Title: Like Mother, Like Daughter
Author: Raya Light
SM Monthly Challenge Theme 01JAN06: Midnight
Genre: Angst?
Version: PGSM
Rating: G

Disclaimer: Minako is owned by Takeuchi Naoko and Bandai Entertainment.

Like Mother, Like Daughter

Minako lay in the cold hospital bed and stared out of the window. The only thing she could see was snow, illuminated by the security lights, blowing in the wind against the dark night sky. 'It can't be true,' she thought for the thousandth time that night. 'I'm only thirteen! I can't be dying yet! I have my whole life... I still have to go to high school! I want to sing! They must be wrong. There must be some mistake.'

But there was no mistaking the pain in her head, the mysterious blackouts, or the fall during her dance recital. As her head twinged again, she reached up absently and massaged it. She winced as she accidentally brushed the bump she had received when she had hit the floor.

"Minako?" Minako winced again at the worried voice. "Minako? Does your head hurt? Should I call the nurse for some more pain medicine?"

The young teenager took a deep breath and slowly turned her dark head to look at the woman in the chair next to her bed. "No, Mother. I'm all right."

The older woman bit her lip and studied her daughter anxiously. "You don't need to suffer," she replied softly as she absently pushed a long strand of dark hair behind her ear. The bangle bracelets she wore on her arm jingled softly at the movement. "All you took was some aspirin. I'm sure they have something stronger."

Carefully keeping the pain out of her expression, Minako shook her head as gently as she could. "Really, Mother, I'm fine. It's just a bump. It will go away soon."

Her mother studied her daughter, and then sighed. "Minako, why must you be so stubborn?" she asked. Although she kept her voice low to prevent her daughter's head from hurting any more, the frustration was still quite evident. "Always, always you're so stubborn. If you had told me before about your blackouts and headaches, I would have taken you to the doctor sooner. Maybe they could have taken care of this... this..." She couldn't bring herself to say it. "...with medicine. Now you'll have to have surgery. Brain surgery..." Her voice faded out, and her hands gripped each other tightly as worry and fear for her only child filled her.

Minako didn't notice. "I don't need surgery," she said turning back to stare out the window. "I'm fine." Her voice softened to a whisper. "I'm fine."

Unseen behind her, her mother opened her mouth, and then shut it again with a pained expression on her face. Finally, she loosened her hands and reached out to brush one gently down Minako's arm. "Get some sleep. We'll talk about it again in the morning."

Minako's face tightened stubbornly. Absently, she turned her gaze to the clock on the bedside table between her bed and the window. The red LCD numbers were flashing 12:00. Over and over again they flashed, as if time were resetting itself to the beginning of the witching hour. 'How I wish it could,' she thought as her eyes began to flutter closed. 'Reset time... Back before that fall... Back before that first awful headache when I was ten... Before the dreams...'

Her eyes closed and her breath evened out as she slipped once again into that strange dream world. A world filled with fantastic creatures, a revered queen, respected comrades, and a beautiful princess that she loved more than life itself. A princess with a terrible curse whose power had woken too early. A lonely princess who could not understand why her power meant that she had to hold herself apart from everyone else. A world and a princess she longed to see in real life.

Silently, her mother watched her sleep. Her anxious brown eyes traced every feature of Minako's face, noting the pain and discomfort and despairing at the stubborness as the pinkish grey light of dawn began to creep past the snow and into the room. She would insist that Minako take it easy and get treatment for her illness. She would lose, she knew, but she had to try. She had to do anything she could to save her precious child. And her jaw, as stubborn as her daughter's, clenched tightly with determination.