly, he didn’t know whether to step away or to stay there or to be prepared to fight.

“Ka… Kaji…?” she asked in an almost inaudible whisper.

A small “Yeah…” was all he could manage. He felt her breath on his skin, and Kaji thought he had better move away from her before he lost self-control. But, of course, his body chose that time to be paralyzed.

Kaji watched in wonder as Aiko blinked several times, her eyes widening with each blink. Her jaw went slack, and then she suddenly gasped a split-second before a strong force hit his chest and literally flung him to the opposite end of the room. Airborne, he vaguely heard Yuki yell his name in alarm again, and the only thing Kaji thought of was: Aw, man, this is gonna hurt.

But, instead of hitting the painfully solid stone wall, Kaji’s back hit something rough, like several layers of something. It wasn’t soft as a pillow (the impact still hurt bad) but it was definitely an effective shock absorber. When he opened his eyes to see what he landed on, he saw layers and layers — “Aha! I was right!” — of vines and leaves and plants that formerly weren’t there. He looked up to see Kamui smirking at him. And, what else to give back to a smirk like that but a smirk?

“What— What— WHAT ON EARTH DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?!” Aiko’s voice echoed through the four corners of the huge throne room.

Mai examined her twin. Everything about the blue-haired girl spelled anger: her shoulders were slightly slouched because of the intensity of the wind, she was panting — whether it was because of her outburst or something else, Mai wasn’t sure — and her eyes were fiercely narrowed at Kaji. There was, however, a betraying tinge of pink on her cheeks that was visible for everyone to see.

“Ai-chan…?” Sara asked tentatively.

As if Sara hadn’t spoken at all, Aiko pointed an accusing finger at Kaji. “Who gave that— that—… him permission to— to— I mean—”

Everyone suddenly jumped when Sara let out a cry of joy, and practically tackled Aiko to the ground.

“Ai-chan! It’s you! It’s really you!!! I was a little doubtful about Kaji’s plan, but, look, it worked! It really worked! I’m so glad you’re back to your old self!”

“Plan?” Aiko dumbly echoed as she finally turned to the Stars who, although smiling, looked exhausted. “What…Why is everyone—”

Mai smiled when Aiko’s eyes stopped on her. “Hi, sis,” she said.

“Mai…”

“You were brainwashed,” Mai promptly explained. “To make a long explanation short, Kaji had to kiss you to turn you back to normal.”

Her cheeks turning pink again, Aiko looked around. Kaji, by this time, had almost joined them where they stood, except, he was too busy being strangled by Hikaru, whom, in turn, Yuki tried to pry away from the maroon-haired Star.

“The two of you still have a LOT more explaining to do, do you know that?” came Kamui’s voice behind the girls.

Mai and Aiko glanced at each other.

“Yes, we realize that, Kamui,” the twins said, smiling at him at the same time.

“Uh…” Yuki’s voice came, “I’m really relieved that this problem is solved and all — Hikaru, stop it already! — but I have to remind you that we still have Ran and Youko to worry about.”

“Youko-san left, and Ran-sensei went after him,” Mai told Aiko. “With their history and all I think they’d be—” Mai suddenly stopped in mid-sentence, noticing that her sister suddenly seemed to look pale. “Aiko, are you all right?”

“Yeah… I’m fine.” Aiko said. But, the moment she said it, her hand that flew up to clutch her forehead, and her knees gave away from under her.

“Aiko!” Kamui exclaimed, catching her. “Ai-chan, what’s wrong?”

“I dunno… I… feel tired… suddenly…”

“Is this a side-effect of the brainwashing?” Kaji asked, finally free from Hikaru’s grasp.

“I don’t think so, no,” Mai said, trying to think. “Aiko, did Youko-san give you ki roses?”

“Wha?”

“Ki roses, Aiko. They’re black roses. Youko-san keeps them in a vase in his office.”

“Black…Yeah, I… think so… I can’t remember anymore,” Aiko said drowsily, her eyes starting to droop.

“Youko-san might have used those when he brainwashed her,” Mai muttered, almost to herself. “Ai-chan, listen—”

“Mai, I feel really tired…”

“Ai-chan, you must listen to me! The effect of the ki roses must be diminishing; it’s like you’ll be going to the border between your old self and being controlled by Youko-san. Things are going to look strange, but you have to remember — Aiko, listen! You have to rememember how things really are, do you understand?”

“How they really are…” Aiko echoed as she leaned her head on Kamui’s shoulder, her eyes finally closing.

“Ai-chan, wait!” Mai exclaimed, taking hold of Aiko’s shoulders. But her twin was already asleep. “Drat.”

“She’ll be fine, right?” Yuki asked Mai.

“Yes, she will. It just depends on how strong she clings on to the truth, how long she’ll be out of it. It took me a while to wake up because I wasn’t so sure of my past. But since Aiko’s sure of hers, she should be fine. And, even if it takes her a long time, her memories won’t be damaged. She’ll have to be treated with the ki roses for years before she can be permanently convinced of something unreal. Even then, she can still be convinced otherwise if you have concrete proof, like being faced with a person that she was led to believe to be non-existent.”

Mai suddenly stopped, realizing how much she had said. She had continued talking without thinking, she practically laid out her life before them.

“You experienced this before?” Kamui asked quietly.

For a moment, Mai hesistated. But then, not knowing what else to answer but the truth, she tried her best to smile and shrug as if it wasn’t a big deal.

“Why do you think I believed I was an orphan and that the Stars were the ones who killed my parents?”

Kamui said nothing else, but there was something in the way he looked at her that Mai didn’t want to read into. Whether it was pity, compassion, anger at Youko, or whatever, she didn’t want to think anymore.

“We should get going,” she said, turning to the others.

“Right,” Hikaru agreed. “Here, Kamui, I’ll carry my sister.”

“No, you’re still weak, you shouldn’t exert yourself too much.”

“But you should save your strength. It’d be better if I carried her.”

“But you’re injured!”

“She’s my sister.”

“She’s my best friend.”

“Y’know what, I‘ll carry her,” Kaji said. “And, no, Hikaru, I’m not gonna get ‘ny ideas. You can stop glaring at me now.”

“All right, Kaji carries Aiko,” Yuki said with finality. “OK. Now, where do we go?”

“Can ya sense where they are, Toriyama?”

“No, I can’t feel anybody’s ki aside from ours.”

“Me neither,” Yuki said.

“That shouldn’t be,” Mai said, “they should be fighting right now. And even if they were done, we should be able to sense where they are.”

“So, what, we’re gonna do old-school divide and conquer?” Hikaru asked.

“That may be the only choice we have,” Kaji agreed. “Unless you have other ideas of finding them, Mai. You seem to know a lot more than we do.”

Mai thought for a moment, trying to remember anything Youko might have taught her on how to look for people. But, seeing that she wasn’t supposed to be outside the palace looking for people, Mai was sure that Youko won’t teach her anything like that. Mai bit her lip, and, as if pulled by some unknown force, her eyes found Yuuji’s body where he lay on the floor.

What would YOU do, Yuuji-kun?

As if answering her, Yuuji’s laughing voice suddenly ehoed in her ears.

“No, I don’t think I’d like to play hide and seek with Youko-san, Mai-sama,” he had once said when they were still little kids, “he always knows where everyone is all the time! He must have some tracking device in his office or something! I think we can play hide and seek on our own…”

Mai’s mind rocketed from that memory to another one of her looking up with curiosity at Youko’s desk. It was seemingly disconnected with everything; she couldn’t remember when it was, and what happened before and after that. It was an ambiguous memory, but it was clear, nonetheless. And it was exactly what she needed.

It was then that Mai realized that Kaji was right. She did know a lot more than the Stars…but that wasn’t really important. What was important was that she knew a LOT, period. She knew so much, but she never used her knowledge to help the Stars before. For two weeks, she was with them, getting to know them, but never mustering up her courage to take a step. If she had investigated Ran, she would have found out the truth earlier. If she had taken action, Aiko wouldn’t have been caught, Hikaru wouldn’t have been kidnapped, and the Roses… They would still be alive.

“It ain’t your fault, y’know,” Kaji said, snapping her out of her thoughts.

“What?”

“The Roses,” Kaji said, glancing at Yuuji. “It ain’t yer fault.”

Mai’s jaw involuntarily clenched. “Isn’t it?”

“Look—”

“I could have done something earlier, but I didn’t,” she said in a suppressed voice. “Brainwashed or not, I should have done something.”

Now is not the time to get emotional, Mai told herself. What on earth was Kaji thinking, bringing this up?!

“Well, you can do something now, right?”

Kaji had spoken so calmly, his face showing no sign of anger, pride or cockiness, but Mai felt as if he had just slapped her. Not the bad kind that would make Mai want to slap him back; instead, it was the kind that felt nice, that Mai wanted to thank him for doing it.

“The Roses died, an’ that’s really too bad,” Kaji continued when Mai didn’t say anything,”but you can’t punish yourself and mourn about it for the rest of your life, when you can go and prevent the same thing from happening to other people. If we don’t stop Youko now, who knows what he’s gonna do?”

Yuki smiled. Despite the incredibly eventful night — from seeing the Roses die, finally meeting Youko, finding out about Mai’s true identity, to almost having to fight Aiko to the death — Kaji still managed to think straight and speak to Mai so wisely. There was nothing to do but be proud of him.

For a moment, Mai just looked at Kaji. Then, she smiled.

“Didn’t you say something like that to Ai-chan before?”

Kaji blinked. “She…told you about that?”

“Oh, yeah, she told me a lot of things,” Mai said, grinning.

“Oh.”

“Youko-san’s office,” Mai finally said, getting back on track. “We can find them using Youko-san’s office.”

Kaji nodded, and, for the first time that night, he smiled at her.

“Well, then, Mai, lead the way.”

After one last look at the Roses, Mai kicked the ground to fly out the room.

————–

“Whoa.”

Aiko blinked at the white expanse around her. Everything looked strange but familiar at the same time. She stood there, trying to place where she was, when something hit her head HARD.

“HEY!!!” she exclaimed, whirling around to see a brown-haired boy practically rolling in the snow in laughter. “What—!!! ONIICHAN!” she automatically yelled.

“Hey, Ai-chan! Did you know you look like a fish when you’re angry?”

“I do NOT!”

“Yes, you do!” he said before pressing his palms on his cheeks and exclaiming ‘Oniichan!’ in his most shrill voice.

Aiko crossed her arms, pouting.

Suddenly, Aiko froze, her eyes widening in realization.

Was that… Was that MY voice?

Since when did her voice sound so small?

“Oei, Ai-chan…” came another small voice, the one that had been teasing her only a few seconds ago. “Are you all right?”

Aiko blinked at her brother.

Since when is Oniichan so small?!

Aiko opened her mouth to answer, but the only thing she managed was a small squeak. She looked down at her hands and, after a moment, reluctantly took one glove off. An unpleasant shiver ran down her spine. The size seemed normal, but her hands were that of a small child’s. Her fingers were short and fat, and the fold lines were faint. Her hands looked so cute, it was unnerving.

“Aiko, are you all right?”

She looked up to see gentle brown eyes looking worriedly at her.

Gentle brown eyes she would do anything to see again.

“Okaachan…”

Only then did she realize just how familiar everything was. Everything was as it was on their last winter with her mother. Rieka smiled, crouching in front of her.

“It’s all right, Aiko… I’ll always be here for you… OK?”

Aiko’s eyebrows furrowed. No matter how much she wanted to hear those words, she couldn’t help but be bewildered. What a weird thing for her mother to say at the moment…

Not knowing what to do, she glanced back at her hands again.

“Tell me…” another voice came, causing Aiko to look up. As she figured, Rieka wasn’t there anymore. Instead of her mother, Mai was there, staring at her with a disbelieving face.

“Does the name ‘Blue Star’ mean anything to you?”

“Wha…What?”

Aiko’s eyebrows furrowed even more, she thought she wouldn’t wonder at all if she found frown lines on her face soon.

“Because if it does, then that means you’re a Blue Star, doesn’t it?” Mai asked, her voice suddenly sarcastic. Whatever Aiko was planning to say got stuck in her throat as flames erupted from Mai’s hand.

“If you’re a Star,” Mai said, her raven hair flowing, “then that means I must kill you.”

Before Aiko could retort, Mai had already lunged at her, her flames blazing almost uncontrollably.

“MAI!” Aiko yelled. “Mai, stop!!!”

“I’m going to kill you as I did your mother!!!” Mai yelled, violently pushing at Aiko, making her lose her balance and land on the snow. Aiko gritted her teeth, willing her hands not to lose their grip on Mai’s wrists; the smallest fraction of a second of weakness can burn Aiko badly. She didn’t understand what was happening exactly, but she did know that this wasn’t the way it was supposed to go.

“No, you didn’t!!!” Aiko countered. “You didn’t kill Okaachan!”

“Shut up!!!” Mai yelled, the flames on her hands disappearing. Staring up at the rage in Mai’s brown eyes, Aiko didn’t have time to resist screaming in pain when a raging fire suddenly engulfed them both. But, despite the almost unbearable pain crawling through her skin, Aiko didn’t let her sister go.

“I DID!!!” Mai repeated, “I did, and now I’m going to kill you, too!!!”

“NO!!!” Aiko exclaimed again, tears streaming down her cheeks. “It wasn’t your fault she died! It wasn’t your fault! It was beyond your control, and beyond mine! Youko killed her, not you!!! NOT YOU!!! “

Then, as sudden as it started, everything suddenly disappeared, leaving Aiko cold, on her knees, and gasping for breath in the dark.

“You didn’t…” she faintly repeated as tears continued to fall. She gulped, trying to steady her breathing, and shut her eyes tight, readying herself for anything she was to be faced with next.

After a moment, she finally lifted her head, and opened her eyes.

Staring at the scene before her, Aiko could not construct a single coherent thought.

————–

Next on Blue Star

As they always say, all things must come to an end. But every ending is the beginning to something new…

“I’m letting her go…”

Episode 26: Blue Star (Part 2)

————–

From the Author

Nyar… I tried. I really did. But I simply could NOT finish Episode 26. I’ve been trying to write it for two months already, but argh! The fighting scenes just get harder and harder to write! And the episode was way too long. But, since I’m oh-so-stubborn, I still insist that this episode and the next is really one episode.

I’ll list review topics when I officially finish this episode. But if you have reactions, questions, rants and raves, don’t hesistate to click on the little review button at the end of the page… Actually, I’d REALLY rather if you drop me a line to get me going

“Just a second!”

Mai fiddled with her fingers as she bit her lip. Relax, Mai, she told herself. Everything’s going to be fine. Just go with the plan and you’ll be fine. Mai’s eyebrows furrowed when she heard a yell inside the room, followed by a thud, and a whole lot of (muffled) grumbling.

“Uh…Kamui?” she called tentatively. “Are you OK in there?”

“Yeah, yeah! Just a minute, ok?”

After a few more small thuds, the door finally opened.

“Hi.”

Mai blinked at the sight before her. She had always thought of Kamui as “cool”. He had a strong personality. He was smart and down-to-earth. He was understanding and supportive. On top of that, he had that smile that always made her melt. But right now, he did not look cool. He looked kawaii. The way Kamui was standing made it obvious that he literally stumbled towards the door, he had a towel carelessly thrown over his head, and the silly grin on his face just made Mai want to laugh. So she did.

“I stubbed my foot painfully on my cabinet, and what do I get for it?” Kamui said with a raised eyebrow, “My best friend laughs at me.”

“Sorry… Is your toe OK?”

“Yeah, yeah, it’s fine. Let’s try that again, shall we?”

Before Mai could react, Kamui had closed the door in her face. And before she could react about that, the door opened again. This time, Kamui was standing properly, the towel was over his shoulder, and his damp hair looked more presentable (he probably combed it with his fingers).

“Hi,” he greeted her again, flashing that boyish grin that, on regular days, would have made Mai blush profusely.

No, Mai, you are in a serious, SERIOUS situation. No. Blushing.

“Hi,” she said, mustering a smile.

Kamui blinked. “What’s this, no ‘Hao’ for me?”

“Nope. May I come in?”

“Uh…yeah,” he said, moving aside. “Whoa. I think this is the first time I ever heard you say ‘Hi’…”

“And so?”

“And so this day should go down in history!” Kamui closed the door, then went to sit on the bed.

“You’re making such a big deal out of this. It’s just a word.”

“No, it’s not just a word. Kazetenshi Aiko is known for always using ‘Hao’.”

“Right. Kazetenshi Aiko never uses ‘Hi’.”

“And this is the first time you used it!”

“Wrong.”

Kamui stopped drying his hair with his towel. “Say again?”

“Kazetenshi Aiko never uses ‘Hi’, but this isn’t the first time I used it.”

“Uh-huh…” he said slowly, his eyebrows furrowing. “Why are you referring to yourself in the third AND first person in the same sentence? I’m not exactly following you here, Ai-chan…”

“I know.” Mai smiled while Kamui looked absolutely confused. Then, deciding to get down to business, she cleared her throat. “Kamui, you do know that, sometimes, your sister can hear other people’s thoughts without meaning to, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, she asked me something a few minutes ago, and I was thinking that you’re the best person to ask about it.”

“OK…”

Mai took a deep breath.

Here goes…

“Kamui, who’s Mai?”

A pause.

“Who?”

“Mai,” she repeated. “Sara asked me if I knew who she was.”

“Why ask me?”

“Because she heard the name from your thoughts.”

“Oh yeah?” Kamui asked, laughing. “And what else did she hear?”

Mai frowned. This was not going as she had expected.

Kamui seemed to notice her frown, and his laughing stopped. “Why do you need to know?” he asked, a small smile remaining on his lips.

“Because Sara-chan said there were several times when she would hear your mind say ‘Mai’ when you were talking at me or something. I was just wondering who she was, that you somehow connected her to me…”

“Hm.” was all Kamui said. He crossed his arms behind his head as he leaned on the wall behind him. He wasn’t smiling anymore, but he wasn’t frowning either. He was just sitting there, staring at the ceiling. In her seat, Mai waited as patiently as she could. It was only a few seconds of silence, but, to her, it seemed like ages. The suspense was killing her!

“Mai…” Kamui finally started, “Mai is a girl I met in a dream.”

The raven-haired girl practically fell off the chair. WHAT?!

“A dream,” she echoed. “She isn’t real?”

“No.”

Mai’s eyebrows furrowed. Either Kamui kept his promise not to tell anyone that they met, or he really, honestly, thought that she was a fictional being. “So what does she have to do with me?”

“Well, first of all, she looked a lot like you.” Kamui paused, sparing a second to glance at her. “Aiko, you were supposed to have dark blue hair and grey eyes. But then you dyed you hair and wore contacts, making you look exactly like her. And you made that personality-altering speech thing, and you start acting like her. So, every time I see you, I remember Mai. Or at least that’s how it was for the first few days; I kinda got used to it now.”

“Oh… So now, Mai to you is…?”

“Mai is, basically, you. You with the brown eyes and black hair and that personality that’s pretty much un-Aiko.”

“Oh…”

Kamui sat up on the bed again, facing her. “I know how much you love your name, Ai-chan, what with blue being your favorite color. I didn’t really mean to give you another name, but… You’re not angry, are you?”

Mai smiled. “Of course not.”

“Good.”

“So Mai is me… Interesting.”

Kamui laughed. “Interesting, yeah, but confusing.”

“I suppose so…” she said as she stood up. “Don’t worry. After tonight, I don’t think it’s going to be so confusing anymore.”

“Yeah? How’s that?”

“You’ll see.”

Again, Kamui’s eyebrows furrowed. She was starting to talk weird again, and he hated that he couldn’t understand her. He stood up just as she opened the door.

“Hey, Ai—”

His voice got stuck in his throat when she turned around. She wasn’t really doing anything, she was just standing there, but she had cluelessly robbed him of all ability to speak. Her chocolate brown eyes, to say the least, pinned him where he stood.

“Meet you in the main hall in a few minutes, OK?” she said with a smile.

Kamui could do nothing but nod.

————–

If he could only stop time, he would have. But, no matter how much he willed the second hand to stop moving, and it just kept going and going and going…

Yuuji tore her eyes away from the clock. If he continued looking at it, it won’t be long before he’ll throw it out of the window. He turned over on his bed, and found himself staring at his bedside table. For a moment, he just stared at it, the second hand on his clock still mercilessly ticking away. He sat up on his bed and took a book from his drawer, and opened it to the last page where a glossy picture was inserted; one that he had secretly kept for three years.

It had been right after their entrance exams to Tokyo U, he remembered. Takumi had brought a camera, and was clicking away at the most trivial things. They were chilling out at the park when he took this photo. Yuuji had looked at it a gazillion times, but, now, he felt like he was gazing at it for the first time.

Maya was there, being the genki girl that she was. Her arms were draped over his shoulders as she had jumped at him from behind. Yuuji had turned to her in slight surprise, but he was smiling. By that time, he was a little used to Maya popping out of nowhere. Fuu was sitting beside Yuuji, a small smile on her lips, as well, as she looked on.

He had always thought that Fuu was smiling at her sister. But now, he saw that she was looking at him. So maybe he was being conceited and self-centered. Maybe she was looking at Maya. But, for the meantime, he’d like to think that her eyes were on him. He’s allowed to have some luxury for now, right?

Yuuji tore his eyes from the photograph in his hands as he glanced outside the window. He sighed, put the photo back in the book, and returned it in the drawer. He stood up from his bed, walked out of the room, and closed the door.

The last sliver of the sun disappeared from the horizon.

It’s time.

Although the hall was well-lighted, Fuu knew that it did not help at all to ease the situation. Whether or not they were to confront Youko tonight, the time they had for waiting was always nerve-racking. She glanced at the girl sitting beside her. Maya was nibbling on her right thumbnail, and was staring at the floor quite fiercely. With a sigh, she took the girl’s hand.

“Relax, Maya.”

The younger girl just frowned.

“It’s going to be OK, trust me.”

“How do you know?”

“Remember what Yuuji said? He said we don’t have to divert from a normal meeting. For all we know, this is just a normal night. So don’t be nervous, OK? Things are going to be fine.”

“And what if they don’t? What if we have to fight?”

Fuu smiled, putting a comforting arm around Maya. “Just because things don’t always go as we want them to doesn’t mean that it’s not going to work out in the end.”

After thinking about it, Maya nodded and leaned on Fuu’s shoulder. “I guess you’re right. I wish I can be as calm as you are.”

Fuu fought the urge to laugh. If only you saw me last night, Maya. She looked up, glancing at the other girls in the hall with her. Kaori was leaning on the wall, and was playing with the end of her ponytailed hair. Haruna was standing nearest to the door, eyes closed and arms crossed, as usual. Except for Maya quietly humming, no one else emitted a sound. That was why the girls heard the footsteps, even though it was still in the other hallway.

“Come on, Maya,” Fuu said, helping the redhead stand up. As Maya smoothed her skirt, Fuu was (inexplicably) suddenly nervous. She tucked a stray lock of her hair behind her ear. The owner of the footsteps was getting nearer, and, finally, he entered the hall.

Yuuji stopped, blinking. “Wow. And here I thought I was early.”

Fuu looked up, and found him smiling at her. She quickly looked down again. Oh, stop blushing like a schoolgirl, will you?! she scolded herself as she continued staring at the floor. She failed to see Yuuji’s smile widen even more.

“So, are you ready?” Yuuji asked, walking towards the girls again.

The Roses nodded, and, as he walked past them, he examined each one. Good, he thought, They look pretty confident. He stopped when he was at the door, taking a moment to pull himself together (not that he was falling apart). He was about to turn the doorknob when a voice spoke beside him.

“Don’t die on me,” Fuu said in an almost inaudible whisper. Yuuji didn’t even let himself glance at her.

“I won’t,” he replied, as he took her hand. “I go where you go.”

Finally, the doors opened.

Haruna’s brown eyes narrowed as she scanned the room. The throne room was lit grandly, as it always was, though it was as silent as ever despite its lively appearance. Even Yuuji’s confident steps didn’t make a single sound on the red and gold carpet under their feet. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary, Haruna gathered. Maybe this was going to be a normal meeting, after all. But where was Youko? As if answering Haruna’s silent question, Kaori suddenly gasped out loud as she jumped up, dodging a cloaked person that suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

“What the— !!!”

Acting quickly, Haruna immediately grew vines from underneath the cloaked person, effectively catching his feet and making him fall face first on the ground. With a wave of her hand, Fuu removed his cloak to reveal…

“A minor?!” Maya exclaimed.

Before anybody else could react, more cloaked people appeared all around them.

“ROSES!”

Taking Yuuji’s cue, the girls got into action. Each Rose faced off with two or three cloaked ones at a time. They used their bare hands as well as their Elements, but carefully reserving strength to fight their real enemy. Maya gritted her teeth as she kicked with an icicled-covered foot. The cloaked one staggered backwards, but then charged at her again just as she turned her attention to another opponent. Seeing this at the corner of her eye, Maya shot icicles at both of them, buying herself time to address Yuuji.

“YUUJI-KUN!” she yelled. “They’re not normal minors!”

“I know!” Yuuji yelled back, punching a cloaked one solidly on the jaw. “HARUNA!”

She didn’t have to be called twice. A second after Yuuji’s ‘command’, vines shot out from the earth again, catching the cloaked people’s feet.

“ROSES!” Fuu yelled, this time. The Roses all jumped from their position. Not wasting a moment, Yuuji took aim and shot a huge flame wave at the floor. Red flames engulfed the Roses’ opponents, except for those who were already airborne, or fast enough to avoid Haruna’s vines. Fuu quickly went to Yuuji, shielding him from minors’ attacks while he quenched the fire again.

But after the smoke cleared, it didn’t look like much had changed. If you didn’t look at the charred pieces of cloth scattered on the floor or the black soot on the walls, and just focus on the simultaneous fights in the grand room, you’d think that Yuuji had yet to burn a minor.

Damn Youko and his infinite minors, Kaori thought in disgust. If he wasn’t such a coward and just show up—

Her jaw clenched when someone grabbed her from behind. Taking hold of the arm that was almost strangling her, Kaori released high voltage electricity with a yell, also electrocuting the minors within a few meters from her. Needless to say, more cloaked ones charged at her. Letting herself have one strangled breath, Kaori continued to fight. Throwing three punches in a second and a roundhouse kick in the next, she chose to ignore the exhaustion that was starting to creep up to her muscles. But, just as the one she was fighting disappeared to leave the cloak to fall on the ground, Kaori suddenly felt a shiver run up her spine. She whirled around to face yet another cloaked one, who is, oddly, just standing there. Taking advantage of the pause, Kaori assumed a more stable fighting stance and waited.

She kept her eyes on the cloaked one before her, but out of the corner of her eye, Kaori saw some of her teammates fighting. She wished this minor would go on and attack her already so she could help the other Roses. Finally deciding that she shouldn’t waste any more time, Kaori lunged at the cloaked one with swift alternating kicks and punches, but her opponent only dodged her.

What’s with this stupid minor?! Kaori thought as she continued her barrage of attacks. Still, the cloaked one did nothing offensive. Her eyes narrowing, Kaori suddenly stopped moving forward, and jumped up, instead. She extended her left arm to materialize a bow as her right hand drew a lightning arrow. But just as she took aim, her forest green eyes widened when she didn’t find her opponent where he was supposed to be.

“It took you long enough to finally use your arrow, Kaori-san.”

Before the shivers even reached the middle of her spine, she was already hurtling towards the ground. Her reflexes helped Kaori tumble-roll across the floor instead of falling flat on her face. Not taking even a moment to celebrate, Kaori whipped out a lightning sword, readying herself for anything thrown at her. And what was thrown at her was a blazing white ball of energy. She whipped out another sword, crossing it with the first one, just in time to block the attack, but it was not deflected as Kaori had thought it would be. Blazing white clashed with blazing white, and Kaori felt her feet slowly being dragged backwards as she desperately tried to keep her footing. Even being the Rose of Lightning, she wasn’t able to absorb the offending sphere. That meant that it wasn’t electricity.

So what the hell is it?!

Gritting her teeth, Kaori knew she couldn’t play equilibrium forever. So she jumped up, still holding her lightning swords as they were, and used the ball of energy as a fulcrum. (She didn’t bother to look where the sphere went, but she hoped it didn’t go near the other Roses.) Her feet touched the floor for only a second. She suddenly felt herself lifted from the ground as her stomach was punched hard, making her choke in pain. But what happened next totally glossed over the throbbing pain caused by the punch; Kaori found herself staring wide-eyed at the floor as she clutched the black cloak of the self-same man she was fighting. Suddenly, her breath came in rough, labored gasps as she felt her energy leaving her in a frighteningly rapid pace.

“That, my dear, valiant Kaori, is the Void,” he whispered in her ear as he put his cloak around her, covering her from the other Roses’ view with his cloak. “It’s the attack that only a Kurobara can make. It’s the only attack that can actually kill an Elemental… And guess what I’m pushing at your abdomen right now…”

Kaori closed her eyes painfully. She thought that nothing compared to what she was feeling right now. Not only did she feel her Seed being taken away… She felt her life being lifted from her, leaving her paralyzed and feeling more and more drained by the second. It was such a horrible mix of physical, mental and emotional emptiness that she wanted him to either stop it, or hurry up so she could die already.

But Kaori knew that Youko was not about to suddenly pity her and stop what he was doing. Kaori knew what was going to happen in the next few seconds if she didn’t do anything. So, do something, she did.

A tear fell.

————–

“IYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!“

“SARA!”

Kamui caught his sister, concern and panic clearly taking over his features.

“Sara! SARA!” he exclaimed, shaking her so that she would look up at him. She wouldn’t. Instead, she kept her head bowed as her hands remained clamped over her ears, her fingers almost pulling at her hair.

“Make it stop… Please make it stop…” she whimpered so tightly through clenched teeth that Kamui barely heard her.

“Make what stop, Sara?” Kamui threw a quick, worried glance at Ran. “C’mon, sis, talk to me…”

“She’s screaming…”

“Who? Who’s screaming, Sara?”

She only gave another whimper, and suddenly, Kamui didn’t know what to do. He was torn between the want to comfort his sister and the urgency of the situation that was doubled over by Sara’s outburst.

“Sara, listen to me,” came Ran’s calm, authoritative voice beside him. “What you’re seeing right now — whatever you’re hearing right now — trust me, it’s going to get worse.”

“Ran-sama!” Kamui exclaimed disbelievingly. What the hell was Ran doing?!

But the Sensei just ignored him.

“The battle has just begun, Sara. Whoever’s screaming… she’s not going to be the only one. There will be more, and you have to be able to handle it. You have to bear it, do you understand me? Can you do that?”

Kamui looked at his sister, only then realizing that she wasn’t as tense as she was. She was actually looking at Ran, and she seemed to be taking in his explanation, as well.

“The sooner we get there, the sooner this is going to stop. Do you understand me?” Sara bit her lip as she nodded quietly. “But I have to know: can you handle this? Because if you can’t, I’m going to have to send you back.”

“I can handle it,” she said, her eyes now more focused.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“Good.” Ran glanced at Kamui before going to the head of the group again. “Let’s go.”

And with that, the Stars continued their flight through the night sky. Ran was leading them, Kaji following close behind. The other two girls were flying with them, while Kamui flew with Sara in his arms for the meantime.

“Oniichan…” came her voice amidst the rushing sound of the wind in Kamui’s ears.

“Yeah?”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it, sis.”

Sara nodded as she closed her eyes. “Oniichan… The girl I heard… It was Kaori…”

Kamui blinked, but he kept looking forward. “Kaori?”

“Oniichan… Kaori’s dead.”

————–

Maya felt frozen as she just stared at Kaori’s lifeless form on the ground. At the opposite end of the room where Kaori had thrown him, Youko picked himself up from the floor. Electricity still crackled around him, the cracked pieces of the wall falling from his shoulders as he stood up. Knowing that the Roses were now aware of his presence, Youko chuckled even as he winced.

“Well… That was a really clever use of her last remaining energy. What a way to go, Kaori… I must say you taught her well, Yuuji.”

“Bastard.”

Maya was never one to act at once. Most usually, she waits for Fuu’s approval, or Yuuji’s signal. But even so, one could say that the Winter Rose was the most impulsive of the Roses. That’s why, taking one look at Maya’s face, Fuu knew exactly what the girl was about to do.

“No, Maya, DON’T!”

It was too late. Maya had charged at Youko, ice sword in hand, her eyes burning with a fury that can only be fuelled by the drive to protect her friends. Suddenly, everything was happening too fast. The instant Maya yelled “DIE!!!”, Yuuji, Fuu and Haruna were all taken by surprise as hundreds of icicles appeared all across the room, and shot towards Youko. There were so many of them, and they moved so fast that the three Roses had to make an effort to dodge the icicles. It looked like, in Maya’s anger, she actually forgot that there were other people in the room besides Youko.

The icicles never touched Youko. Once they were within arm’s reach, each sliver of ice suddenly turned into water, making Maya’s attack futile. But then, there was still Maya herself, who had not stopped moving towards Youko, apparently waiting to get into the perfect position to stab him. Youko smiled. The little girl was so predictable sometimes, he thought. He slightly changed his footing to see her crouching on the ground for momentum.

Good-bye, little girl.

The grin remaining on his lips, Youko swiped his hand to collect her ki…

What–?

Instead of feeling Maya’s ki between his fingers, Youko just grabbed air. Pulled by the unseen force called instinct, he quickly jerked his head sideways, but not quick enough to entirely dodge Maya’s sword from behind him. The cold, sharp ice sliced the side of his neck, drawing blood, as he turned around. This time, it was Maya’s time to be attacked from behind. She didn’t have time to move. Maya almost choked when Youko grabbed her collar behind her neck, and, before she could think of anything else, she was already flung across the room.

Just as Maya’s shirt separated from Youko’s fingertips, vines shot up from the floor he was stepping on, shackling his wrists and ankles. Not wasting a second to be surprised, he uprooted the vines holding his wrists and weilded them as his weapons against the girl who summoned them in the first place.

“Haven’t you already figured out,” Youko said as the vines whipped around Haruna became tighter, “that you cannot win against me?!” He pulled the vines again, making Haruna spin like a top.

Finally, the vines consticting her disappeared. Haruna clutched her head, willing her brain to stop spinning, as she tried to hold her footing. She heard Fuu yell “Haruna, look out!!!” before she felt a sharp, piercing, numbing sensation on her stomach. Her vision still blurred, Haruna saw green. Lots and lots of green, around her, and a white stripe in the middle of it all. The white stripe is, of course, Youko. And the green… The green stuff around her were vines. Her vines. And they were piercing her stomach.

————–

Yuki had never been inside the Deathrose palace. And, now that she was flying through its halls, she constantly had a weird feeling creeping along her skin. She can’t explain it, but, even though there were numerous candles along the walls and ceiling, the halls were dark; despite the darkness, the palace still seemed to speak of life, but at the same time, death. But the most unnerving thing of all is that, in spite of the cool air and the cold walls, there was a warm, homey feeling… familiar, even.

Yuki knew that the Deathrose palace, like Blue Star’s, had its own ki because of the ki-sensitive locks. Now, she can sense its ki, which is almost the same as the Roses’. That was expected. But there was a small tinge of…something in the ki that reminded her of something. Rather, someone.

Someone like the girl flying beside her.

As Kaji, Yuki had noticed a change in Aiko’s ki. But, unlike her maroon-haired friend who made up a theory that ‘the girl’ with them was actually a Rose, Yuki ignored the slight change. She had been sure that it was nothing. It wouldn’t be the first time that Aiko’s ki had had a slight change. But now, she wasn’t sure anymore.

Cut it out, Yuki thought, shaking her head. Now isn’t the right time to start doubting your teammates!

With that out of the way, Yuki’s focus went back to their current location. Squinting, she saw that they were approaching an intersection of halls. Earlier that evening, Ran had instructed the Stars to keep going; he said they didn’t have to stop to check if the coast was clear. Yuki kept flying, as well, but she looked to her left and right out of habit. And there, at the end of the other hall, she saw a pair of minors. She frowned as she came to a halt. The minors had obviously seen her, since they had assumed battle stance, but they weren’t attacking.

“Yuki, c’mon!” Yuki heard Aiko’s voice call.

“There are minors at the end of the hall,” she stated blankly, “and they’re just looking at me.”

“Yuki, let’s go,” came Ran’s voice this time, but Yuki didn’t budge.

“Sensei, the minors are just standing there.”

For a second, Ran looked like he was getting impatient with Yuki. But then, his frown faded, and his eyebrows knit together as he glanced at the minors.

“For a minor, there isn’t supposed to be anything more important than Collecting or taking a Star down,” Yuki said.

“But, they’re just standing there,” Ran said, echoing her. “They have be guarding something.” He and Yuki looked at each other in silent agreement. Then, Ran turned to Mai. “Go with Yuki, and see if she’s right. Don’t take too long: if you see nothing, don’t go digging. Understand?”

“Hai.”

“Everyone else continues with me,” Ran added.

“Be careful,” Kaji told Mai before turning around to follow the rest of the Stars.

Mai turned her attention to the end of the hall; their black opponents still haven’t moved from their spot. Yuki was right; they must be guarding something, but what? She rummaged through her brain, but she couldn’t remember what that door was for. It must be one of those doors she had taken for granted. “This is so weird,” Mai said unconsciously.

“I know,” Yuki agreed, taking a step towards the minors. “They’re not even using shuriken.”

“I can’t imagine what they would be guarding in there, though.”

“I can.”

Before Mai could open her mouth to ask Yuki what she meant, the Ice Maiden lunged at their opponents. The thought that instantly popped in Mai’s mind was that Yuki was, indeed, a graceful woman; as an ice skater and as a Star. This was the first time she watched the girl in action, and, if she ignored the icicles that seemed to endlessly shoot out from Yuki’s hand, Mai would have been completely convinced that Yuki was dancing. Yuki didn’t seem stop even for a second, and her feet didn’t seem to touch the ground, as she turned and twirled and spun, her long, ponytailed hair twirling behind her, accentuating her fluid movement. She didn’t emit even a single grunt or shout. She didn’t look like she had a hard time, even though she was fighting a dozen minors that suddenly appeared when she started attacking.

Mai’s train of thought came to an abrupt halt. Mentally slapping her forehead (What on earth are you doing, just standing there, Mai?!), the raven-haired girl went to get a piece of the action. But she had not taken even three steps when, finally, Yuki released a battlecry as an ice wave erupted from the floor.

The raven-haired girl blinked as the minors disappeared in defeat. Except for the lock of hair had escaped from her braid, Yuki looked like she was fresh out of the shower.

“All right,” she said, turning to Mai, “Shall we?”

“Uh…right.”

Mai took hold of the handle, while Yuki prepared her sword in case there were more minors behind the door. The two nodded, and the door finally opened to reveal another hall. This, though, wasn’t lighted.

“Perfect,” Yuki scoffed as she stepped in. Mai followed her, taking note of the damp air that enveloped her.

“This looks like the dungeon…” Mai said.

“Seems so,” Yuki answered as she touched an iron door beside her. “It makes much more sense, then.”

Mai’s eyebrows furrowed. “What do you mea—”

“HIKARU!”

Mai nearly tripped. “Wha—?” Blinking, she watched Yuki move from one cell to another.

“Hikaru, are you in here?” Yuki called, as if Mai hadn’t spoken at all. “HIKARU!”

The blue-haired girl continued calling for the eldest Kazetenshi, but no one answered. They reached the end of the hall, but no Hikaru was found. Yuki’s hands unconsciously clenched. That can’t be right. It’s impossible that that place was empty. Hikaru had to be there. If not him, then somebody else that they had to set free; otherwise those minors wouldn’t have stood out there like that.

“Maybe we missed him,” she said. “Maybe we just didn’t see him. It IS dark. Maybe we should try again—”

“Maybe he’s in the lower level.”

Yuki turned to the girl beside her. “There’s a lower level?” she asked.

She didn’t get an answer. Instead, the raven-haired girl put her hand on the wall in front of them. Yuki almost jumped when a loud, clicking sound echoed in the empty hall, and she could only watch as the wall (which, she realized, wasn’t a wall) opened the way to a staircase faintly lighted by torches on the walls.

“Let’s go!”

Yuki could do nothing but follow her. Yuki didn’t know how deep into the ground this lower level was, but after a few minutes of running down the stairs, it seemed apparent that this level was…well…low. They knew they finally reached their destination when another hall came into view. Not wasting time, each girl took her own side of the hall to look into. For a few moments, calls of “Oniichan!”s and “Hikaru!”s alternated in the air. Until…

“AIKO!”

Mai turned around sharply, quickly jogging to where Yuki was. “Is he there?” Inside the room, there was someone lying on the floor in a motionless heap.

“Dammit!” Yuki muttered. “The lock seems to be ki-sensitive…”

“Yuki…” Mai said worriedly. “Is that him? I can’t feel a ki…”

“I can’t, either, but I guess there’s only one way to find out,” Yuki answered with determination. “But we can’t open this stupid lock…”

Without a word, Mai pushed Yuki’s hand away, putting her own hand on the lock. To Yuki’s surprise, the door opened for them with a loud click.

“Aiko, how’d you—”

“Oniichan?” Mai called tentatively. She stepped forward, but Yuki stopped her.

“Wait.”

In her hand, Yuki materialized an ice sword long enough to reach the person on the ground and turn him over. Finally, the girls saw his face.

“ONIICHAN!”

Mai immediately went to her brother, tapping his cheek lightly. “Oniichan! Oniichan!”

“Is he OK?”

“I can’t feel his ki…”

The Ice Maiden put her hand lightly on his neck, her fingers searching for a pulse.

“There’s a pulse,” she breathed in relief. She then put her fingers to Hikaru’s slightly parted lips. “He’s still breathing, too.” As if on cue, Hikaru stirred with a groan, but he still didn’t wake up. “That’ll have to do for now. Aiko, use wind and carry him upstairs. We’ll try to wake him there. We can’t afford getting locked down here, too.”

Mai nodded. Yuki walked in front of the siblings, her ice sword still drawn cautiously, watching out for more minors. But, fortunately there were none.

“Well, it seems like they didn’t think we’d find him…” Mai thought out loud once they were back at the palace.

“This is the wrong hall,” Yuki said, looking around. “This isn’t the one we entered the dungeons from.”

“It’s fine,” Mai said, setting the still unconscious Hikaru on the floor. “Oniichan,” she tried again.

“Let me try,” Yuki said. She knelt down beside Mai and held out her two hands. She closed her eyes and concentrated for a while. Mai blinked. Maybe she was imagining things, but Yuki’s hands now seemed to have a white haze around them. Yuki opened her eyes as she put her hands on Hikaru’s cheeks. Suddenly, Hikaru’s eyes snapped wide open as a sharp gasp escaped his throat.

Yuki promptly removed her hands from his cheeks. “Put your hands on him!”

“What?”

“Just do it!”

Mai obeyed. But as soon as she touched Hikaru, she pulled them back again. He was ice cold! Then, she understood: Yuki had shocked Hikaru awake with her iced hands. Now that she knew why she had to do as she was told, Mai put her hands on Hikaru’s cheeks again. After a few seconds, his breathing normalized and his dark brown eyes focused.

“Aiko?” he asked in a broken voice. “Yuki?”

“Yeah, Oniichan…” Mai said, smiling, “We’re here.”

Hikaru blinked, smiling weakly. “Man. Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes…”

“Are you OK?” Yuki asked.

“I am now,” Hikaru said, getting up. But then, he winced. “Then again, maybe not…”

“Can you walk?” Yuki asked as she and Mai helped him sit up.

“I think so… Where are we? Are you guys alone?”

“We’re in the Deathrose palace. Ran-sama and the others went ahead to look for Youko.”

Hikaru nodded. “Well, in that case, we have to hurry.”

————–

Even with the knowledge that it was Youko who gave them their Elements, Fuu still couldn’t believe that he could block Yuuji’s sword, as well as her wind attacks, with his bare hands. She hated it that Youko was so strong, that he moved so fast, and that he fought as if he knew every move they were going to make. Yuuji, Maya and Fuu were fighting him at the same time, but they still weren’t able to put even one scratch on him.

Fuu growled as she jumped away from Youko, whose foot almost flattened her face. Maya promptly came in with her sword for the rebound. Sparing a split-second as she landed on the ground, Fuu glanced at Haruna, who was sprawled on the floor less than a hundred feet away from them. Fuu was thankful that Yuuji had distracted Youko before he could totally kill Haruna, but she wasn’t sure how long the Autumn Rose had left. They had better finish this quickly, or else Haruna could bleed to death.

“Moron!” Yuuji yelled out of frustration as he unleashed a fire wave at Youko.

The silver-haired just man laughed. “Is that supposed to weaken my defense in any way, Yuuji?”

“I say ‘YES’!”

Before Youko could make a smart comeback, vines shot up from beneath his feet, and, again, caught his ankles. Haruna?! Yuuji thought as his eyes flew to the blonde girl now kneeling on the floor.

“FUU-CHAN!!!”

Yuuji sharply turned to Fuu, and found her running towards Youko, upon whose shoulders Maya had her arms wrapped around from behind. Several meters away from Youko, Fuu suddenly stopped, and, with a yell, she slammed her fist on the floor. In the next second, the most powerful wind wave Yuuji had ever seen erupted from the ground, barelling towards Youko at top speed. The ground shook, and Yuuji saw Maya jump away from Youko just before the wind wave hit him. The wind wave crashed into the wall, making the ground shake even more. Pieces of the rock from the ceiling started falling, and Yuuji ran towards Fuu, who was trying to help Haruna stand up.

“What did Maya—”

“She froze him using the water in his body,” Fuu said, answering Yuuji’s unfinished question. “That’s why he didn’t move when I attacked him. C’mon, Haruna.”

“You’ve got to get out of here,” the blonde choked out.

“That’s exactly what we had in mind!” Fuu said as Yuuji pulled Haruna’s arm over his shoulders.

“But—”

Haruna’s sentence was cut short when a shrill scream echoed in the hall. Fuu, Haruna and Yuuji all turned in time to see Maya land roughly on the floor. Standing a few meters away from her, with a dangerously glowing white sphere in hand, was the man seemed impossible to defeat.

“Youko?!” Yuuji breathed, incredulous. He hadn’t expected for Fuu’s attack to kill the man, but he had thought that it should have at least bought them time!

“Yes, Yuuji,” Youko answered, his eyes, for the first time that night, unsmiling. “And your girlfriend has just made me very angry.”

In the next moment, Youko disappeared just as Yuuji felt Haruna forcefully push him away. Knowing why she did so, Yuuji didn’t glance at her as he ran to distance himself and Fuu from that attack Youko had been using to kill the Roses. His Roses.

I’m sorry, Haruna.

He heard Haruna’s body hit the ground with a sickening thud.

“Fuu!” Yuuji yelled, “Fuu, snap out of it!!!”

The Gale Rose looked blankly at Yuuji’s alarmed purple eyes. She heard his voice clearly in her ears, she could feel his hands urgently shaking her shoulders, but she just couldn’t move. Maya was dead. Whatever happened to her promise to protect her? Wasn’t it Fuu herself who assured Maya that everything was going to work out fine? Didn’t Fuu herself tell Maya to trust her?

Fuu remembered the first time she ever laid eyes on Youko. He had looked and acted like a good man, but, somehow, Fuu knew there was something not quite right about him. But still, she considered his proposal of having a chance to live again.

“And will my sister be able to live again, as well?” she had asked him.

“Your sister? Well… I admit that she has potential, as well, but I am not too sure if—”

“This is how it’s going to be: either my sister comes with me, or I go with her.” Fuu stated, not caring if the man she was talking to looked like one of authority. “Sorry, but the Hiroguchi sisters come as one package. You can’t have one without the other.”

Youko smiled. “That’s what I like about you, Fuu-san. Straighforward with spunk.”

“I don’t care what you like about me.”

“Aren’t you at least scared of me?”

“Scared?” Fuu laughed. “Sir, maybe you haven’t noticed, but I am dead. I don’t exactly have anything to lose.”

“You have your sister to lose.”

“Yes, that’s precisely my point.”

This time, it was Youko who laughed. “Very good, Fuu-san. Very good. You love your sister very much, don’t you?”

Fuu took a moment before answering. “I already lost the man I love. I’m not going to lose Maya, too.”

And, yet, Maya was dead.

Fuu felt herself hit the floor. She looked up, and saw Yuuji desperately fighting Youko. Watching them, it was so obvious that Yuuji had been a Rose since he was small. He unleashed intense flame waves one after another, and he didn’t seem to get tired. Fuu was reasonably far from them, but she could feel the heat of Yuuji’s flames on her skin. Suddenly, Fuu was surprised that the palace still hasn’t collapsed. It was only then that Fuu realized the ground already stopped shaking. Whether or not Haruna had had enough energy to strengthen the palace’s foundation before she died, Fuu wasn’t sure.

Yuuji dodged another one of Youko’s blazing white attacks, and Fuu couldn’t help but smile. Yuuji was truly amazing, no doubt about that. Yuuji was clever but humble, disciplined without being stiff, authoritative without acting all high and mighty. He was a man who treated you as if you were the most important person in the world. He was Yuuji. Her Yuuji. The one she thought she lost.

Still in her position on the floor, Fuu’s jaw dropped as realization struck.

“I already lost the man I love. I’m not going to lose Maya, too.”

But she didn’t lose Yuuji, now, did she?

Yuuji winced as Youko’s knuckles landed squarely on his jaw. He jumped away from Youko, trying to ignore the sting of the punch. Once his vision steadied, he jumped backwards again, dodging yet another punch. Yuuji’s muscles tensed as his feet skidded on the floor, stopping just a second before a huge flame blast burst from his palms. But, amidst the red flames enveloping him, Youko suddenly emerged, flying straight at Yuuji. Yuuji’s fists clenched, preparing to burn Youko’s hands (never mind that there was another deadly white sphere in it) when, for the second time in less than thirty minutes, someone pushed Yuuji out of harm’s way.

NO!!! screamed Yuuji’s mind as he stumbled. He caught himself right before his face hit the floor, and, when he turned around, Fuu was already down on the ground.

Yuuji couldn’t construct a straight thought. It wasn’t that his brain had suddenly stopped; intead, a gazillion questions, memories, exclamations, and regrets zoomed through his mind.

Dammit, Fuu.

Her clothes were crumpled and torn at several places, her face was flushed, and her brown hair was slightly dishevelled, but Yuuji thought she was irresistably attractive. It was always after a battle that he found her most beautiful. And now, with her eyes closed, and her lips (oddly) curved in a smile, Fuu looked like she was just asleep.

“Tsk. Tragic, it is, when a woman sacrifices her life for a man,” Youko said. “More tragic, it is, when the man would’ve been better off dead.”

Yuuji’s purple eyes finally turned to Youko. He felt them burn, and he was sure it wasn’t because of the fire ball now blazing in his hand.

“It’s pointless to use your Element on me, Yuuji. I gave that to you, therefore I can control it.”

Yuuji looked at Youko from head to foot. True, the silver-haired man didn’t look like he had already fought five Elementals, but it was undeniable that he didn’t look as clean as he was when he first appeared in the room. There was already a thin film of sweat on his skin, he looked agitated, and Yuuji knew for sure that he was finally exerting effort as they fought. Although they had been killed, each Rose didn’t forget to leave Youko with a parting gift. Yuuji smiled.

“I don’t care.”

It was time for Yuuji to give his parting gift.

Yuuji and Youko attacked at the same time. But, right before they clashed, there was a movement at the huge doors. To Yuuji’s split-second surprise, Youko turned to look who it was. Taking the advantage, Yuuji grabbed Youko’s collar and thrust his fire sword into the man’s stomach. Before Yuuji even thought of jumping away, though, he felt a fierce uppercut on his own stomach, but not before he was rewarded with Youko’s frustrated yell of pain. The punch, though was followed by a sharp, searing feeling, and, Yuuji, after seeing it happen four times that day already, knew what caused it.

As Yuuji felt his energy slip away, he glanced at the door, and, seeing who arrived to provide the distraction, he smiled. It was too bad that he couldn’t bid his Princess farewell, but at least he knew she was all right.

And now, he could finally have peace with Fuu.

“I go where you go…”

To Kamui, everything was in slow motion. When he saw a silver-haired man (whom he was sure to be a Rose) strike Yuuji, and he felt strangely… strange. The feeling of watching an enemy die in someone else’s hand was a definitely inexplicable, especially so because Kamui didn’t exactly want anyone to die. Perhaps it was an idiotic idea, thinking that this war was going to be resolved without casualties. But still…

“YUUJI-KUN!!!”

Kamui turned sharply, his train of thought violently thrown off-track. He watched dumbly as Aiko ran to Yuuji, catching him just before he hit the ground.

A…Ai-chan?

It didn’t make sense to him at all. Why on earth was Aiko holding Yuuji like that?!

“Yuuji-kun! Yuuji-kun!” Mai cried over and over. But Yuuji remained limp in her arms. “Yuuji-kun…” Mai’s vision blurred, and she felt tears sliding down her cheeks. She bit her lip, burying her head on Yuuji’s shoulder. “This isn’t supposed to be this way…” she sobbed as she held him tightly.

No, it wasn’t supposed to be this way. Yuuji was supposed to be freed. All the Roses were supposed to be freed. Yuuji was supposed to finally tell Fuu that he loved her, and they were to go away and get married. Maya was supposed to make a name for herself and be famous for her energy, most likely as a celebrity. Haruna was supposed to find the place where she was to belong, and the world was to see her smile. Kaori was supposed to see her dream come true and be the greatest cook in Japan.

That was how it was to be.

Mai opened her eyes, and looked around. She saw the formerly grand throne room. She saw the Roses on the ground. Everything just looked so dead. Then, she saw silver eyes gazing down at her. Suddenly, she had an idea how Ran must have felt after the War. Suddenly, she wanted a silver-haired moron to die a painful death.

As Kamui, Kaji was having a hard time taking in the scene before him. For some unbelievable reason, Aiko was crying over Yuuji. And, for the same unbelievable reason, she was looking at the silver-haired man like she wanted to bury him alive. He watched in wonder as she set Yuuji down on the ground carefully.

“KYAAAAAAA!!!!!”

Kaji’s eyes widened as his heart seemed to stop. As Aiko shouted her battle cry and attacked the silver-haired man, her ki flared drastically, and for a split-second, Kaji was suddenly sure that she was not his Aiko. But before she could reach the man calmly standing in the middle of the huge room, a cloaked one suddenly appeared, blocked her attack, and sent her flying across the room, all in one second.

“AIKO!” Kamui yelled.

His instincts kicking in, Kaji came to her rescue. Gritting his teeth, Kaji pushed his muscles to their limit as he ran towards her. At the perfect moment, he jumped, and, for a second, he felt like he was in the field, using his body to keep the soccer ball from going into the goal. Kaji winced in mid-air as the black-haired girl hit him; only then did he realize how hard this crash was going to be. Sure enough, his breath almost stopped as his back hit the ground painfully. He could only close his eyes and hold on to the girl tightly as they slid roughly on the floor. When they stopped moving, Kaji opened his eyes and immediately inspected the girl in his arms.

“Are you OK?”

“Are you?”

“Youko!” came Ran’s voice, catching everyone’s attention. Seeing that Ran was addressing the silver-haired man already moving to leave, Kaji felt his blood boil again. So that was Youko.

“I’d like to stay to watch the drama unfold,” Youko said with a smirk, “but I think I’ll be going on ahead.” With that said, the silver-haired man flew off.

“Take charge, Kaji.”

Before his command even registered in Kaji’s brain, Ran kicked the ground and flew after Youko. And, Kaji being Kaji, he didn’t waste a second and jumped after him.

“But, Ran-sama—”

Kaji’s sentence was cut when he felt his stomach literally get kicked up his throat. Black cloth whipped in front of his eyes, and Kaji leapt backwards just in time to save his face from being flattened. The cloaked one assumed battle stance just as Kaji felt Kamui, Yuki and Aiko take their places beside him. Kaji smirked. If this cloaked minor defeats all the four of them, he’d really be impressed.

“North South East West.”

The Elements came alive simultaneously. Icicles, crossed winds, flame spheres and a huge piece of the floor went at the cloaked one from all four directions as the four Stars leapt for the minor, weilding their short-range weapons. At first the cloaked one didn’t move, but when it did, the Stars found out what really was behind the mask. The cloaked one flung his arms, and, from under the black cloth came hands. Hands that were undoubtedly not that of a minor.

At the cloaked one’s unspoken command, the wind spheres dissipated. The icicles and the flame spheres, on the other hand, suddenly curved and went for Kamui and Aiko, forcing their momentum to decrease as they avoided the attack. Kaji and Yuki went ahead, and they were both surprised (but undaunted) when electricity flashed from the cloaked one’s hand.

Two lightning swords clashed with fire and ice. And, Yuki couldn’t help but wonder where this Rose came from. He was undoubtedly amazing with swordfighting, and he seemed to be a master of two Elements already. Then how come she didn’t know about him? Did Ran already know about him? Then, suddenly, out of the many questions in her mind, one suddenly screamed: Whatever happened to that huge boulder that Kamui threw?!

As if answering her question, Aiko’s voice echoed in the hall.

“RRRGH!!!”

The boulder floor crashed on the floor, and Mai couldn’t help but lean her hands on her knees. Although the wind was at her aid, she still felt the weight of that huge piece of rock when she threw it away. She looked up just in time to see wind daggers accelerating towards her. They missed her by a hairsbreadth, but then her eyes widened when she saw who was behind her.

Sara used her body to shield Hikaru from the wind daggers.

“SARA!”

Vines brust from the ground, effectively blocking the wind daggers before they hit Sara, and at the same time, vines shot up from the earth right under the cloaked one. He dodged the vines just as Kamui swiftly shot sharp bamboo at him. The cloaked one barely avoided one shoot, and it whizzed by his ear as his feet skidded roughly on the ground, eventually coming to a stop in his crouched position. The hood gave away, letting midnight blue hair flow freely.

A girl?! Kamui wondered randomly. Are all the Roses aside from Yuuji girls?

“If my sister gets hurt in any way, Rose…” he said threateningly. But the girl only laughed. An amused, menacing laugh that echoed in the large hall. An amused, menacing laugh that oddly sounded vaguely familiar.

Kaji’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion. That voice… Though the tone was far different from what he was used to, he knew that voice… But it can’t be her! It was impossible! It can’t be her because she was standing right beside him… wasn’t she?

The laughing finally stopped, and Kamui tensed even more, readying himself for anything.

“Or what, Kamui?” came that voice again as the crouching girl looked up.

Kamui felt like his jaw had hit the ground with a loud thud as mockingly smiling grey eyes met disbelivingly wide blue.

“…You’ll hurt your best friend?”

As it had a hundred times the past few days, Mai felt all her blood drain from her face.

“A–… AIKO…?!”

————–

Next on Blue Star

With their own Wind Angel as their opponent, Hikaru unable to fight, and Ran fighting alone against an enormously powerful Youko, will the Stars make it out alive? Or will Youko finally have his revenge? What do you do when the one you love turns against you?

“Now is NOT the time for explanations!”

Episode 26: Blue Star

————–

From the Author

Ack! Don’t kill me. -hides under the table-

See Kamui get jealous of Yuuji! Harhar. So… you guys know what Sara’s dream was, now, right?

At 58 Kb and 25 pages, this is the longest episode ever. I don’t know if the next one will be even longer. Maybe.

If anyone hates me for what I did to the Roses, tell me. For once, I’m going to happily accept flames. But let me tell you something right now: no matter what you tell me, I will NOT change anything that happened in this episode. I may edit the way I wrote it, but the events are final. This is the way it’s gonna happen, people. Sorry. I hope you stay put till the last episode.

Review topics

- Unnecessary scenes: seeing that this is the longest episode of the series, I was wondering which scenes or long descriptions or whatever are included that, if it were up to you, aren’t needed. As a writer, I really need to know if there are any.

- The battle scenes. Oh my goodness, I haven’t written this many of battle scenes in…well…forever! Gosh. So many fight scenes in one episode… I hope I pulled it off.

- Everybody’s reactions: shock, disbelief, blind rage… Tell me if they were realistic or overdone.

- PREDICT! I welcome predictions with open arms.

Kaji looked up from staring at the floor when he heard a soft knock. Glancing at the sleeping girl on the bed, he stood up from his chair and slightly opened the door. Cobalt blue eyes peeked through the crack.

“Yeah?”

“Hino,” Kamui said, “it’s 7 o’clock.”

“It is?” Kaji asked, glancing at his watch. “That’s OK, you guys should rest. I could—”

“Hino.” the black-haired boy interrupted. “You should get some rest. You’ve been here since last night.”

“I’m fine.”

Kamui sighed, scratching his hair. “Dude, you’ve been here for almost 10 stupid hours. You haven’t slept a wink and that chair’s uncomfortable. Just think: if the Roses suddenly attack us, don’t you think you’ll be needing energy?”

“I don’t think I’ll be able to fall asleep, anyway…” Kaji muttered under his breath.

Kamui watched his maroon-haired leader look at the bed again. Man, he thought, he really has it bad for Aiko, doesn’t he?

“You worry too much, you know that?” he said. “This is Ai-chan. She’s not a weakling, you know.”

Kaji glanced at Kamui before looking back at the girl on the bed. “I know, but—” He wasn’t able to finish his sentence when Kamui pushed the door open, then practically shoved him out of the room.

“Dude. Sleep,” he said. “It’s good for your health.”

The protest died on Kaji’s lips as the black-haired Star closed the door in his face. He imagined that if Aiko wasn’t sleeping inside, the younger boy would have slammed it shut. And, of course, Kaji would’ve kicked it open.

“You don’t have to kick the door, you know. There’s always the doorknob.”

Kaji turned around to see Sara standing a few meters away from him.

“Man,” she said as she peered up at him. “Right now, you absolutely do NOT look like you’re seventeen. I’m thinking along the lines of seventy. Yow! Don’t frown like that, either. It makes you look even older.”

It’s already general knowledge that Kaji was the King of Counterattacks. But, given the fact that he was brain-dead right now, he only rolled his eyes as he started to walk away.

Sara blinked, then quickly followed him. “Hey, Kaji…”

“Yeah?”

“Isn’t your room that way?” she asked, pointing to the opposite direction.

“Yeah.”

“Aren’t you going to go there yet?”

“No.”

“So where are you going?”

“Dunno. The dojo maybe. Whatever’s left of it.”

Sara sighed. She knew several other stubborn people (her brother, to name one), but she had never known anyone as consistently obstinate as Kaji.

“HEY!” he exclaimed when he was suddenly jerked backwards as Sara pulled his arm, almost making him trip.

“You’re going to your room whether you like it or not,” she said authoritatively as she walked, towing Kaji. “And, no, I am not a middle-aged mother trapped in a body of a schoolgirl.”

“Sara—”

“You need rest, Kaji! Just—”

“Sara,” Kaji said, interrupting her, successfully wrenching his arm free. “Would ja let me be honest for one freakin’ second? I’m really, really, really, reallyreallyreally worried ’bout Aiko right now, ayt? ‘N’ if I’m not watching her as she recovers, I’m gonna get veeeeery stressed—”

“You mean you’re not stressed yet?”

“—and, lemme tell you: you do NOT want me stressed. I hafta to do somethin’, Sara, or else, I’m gonna go insane.”

“Want me to punch the daylights out of you so you could sleep?”

Kaji raked his fingers through his hair. “This is not a laughing matter, woman!”

“I’m not laughing!” she countered, almost crossing the line to anger, but not quite. “Kaji, I understand what you mean, but Oniichan’s right, you know. You really DO need to rest. Look, you’ve got eye bags already! Even if you have the will to stay up until Ai-chan wakes up, you’re already exhausted. You just don’t realize it, or even if you do, you don’t want to acknowledge it!” She paused as she heaved another sigh. “Just try to lie down, would you? We need your ‘killer kick’, as Oniichan always calls it, in case we have to fight the Roses today. And we also need your brain to work properly so we’ll have awesome strategies…”

For a moment, Kaji just studied the girl before him. Now that he looked at her, he realized that despite the smile that was almost always on her lips, she was obviously worried, too. Sara had always handled crises better than everybody else, and, standing beside her, Kaji looked like a total nervous wreck.

Not that he wasn’t a nervous wreck.

Kaji sighed, finally relenting. “Fine. I’ll give it a try…”

“Good.”

“Thanks, Sara…”

“Just doing my job.”

Kaji couldn’t help but chuckle. Ah, yes. Ten points to Smiley.

“Has Yuki gotten back, by the way?”

“Not yet.”

Kaji nodded, and made his way to his room. When he closed his door behind him, he released a tiny part of his stress with a heavy breath. Relax, Hino, he told himself. Relaaaaax.

After a quick bath, a change of clothes, and pulling the curtains to block out the morning sun, he laid down on his bed and stared at the ceiling, his mind wandering to a certain blue-haired, grey-eyed girl.

“She’s not a weakling, you know.”

No, she wasn’t a weakling, and he knew it. And now that he thought about it, (or maybe he knew, all along) that was the first thing he noticed about her, way back on the first day he saw her. The day of the race (odd that he and Aiko called it that…it’s not like it was the only race there is). True, she was pretty, but what made her radiant is the confidence in her eyes and the smile that told everyone that she was determined to win.

“If you keep treating me like a rookie, I’ll remain being one!” Aiko had yelled at him once. Ever since she was a new Star, she had been so eager and independent. And, even though there were a few times that her confidence faltered, all she needed was a slight push before she was back on her feet again. It was a fallacious generalization when she said she was ‘an utter failure’ on that frozen river during the Tokyo Skating Open. She had focused on the few times that she had slipped out of the hundreds of other times that she did well that year. It had been only natural that she would slip sometimes. She was, like all other Stars, still human. (Let the readers know that I didn’t narrate all the accounts of the Stars’ other defenses, seeing that they’re nothing out of the ordinary. But, perhaps, some other time, I’ll gladly relate some of them to you.)

Kaji was, admittedly, a very stubborn guy. There were countless times that Aiko told him to ‘let her go’. But the more she said that, the more he wanted to be her shield, to be the pillar that Ran had said that he was. It wasn’t that he was narcisstic; he didn’t wish Aiko’s world to revolve around him. He knew that she had a family, friends… She had Kamui, there’s no disregarding that. But, he wanted to at least be part of her life. A big part, if possible. And for a long time, if possible. He would gladly content himself with being her friend if she’ll let him, even though he’d rather that they were more than friends. Besides, she had already accepted him even though he hadn’t told her about his past apart from being a Star, didn’t she? That had to count for something, didn’t it?

-Or maybe she accepted you precisely because she doesn’t know about your past.-

No, that can’t be it. Aiko’s innately friendly. She doesn’t care—

-Exactly. Aiko’s friendly to everyone, so there’s nothing special in the way she treats you, is there?-

Sighing, Kaji pulled the covers over his head and closed his eyes. Whether or not the little voice in his head was right, he decided not to think about it too much anymore. It would just make him sick.

-People always leave you, anyway, Kaji. Get used to it. That’s just the way it is. Or have you already forgotten about that?-

At the back of his mind, he wished he did.

————–

Bells jingled to signal her entrance into Marty’s convenience store, making the man behind the counter look up and smile at her.

“Good morning, Yuki-chan!”

“Good morning…” Yuki replied with a smile. She went straight for the refrigirator and took out a water bottle.

“Flying solo today, I see.”

She shook her head as she paid for her water. “You have no idea how amazingly accurate you are, my friend.”

“Really? So…Had a nice jog?”

Yuki blinked. “I’m sorry?”

“Your jog. You look like you just came from one.”

When she still looked clueless, he jerked his head towards the mirror near the ceiling, originally intended for watching out for shoplifters. Yuki finally saw her own reflection, and, sure enough, she DID look like she had just finished jogging. Her pony-tailed hair was somewhat disheveled (but not enough to make her look bad), she was slightly sweaty, and what she was wearing could pass as a jogging outfit (it was pure coincidence). It was only then that she realized that she had been breathing a bit heavily, too.

“Oh. Right. Yeah, jogging. It was…OK.”

“Did you jog around the whole ward?”

“More like the whole city…” Yuki said absently.

“Huh? The whole—”

“No, no, I was kidding!” Yuki quickly said. “Well, I should be going…”

“Riiight…”

Yuki smiled, as she headed out the door. But then she did a double-take when she noticed the phone on the counter.

“Hey, may I use your phone?”

“Sure.”

“Thanks.” Yuki picked up the receiver and dialed the number that she had, by now, memorized. The phone rang on the other end. No one was picking up. Her worry starting to resurface, Yuki pushed the plunger and turned around. “Hey, Marty, may I use this to call a cellphone?”

“Sure thing.”

Yuki bit her lip and dialled another number. Like the previous one, the owner wasn’t picking up. Heaving a sigh, she put the receiver down.

“Thanks. How much do I pay for that?”

“For you, dear, nothing.”

Yuki laughed, then went for the door. “Thanks a bunch! I owe you one.”

“Yeah, you do… Hope you find your boyfriend!”

But Yuki didn’t hear his last sentence: she was already out the door, and was running for the nearest alley so she could turn unvisible again. But just as she turned around the corner, she bumped into someone, making her drop her water bottle. Thanks to her quick reflexes, though, she caught it right before it hit the ground.

“Oh! I’m sorry!” she exclaimed as she looked up. But, the moment she saw who she bumped into, though, she almost regretted apologizing.

Mitsukawa Kumiko stood there in all her royal brilliance. She was wearing a sundress that was most probably bought somewhere in Europe (maybe Milan, her parents’ favorite shopping place, so she says), and the precious stones on her bracelets tinkled when she lifted her hand to lower her sunglasses, allowing her amber eyes to examine Yuki from head to foot. And, because Yuki was almost kneeling down because of her water, add the fact that she wasn’t looking her best right now, it made her look like a servant bowing to a princess… Suddenly the blue-haired girl wanted the earth to swallow her alive.

“Well, well,” Kumiko said with a smirk. “If it isn’t the girl who fooled the judges at the Tokyo Open…”

Nah, it’d be MUCH better if the earth swallowed HER alive, not me. If only Kamui was here right now…

“Watch where your going, will you, Mizuno?”

Yuki frowned as she stood up straight. Much as she wanted to snap back at the girl, she knew she couldn’t, this time. Today, Yuki was really at fault for turning on a corner when she was running like that.

“It won’t happen again,” she said in a monotonous voice. “Now, if you excuse me, I’m—”

“You know,” Kumiko interrupted, blocking Yuki’s way, “Hikaru and I went out on a date last night.” As if emphasizing a point, she flipped her long, silky, bouncy, shampoo-commercial-model jet black hair over her shoulder. The straight line that was the Ice Maiden’s lips didn’t even twitch. “The walk home was pleasant, actually. It was a new moon, so the stars were visible, and the wind was cool, as well… It was quite perfect, I must say.”

“And you’re telling me this because…?”

“Well, I just thought I’d let you in on the news, so you know where you stand. That date won’t be the last, you see. I’m sure you know what this means,” Kumiko said, looking absolutely sympathetic that Yuki wanted to blanch. “I hate seeing a girl crying in front of a boy, darling, so I took the liberty to tell you this myself. At least, when ‘Karu-chan tells you, you’ll be prepared… Comprende?”

“‘Karu…-chan”?

“‘KARU-CHAN”?!

My goodness.

Yuki defeated the urge to roll her eyes, and smiled her most saccharine smile, instead. “Ah. How considerate of you, sempai.”

“Yes, I know.”

“Sempai, have you ever considered being a novelist?”

The sudden change of topic taking her by surprise, the older girl’s eyebrows furrowed. “A novelist?”

“Yes, I’m sure you’d make a really great one. You’re SO good at fabricating stories.”

Kumiko blinked. Taking the chance, Yuki brushed past her, flipping her hair over her shoulder in mock imitation. By the time the older girl had turned around and angrily yelled “YOU—!”, the Star was already unvisible, and had flown off, laughing. It was three seconds of amusement, seeing Kumiko’s jaw drop in realization, then contort in anger. But, now the fun was over. She flew as fast as she could, all the while looking for a certain boy’s ki as her eyes scanned the roads below.

After a minute, she reached her destination and started knocking on the door. No answer from anyone inside. She quickly went to the windows and peeked inside the house. No one was there. She flew up to the windows on the second floor and knocked loudly. Still no reply. Her jaw clenching, Yuki placed her palm on the window and concentrated… The water particles inside the room started to gather together to form ice. Then, she made the icicle push the white curtain aside so she could see inside the room.

As it was in the hundred times she had checked it within the past 24 hours, the room was empty. Yuki bit her lip. The nervousness she had pushed aside came back with a vengeance.

“Where ARE you, Hikaru?!”

————–

Everything was cold around her.

Although she knew shouldn’t, she felt like she wanted to stay wherever she was. She didn’t want to move, she didn’t want to think. Rest seemed so tempting…

She wanted to stay there forever.

Forever in the cold.

So cold…

“Mai!” came a vaguely familiar voice as a faint ray of light seemed to shine through her closed eyelids.

Who…?

“Mai, wake up!”

No, it wasn’t a just familiar…

“It’s just a dream, Mai! WAKE UP! It’s just a dream!”

She knew that voice…

“MAI!”

—0—

Her chocolate brown eyes snapped open as Mai jerked awake with a gasp. She blinked several times, trying to clear her vision. But everything was still a blur of white, brown and dark blue.

Maybe I’m in my room? she thought, her muscles relaxing slightly. But then, she froze again when her eyes finally focused.

The dark blue before her wasn’t her canopy…

“Mai?” came the voice again.

She blinked again, but the image before her didn’t change.

“Are you OK?”

“Ka… Kamui?” she asked weakly.

The black-haired boy nodded.

“Yeah…” he said.

Mai blinked again, but Kamui was still there. She raised her hand, wanting to make sure that her eyes (and her ears) weren’t deceiving her. When her fingertips touched his face, she gasped, pulling her hand back as if she was scalded, but Kamui caught it quickly.

“Mai, are you OK?” he repeated, worry never leaving his features.

“I…” she tried. “Wh…Where are we?”

A small smile slowly broke through Kamui’s lips. “We’re in your room, silly,” he said.

“We…We are? What time is it?”

“I think it’s about…8 am…”

“Oh… But… what’re you doing in my room?”

Kamui’s grin widened, but his eyebrows furrowed, as well. “You never asked me that before…”

Mai blinked. Looking up at Kamui, she suddenly realized that he looked…different… from what she remembered. He looked slightly older, and the way he looked down at h—

Wait. He’s looking DOWN at me?!

Mai’s eyebrows widened, only then realizing their position. She was lying down on her bed, and Kamui was (hopefully) sitting beside her, his one hand pinning her shoulder, while the other was holding her hand. As a result, he was leaning over her. With another gasp, she quickly sat up…

“OW!”

…bumping Kamui’s head in the process.

Mai bit her lip as she and Kamui both nursed their foreheads.

“Sorry,” she mumbled.

“It’s OK,” Kamui said, his face turning serious again. “For the gazilllionth time this morning, Mai…Are you OK?”

“I…I think so…”

But, truth be told, Mai was confused as hell. What on earth was going on? How come she couldn’t remember anything?

Kamui sighed. “Well… I guess I’m going to have to believe you… You don’t look too scared anymore.”

“Scared?” Mai asked in confusion.

Kamui nodded. “A few minutes ago, you were screaming in your sleep. Then, when you woke up, you looked like you didn’t even know me. You really worried me, you know…”

“Oh…”

“What were you dreaming about, anyway?”

“I…I can’t remember…” Mai said. Actually, she couldn’t remember anything. The last she remembered was—

“Oh my God!!!”

“What? What is it?”

“Aiko!” she exclaimed. “I can’t believe I forgot about Aiko!”

Mai threw the covers off herself — for a split-second, she was relieved to find that she was dressed decently — and jumped off the bed, attempting to fly to the window.

“MAI!”

She blinked in mid-air right before she hit the floor with a thud.

What on EARTH?!

“Mai, what’re you doing?” Kamui exclaimed as he helped her stand up. “You didn’t think you could fly, did you?”

Again, Mai froze. Wait a minute…

“And who’s Aiko?”

If possible, Mai froze even more as she stared at Kamui.

“Kamui… You’re not serious, are you?” But Kamui didn’t look like he was joking. “Kamui… Aiko’s… You know Aiko. She’s your best friend!”

Finally, Kamui laughed. “My best friend? What’re you talking about? You are my best friend.”

Mai opened her mouth, but the protest died on her lips when Kamui’s smile suddenly fell, his eyes focused behind her. Seeing the shocked look on his face, Mai whirled around, and, in the next instant, she felt all her blood drain from her face.

“A— Aiko?!”

The grey-eyed girl grinned. “Hello, Mai.”

————–

Kamui jerked awake when he heard a sharp gasp. He blinked several times until his eyes focused on the girl sitting on the bed. Even from where he sat, she was obviously tense, her shoulders heavily rising and falling as she took labored breaths, and her widely opened eyes clearly read panic and shock. They darted from left to right, but she didn’t seem to actually see anything.

“Ka…Kamui!” she exclaimed. “KAMUI!”

For a split-second, Kamui wanted to kick himself. What was he doing, just watching her when she was obviously distressed? He was on his feet in the next instant, crossing the room in two long strides.

“Aiko!” he called, just to make his presence known. She turned to him, and threw her arms around him the moment he was within reach.

“You’re OK…You’re OK…” she repeated over and over as she held on to him. “Oh my goodness, you’re OK…”

“Yeah, Aiko, I’m OK…” he told her. This scene was all-too-familiar, he thought. Sara had been having nightmares the past days, too. Kamui just hoped that, unlike his sister, Aiko would tell him what was wrong so he could help her.

“It was just a dream, Ai-chan… It’s not real…” he said as soothingly as he could. But instead of calming down, her arms tightened around him, and he heard a whimper escape her throat. “Ai-chan, it’s all right, it’s a dr—”

“Don’t say that,” she interrupted. “Please don’t say that…”

Kamui’s eyebrows furrowed, but he didn’t say anything as he waited for her to continue.

“Please,” she said, “please don’t tell me that it’s a dream… Because you already said that and you died… You died right in front of me…”

Kamui blinked. I what?!

“So, please… Please, just…”

“Aiko…” he said, pulling away. She wouldn’t let him, but he still firmly pushed her away. “Let me go for a sec, Ai-chan…” he told her as gently as he could. She finally released him, but she kept her head on his shoulder as if she didn’t want him to see her face… or perhaps the other way around.

“Look at me, Ai-chan… I’m here. I am not dead, OK? Do you understand me?”

“But…in my dream…”

Kamui allowed himself to smile. “Ah, we’re getting somewhere, see? Yes, it was in your dream. and now you’re awake. Or do you want me to pinch you to prove it?”

“You’re supposed to pinch yourself, stupid. And don’t make a joke out of this! In my dream, I—” she paused, her fingers involuntarily clenching his shirt, “I saw you, I heard you… You were there, Kamui! You convinced me that I was awake! You kept telling me that I had been dreaming, and I was so sure that it was real no matter how twisted everything was…”

“Twisted?”

“The room looked like it was a cross between my room on the Ground and the one in the palace—”

“You mean this one?”

“—and you and me and Oniichan and Yuki and Kaji attended the same school—”

“But we do attend the same school.”

“—and I couldn’t fly, and you weren’t a Star, and nobody was a Star, and you called me by my name, and you said you didn’t know Aiko and—”

“Whoa, whoa! Hold on a second…” Kamui interrupted her, taking her shoulders. “I was talking to you and called you by name, but I didn’t know Aiko? How’s that possible?”

Mai’s eyes widened, realizing what she had said. Although she was sure that it didn’t really matter now if the Stars knew about her true identity since they hadn’t wanted her dead in the first place, she didn’t feel like telling Kamui the whole story yet. For now, the show must go on.

“Breathe, Aiko, breathe.”

“Aiko”.

Mai felt relief flood through her. Hearing him call her ‘Aiko’ — only then did it register in her brain even though he had been repeating the name several times — seemed to assure her that she was, indeed, awake.

So this is really real… And that was really the dream… So Aiko didn’t kill Kamui… Aiko didn’t kill everyone…

She suddenly felt exhausted as her muscles relaxed. If Kamui hadn’t been holding her shoulders, she would have collapsed on the bed. But since he was, she crumpled into his arms again.

“I was so scared, Kamui…” she admitted. “I… I don’t want to see you die… Kamui, I don’t want you to die…”

Kamui pulled her closer to him, and Mai felt tears stinging her eyes again. Goodness. Must I be a crybaby?

“I’m not going to die. I’ll always be here. OK?”

“How can you be so sure? What if my dream was a premonition or something?” Mai frowned, pulling away, when Kamui chuckled. “Why’re you laughing?”

“Rule#2,” he said as he wiped her tear-stained cheek with his thumb. “Stars don’t die.”

Mai smiled as she gazed into his dark blue eyes, and, suddenly, everything else seemed to fade to nothing. She momentarily forgot the feeling of being betrayed when Youko had attacked her. She momentarily forgot the hurt that pierced her when she overheard the argument in the dojo. She momentarily forgot about Aiko… But then, she was roughly pulled back to reality at the sound of the door bursting open. Upon seeing who the newcomer was, Mai froze.

Oh, no…

Kaji felt a wave of dé ja vu wash over him. This had happened before, except it was the other way around. The first time, it was he who had been leaning in to kiss Aiko. Now, it was Kamui who was sharing an embrace with her.

Funny that Yuki was the reason for both ‘interruptions’.

“Uh…Sorry…”

Lame, Hino. VERY lame.

“Kaji…” she started as she sat up straight.

Oh, crap. Now I know how Toriyama felt.

Kaji, though, saw another difference. Whereas, before, Aiko had panicked and blurted out excuses, she was now looking at him apologetically, and she didn’t seem to have any plan of covering up whatever she and Kamui had been doing.

Well, Hino, that’s reality for ya.

“Yuki’s here, and Ran called a meeting,” Kaji said. “We should go on over to his office. But, if you’re not up to it, Rookie, I’m sure he’ll understand.”

“OK…”

With a nod, he stepped outside and closed the door behind him. He started to walk to Ran’s office, but when he passed by his room, Kaji stopped. After a moment’s thought, he went inside and locked the door. He leaned on it wearily as he looked up at the ceiling. What had possessed him to barge in her room, anyway?

Oh yeah. Because Yuki had come back with bad news.

Odd that all sense of urgency seemed to momentarily leave him.

“Dammit, Hino, snap out of it!” he yelled at himself as he not-too-violently banged his head on the door. He really was stubborn, wasn’t he? No matter how many times he thought he had resolved it with himself that he didn’t mean to Aiko as she meant to him, he still clung to the possibility that he had concluded wrong. He still held on to the way he read her actions before the Tokyo Skating Open.

Maybe that was it. Maybe everything was going his way. He shouldn’t have tried to kiss her; maybe he was rushing things.

Then again, maybe he really was just fooling himself.

Argh.

————–

Everyone was silent.

Seated in front of Ran’s desk, Mai was in the middle of the room, and she could observe everyone without moving anything but her eyes. Yuki was sitting on the chair across hers, looking absolutely exhausted and tremendously worried. Kamui was standing by the door, and, as he was from the moment he stepped in the room and saw Yuki, he looked pretty troubled. Sara was calmly seated on the sofa on the other side of the room, but definitely not her usual smiling self. Ran was standing by the window, his face hidden from everyone.

No one had spoken since she and Kamui had arrived.

Everyone turned to the door when it opened, revealing the maroon-haired Star. “Sorry, I had to take a detour,” he said with an apologetic smile that didn’t reach his eyes. He didn’t even glance at Mai as he closed the door and went to sit beside Sara.

“OK,” Ran started as he turned around. “Let’s begin.”

“Wait,” Mai spoke up. “Oniichan isn’t here yet… “

“Actually, he’s what this meeting is about,” Ran said, straight to the point. “Hikaru was taken by the Roses yesterday. No one sensed it because, technically, the attack was over. Hikaru saved a potential from being collected—”

“Are you sure it’s the Roses?” Mai interrupted. She didn’t care that almost everyone looked at her in bewilderment. Even though she knew that her friends were technically the enemy (and even though she had heard Fuu and Maya talking about Hikaru the previous night), she still had a hard time taking in the possibility that they had ‘taken’ someone.

“Well… It wasn’t exactly the Roses as the rest of you know them. It was Youko.”

Mai’s jaw dropped. Youko-san himself?!

“Is he— He’s not—” she stammered nervously.

“Don’t worry. Youko assured me that your brother is still alive.”

“Who’s Youko?” came Kamui’s voice.

“Youko,” Ran started, “is one of the two remaining people who has the power to permanently kill Elementals.” He paused, glancing at Mai. “If I’m not mistaken, you had a confrontation with him yesterday, correct?”

“He’s the one who did this to you?!” Kaji exclaimed angrily, standing up. “Ayt, I’m gonna go and kick his butt now.”

“Kaji, didn’t you hear what Sensei said?” Sara spoke up. “He can easily kill you—”

“I don’t care! If he at the very least laid a finger on Aiko, I’ll—”

“Yes, Kaji, you’re going to kick his butt,” Ran finished for him, “but you’re not doing it alone. You can’t handle it in spite of your being the strongest out of the Stars— Don’t even think of protesting, Kaji.”

Mai glanced at Kaji, who looked like he really was about to protest. His frown deepening, he crossed his arms and obeyed his Sensei.

“Tonight, we’re all going to go to the Roses’ palace,” Ran continued.

“All of us, Sensei? But— But look at Yuki! I mean, no offense, Yuki, but… look at her, Sensei! She’s stressed and exhausted and—”

“Kamui, in case you’ve forgotten, your sister is a Healer.”

“And what about Aiko?” Kaji spoke up again. “She just woke up from—”

“Kaji, if you care about Kazetenshi Aiko, you will not object.”

At this, Mai’s head snapped up, and found Ran looking at her in a strange way. It was the same look she got from him the first time she saw him. The look that seemed to tell her that Ran knew everything.

“Honestly, I don’t want to take all of you with me,” he said, turning to the other Stars, “I don’t know what waits for us at the Deathrose palace. Youko himself sent an invitation to me to go there tonight; that’s how I found out that he had taken Hikaru. I know we don’t have enough time to prepare properly, but I’m sure that with common sense, teamwork, and the will to fight, we stand a chance against a waiting enemy. Am I understood?”

There was a collected, determined “Hai.”

“Yuki, go with Sara and get yourself Healed. You have a few hours to rest. Kaji, Kamui, I suggest you both prepare without attempting to kill each other. We will all assemble at the main hall by sundown.” Ran looked at Mai before saying, “Stay here.”

Everyone nodded, and, a few moments later, Ran and Mai were left in his office.

“You really worried everyone when you arrived last night, you know that?” Ran told her with a small smile, “You and Youko must have fought for a while…”

“It was just a few minutes…”

“Ah. The man’s really powerful, isn’t he? Well, I’m glad to see that your ki has almost recovered fully. I’m going to Heal you a bit more in a few minutes… but I want to speak with you first, if it’s all right.”

“OK…”

Ran walked around the table to sit in the chair in front of her. “You may already know that I’m not one to tell someone everything that they want to know. Instead, I tell them what they need to know at that moment. There is an opportune time for everything, you see. When I feel that the time has come for me to reveal something, I disclose it without hesitation… Even so, I apologize for being so blunt earlier about your brother.”

“It’s all right. It’s best not to sugarcoat it, I suppose.”

“I’m glad you feel that way. That would mean I won’t need to apologize for asking a pretty straightforward question, now, do I?”

Mai only nodded, not quite knowing what to expect.

“How long have you been here, Mai?”

Time seemed to stop, and suddenly, the brown-eyed Rose couldn’t speak. She couldn’t even move. The question echoed in her brain several times as she just stared at the Blue Star Sensei. His ashen eyes were looking straight into her own, and there was not the slightest trace of comedy in them. It was a real, in-your-face, be-honest-with-me question.

“You were the one who gave that personality-altering speech last week, didn’t you?” he asked.

“You knew?” Mai breathed.

“I had a hunch. Was that the first time you encountered the Stars?”

Mai cleared her throat, trying to gather her thoughts. Goodness. Ran knew everything, didn’t he?

“I met Kamui first at a carnival several months ago,” she finally admitted. He was bound to know the details, anyway. Heck, maybe he already knew that, too. “After that, I met Aiko during the Skating Open, and then she and I accidentally switched places a couple of weeks ago. This switch… Well, this one isn’t accidental.”

“I see. And have you met your father? I heard he was away.”

“Yes, he’s out of the country. He won’t arrive till next week.”

Ran smiled. “Mai, I want you to know that I’m really relieved to see that you’re still OK… The last time I saw you, you were still a little kid! The five of you — Kamui, Sara, Hikaru, Aiko, and yourself — were running all over the place… Rieka once blamed me, saying I continuously Healed you so you won’t run out of energy, thus keeping her hands full!”

Ran laughed at the memory, and Mai couldn’t help but smile as well. “Really?”

“Yes… If only Rieka could see you now, too…” Just when the serious air was lifting again, Ran’s smile fell. “So…I’m guessing that, now that Youko had attacked you, it means you already know his side of the truth, correct?”

Mai nodded. “I’d like to know your side, though,” she said, “if it’s all right.”

“What would you like to know?”

“Is it really true that you and Youko-san are both of Kurobara? That you’re brothers?”

“Wow, he told you that?” Ran laughed again. “Yes, it’s true. Though he never acknowledges that ever since he disowned me when our father died. He blamed me for the War, and for Father’s death, I’m sure he told you that.”

“So why was there a War?”

“Well, in a way, I guess it was because of me. You see, even though I stayed loyal to my father when the Elementals split into two factions, I believed that it was not right for the Elementals to strip a person of his Seed without permission…” Ran stopped when he saw confusion taking over Mai’s features. He cocked his head, encouraging her to ask whatever she wanted to ask.

“Your father…? When the Elementals split…?” Mai echoed almost incoherently.

“Youko didn’t tell you? Zai was our father. You’ve heard of him, haven’t you?”

Mai’s eyes widened. “Zai was your father?! But wasn’t he the reason for the split?”

“Yes…”

“So, the split happened just recently? I thought it happened, like, a hundred years ago or something!”

Ran grinned in spite of the gravity of their topic. “Mai, maybe you haven’t noticed, but Youko and I haven’t aged a day since we turned 20. Or at least I was 20 then… That would make him… 23. Oh, no, wait. Twenty-four.”

“And when was that?”

“Several decades ago… I’ve lost count. Maybe 30 or so—”

“THIRTY DECADES?! So that makes you three hundred years old?!”

“Around that number, yes, I suppose so. It comes with being a Kurobara. I still have a choice not to stay young forever, though. I could still choose to grow old like a normal human being.”

Mai emitted a small “Oh…” as her brain absorbed that new knowledge. She had already noticed that Youko didn’t seem to grow old… But she hadn’t imagined that he really didn’t age at all, that he had been that way for three hundred years!

“The War was basically a huge misunderstanding,” Ran said, going to back to their original discussion. “Remember that I was a Rose before it happened. The leader of the Stars at that time was Gansei-sama. His daughter, Yume, was my friend. Even when the Elements had split into two factions, there were still a few, rare times when I would see her. A Rose named Shindou saw this, and told my father that I was planning to join the Stars. Although it wasn’t true that I had decided to switch sides, my father was disappointed with me, but he was furious at Gansei-sama, accusing him of using his daughter to ‘lure’ me.”

“And this was the start of the War?”

“Sort of. You see, Shindou had good intentions, originally. He had wanted to bring down both factions and start a new one because he didn’t want the Elementals to be split apart. But he said that it was because of Gansei-sama’s and my father’s pride that caused the split. Although he was right, in a way, his methods were wrong. Power corrupts, I’m sure you know that.

“Shindou eventually plotted to pit the two leaders against each other. Upon learning from Shindou about Yume and myself, my father went to confront Gansei-sama about it. But instead of a war erupting, the two leaders actually reached a conclusion after a long discussion. They decided that they should just let Stars and Roses mingle if they want to. Of course, Shindou wasn’t pleased. With his followers, they stole my father’s ki roses.”

“Ki roses?”

“When a Rose collects a person’s Seed, it turns into a black rose. Surely, you’ve seen one…”

Mai nodded, remembering the first time she had witnessed collection.

“Those ki roses can be used by an Elemental to increase his own power. It’s sort of like Healing. With enough roses, one could have the power of a Kurobara, maybe even more. It can get really really dangerous, so my father used to keep the roses inside a vault. Shindou’s followers broke into the vault, used the roses, and took matters into their own hands. That was the start of the War.”

“Then how come Youko-san blamed you?”

“Youko… Youko has always been protective of me. He was the first to know about me and Yume, actually. Like our father, he thought that Gansei-sama had used his daughter to get to me. So, he barged into the Star palace and challenged Gansei-sama to a duel in his own turf.” Ran paused, chuckling in spite of himself. “He was a lot like Kaji, now that I think about it. He was such a hothead then…”

Mai blinked. She just couldn’t imagine Youko being like Kaji. Even if that was 300 years ago, it was still hard to believe.

“Even though Youko was a Kurobara,” Ran continued, “he was still in the middle of hundreds of Stars. It didn’t take long before he was thrown into the prison cells. So, the whole time the War was going on, Youko was trying to get out of prison. But, as it was in the Rose palace, the locks are ki-sensitive. Youko was only able to get out when Gansei-sama finally fell. When he got to where we were…” Ran trailed off, a pained expression slowly taking over his features. He was suddenly sucked into his own memories, into one distinct memory that was so vivid, he felt as if he was right there in that spot at that very moment.

–0–

The sun had set. The sky was a mix of black, dark blue, and crimson, just as everything around him was. He saw his friends, as well as foes who had been friends for a time. They were all around him… His mind was fighting against his senses…

…refusing to accept what he was hearing… The deafening silence after a battle.

…refusing to accept what he was smelling… Blood.

…refusing to accept what he was seeing… Bodies strewn everywhere.

…refusing to accept what he was sensing… Not one single ki.

They were all around him. Dead around him. He wanted to scream. His fingers clenched the pink, blood-stained cloth in his hands.

“Not yet…” he found himself saying in a broken whisper. “Please don’t take her… Not yet…”

But he knew she was dying.

In his arms, Yume was dying.

–0–

“Ran-sama?”

Ran looked up at the sound of Mai’s voice. He found her brown eyes looking at him with concern.

“I lost you for a minute there…” she said. “Are you all right? You don’t have to continue if you don’t—”

“No,” Ran said quickly, turning his eyes to his hands again. “I need to clarify this… If not to Youko, then at least to you…”

Mai hesitated, but she nodded, anyways.

“When Youko finally got to the battle grounds… When he got to where we were, everyone — and I mean, everyone — was already dead. Except for me. Maybe it was shock. Or maybe it was Shindou’s lies finally getting to him. Either way, Youko believed that I killed everyone. Then again—… It’s just that… when I saw my father collapse, Gansei-sama fall, and finally… And finally…”

“Please… Not yet…”

“I just… snapped…” Ran heaved a tense sigh, as if that last word was the hardest thing to say. “I never wanted to kill, Mai…” he said in a suppressed voice. “I didn’t want Youko to misunderstand everything. I didn’t want him to hold a grudge. I didn’t want him to involve other people just to get revenge on me…”

Mai didn’t know what to say. So, in a way, it was true that Ran had ‘blindly lashed out’, as Youko had said. And Youko had also been right, that ‘perhaps he felt guilty’. Looking at the Blue Star Sensei, Mai knew for sure that Ran was mighty guilty. Although he knew that what had happened wasn’t entirely his fault, he’s obviously still angry at himself. For 300 years…

Mai remembered how fondly Aiko had spoken of Ran. That he was a teacher. A brother. An occassional clown. The Master who held the Blue Stars together despite their differences… She had said that he looked way too young for his maturity, authority, and wisdom. Right now, Mai saw none of that. His calm, sturdy, Ran-sensei-ish exterior was starting to crack, letting Mai see the lonely, lost younger brother that he had been. Mai suddenly wondered: if he was always the one being strong for the Stars… then who was being strong for him?

“Ran-sama,” Mai said, putting her hand on Ran’s clenched fist. When he looked up at her, she smiled. “When we go there tonight, we’re going to get Aiko and Oniichan, we’re going to free the Roses, and we’ll set things straight with Youko-san. Right?”

For a moment, he said nothing.

Then, he smiled gratefully.

“Right.”

————–

Next on Blue Star

As everyone prepares to confront Youko, the man has a few tricks up his sleeve, as well. What waits for the Stars as they finally enter the silver-haired Rose’s domain?

“Don’t die on me…”

Episode 25: Mask

————–

From the Author

WHEW! It’s done! Explanation Episode version 3 is finally finished! Sorry for torturing Kaji a bit right there… -ahem- Mitsukawa Kumiko’s a new character… Short as it may be, I had so much fun writing her exchange with Yuki (especially since this episode isn’t very happy). Do you guys rememeber Marty’s? That’s the convenience store in Kamui’s first defense (Episode 13: Prodigy). OK…I’m trying to write Episode 25, and I’m REALLY having a hard time at it… So, I don’t think I can update in two weeks like I have recently. Sorry. But still, check again after two weeks. Maybe I can get it done. Who knows.

Oooh, ooooh! The Blue Star website is FINALLY updated! Mwahahahaha. Character sketches are up. URL (without the spaces) — http : www . bluestarfic . tk

-sniff sniff- I’m so happy you guys loved the extra episode! You make me so happy

Review topics:

-I really really really need your opinions on Ran’s explanation. Loopholes, inconsistencies, and confusing parts.

- Ran himself: I realize that every time he appears in the story, his personality always changes. Hehe.

- Mai in this episode: She wasn’t…uh… pathetic after she woke up, was she?

- Kaji: Too depressed?

Clarification:

Ayt. Foxyfox is getting confused with the ages, so I figured I’d straighten it out for everyone At the start of the series:

14: Maya

15: Sara

16: Aiko, Kamui, Yuki, Mai, Kaori, Haruna, Midori, Rei

17: Hikaru

17?: Kaji

19: Fuu

20: Yuuji

I never clearly hinted how much older Yuuji and Fuu are than everybody else until the previous episode, though. If you notice, by Episode 17, a year had passed. Sorry, I’m not so good at weaving seasons into the story yet. Ehehe. Maybe I’ll release extra birthday and vacation episodes as omake… I dunno :Þ

Special Notes

Maggy d: Really? It had you in tears? It’s “way awesome”?! -super duper big smile- Thank you!!!

Brushfire: Yeah, I remember you! It’s great to know you’re still reading! I thought you gave up on me. About the Roses: I’m glad you pointed that out. I also realized that they had sort of disappeared in the middle of the series, so I understand that you can’t really picture them. Then again, maybe it’s because I updated rarely, so readers tend to forget details. I’ll do something about this. I’m just not sure what yet. You can visit the Blue Star website for the character descriptions.

Bentfender: Girl, tell me what happens when you do that ‘fiancée’ bit, ok? Someone asked me that once and I was totally tongue-tied. It was especially hard because I -didn’t- want the guy to be my fiancé. Friend, yeah, but boyfriend? NO. -ahem- Anyways… About your explanation, the reason I enjoyed it so much is that I was confusing myself when I was writing my plans for those three way back when BS was still unwritten. So…you kinda reminded me of me. Thanks for the suggestion on the character sketches. Yeah, I already listed their traits. It was the first thing I did after planning the general plot of the story. Hey, do you have your work online? Can I read ‘em? Hehe. Thanks again!

“So,” Haruna started, “what’s the punchline again?”

Yuuji rolled his eyes. Typical for Haruna to think that this was a joke.

“If this is a joke, Yuuji, it isn’t funny.”

“This isn’t a joke, you guys,” he said as he leaned on the table. “Haven’t you been listening to a word I just said? This is it! This what we’ve been trying to find out for years!”

“And how are you sure that this is the real thing?”

“Fuu…”

“You know that I’m not usually one to doubt you, Yuuji,” Fuu said, “but do you really expect us to believe that Mai-sama and Kazetenshi Aiko are sisters?”

“It explains why they look alike, doesn’t it?”

“So what do you plan to do? Just go up to Mai-sama and say, ‘Hey, guess what? You have a sister’?”

“Of course not. If we do that, Mai-sama will just go to Youko and ask him what’s going on. Meanwhile, the silver-haired moron will go to us, crush our puny lives, and all our efforts will be fruitless.”

“Look, I know you want to help the Princess, but…” Fuu paused, organizing her thoughts. “You told me once that we’ll tell her the truth once you get the facts straight. You don’t have the facts straight.”

“Yes, Fuu, I do,” Yuuji said, practically throwing the book he had been holding at Fuu’s face. “What more evidence do you need? These are four accounts written by four Roses hidden in four different places in the library. None of the writers were in the same lifetime, none of them read the others’ work, but they all say the same thing about the history of Deathrose! Youko was the survivor of the overthrown clan, not Mai-sama.”

“OK, so let’s say that thing is true. It also says there that this ‘Ran’ was the one who overthrew the clan in the first place. He’s Youko-sama’s—”

“Don’t call him Youko-sama in front of me, Fuu, he doesn’t deserve that honorific.”

Fuu sighed before continuing. “He’s Youko’s brother, yet he killed every Elemental there is. Now, he’s the sensei of the Stars. Doesn’t that make them the bad guys? So why would we want to ‘free’ Mai-sama from Youko if he’s the good one, anyway?”

“Just because someone’s not a member of ‘the bad guys’ doesn’t mean he’s good. He’s the antagonist in his own way. I mean, Youko lied to Mai all her life. He lied to all of you! Besides, don’t you see that he’s making us kill people? Don’t you want all this to stop? Don’t you want all this to end, Fuu?”

“Of course I want this to end,” she answered quietly.

“Consider this: Ran may have killed all the Elementals before, but according to these accounts… It says here that a group of power-hungry Elementals were the real culprits, and that they just used Ran to eliminate the other Elementals.”

“And he killed those power-hungry Elementals, too.”

“Well, yeah, but the point is: he hasn’t killed anybody since then!”

“You mean… You mean you’re siding with Blue Star, Yuuji-kun?”

“I guess you can say that, Maya. I don’t see anything wrong with what they’re doing. From where I’m standing, add the recent discoveries, I’d actually prefer to be a Star than a Rose,” Yuuji answered honestly. “Provided, of course, that Hino isn’t a Star anymore,” he added as an afterthought. “If the Ice Maiden wasn’t a Star, that’d be a bonus, too.”

“Then why didn’t you leave earlier?”

“I can’t. I promised myself I was going to take Mai with me when I do that, and I can’t take her with me without a good reason,” Yuuji explained. He glanced at Fuu, and found her staring at her hands with her eyebrows knit together.

“So…” came Kaori’s voice, catching his attention, “what are we going to do? I mean, we’ve all left the lives we had. Our families think we’re dead. Where are we going to go after this?”

“Start over,” Yuuji said simply. “We can easily live somewhere else in Japan… Or maybe even in other countries. You guys are all intelligent, able and resourceful. I don’t think we’ll have a hard time living back on the Ground.”

Silence ruled the room. No one spoke, but Yuuji saw that everyone was thoughtful. Perhaps they were weighing their options.

“I haven’t seen the Princess in a while,” Haruna suddenly pointed out.

“I saw her earlier tonight– I mean, last night,” Yuuji said, only then noticing that it was already past midnight.

“So when do you plan to confront Youko?”

“I was planning to do it tonight.”

“Tonight!” Haruna exclaimed. “Why so soon? We barely have time to prepare for it!”

Yuuji hesitated. “I… I didn’t want to tell you this yet, but… Youko told me to gather all of you in the throne room tonight.”

“The throne room? Why the throne room?”

“That’s the point. Youko’s never gathered all of us there before.”

“So you think Youko already knows that you know?”

“Maybe he does. Heck, maybe Mai-sama already knows the truth, too. But, whatever it is, at least we’re not in the dark. We have to be ready for anything.” Yuuji paused, taking time to look each girl in the eye. “Well, Roses, what do you say? I know this is a pretty big decision, and, believe me, I didn’t want to rush you into it… If you aren’t with me, then I won’t leave. It’s all of us or none of us.”

After another lengthy pause, Haruna spoke. “I joined Deathrose just because I didn’t want to die yet. But since there’s still life even after I leave… I’m in.”

“I joined because I thought I’d be fighting the bad guys,” Kaori said, following suit. “Turns out I was actually working for the enemy I thought I was fighting with… And I just have to say that I’m feeling really guilty for almost killing Mai-sama’s sister… Count me in.”

Yuuji nodded, then turned to Fuu and Maya. Fuu was still staring at her hands, while Maya was looking back and forth the two eldest Roses in the room.

“Uhm…” she started, “I guess I’m in, too. Although I don’t think I’m siding with Blue Star… If Youko-san was really a good guy, then he wouldn’t be keeping things from us, would he?”

“That doesn’t automatically follow, Maya,” Yuuji said, giving the girl a benefit of the doubt. “Some things are just better left unsaid.”

Maya glanced at Fuu, waiting for her opinion. But the other blue-eyed girl didn’t speak. Maya bit her lip, not knowing what to do. She had always depended on Fuu or Yuuji when she had to make life-changing decisions. Now, it seemed like she had to make one on her own. But she didn’t know what to decide! Then, realization struck.

Why am I even here, anyway? Why did I join Deathrose in the first place? Why did I even stay?

She looked at Yuuji, and saw his purple eyes looking at her encouragingly. Out of everyone in the whole world, he was the only one — aside from Fuu, of course — who always looked at her like she was significant. After years of living in her older sister’s shadow, after being looked down upon, she actually felt important whenever he looked at her.

“Even so,” she finally said, gaining confidence, “I want in. I have no reason to stay in Deathrose. The only reason I could possibly think of is that I’ll miss this palace.”

Again, Yuuji nodded, and Maya felt like she wanted to smile all day long. Shallow as it may seem to other people, she felt utterly proud that she had made a decision, and that she had determined that she was going to face the consequences. Sure, she was already 15, but… She supposed her previous home environment really made her indecisive.

Now, only one Rose was left…

And Fuu was aware that all eyes were on her.

“Whatever,” she said quietly, surprising everyone.

“Fuu-chan?” Maya asked tentatively. “What did you say?”

“Whatever,” Fuu repeated. “Since you guys all decided to go with this plan, then I guess I have no choice.”

“But you do have a choice, Fuu-san,” Kaori said.

“Fine. I’m choosing to be counted.”

Everyone exchanged glances silently. Whenever the Gale Rose was being like this, it only meant one thing…

“Fuu, can I talk to you for a second?”

…Yuuji was going to try to talk with her alone…

“No.”

…and she would refuse…

“Everyone, can you leave us for a while? You can start preparing for tonight if you wish.”

…then Yuuji would ask for privacy. Fuu wouldn’t protest, but in a few minutes, the two older Roses would be shouting at each other for sure.

Obeying their leader, Haruna, Kaori and Maya all nodded and left.

“Do you think they’ll be done quickly?” Kaori asked the two girls with her once they were outside. “They need to prepare, too.”

“Hm…” Haruna hummed, thinking, “Considering that this could be the last time they’ll get to talk, I’d say it might take them a while…”

“Do you think they’ll really fix things, this time, Haruna?”

“Let’s hope so, Maya. Let’s hope so…”

Inside the room, Yuuji was standing by the window, his arms crossed. The brown-haired girl hadn’t moved from her spot.

“Tell me what’s on your mind, Fuu,” Yuuji finally said, facing her. “Although you’re mostly silent, you were always the opinionated one. I find it hard to believe that you wouldn’t have your own decision about such a serious thing.”

“I’m still at a dilema,” Fuu said.

“Why?”

“Although leaving seems to be the most logical choice, all good things have a bad side, too.”

“And what would that bad side be?”

“Why do you always ask me so many questions?”

“Well, duh. Because I want to know.”

A pause.

“Well, I don’t.”

“You don’t what?”

“I don’t want you to know.”

“Why?”

“Because!”

“Because what?”

“Just because!”

“What do you—”

“Stop it, Yuuji!” she yelled, slamming her fist on the table as she stood up. “Stop acting like you actually want to know me! I am NOT Maya! I don’t need you to make me feel like I’m loved because I know I’m not!”

“What?!”

“Just… just… Just free your Princess, ride off into the sunset, and leave me alone!”

Fuu spun around to run out the room, but Yuuji acted quickly. Literally flying to the door, he intercepted her, took her shoulders and practically planted her on her seat.

“Sit down!”

“I don’t want to!” she yelled, standing up.

“I’ve had enough of this, Hiroguchi!” he countered, pushing her back down on the chair.

“Well, same here!” Fuu replied, standing up again. “So just let me—”

“Dammit, Fuu!“

Fuu’s eyes widened when Yuuji suddenly took her in his arms, hugging her so tight she could barely breathe. Or maybe she couldn’t breathe plainly because he was holding her. In any case, she felt stiff with shock, at the same time feeling like her legs had just been turned to jelly.

“I am not letting you go, Fuu,” he said firmly, “not anymore…”

Oh, my god…Ohmygodohmygodohmygod…

Her heart thudded in her ribcage, her face reddened tremendously, and her tongue seemed to have been stuck in her throat. Shocked, ecstatic, and confused, Fuu felt like her energy had been sapped out. She suddenly felt exhausted, and she couldn’t stop herself from leaning her chin on Yuuji’s shoulder as her eyelids slid shut. For a few moments, they just stood there, his arms enfolding her like there was no tomorrow. Well, maybe there wasn’t a tomorrow…

Yuuji finally loosened his arms without releasing her.

“I don’t act like I want to know you, Fuu,” he whispered, “I really do want to. Sometimes, I feel like I don’t know you anymore. We didn’t have secrets from each other when we were still in high school. Three years ago, we told each other everything…”

“Things have changed over the last three years, Yuuji,” she replied. Inwardly, she marveled at how she could still construct a complete sentence even though her brain had turned to mush.

“No, they haven’t,” he said, his arms slightly tightening around her again. “They haven’t… I’m still me. You’re still you. What’s the difference?”

Fuu bit her lip. How was she supposed to answer that?!

Yuuji pulled away, but only enough to look at her face. “What’s the difference?” he asked again, his eyes searching her own.

“Mai,” Fuu blurted out before she could stop herself.

Yuuji blinked, a surprised look taking over his features. He pulled away completely, holding her at an arm’s length.

Figures he’ll wake up to his senses at the mention of her name, Fuu thought.

“Mai?” he asked, his eyebrows furrowing. “What about Mai?”

Fuu scoffed. “You really want to torture me, don’t you?”

Yuuji ignored the comment. “What about Mai?”

“Everything about Mai!” Fuu exclaimed. Yuuji was still looking at her cluelessly, all the while still standing close to her, so she turned away to stand by the window.

“Fuu, we’ve been playing this stupid guessing game for three years. I’d appreciate it if we stopped now.”

Fuu sighed before speaking. “Mai-sama is your reason for joining Deathrose, isn’t she?”

“Uh… Yeah…”

“Well, there you have it.”

A pause.

“I don’t get it.”

Fuu rolled her eyes. “Will you please use the stuff you have in here?!” she said, angrily poking at Yuuji’s forehead.

“I am! But I don’t get it!”

“Do I have to spell it out for you?!”

“Well, I’m sorry for being so stupid, but YES!”

“You’re in love with her!”

Yuuji suddenly stopped, blinking. “I am?”

“YES!” Fuu said, throwing her hands in exasperation. “You joined Deathrose because of her, you stayed in Deathrose because of her, you promised yourself that you weren’t going to leave Deathrose without her… Everything you do is because of her! Why on earth are you grinning?!”

“You’re too cute sometimes, do you realize that?” Yuuji said, chuckling.

“No, I don’t! And stop smiling! The least you could do is pretend like you’re not amused with me!”

“Why do I need to pretend? I am amused with you.”

“ARGH! Can’t you at least hide the fact that you are?!”

“Why?”

“Because it’s painful! Imagine what I’ve been through!”

“Well, what have you been through?”

“Oh, not much,” Fuu said sarcastically. “After a pretty frighteningly heart-felt talk with one of my friends, he suddenly disappears the next day, which is the very same day I realize that I’ve been in love with him for the last two years — heck, maybe even longer — and so I go on thinking that he was dead, only to find out a few months later that he was still alive, and as an added bonus, he’s in love with another girl, which is the self-same girl who’s practically his reason for living! Well, I’m glad that I’m able to put a smile on your face today, but it’s really not helping right now, so—”

“Fuu,” Yuuji said, taking her by her shoulders. “Fuu, calm down.”

“I am NOT going to calm down! Can’t you see I’m baring my soul here? Girls are supposed to be all panicky and talking non-stop without pausing to breathe when they’re baring their souls! Either that or bawl our eyes out, take your pick! And why are you still smiling?!”

“Fuu, calm down,” Yuuji repeated, taking her face in his hands as he looked straight into her eyes. “Listen to me.”

“Can’t I listen without your face being so close to mine?”

“No.”

“Fine.”

“OK, listen… Are you listening?”

“Yes.”

“Fuu, I am not in love with Mai.”

A pause.

“You’re not?”

“No,” Yuuji said, smiling, as he released her. “I never told you about my sister, did I?”

“I didn’t know you have a sister…”

“I had one,” Yuuji said, sitting down on the table. “She had been six years old, and I was 10. She died the same day I became a Rose. You see, Youko said that I had, and I quote, ‘an impressive Seed’. So, he collected my sister so she would collapse in the middle of the road on our way home that day, so that I would stop walking in shock, so that an incoming car would hit me and kill me on the spot.

“When Youko himself told me about this. I wanted to kill him. I even tried. I jumped at him, put my cute little 10-year-old hands around his neck and seriously attempted to strangle him. Needless to say, I failed. I fainted right after; I suppose it’s because of stress. Imagine that, huh? A 10-year-old suffering from stress. When I woke up, Mai-sama was sitting by my bed. I hated her the instant she introduced herself to be the Deathrose Princess. I figured that my sister died because of her. But then Youko told me the truth that she wasn’t who she thought she was. So, I thought that if I could set Mai-sama free, then my being taken won’t be in vain. My sister’s death won’t be in vain. You were right. Mai is the reason why I stayed. She’s the reason why I decided to let Youko train me.”

Yuuji paused, studying Fuu. She didn’t look surprised at all, but at least she didn’t look hurt or angry or anything. Nonetheless, blank and unreadable was still a bit scary, even if Fuu almost always had a blank and unreadable face on. But then, who cares? It was about time he stopped being so spineless.

“I do want to free the Princess,” he said. “And after that, if I’d ever ride off in the sunset…It’d be with you.”

A pause.

“Me?” Fuu choked out, her eyes wide.

“Yes, Hiroguchi. You.”

She blinked. “Wh…Why me?”

Yuuji rolled his eyes. “Will you please use the stuff you have in here?” he said, poking Fuu’s forehead, imitating what she did earlier.

“But you hate me!”

“What on earth gave you that idea?”

“I–… The first time I saw you here in the palace, you looked like you didn’t want me here.”

“Well, to be honest, I didn’t want you here that time. Having you here meant that I’d die of embarrassment.”

“Embarrassment?”

“Remember that night before I left for Deathrose? You laughed in my face when I told you that I liked you.”

“You told me—? When did you—…” Fuu’s jaw dropped in realization. “Oh, you mean… You mean that?!”

“Depends on what you mean by ‘that’.”

“Personally, Yuuji, I don’t call asking a girl ‘What would you do if you were forced to be my fiancée’ as telling her that you liked her!”

“Well, what was I supposed to say? I didn’t know you liked me, then, too!”

“You could’ve asked!”

“Why are we even arguing about this?”

“I don’t know!!!”

Fuu frowned, looking away, as she crossed her arms in irritation. Yuuji rolled his eyes again, but, at the same time, he couldn’t help but grin. So Fuu was in love with him, eh? That was the best news he’d heard in days. In years, in fact.

“So, Fuu,” he said after a while, remembering the ‘situation’ they were in. “You’re still with us tonight, aren’t you?”

For a minute, Fuu just looked at him. Then, she closed her eyes, sighing, as she leaned on the wall behind her.

“The reason I agreed to be a Rose, Yuuji, is you. And it hasn’t changed. I go where you go.”

Yuuji raised an eyebrow. “Me? Your reason was me? I was your ‘unimportant reason’? Gee, thanks a lot.”

“The ‘unimportance’ doesn’t lie with you, per se. I mean, just look at everyone’s reason for being a Rose! Haruna wanted to live her life to the full and continue doing something for others. Kaori wanted to help out, thinking that she was doing the right thing. Maya probably just joined because I told her to. You joined because you wanted to free Mai-sama… But me, I was utterly selfish.”

“We’re all selfish, in a way, Fuu. We all became Roses because we chose to.”

Fuu said nothing and turned her gaze out the window instead. In the next few moments, no one spoke. Suddenly, the (relatively) light mood was gone.

“Yuuji… Do you really think we can pull this off tonight?”

“…I’m not sure. But I’m ready to put up a fight if I need to.”

“As am I. But…” Fuu paused, worry taking over her features. “I’m scared, Yuuji… Not everyone gets a happy ending…”

For a moment, Yuuji said nothing, and she could only wonder what was going on in his mind. Then, without turning her eyes from the window, she heard Yuuji’s feet lightly touch the ground as he hopped off the table.

“I’m going to have to disagree,” he said as he walked towards her. “Though it may be true that some lives don’t end the way people want to, everyone still has a happy ending. Everybody deserves one.”

“I suppose so…”

Fuu almost jumped when Yuuji’s fingertips touched her chin, making her look up at him.

“Yuuji–”

Fuu suppressed a surprised gasp when Yuuji’s lips brushed hers for a split-second. The kiss was over before she even realized that it had started. She stared at him, wide-eyed, as he smiled at her again, his purple eyes only inches away. Randomly, Fuu thought it was unfair that Yuuji could still smile like that when she was scared out of her wits.

Yuuji pulled her close again, and, in the next moment, uncertainty, doubt and fear were all erased from Fuu’s mind. Everything that troubled her flew out the window behind her. She closed her eyes and leaned her head on Yuuji’s shoulder as a soft wind blew from outside.

“You know what, Fuu?”

“Hm?”

“This is our happy ending.”

————–

Next on Blue Star

Groundbreaking discoveries lead to even more groundbreaking discoveries. Some people, no matter how much you think you know them, are still hiding behind a mask. Confessions, conclusions, and connections. Just how many revelations in one week can Mai handle?

“Would ja let me be honest for one freaking second?!”

Episode 24: Elements

————–

From the Author

Weeeeeeee! Yuuji and Fuu are so cute, ne? I thought they were cute. If you didn’t understand Fuu and Yuuji’s past, then email me. If a LOT of you are confused, then maybe I’ll rewrite that part so it’ll be clear. Maybe I’ll most likely release a short side story for Yuuji and Fuu’s background… What do you guys think? Or do you think it’s not needed?

-ahem- So… I know that a lot of people expected that Yuuji was in love with Mai… I hope you weren’t disappointed with this ep. Actually, the original plan WAS to have Yuuji like Mai, but towards the middle of BS, the plan changed. Ehehehe.

For those of you who haven’t noticed, this is an EXTRA episode. This was supposed to be included in Episode 24, but the scene got way too long. Originally, the Yuuji-Fuu argument isn’t even given that much time in the series, but I couldn’t help it. Hehe. So there. This is an extra because I think the next episodes will still make sense even without this ep. Even so, I think you’ll appreciate some details in Eps 24 and 25 better if you’ve gone through this one.

Earlier eps related to Yuuji-Fuu:

Episode 14: Fever — This is the episode where Yuuji admits that Mai is his reason for joining Deathrose. Also the episode where Fuu says that her reason for being a Rose is unimportant.

Episode 20: Switch

To the Reviewers:

Maggy d – A loophole is, originally, an ambiguity that makes it possible to evade a difficulty or obligation. Ehehe. But, in terms of stories, a loophole is a small detail that is not consistent with the other details. It’s basically a hole in the loop. Hehe. -ahem- So Kaji’s reminding you of someone… Hope you remember who it is. I hate it when that happens to me…being reminded of something you can’t remember. Haha! What an oxymoron. Oooh, you’re for Kaji-Aiko and Kamui-Mai, huh? Hehe. I’m glad you liked the previous chap. Get well soon!

Bentfender – Wow. -BIG SMILE- Long review! Girl, I practically fell off my chair laughing while I was reading the part where you were trying to figure out the Kaji-Aiko/Mai-Kamui situation. Heck, I laugh every time I remember it. :Þ About Kaji and Kamui’s argument/sparring: You thought it was very true to character? YEY! -jumps around- Sometimes I wonder if my characters are even different anymore. As an author, sometimes I think their personalities are blurred and smudged into one… I mean, like, sometimes I begin to think they’re all the same person, but have different names. … OK, I’m not making sense anymore. Oh, and your review ain’t pointless.

Mai blinked as she gazed into her empty room. Once again, she had successfully stolen into the Deathrose palace without being seen. She had gone straight to her room, wanting to rant all night to Aiko. But she wasn’t there.

Maybe she’s in the library, researching like she said she would, Mai thought. She exhaled heavily, her adrenaline finally subsiding. Only then did she realize that she just done something really reckless. She could’ve gotten herself — not to mention Aiko — exposed… But now that she’s here, the wisest thing she could do is to be inconspicuous.

Mai went to her closet and changed into her own clothes. Then, after taking a deep breath for confidence, she stepped out into the hall. She reached the library in a few minutes. As usual, the large hall was practically empty, but Mai went in, anyways. Personally, she hadn’t spent much time there, and she didn’t want to spend time there, either. Aiko was one brave girl to stay in that huge room alone all day…

Mai stopped walking when she finally saw someone poring over a stack of books.

“Yuuji-kun?” she asked even before she could stop herself.

Yuuji’s head snapped up, his purple eyes wide in surprise. “M– Mai-sama!” he blurted out as he abruptly stood up, accidentally making a few books fall to the floor. “What– What are you doing here?”

Mai blinked. “Well… I live here,” she said simply. Why was Yuuji so…jumpy?

Yuuji scratched the back of his head. “Yes, but… I meant here here.”

Mai chuckled at how silly Yuuji looked and sounded. “Is it wrong to visit the library every now and then?”

“I… suppose not.”

“Well, I guess I should be going,” she said.

“Didn’t you come here to read?”

“Hm… Not really. I was just walking around.” Mai gave a small bow, turning to leave. “Good night, Yuuji-kun.”

“Good night…”

Mai sighed again as she left the library. Well, so much for being inconspicuous, she thought, shaking her head. Mai stopped walking again when she came across the widest, most well-lighted hallway in the palace. The one that led to the throne room. Hmmm…

Her shoes made little noise as she walked through the hall. OK. Game plan, Mai…Peek inside, and, if no one’s there, go and find Aiko somewhere else. And if someone’s inside—

Mai didn’t get to finish her thought as the double doors to the throne room opened. Suddenly panicking, Mai looked left and right, and, a split-second before a couple of voices floated to her ear, she leapt to hide behind one of the thick pillars near the walls.

“…and he’s always always there whenever I have to work! It’s so frustrating, Fuu-chan! Why do I always have to fight him?! He fights so unfairly, you know?”

“We can’t say he’s unfair, Maya. His element—”

“He makes everything so dark it’s so unfair! That know-it-all! Swishing his bokken at me the whole time! I’m starting to really really…NOT like him!”

Mai blinked. Maya and Fuu were talking about Hikaru?

“And tonight, did you see what he did?! He demanded I tell him where his sister went! How was I supposed to know where the Wind Angel was, Fuu-chan?! I’m not her keeper! Besides, I hadn’t seen the Angel for several months now! What do you think, Fuu-chan? Do you think she’s missing?”

“I don’t know, Maya.”

That was the last thing she heard as the two Roses finally walked out of earshot. Although Mai wanted to go after them and ask them what happened to Hikaru — I hope he’s OK… — she still had Aiko to look for, and three more Roses to avoid. When she was finally sure that no one else was in the hallway, Mai stepped out of her hiding place. But where was she supposed to go now? Fuu and Maya had just gotten out of the throne room; somehow, it seemed odd that Aiko was in there. Then again, there’s no harm in checking, right?

Mai finally pushed one of the doors open. Taking another deep breath, Mai peeked in…

“Looking for something, Mai-sama?”

“AAAAAH!“

Holding a hand to her chest, Mai gulped as Youko blinked at her.

“I’m sorry. Did I startle you?”

“A… little, yes.”

The silver-haired man chuckled, visibly amused. “Why are you prowling around like a thief, Princess? Aren’t you too old to be playing hide and seek?”

“We all have an inner child,” Mai said, smiling as she finally regained composure.

“Ah, yes, that’s true,” Youko said, nodding. “Children love playing, don’t they?”

“Yes, they do.”

“And they love surprises, too, don’t they?”

Mai’s eyebrows furrowed ever-so-slightly. “I suppose so…”

Youko smiled, holding out his hand to her. “Well, then, Mai-sama, I have a surprise for you. Won’t you come with me?”

“Where to?”

Her sensei smiled in response, taking her hand. “To see someone.”

Before Mai could form a reply, her stomach suddenly flip-flopped as she felt like she was floating. But, in the next split-second, she was standing on the ground again. She shook her head, trying to remove the nauseaus feeling she always got whenever Youko teleported her.

When her brain stopped swimming, Mai blinked as her eyes adjusted to the darkness, and, little by little, she saw where she was. She was standing on cold, hard rock, and there were stone walls all around her. She shivered when a picture of a dungeon came to mind. She looked up at Youko beside her, who was still holding her hand.

“Youko-san…”

“I never took you here before, have I, Mai-sama?” he asked as he started walking.

“No, you haven’t. Are we still in the palace?”

“In a way, yes. This is the prison several storeys below ground level — the palace’s ground level. This is where we kept Elementals who couldn’t control their Seed.”

“This was before the Elementals broke into two factions?”

“Yes. Since we started collecting the Seed, we didn’t have a need for this place. Until today.”

“Oh? How so?”

Youko stopped walking in front of an iron door. “I don’t know how it happened, but the palace had been infiltrated by an enemy.”

Mai froze.

Oh, no… Oh, God, no…

“An enemy?” Mai asked, trying to keep herself looking as calm and clueless as she could. “Who?”

Youko said nothing as he put his hand on the lock. The door opened, but Mai couldn’t see what was inside properly. It was darker in there than it already was. When Youko had stepped inside, Mai followed, but she suddenly whirled around again when the iron door closed loudly.

“Youko-san—”

Mai’s sentence was cut short when the room was suddenly flooded with bright light. With a surprised gasp, she shielded her eyes painfully, and waited for the light to subside. When it finally did, Mai blinked her eyes open, this time adjusting to the light instead of the dark. It was a strange sight: the room was still dark, but Mai could see herself clearly. Suddenly, she was reminded of Hikaru’s Light.

“She’s over here, Mai-sama,” came Youko’s voice.

The Princess turned around, and found that she had guessed correctly. She saw Youko standing there, as ‘bright’ as she was, his silver hair a complete contrast to the darkness surrounding both of them, especially since he was dressed in white. Then, her Sensei held out his hand to point to the reason they went down there in the first place. Finally seeing who ‘she’ was, Mai just wanted the ground to open up and swallow her alive.

“Do you know who she is, Mai-sama?”

Despite her state of shock, Mai still heard and understood what Youko just said. But she didn’t know what to say. She didn’t know what else to do but stare at the girl lying motionless on the floor.

“I… Who is this woman?” she decided to ask. She didn’t have to pretend to be surprised; her voice was shaking enough as it is. It depended on Youko if he was going to read it as shock, fear, or suppressed rage.

“You don’t know her?” he asked curiously. “This is a Blue Star, Mai-sama. Her name is Kazetenshi Aiko.”

Mai gulped the huge lump in her throat. Now, what?! Think, Mai, THINK!!!

“A Blue Star? How did she get in?”

“As you can see, she has taken on your image,” Youko explained, “so she can pass herself off as Your Highness without anyone being suspicious. And, given the speech you gave last week, no one suspected her until I found her this afternoon. Oddly, her ki is uncanningly close to yours, as well.”

“I see…”

“What I’m wondering is how she managed to walk around the palace without bumping into you. I was beginning to wonder…” Youko paused, eyeing Mai, “if you had gone out of the palace again today…”

“Yes, I went to the park today,” Mai lied.

“Ah, so that explains it.”

“So, what do you plan to do with her?”

“As Your Highness wishes.”

Oh, Thank God! Mai celebrated in her mind. “Well… Just get rid of her. We have no use for her here.”

“As you wish,” Youko said, then aimed his hand at the fallen Star. Mai’s eyes widened as white light instantly light shot out from his hand, and hit Aiko, making the Star scream.

“Youko-san!” Mai exclaimed frantically, grabbing onto Youko’s hand. “I didn’t tell you to torture her! I meant ‘get rid of her’ as in take her out of the palace!”

“This is taking her out of the palace, Mai-sama.”

“I didn’t tell you to torture her!” Mai repeated. “Stop it!”

“But—”

“I said, STOP IT!!!!”

But Youko didn’t stop. In fact, his attack even intensified. Aiko’s screaming continued as she writhed on the floor, and, helplessly watching her, Mai felt like she was being tortured herself.

“I SAID, STOP IT!!!!”

In desperation, Mai violently pushed at Youko with her flaming hands, and flung him towards the wall. Taken by surprise, he staggered a few steps, but he regained his balance almost instantly. His silver eyes narrowed at the Deathrose Princess.

“Turning against your own sensei for this Star, Mai-sama?” he said as he flicked his long ponytail over his shoulder.

“I gave you an order, Youko, and you disobeyed it.” Mai stated bravely. “I am your Princess, and as such, I have authority over you. Despite the fact that you are my adviser, you are just my adviser. I have the final decision, and you are to follow it!”

To Mai’s surprise, Youko only smiled. “Well said, Mai,” he said. “But you are not my Princess.”

So maybe she already expected that, but she didn’t expect to hear it from Youko himself at that very moment.

“W– What?” she breathed, her face pale.

Youko laughed. “Why so shocked, Mai? I thought you already knew, seeing that you collaborated with the Stars already. Though, I must say, you’re a very good actress. If I didn’t know what was going on, you could’ve fooled me.”

“You… you knew…”

“Of course, I knew, Mai-sama. I suppose you can thank me for cutting this charade short, too. I simply pitied the Wind Angel, spending the whole day in the library… She was so engrossed — obsessed, I’d say — in reading that she often forgot to eat… Poor child. You could have just asked me, you know. Had you asked, I would have told you the truth. The real truth, and not the one that you had so blindly believed for years…”

“You…lied to me…?”

“Yes, I did, Mai-sama,” Youko stated easily. “You were a means to an end. You should be grateful you had a purpose for living.”

Mai closed her eyes tightly, trying to block out the sting of incoming tears. “This…this isn’t real,” she said almost inaudibly. In spite of her past doubts and discoveries, she had trusted Youko far too long. He had been her pillar, her teacher… She considered him her father, for crying out loud! “This isn’t you, Youko-san! You–… you’re brainwashed! Yes, that’s got to be it! This isn’t real! The past sixteen years… All my life, you—”

“No, Mai, it wasn’t sixteen years. It was twelve. I only had you under my care when you were four. And, this is real, Mai-sama. The life you thought you knew… that wasn’t real. I’m not the one brainwashed, and neither was Kazetenshi Aiko. It was you, Kazetenshi Mai.”

It hit her like a bombshell.

This was the real Youko… After years of wanting to see what was behind that air of authority and occasionally cold mask, she finally saw who Youko was.

A liar.

Mai was having a hard time breathing, and she didn’t know if she was going to cry or scream in anger. Youko lied to her. Youko lied to her. Youko lied to her! And to think she trusted him all her life! Mai felt so blind, so gullible, so stupid!

The tears finally fell. And along with them, so did she. Mai felt as if her legs had disappeared from under her, and she fell on her knees in exhaustion. She just had too many revelations in one day…

“Why?” she managed to croak out. “I don’t understand… Why did you do this?”

“There are some things we are not meant to understand, Mai,” Youko said, his voice suddenly soft. But that was as good as it was going to get. After that split-second, Youko’s face was suddenly cold again. “And you ask why… Well, didn’t you ask Ran?”

“I…I was…”

“You were too scared of him, weren’t you?” Youko said, reading her thoughts. “You had the wrong reason to be scared of him, Mai. He didn’t kill your father. Your father’s alive, as he still lives with your brother and twin. And he didn’t kill your mother, either.”

“So she’s still alive?”

“No.”

“Then…how–?”

“I killed her.”

Mai clutched her forehead. Her brain was starting to hurt…

“You didn’t… You couldn’t!”

Again, Youko laughed. “I’m offended, Mai-sama. Do you not think I’m a powerful Elemental? I’m a Kurobara, Mai, I have the power to kill any Elemental if I wish to. Like you, Rieka was a means to get to Ran. The reason why I took you was so she would give up her being a Star, which she did, so that I could kill her, which I did.”

“Why?” seemed to be the question of the day.

“I was merely paying him back.”

“Paying him…?” Mai echoed.

“Not everything I told you is a lie. The part about the Elementals was real. Zai was real. It was true that the Elementals split because of his principles, but the reason for The War wasn’t because of your parents. It was because of Ran. He was so powerful, he couldn’t control his Seed. He killed every powerful Elemental there is, except me.

“Perhaps, after he blindly lashed out, perhaps he suddenly realized exactly what he did. Perhaps he felt guilty, and decided to spare me. To tell you the truth, I would have preferred it if he killed me, as well. You may know how hard it is to grow up without your family, but at least you had friends. At least you had the Roses, didn’t you, Mai? As for me, I had no one. Do you know how hard that is, Mai? I had to live in this empty palace by myself. Even for a grown man, that could get pretty depressing. No man is an island, so they say.”

“But…if the Kurobara clan had been the strongest, then how did Ran defeat you? I mean, one against hundreds—”

“Simple. Ran was a Kurobara himself. He was my brother.”

Even though Mai was already sitting down, she felt like she just fell on the floor again. She could do nothing else but stare at Youko. Only today did Mai fully understand the meaning of the term: ‘information overload’.

Ran and Youko are BROTHERS?! My goodness, what’s next? That Kamui is my cousin?!

…I most certainly hope not…

“Well,” Youko said after a few moments. “Now that history’s out of the way, let’s get to the next part of the programme, shall we?”

Mai didn’t even have time to wonder what he meant, as a glowing orb of bright light materialized in Youko’s palm. She scrambled to her feet, wanting to shield Aiko from Youko’s attack again. But she suddenly froze when she saw just where Youko aimed the bright light that exploded from his hand.

At her.

————–

“NRGH!”

Kaji gritted his teeth as his back hit the wall hard. He shook his head so his brain would go back to its normal position before kicking the ground, trying to save himself from getting cut from bamboo again. He was able to avoid it, but only by a hairsbreadth. Recovering quickly, he threw flame spheres at his opponent before charging downwards, fire sword in hand.

Kamui jumped, knowing full well that his bamboo sword — or ANY sword he could produce, for that matter — didn’t stand a chance against fire. When Kamui landed, crouching on the ground again, he was already in the garden outside. After being refreshed by the cool early evening breeze, he shot leaves at his opponent again.

Gotcha.

Seeing an opening, Kamui charged at Kaji, throwing a punch amidst the leaves. But Fire Soul proved his quick reflexes, blocking Kamui’s numerous attacks even before his eyes regained focus. Kamui jaw clenched when, after blocking all of his punches, Kaji suddenly caught his fist. His maroon eyes narrowing, Kaji pulled on Kamui’s hand, quickly giving the younger Star a fierce upper-cut.

Kamui painfully winced in mid-air before twisting himself to land on the ground, his feet roughly skidding on the earth from momentum. But before he even regained his balance, Kamui had to back-roll away from his position again when Kaji went at him with flaming fists. And when Kamui was far enough, he immediately slammed a fist to the ground, making the ground shake, and Kaji lose his footing.

Of course, Kaji had enough brains to jump up to avoid the earthquake. Seeing that he couldn’t get close enough to his opponent to use his sword, Kaji finally resorted to use a long-range attack. In mid-air, he put his hands together, gathering his ki to produce his attack. Meanwhile, on the ground, Kamui himself conjured a plan.

Both boys yelled a battle cry in almost perfect unison, and, in the next second, a huge flame blast burst from Kaji’s hands, just as Kamui swiftly shot two thick vines at him, the ends sharp enough to pierce Kaji. Both Stars confident that their own attack was going to prevail, neither moved from his position.

“THAT’S ENOUGH!”

Startled, Kaji and Kamui quickly turned towards the angry voice, momentarily forgetting that their doom was accelerating towards them. When they both remembered, though, it was too late.

Crap.

Gah!

Yuki’s eyes widened as she watched Kaji try to jump away, and Kamui reflexively make a block of earth burst up from the ground to use as a shield. Kaji crashed through the walls of the dojo from the force of Kamui’s vines, and Yuki had to shield her eyes from rubble as the ground Kamui was standing on exploded upon impact of Kaji’s flame blast. Yuki held her breath as she frantically tried to feel for the boys’ ki…

The dust settled.

Ran’s eyes narrowed, surveying the scene that, just a few minutes ago, was the beautiful garden outside the dojo. It was now a disheveled piece of land, stripped of any attribute that would have qualified it to be called a garden. Trees were burned, the earth was cracked, and there was a huge crater on the spot Kamui had occupied.

What a mess.

Kamui was stunned. Kaji’s attack…it was probably the strongest he had seen yet! Disregarding the fact that it was aimed at him, Kamui couldn’t help but be amazed. His musings were cut short, though, when the self-same angry voice that distracted him earlier spoke again.

“What the hell is going on out here?!” yelled Ran, practically fuming. Beside him, a worried Yuki stood.

“Nothing you should be worried about, Ran-sama,” came Kaji’s calm voice as he stepped out from the dojo, kicking debris as he went.

“Nothing I should be worried about?!” echoed Ran angrily. “You actually think I shouldn’t be worried about this?! Would you just look what you did to the dojo?! What on EARTH has gotten into your brains?!”

“We were just sparring,” Kaji said without thinking.

“‘Sparring’? ‘SPARRING’?! How long have you two been fighting?!”

“Just about—”

“Spars don’t last this long, Kaji! And they don’t involve Stars lashing out at their teammates with their BEST attacks at full force! And what were you two doing, not even planning to avoid an assault? Do you realize what could have happened if we hadn’t arrived? Do you realize you could’ve DIED without that force field around you?!”

“But, Sensei, Stars don’t—”

“Stars don’t die, yes, thank you, I know that Kamui. But you could’ve gotten seriously hurt! Don’t even begin to think of saying that I can heal you anyway, because judging from the intensity of your attacks, I doubt I can heal you both in one day! And what if there was an attack, hm? Who’s going to defend?”

“There’re still three Stars on the Ground,” Kaji stubbornly reasoned.

“That is NOT the point, Hino! ARGH! Honestly, you two! I expected both of you to be more sensible than this!”

“It wasn’t my fault!” both boys said at the same time.

Yuki couldn’t help but sigh. What a pair of hardheads.

“What do you mean, it’s not your fault?” Kamui yelled, glaring at Kaji again.

“I wasn’t the one who threw a punch first!” Kaji countered.

“If you hadn’t started accusing–”

“I wasn’t accusing anyone of anything! I was just considering the possibility that—”

“You weren’t considering it! You had your mind made up—”

“I wasn’t decided! I was freaking asking you to help me make sure, Toriyam— AAAAH!”

“ENOUGH ALREADY!” Ran growled again, practically throwing both force fields around the boys into the air, making them lose their balance. “You’ve caused enough trouble for one day, both of you! Aiya-yayay…” Ran scratched his head in frustration, looking like a father who didn’t know what to do with his two impossible sons. “Listen to me, OK?” he started, trying to calm himself. “I know there are some issu—”

Ran’s sentence was cut short when he suddenly froze, his eyes widening. Before the three other Stars could wonder what was going on, Ran spun in place, his eyes fixed on the pathway that lead back to the main hall. His three students looked at each other in confusion.

“Sensei?” Yuki asked tentatively, following Ran’s line of vision, but seeing nothing. “What’s wrong?”

As if answering her question, a girl suddenly appeared out of nowhere. She standing at an odd position, her breathing was short and labored, her clothes torn and her hair disheveled. She finally lifted her head, her brown eyes glassy, obviously trying very hard to focus…

“H–…Hao…”

With that, her knees gave away, and she started to collapse.

“AIKO!”

Kaji caught her in a flash, his maroon eyes worriedly gazing at her.

“What–… Who–…” he heard Kamui stammer behind him. “She was attacked?! How come we didn’t sense it?!”

“We were too busy ‘sparring’,” Kaji said involuntarily.

“No, that’s not it. I didn’t sense it either…” Ran corrected him, examining the girl in Kaji’s arms.

Yuki blinked. There was no arguing the fact that she was worried, herself. But the way Ran’s eyebrows were furrowed, and that bothered look on his face scared her. “Sensei, what is it?” she asked.

“A normal Rose couldn’t have inflicted this much damage on her ki…”

“‘This much damage’?!” Kaji exclaimed, starting to panic. “Sensei—”

“Kaji, take her to her room as fast as you can. Open the window and make sure the air is circulating, and that she can breathe easily. Do NOT leave her alone. Kamui, get your sister, and Yuki, go look for Hikaru. Come back as soon as possible.” Ran clenched his fists as he stood up. “We have a situation in our hands…”

————–

“Aren’t you tired yet?”

Yuuji looked up from the thick book he was reading to see Fuu standing by one of the shelves, holding a glass of water. He smiled. “Just a bit.”

She shook her head as she set down the glass of water in front of him. “You should get some rest, you know.”

“Thanks, but I’m fine.”

“Really,” she said, unconvinced. “I thought you were allergic to research.”

Yuuji’s eyebrows furrowed. “Huh?”

“If I remember correctly,” she said, tapping a finger on her chin, looking pretty thoughtful, “you never liked research in high school. Whenever we had a reading assignment, you always asked me if I wanted a group study, and what always happens is I end up reading the whole thing and just reiterating it to you.”

“What?” Yuuji asked, laughing. “I did that?”

“You were a pretty diligent student, always ready for quizzes and exams. But when it came to long reading assignments and research, you take on the attitude of a juvenile delinquent.”

“Hey! It can’t be that bad!”

“Yes, it was that bad. That was just three years ago, Matsuo, I can’t believe you already forgot about that.”

“It was three years ago, Hiroguchi, I can’t believe you still remember that.”

Fuu shrugged, ignoring Yuuji’s grin. “Yes, well, high school is one of the most exciting stages of life, so they say. It’s pretty hard to forget.”

“I know…” Yuuji said with a smile. “High school… What a blast.” He chuckled, shaking his head. “I never did find out if I passed Tokyo U…”

“You did,” Fuu answered, surprising Yuuji.

“I did?!”

“I checked the results the day it was out. You passed.”

“Wow…”

“Everyone expected it. You were the only who thought that you weren’t going to pass.”

“How come you never told me?”

“You never asked.”

“Mom must’ve been jumping around with joy that her prediction came true,” Yuuji said, laughing again. When Fuu didn’t react, he turned to look at her. To his bewilderment and surprise, her face was serious again, and she seemed to be slightly upset as she kept her eyes on the shelf beside her. “Fuu? What’s—”

“I can’t believe you just said that.” Fuu said, her voice a bit shaky.

“What… What do you mean?”

“Of course your mom didn’t jump around with joy, Yuuji. Why on earth would you think that?”

“Well…Because I passed college?”

Yuuji didn’t know what to think of the way Fuu was looking at him. She looked angry, surprised and sad, all at the same time.

“You… You don’t remember?” she said.

Yuuji blinked. “Remember what?”

Again, she looked away.

“Fuu…” he tried, reaching for her hand, “please tell me what’s wrong…”

“The… The results came out the day after you disappeared, Yuuji… No one really bothered to see if you passed or not because they were too busy being shocked that you were gone. No one cared if you made it if you were ‘dead’, anyway. It was pointless to look for your name on the list.”

“But you did.”

“That’s because I—!” Fuu suddenly stopped in mid-sentence, her eyes widening as if she was surprised at what she was going to say. Quickly closing her mouth, she wrenched her hand free and turned to leave. But Yuuji quickly stood up, catching her hand again before she could take her second step.

“That’s because you what?”

“Let me go, Yuuji.”

“Because you what, Fuu?”

She didn’t answer him, but at least she didn’t try to get away, either. Yuuji had to try very, very hard not to scratch his hair in frustration.

“Fuu—”

“Please don’t ask me again, Yuuji.” she said quietly.

“Dammit, Fuu!” he yelled, his voice echoing in the huge hall. “Every time I get to talk to you alone… Does it always have to end this way?”

“Yes…”

“Why?!”

“Because. Just because.”

Mai had said once that Yuuji was the most patient guy she had ever met. That’s easily true because she hadn’t met a whole lot of people. But, the truth was: Yuuji’s patience was impressively long. Nothing was able to change that. Not Youko, not the Stars, not the minors, not even Kaori and Haruna’s bickering or Maya’s constant, persistent questions. No one could provoke him so easily… Except Fuu. If Mai thought that Yuuji was amazingly tolerant, then, to Yuuji, Fuu was unbelievably stubborn. He loved it that she was level-headed, calm, collected and unmoved when they were working or in the middle of a crisis, but sometimes he just wished that she wasn’t like that when they were talking.

Gritting his teeth, Yuuji’s grip on Fuu’s hand tightened. He didn’t really mean to, but he couldn’t help it, either. He expected that she was going to whirl around, yelling at him to stop it because her wrist was starting to hurt. But she didn’t. Getting impatient, Yuuji finally spun her around himself.

“Fu—”

Finally, he got her to face him, but Yuuji immediately recoiled, his eyes widening. She still had a fierce look upon her, her lips arched into a deep frown, and her eyebrows knit together. But what wiped his brain clean of whatever he was supposed to shout at her was her two stormy blue eyes. Sure, she was glaring as usual, but this time…

This time she was crying.

Yuuji was shocked frozen as he watched tears flowing freely from Fuu’s eyes. Despite the fact that his brain had suddenly seemed to shut down, all the memories he had of her swiftly flashed through his mind. Never, never in his life had Yuuji seen Fuu cry. Not when the boy she liked in sixth grade told her in her face that he didn’t like her back, not when one of her classmates slapped her for a reason he couldn’t even remember, not when she broke her arm when she fell down the stairs once, not even when her parents died.

He opened his mouth to say something — anything — but nothing came out.

“Let me go, Yuuji…” she repeated in a broken whisper.

Yuuji unknowingly relented, his purple eyes still disbelievingly staring at her tears. He was only able to blink himself awake when Fuu turned her heel and ran out the library. He couldn’t run after her; he couldn’t move his feet. Suddenly exhausted, he fell back on his chair again, his elbow unintentionally shoving a relatively thin book off the table. It fell on the floor with a thud, but he didn’t really care.

For a few minutes, Yuuji just stared at the table, trying to make sense of what just happened. But the more he thought about it, the more he got frustrated, confused, saddened and bothered. Shaking his head, he shoved the memory — along with whatever he was feeling — to the back of his brain, deciding to channel his energies somewhere else. Sighing, he went to pick up the book that had fallen on the floor. He was about to close it when something caught his eye. All the books he had flipped through so far had read like a record of history, or a teaching tool. This one, however, was written using first person narration, like someone was recounting a personal experience…

He placed the book on the table, his eyebrows furrowing as he read…

————–

Next on Blue Star

They attacked the Stars. They look pretty emotionless. Most have already forgotten about them… But they’re people, too. And they get confused, too…

“I am NOT letting you go…not anymore… “

Extra Episode: Clarity

————–

Review Topics go first today. you don’t have to read the ‘From the Author’ section if you don’t need to hear me ranting.

- Youko’s revelation: loopholes, anyone? What’s your take on who Ran really is?

- Mai’s reaction to Youko. Too shocked? Too undecisive on what to believe? Or is it realistic?

- Kaji and Kamui’s ‘sparring’ and how Ran handled it

- Yuuji and Fuu’s conversation

————–

From the Author

Lots of quarrels and shouting in this episode. This is the ever-lovable Explanation Episode, version two.

OK, I’m going to be honest. This is the first draft (meaning I haven’t edited this thing at all, I haven’t even reread it) , so forgive typos, loopholes, etc. It’s just that something… uh… not too happy… happened to me a few hours ago, and I decided to write to work off negative energy. So, forgive me if the general feel isn’t happy either. I don’t know why I uploaded it at all… Maybe I’ll replace this with an edited version later.

I broke my own record. I wrote one and a half episodes in two hours. April 4, 2005, 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Clap, clap. According to my outline, Episodes 23 and 24 are supposed to be released on the same day as a “one-hour special”, but I finally decided not to. For some reason, I really really wanna upload something.

… ARGH!!! Rawr. Think happy thoughts… Happy thoughts…

By the way, there was this thing in the previous episode that I thought a lot of people are going to comment on. No one did. Not that it really matters. Anyway, I’m sure you noticed the two new names in this episode. Matsuo is Yuuji’s family name, and Hiroguchi is Fuu’s. It’s about time I give them family names, too.Uh… Can I insert a last, quick rant here? OK.

—–start of rant—-

GRAH. I can’t believe it took me so long to realize that I hadn’t given the Roses enough build-up… Now I’m cramming them into these pitiful episodes. Nyerf nyerf nyerf. -sigh- Rawr.

—–end of rant—-

I’m sorry… I’ll post reponses to your reviews on my next update.

“Kaji, could you please pass the ketchup?”

“Checkmate.”

“Get it yourself, woman.”

“No, no, wait! Not yet!”

I think this will be a futile attempt, but let me describe the scene I am seeing: “The word ‘chaos’ simply does not cover it.” I think this was the same thing that was going on in Aiko’s head when she entered the Deathrose dining room for the first time.

Yuki and Kamui were on one end of the table, playing chess. Hikaru was watching the game, reacting every now and then about the moves Yuki decided to make. Sara was making a hotdog sandwich, the different ingredients spread out before her. Kaji was reading a book amidst the group, occasionally throwing remarks into the air, not really caring if anyone listened to him.

“That’s a checkmate, Yuki, accept it.”

“There’re a lotta things you gotta accept–”

“I told you not to move that piece–”

“Anybody want a hotdog sandwich?”

“It’s not my fault; it was too late when you told me!”

“If nobody wants this, I’m going to eat it.”

“If I told you earlier, then that’d be cheating–”

“Then eat it.”

“Hey, sis, make me one, will you?”

Ran smiled, popping a piece of popcorn in his mouth as he sat back on the couch. It had been quite a while since the whole cast had assembled in the palace, and it felt really nice, seeing them all friendly again. Even if being ‘friendly’ involved paper balls being thrown across the table, an over-sarcastic mouth, sighs of exasperation, and piercing blue eyes.

There was one thing missing to complete the scene, though.

He glanced at the girl sitting beside him, his ashen eyes narrowing. Feeling his gaze on her, she turned to look at him, too. She smiled, but she didn’t say anything else before turning her attention back to the group around the table.

“You’re pretty quiet today,” Ran said.

No response.

“Aiko?”

Still no response.

“Hey. Aiko,” he tried again, nudging her. She gave a start, then turned to him, blinking.

“I’m sorry, what did you say?”

A pause.

“It’s nothing.”

She frowned, looking absolutely remorseful. “I apologize for not listening,” she said. “I suppose my mind has been elsewhere lately…”

“Don’t worry about it,” Ran said, waving his hand dismissively before getting another piece of popcorn. “It’s OK.”

“I’m sorry for not paying attention… What did you say earlier?”

Ran gazed at her for a moment. Despite his furrowed eyebrows, he smiled curiously. “Since when do you not comment when the boys throw a comment about any of the girls?”

“Well… I—”

“And since when do you speak in proper sentences?”

Ran’s eyes narrowed at her even more, and Mai had to make a conscious effort not to take a deep, steadying breath.

OK. It’s showtime.

She stood from the sofa, and produced a pretty confident smile. “Well, I just decided to have a personal make-over.”

Ran’s eyebrow rose. “Oh?”

Before Mai could answer, though, Ran turned to address the Stars…

“Oei! Aiko has an announcement to make!”

…only to be ignored.

“No no no no! That’s the wrong move again—!”

“Will you stop interfering with my game?!”

“Sara, why are there pickles on this? You know I don’t like pickles—”

“See, if you place the rook here—”

“You’ve already taken a bite out of that. Eat it.”

“Can I have just a plain hotdog without the bread—?”

“Hey! Watch it! I’m readin’ ‘ere!”

Mai blinked. A crazy group of people, this is.

“Well, Aiko-chan?” came Ran’s voice again. “Aren’t you going to make your announcement?”

“But… it looks like no one’s listening…”

“You say that as if you don’t know us, Aiko,” Ran said, laughing. “What’s gotten into you?”

“Nothing. So here’s my personal make-over plan, Ran-sama.”

“Ah, finally, we get to hear it.”

Mai smiled, somewhat relieved. “Well,” she started, counting with her fingers, “I decided to try to be less assertive, but not to the point of being passive. I thought maybe I’d try to be quieter than I was before. I think I’d like to see how it is when I’m not over reactive; I’ll restrain my violent tendency. Maybe I’ll stop myself from commenting on the smallest things. Instead, I’m just going to keep my opinions to myself unless it was necessary to share my thoughts. Also, this’ll probably be the last time I’ll explain something in a long paragraph — unless it was necessary, of course — because I’m going to try to be a girl of a few words from now on.”

When Mai finished, she involuntarily released the breath she didn’t know she had been holding. It was only then that she noticed the utter silence in the room, and that everyone was looking at her as if she had spoken in a different language.

Until Kaji stood up.

“WHAT?! Rookie, are you insane?!”

“OK, Ai-chan, you got our attention. What’re you really going to say?”

“And what made you suddenly decide to do this?”

“Yeah, right, Aiko. You? Quiet? Puh-leeze!”

“Isn’t this what they call schizophrenia? This is schizophrenia, ne, Oniichan?”

Mai stepped back as all five Stars barraged her with questions and disapproving or unbelieving comments. “Uh…” was all she could muster as she side-glanced Ran. Somehow, she wanted him to intervene like he was her manager and say, ‘One at a time, please, one at a time…’ But he didn’t.

“Don’t ask me,” he said, grinning, as he tossed another piece of popcorn into his mouth. “I’m just here to watch.”

————–

What a beautiful afternoon to fly.

Aiko took a deep, refreshing breath as she lowered herself down on the grass and sat down, her princessly dress brushing against her legs. Her grey eyes under her brown contact lenses scanned the wide expanse of green grass before her. For a moment, she just sat there, hugging her knees, and enjoyed the silence. Just as it was on the Thinking Mound, it didn’t take long before she fell into a contemplative mood.

“That man…that man that had your mother killed. What was his name?”

“His name…was Ran.”

That revelation about Ran-sama was the mother of all jaw-dropping, mind-boggling, world-crumbling revelations. Honestly, she just wanted to strangle Mai right then and there. But, just to be fair, she didn’t. Instead, Aiko formulated a plan.

“You want to switch places?” Mai had asked. “But—”

“Take note that my faith is still with Ran.” Aiko clarified. “See, that’s the thing. I can’t investigate Blue Star properly because I’m biased for them. Same goes with you and Deathrose.”

“But what if they get suspicious of us? We’re not exactly the same when it comes to our personality. Not to mention Hikaru already knows.”

“I don’t think Oniichan found the letter yet. If he had, he would have hid it somewhere, or he would have told me about you. As for everybody else, we’re just going to make an excuse in advance. First thing this morning, we tell them that we’ve decided to do a personal overhaul. This way, they won’t be suspicious of the overnight attitude change because we’ve already explained it.”

When Aiko had delivered her speech at the Rose palace, she was still a bit tired and sleepy (she barely had sleep), so her ‘Aiko-ness’ was lowered a notch. This was good because the change didn’t appear to be as drastic as it already was.

And now, it was already almost sunset. Although Mai had already taught her the places she was supposed to know, Aiko had spent the day familiarizing herself with the palace. It turned out that, despite being hailed as a princess, Mai wasn’t given full access to every room and corner in the palace. What a ridiculous concept. Therefore, Aiko was in the midst of people who wanted to kill her, and had limited access to the palace. So she decided to just hit the library to do research, instead.

She stood up, brushing her dress clean.

“Well, better get back to work, then, Princess.”

————–

The week passed by quickly, and once again, the Thursday afternoon found the Group in their usual booth.

Kamui didn’t remember specifically when he started to hang out in the Spazio, but he did remember that he was with Aiko the first time he tasted their mocha shake. They were in fifth grade at that time, and, from then on, he was hooked. He ordered mocha shake when he needed to cool down after soccer practice, when he wanted something to lighten his mood, and when he was celebrating something.

In short, he always ordered mocha shake.

Sometimes he got it in their regular-sized glass, and sometimes, in their Colossus glass, like today. It was 12 inches tall, and he could finish his drink in at least an hour. Perfect for hanging out. Also perfect for hiding from Midori, who seemed to be the master of glaring. No, scratch that. She was the master of using her emerald eyes to bore a hole through him.

Like what she was doing right that very moment.

“Midori…” Kamui said, wishing his glass was even bigger than it already was. “Can you please turn your deathglare somewhere else?”

“I refuse to believe what you just told me,” she said, still staring at him.

“Believe it, Mi,” Rei said beside her. “And that’s no deathglare, dude. You ain’t seen nothin’ yet–”

“But that’s impossible!” Midori exclaimed.

“Woo-hoo…Let’s hail the media, shall we?” Kamui said sarcastically.

“Don’t treat this as if it’s not a big deal!”

“But it isn’t a big deal!”

“You call Toriyama Kamui being late for class not a big deal?!”

“As if the world’s going to crash down just because I was late.”

“But you’ve NEVER been late before! You’ve never even come close to the first bell. You were always WAY too early!”

“Just because it’s never happened before doesn’t mean it’s impossible, Midori,” Kamui said. “And stop looking at me like that. It’s unnerving.”

“C’mon, Midori, give the guy a break,” Rei finally mediated, pulling Midori back into her seat.

Despite the frown on her lips, Midori finally relented. “What do you have to say about all this, Ai-chan?” she asked, turning to the black-haired girl beside Kamui.

“Well…” the other girl said, glancing at Kamui. “Why were you late?”

“I woke up a bit late. I’d rather not go into the details why.”

Mai’s eyebrows furrowed at Kamui’s sudden seriousness, but she wasn’t able to think about it when Midori spoke again.

“But doesn’t Ishida-sensei punish latecomers? What was your punishment?”

Kamui instantly flushed. He mumbled something as he made a show of intently staring at his shake, stirring the contents of his glass with his straw.

“What?” she asked, leaning closer. “I didn’t hear you, what did you say?”

“Nothing,” Kamui said. He seemed to find his drink to be the most interesting thing at the moment.

Midori turned her eyes to Mai questioningly. “Well, Ai-chan?”

“Well what?”

“Aren’t you going to answer my question for him?”

Mai sideglanced Kamui, and found him looking at her, as well. The boy had a look in his eyes that clearly begged, ‘Please don’t.’

“It’s not mine to answer,” she said. Kamui visibly sighed in relief.

“Ai-chan,” Midori said, “what was Kamui’s punishment?”

“He’s to sing in front of the class first thing tomorrow morning,” Mai answered without hesitation.

“AIKO!”

“Yes?” Mai smiled innocently at Kamui’s glare.

“I thought you said it wasn’t yours to answer!”

“Her question to you wasn’t mine to answer,” Mai explained, “but then she had a question for me, did she not?”

Midori laughed and exchanged high fives with Mai, whose gaze and smile for Kamui didn’t waver. “Kamui, why are you so shy to sing, anyway? Don’t even attempt to say that you don’t have a singing voice, because you do.”

“I do not have a singing voice.”

“Hey, Ai-chan,” the emerald-eyed girl said, ignoring Kamui. “What’s he going to sing?”

“Ishida-sensei said she was going to just randomly pick a track from a CD she’s going to bring.”

“Aha!” Midori exclaimed. “Your fangirls are going to enjoy this, aren’t they?”

“According to the Group Constitution Article II Section 5, the term ‘fangirls’ when addressed to Toriyama Kamui is authorized to be used only by Kazetenshi Aiko,” Kamui told Midori pointedly. “Any user of the term aside from the aforementioned authorized user will be subject to—”

“Your fangirls are going to enjoy this, aren’t they?” Mai interrupted.

While the girls laughed, Kamui could only roll his eyes and sink into his seat, hiding behind the trusty Colossus glass.

“Kamui ol’ buddy ol’ pal,” Rei said, “I sympathize with you.”

————–

The sun had already set.

Ran yawned, stretching his arms as he walked through the corridor. He had just gotten back to the palace, and he just wanted to crash down on the bed and recharge his batteries. Despite his level, the Blue Star Sensei got tired sometimes, too. You will NOT open that door, Ran, you will NOT, he repeated over and over when he entered the hall that led to his room — as well as his office. Whenever he was in his office, he couldn’t help but suddenly tranform into a workaholic. And, right now, work was the last thing he needed. What he needed was sleep. Sleeeeeeeeep.

Despite his mantra, Ran’s footsteps slowed down to a stop in front of those mahogany doors. His eyebrows furrowing, he took the brass handle and opened the door…

“Seventy-four collections. Broke your own record, Ran?”

Ran’s frown deepened as he narrowed his eyes at the man sitting in his leather chair. Odd. He didn’t sense any other person in the palace when he got in. He must be tired.

“What’re you doing here?” he asked, looking straight at the silver eyes that seemed to taunt him.

“Why, am I forbidden to come here?”

“If you asked me that 10 years ago, I would’ve said ‘no’.”

Youko laughed as he leaned back on the chair. “I expected you to say that. Really, Ran… Holding grudges is bad for the health.”

Ran scoffed. “You’re one to talk,” he said sarcastically.

“You wound my heart, brother. I only wanted to visit—”

“Why are you really here, Youk—”

The question was never finished as Youko was suddenly in Ran’s face, a dangerous glint in his silver eyes. His reflexes taking over, Ran effectively blocked the hand that was about to pierce his stomach, and, in a split-second maneuver, slammed Youko to the floor. But the Rose had already put his leg between the two of them, enabling him to send Ran flying to the ceiling.

“Nice to see you’re still training,” Youko said, grinning, flicking a lock of his hair away from his eyes with a finger as he stood up. Ran remained silent as he lowered himself to the ground. “The reason I’m here is to as you a few questions. My memory seems to be failing me recently…”

“You must be getting old.”

“Funny.”

“Hurry up and ask already, you’re wasting my tim—”

“Do you remember Yume?”

Silence.

“Remember that powerful Elemental that all the guys wanted to have, but never got? Strawberry blonde hair, blue eyes—”

“What about Yume?”

Youko smiled, absolutely satisfied with Ran’s reaction. The Star’s face darkened even more, and his hands were clenched into tight fists. “Ah, so you remember her. Good.”

“What does this have to do with anything?”

“A lot, Ran. A lot. Back in the old days, you had everything. Your father’s love, your clan’s trust, and everyone’s attention… But that wasn’t enough for you, was it? You just had to bask in the fact that Yume worshipped you. “

Again, silence.

“You know, I’ve always wanted to ask you: did you ever find her irritating? I mean, the way she clings to you, I wouldn’t be surprised if she’ll gladly take her clothes off just to—”

Youko’s sentence was cut short when suddenly felt his back hit the wall hard. He blinked when he saw the crackling, glowing, black ball of energy held a few inches away from his face. Right beside it was Ran’s furiously glaring ashen eyes.

“Speak so low of Yume again,” Ran said in a dangerous voice, “and I swear, you will regret having been born with a tongue.”

“Tsk. Temper, Ran, temper.”

Ran tightened his hold on Youko’s collar even more. “I’m serious, Youko.”

“I can see that,” the Rose answered. The smile on his face didn’t wane. “You really loved her, didn’t you?”

“None of your business.”

“Why did you always push her away, Ran? You could’ve had her. You had her wrapped around you finger, Ran, you had everyone wrapped around her finger. Why did you throw it all away?”

Ran’s jaw clenched. The ball of energy he had been holding dissipated as he pulled Youko from the wall, and pushed him towards the door, instead.

“You’ve stayed long enough, Youko. Out.”

The Rose straightened his clothes calmly as he squared his shoulders. The smile on his face was finally gone, replaced by a thin line that was his lips. “You can’t have it all forever you know,” he said almost inaudbly. “The tables have turned.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Simply put, whereas before, you had something I wanted… I now have something you want.”

Before Ran could do anything, Youko was suddenly gone.

————–

Mai scratched her head as she stared at the piece of paper before her. She took it from her desktop, replacing it with her feet, and held it up at the flourescent bulb above her. She leaned back on her chair, rocking it back and forth on its two hind legs.

“Dear paper,” she said out loud, “why on earth are you still empty?”

“It’s because you hadn’t written anything on it.”

The rocking stopped. Mai turned to the window to see Kaji floating outside, grinning at her.

“Evenin’.”

Mai smiled as she put her feet down and sat upright. “Hao,” she said, using Aiko’s ever-famous greeting. “Is it time for Kaji-sama’s nightly question and answer session?”

“Do ya hafta call it that?”

“That’s what it is, isn’t it?”

“Whatever. May I come in?”

“If you must.”

Kaji rolled his eyes as he stepped into the room. “Does that personal make-over thing really include you being hostile towards me?”

“I’m not hostile towards you,” Mai replied as she sat on the bed.

“Oh, so this,” he said, pointing at her nonchalant face, “isn’t hostile.”

“If this is hostile to you, then I wonder what you call the Roses.”

“Alphabetically? Antisocial, belligerent, cantankerous, disagreeable—”

“OK, I get the idea,” she interrupted, frowning. “Stupid question.”

Kaji frowned, as well, as he sat down on the chair. “Oei…Why so grumpy?”

“Nothing.”

“Rookie… It’s just the Roses—”

“Just the Roses, huh?” Mai kept her eyes on the wall, trying her best not to get angry at the maroon-haired Star who just spoke so antagonistically towards her friends. She knew she couldn’t blame him, but she couldn’t let this go without saying something. “Ever thought that maybe the Roses are thinking the same way about us?”

“I’m sure they do,” Kaji said, surprising Mai, “I mean, this is a war, ain’t it? In every war, each side thinks they’re the ones who are right.”

“So we’re just going to sit back and let this go on? Aren’t we going to try and resolve it without violence?”

“We already tried to talk to the Roses, but their answer was always a punch or a kick.” Kaji paused as his eyebrows furrowed again. “Didn’t we already talk about this before?”

“We have?”

“Yeah. It was right before your first fight with the Roses. Don’t you remember that?”

“Uh… That was… That was a year ago already, wasn’t it?”

Kaji’s frown deepened. “Are you sure your make-over thing doesn’t include your brain? You’ve been forgetting a whole lotta things lately.”

Before Mai could open her mouth to answer — she didn’t have an answer, anyway — the door opened, and her savior for the day arrived.

“Aiko, someone’s on the phone for you.” The two boys acknowledged each other with a nod as Hikaru handed the cordless phone to Mai.

“Hello?”

“Is this Aiko?” came a hushed voice.

“Yes, who’s this?”

“I called to ask about a black rose…”

Mai automatically glanced at Kaji. “Just a second,” she said, then covered the mouthpiece with her hand.

“Uh…” was all she got out before Kaji stood up and smiled, saying, “I’ll go on ahead.”

“OK. Thanks…”

“No prob. G’night.”

After Kaji left, Mai went to close the door, then spoke into the phone again. “What about a black rose?”

“Was that Kaji just now?”

Mai’s eyebrows furrowed. The voice from the other end suddenly sounded odd. “Yes…”

“Is he gone?”

“Yes.”

“Can you go out of the house?”

“Yes, why? Where are you?”

“Thinking Mound. 10 minutes.”

The line suddenly went dead. Mai shook her head as she took her jacket, then went to knock on Hikaru’s door. She heard a muffled “Come in!” amidst the rock music playing in the room.

“Here’s the phone, Oniichan, thanks. I’m going out for a while, OK?”

Hikaru frowned as he lowered the volume of CD player. “Where to?”

“A friend who wishes to remain anonymous is currently bawling her eyes out,” Mai fabricated. “I’m gonna come to the rescue.”

“I’m coming with you,” Hikaru said, standing up.

“No, you’re not,” Mai objected. “This is girl talk, Oniichan, I doubt you’d want to be there.”

“But it’s already late!”

“Please let me go outside alone,” Mai said, putting her hands together as she did when she pleaded to Yuuji. “I’m no porcelain doll, you know…”

For a moment, Hikaru just looked at her. Then, he nodded, but his frown didn’t wane. In fact, he even narrowed his eyes at her. “Just try to avoid shuriken, OK? Just because you’re a Star doesn’t mean it’s all right to get hurt over and over. Do you understand me?”

She smiled. Aiko sure was lucky to have Hikaru as a brother…

“Hai, Oniichan.”

Then again, so was Mai.

Mai arrived at the Thinking Mound right on the dot. “Are you OK?” was her question upon arrival.

“Hao. Yes, I’m fine. I just wanted to see how you were doing.”

Mai sighed in relief as she sat down beside Aiko. “Oh. You scared me. I thought something bad happened.”

Aiko shook her head. “Nope. Just wanted to be filled in.”

“Ah. So I trust everything’s well at the palace?”

“Fine and dandy. Everyone bought my make-over excuse. Both Fuu and Yuuji looked puzzled, but they didn’t ask anything. No one objected… You’re used to having your way, aren’t you?”

“Most times, yeah. Maa… I still can’t believe we survived a week! And here I thought I was going to get caught on the first day. Pretending to be you for half a day around three Stars was hard enough. Doing it it amidst all the Stars… Let me just say I’m amazed with my own guts.”

“Did you encounter any problems?”

“Not really. Although everyone still occasinally throws comments about ‘the new Aiko’, no one seriously questioned me about it. But… Ran looked so scary since day one…”

Aiko laughed as she leaned back on the grass. “Ran? Scary? Girl, you definitely need glasses.”

“OK, so he didn’t look scary in the strict sense of the word. But he smiles so much, I get the feeling that he knows something I don’t.”

“Mai. Of course he knows something you don’t. That’s the whole point of this switch, right?”

It was Mai’s turn to laugh. “Oh yeah.”

“Ran isn’t scary at all. Sometimes he acts more like a mascot than a sensei!”

“Hey! That’s mean, isn’t it?” Mai said, laughing again.

“Yeah, it is,” Aiko said. “Maybe you only perceived him to be scary because of the image already formed in your mind.”

Mai nodded. “I guess I’m going to make a whole lot of effort to forget what Youko had told me about Ran for a while… But, really… The way he looked at me on my first day almost convinced me that my investigation had ended before it even began.”

“Ran is perceptive…”

“He looks pretty easy-going, but there’s a deep, unknown, untouched side of him.”

“The man is, simply, an enigma.”

A pause.

“What a weird guy.”

Aiko laughed again as Mai voiced out exactly what she was thinking. “Right on.”

“Actually, he reminds me a lot of Youko…”

“Oh?”

Mai blinked at Aiko’s clueless face. “Haven’t you met Youko-san?” When Aiko shook her head, Mai eyed her disbelieveingly. “No way. You’ve been there for a week and you haven’t met him?!”

“The man doesn’t show himself. Yuuji always says that Youko doesn’t want to be disturbed.”

“Hmf. Typical,” Mai said. “But still… A week? That’s gotta be a new record. Let me remind you: it’s better not to barge into his office—”

“–lest you want him to throw daggers at you through his eyes, I know. Yuuji told me that, too. But, I have to ask: he’s nice to you, right?”

“Of course he is. Why wouldn’t he be?”

“It’s just that the way the Roses talk about Youko gave me the idea that they’re distant from him.”

“Youko-san isn’t as close to the Roses as Ran is to the Stars. But, although he’s nice to me, remember to be extra extra careful with him. He’s one discerning man. But I guess you’re already used to keen people, aren’t you?”

“You mean Ran?”

“I mean everyone.”

“Like who?”

“Like Kamui, for one. The first time we switched, he was the one with all the questions. But I guess that’s a good thing, because he didn’t ask a lot, this time. Sara is, of course, included in the list.”

“Without question. Remember not to think too deeply when she’s around–”

“–because she can read minds. Right. You’re right about Yuki, too. She’s an observer; she never pokes around. Kaji, though, is another story.”

Aiko smiled as she gazed at the girl beside her. It was funny, looking at Mai wearing her clothes and talking about the Stars. She was amused as it felt like a dream where she got to watch herself. At the same time, there was this odd feeling in the pit of her stomach, knowing full well that someone else was living her life for her.

“What was Kaji doing in my room tonight, anyway?”

“He visits every night. Does he normally do that?”

Aiko’s eyebrows furrowed. “No. Why? What does he do?”

“He asks a lot about your past experiences. Good thing you already told me most of them. Aiko, I think he knows something’s up.”

“Really?” Aiko didn’t know whether to be sad, to panic or to be elated. Sure, if Kaji found out the truth, then that meant that their investigation was going to be interrupted. But then again, that also meant that he noticed that Mai was different from Aiko despite Mai’s make-over excuse, right? She didn’t know why she felt excited over this fact, but she did.

“Aiko, are you in love with Kaji?” came Mai’s voice, breaking through Aiko’s thoughts.

“W-What?!” Aiko exclaimed. “How’d you–… I mean, why would I–… I mean—…”

“I’m not trying to poke around. I just want to know how you feel about him so I’d know how to act.”

“How I feel—?” Aiko echoed. “Just act normally and you’ll do fine. It’s not like I act differently towards him.”

“Just a while ago, he told me that I was being hostile towards him. I know for sure that I wasn’t trying to be hostile towards him or anything… If he’s suspicious, Aiko, I’ve got to make adjustments. Tell me, how do you act around him?”

“I…I just…” Aiko started. How does she act around Kaji? She didn’t recall doing anything special… She did what felt natural when he’s around, and that was it.

“Aiko, are you in love with Kaji?” Mai asked again.

This time, Aiko didn’t know what to answer.

————–

It was already 11:30 p.m. but Sara was still wide awake. It wasn’t that she wasn’t sleepy; in fact, she was already tired. She couldn’t sleep because she didn’t want to sleep. She didn’t want to have that dream again. The one dream she’s been repeatedly having the past four nights.

It always starts with something recent that involved the Group. Sometimes it’s them in the Spazio, or maybe they’d be watching Kamui’s team practice. The starting scene changed every night, but the constant element was Aiko, her hair color strangely back to the original midnight blue.

Everything would go as it did in real life, until the elements suddenly go berserk. First, lightning would strike, and it would suddenly rain hard, but only for a few seconds. An earthquake would violently shake the ground, then all the leaves on the trees would be blown off by a gush of wind. Finally, a raging fire would engulf the Group. Then, as quickly as it started, everything becomes deathly silent, and there would only be darkness. In the middle of it all, Aiko stood, her grey eyes frighteningly cold and emotionless. It was at this point that Sara always woke up screaming.

Tonight, Sara knew she was going to have that dream again.

Maybe I should have told Oniichan, after all.

Every time the dream ended and it was time for Sara to wake up, Kamui was instantly by her side. She had never told him what she had dreamed of, saying she didn’t want to talk about it.

Sara specifically didn’t want to talk about it with Kamui (but of couse, she didn’t tell him that). The dream had to mean something, but she knew that Kamui was probably the worst person to discuss it with. He was Aiko’s best friend, so, either his judgement about the dream would be impaired (just as Sara believed that her own judgement was impaired), or his trust in Aiko would be ruined. The previous night, he had unsuccessfully tried especially hard to get her to talk. She reckoned that was why he was late for school that morning.

Sara sighed heavily. She couldn’t avoid that dream forever, she figured, so maybe she had to stop running away from it and start trying to figure it out. Maybe, this time, I’m going to get a clue, she thought as she closed her eyes.

At that moment, she absolutely hated the human capacity to dream.

————–

Your face lights up the sky on the highway
Someday, you’ll share your world with me, someday

You mesmerize me with diamond eyes
I try to fool myself to think I’ll be alright
Then I am losing all control
My mind, my heart, my body and my soul

Never in my life have I been more sure
So come on up to me and close the door
Nobody’s made me feel this way before
You’re everything I wanted and more

Just beacon out to where to begin
The great dilemmas I’m finding myself in
For all I know you only see me as a friend
I try to tell myself, ‘Wake up, fool!
This fairy tale’s got to end.’

Never in my life have I been more sure
So come on up to me and close the door
Nobody’s made me feel this way before
You’re everything I want and more

You’re everything I wanted…

Silence.

Mai almost jumped when the class erupted into an applause. At the front of the classroom, Kamui’s eyes seemed glued to her still, until Ishida-sensei patted his back and told him that he could go back to his seat. He smiled wanly, then, scratching the back of his head, went to take his seat behind Mai. The Princess instantly bowed her head and stared at the desk as Kamui passed by. She desperately wished that her cheeks would return to their normal color as she tried to ignore the onslaught of her classmates’ teasing.

“Hey, are you guys an item now?”

“Uwaaa! Aiko-san, that was so cute!”

“That’s your declaration of love, isn’t it, Toriyama-kun?”

“When did you two start going out?”

“OK, OK, settle down, class,” Ishida-sensei’s voice came amidst the excited noise. “Let’s give another subdued applause for Toriyama-kun, who bravely sang the song I randomly picked for him.” Another applause. “That, class, was a song from the Philippines. It’s a country south of Japan that…”

Kamui wasn’t listening as his teacher went on about the Philippines in relation to Japanese history. He stared at his hands as his heart irritatingly thudded on his ribcage. Inside his head, he was hitting himself over and over. He had always known that art imitates life, but this is just too absurd. Imagine, he had to sing that in front of the class. In front of Aiko! Sheesh.

He threw a quick glance at the black-haired girl in front of him. Although this was a perfect time for Aiko to tease him about his popularity again, she didn’t.

Well, duh, Toriyama. Maybe she’d act more normally if you didn’t stare at her practically all throughout the song.

Kamui had honestly tried real hard to tear his eyes from her while he was singing, but he just couldn’t. Why? Maybe because the lyrics of the song was precisely what he wanted to tell her. But he didn’t want to tell her now, that’s for sure. Kamui stopped, suddenly surprised with his train of thought. But he wasn’t able to ponder about it when the exact person he was thinking of spoke.

“Hey,” she said. Kamui’s head snapped up to see those beautiful, mysterious brown eyes smiling at him. “You did really well, for an impromptu performance.”

“…Thanks.”

She turned around again to listen to their teacher, while Kamui couldn’t wipe the grin off his face. So what if Kaji likes her? Maybe Kamui still had a chance, after all.

Rei ol’ buddy ol’ pal, ‘yet’ is finally here.

————–

A loud thud echoed in the library as Aiko closed the heavy book. She stared up at the fantastically high ceiling, her lips arched in a small pout as she rocked her chair back and forth on its hind legs. She must have looked into a hundred books already, but everything related to Deathrose’s past just reiterated what Mai had told her. This was to be expected, of course, but Aiko had hoped she’d find a loophole or an inconsistency in there somewhere.

Well, you got about a million more books to look into—

“Taking a sudden interest in history, Mai-sama?”

With a gasp, Aiko jumped in surprise, making her chair tip over, and she would’ve fallen on the floor unceremoniously if two arms didn’t catch her. Relief washed over her for being saved from hitting the floor, but only for a second.

No. Way.

Aiko remained frozen as she looked up at his silver eyes. The silver eyes she didn’t think she would ever see again.

The tall man smiled at her as he set her on her feet. “Jumpy today, aren’t you?”

Aiko blinked herself awake. “You surprised me, that’s all,” she said, trying hard to keep her voice calm. She picked up several books on the table, and went to put them back on the shelf. In her mind, Aiko was panicking big time. Who would’ve known — or maybe Aiko should’ve known — that the silver-eyed cloaked person at the race that day was a member of Deathrose?

“Let me help you with that,” he said, almost making Aiko jump again, as he took the books from her. His eyebrows furrowed. “Are you all right, Mai-sama? Your hands are cold.”

“I’m fine,” Aiko answered, mustering up a smile.

“If you say so,” he said, smiling, as well. Aiko instantly remembered what Mai said the other night about Ran.

“…he smiles so much, I get the feeling that he knows something I don’t.”

“Actually, he reminds me a lot of Youko…”

So this is Youko. The one who could most probably answer all her questions. Now, if only Aiko knew what questions to ask without blowing her cover…

“I have something to show you, Mai-sama,” Youko said. “Won’t you come with me?”

The way he was smiling at her then already gave her the creeps, and the way he held her arm to lead her out the room didn’t help at all. But, if Aiko wanted her investigation to progress, she’d have to go with the flow. Although, it would’ve been much easier if she didn’t have a gut feeling that something was terribly wrong…

————–

“Dang!” Kamui exclaimed. “You’ve improved a lot, Hino! Have you been training behind our backs?”

“Excuse me,” Kaji said, raising an eyebrow as he threw a towel at Kamui. “Who do you think taught you how to be a Star? I think you’re forgetting which one of us is the teacher, and which is the student.”

“Ah, my apologies,” Kamui said with a bow. “I give honor to thee, O Great Fire Soul.”

“That’s more like it,” Kaji stated regally as he sat down on the floor. “You may now serve me my food, peasant.”

“Yeah, right. You wish.”

The two boys laughed at their own antics as the wind blew in from outside.

“Here,” Kamui said, tossing Kaji a water bottle.

“Thanks.”

For a few moments, the two Stars just sat in silence as they rested from their spar. Kamui was leaning on the wall with his eyes closed, while, a few feet away from him, Kaji gazed at the garden outside.

“Oei, Toriyama…”

“Yeah?”

“I got a question.”

“OK…”

“What do you think of Aiko lately?”

At this, Kamui opened one eye to glance at Kaji. “What do you mean?”

“Don’t you think she’s acting strange recently?”

Kamui scoffed. “Have you already forgotten her monumental ‘announcement’ last week?”

“No. But… I dunno. I just find it weird. Why would she wanna be someone new?”

“Maybe she just feels like it.” Kamui studied Kaji for a few moments when the older boy remained silent. It was obvious that Fire Soul was not taking this issue lightly. Truth be told, the changes Kamui had seen in his best friend was more than he expected, and he could actually understand why Kaji was puzzled by it. But still…

“Why are you making a big deal out of this, anyway?”

“I’m not making this a big issue. I just—… I just think…”

“You think what?”

“I just think she’s being a bit odd.”

“Hino,” Kamui said, rolling his eyes, “we’re back where we started. So Ai-chan wants to change her image. Let her do it. Everybody changes, anyway, right?”

“Sure, people change, but…” Kaji sighed, scratching his hair.

“But…?”

“But…”

“But what? Out with it already!”

“She’s just not being Aiko.”

“Dude. That’s the whole idea of the word ‘change’.”

“What I’m sayin’ is: she just acts WAY too different for her to be the same person.”

“So, what,” Kamui asked, laughing, “you think Ai-chan’s possessed or something?”

“Maybe. Who knows.” Kaji frowned when Kamui laughed even harder. “Think about it! Maybe she’s that person the Roses carried off before! Y’know, the one Ran told me about? What if she happens to look exactly like Aiko and she decides to take her place?”

“I thought that happened before you became a Star.”

“It did. Maybe…Maybe, like Ran-sama, she hasn’t aged a day.”

“So you’re saying Aiko’s a Rose.”

“Well, her ki is a bit different, didn’t you notice?”

“Would you like me to call the mental hospital now?”

“Dammit, Toriyama! This is serious!” Kaji raked his fingers in his hair in frustration. “Just be careful,” he said darkly. “Sometimes the people you trust are exactly the people who will betray you.”

Kamui’s grin fell. “What’s that supposed to mean? You’re not saying Ai-chan of all people will betray me, are you? Watch it, Hino, that’s my best friend you’re talking about.”

“I know full well Aiko’s your best friend, ayt? Look, just don’t get too close to that girl until I make sure she really IS our Wind Angel.”

For a moment, Kamui didn’t answer. Judging by the serious look on his face, Kaji thought the black-haired boy was finally considering his ‘crazy’ theory. Kaji thought wrong.

“You’re just saying that to separate Aiko and I, aren’t you?” It wasn’t a question. It was a statement.

“What?! Why would I—… Listen, man, I’m just looking out for—”

“Looking out my foot,” Kamui said, standing up. “The truth is you want Aiko for yourself, you want me not to trust her!”

“HEY!” Kaji said, standing up, as well. “I may be in love with her, but I won’t go as far as put a wedge between the two of you! Do you actually think I’d stoop so low?!”

“Who knows? Maybe you would!”

Mai hummed as she gathered her hair into a ponytail. Oddly, she was in such a nice mood the whole day. Maybe it was just fun to watch Kamui being flustered as his fangirls worshipped the ground he walked on. Or maybe it was just fun watching Kamui, period.Mai’s eyebrows furrowed, her footsteps slowing down to a stop, when she heard a commotion in the training hall. She was never one to eavesdrop, but she had no choice. It’s not like she wanted every word of the boys’ heated argument to reach her ears so clearly.

“Just listen to yourself, Toriyama!” came a voice that she assumed to be Kaji. No one else in the palace called Kamui ‘Toriyama’. “Could ya please just stop being biased for one freaking second—”

“I am NOT being biased!”

“You are! You’re being biased because you’re in love with her! Don’t even try to deny it—”

“FINE!” Kamui yelled. “Fine! I won’t deny it! I’m in love with my best friend, Kazetenshi Aiko. There. Happy? But if my judgement is impaired because of my feelings for her, then doesn’t that apply to you, too?”

Everything froze.

After a few moments of…well… nothing, Mai turned around and headed back to her room. With her brain turning into a huge jumble of random thoughts that don’t seem to make any sense, she felt like she was back at that plaza that night. She felt like the shuriken’s poison was quickly spreading through her veins again. Except, this time, it was worse.

She had never felt so numb.

Mai was aware that Kamui saw her as Aiko. That was the plan, wasn’t it? But, at the back of her mind, she had a small hope that maybe… after this issue with Blue Star and Deathrose was over… when Kamui finds out who she really was… that she was Mai, the girl he had met at the carnival all those months ago… she had hoped that they could be friends. She had hoped that maybe, by some wild phenomenon, Kamui would even return the feelings she had for him…

But that had been wishful thinking, she knew that now. She heard him say it, crystal clear: Kamui was in love with Aiko. He wasn’t singing that song to her; he was singing it to Aiko. He was looking at Aiko. The whole time, it had been Aiko, not Mai.

She had been walking in a daze, Mai didn’t even notice that she had reached her room — Aiko’s room. She went to the window and opened it, letting the wind rush inside. A tear escaped from her eye, but she quickly wiped it away.

“Stupid… Stupid, stupid, stupid!”

Why did she let herself even begin to like Kamui, anyway?!

“Forget my name, forget my face, forget everything you know about me.” That was what she had asked of Kamui at the carnival. She remembered that he had refused her request. But now, it looks like she got her wish.

According to her agreement with Aiko, Mai was to ask Ran about the history of Blue Star. But, even after a week of getting friendly with the Stars, she had yet to conquer her fear and actually face Ran. Her investigation hadn’t made progress at all. She knew she’d be breaking her agreement with her twin, but…

Mai gripped on the windowsill tightly, and, without even thinking twice, she jumped.

————–

Next on Blue Star

In an unexpected confrontation, at long last, the truth is uncovered… Or is it? Discovery, defense, and disbelief. Love, as beautiful as it is, if not handled properly, can be fatal…

“I said, STOP IT!!!!”

Episode 23: Desperation

————–

From the Author

I’m not usually one to put a whole song into a fic, but this one fits Kamui SO much, I couldn’t help myself. The song is not mine. It’s ‘Balisong’ by Rivermaya, one of my favorite bands.

NOTE: I changed a teeny tiny thing in Fuu and Yuuji’s conversation in Episode 14: Fever. It’s a very small detail, and maybe you won’t even realize that it changed, but it has an effect on later episodes, and the characters of Fuu and Yuuji in general. So…yeah. Check it out if you want to.

Also note that I might be inserting additional scenes in earlier episodes after I finish the whole thing (or maybe even before I finish the whole thing). I’ll notify you guys when this happens. The changes won’t affect the plot, but it will affect the characters.

Review topics

- My writing style for this episode. I realized I narrated way too many flashbacks instead of showing them.

- Kaji and Kamui’s argument

- The last scene, Mai’s reaction: Was Mai too suicidal?

References to earlier eps

Episode 1: Blue Child — The day of the race when Aiko first encounters Youko

Episode 8: Pointless — Kaji, Yuki and Aiko discussing trying to talk with the Roses

Episode 15: Witness — Kaji telling Kamui of Deathrose “carrying someone off”

Episode 19: Fading — The plaza and shuriken scene Mai had thought about in the last scene.

Special Notes

moon314, SkyWarrior, jean-grey and foxyfox: Thank you so much for sharing your insights, but I’d like to invite you to review on fictionpress, instead so I have a more organized log of the reviews :Þ

emi-chan: OK, you can post your review in DA if it’s a bit inconvenient for you to review here.

Maggy d: About the ‘hair thing’, I actually expected some of the readers to get a bit lost. It’s always hard when you have two people who look alike, and it’s even harder when you read it in prose. I think it would’ve been more clear if this was a manga or anime… Yey! Glad you’re finally warming up to Kaji. About cockroaches, yeah, they fly. Bug phobia? You and me both, girl :þ

Bentfender: Aw, too bad for the original deliciously review. Here’s a tip: when you’re writing something extremely long for a website feedback or something similar, type it on notepad first, and then copy and paste it into the text area. The same thing (my work disappearing, I mean) happened to me before while I was writing an email. Frustrating. Aaaanyways… You really are Kaji’s female equivalent in real life, aren’t you:þ About your comment on Yuki, you’re right. I’m not sure if I’ll disclose who that guy is, though. I mean, the episodes get longer and longer by the month, and I’m not sure if I can insert that small detail in here. It’s the same thing with your comment on Kaji’s not being sure of his age, too. I don’t know if I can insert the explanation in the next episodes; in the original draft, I never explained it at all. Maybe I’ll release it as an interlude or side story… Not sure yet. But basically, Kaji doesn’t remember anything apart from being a Star.

Everybody else that I didn’t mention: Thanks for reading, and I hope you drop a line next time. Hehe. :þ

This is why I love reviews so much. It shows me which parts are confusing, or which parts appeal to the audience most. Maggyd gave me an eye-opening review on Episode 20. I think some of the other readers asked the questions she did, so…yeah. OK. Let’s get this started.

Maggyd: I got a little confused when you switched from an Aiko scene to a Mai scene.

That part…I really didn’t put any “—”s there. The separator was the line “she was right”. But I’ll try to fix it, anyway. When I think of a way to rewrite that part so that the transition is clear, I’ll post it again

Maggyd: I thought that the first scene was a little bit unlike Aiko, but then again I hadn’t read this in a long time and forgot the significance of her necklace. .;;

It wasn’t so much about the necklace (although the thing IS important to her), but it was more of the experience. The aftershock was because she kinda thought that maybe she was raped or something. She couldn’t remember anything, right? Man, if THAT happened to me, I think I’d be freaking out, too…

Maggyd: that was probably the part that irked me the most, how the people that knew these two girls best didn’t stop to wonder about why they would change their appearances when they had only changed them a short while ago.

THIS I have to explain since almost everyone commented on this. If you’ve lost track of which girl has the dyed hair and which hasn’t, I don’t blame you. I mean, I release but once a month, right? ‘K, lemme put an outline on here:

Episode 16: Carnival — Aiko: blue hair, grey eyes. Mai: black hair, brown eyes

Episode 17: Wings — Aiko: black hair, brown eyes. Mai: blue hair, grey eyes

Episode 18: Meeting — Aiko: black hair, brown eyes. Mai: blue hair, grey eyes

Episode 19: Fading — Aiko: black hair, brown eyes. Mai: black hair, brown eyes (except in Aiko’s flashback, of course)

Episode 20: Switch — Aiko: black hair, brown eyes. Mai: black hair, brown eyes

So when Mai and Aiko accidentally switched and switched back in the past episode, nobody noticed. As of the moment, Aiko and Mai are the mirror image of each other. OK? OK.

So there. That’s it for the comments for now. On with the show!

Episode 21: Dearest

Her favorite part of their house was the rooftop. There were no tall buildings for miles, so if you stood there on a cloudless night, you could see the stars clearly. She went up there if she wanted some time alone to clear her head when it was too late into the night that she couldn’t go to the park. On top of the roof, there was nothing that could break the wind. The wind and the stars put together had never failed to lift her spirits.

Until tonight.

This night was the epitome of irony. She was inwardly angry at Mother Nature for making the evening so perfect, yet she had nothing to celebrate. She was going to say good-bye to one of the people she cared about the most. And she was finally going to accept that ‘she’ was truly gone…

Goodness, she couldn’t even say the girl’s name…

“Rieka…”

She almost jumped when she heard the all-too-familiar voice behind her. Tears instantly stung her eyes, and she suddenly regretted the decision she had made. She felt him sit behind her, his back resting on hers. For a few minutes, they just sat there in equilibrium, relishing the time they had. No one spoke a word, and the only sound heard was the rustling of the trees below them as the wind blew.

“Rieka,” he finally said, breaking the silence, “I promised you—”

“Who cares about that promise?!” she snapped, surprising even herself.

She heard him sigh, and she felt the weight of his back leave hers.

“Rieka,” he repeated. “I promised you I wasn’t going to let you back out on this.”

She whirled around to face him, her brown eyes burning. “Then break it!”

“I can’t,” he said sadly. “You know I can’t.”

“Why?”

He smiled, taking her hand, “Because I don’t break promises.”

She looked away, unable to stand his kind gaze that she had grown to adore. She flinched when she felt him put something cold in her hand before gently pushing it back to her. She looked at the closed fist on her lap. The last thing she wanted to do was open it.

“At first I didn’t approve of your plan,” he said. “But I came to realize that you were right.”

“No, I wasn’t,” she said stubbornly. “I wasn’t!”

“You were,” he insisted.

“But, Ran…”

Her voice was choked, and she felt her tears finally starting to fall. She knew she must look pretty pathetic to him right now, but she didn’t care.

“Ran…I don’t want to—”

“Dearest,” he interrupted her, his ashen eyes smiling at her, “I will always, always be with you. Remember that.”

“But it’s unfair!” she protested. “You can see me, but I won’t be able to see you!”

“The other day… You said, ‘Just think of the daughter I still have. If we don’t do this, what will become of her?’ That was what you had said, and it struck me to the core. That was what convinced me.”

She looked away again as her own words were laid out before her. There was no way out of this, she knew. She looked at her hand resting on her lap again, and finally opened it. Inside was a blue heart pendant on a silver necklace. She smiled.

“Blue and silver. Quite expected.”

“You know me.”

She took the chain and put it on, thumbing the cold pendant that rested near her collarbone.

“So I guess this is good-bye, isn’t it?” she said.

“Not quite. This is ‘see you later’.”

She nodded, a sad smile on her lips. She covered her new necklace with her left hand, and closed her eyes.

Aiko…

The character for “light” glowed brightly on the back of her hand. It shot out into the night, but she was sure nobody saw it, anyways; the light of the Mark was invisible to the human eye. When she opened her eyes, she was alone on the rooftop, and the wind had stopped. She mentally willed the wind to blow again, but nothing happened. The night was deafeningly still.

She climbed back into their house stealthily. She was on her way to her daughter’s room when the phone suddenly rang, its shrill sound tearing across the quiet house. She hurriedly ran to it, and picked up the receiver.

“Hello?” she whispered.

“Rieka?” came a familiar voice.

“Hello, Megumi…”

For a moment, there was silence from the other end of the line.

“Rie… Did you do it?”

“Yes.”

Again, a pregnant pause.

“I sensed it when you did the transfer. Rieka, what if the Roses sensed it, too? What if they come to get you?”

“Then I’ll be ready.”

“But—”

“I’ll be ready.”

Silence.

“You’re one stubborn woman, you know that?”

“Takes one to know one.”

“Whatever. But how about Ran? Where is he now?”

In the dark hallway, Kazetenshi Rieka smiled.

“He’s right beside me, Megumi.

He’ll always be beside me.”

——-0——-

Kaji squinted as his maroon bangs whipped at his face.

This night seemed to be one of surprises. Yuki had left right after dinner to go to the Toriyamas, saying she had something to do with Kamui. When he asked her what it was, though, she just huffed and hurried out the door. When he had called the Toriyama residence to inteview Kamui, instead, he got a busy signal. He almost tried the Kazetenshi residence, too, but decided against it, figuring they wouldn’t know about Yuki’s plans, anyways. He was about to go back to his book when his own phone rang. It was Aiko.

“Hey, Kaji? Can I ask you a weird favor?…Can you go the Mound right now? Don’t tell anyone you’re going, OK?”

And now, here he was, flying to the park. He had no idea why Aiko had called him, and every time he tried to think of a possible reason, his mind drew a blank. Finally, Aiko’s Thinking Mound came into view…

“Hey…”

“Hao, Kaji. Thanks for coming.”

He wordlessly shrugged as he sat down beside her on the grass.

“No, really, thanks. It’s already late and I realized that maybe I dragged you out of bed. I didn’t want to disturb you, it’s just… I just didn’t know who else to call.”

At this, Kaji looked at Aiko. She looked pretty apologetic, but she also seemed –what was the right word?– troubled. Kaji smiled, trying to hide the fact that he was troubled because she was troubled.

Argh. Sometimes he hated Aiko’s effects on him.

“You don’t have to explain, y’know,” he told her with a chuckle. “It’s no prob.” But he knew that his comment was going to be ignored, anyways. Aiko gave explanations to her actions when she wanted to. At times, she did so even when it’s not needed. Times like now.

“It’s just that the phone at Kamui’s place was busy — Sara’s probably having having her usual all-night chatting sessions with her friends — and Kamui isn’t answering his cellphone, either, and Oniichan wasn’t at home, and so was Midori…”

Kaji felt his smile wane, but he tried with all his might not to let it fall.

-Well, Hino, whaddya expect?- said the little voice in his head.

Nothing.

-No, it wasn’t nothing… You were actually excited that she decided to call YOU when she needed someone to talk to! Ha! Haven’t you already learned that Tori— –

Shut. Up.

“I told you,” Kaji said out loud. “It’s no problem…”

Aiko smiled at him before turning to look out into the wide stretch of dark green grass before them. Kaji suppressed a sigh as he watched her absently fiddle with her shoelaces. The ironies of his life simply had to be so…ironic.

“Kaji…”

“Hm?”

“If you could be something — anything — what would you be?”

“If I could be anything?” Kaji echoed absently. Aiko was looking at him again, her right cheek resting on her knees as her arms hugged her legs crossed in front of her. She looked so cute, he just wanted to hug her.

Needless to say, he didn’t.

“Anything.” she repeated, nodding.

“Well,” he started, trying to think of a good, honest answer. “I don’t really know…”

When Aiko’s eyes narrowed at him, he just laughed, turning his eyes skyward.

“I dunno…maybe I’d want to be a star…”

“But you are a Star.”

“I meant an astronomical star, silly,” he said, poking Aiko’s forehead.

“Oh…Why?”

“So I could watch over the people I–… the people I wanna watch over…” he said, trailing off. To Kaji, Aiko looked like she was looking right through his words and straight into his brain.

NOT a good thought.

“What about you?” he asked, deciding to divert the attention away from himself. “What do you wanna be?”

Aiko looked out into the dark horizon again, the smile on her lips disappearing. The wind picked up as she tilted her head to look up at the sky. “I wish…I wish I was an eagle…” she said, the wind blowing through her soft hair. “I just wish I could fly…”

“Rookie. You are a Blue Star. You can fly.”

“Oh yeah,” she said with a small smile. She closed her eyes, and, heaving a sigh, let herself fall on the grass, surprising him.

Man. Aiko was troubled, wasn’t she?

She didn’t react even when she felt Kaji quietly lie down beside her. Honestly, Aiko didn’t know why she was asking Kaji all those questions. She didn’t even know why she asked him to meet her in the first place. Maybe she just needed to be with the Stars after her experience at the Deathrose palace. Maybe she just needed to see who her teammates were again. Maybe she just wanted to talk to Kaji.

Truth be told, when Aiko realized she badly needed someone to talk to, Kaji was the first person to come to mind. This, of course, bewildered her because Kamui was her best friend. She was supposed to call him when she needed someone. Don’t get her wrong, though. She still loved Kamui to death, and she thought that maybe he was still the best person to talk to that night, but the fact still remains that she had thought of Kaji first.

After one whole minute of staring at the phone, she decided to stop thinking about it, and just go on ahead and call Kamui. But she couldn’t contact him. Although she had wanted to call Kaji already, Aiko decided to call Midori, instead. But she wasn’t at home. Probably out with Rei, she thought.

Funny that she ended up calling Kaji, anyways.

Aiko sighed again as her brown eyes scanned the countless diamonds on the black blanket above them.

“What’re you thinking about?” Kaji’s voice broke through her thoughts.

What was she thinking about?

“Do you think,” she said, “among the numerous stars in the galaxy, there could be two stars that are exactly alike?”

“Hmm…I don’t think so. I think, scientifically, that’s not possible… Like, two stars could be of exacly the same size, but they must have different ages, temeratures, compositions, and… well, whatever other attribute stars have…” Kaji suddenly stopped and laughed. “Why’re you asking me anyway? You’re the science whiz!”

“I am not.”

“You are, too.”

“Am not.”

“Are, too.”

“Oh, hush.”

“Fine.”

A pause.

“Kaji?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you think–…Do you believe in soulmates?”

For a moment, Kaji didn’t say anything. She finally turned to him, and saw that he was still looking up at the stars above them.

“Yeah,” he answered after a while. “Yeah, I believe in soulmates…”

“Have you found yours?” she asked almost involuntarily. It was a pretty private question, she knew, but she couldn’t help it. Kaji turned to her, and Aiko felt herself instantly blush. She must be as red as a tomato, she thought, but, either Kaji didn’t notice, or he just decided to be poker-faced about it.

“It’s not mine to say.” was his quiet answer as he gazed at her, making her eyebrows furrow.

“How is that?”

“How do I explain it?” he thought out loud. “Tell me something: do you know yourself? I mean, like, entirely know yourself inside out? Do you think you know exactly who you are?”

“Well…” Aiko started, hesitating. “I don’t think I know myself entirely… I mean, I didn’t create myself, right? So I have yet to find out things I never knew about myself…things I never imagined I can do…things I never thought I could feel…”

Aiko trailed off, and she suddenly wanted to punch herself smack on her face.

Oh my God. Did I just SAY that?!

Aiko had to restrain herself from sighing in relief when Kaji turned his attention back to the night sky. “I never considered soulmates to be two people who’re exactly the same,” he said. “I always thought of them as opposites.”

“Opposites?”

“Yeah. Opposites attract, right? Like, the North and South poles, Yin and Yang, winter ‘n’ summer, moon and sun… They’re exact opposites, but they go together, compliment each other. But, since we won’t ever entirely know ourselves, we won’t know what our exact opposite is. It ain’t ours to say if someone’s our complement or not, so, it ain’t ours to say if we’ve met our complement or not. The same goes even if soulmates are exactly the same. Since you don’t entirely know yourself, then it ain’t yours to say if someone else is entirely like you. But then, that’s what’s great about it. Not knowing everything just makes life more interesting…”

Aiko smiled as she let her brain absorb his words. She had to hand it to him: Kaji sure knew how to explain things. It had been quite a while since she heard him talk like this, too… When was the last time she had a nice, long talk with the leader of the Blue Stars, anyway? She couldn’t even remember.

“You know what, Kaji?”

“What?”

“I missed you.”

————–

“Checkmate.”

“Rematch.”

“Again?!”

“Of course.”

Kamui shook his head as Yuki stood up and looked at the pictures strategically distributed around the Toriyama living room.

“Really, Yuki, I don’t get it…”

“Get what?”

“How you can be as brilliant as you are, but, at the same time, totally suck at chess.”

“Keep quiet and set up the board.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Yuki had called Kamui up the previous week, asking him if he could teach her to play chess. Actually, he had never heard her even mention the word ‘chess’ before that. But then, for no reason at all (according to Yuki), she had decided to study the game. Kamui didn’t know what had suddenly driven her to try to learn chess, but it had to be something to make her this persistent about it. He and Yuki had been playing for around two hours now, and man, oh man, did Yuki have a fighting spirit!

“You know, Yuki, you shouldn’t make a move just to make a move.”

“I don’t make a move just to make a move!” Yuki defended as she put a picture frame back in its place. “I make a move to eat as much of your pieces as possible. Isn’t that what I’m supposed to do?”

“Well, sort of… Remember, the objective of the game is NOT to eat your opponent’s pieces. The objective is to catch the king. You have to be willing to sacrifice some of your pieces if it’ll trap your opponent to compromise his king. You have to have an endgame, Yuki, not take things move by move.”

“Hm…”

Kamui looked up from putting the last piece on the board to see the Ice Maiden looking curiously at one of the picture frames. He rolled his eyes. Was she even listening to him? No wonder her game wasn’t improving!

“Yuki…” he said, scratching his hair.

“I didn’t know Aiko did this when you guys were kids,” she said out of nowhere.

“Huh? Did what?”

“Dye her hair and wear contacts.”

“Ai-chan never did that before…”

“Then how come she looks like this in this picture?”

His eyebrows furrowing, Kamui stood up and walked over to where Yuki was.

“See?” she said, pointing at the picture in her hands. Kamui almost laughed. It was the exact same photo Kaji was intensely trying to ‘decipher’ several months ago.

“She’s just four years old there, Yuki, she can’t wear contacts yet,” he said, taking the photo from her. “It’s just the sunset changing some of the colors.”

“Oh. OK… Aiko looks cute with a boy’s cut; I wonder why she keeps her hair long.”

“She always liked her hair long. Actually, I don’t remember her ever having a boy’s cut. If it weren’t for this, I wouldn’t have believed it myself, either.”

“It’s called infant amnesia,” Yuki said, making her way back to their table. “Most people don’t remember anything that happened before they turned 5…”

“I guess so…” Kamui said, taking one last glance at the picture. He was about to put it back in its place when he did a double-take. Looking at the four-year-old brown-eyed, black-haired girl shyly smiling in the picture, one image flashed before his eyes. A smiling, blushing, mysterious raven-haired, brown-eyed girl who wore a baseball cap.

Mai…

Kamui frowned, firmly placing the picture frame on the tabletop.

Get a grip, Toriyama, he thought. It’s the sunset changing the colors, you know that! That girl is the blue-haired, grey-eyed Ai-chan. Kazetenshi Aiko. Your BEST FRIEND, remember her?

Yeah, it was just the sunset…

Wasn’t it?

————–

“Ha…HA… HAA-CHOO!“

Aiko sniffled, rubbing her nose. “I’m going to get you for this, Oniichan,” she muttered under her breath.

She had just gotten home from training at Ran’s that morning when Hikaru had intercepted her.

“I promised Dad I was going to clean the attic,” he had said. “But I haven’t been training the past days either, and Ran’s going to clobber me if I don’t show up there today.”

“So what are you implying?”

“Can you please PLEASE take over my chores today?”

“You mean clean the attic?”

“Yes…”

“No.”

At this point, Hikaru went down on his knees and begged. “Please, Ai-chan? Pleeease?”

“Oniichan, that’s the ATTIC!”

“Please, o wonderful, beautiful, magnificent, darling sister of mine whose kindness and compassion is beyond understanding?”

And that was how she ended up spending the afternoon with a vacuum cleaner in the dusty attic. She sighed, tightening the knotted handkerchief binding her hair.

“If only Oniichan wasn’t so– GAAAH!“

Aiko screamed, jumping up, when a cockroach scuttled across the floor. With her heart pounding on her ribcage, she stayed airborne. At that moment among others, she was extremely grateful she had the ability to fly.

Do NOT fly, you filthy little pest, she threatened the insect when it started to climb the wall, or else I will—

“YAAA!”

-KZZZT!-

Silence.

Aiko opened one tightly shut eye before opening the other. Her eyes frantically searched the ceiling and walls for the offending insect, but she saw nothing. Instead of being relieved, she felt more nervous. What if it was on top of her head? Or her shoulder? She absolutely hated it when she couldn’t see her opponent!

She was able to let go of her breath, though, when her eyes turned downwards, and found the cockroach dead (fried) on the floor.

I. Hate. Cockroaches. I HATE flying cockroaches.

Her adrenaline finally subsiding, Aiko floated down until her feet touched the wood underneath her. She sighed, shaking her head at the chaos before her. When she had jumped up in surprise, she had also literally thrown the tube of her vacuum cleaner, making it hit a box, which, in turn, fell off the shelf, setting numerous pieces of paper free to scatter themselves on the floor.

I HATE cockroaches…

She kneeled down, and started picking up the pieces of paper. They looked quite old: they were a bit stiff, and the ‘whiteness’ of the paper seemed to have faded to a light yellow color. It was nowhere near antique, but it definitely had its share of time on the earth. Curious, Aiko began to read the consistent, even handwriting.

“February 14th.

“My goodness. I don’t think I can find a man as clichéic — if there is such a word.”

Aiko’s eyebrows furrowed, yet her lips were arched in an amused smile.

“I was painting a piece requested by one of my most important clients when he went to my studio today. Yoshiyuki-san had wanted me to paint something under the title, ‘The Perfect Woman’. When Ken found out about this, he asked me if I had a model for my piece, because he said I did it so well. Well, I didn’t have a physical model, I told him, because the perfect woman didn’t exist in the real world, anyway. It’s an ideal that exists only in the minds and imagination of people, methinks. You know what he said? He said, ‘Then that means I’m not real, doesn’t it?’

“Anyone told that cryptic line would have asked what I did. I asked him ‘Why?’. He said, ‘Because I’m in the presence of the perfect woman!’ Now, if THAT wasn’t clichéic, I don’t know what is.”

Aiko couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

“But, if you ask me, I don’t think I’ll find a man as romantic, either. Oh my goodness…I think I’m blushing just thinking about it…

“And I can’t believe I just wrote that.

“Oh! Megumi’s calling me. I’ve got to go. I’ll write about that later, I promise. I can’t NOT write down what happened.

Rie “

Aiko glanced around the room, frowning, when she realized she still had a lot of work to do. But then, she was intrigued of what romantic thing ‘Ken’ did!

In the end, the self-disciplined Aiko took charge over her emotional self. She gathered the pieces of paper as fast (and as carefully) as she could, and put them back in the box, deciding to read the rest after cleaning.

————–

There were times when she would just sit on her dresser, staring at the mirror for no reason. Sometimes, she would do this so long, her face didn’t seem to make sense anymore. Sometimes, she suddenly realized they were starting to look like plain shapes. This night was one of them. It wasn’t that her vision was blurred. Her face simply looked like…shapes.

Until a knock on her door jolted her awake.

“Mai-sama?” came a voice from outside.

“Yes?” she answered, glancing at her reflection on the mirror again. Her face was back to normal.

“Dinner’s ready…”

“I…I’m not hungry, Kaori-san. You can go on and eat without me.”

For a moment, there was silence.

“Mai-sama… are you feeling all right?”

The Deathrose Princess stood up, made her way to the door, and peeked outside. Concerned emerald eyes greeted her.

“I’m all right, Kaori-san, maybe I just ate too much at lunch,” Mai said with a smile.

“But you didn’t eat dinner the other night, either…”

“But I ate last night, didn’t I?” she answered with a grin. “Really, I’m all right, Kaori.”

Kaori looked down at the tray of food in her hands, as if to say, ‘So what am I going to do with this?’ Mai chuckled, then took the tray.

“All right, I’ll take that. I’ll eat it later.”

This seemed to comfort Kaori a bit, as she smiled and bowed before leaving. “Have a good rest, Mai-sama.”

When Mai had closed the door behind her, she put the try down on her table and made her way back to the dresser. For some reason, she found herself staring at her reflection again. She shook her head, and was about to close the light on the dresser when she heard a familiar voice.

“Mai.”

She spun around in surprise, assuming battle stance. But no one was there.

“Mai, I’m over here.”

The Princess blinked, then turned around again to face her mirror. Her reflection was there, but there was another reflection of her there. Except the reflection was standing straight, and her hair was ponytailed, and was wearing different clothes.

“Wha…?”

“Look, Mai,” the other reflection spoke, “I don’t have the luxury of time, so listen carefully. Go to the Ishiyogi Park tonight. There’s a place there I call the Thinking Mound. It’s hard to give you directions, but we can talk privately there. Just go to the park, and use my ki to find me. If you don’t show up tonight, I’ll tell the Stars AND the Roses that we switched. You wouldn’t want that, right?”

Mai blinked, only then realizing who was talking to her. “Kazetenshi Aiko?!”

“Go tonight, or our pretty little secret is out. Go there. ALONE.”

Before Mai could say anything, her other reflection — rather, Aiko’s image — disappeared.

Wow. I didn’t know the Wind Angel was powerful enough to teleport at will…

Meanwhile, in the Kazetenshi residence, Aiko collapsed into a chair as her room seemed to spin around her.

————–

It took her two hours to finally make a decision, but despite the fact that Yuuji was probably going to lecture her again, Mai took her chances and snuck out of the palace. When she arrived at the Thinking Mound, she scanned the area carefully, trying to look for someone’s ki, anyone’s ki, but she got nothing except for the lone youth sitting on the grass several yards away from her.

“I’m alone, Mai. No one else is here.”

Mai’s frown went deeper. “How can I trust you when you sent me such a treacherous message?”

“It was the only way. I knew you would do anything just so I wouldn’t tell anybody that we switched places for a day.”

The Deathrose Princess tensed when the Wind Angel turned in her seat to look at her.

“I have something you might want to see,” she said. “But, you have to know: I will get this back in perfect condition else I will have your head.”

Mai nodded despite her frown. “If it is that important of a commodity.”

“I also need you to promise me one thing before I let you lay your eyes on it.”

“Which is?”

“Keep an open mind and consider the possibilities. I didn’t come here to fight with you, but I did come here to discuss an important matter.”

Again, Mai nodded. Aiko took out a manila envelope, and made it float over her open hand.

“Perfect condition,” she repeated before making the envelope float towards Mai. The Princess caught it, and, throwing one last wary look at the Star, she opened the envelope to find a piece of paper inside. After being momentarily surprised at how old the paper felt, she pulled it out of the envelope and began to read.

“Dearest Hikaru,

If you’re reading this, that means that my daughter is wearing my necklace, and that my power over your mind has faded, and that by now, you’ve remembered everything I’ve made you forget…”

Mai paused, turning her eyes to the other girl.

“What does this have to do with me?”

“Just read on.”

“It’s pretty long.”

“Then sit down so you won’t get tired.”

Mai sighed, then went to sit a few meters away from Aiko as the other girl watched her. She continued reading.

“I know that, by now, you’re probably very confused. I’m sorry… Sometimes I wish I had enough power to permanently erase your memory, but I know you might not want that if you knew the whole truth.

“Do you remember Aiko’s 6th birthday? You had promised me that you’re going to take care of her no matter what happens. I know you were only 7 years old then, but I also know that you are a good child, and that you love your sister very much, so I’m secure that you will take care of her.

“Hikaru, I know that your first encounter with M—”

The Princess suddenly stopped, her eyes widening.

“Just read on,” came Aiko’s voice. Mai nodded, turning her attention back to the paper in her hands.

“…I know that your first encounter with Mai would be very disturbing. I pray that you will be with Aiko when this happens. If not, I don’t know how she’ll handle it. I don’t know exactly how your roads will cross, but I don’t think it will be a friendly one, unless Ran and Youko have had some form of agreement. That seems very far from happening, though. Hikaru, you have to protect Aiko at all costs. However, you must do everything in your power to protect Mai, as well, for she is still your—”

Mai’s throat was suddenly dry as her eyes remained on that next word. Although she had already anticipated it, seeing it in print was an entirely different thing.

“…sister.”

Silence fell. At the back of her mind, Mai appreciated the fact that Aiko didn’t react to her shock. When her brain finished processing that statement, she cleared her throat and continued reading.

“Yes, Hikaru, Mai is Aiko’s twin. Now that I’ve told you who Mai really is, the next logical question to answer is this: How did Mai get separated from us? It happened when she was four.

“We were at the beach that day, but Aiko had a fever, so she was left in the hotel with me. It was then that the Roses attacked. I was able to fight them without leaving Aiko. But when Mai suddenly entered the room, they took her. She was too far away from me, and they snatched her. I know I could have gotten her back, but I couldn’t leave Aiko. I was too afraid that they were going to take her, as well. I can’t lose both my daughters…”

Aiko couldn’t help but feel sorry for Mai as the girl fell silent. She could only imagine what it felt like, reading about your own past that you never knew.

“Mai,” she said when the Princess wordlessly handed the letter back to her, “I know it looks like I’m trying to turn you against Deathrose, and I understand that your loyalty—”

“I already know, Aiko.”

A pause.

“What?”

“I already know that you’re my sister. I figured it out last night.”

Mai reached inside her jacket, pulling out a two pictures, and gave them to Aiko. The Wind Angel turned pale. The pictures Mai had were of Rieka. In one, she was holding Mai, and in the other, she was with Aiko.

“I saw that one in your photo album; the other one is mine. I figured out that you were my sister, and that’s totally logical since that explains why we look entirely the same. The conclusion I reached, though, is obviously different from yours. I thought you were kidnapped and brainwashed by Blue Star. But if that letter is real…”

“It IS real!” Aiko exclaimed, her defenses going up. “It’s real! I found it in our attic with Okaasan’s other—”

“Think about it, Wind Angel.” Mai’s facial expression surprisingly stern. “Let’s just say, for the sake of debate, that Deathrose IS the enemy, the bad guys. What if we just planted it in your house so you would pity me? So we could lure you out here and trust me? What if I was going to make myself your weakness, and use you to finally destroy Blue Star?”

“If that was true, then you wouldn’t be telling me this.”

“What if I told you that just so you would eliminate the possibility that I might be lying?”

Aiko considered it. Mai was right. This could be just some mind game. One huge, confusing, frustrating mind game. Man, she hated secrets.

“On the other hand,” she said, “just for the sake of debate, if Blue Star is the enemy, then you could be the one being lured into a trap, right?”

“So, we can’t trust each other still,” Mai concluded, nodding, “until we both verify the authenticity of this letter.”

“Our being sisters is pretty obvious, I suppose…”

“We just didn’t want to accept it at once, what with us being on opposite sides.”

“The question now is: which side is the side to be on? Blue Star or Deathrose?”

“Precisely. It looks like we have to figure this out ourselves.”

“Right.”

In spite of the gravity of the situation, Aiko couldn’t help but grin. They were starting to talk like twins already.

“Mai…” she said, “I have a question. Disregarding what you know about me, what do you know about Deathrose and Blue Star?”

“Eh? You’re kidding, right?” When Aiko didn’t answer, Mai’s eyebrows furrowed. “What kind of a question is that?”

“A pretty self-explanatory one, if you ask me. I’m just trying to reconcile what I know with what you know so we can straighten this out.”

“Well, what do you want to know?”

“Everything. Like, history, or whatever you know about us. Pretend that I’m just a normal human, and I know nothing about Blue Star and Deathrose.”

“History…” Mai echoed. “Where should I start?”

“The beginning would be nice. Up to the present if you can.”

For a moment, Mai was thoughtful. Then, finally, she took a deep breath, and began.

“My family was a clan of the Elementals.”

“What are Elementals?” Aiko asked with a grin. “Remember: I know nothing.”

“Oh… Right.” Mai bit her lip, reorganizing her thoughts. “OK. Let me try again.”

“Please do.”

“Every human has a ki, or his life source. Embedded in every ki is something called the Seed, which is the power over the Elements. This means everyone technically has a potential to control an Element, but they rarely know about it. A person can’t tap his Seed unless he dies, or if an Elemental trains him to tap it. Some have more potential than others that they can tap it by themselves. Some have so little potential, it’s almost negligible.

“One who has the character and capability to handle the Elements is what we call a potential, and he is given a chance to join the Elementals. If he wishes not to, he is stripped of the power of the Element. If a person is stripped of his Seed, then he goes to his final destination after he dies. The Elementals are those who have mastered their Elements, like us.

“Our clan produces the most powerful Elementals. My great-great-great-great-great-grandfather — or at least I think he was that… I can’t remember how many ‘great’s there are supposed to be — is one of the most powerful. His name was Zai. He thought that it was better to strip everyone of their potential powers altogether to prevent the possibility of the abuse. This led to a series of arguments and debate that caused the Elementals to split into two factions: Blue Star and Deathrose. They weren’t really enemies, but they certainly don’t agree.

“Blue Star is the faction that say that people should be given the choice whether or not to be an Elemental. They monitor the people. If someone shows potential to be an Elemental, they take him in and train him. Deathrose, on the other hand, followed Zai’s ideology. They want death to the Seed.”

Mai paused, looking at Aiko before continuing. “I have to warn you: the next part is probably the one where you’ll have the most objections. I request you to hear me out, for I will listen to you when you get your chance to defend your side.”

“Agreed.”

“There were some instances when Blue Star did more than monitor. Sometimes, they do more than strip a person’s Seed. Sometimes, they strip the life force of the person when the Stars can’t keep them under Blue Star. That is what had happened with my parents.

“Inter-marriage between Stars and Roses was preposterous, but one of an Elemental and a potential was more welcome, even if the potential was an offspring of someone from the other faction, as in the case of my father. My father was an offspring of Deathrose, but his Seed was negligible. My mother, on the other hand, was actually a Star. Despite that, all was well. That is, until my mother decided to quit being a Star.

“There was this man, a powerful Star, that was my mother’s friend. From the very beginning, he was against inter-marriages zealously, even those between a potential and an Elemental. When my mother decided to be stripped of her Seed, he went so mad that he had her killed. Not only that, he had even my father killed, as well.

“This was the last straw for the Roses. A full-scale war erupted against the two factions. Even though my clan was originally the most powerful, Blue Star had the best strategists. They weren’t able to eliminate all the Roses, but they WERE able to cripple us. Every single member of my family was wiped out. Except for me. Youko-san hid me, fearing that the Stars might try to look for me and kill me. Even though I was half-Star, the Roses took care of me and trained me to tap my Seed. Deathrose, despite the pretty sadistic name, is my family now…”

A few moments passed, but Aiko was still silent. True, she had initiated this talk with Mai. But now that she knew about Mai’s past (if it IS her past), she didn’t know what to say. If what Mai just narrated was true, then how come Aiko wasn’t mentioned? How come Hikaru wasn’t in it? If it was true, then who was Kazetenshi Ken’ichi, the father that Aiko knew?

“It’s your turn,” Mai said, snapping her out of her reverie.

Aiko sighed. “As you said, we monitor potentials. But that’s not our main mission. Our main mission is to protect people from collection.” Mai’s jaw visibly clenched, but Aiko chose not to fuss about it. “I don’t know why Roses collect. All I know is that I don’t want to see people getting killed for apparently no reason. Kaji — you know Kaji, right?”

“The maroon-haired guy whose picture you keep in your closet door?”

“It isn’t his picture, there’s four of us there!”

“OK, OK! No need to get so defensive…” Mai said, amused with Aiko’s crimson cheeks. Aiko cleared her throat before continuing.

“Yes, that’s him. He told me once that it’s all in a matter of belief, that we all have reasons for the things we do. I joined Blue Star initially because it gave me a chance to be with my family again after–… after minors caused a car accident leading to my death. But when I saw the Roses try to kill Kamui, I realized that my view about being a Star had changed. Now, I want to protect the people from the minors. I know how it feels to lose someone; I don’t want anybody else experiencing it. So I guess that’s it. All I have is faith. And, as long as what I’m doing isn’t destructive to anyone, then I’ll keep doing what I do.”

“A Rose attacked Kamui?”

“Yes, he became a Star right after. Why?”

“Nothing,” Mai answered quickly. “It’s strange, hearing that one of your friends actually tried to kill someone…”

“I know,” Aiko said. “It’s weird seeing the Roses as they were when we switched. I was so used to seeing them trying to ki– I mean, attack us…”

“I suppose there is no way of sugar-coating it, is there? Attack, kill… Same banana.”

“Say, Mai… There’s something that’s been bothering for a while now… Why do Roses collect?”

Again, the Princess tensed. “To tell you the truth, collection is putting death to the Seed. At least, that’s what it’s supposed to be.”

“You mean—”

“I never saw what collection really is until that night we switched.”

Again, silence fell.

“I guess, to be fair, I should read the rest of that, right?” Mai said. Aiko nodded, then handed the letter back to the Princess. Again, Mai started to read out loud, picking up where she left off.

“Ran — I assume you already know Ran-sama — and the other Stars tried to defeat the Roses to get her back. But they couldn’t defeat all of them. It was too dangerous to barge into the Deathrose palace to get her, because they might do something to her. Then, I came to realize that Mai isn’t the only one in danger. You and Aiko were both in danger, as well. So, after much thought, I figured it was best to disconnect you from the Elementals.

“We had your memories erased. Yours, Aiko’s, Kamui’s and Sara’s. You were only children, and I couldn’t bear the fact that a root of bitterness — bitterness against Deathrose for taking your sister away — will be planted in your hearts so early in your life. Bitterness is a prison a person puts around himself, Hikaru. Don’t be bitter. Don’t imprison yourself.

“If you notice, all our pictures have only one of your sisters in them. We kept only the ones with Aiko in them; I hid all the pictures we had of Mai. You know where they are, maybe you just haven’t remembered it yet. But don’t try too hard to remember; you might strain your brain. And I don’t mean that as a joke. Look them over with your sisters when all is well. Always take care of your sisters, Hikaru…

“I love you, my son. Remember that. Remember that you will never be alone, as I am always with you.

“Mom”

The two girls were silent as Mai looked over the letter again. She sighed, then carefully put the piece of paper back inside the envelope.

“That man…” Aiko said after a while, “that man that had your mother killed. What was his name?”

“Do you really want to know?”

“I’ll know sooner or later, anyways.” But, honestly, Aiko was scared. The sad, sympathetic way her mirror image was looking at her didn’t help, either. In fact, it frightened her even more.

“His name…” Mai finally said, “was Ran.”

————–

Next on Blue Star

As Mai starts her investigation, Kaji asks his own questions, Sara dreams dreams, Kamui finally makes a long-overdue decision, and Aiko gets a chance to meet with an old acquaintance. Most times, to do what you must, you have to venture into the unknown.

“Oei! Aiko has an announcement to make!”

Episode 22: Confusion

————–

From the Author

Oh my goodness. I can’t believe I actually finished that! Yup, this is the ever-lovable Explanation Episode. Or one of them, at least. After looking this over and editing it a gazillion times, I finally decided that this episode is ready for the readers’ criticism. Waaa…give comments on Mai’s explanation about the history of Blue Star and Deathrose, ok? Email me for loopholes and questions. I understand that some aspects of the history aren’t consistent with what we know so far about the Stars and the Roses, but remember that we don’t know what the truth really is yet.

I realized that maybe it’s slightly confusing if Mai was talking or reading the letter. I didn’t italicize the letter-reading parts because my eyes hurt when I read long, italicized paragraphs. I don’t want the same thing to happen to you guys. But if you think I should italicize that part, please include it in your review.

Clarification: Aiko collapsed into the chair out of exhaustion. Remember that teleportation takes a lot of energy. Although Aiko didn’t physically teleport, she did it mentally. But she was still exhausted. It took two hours for Mai to leave the palace, right? Add the time it took for her to get to the Thinking Mound, and you get the time it took for Aiko to pull herself together.

On a happier note: Bwahaha! Go, Aiko! Korose! Hehe. I hate cockroaches, too, so… yeah.

References to earlier episodes:

Episode 14: Fever — Kaji ‘decoding’ the picture in the Toriyama residence . This was the picture taken the day the Roses took Mai (according to the letter Aiko found).

Episode 10: Rain — Kamui getting attacked by Haruna and Kaori

Episode 11: Trust — Kamui’s fall

Episode 8: Pointless — Kaji talks with Aiko about having faith in Ran.

More notes

Maggyd: I hope this episode didn’t disappoint you, since you wanted more development on the “sisters” idea. But, then again, practically nothing is resolved in this episode, anyway. About your comment about Deathrose not being “ruthless, cruel people out for blood”, I’m so glad you feel that way Yeah, I just had say that.

Bentfender: I somehow expected you were going to comment on Kaji’s absence… I wanted to insert him somewhere in there, but, oh well. Glad you still liked it. About Kamui not noticing, you’re right. For a second, he somehow thought that ‘Aiko’ seemed different, but he didn’t get to think about it because Sara arrived. Besides, I think he’ll be the last one to actually be suspicious of ‘Aiko’ because she is his best friend… Uh…yeah. I’m not going to expound on that because I might give something away XD

Her eyes widened as her whole body froze.

No…

NO!!!

—-0—-

“IYAAAAAAA!!!!!!”

Aiko shot up from the bed with a scream, her hands sweaty and her breathing ragged. Her hand flew to her neck, only to find her necklace missing, totally crushing her hope that that incident in the alley wasn’t real. “Oh, God… Oh, God…” was the only thing she could say.

Her eyes darted from left to right in the dark room as she tried to remember what had happened that night. She was on her way to the plaza when someone grabbed her from behind. She was hit twice on her head… And then… And then…

And then, what?

“Oh, God…”

Taking deep, steadying breaths, Aiko clutched her forehead and tightly shut her eyes.

You’re OK, Aiko… Calm down… Calm DOWN…

But she couldn’t calm down.

I wasn’t—… Nothing else happened to me… right?

Aiko’s eyes snapped open when, again, she felt someone encircle his arms around her. With a muffled yell (which was also a half-whimper), she instinctively (violently) tried to push him away. But he didn’t let her go. He wouldn’t let her go even as she pounded her fists on his chest. She knew he was saying something to her, but she couldn’t understand him… All she could hear was a repetitive “Sssh…”

When exhaustion started to wash over her (and she finally realized that her efforts to break free were fruitless), she stopped struggling, her whole body still tense.

“Sssh, it’s OK…” came his voice. Aiko was amazed she could even hear him through her heartbeat loudly drumming in her ears.

She felt his hand stroke the back of her head, gently inviting her to lean her head on his shoulder. It was only then that Aiko felt the familiar warmth enveloping her, and before she could stop it, a sob had escaped her throat, and tears stung her eyes.

“I’m here…It’s OK, I’m here…” he said quietly.

Another sob shook her shoulders. And another, and another…

Before long, Aiko was clutching on to him like he was her lifeline, her tears uncontrollably streaming down her cheeks. It was odd, she thought, that she should be this shaken. Hadn’t she gotten through worse situations? But then, there she was, crying almost hysterically on his shoulder as he gently stroked her hair.

Thank God for Kaji.

“Sssh…” he said again, his voice soothing. He sounded a bit strange, sure, but Aiko supposed it was because her brain’s a bit muddled right now.

After what seemed like forever, the sobbing subsided, and Aiko just leaned comfortably on him, though her hands were still tightly holding on to his shirt. With one last sniff, Aiko slightly lifted her head.

“I’m sorry,” she said in a broken voice, “I got your shirt all wet…”

He chuckled, putting his hand on her shoulders. “This isn’t the first time that’s happened, now, is it?”

Aiko’s eyebrows furrowed. True, she felt a bit embarrassed for looking so helpless again, but she didn’t recall crying like this in front of him before. Blinking, Aiko looked up at Kaji, only to find that she was not looking at Kaji.

I have GOT to be dreaming still.

The one who had held her, the one who had the soothing, calming voice, the man she had been clutching on to all this time…was none other than Yuuji, the Rose of Flames.

“Before you remember that you’re supposed to be angry at me,” he said, “I’m going to take this chance and apologize. I should never have shouted at you, and it was absolutely wrong of me to manhandle you, Mai-sama…”

“Mai-sama”

“Although I still maintain that it’s dangerous for you to go back there,” Yuuji continued, “I realized that shouting at you wasn’t going to help any. But…by the time I did…”

Aiko felt his hands tighten on her shoulders as he looked at her straight in the eye. At first, she thought he had realized just to whom he was talking to. But when he looked away, Aiko saw he had this look on his face that was far from what she had expected. It was the same look Kamui had the last time they were at the Thinking Mound…

“Aiko, you died right in front of my eyes,” Kamui had said. “I didn’t think I could handle experiencing that a second time…”

“Mai-sama,” Yuuji said, breaking through Aiko’s thoughts. He was looking at her again, and she was sure he was going to recognize her. “Please… Don’t ever do that to me again…”

“Don’t ever do that to me again, OK?” Kamui’s voice echoed in Aiko’s ears.

Aiko just nodded dumbly, making Yuuji smile slightly. He raised a hand to her cheek, wiping a dry trace of her tears with his thumb.

“Why don’t you lie down and rest?” he said. “I think you’ve been through enough for tonight.”

Again, she nodded, lying down, and let Yuuji tuck her in.

“Good night, Mai-sama,” he said, giving her another smile as he stood up. Aiko smiled at him, as well, figuring that, if he thought she was Mai, then she better act like Mai. Not that she actually knew her or anything…

“Good night, Yuuji-kun.”

When the door closed behind Yuuji, Aiko let out the breath she didn’t even know she was holding. She brought a hand to her forehead again, trying to process what had just happened. So it wasn’t Kaji who saved me in the alley, after all, she thought, only then remembering that the last thing she saw before passing out was red flames. Yuuji saved me…

She shook her head unbelievingly. She was simply dumbfounded at how Yuuji was gentle and kind and compassionate. Well, OK, maybe he wouldn’t be like that if he knew who she really was. But still, since he was trying to kill her every time she saw him, she had already reached a conclusion that he wasn’t capable of such emotions. Aiko remembered the first time she encountered Yuuji; he had called her “hime-sama”. So did that mean Kurobara Mai was actually the princess he had thought her to be?

Suddenly, Aiko shot up in her bed again.

If Yuuji had thought she was Mai…

then where was Mai?

————–

The Deathrose Princess blinked as she stared at the ceiling. She didn’t recall ever telling anyone to remove her canopy…

Slowly, she sat up on her bed, scratching her eyes, deciding to talk to one of the maids later. She felt odd sleeping without the dark blue tulle surrounding her bed. She turned to the window, and watched her green curtains billowing as the wind blew into the room. She smiled.

Gotta love the wind.

The birds chirped on the tree outside as the sun started to rise, giving a light blue color to the sky. This was gong to be a beautiful morning, she knew.

Her smile faded, though, when she realized something. She didn’t have green curtains; she always had white ones. And she didn’t have a window, either; she had glass doors that led to her balcony. Her eyebrows furrowing, her eyes quickly scanned the room.

It wasn’t her room. Everything was foreign. There was a desk, a box containing rolled things she presumed to be canvas, a stereo system on top of a cabinet full of CDs, a tall bookshelf… And there, sitting on the floor at the edge of the bed was…

“Ka-…Kamui?!“

The sleeping black-haired boy stirred, slowly blinking his eyes open. For a couple of seconds, he just looked at the floor. But when he looked up and saw her, he smiled widely, sighing in relief.

“Finally…” he said as he stood up. Mai just stared at him as he stretched his arms, yawning.

I have GOT to be dreaming… she thought.

“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”

Mai blinked. “Enjoying what?”

“Giving me a heart attack,” Kamui said, rolling his eyes. “Honestly. I looked everywhere for you like a madman last night… But then, whoop-dee-doo, you were here the whole time, sleeping like a baby.”

He dug his hand into his pocket, and fished out a necklace.

“I was wondering how you got blood on this, though,” he said, thumbing the pendant as he sat down beside her. “I mean, the only wound you had was on your arm…”

Before Mai could think of an answer, though, Kamui looked at her again and smiled. He leaned over and reached behind her neck, putting the silver necklace on her. Mai’s heart pounded loudly on her rib cage, she was sure Kamui heard it, what with him being so close to her.

“But then, who cares? What matters is you’re safe now, right?”

Kamui finished fastening the clasp, and sat back down on the bed. He was about to smile again, wanting to comment on how quiet she was today, when his eyebrows furrowed.

Aiko’s… blushing?!

Suddenly, Kamui found himself tongue-tied as he looked into her chocolate brown eyes. He never thought Aiko could look so mysterious… He felt like he was looking at somebody else…

His feet were pulled back to reality, though, when the door opened, revealing Sara. She smiled at them as she stepped inside.

“Finally,” she breathed. Kamui almost laughed at how his sister was so much like him sometimes. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m…a bit tired still, but I’ll be fine,” the black-haired girl said with a smile. But Kamui noted, though, that that bewildered look she had on ever since she woke up was still there.

“Would you like to go home now?” Sara asked. “I’m sure you’d be more comfortable there than here in Oniichan’s sloppy room, won’t you?”

“Hey, I resent that! My room is not sloppy.”

Sara just smiled sweetly at Kamui before turning to the brown-eyed girl again. “So shall I call Hikaru-kun now?”

A nod and a weak “Ok…” was her answer.

“Why don’t you lie back down, Aiko?” Kamui said as he stood up. “Hikaru shouldn’t be here in a while. You can still get some rest.”

When Kamui and his sister had left the room, Mai sighed heavily and collapsed on the bed. This was just too surreal… She actually met Kamui again! Mai felt warmth rise to her face when she remembered that she was actually sleeping in his room. And he gave up his comfortable bed for her!

“Why don’t you lie back down, Aiko?”

Then again, he didn’t give up his bed for her, did he? Kamui had thought she was Aiko…Kazetenshi Aiko. The girl who looked like her…

Mai’s eyebrows furrowed as she raised her left sleeve. There wasn’t even a trace of any kind of scratch there. But, didn’t Kamui say she had a wound? She checked her right arm, but there wasn’t anything there, either. Suddenly, Mai felt hugely scared. The only thing that could heal a shuriken wound was a Healer…

So, if Kamui was a Healer that Mai didn’t know about… and he knows Kazetenshi Aiko…

Did that make Kamui a Star?

————–

“HIME-SAMA!”

Aiko suppressed a gasp when Maya lunged at her, making them fall on the floor. She winced as the throbbing on her head returned. Aiko thought she wouldn’t be surprised if she woke up with amnesia the next day, what with all the banging her skull had been receiving the past days…

“Maya!” came Yuuji’s voice. “Be careful!”

“I– I’m sorry…” Maya said, getting off of Aiko. “I thought…Well, that’s never happened before, has it? I mean… Hime-sama had always—”

“But, Maya,” Yuuji started as he helped Aiko stand up, “Mai-sama isn’t feeling too well today, see?”

“I’m sorry,” Maya said, bowing her head. “I was just excited to see you OK, Mai-sama…”

“It’s quite all right,” Aiko said, forcing a smile. Let the readers know, however, that if she hadn’t known Maya before — and if her head wasn’t hurting so much — the smile didn’t have to be forced. Maya just looked so adorable!

“Actually,” Yuuji started, looking at Aiko pointedly. “You shouldn’t be running around yet.”

“I’m not running around,” she said automatically.

“So, I suppose you’d like to say that you’re walking around.”

“That’s correct. Besides, I’ve barely gotten out of the room.”

Yuuji smiled, shaking his head. “Well, at least it’s good to know you’re back to your old self.”

Aiko blinked. Either Midori was right that she was a psychic, or Mai and Aiko’s personalities were just naturally close. Either way, it was creepy.

“Um…” Aiko started. “If it’s all right… I’m a bit hungry…”

“Ah, yes, I ‘m pretty sure Kaori’s on her way up with your lunch. Would you like Maya to accompany you while you wait?”

“That’s not necessary. Actually, I was thinking of having lunch with you, if it’s all right…”

“Of course,” Yuuji said. “Maya, why don’t you go downstairs and tell the others that Mai-sama is having lunch with us?”

“Hai!”

When Maya had run off, Yuuji offered his arm. Aiko took it, and they headed for the dining room… wherever it was.

Truth be told, Aiko wasn’t sure what she was doing. She knew she was putting herself in danger of being found out by exposing herself more. Like, maybe Yuuji would sense that she didn’t know her way around the palace, or maybe the Roses would be suspicious because she would not know what Mai was supposed to know… But, she reckoned her curiosity just got better of her after seeing Yuuji being gentlemanly and Maya being childish. She could only guess what the others were like. She would just have to momentarily ignore the fact that Kaori had almost killed her the last time they saw each other… And that Haruna had stabbed Yuki then, too…

The whole trip to the first floor, Aiko had tried to prepare herself on how she was going to act around the Roses. But when they reached the dining room, she still couldn’t help but be amazed.

I’m in a parallel dimension. Yeah, that’s got to be it.

Sitting around the elaborate table was the whole cast being totally out of character. Kaori was laughing, almost falling off her chair. Maya had a totally innocent face on as she looked back and forth the black-haired girl and the fuming Haruna, who had her hands on her hips. Fuu was the only one silent, though an amused smile pulled on the corners of her mouth.

“Oei, oei, what’s all this commotion about?” Yuuji asked beside Aiko as they approached the table.

“They’re making fun of me!” Haruna almost whined. Yuuji just laughed as he pulled out a chair for Aiko.

“Thank you,” she said, gratefully smiling at him as she sat down. Her smile waned slightly, though, when her eyes met Fuu’s. The blue-eyed girl was oddly looking at her, but shifted her gaze almost instantly. Aiko gulped, silently wondering if she had been found out.

Stop it! she scolded herself. If you’re going to be paranoid, then you ARE going to be found out.

“Well, then, shall we dig in?” Yuuji initiated.

Lunch was utterly disorienting for Aiko.

She didn’t think it was possible, but she had finally found someone who could speak more rapidly than Sara. The Winter Rose was incredibly talkative, narrating everything that had happened to everyone since the night before at 360 words per minute. This was to Aiko’s advantage; she didn’t have to be as clueless as she thought. But it was a bit hard to follow everything Maya was saying at the rate she was going. Sometimes, she even said a whole paragraph without pausing to take a breath!

“And, you know, Mai-sama, I thought I heard dog barks outside my window last night! Imagine that, dog barks! Of course, it was impossible because we don’t have dogs around, do we? I wonder what it’s like to have a dog. Don’t you think it would be nice, Mai-sama? Having a dog, I mean? I bet it’d be nice if we had dogs here. I had a kitten once, but it ran away. I don’t know why, though, because I was soooo nice to it. Wasn’t I nice to it, Fuu-chan?”

“Yes, you were.”

“It was a cute little brown kitten, I gave it milk everyday, but then one day he was just gone! He just left, just like that!”

“I know someone who left someone just like that,” Kaori interjected, glancing at Haruna. The blonde girl glared at her, silently commanding her to keep quiet.

Aiko didn’t know what was up with Kaori and Haruna, of course, but the two have apparently made bickering with each other to be part of their hourly routine. Every comment that came out of Kaori’s mouth seemed to have an underlying meaning…A meaning that always, always seemed to ruffle Haruna’s feathers. And the Rose of Lightning was enjoying it. Haruna didn’t say much, except for an occasional “Shut up”, or an exasperated “Kaori!” The comments never seemed hostile nor destructive, though, since Maya and Fuu sometimes joined in with Kaori’s laughing. Besides, if Haruna was purely offended, she could always refute the other girls, or just walk out.

“How do you find the soup, Hime-sama?” Kaori asked Aiko.

“Ah, it’s delicious Kaori,” she answered, taking an intelligent guess that Kaori oversaw the kitchen. She was surprised, though, when Haruna scoffed.

“Yes, it should taste good, since you cooked it for three hours.”

It was Kaori’s turn to glare at the Autumn Rose. “I did not cook it for three hours.”

“Oh, my mistake! I forgot to specify that you cooked it for just a few minutes, but you spent more than two hours looking for the vegetables to put in it. Honestly, Kaori, you’re a great cook, but you really should remember where you put thi— HEY!”

Haruna glaringly took the ball of table napkin Kaori had thrown at her, and threatened to throw it back with greater force.

“Oei, oei. Stop it, you two.” Yuuji intercepted. “No throwing anything on this table. Do it during training.”

That was how Yuuji was during the whole meal. He was the observer, silently smiling at the girls’ antics, though sometimes he rolled his eyes, commenting on how childish they were. Actually, maybe it was because of Yuuji’s calm, consistent mediation that the girls didn’t engage in an all-out verbal war, or, judging from the available ammo, a food fight. Aiko had always known that Yuuji was the leader of the Roses on the battlefield, but his leadership right now made him look like everybody’s older brother. He was obviously older than everybody else (except maybe Fuu), and he was visibly more mature. Aiko thought that he had Kaji’s leadership, Yuki’s calmness, Hikaru’s brotherly authority and Kamui’s sense of humor.

Aiko shook her head when Kaori and Haruna decided to throw daggers at each other with their eyes, instead. From where she was sitting, the Roses looked…normal. They even looked like a family! Yuuji was the responsible older brother, Fuu was the sophisticated older sister, Kaori and Haruna looked like the stubborn twins, and Mai was the cute little sister. Somehow, the image of them being a threat to her life suddenly seemed so distant.

After lunch, Yuuji offered his arm again, this time to escort her back to her room. The other girls bowed to her as they made their way to the door. She noticed, though, that Fuu was looking at her oddly again. There was something in her eyes that Aiko just couldn’t read, and she didn’t really have time to read into it because the Gale Rose always turned away quickly.

“I trust you enjoyed our meal, Hime-sama?” Yuuji asked her.

“Yes, very much. It’s nice to see the girls as they were today.”

For a few moments, the two were silent as they climbed the carpeted staircase.

“Mai-sama…”

“Yes?”

“If I may be so bold… Where did you go last night?”

Aiko inwardly froze, but she tried to keep her face as straight as she could. Uh-oh…

“I’m sorry?”

“I only found you being attacked in that alley… But that had been a few hours after you left. I was wondering where else you went. If you don’t mind me asking.”

Aiko frowned. “Actually, I do mind,” she said in her most defiant voice. If she was a princess at the moment, then she had license to secrecy, didn’t she? Now, if only she knew what she was supposed to keep secret…

Yuuji stopped walking, and sighed heavily as he faced her. “Hime-sama… You may be right when you said that we don’t tell you much about what’s going on, but there are just some things that are better left untouched.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Mai…”

Aiko was already taken aback when Yuuji had dropped the ‘-sama’ when he addressed her. But she almost jumped when he reached for her hand. True, she may have adjusted her view about the Roses as she pretended to be their princess, but this was one step too far. Then again, Aiko wasn’t about to gamble her life just because one of her enemies touched her hand. As long as he wasn’t pulling on it to kill her, she would just have to try as hard as she could mask her anger with surprise.

“Yu— Yuuji-kun?”

“Things may be unclear right now, but…since I admittedly know more about you than you do, then…” Yuuji trailed off, and for a moment, he just looked at her. He was obviously struggling with himself, and Aiko herself was pinned under his purple gaze. When she thought she couldn’t handle him looking at her like that anymore, she dropped her eyes to the floor. But when she felt the tip of his fingers touch her chin, she had no choice but to look up at him again.

“Mai,” he said, looking at her intently, “I need you to trust me right now, OK?”

She opened her mouth to answer, but before anything came out, a stifled gasp echoed in the hallway.

Aiko turned sharply, her eyes widening when she saw who had just turned around the corner, and was now gaping at them.

“I– I’m sorry!” Fuu blurted out.

It was at that moment that Aiko finally figured it out. The way Fuu looked at Aiko earlier when Yuuji pulled a chair for her, and when he offered to escort her to her room… Her eyes had had a slight hint of sadness. And that hint had been multiplied a million times in Fuu’s dark blue eyes at this very moment, as she debated with herself if she was going to leave or not. Aiko had never seen the other girl so unsure of herself.

“I’m sorry,” the Gale Rose said again. She turned around to leave, apparently deciding that she should leave her two superiors alone. “I should go—”

“Fuu.”

Aiko looked up at Yuuji, and was bewildered when he saw that same sadness in his eyes. Did Yuuji and Fuu have a history she didn’t know about?

Well, DUH, Aiko. Of course you wouldn’t know about it.

She turned her attention back to the brown-haired girl, who hadn’t turned around again to face them yet.

“We’re sorry to have startled you,” Yuuji said in an even voice. “You were expecting we had already reached the third floor, am I right?”

“Yes.”

“Why don’t you go where you were supposed to be going?”

“Of course. Excuse me.”

The girl hadn’t even taken a step when Yuuji spoke again.

“But you were going this way.”

“Oh!” Fuu spun in place, then bowed her head again as she hurriedly brushed past Aiko. Aiko frowned, wondering why Fuu was so upset. Before she could ask Yuuji about it, though, she heard Fuu’s voice again from the end of the hall.

“Actually, Mai-sama…” she said, turning around to face Aiko again. “I was about to go to your room.”

The Wind Angel blinked. “Oh?”

“Yes, I was just about to ask you if we will follow our schedule and train this afternoon.”

Again, Aiko inwardly froze. No matter how good she was at acting as Mai right now, she was sure that as soon as she uses her element, the Roses will sense that she was indeed Blue Star Wind Angel.

“Mai-sama,” came Yuuji’s voice. “I know you want to train, as you’ve never backed out of an appointment, but… you don’t have to force yourself if you’re not up to it.”

Aiko bit her lip. If she said yes, she’ll be exposing herself. If she said no…well, she’ll be exposing herself, anyway.

Drat.

————–

“Watcha doin’?”

Mai looked up to see Kamui smiling at her from her doorway. Or rather, Aiko’s doorway.

“I’m just looking at old photographs,” she said, smiling back at him.

“Oooh, getting sentimental are we?” Kamui said as he sat down beside her.

“There’s nothing wrong with that, is there?”

“Point taken. Although…I don’t think I’ve heard you voluntarily use the word ‘photograph’ before…”

Mai blinked, quickly turning her attention back to the photo album in her hands.

“Photo, photograph, picture. Same banana.”

A smile crept up Kamui’s face again as she shook his head. “Kazetenshi, two; Toriyama, zero. Man. What’s gotten in you today?”

“Perhaps the question is ‘what’s gotten into you‘.” Mai quipped, sideglancing him. At this, Kamui laughed heartily, reiterating that she had a point there. Mai inwardly sighed in relief. There she was, pretending to be Kazetenshi Aiko in front of the other girl’s best friend. And she was actually pulling it off! She must be a good actress.

It was hard, though, pretending to be the Wind Angel. After all, she knew nothing about the girl. She had no idea what her personality was, either, since the only time she spoke with her was while the other girl was crying in the snow, and that had only lasted for less than a minute before they started throwing punches at each other.

What made the act even harder was the fact that Aiko’s best friend was Kamui. Kamui! It gave the phrase ‘small world’ a whole new terrifying meaning.

Mai looked down at the photo album again, lightly tracing her finger on a picture of Aiko and Kamui laughing. Each had an arm draped on the other’s shoulders, and they looked pretty young in that picture; Mai guessed they could be 10 or 12 years old. If Kamui and Aiko had known each other since they were children, Mai thought, then she might not be able to keep this up much longer. It won’t be long before Kamui sees her disparity from his real best friend, especially since he was so intuitive.

“You know,” he started, “I was starting to wonder until when you’re going to keep that style…”

“‘Style’?” Mai echoed absently.

“You know, the black hair and the brown eyes…”

At this, Mai looked at Kamui. “What about the black hair and brown eyes?”

“Well, although you still look pretty that way, I still prefer your blue hair and grey eyes.”

“Oh…”

Kamui’s eyebrows furrowed when he saw Mai’s face fall. “Oei… What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

The blue-eyed boy was not convinced. “Hey…don’t get offended, Ai-chan. All I’m saying is I like your original look better.”

“I know what you meant,” Mai said, closing the photo album. “I just thought…” she trailed off. What was she supposed to say? That she distinctly remembered what Kamui told her on the Twister?

“You’re gorgeous when you have your hair down.”

So what was that? A joke?

“Well, being my best friend, I just thought you’re supposed to approve whatever hair color I have,” she finished instead, forcing a grin.

But Kamui still noticed that she was offended by what he had said, so he hurriedly tried to explain. “I do, Ai-chan, I swear. It’s just that–… Well, if you’ve got black hair and brown eyes, too–… it just makes everything confusing.”

Mai’s eyebrows furrowed. “How is it confusing?”

Kamui was visibly taken aback. He opened and closed his mouth a few times before finally standing up.

“Never mind,” he muttered. “I gotta go.”

“Hey!” Mai called after him as he quickly left the room.

What was that all about?

For all it’s worth, though, Kamui was right. Things were getting a bit too confusing for Mai, as well. Glancing at the album on her lap, she realized how relatively lucky she was, this time. True, she had evaded replying to questions she supposedly knew the answers to, but what if Kamui had asked about a certain picture there? What was she going to do, then?

This is getting way too dangerous.

Mai took the photo album again, and opened it to one of the first few pages. After a moment of looking at it, she carefully took one picture off of the page. Then, taking a deep, decisive breath, Mai stood up, putting the album on the desk, and pulled the curtains aside. After taking a last look around the room, she turned unvisible and jumped out the window.

————–

Well, this can’t be that bad, can it?

Aiko looked up at the high walls surrounding her, feeling nervous, excited, scared and relieved, all at the same time. It turned out that the training hall they were going to use today was one that was literally a labyrinth. If ever Fuu found out who she was during their spar, Aiko thought, then she could use the maze to get away from the Rose, or at least get a head start. Then again, the disadvantage of this place was that Fuu had probably already mastered the maze, and she might just jump out when Aiko least expected it.

“FOCUS!”

Her eyes widening, Aiko jumped up, somersaulting, barely avoiding wind daggers from behind her. Well, it certainly looked like Fuu had not lost her ability to eternally take her by surprise.

Aiko landed on the ground, only to jump up again when Fuu tried to sweep her feet. Aiko frogleapt over Fuu’s head, making the older girl go “ARGH!” When the Wind Angel’s feet touched the ground again, she instantly turned around to throw Fuu to the wall with her Element. But Fuu had already anticipated this, and had leapt to the air. Aiko jumped up after her, waving her hand to send concentrated wind to slice through the air. Aiko’s attack made only a little damage on Fuu’s shirt because the girl moved away at the last second.

“HAH!” Fuu exclaimed, throwing wind daggers at her a gain, which Aiko only deflected using a force field. The two girls charged at each other, their wind swords clashing when they met in the middle.

Aiko grit her teeth as she fought Fuu, trying as hard as she could not to let herself use lightning. As similar as she was to Mai, she wasn’t sure if the other girl had exactly the same abilities as her. And, as friendly as she had been trying to be to the Roses, it didn’t change the fact that they were her enemies. Tough luck for Aiko, though, because this duel was tempting her to forget that she was supposed to be the Deathrose Princess right now.

Fuu and Aiko pushed each other, and both landed on the ground. Aiko was already breathing heavily, and, from where she was, she could see Fuu’s shoulders heavily rising and falling, as well, despite the older girl’s unexpressive face. For a minute, they just glared at each other across the large distance between them, waiting for the other to make a move.

Finally, Fuu stood up straight as she elegantly lifted her hand.

What happened next was the exact opposite of her gracefulness.

Aiko’s eyes narrowed when a wind wave suddenly barrelled towards her. It was so strong, it was actually opaque; Aiko couldn’t help but be impressed. Deciding not to fall back despite the tall, thick wall of air pressure hurtling towards her, Aiko grit her teeth, assuming battle stance, and prepared to throw a counterattack. But before she could, though, she let out a choked gasp when she felt someone tug at her collar, successfully pulling her aside and onto the floor. Aiko’s eyes widened when she saw who it was.

Mai’s raven hair flowed as Fuu’s wind wave vacuumed the hall perpendicular to theirs.

“Get out of here,” the brown-eyed girl said, tossing her something silver. “Do not speak of this switch to anyone, or else I will have your head. I’ll make it a point that we’ll meet again.”

Before Aiko could answer, Mai turned her back on her and aimed both her hands at the junction of the two halls. A mere split-second later, Mai unleashed a powerful flame blast, rendering Aiko speechless with shock.

“GO!” Mai yelled amidst the booming sound of the fire.

Nodding once, Aiko snatched the necklace on the floor, and made a run for it.

————–

“Weren’t you wearing another blouse this morning?”

Aiko looked at her brother sitting across from her on their dining table.

“No…” she said as she chewed her food. “Must be your imagination.”

“Nah, I remember you had a collared blouse on after I picked you up from Kamui’s this morning…”

She rolled her eyes. “No, I wasn’t… Oniichan, does it really matter?”

“No…” Hikaru said slowly. “I was just wondering…”

Aiko smirked. “Why the sudden interest in my clothes, anyway? You’re not thinking of cross-dressing, are you?”

“HEY!!!“

The younger Kazetenshi laughed as her brother glared at her.

“Hai, hai, Otoko-Hikaru,” she said when he started to look dangerous.

The brown-haired boy harrumphed, still glaring at her as he violently munched on his tempura.

“Don’t get too worked up on it, Oniichan,” Aiko said, “I was kidding. I promise, I’ll never joke about that again.” She put her hands together apologetically, slightly bowing her head. “Forgive me?”

“Fine.”

Though Hikaru still looked a bit angry, Aiko knew it was going to subside in a while. She had just carelessly wounded his ego…And, Hikaru being Hikaru, he was going to forget about the whole conversation by the next day. It was selfish to the point of being cruel, she knew, but it was the only way she could divert his attention from her clothes.

It was true, what he had said. Aiko was wearing another blouse earlier that day. That is, the ‘Aiko’ that was there that morning. When she was looking through Mai’s clothes to pick her outfit for the day, she had picked out a white blouse and white pants from the closet, not realizing at once that Aiko herself had an ensemble almost identical to it. And, as luck would have it, that ensemble was the one Mai chose to wear that day.

It was an amazing — not to mention fortunate — coincidence that saved her from explaining where she had truly been the whole day. She imagined Mai had been saved from the same fate, as well.

And she was right.

Not one single Rose suspected Mai’s switch with a Blue Star. Apparently, they were too amazed with the intensity of her flame during her training with Fuu.

“Have you been training behind my back?” Yuuji had jokingly asked her.

Mai had only smiled in response, knowing full well that it was adrenalin — mixed with the fear of being found out — that gave her the energy to unleash such a flame wave. Of course, if it were any other Star (except maybe Kamui), Mai would have gladly handed them to the Roses, perhaps even to Youko himself. But she had decided to let the Wind Angel go, and even hide the fact that she had been there at all. Why? Because too many baffling events have happened one after another, flooding her mind with questions at an alarming rate.

First, there was the existence of Kazetenshi Aiko. Why was it that she had Mai’s physical features down to the last detail of her face? Why was it that she had the power of wind, just like Mai? Was it just a freak coincidence that two girls who were so much alike just happened to be on opposite sides of a war?

There was also the unfortunate chance that Kamui was a Star, as well. Oddly, though, when she found out that he was indeed a Blue Star, she suddenly felt guilty for promising herself that she was going to kill every Star she can find…

And then, there was the fact that it had been Aiko’s brother that had saved her the previous night, and that it had been Kamui’s sister that had healed her wound… They were so nice and friendly to everyone around them, she found it hard to believe that those people were actually the Blue Stars.

The Blue Stars that had killed her parents.

Of course, she was sure that the ones who actually murdered her parents were of the older generation. But still, a Blue Star was a Blue Star. And anything Blue Star was evil.

Now, though, everything Mai had known to be true seems so uncertain. She was so dizzy with everything that was happening around her that she actually decided to skip dinner, and go straight to bed, instead. But sleep seemed very far away…

Mai stood up from her bed with an unusual frown on her ever-smiling lips. She padded over to her desk and sat down, waving her hand to light the oil lamp Yuuji had given her a few years ago. She put her hand on the one of the drawers, and, in a second, the ki-sensitive lock opened for the Deathrose Princess. The first thing that she saw was the photo she had taken from the Wind Angel’s album. She placed it on top of her desk before pulling out a small picture frame from the same drawer. She removed the photo from its frame, and placed the two prints beside each other.

Looking at their photos side by side under the light of her burning lamp, it was crystal clear that they had the same face, the same physique, the same everything. The only difference was that the four-year-old Mai had brown eyes, Aiko had grey. Mai had black hair, Aiko had blue. Mai had her hair cut like a boy’s, and Aiko had hers down to a few inches past her shoulders. But their similarities wasn’t what Mai was looking at. She already knew they looked alike. Instead, her eyes focused on the woman holding Kazetenshi Aiko’s hand in the photograph the latter had labeled “Okaasan with Ai-chan (4 years old)”. She had midnight blue hair gathered in a loose but elegant ponytail. Her gentle brown eyes were smiling at the camera, and her lips were formed in a sweet, ladylike smile. Mai shifted her gaze from one photo to another, once again confirming her observation.

That woman with Aiko was, without a doubt, the exact same woman hugging Mai in the photograph that Youko had given her when she was small.

The photograph that, according to Youko, was one of Mai and her mother.

————–

Next on Blue Star

Everyone is afraid of something. But there’s always a time when you have to face your fears. Even if it looks exactly like you.

“So I guess this is good-bye, isn’t it?”

Episode 21: Dearest

————–

From the Author

Clarifications:

- Kamui is NOT the Healer. Mai just thought it was he who healed her, but, if you notice, that detail was corrected later that day.

-Mai has two Elements: wind and fire

-As of Episode 20: As far as Mai is concerned, the Blue Stars before Aiko’s generation had killed her parents.

Review topics

1) The scene where Aiko does the waterworks in front of Yuuji. I totally loved that scene, and I’d like to know what you think about it What do you think of Aiko’s aftershock regarding the alley incident?

2) The Roses. Yeah. Gimme opinions about the lunch scene.

3) The fact that both sides didn’t seem to notice that they had an imposter in their midst. Too unbelievable?

References to early episodes
- Yuuji and Aiko met in Episode 9: Surprise. He had called her “hime-sama”
- “Gotta love the wind” was Kamui’s line in Episode 16: Carnival. This is the same episode where he first meets Mai, and he compliments her about her hair.
- The last time Aiko (or any other Star) had fought with the Roses (except Mai) was way back in Episode 15: Witness.
- The first hints of the Yuuji-Fuu issue appear in Episode 14: Fever

So…yeah. If you got any other questions, feel free to ask them through your review, and I’ll answer the ones that won’t spoil anything for the later episodes

Special notes
Bentfender: YEY! It’s nice to know I’m not the only one who likes the moderately slow Kaji-Aiko development. I’m not saying that they’ll end up together (I’m not saying they won’t, either), but I guess we both don’t want to rush things. Which aspect of the last part was confusing to you? And, yeah, I enjoyed your review. It’s a lot of help, thanks