Cycle of Our Souls (2/?) 
by M is for Mars
E-Mail: MCW717@hotmail.com
Rated: PG (for now)
Disclaimers: Nope, not mine.  Oh well, at least I can borrow 'em for a little
bit.  :)

One quick comment: all the stuff between the asterisk lines takes place in 
theso-called "present" time period (which would be just before Sailor Moon S), 
while the rest of it (unless otherwise labled) is just a few weeks in the 
past (a rather alternate universe past, obviously, as none of this happened 
in the show :).  Trust me, give it a bit and you'll understand what I'm 
talkin about.
------------------------------
Cycle of Our Souls (2/?)

Three Weeks Earlier
"Oh, Serena, give it a rest!  You're never gonna beat Amy at this, so you 
might as well quit," Raye Hino said good-naturedly to her friend Serena 
Tsukino.
        
"I never quit, Raye!  I will beat Amy at this game if it's the last thing I 
do!" 
        
Raye rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to the comic book she'd 
been reading.  "I think I should study now anyway," she vaguely heard Amy 
Anderson, the "brain" of the group, say.
        
"You're going to turn into a Chemistry book, Amy," Lita Kino teased.  "Why 
don't we go skating?  That's always fun!"
        
"Sure you think so, Lita," Serena grumbled under her breath.
        
"I think we should go shopping," Mina Aino spoke up.  "I heard there's a new 
store opening in the mall and that they're having a really big grand opening 
sale!"
        
"Hai, and sure as we go some Negaverse creep'll attack.  That's exactly how 
I wanna spend *my* Saturday," Raye said dryly.
        
"That is a point, though, Raye.  It does seem every time there's an event in 
Tokyo that might draw even the smallest of crowds, the Negaverse is somehow 
involved," Luna, Serena's cat (or is Serena Luna's person?), said.
        
"Luna!  I was kidding.  I just don't want to go to the mall again," Raye told 
her.
        
"Raye!" Serena cried, tossing the video game controller aside.  "You never 
want to go to the mall.  We haven't been in almost two weeks and I'm 
suffering from severe withdrawal."
        
Raye sighed in exasperation.  "Why do we have to do anything at all?  I mean, 
why can't we just all go do our own thing and not worry about everyone else 
for a change?  Novel concept, I know," she said bitterly.
        
The girls shared a Look, each one thinking the same thing.  Luna finally put 
it to words: "Is something wrong, Raye?" she asked gently.
        
"Iie, nothing.  I'm fine... just really tired.  I think I'll go home and get 
some rest... maybe some time in front of the fire will help me sort out my 
thoughts.  I'm sorry I snapped at you guys."  She slid off Serena's bed and 
dropped the manga on the desk.  "So I'll see you guys tomorrow, I guess."       
        
"Sayonara, Raye.  Ja ne!" they called as she hurried out the door.
        
"She's been acting strange all week," Lita said once she was gone.
        
"I know... much more bossy and snappy than usual," Serena put in, turning 
back to the video game.
        
"Should we try to figure out what's wrong with her?" Mina asked, her eyes 
lighting up at the thought of snooping on Raye.
        
"I think she'll tell us when she's ready to," Amy said.  "Maybe it's 
something she feels she can work out on her own.  We should trust her."
        
"Well," Lita said after a moment, "if she gets much worse, we'll have to 
*make* her tell us.  I mean, it's not like we aren't her best friends."
        
"True, but I agree with Amy in this case: we will let Raye keep her own 
counsel until she's ready to talk," Luna said.  Her tone left no room for 
argument.

********************************
I remember that day well.  It was the first day I ever saw him, the day my 
life began - this phase of my life, I mean.  This... strange, dreamy, alive 
phase.  I remember looking up and seeing him, all fierce, knowing blue eyes... 
I remember watching him watching me, watching me as though he wanted to learn 
me, watching me as though he could see into my soul and instantly know all my 
secrets, all my fears and dreams.
        
It was disconcerting, seeing him there, seeing him and yet not knowing him.  
I feel sometimes as though I still don't know him... and now I suppose I 
never will.  He spoke to me, his voice mildly derisive in that way which so 
got under my skin.  He always knew just what to say to get on my nerves.  
Gods, how I love him, how I need him!  And I don't need anyone.  No, that's 
not true.  I need my friends... I need this temple... and, though I don't 
like admitting it, I need Sailor Mars.  She is as much a part of me as 
anything else. 
        
Iie!  I was fine before Sailor Mars, and I can be fine again without her.  
But... was I really?  Was I fine?  I was alone, and I would be alone again.  
Could I do that?  Now that I know the difference, now that I've felt the 
sweetness of knowing there are people who love me and care for me and would 
give their lives for me, can I go back to being lonely Raye Hino?
        
I will have to go back to being Raye Hino without Jay Dalinger.  I don't want 
to, but I must... and I will.  Just as I must be a Sailor Scout.  And just as 
I will... always.
********************************

Raye stood up from her position on the floor in front of the temple fire with 
a frustrated sigh.  Despite her best efforts, the flames had revealed nothing 
to help her work past the mood she had been in lately, a mood that had been 
best described by the ever-eloquent Serena the day before: "Raye's in a 
funk."  
        
Such a comment only served to make Raye angrier.  What did Serena know about 
it anyway?  It wasn't any of her business!  Wasn't she allowed to be in a bad 
mood every now and then?  The dark-haired girl sighed again and shook her 
head, thinking that this particular bad mood was lasting longer than most.
        
She felt bad about the way she had spoken to her friends earlier, but 
sometimes she felt like a drone - always going along with the group, always 
being apart of the group.  Raye was traditionally a loner, and while she 
enjoyed her friends and was glad for them, she sometimes needed her space.  
Now, it seemed, was one of those times.
        
Trying to relieve her tension through different means, Raye grabbed a broom 
and began sweeping the floor as though it were the cause of her mood.  She 
jabbed the brush into corners with a vengeance, muttering the whole time about 
Chad and his inability to keep anything clean.
        
"Whatever the poor floor has done, I'm sure it would apologize if you would 
only give it a chance.  There surely isn't a reason to punish it so," a deep, 
lightly mocking voice said from behind her.

Raye whirled around, startled and angry at the intrusion.  She opened her 
mouth to chastise the speaker, but ended up saying nothing, her jaw hanging 
open in surprise as she stared up at him.  Her mind whirled through images of 
intense, uncanny blue eyes and curly - *no, not so much curly as wavy,* she 
corrected herself - blond hair and she tried desperately to regain her 
composure.  "I... the floor did nothing, naturally," she said, throwing a 
shield of haughtiness up between them to protect herself from those damn 
eyes of his.  "I have been very busy with other matters lately and haven't 
been able to devote the proper attention to such things as sweeping.  Now, is 
there something I can help you with?"

He slowly arched an eyebrow and replied, "That depends.  I'm looking for a 
young woman by the name of Raye Hino.  Do you know her?"
        
Raye regarded him carefully for a moment.  "Who's asking?" she said 
suspiciously, tucking a lock of purple-black hair behind her ear.
        
His lips twisted into a strange smile - strange, but not unkind - and he 
bowed politely.  "Jay Dalinger at your service, Hino-san.  I have come to 
request guidance from a wise miko, and you seem to fit that description 
perfectly."
        
Her brow creased in a frown and she turned away to return the broom to its 
place.  "Don't try to flatter me, Dalinger-san.  If you haven't come to our 
temple with a serious purpose, then I must ask you to leave.  We do not take 
people mocking the sanctity of this place lightlly.  You understand, of 
course?"
        
"Gomen nasai, Hino-san, forgive me," he said, his tone losing its scornful 
edge, "I do come for a serious purpose, but I'm afraid I've started off 
terribly wrong.  I was startled, you see... I was told that the miko of the 
Cherry Hill Temple was wise and rather quick-tempered, but no one told me of 
your beauty.  And that is not simply flattery.  So, shall we begin again?  My 
name is Jay Dalinger and I've come to make an offering at your temple."  He 
held out abouquet of white roses so delicately, perfectly, innocently 
beautiful that Raye, turning back to face him, caught her breath in wonder.

"They are magnificent," she whispered.  "I've never seen flowers of such 
loveliness and perfection!"  She gasped again as she stared down into the 
bouquet: each flower was flushed bright pink in the center, almost as if the 
blossom contained a flame within itself.  "The Gods will truly be pleased.  
Domo arigato, Dalinger-san."
        
He looked a little sheepish.  "I'm afraid... I'm afraid I lied to you, 
Hino-san," he said after a long silence.
        
Her head snapped up, onyx eyes blazing.  "*Lied*?  What, *exactly*, did you 
lie about?" she asked, her tone tight with anger and disbelief.
        
Jay Dalinger cleared his throat and shifted uneasily from one foot to another.  
Raye was amazed at his transformation: those blue eyes, which before had 
seemed to unabashedly peer into her very soul, would not rise to meet her 
own, and his voice, so confident and derisive just a moment ago, was small 
and chagrined.  All in all, he looked like a small child who had been caught 
with his hand in the cookie jar after having been warned away from it quite 
frequently.
        
"When I told you I was startled by your beauty?  Well, it wasn't a complete 
lie, because I'm startled anew each time I see you... because I *have* seen 
you before... and *that* is the actual reason I'm here.  The flowers aren't 
for the Gods, they're for you.  I thought you would be angry if I came up 
here like that, seeming like some love-sick fool who hasn't sense enough to 
know that you aren't the type of girl to be taken in by flowers and candy, so 
I decided to make the offering to the Gods instead.  I'm sorry to have 
deceived you in the first place, Raye-san, but I had to tell you the truth, 
because you deserve that much," he said, finally glancing up to meet her 
fiery gaze at the very end of this speech.

Raye, for her part, had listened to his admission with ever-widening eyes.  
He had brought these amazing flowers, each one a gift *from* the Gods, to 
*her*?  "You're right: I most likely would have thrown you out on your ear 
had you come in here waving this bouquet around and offering me invitations 
to dinner and the movies... but still..." she trailed off, unsure whether to 
be furious that he would lie about something as sacred as an offering to the 
Gods, or to be thrilled that he would go to such lengths to impress her.  
"I'm not sure what to say," she finally admitted.
        
His lips turned up in a charming, boyish grin.  "Say you'll have dinner with 
me tonight."
        
"Dalinger-san-"
        
"Jay, please," he interrupted.
        
"Jay-san, I'm a very busy person.  I have the temple to look after, my 
grandfather to keep out of trouble, school, my friends..."
        
"Well if not tonight, then tomorrow?" Jay asked hopefully.
        
Raye frowned, realizing that this young man was not the type to beg.  Indeed, 
he seemed just as strong-willed and prideful as she herself was.  *Gods, I 
know he won't give up until I say yes!* she thought.  "Hai, Jay-san, dinner 
tomorrow night."
        
He smiled brilliantly, and she couldn't help but return the expression.  "I'll
pick you up at eight, alright?  And wear something stunning: there's no way 
I'm taking you to some place like McDonald's."  With that and a bow, he swept 
from the temple, leaving Raye to puzzle over the encounter as she made her 
slow, leisurely way back to her bedroom.
        
"Well *he* was certainly interesting," she whispered, carefully arranging the 
stunning roses in a cut crystal vase on her bureau.  She gave a little shiver 
of delight and, surprised at her sudden eagerness, ran to the closet to look 
for something to wear tomorrow.  "Kuso," she muttered after a moment, "I 
guess I'll be going to the mall after all."

******************************
I laugh now when I think of it.  I laugh when I remember that smile of his 
when I said yes... I laugh when I remember how excited I was, just like a 
little girl let loose in a candy shop.  In a way, actually, I was.  Jay, for 
all his observant seriousness and stubborn ways, was like a breath of fresh 
air.
        
I remember that night, the magic of it.  He brought me more roses, these red 
as the flame of my Sacred Fire, then we went to some fancy restaurant in 
downtown Tokyo, the likes of which I had only read about in magazines.  I 
think I fell in love with him that night, with his eyes that danced when he 
laughed - a sound so rare that, when it was heard, seemed the most beautiful 
in the Universe - and his hair that kept falling over his eyes, causing him 
to brush it back in an endearing, boyish manner.  Yes, that was my Jay: 
boyish, charming and laughing one minute; serious, watchful and silent the 
next.  We are a lot a like, Jay Dalinger and I.  We are fire: nurturing, warm 
and life-giving, but, when necessary, fierce, angry and proud. 
        
I'm laughing at myself right now, for my own thoughts remind me of a poem by 
that American, Poe.  Something about... Annabel Lee... "I was a child, and 
she was a child, in this kingdom by the sea.  But we loved with a love that 
was more than love..."  And if I remember correctly, that poem didn't exactly 
have a happy ending.  It's a shame, for I do so love happy endings.
*******************************

End part 2/?

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