Hello guys! Thanks LoveinTheBattleField for spreading the news about the premiere of Sailor Moon Crystal. I checked the first episode and it was amazing with the catchy new music, the beautiful artwork like the manga, and even the small details like Usagi getting ready for school or the scene where Usagi and Mamoru first meet one another. If you are not aware, Sailor Moon Crystal is the retelling of Sailor Moon faithfully based on the manga. It's similar to the anime but the manga's storylines are more mature, edgier, and darker than the anime version. I don't know how the rating systems works for websites like Hulu and Netflix, but please watch and support so it doesn't get cancelled. Shows on Netflix and Hulu do get cancelled. New episodes air on the first and third Saturday of every month. The next episode airs on July 19th on Hulu.
Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon.
Chapter Ten
A Blast from the Past
Hundreds of firecrackers soared through the black sky of Juban, Tokyo popping and exploding into a beautiful array of rainbow colors. The children gazed up at the sky in amazement with bright eyes and goofy smiles on their little faces. Some watched from their bedroom windows while other stood outside on the packed streets with their families or at Juban Bay, a few blocks away, sitting on top of the hoods of cars or lying down on the beds of trucks as the fireworks lit up the citizens' faces with beautiful colors. The parents smiled as their children enjoyed the wonders of being a child as they watched the reflection of the fireworks in their children's eyes.
Sarah pressed her faced and hands against the windows. Her knees sunk deep into the cushion of the booth as she watched the fireworks display from windows inside of her mother's café. Red then green hues shone over her innocent face. A big goofy grin appeared on her face making her snaggle tooth in the back of her mouth clearly visible. She wondered if they could touch the moon from how high the fireworks soared and then exploded. Sarah puffed sadly. She wished she could enjoy the experience with her parents, but her mother and father were on bad terms and spent most of their time arguing and fighting each other.
Sarah glanced over at her mother and the strange, scary man with the pungent odor a few seats away from her. Sarah hated the stranger. They were supposed to go to the bay with the rest of the staff and watched the fireworks display and now they were stuck in the restaurant because of this weirdo that ate like a pig and smelled just as bad.
Lita sat at the small square table. Her fine hands touching a cup of cold coffee as she watched Andrew sitting in front of her. The restaurant had closed an hour ago. All the staff went home or to the bay to see the bay to watch the fireworks display. Sarah wanted to join them, but Lita did not feel answering her employees' questions about stranger so she told Sarah no. Sarah was quite disappointed until the firework display started and now she was stuck to the window with happy look on her pretty face.
Her staff worried about leaving her alone with a deranged man, but she told him that she was fine. They believed her because she kept the man calmed for the remainder of the shift. They now sat in silence not speaking. She told him earlier that he could order anything he wanted. He ordered a steak dinner and she watched him devoured the food like a starving lunatic that had not eaten in days. She observed the tiny chunks of chocolate trapped in his bushy beard as he jammed his dirty hands into a chocolate cake not even taking the time to use a knife to cut it. She did not know what to say to him. Out of all things she imagined saying to him if she ever saw him again, she could not think of one thing to say to him. He was not the Andrew that she remembered, and she had changed too. They glanced outside as colorful fireworks display casting a red hue over the room.
When the fireworks ended a few minutes later and the crowd outside departed, Lita looked up at Andrew. She asked, "Have you seen your parents yet?" He shook his head. She knew that his family still lived in town. His baby sister was off at college studying to become a doctor.
She then asked, "Where are you staying?" He paused.
He said, "I returned to Tokyo today. You're the first person that I wanted to see."
Lita's heart fluttered. He still cared about her.
Lita glanced down and gloomily noticed the rusty wedding ring on his finger. "Where's your wife?"
Andrew faltered. His face became vacant, his eyes hard and indecipherable. He shut down again. Lita could tell that his walls were back up. He stood up abruptly and bowed his head in a polite manner. He said, "Good-bye Lita. Thank you for the food." He added with finality to his voice, "Good-bye, Lita." A paralyzing fear crept into the pit of her stomach warning her to not let him go. If he walked out of the restaurant, she feared she'll never see him again.
Without thinking, Lita jumped up startling Sarah. "Andrew! Wait!" Sarah watched as her mother raced after the strange man.
Lita burst out the building in the hot night. A few bystanders still strode along the streets. She watched in horror as Andrew paced into the middle of the road not paying attention to where he was going. Lita panicked when she saw bright headlights speeding down the road. Lita cried out, "Andrew, watch out!" He did not hear her and continued walking. Lita sprinted across the street and pushed Andrew out of the way as the car sped passed them and they rolled on the ground with Lita on top of Andrew. The car sped passed them never stopping. The tail lights quickly turned red as it stopped at a stop sign then turned the corner.
Lita heard Andrew's heart pounding fast as he glared at her. She looked down at him and asked concerned, "Andrew, are you okay?"
He nodded quietly. Their eyes met for a brief moment. She shook her head rolling off of him as her head pounded. She had a headache but she could not tell if he was from jumping to the ground or Andrew's repugnant smell overwhelming her. Still, she could not believe that even though smelling horribly and looking like a homeless man, she found him attractive. She was disgusted with herself.
She stood up dusting off her dress that was now ruined with grass stains and dirt. Her knee and elbow stung with pain after being scraped up falling on the hard sidewalk. Bystanders rushed over to them in concern. Lita thanked them for their concerns and told them that they were okay. Andrew stood up. She turned to him and told him, "Come on. You can crash at my place tonight."
The ride home in Lita's car was very silent and awkward. Lita turned on the radio to drown out the awkwardness. A classic eighties rock ballad played lowly on the radio. Lita glanced through the rearview mirror at her daughter in the backseat. Sarah glanced fearfully at the man suspiciously who sat as stiff as a stone statue in the passenger seat. Her hand close to the door handle in case she had to make a quick escape. The man reeked and his foul odor overpowered the interior of the car. Even with the windows down, she could still smell him pinching her nose as she tried to breathe through her mouth.
When they arrived home around midnight, Lita prepared Andrew a nice, hot bubble bath mixed with nice smelling scents. She showed him to the steamy bathroom where all the mirrors were now foggy. She searched in one of her drawers and gave him one of Nick's t-shirts and boxers. She was still sleeping with her husband.
The side effects of her sexual awakening were that she was constantly horny. She discovered nirvana in her bed and her office behind locked doors. Sometimes the warmness of the bath water brushing up against her core stimulated her enough to seek its pleasure there. She grew disgusted with herself promising never to do such a vile act again and then found herself doing it once more.
Nick wanted her back now. She called Mina the day after she returned home and kicked Nick out and heard the relief in Mina's voice. She failed to mention to Mina when they spoke again that Nick came crawling back to her a few days after the separation. He begged her to take him back. He told her that Maria had left him, he did not mean what he said, and he wanted his family back. He did not realize how good he had it until it was gone. Lita grinned with satisfaction internally even though she looked at him with a pissed off expression externally. She knew that Maria probably bailed once the money well dried up. Nick had money but he did not have Lita's money.
Lita found it ironic that when they were married, he didn't want her. Now they were separated he wanted her. He had the perfect wife that catered to his every whim and did not appreciate her. Now, that Lita was this sexually liberated and confident woman, he wanted her. He suggested they go to marriage counseling to fix their marital problems which she rejected. The more she rejected and rebuked him, the more he wanted her. Her cold and arrogant husband had turned into this cute, little puppy that did something very naughty and was being on his best behavior to get out of the dog house.
Their sex life had become wild and unpredictable. Lita constantly found herself arguing and fighting with her husband one moment then having angry sex with him the next. They had sex in his BMW. When they together, he did not want her to eat in his car. Now, he was screwing her brains out and he did not care. He convinced her to go out to a club with him one night. They ended up arguing and afterwards she found herself being pent up against a brick wall having raw sex in an alley behind the club. She came to his office one day to complain to him about him harassing her at work. She found herself being fucked on his office desk. Sometimes she would come over to his apartment that he moved into after the separation. He fixed her breakfast then afterwards they ended up in bed. Lita knew that they were not making love. It was only sex. Really good sex.
Lita had to admit that Nick had become a better lover and husband since the separation. He spent more time with Sarah now. Sarah would come home babbling on about how much fun she had at their outings. Lita would casually ask her daughter if there was another woman there, and she would always tell her no. She admired that he entered Sarah's life when she was five and became a father figure to her in every sense of the word. Even though they were not married, he called and thought of her as his daughter never forgetting a birthday. Even his parents treated Sarah like she was their own blood.
She recently allowed him to spend the night there a couple of times. A couple of days ago she was searching through her drawers for something. She found a drawer that was once empty packed with her husband's clothes. She checked her bathroom and found none of his things. She then checked the hallway bathroom and opened the medicine cabinet. There was a row with his toothbrush, his toothpaste, shaving cream, and his electronic razor. Lita's blood boiled with anger as she realized that he secretly got a copy of the house key made without her permission and snuck into her home and did this while Sarah and she were out. Sarah spoke frank but honest. Lita knew that her daughter knew nothing about this. She could not argue with him because he was out of town for two weeks visiting his parents.
Andrew's presence freaked Sarah out. As her mother showered in the built in shower, Sarah bathed in a large bubble bath that her mother prepared for her in her mom's bathroom. The hallway bathroom was normally hers but she had to use her mother's bathroom because the weirdo was there. Sarah held her breath until her cheek looked like a blowfish and she lowered her head under the water. She lied at the bottom of the tub imagining that she was at the bottom of a pool.
Lita turned off the steamy hot water then stepped out of the shower. She grabbed her towel that she had placed on the shower's door and wrapped it around her body. Sarah emerged from the water and began blowing the bubbles. Lita smiled as she looked at her daughter through the mirror as she combed through her long, wet chestnut brown locks.
After they were squeaky fresh and clean, they changed into matching pink tank tops and shorts that Lita caught at a sale in the mall. They hopped in bed. Sarah giggled when her mother began tickling her tummy and made silly noises blowing on her belly button. Sarah grabbed the remote and flipped through the channels until she landed on a kid's channel about the crazy adventures of a boy and friends on his journey to become a pop star. Sarah sat between her mother's legs as her mother braided her hair into two French braids.
When her mother finished, Sarah turned around to her mom like she was ready to explode if she did not ask her something. She asked, "Mom, who's the homeless guy?"
Lita grabbed the remote and flipped through the channels giving herself time to think. She stopped on a cooking channel. She placed the remote on the nightstand next to her bed. "He's not homeless. He's an old friend."
She said dramatically, "He gives me the creeps and he smells bad too."
Lita smirked internally but she said firmly, "Sarah Jane Kino that is not a nice thing to say."
Sarah asked challenging her mother, "Even if it's true?"
"Sarah, go to sleep." Sarah crawled under the covers then turned to her side and closed her eyes. She was asleep within minutes.
Lita heard movement outside of her room. She slipped out of bed quietly closing the door behind her.
Andrew stood in the middle of the floor. He looked cleaned and smelled fresh. His long hair clung to his face and droplets of water were still on his beard. He looked pale and thin in the t-shirt and shorts. She wondered what happened to him. This was not the Andrew that she remembered.
He glanced down at his bare feet. He said, "I can't find my shoes."
Lita answered awkwardly, "It's in the wash. I placed your clothes to wash."
She found him giving her the once over. She became hot and aroused as his eyes roamed her body. He looked at her shorts that barely covered her butt cheeks revealing her long, silky legs and her pretty pedicured feet. His eyes zoomed in on her breasts. She was always blessed but her breasts were bigger since she had her daughter. She looked down and forgot that she was braless. He could see her nipples poking out through the thin fabric of her tank top. They were hard. His lips parted as she blushed.
Lita blurted out, "You can sleep in the guest room." She walked towards him grabbing his hand and dragging him downstairs. She ignored the tingle she felt from simply holding his hand. His eyes stared at her apple bottom ass that looked round and plump in her shorts that looked more like boy shorts. He restrained his hand from reaching out and touching it. "Come on I'll show you."
They walked through her living room. She led him to a white double-layered door. She pushed the door opened. She moved to the side as he stepped in. Lita flipped on the light switch.
His feet sunk into the soft white carpet of the dimly lit room. The octagon-shaped white bedroom was large and spacious with a gigantic oak ceiling fan hanging from the ceiling in the center of the room over the queen-sized bed with its brown, white, crème colored square comforter set and matching solid colored pillows. The furniture matched the color of Lita's hair with a matching Chester drawer and chestnut drawer. There was a matching standing mirror in the corner between the drawers and two cut up windows covering with white vinyl blinds and chocolate colored curtains. Against the wall where they stood with an entertainment center with a sixty inch flat screen TV.
Lita said as Andrew looked around, "The remote is on the night stand if you want to watch television."
Andrew said in a straight voice not looking at her, "Thanks Lita."
Lita weakly smiled at him. "Well, I'll be in my bedroom if you need me." She could not believe she said that. He turned around and gave her a look that scared the crap out of her. She quickly said good night closing the door behind her. She leaned against the door and exhaled.
The next morning, Lita and Sarah sat at the kitchen table eating breakfast. Lita dressed comfortably in a tank top and shorts while Sarah wore a t-shirt and jeans. Lita was on the phone talking with her husband. She fumed when he told her that he did not tell his parents about the separation. He told them about the miscarriage. They sent their condolences and they could not wait to see her again. Lita handed the phone to Sarah who happily spoke to her father. Sarah ended the call telling her father that she loved him too.
Lita looked across the room and found Andrew standing in her doorway staring at her. She found herself becoming flustered. She saw a hint of amusement in his serious features that he could still make blush.
Lita said breaking away from his gaze, "There's breakfast if you're hungry. I made blueberry pancakes and eggs. There are fruits in the fruit basket on the counter." He glanced over and saw a fruit bowl filled with fresh apples, oranges, and bananas. "There's orange juice in the refrigerator." He pulled out a chair next to Sarah and sat down scooting himself in. Lita rambled on. "…Or I can make tea or coffee."
Andrew looked amused. He said in a pleasant tone, "Orange juice is fine."
She fixed him a large plate of blueberry pancakes, eggs, and an orange and a tall glass of freshly squeezed orange juice.
They ate together quietly at the table. It was so quiet that you could hear the sounds of the utensils clashing against the plate. The birds chirped their morning song and flying around outside. Their throats gulped down the orange juice. The thudding sound as the glass of orange juice hit the table. It was the strangest breakfast that Sarah ever witnessed. At least when her parents were together, they talked. Before the separation, her mother talked about her business and her father discussed how trying his day was going to be since he could not talk about his cases. After the separation, they argued with one another. Her father argued with her mother how much of a selfish derogatory word she was being and she retorted how much of a derogatory word he was being. They argued back and forth then he would take her upstairs and thirty minutes later, they were fine again. Her mother was not even looking at this man. Everyone was focused on the meal as a reason to not speak to one another.
Sarah cut her eyes deviously at Andrew. She scrutinized him as he ate his pancakes. Today, he ate with manners not like the pig that he was last night. She watched the way he cut his pancakes stabbing a piece with a fork and dipping it in syrup. She sipped her orange juice as she observed him over the rim of her glass. He dropped his knife and fork and simply gawked at her. Lita looked up.
Andrew asked, "What is it…" She knew he was reaching for her to say her name to him.
Sarah said untrustworthily, "My mother told me never to speak with strangers."
Lita said outraged, "Sarah! Apologize right now."
Sarah retorted turning her head towards her mother, "Why? I am only doing what you told me to do. You're constantly contradicting yourself."
Lita said upset, "I did not teach you to be disrespectful to guests."
Sarah snapped back like a rebellious teenager, "You are such a hypocrite. You tell me to be honest. Then when I am honest, you tell me not to be. You tell me not to talk to strangers, and now you are getting upset with me for doing what you taught me to do. I don't know this guy. He's creepy. You won't forgive dad for whatever he did when you always taught me to forgive others."
Lita lashed out extending her arm and pointing towards the hallway. "Go to your room now! You can come out when you learn some manners. If I catch you watching TV or playing videos games, then I'm taking you off the soccer team for the rest of summer."
Sarah said outraged, "I wish I could live with daddy." Sarah used her body pushing her chair and quickly stood up. She looked up at Andrew and said crossly, "And that beard does not go with your face." Lita's jaw dropped as Sarah snobbishly held her pointy nose up high and stormed out of the room upset. Andrew looked tickled with amusement at her last comment.
Lita was fuming as she tried to control her temper. She turned to Andrew who simply stared at her. "I'm sorry Andrew. My daughter is not usually like this."
Andrew asked, "Are you and her father still together?" He observed the wedding band on her finger. Lita glanced at her wedding ring then at him.
Lita wanted to say no but it was always hard for her to lie to him. "We've been separated for three months."
Andrew said, "She's probably still adjusting to the situation. She wants things to work out between her parents and she probably sees me as threat." Lita wondered if he was a threat or did he want to be.
Lita said, "It's my fault too. I put her through big changes too. After I separated from her father, I abruptly moved us out of our old home and moved us here. It's been less than a month since we moved in. Now, she found out that she had to go to a different school next year. So she is upset."
Andrew said, "Don't be too hard on her. She seems like a good kid."
Lita smiled. "She is."
Andrew stared at her.
Lita looked up and caught him staring at her again.
She laughed. "What's with all the staring?"
Andrew asked mockingly, "Why are you returning them?"
Lita blushed. Andrew smiled.
Sarah stubbornly did not come back down. After breakfast, Andrew helped Lita with the dishes. As he stood by the counter wiping the dishes, he asked bluntly, "So are you still sleeping with your husband?"
Lita colored as she turned away from him. She asked nervously, "Why would you ask that?"
Andrew said, "Male personal hygiene products are in the medicine cabinet in the bathroom. I'm wearing a man's clothes even though this is a different house from the one you said you two originally lived in. I know you're loyal and not the promiscuous type. You're still wearing your wedding band so I know you are. "
Lita tossed the dish towel on the counter as her blood pressure rose and she started seeing red. She turned to him with her hand on her hip. "And what if I am? What business is it to you Andrew? You're still married too. You refused to tell me what happened between you and Rita and why you walked back into my life as a hobo."
Andrew placed the dish in the dishwater. He said throwing his hands up in surrender. "Sorry I asked."
Lita took a deep breath calming down. "I'm sorry. It's just that I have a lot on my plate right now." She rested her hands against the counter as she took deep breaths.
Andrew said, "Lita, we were once good friends. You can talk to me. I won't judge you."
Lita said turning her head to him as she pressed herself off the counter, "Only on one condition."
Andrew arched his eyebrow. "What?"
He sat in a chair in the middle of the bathroom with a big towel covering the front of his body. Lita used his Nick's clippers and trimmed Andrew's beard.
Andrew asked worried, "Do you know what you are doing?"
Lita said hesitated, "Yeah, sure!"
"Lita?"
Lita said, "Shut up Andrew! You can't look any worse than you do now." She leaned over and flirty, "The Duck Dynasty look doesn't work for you." Lita straightened up.
Andrew smirked. "First the daughter, now the mother is insulting me. Sarah is right. You are a hypocrite."
Lita roughly grabbed his head pulling his head back. He looked at her forcing himself to look up at her face. She looked down and said with the razor touching his neck, "Don't insult the person who is cutting your hair." She moved the razor away from his neck and started it.
He looked at her big breasts right above him. She was wearing a bra. "Nice view, Lita." She blushed then pushed his head up and popped him in the back of his head. He cried out laughing holding the back of his head. "Ouch!"
Lita fumed. "Pervert! When did you become so perverted?" She started to shave his head. His green eyes widen as he saw his blonde locks gradually floating down from his head onto the black and white checkered floor.
"The same reason that you are entertaining me."
Lita said, "You know that answering the question with an indirect answer is becoming annoying."
Andrew smiled. "I can do this all day. Since I trust you enough to jack up my hair, why are still sleeping with a man you're separated from?"
Lita scoffed as she continued to trim his beard. "I wasn't happy being married to him. I was happy with the ideal of being married and not being alone. Nick has been my longest relationship. I lost my virginity when I was eighteen to a guy that I barely knew at a college party and I became pregnant with Sarah on my first time. He bailed on me and denied that he was the father. I never saw him again. I raised Sarah on my own with the help of Raye and Madame Rose."
Andrew smiled. "How is Madame Rose? She made us the best teacakes."
Lita smiled. "She did. But Madame Rose died a few years ago."
Andrew asked distraught like he lost a love one. "How?" Madame Rose was like a secret that Lita and Andrew kept between them. She had the biggest heart that he ever seen with her shiny silver hair and rosy puffy cheeks and bright eyes. Her face was red since she suffered from rosacea. Her body was built like a linebacker with no curves. She looked mean like she frowned all the time, but she was really sweet and had a heart of gold once you got to know her. She always wore an apron over a long flowery dress. She never wore pants. She did not like girls wearing pants but let it go since times had changed. Her hands were always busy whether it was tending to the flower shop, cooking, or cleaning. She believed in keeping an orderly house and business. Andrew could not recall ever seeing her with her hands empty. She suffered from arthritis in hands and knees, but forced herself to get out of bed every day. She believed that idleness was the work of the devil and if she stopped moving, she would die. The worst her arthritis became, the more control over the business she gave to Lita. She taught her about the flowers and how to tend to them and take care of each individual flower. She even had Lita cook for her some days while she rested her old feet wrinkled and toenails covered with callus. Under Madame Rose's guidance, Lita grew more passionate for cooking and floras.
Andrew loved Madame Rose like a grandmother who baked him cookies and cakes and listened to his problems. Andrew never knew his grandparents so Madame Rose was the closest thing he had to a grandmother. The main reason that he went to visit Lita so often was because he knew that Madame Rose was going to cook something grand and delicious. She fascinated him. She was like a magician to him. Her cookies had some sort of magical healing power that made his problems fade away. Anytime he had a stain on his clothing that he could not get rid of, she knew exactly how to make the stain disappeared. She adored Lita and Andrew like her own children since she never married or had children of her own. Lita and Andrew would sit for hours in her cozy little home that was right around the corner from the flower shop. They would sit for hours and listen to her tell them heartfelt and sometimes tragic stories about her past filled with lost loves, spectacular escapades, and her wistful childhood in rural Japan. He missed her dearly. Apart of him knew that everyone eventually dies, but in his heart, she would never die.
Lita's voice broke Andrew out of his thoughts. Lita said amused, "Andrew, she was like in her eighties when we met her. It was natural causes."
Andrew sighed. "Yeah, but still that's sad. How was her funeral? Was a lot of people there?"
Lita smiled as she continued to trim his hair. She adored Madame Rose and was grateful for everything that she did for her, but Andrew loved the old woman dearly. "It was a lovely service. She was surrounded by friends and family. The church was decorated with every flower you can imagine. Her coffin was white and adorned with white flowers. The people that she told us about from her stories were there. They were old and gray of course, but they were there and told us funny and heartfelt stories about her. She would have loved her service. As her casket was carried out of the church, a dozen white doves were released into the sky. She's buried at old cemetery on Albert Street. She was happy, Andrew."
He sighed wishing he had a chance to say good-bye to the old woman again. He changed the subject to lift up the somber mood. "Okay, continue on…"
Lita snorted. "Okay, so I ended up in a series of short term relationships that sizzled out after a couple of dates, then I met Nick and we clicked. And we were married five months later. It's been three years. I thought we were happy until a few months ago. I was three months pregnant with our first child. Then, I came home and caught him in our bed screwing our nineteen-year-old maid that we just hired six months ago. I found out that he had been sleeping with her for six months."
Andrew winced in astonishment as he listened to her tale. "Ouch!"
"So after catching my husband making passionate love to another woman, I raced down the stairs and fell and lost the baby."
"I'm sorry, Lita."
"Two days in the hospital after I woke up. He tells me that he doesn't love me anymore and I was too frigid in bed. He married me for my money and he wanted a divorce so that he can marry the maid."
"Damn! That's cold blooded."
Lita walked in front of him as she lifted up his chin. He tried to keep his eyes on her face and not look at her breasts that were in his view. Andrew said, "I see why you want to separate from him. So why are you still sleeping with the asshole?"
Lita shook her head. "I can't tell you. I am to take it to my grave."
"Come on, Lita. You know I am good at keeping our secrets."
Lita grinned focusing on trimming his hair. "I did recall you telling me about Serena and Darien having crazy sex one time."
Andrew smiled. "Come on. One secret out of a million, and I only told you because I knew I could trust you. It wasn't my fault that her parents and half of her graduating class found out that she was pregnant. Raye blurted that out."
"That was pretty messed up in retrospect."
Andrew said, "As a matter of fact, I was on your IPad this morning and Mina kinda blatantly drops hints to the world that she is Sailor V. They shared the same name. They look alike. They both have a white cat named Artermis. Sailor Venus is her favorite sailor scout and now she is currently filming and playing Sailor V in a movie. How can nobody figure out that Mina is Sailor V?"
Lita pretended to ignore what Andrew was saying. He was telling the truth and all the girls have scolded Mina one time or another for doing that. Mina constantly dropped hints that she is Sailor Venus, but the world cannot see it because they all have a glamour around them that prevents the world for seeing them for who they really are. Unless Mina blatantly admitted on national television that she was Sailor V than the world would never know.
She turned him around dusting hair off of his chin. She removed the towel in a dramatic fashion. She placed her hands on the back of the chair. She leaned over until her head was next to his. She looked at him looked at himself in the mirror. "So how do you like it?"
Andrew caressed his face. She gave him a neatly trimmed chin strapped beard and a buzz cut.
Andrew liked it but he said to annoy her, "Not horrible." She shoved him causing him to laugh. Sarah frowned as she hid outside the door at how happy her mother was with this guy. She knew she had to put an end to it. She wanted her parents back together. The weirdo had to go.
Andrew stayed with them for a few more days. Sarah admitted that her mother was happier with this man around but she wanted her parents to get back together. Sarah watched as her mother acted like a teenager as he would chase her around the house. He was wearing her father's clothes and using her father's hygiene products. She could have sworn she saw him using her father's toothbrush one morning. They had tons of conversations about their past adventures as they cuddled next to another on the sofa or in his bed. Sarah was upset when she went to her mom's room and saw she was not there. She found her mother in the guest bedroom cuddled up next to the strange man looking like a pair of lovers. The strange man was wearing one of his father's wrinkled dress shirts over her father's dark slacks while her mother wore a skimpy tank top and daisy duke shorts that hardly covered her butt cheeks. Sarah knew that her mother usually wore things like that while she was in the privacy of her home, but Sarah did not think it was appropriate to dress like that when the strange man was not her father. The man was lying comfortably on his bed while her mother lied sideways with her body facing him. Her head resting comfortable on her chest with a lazy arm draped over his stomach. His arm wrapped around her mother's body and lied lazily on the top of her hip and dangerously close to her butt cheek. Sarah was only eight but she thought it was inappropriate for two individuals who were still wearing wedding rings to be this comfortable with someone other than their wife and husband. She ran back to her room slamming the door shut. She did something that her mother would drastically disapprove of when her mom sent her to her room. She knew she did the right thing because the woman she lived with over the last few days was not her mother.
Lita lied comfortably in Andrew's arms on top of the bed covers. It was too hot to get underneath the covers. It was ninety degrees outside and besides the ceiling fans twirling around, the house felt like a sauna. Lita may have been rich, but she believed in conserving energy. Lita assumed her behavior was contributed to her poor person's mentality, as Nick would call it. Lita only allowed them to run the air between six in the evening and six the following morning. Sarah hated Lita's new rule at first but soon easily compiled
They were watching an old movie from the nineties that Andrew wanted to see. He was a different man now, but some of the old Andrew had come back. She noticed that they only talked about the past or her life. He was pleased when she told him about all of her business accomplishments.
Andrew asked with a grin looking down at her, "So you never told why you are still sleeping with your husband?"
Lita said, "I won't." His arm draped loosely over her hips. She fell him start to caress her a little bit and then quickly stopped like he was struggling to control himself. She acted like she did not feel anything. She lazily moved her leg over his hairy leg until she brushed against something hard brushing against her thigh. She quickly moved her leg back as she felt her body becoming extra sensitive trying to keep her control. She could feel his hand on her back twirling the strand of her long ponytail around his fingers.
Andrew broke their silence and they tried hard to focus on the movie in front of them that was quickly losing their interest, "Come on, Lita. I never told anyone that you are Sailor Jupiter."'
Lita lifted her head and said playfully, "Because I am not."
Andrew rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say." He remained silent then he badgered her again, "Come on…Lita. I promise I won't tell."
Lita smiled shaking her head as she stilled in her movements when she felt his hand traveling lower to the small of her back.
Lita said softly staring into his eyes, "Andrew?" Andrew darkened eyes full of desire that he no longer hid. There was a gravitational pull drawing them together. She gazed at his alluring lips as her eyelids lowered as his head descended towards her. She was happy that Andrew, the man that she wanted for more than a decade, was going to kiss her. Wedding vows be damned. She already knew that she would let him take her if he wanted to. She had to stop herself from crawling into his bed over the last few days and allowing him to ravish her body as he did in her dreams over the last few days waking up with soaking wet panties crying out his name in pleasure. Their lips inches apart as Lita licked her lips in anticipation. Andrew stopped moving as he cut his eyes to the doorway. Lita looked confused as she followed his gaze. She huffed as she quickly sat up pulling herself away from him.
She looked into the steel eyes of no other than her fuming husband staring at her like he wanting to knock the daylights out of her then at Andrew, who he looked like he wanted to kill.
He glanced at Andrew and said, "Get the fuck off of my wife and out of my house!"
Lita watched in horror as Andrew and Nicholas stared intensively at one another. Tension was high. One wrong move and they would be wrestling on the floor. Andrew said coolly standing up, "You wouldn't be in this predicament if you didn't cheat on your wife, and this is not your house. Lita's name is on the lease so I suggested that you leave immediately."
Nick cut his eyes at Lita like he wanted to snap her neck. He glanced back Andrew. "I don't know who the hell you think you are. But Lita is my fucking wife and as long as she has my last name then this is as much my home as hers. So get out now before I kick your ass like I have been restraining myself from doing."
Andrew smirked as he approached Nick looking him straight in the eyes. "I'll like to see you try."
Nick stepped back. He turned on his heel towards the door. Andrew turned towards Lita with an arrogant glint on his eyes. Lita screamed when Nick suddenly turned back around and socked Andrew with a right hook then gazed him with his elbow in one punch on the jaw. Andrew looked shocked for a moment as he nursed his jaw. He looked at his hand and noticed blood. He frowned and as he lounged towards Nick as they punched one another until they were wrestling of the floor. Nick got the best of Andrew for a moment until Andrew rolled on top and repeatedly punched Nick in the face. Lita screamed terrified. "Andrew stop!"
Nick saw Lita's outrage at this man and allowed Andrew to get the better of him. Andrew zoned out going to a very dark place, no longer conscious of what he was doing. He turned Nick's head in a punching bag beating Nick into a bloody pulp. His eyes swollen. His silver hair caked with blood. The crack of his nose breaking as blood gushed out. Nick weakly attempted to block Andrew's powerful blows but Andrew found a way in and continued to beat Nick to a bloody mash.
Lita screamed when she saw Nick's blood splattered against the white carpet. Lita had to do something because Andrew was not there anymore. Andrew's hands wrapped around Nick's neck and repeatedly bashed Nick's head against the white carpet as Nick gasped for air.
Lita stood up and lifted Andrew off of her husband and tossing him across the room as Andrew felt the wind being knocked out of him as his back hit the wall. Nick groaned as he struggled to lift himself up as he weakly rolled on his side coughed up blood and spat out a couple of his teeth.
Andrew shook his head coming to his senses and looked at his bloody hands with bloody that was not his. He looked across the room and saw Lita on the floor next to her husband and cradling his head on her lap as she nursed him and cried over him tears of joy that he was okay.
Andrew was horrified when he saw how bloody and bruised Nick's face looked as he started to tremble. He said shakily, "Lita-I…"
Lita looked at him with angry eyes. "Get out of my house."
Andrew stuttered, "B-but Lita…I…"
Lita said firmly, "Get out. I don't know you anymore. I don't want to know you anymore." Lita's eyes were livid. She screamed. "You could have killed him. Get out!" Andrew felt a pain in his chest as he slowly walked out of the room. He glanced back to see Lita crying tears of joy that her husband was fine. Andrew slowly walked out of the front door not knowing whether he would ever see her again. She was right the Andrew that she knew did not exist anymore. Sarah stood at the top of the staircase looking with regretful eyes as she watched Andrew walk out of her mother's life.
Ami smiled happily at she held her clipboard to her chest she strolled down the bright white halls of the hospital. She was officially a doctor now. She moved to Chicago and was now an intern completing her residency at Chicago Memorial Hospital, one of the most elite hospitals in the United States and a great teaching hospital. She wore a white coat over her blue scrubs and cheap white sneakers that she brought from a local general store. She was wearing reading glasses to make herself look more professional. She was walking around the hospital with three of her fellow interns. They were following the resident doctor they were assigned to. Dr. White, a stout middle aged man built like in his mid-fifty with grey hair and a thick mustache.
Dr. White led them into a patient's room as they stood around the hospital bed. The patient was a Hispanic woman with medium length brown hair, lying in bed dressed in a hospital gown. There were tubes in her nose and arms. She looked very weak and pale.
Dr. White smiled at her as the woman sat up. Dr. White stood next to the woman and said happily, "Hello, Mrs. Garcia, how are you today?"
Mrs. Garcia stared at him sarcastically. "Ready to get the hell out of here."
Dr. White and laughed and said, "I know you are." He gave a quick glance at the interns. "Dr. Mizuno, why don't you present to us Mrs. Garcia's case?"
Ami jumped as her heart pounded and arms sweaty. She quickly glanced at her charts. She said quickly, "Emily Garcia is a thirty-five year-old female that has been having heart problems since she was twenty-two. She was admitted a week ago to the E.R. because she had a massive heart attack. She is back with us today because she is at the top of the donor's list for a new heart." Ami smiled. "There is a match and Mrs. Garcia is scheduled for surgery this afternoon to get a new heart."
Dr. White asked another intern Ryan the next question. Ryan Aadland was very arrogant with a god-like complex. He was tall, lanky man of Middle Eastern descent with oily, slick black hair and dark eyes. Ami disliked his chauvinist ways. He reminded her of a slimy womanizing snake that could not be trusted. "Dr. Aadland, could you explain the surgery to Mrs. Garcia's case?"
Mrs. Garcia leaned back on her pillow and took a deep sigh. The monitor behind her beeped rhythmically and the clear volume expanders liquid of her IV bag dripped on a pole connected to IV lines. "I've heard it a thousand times, Dr. White."
Dr. White smiled. "I know Emily but this is a teaching hospital and these are my interns so I have to teach them something so they could be productive to the human race somehow." Emily laughed weakly at the interns smiled.
Ryan cleared his throat. He said in a know-it-all tone. "Mrs. Garcia will go through an orthotropic procedure beginning with the median sternotomy, opening the chest, and exposing the chest and exposing the mediastinum. The pericardium is opened, the great vessels are dissected and the patient is attached to cardiopulmonary bypass. The donor's heart is injected with potassium chloride. Potassium chloride stops the heart beating before the heart is removed from the donor's body and packed in ice. Mrs. Garcia's failing heart will be removed by transecting the great vessels and a portion of the left atrium. Her pulmonary veins are not transected. Rather a circular portion of the left atrium containing the pulmonary veins is left in place. The donor heart is trimmed to fit onto the patient's remaining left atrium and the great vessels are sutured in place. The new heart is restarted. The patient is weaned from the cardiopulmonary bypass and the chest cavity is closed."
Emily chortled. "You said all that just to say that you are going to chest open my chest, take out my old heart, replace it with a new one, and closed up my chest." The interns laughed.
Dr. White smiled at Emily. "Dr. Yamashita is our new head of cardiology and he is the one of the best doctors in the world to perform this surgery. He's is flying in from New York as we speak with your new heart. He has done the operation dozens of time and has never lost a patient."
Emily chuckled. "That's good to hear."
Dr. White looked up at the interns. "Aaland, the pits." Ryan sulked as he walked out. "Johnson and Brown, you are to be helping Dr. Kirkland today. Don't touch, speak, or breathe until Dr. Kirkland says so." Johnson and Brown nodded walking out. Dr. White looked at Ami who stood at attention. "Mizuno, you will be assisting Dr. Yamashita in Mrs. Garcia's surgery, and the same rules apply to you as Johnson or Brown or you will join Aaland in the pit." Ami nodded quickly causing Emily to laugh. Dr. White walked out smiling at Emily then tossed Ami a look saying that she better not screw up.
Ami smiled as she walked up to check Mrs. Garcia's vital signs.
Ami helped out in the pits with Ryan while she waited and asked the nurses to page her once Dr. Yamashita arrived or if Mrs. Garcia needed anything.
Ryan fumed. He spent hours checking on patients in the ER. He bandaged up patients and stitching up wounds. For over a week, Dr. White assigned him to the pits to covered emergency room patients. The only excitement that happened in the last few days was over the Fourth of July weekend when the ER was packed with patients with blown off hands, car accidents, alcohol poisoning, and gunshot wounds. He was as happy as a fat kid in a candy shop that day. Now, he was back to the mundane job of bandaged up patients. He frowned at Ami and said, "This is bull. Johnson and Brown get to scrub in on a cool brain surgery. I am training to be a surgeon not some nurse." A nurse in pink scrubs overheard him and frowned.
Ryan leaned over as Ami helped him stitch up a patient who was in an accident and suffered cuts and bruises. "Dr. White loves you and always gives you good assignments. You must be sleeping with him."
Ami frowned at him. "If you are implying in any way that in order for a female doctor to get decent assignment is to screw her superiors, then you are mistaken. I have worked and studied hard my entire life to earn my spot here. And for you to insinuate any other reasons besides hard work is insulting and chauvinist. And the reason that you don't get good assignments, is because you are an asshole that no one likes being around, even the patients."
Ryan laughed. "Don't get you panties in a twist. It was just a joke Ames."
Ami fumed. She finished the last stitch for the patients who stared back and forth at the two surgeons like he was watching a tennis match. Ami stood up and said with a smile, "Good day, Dr. Assland." She walked off. The patient laughed as Ryan frowned at him.
Ami took the elevator back up to the third floor alone. She stepped out of the elevator and strolled along the hallways passing the hospital faculty and staff. She looked up and it seemed like things started to move in slow motion. She looked at the surgical board and saw a man talking to her resident Dr. White. He was dressed in blue scrubs and black sneakers and holding a red and white lunch kit in his hand. He had his hands on his hip and a surgical cap with miniature horses tied on top of his head. They were discussing the surgical board.
Her eyes widen when she looked at his profile. It was him. It was the guy from the club that she had the wide sexual escapade with. There was no way he could be…
"Dr. Mizuno." Ami's spine stiffened as she made eye contact with Dr. White. He motioned for her to come over. The man turned towards her. He was stunned then an amused look of recognition crossed his face. Ami dragged her feet like she was walking to the execution chair. She approached Dr. White and the man.
Dr. White turned to her and said proudly, "Dr. Ami Mizuno, this is Dr. Edward Yamashita, graduated top of his class from Harvard and is one of the best cardiologist in the world. We're lucky to have him as our new attendee here for our cardiology department." Ami smiled even though she peeved off internally that he lied about his real name. She stupidly told him her real name. She wondered if everything he told her was a lie too. "Dr. Yamashita, this is Dr. Mizuno, one of my interns. She's originally from Japan, studied aboard in Germany, and graduated top of her class at Stanford."
They shook hands. Dr. Yamashita said, "That's quite impressive. You graduated from the second best school." She could hear the amused arrogance in his tone.
Ami smiled. "I actually was accepted at Harvard, but I liked Stanford program better so I chose it." She knew she should have not said that to one of her bosses, but she wanted to let him know that she was not a dummy. She would respect him as her boss, but there would be no inferiority complex between them. She knew that she was the best.
Dr. White smiled placing a hand on Dr. Yamashita's back. "Dr. Mizuno is going to be assisting you in Mrs. Garcia's surgery today."
Dr. Yamashita smiled. "I am happy that I have such a bright student to assist me today." She knew he was mocking her.
Dr. White smiled. "I'll leave you guys to it." Dr. White patted Dr. Yamashita's back and walked off.
Dr. Yamashita folded his arms. "So you're an intern now."
Ami said coolly, "Yes. And you're the new attendee for cardio."
Dr. Yamashita smiled. "Yes, I am."
Amis said indifferently, "Small world."
Dr. Yamashita said, "Walk with me." Ami reluctantly followed him down the hallway. "So you are Dr. Sharon Mizuno's daughter?"
"Yes."
"Your mother is one of the best heart surgeons in the world. I actually studied under her for a year at Aiiku." He asked confused, "Why aren't you doing your internship in Japan under your mother anyway?"
Ami said, "I want to make my own path in the world. Plus, I am more interested in neurology than the cardiology."
Dr. Yamashita said, "Ahh…the study of the nervous system. Then, you should be studying under Dr. Kirkland then."
Ami grew tired of small talking with him. He looked down at kit in his hand. "Is that the heart?"
"Yes, on ice and ready to be inserted in Mrs. Torres' body."
Ami asked, "Who was the donor?"
Dr. Yamashita smirked. "Not too many surgeons ask that question. They only want to be a part of the surgery." He pushed through two doors to the patients' rooms. "She was a twenty-four year old woman in New York. She worked at a fashion magazine and died in a major car accident on her way to work. She was an organ donor. All of her organs were taken out and harvest to save others' lives."
Ami sighed. "It's sad how one person must die in order for another to live."
Dr. Yamashita said grabbing the patient's chart from the nurses' desk, "Yes, quite poetic." They walked into Ms. Torres' room. He said with a bright smile, "Hello, Mrs. Torres. I am Dr. Edward Yamashita and I will be operating on you today. We are ready to give you a new heart."
Emily smiled. Ami smiled as she saw Emily become emotional and cry tears of joy. She nodded and sniffed. They prepped her for transfer and rolled her down the hallway to the OR.
After scrubbing in, Ami was amazed at how skilled and precise Dr. Yamashita was. After giving the patient the anesthesia that was now asleep, Dr. Yamashita asked her about the procedure. She knew he was testing her knowledge. Ami was amazed when he allowed her to make the first cut with the scalpel. She was fascinated as they opened a woman's chest up, took out the bad heart, and replaced it with the new one that she held in her hands before giving it to Dr. Yamashita. She watched as he slowly inserted the heart into the woman's chest and connected it to the left atrium. They waited patiently as the heart started beating. Dr. Yamashita smiled when he saw Ami's smile from behind her face mask. Dr. Yamashita said happily, "We have given Ms. Torres, a new heart." The nurses and staff cheered and applauded. "Dr. Mizuno, would you like to close up?" Ami happily nodded.
After surgery, Ami felt exhilarated and alive as she walked through the halls of the hospital. She had assisted in giving a new heart to a woman. She held a real human heart in her hand. She smiled happily as she walked into the locker room. She changed out of her scrubs and into her regular clothes later on that night. Her sixteen hour shift was over for the day. She leaned against the back of the elevator exhausted after a long day of dealing with patients. As the elevator started to close, the door quickly opened. She was stunned to see Dr. Yamashita standing there. He looked equally shock to see her too. He stepped into the elevator and stood next to her after pressing the button for the first floor that was already lit up.
They stood in the elevator alone in an uncomfortable silence looking ahead at the silver elevator doors. Ami noticed a purple flyer taped on the wall about free wellness testing on the last Saturday of every month.
Dr. Yamashita broke the awkward silence. "I never expected to see you again. It was supposed to be a one night stand."
Ami said quietly looking at anything but him. "I know."
"What happened back then can never happen again, okay."
Ami fumed internally. He was talking to her like she was some horny teenager who was hot for teacher. Ami stared with angry blue eyes. "Look! If you think I am going to sabotage my medical career by admitting that we slept together ages ago or even remotely interested in having an affair with you, then you are wasting your breath. I'm twenty-six years old. You're thirty-nine if you weren't lying about your age too. I am a professional and you were a one night stand to get over my ex who dumped me for another woman. It meant nothing to me. So you don't need to hold my hand and tell me that it that it can never happened again. I already know it won't because I am not here to screw my boss. I am here to learn from the best and become the best. So unless it is work related, this discussion is unnecessary." The elevator doors opened. "Good night, Dr. Yamashita." She walked out. Dr. Yamashita stood speechless as the elevator doors to close.