A/N: Didn't think I'd update it again before I left for vacation, but I thought I'd give you all a little treat because I'm unable to update Ryuusei Densetsu. Enjoy :)
Chapter Seven: Upheaval
Healer fidgeted nervously on the couch as Minako told of what happened after the starlights. The beauty smiled wistfully as she listed her conquests. Not that Healer was jealous. But they were all male...
"Ne, Minako-chan...did you miss me after I left?" Healer asked quietly, avoiding looking in her eyes.
"Haii! Of course I did! You guys were the hottest boys in the music business! What I wouldn't give to hear one last song!" Minako said excitedly.
Healer felt a clenching feeling on her heart.
Wrong answer, Minako...
"I...I see." Healer said quietly.
Minako suddenly became concerned, and she leaned across the coffee table to grasp Healer's hand, covered by leather gloves.
"Healer...there's something you're not telling me."
Healer looked up slowly.
I walked away once without telling her the truth. I need to have courage...I need to say what I'm going to say...
Healer breathed in and out slowly. Why was it when it came to just saying things as they were, she was lacking? Fighter never had that problem, hell that girl couldn't keep her mouth shut! And Maker...well she's just...her. Somehow, the thought of her comrades eased her nerves slightly.
If I can face Galaxia, I can face Minako.
"Minako, it's taken me..quite some time to realize this...demo, I..." Healer said softly.
Understanding flicked across Minako's face as she brought a finger to Healer's lips.
"Shh. It's alright. You don't have to say it."
Healer smiled slightly, as she felt tears beginning to form in her eyes. She stood up then and walked to the door.
"Dinner is served in the main hall from 7-10 pm." was all she said as she slipped out the door, her silver ponytail trailing behind her.
Maker, on the other hand, found herself strolling the gardens, Ami at her side.
"There's so many uniquely beautiful plants...well, unique to me. What I would give to study them all!" Ami said excitedly.
Maker smiled serenely. "The true wonder lies not within the flower, but within the person looking at it."
"Eh?" Ami asked, missing Maker's true meaning.
Maker giggled slightly. "Ah, naïve still. You haven't changed a bit, have you?"
"Eh? No, I'm the same...girl..."
"You see, Miss Mizuno, the beauty of a flower lies not within the flower itself, but within the person looking at it."
"Oh! Now I understand..on Earth we say something similar, 'Beauty is in the eye of the beholder', ne?" Ami said cheerfully.
Maker nodded solemnly. "So, what have you been doing since we left?"
Ami looked thoughtful. "Truthfully, I went away to study, and when I came back we left to come here. So not too much."
"It was your dream, wasn't it?" Maker said, crouching down to examine an unfortunate flower with a bud overcome by blight.
"Hai, it was. I wish to become a doctor like my mother."
"Your dream or hers?" Maker asked plainly.
"Ehh?"
"So...many people, push others to do things, because it's what they feel is best, even though, had they asked that person, they would realize it is not." Maker responded, as a familiar twinge was felt in her heart.
Fighter...
"I've always wanted to help people. What better way than to make them feel better?" Ami asked quietly. Maker smiled, turning her attention to the withering bud.
"It is your dream, then."
"Hai, demo, there are other things that I want, too..." Ami whispered, sitting on her knees next to Maker. Maker shivered slightly as she felt Ami's breath against her bare arm.
"One should not dwell on materialistic things." Maker said wisely.
"Ie, it's not...it's...a person." Ami stuttered nervously. She examined Maker, not for the first time, as she had often done so many times before. She noticed the sudden sadness in the starlight's eyes.
"Ami, you see this flower?" Maker said suddenly, avoiding the subject. Ami pouted, about to protest, but decided to just go along with where Maker was headed.
"Hai, I see it."
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Maker said quietly. And indeed, the flower was. It was a beautiful teal, with delicate petals, it's only flaw being the bud that was browned and withering like a disease.
"Hai, except for that one bloom that won't bud. It looks like it's sick or something."
"Yes, it is. It's a frequent disease among flowers around here. However..." Maker trailed, pinching the bud off just below where the disease lay with her elegant fingers.
"If you remove what is hurting the flower, the flower will soon prosper. Sure, for a time it may seem awkward, and like it's missing something. But eventually, a new bloom will replace the one it's lost."
"Maker..." Ami said quietly, understanding the starlight's strange answer. Maker turned to her slowly, standing up and offering Ami a hand, which she took, and was pulled up swiftly and gently.
"You understand, don't you?" Maker asked quietly.
"H-hai..." tears began pouring down Ami's face. A warm, gloved hand quickly brushed them away.
"I know it hurts, demo...it's for the best." and with that, Maker placed a soft kiss on Ami's lips. They stayed like that, for quite sometime. As they pulled away, Ami noticed Maker had tears of her own.
Ami sobbed pitifully, and Maker brought her head against her chest in a comforting embrace.
"You taught me how to love, and I thank you deeply for that. I was becoming a lonesome soldier, without hope, without cause. You saved me from that fate." Maker said quietly, stroking the smaller girls back.
"I just..wish...we could..be..together.." Ami whispered between sobs. Maker pulled back, grabbing Ami's chin gently with her hand.
"There's no saying we couldn't be- we just shouldn't. Someday, you'll find him, someone who truly is meant for you. I know you will. I can't be what you need. I wish...but then I'd be denying who I am." Maker said softly.
"Maker! That doesn't matter to me!" Ami cried desperately.
A small smile graced Makers lips. "I Know." she whispered. Then she turned and walked away, her heel clicks tapping quietly.
"Maker...you'll always be a beautiful mystery to me..." Ami said to herself, returning solemnly to her guest room.
Fighter entered her princess' room. Her princess was relaxing in her day bed, many candles around her illuminating her face. She smiled and closed her eyes, breathing in the scent of osmanthus.
"Fighter?" Her princess asked quietly.
"Hai, it's me."
"What brings you here?" the Princess asked, sitting up. Fighter quickly crossed the room and brought her hands down on Kakyuu's shoulders, softly pressing her back down onto the daybed.
"Just relax, would you?" Fighter said with a slight smile. Kakyuu just looked confused. What was Fighter doing?
Fighter took a seat on a footstool, leaning forward slightly, examining her princess carefully.
"Why did you come to see me?" Kakyuu asked.
"Isn't simply wanting be around you enough?" Fighter asked, a playful glint in her eyes. Kakyuu giggled slightly.
Yes, things were back to the way they were before, with the exception of Maker and Healer. But it was false, it was wrong..and deep down, Kakyuu knew she was going to find a way to fix everything. She had thought wrong when she thought it best to erase Fighter's memories. Back then...she didn't realize that Fighter's feelings were returned. She didn't know of the love she had destroyed between the two most deserving people in the universe. She looked at Fighter curiously, who stared back, almost blankly with her midnight blue eyes.
"I'm..trying to figure it all out. What happened, when I was injured, why I can't remember. It's all so hazy to me." Fighter mumbled in response to Kakyuu's unspoken question. Kakyuu stood up slowly, and took a seat behind Fighter. She swiftly undid the ribbon that tied her hair back, running her fingers through the silky strands.
"It's alright. I'm sure someday, you'll remember. You'll understand. You just have to give yourself some time." Kakyuu whispered as her hands found their way to Fighter's neck, massaging away the tension.
Fighter sighed in content, feeling her body relax. Her princess always had such a soothing effect on her..it always made Fighter want to be closer to her...closer in a way her princess didn't want her to be..
But why? It seems...all of a sudden.
Did something happen? Did she say something hurtful to her princess, and can't even remember?
"Hime...have I ever hurt you?" Fighter asked quietly.
Kakyuu bit her lip nervously.
Yes..you have Fighter. You broke my heart when you fell for Tsukino Usagi...
"Ie, why do you ask?" Kakyuu responded.
Fighter shrugged slightly. "Just wondering."
The two stayed like that for some time, Kakyuu slowly undoing all the tension that Fighter felt.
"Arrigatou, hime.." Fighter said, smiling gratefully at her princess.
"You're very welcome. I have a favor to ask you."
"What is it?"
Kakyuu smiled at her starlight's eagerness. "The visitor that fell ill...when she's feeling better, I want for you to show her around. It's the first time she's been here."
"Is that all, princess?" Fighter asked, standing up and tying her hair back.
Kakyuu smiled, a bit deviously. "Show her a good time, Fighter." Kayuu said with a small wink, ushering Fighter out the door, closing it behind her.
"Nani?" Fighter asked confused, but was answered with the door closing. Fighter shook her head.
Hime sure is confusing these days.
Kakyuu sighed as she lay on her bed. Tears soon slid down her cheek.
Fighter...I hope she can make you happy.
A/N: I know it's a bit short, but I have to pack! So I'll give you a quick preview of what's going to happen next time!
Preview:
"She what?" Minako yelled, enraged.
"I-it's o-okay really.." Ami said tearfully.
"I Can't believe this! You crossed the Galaxy to see her, and all she says is, 'you understand, don't you?" Minako huffed, pacing around irritably. "I Can't believe this!"
"Minako...what happened with Healer?" Ami asked quietly, watching her comrade carefully. Minako stopped in her tracks as her anger abated.
"She loves me..." Minako whispered quietly.
"Ah, Fighter-san! The view from here is sooo magical and romantic, isn't it?" Usagi said cheerfully, looking up at the woman standing next to her.
"It is beautiful, yes." Fighter said dully. Usagi bit back a frown. Here she was so close, yet Fighter seemed so far. Is this really...what Fighter was like before she came to Earth?
Maker never glanced up once as her long fingers pressed down the ivory keys. She knew who was sitting across the room. She could feel her comrade, Star Healer's strong waves of emotion.
And so she played with all her heart.
Oh Healer, you aren't the only one hurting. I understand it, I truly do...
Kakyuu watched sadly as Usagi went skipping off, Fighter trailing slightly behind her. Oh how she wished it was her down there with Fighter! Usagi said something then, and the slightest smile peeked out from Fighter's neutral expression. A real smile. One Kakyuu hadn't seen in years.
In that small fleeting instant, Kakyuu knew that she had lost, and what she had to do.
Healer leaned her head back, letting it fall on the woman's shoulder behind her as arms wrapped around her tightly.
"You love her, don't you..." Healer said quietly. No response. Healer sighed as she wriggled free of the embrace.
"I don't need you to feel sorry for me." Healer spat as she began to strut away. A hand caught her arm gently. She looked up into the emotional eyes staring her down.
"I did, once. I have since let her go for someone I always have loved. She just taught me how."
Healer's eyes widened in shock as lips closed over hers, and she gave in completely to the kiss, unaware of blue eyes watching the entire scene.
