Author: Abigail aka Moonchild aka Drive Me Mercury
Email: abigail@makenai.org
Rating: PG-13
Chapter started: 3-05-03 Chapter ended: 3-05-21
Disclaimer: Sailor Moon and all characters and settings belong to the one-and-only Naoko Takeuchi. All created characters and plots within this story are my own.
Warning: I've been forgetting to put this in previous chapters, but for those of you who are sensitive, this will be shoujo-ai (female/female) in future chapters. ^_~
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*Chapter 5*
-Meguriai (Chance Meeting)-
Cold.
Cold and dark.
Miya pulled her sweater closer around her, pressing her face down into her knees. Here was yet another thing she was discovering she had overlooked – a place to stay at night. She feared straying too far from Three Lights apartment in case she should get lost. In any case she had nowhere else to go. Though it was summer, tonight was particularly chilly, much to Miya's discomfort. The hard brick and cement behind and below her didn't help, but it was nothing she couldn't survive. Thankfully the alley she had taken up residence in for the night was relatively clean besides several heaps of black-bagged trash, which she tested to find they made a fairly decent pillow.
She turned her silver key over in her hand and pondered returning home. But how could she now when there were so many things she hadn't even started to learn yet? Setting her mind firmly, she slipped the key securely back in her jeans pocket.
Finally overcome by her own body's limitations, the young girl's tired head dropped as sleep fell heavily upon her.
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She watched the young sleeping figure with gentle eyes – emotion she revealed to very few. But this particular child had played and teased her way into her garrisoned heart. In her own way, the unsuspecting girl had come to fill a void in the older woman's heart left by loneliness and scarred by the past. Her own timeless eyes had seen, and had known, and had experienced. She had brought her garnet staff down in justice and in error. She had gained and she had lost. But a child was innocence. A child was hope for the future, a new future unmarred by the mistakes of the past.
For in truth, Miya was her penance child. Beyond the deep bond there was a sense of responsibility – that if somehow she raised this child up right it could atone for the sins of her own past. Perhaps not. Perhaps a happy future was no longer within anyone's reach. But at least she could ease some of her own guilt, if just a little. And as long as she could protect the girl's safety and happiness, nothing else mattered.
The child never stirred as she spread the blanket over her curled-up form, tucking the edges to block out any draft. With a soft whisper, and a fleeting touch, she stood again, reluctantly disappearing into the shadows once more.
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The morning sun peered persistently through the gray fortresses that were Tokyo's skyscrapers, splashing its rays throughout the city and anointing everything they touched with color. Miya awoke with the new daylight glimmering in her eyes, in a strange environment that was nothing like her red-and-pink plush bedroom. She blinked at the brick wall opposite her vision for several seconds before recalling what had brought her here yesterday, and that she was no longer in the 21st century. Rubbing the tiredness from her eyes and feeling a little stiff, the pigtailed girl stretched and let the soft blanket fall from her upper body.
Blanket? Miya blinked at the innocent-looking weave of fabric that had mysteriously appeared between now and last night. A swift glance in every direction revealed that she was still completely alone as far as she could tell. Before she had a chance to puzzle over it further, her thoughts were interrupted by voices drifting toward her from the street.
"Last chance to ride with us," Taiki said, dangling the keys to the van on a finger. "You do know you're likely to get sprung by fangirls if you walk again. Some of the more savvy ones are starting to learn our routines. The other day Yaten ended up signing autographs in Bloomington's for half an hour."
"Which sucks. Now I can't shop there in peace anymore," the silver-headed boy grumbled.
"No thanks," Seiya replied, quite chipper this morning, contrasting last night's darker mood. "I enjoy walking, fangirls or no. Tones the thighs," he explained with a slap to the side of his blue uniform pants.
"Yeah, sure. Tell me, what's with the recent fitness kick?" Yaten deadpanned.
"That one's not hard to figure out," Taiki said dryly. "He knows he can catch a certain 'rabbit' on her way to school if he takes the long route. Which by the way, if he takes the long route, he WILL be late for class today." He cast a significant look at his raven-haired companion.
Seiya only shrugged. "Not like it would be the first time. You'll cover for me, ne? Ja!" With a grin, he flipped his briefcase over his shoulder and headed off in his own direction as Yaten simply rolled his eyes.
The morning sun was already beginning to warm the air as Seiya strolled down the sidewalk in no particular hurry. He checked his watch again to make sure he was timing himself just right to catch Usagi's mad dash for the school.
Miya lingered shyly behind, far enough away but always keeping him in sight and herself out of sight. She was still not sure why she was following him but she was acting on a gut feeling. 'Sometimes the greatest deceiver is inside one's own heart.' Who had said those words? Miya couldn't remember. Oh well, she never did care for wise proverbs to begin with. They never made any sense. Now in a more residential block of the city, she found the best way to keep hidden was to cut across the front yards, letting fences and hedges be her temporary shelter. She ignored the occasional odd stare she received from residents who happening to be walking out the front door as she passed, and lapsed into full stalking mode once again. She began to forget her purpose and feel like she was a ninja assassin in one of those old movies, tracking her unsuspecting prey.
The ninja yawned. She wasn't used to getting up this early. Add to that the fact that she wasn't feeling all that well rested – the cement ground hadn't made the most comfortable of beds last night. Miya grimaced to herself remembering it. The thought the of mysterious blanket flickered across her mind, before she disciplined herself once again to focused on the blue-uniformed figure on the sidewalk.
Suddenly a flash of blue and yellow crossed her vision, accompanied by the flap of running feet against the cement and loud panting. The blur came out of nowhere and whizzed past Seiya until it was stopped by a single spoken word.
"Odango!"
The 'blur', actually a teenage girl in a white and navy school uniform and with long sunshine blonde pigtails, halted in her tracks and looked back as if noticing for the first time that there was another person on the sidewalk. Her big blue eyes blinked in surprise as a piece of toast dangled from her half-open mouth. "Seiya? What are you doing here?"
The boy laughed. "Walking to school the same as you. You know, Odango, you run the risk of getting heartburn if you make a habit of eating on the run like that."
Miya had to press her fist to her mouth to keep from bursting out in giggles when she realized that the 'odango' was a nickname. It fit so perfectly! The girl's knee-length hair was pulled up into two long tails, with a bun on top of each. The buns really did resemble odangos, almost good enough to eat. In fact, this girl's head almost identically resembled the Queen Serenity's silver hairstyle. In all her days, Miya had never seen anyone with hair quite like the Queen's. It must be some odd 20th century fashion, she concluded. She always suspected the Queen was horribly out of style, and now she had proof! That really was laughable. She wondered if anyone had ever dared to call the monarch of Crystal Tokyo 'Odango'.
"Heart-what?" 'Odango' blinked.
"Never mind."
"Gyaahh~~!!" the blonde suddenly shrieked like an off-key alarm as she stared at her watch. "I'm going to be so late! I gotta go! Sayonaraaa~~!!" With that she spun and sprinted away again, hair streaking behind her, leaving behind the faintest wisp of vanilla perfume. Seiya remained rooted to the sidewalk as she rounded a sharp corner and disappeared. She couldn't be sure, but Miya thought she saw his shoulders rise and fall in a small sigh.
In trying to get a better view of Seiya and the blonde's short exchange, the black-haired girl had unconsciously leaned dangerously out over the hedge she was supposed to be hiding behind. Stretched on tiptoes, she peered out toward the sidewalk, ignoring the branches that scraped her arms, until…
SNAP!
A dead branch gave way under her weight with a loud pop, breaking Miya's focus and throwing her off-balance. Seiya's head snapped around. Miya dove for cover. Safe behind the hedge again, she inhaled a deep breath. That was too close. Had he seen her?
Seiya's suspicions hit the ceiling once again when he caught sight of the dark pigtailed head disappearing behind the bush. His intuition wasn't playing tricks on him after all – he -was- being followed. Ever since he left the apartment he hadn't been able to shake the uncomfortable feeling and the faint voice of invisible footsteps. Sapphire eyes narrowed.
She crawled on hands and knees through the dirt until she reached the end of the hedge. Perhaps he hadn't seen her after all and she'd gotten lucky. She peeked through the outer branches looking for a pair of feet, but didn't find any. Strange… but maybe he'd started walking again. She stuck her body out farther, and then farther, until she had a full view of the length of the sidewalk, and there was no blue uniform in sight in either direction. Puzzled, Miya stepped out into the center of the sidewalk in plain view.
She shrieked when something grabbed her, lifting her completely off her feet. Instinct kicked in and she struggled violently, wildly swinging white tennis-shoed feet. The strong arms held determinedly tight around her waist. She opened her mouth and screamed in the highest pitch she could manage.
"Don't scream!" an anxious voice barked close to her ear. Miya stopped and froze at the sound of the words. And the realization that her captor was none other than Seiya Kou. Then it struck her: She'd been caught. Panicked, she squirmed and kicked twice as hard, one foot managing to connect hard with a shin. She screamed again, and this time a hand came up to clamp over her mouth, cutting off the sound of her voice. Automatically, Miya bit down. Hard.
He gave a cry of pain and loosened his hold enough for Miya to drop to the ground. "Dammit, kid, quit screaming like that! People are going to think I'm some pervert child molester! I'm not going to hurt you, alright?" Seiya nervously looked up and down the street to see if anyone really was watching. His arm reached out and snagged the hood of her sweater a she started to make her clean getaway, and jerked her back. "But you're not going anywhere," his voice was suddenly low and fierce, "until you tell why you're following me."
She felt her heart beating strangely against her chest. Why she was following him? She wasn't even sure herself. With no way to run, Miya turned to face him.
Wide sapphire eyes locked with identical narrower ones at the same level. Seiya had to prevent himself from taking an audible intake of breath. It was the same girl from the audience yesterday, but somehow that wasn't really a shock. Naturally he felt a twinge of guilt for being so harsh with her – she was nothing but an innocent-looking little kid. One thought of her teeth in his hand, however, and that feeling diminished. But… there was something else about her, below the surface, and a feeling that told him she was more than just a neighborhood kid out playing a make-believe game of 'spy'. Oddly, it didn't feel like a threat, but almost like a strange case of déjà vu. She had a light in her aura almost like a certain other girl that danced in his dreams every night. 'But that's strange, because… I swear she almost looks like me.'
Miya met Seiya's eyes and in a second all hostility fled from them as the blue orbs widened. She could feel that unexplainable feeling rising in her chest again, just like it had been at the concert yesterday.
"Who are you?" Seiya's words were low, uncertain.
Miya stood silent as a statue. A thousand words were streaming though her mind. 'Ask him,' her thoughts said, 'ask him… does he have a daughter? Does he know anything about his future? Who is the person he calls out to in his songs? Am I familiar to you at all?' But her lips would not move.
"Where did you come from?" He was certain she had been the source of yesterday's mysterious message, and that's what made things more puzzling. The message, however faint, was put out on the same wavelength as theirs, and Seiya had never felt that done by a person not of Kinmokuseijin blood.
'I come from the future… I'm looking for someone…' Again her thoughts could not seem to cooperate with her lips. Miya took a step backwards. His eyes studied her with a mixture of intensity and confusion, and she suddenly felt, however unlikely it was, that he knew everything and was reading her mind. Could he see the empty spot in her soul? Her heart was beating again and she didn't know why.
But then a thought struck her. What if she'd made a mistake? What if her gut feeling was wrong and Seiya had nothing to do with her past? Even worse, what if she had changed the course of Time by coming here? She might never be born! The confusion of the situation weighed down on the nine-year-old child.
And Seiya's eyes still watched her, waiting for an answer. An answer she didn't have. Her heart pounded in her ears.
"Hey!!" Seiya reached and missed as the mystery child suddenly turned and fled. He sat back on his heels and sighed, watching her disappear. As he wondered… would he ever see her again?
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She pressed her back against the inner wall of a brick fence, chest rising and falling with her heavy breath. "Baka Miya," she spoke softly to herself. "Why did you run away?" It was too late now. Her one chance, and she'd blown it. If only she knew who he truly was. What was she to do now?
Suddenly sensing a presence beside her, she looked up, and blue eyes lit with surprise.
The olive-skinned Guardian of Time merely extended a hand toward the young girl. "Come," she said. "This is no way for you to learn about the past."
It was minutes later that they were seated once again in Setsuna's small office, back in the 21st century. Miya squirmed in her seat, looking down at her folded hands in her lap, feet swinging back and forth. She knew she was in for a scolding. No, that was an understatement. In light of what she had done – running away to the past without telling anyone – the words "grounded for life" were looming in her head. Well, there was nothing she could do now but take what was coming. She only wished she could have found some kind of concrete answer.
Setsuna laid her suit jacket over the back of her chair and sat down facing the girl. The older woman sighed. 'Here it comes,' Miya thought.
"Now," Setsuna began. "It's time someone told you… about your parents."
