Yay! I've written another Fanfic ... sort of . ^___^; It's more like a short vignette between Seiya and Kakyuu. I kind of like how this turned out. I was looking through my manga and listening to my Michelle Branch CD when 'Sweet Misery' started playing. Oh my, does it ever suit them! Something in my head just kind of clicked and I came up with this.

Setting: Since I was thinking of the manga as I was writing this I guess it's set in the manga continuity, back on Kinmokusei, after the entire fiasco with Galaxia.

Rating: PG-13 or R at the most. Seiya and Kakyuu are both women in this and things get a little intense between them. *cough* Ahem... ^^;

Disclaimer: The lyrics belong to the talented Michelle Branch! If you haven't bought her CD yet, shame on you! Go out and get it! ^^; Unfortunately, Seiya and Kakyuu don't belong to me either. ;-;

****

I was lost
And you were found
You seemed to stand on solid ground
I was weak
And you were strong
And me and my guitar, we strummed along, oh

*************

The bodice of her white sun dress tapered down to her small waist, the full, flowing skirt billowed out gently to just below her ankles. The wind whipped through her long crimson hair as she took a seat beside her sleeping companion on the sand. The desolate coast of Northern Dankei suited her mood. Desolate. It was a word no one would ever associate with her. That was because they didn't know the truth. People assumed she was happy. Calm without fault. People always assumed things, but never bothered to confirm their assumptions. Of course she had never given them reason to think she wasn't happy. The facade she presented to everyone kept them from noticing. It had been a year since Galaxia, since the restoration of the planet, since their rebirth. They had all slipped back into their separate routines of normalcy, though they were changed. All of them.

He was dead, though. Her lover. He wasn't going to be coming back. She wondered if that was the cause of her depression. She thought that she was over him. That she had moved on because of her new love. She thought that she had shed all of the tears she would ever shed for him long ago. The truth was she didn't cry anymore. Although, that utterly hopeless and desolate feeling that had wound around her heart simply refused to leave her. Perhaps it was because this new love of hers could never really be. She looked down as the wind wound itself through her hair, whipping it across her face. She lifted her legs up, and hugged her knees, pressing her bare feet against the cool grains of white sand. She was cold. Ironically, the cold came from the inside.

This was one of the few times she was free; no royal duties to attend too. She used to spend her free time in the gardens, surrounded by the scent of kinmokusei. She didn't do that anymore. That was where he had died. Now it was here on the wind-blown heights that she spent her free time. Where she could lose herself in the sound of the gulls and the steady crash of the surf, or sit on the great boulders at the shoreline to write, the wet mist of the ocean coating her eyelashes and hair. Here she could dream.

"Kakyuu?"

"Hmm?" She glanced at the figure laying beside of her on the sand. Her long black hair was spread over her arms. It fell forward over her shoulders and torso as she rolled over onto her side, scratched her ruffled nose and propped herself up on an elbow. She placed her free hand on one of Kakyuu's knees, gazing up at her raptly. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine." Kakyuu replied automatically. She seemed to say that a lot. She guessed that she was trying to convince herself that everything was fine, when it was not. "I suppose I'm just tired."

Seiya didn't seem very convinced because she frowned and pulled her hand away. After a moment she stood, the wind wound itself through her loose, curly black hair as she walked forward a few feet. She was wearing a small black fuzzy sweater which ended just above her bellybutton exposing her slender, and toned waist. A pair of red levis that were effortlessly folded above her ankles covered her legs. Revealing a beady, black anklet and sockless feet adorned in a pair of black sneakers.

*******

Sweet misery you cause me
That's what you called me
Sweet misery you cause me

********

She looked over the cove, over granite cliffs and bent olive trees. As she stared out at the ocean, she could feel Kakyuu's eyes on her. So she did the unexpected and reached down, grabbing the end of her sweater, and pulled it up and over her head. She was exposed now, like her heart. She discarded her sweater before she looked back at Kakyuu in order to elicit some kind of reaction. "I thought you were tired."

Kakyuu shrugged, her face remained placid. The light breeze wafting in from the ocean pulled up some of her long hair across her face. She reached up and pulled it back. Her eyes found Seiya's. "I'm sorry."

"Why? There is nothing for you to be sorry for." said Seiya. Her tone was a little colder than she wished it to be.

Kakyuu was silent, she leaned back letting herself fall against the sand. She squeezed her eyes shut just as her back contacted with the cool ground. Then she turned her head to the side, her red hair spilling over the side of her face, glimmering in the sunlight.

Her eyes were still closed, but soon she was aware of something blocking her sun. Before she could really comprehend what was happening Seiya was already leaning over her. She gently brushed her lips against Kakyuu's own, her blue eyes bright with her own worries. "Kakyuu," she entreated softly, unlacing one of her hands to brush her hand across the side of Kakyuu's face, wishing more than anything that she could share the burden of the thoughts that tainted Kakyuu's mind. "You can tell me anything..."

Seiya's words cut through her, bringing her eyes wide open. She didn't want to talk about anything. She wasn't sure if she could. She very slowly became aware that Seiya was half naked, leaning over her. So she did the only logical thing, she reached up and placed her hand over Seiya's own, urging her not to pull away. Seiya leaned over her, balancing her weight on her free hand. Leaving one knee next to Kakyuu's hip, she put the other between her legs as she looked down into her eyes, her thick, black hair cascading down around Kakyuu's face as she continued to support herself with her free hand.

Again, she leaned down and pressed her lips against Kakyuu's with tender insistence. Their kiss deepened gradually. Kakyuu placed her hand on the small of Seiya's back, stroking in little circles, then slowly sliding up the line of her spine, before coming to a stop between her shoulder blades. Seiya's eyes were half closed as she flexed her back against Kakyuu's hand, wanting her to draw her against her.

Kakyuu had to open her mouth to get her breath. She lost herself in Seiya's eyes, eyes that felt as if they were probing her soul, stripping it bare. Reason flooded back into her mind, washing coldly through her, drowning her passion. She had never cared for anyone like she cared for Seiya. Not even him. The realization of that fact gave her an overwhelming sense of guilt. Guilt that seemed to override everything. How could she do this to Seiya? She pushed away. What was she doing? What was she thinking?

*********

I was blind
But oh, how you could see
You saw the beauty in everything, everything and me
I would cry
And you would smile
You'd stay with me a little while

**********

Seiya sat back on her heels, her expression that of mild surprise. Kakyuu met her gaze as she sat up and the world crashed in around her. How could she tell her that being with her made her feel guilty? That it was wrong? Seiya would hate her; she would lose her. Her head spun sickeningly. "Seiya," Her voice broke with emotion as she tried to keep from crying. "I have never before cared for anyone the way I care for you. Just now I wanted to be with you so badly. I almost forgot who I was. I almost didn't care." Tears started running down her face.

"It shouldn't matter." Seiya said softly. She could feel herself fighting against Kakyuu's words.

"But it does..." Kakyuu reminded her, gently.

Seiya looked away, her face unable to mask her pain, her blue eyes filling with tears. She turned and felt around behind her on the sand, for her discarded sweater. When she felt it she pulled the garment against her bare chest and bowed her head. "How can you be so strong?"

"Strong?"

"Yes." Seiya replied. "When I found out you loved me, I hoped nothing could keep us apart." She laughed a painful little laugh. "But we are only human though, and greatness - for our love is as illustrious as life itself - never lasts. But you are perfection personified, and have always been. You show through the darkness like the brightest star, unlike me, who is constantly straying behind, letting the world destroy me."

********

And in my heart I see, oh
What you're doing to me
And in my heart I see, oh
Just how you wanted it to be
Sweet misery
Oh, whoa

********

"Seiya... I'm not." Her voice faltered. "I'm not that strong... but you-" She broke herself off as Seiya reached up and brushed the tears away from her face with the back of her palm.

Kakyuu put her hands on Seiya's upper arms, and gave them a squeeze, as she smiled through her tears. "How is it that you can always make me feel better, even at the worst times in my life?"

Seiya shrugged, forcing herself to smile for Kakyuu, even though she was dying inside. "As long as you're near me, I can do anything." She wanted to say more, but her voice failed her.

Kakyuu's eyebrows wrinkled together as she tried to keep from crying any more. "Please." She could hardly get the words out. "Just hold me?"

************

And in my heart I see, oh
What you're doing to me
And in my heart I see, oh
Just how you wanted it to be
Sweet misery

*************

Seiya drew her tenderly to her, held her head to her shoulder. Pain, pain of who she was, reached it's icy fingers back into her. And she felt for the first time that she had no buisness touching Kakyuu in such a familiar manner. "That's what friends are for," she whispered in Kakyuu's ear.

Seiya slowly lay back down, embracing her tightly against her with her arms as Kakyuu bit one of her knuckles and clutched onto Seiya with her other hand. Hesitantly, Seiya bent her head down, kissing Kakyuu's ruby-red lips, entangling her fingers in those rich crimson waves of hair. Kakyuu stared up at her with wide eyes when she pulled away. Seiya held her breath as she gazed down at her. She was relieved when Kakyuu's expression softened.

"Kakyuu, I love..."

Kakyuu put her finger to Seiya's lips to silence her. "Don't say that," she begged. "Please, Seiya don't ever say that."

Seiya leaned her head down against Kakyuu's own, sighing against her hair. "If things fall apart tomorrow, we'll endure the pain and put it all back together somehow. It's the life we have, the one we have to live with. The one I wouldn't trade for anything because I'm with you."

Kakyuu tightened her grip around Seiya, desperately wanting to believe her words. Yet the cold reality of who she was wrapped her in it's cold embrace. She shook with the chill of it. Her eyes refused to close for a long time, until at last she went to sleep, her last thoughts of Seiya.

********

I was weak
And you were strong
And me and my guitar, we strummed along...

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