Yuuta took a few extra seconds to respond to Amina, her words sticking to him more than they probably should. 

"Yeah, I'm pretty scary..." he said quieter than before, looking at his vase instead of her. He grabbed the blue paint and dipped a brush into it. She was right though, it was his own fault people didn't like him. If he wasn't so dumb and vengeful back then, maybe things would be different.

When Yuuta paused, Amina knew she had struck a cord with him. "I'm sorry for what I said. I meant it as a joke but I've obviously upset you," she said earnestly. She really hadn't meant to upset him. Apparently she wasn't very good at teasing and should just keep her mouth shut.

Yuuta shook his head and smiled a little, trying to get Amina to stop worrying. He didn't want to drag her into his past problems again.


"It's alright, I'm fine," he said. "Don't worry about it. I'm tough enough to get a tattoo, this is nothing."

"A tattoo?" She asked incredulously, her one eyebrow raising in shock. He was Japanese, he should be aware of the stigma behind tattoos in his culture. "We are so talking about this when we get back to my place and you're showing me that tattoo as well," she demanded, her tone leaving no room for argument.

She frowned, angry with herself for taking such a stern tone with him. She hadn't meant to but she was a teacher and sometimes things became habits and they were really hard to break. She tried to say something to ease the tension but the words kept getting stuck in her throat. Amina could feel angry tears forming in the corner of her eyes, but she didn't want to wipe them, not wanting Yuuta to see how pathetic she was being.

Instead she decided to watch him paint his ceramic, watching him paint a mountain range. "You're pretty good," she offered quietly.

"...Thank you," Yuuta said, some of the tension fading away. Maybe they could still get through this without being awkward. He switched to a brighter yellow paint and started detailing the winding line, making it look more like a dragon formed of lightning emerging from the clouds. "Now it just needs to go in the kiln again..."

Amina put her's in the kilin as well when Yuuta put his in and then went back to the table to wait. She was worried that she had completely ruined everything. The next hour or so was filled with tense small talk and she didn't know how to fix it. Eventually the ceramics came out of the kilin and were cool enough for them to take home and leave.

They wandered around the city for a bit more, making small talk before grabbing a bento at the train station and making their way back to Sapporo. As they neared her apartment, the air between them became tense again.

"I didn't meant to sound so angry earlier," she said standing infront of her door,fishing her keys out of her purse. She snagged her keys and unlocked the door. "Come in?" she asked, looking at him, hoping her eyes would convey how sorry she was.

Yuuta gripped his vase tighter than necessary, still nervous about what Amina wanted to say. The whole trip back had felt awkward after they left the park, and he wanted to fix it somehow. He followed her in at her request and placed his ceramic work on a table, sticking his hands in his pockets. She said she didn't mean to sound angry, but why had she gotten so worked up in the first place.

"So..."  Yuuta trailed off, looking at her carpet. "You wanted to see my tattoo?"

"If you wouldn't mind. Do you want something to drink?" she asked, hesitating to go into the kitchen and grab them something to drink. She was nervous to see what style of tattoo he got. She feared it was the traditional style and what that could mean. But he was also a senshi. Her emotions were whirling around in her head.

"That's fine," she murmured, heading towards the kitchen. She grabbed two glasses and filled them with water. Taking a deep breath, Amina tried to calm her emotions. She needed to find out what was going on before she jumped to anymore conclusions. She had to remember that Yuuta was a Senshi and that meant that he was a good person, regardless of what had happened in the past.

She only hoped that she hadn't ruined everything between them.

Back in the living room, Yuuta peeled off his shirt and sat down on the sofa just as Amina came in. From her point oh view, his back was visible, showing off the large work of ink stretched across it, from shoulder blade to shoulder blade. It was a bronze colored eagle done in a traditional Japanese drawing style, wings spread out and talons open. When he noticed that Amina was there, Yuuta turned to look at her. 

"So...Is it bad?" he asked.

Amina gasped as she came back into the living room and saw his tattoo. She barely kept her mind together to not drop the glasses. Thankfully there was a table nearby and she quickly put the glasses of water down.

The tattoo was gorgeous. It was done in the traditional Japanese style. As if she were a trance, she walked over to him, barely hearing him ask her if it was bad as he faced her. Her hand began to gently trace the wings of the eagle, feeling his warm skin beneath the ink.

Yuuta gave a short gasp himself and jerked away slightly at Amina's touch, not used to people touching his tattoo. 

"Your hands are kind of cold..." he said, shivering a little as he laughed it off. The house was warm, but he didn't seem to notice at the moment. "What kind of talk did you want to have?"

"Sorry, I'm still chilled from Zenar," she explained. "My touch can be a little cold at times and I can't ever seem to keep warm anymore which is why my place is so warm." She walked around the couch and curled up beside him on it, leaving half foot or so of space between them. At this distance she could feel his body heat, but he shouldn't be affected by how cold she was.

"I'm sorry about touching your tattoo without asking, that was terribly rude of me," she apologized blushing, looking at her lap. "You do know what people believe about tattoos in Japan right?"

"Don't worry about it," Yuuta said, relaxing. He was surprisingly comfortable sitting on the couch with Amina only inches beside him. He still blushed if he thought about it too hard, but he could push that aside. 

"What, the Yakuza thing?" Yuuta guessed. It was one of the reasons he had gotten it in the first place. In school, nothing said you were tough like if you were in the Yakuza, even if it wasn't true. It helped to bolster the image he was trying to build back then, but over time he had started liking it on a more personal level. It was another connection to his senshi form, permanently on his skin.

"Yeah, I know. I got this years ago on an impulse, and I couldn't exactly get it removed after what I did really sank in. I kind of like it now..." he said with a sheepish grin.

"You must know what they would do to you if they ever found out right?" she asked concerned. If it had perhaps been done in a western style manner, the Yakuza would be alright with it, but with it being such a large piece on his back. If they ever found out he had it...Amina shuddered at the thought. She knew he was a capable warrior, but the thought still scared her.

"So why were you trying to be so tough then?" Any of the guys would see it in the change room during gym and rumours would spread. It explained why no one wanted to tutor him when she had asked students before. "What were you trying to prove?"

"Even a senshi is vulnerable to a bullet," she said quietly, her eyes catching his, trying to convey how worried she was. She reached out to grab his hand, trying to offer comfort while he recounted how he was bullied as a child. She had been too. She was never a skinny child and people had made fun of her due to her weight. Even today she was really self conscious about it even though she was almost pure muscle, she was still larger than most women she knew, especially her Japanese co-workers.

"You're not a dumb kid. And the tatto is gorgeous  I really do like it. I guess I was just worried you got caught up with the Yakuza or something." Amina clenched her free hand in her lap. She had this weird sensation of needing to trace it with her hands and they ached to be able to touch.

Yuuta let Amina take his hand and unconsciously squeezed it. It was still cold, but it was slowly getting warmer as he held it. He found that he hated seeing her concerned like that, so he moved closer to her on the couch. They still weren't quite touching, but he wasn't afraid of making contact. He felt much better after clearing the air between them.

"I don't want you to worry about me, okay?" Yuuta said, looking her in the eyes. This was the closest they'd been to each other since returning from Zenar, he noted. "I won't let a bullet hurt me, I've got armor and three other senshi to watch my back, remember?"

"I'm always going to worry about you," she smiled at him. "You may your other senshi friends, but you always will have me at your back as well."

She felt so warm where they were touching. The feeling of his body heat intensified as he moved closer to her on the couch. It felt so good to be warm like this again. Part of her wished she was a cat so she could curl up his lap and soak up the heat. She closed her eyes for a moment enjoying the sensations of warmth.

Yuuta was disappointed when he had to go back home for the day, tempted to stay with Amina for a while longer. They had ended up sitting together on the couch for longer than he'd expected, leaning on each other and watching a movie. It was the first time since awakening as a guardian that he'd ever felt so content, and he hadn't realized how much he needed that until then. He walked down the street back to his house in a daze of sorts, smiling to himself. 


"There you are, Yuuta!" Perseus appeared, perched on a nearby wall. "You've been gone since lunchtime," the cat said. Percy sniffed the air and narrowed his eyes. "Were you with Miss Amina again?"  Yuuta pulle dhis head out of the clouds and snorted.

"Yeah, what of it?" Percy looked concerned, and then sighed.

"Just...be careful around her okay? I don't want you to get hurt." Percy jumped down from his ledge and walked away, leaving his confused charge behind. 

"What the heck is he talking about?" Yuuta wondered. He eventually decided to just let it go for the moment and continued home.

Amina wandered into her kitchen the next morning after Yuuta had left to grab herself a cup of coffee. She smiled as she remembered that he had stayed for a while after they had talked, watching a movie. They had sat really close together and it had been really nice. She hummed to herself as she made breakfast, only being drawn out of her reverie by the shrill sound of her cellphone ringing.

“Hello?” she said, answering her phone. She could have easily said “Moshi  moshi” but anyone who was calling her knew she spoke little Japanese and she didn’t want to give the impression she spoke more than she did if someone called who didn’t know.

“Good morning Amina, how are you this morning, I hope I didn’t call too early,” Ami voice rang over the phone.

“Ah, Ami, it’s good to hear from you,” she said, glancing over at the clock. It was 10 in the morning; it wasn’t too early to call yet. “And no, you’re fine; it’s not too early to be calling. So did you call for a specific purpose or did you just want to chat?”

“A bit of both. We haven’t heard much from you since you moved to Sapporo and we do miss you. Usagi-chan wanted me to call you, you know how bad her English is, and invite you down to Tokyo for the break that’s coming up soon,” the blue hair girl said.

“That sounds like a lot of fun, I’d love to come! Hey, I found some Senshi up here. They’re apparently the senshi of the moons that surround the planet Jupiter. Do you think it would be alright if I brought them along? I know they would really like to meet Makoto and I think it would be good for all senshi in the area to be familiar with each other,” when Ami said it should be fine, Amina did a little internal happy dance. Kazaki would be thrilled. She just had to somehow get them to agree to goto Tokyo without telling them why. She may have to enlist Yuuta and spill the beans to him to get some help.

The next day at school, Yuuta stayed after class again like he usually did for tutoring, except this time Amina had said she wanted to ask him something. He was still in a good mood from yesterday, to the point where even his classmates had picked up on it. When the rest of the students had left the room, Yuuta got up and walked over to sit on a desk closer to the front of the room. 

"What did you wanna ask me?" Yuuta said to Amina, smiling.

"You guys are going to Tokyo next week right for break?" she asked. It had been difficult to arrange, but if she could pull this off while not even giving the details to Yuuta, she was sure the other senshi would love her surprise!

"I need a huge favour. The second night you guys are in Tokyo, I need you to bring everyone to this place. There is a reservation under my name, use that reservation," she explained, handing him a card with the details of the location of the restaurant and the time.

"Yeah, for that school project," Yuuta said. Their history teacher wanted them to write a report on a part of Japanese culture, and they needed to do research on Tokyo. Fuyuko had offered to pay for a trip there, and their project had spiraled into a vacation plan of sorts for everyone. Even Fuyuko's younger cousin was coming with them.

"You're going to Tokyo too?" Yuuta asked, looking at the card. It looked like it was from a fancy restaurant. "Wow, aren't places like this expensive? What's the occasion?" he joked.

"Yep, I'm going to meet up with a few friends I made while I was teaching in Tokyo," she said, intently being vague. She didn't want to ruin the surprise. She wondered if he would put two and two together and realize that it was the Sol Senshi she was going to see. She honestly hoped he didn't because she didn't want the surprise to be ruined.

"As for the occasion, you'll see. Promise you'll make them go, even if you have to drag them?" she asked, giving him her best pleading expression. She really didn't want to have to let him in on the surprise but she would if she had to in order to make this work.

Amina had friends in Tokyo? Oh yeah, she used to work there. But didn't she say she met the Sol Senshi in Tokyo too? He was quickly distracted by Amina's pleading. 

"Well, you don't have to drag us around to lunch out," Yuuta said. And he couldn't really say no to that sad face she was making. "I'll make sure we go."

"Thank you!" She said clapping her hands together in delight before impulsively leaning up and kissing him on the cheek before wrapping her arms around him in a hug. This was going to be great! She would introduce the Galilean senshi to Jupiter and the rest of Sol Senshi. It would be great! When the fact that she had just kissed Yuuta caught up with her, Amina could feel her face heat up in embarrassment. She buried her head in his chest hoping he wouldn't notice.


~~

Outside the classroom a figured grinned to himself. Well, well, well, wasn't this interested. He could definitely use this information. He tucked what he had seen away to use at a better time before walking down the hallway in silence. This was good, very good indeed.