Notes as of 4/1/08: I had to write a story for my college creative writing class, and drew inspiration (and heavy dialogue), from this story here. So I decided to incorporate what I had put together back into the story and post it from there. So all the chapters will be slightly revised, and the new story that I wrote will be posted on my website.
Notes: Ok. My best friend challenged me to write a Sailor Moon shounen ai/yaoi fic with Seiya and Mamoru as the pairing. Since I can't back down from creative challenges, I took her up on it. This is what came of it.
Warnings: Shounen ai!! For those of you who have no clue what that means…it literally means "boy love". If the idea of two guys kissing—each other—then this is not the story for you! If you choose to continue reading with disregard for this message, then it is on your heads! Be forewarned as well: there is character death in the very beginning. It will end happy and fluffy etc, etc, but it'll have its angsty moments too. Please note one last thing: this fic is an AU! That means there are no Sailor Scouts; Luna and Artemis are human, and the Three Lights are just a music group!
Warnings addendum: All right. I've gotten one review that bothered me a bit, so I thought I'd post an addendum here. THIS STORY IS AN ALTERNATE UNIVERSE!! I don't care if you think that I'm nuts. I clearly stated that this was an AU in the paragraph above. I'll address later issues that were contained within the review at a later date, but suffice it to say, READ THE WARNINGS! I don't write them because I think they're a great thrill to read; I post them because I don't want to see reviews complaining about a way I handled something that was clearly addressed previously. Yeesh.
Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon. Moreover, I never will own SM (any of the series). I own absolutely nothing!
Life's Little Surprises
By Rosethorn
Chapter 1: A Parting, a Meeting, and a Party
"Usako," Mamoru whispered brokenly as Usagi's breathing became more and more labored. He longed to brush back her golden bangs, but they had been a casualty of the chemotherapy. He instead bent down to kiss her forehead. His fiancée, Tsukino Usagi had been recently diagnosed with leukemia, and while it had appeared that the radiation and chemotherapy had been taking effect, the cancer had suddenly become more vicious, slowly killing his beautiful Usako. In the last few weeks, it had been particularly bad, and Mamoru feared the end was very, very close. He had waited anxiously for the doctor's prognosis, which turned out to be a rather grim one.
"I'd give her one month at most. Less, if the cancer continues to grow at a rapid rate like this. I'm sorry," had been the devastating words spoken to him. Those words destroyed his whole world. He had, afterwards, stayed in Usagi's room, refusing to leave. The nurses left him alone after the first day, seeing the desperation on his face. That was three days previous. Today however, had started off as a good day; Usagi's energy was rather high, and her color was quite good. She had smiled and laughed. There had been one somber moment when Usagi had asked a rather startling question.
"Ne, Mamo-chan?" she queried. "If something happens, will our souls still find each other?" Mamoru had taken her hand in his then, and had promised that they would. Their souls would always find each other, no matter how far apart. She had smiled then, and the mood became light-hearted once more. Mamoru had begun to regain hope, only to have it dashed towards the evening. She began to have trouble breathing, each breath becoming a painful exercise. At one point, she lost consciousness.
After a frantic call to the nurse, the doctor arrived to examine her. He then turned to Mamoru with a sad expression. Mamoru didn't need to hear any words from the doctor's mouth. He knew it in his bones. It was time. It was her time to leave him. The doctor instructed to nurse to give Usagi's pain medication, then make sure that no one disturbed the couple unless she was called. Usagi had regained consciousness in time to hear this order and had smiled sadly. She reached out a frail, trembling hand to the nurse, whose eyes were beginning to tear.
"Arigatou (Thank you) for everything," she whispered, causing the nurse to stifle a sob. She nodded quickly and left the room. Usagi turned her cornflower-blue eyes to Mamoru. He had taken her other hand in his. She smiled again, tears reaching her eyes.
"Aishiteru (I love you), Usako…" Mamoru whispered again, tears still held within his eyes. He lifted the hand he held to his lips, kissing the knuckles tenderly. She nodded, before taking another shaky breath.
"M-Mamo-chan…A-aishiteru, Mamo-chan…" She managed before her breathing stilled, and her eyes close. Mamoru's head bowed, tears falling down his cheeks freely. He listened to the steady whine of Usagi's heart monitors, stating for the world that his soul mate had left. He carefully took his hand out of her lifeless one, and gently pulled the bed sheet up, covering her face. The doctor, who had been waiting at the door, came in and talked with Mamoru about transport of the body. Mamoru barely registered the conversation, grief too deep to really comprehend anything else.
The funeral had been a somber one. Usagi had many friends, but only eight of them were considered close. Those eight had taken it rather hard, as they were her self-proclaimed defenders. Mizuno Ami, who would help Usagi all the way through school, and would patiently wait for Usagi's temper to cool instead of yelling; Hino Rei, who was Usagi's co-conspirator in crime, and would make sure that Usagi thought her actions through; Kino Makoto, Usagi's "chef" and one of her staunchest protectors. Makoto was the one when anyone hurt Usagi, would go and make that person repent—very fast; Aino Minako, the one who introduced Usagi to Mamoru in the first place, the one who would listen to Usagi's tales of woe, and cheered her up by acting ridiculous; Tomoe Hotaru, the precocious little girl dying of cancer herself, who Usagi gave bone marrow to, and saved her life; Meiou Setsuna, her boss, who had been a second mother figure to Usagi; Kaiou Michiru, the one Usagi would turn to when she and her other friends were fighting; and last, Ten'ou Haruka, Usagi's other fierce protector. Between Makoto and Haruka, no one ever hurt Usagi—rather, no one ever hurt her and had anything to reproduce with afterwards.
Her family was also there, her mother, father, and younger brother. As they listened to the eulogy and put the flowers on her coffin, all that was flowing through Mamoru's mind had been that earlier conversation with Usagi.
"Ne, Mamo-chan? If something happens, will our souls still find each other?"
"Of course, they will, Usako. No matter how far, I promise they will find each other."
"I'm glad."
"BEEP! BEEP!" an alarm chimed insistently in a quiet bedroom.
"Ugh," a low moan escaped from underneath a music-note patterned blanket. A hand worked its way from under the covers and felt around blindly for the snooze button on the Annoyance. Not finding it, a head appeared looking around—bleary-eyed—for where it had moved this time.
"Curse Taiki and his sadistic sense of humor!" he cursed under his breath. Taiki, after he had slept in one too many times, decided to buy him an alarm clock that moved whenever you hit the snooze button. He looked around for a moment more where the clock had traveled before just giving up. He pulled the covers back over his head, determined to ignore the persistent beeping, only to have it shoot back out after a loud pounding on the door to the bedroom.
"Seiya!!" yelled a rather annoyed voice. Yaten Kou, Seiya's "brother." He, Seiya, and his other "brother" Taiki Kou all lived together—mainly because all three formed the famous boy band "Three Lights." They weren't related, but all three shared the same last name—by some fluke of nature as Yaten liked to remind Seiya. The words "I would be horribly disgraced to be related to you" were heard rather frequently. Taiki, the straight-man of the group, usually had to drag Seiya bodily away from Yaten when those fights began.
"SEIYA!! Get your lazy ass out of bed, now!!" The thumping had now grown to kicking the door. Seiya was starting to worry about the poor door collapsing from the continued treatment. He knew that Yaten was one of those morning people. It was some kind of mutation, to be sure, and he was tired of his friend's persistent urge to force that Unholiness which is Morning on everyone else.
"Yeah, yeah," he groaned, pulling back the bedding. "I'm getting up, Yaten, sheesh! Don't get your curlers in a knot!" He could sense the daggers being glared through the door. Yaten was rather sensitive of his effeminate looks—which were only enhanced by his long, platinum blond hair. So of course Seiya had to tease him about it. He stumbled around getting dressed, and was quite proud of the fact that he only banged his foot into the closet door twice.
"Since you have conveniently forgotten, Seiya…" Uh oh, Yaten had gone for reinforcements. Taiki was the only one of the three that could make Seiya feel guilty. Maybe it was the fact that the other man had three years on him, or the fact that for all Taiki was the "responsible" one, he had a very…inventive way of getting you to do what you needed to do. Hence the alarm clock from hell. "We do have a charity concert today in…an hour." Seiya's eyes widened as he flung open the door, face landing straight into Taiki's chest. He looked up at elder, rubbing his nose.
"An hour?!" He paused, noticing the twinkle in Taiki's eyes. "Oh, shut up," he muttered, realizing he'd been had, and stomped past his friend down to the kitchen. Looking around the hall on his way, Seiya noticed that Yaten had mysteriously vanished. Shrugging, he set about getting himself something for breakfast—lunch, he amended after looking at the clock, since it was past noon. Taiki followed, and told him that Yaten had gone to do whatever it was that Yaten did. Seiya felt better not knowing. He opted on a leftover sandwich—the only edible thing in the 'fridge.
"Moa fu'y by va way, Faifi," he said through his sandwich. Taiki raised an eyebrow, and Seiya rolled his eyes and swallowed. "Not funny by the way, Taiki," he repeated.
"I have no idea what you mean." Seiya glared, reaching into the fridge for the carton of milk. Opening it, he raised it to his lips before spotting Taiki out of the corner of his eye, giving him the Look. Sighing, he trudged over to the cupboard and pulled down a glass. Waving it slightly at the taller man (so as to say "See? I got a glass. Happy?"), he poured the milk and put it back in the fridge.
"Don't play dumb, Taiki. You can't pull it off. I may be able to, but not you." He noticed Taiki opening his mouth. "Rhetorical statement. Say nothing." Taiki laughed. Still glowering at his friend, Seiya took a sip of his milk before continuing. "Anyways. Not funny about telling me we had a concert in an hour. You know how seriously I take those! I was worried I forgot to set my alarm for one when you said that!" Taiki looked at him evenly, and Seiya could sense a Very Important Talk about to commence.
"You really need to start learning to wake up at normal times of the day, Seiya," his friend began. "It's unhealthy to stay up 'til two a.m. and then sleep 'til one p.m." Seiya rolled his eyes. It was an old argument that Taiki liked to trot out whenever he felt the need to be older-brother-y. While he appreciated the elder's concern, Seiya could most definitely live without the nagging sometimes.
"Yes, Dad," He simpered back. "I promise I'll play nice with the other boys and girls at school, Dad." Taiki narrowed his eyes in contemplation. Seiya hated that look sometimes. It spelled DOOM in all capital letters, doom that would be visited on the one who was too smart-assed and too stupid to know when to keep his mouth shut. Which was why he was mildly surprised when Taiki only motioned to the pantry.
"By the way, it's your turn to cook tonight…you might want to go out and restock our supplies," Taiki said, lacing his hands behind his red-brown hair and reclined (not slouched, reclined, as Taiki never did anything as plebian as "slouch") back onto his chair.
"It was my turn last night!" Taiki merely looked at him. Sighing again, Seiya hoisted himself up from the counter he was perched on to see what they had in the way of foodstuffs. After looking over their meager pantry (10 cans of caviar, a bottle of soy sauce, and a can of tomato soup that Seiya had sworn was there when they had moved in), he cautiously peeked in the fridge to see if there was anything to be had. He opted not to check the expiration dates on some of the more "colorful" items in favor of going to the store. He turned to Taiki.
"No," the brunet stated before Seiya could even open his mouth.
"But—"
"No."
"Taiki—"
"No." Seiya shot his friend a dirty look.
"Be that way. I like walking. It gives me good exercise." He dramatically walked to the door, making sure to plaster a huge, obviously phony smile on his face the whole way. Taiki was still laughing by the time the door closed.
"Let's see…" Mamoru murmured, looking at the shelves. "Miso, miso, miso…" He soon got a rather disgusted look on his face. "What kind of grocery store doesn't carry miso soup?!" he asked aloud.
"A rather pathetic one, I'd say," came the response behind him. Mamoru whirled in time to see a girl about his age standing before him. A rather pretty girl at that, his mind told him appreciatively, which stunned him. He hadn't looked at another girl since meeting—best cut that thought off there. Mentally shaking his head to clear it, he grinned at the joke.
"I would concur." The girl laughed and continued on her way down the aisle. He could hear her muttering things like "damn Taiki" and "why couldn't Yaten like tomato soup". He had to stifle a laugh of his own before returning to the rather frustrating search for the apparently non-existent miso soup. Well, at least the non-existent white miso soup. Heaven forefend that Motoki have red miso soup! Oh no, it has to be white.
The next time Motoki asks me for a favor, Mamoru thought sourly, I'm going to tell him where he can put it, best friend or no. He turned and continued down the aisle to where the deli was. He picked up some sushi, telling himself that if his friend didn't like it, he could damn well go out and get the miso soup himself. On his way back to the check stand, he thought about the girl in the aisle-way, although he didn't understand why he kept thinking about her. He really hadn't looked at anyone that way before…at least, not for many, many years. Thinking about the last time he did always brought heartache, but it had become slightly more bearable over the last five years.
Finishing at the checkout stand, he walked towards his friend's home, knowing that Motoki would cheer him up like always. Motoki had been his friend since middle school, and was the one to help him pull through after…Yes, Motoki was a great friend. So were the girls, come to think of it. All eight of them. They had adopted him in…
"Mamoru!!" He heard a shout, which thankfully took him away from his thoughts. He looked up to see a raven head of hair come flying at him. He braced himself for impact, but still swayed slightly when Rei crashed into him. He hugged the woman tightly, before releasing her.
"Rei! What are you doing here? You live miles away!" Rei shrugged.
"All of us wanted to see each other, and it was one of those rare times when we all had vacation, so here I am!" She smiled brightly. "Miss me?" Mamoru pretended to be seriously pondering the question, while Rei elbowed him, laughing. "Jerk. Oi, the others are here too! We all decided to gather at Motoki's, since he invited us and all…not to mention that Mako-chan's his wife…" Mamoru started shaking his head in admiration.
"No wonder Motoki was so eager to get me out of the house," he said ruefully. "I should have known." Rei quickly grabbed his arm and started running in the direction of Motoki's house. Upon reaching it, the sight that greeted him was a rather large banner reading "Happy Birthday, Mamoru!". His mouth dropped open.
"My…You…" He couldn't find the words to express himself, so contented himself with letting his mouth hang open in shock. Motoki snuck up behind him.
"Catching flies?" he asked dryly. Mamoru whirled, and hugged his best friend tightly.
"Thank you, Motoki. Thank you." The man in question patted his back.
"Anytime." After releasing him, Mamoru held out the bag.
"Oh, and Motoki?" Motoki raised an eyebrow.
"Next time you need miso soup, go and get it yourself." Motoki threw back his head and laughed.
So there it is, the somewhat revised version. It may be further revised at a later date. Please review with questions, concerns, etc.
Rosethorn