Hey Everybody, I'm Doctor AutumnHime. What do you all think about the name Rosencrantz Guildenstern Quixhote? I feel like being insane at this moment, which is probably a good reason for my stopping before I begin this chapter. I would like to thank those who reviewed in the space below...so Thank You's go to (drumroll please):
Shiva Shadowweaver, D-cat, Lil Luna, Kotono, Maddy, Sailor Grape, and SilvreiAlso, currently, its 6-2 in favor of Heero/Usagi. I'm closing polls at my next chapter.
Right, and because I didn't mention before, ages are as follows:
The Inner Senshi/Gundarn Pilots--2l Yrs.
Setsuna/Haruka/Michiru--24 yrs
Hotaru-14
I'll leave the couples up to your imagination for now. And just because one of the girls maybe the first to meet one of guys, that doesn't mean that they are a couple.
(~~~~ = Begin Flashback
~~~~) = End Flashback
DISCLAIMER: Please place standard phrase here. (AKA: Don't own Sailor Moon, Gundam Wing, or Advil, please do not sue.)
Hands of Fate; Cbanges in Destiny
Chapter 4: In which a chance meeting occurs
Bv: AutumnHime
Usagi woke up, groaning. Her eyes were crusted not from lack of sleep but too much. The little demons inside her head had decided to hold a rock concert and the blood in her head beat in time to the bass.
"Morning, sleepyhead!" Ami greeted, smiling. She stood in the doorway of Usagi's bedroom, a wooden serving tray in her hands. "I brought you some Advil, a glass of water, and breakfast."
"I love you Ami! For this, you can have my fortune when I make one." Usagi exclaimed, forgetting for a moment that the pounding she heard was not from construction down the street, but from her headache.
"Ugggghhhhh." Perfect peach hands clutched at Usagi's temples. She shook her head to drive out the pain. A sudden flash of...a black cat with dark eyes and a crescent...scar on its forehead popped into her head. Usagi violently twisted her head back and forth. Another image, this one of a young teenager telling her to "study more"…
Low moans issued from the prostrate girl.
Ami moved swiftly. The turquoise, blue, and aqua skirt she wore swirled around her legs as she strode to the bed. She quickly dumped the tray on the table next to it and grabbed the bottle of Advil and glass of water.
Usagi rocked back and forth, unaware of Ami's movements until Ami rested her cool, dry hand upon Usagi's forehead.
The pain didn't clear at that touch, but it faded into the background, sharp driving knives becoming dull scissors. Usagi looked at her blue-haired friend in amazement and in consternation. "H. .How did you do that?"
Ami ignored the question. "Here," She offered the blonde three tablets and a perspiring glass of water.
Usagi took the medicine gratefully, but still eyed her doctor friend as if she was just seeing the twenty-one year old for the first time.
Ami looked...the same. Her blue hair rested almost at the small of her back. Her bangs just brushed the tops of her worry-filled eyes. Ami was still the same 5'9" she had always been. Her fashion sense was as keen as ever, comfortable rather than cutting edge.
Ami smiled. "Do I have something in my teeth?" Her voice had a misty quality. Comforting, true, but in the sense that one is surrounded, not necessarily by friends.
Usagi went back to her friend's eyes. That was the change. Whenever Ami smiled, normally it was just happy. A little worried occasionally, but her smiles usually made her eyes sparkle like sapphires. This smile didn't. Her eyes still held shadows...sadness and a little tainted joy, tainted because it seemed as if the joy was something that shouldn't have been there. Like something Ami wanted was going to happen, but it was not a good thing.
"Ami..." She stopped her futile attempt, and her friend stood up, brisk and business-like.
"Better get up, Usa," she winked over her shoulder, whatever had been there melting like shadows when light has been directly shined upon them. "We don't want to be late for work."
Usagi groaned. "Arrrggghhh. Some days... work is just a pain in the butt!"
Sunlight laughter drew the two girls attention to the door. Minako stood in the doorway, dressed in a gauzy coral, pink, and melon outfit. "You say that everyday, cos. And everyday, you get up and go, because you like the people."
Usagi, headache gone thanks to the Advil, stared at Mina, chin toward chest, head down, but eyebrows raised and azure eyes looking up from underneath her bangs. Her face depicted the expression "ExCUse me." Suddenly, her face split wide, lips stretched from corner to corner. She thrust out her hands, "You've caught me, Mina. I'm guilty of it. Arrest me!"
Mina laughed again as she turned on her heel, Ami following close behind. "Get ready quick, Usa. Ames and I are leaving soon, Makoto's left for The Flying Dutchman and Haruka's already gone to her job at the car shop."
"I'll be down in a few, minna!" Usagi called, shoving off her covers and striding towards the cherry-wood dresser holding her clothes.
She grabbed a pair of black slacks with boot cut flares from the bottom drawer. Tugging on the crescent moon carved middle drawer, she pulled it wide open and started tossing shirts left and right. Usagi finally decided upon a white sleeveless tank top, and she grabbed a black men's dress shirt as a cover up. Black boots completed her outfit and she quickly pulled her blonde, mid-thigh hair back into a loose braid. Small dangling silver star earrings hung from her ears, jangling as she pulled open her room door and dashed down the stairs.
Mina and Ami, who had heard Usagi's door open, had just turned the knob to the front door of the house when Usagi landed on the floor next to them.
"I'm ready to go!"
Mina and Ami studied their respective watches, one orange, the other turquoise.
"Wow!" Mina whistled softly, dramatically "Four minutes flat!"
"She's broken her record of five minutes!" Ami teased, shooing her friends out the now-wide door.
"You GUYS!" Usagi flounced her arms, silvery laughter fountaining upwards, tickling the air. The two other girls' laughter followed it, sparkling bright.
"Come on," Ami urged, still grinning. She opened the door of a hunter green SUV, and unlocked the rest of the doors automatically. Mina and Usagi climbed in as well, and the trio was off to work.
Mina left the car first. She had just received her first commission as a commercial interior designer, and her new employer wanted to meet with her to give her an idea of the effect that the company was going for.
"Don't forget, I'm off of work at one for lunch!" She waved good-bye towards her friends.
The SUV pulled away from the curb and as the distance between the two widened her thoughts turned darker and darker. She reflected upon the meeting yesterday and all that Setsuna had said.
(~~~~~~
"It was bound to happen one day. We all knew that once those youma began to emerge that we were not going to get the chance at a normal life."
~~~~~~)
All they had worked for, all the youma they had fought, all the times they had gone on simply because if they didn't Usagi would be drawn into the mess again, what was it for if Usagi would have had to fight anyway? Minako wondered. She remembered the pain and horror of her own awakening...
(~~~~~
Rain streamed down crystalline panes of glass, never stopping. It was strange, considering the weather reports had said rain was coming, they were always wrong.
Minako sighed. She had to get home. She had homework to do, three tons or so, and if she didn't get back to the house, she would never finish. But the clouds continued weeping, despite her wishes to the contrary.
"Oh well, time to get wet," she resigned herself to the pleasure of dripping hair, smudging mascara, and sopping clothes.
"Bye, Motoki!" the blonde limply waved towards her waiter-friend at the Arcade, stepping out into the downpour. Minako immediately became drenched. She simply shook her head, and looked up to the heavens as if to say, 'Why me?'
Other people, cozy and safe in parkas or cars scurried alongside the small stooped figure of the teenager. Her trudging steps emphasized the dreariness of the day as the normally cheerful senior in highschool walked back to the apartment she shared with four other girls.
In an effort to keep the rain out of her face, Minako stared at the ground, not paying attention to where she walked. The blonde ran into an object. She looked up to make sure that whomever she had run into was unhurt.
The woman in front of her was petite. Her red hair looked dry despite the rain pouring down, and she wore a black flowing skirt and white halter top despite the chilly precipitation.
"I'm..." Minako began, but the woman interrupted her.
Bottomless green eyes met sky ones, almost as if: Minako thought, the woman looked into her soul.
"No," The strange redhead's voice was indescribable, neither alto nor soprano, neither melodic nor dissonant, neither velvet nor steel. The redhead shivered, infinite sadness hidden behind her soft, compelling tones "It is I who am sorry, Minako Aino. But she needs help." The woman looked away, drawing Minako's speechless attention towards the direction she looked.
When Minako noticed nothing, she turned back. The woman was gone.
Minako shook her head to clear it, blonde hair swinging violently. "Weird lady...How'd she know my name?"
A scream forced Minako's attention away from her silent contemplation of the stranger's words. A child, helpless in the face of traffic, stood in the middle of the road. A teddy bear that she had probably dropped lay in a muddy puddle. On the other side of the road, a frantic mother dashed back and forth. Minako looked down the street. A semi-truck racing at 60 miles per hour straight towards the child hit its brakes in an effort to stop before child was hit. The slick surface of the tarred road hindered its progress. Thirty feet, twenty-five, twenty... She would never make it, but she had to try.
The blonde began to run, despite the futile nature. Seventeen feet, fifteen, eleven ... The rain quieted, the wind stopped howling. The hum of her heartbeat became deafening. Her palms began to tingle as Minako concentrated all of her energy on reaching the child before the semi smashed her. Nine feet, eight, seven...
"NOOOOO!!!" Minako shrieked. "I won't let it happen!" Six feet, five, four...A strange wind blew out of no where, swirling her hair upwards. Unconsciously, she twisted her wrist, then flung her arm outwards, screaming words that she had never thought of before. "VENUS LOVE CHAIN ENCIRCLE!!!" Three feet, two... and the miraculous happened. A golden chain formed of heart-shaped links whipped out towards the child, grabbing her around the waist. One foot, one-half, one quarter... and the child stood at the curb beside her whimpering in fear. Minako swayed, images pouring into her head of doing that exact thing hundreds of other times, facing off against strange-looking creatures, talking cats: white and black, and eight other women standing next to her against a golden-eyed woman.
The little girl looked up. Minako managed to smile reassuringly before blacking out, falling head first into…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)
A hand touched her shoulder.
"AHHHHHHH!" A short bark of a scream banged in the air as Minako spun around, knocking the hand away.
"Sorry, ma'am." Shaggy platinum hair hung into eyes bluer than her own. "I was just trying to make sure you were all right…"
Minako ran a hand through her hair. How long had she been out like that? "I apologize for screaming. Thank you for your concern."
The man in front of her smiled. "No prob. It's just that you looked as if you were experiencing a nightmare while awake."
"Thanks." Minako smiled wryly, glancing at her watch. "I have to run, sir. I have a meeting to get to. Thanks again for trying to help a stranger."
The man in the gray Armani suit looked down at his silver Rolex as well. "So do I! Maybe we'll meet again." He strode off towards a granite building.
He's cute, Minako thought, daydreaming for a minute. She then "Eep"'ed as she glanced at her watch again, and hurried off towards her appointment.
Imagine her surpise when she finally arrived at her appointment and the secretary led her into a large dark-colored wood paneled room. A hand gestured her into a seat, the person not looking up as he continued his phone conversation.
"I know, Heero," he said. "Look, I have an interview to conduct. I know what I have to do." "Okay." "I'll hook up with Trowa later today." "Sayonara, Heero."
The man looked up, brushing his silvery blonde bangs back from his forehead. His blue eyes widened as they alit upon Minako standing in front of him and a slight blush pinkened his cheeks. He smiled slowly. "Well, I guess we did meet again. We have time for a proper introduction now. You are?"
"Minako Aino, the commercial interior designer, sir." The blonde held her hand out. "And you?"
The man took her hand, shaking it firmly. "Quatre Raberba Winner."
*_*_*_*_*__*_*_*_*__*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*__*_*_*__*_*__*_*_*__*__*_**__*_*__*__*__*__*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*__*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_
There's Chapter Four (At least, the first part of Chapter four)
I hope you enjoyed it.
Thanks for reading, I hope you'll continue to do so, and don't forget to review.
AutumnHime
