Silver Millennium Life Bonds
Rocky Oberlin
Chapter 8
Disclaimer: No Wee Folk can give me the Ronin Warriors or Sailor Moon. Darn, I guess I still have to work at the hospital. (The morning comes too early for me. I hate my alarm clock.)
Rowen had noticed how quiet Windy had become over the two days and then dropped her news like a bomb. He watched as she left the house to disappear between one step and the next, but didn't stay with Ryo, Anubis, or Lady Kayura to wait for her. He saw the weariness in Windy and the stranger that came with her. The next morning he could feel the pain from Serena as she looked at the person who had betrayed her in her old home. What he didn't tell anyone was he was remembering the past and what he saw with his love.
Rowen sighed and walked out to the porch again. They had left Windy to her light sleep, but Anubis had carried Sailor Jupiter, Princess Lita, in to lie on his bed. Rowen's lips twitched at the thought of Anubis liking the girl. From the looks that Sage and Lita were giving each other when no one was looking, Rowen thought it was a hopeless cause for the bearer of Spring. Windy wasn't asleep when he walked onto the porch; she was watching the sun set off to the west.
"Penny for your thoughts?" came the quiet question.
"What?" asked Rowen.
"You have a lot on your mind. I can feel your confusion and some of your thoughts are quite loud," said Windy.
"What do you mean?"
Windy sighed. "You are remembering the past, aren't you?" At Rowen's silence she continued. "You are remembering your times with Serena and some of what was going on at the Moon Court." Windy barked a short laugh. "Your father taught you well in his company. You watched for any danger and filed away anything that might be of use later. You saw how Sailor Jupiter would shadow the Moon Princess with a puzzled look on her face."
Rowen sat down and looked at the Windwalker. "Yeah. I remember how she would stay silent when the others were talking about how stupid Serena was. She would move off a few minutes later when Serena would leave to be alone. Sometimes Sage would join Serena and Princess Lita would get pale then red. She always stayed quiet whenever he was around."
"She spoke once when he was looking at her. She stuttered the answer to his question then ran away in embarrassment. She wouldn't go near the Prince for a long time."
"I remember that," came another voice. Sage walked out the back door and joined the two. "I wondered why she was so pale when she spoke to me."
"What do the two of you feel now?" asked Windy.
The three sat in silence as twilight dropped on the house and the other residents of the house poked their heads out to see what they were doing. Finally Rowen answered the question Windy had asked. "I feel angry, but sad. I'm angry that she couldn't have made up her mind before she realized the good thing she had. She gave it up, expecting it to come back like a dog begging for love. When Princess Lita realized that Serena wasn't coming back, she felt the emptiness that I felt when I didn't have her. May be not the same emptiness, but something close to it; Serena is my life."
Windy smiled and nodded for him to go on.
"I feel sorry for her though. She didn't have anyone before Serena came into her life except her parents."
"Her parents are dead," said Windy. "She has been an orphan for a while; even before meeting Serena."
"Oh." Rowen looked sorrier then before. "I didn't know that."
"Don't be extra nice to her. How would you feel if someone pitied you for not having a nuclear family like the average person?"
"Is it so average?" asked Sage. "How many people have one mother, one father, and 1.5 siblings?"
Windy smiled at the joke. "I had one brother. I think I would have been the half; I was the shortest one in the family."
"I get the picture," said Rowen. "No extra being nice to her, no special treatment, just be myself and see what happens."
"Good. I wouldn't want to explain why you were coming into the hospital with half healed bruises and contusions. Mia and I might be facing an inquiry about what goes on in this house."
Rowen looked at his friend. "What about you, Sage? What do you feel about Princess Lita?"
Sage frowned. "I don't know what I feel about Makato."
"Makato?"
Sage looked at Rowen startled. "What?"
"You said 'Makato'. Who is Makato?"
"That would be Lita," supplied Windy.
"Where did Makato come from then?" asked Rowen.
"It was her first name," said Sage absently. "She didn't like it and used her middle name. She thought it sounded more feminine."
"I thought you didn't hear anything," said Lita quietly.
Sage jumped up startled. "When did you get here?" he asked harshly.
"In time to hear you say my first name. I didn't know you knew or even remembered."
"It doesn't matter. If you will excuse me, I want to get some sleep, we have early training tomorrow."
"But it's only-" started Rowen.
"Eight-thirty," supplied Windy. "Leave him be, Rowen. He has to get through this by himself."
"So, Halo is human," Cale said as he joined the two on the porch. "I saw him leave as I was coming out. He looked awful mad."
"He was reminded of something that he has to figure out himself," said Windy. "What brings you out here, anyway?"
"Well, Anubis was talking to Lady Kayura and Ryo about what he got from Lita. She told us about the three days that she spent knowing that she had betrayed Serena. Hotaru and Haruka listened to her story; Hotaru seemed to accept her remorse, but Haruka didn't say anything."
"It will take a while for Princess Haruka to accept me again," said Lita. "She has every right to be angry with me. But the Princess has even more reason." She smiled grimly. "Michiru and Setsuna haven't even come close to me yet and the other people here have avoided me. May be I should just leave."
"You're welcome to come with us to the Nether Realm if you want," offered Cale. "It's not much, but you're welcome to it."
Lita looked at the blue haired man. "Thanks for inviting me. May be I'll take you up on that offer."
Windy smiled at the exchange. Lita had found someone to relate to; that was good. Now if only she could convince Sage that he should fight to keep her here. Speaking of pairs. "Rowen, shouldn't you go see what Serena is doing? She seems awful quiet in the house."
Rowen gave a yelp of panic and rushed into the quiet house. He found his lifebond asleep on the couch next to Ryo and Mia. The two of them were watching an old black and white movie. He nodded to the oblivious pair and picked up the blond girl to take her to her bed. When he laid her down on the bed she woke a little.
"What were you talking to the Windwalker about out there?" she asked sleepily.
"About our feelings on the matter of Windy bringing Princess Lita here."
"Oh." Serena yawned and drifted off to sleep again. "In a way I'm glad, but I'm also scared. What if she does it again?" The last part came as a whisper as sleep pulled the Moon Princess down to slumber again.
"Then, you will forgive her again," whispered Rowen as he left the room. Michiru and Haruka entered as he left. They both bowed to him then shut the door. Rowen shook his head; he couldn't get over someone bowing to him. It made him feel strange. "I guess that's why Angel hates it when someone calls her princess. I'll have to remember to ask her in the morning if I don't get killed by her Scouts." Rowen quietly entered his room and got into bed to read for a while.
Sage was awake when he started and was still awake when Rowen went to sleep at two in the morning. When he slipped into a restless sleep, Lita was still on his mind.
"Do you know where the Queen, my mother is?" asked Prince Sage.
Princess Lita looked up at the blonde prince and paled before blushing a deep red. "S-s-s-she t-t-t-t-o-ok the P-princess t-t-to s-s-s-see her other Guardians. T-t-t-the Queen s-s-s-said that s-s-she was sp-spending too m-m-much time w-with t-the Outers."
Prince Sage frowned. "Do you know where they went?"
"T-t-t-the C-c-council Room," stuttered out Princess Lita.
Sage was about to ask another question when the princess of Jupiter curtsied and ran off. Sage sighed and started toward the Council chambers. He could feel his sister getting angry with the Inner Scouts and with their mother.
Sage woke up with a gasp and slowly closed his eyes again. That was a short memory, but it had Makato. He wasn't quite sure of how he was feeling about the Jovian Scout, but when he heard the offer made by his counterpart for Makato to stay in the Nether Realm with them, he almost charged back out to tell him no.
Sage shook his head. What right did he have telling Lita what she should and shouldn't do? She wasn't his.
But you wish she was, don't you? asked a small voice.
Sage willed the voice to be quiet, but it had added to the confusion that he was feeling over the new addition to the household.
Morning came too early for the Ronin of Light and Prince of the Sun. He dragged himself out of bed and into the bathroom for a shower. He hoped that it would help him wake up enough to get him through practice that morning.
"Okay, Hotaru, let's see if Serena can remember what we taught her," called Windy as she watched the two face off.
The two combatants bowed and tapped their staffs together before backing away a couple of steps. Each dropped into a defensive stance, but Serena's was more sloppy then Hotaru's.
"Princess, you must clean up the stance. Your left leg is out too far and your hold on the staff is too light," instructed Hotaru.
Serena tried to do as her Scout of Saturn instructed, but she still had the stance wrong.
"Here, like this," said Windy as she moved the offending body parts into the correct position. "Now tighten up the grip. Good. I think she's ready, Hotaru."
The smaller girl nodded and came at her princess in a slow manner. Serena fell into the movements that blocked the other's staff a little more easily, but she was still scored upon.
"This is harder then it looks," panted Serena.
"Anything worth doing will be tough, love," said Rowen as he stopped next to Windy to watch his lifebond. "But from the looks of things, you're doing well."
"I think so as well. What do you think, Hotaru?" asked Windy.
"She is doing well. But Princess, you need to work on it more. You still have some sloppy moves and must learn to fight faster."
The two ended their practice with another bow and a tap with the staffs. Serena walked over to her lifebond and gave him a quick hug. Hotaru went over to Setsuna to see what her adopted mother had to say. Windy started to warm up and stretch her muscles then started on sword moves that she learned from a mercenary friend in another dimension. She started out with just her body then pulled her sword out of what seemed an invisible sheath as she sped up. A few of the resting warriors watched the woman quietly practice then turned back to another partner to spar with when Windy started to cool down.
When she was done with the strange sword movements, Sage walked over. "Want to practice?" he asked.
Windy looked him up and down before nodding her head. "What brings you over here? Last time I saw you, you were still upset with me bringing Lita here. Last night you stormed out when we started asking you about your feelings toward her."
"I had a dream last night about when we first spoke to each other," admitted Sage as he parried a sword thrust from Windy.
"Do tell," said Windy as she retreated before Sage's onslaught of movement.
"It wasn't much, but looked like she was anxious around me. She stuttered a lot and left quickly before I could ask her another question." Sage gave up some of the ground he won from his opponent.
"Ahh. I remember the aftermath of that. Lita wouldn't go anywhere near you or Serena if you were with her. She stayed with the Inners for a while before getting tire of their complaining." Windy pushed forward again in hope of breaking through Sage's defense. "She started following you and the Princess after a week of listening to Raye bellyache." Her attempt had failed and she had to retreat a step.
"I don't remember that much. I do remember her catching the arrow that would have killed me." Sage tried to keep the upper hand from Windy's failed attempt. "She looked at me with sadness in her eyes, then it was horror as I was killed by the sword that Dark Kingdom minion had." Sage found that he couldn't follow up against the woman and each had fought each other to a stand still.
"Shall we call it a draw?" panted the ghost.
Sage nodded his head. "That was a good practice."
"And a good conversation," said Windy mysteriously.
Sage wondered what she meant, but pushed it off as something less than important. He wanted to rest before trying to fight with Ryo next.
Rocky Oberlin
Chapter 8
Disclaimer: No Wee Folk can give me the Ronin Warriors or Sailor Moon. Darn, I guess I still have to work at the hospital. (The morning comes too early for me. I hate my alarm clock.)
Rowen had noticed how quiet Windy had become over the two days and then dropped her news like a bomb. He watched as she left the house to disappear between one step and the next, but didn't stay with Ryo, Anubis, or Lady Kayura to wait for her. He saw the weariness in Windy and the stranger that came with her. The next morning he could feel the pain from Serena as she looked at the person who had betrayed her in her old home. What he didn't tell anyone was he was remembering the past and what he saw with his love.
Rowen sighed and walked out to the porch again. They had left Windy to her light sleep, but Anubis had carried Sailor Jupiter, Princess Lita, in to lie on his bed. Rowen's lips twitched at the thought of Anubis liking the girl. From the looks that Sage and Lita were giving each other when no one was looking, Rowen thought it was a hopeless cause for the bearer of Spring. Windy wasn't asleep when he walked onto the porch; she was watching the sun set off to the west.
"Penny for your thoughts?" came the quiet question.
"What?" asked Rowen.
"You have a lot on your mind. I can feel your confusion and some of your thoughts are quite loud," said Windy.
"What do you mean?"
Windy sighed. "You are remembering the past, aren't you?" At Rowen's silence she continued. "You are remembering your times with Serena and some of what was going on at the Moon Court." Windy barked a short laugh. "Your father taught you well in his company. You watched for any danger and filed away anything that might be of use later. You saw how Sailor Jupiter would shadow the Moon Princess with a puzzled look on her face."
Rowen sat down and looked at the Windwalker. "Yeah. I remember how she would stay silent when the others were talking about how stupid Serena was. She would move off a few minutes later when Serena would leave to be alone. Sometimes Sage would join Serena and Princess Lita would get pale then red. She always stayed quiet whenever he was around."
"She spoke once when he was looking at her. She stuttered the answer to his question then ran away in embarrassment. She wouldn't go near the Prince for a long time."
"I remember that," came another voice. Sage walked out the back door and joined the two. "I wondered why she was so pale when she spoke to me."
"What do the two of you feel now?" asked Windy.
The three sat in silence as twilight dropped on the house and the other residents of the house poked their heads out to see what they were doing. Finally Rowen answered the question Windy had asked. "I feel angry, but sad. I'm angry that she couldn't have made up her mind before she realized the good thing she had. She gave it up, expecting it to come back like a dog begging for love. When Princess Lita realized that Serena wasn't coming back, she felt the emptiness that I felt when I didn't have her. May be not the same emptiness, but something close to it; Serena is my life."
Windy smiled and nodded for him to go on.
"I feel sorry for her though. She didn't have anyone before Serena came into her life except her parents."
"Her parents are dead," said Windy. "She has been an orphan for a while; even before meeting Serena."
"Oh." Rowen looked sorrier then before. "I didn't know that."
"Don't be extra nice to her. How would you feel if someone pitied you for not having a nuclear family like the average person?"
"Is it so average?" asked Sage. "How many people have one mother, one father, and 1.5 siblings?"
Windy smiled at the joke. "I had one brother. I think I would have been the half; I was the shortest one in the family."
"I get the picture," said Rowen. "No extra being nice to her, no special treatment, just be myself and see what happens."
"Good. I wouldn't want to explain why you were coming into the hospital with half healed bruises and contusions. Mia and I might be facing an inquiry about what goes on in this house."
Rowen looked at his friend. "What about you, Sage? What do you feel about Princess Lita?"
Sage frowned. "I don't know what I feel about Makato."
"Makato?"
Sage looked at Rowen startled. "What?"
"You said 'Makato'. Who is Makato?"
"That would be Lita," supplied Windy.
"Where did Makato come from then?" asked Rowen.
"It was her first name," said Sage absently. "She didn't like it and used her middle name. She thought it sounded more feminine."
"I thought you didn't hear anything," said Lita quietly.
Sage jumped up startled. "When did you get here?" he asked harshly.
"In time to hear you say my first name. I didn't know you knew or even remembered."
"It doesn't matter. If you will excuse me, I want to get some sleep, we have early training tomorrow."
"But it's only-" started Rowen.
"Eight-thirty," supplied Windy. "Leave him be, Rowen. He has to get through this by himself."
"So, Halo is human," Cale said as he joined the two on the porch. "I saw him leave as I was coming out. He looked awful mad."
"He was reminded of something that he has to figure out himself," said Windy. "What brings you out here, anyway?"
"Well, Anubis was talking to Lady Kayura and Ryo about what he got from Lita. She told us about the three days that she spent knowing that she had betrayed Serena. Hotaru and Haruka listened to her story; Hotaru seemed to accept her remorse, but Haruka didn't say anything."
"It will take a while for Princess Haruka to accept me again," said Lita. "She has every right to be angry with me. But the Princess has even more reason." She smiled grimly. "Michiru and Setsuna haven't even come close to me yet and the other people here have avoided me. May be I should just leave."
"You're welcome to come with us to the Nether Realm if you want," offered Cale. "It's not much, but you're welcome to it."
Lita looked at the blue haired man. "Thanks for inviting me. May be I'll take you up on that offer."
Windy smiled at the exchange. Lita had found someone to relate to; that was good. Now if only she could convince Sage that he should fight to keep her here. Speaking of pairs. "Rowen, shouldn't you go see what Serena is doing? She seems awful quiet in the house."
Rowen gave a yelp of panic and rushed into the quiet house. He found his lifebond asleep on the couch next to Ryo and Mia. The two of them were watching an old black and white movie. He nodded to the oblivious pair and picked up the blond girl to take her to her bed. When he laid her down on the bed she woke a little.
"What were you talking to the Windwalker about out there?" she asked sleepily.
"About our feelings on the matter of Windy bringing Princess Lita here."
"Oh." Serena yawned and drifted off to sleep again. "In a way I'm glad, but I'm also scared. What if she does it again?" The last part came as a whisper as sleep pulled the Moon Princess down to slumber again.
"Then, you will forgive her again," whispered Rowen as he left the room. Michiru and Haruka entered as he left. They both bowed to him then shut the door. Rowen shook his head; he couldn't get over someone bowing to him. It made him feel strange. "I guess that's why Angel hates it when someone calls her princess. I'll have to remember to ask her in the morning if I don't get killed by her Scouts." Rowen quietly entered his room and got into bed to read for a while.
Sage was awake when he started and was still awake when Rowen went to sleep at two in the morning. When he slipped into a restless sleep, Lita was still on his mind.
"Do you know where the Queen, my mother is?" asked Prince Sage.
Princess Lita looked up at the blonde prince and paled before blushing a deep red. "S-s-s-she t-t-t-t-o-ok the P-princess t-t-to s-s-s-see her other Guardians. T-t-t-the Queen s-s-s-said that s-s-she was sp-spending too m-m-much time w-with t-the Outers."
Prince Sage frowned. "Do you know where they went?"
"T-t-t-the C-c-council Room," stuttered out Princess Lita.
Sage was about to ask another question when the princess of Jupiter curtsied and ran off. Sage sighed and started toward the Council chambers. He could feel his sister getting angry with the Inner Scouts and with their mother.
Sage woke up with a gasp and slowly closed his eyes again. That was a short memory, but it had Makato. He wasn't quite sure of how he was feeling about the Jovian Scout, but when he heard the offer made by his counterpart for Makato to stay in the Nether Realm with them, he almost charged back out to tell him no.
Sage shook his head. What right did he have telling Lita what she should and shouldn't do? She wasn't his.
But you wish she was, don't you? asked a small voice.
Sage willed the voice to be quiet, but it had added to the confusion that he was feeling over the new addition to the household.
Morning came too early for the Ronin of Light and Prince of the Sun. He dragged himself out of bed and into the bathroom for a shower. He hoped that it would help him wake up enough to get him through practice that morning.
"Okay, Hotaru, let's see if Serena can remember what we taught her," called Windy as she watched the two face off.
The two combatants bowed and tapped their staffs together before backing away a couple of steps. Each dropped into a defensive stance, but Serena's was more sloppy then Hotaru's.
"Princess, you must clean up the stance. Your left leg is out too far and your hold on the staff is too light," instructed Hotaru.
Serena tried to do as her Scout of Saturn instructed, but she still had the stance wrong.
"Here, like this," said Windy as she moved the offending body parts into the correct position. "Now tighten up the grip. Good. I think she's ready, Hotaru."
The smaller girl nodded and came at her princess in a slow manner. Serena fell into the movements that blocked the other's staff a little more easily, but she was still scored upon.
"This is harder then it looks," panted Serena.
"Anything worth doing will be tough, love," said Rowen as he stopped next to Windy to watch his lifebond. "But from the looks of things, you're doing well."
"I think so as well. What do you think, Hotaru?" asked Windy.
"She is doing well. But Princess, you need to work on it more. You still have some sloppy moves and must learn to fight faster."
The two ended their practice with another bow and a tap with the staffs. Serena walked over to her lifebond and gave him a quick hug. Hotaru went over to Setsuna to see what her adopted mother had to say. Windy started to warm up and stretch her muscles then started on sword moves that she learned from a mercenary friend in another dimension. She started out with just her body then pulled her sword out of what seemed an invisible sheath as she sped up. A few of the resting warriors watched the woman quietly practice then turned back to another partner to spar with when Windy started to cool down.
When she was done with the strange sword movements, Sage walked over. "Want to practice?" he asked.
Windy looked him up and down before nodding her head. "What brings you over here? Last time I saw you, you were still upset with me bringing Lita here. Last night you stormed out when we started asking you about your feelings toward her."
"I had a dream last night about when we first spoke to each other," admitted Sage as he parried a sword thrust from Windy.
"Do tell," said Windy as she retreated before Sage's onslaught of movement.
"It wasn't much, but looked like she was anxious around me. She stuttered a lot and left quickly before I could ask her another question." Sage gave up some of the ground he won from his opponent.
"Ahh. I remember the aftermath of that. Lita wouldn't go anywhere near you or Serena if you were with her. She stayed with the Inners for a while before getting tire of their complaining." Windy pushed forward again in hope of breaking through Sage's defense. "She started following you and the Princess after a week of listening to Raye bellyache." Her attempt had failed and she had to retreat a step.
"I don't remember that much. I do remember her catching the arrow that would have killed me." Sage tried to keep the upper hand from Windy's failed attempt. "She looked at me with sadness in her eyes, then it was horror as I was killed by the sword that Dark Kingdom minion had." Sage found that he couldn't follow up against the woman and each had fought each other to a stand still.
"Shall we call it a draw?" panted the ghost.
Sage nodded his head. "That was a good practice."
"And a good conversation," said Windy mysteriously.
Sage wondered what she meant, but pushed it off as something less than important. He wanted to rest before trying to fight with Ryo next.
