SECRETS
It had already been a horrible night for
Usagi, but now the fever reducers barely had an
effect. A little before 3am, her breaths came in
gasps. Rei ran down the hall to wake up Ikuko.
Usagi's temperature had reached 105°.
Ikuko asked Rei to put Usagi into the tub and
fill it with tepid water, while she called her
friend, Mizuno Keiko, and explained what her
pediatric office had instructed her to do.
Keiko was glad Ikuko called. She'd had three
major surgeries Monday, and was tired, but had
Tuesday day off... so she didn't mind coming
over.
Keiko came over within 20 minutes to assess
Usagi's condition, and determined Ikuko was
right... it was probably pneumonia her daughter
had, but needed chest X-rays to be sure. Keiko
made a few phone calls to the hospital and told
Ikuko to get Usagi dressed. She would drive them
over to the hospital herself.
Rei called the senshi to let them know Usagi
hospital bound, and asked them to pray. Then she
dressed Usagi warmly, packed her over-abundant
stack of homework... brought to her courtesy of
Keiko's daughter Ami, and carried an unconscious
Usagi to the car where Keiko and Ikuko waited.
Dr. Mizuno showed her badge at the staff
entrance and things happened relatively quickly
after that.
Rei opened her books and tried to keep her
mind occupied while Usagi was examined and
helped. Only Ikuko was allowed to be in with
Usagi. Rei wished her friends were there.
Keiko came to sit with her while they waited
for the X-rays to happen, and Rei politely set
the homework aside she had worked on
half-heartedly.
As she engaged Keiko in conversation, Rei
discovered that all the senshi's parents gone to
school together and had all known one another.
Rei asked Keiko if she remembered anything
about her mother.
Keiko smiled and said her father had been so
different back then and the life of every party.
Her mother had been the shy type! Kenji and her
own husband were best friends. She and Ikuko had
done a lot of double-dating together.
After her husband left her, she found it too
awkward and painful to be with Ikuko. She began
to drift away from the very people who loved her
most and could have helped her cope with her
loss.
Keiko regretted her lapse in friendship with
Ikuko, but these days, she was too tired most of
the time to pursue relationships. It was hard
enough just to find the time to be with her own
daughter, Ami.
Keiko admitted she was lonely, and Ikuko
always made everyone feel good... just like her
daughter did. She wished her friend Ikuko still
worked in the emergency room. The whole
department missed her cheerful efficiency. But
Keiko understood completely why her friend had
left.
The lab technician brought Keiko the X-rays at
that moment.
Keiko excused herself to Rei so she could have
a look at them and discuss the results with
Ikuko.
Rei was alone again and the knots in her
stomach wouldn't go away. The waiting room was
deafeningly quiet at that hour. She was grateful
when Keiko came back a couple of hours later.
Keiko smiled wearily and told her Usagi would
be going home.
It had been touch and go for her friend, but
her temperature had finally come down while they
worked on her.
Rei packed her books and followed Keiko to
where her friend was wheeled out into the foyer
by her mom.
Keiko went to bring her car around and Ikuko
went to the pharmacy. Rei stayed with Usagi and
held her hand.
Rei noticed that Usagi listed to one side
uncomfortably in the wheelchair, and knelt on
one knee next to her groggy friend.
"Is there anything I can do to make you more
comfortable?"
Usagi shook her head 'no'.
"Just don't touch my left cheek."
Rei's eyes twinkled as she leaned over to kiss
Usagi's face on the left side.
"Big shot, huh?"
Usagi nodded miserably.
"Long needle. Cold thick medicine."
Rei squeezed her hand.
"My poor baby... and no lollipop or balloon
either, the cads! Can I see your band-aid? Is it
a Sailor Moon one?"
Usagi shook her head 'no', and batted Rei's
hand away.
Rei started to chortle.
"Oh wait, it has Sailor 'V', on it... right?"
Rei began to rap in Mina's voice, "I Love Big
Butts..."
Usagi glowered at her.
Keiko's car pulled up then, so Rei wheeled
Usagi out, lifted her into the car carefully,
and slid in next to her. Ikuko came shortly
after with the new prescription Dr. Wakai and
Dr. Mizuno had agreed upon after they conferred.
They rolled up to the house at 6:30am and
Kenji met them at the door. He hadn't really
been able to sleep after Ikuko told him Usagi
needed to go to the hospital.
Rei put Usagi back into her bed... the girl
had been out cold the whole way home, and still
was. Rei was terrified.
Ikuko went into the kitchen to make up some
bags of ice, and to comfort her distraught
husband.
Keiko had followed Rei upstairs.
Ikuko finished, and within seconds was
upstairs. She teleported over to her daughter's
bedside. Ikuko and Usagi were incredibly alike
personality-wise, Rei noted. Usagi had inherited
Kenji's gift for writing, and perhaps his
height, and that was about it.
Rei smiled.
Keiko smiled at her old friend, too. She stood
to take her leave.
"Ikuko-chan, if this high fever persists for
more than a day after she takes this
prescription, or she starts to vomit from its
strength, call me. We'll have to admit her into
the hospital. It was just too crowded to keep
Usagi there tonight, or they would have let her
stay. She's probably better off here at home in
recovery, though, instead of a germ factory like
the hospital."
Keiko put a hand on Rei's shoulder and
squeezed it.
"Rei, your mother would be so proud of you. I
think you've grown into the woman she always
wanted you to be. Wouldn't you agree, Ikuko?"
Ikuko's eyes watered for a moment.
"Yes, Yuri definitely would have been proud of
you, Rei. She loved you more than life itself.
She and the Kino's are deeply missed."
Rei beamed with happiness.
Ikuko got up and hugged Keiko.
"Thank you so much for everything you've done
for Usagi tonight. I owe her life to you! Please
don't be a stranger, Keiko. I miss our
friendship terribly... I get lonely, too. Kenji
is great, but I miss my girl-talk!"
Keiko smiled a little at that.
"I'm glad I had the day off and could help
your daughter. Let's see," Keiko began while she
foraged through her purse, "I think I can fit
you into my schedule somewhere." Keiko whipped
out her pocket calendar and started to flip
through the pages.
Ikuko sighed.
Keiko looked up and laughed at her.
"Gotcha!" She put her calendar away.
"You know, you can come back to work any
time... we could really use your talent. We
would see a whole lot more of each other if you
did, old friend."
Ikuko gave a wry expression and laughed.
"This is emotional blackmail! I'll think about
it, Keiko-chan.
Right now I'm needed here, more. My little
girl is very sick with pneumonia, and I have the
privilege to stay home and take care of her. It
feels good. I'll call you the minute I change my
mind, though.
On your next day off, call me, and we'll go
hang out at Azabu Springs, ok?"
Keiko squeezed Ikuko's hand.
"Its a date. I'm going home to sleep, then
spend some time with Ami. I'll see myself out...
I hope Usagi recovers quickly."
* * *
Usagi's high fever lasted another anxious day.
It finally came down to 102°, and hovered there
for the rest of the week.
Usagi's room resembled a small flower shop by
then, and Rei read every get well card before
she taped them to the wall near Usagi's bed
where she could see them. Rei thought Usagi must
have been the most popular girl in Juuban.
Ikuko stuck to her guns, though, and only
allowed one of Usagi's closest friends to see
her... one time per day. So all the senshi had
taken turns, one at a time, feeding the
ginsuishou their energy and watching over their
princess.
Rei spent all the spare time she had with
Usagi and sat up with her nights and shared her
energy.
The pneumonia was very persistent, and the
high fever induced deliriums had been especially
hard on Rei. Rei was now privy to every fear,
pain endured, and every nightmare.
She also understood how much Usagi loved
Mamoru, and part of her felt guilty about her
behavior towards her prince. She had loved him,
too, but realized after awhile they were too
much alike. Rei's other part wanted desperately
to make Mamoru hurt the way he had hurt Usagi,
brother or not.
She learned through delirious utterances how
all the horror they had faced as senshi had
really affected her. Usagi had always known that
ultimately it would be up to her alone to face
Chaos' demons as the antithesis. She had
approached each fate graciously and
courageously, despite her fear. Usagi genuinely
revered life and loved souls... especially those
of her senshi.
Usagi's encounter with Sailor Cosmos, the
guardian senshi of senshi star seeds... had
changed her. Rei knew she was, and deserved to
be, a universal heroine. Rei's love and respect
for their indomitable leader was immeasurable.
By the weekend, Usagi's deliriums had stopped.
Usagi was afforded more restful sleeps, and
longer sessions of coherent conversation.
Rei had taken advantage of these opportunities
to really get some backlogged schoolwork done.
When she asked Usagi if she had .7mm pencil
refills, Usagi flipped a careless hand at her
desktop drawer. What Rei saw among the
incredible clutter shocked her.
Usagi coughed, and Rei came over to her
friend, and rubbed her upper chest for seemingly
the hundredth time. When Usagi was better, Rei
asked if she could look at the sketchbooks.
Usagi hesitated, then, nodded her assent.
Rei carefully removed a thick tome. She peeked
behind the book and reached for the rumpled
masses of paper smashed against the back of the
drawer. Most of them were old unfinished
homework papers with scads of doodles
embroidered around the edges.
Rei un-crumpled them and held them up to Usagi
accusingly.
Usagi grinned guiltily.
"I wondered where all my homework went!"
"Usa, you weren't going to turn these in were
you?" Rei asked, shocked.
"Of course I was! Oh, Rei, I'll never fit into
your neat, tidy little square world! I think the
bulk of my teachers really appreciated my
deviant behavior just to relieve their boredom."
Usagi exclaimed.
Rei normally would have snapped at her, but
realized Usagi had merely suggested she lived a
very structured life. Usagi was anything but.
Rei smiled a little.
"I think maybe we need each other to be the
way we are."
Rei opened the art book and was blown away.
She flipped through page after page of
recognizable manga drawings and story lines
scribbled among the artwork. Rei turned to talk
to Usagi, but the girl had fallen into an
exhausted sleep.
Rei sighed, then, began to tidy the drawer in
earnest. She found more portfolios and tomes in
the top left hand drawer of the desk. Rei
decided to put the latest effort in the desktop
drawer and tidied up the art supplies in it. The
rest went back into the other drawer by date.
The thickest one represented her 13th and 14th
years... obviously pre-senshi.
Rei found a padded manila envelope. Curious,
she peeked inside and found a thick manga, an
art book, and some paperwork. Rei slid the
contents out and gasped. The manga had been one
of her favorites when she was 14, and the art
book was beautiful. No wonder Usagi had smiled
when Rei had said that was the one manga Usagi
could not borrow! She had seen the art book,
too, but couldn't afford it.
The paperwork was from the publisher and
offered congratulations to Tsukino Usagi as the
author under the pen name of 'Mirai Hikaru'.
Rei's face flushed at the amount of money
awarded her for proceeds. The paperwork also
named the Hikawa Jinja for a percentage of all
the royalties.
'Harebrained Usagi' was a freaking genius! At
14 Usagi had published two books and would
probably make enough money to pay for as much
college as she could stomach. She had taken care
of Grandpa and her for four years. Rei never
knew, and guiltily didn't think she was supposed
to. All donations to the shrine were generally
anonymous, no matter where it came from.
Usagi had seen the shrine on a daily basis and
knew it needed repairs. She also knew Grandpa
couldn't afford them. Rei blinked the tears away
that suddenly blinded her.
"You have always been my Shugotenshi, haven't
you?" Rei whispered.
The last two drawers contained scores of music
composition and lyrics. Usagi had a brilliant
unfettered mind.
She had graduated with honors from high
school, as had all the senshi... due mostly to
Ami's tutelage over the years. Usagi had
received a music scholarship she didn't need.
Rei had a music scholarship as well.
When Rei finished, she cleaned the rest of the
room because she was on a roll. Nothing else
there was notable, except an ancient metal box
that frankly looked Silver Millennium. There was
Usagi's array of guitars on stands with not a
speck of dust on them. They were her babies.
Rei admired each one. She had a natural ash
'52 Fender Telecaster six-string, an FP-400SC
Takamine twelve-string electro-acoustic, and a
Natural Gibson Thunderbird bass. Rei wanted to
set the old nylon six-string Kohno upright next
to the wall near the others, but couldn't bring
herself to take it out of the case.
She touched it lightly with her fingertips.
The last time she saw it was when she was five
and her mother had shown her how to hold it. She
shut the case and locked it. It would look out
of place, anyway, she thought with a lump in her
throat.
Somehow, with Usagi, it did seem to fit in.
All her instruments were a natural color; she
didn't do 'flashy'. She made her statements with
music. Rei didn't think there was anybody's
guitar riff Usagi couldn't play. Rei was glad
her Mother's guitar had found it's way into the
hands of such a gifted artist, who could
actually read, compose, play, and sing... music.
Usagi had a clutter of electronic equipment
connected by snarls of cables. Rei did notice
with amusement that the cables were either
labeled or color coded. To one piece of
equipment, which had a lot of knobs and slides
on it, she had taped a skull and cross bones to
the power switch. Usagi was so kawaii!
Rei made a list of the cable connections, and
arranged everything neatly. She was careful not
to mess up any of the current settings on the
equipment as she re-connected everything neatly.
Rei was glad she had an uncomplicated piano to
play. Her digital piano only needed to be
plugged in, which she did after she put the
computer keyboard on top of the monitor to make
room for it.
Rei gently brushed the damp bangs from Usagi's
forehead and watched as she slept for a few
minutes. She was out cold.
Rei donned a pair of padded headphones and
happily began to compose... on her piano.
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