~Wavering Destiny~
by Strawberry Moon Rose
LOL I just have to mention this - so I was typing this chapter, and all of the sudden I got a nosebleed. Not even kidding. To most people that wouldn't mean a thing, but to us anime fans, we know what that means ;P It just happened to be at an appropriate part too, that's what made it hilariously ironic XD Perhaps there is logic behind that idea after all...
Haha just you guys wait, what's been going on so far is only the beginning. It's going to get real crazy with other characters :P
And thank you for the reviews! I cherish every one of them :) They keep me writing :D If you haven't left one yet, it's never too late ;)
Enjoy ;D
A/N: (11/16/20) As I make some edits to this story, I realize I don't remember much of what happens from this chapter on until the party. LOL. I feel like I'm kind of along for the ride too, since I haven't read this story since 2014. ^_^'
Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon or any of the characters. They belong to Naoko Takeuchi.
Chapter 18: Calyx
"Watch your step, Bun Head." Seiya helped her maneuver down the rocky, sloping ground.
Usagi stepped cautiously. The incline wasn't too steep, but she was sure she could find a way to fall flat on her face.
Crunch went the gravel under her sandals. The crickets' song was drowned out by a whooshing white noise. Usagi wasn't sure what the vaguely familiar roar was. She squinted ahead to see something rolling and crashing in the distance.
"The ocean," she breathed.
The salty taste lingered, an exhale of warm, moist air exploding from her lungs. The water looked black in the dead of night, the moonlight shimmered over the stirring waves. It seemed to go on forever in every direction. It was a pretty view from her bedroom balcony, but it paled in comparison to it up close.
She was so caught up by the sight, she stumbled. "Uah!" She fell forward, spinning her arms clumsily, only to crash into Seiya's warm chest.
"Whoa, I told you to be careful, didn't I? I knew that would happen."
Usagi's face turned red and she quickly pulled out of her arms. "Don't touch me so casually..." she muttered. Since she'd gotten to Kinmoku, she'd managed to crash into Seiya in the garden, run into a door, fall off a ladder, and now trip. Memories resurfaced of her skinning her knee at the park and falling down the stairs with Mr. Garayan, the concert director of the Three Light's. If Seiya didn't think she was a klutz before, she did now.
"Feisty, aren't we?" Seiya teased.
"Shut up." She considered pulling her hand out of the Starlight's, but she didn't. Seiya was risking getting in trouble by bringing her to the beautiful place, she figured she shouldn't give her such a hard time. She didn't want to let her hand go anyways.
"So, this is the magical place you wanted to take me?" Usagi asked. Little by little, the rocks got smaller and gave way to tiny pebbles of sand. They were strolling along the long shore now, their feet sinking in the soft dust.
"Yeah. I thought you might like to see it up close," Seiya replied. The moonlight gave her hair a blueish tint.
"This is the last place I would have guessed we'd be going."
"Are you disappointed?"
"Of course not!" This was way better than going to some movie or hangout in town. It was a secluded area far behind the palace, just for the two of them. Usagi loved the ocean and she knew she'd never forget this night - strolling hand-in-hand with the Starlight at midnight.
"Well, there's another reason too..."
"Huh?"
Seiya let go of Usagi's hand and knelt to the ground as if she was searching for something. The spaces between Usagi's fingers felt cold and empty. She wiped them on her dress nervously and squinted into the darkness. "What are you doing?" she asked.
Seiya continued to eye the shore, walking a couple steps away. After a few seconds, she waved for Usagi to come join her. The blonde hurried over. "What is it?"
Seiya knelt down and pointed at the rocks. Leafy, green grass poked up through them.
"Oh...cool?" She didn't see what was so interesting about blades of grass. They didn't look that special or out of the ordinary.
"No silly, not the grass."
Usagi's blue eyes squinted. It was too dark for her to see much in the night.
"Come closer," Seiya beckoned, "I'm not dangerous."
"That's debatable," Usagi muttered and knelt in the sand beside her, somewhat reluctantly.
"Since you lost yours in the rain, I figured we should get another one. They grow down here by the ocean, remember? That's what's unique about them."
Her eyes adjusted and she saw the rozamoku flowers, cherry-red petals spread out, begging to be picked.
"Would you like one now?"
Usagi looked over at her and nodded eagerly. "Of course!" That flower meant so much to her and seeing one of them again made her heart thump wildly. They smelled heavenly and reminded her of Seiya. She felt regretful for losing the first one and couldn't wait to have one tied back into her hair again.
Seiya cupped her palms around the calyx of the flower, giving it a gently tug from the sand and turned to Usagi.
Usagi leaned in, allowing Seiya to fasten the rozamoku around one of her buns, using a bit of the vine it grew on to secure it in place. She ran her fingers through the sandy dirt while she waited. She thought back to when Seiya had tied the first flower in her hair, back in the garden. She had felt just as nervous as she did now, but it was different. She knew why.
"There." Seiya leaned back to admire her work.
"Well? How do I look?"
"Beautiful."
Usagi blushed a little. She should have known better than to ask something like that. She couldn't bring herself to look at Seiya anymore, it was too embarrassing. She knew how Seiya felt about her. She'd admitted it last night after their kiss. Instead, she focused on the ground, studying the small pebbles until something caught her attention.
"Seiya!" Usagi cried.
"What?"
"Your hand! It's bleeding."
Seiya raised her hand to see it better under the moonlight. "Oh, I guess you're right." A small trickle of blood seeped from her pointer finger to her thumb. "I must have pricked it on the flower's thorn."
"Does it hurt?"
The cut was so minor she hadn't even noticed it, but Seiya did notice how much closer Usagi was, trying to inspect it. "Uh, yeah...a little," she lied. She breathed in Usagi's strawberry scent.
Usagi reached back into the pocket of her dress and pulled out a pink handkerchief. Embroidered in the bottom corner was a cute, white bunny.
"Bun Head, really it's not that bad," Seiya protested. "You're going to get handkerchief all dirty, don't-"
"It's my fault, because you picked the flower for me. Don't worry about it. It's the least I can do."
Seiya watched her tie the cloth into a bow, reminded how she had never met someone as selfless and kind before.
"Thank you..."
"You're welcome."
They stood and strode along the shore wordlessly. The tide came in, sloshing its foamy water over their toes.
Usagi bent and unstrapped her sandals, kicking them off. Seiya did the same.
Usagi wiggled her toes in the sand. She plopped down on her butt and raked her fingers through grainy dust. She let the tide come in and nip at her feet. Seiya sat down beside her.
"You weren't kidding, this place is beautiful."
"Isn't it?" Seiya stretched her toes out, letting the warm water wash over them. The waves sucked back and forth as if they were teasing them, trying to reach further each time. The next one bubbled up to their ankles.
Seiya inhaled the salty air. She couldn't believe that she was sitting by the sea with Usagi. A few days ago, the idea would have seemed impossible. Some miracle had brought her to her home as if offering her a second chance.
"Hey, wanna go for a swim?" she said.
Usagi's eyes were round. "What?"
"Come on! It'll be fun. Just you and me, the whole place to ourselves."
Usagi threw her a skeptical glance. "I don't know. Aren't there...sharks?"
Seiya stared at her for a minute before cracking up. "Not on our planet there aren't." Seiya stood up and brushed the sand off her butt.
"You're not really going to go in there, are you?"
"Of course I am. Why not?" She bent, and swirled her fingers to test the temperature. "It feels great."
"Um, well I don't know, it's the middle of the night for one, and we don't have swimsuits."
"So?" Seiya was already lifting her shirt up over her head.
Usagi gaped. "What are you doing?!" she hissed in surprise, her cheeks grew scarlet. She wanted to look away, but her eyes didn't obey.
"What's it look like I'm doing? I'm going swimming. You should join me."
Usagi covered her eyes. "He-llo! I'm sitting right here!" Her insides were tingling with a naughty kind of excitement.
Seiya shrugged her arms back into her shirt. "Okay then..."
Usagi stole a peek between the cracks of her fingers to see the Starlight wading into the water fully clothed. "Hey! You're going to ruin your clothes," Usagi called. The water was up to her knees, soaking the ends of her skin-tight jeans.
Her ponytail swung over her back. "I know. I don't want to make you uncomfortable. Most girls react that way, I'm used to it."
"As if! And have fun swimming in your clothes. It's gonna be cold walking back to the palace all wet."
"So do you want me to take my clothes off then?"
"No! You just go swim. Have fun."
Seiya shrugged and trudged out further until the water was waist level. She splashed into the waves. "Ahh. This feels sooo good. Come on in, Bun Head, it's nice and warm."
"Uh yeah, the thing is, I don't like to swim in water like that. I only swim in pools," she fibbed. The truth was she was terrified of what might happen between the two of them if she got in with her.
Seiya gave her an exasperated look. "Liar. You and your friends were swimming in that lake last summer. Taiki, Yaten and I snuck up behind you and scared the crap out of you and Minako. We were filming for a movie nearby, remember?"
Usagi sweat dropped. She forgot about that. "Okay, well, never mind that. I'd just like to stay here, nice and dry, thank you very much."
"Suit yourself." She held her nose and submerged under water. She came back up for air a second later. Her bangs slicked into her eyes, and her wet shirt stuck to her body in a very appealing way.
Seiya flipped her head back, sending droplets of water behind her like a mermaid. The next wave toppled her over, and when she resurfaced, she found she had been sucked out further than she'd of liked. The sand under her feet had disappeared.
Shit, she thought, managing to keep her head above water. She doggy paddled, trying to get her footing back, but she was too far out.
The sharp stitch of pain stabbed her side, making her double over. "Bun Head!" Seiya called, a twinge of fear in her voice. The next wave splashed over her head, pulling her under.
Usagi realized she wasn't fooling around. She scrambled to get to her feet, grains of stand sticking to her legs from sitting down. She trudged through the knee-high waves, feeling like she was running in slow motion.
"Seiya?" Usagi yelled. She scanned the water. Nothing. She dove forward, cutting through like a dull knife. She broke the surface, her hair sticking to her face, the water stinging her eyes. Squinting through the blurriness, she quickly wiped her vision, but saw only waves.
"Bun Head!"
Usagi whipped around in a frantic 360. She briefly spotted her above the water before another wave sucked her under.
"Seiya!" Usagi cried. She paddled towards the spot where she had been taken. She scanned the rocky water, but only saw her wavering reflection in the moonlight. Anxiety pulsed her veins. She plugged her nose and dove under the water again. She opened her eyes to see only a filmy vision of darkness. She was running out of air and broke to the surface once more, coughing up the water that had gotten in her nose.
"Bun Head!" Seiya's voice was loud and clear this time. Usagi twisted around and saw Seiya paddling behind her. She briskly swam over to her.
"Are you okay?" Usagi cried.
Seiya nodded, breathing hard. "Yeah, I'm fine now." She massaged her side softly under the water. It still ached, but she could stay afloat.
"Don't scare me like that, you moron!" She splashed a handful of water at her. "You had me worried sick! I thought I never was going to find you!"
Seiya wiped the water from her face. "I'm sorry. I'm not the strongest swimmer," she admitted quietly. She avoided Usagi's eyes, which was unusual for her.
"Then why would you jump into the ocean? You idiot!" She splashed another wave of water at her face, taking out her frustration. Her heart was racing like crazy, she had been so terrified.
Seiya closed her eyes and shielded herself from the mini tsunami. "I'm sorry," Seiya repeated. "But thank you for coming to rescue me."
Usagi noticed how her ponytail had loosened, leaving long strands of hair slicked to her shoulders. "Of course I'd try and save you. You mean so much to me."
The waves gently bobbed them up and down. Usagi noticed how blue her eyes looked, like pools of the ocean themselves.
Usagi frowned. "And I only tried to save you so I could drown you myself!" She dove for her.
Seiya evaded her slow attack with a laugh.
Usagi threw her a dirty look and pinched the material of her pink mini dress that floated up around her at the bottoms. "Great. Now I'm wet too. And just how are we gonna get back to the palace without leaving wet footprints in the hall? Have fun explaining that to Princess Kakyuu and the others, Seiya."
"Hey, our shoes are still on the shore, dry. What are you worrying about?"
Splash! "You're so weird."
"I could say the same thing for you!" Seiya playfully splashed her back. The water soaked her golden bangs back into her eyes. Seiya laughed at her goofy face.
"Hey! Watch it or I'm getting out," Usagi warned, trying hard not to giggle. She swam a few strokes back towards the shore, daringly. She really had no intentions of getting out and shivering in her wet clothes on the shore, with grains of stand sticking to her wet body.
Seiya swam after her. "I'll behave, I promise."
"You better."
Seiya wrapped her arms around her from behind, unexpectedly. She hugged her tight and rested her head onto Usagi's shoulder.
Usagi was startled by her sudden affection. They were close enough to the shore again that they could feel the sand under their feet and didn't have to struggle to stay afloat.
Usagi realized just how warm Seiya was. Her hot breath breathed down her neck from behind. She could feel her chest pressed up against her shoulder blades, rising and falling in tune with her breathing. Under the water, her arms were comfortably wrapped around Usagi's waist, her touch gentle.
"Seiya..." Usagi murmured. Her heart started hammering again. Something was different, and she knew Seiya felt it too. She reached her hand up to her shoulder and touched the side of the Starlight's cheek.
"Bun Head..." Seiya whispered into her ear. She snuggled her face against the curve of her neck, tasting salt on her skin.
Usagi brought her eyes up to the sky. Tiny pinholes revealing the light from heaven shone down on them. The stars twinkled like diamonds on an inky surface. As the Princess of the Moon, she'd always admired both the Earth and the stars. But at that moment, one particular star was taking her breath away. She wasn't sure if she'd ever get it back.