Listen.
I have something important to tell you. The world, despite what you may
have been told, or may have been led to believe is not all that large.
And anything can happen here, even things one would perceive to be a miracle.
I know, because I have watched them all. When two people find each other
on this one Earth, when they connect, it is not the wondrous exercise of
serendipity that some make it out to be. There is the exception of course.
When Fate decided to try her hand at matchmaking, something quite miraculous
happened. Two people twined together by a red string. Of course, Fate wields
a double-edged sword. Those kissed by her blessing are also bitten by her
curse. To prove, through great trail, what that red string truly means.
I know, because I have seen it time and again. Listen. I want to tell you
the story of two bound by a red string.
Kyoto. Our story
shall begin here. Because of its size (though small compared to Tokyo)
Kyoto is divided into numerous districts and sections, sometimes seemingly
at random as the city grows. We will focus on a smaller district, the location
of an otherwise non-descript office building. Such details are of no consequence
to us now. Attention should instead be place on the meeting occurring inside
the building. Just like the district, and the building, this meeting is
small. Two men, average businessmen from their suits and appearance, stand
before a large oak desk.
Their 'interviewer'
is sitting behind that desk, feature marred by the shadows playing across
the room. He has been cast into complete darkness, and the men in front
of him do not question their odd situations. They've been working on this
'project' for so long, they've learned not to question such situations.
Sitting
on the edge of the desk, also shrouded by the darkness, is a third party,
whom is ignored by the other in the room. The lack of attention doesn't
bother the person at all. They have simply come to watch, after all. To
watch is their job, as it is my own.
"What is the status of our project?"
the interviewer asks of the two businessmen standing before him.
"The subjects are responding superbly."
The first man started, placing a manilla envelope on the desk.
"Our scans have shown that they're
retaining the information learned within the simulation. However, because
they are still 'training' we have no way of knowing how well they will,
or if they even can, apply that knowledge. We will only be able to test
this once we 'wake them up'."
The interviewer
took the envelope and began to sort through the contents. He read through
the reports and information gathered on their current project, and glanced
quickly at the status graphs of the subjects before returning to his guests.
"Excellent. How soon can we bring
them in for testing?"
For an awkward
moment none in the room spoke. Hesitantly, with the distinct feel in the
back of his minds that what he was about to say would bring the fury of
hell on him, the second man stuttered,
"Well...i-it's a…delicate pro-process,
you see. We can't- We can't simply pull them out. It would… cause a huge
shock to the nervous system and they would go into a coma, or possibly
die instantly. Either way, they'd be useless to us after all the work we
put into them."
The man
in charge paused to consider this information, and the two in front of
him waited, holding their breath, to learn what ill fortune was in store.
Finally, the man spoke:
"What is the estimated time to their
awakening?"
"We'd like to have actual targets
situated and ready for a trail run of their abilities, and our physicians
say that they'll have to take a few days getting ready. After 'sleeping'
for so long their bodies may not be as strong as their minds. We've run
through several scenarios, and we've decided that the least traumatic way
to end the simulation would be a natural death within it. This could take,
at minimum, three months if we sped the main system up." The second man
managed to keep his calm well, considering he had almost needed to let
out several shaky breaths in thanks. Thanks that he would not be punished.
"I see," the man in charge nodded,
a gesture almost lost in the shadows around him. "Very well. Make the necessary
preparations. I want them awake as soon as possible. And go over the mental
stability charts again. We don't want this little project getting out of
control. That's all for now. Leave."
The two
men bowed, and hurried out of the office, and out of the building. The
constant fear hung too close to that office. They didn't want to spend
another minute there if at all possible.
"Well, love. My pawns are moving
into place. It's your move." The man in charge turned to the figure…the
woman…sitting at the edge of his desk. She sighed, and stretched her arms
above her head. Another yawn, and she languorously slid down over the desk,
until she was face to face with her lover. Deep violet eyes held a touch
of chaos and she smiled in true predator fashion.
"Yes…don't worry. I believe my little
dolls will be marching right in…soon."
Although
now you have seen that there are those in this world who choose to take
Destiny by neck, to attempt to chain her to them, there are also those
who are unaware of the game the higher powers play. Those who go about
blithely; following the whimsy of the Fates. Yes there is one, in particular
who has always allowed herself to be blown about, like a leaf in a hurricane,
to wherever the winds of change may lead her. And soon, that may become
her fatal flaw…
Further
away from Kyoto, in fact we have now come to Tokyo: the Juuban District.
This girl, who you would do well to take note of, is currently on her way
home from work. Time has passed well for her. In her short life, peace
has been a constant and at nineteen, she is at the zenith of her childhood
fantasy. Her dreams of adventure and fairy tale romance have almost faded
into the corners of her mind, the result of balancing college and work
pushing away any time she might have had for such thoughts.
'Though…she will always have that
sparkle…'
But this
is not the time for melodrama. Watch her walking. See how she concentrates?
She has been practicing a speech, for her arrival home. She knows that
she must plan what she will say to her parents carefully, have an answer
for question, and every possible retort they can manage. She is concentrating
so hard within herself that she doesn't even notice it when she trips over
something in the sidewalk.
"Aiee! Itai…" the girl with the sun-blonde
hair sat up on the sidewalk, face scrunched up in indignation. She rubbed
her now scraped knee, and mentally berated her clumsiness.
'I thought I grew out of that.'
She turned
around to find out just what the cause of her unexpected falling out with
gravity had been. Rather than the customary rocks, twigs, or the occasional
mailbox (don't ask) she was surprised to instead find a cute black kitten
also curled up in the middle of the street. It was yowling now, also indignant
about having been tripped over. The girl gasped and half crawled half ran
to the bundle of black fur.
"Oh! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean
to hurt you kitty, really I didn't! Please forgive me!" she apologized
profusely, not at all conscious to the fact that she was apologizing to
cat.
And with
that apology, the girl took the cat now calming down in her arms, and kissed
it on its kitty mouth. The cat was less than thrilled with that particular
form of apology, and then preceded to show the girl so by means of a plentiful
helping of pawing and scratches to the face.
"Ow…OW! The girl cried in pain, and
pulled the cat away from her face, holding it at arms length for a moment.
She scowled at the black cat, "If you're going to be that way, maybe I'm
not sorry at all!"
The cat
looked up at her with questioning eyes, a bit put out at the sudden (and
possibly unfair in it's own mind) rejection by the girl with the golden
hair. The girl sighed when she looked at the cat.
"You're still a cutie though, and
I hate to just turn away a poor little thing like you! And maybe you're
just hungry, and that's why you're acting so prissy!"
The hugged the
cat closer, and threw her fist into the air, renewed and alive with enthusiasm.
"That's it! I've decided! I, Tsukino
Usagi, will adopt you as my new pet! Shingo will have a spaz…he can't stand
cats…but it will give me another reason for my news." And with that declaration,
the now revealed Tsukino Usagi continued to walk home, new house pet and
all.
Now the
two threads of fate shall begin to intertwine, and the red string of destiny
shall bind two lovers together. The destiny of the boy and girl will change,
twist and meet. And whatever the outcome (for higher powers only set things
in motion, and are very picky about actually cleaning up their messes)
I will be here to watch it all. As now you will too. Well, then with out
players introduced, I bid you farewell. For good or ill, our story begins:
Stumbling Towards Destiny
(A Sailormoon/Gundam Wing Crossover)
In mid movement,
Tsukino Usagi turned to look back over her shoulder. No one was there.
Well, no one she was looking for, anyway.
'That's strange…I could've sworn…'
Usagi could
have sworn that she had seen a woman with deep green hair out of the corner
of her eye. Normally she wouldn't have thought twice about it; lots of
women seemed to be dying their hair outlandish colors these days. (And
some people even had the nerve to ask if she'd dyed hers!) But that woman's
hair…it was done, sort-of kind-of, in the same fashion as her own. And
besides…she looked…familiar…
"Mou, mou. Usagi-chan, you're hallucinating
now. It was a hard day at work, and now it's time to go home and sleep."
And so the
girl began a third time on her journey home, new pet in hand, and a funny
nagging sense in the back of her mind.
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Well, what do you think? I
know it's a little short. Sorry about that. ^_^;; Oh, and don't worry,
the other senshi are coming up (they'll play more major roles in this story
than they have in my others) and so are the GW characters. I'm trying to
extend this fic, play it out, and make it as long as I can. I want to make
it really interesting, and I want to explore the character development.
(You'll get to watch some people go insane! Won't that be fun?) But PLEASE,
I'm begging you give me FEEDBACK. Like I said before, this fic is my baby
and I want to know what you think. That's all I ask, and it's the only
pay fanfic writers get.
Disclaimer: Bishoujo Senshi
Sailormoon belongs to Naoko Takeuchi, Nakayoshi, Kodansha, and Toei and
all it's holdings. Gundam Wing belongs to Sohei Entertainment (I think…)
and Sunrise. 'Bells for Her' belongs to Tori Amos. This story is written
without intent of copyright infringement. If one of the aforementioned
companies/individuals finds this, please don't sue. I will happily direct
you to people who abuse you're materials much worse than me. Thank you.