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This is being sent from my work account. If you reply to this,
please reply directly to the FFML or to my home address:
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As always, all my other stories are available at :
http://www.furinkan.net/fanfic
--------------------------------
A bit of Senshi Sillyness
by Chris Jones
--------------------------------
"So insensitive," Michiru complained in a plaintive, mocking
tone.
I smiled, sliding back over to the bed, wiping my mouth on
the sleeve of my short terry robe. "I can't help it if I get thirsty
after sex."
"So like a man," she sniped, turning her nose playfully up
into the air. "You could have stayed in bed for just a second."
Usually, I wouldn't have even noticed the statement, but I
tend to feel just a *bit* kittenish after lovemaking. I arched my
back slightly, and lifted one arm into the air. I bent it back
behind me, stretching my rather understated 'talent' to the fullest.
"And what's masculine about this?" I asked in my most
'girlish' voice.
Michiru giggled and curled up in the satin sheet draped over
our bed.
God, she's sexy. I wish I could spend all day just like
this, staring at her body when it's just barely concealed like this.
I love her so much.... Still, matters press.
"We probably don't have much more time before afternoon
classes start," I said. "I'd love to skip, but my grades in calculus
are slipping."
Michiru nodded sadly, and sat up in bed, pulling the sheet
along with her. "We should probably also meet the girls at the
temple this afternoon. They deserve to know about the ghost attack
yesterday, even if it wasn't part of a pattern."
I nodded, careful to keep my feelings from showing on my
face.
As I dressed for class, I got more and more depressed,
thinking about meeting with the girls. It had been about a year
since the fiasco with Galaxia, and in all that time, Setsuuna,
Hotaru or even Usagi never asked us about why we did... what we
did.
It weighs horribly on the both of us. There have been nights
when Michiru stood up screaming in the bed, reliving the events of
that horrible night in her darkest nightmares.
I look at it a little more pragmatically. We made a choice
that we thought would save the world and were proven horribly,
miserably wrong. It's a bitter pill to swallow, but we *did* pay for
our mistakes with our lives.
Since, both Michiru and I have thrown ourselves into our
school and work to help take the edge off the pain. We fight the
occasional monster when it shows up and... and...
...And we don't question Usagi's leadership anymore. No
matter how difficult it is for us, we've both been made to see the
truth of the matter. As much responsibility as Michiru and I have
for protecting the world from invaders, we're just the soldiers. The
front line. Usagi is... The Princess. We are nothing. She is
*Everything*.
Michiru, already into her school uniform, took a second to
make sure her light make-up is not *too* horribly smudged. She
turned toward me and cupped my chin with her slender hand.
"It won't be that hard," she said.
I nodded and finished tying my shoes.
"Aren't you supposed to get that letter today?"
I blinked, not realizing what she was talking about at
first. "Oh.. Oh, *that* letter. It's supposed to arrive today or
tomorrow," I said.
"The post may already have been by today," Michiru said.
"Why don't you check. It will cheer you up!"
Smiling, I finished dressing and strode downstairs to the
front room. I stepped outside and checked the mail. Sure enough,
there was a letter from the Kageko Institute. My breath caught for a
second, but I pushed the emotions down and did my best to stay calm.
"Back to school?" Michiru asked as she stepped through the
doorway.
Smiling, I flashed the unopened envelope at her and strode
off in the direction of Juuban High.
* * *
Haruka Ten'ou is not my real name. I don't know *what* it
is, but I do know that I was adopted.
As far as I know, I was born overseas to Japanese parents.
There was an accident on the ship that was bringing them back to
Japan when I was a newborn infant, and they were both killed.
Although I have no memory of the situation, I and only three others
survived a fire that killed over a hundred people that day.
Because of the international fracas the accident caused, my
birth records and proof of my identity were somehow lost in the
overseas mix up. Only a few weeks after the fire, I had no identity,
and no hope of finding my family's relatives. A foster family, the
Ten'ous, took me in while the search for my real family continued.
They renamed me 'Haruka' and formally adopted me when I was three
years old.
Since, I've looked for records of my real parents off an on.
I've never been *too* concerned about that fact that I don't seem to
have any heritage.
Since the mess last year, however, I've found myself a
little more drawn into the search, if for no other reason than to
occupy my time. I've found myself drawn into genealogy books and
public records. I now know of at least three other young women in
almost exactly the same situation I'm in.
The Kageko institute is the organization from which my
parents adopted me. They usually deal with abandoned children, but
also see after the welfare of children whose parents have died. When
my parents started asking about adoption options, the institute
never gave any indication of wether or not they had found my real
parents. They just said that I was 'suitable for adoption'.
I've often wondered if it was just another clerical screw-
up, or if they actually found my real family and decided I would be
better off with the Ten'ous. (Secretly, I've also wondered if my
father, who is an investment banker, didn't spread a little dosh
around and grease the right palms to make the adoption happen.)
Once I turned eighteen, I gained the right to find out for
myself. I called the institute, and they promised to mail me records
of their findings to the apartment I share with Michiru.
* * *
Savoring the nervous rush of anticipation, I waited until we
were actually in class to open the letter.
Michiru sat one seat over and back from me. So we could chat
through class without disturbing the teacher, I bought a pair of
palm-top computers with wireless messaging features. After the
boring calculus teacher began to drone, I brought out my 'PDA' and
turned on the secure chat program.
S.Neptune:> What does it say?
S.Uranus:> Hold on. I haven't even opened it yet.
I took a second to work my pencil into the envelope and work
the flap off. behind the enclosed letter, there was a yellowed sheet
of paper with English text and a pair of tiny footprints.
Breathlessly, I scanned over my own birth certificate.
S.Neptue:> Well?
I blinked for a second, not quite believing what I was
seeing.
S.Uranus:> My real name is 'Ariel'????
S.Neptune:> You're joking, right?
S.Uranus:> No, my birth certificate is labeled 'Ariel
Ohkawa'. It's my real name.
I heard a titter of muffled laughter behind me.
The cranky teacher turned around and glared at Michiru and
myself, certain that we were up to our usual misdeeds. Redfaced, I
stared right back at him, silently daring him to say something.
S.Neptune:> I'm sorry I laughed. I certainly wasn't
expecting 'Ariel'.
S.Uranus:> It's okay. Neither was I. It says that my
parents' names were Mahito and Akari.
S.Neptune:> They sound like beautiful people.
I touched my fingers to the yellowed names, wondering if the
hollow, empty feeling in my chest was the normal thing to be feeling
at such a time. I suddenly wished I had any memory at all of my
biological mother or father.
What kind of parents would name their kid 'Ariel'?
Turning the certificate face down on my desk so that I
didn't have to look at 'Ariel' any more, I unfolded the letter and
began to read.
It was a bit more painful than I expected to read about my
real parents' deaths. I usually don't cry, not even at the sappy
'chick-flicks' Michiru likes. This got me, though. Even a warrior
like myself couldn't hold back all emotion before the onslaught of
such a tragedy. I probably would have cried even if I wasn't the
main character.
The next part of the letter detailed the Ten'ous' adoption
proceedings and what Mom and Dad had to go through to get me. The
last part of the letter contained what little research they had done
on my parents extended family. It turned out that my mother's maiden
name was...
The bottom fell out of my stomach.
"Kaiou," I said out loud.
"Do you have a problem, Miss Ten'ou?" the instructor
demanded, just hoping for a chance to throw me out of class.
I did him the favor of running out, the letter clutched in
one hand.
A few minutes later, Michiru came running after, and found
me hiding in the girl's bathroom.
"What on earth did--"
I thrust the letter at her, not trusting myself to speak.
She scanned over it, and then re-read, careful to make sure
she understood what had upset me so badly.
"I see," she said. "It's... rather ironic."
"Ironic, hell," I quipped. "More like a Greek tragedy."
"It could be worse, I suppose," she stated quietly. "We
could actually be sisters... or brother and sister."
I shook my head. According to the letter, my closest
relative was one Mitsuru Kaiou. He was my mother's brother and lived
with his darling wife and their teenaged daughter, Michiru.
"I don't suppose you or your dad knows and other Mitsuru
Kaious does he?" I asked.
Michiru scanned the letter "Who works as a law partner with
Kurata and Kurata? And has a wife named Nanako? And has a daughter
named Michiru?"
"I'm grasping at straws," I admitted. "So..."
"This doesn't change anything, you know," She told me. "We
were lovers long before either of us were born in this life. I'd
like to think we'd be lovers in the next life, even if we *were*
brother and sister."
"But... geez... Cousins? First cousins?" I asked
incredulously.
"Kissing cousins," Michiru corrected me with a straight
face. "It's not *quite* incest."
"I mean... being openly lesbian can be a drag sometimes--" I
said.
"Shall I play a rimshot for you, *Ariel*?" Michiru asked.
She pulled out her palmtop and hit a button that made it play a
short drum-solo.
I reddened, embarrassed by the accidental pun.
"If you think about it, we now have an excuse for our
closeness that will be accepted by some of our less... hmm...
accepting acquaintances," Michiru said. "I know that my father is
not comfortable with our relationship. If we emphasize the fact that
you're his long-lost niece, he's going to be a lot more willing to
accept you into the family."
"Yeah, but..."
"No buts," Michiru said, a bitter-sweet smile on her face.
"It's not like we're going to have inbred children."
"That's true," I admit somberly. "But what about the people
who *do* know we're lovers? We don't make any secret of it."
"You've never worried about what people thought of you
before," Michiru noted. "Most of the people who really care about us
will understand," she said quietly. "I know seven or eight of our
closest friends who knew us both in this life and the last. Even if
everyone else in the world rejects us, *they* will not. *She* will
understand our love."
I nodded, secure in the knowledge that if anyone had a less
appropriate relationship than I suddenly found myself in, it was
22-year-old college boy and our just-freshly-turned sixteen-year-
old Princess.
* * *
Rei hung up the phone in shock.
"What was it, Rei-chan?" Usagi asked as she stared blankly
at her math workbook.
"I'm not sure. I think... I think Haruka-san just tried to
give me a message in code."
"Really?" Ami asked from across the table. "What kind of
code. Morse code? Was there computer encryption on the line?"
"Well," Rei said, scratching her head in thought. "First of
all, she introduced herself as 'Ariel'."
"Like the Little Mermaid?" Makoto asked, not really paying
attention to her own studying.
Rei shrugged. "She said she was going to her uncle's house
with her cousin," she said. "And she was laughing the whole time."
"If it was a coded message, 'cousin' could mean Michiru-
san," Ami said. "And 'Uncle' could mean... perhaps a dark general?
There has been a slight upswing in monster attacks lately. Perhaps a
new enemy is organizing against us."
"Well, she gave me an address," Rei said. "It's in Minato
ward. She told us that we were invited to come to dinner."
"The enemy's headquarters!" Usagi said, seeing a chance to
evade her homework. Standing up and sending her math book flying,
struck a dramatic pose.
"An enemy is attacking?" Luna said, waking from her cat nap.
"A dark general is holding Setsuuna and Hotaru-chan hostage
and Michiru and Haruka have asked for our help," Minako explained in
quite her usual manner. "They told us in a coded message that Ami
decoded. It's up to us to save the day!"
"I'm not certain at all that that's--"
Startled, but ready for her duty, Luna hopped up onto the
short table and cut Ami off.
"Henshin, Minna! Let's hurry before it's too late!"
After five Sailor Suited Senshi determined to fight for love
and justice ran pell-mell out of the Hikawa temple, Artemis awoke
and wondered what the hell was going on. He would find out somewhat
later that evening.
Michiru's father, on the other hand, would never know what
hit him.
----------------------------------------
They're cousins, you know....
* * *
C. Jones - http://www.coredata.net
Bus - cjones@coredata.net
Per - guilty@furinkan.net
Ph# - 806-372-7520 x 536
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