Part VI
The afternoon sun set silently on the water as it cast its heavy orange shadow on the Earth. The waves breaking seemed to calm her nerves when she needed it. Haruka had gotten her so worked up and she just needed to get away, get away from it all. Haruka didn't question where she was going when she left the house and she made no effort to tell her. Michiru leaned against the rail that separated her and the sand below.
She had been thinking a lot lately. She had seen visions of Usagi coming back in her mirror not too long ago but was reluctant to say anything to anyone about it, especially Haruka. When she looked in her mirror she saw Usagi's face shining brightly but then it multiplied in two and they faced off against one another. Michiru didn't know what it meant and had just about convinced herself that it was all in her dreams. But now she was back, what did it all mean?
Her peaceful thoughts were cut short by the sound of her communicator going off. She didn't answer it right away and hoped that she could make this peaceful moment last just a bit longer. When she finally gave into the annoying chime Hotaru's face showed up on the small screen. "Michiru-mama, are you going to come and see Usagi?" She asked innocently.
The others were gathered at Rei's temple and the only ones missing were Michiru, Makoto and Taiki. Makoto had called however and explained her situation paying careful attention not to speak to Ami about it. "Yes sweetie, I'll be right there." She smiled as she shut the cover. 'Something's not right.'
@~~~@~~~@
"So did you guys miss me?" Usagi said coming into the room. Rei had told her to go and take a shower quickly before everyone got there. Just as she had remembered, there was no such thing as Usagi taking a 'quick' shower.
Minako was the first one to respond to the new presence in the room by rushing over and tackling her into a giant hug. "I missed you so much." She sobbed out. "Don't you ever do that again!" She sobbed and hadn't loosened her grip on the other blond at all. "Where have you been?" Minako finally let go of her grip on the girl to allow her to answer.
"Yeah Kitten, where have you been?" Haruka was smiling at her with Hotaru sitting on her lap.
"It's a long story and I don't really feel like going into it right now. I just want to be able to spend time with you guys and catch up." She smiled brightly. Never once had seen directed her attention to Mamoru who was sitting across the room from her. There seemed as though there was nothing at all between them, as though all of their history was forgotten.
"Did you tell her?" Mamoru pulled Rei close to him.
"No, I didn't think it was my place to say anything about it. I think news like that should come from either you or Ami." She had a stern look on her face and quickly detached herself from him.
"Where are the others?" Usagi looked around and noticed the missing people.
"Michiru is on her way, Makoto and Taiki won't be able to make it and Seiya had better not show up here!" Haruka said, as her face grew angry at the last part of the statement.
"Haruka!" Michiru came up behind her. "I don't think that's something we want to be bringing up right now. This is supposed to be a happy time, ne?"
"Bring up what?" Usagi asked being intrigued by the conversation.
"Kitten don't you remember anything about yesterday?" Haruka asked astonished that Usagi wasn't mad about what Seiya had done to her. Usagi shook her head. "That ass Seiya blasted you for no good reason!" Haruka's tone was passed pissed.
"I know who you are Star Fighter."
Yaten was getting more than annoyed with Haruka's accusations but for once she kept her anger to herself. She had more important things to do here. Her eyes carefully examined Usagi in search of anything that was different about her. It was hard for her though. It had been so long since she had seen her and even when she had seen her before she had never really taken the time to notice all there was to notice about Usagi, but Seiya had. Is that why Seiya could tell that something was wrong with her? Yaten couldn't think of anyone who spent more time staring at Usagi than Seiya. She laughed a bit to herself at the remembrance of those times.
Minako looked over at Yaten. She knew he was analyzing and assessing all there was to about Usagi and she knew that he would ask her later if she sensed anything off about her. Could she tell him that she was scared?
Haruka's comments continued on and pretty soon Yaten couldn't deal with them any more. "Haruka, I think that's enough. Perhaps you should wait for a future time when Seiya is here to defend herself?" She suggested calmly.
"Future time? There will never be a future time when she and I are in the same room together. You know, maybe we would have been better off if you Starlights had never come here!" Haruka was still spouting off. She had been telling Usagi about how Seiya had a boyfriend now and that it must have just been some silly little crush that she had had on her.
"I know who you are too my dear Yaten. we're just going to have to see who Seiya's heart really belongs to now. perhaps I won't have to destroy the senshi, perhaps she can do it for me."
@~~~@~~~@
"I don't really feel like any breakfast today." Seiya said as she walked into the kitchen.
Kenada was sitting at the table drinking his tea and enjoying the comics in the paper. "That's good, I wasn't going to make you any." He smiled, his eyes never leaving his reading.
Seiya smiled and sat down next to him. "We're having company today." She said. "I would have told her that she couldn't come but after the whole breakfast comment I think I'll ask her to stay for a while!" Seiya smirked as she stole Kenada's tea.
Kenada put his paper down and stared her in the eye. "And just who is our guest?" He grabbed his cup back from her. "Did you really think I was going to let you get away with that?"
Seiya sighed as she got up to fix her own cup of tea as she started to explain the day's events to Kenada. "Yaten said that she really wanted to talk to me. I have a feeling it's about 'Usagi'." She made cheesy little quotation marks in the air with her fingers. "I bet she's going to ask if we can go some where so you can't listen in."
"If she only knew." Kenada chuckled as he went back to reading his paper.
Seiya stopped what she was doing. "Why can't she know?"
Kenada looked up from his paper again and displayed a shocked face for Seiya. "Be..Because. Because. how could I expect her to forgive me for lying to her?"
"That's not your real reason." Seiya said as she stood in front of Kenada. Kenada's head dropped down so that she couldn't see his face. "But I'll let you go with it.. It would just be a lot easier if I could explain the situation to her."
DING DONG
"Speaking of the devil." Kenada muttered.
Seiya moved quickly to answer the door. "Yaten how are you?" She said as she let her in.
"Do you always walk around like that?" Yaten asked as she looked Seiya over and noticed her little black nightgown. Seiya looked down and seemed to notice it too for the first time and walked off towards her room.
"Hello my pretty, what brings you here?" Kenada asked from the kitchen. He was fixing himself another cup of tea and one for Yaten.
Kenada's muscular upper body was exposed and left Yaten somewhat speechless as she stared. She soon blushed however when she realized what she was doing. Unfortunately for her Seiya noticed it too. She laughed a bit, she remembered why Kenada had told her he liked to walk around with his shirt off. When he was Usagi he wouldn't have been able to get away with it so he was going to take full advantage of the opportunity now!
"Uhhh. I came to see Seiya. I had to ask her advice on a few uhhh. 'girlie' things. Yeah that's it." Yaten fumbled her words as she tried to think of an excuse and at the same time not get distracted by Kenada.
Kenada obviously knew that she was lying and knew her real reason for being here. "Oh, so I guess I should leave you two alone for your 'girlie' thing." He said mimicking Yaten for the last part. "I'll see you later, I'm going to the store. Do you need anything?" He asked.
"No I'm all set, but you might want to pick up a mop. Yaten's drooling all over our floor." Seiya laughed. She knew she had embarrassed Yaten but she couldn't help herself. Yaten shot her a dirty look but stopped when she heard Kenada laugh.
"So what did you want to talk to me about so bad?" Seiya asked as she sat down at the kitchen table to finish the cup of tea that Kenada had left.
"I went over to see Usagi yesterday."
"And."
"She didn't remember you attacking her, and she wants to see you." Yaten wasn't drinking her tea but just holding her hands on either side of the mug feeling it's warmth. "Haruka told her about Kenada and everything. I don't think she knows about Mamoru yet though."
"She wants to see me?" Seiya was confused. "Why?"
"I don't know, but the strange part about it is that she wants ME to bring her to you." Yaten leaned back in her chair and slung her arm over the back of it. "Don't you think that's a little weird?"
"I think this is all a little weird." Seiya commented. "Did you notice anything strange about her?" Her hopes began to rise when she noticed the puzzled look on Yaten's features.
"I don't know. I can't tell if I just thought it was strange because I was looking for something or if it was because there was actually something there." Yaten brought her hand up to her chin in contemplation. "So? What do you say? Will you see her?"
Seiya stood up from her seat. "Well we're never going to clear any of this up until I do now are we?" Yaten nodded. "What are you waiting for? Let's go and see 'Usagi'." She said putting a weird twist on the name Usagi.
@~~~@~~~@
Pounding, an incredible pounding seemed to fill her senses as she opened her eyes to peer at her surroundings. "Where am I?" Taiki asked as she sat up. Nope, better lay back down, that hurts. The sweet aroma of pastries filled the air and she thought she had fallen asleep in a bakery. Another look around the room revealed an exotic jungle of plants in every shape and size. She was on a couch in the middle of a jungle?
The loud crash of a cookie sheet came from the kitchen and Makoto's head peeking around the corner followed. She had feared that she had just woken up the surely hung-over Taiki from the couch. "Gomen." She said softly.
"No, I was awake." Taiki sat up. It would be rude of her to just lay there on the couch. "I was just about to leave. Thank you for letting me stay here." She said as she forced herself to get up.
"Do you want me to drive you home?" Makoto asked more than concerned for her well being.
"No, I'm fine." Taiki said staggering a little towards the washroom.
"You're fine huh?" Makoto asked with her hands on her hips. "Why don't you stay for brunch and I'll drive you home afterwards, deal?"
Taiki smiled and shook her head.
"Taiki." Makoto said before she went back in the kitchen. Taiki's head picked up and turned around. "If you ever need to talk to anyone, I'll always be here to listen." They both smiled in a mutual agreement.
@~~~@~~~@
"You aren't upset Usako?"
Usagi shook her head with a smile. "I didn't expect you to wait for me forever. I'm happy for you two.. Really."
Mamoru smiled and gave her a hug. "I must admit, this isn't how I expected you to react."
"Why what would you have thought me to have said?" Usagi looked puzzled.
Mamoru got up and smiled as he put his jacket on. "I don't know, more along the lines of 'Mamo-chan, I waited a thousand years for you and you can't even wait two for me?'" Mamoru chuckled at the thoughts he had been conjuring up in his head about this moment.
Usagi too laughed and stood up to join him. "Well, what can I say. A lot has changed in two years and so have I." She walked him to the door of Rei's shrine and just as she opened it to let him out she noticed that she had two new visitors. "Mamoru, Yaten is back with Seiya. Please don't say anything to her on your way out."
Mamoru once again smiled. "You haven't changed that much. You're still willing to forgive anyone, even if they tried to kill you and you still have a soft spot for that Starlight."
Usagi stood there not saying anything but then turned to open the door further to reveal her guests to Mamoru. "Hi guys!"
"Did we come at a bad time?" Seiya smiled at Mamoru. Mamoru looked at Seiya with a stone face and just walked by not saying a word. Seiya felt the urge to call something after him but figured that she had more important things to take care of. "Hello Usagi." She said returning her attention back to their host.
Yaten looked at Seiya with a tilted head to see if it was the same person that she had just ridden here with. Why didn't she call her Odango?
"Hello, won't you guys come in?" Usagi moved out of the way to let the two girls in. "Thank you for bringing her here." She said as she came up behind Yaten.
"Where's Rei? Out?" Yaten questioned noticing that they were alone. It was late morning by now and she had expected there to be signs of life around here and not just Usagi by herself. "I guess it's a good thing we came here then, you look like you could use the company."
"I've got you."
@~~~@~~~@
The afternoon sun set silently on the water as it cast its heavy orange shadow on the Earth. The waves breaking seemed to calm her nerves when she needed it. Haruka had gotten her so worked up and she just needed to get away, get away from it all. Haruka didn't question where she was going when she left the house and she made no effort to tell her. Michiru leaned against the rail that separated her and the sand below.
She had been thinking a lot lately. She had seen visions of Usagi coming back in her mirror not too long ago but was reluctant to say anything to anyone about it, especially Haruka. When she looked in her mirror she saw Usagi's face shining brightly but then it multiplied in two and they faced off against one another. Michiru didn't know what it meant and had just about convinced herself that it was all in her dreams. But now she was back, what did it all mean?
Her peaceful thoughts were cut short by the sound of her communicator going off. She didn't answer it right away and hoped that she could make this peaceful moment last just a bit longer. When she finally gave into the annoying chime Hotaru's face showed up on the small screen. "Michiru-mama, are you going to come and see Usagi?" She asked innocently.
The others were gathered at Rei's temple and the only ones missing were Michiru, Makoto and Taiki. Makoto had called however and explained her situation paying careful attention not to speak to Ami about it. "Yes sweetie, I'll be right there." She smiled as she shut the cover. 'Something's not right.'
@~~~@~~~@
"So did you guys miss me?" Usagi said coming into the room. Rei had told her to go and take a shower quickly before everyone got there. Just as she had remembered, there was no such thing as Usagi taking a 'quick' shower.
Minako was the first one to respond to the new presence in the room by rushing over and tackling her into a giant hug. "I missed you so much." She sobbed out. "Don't you ever do that again!" She sobbed and hadn't loosened her grip on the other blond at all. "Where have you been?" Minako finally let go of her grip on the girl to allow her to answer.
"Yeah Kitten, where have you been?" Haruka was smiling at her with Hotaru sitting on her lap.
"It's a long story and I don't really feel like going into it right now. I just want to be able to spend time with you guys and catch up." She smiled brightly. Never once had seen directed her attention to Mamoru who was sitting across the room from her. There seemed as though there was nothing at all between them, as though all of their history was forgotten.
"Did you tell her?" Mamoru pulled Rei close to him.
"No, I didn't think it was my place to say anything about it. I think news like that should come from either you or Ami." She had a stern look on her face and quickly detached herself from him.
"Where are the others?" Usagi looked around and noticed the missing people.
"Michiru is on her way, Makoto and Taiki won't be able to make it and Seiya had better not show up here!" Haruka said, as her face grew angry at the last part of the statement.
"Haruka!" Michiru came up behind her. "I don't think that's something we want to be bringing up right now. This is supposed to be a happy time, ne?"
"Bring up what?" Usagi asked being intrigued by the conversation.
"Kitten don't you remember anything about yesterday?" Haruka asked astonished that Usagi wasn't mad about what Seiya had done to her. Usagi shook her head. "That ass Seiya blasted you for no good reason!" Haruka's tone was passed pissed.
"I know who you are Star Fighter."
Yaten was getting more than annoyed with Haruka's accusations but for once she kept her anger to herself. She had more important things to do here. Her eyes carefully examined Usagi in search of anything that was different about her. It was hard for her though. It had been so long since she had seen her and even when she had seen her before she had never really taken the time to notice all there was to notice about Usagi, but Seiya had. Is that why Seiya could tell that something was wrong with her? Yaten couldn't think of anyone who spent more time staring at Usagi than Seiya. She laughed a bit to herself at the remembrance of those times.
Minako looked over at Yaten. She knew he was analyzing and assessing all there was to about Usagi and she knew that he would ask her later if she sensed anything off about her. Could she tell him that she was scared?
Haruka's comments continued on and pretty soon Yaten couldn't deal with them any more. "Haruka, I think that's enough. Perhaps you should wait for a future time when Seiya is here to defend herself?" She suggested calmly.
"Future time? There will never be a future time when she and I are in the same room together. You know, maybe we would have been better off if you Starlights had never come here!" Haruka was still spouting off. She had been telling Usagi about how Seiya had a boyfriend now and that it must have just been some silly little crush that she had had on her.
"I know who you are too my dear Yaten. we're just going to have to see who Seiya's heart really belongs to now. perhaps I won't have to destroy the senshi, perhaps she can do it for me."
@~~~@~~~@
"I don't really feel like any breakfast today." Seiya said as she walked into the kitchen.
Kenada was sitting at the table drinking his tea and enjoying the comics in the paper. "That's good, I wasn't going to make you any." He smiled, his eyes never leaving his reading.
Seiya smiled and sat down next to him. "We're having company today." She said. "I would have told her that she couldn't come but after the whole breakfast comment I think I'll ask her to stay for a while!" Seiya smirked as she stole Kenada's tea.
Kenada put his paper down and stared her in the eye. "And just who is our guest?" He grabbed his cup back from her. "Did you really think I was going to let you get away with that?"
Seiya sighed as she got up to fix her own cup of tea as she started to explain the day's events to Kenada. "Yaten said that she really wanted to talk to me. I have a feeling it's about 'Usagi'." She made cheesy little quotation marks in the air with her fingers. "I bet she's going to ask if we can go some where so you can't listen in."
"If she only knew." Kenada chuckled as he went back to reading his paper.
Seiya stopped what she was doing. "Why can't she know?"
Kenada looked up from his paper again and displayed a shocked face for Seiya. "Be..Because. Because. how could I expect her to forgive me for lying to her?"
"That's not your real reason." Seiya said as she stood in front of Kenada. Kenada's head dropped down so that she couldn't see his face. "But I'll let you go with it.. It would just be a lot easier if I could explain the situation to her."
DING DONG
"Speaking of the devil." Kenada muttered.
Seiya moved quickly to answer the door. "Yaten how are you?" She said as she let her in.
"Do you always walk around like that?" Yaten asked as she looked Seiya over and noticed her little black nightgown. Seiya looked down and seemed to notice it too for the first time and walked off towards her room.
"Hello my pretty, what brings you here?" Kenada asked from the kitchen. He was fixing himself another cup of tea and one for Yaten.
Kenada's muscular upper body was exposed and left Yaten somewhat speechless as she stared. She soon blushed however when she realized what she was doing. Unfortunately for her Seiya noticed it too. She laughed a bit, she remembered why Kenada had told her he liked to walk around with his shirt off. When he was Usagi he wouldn't have been able to get away with it so he was going to take full advantage of the opportunity now!
"Uhhh. I came to see Seiya. I had to ask her advice on a few uhhh. 'girlie' things. Yeah that's it." Yaten fumbled her words as she tried to think of an excuse and at the same time not get distracted by Kenada.
Kenada obviously knew that she was lying and knew her real reason for being here. "Oh, so I guess I should leave you two alone for your 'girlie' thing." He said mimicking Yaten for the last part. "I'll see you later, I'm going to the store. Do you need anything?" He asked.
"No I'm all set, but you might want to pick up a mop. Yaten's drooling all over our floor." Seiya laughed. She knew she had embarrassed Yaten but she couldn't help herself. Yaten shot her a dirty look but stopped when she heard Kenada laugh.
"So what did you want to talk to me about so bad?" Seiya asked as she sat down at the kitchen table to finish the cup of tea that Kenada had left.
"I went over to see Usagi yesterday."
"And."
"She didn't remember you attacking her, and she wants to see you." Yaten wasn't drinking her tea but just holding her hands on either side of the mug feeling it's warmth. "Haruka told her about Kenada and everything. I don't think she knows about Mamoru yet though."
"She wants to see me?" Seiya was confused. "Why?"
"I don't know, but the strange part about it is that she wants ME to bring her to you." Yaten leaned back in her chair and slung her arm over the back of it. "Don't you think that's a little weird?"
"I think this is all a little weird." Seiya commented. "Did you notice anything strange about her?" Her hopes began to rise when she noticed the puzzled look on Yaten's features.
"I don't know. I can't tell if I just thought it was strange because I was looking for something or if it was because there was actually something there." Yaten brought her hand up to her chin in contemplation. "So? What do you say? Will you see her?"
Seiya stood up from her seat. "Well we're never going to clear any of this up until I do now are we?" Yaten nodded. "What are you waiting for? Let's go and see 'Usagi'." She said putting a weird twist on the name Usagi.
@~~~@~~~@
Pounding, an incredible pounding seemed to fill her senses as she opened her eyes to peer at her surroundings. "Where am I?" Taiki asked as she sat up. Nope, better lay back down, that hurts. The sweet aroma of pastries filled the air and she thought she had fallen asleep in a bakery. Another look around the room revealed an exotic jungle of plants in every shape and size. She was on a couch in the middle of a jungle?
The loud crash of a cookie sheet came from the kitchen and Makoto's head peeking around the corner followed. She had feared that she had just woken up the surely hung-over Taiki from the couch. "Gomen." She said softly.
"No, I was awake." Taiki sat up. It would be rude of her to just lay there on the couch. "I was just about to leave. Thank you for letting me stay here." She said as she forced herself to get up.
"Do you want me to drive you home?" Makoto asked more than concerned for her well being.
"No, I'm fine." Taiki said staggering a little towards the washroom.
"You're fine huh?" Makoto asked with her hands on her hips. "Why don't you stay for brunch and I'll drive you home afterwards, deal?"
Taiki smiled and shook her head.
"Taiki." Makoto said before she went back in the kitchen. Taiki's head picked up and turned around. "If you ever need to talk to anyone, I'll always be here to listen." They both smiled in a mutual agreement.
@~~~@~~~@
"You aren't upset Usako?"
Usagi shook her head with a smile. "I didn't expect you to wait for me forever. I'm happy for you two.. Really."
Mamoru smiled and gave her a hug. "I must admit, this isn't how I expected you to react."
"Why what would you have thought me to have said?" Usagi looked puzzled.
Mamoru got up and smiled as he put his jacket on. "I don't know, more along the lines of 'Mamo-chan, I waited a thousand years for you and you can't even wait two for me?'" Mamoru chuckled at the thoughts he had been conjuring up in his head about this moment.
Usagi too laughed and stood up to join him. "Well, what can I say. A lot has changed in two years and so have I." She walked him to the door of Rei's shrine and just as she opened it to let him out she noticed that she had two new visitors. "Mamoru, Yaten is back with Seiya. Please don't say anything to her on your way out."
Mamoru once again smiled. "You haven't changed that much. You're still willing to forgive anyone, even if they tried to kill you and you still have a soft spot for that Starlight."
Usagi stood there not saying anything but then turned to open the door further to reveal her guests to Mamoru. "Hi guys!"
"Did we come at a bad time?" Seiya smiled at Mamoru. Mamoru looked at Seiya with a stone face and just walked by not saying a word. Seiya felt the urge to call something after him but figured that she had more important things to take care of. "Hello Usagi." She said returning her attention back to their host.
Yaten looked at Seiya with a tilted head to see if it was the same person that she had just ridden here with. Why didn't she call her Odango?
"Hello, won't you guys come in?" Usagi moved out of the way to let the two girls in. "Thank you for bringing her here." She said as she came up behind Yaten.
"Where's Rei? Out?" Yaten questioned noticing that they were alone. It was late morning by now and she had expected there to be signs of life around here and not just Usagi by herself. "I guess it's a good thing we came here then, you look like you could use the company."
"I've got you."
@~~~@~~~@
