Tokyo’s Child
Tuesday 6:45am
        “I told you we should have come here earlier, she’s probably left for the hospital already.”  Luna complained from Usagi’s shoulder in front of the Mizuno household door.
        “Or maybe she’s just asleep and didn’t hear the bell?  This is not exactly normal visiting hours you know.”  Usagi gave her cat an angry stare.
        “She is a doctor, she wakes up early.”
        “She might have had a late night!” Usagi hissed, she was extremely angry at the fact that she would have to wake up so early just to ring the doorbell of a house in which the occupant did not answer.
        “But… but…” Luna spluttered, “she’s not supposed to have late nights out, she’s a doctor, she is Someieichi-kou, she’s not supposed to…”
        “Have a life?”  Mewagi said as she finally opened the door dressed in a dark blue silken, her tousled hair slipping into her eyes, “well, I’m afraid I do, and Ami woke up last night, I suppose you already know that though, is that why you are here to see me so early in the morning?”
        “Well, umm… we were wondering if you could give her this,” Usagi held out a communicator, “so we could talk to her afterschool.”
        “I’ll try,” she said as she took the communicator, “I’ll be going in to see her around lunchtime, so I’ll see if I can bring it in to her.”
        “Arigato Someieichi-kou.”  Luna bowed a little from Usagi’s shoulder, “we had better get going to go to class on time Usagi-chan.”
        “Hai, arigato!”

8:30am
        Zoicite sat in the darkness of his windowless room, mulling over what had happened last night, he couldn’t believe the terrified look that had been on his dear princesses’ face, he couldn’t believe that she would scream so loudly.  He had never heard her scream in his past life, she had always been so soft spoken and demure that not a harsh word came out of her lips, yet here she was, in front of him yesterday, screaming as though there was no tomorrow.  Granted, as Endymion-sama had told him, he had once been her enemy, but still!  Her screams… He couldn’t get it out of his mind, maybe, just maybe, Ami Mizuno was not quite the Princess Mercury that he had once known.

12:30pm
        “Ami-chan?”
        “Ota-san?  I missed you.”  Ami whispered from the couch that she was sitting on, watching the droplets of rain washing down the window.
        “What’s wrong?”
        “Asuka-kun and I had a fight.”
        “A fight?  But he seemed so eager to talk to you last night, that’s why I bent the rules to let him in to see you.  What happened?”
        “He… he kept on insisting that he was crazy, and I said that he wasn’t… you see… he remembered part of what happened, and… you know that looks, I can’t tell him the truth, I can’t tell him it really happened, and he thinks… I don’t even know why he is so scared, so… paranoid about it… with him… its almost an obsession, almost like he wants to be crazy…”
         “No one wants to be crazy Ami-chan, it’s his past that is haunting him, he told me about it in confidence, I don’t think he would want me to tell you, nor does he want to talk about it, but… try and be understanding, work through it with him.”
        “What is going to happen ota-san?”  Ami rested her head on her mother’s shoulders, snuggling into the warmth of her mother’s touch.
        “I don’t know, I can’t see into the future.  I write a small part of it, but I don’t know what happens, I don’t even know where he fits into this test, I think he is a part of your present life, not your past.  That means that he is mortal, his lifespan will be that of a normal person, and… you will have to cherish every moment that you can spend with him, because it might not be much.”  Mewagi massaged the skull of her daughter’s head, hoping to loosen the tension, “sometimes, we just have to improvise with what life throws our way, and even if we did know what was to come, it doesn’t always mean that we make the wisest choices, masume (daughter), we can only do what we think is best for that moment.”
        “I don’t want to do what I think is best in that moment, I want to do what is best, full stop, not something that I will look back at and think, I know I tried, but I could have done better.  Knowing that I tried isn’t good enough, I want to know that I did do it.”  Ami said with determination.
        “Sometimes we just don’t know,” Mewagi whispered as she stroked her daughter’s tangled hair, “but we still have to do something, anything to help.  Ami-chan, I know that being here is hard, but here’s a chance to do something,” she said as she gave her daughter the communicator, “through your friends.  You might not be able to physically help Asuka-san, but with your friends’ help, he might just feel a little more loved.”

8:00pm
        “Ami-chan, I’ve been trying, but his manager said that he wasn’t at home, and he wasn’t in school either, I’ll make sure that I talk to him tomorrow in school, but his manager threatened to shoot me if I waited outside their house.”  Usagi whispered into her wrist.
        “Its not like you haven’t been threatened with worse Usagi-chan!  Please, Usagi-chan, it’s important that you talk to him, I need to talk to him, and so does my mother.”
        “Okay!  I’ll sneak out now to talk to him, but if I get into trouble…”
        “It’s my fault, please!”
       *knock knock* “wait,” she whispered into her communicator and opened her bedroom door to reveal Shingo standing there, “and what do you want?” she demanded.
        “Can you be polite odango?”  Shingo grinned wickedly.
        “What do you want Shingo?” she growled.
        “oohh… Nothing?”
        “Then what are you doing here?
        He leaned against the frame of the door and placed out his empty hand.
        “Fine,” Usagi stormed into her room and pulled out yet another piece of SailorMoon merchandise to ‘buy’ his information, “what are you doing here?”
        “Well, ota-san is in a bad mood about your practice exam results, oka-san is the same especially after one of your teachers called, but he’s threatening to send you to cram school if you screw ANYTHING up again before your exams, and I think he really means it this time.  And umm… what else, dinner’s ready.”  Shingo laughed as he whirled around and left.
        “Yes dinner!  Oh Ami-chan, you heard what Shingo said about my parents…” Usagi gave her friend puppy dog eyes through the communicator.
        “Yes, I heard.”
        “I’ll talk to him tomorrow, I promise okay?”
        Ami forced a smiled, “alright.”

8:20pm
        “I wish I could,” Rei began, “but I don’t know him, he’s only met me once, on your birthday, he doesn’t even know who I am, not to mention, it is getting late for me.”
        “It’s okay, I just need you to pass on a message, even if you went as a fan of his, to tell him that you’re glad to see him back, and you hope to see him skate soon, it’s only going to take a little while, it won’t take too long.  If you could just say something, anything to him?”
        “Ami-chan, doesn’t that sound a little bit crazy?”
        “ITS NOT CRAZY!”  Ami yelled into her communicator, she took a deep breath, “yeah, maybe it is, sorry, don’t worry about it okay?”

9:50pm
        “Ami-chan, he wasn’t at home, and his manager wouldn’t let me stay around for him, he said that Asuka-san had been out all day, he didn’t know where he was, I can’t find him, and his manager isn’t helping,”  Makoto spoke into her communicator softly.
        “No one knows where he is?”
        “I don’t know who knows, but I don’t know where he is, he’s just gone.”
        “He has to be somewhere.”
        Ami looked as though she was going to start crying, Makoto sighed, “I’ll go out and look around the area for him alright?  But that’s the best I can do.”
        “Thank you Mako-chan.”
        “It’s alright, I know that you would have done the same.  Don’t worry, its going to be alright, you guys argued, but its not the end of the world.”
        “I know.”

10:42pm
        “Urawa-kun?  Is that you?  What are you doing here?  This is Asuka Akiyama’s house!”  Makoto inquired as she approached him, standing in front of house of Asuka Akiyama, his concentration entirely focused on an unlit window in one of the rooms upstairs.
        “Oh, is it?  I mean, yes, I went out for a walk, and kind of… umm… came across this house.  I’m just looking, just wanted to know how the rich lived, you know.  Anyway, I’d better get going, it’s quite late now, see you in school tomorrow Makoto-san.”  Urawa didn’t look at her, he just turned away and walked off hastily, hoping that she wouldn’t follow him.
        “Wait!  Urawa-kun!”  No such luck, Makoto’s footsteps were fast catching up, he stopped and looked in her direction, “you’re lying, and you’re a bad liar, did you know that?  Are you here because you see something happening in the future?  The same reason why Ami-chan sent me here?”
        “She sent you?  Why did she send you?”
        “I don’t know.”
        “Then no, I don’t think so.  Ja ne!”  He waved, and briskly ran off without waiting for her response, Makoto stared after him, and then turned to look at the house.  She had been looking around Juuban for the past hour, since she had finished speaking with Ami, and even using her SailorJupiter powers to search the town, she hadn’t been able to find Asuka.  She sighed, looking at that window again, she wondered what Urawa had seen with his power, shaking her head; she held up her wrist and pressed a button on her communicator.  Time to give Ami the bad news - he had seemingly disappeared.
 

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