In Her Burning Eyes
Chapter Two: Destiny Revealed
People hope and pray that their dreams will come true all the time. I can tell you firsthand that the shock that comes with having your deepest wish granted can throw you off so much you might not even see the consequences of your actions until it's far too late to do anything about them.
Don't get me wrong though, even with everything bad that can happen, a dream come true is still a dream come true...
--
Keeping a secret... or not...
--
“..kidding... felt like... explosion!” a muffled voice shouted excitedly. I cracked open one bleary eye to take in two vaguely human shaped blobs on the floor in front of me, both of which had blonde hair. “I'm telling you, I've never felt a burst of love like that, not even anything that comes close! I just had to come and see for myself!”
“Hey Minako,” I rasped, finding my throat unbearably dry. The two turned on me, both squealing with delight. I slowly raised myself to a sitting position, finding the exhaustion from before had been traded in for horrible soreness.
“Wow Rei-chan! You look like crap!” Minako announced with typical Minako bluntness before turning to Usagi. “You must either be really good or really bad at it!” Usagi stuck her tongue out sheepishly.
“I said the same thing,” she said with a grin before her eyes settled on me. “Seriously though, are you okay Rei-chan? Is there anything I can get you?” The concern in her eyes was already warming over my sore body.
“Maybe some hot tea? My throat is killing me.” She seemed to perk up at this.
“Yes! Tea I can handle! You just sit tight while I go make you Usagi's super healing miracle tea!” she shouted happily, leaping to her feet only to wince and slowly open and close her legs.
“You okay Usa?” She looked at me and smiled nervously.
“Yeah, just a little sore from... well... when you took it,” she managed, before scampering out of the room.
“Took... what?” I asked myself quietly. I could hear Minako sigh as she came to sit next to me.
“Baka! She was a virgin,” she said, pointing to a small red stain on the carpet. The realization that I had taken Usagi's, the Princess's, the Future Queen's innocence hit me like a ton of bricks. Remembering the look on her face, my shoulders slumped.
“Do you think she resents me?”
“Double baka! Couldn't you tell how happy she was? Jeez, you serious types are all so clueless. Still can't believe it took you this long to try to steal her up.”
“You knew!”
“Going for triple, are we?” she asked with a giggle. “It was obvious!” I couldn't hide my grimace, wondering who else had figured it out. “To me at least,” she added quickly upon seeing my expression. “I am the goddess of love after all!” she said with such enthusiasm that I couldn't help but laugh. “That's more like it!”
“Thanks Mina.”
“Seriously though girl, I was worried about you, it's not good to keep all that desire bottled up. If you'd waited another week, I was going to offer myself to you for some relief!” I burst out laughing only to stop and swallow a lump in my throat when I saw she was dead serious.
“You'd have really done that for me?” She looked insulted.
“Of course I would, not only are you my friend but it's also one of my duties,” she said before leaning in to whisper, “and I happen to find you quite sexy there fire-hime,” she finished with a wink and a kiss motion which instantly set my face to maximum blush. Usagi chose that unfortunate moment to come through the door, blue eyes flicking back and forth between us.
“What's all this about?” I frantically waved my hands and shook my head to indicate nothing was happening but Minako simply slid closer and threw an arm around my shoulders.
“Rei said we could have a threesome!” Chaos promptly ensued.
--
After cleaning up the tea, uprighting the chair, and putting the mattress back on it's frame, Usagi finally calmed down and was able to laugh at the joke.
“Honestly Usagi, if I'd known you were this protective I wouldn't have said anything,” Minako giggled, holding an ice pack to the rapidly swelling bump on her forehead. I, not being quite as easy going as Minako, had my back turned to the two of them and was glaring at the wall.
“I really am sorry Rei-chan,” Usagi begged in her sweetest possible voice. I refused to turn around, knowing that the instant I looked into those tear-rimmed eyes I'd have no choice but to forgive her.
“Think about it Usa, do I really seem like the 'threesome' type of girl?!” I called out angrily, feeling her cringe behind me.
“Umm, no?” she offered weakly. When I didn't respond I could sense a shift in the mood of the room behind me. “Honestly Rei, I don't know what came over me...” I could feel my armor starting to crack, “...it makes me wonder, is this how Rei-chan has felt all this time when she thought of me spending my life with somebody else? If it's my fault that you've had to deal with these feelings for all these years then I really don't deserve somebody like you, Rei-chan...”
“Oh, who am I kidding...” I said quietly, turning around to give her a wide grin. “I could never stay mad at you, Usa!” She went from teary eyed to bursting with glee in two seconds flat and made a diving tackle for the bed... only to come up a bit short. Stumbling awkwardly to the side, Minako made to steady her but caught only her collar, the tug sending the blonde spinning. The motion from the spin made short work of her shirt buttons and sent her off course to bounce backwards off one of the bed posts, unsnapping her bra in the process. I managed to catch her around the waist before she fell to the floor and pulled her into my lap. It was a maneuver only Usagi could pull off and I would have laughed until I cried if the door hadn't opened to reveal the stunned faces of Ami and Makoto. Neither of them so much as moved an inch.
“What's wrong with you two?”
Minako, who was already on the ground in tears from her laughter, could only point at Usagi. Curious, I looked down to see that not only was her shirt unbuttoned and spread wide open, her bra had come lose with my hands slid right up underneath it. I groaned inwardly, figuring I may as well explain everything and get it over with.
--
“You can all come in now, I've finished the examination,” Ami called out to the door as the the last of her Mercury fuku faded away. Not two seconds later a worried to tears Usagi came plowing through and wrapped the first thing she could get her hands on in a back breaking hug.
“Usagi-chan, I can't breath!” Ami squeaked, probably wishing she'd kept her Mercury form a bit longer. Realizing that Ami wasn't me, she dropped her like a sack of potatoes and dove for her intended target, only to meet face-first with my open palm.
“Hug me like you did Ami and you might just finish me off! Now apologize to poor thing!” I growled, pointing to the blue haired girl on the floor.
“Apologize for what?” she asked, turning to see Ami wincing and rubbing her now sore bottom. “Oh my gosh, Ami-chan I'm so sorry! I've just been so worried since you said you'd need to give her a Mercury scan.” Usagi helped the shorter girl to her feet and flashed her sappiest puppy dog eyes. “Will you ever forgive me?!”
“Of course I'll forgive you Usagi-chan!” the blue haired girl replied without a moments hesitation. I smacked a hand to my forehead, realizing that I was just as helpless against the blonde's charms.
“So, what's the diagnosis, doc?” Minako asked as her and Makoto joined us in the room.
“Severe exhaustion. It's as if her body was taken to it's absolute limits.”
“Wow, Usagi, you must either be really good or really bad at it to do that to her,” Makoto said with a chuckle, patting the princess on the back.
“Yeah, I keep wondering about that myself...” Usagi murmured, more to herself than anybody.
“This is serious!” Ami said with surprising force, causing everyone in the room to fall silent. “It's only an estimate, but I'd say about ninety percent of her sailor power was drained from her body!”
“Will it come back!?” I asked frantically, not liking the sound of that at all.
“Calm down, Rei, I'm fairly certain it will return to you in time. You'll just need to take it easy for a few months,” Ami assured me.
“So, she sucked the life right out of you, eh Rei-chan?” Haruka asked smoothly as she entered the room in her usual confident nature. “Sounds like you two are married already,” she finished while flashing a charming grin, only to squeak girlishly as Michiru's purse hit her in the back of the head.
“Oh excuse me there, sweetie, didn't see you,” the aqua haired woman said with a smile, walking past the cringing blonde as if she wasn't even there. “Here you go, Rei-chan,” she said, handing me a warm container, ”brought you some soup. While it may not be as good as Makoto's, I'm sure it'll warm you up a bit.” Surprise from Michiru's gesture quickly turned to irritation as Haruka approached, eyes locked on Usagi.
“Usako, I'm heartbroken! You promised your first time to me didn't you?” the tall blonde asked, acting as if she was wiping away a tear.
“I... well... I always thought...” Usagi was stumbling on her words, I didn't like this one bit.
“I think I could live on, my fair princess, if you would but give me a kiss,” she continued, reaching out a hand as if to caress her cheek but pulled it back sharply upon hearing the low growl in my throat. “Right... I see you're not the sharing type,” she said, actually appearing a little crestfallen until Michiru's purse hit her a second time.
“I can vouch for that,” Minako giggled, pointing at the rather large goose egg on her forehead. The laughter that followed was soon interrupted by the arrival of Setsuna with Chibi-Usa and Hotaru in tow.
“Ah, good, everyone's here!” Setsuna called out, clapping her hands together happily as she made her way to the middle of the room. “I've got a big announcement to make that I think all of you are going to enjoy!” Both her unusually perky demeanor and the grand promise had everyone's attention riveted on the Senshi of Time. “Things are about to change!”
--
The letter soaked in tears....
--
“Can you believe this, Usa?!” I asked incredulously, still in shock from the announcement. Usagi didn't respond.
“We've just entered into what I call the Calm Era. A three-year period where no Youma will attack. All of you will be able to live your lives as you see fit during this time. I'm not saying you won't encounter any hardships, indeed it will be quite difficult, I'm sure. However, if you can get through them, you'll all be well on your way into the Golden Age of the universe.”
“Three years with no Youma! This couldn't have come at a better time! I mean, yeah it sucks that we still have a year of school but after that we can be together whenever we want!” She still didn't turn to face me so I crawled over and put my hand on her shoulder, feeling it trembling beneath my touch. “Usa, what's wrong?” I asked, moving around in front of her only to recoil at her miserable, grief stricken expression.
“I...” she began with a hiccup ”I miss her so much already!” she wailed. My heart practically melted with her sadness, but unfortunately, I wasn't in very good shape to comfort her on that one... I felt the same way.
“Unfortunately, Small Lady here won't be able to visit from the future during this time but don't any of you worry, she'll be back before you know it!”
It had been devastating to hug that sweet little girl and say goodbye. It felt like a piece of my heart had been broken off and hidden from me. Usagi had been nearly unapproachable for a whole week after that, at least from the others. The two of us had barely left each others sight, trying to soak up as much time with the other before school began again the following Monday.
“I know what you're going through, Usa, but you can't let it destroy you like this,” I reached out to cradle her cheek and delighted when I felt her nuzzle my palm.
“I know Rei-chan, once the shock passes I'll be able to keep my promise to stay strong,” she said with a sniff, leaning her forehead onto my shoulder. “And I know it sounds pretty unlikely, but I have a feeling we'll be able to open her letter soon.” I had to fight back a cringe at the mention of it.
“What's this, Chibi-chan?”
“I think it holds some of the answers you've been looking for Rei-chan. It's really hurt me not being able to help with what you've been going through. Even this is going to cause you more pain because you have to promise me you'll wait to open it at a certain time.”
“What do you mean?”
“It's going to sound corny but Puu-chan said... you have to wait until Sakura have fallen in the heartfelt rain.”
“I... I swear to you that I won't even peek until that time.”
“Oh Rei-chan! I'm going to miss you!”
“I'll miss you too sweetie, it's not going to be the same without you popping in from time to time.”
“You'll... you'll take good care of her for me, won't you?”
“Of course Chibi-chan, I love her too, ya know.”
“Yeah, Usa, me too,” I half lied, still confused over the odd conversation. “But for now, I'm only worried about you, you're going to make yourself sick if you keep this up!” As if on cue she made a sound that was like a mixture of a gurgle and a burp before something warm and wet splashed onto my legs. “Usa...” I managed, eyebrow twitching slightly, “did you just throw up in my lap?”
“Um, would you prefer it if I lied and told you no?”
“Usa!”
--
Sadly, things didn't improve much and she was ill through most of our remaining time off. She managed to recover enough to be ready to return to school when the time came but that was only a small comfort since being able to go to school also meant that we couldn't spend a large portion of the day together. The sappy emails she would send me between every class weren't really helping, and the worried emails from the other girls were even worse.
I wasn't exactly making things easy on myself at my own school either. The first time I'd gotten the message “Usagi says she doesn't feel like eating lunch, COME QUICK!” I'd really put myself in a mess. Apparently barreling out of class to handle the dietary concerns of your girlfriend isn't quite proper behavior for a Catholic school girl. Combine my relationship with my Shinto heritage and I wasn't exactly the most well liked person in school by the students or the teachers. I was seriously considering dropping out until Grandpa and Usagi teamed up to encourage me to stick it out.
Speaking of which, the two of them had really buddied up overnight. The old coot had figured our relationship out somewhere along the line and one day simply greeted Usagi as 'my granddaughter's love'. The goofy blonde pretty much became a new addition to the shrine with how much time she was spending with me, occasionally even donning some Miko robes and helping me with the chores when she felt good enough. Apart from her being snippy, depressed, or sick most of the time, the next few weeks passed in a comfortable rhythm.
That's when it happened...
--
“Rei-chan, I'm sure she's fine,” Minako said around a mouthful of cookie, obviously becoming irritated by my pacing around. I ignored her.
“She's late, Rei, I'd hardly call that an emergency. This is Usagi we're talking about, I'd be more worried if she'd showed up on time!” Makoto chimed in, earning giggles from the rest of the study group. Everyone but me at least.
“I'm gonna go look for her,” I said, ignoring the protests of the others as I left. I could feel it in my heart that my princess needed me. Fortunately, I didn't have to worry for very long as I found her at the top of the steps, staring off at the trees and appearing oblivious to the world. The image of her there, hand over her heart, with the trees swaying behind her was so beautiful that I had to stop for a moment to drink it in before approaching her. “There you are, Usa, you had me worried.” She turned to face me, the look in her eyes holding such worry and confusion that I instantly took her hands in mine. “What's wrong?”
“I'm sorry, Rei-chan, I've been trying to think of how to tell you something...” she said quietly, so much fear and sadness in her voice.
“What is it? You know you can tell me anything.” She nodded and took a deep breath before answering.
“I'm late...” she said quietly, I breathed a sigh of relief.
“Usa, that's not something you need to apologize for, you're always late, it's no big deal.” She shook her head.
“No Rei-chan... I'm late.” The serious edge that entered her voice had me confused.
“Usa, I'm telling you, it's no big deal, I...” She shook her head again, tears of frustration welling up in her eyes.
“Rei-chan... I... I'm pregnant.” Everything but her disappeared from the world around us. It was as if I could feel every facet of her being through our joined hands. I knew she was terrified. There was a fear in her that I would think she had betrayed my love for her, a fear that she would have to bear the burden of the future on her own. But hidden away behind that fear there was love. Love for me, love for our friends, love for the world around us... and love for our baby growing inside of her. There was no way I was going to allow that love stay trapped behind that fear.
“I love you, Usagi,” I whispered, leaning in and taking her lips with my own. Her eyes went wide at first, surprised at my acceptance, then slowly they warmed over and closed, squeezing out the tears of joy that were quickly building. I pressed my palm against her belly, a tingling feeling passing through my fingers as they brushed against the source of my missing energy. We had created a life together... my ray of hope had shown through. As I pulled away from the kiss I noticed something colorful dancing toward us on the wind. When Usagi's eyes opened she was met with me staring at her face in stunned disbelief.
“What is it, Rei-chan?” I reached out slowly and plucked the pink petal that had become trapped in the trail of tears on her cheek. She too went silent as the implication settled into her mind. A gust of wind stole the blossom from my fingers, almost acting as a signal to set things in motion.
“Sakura falling in the heartfelt rain!” we shouted in unison. I quickly dug the letter from my pocket, having been keeping it with me at all times of the day just in case the moment came. Hands trembling, I carefully removed it from the envelope. It was a small note, scribbled in Chibi-Usa's messy handwriting and stained with teardrops.
“Dear Usa-baka and Rei-chan:
By the time you read this, you'll already know all of the secrets I've had to keep from you. All that's left for me to do here is say goodbye. With the little me now growing in your tummy, I'm no longer able to return to visit with you. I just wanted you to know that I'll cherish every second I was able to spend with the two of you in your time. I love you both so much... my mother and my papa-chan.
Love,
Your kawaii Chibi-Usa”
Fresh tears joined our daughter's on the letter as we held each other and cried...
--
“You once asked me what it was that had given me hope, and I never got the chance to answer you. It was her eyes... Every time I looked into her eyes I saw so much of myself reflected in them. It was our daughter's eyes that gave me hope...”
--
To be continued...