+++++ Hikawa Shrine, Azabu-Juban, Japan. (Sunday + 8)
Rei Hino's grandfather had seen many things during his long years. He'd seen his nation commit atrocities and achieve wonders. He'd seen the birth and death of his only child. He'd watched his beloved granddaughter come into her own as a woman and a warrior. Not once had he ever seen senseless evil such as that which had begun to infest the world around him. He had hopes that a young man delivered to his doorstep in the Earth's time of need would prove up to the task of stopping that evil. That his granddaughter would stand by his side and show him the path of dignity and duty. The howl of rage that originated from the seventh floor of an apartment building that materialized out of nothingness caused him to instead hope for the mercy of a swift death.
Exploding out of the wall of the Mizuno's apartment, sending concrete and glass in every direction, Unit-01 descended to the ground below like the wrath of an enraged deity. Smashing into the ground in a cloud of lighting and snow, it loomed over everyone present. The blue and yellow armor flexed and stretched like living tissue as it sucked in a violent lungful of air, the seemingly solid metal proving quite malleable and organic. Its cold, sterile, gaze first took in the priest, then Inari, before landing on the man that she restrained.
"No." The progenitor of the Kitsune firmly denounced something that only she had heard. "We need answers, not blood."
The land for kilometers around echoed with the roar of fury that the Evangelion let loose. To stare into the gaping maw that was its mouth, was to see that there was nothing of Shinji Ikari. There was only the infinite abyss. Taking a firm step forward, it gestured to the window behind and far above.
Pain grew in her stare, but her voice was unmoved. "And killing this creature will only lose us the ability to find the true mastermind. I will not allow you to destroy yourself through foolishness."
Where Unit-01 had moved set it within a simple step of the elderly priest. Accepting that his time on the mortal coil may very well have ended, he nonetheless would die answering his calling. Placing himself between the violent half-machine half-monster and the prisoner in such a way that would not strike anyone as a challenge, he made a slow, easy, soothing motion with his hands. "It is often said, by those wiser than I am, that a man out for revenge should first dig two graves. We lose sight, when the burn of righteous justice presses upon our heart, of those things that we would destroy in its pursuit."
Without its normal horn, the helm of Unit-01 bore only a jagged nub in its place. The effect that sight produced only enhanced the terror generated by its glare. A small hint of hesitation was present, an air of uncertainty. Shinji, inasmuch as the beast could be called Shinji, was listening.
"I do not ask for clemency for this man," he assured him, "only time. Allow the honored matron to discover what she may, so that we might strike at the true source of the evil. Whatever he is now, he was once one of my students here. A fellow priest that dutifully guided the honoring of the kami around us. I bear some responsibility for his actions; please, give me some say in his punishment."
Landing behind Unit-01, those Sailors that had been present in Michiru and Haruka's apartment showed signs of serious unease and disorientation. Rei's unsteady voice gave evidence enough of the state the group was in, "I don't know what just happened…but I thought we were going to be given some warning before the building was moved."
Hearing her speak caused Unit-01 to move the foot it had placed closer to the prisoner back to where it had been and changed its coloration back to the traditional royal purple. Turning slightly, it looked back to the Sailor of Mars. There was no calm or peace to be read from the motion or the beast, but there was at least no longer an immediate indication of unstoppable violence.
"…Spirits grant her rest." Rei deflated at whatever she'd heard from him. "The tragedies simply do not wait for us anymore." Shifting purposefully, if a touch wobbly, she moved over and hugged Shinji, via Unit-01, close. "It's not your fault. You couldn't have known; we couldn't have known." Her back went stiff, and she gasped as Unit-01 looked back up to the building. "Go! GO!"
Unit-01 scrambled past several of Rei's allies, climbing the outside of the building itself with the elder Hino's granddaughter quickly following in hot pursuit by jumping from balcony to balcony. The elder Hino was not too ashamed to sound relieved when he recommended, "Whatever just happened, I believe you might wish to remove my former fellow from the grounds quickly, my lady." The old priest looked to Inari, support and worry mixing in his eyes. "If there is worse yet to happen, I doubt I will be able to stop him again."
+++++ Akagi Apartment, Hikawa Shrine, Azabu-Juban, Japan. (Sunday + 8)
Shinji scrambled over the lip of the topmost balcony, then smashed directly through the sliding glass door that led into the apartment without bothering to try sliding it open. Looking around the main room, and past furniture into the kitchen and dining room, he shouted out, "Ritsuko?!" Speaking with Unit-01 on created a bizarre mixture of sounds, only barely recognizable as possibly belonging to an organic being. "Ritsuko, where are you?!"
Rei was quick to catch up to him and begin looking around. When he picked up the couch and tossed it out of his way, she caught it and launched it over the side of the building. "She was here. Maybe she's not hurt, and just went to bed?" Dancing quickly past him, she made a motion to stop him from following. "If she's not dressed, I doubt you want to just barge in. Let me check." His stock in her eyes rose as he flinched, then nodded quickly.
The waiting, much like many other things recently, seemed to take forever. He wanted to just tear apart the wall and see the truth. He wanted to know if he had more blood on his hands. He wanted to-
Her voice interrupted his mounting dread, "Shinji, it's ok! Come in here."
The space between him and the door to Ritsuko's bedroom didn't exist. This, unfortunately, meant that the door to her room also no longer existed. Still holding it in his hand as if it were attached to the frame it belonged in, he looked at the bed and saw a clearly dizzy and unwell Ritsuko Akagi. "Are you…I mean…you're not…?"
The yuki-onna from the restaurant smiled patiently at a man she knew to be honestly concerned and not performatively stupid. "I managed to shield her in time, Silent One. I sensed a buildup of energy and acted before tragedy struck." Looking back to Ritsuko, her smile became politely faux-embarrassed. "I do apologize for monitoring you without your knowledge, Doctor. However, I believe the results of my caution grant me some OOOH-"
Shinji had scooped up the snow maiden in a bear hug, interrupting and startling the typically reserved youkai. Trying without much success to temper his strength, he clutched her to him in earnest and unending gratitude. "Thank you. Thank you." His failure to notice that Unit-01 had receded as his anxiety whipsawed towards relief meant that he also did not notice that he was now nude…and covering the woman he held in the blood of Saeko.
Ritsuko's voice was very unsteady, but full of emotion as she coughed out in shock, "Shinji, why are you covered in blood?!"
He froze, took note of his position and condition, and mechanically lowered the yuki-onna to the ground. Relief shifted to both shame and sorrow. "I…I…."
Rei held Ritsuko down firmly, not wishing the mortal woman to hurt herself in an attempt to search Shinji for wounds. "Because Doctor Mizuno did not have the same type of protection you did." Her tone carried the same sense of loss that she knew Shinji himself felt. "He was comforting her, and also seeking comfort from her. In his mind, he is a failure. He could not save Ami-chan, and so he had to present himself to account for that failure. What happened in that room I will not speak of, it is not my place to tell that tale. I will, however, pre-empt everyone here and make it clear that nothing he did was done with a sound mind. He comforted her. He did not give himself to her." She watched him staring at the floor in shame, and spoke to him alone, Both of you were not in control of yourselves. I should think that of anyone you know, I'm the harshest towards men who act in an unseemly fashion. His eyes slowly lifted to look at her, and she gave him a smile of commiseration. Remember? "With us"?
The yuki-onna sensed Ritsuko's uncertainty about her own feelings regarding what she was seeing and took the opportunity to help prevent an Elder from becoming further imbalanced. "With your permission, Doctor, I would like to see to cleaning the Silent One. We often offer such services at our hot springs to those who know how to keep their hands to themselves."
"I will wash him myself." Ritsuko tried to sit up again and was once more foiled by Rei. "I am not an invalid!"
"You are, however, shaky." The shrine maiden did not rise to the woman's anger. "If you fall and crack your head, or if you get lightheaded because of the steam, I do not want to guess at the damage he might do trying to get you medical care. He will be in professional hands. You will be where he knows you are safe for a time. Everyone will take a moment to gather their thoughts."
Gently urging Shinji out of the bedroom, the yuki-onna gave her own assurances, "It would tarnish my reputation if I pressed him into anything indecorous. I swear, with all due seriousness, that my services will remain professional."
There was no will to fight in Shinji at that moment. Thinking back through everything that he had done, everything that had happened, the crisis lost its grip on his mind and he retreated to the familiar. For the second time that morning he found himself in a shower with a woman carefully washing him and checking over his wounds. For the second time that morning, he had the blood of a Mizuno on his hands. Sitting on a shower stool, he tuned everything around him out as the final two tracks of his S-Dat player rang in his mind.
+++++ Akagi Apartment, Hikawa Shrine, Azabu-Juban, Japan. (Sunday + 8)
With her access to Shinji's mind, Rei found it difficult to not snap when her hand was slapped away from Ritsuko's shoulder. "If you wish to make an issue of things, I would remind you that I am far stronger than you will ever be and have no compunctions against slapping you until you stop."
Ritsuko, for her part, had no qualms about snapping angrily. "Last night I was having a wonderful dinner with a wonderful man and intending to come home and create a wonderful memory with him. Right now, I have no idea where my building is considering the window does not show the view it ought to. Right now, Shinji is dealing with the loss of a friend, possibly someone who might have one day become more. Right now, he is covered in the blood of that woman's mother. What I want to know, and will find out one way or another, is why was he naked?" When Rei's jaw clenched, she jabbed towards her with her finger. "If that woman took advantage of an emotionally traumatized young man to cajole him into 'comforting' her, then I am going to make it clear to him that what she did was reprehensible. I was going to come home and let him travel as far down the path of sexuality as he was comfortable with. I was thinking about that before he lost an ally and had to do what he could to prevent more than six million deaths. I am most certainly not going to go rushing into the bathroom and jump on him because I want to be the first person across that line so that he feels obligated to stay with me forever. I want to know what I have to do to protect my damn friend, and whether I find out through you the unvarnished truth, or find out through him the stilted and disjointed version that I'm going to have to process through six layers of guilt and shame, I am going to find out."
"She stopped herself from taking advantage of him." A new voice entered the room, turning out to be the Jorōgumo that had watched over Shinji earlier. "She wanted to. She wanted to use him as a means to forget about life for a time. When she realized, much later than I had expected, that he was only laying down holding her because that is what she said specifically she wanted, she stopped herself." Once more toying with a scrap of silk, she leaned against the doorframe. "He honestly didn't think that she wanted sex. He really did not expect it at all. It's cute."
"That is not something to find 'cute'," Rei declared coldly. "I spoke as I did because the last thing he needs right now is to feel guilty for something he could not understand. He did nothing wrong. Mizuno-san, on the other hand, only has as much excuse as losing her daughter might buy her. However, that she is dead is still far too great a punishment for any sins she might have committed in life, and we should not be speaking ill of the recently deceased."
"When he is clean, I would appreciate it if all of you left our apartment so that I can try and help him process all of this." Ritsuko believed she was being reasonable. She did not want to be reasonable, but she thought she was being so. "Leaving us alone for a few days and fighting whatever needs to be fought without him."
"I will do no such thing." Rei also could be 'reasonable'. "I promised him that we would mourn together. That Minako-chan and I would sit with him and cry. Just because the tragedies compound themselves every ten seconds does not release him from the obligation he has towards defending what remains. Do not mistake my calm demeanor for cold dispassion. I hurt for the loss of my friend, I grieve for the loss of her mother, and I weep for the loss of millions of those I swore to protect. Should it be necessary, I will go out and fight until there is no more breath in my body. He will do the same because it is what warriors do."
"He isn't a warrior!" Ritsuko once again slapped away the attempt at stopping her from standing, gripping the headrest for balance as she waited for the dizziness to pass. "He's an artist, a budding scientist. His greatest weapon is between his ears, not attached to his wrists."
The Jorōgumo giggled, then held her hands some distance apart. "Actually, his greatest weapon is attached below his belt."
Rei turned to the spider and snapped, "That's not helping!" When Ritsuko went to move past her, she reached out and firmly grasped her shoulder, stopping her momentum dead. "And neither is rushing in there right now half-cocked." Turning between the two women, she took control of the conversation with cold threats of violence implicit in every word, "He does not have only one friend. He is not the only person who is suffering. We are not going to sit here and argue with each other about who is going to spend time with him today. We are going to do what friends do: we are going to listen to him. If he wants to be alone, we'll make sure he's alone. If he wants to be with any of us, alone or in combination, we will make sure it happens." The last statement was directed firmly at the Jorōgumo, "The next person to attempt any form of seduction had best be fireproof. He is not ready for intimacy. Akagi-san has the right of that, at least."
+++++ Hikawa Shrine, Azabu-Juban, Japan. (Sunday + 8)
"They found her." Minako sat on the low stone wall that separated the shrine grounds from a sheer cliff, speaking to the other Sailors regarding what they could do to try and stop the trauma train. "One of the youkai managed to protect her when everything went wiggly. A tiny bit of luck, I guess."
Haruka was embracing Michiru from behind, her elbows on the shorter woman's shoulders. "I'm waiting for the rest of us to break down into tears, really." Her heavy sigh was mixed between sadness and fatigue. "It just seems like every time we're close to having a chance to just get it out, something kicks us again."
"Oh, I've been crying on the inside for hours now." Her smile was whimsical as she spread her hands helplessly. "Every time I think of a way to 'accidentally' confuse two words or 'mistakenly' use an idiom wrong, I remember that neither of the two people that really bothered are around anymore. Every time I go to use my favorite scratching post, I remember that she's currently batshit insane and responsible for Ami's death. Currently the only woman who ever really understood me in our little group is trying to stop two other women from complicating Shinji-kun's life further." Shrugging, she looked down at the ground and kicked her feet idly. "They're dead…and they're a part of Shinji-kun now. I don't know what that means, and I can't give him enough time to figure it out."
Michiru decided to cope with her own favorite method. Her tone remained free of potential recriminations as she asked, "What about you? What is it you want from life?"
"…I used to think it was a hot boyfriend who was rich and would take me anywhere I wanted to go." Snorting, she looked back up to the two new Sailors, and realized that it was only two new Sailors. "Where'd the bitch go?"
+++++ Akagi Apartment, Hikawa Shrine, Azabu-Juban, Japan. (Sunday + 8)
Past a certain point the logic had become an inward spiral for Shinji. He promised to protect someone, someone died, he promised to protect those they cared about, they died, he promised to protect the survivors, they died. Any attempt at success, in any endeavor he thought to try, had thus far failed. Protecting people, saving people, anything. He made promises, he failed at keeping them. Each time he failed, he tried to make up for it. The very act of intending to do something to fix the last failure led to the next being even grander and more destructive. Two steps forward, four steps back. The darker part of his mind wondered how the yuki-onna that was currently struggling to remove some stubborn blood from his leg would die. If I don't attempt to protect her…will she live? Is that what they meant by me being from a mirror-world?
"I will take over now." Setsuna's voice drew both his and the frost princess' eyes to her entrance. "It is my duty and privilege to comfort him."
Another woman for me to kill. "Go away." The sensation of time slowing to a crawl reminded him that it was exceedingly unlikely he'd be able to convince her to do anything she didn't want to do. The itching sense of impending failure caused his jaw to clench tightly. "Whatever it is you-"
"Six times a day, at random, he would beat you." The lithe Sailor for Pluto stopped where she could block off his escape without crowding him. "Each time he would point out an error you had made previously. He tracked them, but never corrected them when they were made. He always waited until your guard was down, waited until he could inflict the most damage through fear and pain." Her tone gentle, she cut him off as he went to ask what point she was trying to make, "Asuka did the opposite. Any weakness, any flaw, she jumped on like a duck on a June beetle. You had spent your life before the Evangelions dreading the announcement of your failures, then you spent your life during the War dreading the next failure. At no point did anyone teach you how to succeed. How do you think you can win, my he…Shinji, if nobody has ever told you when you've done so?"
Confusion fed the fires of anger in his gut. "How many millions of people are dead because-"
"How many more would be dead if you hadn't been the one sent through the portal?" Holding up five fingers on one hand and three on the other, she added more pressure. "Eight times now someone other than you has attempted this. Each time, they never made it past the first. They failed to raise their defenses and were crushed by the bus. They failed to communicate with the younglings and were torn apart in the crossfire. The only person of the three that have come here to have any success, the only one to buy Galaxia time to give me the strength to reset everything, is you."
His head cramped, shattered memories stabbing his mind like knives. Vague impressions of a variety of women, always women, who stood by his side as the sea swallowed all. As quickly as they arrived, they fled once again, leaving pain to lend strength to his desire to lash out. "Which means that all I do is take longer to fail! I drag out the inevitable long enough-"
"For me to learn more." She had crept close enough now that she could kneel and touch his leg. "Each time we use a new strategy, each time the enemy counters us. The difference is, I remember the failures. I'm almost positive I know who the true mastermind is now. What I don't know, and can't know until I get some answers from people, is why." The wave of anger dimmed in his eyes, giving her hope. "It doesn't make sense. Its goal, and their actions, are completely at odds. I need you to be strong. I need you to fight through this wretched agony." Her lips curled into a pained smile. "I need you…but I understand that you barely remember me."
"They're going to force me to kill you. Like I killed Makoto, like I killed the Mizuno family." The anger may have faded, but it had not transformed into anything positive. "Get out." Turning his body, he walled her away from his mind.
"I'll…be back soon." She refused to give up. "I'm going to go ask the cats some questions, but I'll try to be back in time for you and me to have lunch." Much as anger had faded from his eyes, hope now followed along in hers when Shinji didn't react in the slightest. Her hand moved out, wanting to grip his shoulder and force him to- Realizing where that thought would lead, she turned on her heel and stormed out of the bathroom. It's not his fault. It's their fault.
The world resumed its orderly progression from past to future at the universally accepted rate, the yuki-onna giving a short huff of irritation at the noticeable change in Shinji's orientation on the shower stool. "Were we within the hot springs I tend to, she would have been reminded of appropriate manners." A gentle series of touches restored him to where he had been, allowing her to continue soothing and cleaning him. "She is powerful, this is true. What she is not, is infallible. Time has no master, not since the Elder responsible gave her last strength to prevent the Mindless Void from claiming dominion over this shard of existence during the Wars."
Despite the emotional malaise that had driven him to end the conversation with Setsuna, the bit of information implied in the statement drove him to quietly mutter, "…What was she like?"
"Quiet. Reserved." Her fingers worked a brush along his fingernails, her mouth carefully keeping away from a smile at having taken advantage of the interruption to break his blockade. "She was short. Very, very short. No higher than just above your knee. When she spoke, I often had to subtly lean down to avoid triggering what temper she had. Her sister was far taller, and that disparity was keenly felt. A flash of anger from the Elder for Time would often lead to her disappearing, at least from our frame of reference. She'd show up eventually, calmer and back in control."
"So…when she lost control over her anger, time would freeze. Because she was 'Time'." He'd experienced enough of Setsuna's abilities to piece together the why of things.
"Indeed. If her elder sister became…exuberant with her affections, there would be a sudden increase in some random population of living beings. Humans, nure onago, wheat, anything that is capable of…reproduction." She hadn't intended the conversation to drift towards that topic, considering the events leading up to their present situation, and was surprised when he didn't react by clamming up harder.
His eyes were drawn to his palms, to the Foci present in them. "…So the emotional trigger is specific to the Elder. That's what these are for. They blunt the entire emotional spectrum, help an Elder discover what triggers their power to appear." The logic made sense. "If the Elders were responsible for things like time and…that…." The idea made some small amount of sense to him, the man who he'd lived with in Nagano told him that the kami were responsible for portions of the natural world around them, and that not paying respect to them generously could lead to serious consequences. "Then I…I need to find which emotion causes everything around me to die."
Anything she said held a non-zero chance of impacting far more than the next few moments, and so the yuki-onna chose to remain silent. Denmother, the Silent One is dangerously close to misunderstanding the truth of his existence. We may want someone with a touch more tact than I possess to spend some time with him.
"Because if everything around me dies…that would mean I'm De-"
"Listen, lady," Minako stormed into the bathroom, Michiru and Haruka right behind her, "we told you…to…oh." Slamming her eyes shut and blushing from toes to nose, the blonde Sailor of Venus began to blurt out apologies and explanations simultaneously, "I'm really, really sorry I thought that that woman snuck up here, we were just going to come here and haul her out to leave you alone because that's what we all agreed to do but then I heard your thoughts about her and thought that she was in here with you and I was so angry that she'd invade your privacy like that just because she-"
Haruka layered her hands over Minako's mouth, giving Shinji a cheeky grin as she hauled the blonde Sailor of Venus backwards out of the bathroom. Michiru turned about as well, closing the door after the other two while remaining inside to ensure that he was well while not embarrassing him by looking. "She disappeared from where we were, downstairs. I was helping Minako-chan process everything when she noticed that she was only speaking with myself and Haru-chan. I felt Setsuna-san's power up here and assumed the worst."
"Your presumptions were not in error," the yuki-onna stated blithely. "Stormed in like she was his owner, demanded that she be given the responsibility of checking his wounds and cleansing his body. She then stifled time itself, held counsel with him, and vanished as quickly as she'd arrived." Trying not to be obvious about preventing Shinji from completing his declaration, she stood up and picked up a nearby towel to dry her hands. "Unfortunately, I must go and report on the infraction. With our need for caution regarding the potential for the Pale Moon corrupting you and your allies, I cannot let this go unmentioned or I will be at fault when it explodes." Looking down to Shinji, she begged her ancestors for some small bit of luck. "Would you mind terribly if I left the Mistress of the Waves to finish the last bits along your back? She seems to understand propriety, and has her eyes firmly set on the Sword-maiden."
A haze of memories where Shinji had given Michiru a bath when she was too injured to do so herself warmed his cheeks. She had been, if his memories were truly his own, someone he had no secrets from. She, in kind, never kept secrets from him either. They had developed a bond of mutual trust based solely on the lack of lies that had flourished into a mutual desire to support the other when everything went wrong. "…I…I trust her a lot more than I trust myself." It tore at his heart that he had to follow that with, "She's going to die because of me."
When a cold torrent of water doused the nude Elder, the yuki-onna felt that the situation would be safe enough for her to depart and discover why she had not received input from the woman in charge of the youkai present. "I leave him in your most capable hands, Daughter of the Seas." Departing with dignity, she left the two alone and closed the door behind herself.
"Nobody, and I mean nobody, has died because of you, you sourpussed ninny!" Turning around and letting her poise and reserve take a break, Michiru stormed over and pushed Shinji's head back against the wall by stabbing her finger against the tip of his nose. "I will not stand there and tolerate you berating yourself for every single tragedy that happens! We don't blame the big ball of stone orbiting our planet for the waves that devastate islands! It is one among many factors in the fluid dynamics at play. The moon, the sun, the wind, the movement of the Earth's tectonic plates, it takes an entire array of things working together to mess things up!"
Shinji had to blink his eyes several times in shock, this was something he had no memories of. "But if the moon was never there to-"
"Then how would that impact life on Earth? Hmm? Do you know? No! No, you don't!" She summoned another waterfall to drive the point home. "Maybe humanity's distant ancestors never arise from the primordial soup. Maybe more meteors smash down on the surface and destroy any chances of life. How many 'maybe' or 'might' do you need to twist around until you are satisfied? When will you be happy? Hmm? When you accept the blame for everything?!"
Pushing himself up to his feet, he towered over the smaller Sailor and roared out, "I DON'T KNOW!"
Smashing him from the side with a geyser, she sent him into the bathtub. "You're right! You don't know!" Stalking over and looming over him as he lay splayed in the porcelain tub, she scowled with genuine anger. "We are all responsible, Shinji. If Haru-chan and I introduce ourselves earlier, maybe we could have tempered their reactions. If Setsuna-san doesn't play everything so bloody close to her chest, maybe we might have been able to plan something out. If Usagi-chan never became infatuated with that worthless fop, maybe she wouldn't be so torn inside about falling for you. If, if, if. That's all it is. IF!" This time, she struck from underneath, sending him towards her and catching him in her arms as she rose to meet him on a pillar of ice. Hugging him tight, standing at an even height with him, she sobbed out, "I'm tired of everyone dying! I'm tired of you blaming yourself for it! I'm tired of fighting. Fighting you, fighting them, fighting the world! I just want a damn house on an island where nobody can find us. Me, Haru-chan, you, and whoever you feel you love enough to bring along." As she cried, he melted into her hug further, eventually holding her as tightly as she held him. "I just want to be free to help you learn to love yourself as much as Haru and I love you."
From any of the others, that same statement would have been met with grave doubts. From anyone outside of the bathroom at that moment, it would have met the same fate. Standing, nude to the world, with a tiny titan of terror in his arms…Shinji couldn't find a reason to doubt the words as he heard them. "I…I uhm…."
Pressing a kiss to his neck, she sniffled out a laugh. "Yeah. I know." She pushed him upright enough that she could look into his eyes. "We do love you. We also understand that you have no idea what that word entails. It's mouth noise. Like jilberfraghn. You kind of understand the edges, that it's a thing people feel for people…but you hate lying to me and don't want to say something you can't back up."
"…Yeah."
"Haru-chan teases you because she loves you. If she doesn't like someone, she doesn't tease them…she just puts them in their place. If she loves someone, nothing is safe from her poking at it. You know I love you because I'm standing here teaching you. Look for that, in yourself. What do you do for others, and what is it you do for a select few that you'd never do for anyone else." His eyes furrowed as he committed the statement to memory, a tell she'd learned meant that he was taking what she'd said deathly seriously. Her point made, she took a deep breath and laced her wrists behind his neck to brace herself for exposure to non-Shinji people. "Now. Why don't we get you dressed and bring poor Akagi-san's couch back up from the ground outside where Hino-san put it."
With her at his side, the doubts faded away. It wasn't the potential power that four of the other Sailors gave him. Instead, it was something stronger. Something seemingly beyond the potential for corruption. "Yeah…I…I was kind of worried about her when I entered. I think I owe her a couple new doors, too."
+++++ Lunar Command Center. (Sunday + 8)
Setsuna was so caught up in her own anger that she failed to notice the darkened stairs leading down to the main deck of the Lunar Command Center. Each time she engaged with this latest Shinji she somehow managed to anger him or cause him to collapse. She could see the man she fell for beneath the pain and uncertainty. The unwavering soldier that refused to quit the field before everyone that still lived had been saved. The quiet romantic who understood that a gentle touch on the shoulder and a warm, tiny, smile could mean as much as a ballad played before a nation. Every memory of those times where one of the others managed to claim him, the times before she had puzzled out the key to his locked heart, was a flaming dagger into her gut. As she rounded the final corner to the lightless bridge, she growled out mentally, They never understood him.
"No one understands Shin-Shin." Usagi's voice carried an eerie echo as it reverberated out from the shadowy caverns of the room. "Not even Shin-Shin."
Pulling out the red orb that had been her prize from the fight against Gaghiel, she attempted to light up the room with its glow only to find it wholly ineffective. The pulsing red aura reached some form of barrier and vanished as if it never existed in the first place. "I know him well enough to know that you're taking advantage of his innocence, Princess. He doesn't belong to that other world. He can't go back there." She swallowed the admission that she was responsible for that bit.
"We will go back, together." The statement held no challenge, no doubts. "When we do, things will be put back to rights."
"Says the woman hiding in corners. Where are the Mautians? Did you get tired of hearing good advice?"
"They're safe."
"Safe like Mercury is?" No sooner had she finished her poisonous query than she found herself slammed against the far wall; every inch of her body being crushed against it with an unseen, terrifying force.
Walking out into the dim light provided by the consoles at the center of the room, Usagi revealed that the changes witnessed by Michiru had begun to manifest in the outer world. Her blouse now black with a sickly green bow and boots, the sailor collar a pale yellow that matched the skirt, her lifeless eyes gave no evidence of the potential for mercy. "When it is your turn, when the slimy tendrils of corruption cordon you off from everything but the unblinking terror that is watching your body dance to the tune of the hidden puppeteer, I want you to remember those words."
Summoning every ounce of willpower she could to fight back, she found that even breathing had become impossible. Her vision narrowed, fear that her heart itself had been forced to stop grew. The Sailor for Pluto was helpless against a woman that could not possibly have the power to do what she was doing, the world itself was now helpless before such dark magic.
Usagi released her grasp after several long seconds, allowed Setsuna to collapse to the floor and take in a shuddering, ragged, series of breaths. "If I wished you dead, then dead you would be. If I wished him mine, then mine he would be. Instead, I do what I must to make certain that there is anything at all left to save. You and she meddled with powers that were taboo for a reason. Each time you have defied the very nature of Creation, the act left irreparable scars on the face of life itself. You sit there and wonder why I am becoming what I am, and you never question what must be done to prevent Him from collapsing all of this into so much nothingness to save countless other lives." Turning away, she walked back into the darkness. "My warning stands. Attempt to compel him again and you will discover exactly what I am capable of."
Answers wouldn't be found for her questions where she was, and it was clear that attempting to fight Usagi alone was at best 'Suicide By Sailor', so Setsuna left via the stairs with as much dignity as she could muster. Rarely had she been so humbled, and it did not improve her mood for it to have been at the hands of the one woman who had most often stolen Shinji from her.
+++++ Akagi Apartment, Hikawa Shrine, Azabu-Juban, Japan. (Sunday + 8)
Shinji sat on his knees on the floor, where the couch had once been, slightly bowed in apology to everyone he'd made extra work for. "Thank you, Minako-san, for sweeping up the glass. I apologize that I did not clean up after myself. I apologize for breaking your couch and shattering two doors, Ritsuko-san. I did not control my fear, and that allowed it to control me. I will-"
"We will," Rei sat demurely at his side, letting him get the statements out of his system so that his mind could move forward, "because I caught the couch you threw and tossed it over the side. I earn some money from the shrine, I'll help buy a new couch to replace what we broke."
Minako stood next to Ritsuko, accepting an apology that she didn't feel to be necessary. "It's really ok, Shinji-kun, I'm incredibly sorry for just barging in! Cleaning up the glass wasn't a hassle, and you were just being a good man by worrying over Doctor Akagi's safety."
Ritsuko was busy analyzing the information that everyone was giving her by doing what they normally did, and replied with an off-handed shrug. "Didn't really like the couch anyway. It was a housewarming gift from my mother that I was obligated to keep just to stop her from complaining about it. I'll split the cost of replacing it, since I want a say in what it looks like. I do agree with Aino-san though, apologizing for rushing to see if I was safe after what happened more than explains the damage to our apartment. Complaining that you valued my life that highly by belittling the efforts you would take to ensure it is more than a little petty, wouldn't you think?"
"Doc makes a solid point," Haruka sat backwards in one of the dining room chairs, leaning her elbows atop the backrest and her jaw on her wrists, "if she were a second away from death the last thing she'd want is you to carefully pick your way through the apartment in your work clothes."
"Now then," the polymath clapped her hands to move the conversation along, "I've accepted your apology. We've determined a course forward. For now, I'd rather focus our efforts on making sure that everyone is out of 'crisis mode'. The loss of the Mizunos, no matter their most recent acts, is a tragedy. What we're dealing with now, what we're preparing for, should not stop us from taking a moment to ensure we process what's happened."
The Sailor for Mars shifted her posture so that she bumped Shinji with her shoulder to knock him out of the apologetic stance he was holding. "Your roommate makes another excellent point. I meant it when I said 'we' would mourn."
Minako walked over and offered her hands to Shinji. "Why don't we cook something for brunch? We can all share memories, talk about things…you know, stuff!" Her sad smile urged him to accept. "I mean…I kinda feel like she's not really gone, because she's giving you strength. Just like Makoto-chan."
"Which is also something we should discuss," Michiru chimed in from her position near the television. "We need to regroup both emotionally and physically. I'm sure if we ask the Mujina assessing the integrity of the building, they'll be more than happy to charge a fair price for any material goods lost in the transition."
"Material!" Ritsuko snapped her fingers as Shinji accepted Minako's offer and stood up with the blonde's help. "A couple of…entities, not really sure what they were, stopped by with a request to talk with Shinji." Gesturing over to the box that Lithion and Tungsram had left, she urged Haruka to bring it over. "They said this was pre-payment for you considering their offer. If you don't want to meet them, it's still yours to keep. I'm sorry I didn't mention it earlier."
"N-no," Shinji waved off any offense, "no, it's ok. We…uhm…I think you called it 'crisis mode', right?"
Holding out the package for him to open up, Haruka gave him a wink. "Exactly, big guy. That applies to everyone, you included." As he cautiously freed the ribbon, she pressed the point home. "An apology is polite, and Doc was right to give you one for the same reason you were right to give her one, but you don't need to go overboard with it. We're all friends, and we all need to understand that bad things…." Trailing off as the item inside the box was revealed, she blinked in confusion. "Who is that?"
Sitting in the box, carefully braced by several foam rubber pads, was a picture that Misato had managed to take of him, her, and Pen2 at the dinner table in her old apartment. Prying it loose reverently, his eyes moistened for a reason other than sorrow for the first time in what felt like years. "That's Misato, and Pen-Pen." Swallowing a lump in his throat, he turned the picture frame around to show everyone. "She…she is…."
"She tried to do her best to give him a home," Michiru offered when Shinji lost his voice. "When he was removed from the home of a terrible man, by an even worse man, for the purposes of piloting an enormous abomination against life itself so that he could try and save humanity from these Angels, she prevented him from being shoved in a closet and forgotten about until it was time for him to fight again. She tried to encourage him to make friends. Tried to get him to act like a young man, and not a victim." She braced herself for his reaction, but she did not fail to speak the truth, "She also misjudged him, badly. She brought other factors into his life that drove him back towards introversion. She allowed alcohol and cheap sex with an old flame to distract her from her duties to him. In short, she was a human. A human with human flaws, and human failings, and human motivations…that tried her hardest to show a good young man that he was worth more than he was being given. She might not have succeeded as much as she wanted, but unlike everyone else in his world she tried. She earned his love, and she earned my gratitude."
Rei and Minako had approached to take a closer look at the picture, attempting to show that they were interested in what he had to say and what he thought. It was the blonde Sailor of Love that spoke first after Michiru had explained everything, "She's really pretty, too. The penguin though…I didn't think those could be pets?"
"He's a warm-water penguin," Shinji himself had learned a lot about the other male in his old apartment from studying on the Magi-net, "they were developed in an attempt to save the species after Second Impact. A lot of animals died from the world heating up due to the tilt of the Earth changing, almost all of the animals that came from the Southern Hemisphere actually. Those penguins that lived in zoos up North were guarded, and a number were experimented on to try and stop them from dying due to the heat. He was a 'rescue', so to speak. His experimentation stopped him from being viable at producing offspring, and instead of having him put down they offered him to a 'good home'." Shinji broke into a smile, laughing at the memory. "I first met him when I was going to take a shower, and he'd just come out of the bath. He stood as tall as my waist, and I ran out naked from the bathroom screaming about a monster. I must have looked ridiculous." Everyone joined him in laughter, each sharing the humor of the situation with him instead of demeaning or belittling him, warming his heart.
"I remember when Ami-chan fell into the pool during gym one day." Minako piggybacked off of his story to share a memory of her own. "She was chewing on Usagi-chan for falling asleep during math, and wasn't watching where she was going. 'You're going to end up failing the cl-', shwoop, right in the drink." Another round of laughter followed, which Shinji joined in delicately, uncertain that he wouldn't be demeaning someone by doing so. "When Usagi-chan went to pull her out, she slipped on the tiling and went right in after her. I barely stopped from falling in I was laughing so hard."
The group migrated towards the kitchen, Rei guiding Shinji along with everyone else. What followed was several hours of shared stories, from Shinji's world, from the Sailor's antics, from Ritsuko's time with her mother. What had begun as an opportunity to share grief, instead became a chain of celebrations. The lives that had been lost, had also been lived. Those lives now resided in their memories, where they could be honored, where they could be shared, but most importantly…where they could be cherished.
+++++ Hikawa Shrine, Azabu-Juban, Japan. (Sunday + 9)
"I did send you help." Inari was now personally inspecting every person re-entering the shrine after she'd ordered it evacuated and then had it searched three times. Looking askance at the yuki-onna she raised her eyebrow. "Do you honestly believe the Lady of Love simply showed up out of the ether? Is it really like her to simply barge into a bathroom when a man might be in there?"
"Yet you told me nothing?" The woman was not pleased with having been left in such a dangerous situation. "If he pronounced himself there, if he truly accepted the mantle that-"
"Then a great deal would have become largely pointless." She waved the next batch back in to continue working. "I have no resources at hand that could have changed his mind without drawing attention to the act. I relied on the enemy's strengths to serve our purposes, and he was successfully derailed. The idea is now planted in his mind, it will germinate, it will blossom, and eventually it will expand beyond the bed we've laid. For now, we need to nurture it with the appropriate fertilizer if we are to achieve the outcome we desire."
"We do not take kindly to being thrown to the wolves, Fox Mother. I expect recompense."
"You'll receive compensation for the danger when I can arrange for it." Dismissing the other woman with a wave, she made her own declaration of warning. "If we do not succeed, you'll wish he had killed you then and there."
+++++ Akagi Apartment, Hikawa Shrine, Azabu-Juban, Japan. (Sunday + 8)
Most everyone had managed to find someplace to fall asleep half a day after the reminiscing had begun. Ritsuko was actually the first to lose the battle for consciousness, apologizing and urging that everyone continue while she 'took a nap'. Rei followed, going down to her chambers in the shrine proper. Haruka and Michiru made a concerted effort to not succumb to fatigue, but ultimately yawned once too often for Minako and Shinji who urged them to go next door and get some rest.
Working as a team at the sink, the two remaining mourners quietly washed the dishes that had been used and spoke through the mental connection that had been established before everything continued to fall apart. The blonde Sailor for Venus carefully dried a teacup while thinking seriously about the question Shinji had posed to her. I guess…it really is just me being optimistic. Sure, she's 'changed'. She's apparently some kind of group soul with Makoto-chan and that Greek lady. But she's still there. She's still fighting. If what she told that woman is true, and according to you it can't be a lie, then she'll see us again someday. It doesn't have to be 'goodbye', and that's enough for me to stop crying.
The level of self-confidence she exuded was powerful. She had known three of the women for far longer than he had, had fought alongside two of them and spent dinners and study groups with the third nearby. Shinji felt shame begin to crawl back into his thoughts at his own actions earlier that morning. I…I'm kind of jealous. You aren't panicking. You aren't beating yourself up. Everything you're saying makes sense…and all I did was try to push responsibility for my own punishment onto someone else.
Minako set the cup back into the cabinet where it belonged, and tried to inquire as delicately as she could, Is it…true? Did you really…were you and Mizuno-san….
I thought she just wanted me to hold her. He didn't want to defend himself. He wanted to take complete blame for what had happened. However, he also couldn't lie worth a damn and knew it. She was helping me get my wounds clean. I let her stitch them up without any anesthetic. Minako's sympathetic wince caused him to stop cleaning the dishes and slump against the sink, his forehead resting on the cabinets above. She realized I was punishing myself, and started to cry. I held her for a while, not really sure how long, and then she said she needed to call the hospital and her ex-husband. A dark groan followed that. He's an asshole. Didn't even care that Ami-san was dead.
Worming her way under his arm, she held him close. He sent her a birthday gift every year. The same birthday gift, every year. Her age, times one thousand Yen. When he snorted out a laugh, she tried to move the conversation away from the topic. I've always thought my dad was kind of a dork, but compared to Ami's dad he's a really great man. It's gonna suck to go tell them everything.
The first thing my father ever gave me was a letter that said, 'Come'. Fourteen years after he dumped me off at a train station, abandoning me with…. Manners, more than anything else cut his thought short. I guess I understand why Ami-san was always so nervous about people fighting around her. I'm the same way. Taking a deep breath, he looked down to the blonde beauty and set aside his own problems. Do you want to go do it now? I'll come with you.
Never in her life had Minako fought so hard to stifle a playful flirtation as she had just then. She would love to go make out with him, and would adore if he'd choose her as his best girl. Now, however, was very much not the time for that. With her face stiff, she nodded. No time like the present. Hopefully we can keep them safer here.
Shinji rinsed, then dried, his hands and arms. Will what I'm wearing be appropriate? He was wearing another of the gifts from the spider youkai that flattered a figure hardened by combat. To anyone not named 'Shinji Ikari', he was dressed in the manner of a man that many would expect was rich, powerful, and successful. To him, he was wearing a costume that stopped him from continuing to walk nude in front of everyone else.
Yeah, stretching out the sound while looking him up and down and once again, wanting to allow herself to be weak for just one minute, Minako hid how delicious she found him to be. Yeah, I'm sure you'll make a good impression on my parents.
Gesturing to the exit leading to the outside hallway, he moved to open the door for her. I'll…trust your judgement. He had been about to say something that he'd become convinced would result in the deaths of the people they were going to see. While he'd mostly forgotten his potential status as something more specific than 'Elder', he hadn't forgotten what had resulted from careless statements and intentions. He'd already misspoken once on the matter, twice was just begging the world to slap him.
Several ideas played out in Minako's mind as she walked to the elevator with Shinji. If she asked to walk on his arm, she'd risk taking advantage of his willingness to do anything someone asked of him. If she didn't ask him, she risked treating him like a distant stranger. Affectionate displays were her thing! Hugging the others was how she made it through the tough times! When he held the elevator door open for her, allowing her to get on first, she was so lost in thought that her response was automatic. "Why thank you, kind sir."
Shinji blushed as he entered the lift himself, murmuring mentally, Anything to help a good woman.
That sealed the argument for her, leading to her lacing her arm through his and leaning against him as they descended. "It's easy to be a good woman when you're surrounded by better women." She smiled, remembering how often her friends squabbled. "We fight all the time, but we fight because we care about each other. It's so backwards from what I see guys do. I see them avoid getting in stupid fights, avoid their emotions, avoid getting angry. Well, men at least. Boys and girls are probably mostly the same. It's only after we mature that we start to realize how important it is that we do what we can to hold onto the friends that matter."
He could feel his soul being seared with the sensation he'd received from the kiss that allowed them to speak in his mind. Something painful, treacherous, and awe-inspiring sat out right before him ready to be grasped and held close. Once more, just like when he'd finally reached out for an answer as to Saeko's actions, he found the courage to ask a question that had no answer, What is it that you feel, when you touch me? His eyes showed the pain and joy her presence brought to him, the desire to be held close and never released. I…I don't understand it. It's confusing, and scary, and painful. I-I don't want it to end!
Holding onto his arm and taking comfort from him was one thing. Admitting that she was attracted to him and would really like it if he'd put the brakes on everyone else's efforts to entice him and listen to her bid for services was something that she really didn't want to do when he was so imbalanced. …How about…uhm, an answer for an answer? Stalling for time was a classic for a reason. If you answer one of my questions, I'll answer one of yours. The last thing she trusted at the moment was her voice. Opening her mouth and confessing to him was far too likely. Fair?
The door opened on the ground floor, several Mujina working on the opposing wall turned to recognize who was arriving and offered a solemn nod and a smile heavy with shared grief. Shinji stopped just outside of the elevator and bowed politely in recognition of both their efforts on the building and their commiseration. Not wishing to slow them, or distract them while working, he then moved off with Minako in tow to get out of their way and move towards the exit. Sure…yeah, that's fair.
Caught off-guard and without a proper question, she had to scramble for something that would take at least a little bit for him to answer. Something that would be appropriately personal, to appear as a fair exchange for what he'd asked her, but not so personal that it was damaging to him. Ultimately, the pregnant pause felt far too girthy and she settled on, "So this Misato Katsuragi, she looked exceptionally beautiful. Did you ever have any 'thoughts' about her?" Of any answer she might have expected, him rolling his eyes and snorting was not among the highest.
She was a slob. His words were derogatory, but the tone he used in his mind could only be described as affectionate. When I moved into her apartment, she had mounds of beer cans in the corners of the kitchen that were up to my navel. She had at least six different boxes of partially eaten pizzas from four different pizza shops stacked on one end of the futon. Her dirty clothes were all mixed together in a mound in front of the washing machine, colors with whites with delicates with…lady clothes. His blush was tame in comparison to several he'd given recently. When she saw how embarrassed I was at handling those, she started to leave them on top of everything else. Eventually, she'd just hand her thong and bra to me through a crack in the bathroom door when she went to shower. I ended up learning from an article on the Magi-net that putting bras through the dryer destroys them. When I mentioned that to her, she…started hanging them in the bathroom where I had to duck under them.
Minako was shocked. His mind was so preoccupied with the abuses he'd experienced at the hands of a shadow of a man from Nagano, with the abuses of a redhead that lived with him, that she hadn't once seen any of this cross his thoughts. To her knowledge, young men would ritually disembowel themselves to have a woman that looked like that give them such tasks. She'd heard of all manner of illicit happenings when teens got their hands on a woman's panties. To Shinji, it was only embarrassing because he worried what people would think of Misato if they found out. It was no different than doing the dishes. It just 'was'. "…So you loved her, like a sister?"
His lips curled into a contemplative scowl. I…I really don't know. If what Kaiou-san says is true, then…yeah. I fought for her. I cleaned her house. I cooked her meals, I washed her clothing, I looked after her when she woke up with hangovers. I wouldn't do that for anyone else back…there. At least, not without being angry about it. One shoulder lifted in a half-hearted shrug. I can't disagree with the other things she said about Misato, either. She brought Asuka in. That…changed a lot.
"Out for a walk around the temple grounds, Silent One?" Inari approached, interrupting the conversation and blocking off their path forward. "Trying to put your thoughts in order?"
I'm walking Minako-san to her house. Hopefully I can help in some way to convince her parents that they need to accept the offer to move here. He had not forgotten, nor forgiven, the kitsune matriarch's actions from earlier. Is he dead yet? Part of him felt guilt at the way that Minako twitched in surprise, but not a large enough part to force him to feel differently.
"It is currently undergoing questioning from those trained to sniff out the truth from a mind filled with madness and lies." It was clear she was walking carefully herself, but also clear that she wasn't happy about more than him leaving. "I would really rather you not expose yourself to-"
I would 'really rather' people stop attempting to control every aspect of my life, he cut in ruthlessly. Nobody asked me if I wanted to involve Hino-san's shrine. Nobody asked me if I thought it was a good idea to drag Ritsuko-san here. Nobody told me that there were plans being developed that might risk Mizuno-san's life. I'm pretty familiar with the concept of OPSEC, and I understand the need to not tip our hand to any enemies. But I'm not going to go back to being a good little soldier who doesn't think or act without permission. Fifteen million people have died because I was trained to wait for someone to tell me what to do. Now if you don't mind, I will be leaving to escort Minako-san to her destination and back. He felt pressure begin to build in the kitsune matriarch and his tone grew frigid, I wouldn't. Right now, my hold on my temper is tenuous at best. My trust for you is even worse. Too many people have been mucking about in my head, and only a few of them have done me the honor of at least speaking in the one place they can't lie to me. When her eyes narrowed, he leaned in and growled, If you weren't afraid of what I'm capable of, you wouldn't have tried so hard to put a leash on me. Back off.
"I am worried about the safety of the only living Elder." Inari kept her tone even, recognizing a young man chafing at the bridle. "Would you be willing to accept a compromise? I will send several guards with you. You won't see them, they won't interfere unless lives are actively in danger, and they will not come close enough to overhear your conversations."
The more human part of Minako began to feel slightly tiny standing in the presence of a divinity and a man that she knew was capable of destroying armies. The feeling wasn't pleasant, and the immature part of her wanted to lash out at Inari for having interrupted them. The mature part, however, recognized childishness for what it was and attempted to be a responsible friend instead. "It's a reasonable compromise." Leaning to where she could be seen by Shinji, she gave him an understanding smile. "Think of it as more people to protect my parents. They can help them evacuate, and you and I can hold the line while the others wake up and get to wherever we are. It's a sound plan."
His demeanor calmed as he looked back at the woman on his arm. It's the kind of plan Misato would throw together. It's also misdirection to get me to calm down. Coughing out a laugh, he sighed in irritation. But you're right. The goal matters more than my anger. Whatever guards you choose can catch up, Inari. We're going to start walking. True to his word, he moved with Minako around the obstruction and left the temple behind.
+++++ Author's Notes:
Timingchameleon: RE: Silent One v. Wanderer.
The Wanderer was facing opponents that had pre-scripted plans. Every deviation from their Scenarios was further damage done to the outcomes they preferred. Eventually, when the damage was too great the Wanderer had become too strong to really hinder. It limited the amount of pain he had to suffer. The Silent One...lacks those benefits.
JaceSterne: RE: Chord Progression.
Cadd9, Am9, Cadd9, Am9, Fadd9/A, Gadd9/B, AbM7, BbM7: Arpeggios minus the inversion of two notes in the fifth and sixth chords (which Michiru missed) for Final Fantasy's "Prelude". Make of that what you will.
