Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ After the Battle is Over ❯ Chapter 13: A Parent's Love (Part 2) ( Chapter 14 )

Author's Note: Sorry everyone, I realize this is a little late but life got in the way. Christmas was nuts!! I hope this makes up for it and if anyone has any suggestions I'd love to hear them.

Disclaimers: None of the characters are mine, in fact most of it isn't (which stinks). I only get to take credit for some of the ideas.

Chapter 13 b: A Parent's Love

Part 2

Ikuko's POV

He looks surprised. Stunned even. I stroke his wet cheek gently and his eyes widened even more. "You consider Usagi your family, do you not? Rei-san tried explaining it to us and I think I finally understand. Will you tell me what happened to make you reject her like that?" He continues to sit staring for a moment and then visibly collects himself. I can almost see him organizing his thoughts, the competent calm young man returning.

"I was dreaming, every night, always the same. It was our wedding, her eyes are just glowing with joy, and then . . . " I listened as he talked, explaining everything; the dreams, his future self's involvement, Chibiusa's true parentage, everything. I was teary by the time he was done and he had tears silently running down his cheeks again. "It's my fault that she went through all that. She's forgiven me, but I can never really forgive myself."

I studied his back as he stared out the window again and sighed. "Don't judge yourself so harshly. You're looking at the actions of your future self only knowing what you know now. From what I understand, a thousand years is going to pass before this happens and a lot can happen to change your thinking between then and now. Your future self must have a good reason to do what he is going to do, especially remembering what you feel like right now." His head bent slightly in acknowledgement of my point but he stayed quiet.

"There's something else bothering you isn't there?"

Endymion's POV

How on earth did she know that? Even Sere hasn't sensed that yet!

"How?" My eyes asked the question as my mouth echoed the sentiment.

"I'm a mother Mamoru-san. It becomes a finally honed instinct after a while." She smiled gently at me and sat waiting for an answer. She has absolutely no idea how hard it is for me to tell her the truth, but something she has already said is giving me a bit of hope.

"Did you mean it when you said 'sai'?"

Shingo's POV

As I watched Okaa-san disappearing into the bedroom after Chiba-san I heard Usagi-chan stir again. As I turned to her she became more restless, and it gradually got even worse. I turned and glanced at Otou-san who was watching her intently looking greatly confused. "But how can she know?" he asked again. Luna jumped down to the floor and pushed against his leg.

"Tsukino-san, why don't you sit back down and listen to the rest of what Rei-chan has to say. I'll stay with Serenity. I can generally get her to calm down."

He hesitated (after all he was trusting the health of his eldest daughter to a cat) but finally nodded a silent yes and returned to the couch. I turned around and resettled myself on the floor, this time facing Rei-san.

Mina's POV

He's still does not understand. What is it going to take for him to understand? Who will have to be hurt before he'll understand?

Rei's POV

I sat back down and continued from where I had left off. I started choosing my words more carefully trying to impress on Usagi's father just how close the Prince and Princess were. He hardly reacted to their reunion and only the tightening around his eyes showed his concern for Usagi when she was almost killed in Chibiusa's dreams. What would it take for him to understand?

Haruka's POV

My arms tightened as her struggling became frantic. My heart sped up and I had to stop myself from shouting when I said "Hotaru, Hotaru, calm down. Nobody is going to hurt you. What's wrong honey? Please what's wrong?" Michiru was beside me echoing my questions, desperation evident in her voice and tears standing out in her eyes.

Suddenly the struggling body in my arms slumped down against me and the most defeated little eyes I have ever seen looked up at me. "Please, please promise me you won't leave me. Please, I didn't mean to do it!"

"Didn't mean to do what, Hime-chan?"

"It was all my fault." Her whisper was small and broken, but still audible.

"What was Hotaru?" Michi asked patiently, swiping more hair out of her face.

"I killed my mommy and let Pharaoh 90 take Daddy and hurt Chibiusa and then made you leave and . . . I did it all."

Michiru's POV

I sat stunned for a moment, simply looking at the little girl in my partner's arms. 'Little girl'. That's right, she is a little girl. We seem to forget that a lot because we know how many lifetimes she has lived but, for all of that, she's still a little girl. I could never have imagined that she was carrying around this much guilt.

"You didn't kill your mother Hotaru, she got sick honey, when you were very little. It was something in her blood that made her sick, not you."

"Demo, she always said we should wear our hats and mitts outside in the winter and I hid hers so she couldn't wear them, then just after that she got sick! She was right and if I hadn't hid them she wouldn't have been sick."

"Oh honey! Listen to yourself. Think Hotaru, you know the sickness your mommy died of can't be contracted because you forget your mitts. It wasn't your fault." I tried explaining this gently and easily. She may have the knowledge of ages in her head but this memory was that of a 2 ½ year old and not that logical to start with. She didn't look too convinced but at least she was considering the idea.

"Demo Michiru-mama, she got sick right after that."

"I know Hime-chan, demo that's because that's when her blood turned bad, not because she wasn't wearing her mitts. I'm sure she used other mitts. She didn't go cold. Now what's this about your father. You were only a little child when Pharaoh 90 took over him. You couldn't have done anything about it."

Haruka's POV

I could feel Hotaru settling down more on my lap, and knew she was willing to really start talking. Holy cow, was I proven correct. It seemed once she started she couldn't stop.

"Demo I should have done something, I'm Sailor Saturn. I should have stopped him from being possessed, I should have stopped myself from being possessed. Then I wouldn't have hurt Chibiusa like I did. I know I gave back her crystal heart but she nearly died at my hand! She was my only friend and I nearly killed her! And you and Haruka-papa had to join Galaxia because I wasn't able to do my job properly! If I'd been able to hit her then you wouldn't have had to do that! See it's all my fault."

She wasn't crying now. Just sitting with her head down as if the weight of the universe was sitting on her small shoulders, and in a way, it was.

"You have to be kidding me!" Okay, I know that wasn't the most sensitive thing to say but come on! That's the most convoluted thinking I have ever heard.

Her head jerked up at my outburst and her mouth was hanging open in surprise. "Nani??"

"Hotaru-chan, that's all so silly it would be hilarious if it wasn't hurting you so much. You were only three or four years old when Mistress 9 took you over and you didn't have any inkling that you were Sailor Saturn at the time. In fact you couldn't have done anything if you had known, your powers mature as you do. Haven't you ever wondered why you aged so rapidly when Saturn returned your memories? I don't think you'd have been able to put up much of a fight at three. As for protecting your father, he's an adult, he made the decision and knew what he was doing. He had good intentions but still he knew. You couldn't save yourself let alone him!"

"Haruka is right Hotaru. The same goes for Chibiusa. It wasn't you that did that, it was Mistress 9. She was using your body yes, but you, your soul, would never have done it and in the end you didn't allow it. You broke her hold over you and actually saved Chibiusa. As for us, well, nobody could defeat Galaxia except Serenity and we should have known that. It wasn't your failure that made us do what we did, it was our own misguided attempt at trying to save Serenity from her fate that made us do it. None of it was your fault."

She just stared. No movement, no refusals, no crying. It was sorta unnerving actually. Then she looked toward Michiru who gave her a tentative smile of reassurance. Finally she looked back at me with clear eyes. "Why didn't I see it that way Haruka-papa?" There was no self-recrimination in her voice, like there had been a few minutes, just honest confusion.

"Much of this happened when you were very little Hotaru and with the way you've been popping back and forth between ages I'm not surprised you got a little confused. It really doesn't matter how you saw it, just how you see it now. Do you understand what we're trying to tell you?" Michiru flicked her glance over to me and I could see the hope returning to her eyes. I smiled back and then returned my attention to my daughter.

"Hai, I see what you mean and I understand it. But I can't figure out how I missed it!" She smiled sheepishly and then turned abruptly and snapped, "You could have told Setsuna-mama and me what you were going to do!"

Endymion' POV

I watched pensively as she put together an answer to my unexpected question. Her answer could potentially define the next few years of my life and my heart was literally in my stomach, which seemed to have a colony of butterflies in residence.

"Mamoru-san, I'm not sure I understand what you are asking. If you are going to marry my daughter then hai, you are my son." She was resting her hand on my arm now and I could almost feel the heat melting the barriers around my heart just a little bit more. There was still an almost insurmountable obstacle to overcome however.

"What about Mr. Tsukino? How does he feel, right now I mean?"

Ikuko's POV

Suddenly the proverbial light bulb flashed in my head and I understood his final insecurity. "Don't worry sai, he will not separate you two after today. I will not let him. I'm sure he'll eventually understand, there's still a lot of story left to tell I think. Besides, from the looks of things our little girl wouldn't let us um . . . him, separate you. If I'm not mistaken, more then her hair is changing." I grinned happily as his smile broadened to include his eyes for the first time since I'd entered the room.

"Your right about that, Serenity was as stubborn as a mule and Usagi was just starting to develop that trait. I wouldn't want to test it after the past 24 hours." His voice was lighter but I could still see the sadness and slight worry behind his eyes.

"Talk to her. She doesn't like secrets and she will eventually find out about it."

He surprised me by chuckling, "Quicker then you know! Secrets are going to be very hard to keep between the two of us now." He glanced briefly toward the door and gestured, " I think we should go rescue Rei and Mina-chan. They're probably wondering how far to go without us there."

Makoto's POV

"That's it Ami."

I sat the last platter down on the huge sideboard in Haruka and Michiru-san's formal dining room and heaved a sigh of relief. All of the food was in either warmers or they were cold dishes. There was enough to serve everyone and extra in case Usagi reverted to her old eating habits. We didn't want to take a chance!

She covered a dish and sheepishly looked at me, her eyes a shiny blue. "This all looks wonderful Mako-chan, demo . . . I'm not really that hungry right now. I snacked a bit while we were cooking and . . . "

"Don't worry Ami-chan, neither am I. Lets go see how far they've gotten in the story."

Ami's POV

We entered the living room to hear Rei-chan start croaking.

"I think we came at a good time." Mako-chan giggled. "Why don't Ami-chan and I continue Rei-chan so that you and Mina can go get something to eat? Actually, how about you all go get something to eat."

"I'd prefer to wait until Usagi wakes up and can join us." Mr. Tsukino grunted. He looked like he'd sucked on a lemon in the last couple of minutes and he sounded just the same.

"Well then, would it be okay if we continue while Rei and Mina take a little break? Where were you Rei-san?"

"We'd just gotten to Crystal Tokyo and we're about to meet THE KING." Her stress on Mamoru's future name gave me the clue I needed to know that THE REVELATION was at hand, we'd just put it off for a few minutes.

It was then that I realized that the man in question was no longer in the room. "Where is Mamoru-san?"

"He got slightly upset when Rei-chan was describing their 'tragic division'. He and Mrs. Tsukino went into the bedroom. They've been in there for a while. We decided to continue with the story and wait for them to come out." Mina explained.

Fate proved its existence once again as, right at that moment, Endymion-sama and Tsukino-san came out of the bedroom. Mamoru-san went immediately to Usagi who was sleeping on the chair and Tsukino-san went to her husband who had initially moved to intercept the Prince. She touched his shoulder and he didn't get any further.

Rei-chan stood up, pulled on Mina's arm and started dragging her toward the dining room. "Ami's going to continue the story Endymion-sama. We continued the story a bit without you, hope you don't mind. She knows where we left off. We'll be back soon." Her eyes held a guilty light and she was leaving as fast as she possibly could without being rude.

"What did she say?" Mamoru-san growled slowly looking worried.

"Nothing bad Endymion-sama, she had just reached the point where we've arrived in Crystal Tokyo and we're about to meet THE KING." The smile that had been gracing his face since he'd emerged from the other room was instantly gone and he looked worriedly at Mrs. Tsukino, who was at this point trying to get her husband to sit again.

"Ami, maybe I should continue with the story from here? I mean, what with Chibiusa and everything." He was almost pleading and I knew he wanted to tell the story, but I also knew he was in no shape to be doing so. He needed to be with Usagi, and from the looks of her, she needed him right now too. She's restless and if I'm not mistaken she is currently having a rather bad dream. I knew what they look like, we'd seen them often at sleepovers when something was wrong. It would often take more the one of us to calm her down and get her back into a gentle sleep. Actually, most of the time Rei could end up sleeping with her.

"Iie, Endymion-sama. Sit with Serenity-sama and calm her. I think she's a little bit upset."

Mamoru's POV

Her quirked eyebrow and stern tone told me I wasn't going to win this one and when I looked down at the young women on the chair I understood what she was referring too. Usagi was frowning in her sleep, her hands fluttering at her side. I knelt down beside the chair I had left her in and started to stroke her brow gently. "Sleep Usako. Sleep." She quieted almost instantly and her whole body turned towards mine and her hand moved up towards the one I had touched her face with.

I grasped it and then gently lifted her so that I could sit back down, my angel in my lap.

When I looked up again Ami and Makoto-chan had moved the recently vacated chairs together and were sitting across from the elder couple who were seated yet again on the couch. At least Mrs. Tsukino was seated, Mr. Tsukino looked like he was about to take flight.

Oh right, we've come to that.

By, Mala

LoneMala@hotmail.com