In Another Lifetime - Part One
Usagi-chan
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~~~
I sat with my hands held up, focusing entirely on the flames before me.
There was something there, on the edges that I couldn't quite grasp. It was
so close and yet so far. I sighed, and lowered my hands. Grandmother's
words played themself over in my head.
"You cannot rush a vision, darling. You have to let it come to you, when it
is ready to be revealed."
She was right, of course. She was always right. Grandmother had studied
under her grandmother, the legendary Hino Rei, Sailormars, whom I was named
after. It had become a tradition for the eldest daughter to stay at the
temple and train as a priestess. I was pleased with my destiny, though I
had the feeling that I had barely scratched the surface of it.
I raised my hands again and focused my attention back on the great flames.
I slowly lowered my eyelids and chanted under my breath. The string of
beads I held, our family heirloom, clacked together, but I ignored the
sound.
This time, I felt the vision rush upon me with a frightening urgency.
Evil. Danger. Help. The emotions crashed over me and I let myself be
swept away in the force of the vision.
My eyes flew open in pure, unadulterated shock and the beads fell to the
ground. There was an evil lurking around the corner. The Sailor Senshi
were needed once again and I was to find them, awaken them from the slumber
placed on them by Neo-Queen Serenity. I was Sailormars.
Tears fell from my violet eyes. I had regained my memories of both past
lives. I felt the love and longing for Jedeite. The urgency to find and
protect the Princess Serenity and the need for Usagi's friendship.
I didn't understand. Crystal Tokyo was such a peaceful place ruled happily
by Princess Serenity, the descendent of my own dear Princess Serenity.
Whatever evil was threatening us now must be an awesome power to have
awoken the Senshi.
I began to wonder how I would go about finding the others. They could be
anywhere, doing anything. They probably don't even look the same! I knew
I looked very similar to my previous self, though my eyes were a darker
violet.
My eyes fell on the string of beads that lay before me. The fire had told
me of my destiny, now the fire could tell me how to fulfill it. I was sure
of it. I picked up the beads again and turned once more to the great fire.
This time the vision was much calmer. I watched as a young girl shut a book
in exasperation and shoved it across her desk. I studied her features,
taking in the long blue hair and deep blue eyes. I knew instantly who she
was, and became curious at why she had treated the book so. Well, people
do change with time.
I let the vision go and opened my eyes. I recognized her and knew I would
be able to find her once more, if I saw her in person.
A thought occurred to me. Maybe we attended the same school. If so, they
would be in my year book! I was nearly ecstatic as I headed towards my
room in the back of the temple. I pulled the green coloured book off my
shelf and began flipping through the pictues. My eyes fell on the picture
of the girl I had just seen.
"Welcome home, Sailormercury..." I whispered. I glanced at the name
corresponding with the picture. Her name, in this life, was Kasui Antai.
Quite fitting, I thought, remembering the calm, tranquil girl she had been.
I wondered how much she was like her old self now. Smiling, I knew that
tomorrow, I would find out.
It was strange, walking through the halls keeping my eye out for Antai. I
was more friendly than the original Rei, and had many friends. My training
as a priestess did not suffer from my social life though. I thought that if
I concentrated on my training more, I might be able to control some of the
powers I had in my previous life.
I glanced at all the passing faces, wishing that each one would be Antai. I
sighed when I reached my locker, upset that I hadn't found her yet. I knew she
wasn't in any of my classes, or I would have recognized her when I first saw
her in the fire.
I slammed my locker shut in frustration and headed to my first period class.
My attention was focused on trying to figure out how to get her to remember
once I did find her. I knew Antai would be able to help my find the others,
if she was even half as smart as Ami had been.
It wasn't until lunch that I found her. All morning I was going crazy knowing
that she was somewhere in the same building as me, and when I headed to the
cafeteria, I almost freaked out when I saw her.
I casually approached the table where she saw staring off into space. She
seemed to be thinking about something, and I almost felt bad interrupting her.
"Excuse me? Are you Kasui Antai?" I asked. Her head whipped around and she
looked at me.
"Who wants to know?" She asked in response.
I froze at the sound of her voice. It was icy cold, like she had built a
protective armor around herself. I recognized the tactic as the one Mamoru
had used. I almost smiled at the similarities between Mamoru and Antai.
"My name is Himoto Rei. May I sit here? Great." I sat down, not waiting
for her answer. "There's something I need to talk to you about."
"Himoto Rei..." She repeated thoughtfully. "I know who you are... Your that
priestess chick."
I grinned. Antai was certainly going to be a challenge, unlike Ami. Her tone
was condescending and cold.
"Yeah." I told her, nodding. I brushed my long black hair over my shoulder.
"What do you want?" Antai asked me.
I thought for a minute. I couldn't exactly say that I knew her in a past life,
and she had to fight evil demons with me now. Hmmm...
That's when I remembered the neat little trick Rei had been able to use. I
wrapped myself in a shroud of mystery, pulling it around myself like a cloak.
Then I used the trick my grandmother had taught me. I began to gently probe
Antai's mind, ignoring the nagging little feeling that I was invading her
privacy. I mean, it was for the sake of the world, right?
I almost gasped at what I found. Antai was being plagued with dreams of the
end of the world. They featured her being helpless, because she had
forgotten how to help. She had forgotten what to do.
"Your dreams." I said, pulling out of her mind quickly. Her eyes narrowed in
on mine.
"Dreams?" She raised an eyebrow.
"The end of the world. You being helpless. You can't do anything, can you?"
I asked her. Antai laughed.
"What do you know about it?"
"More than you can imagine." I sighed. "Look, I know how to help you
remember. If your interested, you can find me at the Shinto Shrine on
Cherry Hill."
I stood up and walked out of the cafeteria, hoping I would see her later.
The rest of the day seemed to fly by for me. There were all sorts of little
things I would see that would remind me of Mako, or Usagi. More often than
once I burst out laughing at little things that reminded my of Usagi and her
klutziness.
When I got home, I quickly changed into my miko robes and went to the fire
room. Holding the beads tightly, I focused on the fire. An image began
to form, just as the door slid open. Someone walked in but remained silent,
so I figured it was grandmother. I could sense the person shut the door and
come knee beside me.
The vision was of a tall brunette, laughing a joking with a girl a little
younger than her. Suddenly a high pitched wailing filled the air. The
girl turned and picked up an infant. Slowly the vision faded and I smiled.
I had found Sailorjupiter.
"That's Misao. Kaboku Misao." A voice said softly. I whipped my head around
to see Antai sitting next to me. "She and I were childhood friends."
"I see you came."
Antai shrugged.
"The dreams... I want them to go away."
"Why?"
"I don't like them. They frighten me." Antai told me.
"Tell me about them."
"There are others, who are fighting. They keep shouting at me to do
something, to find it's weakness. I'm helpless, I just stand there. I don't
know what I can do. They die, I can see them die and I feel so helpless and
hopeless!"
I studied Antai as she told me about her dreams. It had surprised me that
she had remembered everything about entering the fire room. She had been
careful not to disturb me while I was in a trance, and she had remembered
the tricks I had taught her about seeing what I was seeing. It had seemed
like a second nature to her. Maybe she was remembering more than I gave
her credit for. Maybe I should just outright tell her...
"My name, in a previous life, was Hino Rei." I told her softly. "Do you
recognize the name? Do you remember me, Ami? You remembered where to come
and where to sit and how to read the fire. Do you remember anything else?"
I gently reached my hand to my forehead and touched it. The symbol of Mars
flared to life and I was holding a red pen in my other hand. I looked down
at it, knowing what it was and what it meant.
"Mars. Crystal. Power. Make-up!"
The familiar fire swirled around me, filling me with it's power and strength.
My Shinto robes were replaced with a short red skirt, red high heels, a white
body suit and white gloves. I landed carefully on the ground, amazed.
Although I knew I was Sailormars, and had transformed in a previous life,
this was the first time I had as Himoto Rei.
I looked at Antai, who was still sitting next to the fire. She was staring
at me in shock, and I almost regretted forcing so much information on her
at once.
"What do I have to do with any of... Of this?" She asked, gesturing at me.
"Just as I am the incarnation of Sailormars, you are of Sailormercury." I
told her gently. Antai gasped.
"You, Kasui Antai, are Sailormercury, the senshi of water and ice."
"I remember..." She whispered as the blue sigil of Mercury blazed on her
forehead.
A wave of relief washed over me. She remembered, and now she could help
me find the others. The fact that she knew Misao only made things easier
on us.
"We need to find the others." I told her, powering down.
"Usagi-chan, Mako-chan, Minako-chan..." Antai said softly.
"We need them to help us fight..." I told her. "There's a new evil. We
need to awaken all of the sailor senshi."
~~~
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