A smile for your sight
A hug for your touch
A song for your hearing
A perfume for your smell
A kiss for your tastes
An attack for your feelings
~ Reflection Scorpio Mileena
Utsuo watched as the autumn leaves fell onto the temple grounds. The wind blew up some of the leaves and played with them in circles before setting them down once again. He ran a hand through his old white hair as he checked the time. It was already 4 o’clock. His grand daughter should be arriving home soon. He sighed. His grand daughter, whom had been orphaned at the mere age of 2, was sent to him to live with. Unknown to the government, Utsuo Kusanagi had died years before she had been born. Just because he was wandering around the Shinta Temple where the old High Priest had once resided, he took up the form of Utsuo and took the child for his own. And she never knew that he was really the God of War Ares, she always thought the man who had taken care of her for 13 years was her loving ‘Grandpa’. And Ares himself, he had grown very fond of her just as she had grown fond of him. And sometimes he would forget that she wasn’t really his grand daughter for that fact. It would be funny if he went to Olympus and tell Eris upfront that she was a great aunt again. She would be so furious; she hated being referred to something ‘old’. The idea amused him, but he decided not to do so.
“Grandpa!!”
Utsuo heard his grand daughter’s voice and smiled. She was home. He saw her running up the stairs, her long black hair flowing behind her, her blue eyes sparkling with lots of love. “Grandpa!” she called out to him, finally getting up the stairs. Utsuo smiled warmly and went to meet his grand daughter. “Welcome home, Keitalina.”
* * * * * * * *
Saouri had helped get all the supplies needed along with Seiya to carry the bags. She went shopping with him to buy pencils, erasers, loose leafs, binders, school books, school bags, and anything else she thought that her Bronze Saints would need for their first day of school. Including uniforms. The uniforms included: a blue blazer with the Kamiya emblem on the left breast pocket, a white shirt, a black tie, blue pants, white socks, and black dress shoes. She thought about how cute the Bronze Saints would look in their new clothing. All clean and dressed up. She chuckled to her self as they both went home to give each Saint their uniform.
Back at the mansion, the other Bronze Saints mingled with some of the Gold Saints before Saouri arrived home. Hyoga practiced ice attacks with Camus, Shiryu had some talk with a now seemingly younger looking Dohko, Ikki had some alcohol with Aiolia and Milo, and Shun was quietly gardening with Aphrodite.
“Absolute Zero’ Hyoga…just don’t aim it at me this time…” Camus said, helping Hyoga to control his Aurora Execution, even though he really didn’t need the help. Hyoga nodded, giving a small smile. “Hai, sensei.” Camus sighed ruefully again. “Please speak in a language I know, Hyoga.” He said dryly. “Gomen nasai.” Hyoga answered. Camus sighed.
“Shiryu…do you love my grand daughter?” Dohko asked. At the question, Shiryu only blushed slightly. Dohko chuckled to himself. “Ah, so you do…so you do…” he supposed. Shiryu nodded. “Yes, master…I do have feelings for Shun Rei…” he answered quietly. Dohko patted Shiryu on the back and gave him a mischievous wink. “Well, then…did you two…”
Shun finished watering the garden, all of it. It had been quite a task since the Kido Garden is so immense. It was very good of Aphrodite to help him out with the garden. “Ne, Aphrodite…” Shun said as Aphrodite came back from watering his part of the garden. “Yes? What is it Shun?” he asked. Shun didn’t know what to say now, he tried to stammer out some words. “I’m sorry about…about what happened in your temple…” Shun said, trying to bring up the topic of dead Pisces Saint gently. He was surprised to find Aphrodite smiling warmly at him. The way someone would smile if they loved like a mother would. Shun cheeks went slightly pink and he nodded. He understood what Aphrodite meant. “There is no need for apologies, Shun.” Aphrodite said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “You were only fighting for what you thought was right.” Shun smiled and nodded.
“We’re back!” Saouri called out to the spacious mansion as she and Seiya walked in. “Off! Saouri-san…where would you like me to put these?” he asked, trying to keep balance of all the boxes full of clothes and school supplies. Saouri looked around and quickly pointed to the living room. “Put it on the table in the living room, Seiya.” Seiya nodded and quickly went to the living room. Saouri followed behind him.
“Wow…this is cool!” Shun exclaimed in excitement as he looked at his uniform. The other Bronze Saints weren’t as joyful as Shun. “We have to wear these?” Hyoga questioned, holding up the uniform for himself to see. He sighed. “At least it’s blue…” He looked at Shun, who was happy with the situation smiled. Good…he needs to keep his mind off of Hades, he thought. He smiled at Shun. Shiryu didn’t complain much, but he didn’t like it either. And Ikki was too drunk from drinking with Aiolia to be able to complain…let alone see straight. Shun looked up at Saouri who had been watching them quietly and smiled. “When do we start Saouri-san?” he asked. Saouri smiled. “Tomorrow. So I expect you all to be sleeping early.”
* * * * * * * *
“They are late…” Keitalina said, putting on her silver mask and red Cloth. Utsuo waved a hand dismissively. “Don’t worry about them Keitalina…uh…I mean Persea…” Keitalina smiled at her grand father from behind her mask and hugged him for good measure. “Well…I should get started soon…so…hold the fort for me…” Keitalina said. She held one hand in the air, flaring up her cosmo. A ball of light appeared around her and she stepped to the side, revealing another person that looked and dressed exactly like her. “Well” she began. “Now that we have a Saviour to look after the Platinums in training…I should get to my other students…” She willed her Cloth into its box and took off her silver mask. She walked up to the person and told her a couple of things. The look alike nodded. “Right…I know what to do.” She replied to Keitalina and headed off to train the late coming Saints. Keitalina turned to look at her grand father and smiled. “I should be getting ready for the skating class today…I should go change…” She left.
Ryoga, the Reflection Cygnus Saint, dragged his legs as he walked up the stairs to the Shinta Temple. The wind blew at his blue locks and it in total disorder. His matching eyes scanned about the stairs urgently as he continued up, like he had just lost something very valuable. He immediately stopped when a figure of a young girl came walking down the stairs, carrying a pair of skates in one hand. Ryoga’s eyes lit up when he recognized who this girl was. “Keitalina-san!” he called out to her, his Russian accent pronouncing her name heavily. Keitalina, smiled as she sped down the stairs to meet him. “Hello, Ryoga.” She answered in her melodic voice. Ryoga smiled back at her and began walking down the stairs unknowingly with her.
Keitalina nearly laughed out loud when Ryoga began following her down instead of going up. She had noticed since her arrival at Kamiya High School that Ryoga had taken a liking to her. And in fact, she liked him as well. But it was the fact that he didn’t say anything that bothered her. She would gladly have gone out with him if only he had admitted his feelings, but he didn’t. She smiled fondly back at him when he smiled at her and made him blush just slightly. When they were at the bottom of the stairs, the other Platinum Saints had just arrived.
Anthony, the young girl with curly blond hair and dark green eyes who was the Reflection Pegasus Saint, walked in and noticed that Ryoga was with Keitalina. Now it had happened when Anthony was only a little girl, she had gotten lost on her way home. And when someone, a man that looked exactly like Keitalina, had helped little Anthony out and taken her home. Since then Anthony was lovesick until she met up with Keitalina when she had just been assigned a teacher, Ares Saviour Persea. From then on, Anthony vowed to keep anyone away from Keitalina even if it meant her training would suffer. She held her breath as she ran in between them. “Hello, no!” she shouted as she latched onto Keitalina’s arm. Ryoga looked angrily at Anthony, but said nothing. Keitalina only giggled.
Antoinette, the twin sister of Artemis and the Reflection Phoenix Saint, saw what was happening and laughed. Antoinette had often walked in when something bad was about to happen. Mostly when male students start to get creamed by Anthony when they give a glance at Keitalina. She pushed back some of her long blond haired, closing her light green eyes as something got in them. Smiling, she walked over to her friends and patted Ryoga on the back. “Courage, comrade.” She said, imitating Ryoga’s Russian accent. Ryoga gave her a dry look and said nothing. Antoinette smiled and gave an encouraging punch in the arm. “Like I said…Courage!”
“Mina!” Venus, the Reflection Andromeda Saint, shouted as she came into sight. Her long, strawberry blond braid flying about behind her as her dark green eyes glittered with glee. She already had her Cloth on and was nearly tripping on her chains since she couldn’t control them properly. “Mina!!!” she repeated before getting herself caught in her chains. “Ouch!”
“You should be more careful, Venus.” Kento, the Reflection Dragon Saint, said as he helped Venus out of her chains. Venus thanked Kento and followed him to where the others were standing. “It seems as if we are all here…” Kento commented, nodding to everyone, a small bow to Keitalina. “Good afternoon Miss Kusanagi.”
* * * * * * * *
“Oh, no!” Seiya realized. “We’re late guys! We were supposed to go help Miho with the kids after school today!” The other boy Saints nearly gasped when they all checked the time. 5 o’clock. Hyoga got up from where he was studying some of his books and nodded. “We should be going then…” The others started to leave, all but Ikki. Shun turned to look at his older brother, a pleading look in his eyes. “You’re not coming Nii-san?” he asked. Ikki shook his head and stood beside Saouri. “No, I shall stay here and protect our Goddess…no matter if there is absolutely no threat…” he said, stifling a burp. Seiya only rolled his eyes. “Yeah, right.” He taunted. “You’re just too drunk to go that’s all.” Seiya dodged punch after punch all the way outside.
* * * * * * * *
“Wow! She’s pretty!!” the children said in awe as they beheld the beautiful figure skater in white on the ice. Her long hair flew all around and her white skating outfit was white and fluttered about her body as she skated gracefully on the ice. Miho was quite impressed with this girl. And she was glad. The children really seemed to like her. After all, this girl would be their skating teacher. The girl noticed their presence and skated to where they were watching. “Hello.” She said warmly, smiling with the same amount of warmth. “Hello.” The children said in unison. She smiled and nodded. “My…aren’t you all nice…I’m Keitalina Kusanagi, but you all can call me Kei-chan. I’m your skating instructor.” She said in a melodic voice. Keitalina turned and looked at Miho. Miho nearly flushed when she gazed upon this girl’s face. She was quite a beautiful site. Long ebony hair, snow-white skin, rosy cheeks, red lips, big blue eyes… “Are you Snow White?” one of the children asked. Miho mind snapped back to reality and she looked at the little girl who had spoken. “No, she’s not Snow White.” The little didn’t listen to Miho. “She looks like Snow White.” She said. Miho was about to repeat herself when Keitalina stopped her. She crouched so she could see eye to eye with the little girl and smiled. “Tell you what…I’ll let you call me Snow White if you tell me your name.” She said, thinking it was worth being called a fictional character because this little girl was so cute. “My name is Sakura.” The little girl answered. Keitalina smiled brightly at Sakura. “Well, Sakura…you’re going to be my skating partner for today. Is that alright?” Sakura’s eyes lit up and she nodded. “Okay!”
The 3 Bronze boys (Shiryu decided to stay at the mansion to keep and eye on Ikki) finally arrived at the ice rink and found the kids skating all over. Seiya looked around and saw Miho sitting alone, outside of the rink. “Miho!” he shouted to her.
Miho turned her gaze from the ice and looked for who had called her. The children, who had been skating, stopped to see who arrived as well. They all began skating to the side as they recognized who had arrived. “Seiya!!! Hyoga!!! Shun!!!” they shouted in glee. The Bronze Boys got themselves ready for the small battalion of kids as they all tried to get by to hug them.
Keitalina stopped when she saw 4 boys enter the stadium. All four boys were being hugged to death by the children and were laughing as they were. They look cute and quite nice. Little Sakura looked up, curious with what her older friend is doing. “Snow White…? What are you looking at?” she asked. Keitalina’s attention snapped back to the little girl whose hand she was holding, she smiled. “Oh…I was just seeing who just arrived, Sakura.” She answered. Sakura turned her gaze to the exit and found the four boys amongst the children. “Hey! They’re here!” she said in excitement. She let go of Keitalina’s hand and skated over to where the others were.
“Hyoga!” Sakura called out to the blond. Hyoga smiled and picked her up into his arms. “Hello, Sakura.” He said with a wink. “You look pretty today.” Sakura blushed slightly and hugged his neck. Hyoga smiled warmly and laughed. “Hm…you’ve gotten stronger too!” he exclaimed, pretending to struggle with Sakura. Sakura giggled as she held onto Hyoga as they played. Hyoga laughed too, he liked playing with children.
“Miho-san…”
The Bronze Boys glanced at the owner of the musical voice, finding an attractive girl skating towards them from the ice. She gracefully made a stop and looked at Miho. “Miho-san…aren’t you going to introduce me?” she asked in a singsong voice. Miho smiled and nodded. She pointed to Seiya. “That one, the short stop…is Seiya.” She said, pointing to Shun. “That sweet guy with the green hair is Shun…” She pointed to Shiryu. “That one is Shiryu.” And finally, Hyoga. “And that cute blond is Hyoga.” The Bronze Boys smiled and waved to her. Keitalina smiled back at them and gave them a customary bow. “It is a pleasure to meet you…I’m…” “Her name’s Snow White!” Sakura interrupted. Hyoga blinked at little Sakura, a little surprise she had said that. “Snow White?” he questioned. Miho was about to correct Sakura, but once again, Keitalina stopped her. She laughed and she walked over to Hyoga and Sakura. “No…my name is Keitalina Kusanagi…Snow White is what Sakura calls me.”
“Good-bye everyone! I hope to see you soon!” Keitalina said, bidding the children a farewell. The skating class had ended and it was time for the children to leave. Miho had left along with Seiya to take the children back to the little school/orphanage. Only Shun, Hyoga, Keitalina and Sakura remained. Sakura sat silently as she watched Keitalina skate with ease. She really liked her teacher a lot, even though they had just met 2 hours previous.
The remaining boys watched as well, that’s why they stayed behind. They were intrigued that even after the class was over, this girl still danced upon the ice. It was sort of like a trance. It felt like one. It just felt like it when they watched her move gracefully upon the ice, almost too gracefully for a normal human being… But that was nonsense. Keitalina was only an ordinary girl with an extreme talent for ice-skating. That was all. It was not like she was a Saint or something…”Shun…Hyoga…?” Keitalina called to them, bringing them both back to reality. “Hai?” They said at the same time. “Would you like to skate with me? Or would you prefer watching?” she asked, her voice quiet, but still resonating musically. Shun and Hyoga looked at each other, their eyes lighting up. It seemed that they liked the idea of skating. Keitalina noticed their looks and giggled. “I’ll go get you some ice skates. And I need to make a small call…”
* * * * * * * *
Anthony and the other Reflection Saints sighed as their time of vigorous training had ended for the day. It was around 6 and almost time for dinner for them all. Persea sat quietly on the porch of the main entrance of the Shinta Temple, carefully studying her students. It was nearly time for Keitalina to arrive and for them to merger together again. She stood up as she felt the strong pulsing of cosmo from within the temple, no doubt that her grandfather was coming to check up on them all. And just as she predicted, there he stood at the door, holding a phone in his hand. “Keitalina says that she’ll be home soon and that you should be heading ‘back’.” Utsuo said, wink at the last word. Persea nodded, understanding what she must do now. “And she also says that she wants you to make sure Ryoga gets home safely on your way ‘back’.” He added, once again winking at the last word. Persea nodded and stood up. “Ryoga!” she called out sternly.
Ryoga heard his master’s voice and immediately ran over to her. “Yes?” he asked, still panting a little bit. He stared into his master’s silver mask, trying to read her once again, but got nothing. “Ryoga…Keitalina-san has asked me to take you home on my way back.” She said kindly, but her voice still had its sternness in it. Ryoga nodded and willed his Cloth into its box before slinging it onto his back. “I am ready.” He said. Persea nodded. She looked at the others who were still tired. “You may all leave now…training is over.” The Reflection Saints sighed in relief.
* * * * * * * *
“I’m going to fall…” Shun said, dread in every word. Both he and Hyoga were clinging onto the railing on the side of the ice rink, trying very hard not to fall. Keitalina had no problems since she already knew how to skate. “Come on…be brave!” she encouraged them, gently taking Shun’s hands off the railing. Shun held onto Keitalina’s hand very tightly as she led him to the middle of the rink where there was nothing to keep you supported – save for yourself and anyone who was nearby. “Aiya…this is too hard…” he worried; now holding onto Keitalina’s waist. Keitalina smiled warmly at Shun and unlatched him from her waist.
Holding his hands, one in each, she pulled him and helped him skate. At first, Shun would sometimes stumble, but Keitalina managed to keep him going. “Just go step by step.” She said kindly at him, making sure he doesn’t fall. Hyoga looked at them together and he soon forgot he was falling all the time and managed to balance himself in order to watch. Shun started to get the skating motion and didn’t trip or stumble anymore. When Shun nearly mastered it, Keitalina only led him by one hand, and then just let go entirely. Shun was able to skate. Not as well as Keitalina, but was able to nonetheless. Shun wore a happy smile as he skated beside Keitalina around the whole rink. “Look Hyoga!!!” Shun said with delight. Hyoga smile too. He was happy that his friend was happy. “You’re skating!” he declared, laughing.