The Only Thing I'll Ever Need

Chapter 10: Not Alone

Yaten hadn't been able to believe it when Seiya had told him that they were here on Earth. It seemed so unlikely that they would find them here on this rural planet that almost nobody in the galaxy knew about. And yet, the conviction in Seiya's voice told him that it was true. It didn't matter how or why they had been found, just that they had. And it was up to the starlights to make sure that nobody got caught in the crossfire, most importantly the senshi here on earth. They had to be dealt with now.

Yaten had left Minako in the apartment where they had spent the night together. It hadn't all been sex the night before. There were times in between the bouts of passion where Yaten and Minako had just laid in each other's arms, talking about anything and everything.

Minako had become a famous idol after the Starlights had left Earth. That much had not surprised Yaten. Minako had caught his eye on many occasions, and that in itself was a rare occasion. Now she was performing every other week. She told him about some of the crazier shows she had performed in. Shows where fans had climbed onto the stage in the middle of songs, only to be taken out by guards, or shows where wild fights had started in the crowd, or even shows with streakers. Yaten was thankful nothing of the sort had ever happened at one of the Three Lights shows.

Minako had even told him about a duet she had written but she could never find someone she wanted to sing it with. She had then looked up at Yaten as if to say: "Will you?" Understanding her questioning gaze, he had smiled down at Minako and kissed the top of her head.

"Do you want me to do it with you?" Yaten had asked. Her face broke out in a broad grin. She had then thrown her arms around him and kissed him passionately. They had broken apart only for a moment, and then Minako had started kissing his neck, making his skin crawl with anticipation. Sometimes he loved having the insight he did into the women psyche. That was when had his cell phone rung.

"Fuck," he had whispered. Minako had stopped kissing him to look curiously at the phone. "It's Seiya," he grumbled. Of all the people to call him, Seiya was the person he least expected right now. He had thought Seiya was with Usagi, and even if he hadn't gotten into her pants yet, he would still be trying. With a heavy sigh, Yaten had reached over to his bed side table and grabbed the phone. He looked at it for a minute, trying to decide if he really wanted to answer it, but decided that if Seiya was calling it must be important, so he flipped open the phone and put it to his ear.

"Hello?" he had said into the phone, he was irritated that Seiya had interrupted his time with Minako.

"Yaten?" Seiya had asked. He sounded exasperated. Yaten thought who else you blockhead? Before answering yes. "Taiki is in trouble. We need your help. Now." Seiya was talking in short abrupt sentences, he sounded out of breath and panicked, but this had to be a joke. Seiya was very good at acting.

"This better be good," he growled at Seiya. Seiya's next words send a cold chill down his spine Yaten had tried to stay calm, but he had jolted straight up, and knew that his eyes were wild with panic.

"It's them," Seiya had told him.

"FUCK!" he swore, his fear and alarm had now started to frighten Minako, who moved away from him and was scrutinizing him with her large blue eyes. He lifted a hand and put it behind her neck, stroking her cheek with his thumb, trying to impress on her that everything would be okay.

"Meet us in the park. Don't bring Minako," Seiya had instructed him. Yaten was shocked when he heard Seiya say Minako's name. How did he even know who he was with? Seiya was long gone before he had taken Minako back to the apartment, and he was sure that Seiya hadn't come in the night before.

"How did you…" Yaten spluttered. With a soft laugh, Seiya had responded with:

"I'm not an idiot, besides, where did you think I was when I got the call?" Yaten didn't respond as he thought about what Seiya had said. Obviously Seiya was with Usagi, but the way he said it made Yaten think that something more had happened between the star-crossed lovers. "Just meet us in the park as soon as possible." The phone line had clicked then, indicating that the call had been cut off.

"Minako, something's happened. I've got to go. I'll be back as soon as I can. And then we can talk to our producer's about that song," Yaten had told her, grabbing her by the shoulders and staring into those deep, sad, blue eyes. He never wanted her out of his sight again. However, if he had to choose between putting her in danger and letting her out of his sight, he would chose the lesser of two evils. He had pushed himself out of the bed and searched the floor for clothing. Minako just sat on the bed, her hair falling down around her face. Yaten thought she looked like a fallen angel. After pulling on his pants and shirt, which was still unbuttoned, he crossed back to the bed and put a finger under her chin to get her to look him in the eye. "Don't be sad, my angel. I'll be back before you know it." He leand forward and kissed her gently on the cheek, then on the lips. Then he had straightened up and turned on his heel, leaving the room and the apartment. He was running before he was out the door.

Now he was running towards the park. It was a good five or six blocks from where he lived, but he knew that he could make it there in decent time. Off in the distance he could see a flock of birds taking flight. They flew off into the sun and were soon out of sight. He could hear the chattering of fan girls as he got closer to the park. He could see them rounded the corner, about four of them, talking animatedly about something. Shit he thought. The last thing he needed right now was fan girls. He took a detour before they could spot him, going the long way around a building in the park.

He remembered when they first arrived on Kinmoku. Three years of peace and rebuilding had been wasted in a week. Nothing remained of what they were trying to do. But, somewhere deep down, he thought that the three of them welcomed a distraction.

Healer could sense something wasn't right. There was something coming. For a long time now she could feel it, somewhere in the distance grasps of the galaxy, but she couldn't quite put his finger on it. For the last few weeks, that feeling had been growing strong, and it was scaring her. She had to tell someone, and right now the only people she trusted were Fighter and Maker. She knew Maker was busy helping the Princess plant a garden somewhere in the east district today, but Fighter was probably taking her day off.

Healer walked towards Fighter's quarters trying to shake the uneasy feeling that was growing in her chest. She reached the door and noticed it was closed. Before going to earth, Fighter almost never closed her door, but it had become more and more common for her in the recent months. It had been two and a half long years, and she had not moved on. Healer didn't think any of them had, but she and Maker were just better at hiding the truth than Fighter was.

Grabbing the handle of the door, she tried to open it, but the handle wouldn't budge. She locked herself in? she thought, wiggling the handle again to confirm that it was locked.

"Fighter?" she called. No answer. She knocked gently on the door. "FIGHTER?" she called. This wasn't good. What if she had gotten hurt? She had to make sure everything was okay. She rattled the door handle again. Then an idea came to Healer. Maybe she wasn't the only weak one. "Seiya?" a grunt came from inside the room. So it was true. Healer wasn't the only one that longed for the past. "Let me in!" she called. Healer heard feet shuffling across the floor, and then the lock click. Seiya cracked the door, peering through the small gap with his cerulean eye. Healer pushed the door open a bit further.

"What?" he growled.

"You can't stay…" Healer took a good look at Seiya, he looked as if he had been crying. "Seiya?"

"So you know my secret," he whispered, averting his eyes in shame.

"Fighter… Seiya…" Healer wanted to tell Seiya the truth, that he wasn't the only one who felt this way.

"Just go," he told Healer, who backed away from the door and turned and ran. She had never expected this. Fighter was strong. Sure she had moped around a lot more in recent months, but never had Healer expected that she was actually bringing back Seiya the same way Healer had been bringing back Yaten.

In fact, Yaten would sit in his quarters for hours, strumming on the guitar, writing songs for the day when he would return to Earth and sing them to Minako.

It was a year later when they arrive and tore apart everything. For the first time Healer thought that she was going to die, and she would never see Minako again.

The memories of that time were flooding his vision as he ran. Tears were prickling beanth the surface, and he tried to wipe them away. He would never let the pain that he had experienced that day when they had arrived to hurt Minako.

When he came around the other side he could hear Fighter's voice. "Star Serious Laser!" Good, he thought, I'm not too late. And he ducked behind the building again to transform.

"Healer Star Power, Make-up" He could feel the wind throwing his hair around his face. It was sudden. Everything changed. It wasn't a pleasant feeling. He had grown accustom to Yaten's body, and hated changing back and forth. When the transformation had stopped, Healer barely took the time to get her bearings before running off in the direction she had heard Fighter's voice in. Running as fast as she could in the two inch heels that were part of being a Sailor Starlight, she rounded the corner to see Fighter, Maker, and Mercury standing in the center of a large field. Mercury was tucked safely in Maker's arms as Fighter stared off into the distance, her hair loose and swirling around her face. The battle was over.

"I missed the fight? What a waste!" she whined as she got close enough to be heard. Fighter turned to her companion with a small smile.

"If you weren't so slow," Fighter mocked, "then maybe you would have been able to fight!" A soft light shone around Fighter, and when it was gone, there stood Seiya, looking disheveled and tired. His shirt was half buttoned up and his tie was loose, he had obviously forgotten to do up his hair before running out the door. He smiled at Healer, then turned to Ami and Taiki, who had also returned to their civilian forms. "You can't tell anyone about this," Seiya warned. "If they ask why you're scratched up, you got into an accident with Taiki."

"Why should I lie to my friends?" Ami asked, somewhat affronted.

"Because if they found out that there are more senshi here, they will be back. And next time they won't leave so easily." Seiya told her. Taiki murmured something in her ear to which she nodded.

"We have a meeting with our producer soon," Taiki said to Seiya and Yaten.

"Guess I have to make myself presentable," Seiya laughed, looking down at his untidy clothes. Yaten laughed.

"You're telling me. You look like you jumped out of bed and ran here," Yaten giggled.

"You're not far off," Seiya growled.

"So tell me, did you really get her in bed?" Yaten asked, raising an eyebrow suggestively. Seiya's only response was a smile and a wink.

"I'll never tell," he replied, and walked off, Taiki and Ami following him. They hadn't walked more than a few meters when a figure came running around the corner. It was a disheveled looking woman who was holding a camera in her hand. As the woman got closer, Yaten could see a long black pony tail trailing out behind her and recognized that it was Reiko, the reporter from the night before. When she saw the Three Lights and Ami, she stopped in her tracks, put the camera up to her eye and started frantically taking pictures. Yaten stormed over to the woman and blocked her view of Ami and Taiki.

"What do you think you're doing?" Yaten snapped, pushing the camera away from the woman's face.

"Taking pictures," she replied indicating her camera. "Who's that girl with Taiki-san?"

"That isn't any of your business," Yaten growled at the women, remembering why he hated being an idol. The paparazzi would take anything and blow it out of proportion. Of course, she wasn't far off in thinking that Ami was Taiki's love interest. "Please leave us alone!"

"Where is Aino Minako-chan? You seemed very friendly with her last night," Reiko asked, pulling out the tape recorder from the night before and holding it up to Yaten's face. He frowned at the woman and her tape recorder.

"We were discussing performing together at the Three Lights revival concert that will be held later this week," Yaten said simply, he paused for a moment, and saw that the woman was expecting more, so he added "We were friends before I left to travel. We were just catching up."

"How close are the two of you?" Reiko asked, pushing the tape recorder closer.

"I really don't think that's any of your business," Yaten repeated.

"My business is to know everything about the three of you," she told him simply. "I will get my chance to get the answers out of you. Mark my words." She packed away the tape recorder and turned on her heel, leaving the park.

"Oi!" Seiya called to Yaten, "Who is that?" He ran over to his friend to talk to him. As he got closer, Yaten was sure he could see the frustration seeping out of him.

"Chu Reiko, a reporter. She's really nosy, and intuitive. She's already picked up on the fact that you spent the night with Usagi, Ami and Taiki have a thing going, and I am in a relationship with Minako."

"I guess it's time we make those relationships public then," Seiya groaned, looking up to the sky.

"You can't," Yaten told Seiya, his eyes serious. "What do you think will happen if you go on the record saying that you are in a relationship with Usagi?" Seiya shrugged, obviously not thinking about the consequences of choosing a woman who already had a boyfriend. "Seiya, you idiot! That comment will get printed in magazines that will be sold all over the world. Mamoru-san will see us on the cover of the magazine, and read it out of interest. He will then find out that Usagi has been cheating on him and all hell will break loose. Is that what you really want?"

Seiya thought about that for a moment.

"No…" he mumbled.

"Right, well you have to go get changed. The meeting with our producer is soon, and I wanted to see if he would allow us to do a joint concert with Minako. I think it would bring a lot of popularity to us. He also wants to set up a few interviews and maybe another movie deal." Yaten told Seiya.

"Alright, alright, this time I'm bringing Odango though," he replied, winking at Yaten.

"FINE!" Yaten groaned, exasperated. Seiya ran off with a smile stretched across his face. Yaten laughed at Seiya's exuberance. It had been a long time since they had seen Seiya smile at all. As Taiki and Ami caught up with Yaten and they continued to walk through the park back to the apartment, Yaten couldn't help but feel as if he was being watched. Yaten stopped and turned towards the source of his unease, and he could have sworn he saw a shadow moving in the bushes lining the pathway.

A/N: Sorry it took so long to update! It's time for all my assignments to be due… I spent all day putting the finishing touches on my linguistics assignment… it was a nightmare! But I'm done everything now and I can finally relax and write something enjoyable. I'm sorry it was so boring… the next chapter will be the Three Lights Revival Concert… and some heavy shit is going to go down… DUN DUN DUN! And maybe after that a chapter from Taiki's POV…If you haven't already checked it out, I just started another SeiXUsa fic… this one is A/U… I'm having lots of fun with it!