Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Lost Boys and Golden Girls ❯ Puddles ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer:  They aren't mine.  I'm borrowing them.  I'll put them back.  Really!  I promise!  Also, I'm not making any money off of this.  Keep the lawyers away!

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The sky was crying.

She sat on the roof, thoroughly drenched, her school skirt heavy against her legs, the shirt plastered down as she tilted back her head, letting the water smooth the bangs away from her eyes.

Perhaps it wasn't crying.  Perhaps it was sobbing and screaming in rage, the thunder a constant low grumble like a moan of pain.

Perhaps it was in agony.

She was unsure.  The rain told her little, slicking down her body, faintly welcoming, faintly glad to see her, like an old old friend she'd left years ago.  Or maybe centuries ago.

She rubbed her nose, sending water spraying as it whispered a soft goodbye.  Sometimes it was hard to tell the difference between those days and these.

The players were the same, the ones she centered upon, not those in the background.  A humorless smile touched her lips, and the rain curved over them like a kiss.  It was almost funny to think of one's mother as an object in one's peripheral vision.  But wasn't that the truth?  And as for her long vanished father... it was as if he'd gone off down a river and been lost to her sight.  But there was no river to murmur to her where he'd gone, what he'd done.

Not like an icy stream on her homeworld that had sobbed horror and warned her of her love.

She'd laughed then.  She thought perhaps she could laugh now.  But the clouds were heavy with grief this night, and their tears, though pure, were melancholy.  The wind was sad, then angry, and she knew the sea whipped against it, or it against the sea, so inseparable were they.  It seemed everyone was unhappy now.  The streams and rivers trembled against their banks, and the moon was out of sight.  Their highnesses couldn't be pleased, for then at least she would be able to see a glimmer of moonlight beyond the clouds, and the earth would be calm and quiet as it usually was.

Their lives were usually so bright.  Perhaps they needed this, a cathartic release of what others could never understand.

*Always so lonely, so far away.*

So tinged with grief, my love, she whispered without words.

*I prefer to see you smile,* he chuckled, and she felt the phantom brush of gloved fingers against her cheek.

Smile?  When all I am is crying?

*Ice and rain and  snow love you - why can't I?*

She shook her head, and her hair fell into her eyes.  She pushed back the heavy bangs with a delicate hand and felt a sigh brush her ear.

*Is it so bad, being loved by a ghost?*

Sad, yes.  Bad, no.  She linked her fingers and rested them on her knees, watching the rain slide down the roof.

*Blue, blue, blue.  Always blue.  So dark tonight, rich and almost black.  You are beautiful like this, you know.*  He sounded wistful.

So paralyzed with sadness I cannot breathe and soaked in our shared tears?  she returned coolly.

She could feel his affection, as sure as she could feel the rain.  *Especially like this.*

And this is why we're so alone.  For who else could understand such a thing?  The ice that dwelled within her, the cool sharpness of her mind, the pale cold that froze so much it burned.  Was it her soul?

*It is a gift, and a precious one,*  he reminded her gently, though he did not chide.  She was usually the one to do that... she thought.

*You are,*  he whispered fondly, and the faintest of brushes against her lips were all she knew of his kiss.

She tilted her head back, and the rain clung to her lashes.  Or I was.

*I see no difference between us.*

Except we died with each other's blood on our hands.

*One difference,* he amended shortly, *but only the one.*

She closed her eyes, not wanting to see the bleak sky.  It reminded her too much of another night, when she'd cried just as hard, wished things were different just as desperately.  Can you forgive me?

*Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't I the one doing the betraying bit?*  he said, light and cheerful, but she knew well the shadows that lurked in his voice.

I forgave you when the last thing I saw was your face next to mine.  You cried then.

*... I had good reason to.*

I... should not be doing this.  It's not like me.

*To grieve?  You have, you do, you always will.*

I shouldn't be out so late, nor in such a dangerous position, and I'll probably get a cold.

*Cold?  Yes, that suits you as well, but I rather think all these masks are absurd.*

What masks?

*The ones you wear every day, hiding your true self out of necessity, not letting your divinity shine through as it should.  You walk in grace but must shuffle in secret; you are the child of a dancing god but you are forced to crawl; you hold ice in your hands but hide them behind your back in shame,* he snapped.

She stretched her arms to the sky, and rain swirled down them, making their agreement with her other known.  And I shall continue to do so out of love and out of need.  How else can we live?

*Secrets and silence, whispers behind your back, teasing and laughter when you should be worshipped.*  There was venom in his tone.

She shook her head.  I am just a girl.

*A girl of the ice and sleet who is light and bright as quicksilver.*

She tried hard not to blush.  And who are you?  You are just a boy.

*I am just a man, thank you.  I'm not trapped in a body that is younger than I am.*

You are not trapped in a body at all!

*Not the ideal situation, no, but I'll take what I am given,* he laughed.

She hated to kill that laughter, but... You didn't before.

*I was foolish and young and corrupted.*  She could hear the self loathing, so uncharacteristic of him.

How could you do it?  Betray Endymion?

He didn't respond for several long moments.  *It was... difficult.  We thought we were doing right.  We wanted freedom, we needed freedom.  Can you understand what it was like?  Those last few months on Earth were so hard for us all...*

My people died.  I felt them die.  They screamed to me, begged for retribution, for a salvation I couldn't give them because I didn't know how.  I was theirs and I betrayed their trust as surely as you did your prince's.
I fled to my princess and sobbed in her arms, we all did.  Rei raged, Makoto screamed at the skies, Minako just wrapped her arms around herself and was silent.  And Serenity soothed us all.

*We were already tainted.  We had nowhere to go but to Beryl.*  She could almost - almost - see his bright eyes close against the water streaming into them, the wet tumble of gold curls slap against his neck as he jerked his head to the side.

She longed to reach for him, but - Why is it always so?

So close to seeing his eyes open, the emerald muted, unpolished, long lashes drooping, shadowing them in black.  *Because we deserve no less for what we have done.*

And I'm alone.

*Never alone.  The bonds are infinitely stronger, diamond and starlight, blue as your eyes when you laugh.*

And you?

*...I am merely me.  No more, no less, nothing else but me!* he grinned.  His moods were as mercurial as... she was.

Are you lonely?

*Earth is free.  My prince is alive.  The woman I killed still speaks to me.  Not doing too bad, methinks.*

But are you lonely?

*It is a lonely existence, you knew that from the start.*

We were always kept apart, weren't we?  From birth we had our duty...

*None of us had any choice in the matter,* he muttered bitterly.

How important was choice?  We could have run.

He snorted.  *Where?*

She frowned.  It wasn't a bad life.  We were practically gods.  If she remembered right, there had been several temples dedicated to each of them... she thought.

*Except we weren't.*

And that was the problem, wasn't it?

She knew he winced at that.  And had he truly been there, he would have folded his arms around his knees and fallen into a brooding silence, staring off into the rain, a blank look on his face.

Ami shook her head sharply and stood up.  It's late.

She knew he would smirk.  His voice was suggestive and enticing.  *We can play when it's late, my dear,* he purred.

You can.  I've got to study.

She jumped off the roof, back onto the balcony, and slipped inside, laughing at the disgruntled expression she knew he was wearing.

After a hot shower and half an hour, she felt his touch against her mind once more.

*Sometimes, my love, you carry studying too far,* he grumped.

She shrugged, intent on her books.  You do too.

*Only the interesting stuff.  This is boring.  Come to bed!*

She feigned outrage.  Sir!  Who do you think I am?

*I wanna cuddle.  You can't cuddle me when you're awake.*  He was whining now, and pouting.  It was silly, it was absurd, it was cute.  She wanted to see him.

All right, she replied.  She could tell he was beaming.

Ami went to bed.

* * *

He stood impatiently in the rain, drumming his gloved fingers against his arms, pausing to swipe at a stray golden curl that had fallen into his face.  She approached him shyly, a smile on her lips, her regal dress plastered to her by the downpour.

"You're soaked!" he exclaimed, eyeing her delightedly.

Ami giggled.  "So are you."

Zoicite laughed aloud and tackled her in an embrace that she'd missed for far too long.

* * *

Dr. Mizuno let herself in with an exhausted sigh.  A difficult surgery, bad coffee, and pouring rain.  Not exactly her ideal evening.

She dropped her things on the couch and went to check on her daughter.

Ami was sound asleep in her bed, her blankets loose and messy, the brightest of smiles curving her lips.  Her hair was wet and her window was open.  Rain was blowing in and pooling on her floor.

She raced over, slammed the window shut, and spun to stare at her daughter.  Ami was far too sensible to leave a window open in a downpour.  What was she thinking?

She shook her head and started for the door.  On her way, she slipped in the puddle and almost fell, clutching at Ami's desk chair.  She hauled herself up with it, staring at the books on the desk in shock.

They'd been left open.  Ami always closed her books and neatened up.  She always had, even when she was a little girl.

Why would she leave them open?  She would only do that if she had something extremely important to attend to.

Ami sighed and turned over, a soft, rich chuckle escaping her lips.

Dr. Mizuno blinked.   Teenagers.  Who could figure them out?

Funny, though.  She could have sworn she'd heard a second chuckle, low and warm, decidedly masculine, accompanying her daughter's.

She shook her head again and left.

All through the night, it rained on.

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mjalta@yahoo.com

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