Pairing: Tsukino Usagi (Sailor Moon) x Seiya Kou (Sailor Star Fighter)

Fandom: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon

Theme: #14. radio-casette player

Rating: G

Disclaimer: Tsukino Usagi, Seiya Kou, and any of the other characters that are turn up in this drabble do not belong to me, but to the incredible Naoko Takeuchi. I make no monetary profit off writing these stories. (Though I kinda wish I did - you can't exactly eat fiction, y'know. : ) Enjoy my latest try at abusing parentheses, though. XD

Lasting Refrain

It's a painful sort of love, the kind that makes her want to destroy all those horrible tapes that hold nothing but their voices - his voice - wailing over and over again. (It's okay, she tries to convince herself. You never really liked them, anyway. You only bought them because everyone else had them, because Rei and Ami and Makoto and Minako couldn't stop gushing over them, and you just had to have them, too.)

But every time she picks one up, ready to tear the flimsy strip of magnetic tape out of the fragile plastic casing - and it would be easy, oh so easy - she remembers how he sang for her. "I sing for only one lady," he had said, and proceeded to bewitch her with his strong baritone, the timbre of his voice resounding in that tiny space, the sheer emotion in the song sending shivers down her spine, and at that moment, she had wished to be that lady.

She ends up putting the tape back and crawls over to her bed, small and vulnerable in the way that she curls up into herself. She wants to cry, but no tears will come (she thinks she's cried them all out; after all, she's cried to herself for one month, two weeks and five days now - exactly how long it's been since they - he left for Kinmoku).

The silence is unbearable and she almost wishes that Luna would come in and scold her for moping, but the cat is probably off with Artemis. Her heart aches again and she slams her hand against the radio, turning it on to something, anything that could fill up the gaping silence. A chipper female voice rings through her bedroom, babbling out a list of sponsors and greetings, and she can't help but think that it all sounds completely fake. (It's simply horrible the way she's growing more cynical by the day.)

The woman finishes her prattling and goes on to read a request. It is a teenage girl, around her age, she thinks, and a Three Lights fan. The host seems to find some sadistic pleasure in reading the letter, emphasizing the parts where the fan details how much she misses the Three Lights and how she hopes they'll get back together soon and sing more songs and perhaps she could meet them at their reunion concert and she would finally be able to fulfill her dream of kissing Seiya Kou -

She almost kicks the radio at this point, but mercifully the letter finally finishes off with the girl's request, and the host chirps out a short introduction before playing the song. "In my dreams, how many times have we kissed each other tenderly?" the trio sing, and subconsciously she picks out his distinct tone, stronger than Yaten's but slightly less mellow compared to Taiki's.

She feels like a martyr, though she's not suffering for anything (not love, she's reserved that for another) (but if not love, then what?) and she's not doing anything except lying there, listening to their voices - hisvoice wash over her in a bittersweet wave. When the song ends, she pulls the tape from the stack and pops it into the player. It blares out the same song and the tears flow once more, silently tricking down the sides of her face to disappear into the tangles of her long blonde hair.

"The far off places where only moonlight will reach us - oh, I want to take you there."

Review Replies:

SeleneHarker - Aw, thank you! And I'm happy you came to that conclusion! I had trouble trying to work out how to bring in the idea of Fighter dying into the story, so I ended up just leaving it open. Great work catching the original idea, though. :3

KibaInu - Haha, the old onion trick. XD I'm really improving with each drabble? That's wonderful! Thank you so much!

LoveSunshinex - Aw, don't we all? I know I'd love to have a super-cool idol/powerful, protective senshi like Seiya around! X3

LittleGirlInLove - Thank you very much! I enjoyed writing this drabble too, but I did have a bit of trouble trying to describe the scene without overdoing it, so I'm happy it was just right. :)

Suki - I thought it would be something very in character for him to do - absolutely spontaneous, yet extremely sweet. (I'd like to be carried by Seiya myself. XD)

Teruna Hime - Oh, no, you made no mistake! I'm very happy when people ask me questions like that, because it gives me the opportunity to share my ideas better. And yay for non-rejection! These two get enough angst ... Eep, and I just added to it again. DX Ah, well. Thanks so much! Sorry for not updating too quickly. ;A;

Cheshiresara - That's all right! Reviewing is an option, not a requirement - that's why it makes authors so happy to receive them. :) One of the best, huh? Thank you so much! X3