Bummer, dudes. Sorry if this is super lame. Blame life. Thanks to my
fabulous editors, who are absolutely amazing. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon, but I own all original characters. The character "Aya" has been influenced by the character of the same name in the manga "Ayashi No Ceres." This disclaimer goes for the two previous chapters as well as this one.
"Mama!"
Usagi rolled her eyes at her grinning husband as they sat at the kitchen table, sipping their usual cups of coffee as they listened to the fluttering footsteps upstairs which had become a daily event. "For a quiet girl, she's very loud in the mornings," Usagi commented to Aki as the cries of "Mama!" continued from above.
He smirked, setting down his steaming mug onto the wooden table. "I can only wonder where she got that from," he teased gently, reaching across the table for his wife's hand.
She grinned, squeezed his hand, and cocked her head towards the nearby stairway. "Yes, Aya?" she called.
"Where's my homework?"
A sigh escaped Usagi's lips. "In your schoolbag, dear."
"Oh." There was a moment of silence. "Where's that?"
Usagi chuckled quietly as Aki sighed, releasing her hand, and went back to his coffee. "It's down here in the kitchen."
There was a shuffling sound upstairs, and then steps coming down the stairs. Suddenly, a tall teenage girl appeared in the doorway of the airy kitchen, grinning good-naturedly at her amused parents. "Morning," she greeted cheerfully, stopping to kiss her parents' cheeks before going to get a mug of coffee from the counter.
Aki smiled at Usagi, and then turned to his daughter. "Good morning, Aya. All set for school?"
Aya glanced at the blue bag sitting on the counter a few feet away from her, and blushed slightly. "Yes, Papa. I've got to stop leaving my bag down here. I get all confused when I do," she replied, moving to the table, and took a seat at her mother's side, coffee in hand.
Usagi looked at her daughter. "Do you have all your homework done?" she asked in Japanese, one brown eyebrow raised.
Aya smiled. "Yes, Mama. But, school's over in a week. We don't have a lot of homework anymore." She glanced at the silver watch around her left wrist, and sighed. "Off to school for me." She swallowed down the rest of her coffee, grabbed her bag, and kissed her parents' cheeks once more. "Bye!"
Aki patted her hand. "Goodbye, Aya. Have a good day."
Usagi smiled. "Bye, dear. And," she hesitated, memories coming unbidden to her mind. Aya waited for her mother to continue, wondering at the odd look on her face. Usagi shook her head slightly, and smiled. "Happy birthday, darling."
Aya's face brightened immediately, and her mouth curved into a brilliant smile. "Thank you, Mama," she replied softly, and walked out of the kitchen, headed to the front door.
Usagi sighed, a frown crossing her lips. Aki raised an eyebrow, and reached for her hand again. "Usa? What's wrong?"
"I can't remember getting a 'Happy Birthday' from my parents at sixteen," she commented distantly. "Or, at least not right away. I got one at the ball we always had, but that was official." She cut herself off, gazing with gray eyes off into space. The sun filtered through the window behind her, and suddenly she felt ill. "I haven't thought about them in ages, Aki. Why now?"
He smiled gently, and rubbed his thumb across her knuckles. "Aya's sixteen today. It's just memories, love."
She shrugged, and gave him a small grin. "It's all right. A passing moment." She glanced at the clock on the wall above the stove, and squeezed his hand. "You better go," she said softly, releasing his hand.
Aki patted her hand, and stood. "I'll be back by five to help you with dinner," he said. She nodded. He leaned down, and touched his lips gently to his. "See you later, Usa." He grinned, and followed the same path his daughter just took.
Usagi sat at the table as she heard the front door close, and the car start up. As the sound of its engine faded away, she closed her eyes, and rested her chin in her hand, pushing down the swelling lump from her throat. Her sixteenth birthday had been nothing to smile at, the day she was introduced to her world as the official heir, when her powers as a Senshi were elevated to full strength. None of that made her happy. She could only be thankful her own daughter could feel joy on this special day.
Life since Aya's birth had been as perfect as could be expected for a young family. Aki got a job at the university, Usagi was still succeeding at her elementary teaching position, and they lived in a comfortable house with their child. Edinburgh was the best place to raise Aya, and she had been excelling at all her studies at the local academy.
Usagi's eyes opened, and she smiled happily at the thought of her daughter. Aya had grown up as a free-spirited, cheerful child who rarely gave her parents trouble. Even as the horrors of adolescence struck, she still managed to keep a smile, and for that Usagi felt blessed. She was the kind of child anyone would be proud to call their own, and she was free from the oppression of royal life. It was all Usagi could've asked for, and even beyond.
Usagi sighed, pushing back her hair with a pale hand. Yes, the three of them had a perfect world. But, the world outside Edinburgh was hardly perfect. The year of Aya's birth had sparked the beginning of new attacks on the populace of Crystal Tokyo by youma unlike any seen before. These were stronger, faster, more resistant to attacks. The Senshi were having a hard time of defeating these new creatures in large numbers. No one knew who was controlling them. Death tolls were rising. The people were becoming restless, wanting answers from their rulers. A visible split could be seen in the royal couple as the years went by. It seemed the peak of attacks had been reached by this year, and there was no let-up. From what Usagi had seen in the papers, the Senshi were exhausted, confused. Her parents weren't responding to each other. The people had fears of the weakening power of the King and Queen. Her own disappearance came up from time to time, papers wondering when she would return, and why she had gone to that infamous "undisclosed location."
Usagi smiled slightly. She had to hand it to Mercury; That was a stroke of political genius.
Her smile faded. What could the Senshi do now? The Queen was virtually powerless, having lost the ability to become Sailor Moon at the beginning of her reign. The Senshi, even putting their powers together, couldn't end the constant youma attacks. 'And, I gave up my power as a Senshi when I escaped. I am of no help to them now,' she thought wryly. 'Has my one act of rebellion changed fate? Poor Pluto. I wonder how this had affected her.'
Suddenly, a thread of foreboding snuck into her mind. 'Aya... Aya has the power to become a Senshi,' she thought suddenly. 'My blood runs in her veins, and it is hardly diluted. Aki was born of Earthen nobility. She is the next in line, no matter what I've done. She could stop the attacks. I could tell her, and send her to my mother..'
The breath caught in her throat, and she gasped, touching her forehead lightly. Send her to the royal family, to a life of oppression and suffocation? 'No. I could never do that. I worked so hard to save us both from that fate. I couldn't throw her to the wolves after saving myself. No, it can't be done. Besides, how can I be sure? She's only sixteen, and she would've told me if she felt something odd inside herself.'
She pushed away from the table, and ran upstairs, leaving the coffee mug on the table for later. Usually she would be on her way to school by now, but the elementary school year just ended last Friday, so she was free until August. Entering her bedroom, Usagi went straight over to the bed, and flopped down, a sigh lifting into the air as she closed her eyes, blocking the sun's rays from her sight.
Nothing in the world could make her give her only child to the fate she outran herself. World be damned! Aya would normal, even if Usagi had to die to ensure it.
There was silence, but for the sounds of animals in the nearby woods. Usagi was lulled into quiet complacency as she lay on her bed, comforted by the thought of fooling fate, and saving her daughter. Fate couldn't do a thing, now...
It came to her. Her eyes snapped open, not caring about the blinding sunshine around her. Aya was the key to ending the strife, and fate would get her, no matter what the cost. Maybe she hadn't escaped anything. Maybe fate had planned for all this.
She struggled to control herself. 'I'll burn in hell before Aya is subjected to my former life,' she cried in her mind, and sat up quickly. She shook her head, clearing it, and smirked slightly. She'd do fate one better. Her mother wasn't going to get Aya without a fight, even if Usagi wasn't here to do the fighting.
Swiftly, she crossed the room to her antique desk, and sat down at it, reaching for her favorite pen. Staring pensively at the blank sheet of paper in front of her, she smiled, and set her tip to the surface.
'My dearest Aya...'
Aya plopped herself down in the grass, leaning her back against the sturdy trunk of her favorite tree as she watched Edinburgh wind down from another work day. The sun was just beginning its descent towards the horizon, as was normal for summer, and the shine cast a glittering reflection in her golden hair, creating a halo effect. Her azure eyes squinted against the brightness, and she closed them, lifting her face to the sky. She pulled her knees up to her chest, and sighed.
This was her favorite hill in town, close to her home, high enough to see Edinburgh's intersecting streets, but small compared to the mountains surrounding her, green with the first kiss of summer. She was perfectly alone here, with time to do with what she pleased. It was silent, an atmosphere she wasn't in during the school day, when the bustle of her giggling classmates engulfed her. She loved the silence. She loved the peace. Only here, sitting in the warm, tall grasses could she obtain both. They were the only thing she could obtain in her life right now.
Another sigh escaped her lips, and she lowered her face to lean her cheek on her knees. Her heart clutched painfully, and she flinched. She loved Scotland with all her might, but she couldn't bear to be here anymore, near all these people who seemed completely ignorant to the outside world. She didn't want to stay here, isolated from the world, to find a good job and marry a nice boy. It hurt to stay, and she didn't want to hurt.
Aya frowned, and opened her bright eyes. Why did she feel this way about her life? She had wonderful parents, good grades; why did she feel this need for more than what she had? It was like there was a hole inside her soul, like she was missing a piece of herself. Ridiculous, really. She had all she could need from life at this point. It was selfish to want more than what she already had.
'Not if you don't have everything you need in life...'
She shut her eyes tightly, and tightened her grip on her knees. That was it. She didn't have everything she needed. There was this hole, a gap in her core that she couldn't deny. It gnawed at her, sending her down a spiral of self-analyzing and unanswered questions. She hated not knowing where she came from. She hated not knowing what she lacked.
It was more than her lack of relatives. She understood that perfectly. After all, she saw cases of relationships in Edinburgh where couples were socially unacceptable by the parents, so they ran away. Her mother had told her the story when she was twelve; how her mother was higher on the social ladder than her father, and their relationship was forbidden. They had to run. She wasn't bothered by her lack of family in the least. It was her lack of heritage that bothered her.
She knew she was at least part Japanese, from her mother's few stories, and the way she made Aya learn Japanese at home. There must be more to it than "It's the most-widely spoken language in the world other than English" crap she's been hearing since she was old enough to speak. But, other than that, Aya didn't know a thing about herself or her ancestors. It irked her.
Her eyes fluttered open, and she straightened, staring off into the blue sky surrounding her. She lacked something else, too, and not even she could place it. Whenever she read the papers in the morning, and she saw the headlines screaming of attacks and destruction in Crystal Tokyo, her heart would give a funny lurch. It wasn't just sympathy for the populace that was suffering; it was more like an urge to help, to take up a sword and slay the evildoers. She had no connections to Crystal Tokyo or the royal family, but all she'd wanted to do is help them ever since she discovered the full extent of the atrocities. She'd never told a soul; none of her acquaintances at school would understand, and her parents would probably send her off to a psychologist for help. It was something she kept to herself, and on this day, her sixteenth birthday, she felt the pangs keenly.
Suddenly, she rolled her eyes, and stood, brushing grass from her jeans. 'I'm nuts,' she thought darkly, stretching her arms over her head, and sighing. 'No wonder I don't have any close friends. I might as well be in a nuthouse. Why am I so strange?'
Wrapping her arms around herself, she leaned against the tree once more. Somehow, she couldn't grasp the fact that she was nuts. It didn't ring true. "Maybe there's more to me than what I thought," she said softly. "I wish I knew. I just want more than this. I need more."
She blushed lightly as soon as the words left her mouth, tinting her ivory skin a vivid pink. How selfish of her to say such things! Needing more... 'Why, I feel ashamed just thinking about it,' she thought.
Still... She sighed wistfully. 'Is it a crime to want to feel whole? Am I really as selfish as I make myself?'
Shaking her head, she glanced at her watch. Almost five o'clock. She had to get going, or less she'd be late to help with dinner. Aya frowned, and started walking down her hill, arms still wrapped around herself in comfort in spite of the warm June temperature.
Aya grinned at her parents from her seat at the kitchen table as they walked in, carrying a cake between them. The sixteen flickering candles were the only light in the darkening kitchen other than the purple light from the setting sun outside. Her parents' faces were glowing with pride, and Aya shoved all her thoughts away from her mind for the night. It was her birthday; she should be allowed some happiness.
Usagi smiled as she and Aki set the freshly-baked cake down in front of their smiling daughter. Her mind was clear, and she was quite cheerful; the letter sat folded in her desk, and she felt full with the knowledge that her daughter was safe. "We don't want to sing unless you really want us to, darling," she said merrily, poking Aki in the ribs. "We both know how tone-deaf your father is."
Aya giggled as Aki grunted, shooting a glare at his wife that held blatant love. Usagi smiled innocently, and turned back to Aya. "Go ahead, Aya. Make a wish."
"Because we know how anxious your mother is to dig into that cake," Aki said smoothly, paying Usagi back for her jab. She stuck the tip of her tongue out at him.
Aya smiled. "I'm anxious for it myself. I've been saving myself all day for this chocolate cake," she commented, and closed her eyes. Drawing a deep breath, she searched her mind. 'I wish... I wish I could be whole,' she thought bitterly, and released her breath. The candles sputtered out, and for the first time since she was ten, Aya didn't need another breath to get them all.
Usagi clapped, and brought out her knife. "I hope you get your wish, Aya," she said sincerely, slicing into the cake as Aki gathered the plates together.
Aya smiled sadly. "So do I, Mama. So do I."
Yay! There it is. What do you think of Aya? Read and review! ~CR
Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon, but I own all original characters. The character "Aya" has been influenced by the character of the same name in the manga "Ayashi No Ceres." This disclaimer goes for the two previous chapters as well as this one.
"Mama!"
Usagi rolled her eyes at her grinning husband as they sat at the kitchen table, sipping their usual cups of coffee as they listened to the fluttering footsteps upstairs which had become a daily event. "For a quiet girl, she's very loud in the mornings," Usagi commented to Aki as the cries of "Mama!" continued from above.
He smirked, setting down his steaming mug onto the wooden table. "I can only wonder where she got that from," he teased gently, reaching across the table for his wife's hand.
She grinned, squeezed his hand, and cocked her head towards the nearby stairway. "Yes, Aya?" she called.
"Where's my homework?"
A sigh escaped Usagi's lips. "In your schoolbag, dear."
"Oh." There was a moment of silence. "Where's that?"
Usagi chuckled quietly as Aki sighed, releasing her hand, and went back to his coffee. "It's down here in the kitchen."
There was a shuffling sound upstairs, and then steps coming down the stairs. Suddenly, a tall teenage girl appeared in the doorway of the airy kitchen, grinning good-naturedly at her amused parents. "Morning," she greeted cheerfully, stopping to kiss her parents' cheeks before going to get a mug of coffee from the counter.
Aki smiled at Usagi, and then turned to his daughter. "Good morning, Aya. All set for school?"
Aya glanced at the blue bag sitting on the counter a few feet away from her, and blushed slightly. "Yes, Papa. I've got to stop leaving my bag down here. I get all confused when I do," she replied, moving to the table, and took a seat at her mother's side, coffee in hand.
Usagi looked at her daughter. "Do you have all your homework done?" she asked in Japanese, one brown eyebrow raised.
Aya smiled. "Yes, Mama. But, school's over in a week. We don't have a lot of homework anymore." She glanced at the silver watch around her left wrist, and sighed. "Off to school for me." She swallowed down the rest of her coffee, grabbed her bag, and kissed her parents' cheeks once more. "Bye!"
Aki patted her hand. "Goodbye, Aya. Have a good day."
Usagi smiled. "Bye, dear. And," she hesitated, memories coming unbidden to her mind. Aya waited for her mother to continue, wondering at the odd look on her face. Usagi shook her head slightly, and smiled. "Happy birthday, darling."
Aya's face brightened immediately, and her mouth curved into a brilliant smile. "Thank you, Mama," she replied softly, and walked out of the kitchen, headed to the front door.
Usagi sighed, a frown crossing her lips. Aki raised an eyebrow, and reached for her hand again. "Usa? What's wrong?"
"I can't remember getting a 'Happy Birthday' from my parents at sixteen," she commented distantly. "Or, at least not right away. I got one at the ball we always had, but that was official." She cut herself off, gazing with gray eyes off into space. The sun filtered through the window behind her, and suddenly she felt ill. "I haven't thought about them in ages, Aki. Why now?"
He smiled gently, and rubbed his thumb across her knuckles. "Aya's sixteen today. It's just memories, love."
She shrugged, and gave him a small grin. "It's all right. A passing moment." She glanced at the clock on the wall above the stove, and squeezed his hand. "You better go," she said softly, releasing his hand.
Aki patted her hand, and stood. "I'll be back by five to help you with dinner," he said. She nodded. He leaned down, and touched his lips gently to his. "See you later, Usa." He grinned, and followed the same path his daughter just took.
Usagi sat at the table as she heard the front door close, and the car start up. As the sound of its engine faded away, she closed her eyes, and rested her chin in her hand, pushing down the swelling lump from her throat. Her sixteenth birthday had been nothing to smile at, the day she was introduced to her world as the official heir, when her powers as a Senshi were elevated to full strength. None of that made her happy. She could only be thankful her own daughter could feel joy on this special day.
Life since Aya's birth had been as perfect as could be expected for a young family. Aki got a job at the university, Usagi was still succeeding at her elementary teaching position, and they lived in a comfortable house with their child. Edinburgh was the best place to raise Aya, and she had been excelling at all her studies at the local academy.
Usagi's eyes opened, and she smiled happily at the thought of her daughter. Aya had grown up as a free-spirited, cheerful child who rarely gave her parents trouble. Even as the horrors of adolescence struck, she still managed to keep a smile, and for that Usagi felt blessed. She was the kind of child anyone would be proud to call their own, and she was free from the oppression of royal life. It was all Usagi could've asked for, and even beyond.
Usagi sighed, pushing back her hair with a pale hand. Yes, the three of them had a perfect world. But, the world outside Edinburgh was hardly perfect. The year of Aya's birth had sparked the beginning of new attacks on the populace of Crystal Tokyo by youma unlike any seen before. These were stronger, faster, more resistant to attacks. The Senshi were having a hard time of defeating these new creatures in large numbers. No one knew who was controlling them. Death tolls were rising. The people were becoming restless, wanting answers from their rulers. A visible split could be seen in the royal couple as the years went by. It seemed the peak of attacks had been reached by this year, and there was no let-up. From what Usagi had seen in the papers, the Senshi were exhausted, confused. Her parents weren't responding to each other. The people had fears of the weakening power of the King and Queen. Her own disappearance came up from time to time, papers wondering when she would return, and why she had gone to that infamous "undisclosed location."
Usagi smiled slightly. She had to hand it to Mercury; That was a stroke of political genius.
Her smile faded. What could the Senshi do now? The Queen was virtually powerless, having lost the ability to become Sailor Moon at the beginning of her reign. The Senshi, even putting their powers together, couldn't end the constant youma attacks. 'And, I gave up my power as a Senshi when I escaped. I am of no help to them now,' she thought wryly. 'Has my one act of rebellion changed fate? Poor Pluto. I wonder how this had affected her.'
Suddenly, a thread of foreboding snuck into her mind. 'Aya... Aya has the power to become a Senshi,' she thought suddenly. 'My blood runs in her veins, and it is hardly diluted. Aki was born of Earthen nobility. She is the next in line, no matter what I've done. She could stop the attacks. I could tell her, and send her to my mother..'
The breath caught in her throat, and she gasped, touching her forehead lightly. Send her to the royal family, to a life of oppression and suffocation? 'No. I could never do that. I worked so hard to save us both from that fate. I couldn't throw her to the wolves after saving myself. No, it can't be done. Besides, how can I be sure? She's only sixteen, and she would've told me if she felt something odd inside herself.'
She pushed away from the table, and ran upstairs, leaving the coffee mug on the table for later. Usually she would be on her way to school by now, but the elementary school year just ended last Friday, so she was free until August. Entering her bedroom, Usagi went straight over to the bed, and flopped down, a sigh lifting into the air as she closed her eyes, blocking the sun's rays from her sight.
Nothing in the world could make her give her only child to the fate she outran herself. World be damned! Aya would normal, even if Usagi had to die to ensure it.
There was silence, but for the sounds of animals in the nearby woods. Usagi was lulled into quiet complacency as she lay on her bed, comforted by the thought of fooling fate, and saving her daughter. Fate couldn't do a thing, now...
It came to her. Her eyes snapped open, not caring about the blinding sunshine around her. Aya was the key to ending the strife, and fate would get her, no matter what the cost. Maybe she hadn't escaped anything. Maybe fate had planned for all this.
She struggled to control herself. 'I'll burn in hell before Aya is subjected to my former life,' she cried in her mind, and sat up quickly. She shook her head, clearing it, and smirked slightly. She'd do fate one better. Her mother wasn't going to get Aya without a fight, even if Usagi wasn't here to do the fighting.
Swiftly, she crossed the room to her antique desk, and sat down at it, reaching for her favorite pen. Staring pensively at the blank sheet of paper in front of her, she smiled, and set her tip to the surface.
'My dearest Aya...'
Aya plopped herself down in the grass, leaning her back against the sturdy trunk of her favorite tree as she watched Edinburgh wind down from another work day. The sun was just beginning its descent towards the horizon, as was normal for summer, and the shine cast a glittering reflection in her golden hair, creating a halo effect. Her azure eyes squinted against the brightness, and she closed them, lifting her face to the sky. She pulled her knees up to her chest, and sighed.
This was her favorite hill in town, close to her home, high enough to see Edinburgh's intersecting streets, but small compared to the mountains surrounding her, green with the first kiss of summer. She was perfectly alone here, with time to do with what she pleased. It was silent, an atmosphere she wasn't in during the school day, when the bustle of her giggling classmates engulfed her. She loved the silence. She loved the peace. Only here, sitting in the warm, tall grasses could she obtain both. They were the only thing she could obtain in her life right now.
Another sigh escaped her lips, and she lowered her face to lean her cheek on her knees. Her heart clutched painfully, and she flinched. She loved Scotland with all her might, but she couldn't bear to be here anymore, near all these people who seemed completely ignorant to the outside world. She didn't want to stay here, isolated from the world, to find a good job and marry a nice boy. It hurt to stay, and she didn't want to hurt.
Aya frowned, and opened her bright eyes. Why did she feel this way about her life? She had wonderful parents, good grades; why did she feel this need for more than what she had? It was like there was a hole inside her soul, like she was missing a piece of herself. Ridiculous, really. She had all she could need from life at this point. It was selfish to want more than what she already had.
'Not if you don't have everything you need in life...'
She shut her eyes tightly, and tightened her grip on her knees. That was it. She didn't have everything she needed. There was this hole, a gap in her core that she couldn't deny. It gnawed at her, sending her down a spiral of self-analyzing and unanswered questions. She hated not knowing where she came from. She hated not knowing what she lacked.
It was more than her lack of relatives. She understood that perfectly. After all, she saw cases of relationships in Edinburgh where couples were socially unacceptable by the parents, so they ran away. Her mother had told her the story when she was twelve; how her mother was higher on the social ladder than her father, and their relationship was forbidden. They had to run. She wasn't bothered by her lack of family in the least. It was her lack of heritage that bothered her.
She knew she was at least part Japanese, from her mother's few stories, and the way she made Aya learn Japanese at home. There must be more to it than "It's the most-widely spoken language in the world other than English" crap she's been hearing since she was old enough to speak. But, other than that, Aya didn't know a thing about herself or her ancestors. It irked her.
Her eyes fluttered open, and she straightened, staring off into the blue sky surrounding her. She lacked something else, too, and not even she could place it. Whenever she read the papers in the morning, and she saw the headlines screaming of attacks and destruction in Crystal Tokyo, her heart would give a funny lurch. It wasn't just sympathy for the populace that was suffering; it was more like an urge to help, to take up a sword and slay the evildoers. She had no connections to Crystal Tokyo or the royal family, but all she'd wanted to do is help them ever since she discovered the full extent of the atrocities. She'd never told a soul; none of her acquaintances at school would understand, and her parents would probably send her off to a psychologist for help. It was something she kept to herself, and on this day, her sixteenth birthday, she felt the pangs keenly.
Suddenly, she rolled her eyes, and stood, brushing grass from her jeans. 'I'm nuts,' she thought darkly, stretching her arms over her head, and sighing. 'No wonder I don't have any close friends. I might as well be in a nuthouse. Why am I so strange?'
Wrapping her arms around herself, she leaned against the tree once more. Somehow, she couldn't grasp the fact that she was nuts. It didn't ring true. "Maybe there's more to me than what I thought," she said softly. "I wish I knew. I just want more than this. I need more."
She blushed lightly as soon as the words left her mouth, tinting her ivory skin a vivid pink. How selfish of her to say such things! Needing more... 'Why, I feel ashamed just thinking about it,' she thought.
Still... She sighed wistfully. 'Is it a crime to want to feel whole? Am I really as selfish as I make myself?'
Shaking her head, she glanced at her watch. Almost five o'clock. She had to get going, or less she'd be late to help with dinner. Aya frowned, and started walking down her hill, arms still wrapped around herself in comfort in spite of the warm June temperature.
Aya grinned at her parents from her seat at the kitchen table as they walked in, carrying a cake between them. The sixteen flickering candles were the only light in the darkening kitchen other than the purple light from the setting sun outside. Her parents' faces were glowing with pride, and Aya shoved all her thoughts away from her mind for the night. It was her birthday; she should be allowed some happiness.
Usagi smiled as she and Aki set the freshly-baked cake down in front of their smiling daughter. Her mind was clear, and she was quite cheerful; the letter sat folded in her desk, and she felt full with the knowledge that her daughter was safe. "We don't want to sing unless you really want us to, darling," she said merrily, poking Aki in the ribs. "We both know how tone-deaf your father is."
Aya giggled as Aki grunted, shooting a glare at his wife that held blatant love. Usagi smiled innocently, and turned back to Aya. "Go ahead, Aya. Make a wish."
"Because we know how anxious your mother is to dig into that cake," Aki said smoothly, paying Usagi back for her jab. She stuck the tip of her tongue out at him.
Aya smiled. "I'm anxious for it myself. I've been saving myself all day for this chocolate cake," she commented, and closed her eyes. Drawing a deep breath, she searched her mind. 'I wish... I wish I could be whole,' she thought bitterly, and released her breath. The candles sputtered out, and for the first time since she was ten, Aya didn't need another breath to get them all.
Usagi clapped, and brought out her knife. "I hope you get your wish, Aya," she said sincerely, slicing into the cake as Aki gathered the plates together.
Aya smiled sadly. "So do I, Mama. So do I."
Yay! There it is. What do you think of Aya? Read and review! ~CR