Author: Abigail aka Moonchild aka Drive Me Mercury
Email: abigail@makenai.org
Rating: PG-13
Chapter started: 5-08-03 Chapter ended: 5-28-03
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.
~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~
*Chapter 8*
- Staring the Past in the Face-
Miya looked into the woman's eyes hoping to find some kind of truth to confirm what she'd said. This was different from what she'd expected. This person claiming to be her father did look so much like Seiya – only a little different, and a little older – but otherwise she would have no doubt that it was Seiya except… "You're a woman."
"Umm…" Seiya rubbed her face in a nervous reflex, "yeah, there's a long story behind that…" She wasn't sure quite what to say. Was this really her and Usagi's child? It seemed all too surreal to believe. She looked into Miya's face searching for a way to deny it but all she saw were Odango's eyes. It had been close to ten years since she said goodbye to the dumpling-headed angel on the school rooftop and flew home, but the memory was clear as that day. And now those same innocent blue eyes were staring back at her from the face of a nine-year-old child claiming to be… her child. My child? I'm a… father?
"I guess that's okay," Miya said, and then she smiled. She had come this far and waited this long to find her father, she couldn't turn him away now, even if he was really her. Even if Seiya wasn't a man, she was still Seiya… her papa. She had the same blue depth in her eyes as the boy she had met in the 20th century. Suddenly on impulse Miya threw her arms around her in an embrace.
Taken off guard at first, Seiya eventually, though more hesitantly, returned the gesture. "I guess this is… 'Nice to meet you', huh?" She took Miya by the shoulders and held her at arm's length. A coil of uncertain emotion was beginning to wind in her chest, and she was still too in shock to know what action to take next. At twenty-six she still knew nothing of parenthood or even how to react to this new daughter, already half-grown, and a complete stranger. A panicked choke was rising in her throat until Seiya felt she could hardly breathe. Father?… father… daughter…Odango…
She raked a nervous hand through jet-black curls, suddenly standing up. After a moment's hesitation, she turned her back on Miya and walked quickly toward the door.
Before she could reach the hallway, Healer barked, "Seiya, where are you going?"
"I need whiskey," was the dead response she got before the other woman disappeared.
An awkward exchange of glances commenced among those left behind in the room. Miya looked from the princess to the others somewhat doubting the status of her welcome at this point.
Kakyuu spoke with a smile toward Miya. "Healer, why don't you show Miya-chan to a room? If she's going to be staying with us, we want to make sure that she's comfortably situated, ne?"
"Hai," Healer nodded. "Come on, Chibi, follow me. I'll show you to your bedroom."
Once the two had gone from the room, Maker spoke. "Do you think she truly is Seiya's daughter?"
"Only one person knows that, Maker."
The taller woman suddenly turned toward her princess. "By the way, Princess, what was the second thing you wanted to tell us?"
"I was considering arranging a diplomatic mission to Alpha Centauri at the end of this week, and having the Starlights come with me. And on our way back… I thought the three of you might enjoy a visit to Earth..."
~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~
All around the perimeter of the palace were many small gardens, which bloomed with life during the warm season, so that a quilt of floral color was in view of every window. It was one of these gardens where Miya had first landed. And it was another such place where Taiki found Seiya half an hour later leaning against the railing of the veranda looking out at the shrubbery below. The mild night air surrounded and warmed both of them.
"Thinking?"
Seiya half-turned when the voice broke into her thoughts, then resumed her outlook of the gardens once more. "Ah."
The brunette noted the long-necked bottle beside her friend, but took second thought on commenting on it. Instead she stepped toward the railing on the other side of Seiya. "Usagi really never told you?"
"I thought that was obvious enough," Seiya deadpanned, then changed her tone. "Gomen, Taiki, I really don't know what to think right now."
"At least Miya seems to have accepted you."
"I suppose so." It was true that the girl had been so quickly willing to accept Seiya's true identity, with no questions asked. How ironic was it that Seiya was suddenly reminded of Usagi, and her constant willingness to embrace all. Usagi had still loved her, even after she knew the truth. Only not in the way Seiya had wanted her to. But there were things that still nagged at her mind. "Why now? Why wait so long to tell me?"
Taiki didn't have an answer, but she had her own questions. "I can't really say. Are we even sure that this is Usagi's child, though?"
Seiya looked toward her as if the idea of questioning it was preposterous. Deep in her own mind there had been no doubt from the moment Miya spoke the name of the father she was searching for. She felt such a connection with the girl, so much that it frightened her at first. "Why would I have any reason to doubt?"
A hint of an amused smile passed Taiki's face. "You know me… never satisfied until I have the solid facts."
"What is that?" Seiya frowned at the white plastic package that Taiki pulled out of her pocket.
"DNA test."
"Are you kidding me?" One eyebrow shot up skeptically.
"Do you want to know for sure or not?"
Seiya shrugged. "Well… do it if you like. I already know what your results will be. I can't expect you to understand, but I felt something about her… a bond, you know? Like she was a part of myself I never knew I'd lost. And her aura… shines so much like Odango's."
Taiki nodded while she brought out the contents of the package, laying each piece on the railing. She thought she could understand what Seiya meant, to some extent. She wasn't blind, and she had seen the resemblance in Miya to both Usagi and Seiya, although that wasn't quite enough to win over her scientific mind. It wasn't her affair, of course, but she wanted to do it more for Seiya's sake than her own. Neither said a word while Taiki got the testing kit ready.
"God, couldn't you find a bigger needle?" Seiya commented sarcastically, eyeing the large instrument warily. Nevertheless she offered her arm to the brunette's mercy.
"I must say," Taiki spoke as she swabbed a spot on Seiya's arm with antiseptic, "Even I was quite surprised by today's revelations of the past."
"About Usagi and I?" Seiya shrugged it off in hopes of avoiding the discussion. "It wasn't a big deal."
"Ah, I see." But her calm tone revealed that she didn't quite buy that explanation.
"What?" Seiya suddenly felt a need to be defensive. "C'mon, don't tell me you and Mizuno-san never went at it in the computer labs late at nigh-AH!" Seiya let out a cry as Taiki suddenly stuck a needle roughly in her arm. "Geez, you could be a little gentler!"
"Please, it was hardly a prick," Taiki said, taking the needle back and recapping it once she'd drawn a sufficient amount of blood.
"A little warning would have been nice. Anyways, can't you do this thing with hair or spit? Or do you just have vampiric tendencies?"
"Blood is the only way I know how. I've only done a few of these in the past. You know, maybe I should do a blood-alcohol count while I'm at it."
"I'm not drunk, Taiki. Geez, look at this, I'm still bleeding," she declared, pressing a thumb into her pinprick wound to stop the flow.
"Seriously, Seiya," Taiki laughed, "Miya was more of an adult about this than you are being. I didn't hear a peep from her."
"Who gave you permission to start jabbing my daughter with needles?"
"Ah, so you can't speak two sentences to her, but suddenly you're an overprotective father."
Seiya looked out on the garden sullenly, not really appreciating Taiki's perceived accusation. "I panicked, okay?"
"I know." The taller woman's tone was now sympathetic as she leaned on the railing beside Seiya.
"Where is she now?" Seiya asked with a hint of inner guilt for walking away.
"Yaten showed her to a bedroom. I'm sure she's settled in nicely by now." She paused for a moment before adding, "What are you going to do?"
"Let her stay here for a little while… then take her back to Earth eventually, I suppose."
Taiki nodded in agreement. Beyond the veranda the first firefly of the night rose from the bushes. Gradually, one after another followed, until they were a gathering of living, dancing stars blinking in the dark garden. Finally Taiki broke the long silence. "Well, it's getting late…" With only that excuse, she retreated into the building leaving Seiya alone with her thoughts.
Despite Taiki's earlier comment, she hadn't touched the contents of the bottle beside her tonight. Now Seiya wound long fingers around the glass cylinder and tipped it back once, grimacing when the bitter liquid stung her throat. She pulled the bottle back and let it dangle from her hand just below the railing.
Inadvertently Seiya's thoughts had drifted to the past. With Miya's appearance, so many memories were suddenly forced to resurface – memories she had spent ten years trying to bury. She thought she had succeeded in burying them. She thought they were gone forever. One night of passion so many years ago… she told herself it didn't matter. She told herself it wasn't important.
Suddenly that one night had become one child's entire life.
Her child's.
Seiya was no stranger to responsibility, but that wasn't what bothered her. Why had Usagi never contacted her? Didn't she deserve to at least know? For all these years she'd had no idea… why now, so suddenly? Even if she hadn't yet fully accepted the fact that she had a daughter, Seiya felt almost as if she had been robbed of something that should have been hers nine years ago. Miya was half-grown now, and Seiya had been out of the loop for so long, she felt like a stranger. No, she was a stranger.
But then… was that kind of awkward separated-parents relationship the kind she would have wanted with Usagi? Or was she fooling herself that things might have changed between them if she'd only known? Had this been the best way?
In a release of built-up emotion, she flung the bottle from her hand so that it shattered against a tree in the near distance. Pieces of glass scattered and fell in the grass among the spilled alcohol. Odango… why didn't you tell me?
"Seiya?"
The voice cut into Seiya's thought's and she spun to find Taiki standing in the doorway again. "I forgot to tell you," the tall brunette spoke, "I finished your wrap-up duties for tonight, so you don't need to worry about that."
"Ah, thanks."
"Miya-chan is probably sleeping by now."
"That's true, I suppose." Seiya was disappointed that she wouldn't see the girl again tonight, and relieved at the same time because she had no idea what she was going say to her.
Taiki turned to walk away again, but stopped halfway in her tracks, hesitantly. "Um… do you mind if I ask something?" Normally she wouldn't have pried into the matter, but a lifelong friendship with Seiya gave her confidence to do otherwise. Not to mention the curiosity was killing her.
"What is it?"
"It was the night you walked her home in the rain, wasn't it? The night Usagi was attacked on the roof."
There were several seconds of silence before a cryptic smile tugged at one corner of Seiya's mouth. "If you knew, why did you ask?"
"You never came home that night. You didn't say anything back then, and I didn't ask, even if I wondered. I suddenly remembered it today."
"Congratulations. You're correct."
"Gomen, it's none of my business, really."
"Don't think of it."
"But didn't you even think to use protection?"
"Pro-?" Seiya blinked once then her face molded into an annoyed expression. "God, Taiki, it's a little late for the safe sex lecture, don't you think?"
"True, true. Just promise me you'll use a condom next time."
Seiya stared blankly at her friend, until she noticed the familiar twinkle in the other woman's eyes. After all, how was she going to use a condom now that she was female? Seiya laughed in spite of herself, feeling the comfort in Taiki's good-natured dry humor. "I'll do that next time," she spoke wryly, "Thanks for the tip."
"No problem." The brunette turned with a half-grin. "Good night."
After Taiki had disappeared, Seiya pushed herself away from the railing and followed her inside. It was getting late, and she might as well retire. She wondered if Miya would be sleeping or not. Standing in the hallway looking down at the long line of doors that were guest bedrooms and the Starlights' own living quarters, Seiya debated whether or not to visit her tonight, hesitance and desire to see her pulling her in two different directions. She didn't know which bedroom the girl would be occupying… and there were close to fifty spare rooms in this wing of the palace. She was probably tired from traveling, and had fallen right asleep…
In the end, Seiya's mind told her not to disturb the girl tonight. It wasn't without some lingering indecision that she laid a heavy hand on the doorknob to her own suite and entered. Slippers flew from her feet, one hitting the wall and another coming to rest near a cushion-chair on the floor. She bumped her shin on a clothes basket in the middle of the floor and kicked it away harshly, taking out the confusion of the evening on the innocent container. Grabbing a nightshirt hung haphazardly across the back of a chair, she began to undo the top buttons of her blouse.
That's when she saw the person sitting on her bed.
~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~
^^;; Heh… I know what everybody was asking for was the Miya-Seiya interaction, and there was supposed to be another scene in this chapter, but it didn't turn out that way, as you see. So, sorry for keeping you waiting again, and hope this chapter isn't too boring. They will talk in the next chapter, I promise. Soooo…Thank you to all my readers and reviewers! ^_^ *hands out candy to everyone and runs away to bed*
(I seriously think it was a bad idea to start using chapter titles. I can't think of any! This one is lame. Come to think of it, they all are…)
P.S. Public service announcement of the week: Listen to Taiki, kiddies, and use those condoms. Seiya is a bad, bad role model. ^_~
