The Beach

            “Are you sure no one will find us here?”

            Shun followed him, a bit afraid of being caught. Seiya, however, carried on bragging proudly about the ingenious flee from school. Hyoga kept himself a little apart from the other two boys, being shy as he was.

            “Here is the perfect place! No one will ever find us!”

            They were near the docks. The ships afar warned of their departure with a sad sound, almost that of a lament. Hyoga sinked in deeper silence. Not so long ago, his mother had left in one of those ships, whispering softly ‘Do Cvidanja’ in tears. And he didn´t want to stay away from her. That was why he had his mind set on coming back to her no matter how. For as hard as it was the saint training, he would win it and rejoin her. Shun realizes the faraway look in Hyoga´s eyes.

            “Hyoga-kun? Is there something wrong?”

            “It´s nothing…It´s just that those ships remind me of my mom…”

            The sad and placid look in Hyoga´s eyes was still unknown to Shun. Shun didn´t remember anything of his mother, and even lesser of his father, so he didn´t understand this love that bonded parents and their children together. He only knew the brotherly love he shared with Ikki. Once he asked to his niisan if that was wrong. Ikki laughed and explained to him it was natural, since Shun was only a baby by the time they became orphans. But even Ikki couldn´t remember their parents. He should, once he was older than Shun. Was that wrong?

            Seiya shared the same feeling. He was also just a baby when he lost his parents, therefore he never learned what was the love from a mother. But he also knew he didn´t need that. As long as he had Seika neesan to take care of him, everything would be fine.  Ending that line of thought, Seiya jumped into the water, in spite of knowing he would get a lecture from the teacher of the orphanage afterwards.

            Shun tried to hold him, in vain.

            “Seiya-kun, you shouldn´t do that. You´re going to get into trouble when you come back.”

            “I don´t want to know! Today we´ve got all the right to get away from that orphanage.”

            And kicking a small wave, Seiya damped his shirt.

            “That Mitsumasa said I would have to live apart from my neesan! I don´t even want to be a saint! I hate him! Tell me, Shun, even you don´t like him, do you?”

            And Shun, agreeing shyly.

            “Today I saw him arguing with niisan. There were those bodyguards all around him and I was afraid they would do something to Ikki…”

            “What about you, Hyoga?”

            Hyoga was gazing at a distant ship, far too distracted to pay attention to Seiya´s voice.

“Hey, Hyoga, is there anyone in there? Answer me!”

And Hyoga, finally realizing they were talking to him.

“Huh? What?”

“My goodness, it doesn´t surprise me that everyone thinks you´re nuts! This isn´t a good time to ignore the others! I asked you if you also disliked that Mitsumasa Kido!”

“Hn, I don´t like him either…”

Hyoga´s trail of thought then flickered to another channel: Mitsumasa Kido. His eyes got a lonely look again.

“Hyoga!!”

This time Hyoga looked at his colleagues, startled.

“Ah, sorry. I was just thinking about this project to turn us into saints. Why do you think he wants us to go through this?”

“Well, ´cause he is an old asshole that cares for nothing but money!”

Seiya sits on the sand, annoyed by the topics. Soon he would have to leave to somewhere in the world to become a saint. He would be apart from his neesan for a very long time. Mitsumasa was a bastard to make him pass through this. Why did he have the power to decide whether Seiya should or shouldn´t be with his neesan? Him, who had nothing to do with them! But Seiya was still a child and couldn´t do anything against Kido´s strong built security guards, leaving him with no choice but to accept the unacceptable. After becoming a saint, surely Kido´s guards wouldn´t be an obstacle to keep him from his neesan and he would be able to, at last, protect her from anything. Neesan would never cry again!

            “Niisan says that´s because he just thinks about his own wealth, therefore neglecting us all.”

            “That´s right, this is the first time I agree with him. Mitsumasa is nothing but an old man who just thinks about earning money at the costs of our suffering!”

 Hyoga asked himself if Mitsumasa was really that kind of a man. It was still fresh in his mind the scene when Mitsumasa turned his back on him, at the same time admitting he was his child. He displayed only coldness in front of him, eyeing him with despise, as if Hyoga was just an orphan like the others and not the child of his own blood. But his mom always talked about his father with much respect, making him wonder about the man who left him. That was it. He was only an orphan like all the others to his father´s eyes. It didn´t do him any good being Kido´s child if he wasn´t loved by him.

Ikki and Shiryu came near the other three, calmly walking.

“So you came here. They´ve asked us to take you back.”

Seiya stands up with a start, displeased to see Shun´s brother.

“And you agreed. Just so you can point the finger at us!”

“So what if it´s true? What would you do?”

“This!”

Seiya was already jumping at the other boy´s throat, but Hyoga grabbed his arm quickly.

“Calm down, Seiya. He didn´t come here to do such a thing to us. He just said so to get to your nerves.”

And it was true. Ikki loved to provoke Seiya just for the fun to see his reaction to it, which led always to one more fight. And, being impulsive as he was, Seiya would never refuse it. But Ikki never did it with evil intent. Among the kids of the orphanage, Seiya was the only one who didn´t harass Shun and let him stay by his side. That was why he had earned Ikki´s trust.

Shiryu laughed.

“Only Ikki can turn Seiya angry like this! But don´t you worry, all of us had a bad day. Let´s stay for a while.”

Seiya steps away, sulking. Shun draws near Ikki, happy to see his brother.

“Niisan!”

“Shun, try not to do this too much, OK?”

“Hai, niisan!”

Ikki smiled. Shun was happy that afternoon. He was very upset lately because of their imminent breakup. Soon would come the day when they would have to take separate ways to become saints. He knew these would be their last “normal” days. Ikki wanted Shun to go to school, but he knew he wouldn´t be able to be always around to protect him from the other boys. Therefore, he couldn´t stop Shun from getting shelter on that beach sometimes.

Hyoga discretely peered over the pair talking to each other. Hyoga had never had brothers or sisters to whom he could open his heart. And he felt like experiencing this kind of emotion. How would it be to protect a younger brother? How would it be to be protected by an older brother? What was that warmth that wrapped both Ikki and Shun when they shared their feelings with each other? How would it be to feel the warmth from the older sister´s arms, carrying the younger brother, like in Seiya´s case? Hyoga was a stranger to that feeling, the brotherly love. Suddenly, he felt terribly alone. He wanted to feel human heat, friendship, life, companionship. But the people around him were too worried about their own lives to pay him such attention, as Hyoga himself.

Shiryu, who never had motherly love nor brotherly love, found himself wanting to share this love that bonds people together. But since it was impossible at the moment, he chose to zeal for his future, so one day he would be able to share the love the other orphans had for their relatives. He was used to dealing with loneliness, but he didn´t want to live like this ´till the end of his days. Being strong, he would guarantee his survival until the day, who knows, he finds out what his colleagues already had the chance to live: tenderness.

The days at the orphanage were ending for those children, who now asked themselves what destiny would be offered by this life that had already started so painfully. They silently watched the setting sun announcing the beginning of a new life. The sea waves melted softly against the sand under their feet, leaving behind small traces of the past.

            “Well, here we are.”

Shun gazes at the waves, breathing in the sea breeze.

“I like this place. For as much as we have changed, it is still the same.”

“It´s the past we can never forget.”

“Ahaha, who would say, Seiya´s saying deep stuff! Forget it, Seiya, you´ll never be good at this!”

“Oh, shut up, Ikki! I don´t need a crap talking man around me!”

“Don´t worry, I could never rival with you!”

Seiya turns red with anger and starts punching Phoenix, or at least tries to, since Ikki avoids the blows with ease. They weren´t really fighting.

Shun smiles. Some things never change anyway, like this beach, this friendship, this spirit. Eight years ago, when Shun left Japan for his saint training, he thought that the past would freeze and everything would remain the same despite the years, but it wasn´t like that. Ikki had changed, Seiya had changed, and he as well, growing a lot during the last years and fights. Even so, memories are unchangeable. They stay alive in the hearts of all who value them. Like in the case of the orphans who survived the saint training. It was something to be proud of.

“Here has happened everything, even fights.”

“It´s true Hyoga. And it was our playground as kids. When we could escape, of course.”

“Yes, indeed. And escaping was no problem to Seiya, obviously…”

“Shut up, Ikki! Why do you have to pick a quarrel with me all the time?”

            Seiya glares furiously at his friend, but soon calms down. Ikki´s eyes were placid and intimate, different from the devilish look he used to shoot to everyone. Ikki had gone through terrible moments at Death Queen´s Island and still got to, somehow, protect the old Ikki somewhere in his soul. When Seiya defeated Ikki, at the end of a series of fights against the black warriors, he asked him why he had changed so much. Ikki simply answered: ‘The island is a living hell’. Hell in which Ikki lived for six years and which gave his heart wounds that would never stop bleeding. But thanks to Shun´s brotherly love and their friendship, Ikki managed to get strength to fight those ghosts and release the inner Ikki, the tender one. And there he was. Seiya smiles and turns his gaze back to the sea.

            Hyoga looks at the reddening sun, just about to set.

            “This reminds me of the time the silver saints started to attack us, beginning with Misty.”

            “It was when the Sanctuary was still in the Master´s hold…and to think all this happened only two years ago…I still remember clearly those days, each second. I was still looking for neesan…”

“I was amazed you couldn´t find her because she had lost her memory. Thankfully, after Hades she came back to you, safe and healthy. Thank to Marin and the others.”

“Yes…Marin…How is she doing now?”

Seiya´s eyes darkened in tender sadness. Shun understood that feeling. Shun missed his niisan terribly, even knowing he was always fine, for he could feel his brother´s cosmos shining intensely. But missing a person so dear had no time, no place, no shape. Marin could not be Seiya´s half-sister, but she had conquered a special place in his heart, which made her someone beyond a simple teacher. Seiya looked for Seika for over an year, among the fights, hoping to find her alive. And the pain of not knowing what had happened to her, whether she was well or sick, alive or dead, Shun thought indescribable. And so it was the gratefulness Seiya felt towards Marin, after she found Seika. Shun was halfway to pat him on the shoulder, when someone did it first. Ikki.

“She is doing very well, as far as I can see, since she doesn´t have to nurse a certain boastful disciple anymore.”

Hyoga looks at both of them, smiling.

“And also as strong as before, or even more, by her cosmos.”

Seiya smiles.

“Thank you, friends.”

Seiya suddenly didn´t miss her so much. His friends were there, supporting him, as they always did at the hardest moments. He knew they really worried about him, and that made him immensely happy. Ikki, who saved his life countless times. Shun, a really good friend, with a pure heart and a sincere friendship. He was his closest friend after Shiryu, willing to deal with any problem, whether it was related to battles or to personal life. Several times Seiya avoided telling him his troubles so not to worry his friend. Even Hyoga, who until the Sanctuary just worried about himself, disregarding the others, almost gave him his life in the battle against Poseidon and still now has no doubt when it comes to share the burden of a friend in pain even though his own was incomparable.

Hyoga, then, turns back to Shun.

“What about Shiryu? It´s been long since I last saw him.”

“He is fine, living in the Five Mountains with Shunrei. In fact, he said…”

“Don´t need to say it anymore, Shun! I´m here!”

The four friends turn around. Shiryu gingerly climbs down to the sand and walks towards them with his usual placid smile.

“Shiryu!”

“I´m glad you came. How have you been?”

“Very well. Shunrei has given me strength to go on. I´d like to take care of Rosan as long as I can.”

“It must be hard for you to take care of Rosan like that, without your master…”

“Yes. I miss seeing him in front of the waterfall like the old times. Shunrei misses him the most. She was very attached to him”. And with a sigh: “Finally I understood what he wanted to say in the war against Hades. He knew he would lose his life in that great battle and he didn´t want her to miss me as well. She prayed for my safety during all the battle and I almost left her…”

Shun realizes Shiryu was a step from being swept by melancholy, and he anticipates it.

“But now you two are together. Did she come with you today?”

“Yes, she did. She is at the mansion. We can all go there later on.”

Seeing Shun in a good mood, Shiryu asks him:

“Shun, at Hades, you almost offered your life in sacrifice to save the Earth. Shedding blood is so relevant to you so you´d rather kill yourself? Wouldn´t it be better if you got rid of this pain and tried…”

Shun raises his hands, as a stop sign, smiling.

“No way. I´m part of this team and nor you, nor anyone will take me from it.”

Though a bit sad knowing his friend will carry on with that life of battles, blood and violence, Shiryu felt happy with the answer. Shun wasn´t scared about his destiny as a saint, even if he considered violence to be the only hated thing in the world. And as a model saint, he would never hesitate in giving his life to save another person. That scared and passive boy had turned into a valorous man, conscious of everything life meant to him. No. That man already existed inside of him, he was just asleep. Being a saint obliged him to release his fury as a warrior and as a human being. And now, Shiryu was proud to be able to say that man was one of his best friends. ‘He who judges, but pities the criminals’.

Hyoga felt lighter with the words of his friend, who saved him several times before. He looks at him, approvingly.

“What a irony, don´t you think? In the beginning, none of us wished to become a saint to defend peace on Earth. Now we are here, willingly giving our lives away for any chance we have to protect it.”

Ikki smiled.

“I guess this is so because we live…”

“What do you mean, niisan?”

“For going through what we have, for knowing who we know, for feeling what we had never thought feeling when we were little. We know better then anyone the meaning of a human life, and because of this we try to deprive us from our own so this meaning is not lost. It´s simply because we live as saints.”

Ikki knew both he and Hyoga had gone through hell until they achieved to be saints. He knew Hyoga fought for his friends whom he loved so much and his determination came from those feelings he only knew once inside the battle field.  This way, he learned how to value them like no one else. Ikki had conscience of it because it was Hyoga himself who taught him that in the first battle, against the black warriors. Ikki learned from him how to turn the hard past into a good memory that could bring him new hopes, and that was the lesson they had been carrying in their chests during all those battles. The Twelve Temples, Asgard, Poseidon…

The sky was darkening and the clouds were tainted with a reddish orange color. The five young Athena saints watched the ending of one more day, which waved with renewed promises another tomorrow full of happy and sad moments, hopes, friendship and other blessings from destiny. From the shadows cast on the fine sand, one could see five orphan children who, one day, sat on that very beach and tried to measure how much suffering would hang over their sad lives, and instead found out in themselves and in each other the meaning of their simple existence.

* THE END *

Obs1: Niisan stands for ‘older brother’, while neesan stands for ‘older sister’, both of them very common treatments in Japanese culture.

Obs2: It´s assumed in this fic that Hyoga and Shiryu met the others at the orphanage and not in Kido´s mansion, since in the series we can´t define clearly where the five bronze saints met.

Obs3: Saint Seiya belongs to Masami Kurumada, Shueisha and Toei Animation.