So what's going down with my homies? (Sorry moment of complete poserness right there.) CHAPTER FIVE! I am god bow to me. Sorry I just know what happens in this chapter…I really like it! (Hehehehehe)
Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon.
Warnings: Mild cussing, vacuuming, and of course some interesting insults.
Second Chances
Chapter Five: Don't Kill The Messenger or Minako
"So callous where my mind states,
Or is that my state of mind?
I'm not as ugly sad as you.
Or am I origami?
Fold it up and just pretend,
Demented as the motives in your head,"
-??? By Eve 6
Hotaru woke up the on Saturday morning feeling warm and relaxed. She had woken up a few hours before, not remembering what she had dreamed about only that she had woken up gasping for breath, drenched in sweat, her heart pounding. Why had she been so frightened? She had not had nightmares since she was a small child. It was so odd that when she tried hard to remember what it was she dreamt about, she saw darkness complete darkness and then a flash of something. Had it been silver? She supposed it had been, that weird silvery flash as though…it was a weapon, hitting the light. Odd. Now she felt much better though. She decided that today was going to be a nice day and she wanted to get up, to enjoy it. That's when she heard it.
The sound of a vacuum. Now there were only two people in Hotaru's apartment. Hotaru and Mamoru. Hotaru hated doing the dishes. Mamoru hated vacuuming. However, pure and obvious reasoning said that if she wasn't vacuuming, Mamoru was. This of course was impossible. She decided that the vacuum sound might be coming from somewhere else. Anywhere else. Her curious mind lead her out of her room to see Mamoru, not only vacuuming, but gliding around the room with the vacuum in some sort of weird happy dance. He was also singing. Badly.
"I need you to elevate my soul!" Mamoru sang out loud and Hotaru was trying to suppress laughter. It was probably the funniest thing she had ever witnessed.
"I take it you had a good time last night?" Hotaru said over the vacuum. Mamoru looked up at the dark-haired girl with alarm. He turned off the vacuum and still wore the biggest grin ever.
"What makes you think that?" Mamoru's eyes were trying to plead innocence, his face flushing at the mere remembrance of something.
"Well your vacuuming. Don't think that since your vacuuming, I'm going to do the dishes!" Hotaru exclaimed while walking away into the kitchen. She expected to see dishes in the sink. There was none. In fact the only dishes that were being used were holding a steaming cup of tea and a nice warm breakfast. Hotaru turned to Mamoru with an expectant look.
"What? I felt like cleaning…and vacuuming…and making you breakfast…." Mamoru trailed off as he realized that he was not fooling Hotaru, no matter how much he wished he was.
"Tell me what happened!" Hotaru protested before settling herself in front of her breakfast. Mamoru sat down across from her.
"Um, we had dinner and we walked in the park…" Mamoru's face started to get really red. Hotaru leaned in from curiosity.
"So you're this happy 'cause you ate dinner and walked in the park. Right." Hotaru shook her head and started to cut her French toast.
"Then I took her home, I walked her to the door…and then…um…" Mamoru's face had gotten so red that Hotaru would have thought he was a tomato. This caused her to giggle and Mamoru to get even more flushed.
"Then you sat there blushing?" Hotaru snorted after her small sarcastic question. It was so funny that Mamoru was acting this way. She had never seen him like this before.
"She kissed me!" Mamoru leapt off his chair and began to do his weird little happy dance. Hotaru's smile broadened.
"I figured as much! Congratulations!" Hotaru suddenly found herself being pulled out of her chair and being thrown around by Mamoru as his weird little happy dance turned into a weird little waltz. Hotaru sighed. She definitely did not want to be anywhere near the apartment before or after a date between Usagi and Mamoru. She hoped that she would never looked as strange as Mamoru did at that moment.
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"I hate Mondays!" Minako made a scrunched face as if to reaffirm her statement. It was indeed a Monday, or Minako would not have been complaining about it. Her weekend had been spent as it always was, not doing her homework and reading comics, in between a busy stream of phone calls. Usagi had called her and described her date with Mamoru for about four hours. Minako enjoyed hearing about it.
"It could be a lot worse." Rei began. "We could be having a test."
"Oh don't we have one on Thursday? You guys want to come over and study at my house?" Makoto asked them. "I'm making brownies…"
"YES!" Minako cheered loudly, making a certain dark haired boy look up at her.
"Excuse me." The boy called to them. Minako recognized the voice before the others. Kou Seiya. Minako was frozen in her tracks and turned around very slowly with the other two.
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A few minutes before…
Seiya shook his head. That was all he could do. Apparently Taiki had another memory dream where they were singing on stage. Yaten told him he was nuts. They all of course questioned Kakyuu as soon as she got in. She held back for a few moments, trying not to answer the question. Finally she told them that they had been a boy band called the Three Lights in the past life. Yaten was not very happy about this at all.
"Wait, wait, we were in a boy band but we were girls?" Yaten asked disbelief written all over his face. Seiya could see that Yaten was really hoping it was some sort of weird practical joke.
"Well…you weren't exactly girls all the time…" Kakyuu trailed off. Taiki and Seiya both gave her a slightly alarmed look.
"Oh so we weren't even a specific gender and we were in a boy band? I wonder why we forgot our past lives?" Yaten asked sarcastically.
"For specific purposes you could change into a male form. When you transform into your soldier form, you will become a woman." Kakyuu explained to them.
"Why are we males then?" Seiya was a little weirded out by the whole idea just then. His mind was having trouble processing all this.
"I don't know. I asked Setsuna but she wouldn't say." Kakyuu replied looking every bit as proper as the Princess of planet Kinmokusei should.
"I still can't believe I was a gender-changing dork in a boy band." Yaten grumbled. Taiki was simply nodding now that he had the answer about the boy-girl issue. Seiya sighed and then heard a loud shout. He looked up to see Aino Minako. She's Usagi's best friend…Maybe she's heard about those roses I sent!
"Excuse me." Seiya called out to the three girls who were walking past them. They froze for several moments and finally turned around.
"Hey!" Minako bounced back over to them. Hino Rei and Kino Makoto were right behind her.
"Good morning." Seiya said in his most friendly voice. If her friends like me then they'll give me information… "Have any of you talked to Usagi lately?"
"For like four hours on Sunday! She had to tell me all about her date!" Minako informed him giggling slightly. Seiya felt his heart drop.
"With who?" Seiya inquired even though he felt a lump in his throat.
"Chiba Mamoru! They had such a romantic date, he took her to a nice restaurant and a walk in the park." Minako began to inform them all about the date. She liked having an audience. Unfortunately Minako had seemed to temporarily forget what she knew about Seiya when it came to Usagi. "Oh the best part is, they kissed! Usagi's first kiss ever, I was so happy for her…"
"Um, Minako?" Rei saw the look on Seiya's face getting angrier and angrier. She wasn't sure that Minako should be telling the whole story of Usagi's date.
"What? Oh wait, don't you like Usagi or something?" Minako put her hand behind her head, still smiling brightly. Seiya was shaking with anger, he wanted to hit something.
"Seiya?" He heard Kakyuu's gentle voice ask waveringly. He felt a hand on his shoulder. He couldn't stand it now. He smacked the hand away, with almost more force then was needed. Seiya had turned and could now see Kakyuu, clutching her hand and looking at him with teary eyes. Seiya realized what he had done.
"Kak…yuu…" Seiya felt his mouth grow dry. Kakyuu took off running. Yaten and Taiki looked at him with such looks that made him fear they would start pounding him. Yaten got right up to his face before saying anything.
"You…little…that's…how could you hurt Kakyuu?" Yaten looked angry enough to kill someone. Seiya wasn't sure what to do.
"Seiya, I think you should go." Taiki was paying no attention to his book for once. His narrowed eyes were making everyone a little uncomfortable. Seiya turned and left. Yaten marched right up to Minako, anger still flashing in his bright green eyes.
"Just had to cause trouble didn't you?" Yaten asked her angrily. "Why don't you and your friends get lost?" Minako's eyes widened in fear and the three girls departed with haste. Yaten realized that yelling at Minako had seemed familiar. Had Minako been in the past life? They knew that Miss Meioh, Sailor Pluto had been. But was it possible that Minako had been one of those other soldiers? Yaten shook his head; he still wanted to punch Seiya for being so stupid.
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Seiya took a deep breath before going into Miss Meioh's office. Undoubtedly, Kakyuu would be in there. He could feel it. How could he say anything to make up for what he had done? Wasn't he sworn to protect her? Wasn't he one of Kakyuu's Starlights? How dare he do this to her! He had to talk to her, beg her forgiveness. He opened the door very slowly. Kakyuu was curled up into a ball, crying. She looked less like a princess and more like a woman who just needed to be protected then anything. Seiya approached her quietly. Kakyuu looked up at him suddenly as if she just sensed his presence in the room.
"Kakyuu…I…" Seiya felt his mouth grow dry all over again. Kakyuu's tears made him feel like his heart was breaking. He did the only thing he knew to do; he bowed down at her feet. "Forgive me, Princess. I was angry and not thinking about anything but myself. I was being selfish." Kakyuu placed a hand on his face.
"I understand…it's just hard to watch it." Kakyuu sighed taking her hand away.
"What do you mean?" Seiya asked in confusion. Kakyuu was still so sad looking that Seiya put his arms around her, knowing that comforting the princess was very important.
"Usagi was in the past life too." Kakyuu hung her head slightly, before looking up straight into his blue eyes, her red ones full of some deep pain.
"She was?" Seiya felt that sadness again.
"I did not want to have to tell you about it. I guess I will, if you ask me to." Kakyuu sighed wearily.
"Please tell me." Seiya's pleading tone made Kakyuu wince slightly.
"Usagi is the Moon Princess. The one who defeated Galaxia, or rather saved Galaxia from Chaos. She has a soul mate that is reborn and they are truly together until the end of time." Kakyuu sounded as if she was reciting something. Seiya realized that something had happened in the last life that he did not want to hear. He could not hear it.
"I-I…" Seiya couldn't understand what he was trying to say.
"That soul mate is the Earth Prince, Chiba Mamoru." Kakyuu kept going even though he could tell it was painful for her. Then he heard it. His own voice. His own words. Echoing.
"Aren't I enough?"
"I was…in love with her wasn't I?" Seiya felt it pulling his soul apart. Kakyuu's eyes had clouded over.
"Aren't I enough?"
"That's why I was so conflicted about it! What could I say or do? You will never be with Usagi." Kakyuu confessed, looking away from Seiya, afraid to look at his eyes.
"Aren't I enough?"
"Oh Kakyuu, I'm sorry." Seiya realized how horrible she must have felt, keeping that in this whole time. She couldn't say anything. "I'm sorry I didn't remember on my own."
"I wish I was good enough…for her." Seiya was confused, he felt as if that had been said in a different time and a different place then the other words. He felt as if this comment had not been directed towards Usagi. Then whom had he said those words about?
"It is not your fault. We all have people we wish we could be with…" Kakyuu trailed off, sounding far away.
"Kakyuu, was there someone you loved?" Seiya cocked his head to the side. If she had been in love with someone who would have refused her? Kakyuu was beautiful and kind.
"That's not important." Kakyuu clearly did not want to talk about it. He began to get up, now he had to go apologize to Yaten and Taiki. He knew they were probably still pretty pissed at him. At least, Yaten would be. Kakyuu grabbed his arm though. "Seiya?" Her voice was filled with hope and urgency.
"What?" Seiya was very aware of Kakyuu's red eyes just then. Something about them.
"Nothing." Kakyuu seemed to have given up on what she was going to say. "Let's go find Yaten and Taiki." Seiya shrugged and they walked off together.
"So what are we doing?" Yaten asked impatiently. It was lunchtime and Seiya wanted to talk to with Yaten and Taiki alone. It made no sense but Kakyuu was suddenly pulled out away by Setsuna who needed her for paper filing. Sometimes Yaten though that Miss Meioh may know almost too much about what was going on.
"I'm going to confront Mamoru." Seiya's determined face made Yaten roll his eyes.
"Kakyuu has informed us that Usagi and Mamoru are soul mates. I think this is completely unnecessary." Taiki informed them.
"I can't just go on my merry way with out talking to him." Seiya's brows knit in thought.
"Are you two going to get into a cat fight?" Yaten's little remark earned him a well-aimed smack on the back of the head from Seiya. Seiya had to find Mamoru. Then he saw him. Mamoru looked as though he was somewhere in the clouds and Hotaru was shaking her head.
"Mamoru." Seiya's call made the two turn their way.
"Hello Seiya." Mamoru greeted him in a fairly friendly way. Seiya did not know what exactly he wanted to say. Kakyuu forbade them from telling the others about the past life without permission from her or unless it was a real emergency.
"I heard you went on a date with Usagi." Seiya stated and Mamoru started to realize that Seiya did not want to have a friendly chat with him. Hotaru opened her mouth but closed it again.
"Oh, just start pulling each other's hair out already." Yaten was obviously already bored with the confrontation. Taiki was reading something as to stay out of the little fight.
"What's your point?" Mamoru asked, ignoring the silver-haired boy.
"You may think that since you two went on a date, that I would just immediately give up on her. Well your wrong." Seiya's words earned him weird faces from Taiki and Yaten. Taiki had been paying attention without letting anyone know.
"Maybe…" Hotaru trailed off wishing she had three times more of a backbone. She wanted to keep going, this was a waste of time.
"Seiya, is there some reason you have such a big problem with me?" Mamoru was trying to keep any boyish urges of hitting Seiya in the face at bay. He was in a good mood and he wanted to stay that way.
"I can't just let you have her! It's not right!" Seiya shouted at him. Mamoru felt his hands going into fists but he stopped himself.
"Maybe you should ask Usagi what she wants." Mamoru told him trying to stay calm.
"Seiya, this is stupid, Mamoru is more of a girl then you are." Yaten's insult made Mamoru's blood boil slightly. He stepped forward but Hotaru stepped in front of him. She looked very determined. She turned to him, her purple eyes looked angry.
"Don't worry Mamoru, Yaten is obviously just trying to make up for the size of something." Hotaru said loudly. Seiya saw Yaten's eyes almost pop out of his eyes. He looked completely stunned for once. "If Seiya is done complaining, let's go."
"Hotaru…" Mamoru was surprised by Hotaru's words as probably the other people standing there. Yaten looked as though he was still in shock, Seiya was looking at Hotaru with a sort of awe, and Taiki was studying them all, with a thoughtful look on his face.
"What? Let's go." Hotaru was sick of this. Why was this Usagi thing causing so much stress for everyone?
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Usagi was carefully twirling her hair between her fingers happily. She was still thinking about Friday, of course she had said good morning and other polite greetings to Mamoru but that had a chance to actually talk about anything. Their faces went beat red whenever their eyes met.
"Usagi?" Seiya's voice interrupted her thoughts. It was near the end of lunch now and she had been sitting in the classroom by herself.
"Hi Seiya." Usagi chirped as the dark haired boy slid into the seat in front of her. "What's up?"
"Do you want to go on a date with me?" Seiya asked suddenly. Usagi's eyes widened suddenly. She looked away from him.
"Seiya, I…" Usagi gulped, how was she supposed to say this. "I don't think…"
"Your in love with him aren't you?" Seiya inquired. She wondered what he was thinking right then. He seemed a little lost. She was taken by surprise by this change of subject though.
"I'm sorry Seiya." Usagi hung her head. Finally it felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. "I think that you are a great person but it's not like how I feel about Mamoru…I'm really sorry."
"Aren't I enough?"
The memory of that was slipping away from him very slowly. He did not want to think about any of it right now. He noticed something, a tear slid all the way down Usagi's cheek.
"I know." Seiya slumped his shoulders slightly. "I know." He got up and walked off. Usagi looked after him with a curious and thoughtful look. Seiya knew the answer to those questions, why had he even bothered to ask them? It made her sad to her someone who sounded defeated. It really did. Something struck her right then. A sudden thought that floated into her head.
"Aren't I enough?"
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It was after school and the three Starlights were currently sitting in the classroom still. They were actually waiting for Kakyuu but at the moment they were doing something that Yaten had brought up. It was really an attempt to cheer up Seiya but of course Yaten did not put it that way at all. It was a habit that they had developed that they never did in front of Kakyuu. She was indeed a woman and perhaps would not understand why it was so amusing sometimes.
"Dear Yaten," Yaten began in his best impression of a really girly voice. "I think you're so hot. I want to go out with you cause your so cute. Please meet me-" Yaten cut himself off by crumpling the piece of paper into a ball and throwing into the trashcan across the room.
"This one is really wordy." Taiki was scanning a piece of paper in front of him. He crumpled it up and got it into the trashcan almost more skillfully then Yaten. He took out another one. He began reading it. "This one is very descriptive….oh boy." Taiki's face was a little red just reading the letter. Yaten and Seiya leaned it.
"What does it say?" Seiya asked with interest. He looked down at the letter. His face went red too.
"Ew." Yaten commented before turning back to more of the papers on his desk. "That was just wrong." The letter flew into the trashcan.
"Dear Seiya, I love you." Seiya sighed. "Darn that one probably took her a whole ten minutes." His sarcastic remark received a chuckle from the other two.
"You know what I hate about these? None of these girls know me. I hate that. How can you love someone when you don't have a clue about them? This isn't love." Yaten told them.
"Yaten, when did you become such an expert on love?" Seiya laughed and Taiki hid his smile by looking down.
"Hello!" Kakyuu's bright voice filled the room and the others looked up immediately. Yaten was still holding a love letter, Taiki was halfway to throwing a crumpled ball at the garbage can, and Seiya had been about to read another one of his. He was in rather in odd pose with his hand over his heart in a mockery of the girl who had written the love letter. "What is going on in here?" Her smile was sweet but her eyes looked slightly suspicious. All three of them hid the notes behind their backs.
"Nothing." Yaten muttered. Seiya knew that Kakyuu was shaking her head cause she could tell they were lying. Luckily she went no further in that direction.
"Really? Well no matter. I just got done talking to Tomoe Hotaru. She's really nice." Kakyuu commented and Seiya notice Yaten tense up suddenly. "Is something wrong Yaten?"
"Oh well Yaten here." Seiya clapped a hand down onto one of Yaten's shoulders. "Seems to still be in quite a state after what Miss Tomoe said to him." Yaten shrugged his hand of his shoulder.
"You think that was the end of it? When I get my revenge on this Hotaru girl." Yaten flipped his hand around to show that he could care less. "That will be the end of it."
"Revenge?" Kakyuu looked slightly alarmed. "What are you talking about Yaten?"
"I've already begun to plan it." Yaten crossed his arms in satisfaction. "That's all I'm saying right now." Taiki sighed loudly and Seiya rolled his eyes. Yaten would probably forget about it tomorrow or at least Seiya hoped he would.
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Omigod! Chapter Six will be out soon. As soon as I type it. I liked this chapter personally, not that there's any particular reason for the liking of this chapter. Heehee I love being the author!
Will Yaten get his revenge? What will his revenge be? Will Hotaru laugh at him when he tries to get his revenge? Will Mamoru end up cleaning the whole world if him and Usagi ever have sex? Will the happy dance be too much for Hotaru? Will other people start remembering more stuff? Will the other scouts be more into the story after this? Will Operation: Where's Waldo? commence as planned? What will are sailors do next? Not to mention Motoki! Stay tuned!
Second Chances Akugi! Number One!
(Seiya hits Kakyuu's hand. Ten minutes later.)
Seiya: Mercy! Mercy!
Kakyuu: (Twisting Seiya's hand around.) You like that BEOTCH?
Second Chances Akugi! Number Two!
Taiki: This one is really descriptive.
Seiya: Woah! Is that even possible?
Yaten: Hey! This is from Seiya! (Taiki and Yaten stare at him.)
Seiya: What? Kakyuu dared me to do it!
Second Chances Akugi! Take Three!
Minako: Don't you like Usagi or something?
(Angry Seiya)
Minako: Yeah, she said your roses sucked on the phone and…
(Seiya starts to cry.)
Yaten: Thanks Minako, you know we still PMS even when were boys!
Taiki: How inconsiderate!
Seiya: Like, oh my god! How mean!
See You Space Cowboy!