The punching bag recoiled violently from the spin kick Dionysus had just let loose. Dropping from his stance, Dionysus bent over, placing his hands on his knees and panting heavily. He had been in Castle Anthrax's training hall for the better part of his time, trying to work out his problems... but all he managed to do was turn three punching bags into recyclable material.

"Chikusho..." he muttered and wiped off some of the sweat dripping on his brow. A familiar feeling came over him... his fingers itched... he wanted to hold some sort of gun in his hands and release his tension through senseless destruction. Dionysus frowned and clenched his hands into fists. No, that wouldn't do any good, he thought to himself. I'd probably shoot the room to pieces and still not be any happier.

Dionysus turned his gaze around the room and noticed that there were many more Unnamed Otaku training than usual. Celeste had been absolutely livid at the breech of security and ordered the retraining of all the Unnamed Otaku. Security had been increased tenfold and Celeste had tackled the computer problems herself. Now, none of the computers outside of Special Ops could be accessed with out a retinal scan, a palm scan, and a voice check. And this was on top of the already triple encoded system.

"I don't want any more of my secrets getting out!" Celeste had declared. "There's too much at stake for this information to fall into the wrong hands!"

Dionysus shook his head and reached for his towel. He couldn't help but feel a little bit guilty for Hotohori no Otaku's break in. "I should've just turned Roger in," he muttered to himself. "Why does it always feel like I'm odds with Ce-ko these days?" Dionysus slung the towel over his shoulder and left the training hall for his quarters. His *new* quarters. Dionysus frowned at that. Since their separation, Celly had practically forced him to move out of their previously shared quarters. Bob had been in charge of the room change and had "thoughtfully" made sure that his and Ce-ko's rooms were as far away from each other as humanly possible.

"Damn that little brown-noser," Dionysus growled. "He's been avoiding me lately, but I hope I run into him. I can't wait to wring his neck again. Maybe I'll strangle him with his tie... or give him enough paper cuts so he bleeds to death... or drown him in a shallow pool of coffee..." Dionysus started to chuckle to himself, caught in his little daydream, when he nearly collided with someone. His attention quickly shifted and he automatically caught the person who would have fallen over. "Ah! Gomen nasai..." he said automatically.

Then he noticed who he had bumped into.

Dionysus looked down at the person in his arms and realized he was staring straight into Celeste's blue eyes. He drank in her presence like flowers and sunlight. A million thoughts ran through his head at once. He could see the faint shadows under her eyes... the furrow between her brows... even her skin seemed to have lost its normally healthy glow. She's working too hard, he thought to himself. He continued to stare into her eyes. What was the emotion there? Surprise... annoyance... anger... humiliation... guilt?... he could catch something else, something very familiar...

Celeste looked down, breaking their eye contact. "Dionysus..." her voice trembled.

"H-hai?" How long had he waited for her to start talking to him again?

"Let me go."

Dionysus belatedly noticed that his arms were still wrapped around her from when he had stopped her from falling. He dropped his hold quickly. "Sorry," he muttered.

Celeste shifted her hold on the stack of files in her arms. "It's alright. You kept me from tripping, didn't you?"

Dionysus didn't know how to answer to that, nor if he *should* answer. He continued to stare at her while Celly fidgeted and looked everywhere but him. His mind was whirling with thoughts. Should I say something? Should I wait for her to say something first? I hope she doesn't cry... Oh no, maybe she's gonna hit me... she works too hard... is she using new shampoo... I'm so going to kill Bob... This is getting awkward... why doesn't she look at me... maybe I should apologize... no, she's the one blowing everything out of proportion... why isn't she saying anything... does she hate me... what are those files... I wonder what Mamoru-kun is doing... why is she so quiet... what the hell is Lambda Project... I wonder where the rest of our side is, things have gotten quiet lately... oh! She's finally looking at me... is she going to say something? Maybe I should say something...

The silence between them lengthened.

He couldn't stand it anymore. "Ce-ko..." he started.

"I'm sorry, Dionysus," Celeste interrupted. "But I have to go." She fairly ran down the hall and disappeared around a corner.

"Kuso..." Dionysus whispered as he watched her go. He had messed up again. Then he remembered the crate of whiskey and beer that was in his room. Now was as good a time as any to... dispose of it.

TBC...