Chapter 5: The Tale of Two Rabbits
"Okay, so let me see if I have this right. Chibi-Usa is your future daughter and you are really her mother. And I think I need to sit down..." Duo said as Usagi and Chibi-Usa explained the whole thing to him for the sixth time.
"Hai. Duo, this is the last time we are going to explain this to you. Everyone else got it on the first time. Now I am going to spend the time I have with her right now." Usagi replied as she and Chibi-Usa walked away.
"Moon-momma, are you ever going to tell Papa that he is my future dad?" Chibi-Usa asked as they walked along the side of the creek.
"Iie. I want him to live his life, and not have to deal with the stuff that I did. You know what I mean?" Usagi replied.
"Hai. You don't want him to think that his life was predestined like yours was. Right?" The child responded.
"Right. How old are you now, Chibi-Usa? Every time I see you, you're just a little bit older." Usagi asked.
"I'm twelve. Since you and 'him' broke up, I was reborn and now I am twelve... again." Usagi grinned at the way Chibi-Usa said 'him' and they continued to walk and chat with each other.
"How is Puu? I haven't seen her since the final battle." Usagi asked when they had sat down under a tree.
"She's lonely at the gates, but I visit her all the time so she happy." Chibi-Usa replied. "Hey, Moon-momma, we're being watched." The child whispered into her mothers ear.
"By whom?" Usagi questioned.
"Hiiro-kun. He's over there in the tree." Chibi-Usa said, looking with her eyes towards a huge oak tree that was across the little creek. Usagi looked towards the tree nonchalantly and spotted the teen. Sure enough, he was watching the two. But he hadn't noticed that they had seen him.
"Should we see what happens when he call out his name?" Usagi said with a playful gleam in her eyes.
"Hai. One...two...three." Chibi-Usa counted.
"Hiiro!" They both called out, surprising the quite boy.
When he landed on the ground, after falling out of the branch a loud, "oof," was heard. The two girls looked at each other, then jumped up and jumped across the creek.
"Hiiro, are you okay?" Usagi asked.
"Hiiro-kun?" Chibi-Usa chided.
"I'm fine..." came a quite voice. Usagi and Chibi-Usa picked up the teen and set him against the tree he had previously fallen from.
"There you go lying yet again Hiiro. You'll have to work on that." Usagi muttered.
"He doesn't lie at all in the future, Moon-momma." Chibi-Usa replied.
"Good, that means he works on it." She said with a grin. "Hiiro, just why were you sitting in that tree?"
"No reason. I just usually sit there to think." Hiiro replied.
"Aww... our little Hiiro thinks." She said teasingly. A small, tiny fragment of a smile tugged at the edges of Hiiros mouth, but he forced it away.
"Come on, Chibi-Usa. Obviously he wants to be alone." They both got up and started to walk away when he grabbed them both and pulled them back. "Okay... maybe he doesn't." Usagi said with a laugh.
"How can you two be so carefree after all that has happened?" Hiiro asked.
"For me, it's because I never wanted to do what I did, but I know that it needed to be done. And what's in the past is the past. This is the present and I want to embrace it." Usagi replied.
"Same goes for me. Even if I do know what is going to happen, I still want to follow my Moon-momma's orders." Chibi-Usa said.
"Hiiro, I know that something happened in your life that you didn't want to. But that was in the past, and you have to put it behind you or you'll never be able to go forward in life. Put the memories behind you and just embrace what you have right now." Usagi said. With that, she and Chibi-Usa left him to think about what she had said.
"Think he'll get over his past, momma?" Chibi-Usa asked.
"Well, I think he needs to put a lot of thought into it, but from what you say about him in the future, I think he gets over it." Usagi replied as they walked up to the barn where Kumi and her colt, Stardust, were stabled.
"Hey Usagi, Chibi-Usa." Trowa said as he pasted them carrying a bail of hay.
"Hey, Trowa." They said at the same time.
"Well, here he is, Chibi-Usa. This is Kumi and Stardust." Usagi said as she unlatched the stall door and they walked inside.
"He so cute!" Chibi-Usa said in awe.
"Hai. I know." Usagi said. "Hey, why don't you go help Aunt Janet with dinner? I'm sure she'll want to get to know you. Just don't say anything to make her think you aren't my little sister, okay?"
"Hai. See you at dinner, Moon-momma." Chibi-Usa replied as she skipped out of the barn towards the house.
Usagi walked out of the barn a few minutes later and was pulled around the corner of it. "What the heck?" She yelped.
"I thought about what you said. You know, about putting the past behind me." Hiiro started, Usagi opened her mouth to say something, but he silenced her, "well, it's not easy for me to put my past behind me, Usagi. You have always been a happy-go-lucky girl and you know just how to put things like that behind you. But I don't. I'm not like you, I don't now how to put it behind me."
"What is so bad that you can't put it behind you?" Usagi asked.
"I... I killed someone that wasn't supposed to die." He replied. Usagi looked at him, with those same crystal blue eyes.
"What do you mean?" She asked quietly.
"I was sent on a mission... and during the mission, a little girl got killed because the explosives I set up in the base next to her apartment building went wrong. Her building was smashed to pieces and when I went to find her, all I could find was her puppy that she had been playing with earlier that day. After that happened, I came here to work on your Aunts ranch. I just can't put it behind me." He said, looking he straight in the eyes.
"Hiiro..." Usagi said, her eyes filled with sadness, "you know that you didn't mean to kill that girl. Accidents happen to everyone. You may not know it now, but maybe that accident was for the better. If it hadn't of happened, do you really think that you would be standing here telling me all this? If it hadn't happened, you probably would have become a ruthless and cold soldier. And if you ever came in contact with the Senshi and I... I would have had to kill you."
The look in Hiiros eyes changed, she was right. If he hadn't screwed up the mission, he wouldn't have come here and met Usagi. "You're right."
"Can you let go now? My arm is losing its feeling." Usagi said with a lopsided smile.
"Oh, gomen." Hiiro said as he released her arm.
"Look, if you ever need to talk, you know where I am. Just try to get over what happened, I know it'll be hard. But just try, okay?" Usagi said.
"Okay." He replied.
"Good. I better get inside before Chibi-Usa starts to get worried. Usagi gave Hiiro a quick hug, then ran back to the house.
"Did he get over it?" Chibi-Usa asked her mother when she entered the kitchen.
"Yeah, I think he did...hey, wait, how'd you know I was talking to him?" Usagi asked.
"He asked me if you were in the barn when I came out." Chibi-Usa replied with a smile.
"Oh, okay. Mm... mashed potatoes, my favorite." Usagi said as she looked into the pan where the potatoes were cooking. "Hey, where'd Janet go?"
"She said that she got a call from a friend needing help down by Helena and that she wouldn't be back until tomorrow night. But we can fend for ourselves." Chibi-Usa replied.
"Okay. Hey, why don't you run over to the guys' place and ask 'em if they want to come for dinner?" Usagi told her.
"Hai!" Was the cheerful response, soon the little blonde girl was running out the door towards the guys' house.
"I wonder if we have enough potatoes... better make some more just in case. I think Duo might be hungry today." Usagi said to herself as she peeled a half dozen more potatoes and put them in the pan. Lucky for her, Chibi-Usa had just added the others.
Twenty minutes later, mashed potatoes, veggies, and Chibi-Usa's famous apple pie were put on the table. Usagi took her regular seat with Chibi-Usa sitting next to her. Usagi had already told Chibi-Usa about the last time the guys were over for dinner so she wanted to play around.
"Ouch! Okay, who did it?" Duo cried out. Chibi-Usa and Usagi looked at each other, then started to laugh. "Chibi-Usa? You are Usagi are too much alike." He said.
"Duh, she is my mother after all." Chibi-Usa said, still laughing.
"Oh...right." Duo said. He shoved a spoon full of potatoes into his mouth and ate contently. At least until... "ouch! Oh for crying out loud. Usagi or Chibi-Usa... will both of you stop kicking me!"
"I didn't kick you, Duo-kun." Chibi-Usa said, giving him a confused look.
"Me neither, Duo." Usagi said, she looked at Hiiro out of the corner of her eye.
"Don't look at me." He said, but he had that gleam in his eye. Usagi stifled a giggle and went into the kitchen to get Chibi-Usa's pie.
"Compliments of the kid." Usagi said as she dished a piece out to everyone.
They all told Chibi-Usa it was great, causing the little girl to blush and say thank you. Later, when Usagi and Chibi-Usa were cleaning up, Chibi-Usa asked. "Momma, do you like Hiiro?"
Usagi looked at the younger girl, "well, how do you mean it?"
"Do you like, like him?
Usagi thought for a moment, then smiled, "yeah, I do."
"Good, cause I like him too, he's nice... even if he has done some bad things in his life. Being here almost makes me not want to go home, but I'll have to sometime." Chibi-Usa said with an identical smile.
"But you can always come back." Usagi replied. Suddenly the phone rang and Usagi jumped up from the stool and grabbed it. "Hello?"
"Usagi, it's your mother." Ikuko Tsukino's voice said over the phone.
"Hi, momma." Usagi said, switching to Japanese, "what's up?"
"Usagi, I have some bad news." She said with a tired and sad voice.
Usagi's face went ashen, "What happened?"
Dun, dun, dun! *Stupid, crappy old movie suspense music plays* Next chapter: Find out what happens!
"Okay, so let me see if I have this right. Chibi-Usa is your future daughter and you are really her mother. And I think I need to sit down..." Duo said as Usagi and Chibi-Usa explained the whole thing to him for the sixth time.
"Hai. Duo, this is the last time we are going to explain this to you. Everyone else got it on the first time. Now I am going to spend the time I have with her right now." Usagi replied as she and Chibi-Usa walked away.
"Moon-momma, are you ever going to tell Papa that he is my future dad?" Chibi-Usa asked as they walked along the side of the creek.
"Iie. I want him to live his life, and not have to deal with the stuff that I did. You know what I mean?" Usagi replied.
"Hai. You don't want him to think that his life was predestined like yours was. Right?" The child responded.
"Right. How old are you now, Chibi-Usa? Every time I see you, you're just a little bit older." Usagi asked.
"I'm twelve. Since you and 'him' broke up, I was reborn and now I am twelve... again." Usagi grinned at the way Chibi-Usa said 'him' and they continued to walk and chat with each other.
"How is Puu? I haven't seen her since the final battle." Usagi asked when they had sat down under a tree.
"She's lonely at the gates, but I visit her all the time so she happy." Chibi-Usa replied. "Hey, Moon-momma, we're being watched." The child whispered into her mothers ear.
"By whom?" Usagi questioned.
"Hiiro-kun. He's over there in the tree." Chibi-Usa said, looking with her eyes towards a huge oak tree that was across the little creek. Usagi looked towards the tree nonchalantly and spotted the teen. Sure enough, he was watching the two. But he hadn't noticed that they had seen him.
"Should we see what happens when he call out his name?" Usagi said with a playful gleam in her eyes.
"Hai. One...two...three." Chibi-Usa counted.
"Hiiro!" They both called out, surprising the quite boy.
When he landed on the ground, after falling out of the branch a loud, "oof," was heard. The two girls looked at each other, then jumped up and jumped across the creek.
"Hiiro, are you okay?" Usagi asked.
"Hiiro-kun?" Chibi-Usa chided.
"I'm fine..." came a quite voice. Usagi and Chibi-Usa picked up the teen and set him against the tree he had previously fallen from.
"There you go lying yet again Hiiro. You'll have to work on that." Usagi muttered.
"He doesn't lie at all in the future, Moon-momma." Chibi-Usa replied.
"Good, that means he works on it." She said with a grin. "Hiiro, just why were you sitting in that tree?"
"No reason. I just usually sit there to think." Hiiro replied.
"Aww... our little Hiiro thinks." She said teasingly. A small, tiny fragment of a smile tugged at the edges of Hiiros mouth, but he forced it away.
"Come on, Chibi-Usa. Obviously he wants to be alone." They both got up and started to walk away when he grabbed them both and pulled them back. "Okay... maybe he doesn't." Usagi said with a laugh.
"How can you two be so carefree after all that has happened?" Hiiro asked.
"For me, it's because I never wanted to do what I did, but I know that it needed to be done. And what's in the past is the past. This is the present and I want to embrace it." Usagi replied.
"Same goes for me. Even if I do know what is going to happen, I still want to follow my Moon-momma's orders." Chibi-Usa said.
"Hiiro, I know that something happened in your life that you didn't want to. But that was in the past, and you have to put it behind you or you'll never be able to go forward in life. Put the memories behind you and just embrace what you have right now." Usagi said. With that, she and Chibi-Usa left him to think about what she had said.
"Think he'll get over his past, momma?" Chibi-Usa asked.
"Well, I think he needs to put a lot of thought into it, but from what you say about him in the future, I think he gets over it." Usagi replied as they walked up to the barn where Kumi and her colt, Stardust, were stabled.
"Hey Usagi, Chibi-Usa." Trowa said as he pasted them carrying a bail of hay.
"Hey, Trowa." They said at the same time.
"Well, here he is, Chibi-Usa. This is Kumi and Stardust." Usagi said as she unlatched the stall door and they walked inside.
"He so cute!" Chibi-Usa said in awe.
"Hai. I know." Usagi said. "Hey, why don't you go help Aunt Janet with dinner? I'm sure she'll want to get to know you. Just don't say anything to make her think you aren't my little sister, okay?"
"Hai. See you at dinner, Moon-momma." Chibi-Usa replied as she skipped out of the barn towards the house.
Usagi walked out of the barn a few minutes later and was pulled around the corner of it. "What the heck?" She yelped.
"I thought about what you said. You know, about putting the past behind me." Hiiro started, Usagi opened her mouth to say something, but he silenced her, "well, it's not easy for me to put my past behind me, Usagi. You have always been a happy-go-lucky girl and you know just how to put things like that behind you. But I don't. I'm not like you, I don't now how to put it behind me."
"What is so bad that you can't put it behind you?" Usagi asked.
"I... I killed someone that wasn't supposed to die." He replied. Usagi looked at him, with those same crystal blue eyes.
"What do you mean?" She asked quietly.
"I was sent on a mission... and during the mission, a little girl got killed because the explosives I set up in the base next to her apartment building went wrong. Her building was smashed to pieces and when I went to find her, all I could find was her puppy that she had been playing with earlier that day. After that happened, I came here to work on your Aunts ranch. I just can't put it behind me." He said, looking he straight in the eyes.
"Hiiro..." Usagi said, her eyes filled with sadness, "you know that you didn't mean to kill that girl. Accidents happen to everyone. You may not know it now, but maybe that accident was for the better. If it hadn't of happened, do you really think that you would be standing here telling me all this? If it hadn't happened, you probably would have become a ruthless and cold soldier. And if you ever came in contact with the Senshi and I... I would have had to kill you."
The look in Hiiros eyes changed, she was right. If he hadn't screwed up the mission, he wouldn't have come here and met Usagi. "You're right."
"Can you let go now? My arm is losing its feeling." Usagi said with a lopsided smile.
"Oh, gomen." Hiiro said as he released her arm.
"Look, if you ever need to talk, you know where I am. Just try to get over what happened, I know it'll be hard. But just try, okay?" Usagi said.
"Okay." He replied.
"Good. I better get inside before Chibi-Usa starts to get worried. Usagi gave Hiiro a quick hug, then ran back to the house.
"Did he get over it?" Chibi-Usa asked her mother when she entered the kitchen.
"Yeah, I think he did...hey, wait, how'd you know I was talking to him?" Usagi asked.
"He asked me if you were in the barn when I came out." Chibi-Usa replied with a smile.
"Oh, okay. Mm... mashed potatoes, my favorite." Usagi said as she looked into the pan where the potatoes were cooking. "Hey, where'd Janet go?"
"She said that she got a call from a friend needing help down by Helena and that she wouldn't be back until tomorrow night. But we can fend for ourselves." Chibi-Usa replied.
"Okay. Hey, why don't you run over to the guys' place and ask 'em if they want to come for dinner?" Usagi told her.
"Hai!" Was the cheerful response, soon the little blonde girl was running out the door towards the guys' house.
"I wonder if we have enough potatoes... better make some more just in case. I think Duo might be hungry today." Usagi said to herself as she peeled a half dozen more potatoes and put them in the pan. Lucky for her, Chibi-Usa had just added the others.
Twenty minutes later, mashed potatoes, veggies, and Chibi-Usa's famous apple pie were put on the table. Usagi took her regular seat with Chibi-Usa sitting next to her. Usagi had already told Chibi-Usa about the last time the guys were over for dinner so she wanted to play around.
"Ouch! Okay, who did it?" Duo cried out. Chibi-Usa and Usagi looked at each other, then started to laugh. "Chibi-Usa? You are Usagi are too much alike." He said.
"Duh, she is my mother after all." Chibi-Usa said, still laughing.
"Oh...right." Duo said. He shoved a spoon full of potatoes into his mouth and ate contently. At least until... "ouch! Oh for crying out loud. Usagi or Chibi-Usa... will both of you stop kicking me!"
"I didn't kick you, Duo-kun." Chibi-Usa said, giving him a confused look.
"Me neither, Duo." Usagi said, she looked at Hiiro out of the corner of her eye.
"Don't look at me." He said, but he had that gleam in his eye. Usagi stifled a giggle and went into the kitchen to get Chibi-Usa's pie.
"Compliments of the kid." Usagi said as she dished a piece out to everyone.
They all told Chibi-Usa it was great, causing the little girl to blush and say thank you. Later, when Usagi and Chibi-Usa were cleaning up, Chibi-Usa asked. "Momma, do you like Hiiro?"
Usagi looked at the younger girl, "well, how do you mean it?"
"Do you like, like him?
Usagi thought for a moment, then smiled, "yeah, I do."
"Good, cause I like him too, he's nice... even if he has done some bad things in his life. Being here almost makes me not want to go home, but I'll have to sometime." Chibi-Usa said with an identical smile.
"But you can always come back." Usagi replied. Suddenly the phone rang and Usagi jumped up from the stool and grabbed it. "Hello?"
"Usagi, it's your mother." Ikuko Tsukino's voice said over the phone.
"Hi, momma." Usagi said, switching to Japanese, "what's up?"
"Usagi, I have some bad news." She said with a tired and sad voice.
Usagi's face went ashen, "What happened?"
Dun, dun, dun! *Stupid, crappy old movie suspense music plays* Next chapter: Find out what happens!