Author's note: I am finding that my formatting is changing or just not transferring when I up load the chapters so I will be changing telepathy from *old* to [new]
Any other formatting issues I will work on but please bear with me if there are paragraphs and spaces out of place.
Tsukia
Soul Bond – Fine Print
After Usagi left, Mamoru pulled out his laptop and inserted a crystal into the USB port connecting it to the Terran system at the ranch. He needed a refresher course on the different effects and changes that a soul bond could manifest.
Elsewhere …
Katherine's alarm started beeping and she rolled out of bed and opened her computer to find out what alarm had been triggered. 'I knew this would happen sooner or later. They did something that would accelerate their bond.' She pulled out her phone and dialed her brother's number.
"Hey, Kat. What are you doing, up this early?" The voice on the other end answered nervously.
Mamoru knew as soon as the call display came up that he was busted and was lucky that she had decided to use the phone rather than some other options she had available. "What do you want to know? Or is this a need to know? How much stronger did you two make the bond?"
"What makes you think it is stronger?" Mamoru asked sheepishly.
"I don't know maybe the fact that you are attempting to access the restricted archives. So, spill."
"I don't know what happened. All I know is that two days ago the bond connected us and I was more and more aware of it as we connected telepathically." Mamoru paused.
"And then what happened?"
"I don't know. Yesterday morning I stubbed my toe and when I met up with Usako she mentioned being woken up due to a sore toe. And then later I felt like a ball hit me in the head and I had fallen hard on the floor while sitting in biology class."
"Oh, Endymion. You Baka!" Katherine cursed her brother. "I can tell you right now that you are heading in the right direction. It sounds like you left something out that caused your soul bond to activate. There are few things that can do this so as to not cause a couple to lose the ability to choose a different spouse in different lives." Taking some deep breaths to calm down. "Can we rule out physical activities?"
"What? Of course! What kind of person do you think I am?" Mamoru stammered out, insulted his sister would think he would do something like that.
"Then that leaves spiritual and emotional. Any heightened emotions recently?"
Mamoru sat down and leaned back on the couch thinking, 'There was the other night.'
Katherine could almost hear the gears in her brother's head and almost yelled into the phone, "It is too damn early for me to break into the cave of a brain of yours. You are seventeen, use your words and vocalize."
"Oh, sorry," Mamoru laughed. "The other night the girls found Sailor Jupiter and the demon that they were fighting was a demon bride and Usako gave a passionate speech to encourage Makoto, Sailor Jupiter into not giving up on love."
"Well, if it was as passionate as you described, came from her heart while thinking about you then that definitely could have done the job. Endy, you of all people should know how sensitive these things can be and how careful you need to be to avoid things that Usagi and you may not be ready to deal with and not just in the physical sense." She heard her brother sigh in resignation and continued. "Please, you two need to have a serious and cautious conversation about what this bond is to you in this life. What are you going to do if the bond gets so strong that you physically cannot fight it?" It was her turn to sigh. "Just be careful, OK, Endy?"
"I will but if you could send me some more information that might help us avoid more unexpected surprises." Mamoru said pleadingly.
"Maybe once I get more sleep and have some time. Just remember what I said. Avoid her for a couple days if you have to." She offered the suggestion in vain as she knew her brother was too hard headed to listen to her.
Mamoru hung up the phone with his sister and got up to get ready for school. He knew her warnings and suggestions were in his best interest but, he was truly head over heels in love and come hell or high water he was going to see his princess. Then something hit him, 'Does she realize that we can now feel each other's physical pain?'
Mamoru thought long and hard about what his sister had told him and even went so far as to take a different route to school that morning, but the bond drew her to him. For some reason blocks away from her school he rounded a corner only to have his blonde princess crash into him, "Well, good morning. Aren't you a bit far from your school?"
Usagi smiled up at him and he fell full heartedly into her serene blue eyes and leaned down kissing her. Realizing too late he thought to himself, 'I hope we didn't just … '
"Woah, Hey, Usagi. Come on we are going to be late," Ami said, interrupting the two lovers' kisses and taking her friend's arm dragging her down the street toward their school. Leaving Mamoru frozen on the street.
Hearing the school bell brought Mamoru back to his senses as he made a dash to make it to homeroom. His mind never leaves those beautiful blue eyes of his love of two life times. Part of him not caring if the bond got stronger as long as she was his. To say he was distracted at school would have been an understatement but then the same could be said for Usagi as she sat daydreaming in her classroom at the junior high school.
[Endy? Endy? ENDYMION!] Katherine had been trying to reach her brother for over an hour. Yes, she admitted he was supposed to be in class but to ignore her for over an hour after their phone call this morning she was getting close to hopping in her car and racing to Tokyo to find him and slap some sense into him.
"Ah, huh?" He said coming out of his thoughts before realizing that the voice that was calling him was in his head. [What is it, Kat? I am at school, you know.]
[Is that all you have to say? I have been yelling in your brain for over an hour and was one more try away from driving into Tokyo.] She growled angrily at her brother. [Has something happened in the couple of hours since we spoke on the phone?] She asked in concern more than anger.
[No, what do you think could have happened? Anyway, what is so urgent that you felt the need to reach out to me while I am in school?]
Katherine sighed she could tell by his temperament that something had happened, [I just wanted to let you know that I emailed you the information that you asked for but most of the information on things like that are in the lunar database which we do not have access to.]
Mamoru sighed as well, realizing that he wasn't much better off than he was last night and possibly getting in a more difficult situation by the day. [Thanks, I will check it out after class.]
The day ticked by slowly as Mamoru impatiently made his way from class to class not sure if he was more urgently wanting to see what information Katherine had been able to send him or to see his beautiful princess again. Just the thought of her provoked emotions in him that he could barely control, luckily gym class gave him access to a shower with very cold water that he used to clear his mind. As he stood in the cold water trying to focus on anything but his princess and the bond he shivered as a vision of Endymion came to him…
The guard had cornered him in the town square as he was heading to his transport to Venus, "I know what your thinking, Endy. Don't, just don't."
"I have no idea what you are talking about Kunzite." Endymion and Serenity had already gotten engaged secretly or at least as secretly as it got in their group of friends and this was the perfect opportunity to complete the engagement in the most spectacular way possible.
"Do not go through with the bonding. I know you love her. EVERYONE knows you two love each other and couldn't care less if you wanted to get married but, bonding that is something else completely."
Kunzite looked at his friend who did not appear to be listening to him. He knocked his prince and friend to the ground, "You have to listen to me. There are so many things that could happen if you go through with this and you don't even know half of them."
Endymion got up and brushed himself off, unsheathing his blade he put it to the leader of the guard's throat, "If I choose to marry her. If I choose to bond with her. It will be my choice. If there are consequences, then so be it. I will do whatever it takes to be with her in this life and the next." Endymion then turned on his heel and left the captain in shock in the town square. Never before had Endymion ever drawn blade against the guard outside of training.
Mamoru shook his head, turned off the shower and began drying off, looking at the clock his shower and vision had taken up most of his lunch break. 'I wish Endymion had at least heard Kunzite out or paused long enough to have left me the knowledge of what was happening and some idea of where it is going…. Kunzite!' Quickly getting dressed he reached out telepathically for his friend. [Kev, how much of Kunzite's knowledge do you have?]
[Hey, cutting it close I am about to go into an exam. I don't know. Some. Why?]
[I just remembered Kunzite trying to stop Endymion from going through with the bonding and am wondering if you remember any of what he was going to warn him about?]
[Woah! Ok, that is a BIG ask that comes with a connotation that there are possibly some consequences in the present from actions in the past.] Kevin stood outside his class thinking on how to answer. [Listen, man, I can't talk about or go into this now. I will reach out to you later and we can talk about it. OK?]
[It will have to be.] Mamoru agreed reluctantly.
[Do me a favor and avoid her until we talk. Please if this is what I think is happening, for her as well as yourself, keep your distance.] Kevin shut the link, praying that his friend would heed his warning and shook his head hoping he could focus enough to pass this exam before entering the classroom.
Mamoru spent his final class staring out the window unsure of how to proceed. He had felt her reaching out to him but was doing his best to ignore her. He didn't know how to talk to Usagi right now. How could he explain this all to her?
Kevin wasted no time after he finished his exam he ran out of the school and boarded the train to Juban and raced to find Mamoru.
Mamoru felt a rush of relief as he saw Kevin almost keeled over just outside the gate of his school. He all but raced to his friend. "What did you do fly here?"
"Very funny, Endy. But the speed and effort I put into getting here should give a strong indication of how important this conversation will be." Kevin said very sternly.
All Mamoru could do was nod as he guided Kevin to the nearest coffee shop. The two young men sat down in a booth, ordered some coffees and some nachos to share. Mamoru took out his laptop and connected to the hotspot to retrieve the email from Katherine as he waited for their order and for Kevin to catch his breath. Kevin took a long drink from his coffee before looking across the table to his friend. "I assume you already asked Rhea for the information."
Mamoru gave a cocky grin, "Actually I tried to get the information myself and she busted me. She did however send me some information by email." Mamoru answered turning the laptop to show Kevin the email. "She did mention that there isn't much and most of it was stored in the lunar database."
"I wish I didn't have to say this but, I told you so. Or Kunzite told you so." Kevin said cockily before sitting back. "I waited a millennium to say that to you. Seriously though, you start what has happened so far?" He prompted while taking a nacho.
"Well, you all know that we have been using telepathy." Kevin nodded for Mamoru to continue. "I mean since being reborn the bond has been there guiding or drawing me to her. Then the other day I stubbed my toe and she told me later she woke up with a sore toe."
Kevin nodded knowingly, "Ok. So we have the connection, telepathy, and now empathy. Have you noticed if the telepathic connection has changed with usage?"
Mamoru chewed on some nachos while he thought about it, "It has gotten easier to reach her it is almost like the connection is already open and I don't have to search for her."
Kevin nodded taking some more nachos, "and what did Rhea's email say?"
Mamoru turned his attention to the laptop screen and read:
Endy,
There isn't much here that I feel you don't already know but, here is what I was able to find.
Soul bonding is a ritual not for the weak of heart or faithless. Preforming the ritual takes a master monk from the temple of Aphrodite and blessed with the heart of Freya that studied under the teachings of Eros. Anyone less than that could jeopardize the lives of those involved. It requires the blood of Venus and the blessing of the house of Ishtar, Cupids potion and two devoted individual who willingly seek to be forever more connected as one.
A soul bond grows as it matures in each life and can take on different forms. Generally, it will help the joined souls find each other in their subsequent lives and encourage a relationship. In extreme cases it can cause death, mainly if rejected by either party.
Some forms are that of mental connections and or telepathic abilities between the couple even at great distances. A drawing to one another even on a subconscious level. Feelings of déjà vu when first meeting. Some also have described having shared dreams of both past and present lives.
Most bonds grow to include emotion, physical and spiritual connections.
That is all we got. You probably could find more on Wikipedia.
Be careful
Kat
Kevin finished his portion of the nachos, took another drink of coffee, "Well, as you remember I was in a romantic relationship with Serenity's cousin Sailor Venus and thus we had several conversations about soul bonding and why it was not a wide-spread practice." Pausing for another drink Kevin looked to see Mamoru intently watching him like a child watching Santa Claus. "What your sister sent is general knowledge that almost everyone knew back then. The things that weren't told were the stories of how badly the bonds could go and best case the changes that couples didn't expect. The bond varies greatly from one couple to the next and so far, yours seams to still be in what I would classify as the first stage. The second stage starts to include subconscious and mind-altering. An example is being able to identify your bond-mate by scent, another example is the male, in particular, becoming very protective and possessive which had caused many fights and some deaths."
Mamoru was starting to look a little overwhelmed. Kevin sat back and motioned for some refills while he waited for his friend to come back to him. Finally Mamoru appeared to have finished processing and asked, "Second stage? How many stages are there?"
"Four stages that I am aware of. However, you have to keep in mind that some couples go from one to four in days other couples take years. Do not take what I say next the wrong way and I hope you will understand when we get to what stage four entails, even stage three." Kevin paused and looked directly into his friend's eyes, "I hope your relationship with Usagi takes years to make the progression."
"Are you sure you want to continue, today?"
"I have to know. I feel like I am now on eggshells not knowing if the next time I see her something else will change." Mamoru said, not sure if he wants to know where this road is going to take them.
"Stage three starts the physical connection which has been described as a withdrawal if you are too far a distance from or have been away from each other for too long. The desire to be in constant contact with each other. That is as much as I can tell you about that stage. And finally, stage four is the final stage that I am aware of and deals with sexual and spiritual connections."
"I understand now what you meant about wanting the progression to take years. It is already difficult enough and you say we are still only in stage one."
There is suddenly the sound of dishes hitting the floor and the sound of someone hastily leaving the shop and Mamoru looks just in time to see a blonde ponytail following its owner out the door. Kevin sees Mamoru's face fall and puts together what has happened and swears.