By Haruka

Everyone in Ice Cream King looked up when the door slammed open. Seiya felt her heart sink in dismay. "Fish Eye ...."
The blue-haired boy in the doorway slowly approached the table. He could barely believe what he had seen through the window, and the picture up close was even worse. Not only was Seiya obviously a girl, but so was Taiki - and Hawk Eye was sitting right next to her. He _knew_ and he hadn't told him.
"Fishie ...," Hawk Eye started to say.
"Fish Eye," Seiya said at the same time, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you - I was going to ...."
"Shut up," Fish Eye snapped. "I don't want to hear it." The tears that had been threatening spilled over. "I don't want to hear anything from any of you ever again! I hate you all!" He grabbed a full milkshake from the table beside him and threw the contents in Seiya's face, then ran out of the parlour.

"Maria!" Rogue called up the stairs of the group home. "When ya come down, could ya bring the laundry, please?"
"Yes, Rogue," Maria's accented voice followed.
The Southern woman pulled off her gardening gloves. Her outdoor work was done, now for the indoor. Remy would probably be another half-hour at the hardware store, then when he came back they could get started on fixing up the patio out back.
The doorbell rang, and since she knew Maria was the only other one home, she went to answer it herself and was surprised to find Zoisite there.
"Hello," she said. "Amara ain't here."
"That's all right," Zoisite said. "It's you I'd like to speak with."
"Come in." Rogue stepped aside to let Zoisite in. They went to the living room and sat down.
"You know that my husband called to invite Amara to dinner tonight?" Zoisite asked.
"Yes," Rogue admitted.
"We want to ask her to consider moving in with us," Zoisite said, watching Rogue's reaction carefully. "She's our daughter, she belongs with us, and with her sisters."
Rogue stared at the ground. "Ah guess ah knew this was comin' when we heard the results." She looked at Zoisite. "But why are ya tellin' _me_?"
"Because I hoped you'd help me," Zoisite explained. "Amara is confused right now - she might need help to see things clearly."
Rogue shook her head. "Ah won't do that."
"What?" Zoisite sounded genuinely surprised.
"Ah'm not gonna try an' talk Amara into anythin'," Rogue said firmly. "Ah can accept it if she chooses to leave on her own, but ah won't influence her one way or the other."
"I see," Zoisite replied stiffly. "You realize she is ours legally. We can bring the law into this."
"She'll hate ya if ya do," Rogue warned.
"She'd get over it." Zoisite stood up. "But no matter what happens, in the end, we'll get our daughter back."
Rogue watched him leave and put her face in her gloved hands.
"I am sorry, Rogue," Maria said, putting the laundry down and walking over to sit next to her. "I heard what he said."
"Not a word to Amara about it, ya hear?" Rogue told her. "She's got enough ta worry about without thinkin' the police are gonna come haulin' her away from us." She sighed. "Ah'll take the laundry down."
Maria felt a swell of sadness as she watched the dejected woman walk away with the laundry. She wondered if the Tenous cared that they were destroying her family in their attempt to rebuild their own.

Yaten walked onto the tennis court, feeling way out of his element. He wasn't good at sports. He hated sports.
But he sort of liked Tiger Eye.
The handsome blonde was on the other side of the net already, looking at him eagerly. "Okay, head's up! Here it comes!" He tossed the ball into the air and slammed it with the racket. Yaten's green eyes grew wider as he saw it coming straight at his face.
"AAAHHH!" he cried, ducking into a crouch and covering his head with his racket. The ball bounced off the fence behind him.
"Yaten, you okay?" Tiger Eye had come to the net and was looking worried.
"Um, yeah, I'm okay," he stood up, knowing his face was beet red.
"You haven't played tennis before, have you?" Tiger Eye smiled kindly.
"What was your first clue?" Yaten replied with his trademark attitude, then sighed and shook his head. "Sorry, I didn't mean to be rude. You didn't know."
Tiger Eye leaped over the net gracefully and walked around behind Yaten, sliding his hand down his arm to rest on his racket hand. "Let's start with showing you the proper way to hold the racket ...."
Yaten's face reddened again, but for a different reason. I think I'm going to like tennis lessons, he thought.

Fish Eye sat down on a bench in the park and drew up his knees, hiding his wet face against them. He'd really liked Seiya, and now he knew he was a liar and a female! He had no interest in girls at all, so things were over with Seiya before they'd really begun.
And it had been such a _nice_ first date, too, he sighed.
"Fish Eye?"
He looked up, then quickly wiped his eyes upon seeing Haruka and Michiru watching him with concern. "Hi," he said weakly.
"Oh Fishie, what happened?" Michiru sat beside him and put her arms around him. Fresh tears spilled over and he leaned against her for a good cry. Haruka sat on Fish Eye's other side and rubbed his hair softly.
"Can you talk about it?" Michiru asked when Fish Eye's sobs had subsided a little.
"It's Seiya," he said, sniffling. "He lied to me. He's a _girl_! He didn't even tell me - I just saw ... her ... on a date with Amara. And Hawk Eye was with them, and Taiki - and he was a girl, too! Hawk Eye obviously knew ...." Fish Eye's face crumpled. "I feel like I can't trust anybody!"
"I don't think Hawk Eye knew before today, Fishie," Haruka told him. "He would have said something to you."
"You guys knew, didn't you?" he asked quietly.
"Well, yes," Michiru admitted. "But it wasn't our place to say anything. It was Seiya's."
"What _is_ Seiya really?" Fish Eye inquired. "How can he be both a boy and a girl?"
"He and his brothers are gender-changers," Haruka explained. "They can do it at will."
"But what were they _born_ as?" Fish Eye pressed.
"Females," Michiru answered reluctantly. "They usually live as boys, though. Especially now that they have their singing group going."
"But deep down, they're girls," Fish Eye said with a heavy sigh. "I'm not attracted to girls."
"You were attracted to Seiya in spite of it," Haruka pointed out. "Does it have to matter what he was born as?"
"He was a girl _today_, Haruka!" Fish Eye exclaimed. "Obviously he's still both genders inside!"
Haruka shook her head. "I didn't think you were a hypocrite, Fish Eye."
"What?" he gasped. "What do you mean?"
"Look at yourself," Michiru said. "You're wearing a dress, Fishie, and you're very feminine in speech and mannerisms. Doesn't that make you a mixture of genders, too?"
"That's different!" Fish Eye said hotly.
"I don't think so," Haruka said. "You just happen to have a boy's body. At least Seiya can have whichever he wants."
"Seiya's face doesn't change when he transforms to a girl," Michiru said. "Neither does his personality. Only his body. What was it that attracted you?"
Fish Eye sighed. "I ... He was cute. And he was nice to me on my first day at Captain Chicken's ...."
"Female Seiya is still cute and nice." Michiru smiled. "Give her a chance."
"I don't know if I want to," Fish Eye said softly, staring at the grass. "He lied to me. Besides, he seems to want to spend all his time with Amara now."
Haruka ran a hand through her blonde hair. "Amara is supposed to come to our house for dinner tonight. I think my parents are going to start strong-arming her into moving in. She's probably a nervous wreck and wanted to talk about it with Seiya."
"But why _Seiya_?" Fish Eye cried. "She met everyone in the neighborhood at the barbecue, and she's got friends right in her own house!"
Haruka shrugged. "I guess she likes him. Maybe she even wants him for herself, I don't know. But you can fight for him if you want."
"I know I can, I just don't know if I want to." Fish Eye got up. "Thanks for the talk, guys. I'm going to go home now and decide what I want to do next."
The couple watched him walk away, idly kicking small pebbles from his path.

End of chapter 32

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