Konnichi-wa, minna! Well, the worst has happened - I smashed into a brick
wall on Dreamweaver. So, I'm going to write yet another story, this one about
Yaten. Cool, huh? I hope you enjoy it, and any tips or things for Dreamweaver
are MORE THAN WELCOME!!!! ^_^

*~!~**~!~**~!~*
Absolute Zero
*~!~**~!~**~!~*

	Wake up at 3:00 AM every morning. From 4:00 to 7:00 we practice. From
8:30 to 3:00 PM we have school. After that, it's all a matter of whatever we
have scheduled. This is my world, and welcome to it. It really sucks, if I
think about it. All the fans, sending me stupid love letters, which I really
couldn't care less about. I am more intersted in.. someone else. Today we
had to go to a signing event. Those are ALWAYS fun. Sarcasam? Well, duh. You
think I like being a superstar? You're wrong. And let me tell you why. This
is a usual day in my life. Be prepared to be bored, 'cause that's what it is.
Boring, dull, whatever you call it.

*~!~**~!~**~!~*

	"Yo! Yaten, get up! You're going to make us late!" hollers a voice
from outside my room. 	
	I growl and put the pillow over my face. "Go away," I shout. "I'm
not getting up."
	The door opens and the pillow is yanked from my face. "Oh yes, you
are," says the voice. "Come ON. Get up. Taiki is cooking breakfast for us."
	"All the more reason NOT to get up," I mutter. Not that I don't like
Taiki's cooking, don't get me wrong. However, I'd much rather sleep.
	"Don't be so snide, Yaten," snaps the voice. "I'm not going to put
up with you today. GET UP." Seyia leaves my room.
	I groan, then sit up in my bed. The room is dark, with the exception
of a beam of light shining in through the open door. My clock says 3:15. I
got a total of 4 hours of sleep last night. "Great," I say. "Just great."
I stumble out of my room and into the kitchen, where I plop into a chair.
"I'm up," I say. "Happy?"
	"Not really," grumbles Taiki. "At least we won't be late now. Here,
eat this, then go get dressed." He drops a plate of food in front of me.
	"Yes, Mother," I mock him. I eat the food as fast as I can then run
to the bathroom and lock the door. Seyia bangs on it.
	"YATEN! Open up! I'm showering first!" he yells.
	"Not this time!" I reply cheerfully. "I beat ya to it."
	"JUST YOU WAIT," yells Seyia. "I'll get you when you get out of 
there, you little freak!"
	"Not unless you can catch me," I taunt. "Now go away so I can shower
in peace." I hear his angry footsteps retreating, and I silently laugh over
my victory as I step into the shower. I reach for my bottle of shampoo. It
feels light.. too light. "Oh, don't tell me. It's empty." Sure enough, when
I tip it over, nothing comes out. I throw the bottle at the wall and grab
Taiki's. He won't mind if I use a bit of his shampoo. A guy's gotta keep his
hair looking tip-top if he wants attention.
	After washing my hair, I step out and dry off. I stand in front of 
the mirror and carefully comb it. Upon looking around, I discover that the
hair dryer is gone. I open some cabinets, looking for it, and don't find it.
	"ALRIGHT," I yell. "WHO'S GOT THE HAIR DRYER??"
	The door opens and Taiki pokes his head in. "Look in the cabinet 
under the sink, genius," he says. I do, and find it. I turn and stick my
tongue out at him. He leaves, and I dry my hair. Pulling it back into a
ponytail takes time, especially if you want to get it right. Finally, I got 
it just the way I wanted it and retreated to my room to get dressed. I hate
my school uniform, but I put it on anyway. I'll get yelled at if I don't 
wear it. 
	Finally, fresh and clean, I walk into the living room where I grab
my bag. I didn't get time to do some of my homework last night. Not a big 
deal. My teachers will understand.
	"Come on," says Seyia. "We've got 15 minutes to get to rehearsal. 
You are so slow, Yaten."
	I roll my eyes and follow them out to the car. The sun isn't even up
yet, and I know it will be a VERY long day. The ride to the studio takes 
about 10 minutes. When we get there, we have to run to make it in time. Seyia
opens the door just as my watch beeps 4:00. Right on time. The director looks
up at us.
	"Good, you're here. Get your stuff ready and we'll begin." She stands
up and walks over to fiddle with some sound equipment. I hook my guitar to
the amp and take a cautious strum. When I do this, the amp screams and sparks
shower out of it. Startled, I nearly drop my guitar. I stare at it angrily.
	"Fine," I say. "Break. See how much I care." I yank the cord out of
the amp and turn to the director.
	"You'll have to do without," she says. "We're already running late."
	"Very smooth," says Seyia. "Did you forget how to plug in a guitar?"
	I decide not to waste my time yelling at him. Instead, I ignore him
and start to play. My others join in, and in a few minutes we were singing
away. 
	"CUT!" yells the director. "Seyia! Did you suddenly loose your ear?
You were flat!"
	"Sorry," he says. "I couldn't hear that well. Yaten's guitar sounds
strange without the amp, and it throws me off."
	"Sure, blame it on me," I mutter. 
	"Well, deal with it," snaps the director. "Take it from the top!"
	We start over. This time, we make it all the way through the song,
without incident. Seyia adds a cymbal crash at the end, and the director
yells at him for it. Taiki and I glance at eachother and sigh. Every day,
Seyia and the director fight. It seems to be their ritual. I close my eyes
and turn away from them. "We're wasting time," I say. "We have to be out of
here in an hour."
	So, do we make good use of the remaining hour? Hell no! I think we
played our worst on purpouse, just to see the director's reaction. She is not
happy with us at all, and that suits me just fine. Let her be mad. It's not
my problem, it's hers. 
	"You boys don't work hard enough! Get here an hour early tomorrow to
make up for what you goofed off on today! Now get out of my sight!" she 
screeches. She storms out of the room. We quickly put our stuff away and run
back to the car.
	Once we are safely driving down the highway, Taiki says, "THAT was
sure fun."
	"About as fun as getting beaten up," Seyia mutters. "I don't want to
go to school. Those girls never leave me alone."
	"Funny," says Taiki. "I never have that problem."
	I grin and can't help myself. "No, you don't," I say. "The sight of
your face is enough to make any girl loose her breakfast, that's why they
stay away from you!"
	Taiki is hurt by my comment, I see it in his eyes. Good. It serves 
him right. He's always Mr. Perfect, he needs to learn what it feels like to
be vulnerable. I keep a wall up. Nothing anyone says can get to me, and that
is the way I like it. If I keep that wall up, I can successfully save myself
for.. someone else.
	"Oh, lay off, Yaten," says Seyia. "You're so cold sometimes."
	"It's how I am," I say cooly. "If you don't like it, too bad. Deal
with it, 'cause I'm not gonna change. Not now, not ever."
	"Have you forgotten about.. that person? What will SHE think of your
behavior?"
	The wall cracks a bit, and I hurry to fix it. "Get off my case," I
snap. "She's the most important thing in the world to me. When we find her,
I might change. But until then, forget it!" I spend the rest of the car ride
staring silently out my window, while Seyia and Taiki talk about girls. They
seem to have forgotten our mission.
	Eventually, we reach the school. When we get out, we are almost 
immediately swamped. I worm my way out of the crowd and walk away, head down.
I don't want to be noticed. I want to be left alone. I walk to my favorite
tree and sit down to read. Maybe nobody will notice me. Too bad, I seem to
have no luck today. A girl shyly sits down beside me and begins to read her
own book. With a sigh, I turn to look at her. She's fairly pretty.
	"May I help you?" I ask cooly. She looks up.
	"No," she says. "I'm only reading."
	I raise an eyebrow. "Why are you reading HERE? This is my spot."
	She studies me carefully, then shrugs. "This place is as good as any.
I'll leave if you wish."
	"I do," I reply flatly. She stands up and walks away. Glaring, I
watch her go, then return my attention to my book. I really don't want to 
be bothered. The bell rings, and I am once again interrupted. I get up and
walk to my locker. I work the combination, and go to open it.. and find that
it's jammed. "Oh, GREAT!" I groan. "I'm gonna be late!" I sigh and run to my
classroom. I'm in my seat JUST as the bell rings. Great timing, I suppose.
The teacher walks in and looks at us.
	"Good morning, class," she says. "Please take out your textbooks and
your homework, and we will begin." Of course, I have neither. What a great
way to start the school day. I raise my hand and the teacher looks at me.
"Yes, Yaten?"
	"My locker is jammed. I can't get my book or my homework out. May I
go get it fixed?"
	She studies me carefully. "I suppose," she says. "But hurry along,
we have alot of stuff to do today."
	With a nod, I rush out of the room. After the door is closed, I sigh
and walk down the empty hall. My footsteps echo eerily. I don't want to stay
here, I think. I'm going to leave. And so, nobody noticed when I simply 
walked out the door. It was a nice day, too nice to be in school. I started
towards my tree, then changed my mind. It wouldn't do if I got caught. I
decide to go straight home, to change out of this nasty uniform.
	
*~!~**~!~**~!~*

	After I've changed into shorts and a T-shirt, I flop onto the couch
with my book. Maybe NOW I can read.
	"And so, then I said.." Seiya jabbers on and on as he opens the
door. He freaks out when he sees me. "What are YOU doing here?" Taiki 
appears in the doorway behind him.
	"Reading," I say icily. "What are YOU doing here?"
	"Coming home for lunch," he replies, tossing his bag onto a chair.
"Decided to skip today, I see."
	"Yeah," I reply. "What's your point?"
	"Sounds like a good idea to me," says Taiki, neatly placing his bag
on the table. "I think I'll take the afternoon off as well."
	"Great," I mutter. "Now I'll NEVER get any reading done." With a
sigh, I put my book down.
	"So, why'd you decide to skip, Yaten?" calls Seiya from the kitchen.
	"Because I didn't feel like staying today," I growl. "Leave me 
alone." I stalk out onto the balcony, not wanting to be bothered. This time,
I'm left in peace. The wind ruffles my hair, blowing my ponytail this way
and that. It's a great day. Someone has their radio playing full blast. I
can hear the song very well, and it brings tears to my eyes..

"Look into my eyes
You will see
What you mean to me

Search your heart
Search your soul
When you find me there,
You'll search no more

Don't tell me, 
it's not worth trying for
You can't tell me,
It's not worth dying for

You know it's true
Everything I do
I do it for you

Look into your heart
You will find
There's nothing there
to hide

Take me as I am
Take my life
I would give it up,
I would sacrifice

Don't tell me, 
it's not worth fighting for
I can't help it
There's nothing I want more..

You know it's true
Everything I do
I do it for you

There's no love
Like your love
And no other
Could give more love

There's no way
Unless you're there
All the time
All the way

Oh, you can't tell me
It's not worth trying for
I can't help it
There's nothing I want more

Yeah, I'd fight for you
I'd lie for you
Walk the wild for you
Yeah, I'd die for you.....

You know it's true
Everything I do,
Ohhhh.. I do it for you."

	I close my eyes, and a single tear slides down my cheek. "Kakyuu,"
I whisper. "Ai..Aishiteru.." I sink to my knees and clutch the rails of the
balcony. The sunlight reflects off of the bay. Happy couples walk along
below me, holding hands. Tears stream down my face. I close my eyes again,
and just cry. I haven't cried like this since we first arrived here. Taiki
and Seiya must have seen me fall, for they are at my side almost at once.
	"Yaten! Yaten, what's wrong? Why are you crying?" Seiya asks, fear
in his voice. He must think I'm sick.
	"N - Nothing," I choke out. "Leave me alone.."
	Taiki puts his hand on my arm. "Yaten?"
	"Don't TOUCH me!" I yell. I smack his hand away and run to my room.
I know I'm acting like a spoiled brat, but that's okay. If it keeps them
away, I'll keep doing it. Until we find her, I don't want to come out of my
room again.
	"Come on, Yaten!" calls Seiya. "Open up! We want to help you, you
know, and we can't with you acting like this!"
	"Never," I shout. "Never! Leave me alone!" I bury my face in my
pillow to avoid saying something I'd regret later. When I hear their 
footsteps retreat, I roll onto my side. I see my reflection in the mirror.
Pale, sad face. Wide green eyes, filled with tears. Long silver hair, 
draping my body like a blanket. I look like hell, and for once, I don't care.
I want this all to end. I want to go home. "It's like a nightmare.." I say
softly. A voice from beside my bed speaks.
	"Don't talk to me about nightmares, Yaten. How do you think I feel,
waking up every night hearing you screaming?"
	I sit bolt upright, fury running through me. "Shut up, Taiki," I
growl. "I'm warning you."
	He shakes his head. "No, Yaten! I'm serious! Seiya and I feel
horrible when you do that! I sit here and listen to you cry yourself back to
sleep, and what am I supposed to DO about it!?"
	"SHUT UP!" I scream. I feel myself loosing control, rapidly. I jump
up and hit him, hard across the face. "At least I'm not a stupid, immature
child!"
	He dodges and grabs my fist. "Maybe if you'd TALK to me about it 
rather than trying to take my HEAD off.."
	I slowly sink to the ground and hide my face in my hands. I'm visibly
trembling. "Leave me alone.. leave me alone.." I whisper.
	He kneels down beside me and brushes my hair aside. "Yaten, I didn't
mean.."
	I jerk away from him and look up at him. "Leave, please, just get
lost Taiki!"
	His face hardens, his eyes become cold. "We all lost things when
Galaxia attacked, Yaten! All we have left is eachother! And all you can do
is act like a little baby!" He strides over to me and slaps me across the
face. I look up at him, stunned.
	"You.. you don't care at all, do you? We lost everything.. and you
don't even CARE!!"
	He closes his eyes and sits down beside me. "Yaten," he said softly.
"I do care, you just don't notice. I hide it well, so does Seiya. It tears us
apart to see you like this.."
	I look over at him, but don't reply.
	"We always peek in your room until you fall asleep again, Yaten.. we
do care about you.."
	I sniffled. "Wh.. why do you just stand there?"
	He frowns slightly. "What would you rather us do? Come in and try
to comfort you? No, you'd sooner see us both dead."
	I wipe a tear off of my face. "Have.. have you ever tried?"
	He looks up, off into the distance. "Once.. when we first got here..
Seiya was still out and you woke up screaming.. I came into your room and
held you until you fell asleep again.." He stopped, and chuckled softly. 
"Good thing you don't remember. I wouldn't be here if you did."
	"Maybe, maybe not," I say softly. 
	"Maybe, maybe not," he repeats. "You can say that now, but would you
have then?"
	"Never mind about then," I growl, then stop myself. "Taiki, if you
want to chew me out, just DO it. I can take it."
	"I.. I never should have said what I did, Yaten, but you really 
should talk to me or Seiya.. this will never end, unless you do.."
	I look at him, eyes quivering. Should I tell him everything, all
the pain I've felt? "I.. I want to go home!" My sentance ends with a sob.
He pulls me into his arms and strokes my hair. "I don't want to be alone!"
	"You won't be," he says softly. "Never, never. Seiya and I.. we'll
always be here for you, do you understand?"
	I sniffle and nod. "Taiki?"
	"Yes?"
	"If I.. If I ever wake up screaming again.. could you.. well, could
you come in here and hold me.. and help me calm down? It's hard.. by
myself.."
	I feel something warm hit my head. A tear.. "Yeah," he says softly.
"I will.."
	"Thanks," I murmer. I slowly close my eyes and fall asleep, leaning
against him.

*~!~**~!~**~!~*

	When I open my eyes again, Seiya and Taiki are sitting on my bed,
looking down at me. I blink, clearing my eyes, and sit up. "What are you
guys doing here?"
	"We came to make sure you were okay," Seiya says softly. "We worry
about you, Yaten."
	"Yeah, like it or not, we're your brothers, and you're stuck with
us," says Taiki with a grin.
	I manage a faint smile. "Thanks, guys. I'm sorry about how I acted
earlier.. I'm just.. homesick."
	"We all are," Seiya murmurs. "But we have friends here. We'll pull
through if we try hard enough."
	"Gotta try," quips Taiki. "Now get up, Yaten. We've got stuff to do!"
	I growl playfully at him and throw a pillow, which hits him in
the head. "Get lost," I laugh. "I'm not moving."
	"No way!" he cries, and throws the pillow back. That, of course, 
starts a huge pillow war. It lasts about an hour, and finally we all collapse
in a heap. I stare up at the ceiling. For once, I actually feel happy about
myself. I'm starting to realise how important my family is to me. And, I 
know in my heart that Seiya is right. We will find her.. and then we can go
home. Until then, we have to put up with a bunch of screaming fans. Oh well..
I guess you can't have everything right away!

*~!~**~!~**~!~*
The End
*~!~**~!~**~!~*

	Did ya like it? Did ya hate it? Let me know! ^_^ Talk to you all
later.. Oh! Waitwaitwait! Don't leave yet! I didn't get to put my list of
thank-yous up yet!

Kaos - You're such a freak sometimes. =P 
Sidnei - Keep up the awesome work - you're a GREAT writer!
Razzz - Sis! Where have you been! Email me sometime! ^_^
Lianne - You too! =P
Rain Ayo - Hey girl! Love the stories! ^_^
Forever636 - Let's keep making those pies!! And maybe we can have a tasty
             FROG for dinner!! ^_~
Person wm - What the heck, I'll thank you too. I'm in a good mood. 
Sailor November - Can't wait to see the next part of ALC!
Technuma Saturn - You're a great Darien.. thanks for being there for me!
Commander Galos - You're a cool person. ^_^
Star Fighter - Nya nya! Yaten's MINE!! =P ^_^ You're cool too. Stay that way!

'kay.. I'm done now. ^_^

Tiga Shadow
http://members.tripod.com/~PaladinStar
Tiga2@hotmail.com
http://www.crosswinds.net/kansas-city/~stargazer
stargazer@kansas-city.crosswinds.net

Sailor Moon dosen't belong to me. ^_^

Ja ne minna!

Stop reading!!

I said STOP!! =P =P

    Source: geocities.com/Tokyo/Bay/1481

               ( geocities.com/Tokyo/Bay)                   ( geocities.com/Tokyo)