The Secrets that Last
By Luna Tiarra
Ch. 15
-Konwa minna-chan, let me just clear this up for you. Usagi's three trainees that she fell in love with, that Cye recognized, were Chichiri, Hotohori, and Tamahome. Don't worry about the timing of the revelation, you'll find out why soon enough. But anyway, hehehe, here is the long awaited chapter, Nuriko! ^_^
Nuriko blinked. He blinked again. He rubbed his eyes. He squinted.
"Usagi-chan?" he asked after a moment, disbelief clear in his tone.
She smiled at him, standing there with her arms behind her back.
"Hai Nuriko-kun."
He poked her, rubbed his eyes again, and squinted harder.
"What are you doing Nuriko-kun?" Usagi asked dryly.
"Hold on," Nuriko whispered, touching her lips. "I'm trying to make you disappear."
Usagi blinked at him.
"You baka!" she swatted his hand away and crossed her arms. "I am Ren!"
She provided her usual explanation, and watched as Nuriko's eyes flooded with tears and he began to bawl pathetically. He whined about his hopeless existence and lack of companionship and screamed about the horrors of loneliness that he would face from now on. His last chance for happiness, shattered, he cried, shattered because his man was a woman!
Usagi was not amused. She groaned and tapped Nuriko's shoulder. He looked up at her with puppy dog eyes, tears gushing down his face.
"Nuriko-kun, I only did this to show you my true form. I will be Ren if you wish it so. I will then train you as Ren if that is what you prefer."
Nuriko stopped sobbing and grinned. "OK."
Usagi fell over at the sudden change. She transformed into Ren.
Nuriko smiled happily, clapping his hands like a child. "Yah! Yah! So what do I do Ren-kun?" he asked brightly.
Ren dropped his head. Hopeless. It was hopeless.
"First you'll have to win." He said slowly.
Nuriko looked at him suspiciously, the smirk on Ren's face giving him the heeby jeebies.
"Against them!"
Youma appeared to surround the violet-haired seishi. He screamed loudly when he found his feminine clothing replaced by the same uniform as the others. He whimpered.
"Do I have to?" he whined.
Ren rolled his eyes, floating above him.
"This is your challenge for the time being. Defeat them and I shall train you." He ordered.
Nuriko growled as he disappeared. "This is what the others had to go through." He counseled himself, remembering something about fighting youma in a black void. "So it can't be that hard, right?"
He didn't have much time to think it over before he was attacked from all sides.
As usual, Usagi watched him develop his abilities with the youma. He was doing very well and it didn't take long before Ren returned to begin the real training process.
Ren was a patient teacher; Nuriko had to give him that. But he had a low tolerance for failure. He learned quickly and for the things he didn't understand that Ren deemed unnecessary, he would skip it and move on. Ren was a tough coach, asking for nothing more or less than perfection. If you hesitated you died. If you whined you got punched across the Zone until you shut up. If Ren gave him an order the answer was "Hai Sensei." He was hard and solid, an expert shogun. Nuriko wondered idly when he sat beside the blonde man and they took breaks to chat, if Nakago was this tough on his men. He figured not.
Nuriko took in one small detail of the training that he was often surprised by. Ren would be screaming at him one moment, telling him to push himself harder, punch faster, whatever. Then two minutes later they'd be sitting next to each other taking a break, talking like brothers. After a while, Ren would become restless and the training would ensue. Half way through the year, Nuriko finally made up his mind.
_)_)_)_)_)_)_)_)_)_
"Ren," Nuriko huffed, looking at the man holding the punching bag.
Ren looked at him. "Why are you stopping?" he asked, not yelled. It didn't take long for Nuriko to adapt to his softer approach to ordering him around. He started out calm and kind, but it sure as hell could become louder if he disobeyed.
"I was wondering if you could finish the training as Usagi." He said softly, blushing slightly.
Ren let the bag go, and crossed his arms. The two men wore matching outfits, composed of black tank tops and loose fighter pants of the same color. They wore silver sashes, black wristbands and black calf boots. Ren wore his hair in a pony tail.
"Nande?"
"Ne," Nuriko blushed. "I guess I was just figuring that it would be interesting to see Ren for the first half of the year and Usagi for the second ya know?" he kicked himself mentally for the lame excuse.
Ren shrugged, melting into Usagi before Nuriko's wide eyes. Usagi wore the same outfit as Ren had except her pants were silver and the belt was black. Her hair was in a tight French braid.
"Shall we continue?" she looked up at him, her height depleted with the transformation.
Nuriko nodded wordlessly.
"Very well," she took up the punching bag.
Immediately Nuriko noticed the change. The training became easier to him.
Usagi never raised her voice. Usagi never punished him for failing. Usagi kept a conversation going even during training. Usagi used youma more than anything. Usagi did everything to Nuriko's liking and she did it with a feminine grace that he had never understood. He had tried to duplicate the effect a woman had on men by acting like one, dressing like one, and trying to be feminine. But he knew, looking into Usagi's laughing eyes, that he could never accomplish being a woman. He knew, because he felt he was a man now more that ever. He knew, because Usagi changed his mind about everything.
In the six months as Usagi, the blonde child of the moon had given Nuriko the most love and respect he'd ever had. He loved the way she comforted him when he failed, the positive encouragement that Ren had lacked. He wondered often how the two could be the same when there were such obvious differences. He gave up every time he considered it. There was no explanation for the way people were.
Usagi laughed as Nuriko's face flushed in annoyance. The youma was a lower class, but it was proving its worth. It looked like a green blob about the size of a pumpkin and it refused to stay still. Nuriko ran around chasing the ball of green jelly for hours. He growled as it evaded him every instant. It would fire at him with blobs of green goop that he had learned earlier were made up of acid. The ate away at the scenery, but it was quickly regenerated by the Zone. Usagi wasn't about to help, she found the scene rather amusing. Nuriko glared as he stopped. The youma stopped as well, then spun around, firing goopy missals at the frustrated young man. He dodged and held his hands together, training them on the glob and shouting.
"Tracking Beam!"
Usagi sighed. She had told him only to use this method of destruction for circumstances like this. The youma was too fast for the warrior, she smirked as the energy ball locked onto the blob and speed toward it faster that the eye could see. The youma was quickly disposed of.
Nuriko groaned. "That wasn't cool…"
Usagi laughed harder than she had allowed herself to in a long while. "You…hehehehe…took your time, ne?" she burst into a fit of giggles. Nuriko narrowed his eyes disgruntled.
"You didn't help any!" he pouted, then attacked her.
The tickled fight left the two exhausted and ready to rest. Usagi smiled at her latest trainee.
"Ne, we shall rest, and then return to the others." She said after a moment.
He nodded. "Alright."
They were laying side by side on the grass.
"Say Usagi-chan?" Nuriko asked after a moment.
"Hai?"
"Did we ever meet before this?"
"Nani?"
"Did we ever meet before, like when we were younger." He asked softly, gazing at the sky.
Usagi watched him intently. "Why do you ask?" she questioned after a pause.
Nuriko shrugged. "No reason. Just that when you first came here, I thought I knew you from somewhere. Like, it felt like I was looking at a ghost or something. Just wondering if we'd met before." He explained.
Usagi sighed, shrugged to herself. "Might as well tell him now," she thought.
"Well, I'm not necessarily supposed to tell you this, but yes, we have met before." She said, eyes riveted on his face.
He looked at her. "When?"
"A long, long time ago." She answered, smiling slightly at the recollection.
Nuriko seemed satisfied with the answer, but Usagi spoke after a moment.
"Nuriko-kun," she began. "Let me tell you a story,"
"Alright."
"Once, a very long time ago, long before this lifetime, there was a thriving society on the moon. The planets in this solar system had their own individual races living on their surfaces and they were all at peace. This time, established by the queen of the moon, was known as the Silver Millennium. All the planets were members of the Silver Alliance, except Earth, the planet whose people were more savage and violent than the others." She paused, watching Nuriko for a response.
She continued. "The solar system was ruled by the moon queen, Serenity, who lived in the Moon Kingdom. It was strict policy in those times that a maiden of the moon, or those female members of Serenity's court, were to marry men only from the moon. Men were allowed to court and marry the women of other planets. Demo, in return they had to leave the moon kingdom and live on the planet of their lover. They were not allowed to return."
Still nothing.
"Now," Usagi took a deep breath. "This Queen Serenity had a daughter who she loved very much, but her daughter was a free spirit who loved to run freely throughout the palace and search for new playmates. She traveled between all of the planets in search of play. It was on one such trip, on the dark planet of Saturn, that she met and fell in love with a boy who lived there. The boy was the prince of Saturn, the older brother of her close friend Hotoru. Queen Serenity was aware of the secret meetings that followed but she denied the relationship could develop into more than friendship. So upon the eve of her daughter's eighteenth birthday, Queen Serenity announced to the public that her daughter was to marry the prince of Earth. This was the agreement that would officially bring Earth into the Alliance. It was a very important engagement and the princess knew it. But as she danced with the Earth prince who was captivated by her, she saw her lover watching them with tears in his eyes. He ran from her. She followed him, but despite her attempts, she could never find them. That was the last she saw him."
Nuriko's eyes were wide. Recognition shown in their depths.
He choked.
"Wha-what were their names?"
"Whose?"
"The princess of the moon and the prince of Saturn?"
Usagi smiled at him.
"You already know, Prince Nuriko. I was Princess Usagi Serenity, of the Moon Kingdom." Usagi avoided his stunned eyes.
She didn't want to bring up her past lifetimes with any of the lovers she had had. But she had to tell Nuriko because he had recognized her. Otherwise he would have remembered on his own and wondered why she hadn't told him. It was unavoidable now.
"I don't know what to say." Nuriko stated simply. He blew softly against his bangs and watched them rise and fall.
Usagi smiled slightly at him. It was visible in his eyes every time she looked at him. He felt the same as he had in their past. He still loved her. It hurt her to think of it now. What she could have done to prevent him from leaving. She could have refused the whole engagement…but she closed her eyes and bit her lip.
Usagi hushed the thoughts and touched Nuriko's shoulder. He looked at her.
"Nuriko-kun, it is best not to think of those things now. We must look at the present, not the past."
Nuriko was silent for a long moment. The tension Usagi felt was unbearable.
"After," Nuriko spoke. "After we defeat Chaos, what then?" he hardly dared to hope, and she knew what he was suggesting.
"I don't know yet. But if the time comes where I must choose between the lovers of my past and present, it will be a most difficult choice to make my Prince."
Nuriko nodded, his hope diminishing to a tiny flicker that he dared not allow to be seen.
Usagi smiled after an uncomfortable silence.
"Time to go!" She announced brightly, jumping up.
Nuriko smiled. "Hai. Let's go."
Usagi smiled and took his hand. She kissed his palm and dropped his wrist. She transformed into Ren and the men walked back to their waiting companions.
&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&
Touji and Tasuki stood before the entrance and Ren watched their eyes fill with anticipation. They could barely wait to get in there and he knew it. But they would have to.
"Minna-chan," Ren announced, gathering their attention. "By now you have all been trained by me and you know who I am. For those who have wondered, Tasuki and Touji know as well. As we traveled here you all know that I shared a tent with my bandit brothers and now that you know about my nightly transformations, you may be wondering how I managed that. It's not truly a matter of importance though."
Tasuki and Touji exchanged looks. They had known the others had found out, but that Ren would publicly announce before them all who he was, that was something they hadn't expected.
"When Tasuki and Touji and I return, we will set out toward Chaos. He is on his way now. At this very moment he is rocketing toward us with his hideous youma, waiting to reach us so he can try and win."
Everyone looked surprised at this.
"You're saying that we'll be facing Chaos once you return?" Chichiri asked carefully.
"Hai."
"Then we will not rest until you return." Hotohori stated firmly. The others nodded their agreement.
Ren smiled proudly at them all. They all seemed pleased with the look and several blushes were witnessed.
"Right then," Casting the spell, Tasuki, Touji, and Ren disappeared into the Zone.
To be continued…
-Hey peeps! Now I know this might be difficult for some of you, but please R&R!! I need the reviews to know that this is still a good fic! Last chapter didn't get as many as I'd hoped so review onegai!!! ^_^ Thankies!
By Luna Tiarra
Ch. 15
-Konwa minna-chan, let me just clear this up for you. Usagi's three trainees that she fell in love with, that Cye recognized, were Chichiri, Hotohori, and Tamahome. Don't worry about the timing of the revelation, you'll find out why soon enough. But anyway, hehehe, here is the long awaited chapter, Nuriko! ^_^
Nuriko blinked. He blinked again. He rubbed his eyes. He squinted.
"Usagi-chan?" he asked after a moment, disbelief clear in his tone.
She smiled at him, standing there with her arms behind her back.
"Hai Nuriko-kun."
He poked her, rubbed his eyes again, and squinted harder.
"What are you doing Nuriko-kun?" Usagi asked dryly.
"Hold on," Nuriko whispered, touching her lips. "I'm trying to make you disappear."
Usagi blinked at him.
"You baka!" she swatted his hand away and crossed her arms. "I am Ren!"
She provided her usual explanation, and watched as Nuriko's eyes flooded with tears and he began to bawl pathetically. He whined about his hopeless existence and lack of companionship and screamed about the horrors of loneliness that he would face from now on. His last chance for happiness, shattered, he cried, shattered because his man was a woman!
Usagi was not amused. She groaned and tapped Nuriko's shoulder. He looked up at her with puppy dog eyes, tears gushing down his face.
"Nuriko-kun, I only did this to show you my true form. I will be Ren if you wish it so. I will then train you as Ren if that is what you prefer."
Nuriko stopped sobbing and grinned. "OK."
Usagi fell over at the sudden change. She transformed into Ren.
Nuriko smiled happily, clapping his hands like a child. "Yah! Yah! So what do I do Ren-kun?" he asked brightly.
Ren dropped his head. Hopeless. It was hopeless.
"First you'll have to win." He said slowly.
Nuriko looked at him suspiciously, the smirk on Ren's face giving him the heeby jeebies.
"Against them!"
Youma appeared to surround the violet-haired seishi. He screamed loudly when he found his feminine clothing replaced by the same uniform as the others. He whimpered.
"Do I have to?" he whined.
Ren rolled his eyes, floating above him.
"This is your challenge for the time being. Defeat them and I shall train you." He ordered.
Nuriko growled as he disappeared. "This is what the others had to go through." He counseled himself, remembering something about fighting youma in a black void. "So it can't be that hard, right?"
He didn't have much time to think it over before he was attacked from all sides.
As usual, Usagi watched him develop his abilities with the youma. He was doing very well and it didn't take long before Ren returned to begin the real training process.
Ren was a patient teacher; Nuriko had to give him that. But he had a low tolerance for failure. He learned quickly and for the things he didn't understand that Ren deemed unnecessary, he would skip it and move on. Ren was a tough coach, asking for nothing more or less than perfection. If you hesitated you died. If you whined you got punched across the Zone until you shut up. If Ren gave him an order the answer was "Hai Sensei." He was hard and solid, an expert shogun. Nuriko wondered idly when he sat beside the blonde man and they took breaks to chat, if Nakago was this tough on his men. He figured not.
Nuriko took in one small detail of the training that he was often surprised by. Ren would be screaming at him one moment, telling him to push himself harder, punch faster, whatever. Then two minutes later they'd be sitting next to each other taking a break, talking like brothers. After a while, Ren would become restless and the training would ensue. Half way through the year, Nuriko finally made up his mind.
_)_)_)_)_)_)_)_)_)_
"Ren," Nuriko huffed, looking at the man holding the punching bag.
Ren looked at him. "Why are you stopping?" he asked, not yelled. It didn't take long for Nuriko to adapt to his softer approach to ordering him around. He started out calm and kind, but it sure as hell could become louder if he disobeyed.
"I was wondering if you could finish the training as Usagi." He said softly, blushing slightly.
Ren let the bag go, and crossed his arms. The two men wore matching outfits, composed of black tank tops and loose fighter pants of the same color. They wore silver sashes, black wristbands and black calf boots. Ren wore his hair in a pony tail.
"Nande?"
"Ne," Nuriko blushed. "I guess I was just figuring that it would be interesting to see Ren for the first half of the year and Usagi for the second ya know?" he kicked himself mentally for the lame excuse.
Ren shrugged, melting into Usagi before Nuriko's wide eyes. Usagi wore the same outfit as Ren had except her pants were silver and the belt was black. Her hair was in a tight French braid.
"Shall we continue?" she looked up at him, her height depleted with the transformation.
Nuriko nodded wordlessly.
"Very well," she took up the punching bag.
Immediately Nuriko noticed the change. The training became easier to him.
Usagi never raised her voice. Usagi never punished him for failing. Usagi kept a conversation going even during training. Usagi used youma more than anything. Usagi did everything to Nuriko's liking and she did it with a feminine grace that he had never understood. He had tried to duplicate the effect a woman had on men by acting like one, dressing like one, and trying to be feminine. But he knew, looking into Usagi's laughing eyes, that he could never accomplish being a woman. He knew, because he felt he was a man now more that ever. He knew, because Usagi changed his mind about everything.
In the six months as Usagi, the blonde child of the moon had given Nuriko the most love and respect he'd ever had. He loved the way she comforted him when he failed, the positive encouragement that Ren had lacked. He wondered often how the two could be the same when there were such obvious differences. He gave up every time he considered it. There was no explanation for the way people were.
Usagi laughed as Nuriko's face flushed in annoyance. The youma was a lower class, but it was proving its worth. It looked like a green blob about the size of a pumpkin and it refused to stay still. Nuriko ran around chasing the ball of green jelly for hours. He growled as it evaded him every instant. It would fire at him with blobs of green goop that he had learned earlier were made up of acid. The ate away at the scenery, but it was quickly regenerated by the Zone. Usagi wasn't about to help, she found the scene rather amusing. Nuriko glared as he stopped. The youma stopped as well, then spun around, firing goopy missals at the frustrated young man. He dodged and held his hands together, training them on the glob and shouting.
"Tracking Beam!"
Usagi sighed. She had told him only to use this method of destruction for circumstances like this. The youma was too fast for the warrior, she smirked as the energy ball locked onto the blob and speed toward it faster that the eye could see. The youma was quickly disposed of.
Nuriko groaned. "That wasn't cool…"
Usagi laughed harder than she had allowed herself to in a long while. "You…hehehehe…took your time, ne?" she burst into a fit of giggles. Nuriko narrowed his eyes disgruntled.
"You didn't help any!" he pouted, then attacked her.
The tickled fight left the two exhausted and ready to rest. Usagi smiled at her latest trainee.
"Ne, we shall rest, and then return to the others." She said after a moment.
He nodded. "Alright."
They were laying side by side on the grass.
"Say Usagi-chan?" Nuriko asked after a moment.
"Hai?"
"Did we ever meet before this?"
"Nani?"
"Did we ever meet before, like when we were younger." He asked softly, gazing at the sky.
Usagi watched him intently. "Why do you ask?" she questioned after a pause.
Nuriko shrugged. "No reason. Just that when you first came here, I thought I knew you from somewhere. Like, it felt like I was looking at a ghost or something. Just wondering if we'd met before." He explained.
Usagi sighed, shrugged to herself. "Might as well tell him now," she thought.
"Well, I'm not necessarily supposed to tell you this, but yes, we have met before." She said, eyes riveted on his face.
He looked at her. "When?"
"A long, long time ago." She answered, smiling slightly at the recollection.
Nuriko seemed satisfied with the answer, but Usagi spoke after a moment.
"Nuriko-kun," she began. "Let me tell you a story,"
"Alright."
"Once, a very long time ago, long before this lifetime, there was a thriving society on the moon. The planets in this solar system had their own individual races living on their surfaces and they were all at peace. This time, established by the queen of the moon, was known as the Silver Millennium. All the planets were members of the Silver Alliance, except Earth, the planet whose people were more savage and violent than the others." She paused, watching Nuriko for a response.
She continued. "The solar system was ruled by the moon queen, Serenity, who lived in the Moon Kingdom. It was strict policy in those times that a maiden of the moon, or those female members of Serenity's court, were to marry men only from the moon. Men were allowed to court and marry the women of other planets. Demo, in return they had to leave the moon kingdom and live on the planet of their lover. They were not allowed to return."
Still nothing.
"Now," Usagi took a deep breath. "This Queen Serenity had a daughter who she loved very much, but her daughter was a free spirit who loved to run freely throughout the palace and search for new playmates. She traveled between all of the planets in search of play. It was on one such trip, on the dark planet of Saturn, that she met and fell in love with a boy who lived there. The boy was the prince of Saturn, the older brother of her close friend Hotoru. Queen Serenity was aware of the secret meetings that followed but she denied the relationship could develop into more than friendship. So upon the eve of her daughter's eighteenth birthday, Queen Serenity announced to the public that her daughter was to marry the prince of Earth. This was the agreement that would officially bring Earth into the Alliance. It was a very important engagement and the princess knew it. But as she danced with the Earth prince who was captivated by her, she saw her lover watching them with tears in his eyes. He ran from her. She followed him, but despite her attempts, she could never find them. That was the last she saw him."
Nuriko's eyes were wide. Recognition shown in their depths.
He choked.
"Wha-what were their names?"
"Whose?"
"The princess of the moon and the prince of Saturn?"
Usagi smiled at him.
"You already know, Prince Nuriko. I was Princess Usagi Serenity, of the Moon Kingdom." Usagi avoided his stunned eyes.
She didn't want to bring up her past lifetimes with any of the lovers she had had. But she had to tell Nuriko because he had recognized her. Otherwise he would have remembered on his own and wondered why she hadn't told him. It was unavoidable now.
"I don't know what to say." Nuriko stated simply. He blew softly against his bangs and watched them rise and fall.
Usagi smiled slightly at him. It was visible in his eyes every time she looked at him. He felt the same as he had in their past. He still loved her. It hurt her to think of it now. What she could have done to prevent him from leaving. She could have refused the whole engagement…but she closed her eyes and bit her lip.
Usagi hushed the thoughts and touched Nuriko's shoulder. He looked at her.
"Nuriko-kun, it is best not to think of those things now. We must look at the present, not the past."
Nuriko was silent for a long moment. The tension Usagi felt was unbearable.
"After," Nuriko spoke. "After we defeat Chaos, what then?" he hardly dared to hope, and she knew what he was suggesting.
"I don't know yet. But if the time comes where I must choose between the lovers of my past and present, it will be a most difficult choice to make my Prince."
Nuriko nodded, his hope diminishing to a tiny flicker that he dared not allow to be seen.
Usagi smiled after an uncomfortable silence.
"Time to go!" She announced brightly, jumping up.
Nuriko smiled. "Hai. Let's go."
Usagi smiled and took his hand. She kissed his palm and dropped his wrist. She transformed into Ren and the men walked back to their waiting companions.
&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&
Touji and Tasuki stood before the entrance and Ren watched their eyes fill with anticipation. They could barely wait to get in there and he knew it. But they would have to.
"Minna-chan," Ren announced, gathering their attention. "By now you have all been trained by me and you know who I am. For those who have wondered, Tasuki and Touji know as well. As we traveled here you all know that I shared a tent with my bandit brothers and now that you know about my nightly transformations, you may be wondering how I managed that. It's not truly a matter of importance though."
Tasuki and Touji exchanged looks. They had known the others had found out, but that Ren would publicly announce before them all who he was, that was something they hadn't expected.
"When Tasuki and Touji and I return, we will set out toward Chaos. He is on his way now. At this very moment he is rocketing toward us with his hideous youma, waiting to reach us so he can try and win."
Everyone looked surprised at this.
"You're saying that we'll be facing Chaos once you return?" Chichiri asked carefully.
"Hai."
"Then we will not rest until you return." Hotohori stated firmly. The others nodded their agreement.
Ren smiled proudly at them all. They all seemed pleased with the look and several blushes were witnessed.
"Right then," Casting the spell, Tasuki, Touji, and Ren disappeared into the Zone.
To be continued…
-Hey peeps! Now I know this might be difficult for some of you, but please R&R!! I need the reviews to know that this is still a good fic! Last chapter didn't get as many as I'd hoped so review onegai!!! ^_^ Thankies!