1 Chapter Twenty-Three – Divided Like This
***
"All right, what are we all congregated for? And why so formal? What's the deal here?"
"Your highness," Sailorvenus said, causing Neo-Queen Selenity to frown. "We've come to bring a very important matter to your attention."
"What's that?"
"The fate of the attempted assassin, Aiyana Khalidah." Sailorvenus stood up straighter before the queen.
The queen furrowed her brows. "Well, this is different," she said.
King Endymion felt his blood run cold. Why now? He'd received another letter in the mail. Despite his wife's ignorance as to the situation in the hospital, Hotaru had informed him that his daughter had been pregnant and had recently given birth to the child, a little girl, at the hospital – a fact that Ami was trying to keep concealed carefully. From the looks of things, it didn't seem as if she had done too good of a job of that.
"Is everything all right with her?" Endymion said, swallowing heavily at the word 'fate.' He didn't want to kill the girl, but perhaps incarcerating her for a while would do some good. At least until Usa's sixteenth birthday.
If she could just hold off until Usa's sixteenth birthday.
"Sailormercury-dono said she was checking up on her information. Vital statistics, disease prevention for you and the queen, making sure she hadn't anything fatal that would endanger your lives from wherever she came," Sailorjupiter said.
"Instead, she had been hiding for the whole time that the young woman was pregnant. She recently gave birth to a daughter. This fact had been hidden from the knowledge of the other three of us for quite some time," Sailormars said.
Neo-Queen Selenity recoiled. "She was pregnant?"
"Yes," said Sailormercury, smiling. That actually was not a good move on Sailormars' part. Although Selenity might be a little perturbed by the fact that the girl was pregnant far out of wedlock, with a little persuasion she could be reminded that she, too, had conceived her child before she had married Endymion. Albeit it was only a day, but technicalities could be incorporated within to the benefit of Aiyana. "But the act that created this pregnancy was anything but consensual. She was abused and raped twenty-nine to thirty weeks ago, which was the liaison that created the child."
"Oh my," said Selenity, paling. "This is really too much information. I can't muddle through it right now."
"Yes, you can," Sailorvenus said forcefully.
"But…" Neo-Queen Selenity sighed. "What do you want me to do?"
"I believe, your highness, that because of Aiy—the assassin's precarious position as a new mother and a victim of rape and abuse, that she should not be traumatized any further and should be granted asylum on this pla—um, in Crystal Tokyo."
"And *I* believe, your highness, that the assassin is a danger to not only your well-being but to that of your family's, and that she should be incarcerated or excuted with expedience."
Selenity shook her head sadly. "I've never seen you all divided like this before," she said quietly.
The four senshi stared at the floor, a little ashamed by Selenity's tone. It was lightly reprimanding, but more sorrowful than anything.
"If I know you, Jupiter-dono and Venus-dono have prepared dissertations on each of their beliefs on the matter." King Endymion raised an eyebrow.
Sheepishly, Sailorjupter and Sailorvenus whipped out neatly prepared, crisp manila folders, containing inside the information they wished to present to the queen. Venus had prepared hers herself, being a paralegal, whereas Jupiter had secretly solicited help from a partner of Sadayoshi's. While the man was not on Venus' side, he would not directly go against her. He did, however, refer Jupiter to one of his best lawyers.
King Endymion reached for the folders and took them from the two.
"Your highnesses," Sailoruranus said. She and Neptune had been quietly and respectfully been standing away from the chaos, and they had not let on a hint that they had known any of this information before – they remained their laconic selves, only exchanging a glance at when it had been appropriate – Sailormars' outspoken consummation of the facts. "We would request that you did bequeath upon the matter three days' time of consideration. Please discuss it over between yourselves and come to a decision only after a rational talk."
Endymion peered down at the records. "These aren't so very big. We could pore over them in a few hours. It seems like this is something very important."
"I believe that the Outers' suggestion is wise," said Sailorjupiter. *They know something,* she said to herself. "It would allow you time to not only consider the arguments, which are more factual than anything, but also think about the danger to your own family."
Selenity nodded. "I can't do this now," she said. "I have a headache. I can't deal with this. Please, leave. Go on about your business." Before the senshi left, she gave them one more reprimanding stare. "I can't believe you all. We've never been divided like this before."
***
"So why'd you ask for three days?" Mako had detransformed and joined the Outers and Ami at the hospital. "I know that you know something, and I know that you have something up your sleeve. So you might as well spill."
The Outers looked at Ami, and she nodded wearily.
"Last night, Aiyana's paternity test against the king came out positive."
"No *way*!" Mako said, frowning. "Ami failed to mention anything about the paternity thing!"
"We had reason to believe that King Endymion was somehow, in some convoluted manner, Aiyana's father. Turned out our hunch was right, and she is. How, we don't know."
"So, is she Selenity's daughter? Because you know, she kind of looks like—"
"Hotaru?" the three asked.
Mako stepped back, waving her arms and shaking her head. "Oh, no. You're not telling me that Hotaru and – I mean, come on! Mamoru-san and *Hotaru- chan?!* That *so* does not *work*!"
"We said the same thing," Michiru said. "Endymion is very faithful to Selenity, and he loves her so very much. And Hotaru would have never done anything to separate the two of them. We're just as confused and appalled as you are."
Mako shook her head. "I refuse to believe it!"
"Refuse this," Ami said bitterly, throwing the results at Mako's face. The brunette caught them and scanned them, cursing as she read them.
"This can't be right!" she exclaimed. "Rerun it, something!"
"How many times do you *think* I re-ran that test, Mako?!" Ami shrieked, throwing her hands up. "I don't want it to be true either!"
"There has to be some kind of logical explanation for this," Mako said. "You know Mamoru-san better than I do Ami – you know he would *never* be unfaithful to Usagi-chan."
Ami shrugged. "I don't know what to think anymore."
"Has Aiyana seen this?"
"That's what we're going to do now," Haruka said. "Coming along for the ride?"
Mako shrugged. "Why not?"
***
The four of them felt instant remorse when they walked in on the tender moment without knocking. Masaya was sitting on the bed, across from Aiyana, but he was leaning so far off it that she might as well have been sitting in his lap. Aiyana was in the rocking chair, sleepily rocking her baby as she nursed her.
"Oh, gomen," said Ami, jumping back. Mako's eyes almost popped from her head.
"No way…Masaya and the – Aiyana?" She giggled a little. "They're so cute! They look like a big happy family."
"Minako would slap you if she heard you," said Haruka. "Her voice was swimming in acid when she learned that Masaya had been caring for Aiyana."
"Come in. Or should I say, come in further, and thanks for knocking," Aiyana said. But her voice wasn't bitter. She was smiling, a motherly glow around her. Masaya looked positively mesmerized.
"Aunt Mako?" He was surprised at Mako's appearance, and stared at her.
"Hai, it's me, and I know everything," she said softly. "So hold nothing back."
"I decided on a name for her, Ami," Aiyana said excitedly. "Masaya helped me pick it. I wanted a name that meant hope, a Japanese name. Because she's my little hope, my only desire for living." She smiled. "Masaya said Mikomi meant that. A hope, expectation, or prospect. How does that sound?"
"It's a beautiful name," said Michiru, her eyes watering. Haruka took one look at her and smiled a little.
"Aiyana," Ami said softly, kneeling by the rocking chair Aiyana sat in, "I have some important news for you."
"What's that?" Aiyana asked, arranging the receiving blanket more modestly around her. It seemed Masaya had done a little hunting for somethings that she would need. There were two more receiving blankets on the bed, and she had a mobile over the bassinet.
"We ran the paternity test last night in the lab," she said. "Against you and King Endymion. The test came out positive."
Aiyana stopped rocking and looked at Ami, straight in her wide blue eyes. "I…I'm King Endymion's daughter?"
"By the paternity test and the archived records, that's the way it looks," said Michiru. "The ginzuishou made you age very slowly, which we figured was the same power that stuck Princess Lady Selenity at five years old for so long. So that's why you appear to be only seventeen, but in actuality, you're over nine hundred years old."
Aiyana and Masaya looked at each other and exchanged an embarrassed glance. "I'm only four hundred and twelve," he said sheepishly.
"Well, the Cold Sleep subtracted a lot of time from you," said Haruka. "You must have been conceived sometime before the actual sleep. You went to sleep for all those years and grew older, but did not age. Then you were released from the sleep and went to live with your mother…in Ireland. After a few years, Selenity realized that her daughter was not aging, so she reversed the effects of the ginzuishou. When she did so, it had the same effect on you, releasing you from the spell and causing you to age again, albeit very slowly."
"However, you'd already pretty much gained on Masaya, our young buck here," said Mako, grinning.
Aiyana looked around at the five other people in the room, but her gaze rested on Masaya. She leaned back in the rocking chair. Mikomi was beginning to sense her mother's distress and she was starting to fuss. "So…what do I do now?"
"Somehow, the other Senshi found about about you and the situation."
"Not somehow," Mako said. "Izumi-chan told all the girls. Megami-chan blurted it out, which is how my husband and I found out. Emi-chan evidently kept it to herself, but Hitomi-chan feared for Chibi-usa-chan and told her mother, after reaping more details from Izumi-chan."
"Izumi-san doesn't like me very much," Aiyana said quietly. "That's why she told everyone. She has a crush on Masaya."
"I see," said Michiru.
"So they're bringing the case in front of the king and queen, asking what they should do with you – imprison you, deport you, execute you, or leave you alone. Of course, Mercury and I are on your side. But Mars and Venus are pretty staunch against you, and they've been holding up the argument."
"Venus' husband, I think, is kind of on our side, but he refuses to take part. Mars' husband is exactly the opposite, but he also is not taking part too heavily. Mercury's husband is on our side, and Jupiter's husband is remaining neutral in this argument." Haruka smiled. "It seems like the women are duking this one out by themselves."
"So what do you want me to do?"
"I asked King Endymion and Queen Selenity for three days' time to think it over. In the mean time, we want to think up some way for Endymion to find out exactly who you are." Haruka turned to Michiru. "You can sense feelings. Do you think he knows?"
"I…couldn't tell." She smiled ruefully. "The king has great practice in dealing with and covering up his feelings. His vibes are hard for even me to sense. And Rei-san is not on our side. Her abilities are a little stronger than mine."
"I don't want Aiyana going directly to Endymion herself," said Mako. "There's got to be some reason that he hid her from everyone all these years – something he's either ashamed of, or afraid of. So it may be dangerous. Desperate people take desperate measures sometimes."
"However, there's got to be *some* way that Endymion can find out what's going on and what we know before the deadline ends," said Michiru. "That's important. Maybe he'll reconsider locking Aiyana up."
"Selenity will be easy to convince," Ami said. "I'm pretty sure she feels sympathy for Aiyana and does not want to kill her. But even if she doesn't, if we could just manipulate Endymion, we won't have to worry about her. Endymion could convince her our way."
"Exactly."
"So what do you want me to do?" Aiyana repeated.
"Be happy and be a good mother to your baby," Ami said softly. "Everything's all figured out now. We know who your parents are, where you were born, and your vital statistics. We'll probably do some fingerprint and toeprint comparions just to make sure, but I believe that we're all pretty sure that Endymion is your father."
Aiyana nodded.
"The worst is over," said Michiru.
"Actually, Kaioh-san," Aiyana said, looking down at her baby, "I feel like the worst is yet to come."
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AN: julymoonbunny@hotmail.com
***
"All right, what are we all congregated for? And why so formal? What's the deal here?"
"Your highness," Sailorvenus said, causing Neo-Queen Selenity to frown. "We've come to bring a very important matter to your attention."
"What's that?"
"The fate of the attempted assassin, Aiyana Khalidah." Sailorvenus stood up straighter before the queen.
The queen furrowed her brows. "Well, this is different," she said.
King Endymion felt his blood run cold. Why now? He'd received another letter in the mail. Despite his wife's ignorance as to the situation in the hospital, Hotaru had informed him that his daughter had been pregnant and had recently given birth to the child, a little girl, at the hospital – a fact that Ami was trying to keep concealed carefully. From the looks of things, it didn't seem as if she had done too good of a job of that.
"Is everything all right with her?" Endymion said, swallowing heavily at the word 'fate.' He didn't want to kill the girl, but perhaps incarcerating her for a while would do some good. At least until Usa's sixteenth birthday.
If she could just hold off until Usa's sixteenth birthday.
"Sailormercury-dono said she was checking up on her information. Vital statistics, disease prevention for you and the queen, making sure she hadn't anything fatal that would endanger your lives from wherever she came," Sailorjupiter said.
"Instead, she had been hiding for the whole time that the young woman was pregnant. She recently gave birth to a daughter. This fact had been hidden from the knowledge of the other three of us for quite some time," Sailormars said.
Neo-Queen Selenity recoiled. "She was pregnant?"
"Yes," said Sailormercury, smiling. That actually was not a good move on Sailormars' part. Although Selenity might be a little perturbed by the fact that the girl was pregnant far out of wedlock, with a little persuasion she could be reminded that she, too, had conceived her child before she had married Endymion. Albeit it was only a day, but technicalities could be incorporated within to the benefit of Aiyana. "But the act that created this pregnancy was anything but consensual. She was abused and raped twenty-nine to thirty weeks ago, which was the liaison that created the child."
"Oh my," said Selenity, paling. "This is really too much information. I can't muddle through it right now."
"Yes, you can," Sailorvenus said forcefully.
"But…" Neo-Queen Selenity sighed. "What do you want me to do?"
"I believe, your highness, that because of Aiy—the assassin's precarious position as a new mother and a victim of rape and abuse, that she should not be traumatized any further and should be granted asylum on this pla—um, in Crystal Tokyo."
"And *I* believe, your highness, that the assassin is a danger to not only your well-being but to that of your family's, and that she should be incarcerated or excuted with expedience."
Selenity shook her head sadly. "I've never seen you all divided like this before," she said quietly.
The four senshi stared at the floor, a little ashamed by Selenity's tone. It was lightly reprimanding, but more sorrowful than anything.
"If I know you, Jupiter-dono and Venus-dono have prepared dissertations on each of their beliefs on the matter." King Endymion raised an eyebrow.
Sheepishly, Sailorjupter and Sailorvenus whipped out neatly prepared, crisp manila folders, containing inside the information they wished to present to the queen. Venus had prepared hers herself, being a paralegal, whereas Jupiter had secretly solicited help from a partner of Sadayoshi's. While the man was not on Venus' side, he would not directly go against her. He did, however, refer Jupiter to one of his best lawyers.
King Endymion reached for the folders and took them from the two.
"Your highnesses," Sailoruranus said. She and Neptune had been quietly and respectfully been standing away from the chaos, and they had not let on a hint that they had known any of this information before – they remained their laconic selves, only exchanging a glance at when it had been appropriate – Sailormars' outspoken consummation of the facts. "We would request that you did bequeath upon the matter three days' time of consideration. Please discuss it over between yourselves and come to a decision only after a rational talk."
Endymion peered down at the records. "These aren't so very big. We could pore over them in a few hours. It seems like this is something very important."
"I believe that the Outers' suggestion is wise," said Sailorjupiter. *They know something,* she said to herself. "It would allow you time to not only consider the arguments, which are more factual than anything, but also think about the danger to your own family."
Selenity nodded. "I can't do this now," she said. "I have a headache. I can't deal with this. Please, leave. Go on about your business." Before the senshi left, she gave them one more reprimanding stare. "I can't believe you all. We've never been divided like this before."
***
"So why'd you ask for three days?" Mako had detransformed and joined the Outers and Ami at the hospital. "I know that you know something, and I know that you have something up your sleeve. So you might as well spill."
The Outers looked at Ami, and she nodded wearily.
"Last night, Aiyana's paternity test against the king came out positive."
"No *way*!" Mako said, frowning. "Ami failed to mention anything about the paternity thing!"
"We had reason to believe that King Endymion was somehow, in some convoluted manner, Aiyana's father. Turned out our hunch was right, and she is. How, we don't know."
"So, is she Selenity's daughter? Because you know, she kind of looks like—"
"Hotaru?" the three asked.
Mako stepped back, waving her arms and shaking her head. "Oh, no. You're not telling me that Hotaru and – I mean, come on! Mamoru-san and *Hotaru- chan?!* That *so* does not *work*!"
"We said the same thing," Michiru said. "Endymion is very faithful to Selenity, and he loves her so very much. And Hotaru would have never done anything to separate the two of them. We're just as confused and appalled as you are."
Mako shook her head. "I refuse to believe it!"
"Refuse this," Ami said bitterly, throwing the results at Mako's face. The brunette caught them and scanned them, cursing as she read them.
"This can't be right!" she exclaimed. "Rerun it, something!"
"How many times do you *think* I re-ran that test, Mako?!" Ami shrieked, throwing her hands up. "I don't want it to be true either!"
"There has to be some kind of logical explanation for this," Mako said. "You know Mamoru-san better than I do Ami – you know he would *never* be unfaithful to Usagi-chan."
Ami shrugged. "I don't know what to think anymore."
"Has Aiyana seen this?"
"That's what we're going to do now," Haruka said. "Coming along for the ride?"
Mako shrugged. "Why not?"
***
The four of them felt instant remorse when they walked in on the tender moment without knocking. Masaya was sitting on the bed, across from Aiyana, but he was leaning so far off it that she might as well have been sitting in his lap. Aiyana was in the rocking chair, sleepily rocking her baby as she nursed her.
"Oh, gomen," said Ami, jumping back. Mako's eyes almost popped from her head.
"No way…Masaya and the – Aiyana?" She giggled a little. "They're so cute! They look like a big happy family."
"Minako would slap you if she heard you," said Haruka. "Her voice was swimming in acid when she learned that Masaya had been caring for Aiyana."
"Come in. Or should I say, come in further, and thanks for knocking," Aiyana said. But her voice wasn't bitter. She was smiling, a motherly glow around her. Masaya looked positively mesmerized.
"Aunt Mako?" He was surprised at Mako's appearance, and stared at her.
"Hai, it's me, and I know everything," she said softly. "So hold nothing back."
"I decided on a name for her, Ami," Aiyana said excitedly. "Masaya helped me pick it. I wanted a name that meant hope, a Japanese name. Because she's my little hope, my only desire for living." She smiled. "Masaya said Mikomi meant that. A hope, expectation, or prospect. How does that sound?"
"It's a beautiful name," said Michiru, her eyes watering. Haruka took one look at her and smiled a little.
"Aiyana," Ami said softly, kneeling by the rocking chair Aiyana sat in, "I have some important news for you."
"What's that?" Aiyana asked, arranging the receiving blanket more modestly around her. It seemed Masaya had done a little hunting for somethings that she would need. There were two more receiving blankets on the bed, and she had a mobile over the bassinet.
"We ran the paternity test last night in the lab," she said. "Against you and King Endymion. The test came out positive."
Aiyana stopped rocking and looked at Ami, straight in her wide blue eyes. "I…I'm King Endymion's daughter?"
"By the paternity test and the archived records, that's the way it looks," said Michiru. "The ginzuishou made you age very slowly, which we figured was the same power that stuck Princess Lady Selenity at five years old for so long. So that's why you appear to be only seventeen, but in actuality, you're over nine hundred years old."
Aiyana and Masaya looked at each other and exchanged an embarrassed glance. "I'm only four hundred and twelve," he said sheepishly.
"Well, the Cold Sleep subtracted a lot of time from you," said Haruka. "You must have been conceived sometime before the actual sleep. You went to sleep for all those years and grew older, but did not age. Then you were released from the sleep and went to live with your mother…in Ireland. After a few years, Selenity realized that her daughter was not aging, so she reversed the effects of the ginzuishou. When she did so, it had the same effect on you, releasing you from the spell and causing you to age again, albeit very slowly."
"However, you'd already pretty much gained on Masaya, our young buck here," said Mako, grinning.
Aiyana looked around at the five other people in the room, but her gaze rested on Masaya. She leaned back in the rocking chair. Mikomi was beginning to sense her mother's distress and she was starting to fuss. "So…what do I do now?"
"Somehow, the other Senshi found about about you and the situation."
"Not somehow," Mako said. "Izumi-chan told all the girls. Megami-chan blurted it out, which is how my husband and I found out. Emi-chan evidently kept it to herself, but Hitomi-chan feared for Chibi-usa-chan and told her mother, after reaping more details from Izumi-chan."
"Izumi-san doesn't like me very much," Aiyana said quietly. "That's why she told everyone. She has a crush on Masaya."
"I see," said Michiru.
"So they're bringing the case in front of the king and queen, asking what they should do with you – imprison you, deport you, execute you, or leave you alone. Of course, Mercury and I are on your side. But Mars and Venus are pretty staunch against you, and they've been holding up the argument."
"Venus' husband, I think, is kind of on our side, but he refuses to take part. Mars' husband is exactly the opposite, but he also is not taking part too heavily. Mercury's husband is on our side, and Jupiter's husband is remaining neutral in this argument." Haruka smiled. "It seems like the women are duking this one out by themselves."
"So what do you want me to do?"
"I asked King Endymion and Queen Selenity for three days' time to think it over. In the mean time, we want to think up some way for Endymion to find out exactly who you are." Haruka turned to Michiru. "You can sense feelings. Do you think he knows?"
"I…couldn't tell." She smiled ruefully. "The king has great practice in dealing with and covering up his feelings. His vibes are hard for even me to sense. And Rei-san is not on our side. Her abilities are a little stronger than mine."
"I don't want Aiyana going directly to Endymion herself," said Mako. "There's got to be some reason that he hid her from everyone all these years – something he's either ashamed of, or afraid of. So it may be dangerous. Desperate people take desperate measures sometimes."
"However, there's got to be *some* way that Endymion can find out what's going on and what we know before the deadline ends," said Michiru. "That's important. Maybe he'll reconsider locking Aiyana up."
"Selenity will be easy to convince," Ami said. "I'm pretty sure she feels sympathy for Aiyana and does not want to kill her. But even if she doesn't, if we could just manipulate Endymion, we won't have to worry about her. Endymion could convince her our way."
"Exactly."
"So what do you want me to do?" Aiyana repeated.
"Be happy and be a good mother to your baby," Ami said softly. "Everything's all figured out now. We know who your parents are, where you were born, and your vital statistics. We'll probably do some fingerprint and toeprint comparions just to make sure, but I believe that we're all pretty sure that Endymion is your father."
Aiyana nodded.
"The worst is over," said Michiru.
"Actually, Kaioh-san," Aiyana said, looking down at her baby, "I feel like the worst is yet to come."
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AN: julymoonbunny@hotmail.com