Iczer-one Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ The Earth Child ❯ Two of One Kind ( Chapter 35 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

 

“He,” Mikado focused on the word but continued to smiling, “Sounds like a very special person. Are you as important to…him…as he is to you?”

 

“Ah…” Muku felt as though the game was up, but nodded anyway, afraid of what her father might say next as he clearly had seen through her verbal deception.

 

“I see,” Mikado mused, “How strange…I didn't take your friend, Rhea-san, to be a transvestite in disguise.”

 

“Ah…Dad…” Muku wilted.

 

“Did you know that there was once a slanderous rumor going around that your mother was a lesbian?” Mikado smiled.

 

“N-Nani?” Muku blinked.

 

“I didn't believe them, of course,” Mikado replied, “And after laying a fair number of them in the horizontal position the rumor died down and became little more than a silent whisper. Still…the doubt had been planted in my own mind, and I started to wonder. It took a long time before I finally decided that it did not really matter to me all that much. Your mother is…what she is…and I thank the Kami for that simple gift. In time my doubts faded away as your mother…convinced me that I was important to her, but I never again ignored the way she felt towards other women.”

 

“H-Huh?” Muku blinked, “You mean…Mom?”

 

“I doubt that even she's aware of the true nature of her feelings,” Mikado continued, “But I know she gets along very well with Saotome Ukyo, her nominal former rival. I doubt that it's ever come closer than just sharing some warmth and affection, but…the feelings are there…just below the surface.”

 

“But…how can you know?” Muku asked.

 

“Because I love her,” Mikado replied, “And love sharpens your perceptions. You see things differently when you open yourself to the world of possibilities that love has to offer, and suddenly the limits that restrain us in this world seem to have no real meaning. So I know that Akane loves me…and loves me still, and so I can allow her to have feelings for others besides me. There is more to life than the selfishness of a love that is self-centered, or founded on the love of ourselves as we would prefer to be seen by both ourselves and by others. Real love has no real center…it brings us into closer alignment with the harmony of all nature. You'll understand someday when you know your own heart and find its match in another.”

 

“Um…okay, Dad,” Muku replied, feeling strangely moved and very confused at one and the same time.

 

“Muku-chan,” Mikado said sincerely, “Having attachments to this world weighs us down with the burden of worry and regret. To truly fly upon the ice you must let go of your burdens, release your regrets and worries and let them fall away as you spread your wings to soar like the bird for which you are named. You don't need to fear for my disapproval…I can see in your eyes that you are sincere in your heart, and that is what truly matters.”

 

“But…but…you said there were other questions…?” Muku asked.

 

“That's right,” Mikado said, “It's easy to feel love, but many kinds of love are ephemeral, like smoke. One day you feel it, the next…it's gone, and you're left wondering where it vanished. It was like that for me with every woman I met before I settled on your mother…I was drawn by beauty, I sought out innocence, and once I had tasted what I was seeking I grew bored with the chase and went in search of another conquest.”

 

“Dad!” Muku was shocked to hear her father describe is earlier behavior in such terms. The very idea that her father had been such a womanizer was shocking, even though she had heard the rumors about his “misspent youth” being full of such encounters.

 

“So the question to be asked is not merely do you feel special, or even if this is a special person who feels good when you are around,” Mikado said sincerely, “It's more a commitment that you share as if you are two hearts meeting in one center…like a dance you share, two bodies in motion but with a single spirit between you. The question to ask is…what would you give up to be with this person, and what would she give up to be with you?”

 

“Give up?” Muku considered the matter before she answered without further thought or hesitation, “Everything…all that I have…and I know she feels the same way about me…”

 

“If you know that, then you're already halfway there to knowing the truth of your relationship,” Mikado said with a warmth in his gentle eyes, “I had to learn that one the extremely hard way, when I was forced to give up my own ego, my own pride, and what I thought at the time was my honor. True honor was unmasked when I found within myself the true definition of pride and manhood. In your case…I think the lesson will be somewhat different…but to know that you would commit yourself to the course is to know that you will discard everything that is an impediment, that is unnecessary to your goal…to find within you the thing that truly matters. And if your friend feels the same way…then you know that she, too, is equally committed.”

 

“Commitment,” Muku smiled a bit lopsidedly, “I feel committed already, Dad…or maybe I ought to be. It's scary…this feeling I have, like I'd do anything for her, and…and I know somehow…I know that she'd do anything for me. I was scared a little while ago…but now I'm not…does that make any kind of sense to you?”

 

“Oh yes,” Mikado nodded with enthusiasm, “I know that feeling well. Of course many young people are willing to throw themselves into things without thought of the consequences, so just being committed alone is not enough to know that this is the kind of feeling that will last forever. Your mother wasn't willing to commit to me until she knew for certain, and I can't really blame her for being slow to warm up to my charms. To the best of my knowledge, only a handful of women ever resisted my charms, your mother being one of them, Ukyo and Kuno Shampoo being two of the others.”

 

“What?” Muku blinked, “Perm's mother too?”

 

“Surprising, isn't it?” Mikado smiled, “Kuno Tatewaki is a lucky man to have such a loyal wife, and Ukyo…well, I don't think she seriously ever took any man into her heart except Saotome. There were a couple of others…but…well, that's enough dramatic revelations for now. The point is…you often have to work at a relationship. If it comes to you too easily it is easy to doubt, and often we let slip through our hands that which we secretly value. The better never to be hurt by never allowing love to touch us, just as my heart was untouchable before it was touched but good by your mother.”

 

“I can't believe it,” Muku said, “Perm's mother…and Sakura? Ah…by any chance, did you ever try to kiss Yui's mother as well?”

 

“Ah…well…she's a different story altogether,” Mikado said with irony, “I think she did succumb to my charms, but I never got the opportunity to kiss her before her husband got in my way…and you know how persuasive he can be when it comes to making a point.”

 

“Oh…yeah,” Muku replied, wondering if there were something significant about the fact that her father had been thwarted in his attempted affairs with the mothers of three of her closest admirers. It almost made her wonder if Kano Nagisa or Iczer One were also missing from his list of prior “conquests.”

 

“Of course your mother was quite the charmer in her day,” Mikado noted, “And before me there were hundreds of would-be suitors chasing after her, none of whom even had a prayer of success before my first real competition became betrothed to her, Saotome Ranma.”

 

Muku looked sharply at her father, not so much in surprise this time as in a sudden realization.

 

“Uncle Ranma was Mom's former fiancé, right?” she asked, “But you won her away from him…?”

 

“It was by no means an easy victory,” Mikado sighed, “And I'm ashamed to admit that I stumbled a lot along the way before learning my lesson and becoming a better candidate for marriage. The simple truth is that I wasn't as thoughtful and nice towards my competition as I am these days…but now that Ranma and I are very good friends, we can look back on it all and laugh at our boyhood follies. At least…on most subjects, that is…”

 

“Most subjects?” Muku repeated with raised eyebrows.

 

“Well…” her father looked extremely uncomfortable and refused to look at her as he replied, “You have to understand the sort of man I was back then. I was a champion skater, and proud of the fact, and I would often compete against other couples with my then-partner, Shiratori Azusa, and a major part of my battle strategy was to kiss the female partner of the competition. Well…there was that one time when this strategy…failed me rather badly…but how was I to know that the one I kissed was not all that she seemed at the time…”

 

Sudden realization hit Muku like a brick and with round eyes she gasped, “You mean you kissed…Uncle Ranma?”

 

Mikado gained a rather pained expression as if wincing at the memory, then he sighed, “Most painful lesson I ever had in not judging a book by its cover. Of course I didn't find out until sometime later about Saotome's little…secret…but when I did…I panicked…”

 

“Panicked?” Muku blinked, “Why?”

 

“Weeeeelllll…” it was amazing how long her father could stretch out a single word, “I can only imagine how concerned you were about…finding yourself attracted to someone of the same sex…well, can you imagine what it felt like for me to know that I had kissed another guy? Admittedly he didn't look like one at the time, but…you would have thought my nearly infallible instinct for such things would have come to my defense…”

 

“Dad,” Muku interrupted the flow of words, “Are you telling me you thought you were gay…because you kissed Uncle Ranma?”

 

“It's silly…I know that,” Mikado shrugged, “But young men are foolish, and it takes very little to threaten a man's ego. I prided myself as a man who understood the attraction of the ladies, but could a man magically disguised as a girl somehow confuse my finely honed senses? Could my instincts have failed me like some predators can be confused by the camouflage sometimes adopted by their natural prey? I had kissed a great many women before then, but I'd never truly valued any of them…perhaps there was a reason? You can see the drift of my thoughts back then, and though it all sounds rather silly today it gave me real nightmares back then, let me tell you.”

 

“I can't believe it,” Muku shook her head, “You are the most un-gay person I know, Dad…”

 

Mikado sobered, “Don't be so quick to judge that, Muku-chan. Age and experience have taught me what youth and insecurity could not. You're a good student of history, are you not? Do you recall what ancient samurai believed regarding sex, love and marriage?”

 

“Uh…kind of,” Muku said uneasily, “They were…kind of casual about it in the old days, but women were like second-class human beings in most families, so…what's the point?”

 

“The point is this,” Mikado replied, “In times of old samurai believed that the love of two men could be infinitely stronger than the love of a man to a woman, being the love of two equals.”

 

“What?” Muku blinked, “You've got to be kidding…”

 

“I kid you not,” Mikado replied, “Just as women were discounted as being inferior to a man, a man often regarded his marriage to be a mere necessity for the keeping of a house and the begetting of children. Wives were often assigned to him like a burden, his liege lord or parents would choose a bride based more on her position than any attraction that he might feel towards her. A woman was expected to obey his will and be attentive to his needs, not the other way around. The household was often divided into separate worlds belonging to men and women, but not both. A man could have his wives and concubines sharing the same house and keeping the Wa of his estate while a man trained himself for war, an occupation where only other men would be encountered and where women rarely ventured. In battle a man often relied as much on his companions as he did on his sword, his horse or his bow, and when a man could trust his back with another man, then he knew he had a brother who would lay his life down on his behalf. These days it is rare to encounter such feelings of comradely trust as wars are few and most men concern themselves with quieter, more domestic pursuits, but life had taught me that there are a few men in whom such trust is not misplaced…and one of those is Saotome…”

 

“What?” Muku said again with equal parts amazement and confusion.

 

“We never talk about it,” Mikado said, “I doubt either of us have ever entertained homo-erotic thoughts of one another, and I doubt we will ever explore that option. But it is enough to know that Ranma would take injury on my behalf, and that I would injure myself to protect him, and what more than that needs to be said about a brother?”

 

Muku thought it over before saying, “I never realized you felt that way, Dad. I guess…maybe I need to think a little more about the way I've been approaching this. I…kind of panicked when I started to think I was getting in over my head, that I was jumping into something that I didn't really understand, and that I was making a commitment I might regret later. I was afraid of what you and Mom would think if you found out that I was getting involved with Rhea-chan, and…and I tried to chase her away…”

 

“I see,” Mikado said, “And do you think you were successful?”

 

Muku looked down, “I…don't really know…but I need to find Rhea-chan and explain things to her. I want to make her understand that I'm sorry about what I said, that I never really meant it…”

 

“In that case,” Mikado said, “You must ask yourself the third question. You may feel attraction, you may make a commitment, but attractions can come and go and commitments might be reconsidered in the light of new experiences. Therefore the question you must ask is…are you prepared to allow someone to love you for yourself, without hesitation or dissemble? Are you willing to let that person see the real you that hides beneath the shell that is the mask you wear before others? Can you let go of the mask and bask in the pure love of another…allowing them to love you for who and what you are, not what you would prefer to have them see in your place?”

 

“I…I don't understand,” Muku replied, “To be loved for yourself and…not something else?”

 

“Muku-chan,” her father explained, “We all wear masks to hide our real selves from the prying eyes of others. We have flaws and fear and petty qualms that we use to nit-pick ourselves into a sense of our inferiority to what we think we should be like. We are taught to maintain an appearance we call “normalcy” before our friends, ourselves and our loved ones. The saying we use in Japan is, `The nail that sticks out shall be hammered down,' a rather quaint way of lauding conformity and eliminating the exceptional in favor of the ordinary sameness of the mundane and the common.”

 

“Is there something wrong with being ordinary, Dad?” Muku asked.

 

“Not at all,” Mikado smiled, “If you believe the ordinary. I'm not talking about putting ourselves on some mythical plateau above others, Muku-chan, I'm saying that to believe in the ordinary is to limit yourself to the mundane and the commonplace.”

 

“I don't understand,” Muku admitted, “Aren't most people ordinary?”

 

“If you were to ask them that question most would unvaryingly said yes,” her father admitted, “But no two people are exactly alike, and everyone has something special within them that no other person has on the planet. Those individual traits which make us all unique as individuals, yet they get smothered beneath the blanket that we call `the ordinary,' and all that is left is a porcelain mask, like a kabuki play, where the performers go about assigned roles and recite rehearsed lines without any improvisation. But we are dancers…skaters…we perform as an expression of what is within us. It is not within our nature to submerge that which is unique and special to bow down to the ordinary…and a secret that we know that others have forgotten is that there is no such thing as the merely ordinary. Everyone is special…every one of us unique and individual. The mask must fall away from our own eyes before we see the person we truly are, and only then can we show that person to another.”

 

“And that other…is the one we want to see us?” Muku guessed.

 

“Exactly,” Mikado replied, “I had created a mask that became so comfortable to wear that even I believed that there was no more to me than the shallow impression I made before others. How little did I understand back then that the mask was the very thing that held everyone else apart from me at a distance, that my belief was only self-delusion and it was keeping me from establishing any real ties to other people. In a way I owe it to Saotome for helping strip the mask away from me, and to Akane for giving me a reason to let the mask go, to let the real me rise to the surface like some lost war veteran who had been living inside a cave, blinking my eyes as they adjusted to the light.”

 

He held a hand before his eyes, then let it fall to his side, smiling to the astonishment of Muku, who had a look upon her face like an epiphany, the impact of his words slowly sinking in as she reflected upon their meaning.

 

“I see you understand at last,” Mikado grinned like the sun beaming down from between the clouds, “Muku-chan…don't worry about the future, or what is past. Think of where you are today in the here and now, and let matters fall where they will. You don't really need your old man to tell you where your heart belongs. Enjoy the gift of youth while you have it and don't be afraid of obtaining anyone's approval. I have faith enough in you to know that you can make your own decisions.”

 

“But…what about Mom?” Muku asked.

 

“Let me worry about your mother,” Mikado urged, then added in a conspiratorial manner, “But…just the same…let's not bring her in on this just yet. Let her have some time to get used to the idea of who you're dating before we bring her in on the big secret that she isn't on the football team.”

 

“Right…got it,” Muku grinned, then impulsively she reached out and hugged her father, saying, “You're the greatest, Dad…how did you ever get to be so smart?”

 

“Ah…that's a story best reserved for another time,” Mikado smiled as he hugged his daughter, “But let it be a lesson to you not to underestimate your old man. Now…if you're all done wasting time listening to your elders go on about their past troubles, perhaps you might ask your friend to come down from the rafters so you can talk to her directly without her having to eavesdrop.”

 

“What?” Muku let go of her father and turned her eyes up to the dome-like ceiling that arched above the skating rink, and----sure enough---she saw a familiar form perched amid the support beams and gasped, “Rhea-chan?”

 

Mikado backed away from his daughter, saying a pleasant, “You really should bring her over to our place once in a while so we can get to know her better. She seems like a very nice girl, and I'll bet she takes a lot after her own parents.”

 

Muku only half-heard her father, her attention drawn to the sight poised so near and yet so distant. Almost without waiting for an invitation the flame-gold haired Iczer dropped down from her height and seemed to drift down to the place where Muku was standing, and then she touched down on the ice and looked into Muku's eyes, her normal shyness falling away as she gazed adoringly at Muku with no mask covering her emotions, no hesitation or denial serving to dilute the purity of the love she radiated towards Muku.

 

Muku struggled to find the words, then managed to stammer out, “I…I'm so sorry…”

 

Rhea stopped her words with two fingers pressed over her lips, “I know…I heard you say that.”

 

“You…heard?” Muku blinked.

 

“I felt you call to me,” Rhea replied, “I could not stay away. No matter what you said to me before, Muku-chan, the words that hurt and the pain you inflicted…I could never stay away from you. You're a part of my life…please don't ever forget that.”

 

“I won't,” Muku's voice trembled as she spoke from the heart, “I promise.”

 

“I know you mean that,” Rhea said, but then she looked down with sadness, “I've tried…as best I know how…to soften the impact on your life that…bonding with me has had…but there was truth in much of what you said. It is cruel and unfair that your friends have suffered and you've had to keep secrets from your family…”

 

“Rhea-chan…” Muku murmured softly.

 

“I never wanted anyone to suffer,” Rhea continued, “I never wanted to pressure you or force you to confront issues that…were not of your choosing…”

 

“Rhea-chan,” Muku said again.

 

“I wanted to give you more time…to adjust to things, to accept me for what I am,” Rhea went on, “I wanted you to be sure of what you were getting if you accepted me into your life…”

 

Muku's hand on her chin surprised the Iczer, and Rhea looked up to ask what her companion was doing when Muku reached out and drew her into her arms and gave her a kiss that made further speech unnecessary. Though surprised at the bold gesture, Rhea swiftly responded to the kiss by slipping her own arms around her partner, and then the two of them got into the kiss in full earnestness, a melding of more than just mouths as the kiss lingered on for a time, tuning out all other awareness as the kiss became the center of their world. It seemed to go on forever, though in fact it lasted the bare space of a mere two minutes.

 

When at last their lips parted Muku finally murmured the words that were in her heart, “I'm sure about it now…and I accept you for what you are…if…you can accept me for what I am, Rhea-chan.”

 

Rhea's smile was even more inwardly luminous than the smile earlier given by Muku's father, “I accepted you the moment we Synchronized, Muku-chan. There isn't anything about you that I don't know or desire.”

 

“Rhea-chan,” Muku murmured, then a mischievous smile crossed her face and she said, “Do you want to skate?”

 

“With you?” Rhea's grin became even more infectious, “I thought you would never ask.”

 

She moved a little bit apart from Muku, and then her armored form shimmered, and suddenly she was wearing a short dress and had a pair of skates upon her feet, and Muku was delighted to see that their outfits actually matched from an aesthetic standpoint, almost as if they had coordinated fashions.

 

Muku extended her hand and Rhea took it, then together they started moving, their skates sliding across the ice with a soft hiss of blades upon frozen water, and together they started to move like synchronized dancers, the movements of one being perceived and responded to by the other…

 

Off to the sidelines, having already quitted the ice, Senzenen Mikado looked on and smiled as he saw the two young girls begin to perform an easy, casual set of maneuvers, growing bolder after a few moments as they started to stretch out their limbs and attempt more complex skating routines.

 

A voice to his side startled him, however, a woman's tone saying softly, “That was very well done, I thank you for kindness and your wisdom.”

 

Mikado turned a startled look to see a woman with long blond hair standing beside him, dressed very oddly in what looked like form-fitting leather armor, shoulder guards protruding off to the sides and a profile that looked surprisingly like a more adult version of the girl named Rhea, which prompted him to say, “I beg your pardon?”

 

She turned to smile at him, “It's a very wise human who knows just the right thing to say to set his daughter's mind at peace. I only wish I had your gift for words, Senzenen-san…it would make my job as a parent that much easier.”

 

Mikado cocked an eyebrow and said, “And you are…?”

 

“Rhea's mother…one of them, anyway,” she replied, “You may call me…Kano Unus,” she winced slightly the latter part of her name, “And like you I am a concerned parent eager to see to the welfare of my only daughter.”

 

“I see,” Mikado regarded the alien beauty and reckoned that she seemed quite young to be the mother of a teenaged daughter, “Then perhaps we have something to discuss, you and I…”

 

“Quite a few things I imagine,” the golden haired (and pointy-eared?) woman replied, “Perhaps we should set up a date where our families can discuss things at length…but at the moment I am a bit preoccupied with planning for a major enterprise that will take much of my time and resources. When that matter is concluded, then we will chat about it.”

 

“Very well,” Mikado nodded, “I suppose we could set up a lunch date when you're not too busy.”

 

“Hopefully that will be soon,” the blonde replied, “I'll contact you and your wife when time is permitting. In the meantime, at the risk of repeating myself, I thank you for your understanding and wisdom.”

 

With that she vanished from Mikado's side, disappearing in a golden halo that lingered for a second or two after her passage.

 

Mikado remained where he was for another long moment before turning back to watch the elegant duet taking place on the ice, and then murmured softly under his breath, “You do meet the most interesting people in this prefecture…which, I suppose, is why we keep coming back no matter where else we go, Akane-chan…and, somehow…just watching those two together, I think I understand. The future is well in hand, and I can't help but wonder what shape it will take, and…I very much want to see what comes of this particular union.”

 

Unaware of all of this, Muku and Rhea continued skating together, blissfully unaware of all else but the beauty and grace of their bodies in motion, of two hearts joined by a single spirit with the motions of one complimenting the other in these final hours before an alien Armageddon…

 

 

 

Continued

 

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