Silver Apple

Chapter 1

It was Feb 14 of some year. When the sunset time came, the Gemini Temple was lit with dimed light, decorated with lots of heart shaped balloons, many red roses, and populated with some buffet styled food and champagne bottles on the table.

"Let the party begin." Milo walked in and happily announced the sentence to his fellow gold saints. He took a sip of the champagnes in the glass and instantly yelled, "This is not champagne."

"You are right, it's not." Saga spoke up, "I cannot forget the silly talks and acts you and Aphrodite engaged in at last year's party, so, this year there will not be any alcoholic beverages served to fuel you two's imaginations."

"But, but, apple cider in the champagne bottles?" Milo cried, "Come on Saga, this is so not the theme for this holiday."

Saga hadn't got a chance to speak before Aphrodite took the conversation over: "When can you learn the fact that winning over a person's heart has nothing to do with the amount of alcohol consumed." he smiled in a way that made Milo take a couple of more sips from his glass (too bad it didn't help since it was after all, only apple cider), "however, it's not your fault, because my understanding of the art of seduction is not something you will get."

Milo rolled his eyes and attacked back: "Of course I won't get it – your art of seducing one's heart only. Once that someone sees me – the number one Casanova of the Sanctuary, his body loses the control of his heart. No, allow me to correct it, his heart will follow his body."

Aphrodite signed: "How many times I have to tell you that, Milo, you are not the number one Casanova of the Sanctuary. I am."

"Stop it! Both of you!" Saga felt his headache was back from last year, "I do not understand both of you. Why don't you compete on something that's more tangible, like who can eat the most pieces of fried chicken or something of that sort, that way, at least we can hold a competition and get the argument over with?"

"Good idea, if we can only find something tangible that the two artists of seduction can agree upon." Kanon showed up at the door, "Look, I even brought the prize." He showed his hand with an, urrr, apple.

Mu hesitated before he spoke: "But Kanon, that's only an apple."

Kanon smirked: "It's not an everyday apple that we eat. It," he looked around and made sure he got everyone's curiosity, "It symbolizes the Golden Apple."

"Kanon, is this what I get for inviting you back to Sanctuary for the party, huh?" Saga was annoyed, "More trouble? You want these two to compete not only for the so-important number one Casanova of the Sanctuary, but also for the Golden Apple? By the way, what is it made of anyway?"

Kanon showed the apple around: "It's not the original Golden Apple of Iris."

Saga felt a sweat dropped: "We've guessed that."

"However," Kanon kept his smile on his face, "the material of the apple is not the thing, and it is the honor it stands for that count. Plus, there is a real layer of gold on the outside."

Aiolia spoke up: "So, the winner of the competition gets this apple, and we do not have to hear the argument between Milo and Aphrodite again."

"That's the point." Kanon answered.

By this time even Saga started to think holding a competition might be a better way to handle the annual war (or maybe daily war whenever they saw each other) between Aphrodite and Milo: "How will they compete…ur…I mean, seduction is only seen by the unfortunate person who's being seduced, Milo and Aphrodite won't see each other's target and we won't either…how do we judge who's the winner?"

Kanon signed: "Haven't you guys ever watched a ball game in your life?"

A moment of silence, then Deathmask asked: "You want these two to compete for the same ball? I mean, seduce the same person?"

"Exactly. Otherwise how will we judge who's the winner." Kanon continued, "Pick the target, both Milo and Aphrodite can go for the person. We'll set a time limit, let's say a month, and we'll see whom the target ends up with."

"I like the idea." Milo grinned, "Who wants to volunteer to be the target?" He looked around and everybody either gave him a threatening look or looked up to the ceiling.

Aphrodite observed the responses of his fellow co-workers: "Ur, I don't think anyone present today wants to announce he's the target. Seduction is subtle, if it's known, then it's not attractive nor interesting anymore, Milo."

Milo turned to him: "Then whom do you suggest we should pick, my dear."

"Please stop it." Aphrodite rolled his eyes, "Your tricks are a piece of cake in front of me."

A book mysteriously showed up on the table in front of all. Everyone looked at it, it says, "THE ROSTER OF SAINTS".

"Kanon, you cannot just steal something from the pope's office." Saga grabbed the roster.

"Borrow, my brother, I'm merely borrowing it for a moment." Kanon explained and grabbed the book back, "This roster has the complete profile for all saints, age, height, weight, birthday, fighting skills, origin country, and so on…arh, and the current pictures too." He continued, "Why don't we let them pick one from here?"

Before Saga protested the rights of the innocent saint that would be chosen as the target and was not here today to protest, Aphrodite and Milo were already into the roster.

"I'd say Marin may be good." Milo said while looking at Aiolia and started laughing when he saw Aiolia's face turned green as he expected, "just kidding, my friend, I won't pick your girl."

Milo turned back to look at the roster: "What about Leda?"

"Who's Leda?" Aphrodite asked.

"He's one of the poor bronze saints that got punched by you at Andromeda Island." Milo signed, "You are heartless. Look, he's pretty cute."

"You were there with me on the Andromeda Island," Aphrodite reminded Milo, "It could be you that punched him," He observed the boy, "He is pretty good looking, but he may hate you." Aphrodite turned the page, "How about Shun? Shun has such a nice heart. I'm sure he has forgiven you."

Milo says: "Excuse me? Let me correct you, it is you that needs his forgiveness. And Shun's under aged. And no matter how much I like a person, I will not really like his older brother showing up anytime he is upset."

"That's true, let's look at the others at Island Andromeda."

Saga erupted finally: "Would you two let the Island Andromeda go off the subject? Why don't you pick someone from the not-under-aged group, like the silver saints, perhaps?"

Seeing the color-change tendency of Saga's hair, Milo and Aphrodite decided not to talk about the touchy subject island, which Black Saga ordered them to destroy in the past.

"You want to try Shiba?" Aphrodite suggested to Milo, "He's a different style of good looking. He's well behaved in front of his superiors, which include me and you."

"If you don't mind," Shaka's voice came from the other side of the table (all of them were around the table looking at the roster now), "Please leave my students alone."

Milo chuckled and slapped Aphrodite on the back, while the latter signed: "ok ok, I'll leave your students alone…Shaka, at this era, even most parents learn not to get involved into their kids' relationships, why don't you give your students some freedom?"

Shaka glared at him: "I do not restrain them from any relationships, but this is a bet, I supposed you are not really interested in Shiba."

"You never know." Milo laughed, "Being a Pisces, Aphrodite is famous for letting his love do the free flow thing at any time."

"Shut up." Aphrodite gave the slap back on Milo's back.

"It's too hard to pick someone up!" After a while, Milo got impatient, "All the good looking ones have issues. They are under aged, or make someone unhappy due to touchy past, or have an over protective big brother, or have an over protective teacher…"

Kanon laughed. Saga and Shaka decided to ignore Milo's comments.

"This one doesn't have any issue." Camus suddenly spoke up while keeping silence since the beginning, his finger pointed to a picture.

And next to the picture, it wrote - LACERTA MISTY.

"Camus!" Mu was surprised, "I never guessed you would participate in this conversation at all!"

There was a naughty spark in Camus' non-smiling eyes, he replied calmly: "Isn't it true that you can never guess what people really are like?" he looked at Milo and Aphrodite and the surrounded gold saints, "Misty's old enough, has no protective anyone, and good looking. He seems to meet all the requirements."

Aphrodite started reading the details of Misty's profile: "The last time I saw him he was much younger. Is this his current picture? He's grown up to be very attractive." Milo joined him in reading the profile.

"I heard he looks better in person." Camus added.

Aphrodite and Milo both looked up with interest.

Mu felt he was totally defeated by Camus' unusual behavior. The saint of Ice sounded like an experienced paparazzi.

"What do you say?" Aphrodite looked at Milo, "The kid looks good to me."

Milo agreed: "Same here."

Kanon looked at both: "Misty, and one month. Time starts clicking tomorrow."

Blue Saga looked at Misty's picture: "Sorry, I have to sacrifice you to cure my headache. Well, one of my headaches."

Kanon laughed at his brother: "Just stop pretending you got much sympathy for the kid. Secretly you are very happy that Milo and Aphrodite can be quiet for at least a month even if this doesn't work out."

Black Saga tried to come out to practice domestic violence but Blue Saga pressed his evil side down: "I guess you are right, at least we will have some quiet time for a month."

Mu watched Camus taking a drink of the apple cider: "Why do I smell something fishy in this thing?"

Camus looked innocently: "Oh my friend, you think too much."

Shaka walked to them: "Camus, I agree with Mu. You are weird today."

Camus just smiled and started eating food from his plate.

Chapter 2

This was a nice morning with fresh air and clear sky. Many silver and bronze saints had gotten up and started their morning training routine before the breakfast. Misty just arrived at the training ground and was chatting with the other saints, when the mailman walked up to him.

"Good morning, Misty Sama." He greeted him, "I have a letter for you."

"Thank you." Misty put the letter into his pocket and continued chatting. Then he noticed the mailman was still standing there.

"Do you need anything?" He asked.

"Oh no, you have a good day." The mailman just looked at him and then left.

At breakfast time, Misty recalled the behavior of the mailman and pulled out the letter. On the envelope, it wrote "To: Misty" in beautiful handwriting. He turned the envelope and on the back, the same handwriting wrote "Milo".

Milo? There was only one Milo he knew of and that was Milo of Scorpio. Or maybe Scorpio Milo was not the only one he knew of but it was very hard not to think of Scorpio Milo when he saw the name.

Milo was rather famous in the Sanctuary, not because he was a gold saint, but because…

"You got a letter from Milo?" Misty could tell Babel's voice without turning back.

"Yes, I haven't read it yet." He replied and put the letter away planning to read the letter later, then he noticed a very familiar look in Babel's eyes - the same look appeared in the mailman's eyes this morning.

"What's wrong?"

"You don't want to read it now?"

"Why do I have to read it now?"

"Because…" Babel shrugged.

Misty stared at him and gave him a questioning look.

"Because it's from Scorpio Milo," Babel gave up, "Don't you know anything about him?"

"He's one of the 12 gold saints." Misty said matter of factly.

"Not that, his other reputation."

"Well, I heard he likes to change his dates a lot." Misty said.

"Not 'likes to change dates', but 'loves to hunt preys'." Babel said with a threatening tone.

Misty ate his scrambled eggs and sausage: "That's what they say."

"He sends a letter out to his prey first to ask them out." Babel said, "I heard whoever he has chosen so far hasn't come back, ur, 'safely' yet."

Misty couldn't help but let out laughter at his friend's comments: "You made him sound like a monster."

"Don't you get it? He's a predator, now you got his letter, you are being hunted."

Misty shook his head while smiling: "So his prey doesn't come back safely once going out with him, right?"

"Right, and as of today, no one has broken this rule yet."

"Then I just won't go to his date." Misty said.

"What?"

"Does he force his, well, his prey, to go to his dates?"

"That, no, he believes in the art of seduction, not force."

"Ok. Then when he asks people out, they have the choice of either go or not. I can just say no." Misty finished his orange juice.

Babel stared at Misty: "You are indeed different than the rest of us. No wonder you got chosen. I wish you good luck."

The next evening, when Misty put on his pajamas and was getting ready to go to bed, his door was knocked twice.

Who would come this late? Thinking to himself, he opened the door. Outside his door is Scorpio Milo.

Milo put one hand on his door frame and smiled charmingly: "Opening the door with pajamas on…I have to say this is pretty inviting."

Misty felt the uneasiness went through his arm.

Seeing Misty not saying anything, Milo asked: "Aren't you going to invite me to come in? Or greet me at least?"

The uneasiness have gone down from arms to the whole body. Misty coughed: "Good evening, Scorpio Milo…Please come in and have a seat."

As if he had expected Misty's answer, Milo walked in and took a seat on the chair next to Misty's bed and made himself very comfortable like at home.

Misty heard some sounds and turned around. Several huts close to his had doors crack open a little and behind the doors he saw several pairs of shinning eyes. He instantly shut the door behind him. Turning back, seeing Milo grinning at him, he felt it was maybe a better idea to keep the door open.

Misty cleared his throat with a cough. Milo smiled even more noticing this was Misty's second cough since he opened the door.

"Scorpio Milo…"

"Oh no no, no need to be so official, Misty," Milo keeps his attractive smile on his face, "We are not in the Pope's temple or in front of others. It's just the two of us now," He paused two seconds as of giving Misty a little time to process the information, "call my name directly, please."

Misty felt his throat was getting itchy again, he pressed the urge to cough for the 3rd time: "Scor…Milo, what brings you here tonight…today?"

"I thought you should know already." Milo's eyes seemed to be radiating gamma rays, "Several people saw you received my letter yesterday morning."

"Ar, the letter…"

"I would love to invite you to the Scorpio Temple for a drink last night, but unfortunately I did not see you…" Milo's eyes were like two heaters that kept turning up the temperature.

"I…I have replied a letter to you yesterday…I had some other matter to attend last night…"

"Yes, I got your reply." Milo stood up and walked closer to Misty, who had been standing against the door this whole time, and put two hands against the door next to Misty's face, "It was my fault sending a letter to you, you definitely worth the value of me coming down to your place and invite you personally. I see you getting ready to bed now, so you must not have any matters to attend tonight, can I please have the honor of you joining me for a drink tonight?"

Under Milo's melting eyes, Misty realized that it might not be as easy as he thought to say no to the Scorpio saint.

"You don't even have to change. What you are wearing is perfect for tonight." Milo kept working on the stare from his eyes to Misty eyes like a fire torch on a bowl of ice cream.

Just when Misty felt he was becoming like melting ice cream, he managed to say: "It's rather late tonight and I am tired. Maybe another time?"

Milo smiled even more at his response: "Sure. Drinks will not taste good when one of us is tired, so do the other things we could do together." He took his hands back and said, "I'll come by on another day." He got even closer to Misty's face. Misty felt his breath slowly touched his own. Milo's eyes were talking as if they were saying: "I am patient. You are mine already."

Milo finally left. When Misty was closing the door, he saw the eyes were back from the other huts. He looked at those doors and the doors were shut right away.

The next day Milo didn't come over. Misty had to admit he was surprised Milo didn't show up. He thought maybe the other day the Scorpio saint just had an extra drink. That was all.

In the mid-afternoon on the third day, the mailman arrived again at the resting lounge of the saints.

"Misty Sama." When he called out Misty's name, Misty felt 100 pairs of eyes fell on him. Not a letter again… he stared at the mailman.

The mailman came to him and pulled a neat-looking wooden box from his mail cart: "This is from Aphrodite Sama to you."

Babel's eyes popped out: "Pisces Aphrodite?"

"Yes, Babel Sama." The mailman replied and left. He did not forget to give Misty a look of curiosity.

"What's in it?" Asterian acted like he couldn't wait to see what was in it.

For some reason Misty felt safer to open the box in public, although it was just a box. He opened it. There were a dozen fresh red roses in the box. He closed it right away.

"They are beautiful." Asterian made a comment, "And they looked like they were freshly cut from the garden. Do you think Aphrodite cut them personally just for you?"

Misty got a little annoyed at the crowd that was surrounding him: "Why don't you go to the Pisces Temple and ask Aphrodite yourself then, silver saint Asterian."

Asterian's face got a little red knowing that Misty was implying he should go to his duty this afternoon, which was to train the saint trainees.

"There is no need for Asterian to climb up to the Pisces Temple." A gentle voice was heard from outside the crowd. The crowd broke a hole quickly and most of the people stared at Aphrodite in awe.

"Aphrodite Sama." Asterian and Misty stood up and bowed.

Aphrodite's gentle eyes fell upon them: "To answer Asterian's question, yes, I just freshly cut those roses from my garden." He looked at Misty and softly spoke, "You are the third person I have ever done this for. The prior two were Shion and Saga, our two popes."

Misty blushed as Aphrodite continued looking into his eyes and said: "And for the popes, I was doing it out of respect. For you, it is different."

Misty was certain that he could smell the soured vinegar from some in the crowd. He looked around, Asterian had retreat to the crowd and the crowd had retreat to the area close to the other side of the resting lounge. It was now just Aphrodite and him left at the table.

"Do you mind to sit down?" Aphrodite asked.

"Ok." Misty could only say ok. Are all gold saints like this? They just pay visits to people whenever they want and the worst thing is, all their requests take a lot to say no, if that was even an option at all.

Aphrodite kept his eyes on Misty. He looked at him from head to toe in an enjoyable way, then sighed: "People always say time flies by and I never believed it. Now I believe it. Where have I been for all these years you've been growing up? It is such a pity that I cannot see you growing up each day till today's you."

Misty was speechless.

"I have to ask you one thing, can you please say yes?" Aphrodite's voice was flowing like dream. If Milo's eyes and voice were like fire that melted Misty away and could burn him alive with both nervousness and excitement, Aphrodite's eyes and voice were like cool creek water that smoothed his nervousness and made him forget where he were and whom he was.

He heard himself ask the Pisces saint: "What is it you want to ask me?" Secretly he knew there was a net, but it seemed too late to escape and not to fall into it. He only wished Aphrodite not to ask anything that would make him embarrassed.

The lips of Aphrodite angled upward: "One of the gold saints is holding up a poker night at his place. Would you like to go with me?" His voice was so gentle and eyes so warm, "There will be some beer, but you do not have to drink any. I will make sure we have soft drinks there."

His eyes were like two deep lakes and Misty even felt it would be cruel if he said no.

So, he nodded.

Aphrodite smiled. He stood up gracefully and walked over to the other side of the table and stood in front of Misty. Misty raised his face and was a little afraid that he would do something. He blushed even more as he thought about the possibility that Aphrodite could bend over and kiss him.

Aphrodite bent over, and Misty's heart was jumping at 120 times a minute and almost pumped all the blood to his face.

Someone let out a heavy breath and Misty all of sudden realized he was in a room with maybe some other 70 people. The realization that they have been watched by all of them made him want to dig a hole on the ground and sink in. No, that was not enough, he should turn invisible.

Aphrodite just turned his head slightly toward the crowd and let out a small smile. It seemed that he did not mind if there's only Misty listening to him or the rest of the Sanctuary watching him. He kept his bent-over posture and turned his eyes back at Misty. Slowly, he raised his right hand and touched Misty's hair. His finger played with one of the hair locks for a second before he let it go.

"Thank you." He said looking at Misty's eyes, "I'll come by at your place at 6pm tonight and pick you up. We'll walk there."

As soon as Aphrodite left the room, the crowd burst out with discussions.

Shiba looked at Misty and sat down: "You know, I do not know if others should envy you or pity you." Little did he know that if his teacher did not protect him, he could be the "lucky" one.

Misty felt extremely tired, he folded his arm on the table and let his face hide in the arm: "Don't even ask."

Chapter 3

The walk up to the 12 temples was not short, but Misty had to admit talking with Aphrodite was not an intolerable thing. The Pisces saint had an amazing way to calm people down and made him believe that tonight would be a relaxed and enjoyable night.

Misty forgot to count how many temples they walked by.

When Aphrodite stopped at one of the temples and Misty noticed the sign on the high top of the temple gate, he almost fainted.

The Scorpio Temple.

"Is this where you guys will have the poker night?" Misty's eyes widened.

"Yes," Aphrodite answered, "Milo loves to host parties or any gathering that resembles a party." He noticed Misty's facial expression and couldn't hold a laughter, "Don't worry, he won't eat you, not in front of me at least." He extended one of his arms and rested it on Misty's shoulder, "Let's go in."

The facial expression on Milo's face was priceless when he saw Aphrodite walking in holding Misty's shoulder. The other gold saints that had been talking and snacking stopped what they were doing too.

Aiolia looked at Aphrodite and Misty and then looked at Milo with pity: "Already? On the 3rd day?"

Aphrodite smiled widely and made everyone especially Milo feel like seeing a fox smiling.

While Milo and Aphrodite was engaged in the soundless stare-to-kill-you war, Misty was a little confused by Aiolia's words. It sounded like Milo and Aphrodite were engaged in a competition, but what competition?

Camus walked over: "Welcome, do you want to sit down here with us?"

Misty thanked him and sat down with Camus, Mu and Shura on the couch.

Shura offered a drink to him and said: "Just ignore those two, they've been like that for a long time."

Misty was thinking: Like what? But he didn't ask further, secretly, he seemed to sense that knowing this wouldn't be a pleasant thing for him.

Aphrodite joined them shortly and followed by Milo. Misty quietly observed the two gold saints. Aphrodite seemed so caring and loving and Milo looked like he himself could gather the sunshine. Both were very attractive and had smiling faces like innocent children, but both somehow made him feel they were dangerous to be close by and had something that would hurt him.

After a while, Misty felt the air in the room was a little stuffy, he stood up and both Milo and Aphrodite looked up to him.

"Ur, I'm a little dizzy, maybe the drink I had, I want to step to outside for a couple of minutes."

Shura blinked his eyes. He remembered all he offered Misty was a glass of freshly squeezed watermelon juice.

"I'll walk you outside." Milo and Aphrodite both said at the same time and stood up as well.

"No, I'll be fine…really. I'll be back soon." Misty hurried to say.

Mu spoke up: "Please, why don't you two give Misty a break?" Mu looked at Camus.

Camus stood up and pressed each of his hands on both Milo and Aphrodite's shoulders: "It's a poker night. Aiolia and Deathmask wouldn't be happy if you two keep ignoring them. I'll walk Misty out." After saying this, he did not wait for Milo nor Aphrodite's response and just said to Misty, "Let's go."

After they left the room, Saga looked at Milo and Aphrodite disapprovingly: "You two played too much this time. The kid seemed sensing something."

Both Milo and Aphrodite were silent for seconds, then Milo pointed to Aphrodite: "…But hey, he was the one that invited him here."

Aphrodite felt a little embarrassed but since it was from Milo, he fought back: "If someone didn't show up at his door at midnight hours to harass him, I didn't have to do this stupid thing."

"Ha, you admit what you are doing is stupid?" Milo caught the word.

"Going after Misty isn't stupid," Aphrodite stared him, "But…I have to say that it's stupid to ask him to come over here tonight to face you."

"Just stop it." Saga said, "I shouldn't blame you guys only, Kanon was the one that started it, and he's not even in it now." Kanon had left the Sanctuary to go back to Poseidon's temple yesterday.

Deathmask kept sorting the porker on his hands: "Yeah, looked like the kid was never in love before, or maybe he never met predators like you two before."

"Would you please shut your mouth?" Aphrodite said, "I'll make it up. I admit he is cute and I like him. It's not all for the bet."

Milo said ironically: "Oh yeah? How? Send another dozen of roses and say 'sorry, please forgive me' in front of another 100 people?"

Aphrodite ignored him.

Milo signed: "I agree I might have scared the kid, but I didn't know he would be so nervous, he acted like a naïve 14 year old bronze saint. I promise I'll change my courtship ways too from now on."

Outside the Scorpio Temple, Camus asked Misty: "Are you feeling better now?"

Misty nodded: "Thank you." He hesitated a little but did not say anything further.

"Do you want to ask me something?" Camus asked.

"…No, it's nothing big." Misty said, "…I do not want to sound rude but can I stay here for a while?"

Camus looked at him: "Sure. Let me know if you need anything." He walked into the temple.

Misty breathed out and sat down at one big rock and looked up at the starry sky.

After some time, he heard a light cough and turned around. Behind him at the Scorpio Temple gate stood Virgo Shaka.

Misty nodded to him and watched Shaka nodded back.

"The air is a little stuffy inside," Shaka said, "I hope you don't mind me joining you."

"No," Misty smiled.

Shaka sat down at another rock close by and they two just looked at the night sky quietly without exchanging more words.

Strangely, Misty did not feel nervous or uncomfortable that Shaka joined him. He was feeling uncomfortable during both Milo's visit to his hut and Aphrodite's visit at the saints resting lounge. Maybe it's the fresh air, he thought to himself, maybe he had met too many gold saints now and were getting used to them.

Some more time past by. Shaka did not say a thing. Misty turned around to see if he was still there.

He was still there.

"Shaka…" Misty said with a little hesitation.

Shaka looked at him. His crystal light blue eyes looked very clear under the moon light. Shaka's eyes looked as beautiful as Misty first time saw them but Misty was sure that Shaka wouldn't remember the first time they met.

"Yes?"

"Am I in a game…I mean, are Milo and Aphrodite competing on something that involves me?"

Shaka answered after a couple of seconds: "…Something like this…but I do not think they meant anything bad. If you know them long enough like I do, you will find out they are like kids sometimes."

"I see…" Misty squeezed a smile out, "How I wondered if I should go buy a lotto ticket this week."

Shaka seemed to smile a little at his comment.

After a moment of silence, Shaka suddenly asked: "Do you like them?"

Misty looked at Shaka in surprise: "…I…barely know them…I…didn't have any time to think about it…"

"I'm sorry, I should know this better…" Shaka said, "I mean, I should know that they two didn't give you any breathing time."

Misty looked at Shaka and somewhat felt Shaka would say something but he didn't.

Some more silent minutes passed by.

"If you need … anything …, you are welcome to come by the Virgo Temple anytime." Shaka spoke.

Misty tried to understand Shaka's words and waited for him to add something on what "anything" meant, but the Virgo saint didn't further explain his words.

Anything? Misty thought about it, what could he possibly need from Shaka? When he raised his head, he was surprised that Shaka was nowhere to be found and he was the only one sitting outside the Scorpio Temple. Misty blinked his eyes and thought maybe Milo and Aphrodite finally got him mentally. Was the Virgo Saint here talking to him a moment ago or was he having illusions?

"Where did Shaka go?" Milo asked suspiciously holding cards in his hand.

"He just went back to the Virgo Temple." Camus said.

"He did? Not even saying goodbye to us?"

"You know Shaka…You can't always understand him…" Aphrodite said, "Got you there! Come on losers, give me all your money!"

"Damn it! Is this the 3rd time he won the game? Something's wrong, Aphrodite, did you cheat?" Aiolia shouted.

"Well, as the old wisdom said, one will get lucky on gambling if he's unlucky in love," Milo reluctantly threw several bills on the table and didn't forget to be sarcastic on Aphrodite, "Misty must made his mind just now to dump you and go with me."

"Shut up!" Aphrodite said, "Stop mentioning his name, Misty could come in any time." He turned around, "Saga, can I go and ask Misty to come in now? I've sat with these losers for 3 games, it's my virtue that I never leave my date lonely."

Saga said: "Misty wasn't lonely, Shaka was just talking to him a minute ago, but you can go to ask him now, no not both of you at the same time, one at a time."

"I'll go." Milo stood up.

"No, I asked him to come over remember?" Aphrodite pressed one hand on Milo's shoulder and realized something, he turned to Saga, "How did you know Shaka was talking to Misty when you are here the whole time."

Saga pointed to Camus and drew the attention to the Aquarius saint.

Camus shrugged: "I checked on them."

"Why would you be checking on them? Who are you trying to check on anyway?" Aphrodite threw a suspicious look at Camus.

"Well…" Camus looked elsewhere, "Just curious what Misty was doing out there."

"That doesn't sound very persuasive…" Aphrodite said, "You are not the curious cat type, Camus."

"Maybe I am and you just didn't realize it before." Camus grinned, "It's getting rather late, and I'll call it a night and see you all tomorrow." He left the room quickly.

Chapter 4

Misty sat down on the stone stairs and looked down on the training ground. When he saw Shiba leaving for the 12 temples, he thought of his conversation with Shaka again the other evening. It had been another week and Milo and Aphrodite had both come to see him again. Milo came to the cafeteria once early in the morning when there weren't many people there yet and just chatted a little before he left. Aphrodite ran into him "accidentally" one afternoon at a village near the Sanctuary when Misty was there buying some stuff. Although both visits were not as grand as their previous ones, for some reason they were known by many the next day anyway.

"So, how was the party?"

"Morning Tramy." Misty turned his head.

"Was it fun to hang out with the elites of the Sanctuary? Tell me tell me." Tramy said laughing.

"Give me a break, you." Misty briefly told Tramy his experience.

"So you didn't have alcohols or drugs, didn't kiss or touch anyone, and sat outside for some time, then Aphrodite walked you home, that's it?"

"What were you expecting? What kind of party did you think I went to?"

"Just kidding, you know we were all betting if you are going to give it up to Aphrodite or Milo."

"I knew it!" Misty yelled, "For Athena's sake, why do I need friends like you guys!"

"Hey, we keep you entertained!" Tramy laughed.

"No you guys use me to entertain yourselves that's what you are doing. I'm stressed and none of you is trying to help me out." Misty said grumpily.

"Hum," Tramy caressed his own chin, "You really do not enjoy Milo and Aphrodite's courtships?"

"No!" Misty fainted, "You think I like being part of their game?"

"Game?" Tramy asked showing great interest.

"Nothing."

"No tell me, hey, I can't help you out if you don't tell me the truth."

"I said never mind!"

"Ok ok, no need to get upset. Do you really want to get rid of the two goldies?"

"Yes, you have any ideas?"

"You are not gonna regret?"

"Why would I regret?"

"Because…believe or not, many want to date them but were never asked."

"I won't regret just tell me what to do."

"Ok, you can…are you sure you won't regret?"

"You know what? Just forget it." Misty stood up.

"Hey don't go, I do have an idea." Tramy jumped up and stood in his way, "well, I don't have any way to stop Milo or Aphrodite to go after you…wait, a little patience, my friend, you can't really expect me to go up to the gold saints and tell them to leave you alone right?"

Misty sighed tiredly: "What are you trying to say?"

"Well, now you've met some other gold saints, did you make any new friends?"

Misty shook his head: "I only stayed for an hour or two."

"Come on, think, you must talked to some of them."

"Urr…Yeah…"

"Who did you talk to?"

"I…Why?"

"You never thought of asking the other gold saints to help? They must know a lot more about Milo and Aphrodite." Tramy noticed Misty's subtle facial expression change, "You think of someone?"

"…No…" Misty said, "I'm tired Tramy, I need a nap to rest up, in case someone decides to show up anytime."

Tramy looked at him with a little sympathy: "Ok, just don't stress too much, try to have some fun."

"Fun?"

"Being chased by two gold saints is not something everyone can experience." Tramy said with an "evil" smile.

Shiba looked at Misty interestingly: "You want to see my teacher Shaka?"

"Yes." Misty looked down on the ground and nailed his gaze on a small rock.

Shiba looked around quickly in a funny spying way and pulled Misty aside: "Let me guess, you had a secret crush on my teacher Shaka, now with Milo and Aphrodite's crazy chase, you have to confess to your real love!"

Misty was turned to stone on the spot by Shiba's overactive imagination, but he couldn't deny it completely.

"I'm definitely on your side Misty! I will take you to the Virgo Temple now!"

"No," Misty quickly regained his composition, "…just…just…please ask him. If he has a moment, I'll come up to visit him. If he's busy, that's ok." After saying this, Misty left as fast as possible.

"Don't worry! You can count on me!" The wind sent Shiba's answer to Misty's ears from the back.

Oh, Misty, I hope you are not doing something stupid to make things worse. Misty thought to himself.

After lunch, Misty was at his hut trying to get a quick nap but all he could do was grilling himself back and force on the bed. Fortunately he did not have to do that for very long because he heard three low but firm door knocks, which caused his brain to send a warning signal to his body and he jumped out of the bed.

Milo? Aphrodite? What will they ask and how will he answer their requests? Misty felt his head started to hurt.

He opened the door and outside the door stands –Shaka.

"Good afternoon." Shaka said.

"Good afternoon." Misty said, "…please come in."

Shaka walked in and looked at the decorations of Misty's little hut. Misty did not have much furniture but everything was kept neat and in order.

"Shiba told me you needed to see me." Shaka spoke up and gazed Misty's eyes, "Do you need my help?"

Misty opened his mouth a little and blinked his eyes: "…Yes…" He wondered how Shaka knew that he wanted to ask for help but he did not have time to think about it.

Shaka saw Misty's cheeks turned pink slowly but he continued: "I do not want to be part of Aphrodite and Milo's game, but I don't know how to get out of it." Misty swore he saw a smile in Shaka's eyes after he finished the sentence.

"I see." Shaka spoke, "It is something I can help you with, but before I do that, are you sure you do not want to date one of them?"

Oh man, Shaka asked the same question that Tramy asked earlier. If even the man closest to the gods thought he might regret giving up on dating the two Casanovas, Misty really started to doubt if he could possibly get rid of Milo and Aphrodite at all.

"Yes I'm sure. I want out."

"Ok." Shaka did not repeat his question again like Tramy did, "I have a meditation lesson for my students this afternoon in about half an hour in the woods to the west of here, would you like to come and join us?"

Misty was confused. What does training have anything to do with getting out of the dating game? However, he just said: "Sure."

Misty's presence at the woods aroused some talks among Shaka's students but everyone quieted down as soon as Shaka showed up. Shiba changed his sitting positions from the first row to the very back to be next to Misty.

"Did you confess?" Apparently Shiba also had paparazzi talents that Misty didn't know before.

"I don't have anything to confess!" Misty said with a low voice.

"Come on, you can trust me." Shiba said with a low voice too, "You must told my teacher you like him and he likes you too, otherwise he wouldn't allow you to come to the training. For all these years I followed him, he never let anyone that's not his students to come to be meditation training."

Misty knew Shiba wasn't going to be quiet if he didn't hear what he wanted to hear but he quickly thought of an idea: "Shaka's looking at you."

That worked and Shiba shut up right away. Misty looked at Shaka, who kept his eyes closed all this time but it seemed that all his students believed he could "see" what everyone's doing. Misty wondered if the divinely gold saint was really as away from the humanity as others said he was, or maybe he just saw through the worries most people had and that made him to be above the others. Very soon he was embraced by the peaceful atmosphere; he closed his eyes and tried to follow Shaka's cosmo to the world of meditation.

When Misty came back from the woods and was on the way to go back to his hut, he found a couple of saints trainees discussing him at the road side. He stopped at the corner of the road and listened to what they were saying.

"What did he do to get three gold saints to like him?"

"He got Milo and Aphrodite to fight for him and then he dumped them to be with Shaka."

"I thought Misty was dating with a silver saint before but he dumped him for Milo."

"Really? Who was he dating before?"

"I think it was Argor, the silver saint with the Medusa Shield."

"And who said good looks do not matter…Even gold saints are drawn to the looks…"

"I wonder how it feels like to be dating with a gold saint."

"I wish I'm Misty, what do you think he did when he went to that party, you think…"

The trainees started to giggle uncontrollably.

"You wish you were dead?" Misty couldn't listen to it anymore. His presence scared the trainees.

"Misty Sama!"

"Misty, let them go." Argor's voice was heard from the other side of the street. He walked over to this side and dismissed the trainees. The trainees ran away quickly but before they turned at the corner they still tried to take a last look at the two silver saints since Argor was rumored to be Misty's ex-love before Milo stepped into the circle.

"You can't stop people from talking." Argor said, "The more upset you are, the more they think the rumors are true."

Misty almost worshiped Argor: "Argor, out of all the people, you are the only one that believes these are all rumors."

"I didn't believe the part that involves you and me, that's for sure." Argor explained, "Or was there a one night stand between you and me and I was drunk that night?"

"Argor!"

"Hahaha…" Argor had a good laugh, "See, your response is so radical that it's hard for people not to spread the rumors. By the way, why are you in Shaka's lesson this afternoon?"

"You really want to know?"

"I'm asking."

"Someone said it might be a good idea to ask a gold saint's help to get away from the two Casanovas and I asked for Shaka's help."

"Why Shaka?"

"Because he said I can ask for his help if I need to…We had a small talk at the party."

"Huh…" Argor nodded, "He offered help, and that doesn't sound like Shaka at all. I mean, he doesn't get involved in these 'mortal' things you know…" Argor rolled his eyes, "Maybe he likes you."

"Who? Shaka?" Misty stared at Argor, "Sure, sure, everybody likes me."

Argor pulled out a notebook and pretended to write down "Misty said everybody liked him" and successfully got Misty annoyed again.

"I'm going back to my room and will not come out unless I have to." Misty started to walk away.

"Hey you know if you do that, people will just think you are dumped." Argor said behind Misty's back.

Chapter 5

Misty had been going to Shaka's meditation lessons for several days and Shaka still didn't do anything that Misty could tell that would help him with the situation. The rumors did not show any tendency to die down.

Misty found it impossible to concentrate in the meditation lessons. The more he came to be close to Shaka, the more he recalled the first time they met and talked. Actually that wouldn't be called a "talk", because the only one talked was Misty. Shaka didn't say anything, he just looked at Misty silently. Those eyes seemed to see through everything but yet their owner seemed to chose not to understand what he saw.

One day after the meditation lesson, it was close to 7pm already. Shaka stopped Misty when he was getting ready to leave.

"Misty, do you have any plans for tonight?"

Misty hesitated: "Not really, why?"

"Camus brought back a bottle of wine for me from France. If I remember correctly, you are from France too. Why don't you come over to my place to have dinner tonight and we'll share it."

The tone Shaka said it was very natural. It sounded just like a teacher inviting his student to come over for dinner.

"Ok." Misty found the "ok" slipped through his lips.

Shaka smiled: "Let's go."

Not until the dinner was almost over did Misty realize that this was like a dinner date. He had a glass of wine but couldn't tell if it was good or not. He was born and raised in France but was not that interested in wine tasting. The bottle looked expensive and the fact that it was from Camus meant it was 100% good wine. If there was only one person who knew how to taste wine in the Sanctuary, it would be Camus.

The dining room of the Virgo Temple had a big window next to the dinner table and he could feel the cool evening breeze. The wine had put blush on his face. This was genetic – everyone in his family had red faces after alcoholic beverages even if they were not drunk.

Shaka stood next to him and looked outside of the window. Down the hill, they could see the giant fire clock of the Sanctuary and the temples below them.

"I rented Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Hollywood had been making some movies based on Greek Mythology." Shaka asked, "Do you care to watch it?" Shaka had been a lot more talkative than when he was in front of others – either his students or his peer gold saints at that poker party.

"Yeah, why not." For some reason, Misty did not want to go back to his hut. He enjoyed the Virgo saint's company and he thought to himself that maybe he just felt safe in the Virgo Temple since neither Milo nor Aphrodite would come here to ask him hard questions.

They sat down at the couch in the living room and started to watch the movie. The movie was good but Misty's mind wondered off the movie from time to time. His six sense was indicating something to him but he couldn't figure it out. But he didn't care much; the couch was large and very comfortable to be sunk into.

Shaka got up in the middle of the movie and got some pop corns and coke. When Misty got the coke from him and started sipping, Shaka turned his head from the TV to him.

"Misty, why did you ask me for help instead of the other gold saints?"

Misty stopped sipping coke and slowly turned his face to Shaka's, which was only inches away from his own. For a moment he did not know how to answer it.

Shaka just kept his eyes on him and waited for his answer.

Oh my gosh, those eyes.

Misty finally spoke: "…Because…You said…if I need anything…" He couldn't finish the sentence.

"…And you did what I said…" Shaka said in a very low voice that Misty could only hear because they were so close. Misty lowered his gaze from Shaka's eyes to lips when he felt the warmth of Shaka's breath.

"If I ask for some other things, will you do the same?" Shaka moved closer and his nose almost touched Misty's.

Misty's lips moved a little but couldn't spell out any words. On the next second, he closed his eyes when Shaka eliminated the last centimeter between them. He didn't know how long Shaka kissed him, because his mind was all blank. He heard Shaka murmuring at his ear.

"If you don't want to…"

He was pressed down on the couch. The light of the TV reflected in Shaka's eyes. If dream had any color, it must be the color of Shaka's eyes at this moment.

"…tell me…"

Misty did not say a single word.

The fact that Misty did not came back to his hut for a whole night was known by his neighbors instantly the next morning.

"Did he spend the night at the Pisces or Scorpio Temple?" Asterian asked.

"Neither." Shiba said, "He was, let me correct it, should still be at the Virgo Temple now."

"Excuse me?" Several voices asked at the same time.

"My teacher Virgo Shaka, you are the strongest saint in all aspects." Shiba looked into the sky and started to mentally worship his teacher. The other saints were speechless by his idol worshiping behavior.

"…Shaka really liked Misty? Was he supposed to like anyone?" Argor managed to ask after a few seconds. He really had a hard time imaging Shaka holding someone's hand or kissing someone, not to mention doing something "else".

Tramy suddenly thought of his conversation with Misty last week: "Oh my, Misty must like Shaka from the very beginning…"

On this fateful day, several different versions of the stories formed.

On the other hand, Aphrodite slept in late till about noon time and by the time he went around the Sanctuary and heard the latest Misty news, it was already late afternoon. The first thought that came to him mind was 'I got to find Milo'.

Aphrodite was greeted the very moment he walked into the Scorpio Temple and he saw Milo leaning against a pillar with a can of beer in his hand.

"You finally heard it?" Milo asked and swallowed down half can of cold beer.

"Sounds like you knew it, so what the hell is going on?"

"The fake monk beat both of us."

"No way! The rumor is real?" Aphrodite widened his eyes, he tried to focus his cosmo to imagine the event but after a hard enough try he decided to give up … "Maybe I'm not creative enough but I can't imagine Shaka making … doing it to anyone."

"Me neither," Milo finished his beer, "Why do you think I'm drinking? I lost the competition to him and I don't even know how he beat me up. How is that possible? He never dates anyone and where did he learn that skill anyway?" He looked pretty down and after a moment of hard thinking, "They must be drugged, that's the only reasonable explanation of this thing."

"Don't feel too bad." Aphrodite couldn't give up on any opportunity to tease Milo, even thought Milo didn't lose the competition to him, "Since you are the #2 Casanova in the Sanctuary, I should feel much worse than you now."

Milo surprisingly didn't tease Aphrodite back this time. He looked pretty down: "We've got no golden apple to compete anymore, we need to find something else to do." He paused a little and proposed, "Do you want to have a drink? I have beers, wines, and liquors, more than you can find at Camus's." Then he all of sudden looked up at Aphrodite, "Unless, you are afraid to confront me one on one…" He grinned.

Aphrodite moved one eyebrow upward a little: "Afraid of you? Not in another 10 years." Milo's eyes sparked with something. He didn't say anything and just gestured a "please" sign to Aphrodite with his hand pointing to the living quarter of the Scorpio Temple.

One month later. The Pope's Temple.

Saga was sitting down in front of his computer typing an email to Kanon.

"Dear Kanon, it's been about one and a half months since you visited us. I never thought that so many dramatic and exiting things could happen when we are not in any war. Do you still remember the golden apple you threw out at the Valentine's Day party? Guess who won the golden apple? Well, I should say silver apple since Misty is a silver saint LOL. You will never guess I knew it. The kid did not end up with neither Aphrodite nor Milo. He's with Shaka now. Yes, it's not a typo. It's a long story but I'll try to explain it in a short email.

A long time ago (not that long actually), a boy had a crush on a younger boy but chose to hold the love inside for almost four years. Ok too boring? How do I know you are getting bored because I just know you are my twin brother. Ok let me put names in this story then it won't be boring anymore. Four years ago, when Misty first earned his cloth, he came to the Sanctuary to see the pope (me that is). He met Shaka on his way up to the Pope's temple and Shaka had a crush on him. Strange but true. Shaka had been always put so high and never had the chance to experience any normal human emotions. That day when he opened his eyes to see who was passing his temple, Misty told him his eyes were beautiful and our Virgo Saint just helplessly fell in love with this young silver saint. Misty probably didn't even know Shaka's name then. He didn't know ever since that day Shaka had been going to the saint arena each day to watch him training. One day Camus found out Shaka was watching Misty and Shaka asked him to keep the secret. He thought he would be able to keep this secret love in his heart for the whole life but when Milo and Aphrodite started to court Misty, he got unsettled. Yes as you guessed Camus thought of the idea of letting the two problem children go chase Misty in order to force Shaka to stop hiding his emotions. He thought it wasn't healthy for Shaka to stay high and detached from the normal life. Shaka didn't do anything at the beginning but then he saw Misty at the party stressed and nervous, he started to change his mind. Plus Camus told him that he was not sure how long Misty would survive when both Milo and Aphrodite were after him; that sent Shaka to take actions. To his surprise Misty came to ask for his help to get out of the golden apple game, and that gave him more courage. I don't know all the details on how Shaka carried out his things but he and Misty are together now.

And something else happened you would never guess. Milo and Aphrodite are no longer competing for the #1 Casanova title. I thought the world must come to an end first before they two would stop arguing on that but I now believe in miracles. Take a deep breath and be calm. Milo and Aphrodite are dating each other now. Milo invited Aphrodite for a drink since they both lost the competition on Misty, they felt sorry for themselves and maybe needed a talk together. Only the love god knows who seduced whom first and how it happened but they decided to date each other. Ever since then I've had quite some precious peaceful time and I have to give the credit to you my dearest brother. You are a genius (for all these years you tried to tell me this but I never believed it now I do, it's not too late). One apple solved my migraine – well, one of lasting migraines of being a pope. The apple now is in the Pope's office on the shelf. Apparently Shaka the winner forgot to claim his prize since he has his real 'silver apple'. Aphrodite and Milo are so into each other now they probably do not care about anything else anyway. I'll just keep it as a reminder that I should relax when I have problems I think I could never solve, because miracles do exist and problems will be solved in ways I can't even imagine.

Summer will come up soon in two months, you are very welcome to come and visit the Sanctuary anytime you want.

Miss you,

Your brother Saga

P.S. If you could come up with any ideas to solve the over spending budget problem of the Sanctuary, I would appreciate your help very much. I really do not want to ask Athena and the Kido Corporation for financial help. Maybe I should consider opening a dating club or something of that sort and charge a ransom for matching people up. Camus can be assigned as the CEO of this club since he obvious has a talent in this area.

The End