Aftermath
Friday 10:45pm
“Excuse me?” She exclaimed as she jumped up from the position on the ground that she had been sitting on earlier.
He leaned forward in concern, not sure whether she was jumping up because of the shock, or the heat of the hot chocolate. “I mean, I know the truth, the past, our past, because we come fro the same past. I was there with you, in the Silver Millennium, we were part of each other’s past, I gave you away to your husband, the King of Mercury.”
“I don’t believe that I am hearing this, is this a psychological game that you’re playing, to see what happens when people go into shock when you accuse them? I don’t know what you think you are doing, but this is a sick attempt at humour if this is what it is.”
“I’m not joking, and I’m not trying to get anything out of you by surprising you, I know this, and I can prove it to you.”
“I think we need some time away from each other…” she picked up her papers and her coat as she started for the door.
“Wait, Mewagi, don’t go,” he held her arm, knocking her papers to the floor, beneath his breath he whispered to his son, “son, you’d better help out about now.”
Leaning into his arms, she snuggled her cheeks against his chest. Her eyes were closed as texture of the smooth cotton of his shirt pressed on her face, separating her skin from his, her flesh from his muscles. She could feel his breathing to which she slowly aligned to, and her fluttering heartbeat seemingly fell into place with his. When two people were destined for each other, blessed by the stars, heavens and gods, mere touch made the two become one single body.
His hands lay innocently on top of hers, which were resting on her tummy, but his fingers caressed each fold of the skin of her hands. Lovingly exploring each crease and crevice between her fingers, he slowly took her hands in his as he examined the softness of them with his adoring eyes. She was perfect, down to each long narrow fingertip; he placed his chin close to her shoulder and brought her hands to his lips as he whispered softly into her ear, “do you realised how dirty your fingernails are?”
“hmm?” She sighed happily without thought to those words, until she was jolted to the reality as she sat up straight from her position on the sofa, “what? What did you say?”
“I asked whether you realised how dirty your fingernails are.” He repeated those words with a completely straight face. His gaze travelled to her hands that had dangling off the sofa while she was sleeping, directly plunging into his mid night snack.
“AHHH!!” she jumped up from sofa.
“Precisely, ahh.” He reiterated those words monotonously as he stood up and took the momiji-manju (a traditional Japanese maple-leaf-shaped bun with bean-jam filling) to the rubbish bin, “ahh my momiji-manju, ahh my supper.”
Placing her fingers into her mouth, she sucked them clean, “and it was such a good dream too! And you had to go around and ruin it,” she pouted accusingly.
Deadpanning, he continued in the same dry voice, “and it was such a good supper too! And you had to go around and ruin it.”
“Not funny Mamo-chan!”
“Not funny either Usako, not when I craving for some sugar.”
“I guess we were both wrong?” she pleaded with her puppy-dog eyes.
Shaking his head he couldn’t help but melt in those eyes, “if you say so.”
Usagi smiled happily at him when she knew that she was forgiven, “I had the most wonderful dream, about you and me, you were just holding me, standing on that balcony over there, looking over Tokyo, feeling the wind and the night.”
As if on cue, he came over to her and held out his hand. When she accepted, he led her out to the balcony and held her, whispering to her ear, “like this?”
“Umm…” she closed her eyes as she felt the moment from her dream relive, “only this is so much better,” she pressed her cheeks against his warm body, “if only everyone were this lucky, if only all of the senshi were this lucky, the world would be a much better place don’t you think? If only all of the world could feel what we have…”
“Do you think its possible?”
“Why not, its only being with the man that you love, it can’t be that hard. What do you think is going to happen with Ami-chan?”
“She’ll sort it out, she always does. Either way, I’m sure that both Zoicite, I mean… what’s his name now? Yes, both Tsuzuki-san and Kunki-kun are good people, whoever she chooses, I think she’ll be happy, she just needs to give Tsuzuki-san a chance to prove that he’s a good guy now, not who she killed previously. That, and give love a chance.”
“Do you think that they really feel that way about her?”
“I know that Tsuzuki-san does, he’s been running after her like a love-sick puppy since he the day he got his memories back and he found her in this time-space. Kunki-kun, I don’t know. I haven’t had much chance to talk to him since… well, that day when he met all of you, and… I think he does, but I don’t know. Maybe I’ll call him up some time this weekend, to do what friends do best.”
“You’re going to badger him about it, aren’t you?” she asked, her eyes turning to his as she smiled cheekily, understanding his implication immediately.
“I’m going to do everything that I’ve learnt from you girls about questioning people about their love lives, if that’s what you mean.”
“Mamo-chan, you’re the world’s greatest boyfriend in the world.”
Leaning down, he whispered in her ear, “err… and I am going to be the world’s deadest boyfriend in the world if I don’t get you home… in about twelve minutes. Do you know what time it is? It’s nearly eleven, your father must be standing by the door with his samurai out of its sheath by now.”
“OH MY!!! WE HAVE TO GET GOING! NOW! MAMO-CHAN! WHY DIDN’T YOU REMIND ME EARLIER, OH GOD, HE’S NEVER GOING TO LET ME OUT OF THE HOUSE AGAIN, HE’S NEVER GOING TO LET ME SEE YOU EVER AGAIN AND I’LL BE IN SO MUCH TROUBLE!!!”
“Usako,” he grabbed her by the shoulders gently while she was running around the house panicking and looked into her frantic eyes, “you think I would have not said anything if I remembered? Calm down, get your things, and I can send you home before midnight, as long as you calm down for goodness sake.”
Friday 10:51am
He appeared almost immediately to his father’s summonses, and in a ridiculously low voice, he did an appalling imitation of the Adam’s family butler, “you rang?”
“No time for jokes, tell her, the truth, about me and you.”
He surveyed the room and whistled, he had never seen her look quite so stunned in his life, and in that moment he realised at once that the moment she had gotten to her senses, he would probably be better off dead.
Unfortunately, that moment came quicker than he expected, “what is this, a prank that you play to revenge? I know that you didn’t like the way I handled things, I know you didn’t approve of what those tests, but this is going too far. You have no right, no right whatsoever to do this, do realise what the dire consequences are? How can you just…” she was briefly at a loss of words, “just… just pull out and create a human like a magician with a rabbit? Do you realise what a mistake you have made?”
“I’d just like to say ma’am,” he glared at his father for this, “that I am in no way responsible for this whole thing, I knew about it, but I never sanctioned nor participated nor did I come up with this idea. It is not my fault at all.”
“Then who? Whose fault is it, who was the baka who sanctioned it?”
“This man is my father ma’am, he really was the Deus Mercury before I; he was your guide just as I am your daughter’s. Someieichi-kou, please, my father, he came to Earth to be with the woman that he has always been in love with…”
“I don’t care, he lied to me about his identity, who was the baka who sanctioned this horrendous and childish act?”
“Excuse me, but did you ever tell him that you were Som…”
He was abruptly cut off, “I asked who was the baka?”
Hesitating, he answered in a low voice, “the highest one of course.”
“Send her to me immediately, she has no right to meddle with the human world and I will most certainly endeavour to strip her of her powers.”
“Someieichi-kou, with all due respect and with permission to speak freely, you are in shock and you aren’t thinking straight. My father was given a right to be here after his retirement from his role as Deus Mercury.”
“Permission was denied and there wasn’t enough respect. He may have been given a right to become human, but he has no right to interfere and meddle with my daughter and my life after giving up his role. How dare you do that to me? It was a disgraceful and unthoughtful act from all of you; did you expect that you would not be sanctioned?” She pressed past the two men and opened the door of his apartment.
He had not spoken a word since his son had appeared in front of him, finally, the retired guide of Mercury, reincarnated as Kendo Daiki placed a hand on his son’s shoulders, “Mewagi-chan, don’t punish her for this, if anything this was purely my fault. If you truly think that what has occurred is so appalling then you can punish me. But before you do so, I want you to think it over, are you angry because you feel that you’ve been lied to, which you haven’t because everything was from my heart; or because something out of your control has occurred. You have never liked being out of control, and perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised that you are reacting this way. But I never lied to you…”
She stared at him coldly, if looks could kill…, “you lied, you lied about everything, you are just as sick as any other man. You’re a vile and detestable, cheating and lying… thing! You think you can fib your way through life hoping that you’ll never be caught out by anyone; I should have know better than to have gotten mixed up with the likes of you. From the very beginning you lied when you asked me out for dinner, I regret the very moment I agreed, and I regret every single moment I have spent with you. I wasted my precious time on you, time that could have been better spent on anyone else, or a cat or a dog.”
“Mewagi, everything that happened was from the heart, my heart was yours from the moment I set eyes on you as a six year old in the Silver Millennium. I loved you then, and I do now. Please, believe this much of what I have to say, I do love you.”
They sat on the couch silently, each holding a mug of hot chocolate and enjoyed each other’s company. He didn’t know where to begin, and she didn’t want to seem to intrude too much on his privacy. “Mizu… no, I mean, Ami-chan, I probably won’t be staying long, just until managed to find myself somewhere to stay.”
“Don’t you mean until you go to Tokyo to live with your father?”
“Well, it might take some time for him to work out suitable arrangements…” he saw her raised eyebrows and the suppressed smile on her face, “this story that I’m telling isn’t very credible is it?” he asked her with a gentle smile.
“No, I was just going to tell you off for that,” she replied, returning his smile, “why don’t you tell me the truth Ryo-kun?”
“Fine, truth is, I’m here to help you.”
“Help me? With what?”
“For example, do you know who you are having dinner with on Valentine’s Day?”
“Is this some sort of a trick question? Probably with my computer or my books, my mother will either be at work, or she’s got Dr Daiki…” She looked off in a wistful smile, her eyes twinkling while she remembered watching her mother coming home from work and then getting ready to go out with Dr Daiki tonight.
“Wrong. You see, that’s where you need help.”
She stared at him wide-eyed, surely he didn’t mean him, surely he wasn’t saying that he was going to personally save him from eating on her lonesome on Valentine’s Day by inviting her… no, they were just friends, platonic friends, he himself had said that before.
“Ur… Ami-chan, you do remember that talk we had before, don’t you?”
“Yes, of course!”
“Nothing’s changed, okay?”
“Hai.
Arigato for being truthful with me Ryo-kun.”