Beautiful Stranger
A Seiya/Usagi alternate reality fanfiction
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“SEIYAAA!!!”
I distantly heard someone scream as I reached out my hands in an attempt stop the car’s bumper. With a scream of brakes that sounded like nails on a chalkboard, the car slammed into me and I hit the pavement hard. I rolled and tightened myself into a ball, expecting to feel the crush of the tires at any moment. When it didn’t come I hardly dared to move. The only thing I could hear was the frantic beating of my heart.
Gradually footsteps and voices seeped into my consciousness. Taiki and Yaten knelt beside me, saying my name. I uncurled myself slightly from my fetal position.
I wasn’t dead. I stopped holding my breath and let out a small sigh of relief. My heart was still racing faster than it ever had in my life.
“Seiya! Seiya, are you all right??” Taiki’s hand was on my shoulder.
The driver, a nervous young man in his twenties, was beside me as well, and all he could say was “Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod”.
I sat up slowly, wincing as I realized how acute the pain was. My hip hurt terribly where it had met the car’s bumper and my elbow stung where it had scraped the pavement. My whole body ached. “I… I’m okay… I think.”
“You’re sure? God, Seiya, you ran right in front of that car. You scared me to death.”
“Ohmygod, are you alright??” the driver gasped. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I- I didn’t see you, I didn’t mean to hit you, are you alright??”
I looked up at him. “It’s okay, I’m alright.”
“Calm down, she’s not hurt.” Yaten ended up tending to the driver, who was more shaken up than I was. Taiki helped me as I tried to stand up. I assured the driver one more time that I was okay before we walked home.
Hanaka-san met us as we walked in the door. She was a tall woman with short red hair and perfectly arched eyebrows. She could be strict, and I joked and complained about how mean she was, but the truth was Hanaka-san wasn’t that bad – better than some of the people at the many other foster homes I been in throughout my life. She didn’t take any crap. Don’t get me wrong, though. It’s still fun to make her angry.
Her hands rested firmly on the black slacks covering her hips. “Where have the three of you been? I usually tolerate your tardiness, but today you’re more than an hour late. There are people waiting for you and I’ve been apologizing and making excuse after excuse for you. I’m getting sick of it!”
The three of us exchanged curious glances. People for us?
“We’re sorry, Hanaka-san, but today it wasn’t our fault,” Taiki tried to cover for us. “Seiya was hit by a car.”
Hanaka-san looked me up and down dubiously. “Nice try, girls. The others are eating dinner right now, but you’ll have to warm yours up later.” We followed her into the den where a man in a gray business suit sat. “This is Hiroshi Yuuta with Social Services. These are the three girls, Yuuta-san.”
We bowed politely, and he stood to shake each of our hands. Social Services, I was thinking, what did they want? You know, a nagging voice said. Now that you’re settled in this home they’re going to drag you off to another one. I caught Yaten’s eye and could tell she was thinking the same thing. Oh well, as long we were together, it wouldn’t matter much. I couldn’t think of any other reason this Hiroshi Yuuta guy would be here.
“Kou Seiya, Kou Taiki, Kou Yaten…” Yuuta said. “Same first names… how quaint.”
I heard Taiki’s muted groan behind me and I resisted rolling my eyes. People always made comments like that, but the truth is, our friendship had nothing to do with the fact that we shared a first name. It was just an irrelevant coincidence that none of us paid any attention to.
As we sat down Yaten blurted out, “Don’t tell me, we’re being transferred to another home.” She rested her chin on her fist with a bored look.
The man looked like he was surprised we had figured it out. “Yes, you are. Recently there has been three openings in some other foster homes and since this one is overcrowded already, Social Services is adjusting the groups a bit to make it easier for everyone.”
Homes? Plural? I glanced quickly at Taiki to make sure I’d heard right. Her brows were knitted.
“Wait a minute! Homes?” I said. “Are you saying we’re not going to stay together?”
“Oh, no, I’m afraid not. Let’s see, Kou Yaten is to live in a place across town, and Kou Seiya and Kou Taiki will be transferred to homes in Osaka.”
“Osaka??” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. This was getting worse and worse. “You can’t split us up, we’ve been together forever.”
“That’s right!” Yaten chimed in, “Can’t we stay here?”
“No, that’s not possible,” Yuuta was saying. “If you three were family, we might be able to keep you together, but I’m afraid we can’t make exceptions for friends.”
I was getting angry. Taiki and Yaten were my family, the only family I had. “Well, make an exception! This is crap!”
“Seiya.” Taiki, reminding me to keep my cool. She looked at Yuuta. “Sir, isn’t there some place where all three of us can go?”