*Author's Notes* The musical voice that echoes in Rei's head is a paraphrase
from a conversation Rei and Michiru' had during the Stars arch of the anime,
where Michiru compared Rei and Usagi's relationship to her and Haruka's
relationship.
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Vessels of Fate;
Blood of the Mountains
By Monikku
Chapter 7
"Even with my friends, I cannot seem to control my heart; its writhing, it's
tidaling over me. IwanttobehappyIwanttobehappyIwanttobehappy. Why am I so
miserable? Why is my heart so unbearably gaping and gushing its lifeblood?
Makeitstopmakeitstopmakeitstop." Rei clasped her hands in her lap as she closed
her eyes. All around her, her friends were laughing, bursting with joy at the
comfort and familiarity of the company they kept with one another.
Rei closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and exhaled while brushing a hand
through her hair. The young girl opened her eyes to find herself sandwiched
between Hotaru and Chibi-Usa on the couch she sat. The two girls were eyeing
her quite studiously, making the miko mildly uncomfortable.
Finally, one of the girls spoke, "You have beautiful hair, Rei-san." there
was a short pause, "You'd be a really good candidate for a pretty girl soldier
tv show." Hotaru spoke addressing Rei, though the comment was meant primarily
for Chibi-Usa. "Yeah, she would." Rei looked at the girls with a bit of
confusion. Picking up on Rei's confusion, Chibi-Usa explained, "Hotaru-chan and
I were watching Sailor V and wondered what it would be like if they made a show
about us!"
Minako, walking towards the three girls on the couch, rolled her eyes and
sighed exasperatedly, "Gah, I hate that show. That actress looks nothing like
me and they always make it so ecchi. I understand the concept of fanboys, but
so much service? I'm much more sophisticated than that."
"You? Sophisticated?" there was a shriek of laughter emitted behind the
girls, as Usagi doubled over.
Minako whipped around to glare at Usagi, "I'm way more sophisticated than
the likes of you, Usagi-chan! You trip over your own feet and always act like
such a child."
"Yeah, she does." Chibi-Usa confirmed.
"Nobody asked you, traitor!" Usagi yelled in mock-annoyance.
Haruka stepped to Usagi's side and rest a hand on the girl's shoulder, "My
koneko-chan has a warm, glowing heart. What's more sophisticated than that?"
Usagi blushed slightly, one could not tell if it was Haruka's proximity,
the compliment, or perhaps a mixture of the two.
Rei suddenly felt a sharp piercing sensation just above her eyes, as though
the motion of Haruka's hand pulled a string connected directly to her brain.
Rei's brow creased as she rubbed her forehead.
Haruka leaned into Usagi and whispered something into the young woman's
ear, making her slight blush darken immensely. Haruka straightened her posture,
"I should go help Michiru in the kitchen."
"Ah, Haruka-san is like a pop idol even amongst her friends," Minako sighed
dreamily as she watched the young racer walk towards the kitchen.
With the warmth in her cheeks progressively lessening, Usagi finally found
the courage to slowly pry her eyes from their starings at the floor. As her
gaze gradually traveled upwards, it landed directly onto Rei. Seeing the
expression of pain on Rei's face, she was abruptly overcome with worry.
Though her eyes were closed, Rei could feel the weighty presence of Usagi's
gaze upon her, as if Usagi, herself, were pressed tight against her. Rei found
the immediacy stifling and needed to escape.
Rei quickly rose to her feet and mumbled something about needing air.
Minako wanted to follow the girl, but was halted by the engagement of Hotaru
and Chibi-Usa into conversation about Sailor V.
Usagi stared at the raven haired girl's back as she opened the double doors
which led to the Outer's yard. Usagi ignored the conversations going on about
her, pondering the advice she had gotten earlier from Mamoru. "Should I wait
for Rei to approach me?" She asked herself this as she already began her
descent to the back of the house. Usagi knew well the impatience in her heart.
She could never sit and watch quietly as a friend so obviously suffered.
As Usagi stepped out the double doors, she stopped momentarily to watch
Rei. Rei's arms hung limply at her sides while she stared up at the iridescent
blue sky. Rei was trembling, even in the suffocating heat of the summer's
afternoon. Rei looked so distant to Usagi, but something about her seemed
wholly vulnerable.
Usagi began to close the distance between the two girls as Rei Spoke,
"Usagi, leave me alo..." before Rei could finish her protests to Usagi's
company... Usagi had wrapped her arms around the miko's waist and pressed her
body into Rei's back, holding the young woman from behind.
It was as if all oxygen on the planet had vanished before Rei's grasping
lungs.
o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o
Michiru was arranging tea biscuits on a hand painted, European serving
platter when she felt warm arms wind around her waist, pulling her into the
embrace of a heated and inviting body. Michiru felt Haruka's face lean into her
neck, inhaling deeply of her scent. Michiru tilted her head back and closed her
eyes, accepting Haruka's invitation easily, wantingly. Haruka lightly nipped at
Michiru's neck, leaving the barest sensation of teeth against her skin. "I love
you," Michiru intoned in a faint whisper. At any other time, Haruka would have
felt the inclination to make a joke, but at that moment, she basked in the
intimacy and meaning of Michiru's declaration. "I love you, too." Haruka
responded.
The entire afternoon, Haruka watched as her lover played the hostess to
their friends. She knew how Michiru adored every moment, every compliment on
tea, plates, silverware, furniture, atmosphere. She watched Michiru come alive,
and found her glow ravishing. The weight of Haruka's adoration felt a thousand
tons ready to burst.
"You'll make the perfect wife," Haruka spoke into Michiru's ear, tickling
Michiru with the warmth of her breath.
"And who will my perfect husband be?" Michiru's words sang with a glimmer of laughter.
"A businessman, perhaps?" Haruka responded in kind, pulling Michiru closer
to her, "though, he may never appreciate your wiles." Haruka paused, faking deep
concern, "Maybe an artist or musician; someone creative."
"Mmm," Michiru began, "far too temperamental. Our creative flows would
inevitably clash."
"Creative flows," Haruka paused, giving her coming prod the proper impact,
"Creative tangents sounds more apropos."
"Haruka!" Michiru exclaimed in mock annoyance.
"Oh, you know I adore your creativity!" Haruka's tone became far more
lascivious than playful, "Mmm, especially last night."
Michiru broke from Haruka's embrace, and grasped at the plate of tea
biscuits. She turned to look at Haruka, rolled her eyes, and sighed deeply
before speaking, "Incorrigible!"
Haruka raised her hands, feigning innocence as Michiru lifted her head
delicately, pulling herself out of their flirtatious game, cloaking herself in
the grace she had come to be so recognised and revered for, and walked out of
the kitchen. Haruka marveled as her luscious hips swayed deliciously.
Haruka straightened her shirt, then pulled a strand of Michiru's hair from
her shoulder. She took a moment to study the silken, aqua marine thread before
her. "I will be your perfect husband," Haruka thought as she lifted the strand
level to her lips, and blew it off her fingertips.
o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o
Usagi stepped higher on her toes and whispered into the miko's ear, "You
don't have to do it alone. Whatever it is, we can go through it together."
"stopitstopitstopitstopit." Rei's throat was too tight to speak the
pleadings in her heart.
"StopitstopitstopitstopitstopitstopitstopitUSAGIITISKILLINGME!!"
Tears began to drizzle from the stoic girl's eyes, as quietly she began to
cry. Usagi's grip on the girl tightened as she felt the shivers of sadness
tremble Rei's body.
The thoughts in Rei's head trampled one another, seeking desperately the
exit they desired, "Youaresounfair!Youaresounfair!" Rei began quietly to sob as
a musical voice began to echo in the back of her mind, "Your relationship with
Usagi is similar to mine and Haruka's."
"No, it's NOT!" Rei gasped through a sob.
Rei pried herself from Usagi's arms, they felt to her too much like the cold
grip of pain, of depression. Usagi's sincerity was merely a bitter reminder of
the achings in her heart. A reminder of the futility her heart mercilessly laid before her.
A recently familiar cloud began to overcast Rei, as she gazed aimlessly, her
tears taking silent reign over her visage. Brutally, she spoke, "You are always
unphased. You are aware but you," she paused, searching for words, "deny, for your
comfort." She lifted her head to look purposefully at the sky, her disgust tensing
her muscles and filtering into her voice, "Does it make you feel better, Usagi? Does
your pity for me appease you? Does my pain?" Rei ground her teeth, "Should your bleeding
heart fill the void in my chest?" She clutched at her chest, bunching her dress in her
hands, punctuating her last words. Her tears continued to fall, moistening her
clenched fists, reminding her of the unavoidable, of reality. "No, Usagi..."
She shook her head, "no."
Usagi could not say exactly when she began to cry, her eyes, her body, seemed to
exist in a realm distinctly separate from her mind, and her mind from her heart. She stared,
penetratively, at Rei's back. Rei's voice seemed to warble in Usagi's ears... she heard, she
was certain she heard Rei speak, she registered Rei's voice, her words, but it was as if Rei
were speaking a foreign language. "Pity?" She thought. "Pain? Have I caused her pain?" Usagi
felt so bewildered, so overwhelmed with incomprehension. Her tears began to rain harder as
her frustration ascended. She was but an infant, aware of sensation, aware of desire, aware
of need, and little else.
Usagi found herself stepping forward, her hand outstretched, reaching for Rei's back.
reaching for Rei. Rei, to Usagi's bleary eyes, seemed merely a silhouette. She was a shadow.
Rei began to step forward, finding the despair and bitterness that haloed her
exhausting. Merely being in Usagi's presence exhausted her. She ran, never looking back,
both hands clutching her chest, as if to keep the ravine she felt crack within her together.
As if to keep what was left of her heart intact.
Usagi watched tearfully, mournfully, as the shadow of her dearest friend faded before
her, as one of her most beloved disappeared so quickly from her sight. Usagi stretched,
knowing she could not reach. She stretched with the incredible yearning in her heart, to
touch, to comfort,to care for. She wanted so desperately for her legs to move, "MOVE!" but
they would not. Her heart broken in two, weighing like stones in her feet. She fell to her
knees, grasping at her bosom, as Rei who had before her. Attempting to grab at her pain,
as Rei who also could not.
oooooooooooooooooooooooo
Minako watched two hazy figures through the stained glass windows adorning the doors
leading to the Outer's yard. She attempted her very best to disguise her concern, and maintain
a fluid conversation with the girls before her.
Sailor V, Sailor V, Minako had had enough Sailor V to last a lifetime. Sure, the show
was fictional, only loosely based on the iconic character she had been, but it still was a
reminder of a life she had lived. She wondered vaguely if perhaps anyone ever gave any thought
to that. Perhaps Usagi? Usagi held everyone's secrets, she knew. All of them confided in Usagi,
even if outwardly they acted as though she was an immature gossip, an untrustworthy child. They
all knew better of it. It was all prodding and teasing, but when any are in distress, it was
always Usagi... Minako felt a pang at the conclusion to her thought. "It is always Usagi we go
to. It is always Usagi we long for. And Rei..." she shook her head, as if to shake away thoughts
from her mind all together.
"Minako-chan!" Chibi-Usa exclaimed, breaking Minako, gratefully, from her musings, "What do you
think of Hosoki-san? He's cute, right?"
Minako must have looked as confused as she felt, "Who?"
"Sailor V" Chibi-Usa insisted.
"Uhm, he's cute, I'm sure." Minako said unknowingly.
"I really don't think she watches the show, Chibi-Usa-chan." Hotaru reponded. Hotaru
leaned in conspiratorilly. Chibi-Usa delighted in the uncharacteristic nature of the gesture, "You know who
does watch it?"
"Who, who?" Chibi-Usa asked enthusiatically.
"Haruka-papa!" Hotaru quietly declared.
Minako fixated once more on Rei and Usagi. Her heart leapt as she watched a dark figure run
away, and then, slowly, a blonde head sink. All of her being pulled anxiously to chase after Rei.
Rei. The name echoed in her mind, halting her thoughts. Rei, lately, seemed to be the center of
gravity for all of her thoughts. What good would it be to chase after her? What good would it do,
really? Rei had all but told her to mind her own business, even Artemis insisted Rei wasn't the
kind to be imposed upon. He had told her that Rei needed her own space. And surely it was Usagi
that mended each of their wounds, it was Usagi's light that tended to their hearts. But there Usagi
was, most undoubtedly crying, and Rei had run off. Minako's eyes shone with unshed tears as her
mind swirled a million thoughts, twirling her bosom to knots. Nothing made sense to her anymore,
nothing at all.
"Minako-chan," a low, soothing voice called, awakening her from her reverie. A dark,
outstretched hand presented a warm cup, "Tea?"
"Mmm, thank you, Setsuna-san." Minako smiled faintly in response.
"May I?" Setsuna gestured towards the space next to Minako on the couch.
"Please," Minako responded.
Setsuna settled herself, crossing her legs, and folding her hands comfortably in her lap.
She looked about the room at the smiling faces, focusing particularly on The Outers- on her family.
She spoke in a voice which happily reflected the warmth welling within her, "There was a time
I thought isolation was all I would ever have, and all that I would ever need. There was a time,
so lonely, that I kept myself isolated unto myself, even amongst those around me." She paused, smiling
as Haruka infinitesimally moved closer to Michiru. "I have since learned from my family, that there
is nothing so precious as those that you love. And I have learned from Usagi, from you all, that there
is nothing more important than love itself." Setsuna paused, looking over Hotaru and Chibi-Usa,
"There is no wrong love." Setsuna moved to look at the back door, "There is only love."
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I hope you all enjoyed the first part of chapter seven. I tried to do some
mirroring and comparison scenes with the contrasting relationships in an
attempt to perhaps give the situations some depth? Something like that, I
dunno. lol
The plot will begin to unfold very quickly from here on in (I hope), so hold on
to your seats!
Any questions, comments, or volunteers for beta-readers or editors can email me!
l0vecat(at)hotmail.com
Thanks for reading!
Monikku.
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