O_O Gomen for such a long wait! To tell the truth, I had this chapter all
ready and typed up on Sunday but my computer shut down before I could save
it so I had to type the entire thing all over AGAIN!! What a pain, so it
parts seemed rushed, I'm sure you can understand that I was annoyed and
frustrated beyond belief!! Thank you for all of the great reviews and I
don't plan on making you wait that long again!
[::Akuen::]
by Lady in Red
(Just Us Girls/Sayonara Blue Skirt!)
The dreams had been strange to begin with, but in a good way. They were always like the time just before you know you're full awake and can control what goes on in your dream, but now, now they seemed to be out of her control almost as if they were trying to tell her something. She had thought they were warning her of a danger, as though something had happened to Usagi. She came to Earth, made a big production of everything and yet nothing had happened. What was going on?
"I don't know if any of you drink coffee but there's a pot on the counter. I'll be back later, feel free to help yourself to anything here." Seiya briefly heard Minako's goodbyes as she headed out the door. It was 9:00 in the morning and Taiki and Yaten were already up. She briefly took a look at her surroundings to remember where she was and the past day's events came back to her. She was on Earth… with Odango.
"Oi…" Seiya said rolling over and holding her head.
"Good morning sleepy head." Taiki called over in a chipper tone. "Did some one stay up a little late last night?" She mocked her while pouring herself a cup of that disgusting brown liquid.
Seiya proceeded to get up and go into the bathroom without so much as a smart remark to counter Taiki's blunt sarcasm. "You know, if I didn't know better I'd say that she was disappointed that there was nothing wrong here on Earth." Yaten smirked.
Taiki nodded with a grin. "No damsel in distress I suppose." They both found the statement amusing. "Any plans for the day?"
"Well since we're broke and I doubt anyone would believe that I'm Yaten from the Three Lights, it looks like I'm not going shopping." Yaten spat out but then noticed a camera sitting on the windowsill not too far away. "Perhaps I'll brush up on my 'job skills'." She said smiling.
The sound of the shower echoed through the apartment. The bathroom was the only other room besides the large main room, the only escape from the madness, a locked door. "You know, there may be a way to get around going to the bank in person. I'll talk to Ami and see if she knows anything about it." Taiki said finishing up her coffee.
Seiya soon emerged from the bathroom towel drying her hair wearing the same clothes that she did yesterday. "Why didn't we pack a change of clothes?" She muttered to herself, she was still trying to figure out the dream that had woken her up.
"Seiya, what are you going to do today? Looking for a job I hope." Taiki narrowed her eyes in Seiya's direction. If it were up to her they would already be on their way back to Kinmoku by now, but that would just be a waste of energy to come all of the way here just to turn around. Besides, a vacation wouldn't be too bad of an idea.
"If Odango has one for me then you're in luck! Ja!" She said as she walked out the door still fixing her hair leaving Taiki and Yaten behind just shaking their heads.
It was early enough in the morning where Seiya felt safe enough going over to Usagi's apartment with the idea that she didn't already have plans. Minako's apartment, their temporary dwelling, wasn't too far from Usagi's, it would take Seiya no time at all to get there. There was a woman up ahead of her jogging with an unusual stance. She looked as though she was trying to run with broken legs. She looked like she was hurt and she was heading right towards Seiya on the other side of the street. With a second look Seiya saw that this 'handicapped' runner was none other than Usagi herself. "Oi Odango!" She waved across the street to get her attention.
Usagi took her eyes off of the road ahead of her and turned to look towards the familiar voice across the street. It was Seiya. She was waving her hand up as high as she could in the air which in turn caused that shorter than short little blue skirt to travel even farther up her bare legs. Before Usagi realized how long she had been staring she tripped over a groove in the pavement and found herself face first on the pavement. "That'll teach you to look at another woman's legs!" She cursed herself while still kissing the pavement.
"Oh my god, Odango daijoubu?" Seiya rushed across the street to help try and pick her up. She tried hard to stifle a laugh though, Usagi still hadn't grown out of her klutziness. "What were you doing?"
"Yeah, I'm alright." Usagi got up with some help from Seiya.
"I can't believe the day has come when you actually wanted to go jogging!" Seiya was a little surprised but laughed lightly at her own comment. There was something sweet in the air and it lifted her spirits even higher than they could possibly go. Something was finally going to go her way today.
"Shut up!" Usagi snapped at her bringing Seiya away from her pleasant thoughts. "I have my period and Minako told me that this is a good way to relieve cramps."
"I didn't need to know that!" Seiya shook her head, she couldn't believe that she had just blatantly yelled that at her in the middle of a sidewalk in down town Tokyo.
Usagi smiled slyly at the slightly blushing girl. "Well now that you're on our side (being a woman) you have to hear about this pleasant stuff all the time." She crossed her arms smugly. Her eyes looked over Seiya's shoulder and she spotted Mamoru walking down the street with Fiore. It was no coincidence that she had chosen this exact area to jog in. She knew Mamoru would be headed this way and wanted to take the opportunity to run into him. "Mamo-chan!" She waved and became so excited that she didn't see Seiya's face fall, eyebrow twitch and heart break all at the same time.
"Usako, again?" He asked slightly annoyed. This was the third time this week that he had run into her on the street while she was jogging. Mamoru knew why Usagi jogged and couldn't believe how messed up this girl's 'womanly cycle' could be. Usagi nodded numbly but then looked up and greeted Fiore.
"Mamoru and I were going to lunch. Would you two care to join us?" Fiore asked being polite although he didn't really want anyone else around while he was with Mamoru, though he didn't want Usagi to get suspicious of him either.
"No, I think I'll pass, I mean look at me… I'm not exactly the vision of perfection at the moment, ne?" Usagi giggled pulling her work out clothes away from her body slightly. She felt a goofy grin creep on to her face as she just watched every motion that Usagi made, she nipped the expression at the bud so that no one else would see.
"That's for damn sure!" Fiore mumbled to himself lowly so that no one else could hear him, but Mamoru's ears picked it up since they were standing side by side. Mamoru just laughed at the comment and caused Fiore to look over at him with a smile.
"How about you Seiya, would you like to accompany us to lunch?" Mamoru asked the seemingly innocent question but if one could look into his mind at that exact moment, the picture he had created was anything but innocent.
"Eh?" Seiya looked confused and cocked her eyebrow yet again.
"Yeah, you should go!" Usagi patted her on the back. "It will give you two a chance to get to know each other." Mamoru nodded in agreement and looked to Seiya for her answer.
Seiya put her hands up in front of her in defense. "No, no, no, I just ate… thanks anyway… maybe some other time." She hadn't just eaten but she also didn't think she could take having lunch with Mamoru. Images of her jumping across the table and strangling Mamoru came to mind and a smile crept to her face. She had to stop letting her mind and mental images affect her physical appearance.
"Well then I'm taking the two of you out for dinner tonight and I won't take no for an answer. I want to get to know the person who Usako called her best friend while I was away." Mamoru smiled wickedly from Seiya to Usagi. Seiya still held her puzzled face while Usagi was just beaming an overly pleasant smile, just as she always did.
"Sounds great!" Usagi chirped and nudged Seiya. "Will you come?" She asked.
How could she say no? Come on, this was Usagi asking her to have dinner with her, after all, Mamoru was just a minor over sight for the evening, she still got to spend time with her. "Of course." She smiled at Usagi. The best friend comment still didn't sit well with her though, especially when being noted for the period that Mamoru was away.
"Great, well I guess I'll see you both later… around seven? Ja!" Mamoru waved as he walked past the two women on to his prior destination. Fiore only gave a wave and a nice meeting you to Seiya.
Usagi smiled watching them walk away, staring at Mamoru's retreating form. "Odango?" Seiya waved her hand in front of her face to see if she was paying attention. Just as she thought, "… I knew I'd be invisible…" She mumbled to herself.
"Huh?" Usagi tore her eyes away from her boyfriend and looked to Seiya. She had heard what she had said but didn't understand, but decided not to say anything about it either. "I'm gonna head home to take a shower, I stink!" Usagi said sniffing herself.
Seiya smiled at her gesture but then realized she was going to be left alone in the middle of the sidewalk if she didn't say something soon. "Um, Odango, what are you doing today?"
"Nothing that I can think of. Why? Do you want to hang out?" She asked with a smile and a tilt of her head.
Seiya was distracted yet again with the simple movements that she made. "Hang out with you? Please, I have better things to do with my time!" Seiya waved at her and pretended to walk off. She glanced back over her shoulder and saw Usagi's pissed face and quickly turned around. "I was just kidding Odango, I'd love to hang out with you."
"Great! We'll go to my house and shower," Usagi looked at Seiya while beaming but became distracted by her long legs once more. "and we'll shopping too!" Seiya definitely needed a new skirt, for Usagi's sake if anything.
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Ami sat alone in the library on this bright Saturday morning in front of a pile of books. She had a report due in two weeks and figured she would get a jump on it now so that she would have more free time to spend with Kureko. Time was always against her, there just wasn't enough time in the day to do every little thing that she dreamed of doing. A while back, after her break down, Ami realized that she had to push aside and reorganize her life. She had to make it worthwhile and do the things that she truly wanted to do.
She still studied and topped every class she was in, but she limited the work that she would do when it came to people. You can read all of the books you want on relationships and romance, but none of them, no matter how good the writer, can ever compare to the real life experience of love and relationships. Ami learned this from Usagi, possibly one of the only things that she would be able to learn from her bubbly friend. With that thought in mind she scheduled her time and managed a way to keep up with her studies and a social life.
About two years ago she had been reading a book, it was an outside reading assignment to analyze the structure of a book where the character ran into a major epiphany in their lives. While thinking about the book she was reading she started to think of her own life in relationship to the assignment. She hadn't had an epiphany, she had always known what she wanted to do. Sure, I guess you could say finding out that she was a senshi with special powers could be considered an awakening, but if she was still just an ordinary girl, what did she really have?
Nothing, it seemed as though everyone else had something she didn't. The book was a lost cause now and Ami delved deep into her thoughts to find the source of her problem. That was it, the thing that everyone else had that she didn't… a reason not to die. The totally morbid thought spread from her mind to the rest of her body and felt as though a dark and heavy weight had been placed on her being.
Days turned into weeks and no one noticed Ami's severe slip into depression, they all maintained different schedules, and Ami's coincided with no one's except occasionally Mamoru's, but he hardly paid any mind to her at all. Then on the anniversary, the date the Starlights and Usagi defeated Chaos, the day before they left, all of the inners gathered in the crater in the middle of Tokyo. The city had left it there and not rebuilt the area of the final battle with Chaos as a reminder that they were not indestructible and to remind them to live everyday to its fullest never taking for granted that tomorrow will come.
They could never understand what Ami was going through, they were all happy and content with their lives. She had no one to truly talk to, no one that would really understand… how could a genius not be happy? To her surprise, the person she least expected to realize did. Usagi walked up to her while everyone else just looked around remembering and said one sentence that changed it all. 'I thought that I didn't have anything left to live for when we were in the battle, but just the thought of you guys always being there with me and helping me through everything, in that thought alone I found my salvation.'
That's when the weight that Ami had put on herself was lifted. She wasn't sure if Usagi was just saying what she had said to tell her what she remembered of if she had actually seen what was festering in her mind. Which ever reason that it was, from that day on Ami believed that Usagi saw into her heart.
How did she know that there was nothing out there for her? She had piled herself beneath a pile of books building towards some distant future. What good was the future when you were wasting away in the present? Ami took it upon herself to make sure that this didn't happen to her other friends, the one she was worried about the most was Makoto. Like her Makoto could be reserved sometimes, but not to the extreme that Ami was. Nonetheless, this still worried Ami and she confided in Makoto with the secret of her break down.
The book she had been gathering information from for her report was shut suddenly in front of her with a bang. The librarian shushed the room and all fell silent again. Ami looked up from her book, over top of her glasses and saw a woman with curly mint green hair and an amazing pair of silver eyes smiling down at her. "Saturday mornings are meant for cartoons, not books." Kureko said pushing aside some books and leaning both of her elbows down on the table. Ami laughed lightly at her observation, she sounded so much like Minako just now. Her head soon came down to sit in her hands and her lips curved into a pout. "What were you thinking about just then?"
"I was thinking about this report, why?" Ami said taking her book back from Kureko and opening it up to the lost information.
"No you weren't." Kureko said flatly and stood up. Ami just looked up at her and didn't say a word. She hadn't told Kureko about the senshi, and therefore there were just certain parts of her life that she wouldn't understand. "Are you going to be here all day?"
Ami smiled and pushed her glasses back up on her nose. "Well it looks like I maybe if you stay here and keep distracting me!" Ami had said that rather loudly and looked around to see if she had disturbed anyone.
Kureko also looked around. "Never mind these people." She waved off the rest of the patrons of the library. "They could use a little distraction in their lives, just like you!" She ended with her eyes narrowed.
Ami stood up and placed both of her hands on the table and stared Kureko down, Kureko did the same thing from the other side of the table. "I was trying to get this done today so that I would have the rest of the week to spend with you my dear…" She said the sweet words through clenched teeth.
"Arigato!" Kureko said and gave her a quick kiss. The old man that was sitting at the table adjacent to Ami's just watched with wide eyes and didn't try to hide his apparent interest at all.
Ami glared over at him before returning to her conversation with Kureko. "No, please don't stop on account of me!" The old man said reminding her a little too much of Rei's grandfather.
"How about I come over when I'm done with this, we can go to the pool." Ami said this time with a smile. That was one thing she was thankful for about Kureko, she loved to swim.
Kureko nodded and gave her another kiss before getting up and heading to the door. She turned around, made sure the old man was listening and told Ami that she would bring the whipped cream and strawberries. Ami just shook her head and couldn't help but notice the old man drooling out of the corner of her eye. "What the hell are you looking at eechi?!" She yelled at the old man with a fire in her eyes.
"Last time I checked you weren't supposed to scream in a library." A familiar voice came up behind her and drew her attention away from the pervie old man. Ami turned around to the familiar hues of purple in the taller woman's eyes.
"Taiki… it's a surprise to see anyone I know here on a Saturday morning." Ami said sitting back down and attempting to pick back up her work.
Taiki took a seat across from her. "I was just checking to see if my favorite author had published any more works while I was 'out of town'." She looked at the old man when she said this. "But I ran into just the person that I wanted to talk to while doing so."
Ami looked up from her work and straight into her eyes. "You were looking for me?" She was little surprised and shocked to say the least. "Why?" There had to be a reason…
"I wanted to see how much you knew about banking operations, I wanted to see if there was a way for us to liquidate our funds that we've had sitting dormant forever." Taiki's face was just about straight and unwavering, you would never know that she was a nervous wreck inside.
Ami face faulted on the tabletop. That was it? That was all she was looking for her for? "Yeah, I know a little about it."
"Sugoi!" Taiki said amused. "What are you working on?"
"An assignment for my modern medicines class." Ami was writing words on the paper in front of her trying to keep her mind on her work.
The actions that Ami was making disappointed and discouraged Taiki a bit. She was actually studying and almost ignoring her. "What a coincidence, I have the same report due in a while."
Ami's head snapped up. "What are you talking about?"
"I enrolled at Idai University when we got back." Taiki smiled. "I take it you are attending the same school, ne?" Ami numbly nodded her head. "Do you mind if I work on my report with you? We'll get it done quicker."
Faster was better, the faster she got it done, the sooner she would be able to see Kureko. "Sounds good to me." Ami smiled at the thought of seeing Kureko sooner.
"Great." Taiki thought she had her foot in the door…
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The people of the city just served as a group of people for Yaten to criticize and she did it with the prissiest attitude possible not bothering to conceal her comments. "Whatever kind of look you were going for, you missed it!"
"Ack, this city is so plain." Yaten cursed while walking around with the camera that she had picked up in Minako's apartment. Once in a while she would snap a picture of a few nameless Joes on the street and continue one her way. She took in account the old style and newer styles of architecture that were on display for all of the passer-byers but none of them seemed to notice.
It was strange that something so beautiful as these marble carvings could be present in the middle of such a large crowd of people and yet none of them appreciated it for the hard work and beauty that it represented. Things you see everyday loose their meaning and begin to get taken for granted after a period of time. "Not me, I won't ever be taken for granted." Yaten said to herself as she took a picture of the carvings that inspired the thought in her head.
"No, no, no… how could anyone take you for granted." The phrase was followed by a soft laughter as Minako came up to her. "Awfully conceited aren't we?" She mocked Yaten's statement even further.
"Are you saying that I deserve to be taken for granted?" Yaten huffed at Minako, displeased to have been insulted.
"Touchy, touchy… man Yaten, when did you loose your sense of humor?" Minako laughed again. "I told you," She turned to walk away leaving her hair behind her to flow in the breeze. "You shine brighter than anyone, no one will take that for granted." She winked and walked off.
A smile made its way to Yaten's face at the compliment but she immediately scowled it away in case anyone was looking, but still… it was a nice feeling, to be appreciated… The senshi in a way were like this architecture that she was admiring. They were never really appreciated for their hard work, you know, all in a day's work, saving the world and all. Yaten shook her head once again and then looked off in the direction that Minako had walked off in. "At least some one understands."
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Unfortunately for Seiya, Usagi didn't mean that they would share a shower. (-_-' Poor eechi Seiya) Seiya sat patiently on in the living room waiting for Usagi to emerge from the bathroom. Without really thinking she began to walk aimlessly around the room looking at all of the photos that Usagi had up and looking through a few magazines. There were pictures of her with the inners, outers, cats and Mamoru, pretty much the entire universe as far as Seiya was concerned but not one picture of herself in any form decorated the already full shelves.
Usagi came out of her room ruffling her bangs around to get them to dry quicker. She smiled at Seiya who was across the room from her looking through some of her things. "It's amazing how a picture is really worth a thousand words and a memory can be kept on paper." She came up behind her and looked at some of the pictures she had been eyeing.
Seiya laughed a bit, but it was a cold bitter laugh meant to pity only herself. A memory on paper, ne? Is that why she doesn't hold a picture of any of us Lights, is that why she doesn't hold a picture of me… perhaps she doesn't care to remember. Seiya turned to look at Usagi with her still cold smile but all thoughts of Usagi not caring about anything soon faded from her mind as she realized that there was no way Usagi could care for anything less than another. She gave her love equally… but that still wasn't enough for her. "Yeah, it truly is." Seiya said still staring at Usagi.
Usagi reached past her and picked a picture frame up and started to take the back off of it. When she was done fussing with the frame she pulled a worn picture from it of all of the planetary senshi including Mamoru in it and handed it to Seiya. "Here, take this with you so that when you go home you won't forget about us." She smiled and winked before turning around to find her earrings on the end table.
As if Seiya could ever forget about her! She smiled at her naiveness, it was true, Seiya at one time did try to forget about her completely but to no avail. She kept herself busy and even tried to see other people on Kinmoku but nothing worked. "You have it all figured out don't you." Seiya mused as she watched Usagi perform the simplest task with a beauty that only she could possess.
"Eh?" Usagi asked giving her a weird look from under her hair while still trying to put the back on her earring.
"You're whole life, you seem as though you have it all figured out. You have your friends, your Mamo-chan and you future all planned out. All you have to do is live it." Seiya looked in her direction and expected a smile back but instead found that she had stopped moving and was just staring at the floor. "Odango?" Seiya asked while coming up to her.
"Hm?" Usagi said looking up from the floor. She had been lost in her thoughts about what Seiya had just said. She had never thought about her destiny that way before. "Well we should be going!" Her chipper mood reappeared and she finished her task at hand dismissing any problem that had come into her mind just a moment ago.
"Are you sure you're all right?" Seiya asked concerned as to why she had just had the biggest mood swing she had ever seen.
Their mini-shopping spree went by quickly and it seemed that they were heading home only moments after they had started. It was evident in the pile of bags that Usagi was carrying that they had spent quite a deal of time and money at the mall though. Seiya had offered to carry her bags for her but she simply refused saying something along the lines of 'Mamo-chan normally carries my bags for me, but since it's just us girls I can handle it.'
'… just us girls…' That part stuck in Seiya's mind as they herded the heavy shopping bags inside Usagi's apartment. That was all Usagi thought of her as and that was all that she was going to think of her as while she was here on Earth. Perhaps it was better this way though, as long as Usagi didn't see her as some one trying to court her than perhaps she would be less likely to lead Seiya's mind down the wrong path. "You might as well stay here and get ready, Mamo-chan will be here in a little while." Usagi said rummaging through her bags bringing Seiya once again from her thoughts.
She nodded and picked up her bag to head towards the bathroom. Usagi looked up from her search for an outfit to wear and watched her disappear into the Pepto-Bismol pink bathroom. "Sayonara blue skirt!" She silently thanked Kami. She selected the dress that she was going to wear out tonight and headed towards her room. For some reason, although Seiya was a woman now, she still didn't feel right changing in front of her.
Seiya came out of the bathroom wearing a pair of black dress pants and a tight ¾ sleeve saffire blue, cotton button down shirt. Usagi had told her the shirt perfectly complemented her eyes, and of course, whatever Usagi thought looked good Seiya was going to wear. "Odango?" Seiya called down the hall and noticed that Usagi's bedroom door was closed and naturally assumed that she was changing in there. She figured that she would go through Usagi's large collection of shoes that she told her she kept in the spare bedroom closet. When Seiya opened the door to the spare bedroom she saw none other than her beautiful Odango changing right before her eyes. Usagi was just getting ready to slip her dress over her head when she heard the door open and turned around. There in the doorway stood a beat red Seiya still holding onto the door knob and her mouth hung down to just about her ankles. "Ahhh!!! Gomen, gomen, gomen, gomen…" She said quickly before turning around and slamming the door behind her.
Usagi finished putting on her dress and laughed at Seiya's reaction. She wasn't mad, it was an honest mistake, besides, what did she have that Seiya didn't now anyway? "You should have seen your face!" Usagi came out of the room carrying two pairs of shoes with her. One for her and one for Seiya, she assumed that was the reason she was going in there in the first place.
Seiya sat on the couch with her legs crossed and her elbow resting high on the armrest. She didn't look over at Usagi since she had finally gotten her blush under control and now she just made her do it again. She sensed that Usagi was coming closer to her and she remained still staring straight ahead at the television that wasn't even on. Usagi bent down and brought her face to the same level as Seiya's. "I'm sorry for laughing at you, but it was pretty funny."
Seiya looked over and was met with an eye full of cleavage. Didn't Usagi know what she was doing. Seiya began to blush furiously again. While Usagi only tried to comfort her some more. She came up on the other side of her and joined her on the couch. "Seiya it's alright, geesh, you act like it's never happened to you."
It had happened to her, a million times in her dream, but never in her wildest dreams did she imagine that she would actually get to catch a glimpse of Usagi that way in 'real life'. "I didn't mean to, gomen."
Seiya soon found Usagi's arms wrapped around her neck in a hug and was surprised to say the least. "It's ok I forgive you." She said laughing. Seiya wrapped her arms around Usagi's waist and just soaked up every moment she could while they were this way. Her scent, the gentle curve of her waist, the warmth of her skin, and her cheek pressed against hers, this moment was perfect.
"Usako!" Mamoru called from the front door to let Usagi know that he was here and ready to go. Usagi jumped from Seiya's arms and bolted down the hallway towards him.
"So easily she slips through my fingers again." Seiya laughed at herself sitting alone on the couch. 'How can she slip though your fingers when she was never yours?' Her mind tormented her again but she remained calm as she could still smell the scent of Usagi's perfume on the shoulder of her shirt. Time for dinner.
[::Akuen::]
by Lady in Red
(Just Us Girls/Sayonara Blue Skirt!)
The dreams had been strange to begin with, but in a good way. They were always like the time just before you know you're full awake and can control what goes on in your dream, but now, now they seemed to be out of her control almost as if they were trying to tell her something. She had thought they were warning her of a danger, as though something had happened to Usagi. She came to Earth, made a big production of everything and yet nothing had happened. What was going on?
"I don't know if any of you drink coffee but there's a pot on the counter. I'll be back later, feel free to help yourself to anything here." Seiya briefly heard Minako's goodbyes as she headed out the door. It was 9:00 in the morning and Taiki and Yaten were already up. She briefly took a look at her surroundings to remember where she was and the past day's events came back to her. She was on Earth… with Odango.
"Oi…" Seiya said rolling over and holding her head.
"Good morning sleepy head." Taiki called over in a chipper tone. "Did some one stay up a little late last night?" She mocked her while pouring herself a cup of that disgusting brown liquid.
Seiya proceeded to get up and go into the bathroom without so much as a smart remark to counter Taiki's blunt sarcasm. "You know, if I didn't know better I'd say that she was disappointed that there was nothing wrong here on Earth." Yaten smirked.
Taiki nodded with a grin. "No damsel in distress I suppose." They both found the statement amusing. "Any plans for the day?"
"Well since we're broke and I doubt anyone would believe that I'm Yaten from the Three Lights, it looks like I'm not going shopping." Yaten spat out but then noticed a camera sitting on the windowsill not too far away. "Perhaps I'll brush up on my 'job skills'." She said smiling.
The sound of the shower echoed through the apartment. The bathroom was the only other room besides the large main room, the only escape from the madness, a locked door. "You know, there may be a way to get around going to the bank in person. I'll talk to Ami and see if she knows anything about it." Taiki said finishing up her coffee.
Seiya soon emerged from the bathroom towel drying her hair wearing the same clothes that she did yesterday. "Why didn't we pack a change of clothes?" She muttered to herself, she was still trying to figure out the dream that had woken her up.
"Seiya, what are you going to do today? Looking for a job I hope." Taiki narrowed her eyes in Seiya's direction. If it were up to her they would already be on their way back to Kinmoku by now, but that would just be a waste of energy to come all of the way here just to turn around. Besides, a vacation wouldn't be too bad of an idea.
"If Odango has one for me then you're in luck! Ja!" She said as she walked out the door still fixing her hair leaving Taiki and Yaten behind just shaking their heads.
It was early enough in the morning where Seiya felt safe enough going over to Usagi's apartment with the idea that she didn't already have plans. Minako's apartment, their temporary dwelling, wasn't too far from Usagi's, it would take Seiya no time at all to get there. There was a woman up ahead of her jogging with an unusual stance. She looked as though she was trying to run with broken legs. She looked like she was hurt and she was heading right towards Seiya on the other side of the street. With a second look Seiya saw that this 'handicapped' runner was none other than Usagi herself. "Oi Odango!" She waved across the street to get her attention.
Usagi took her eyes off of the road ahead of her and turned to look towards the familiar voice across the street. It was Seiya. She was waving her hand up as high as she could in the air which in turn caused that shorter than short little blue skirt to travel even farther up her bare legs. Before Usagi realized how long she had been staring she tripped over a groove in the pavement and found herself face first on the pavement. "That'll teach you to look at another woman's legs!" She cursed herself while still kissing the pavement.
"Oh my god, Odango daijoubu?" Seiya rushed across the street to help try and pick her up. She tried hard to stifle a laugh though, Usagi still hadn't grown out of her klutziness. "What were you doing?"
"Yeah, I'm alright." Usagi got up with some help from Seiya.
"I can't believe the day has come when you actually wanted to go jogging!" Seiya was a little surprised but laughed lightly at her own comment. There was something sweet in the air and it lifted her spirits even higher than they could possibly go. Something was finally going to go her way today.
"Shut up!" Usagi snapped at her bringing Seiya away from her pleasant thoughts. "I have my period and Minako told me that this is a good way to relieve cramps."
"I didn't need to know that!" Seiya shook her head, she couldn't believe that she had just blatantly yelled that at her in the middle of a sidewalk in down town Tokyo.
Usagi smiled slyly at the slightly blushing girl. "Well now that you're on our side (being a woman) you have to hear about this pleasant stuff all the time." She crossed her arms smugly. Her eyes looked over Seiya's shoulder and she spotted Mamoru walking down the street with Fiore. It was no coincidence that she had chosen this exact area to jog in. She knew Mamoru would be headed this way and wanted to take the opportunity to run into him. "Mamo-chan!" She waved and became so excited that she didn't see Seiya's face fall, eyebrow twitch and heart break all at the same time.
"Usako, again?" He asked slightly annoyed. This was the third time this week that he had run into her on the street while she was jogging. Mamoru knew why Usagi jogged and couldn't believe how messed up this girl's 'womanly cycle' could be. Usagi nodded numbly but then looked up and greeted Fiore.
"Mamoru and I were going to lunch. Would you two care to join us?" Fiore asked being polite although he didn't really want anyone else around while he was with Mamoru, though he didn't want Usagi to get suspicious of him either.
"No, I think I'll pass, I mean look at me… I'm not exactly the vision of perfection at the moment, ne?" Usagi giggled pulling her work out clothes away from her body slightly. She felt a goofy grin creep on to her face as she just watched every motion that Usagi made, she nipped the expression at the bud so that no one else would see.
"That's for damn sure!" Fiore mumbled to himself lowly so that no one else could hear him, but Mamoru's ears picked it up since they were standing side by side. Mamoru just laughed at the comment and caused Fiore to look over at him with a smile.
"How about you Seiya, would you like to accompany us to lunch?" Mamoru asked the seemingly innocent question but if one could look into his mind at that exact moment, the picture he had created was anything but innocent.
"Eh?" Seiya looked confused and cocked her eyebrow yet again.
"Yeah, you should go!" Usagi patted her on the back. "It will give you two a chance to get to know each other." Mamoru nodded in agreement and looked to Seiya for her answer.
Seiya put her hands up in front of her in defense. "No, no, no, I just ate… thanks anyway… maybe some other time." She hadn't just eaten but she also didn't think she could take having lunch with Mamoru. Images of her jumping across the table and strangling Mamoru came to mind and a smile crept to her face. She had to stop letting her mind and mental images affect her physical appearance.
"Well then I'm taking the two of you out for dinner tonight and I won't take no for an answer. I want to get to know the person who Usako called her best friend while I was away." Mamoru smiled wickedly from Seiya to Usagi. Seiya still held her puzzled face while Usagi was just beaming an overly pleasant smile, just as she always did.
"Sounds great!" Usagi chirped and nudged Seiya. "Will you come?" She asked.
How could she say no? Come on, this was Usagi asking her to have dinner with her, after all, Mamoru was just a minor over sight for the evening, she still got to spend time with her. "Of course." She smiled at Usagi. The best friend comment still didn't sit well with her though, especially when being noted for the period that Mamoru was away.
"Great, well I guess I'll see you both later… around seven? Ja!" Mamoru waved as he walked past the two women on to his prior destination. Fiore only gave a wave and a nice meeting you to Seiya.
Usagi smiled watching them walk away, staring at Mamoru's retreating form. "Odango?" Seiya waved her hand in front of her face to see if she was paying attention. Just as she thought, "… I knew I'd be invisible…" She mumbled to herself.
"Huh?" Usagi tore her eyes away from her boyfriend and looked to Seiya. She had heard what she had said but didn't understand, but decided not to say anything about it either. "I'm gonna head home to take a shower, I stink!" Usagi said sniffing herself.
Seiya smiled at her gesture but then realized she was going to be left alone in the middle of the sidewalk if she didn't say something soon. "Um, Odango, what are you doing today?"
"Nothing that I can think of. Why? Do you want to hang out?" She asked with a smile and a tilt of her head.
Seiya was distracted yet again with the simple movements that she made. "Hang out with you? Please, I have better things to do with my time!" Seiya waved at her and pretended to walk off. She glanced back over her shoulder and saw Usagi's pissed face and quickly turned around. "I was just kidding Odango, I'd love to hang out with you."
"Great! We'll go to my house and shower," Usagi looked at Seiya while beaming but became distracted by her long legs once more. "and we'll shopping too!" Seiya definitely needed a new skirt, for Usagi's sake if anything.
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Ami sat alone in the library on this bright Saturday morning in front of a pile of books. She had a report due in two weeks and figured she would get a jump on it now so that she would have more free time to spend with Kureko. Time was always against her, there just wasn't enough time in the day to do every little thing that she dreamed of doing. A while back, after her break down, Ami realized that she had to push aside and reorganize her life. She had to make it worthwhile and do the things that she truly wanted to do.
She still studied and topped every class she was in, but she limited the work that she would do when it came to people. You can read all of the books you want on relationships and romance, but none of them, no matter how good the writer, can ever compare to the real life experience of love and relationships. Ami learned this from Usagi, possibly one of the only things that she would be able to learn from her bubbly friend. With that thought in mind she scheduled her time and managed a way to keep up with her studies and a social life.
About two years ago she had been reading a book, it was an outside reading assignment to analyze the structure of a book where the character ran into a major epiphany in their lives. While thinking about the book she was reading she started to think of her own life in relationship to the assignment. She hadn't had an epiphany, she had always known what she wanted to do. Sure, I guess you could say finding out that she was a senshi with special powers could be considered an awakening, but if she was still just an ordinary girl, what did she really have?
Nothing, it seemed as though everyone else had something she didn't. The book was a lost cause now and Ami delved deep into her thoughts to find the source of her problem. That was it, the thing that everyone else had that she didn't… a reason not to die. The totally morbid thought spread from her mind to the rest of her body and felt as though a dark and heavy weight had been placed on her being.
Days turned into weeks and no one noticed Ami's severe slip into depression, they all maintained different schedules, and Ami's coincided with no one's except occasionally Mamoru's, but he hardly paid any mind to her at all. Then on the anniversary, the date the Starlights and Usagi defeated Chaos, the day before they left, all of the inners gathered in the crater in the middle of Tokyo. The city had left it there and not rebuilt the area of the final battle with Chaos as a reminder that they were not indestructible and to remind them to live everyday to its fullest never taking for granted that tomorrow will come.
They could never understand what Ami was going through, they were all happy and content with their lives. She had no one to truly talk to, no one that would really understand… how could a genius not be happy? To her surprise, the person she least expected to realize did. Usagi walked up to her while everyone else just looked around remembering and said one sentence that changed it all. 'I thought that I didn't have anything left to live for when we were in the battle, but just the thought of you guys always being there with me and helping me through everything, in that thought alone I found my salvation.'
That's when the weight that Ami had put on herself was lifted. She wasn't sure if Usagi was just saying what she had said to tell her what she remembered of if she had actually seen what was festering in her mind. Which ever reason that it was, from that day on Ami believed that Usagi saw into her heart.
How did she know that there was nothing out there for her? She had piled herself beneath a pile of books building towards some distant future. What good was the future when you were wasting away in the present? Ami took it upon herself to make sure that this didn't happen to her other friends, the one she was worried about the most was Makoto. Like her Makoto could be reserved sometimes, but not to the extreme that Ami was. Nonetheless, this still worried Ami and she confided in Makoto with the secret of her break down.
The book she had been gathering information from for her report was shut suddenly in front of her with a bang. The librarian shushed the room and all fell silent again. Ami looked up from her book, over top of her glasses and saw a woman with curly mint green hair and an amazing pair of silver eyes smiling down at her. "Saturday mornings are meant for cartoons, not books." Kureko said pushing aside some books and leaning both of her elbows down on the table. Ami laughed lightly at her observation, she sounded so much like Minako just now. Her head soon came down to sit in her hands and her lips curved into a pout. "What were you thinking about just then?"
"I was thinking about this report, why?" Ami said taking her book back from Kureko and opening it up to the lost information.
"No you weren't." Kureko said flatly and stood up. Ami just looked up at her and didn't say a word. She hadn't told Kureko about the senshi, and therefore there were just certain parts of her life that she wouldn't understand. "Are you going to be here all day?"
Ami smiled and pushed her glasses back up on her nose. "Well it looks like I maybe if you stay here and keep distracting me!" Ami had said that rather loudly and looked around to see if she had disturbed anyone.
Kureko also looked around. "Never mind these people." She waved off the rest of the patrons of the library. "They could use a little distraction in their lives, just like you!" She ended with her eyes narrowed.
Ami stood up and placed both of her hands on the table and stared Kureko down, Kureko did the same thing from the other side of the table. "I was trying to get this done today so that I would have the rest of the week to spend with you my dear…" She said the sweet words through clenched teeth.
"Arigato!" Kureko said and gave her a quick kiss. The old man that was sitting at the table adjacent to Ami's just watched with wide eyes and didn't try to hide his apparent interest at all.
Ami glared over at him before returning to her conversation with Kureko. "No, please don't stop on account of me!" The old man said reminding her a little too much of Rei's grandfather.
"How about I come over when I'm done with this, we can go to the pool." Ami said this time with a smile. That was one thing she was thankful for about Kureko, she loved to swim.
Kureko nodded and gave her another kiss before getting up and heading to the door. She turned around, made sure the old man was listening and told Ami that she would bring the whipped cream and strawberries. Ami just shook her head and couldn't help but notice the old man drooling out of the corner of her eye. "What the hell are you looking at eechi?!" She yelled at the old man with a fire in her eyes.
"Last time I checked you weren't supposed to scream in a library." A familiar voice came up behind her and drew her attention away from the pervie old man. Ami turned around to the familiar hues of purple in the taller woman's eyes.
"Taiki… it's a surprise to see anyone I know here on a Saturday morning." Ami said sitting back down and attempting to pick back up her work.
Taiki took a seat across from her. "I was just checking to see if my favorite author had published any more works while I was 'out of town'." She looked at the old man when she said this. "But I ran into just the person that I wanted to talk to while doing so."
Ami looked up from her work and straight into her eyes. "You were looking for me?" She was little surprised and shocked to say the least. "Why?" There had to be a reason…
"I wanted to see how much you knew about banking operations, I wanted to see if there was a way for us to liquidate our funds that we've had sitting dormant forever." Taiki's face was just about straight and unwavering, you would never know that she was a nervous wreck inside.
Ami face faulted on the tabletop. That was it? That was all she was looking for her for? "Yeah, I know a little about it."
"Sugoi!" Taiki said amused. "What are you working on?"
"An assignment for my modern medicines class." Ami was writing words on the paper in front of her trying to keep her mind on her work.
The actions that Ami was making disappointed and discouraged Taiki a bit. She was actually studying and almost ignoring her. "What a coincidence, I have the same report due in a while."
Ami's head snapped up. "What are you talking about?"
"I enrolled at Idai University when we got back." Taiki smiled. "I take it you are attending the same school, ne?" Ami numbly nodded her head. "Do you mind if I work on my report with you? We'll get it done quicker."
Faster was better, the faster she got it done, the sooner she would be able to see Kureko. "Sounds good to me." Ami smiled at the thought of seeing Kureko sooner.
"Great." Taiki thought she had her foot in the door…
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The people of the city just served as a group of people for Yaten to criticize and she did it with the prissiest attitude possible not bothering to conceal her comments. "Whatever kind of look you were going for, you missed it!"
"Ack, this city is so plain." Yaten cursed while walking around with the camera that she had picked up in Minako's apartment. Once in a while she would snap a picture of a few nameless Joes on the street and continue one her way. She took in account the old style and newer styles of architecture that were on display for all of the passer-byers but none of them seemed to notice.
It was strange that something so beautiful as these marble carvings could be present in the middle of such a large crowd of people and yet none of them appreciated it for the hard work and beauty that it represented. Things you see everyday loose their meaning and begin to get taken for granted after a period of time. "Not me, I won't ever be taken for granted." Yaten said to herself as she took a picture of the carvings that inspired the thought in her head.
"No, no, no… how could anyone take you for granted." The phrase was followed by a soft laughter as Minako came up to her. "Awfully conceited aren't we?" She mocked Yaten's statement even further.
"Are you saying that I deserve to be taken for granted?" Yaten huffed at Minako, displeased to have been insulted.
"Touchy, touchy… man Yaten, when did you loose your sense of humor?" Minako laughed again. "I told you," She turned to walk away leaving her hair behind her to flow in the breeze. "You shine brighter than anyone, no one will take that for granted." She winked and walked off.
A smile made its way to Yaten's face at the compliment but she immediately scowled it away in case anyone was looking, but still… it was a nice feeling, to be appreciated… The senshi in a way were like this architecture that she was admiring. They were never really appreciated for their hard work, you know, all in a day's work, saving the world and all. Yaten shook her head once again and then looked off in the direction that Minako had walked off in. "At least some one understands."
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Unfortunately for Seiya, Usagi didn't mean that they would share a shower. (-_-' Poor eechi Seiya) Seiya sat patiently on in the living room waiting for Usagi to emerge from the bathroom. Without really thinking she began to walk aimlessly around the room looking at all of the photos that Usagi had up and looking through a few magazines. There were pictures of her with the inners, outers, cats and Mamoru, pretty much the entire universe as far as Seiya was concerned but not one picture of herself in any form decorated the already full shelves.
Usagi came out of her room ruffling her bangs around to get them to dry quicker. She smiled at Seiya who was across the room from her looking through some of her things. "It's amazing how a picture is really worth a thousand words and a memory can be kept on paper." She came up behind her and looked at some of the pictures she had been eyeing.
Seiya laughed a bit, but it was a cold bitter laugh meant to pity only herself. A memory on paper, ne? Is that why she doesn't hold a picture of any of us Lights, is that why she doesn't hold a picture of me… perhaps she doesn't care to remember. Seiya turned to look at Usagi with her still cold smile but all thoughts of Usagi not caring about anything soon faded from her mind as she realized that there was no way Usagi could care for anything less than another. She gave her love equally… but that still wasn't enough for her. "Yeah, it truly is." Seiya said still staring at Usagi.
Usagi reached past her and picked a picture frame up and started to take the back off of it. When she was done fussing with the frame she pulled a worn picture from it of all of the planetary senshi including Mamoru in it and handed it to Seiya. "Here, take this with you so that when you go home you won't forget about us." She smiled and winked before turning around to find her earrings on the end table.
As if Seiya could ever forget about her! She smiled at her naiveness, it was true, Seiya at one time did try to forget about her completely but to no avail. She kept herself busy and even tried to see other people on Kinmoku but nothing worked. "You have it all figured out don't you." Seiya mused as she watched Usagi perform the simplest task with a beauty that only she could possess.
"Eh?" Usagi asked giving her a weird look from under her hair while still trying to put the back on her earring.
"You're whole life, you seem as though you have it all figured out. You have your friends, your Mamo-chan and you future all planned out. All you have to do is live it." Seiya looked in her direction and expected a smile back but instead found that she had stopped moving and was just staring at the floor. "Odango?" Seiya asked while coming up to her.
"Hm?" Usagi said looking up from the floor. She had been lost in her thoughts about what Seiya had just said. She had never thought about her destiny that way before. "Well we should be going!" Her chipper mood reappeared and she finished her task at hand dismissing any problem that had come into her mind just a moment ago.
"Are you sure you're all right?" Seiya asked concerned as to why she had just had the biggest mood swing she had ever seen.
Their mini-shopping spree went by quickly and it seemed that they were heading home only moments after they had started. It was evident in the pile of bags that Usagi was carrying that they had spent quite a deal of time and money at the mall though. Seiya had offered to carry her bags for her but she simply refused saying something along the lines of 'Mamo-chan normally carries my bags for me, but since it's just us girls I can handle it.'
'… just us girls…' That part stuck in Seiya's mind as they herded the heavy shopping bags inside Usagi's apartment. That was all Usagi thought of her as and that was all that she was going to think of her as while she was here on Earth. Perhaps it was better this way though, as long as Usagi didn't see her as some one trying to court her than perhaps she would be less likely to lead Seiya's mind down the wrong path. "You might as well stay here and get ready, Mamo-chan will be here in a little while." Usagi said rummaging through her bags bringing Seiya once again from her thoughts.
She nodded and picked up her bag to head towards the bathroom. Usagi looked up from her search for an outfit to wear and watched her disappear into the Pepto-Bismol pink bathroom. "Sayonara blue skirt!" She silently thanked Kami. She selected the dress that she was going to wear out tonight and headed towards her room. For some reason, although Seiya was a woman now, she still didn't feel right changing in front of her.
Seiya came out of the bathroom wearing a pair of black dress pants and a tight ¾ sleeve saffire blue, cotton button down shirt. Usagi had told her the shirt perfectly complemented her eyes, and of course, whatever Usagi thought looked good Seiya was going to wear. "Odango?" Seiya called down the hall and noticed that Usagi's bedroom door was closed and naturally assumed that she was changing in there. She figured that she would go through Usagi's large collection of shoes that she told her she kept in the spare bedroom closet. When Seiya opened the door to the spare bedroom she saw none other than her beautiful Odango changing right before her eyes. Usagi was just getting ready to slip her dress over her head when she heard the door open and turned around. There in the doorway stood a beat red Seiya still holding onto the door knob and her mouth hung down to just about her ankles. "Ahhh!!! Gomen, gomen, gomen, gomen…" She said quickly before turning around and slamming the door behind her.
Usagi finished putting on her dress and laughed at Seiya's reaction. She wasn't mad, it was an honest mistake, besides, what did she have that Seiya didn't now anyway? "You should have seen your face!" Usagi came out of the room carrying two pairs of shoes with her. One for her and one for Seiya, she assumed that was the reason she was going in there in the first place.
Seiya sat on the couch with her legs crossed and her elbow resting high on the armrest. She didn't look over at Usagi since she had finally gotten her blush under control and now she just made her do it again. She sensed that Usagi was coming closer to her and she remained still staring straight ahead at the television that wasn't even on. Usagi bent down and brought her face to the same level as Seiya's. "I'm sorry for laughing at you, but it was pretty funny."
Seiya looked over and was met with an eye full of cleavage. Didn't Usagi know what she was doing. Seiya began to blush furiously again. While Usagi only tried to comfort her some more. She came up on the other side of her and joined her on the couch. "Seiya it's alright, geesh, you act like it's never happened to you."
It had happened to her, a million times in her dream, but never in her wildest dreams did she imagine that she would actually get to catch a glimpse of Usagi that way in 'real life'. "I didn't mean to, gomen."
Seiya soon found Usagi's arms wrapped around her neck in a hug and was surprised to say the least. "It's ok I forgive you." She said laughing. Seiya wrapped her arms around Usagi's waist and just soaked up every moment she could while they were this way. Her scent, the gentle curve of her waist, the warmth of her skin, and her cheek pressed against hers, this moment was perfect.
"Usako!" Mamoru called from the front door to let Usagi know that he was here and ready to go. Usagi jumped from Seiya's arms and bolted down the hallway towards him.
"So easily she slips through my fingers again." Seiya laughed at herself sitting alone on the couch. 'How can she slip though your fingers when she was never yours?' Her mind tormented her again but she remained calm as she could still smell the scent of Usagi's perfume on the shoulder of her shirt. Time for dinner.