*-----[ Supernova ]-----*

Chapter V

" Is there anything wrong Usagi ?" Minako asked. Both blonde eyebrows shifted into worry.

Usagi didn't like to see Minako worry about her. It was so guilt-tripping. She didn't mean to be such a bother." I……." Usagi said slowly in a low voice. Her insides twisted tightly at the thought of Minako's outburst if she told her what really happened to Yaten. Usagi herself was still trying to grasp it even at the height of the problems.

Minako's soft spot for Yaten may have been silly girlish on the outside, but perhaps it was something more. After all, they were friends even if Yaten put up an act that she was just his "stalker".

Usagi didn't want to tell this sort of news. Everything was a big risk to meeting Seiya's oppressors. She kept thinking of them, her mind already a mess.

" You can trust me." Minako said gently." You know that."

Keeping this wasn't easy. Usagi then thought that there may be a chance that she could leave Taiki and Yaten out of the explanation for a while. But no…..knowing Minako, that would be the first thing she'd ask about. Another risk.

The troubled blonde woman inhaled silently and painfully. She prayed that this would be the right thing to do.

" I didn't know how it happened." She said with her voice husky at first.

Minako had inkling that this was something serious.

Usagi started by telling her about the happy days events with Makoto and Rei. It started off so regular and she didn't expect anything at all to happen. She described how she got home and thought that there was something robbing her new apartment. Then to her shock and horror, it had been Seiya. The crimson trail of blood, the gashes on his body….. She told her friend about Seiya's condition. But when it came to telling Minako about the Seiya's hardships and survival, it became even harder.

An empty feeling struck Minako in the chest the moment Usagi stammered about Taiki and Yaten. Her friend quivered and didn't look at her when the news was broken. Usagi didn't directly tell her that Seiya's comrades were alive no longer and Taiki and Yaten were prevented from escaping and trapped. Usagi didn't have to tell her the whole thing, Minako knew.

[ ……..Yaten……………Taiki……….no…… ] Minako sat there, trying to swallow the news.

Usagi saw the looks of mixed emotions on her friend's features. She expected her friend to burst into tears but got the opposite. Indeed, a look of terrible sadness was on Minako's face but there were held back tears.

After a long moment of silence, wordlessly, Minako composed the aching in her chest." I….I never thought…….." She tried to say. Unfortunately, a few tears fell down." Usagi……we never knew that this was happening……." The realization was so hard.

Usagi nodded tightly and said in almost a whisper," I…..know."

Minako looked down with her head slightly turned away from the other blonde."……The others……" But her voice trailed off into a hush in reference to the other Inner Senshi. Ami wouldn't be able to handle it at all. Her delicate feelings for Taiki were still with her.

Closing her eyes, Usagi said instead," Those creatures……that are still after Seiya……Seiya said that they knew everything about him. They knew every single person that was connected to him. Kakyuu, Yaten…..Taiki……and now they're….gone." Her voice shook just a little." Seiya was so scared……scared that if he brought me into this, we would………But Minako I want to relieve him of this so badly. I can't let Seiya do this alone." She looked at her friend with a deep-set sincerity.

Minako realized that Usagi was taking quite a dangerous risk. It seemed that Seiya had tried to get her out of this many times but Usagi was too stubborn. Now she needed the help of her Senshi and this is how it was going to start.

" I don't want to leave him……." Usagi whispered.

Both girls gave each other comforting hugs in a time that they needed it the most. Minako had closed her eyes tightly, trying to shut out the pain of Yaten's death. And her worry about Ami increased.

" Yaten……" Minako said through trembling lips. It bordered on a sob. Usagi hugged her again.

This was enough to tell her, Usagi decided. She didn't want to burden her friend even more about the bothersome feelings that plagued her. Those feelings that just took Usagi by surprise in Seiya's presence, especially when he was close.

The ardent wanting to take away everything that gave Seiya pain was growing inside Usagi. Not only that; accompanied with it came a whole new feeling of wanting. It seemed to be need. His touch was like fire on her skin and his presence was even more compelling than last time. What seemed to be always there, from the last time the Starlights were here, was starting to push out.

Usagi didn't need any more worries than what she had already. Her destiny would be calling soon but she chose not to listen because she had decided to be there for Seiya. All the more reason to be confused.

They were just friends weren't they ? Maybe even best friends……that was no reason to get so flustered.

How they were ever going to do this was among the primary problems. Usagi herself have never seen the creatures that haunted Seiya. Usagi decided that the rest of the Inner Senshi should know, excluding the Outers for the time being.

Abruptly Usagi made Minako promise her to not say a thing to the rest of the Senshi without her presence. She received a saddened nod in response. It was important since everything was a mess.

Usagi looked to the sky, remembering the times she unconsciously wished again and again to see Seiya. Now this was it……and what a price at the extreme.