This is the final version of the 'fic - some things were changed due
to suggestions from C&Cers. (Thank you, Matt-san. ^_^) Still yearning for
comments/criticism. :)
-------------------------------------------------
Disclaimer:
Sailormoon, the Senshi, and all those associated with them are property of
Takeuchi Naoko-sama and Kodansha. Excepts from the song "We Belong" are the
property of Pat Benatar, D. Navarro, and R. Lowen. All are used without
permission. Please don't sue me... I have no money. ^_^;
My strang-- er, I mean wonderful characters are property of me, myself -- oh,
wait, that's not proper grammar. Oh, well... they belong to me. ^_-
Thanks for reading! ^_^
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________
a Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon Fic
CHILDREN of LIGHT and THUNDER
We belong to the light
We belong to the thunder
We belong to the sound of the words
We've both fallen under
Whatever we deny or embrace
For worse or for better
We belong, we belong
We belong together...
Chapter 1: Broken Links
_____________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
Log - Entry No. 1
[darkstar - clearance level 5]
2:37 am
We arrived in Tokyo three days ago. As I beheld the full moon, I
realized we would never make it back to Halcyon. At least, never make it back
the same. They are all using us for their own selfish purposes, be it
siphoning
energy or otherwise...
My father contacted me as soon as we reached orbit. He is calling himself
Ulexite now, a trifle tribute to Beryl... or that witch, Metallia. His mental
voice was so gleeful, and at the same time, so guarded. He told me he felt
one step closer to his goal -- whatever that was. He seemed to be trying to
reassure me, but my mind recoiled, and our connection was lost. Perhaps
something in him reminded me too much of myself.
I finally realized the true extent of Morrin's lie yesterday. The Senshi
of Jupiter and her Princess were not ten feet from me... I only saw them
from the back, but knew immediately who they were. Starfighter's essence
clung to Sailormoon like a second skin. I was unsettled, and still am...
And as the link grows stronger, my composure is slowly deteriorating.
But in the end, does it really matter? Pluto will realize sooner or
later.... and it will all come crashing down around us.
------------------------------------
3 Days Earlier<<
GONG. GONG. GONG.
The chime played out its hollow song, fading as the hazy rings of yellow
fire in the sky sank into the horizon. The sky blushed a brilliant azure, and
slowly deepened into a rich purple. Halcyon lazily awoke, as the night
blossomed around it.
Somehow this particular world looked better by starlight; each cold metal
structure taking on an eerie life of its own, finding a companion in the
darkness. Halcyon was in its truest state: dark, regal, reserved.
To the denizens of Halcyon, night was forever tangled in their lives.
Night brought Tanith, Jeo, Ipyana, and a dozen other deities to watch and
wander among the stars. Night was reverence. Night was beauty.
Night was...
Fear.
Things had changed. The hierarchy had seen it coming, yet could
do nothing to stop it. Halcyon's people now barred themselves behind closed
windows, locked doors. Tension hung in the air like an angry cloud,
threatening
to rip asunder; and as noticeable as the strange, growing red speck in the
sky.
Yet not all had hidden themselves within their own personal prisons.
To the west, a Light was burning. The flame shone from a lofty hill,
the only area on the planet left with natural foliage, deemed sacred long ago
by the Old Texts. The Holy Light of Darcacre -- lit only by pensive pilgrims
or worshipers, and even those scarce since the shunning of the stars; bizarre
that it had been lit by neither. This night, a figure could be made out
beyond
the lazy lavender mist; a figure which, at closer look, appeared to be
female.
She was a lithe woman, her frame tall and strong, yet at the same
time unusually frail -- as if some part of her was broken, leaving her aura
incomplete. Her stance oozed aloofness, even as her large ice-blue eyes
revealed the startling depth of her emotions. Thick russet hair whipped
around her shoulders, highlighting her quietly elegant features.
Her gaze remained fixated on the sky, even as a burst of wind blew
her ebony cloak open, revealing a sleeveless black and blue bodice, and a
scabbard fastened securely at her side. She absentmindedly hugged the coat
around her, frowning. Her thoughts strayed back to the face that had been
appearing more and more in her mind lately; the dark hair with the warm
eyes -- Seiya. So many things about him remained a mystery, but he was
the only one whom she truly considered a friend. But now that the tension
between Halcyon and Seiya's planet had increased...
She blinked suddenly, and flinched, as as a luminescent streak of
gold
shot across the sky. Before the wars, the citizens of Halcyon would have
hailed
it a shooting star, and eagerly told their tales of the mystical powers of
such an
event. It had once been a privilege to see one, and wish upon it. Now,
however,
the "shooting star" was more likely a downed sky-fighter, drifted in from
deep
space. She sighed bitterly, and thought to herself, <Hope. Where has it gone?
If only my wish could come true, then...>
Eilis Koori had never been known as the sentimental type. She never
cried, never reminisced... at least not where anyone could notice. She was
something of an enigma to the general public, but she was their hope. She
was their light, she was... their Senshi. Eilis was, in fact, their only
senshi.
The others had either been killed in the wars, or had killed themselves,
or, in the case of her companion, had become utterly distrusted. This
certain companion of Eilis's, the Tuxedo Kamen of their planet, and
assigned "protector" of the Sailor Senshi...
<Is an arrogant, money-loving, pompous...> Her temper flared at the
thought of him. <Jacinth...>
"What the hell are you doing out here, Eilis? The others were
worried."As the male voice, rather grumpy and tired-sounding, reached her
ears, she groaned inwardly. He always did know the perfect time to make
an appearance. She turned to him and glared.
Jacinth paused a second, almost for effect, letting her take in his
prominent, almost regal-looking features -- the chiseled nose, mouth, and
dark green eyes that winked out as he blinked exaggeratedly, causing his
long eyelashes to brush against his cheeks. He was slightly over six feet,
the arrogance that clung to him like a second skin the only thing that marred
the perfect features, at least in Eilis's mind. His flame-red hair was only
slightly tousled. She wondered absentmindedly if he had been pulled out
of bed.
"The 'others', Jacinth?" she finally responded, pursing her lips, "Who
are you referring to? The aristocrats? Are they worried that I've gone and
left them with nothing but you?"
He gave a halfhearted smirk, but was clearly annoyed. "Now, I'm going
to take that as a compliment..."
"Only you would," she remarked dryly. He shrugged, and sidled lazily
next to her, revealing his athletic form beneath the rumpled jacket, catlike
in a way, with a very distinct air of sensuality. He looked to the twinkling
stars above, avoiding her cold stare. After a few moments, she wandered
several paces away, to the highest point of the small mountain. Eilis became
lost once again in the tapestry of the sky, a twinge of pain crossing her
features.
"Something wrong, Kodomo Tsuki?" Jacinth's whisper registered in her
mind after a few seconds, and she wrenched her gaze away from the world above,
and directed it at the man behind her.
"Don't call me that!" she snapped, showing clearly, for the first
time, her unhappiness. He blinked, taken aback.
"Sorry. Didn't know it upset you so much.." He smiled grandly, and
reached inside his jacket, retrieving a cerulean flower. "For you... my
dear." He tossed it to her like a projectile, flicking his wrist, and she
caught
it easily between thumb and forefinger.
Eilis held the flower up to her nose, and took a long whiff before
tossing it flippantly to the ground, her eyes showing disinterest. "At least
that one wasn't almost dead."
"It's hard to find decent flowers, nowadays," he replied stiffly,
still giving her a smile, now somewhat forced.
She turned away from him, once again looking up at the stars. "Yes...
it's hard to find anything decent nowadays." Eilis's voice was flat, and
Jacinth pushed back some stray strands of hair uneasily. He never knew what
to expect from her...
"The other planets are dead." He opened his mouth to speak, but she
continued, defiantly now, "Our planet is dying. And no one gives a damn."
Eilis turned to him abruptly, blue eyes blazing. "Even you... you use this to
your advantage. Lending your skills to people for money... a Tuxedo
Kamen-for-hire! You're despicable!" She was nearly snarling at him now,
and his face hardened.
"I didn't come here to be chewed out by you. I'd like to go to sleep,
if her majesty would allow it," Jacinth sneered. He jammed his hand into his
pocket and retrieved a small, black object that looked like a make-up compact.
He thrust it out to her, muscle in his cheek twitching. "I'm getting freakin'
tired of having to follow you around. I'm not fond of being a babysitter! So
why don't you take your little communicator here, and stick it somewhere on
your pretty self so we can just have this conversation while I'm in bed!" He
threw the compact at her. It thudded heavily at her feet, the sigil of her
home planet, a four-pointed star crossed with a two-sided arrow, appearing
briefly on its top. She glanced at it, then at him, amused and angry at the
same time.
She opened her mouth to speak. "I --"
Jacinth caught her roughly by the shoulder, head cocked toward the
dense foliage on the other side of the hill, expression suddenly intense. She
sweatdropped, and tried to bat his hand away from her. He reached out again,
quick as lightning, and grabbed her other arm. "Stop it. Don't you hear --"
There was a loud crash, as the tree directly next to them suddenly
uprooted itself from the ground and made its death-bringing descent upon the
two. Eilis wrenched herself free from Jacinth's grasp, and threw herself to
the side, the impact of the tree merely inches next to her causing a slight
tremor. Jacinth was yelling something unintelligible from the other side of
the tree, and Eilis looked up immediately. He had a peeved expression on his
face, and was gesturing around wildly, obviously mad that she had pushed away
from him. A tiny smile broke through her cold mask, something like relief
coursing through her veins. The smile dropped, however, when she saw the dark
shapes emerging from the bushes.
"Baka! Look behind you!" she shouted, springing to her feet, and
reaching for the knife concealed within her coat.
Jacinth dodged the first slash rather clumsily, a look of complete
confusion dancing in his eyes, and Eilis gasped when she saw the flash of
silvery-green. <Poison blades...> She furrowed her brow, and readied to throw
the knife when a hand clamped down over her mouth.
"Mmph!" She bit down hard, and brought the heel of her boot down on
the person's shin. The one behind her shrieked with pain, followed by a long
string of growled curses. The man's ramblings were cut off, however, when she
brandished her knife, and slit him across the stomach. He went instantly
stiff, and fell silently to the ground. She blinked several times, surprised
that
he had been taken out so easily. Bandits occasionally made their way into the
hills to look for unprotected worshippers, but even they were more prepared
than this. Eilis touched the man's wound thoughtfully, and furrowed her brow
as she noticed the cut seemed to be devoid of blood....
"Eilis!"
The warning came too late. A small, razor-edged sphere came hurtling
towards her, as Eilis watched with morbid fascination... and cut into her
side. She screamed out, the pain so excrutiating she could hardly think. The
last sound she heard before she lost consciousness was Jacinth's
horror-filled
cry.
------------------------------------
"Senshi Darkstar? Eilis?" The voice was impatient, and female, a voice
Eilis would have been glad to go without hearing. She winced involuntarily,
and a little trill of laughter echoed throughout the room. Eilis wondered
dimly why that laugh sounded so forced. "Ah. You're awake."
She cracked an eye open. "Yes, Lady Morrin," she mumbled.
Lady Morrin of the Halcyon hierarchy was a petite woman, nice-looking
in
a rather odd way, with long jet-black hair twisted in braids, and dead eyes.
Her eyes were, in fact, the thing that unnerved people the most -- even
Jacinth
found the lack of emotion in her eyes disturbing. Her position in the court
of
Halcyon was quite unnerving as well, as she was the High Magistrate, and
upheld the laws with an iron hand. And there had always been something about
her...
"Well, I heard you had quite a scare last night." Morrin laughed
again, then quieted at Eilis's cross stare. "You don't need to take that
expression
with me, Eilis. Of course, I'm very sorry about what happened to you." She
smiled suddenly. "But you're all healed up now. Stitches and everything."
"What was it?" Eilis asked tiredly.
Morrin blinked. "What was what?"
"The thing that cut into me." She moved slightly, and gestured to her
bandaged side, wincing at the pain that followed. Morrin remained silent, and
Eilis glanced at her. After a few moments, she shrugged.
"I'm not the person to ask."
Eilis nodded, sighing. She was too tired to pry an answer out of the
older woman. Her ice-blue eyes suddenly flashed, as she remembered her
partner. "Jacinth? He's alright, isn't he?"
"Of course he is." Jacinth strolled into the hospital room, smirk
plastered on his face. "Didn't know you cared, Eilis."
She groaned, and his expression softened. "Hey, you're alright, too...
aren't you?" She laughed at that, and clutched her side again when the pain
hit.
"Yeah.. I'm ok," she answered grudgingly. "Who the hell were those
bastards, anyway?" She frowned suddenly. <If those were bandits.... dammit.
How embarrassing. Can't even take care of street trash...>
"I dunno," he replied softly, eyeing Morrin, who was casually
listening to their conversation. "Forgive my manners... hello, Lady Morrin."
He
strode over to her, and brushed his lips against her hand. A coy smile
erupted on
her face.
"Hello... Jacinth-sama." She cocked her hips seductively towards him,
smirking. Eilis sweatdropped. These displays were starting to get sickening.
"Ah..." Jacinth stepped a few paces away from her, smile wavering.
Eilis could hardly keep from snickering. Jacinth wasn't too fond of Morrin's
obvious
advances, either.
"Well." Morrin abruptly turned serious. "I actually have some news for
you. You do know about the current predicament this planet is in?" Eilis
nodded hesitantly, as Jacinth averted his eyes, obviously troubled by her
change of subject. "You, as Senshi, Sailordarkstar, and Protector, Tuxedo
Kamen, have a certain duty to this planet." She rubbed her hands together,
and nodded at the both of them.
Morrin continued, an odd glint in her eye, "The time has finally come
for
you to truly fulfill that duty, my dears. This planet is in dire peril, but
we have
enough energy to sustain us for many years to come. The other planets in our
solar system, however, are not as lucky. They wish to steal our energy and use
it for themselves..." She made a tsking noise with her tongue. "This,
of course, led to the first Senshi Wars... and the death of several of your
teammates." She held a grim expression on her face for a moment, then perked
up again, looking at Eilis. "But we have you! That is all that's important.
Your father is a
very respected man around here --"
"Even though he's a greedy bastard who abandoned this planet," Jacinth
muttered. Morrin's eyes briefly flashed with irritation, and she put her hands
on her hips, making quite the odd spectacle as she faced off against the much
taller man.
"Please don't interrupt me, Jacinth," she said sweetly, her eyes
quickly becoming a mass of inky darkness.
Eilis cleared her throat. "I'm sure he's very apologetic right now,
M'lady... but you know about his little problem..."
Morrin paused, as Jacinth sent a bewildered look at Eilis. "Ah yes.
His.. problem." Morrin stepped away from the man, and nodded at him in a
discerning manner. Jacinth blinked, and smiled at her uneasily. "Well.. as I
was saying, Eilis, your father is a highly respected member of our planet,
and he has gone to find a suitable source to replenish our, and every other
planet in our
system's, energy. Unfortunately, the job has proved too large for him to
handle numerous times, and he has requested your help."
"A suitable source? What exactly do you mean by that?" Eilis asked
suspiciously, fidgeting beneath the heavy white blankets.
Morrin laughed. "Oh, don't be silly, dear. Yes, we will be taking
energy from another planet... but this one is rich with life! It won't hurt
to take
just a bit..." She hesitated, and a strange look crossed her face. "There may
be, however, one small problem. The planet is Earth."
Eilis blanched. <Earth... fatheryoustupidbastard...> She trembled
slightly as Jacinth fixed her with a worried gaze. He didn't know.... She bit
hard into her lip, trying to block out the painful memories of her past.
Morrin smiled uneasily. "Really now, dear, it's not that bad. You
won't have to deal with the Sailor Senshi from that planet... I promise." She
smiled
kindly, and took a step towards Eilis.
"Stay... stay away from me," she muttered, flinching. Her eyes
suddenly became hard. She noticed Jacinth's warning look, but chose to ignore
it. "Your promises are worth nothing to me, Morrin. Everything you say is
worth nothing
to me."
Morrin's mouth formed a little 'o' of surprise, and she froze in her
tracks.
"But.." she hesitated, "I don't wish for this planet to die... and it
is my duty as a Sailor Senshi to protect the people living on it..."
"That's correct," Morrin sniffed.
Eilis frowned, thoughts hidden behind her suddenly closed eyes. "..."
<They'll send someone else in your place if you don't go. Do you want that to
happen?> the voice of reason in her head said quickly. <Do you want to start
another War?> "... I'll go," she sighed resignedly, as Morrin nodded and
smiled.
"Excellent. Be at launchpad 54H in two hours. You too, Jacinth," she
whispered, turning and winking at him. She briskly walked out of the room.
When Morrin was out of earshot, Jacinth gave Eilis a furious glance,
and whispered, "Are you mad?! What have you turned us into? Energy-sucking
vampires?"
"Well... that's not as bad as a money-sucking leach," she returned
calmly.
"You are a bitch." His tone was deadly calm, but the muscle in his
cheek was twitching with abandon. "But then I suppose it's due to your
heritage,
isn't it?" Eilis stiffened, as Jacinth looked at her haughtily, as if he
thought he
had some advantage over her.
"My _heritage_ is none of your business, you... you stupid jerk!" She
flushed slightly, as she struggled to control her anger enough to compose a
few good retorts.
"You do realize who lives on Earth, don't you?" Jacinth said, still
calm and collected. "The Guardian of Time... _the_ Guardian of Time..."
Eilis's anger temporarily vanished. "Yes... the Senshi of Pluto." She
shrugged, and rubbed her bleary eyes tiredly. "You know we have... devices to
prevent her from seeing us..."
Jacinth remained silent for a few moments, his dark green eyes
displaying a twinge of sadness, as well as something else. "I hope you know
what you're getting us into..." He cast a long, indecipherable look at her,
then slowly walked back the way in which he had come.
Eilis spent many moments staring at the spot where he had disappeared
to, before whispering, "I know more than you ever will... and I hate myself
for it." A lone tear trickled down the side of her face unnoticed, as she fell
back into a restless sleep.
------------------------------------
They had packed light, only bringing the most essential of items, some
food to take with them on their journey, spare clothes, and a few personal
belongings. Eilis brought along her stuffed cat, which Jacinth saw and
scoffed at. However, he was quite embarrassed when she discovered his stuffed
dragon, and ceased to say another word.
They arrived at the door to launchpad 54H just as the night turned its
coldest, and the stars disappeared from view. Rainclouds had crept up on the
sky, and now hung precariously overhead.
"Omen," Jacinth muttered as the two of them were ushered inside the
large gray building, and left standing in utter darkness by the guards.
Eilis reached over to the wall and flicked on the light switch,
causing the room to become painfully bright. She blinked a few moments until
she had become used to it, and stared around her in annoyance. It was a plain
room,
with only a receptionist's desk directly in front of them, and two chairs
crammed into the corner. A painting filled with thick, black squiggly lines
hung behind the desk, and Eilis raised an eyebrow at it.
"Oh, whoops, wrong room." The two guards emerged from behind them,
disconcerted looks on their faces, and directed Eilis and Jacinth into the
door on the other side of the room. This one led into an immense hallway.
"What the hell..." Jacinth said, looking around him in an irritated
way. "Where are we supposed to go?"
"This way," Morrin's voice chirped cheerfully from a side door, and it
whisked aside to reveal the petite woman standing in the doorway. "Sorry,
dears. We were making preparations."
The two of them followed her into the room, which turned out to be the
hangar, an extremely large area which housed four graceful looking carrier
jets. Men and women buzzed around them like flies, checking and rechecking
that everything was in proper working order.
Morrin turned to them. "Well, I have a few things to discuss with you.
First of all, the time disrupters. Lovely name, isn't it? I came up with it."
She retrieved two small rings from a lackey, and smiled broadly as she
presented them. Eilis and Jacinth smiled back uneasily as they took the rings
from her and slipped them on their fingers.
"Any unusual time, space, etcetera, aura that you might exude will
be masked by these devices -- handle them with care. There is no energy
left to teleport you directly to the planet, so our plane will take you into
your father's sphere of influence, and he will send you down to Earth. Tokyo,
I believe, is the exact location."
"Tokyo?" Jacinth repeated, hoping for a reaction from Eilis. He knew
very little of Earth, but he had heard Eilis knew quite a bit. She averted his
eyes from his, remaining silent. He frowned. "What kind of a place is this?"
Morrin stared for a long, hard moment at Eilis, before replying,
"It's
a rural area, compared to our fine city. The people are very simple.
You should have no problems -- with Sailor Senshi or otherwise."
She cleared her throat, and continued, "Eilis, your father will send
you detailed instructions of this assignment.. through telepathy, no? You
should also keep a log to outline the basics of your mission. Well, your new
identities..." She rummaged through the files on the desk next to her until
she produced the correct ones. "Ah. Here we are. Memorize this... your likes,
dislikes, personality, favorite food..." As Morrin droned on, Eilis's dread
began to grow worse. Especially at the mention of telepathy.
<Invasion of thoughts is more like it...>
"...and Earthen money. Here you are. Eilis?" Eilis blinked, and then
quickly grabbed the envelope from Morrin's hand. "Well. Schooling and living
arrangements are up to you, I suppose..."
Eilis and Jacinth stared at her blankly. "Schooling?" they said in
unison.
"Why yes." Morrin laughed lightly. "You're going to..." She paused.
"...work it out with your father." She shrugged, and briskly walked away.
Eilis and Jacinth stood alone in strained silence. Eilis pondered
whether or not she should say something, when a grease-stained mechanic
suddenly appeared before them.
"Hi. Jeo-27's waiting." The man slung their bags over his shoulders,
frowning. "You better not do anything to her." He spun on his heel, marching
purposely toward the small, indigo stained shuttle.
The ramp was already open, beckoning. A little gnome-like robot
rolled around in circles at the top, its tiny voice high-pitched and scratchy.
"W-welcome. Pleazzzz be seated." Its arms elongated, stretching towards
Eilis and Jacinth's belongings.
"No," Eilis said quickly, reaching out a hand. The robot paused,
unsure of what to do. "I'd like to take my bags in with me."
Jacinth snatched their things away from the mechanic, and strided
up the steps impatiently, throwing his bags behind the metallic helper.
It whizzed away, and Jacinth shrugged at Eilis. "Let's make things easy
on ourselves, shall we?"
Eilis hid a smile as the mechanic looked aghast. "Um, sorry. Didn't
mean to mess with the robot."
"His name is Hal!" the mechanic called indignantly, as she started
up the ramp.
Once inside, the inner field locked them in with a final "bzzt", and
the outer doors clamped shut. The lights dimmed to a calming sea-green,
and a hollow voice sang over the intercom.
o/We only ask that you buckle up! We only wish you would use a
o/holder cup!
o/Be nice to Hal, and he'll be nice to you. Prepare for crash if
o/an engine goes moo.
Eilis raised an eyebrow. The program must have been translated
from one of the outer planetary languages. They always did have a weird
sense of humor.
She glanced around, and noticed Jacinth had piled her things within
a mesh wire container. Jacinth himself was stretched out along one of the
black couches, yawning.
He noticed her gaze, and immediately frowned. "You'd better sit down,
Eilis. Your little adventure is about to start."
Eilis clutched her stomach, feeling the lurch of the awakening
engines.
"I -- yeah, I will." She stumbled toward the other couch, and slowly sat
down.
She could feel Jacinth's gaze upon her back, but ignored it, too
intent on quelling the sick feeling in the pit of her stomach.
The plane suddenly roared to life, and alien music tinkled over the
interior. Behind it all, she could hear the heavy hangar doors hissing open,
and she gulped, realizing this was it. They were leaving, going to... to...
<Tokyo.> she thought fiercely. <No matter how much I dread it --
I will go there. To save this planet... even if it kills me...>
------------------------------------
"Usagi-chan!"
Usagi Tsukino looked up from her food-fest reluctantly at the call,
several pastries sticking out of her mouth and staining her lips with a
mixture of blue and red. She brightened considerably when she saw who it was,
and she attempted to swallow all the food at once, nearly choking in the
process.
"Usagi, are you ok?" Makoto Kino looked at her friend with a slightly
amused expression on her face. "I'm glad you like my pastries so much, but you
shouldn't try to eat them all at once."
Usagi sweatdropped. "Ehehe... they're so good though, Mako-chan!"
"Well, don't you want to hear my news?" Usagi nodded eagerly as Makoto
plopped down next to her on the bench.
"Two new students moved into my apartment complex! The woman was very
pretty... and the man..."
"Looked like your senpai?" Usagi grinned gleefully. "Well, well,
well!?
What does he look like? Are they related?"
Makoto got a dreamy expression on her face. "Oh, he's so handsome...
very tall.. chiseled features... soulful green eyes.."
Usagi stuck her tongue out at Makoto playfully. "Bet he's not cuter
than my Mamo-chan."
Makoto scrunched up her face at Usagi. Her face suddenly turned
thoughtful, as she scratched her head. "There was something stra --" She
shrugged, and grinned again. "Anyway, I only have part of their names.
The woman is Hiroko An'ei, and the man is Kotaro..."
"Well, did they look like a loving, romantic couple?" Usagi asked,
starting on a cup of ice cream.
Makoto shook her head, still grinning. "Nope. They were fighting, and
I heard the woman yelling at him that she was going to get the bed."
"That could just mean that they're a non-romantic couple, couldn't
it?" Usagi said reasonably.
"Usagi... the hope destroyer..." Makoto muttered. Usagi giggled, and
continued on her ice cream, while Makoto brought out another tray of goodies.
Usagi's mouth immediately began to water at the smell of this new scrumptious
food.
"Nonono... I'm sure they're just brother and sister..." Usagi eyed the
food as Makoto held it just out of reach teasingly. "Uhm... he's madly in love
with you already, Mako-chan." She nodded furiously as Makoto laughed, and
pushed the tray in Usagi's direction.
"So, when's the wedding, Usagi-chan?" Makoto inquired, abruptly
changing
the subject, and laughing at the result: a piece of sushi flying out of her
friend's nose.
Undetectable from either of their sight, a young woman watched, her
face hard, but her eyes undeniably sad. And deep within her was the aching
hope
that they would never have to meet....
meet....__________________________________________________________________________________