Planet Bound: Venus
by Marj
Notes:
gomen - I'm sorry
minna - everyone
Please e-mail your comments and constructive criticisms at
. Thanks!
Disclaimers: The characters of Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon were created
by Naoko Takeuchi-san, its copyright owned by Toei Animation, Kodansha,
Nakayoshi, Sterling Animation Inc., and many other companies scattered
throughout the world. Meaning, I cannot claim the characters as my
own, and am mearly borrowing them. A scene was also taken from
the Sailor V manga, also made by Naoko Takeuchi. The character Ayukawa
Himeru is mine. So please don't sue, as I don't earn anything from
this other than the satisfaction of making a story.
Chapter Nine: Patching Up
Minako coughed as she walked down the stairs and into her family's
living room. Usagi was beside her. She watched as her friend leaned
against the wall.
"It's getting bad, isn't it?" Usagi asked, her face filled with
concern.
"I . . . I guess . . ." Minako said. "Gosh, only a few days have
passed since I had told you guys, and I wasn't even coughing this much
then! This disease works fast . . ."
They stood there for a while, silence surrounding both girls as Minako
took time to reflect, and Usagi waited patiently for what her friend
would say.
"Usagi . . . I don't think I'm going to enroll for next school year . .
." Minako said softly. Her friend looked at her, horrified.
"Why? Just because you're sick doesn't mean that you have to quit
school!"
Minako had another coughing fit before she managed to answer. "I know.
But the doctors said I may be too weak by September, or if some miracle
happens, late December. Either way, I won't be able to attend school
anymore."
"Hey, girls!" Makoto said, looking up the stairs. "Come on! Let's
go!"
Minako and Usagi moved forward. Usagi touched Minako's arm. "Should I
. . . should I tell the others?"
She smiled softly. "It's no secret, Usagi. Go on, tell them."
The three girls met Ami, Luna, and Artemis outside on the Aino's lawn.
"Can we go to Crown Fruit Parlor today? I want to eat something," Ami
asked.
Minako looked at Ami. "Gee, and here I thought only Usagi said that!"
Upon reaching Crown, they saw that Rei was already there, waving at
them. "Hi, minna!" she said. Someone was with her.
Usagi held Minako firmly by her wrist and led her to where Rei was
standing. Minako got a good look at the person beside Rei. "Hi . . .
Hikaru-chan . . ." she whispered.
Hikaru smiled at her shyly.
"We'll be leaving you two alone for a while, okay?" Rei said, standing
up. "We'll just go order something and then we'll get back to you."
Both former best friends tried to object, but to no avail. The four
girls left them. To Minako's relief, however, Artemis stayed behind.
They stared at each other for a few minutes, not speaking. The only
thing that could be heard from either of them was the sound of Minako's
persistent coughs.
Hikaru wrung her hands nervously. "How . . . how have you been?"
"Fine . . . I guess . . ."
"Your friends told me. Gomen . . ."
Minako shrugged. "It doesn't really matter anymore. I mean . . . I've
already accepted it, and so has my family and my friends."
"But not me."
Minako looked at Hikaru, a questioning look on her face. "What do you
mean?"
"Oh, Minako-chan, you know what I mean! I . . . I can't accept that
you're dying! I just can't!"
"Why not?"
"Because . . . because . . ." Hikaru looked down at Minako's arms.
Artemis sat there, and he looked at her straight in the eye. She
started to cry. "Oh, Minako-chan! Forgive me!!!" she cried, burying
her face into her arms.
"What's there to forgive? You haven't done anything wrong." < I was
the one who kept canceling our plans. I was the one who kept having to
leave you. You had a right to say those harsh words to me,> Minako
thought.
"No, I did do something wrong! We were best friends! I should have
understood you instead of getting all upset. Your new friends are
better than I am!"
< Because we've been friends for over a thousand years! >
"When we were in Shibakouen, you were all alone with no friends.
Everybody kept saying that you were weird . . . a loner. I didn't even
try to make them see the truth about you. In fact, I made matters even
worse by . . . by degrading you in front of everybody!"
Minako smiled sadly. "Maybe that did hurt at the time, but it's all in
the past, right?"
Hikaru shook her head. "No . . . well, yes, when I did that, it was in
the past. But . . . our classmates back then never changed their minds
about you. Even now . . ."
"But why feel sorry about it? Now that it's all over?"
"Because I feel awful for having done it in the first place!"
Artemis thought.
Hikaru started to tear the tissue in front of her. "After we fought .
. . I felt good doing things to hurt you . . . I managed to bring out
all my anger. You were so popular back then . . . I wanted to destroy
that popularity. But now . . . whenever I hear someone say horrible
things about you that they had taken straight out of my mouth, I'll
cringe, because I know that it's not true. I feel even more awful
since I knot that you haven't done a thing to pollute my image."
"Why should I? You're still my friend . . . even though we fought."
Minako touched Hikaru's hand. "You don't know how many days I waited
for us to make up again, as if our misunderstanding was nothing more
than a mere quarrel. I kept thinking that what you had been doing was
only temporary. Although there are times that I feel angry . . . I
never ever thought of hurting you for it."
"Now I feel worse than ever!"
Minako laughed softly. "Don't. You know, I'm actually glad we had a
chance to talk again . . . even if it's just today. I . . . I missed
you, Hikaru-chan."
"I missed you, too. I missed you ever since we fought, even though I
tried reject those feelings. I missed you more than anything else in
the world." Hikaru looked at her pleadingly. "Please, Minako-chan . .
. is there ever a chance you could forgive me for what I've done . . .
a chance where we could be friends again?"
Artemis felt like jumping up and down for joy. He looked at Minako,
waiting for her reaction to what Hikaru had said.
Her former best friend's face became somber. "No. I don't think there
is any chance."
Hikaru's face fell. "But . . . but why?"
"Because we've always been friends!" Minako smiled. "What we
encountered was just a trial of our friendship! And there's nothing to
forgive either. I had my own faults concerning our relationship, too.
I'm really sorry for those times I left you all alone . . ."
Hikaru smiled at her, too. "It feels so good to be together again."
"Same here."
Artemis thought.
"So. Have you two made up yet?" they heard Usagi's voice from the
opposite booth. She and the other three girls were looking at them,
innocent looks on their faces.
"Took you long enough!" Rei said, smirking.
"Yeah. All you had to say was "I'm sorry. Please forgive me. Let's
be friends again." And you still had to take more than ten minutes to
do that!" Makoto joked.
"They were being very dramatic, weren't they?" Ami added.
Minako stuck her tongue out at her friends and grabbed Hikaru's hand.
"Come on! Let's go someplace where we can talk privately!" She placed
Artemis on the chair where Luna was resting on.
The two friends walked out of Crown laughing and talking, while those
who were left behind smiled happily at them.
Ami looked down at Artemis, who was staring at Minako and Hikaru with
shining, misty eyes. "Congratulations, Artemis," she said softly.
*****
A few days before summer vacation ended, Minako and Hikaru went window-
shopping together. "Just like the old days," Minako had said. It was
obvious that both girls were glad they were friends again.
They weren't the only ones to express their happiness. Their parents
were overjoyed. They had thought that the two childhood pals would
never get back together again, and it had seemed like a miracle when
they did.
Hikaru started to accept the fact that her friend was dying - even
though her parents worried that she might not be able to take the pain
of losing her friend again, this time forever. She tried to relive
their moments together. So she suggested going window-shopping.
However, the morning that Hikaru had suggested was the morning when
Minako had promised Himeru that they would go out. They had made up
the day Hikaru and her friends had seen them in the bookstore, and he
had been looking forward to spending the morning with her.
So the two girls decided to let him tag along. Minako felt sure that
Himeru would understand, and was overjoyed when she found out that
Himeru was happy for her and Hikaru, and would meet them in front of
the mall.
They were standing in front of a posh store, the two girls gazing and
practically drooling at the beautiful clothes inside while Himeru
commented on which clothes would look nice on whom, when the six girls
Hikaru had been with the other day saw them. "Hikaru-chan!" they
shouted. "Come over here!"
Hikaru excused herself from her friend, and - carrying Artemis in her
arms - rushed towards the girls. "Hi! What's up?" she greeted them,
her face flushed with happiness.
The other girls grinned at her. "Nice plan, Hikaru-chan!"
"What plan?"
"You're befriending that girl again so that you can swipe Himeru-san
away from her! It's very admirable. Make sure you introduce him to
us!" one of the girls said.
"But . . . but that wasn't my intention when I made up with Minako-
chan."
The girls stared at her in shock. "It . . . wasn't?"
Hikaru shook her head. "No. I realized that I had been wrong, and now
we're on good terms again. I also think that Himeru-san made the right
choice of choosing my best friend over any other person in the world!"
"Are you sure? I mean, isn't she the person who kept leaving you?
Isn't she always thinking of herself and not of others? I mean, girl,
you're making friends with a loner, the one you yourself put down years
ago! Don't you even care the least bit what this will do to your
reputation?"
"So, maybe she hasn't told me the reason why she kept leaving me, but
whatever it was, I know that it's valid. My reputation is worthless if
I don't have my friend. Besides, I'm not after anybody for popularity,
and you're right, I don't care," Hikaru argued.
Artemis was angry with these girls who thought so little of Minako.
He desperately wanted to shout names at them.
Hikaru wasn't feeling any better about the whole thing, either. "I
should be getting back to Minako-chan. I've left her long enough."
The girls nodded slowly in agreement. "Yeah. We think you should,
too."
Nodding her good-byes, she walked back to Minako, who was staring at
her. "Wow. Don't you think you were a bit harsh? I mean, they're
your friends, and you may need them when . . . you know . . ." Minako
said.
Hikaru shook her head. "There are plenty of people out there.
Besides, I'm getting fed up with that rowdy bunch."
“Whatever happened to your friends in the . . . uhh . . . you know, the
ones accompanying you whenever you stand in the streets carrying first
aid donation boxes?”
Hikaru tilted her head. “Oh, them? They all went to another high
school. I haven’t seen them since graduation.” She brought her hands
together and sighed. “I still remember when Sailor V helped us twice
with the donation boxes, though. Wasn’t she so cool?”
Minako had a coughing fit. Hikaru rubbed her back until it stopped.
“You said so,” Minako answered to her friend’s question, smiling as she
clearly recalled the event. As Sailor V, she had saved Hikaru’s life
from a falling steel bar while Hikaru was on her way to help carry the
donation boxes. Her friend then somehow managed to persuade her to
carry a donation box as well.
“What do you think happened to her? We haven’t heard from her since
the Sailor Senshi showed up.”
“Well, she could be on vacation. Or maybe she had fully retired, since
the world doesn’t exactly need her anymore.”
“Not true! I don’t believe that! She saved my life! She’s my first
hero!” Hikaru said, shaking her head. “Do you think she’s one of the
senshi?”
Minako shrugged. “Possibly.”
“What do you think, Himeru-san?”
Himeru raised his eyebrows and looked up. “I haven’t exactly heard of
Sailor V. All I know are the Sailor Senshi.”
Hikaru looked at him, flabbergasted. “You’ve *got* to be kidding!!
Where in the world have you been, anyway?”
Minako watched, her smile widening as Hikaru told Himeru all she knew
about Sailor V. < I guess Sailor V was not as popular as we thought
she was! >
When the morning was over, Himeru turned to Minako. "So, where are we
headed next?"
Minako looked at her watch. "I promised Usagi-chan and the others that
I'd meet them at the ice cream parlor. You guys wanna come?"
"It's not like we have anything better to do, ne, Hikaru-chan?" Himeru
said, winking at her. Hikaru smiled back.
"Yeah. Your treat?"
"Of course, it's always Himeru-san's treat! He wouldn't be much of a
gentleman if he didn't," Minako laughed as they walked.
"And I suppose being a gentleman is important to you?" Hikaru asked.
Himeru smiled softly. "More than you'll ever know."
A few blocks later, Minako’s chest tightened and she started to feel
dizzy. She leaned against a wall and began coughing uncontrollably.
Artemis jumped out of Hikaru's arms and stood beside her in concern.
Minako looked at him, a slight smile on her face. "I'm okay, Artemis.
I just . . ." She coughed again. ". . . I just feel very tired . . ."
Artemis thought, a frown
creasing his feline face.
"Maybe you should go home," Hikaru suggested worriedly. "We have been
walking all morning, and you shouldn’t be straining yourself."
"It's nothing . . . I just need to rest, that's all . . ."
Himeru placed his hand on her shoulder. "Are you sure?"
Minako nodded. She removed Himeru's hand and tried walking on her own
for a few more minutes. A few steps before she entered the doorway of
the parlor, she felt even more queasy and lightheaded. < I'm so tired
. . .>
Her knees buckled and she fell onto the sidewalk.
"Minako-chan!" she heard before everything was enveloped in darkness.
*****
"Is she okay?" Ami asked her mother.
She and the other girls had been sitting inside the icecream parlor
waiting for Minako to arrive when they had heard someone shout Minako's
name. They had rushed outside, where they had found Minako lying on
the sidewalk in Himeru's arms. Ami had remembered that her mother was
taking a day off, and since she lived nearby, they had decided to bring
her there.
Mrs. Mizuno looked at her daughter, a faint smile on her face. "Her
disease is more progressive than we thought, and she is greatly
weakened, but she'll be fine. Your friend just needs rest, that's
all."
She stood up from where she had knelt down beside Ami's bed, upon which
Minako was resting. "I think you'd better call her parents and tell
them that Minako has to stay here for a while," she advised.
Hikaru nodded. "I'll do it," she said, rushing out of the room. Ami’s
mother followed. She knew her daughter and her companions needed to
spend some time alone with their friend.
Artemis jumped up on the bed and settled down beside Minako, staring at
her with his usual bright blue eyes now dull and filled with worry and
concern. He nuzzled her face and purred softly, as if willing her to
wake up. When she didn't, he silently lowered his head into his paws
and sighed softly.
Luna sensed his distress and settled down next to him. She tried to
comfort him by placing one paw over his, but he pulled away.
The others watched silently as the white cat grieved on his own. They
knew that nothing could console Artemis. All they could do was vacate
the room and leave him alone in his sorrows.
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