Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Things That Change ❯ A Switch of Roles ( Chapter 5 )

Disclaimer: You should know this by now.

Time: This story is occurring in the winter of 2041.

Warnings: This is not an AU.  It is a post Galaxia fanfiction about what I now call The One Hundred Year Sleep.  This might very well turn into a series under the name I've used to dub the period of time this, and later stories, occur within.  I'm treating this time of "sleep" to metaphorically describe a time period where the Senshi are trying to get themselves together (in this story, only one person is even close to being labeled as in a sleeping status, maybe).  The reality of it is that Rome was not built within a day (and that was not even close to being labeled as a Utopia).  The period may not even be exactly one hundred years; it too is used as a metaphor for this time period.

Summary: Kumada Akina has just lost her Father, Kumada Yuuichiro, to disease and age.  However, on his death bed he requested to not be buried with his prestigious ancestors but to have his ashes placed at a Tokyo shrine.  From there on out, a trip to Tokyo for the family from Kobe will force Akina to face a few flaws in her character and discover a city of ghosts.  There, through the memory of others, Akina will learn the bonds of friendship and family, one that she had forsaken long ago in her silent anger at a father she loved and hated above all others.

Things That Change

by Blue Jeans

"It's a do or die world out

there.  Eventually everything

andeveryone will have to

change...  Now, isn't that a bit

predictable?"

Chapter 5

A Switch of Roles

            Aino Minako ushered the girls into the shed and searched around for the light bulb.  "Wow!"  Akina wondered around the room, looking into the dark corners.  "I didn't know such a place existed outside the old horror films, but this place is truly an antique!"  She ran over to under the light bulb and pointed it out to her sister. "Look, this thing must be decades old!"

            "Forty-one years to be exact," Minako answered smoothly.  For once, the expression in the eyes of the blonde was very serious and her actions were very subdued.

            "You're kidding me!"  Akina put her hands defiantly on her hips.  "It lasted all this time?  I didn't know the old stuff was so enduring."

            "Usually, it doesn't endure for more than a year at best."  Aino Minako's smile was rueful and her eyes sparkled with ironic humor.  "However, everything in Tokyo that has not been replaced with new technology is at least 41 years of age.  No one has yet figured out what it is that's keeping these things alive, but very little change seems to occur here.  The people here included, don't want change."

            Meiou Setsuna brought out a silver folder-like case from her bag.  "Like this one," the olive-skinned woman laughed, "very forbidden in such a city."  The woman joked, but Minako ended up being the only one who laughed along before an awkward silence soon followed.  It just didn't seem to be too funny to either Akina or Nami since neither knew how much truth were in those words or if there were any double meaning underlying the things spoken with such lightheartedness between the two women before them.

            "Oh my..." their blonde hostess blinked when she heard Setsuna click it open.  "You're actually going to show them?"  Minako asked, surprised.

            "There are many memories to chose from," Setsuna assured the other.  The two women shared a look and silence fell over the room, creating a tense atmosphere.  Akina shivered a bit more in the gold light provided overhead and wondered what to say to break the tension.

            Smiling uneasily, Minako nodded a reluctant consent in the end.  "Alright," their blonde hostess sighed.  "Let's show them a memory of our own."

            Setsuna looked down at the case on her lap, hiding her own sad smile.  "Let's," the woman agreed.  Without much prompting, the silver case opened.

-           -           -           -           -

            "Hey, hey look over here!"  Dark hair flew into view as a beautiful Japanese woman glanced over to the speaker.  "Rei Chan, you're supposed to be smiling in these things."

            Hino Rei only raised a brow at this.  "Pictures are bad enough.  These live recordings are the worst!"  The dark-haired beauty put a hand to her hip and gave her audience a very annoyed look.  "Mina Chan, why are we doing this anyway?  This is not at all natural, way too awkward a thing to keep as a memento."

            "It's not a recording, it's a memory download!  Anyway, you got used to cameras, why not this?"  Aino Minako demanded.  "Come on, for your bestest friend!"

            "Some friend-" Rei muttered, deciding it best not to inform the blonde that "bestest" was not even a word.

            Laughing at her grump, Minako threw her arms around the reluctant Rei, cutting off whatever protests Rei might have had.  "Say Chee-se!"  Minako flashed a V-sign at the viewer.

            "Chee-su!"  Rei winked and blew an unexpected kiss.

            Giggling over their own antics as the moment passed, the two friends walked over and picked up the object that was recording the entire thing.  "Who'd have thought?"  Rei looked thoughtful as the view changed to her holding a small black ball in her hands.  "A memory reader?"

            Minako grinned as she held out her hand.  "I'm so glad we have the cash for these types of latest deals."

            Rei glared at her friend.  "You mean using the coupons I was given, Minako Chan?"

            The green grass swayed under an unseen breeze, the cherry trees bare of blossoms but still green with life.  "Summers used to be for vacations only," Rei sighed as she pulled at her t-shirt with a grimace.

            "I love summers!"  Minako grinned.  "I can wear all kinds of pretty dresses at auditions now!"

            "Mm," Rei rested her head on her hands, "how are those things going for you?"

            Minako twirled about on the sidewalk, arms extended and making zooming noises, the she paused as she looked back at the pensive Rei.  "I've gotten into that commercial!"  The blonde announced, grinning.  "And, I got myself a new agent for my wonderful future as a SU-PA star!"

            Rei smiled ruefully as she leaned back and looked at the blue skies overhead.  "Nothing's really changed in all this time, has it?"  Minako went zooming off again, flying back and forth.  "Ever since she left, everything seems to have stood still.  Sometimes I wonder if-" Minako jumped onto the ledge that Rei was sitting on and flew off again in another direction, hopping gracefully over her friend.  "Hey, stop that!  What the hell are you doing?"  Rei demanded angrily.

            "Eh?"  Minako glanced behind her shoulder over at her angry friend.  "I'm doing an airplane commercial," the blonde explained as she hopped down and rummaged into her large bag.  "I'm supposed to be flying around like an airplane, and then be a stewardess.  After that-" Minako pulled out their picnic basket and got out an apple "-give the viewer the general idea that it's a very homey but elegant type of place that's on sale for everyone to fly on."

            Rei looked amused at this as Minako took a large bite out of her apple and began to chew vigorously.  "I don't think that random flying is what they're looking for."  The dark-haired woman smiled at Minako's antics.  "Do you know what type of music they're using?"

            Minako nodded but was somewhat distracted as she took another bite of her apple.  "Well..."  Rei rolled her eyes at her friend.  "I'll help you out!"

            Minako paused and looked over at Rei.  "Help me out?" the blonde asked, surprised.  "Help me out with what?  I'm just flying around as an airplane."  Now, Minako seemed a little peeved at the idea.

            Rei smiled.  "To be a success, you must grasp every opportunity."  Speaking in a low, conspiratorial voice, Rei threw an arm around Minako's neck and began to whisper into the blonde's ear.

            Minako blinked in surprise and looked over at the grinning Rei.  "Really?" Minako asked excitedly.

            "I thought it was a great idea."  Rei grinned arrogantly and tapped the blonde on the head with a knuckle.  "Trust me, it'll be fun!"  And with that, the two began to laugh over it all over again.

-           -           -           -           -

            Honestly, Akina never saw such a happy expression on her hostess' face until that moment.  In truth, Akina would never have imagined that such a similar expression was possible on the composed Hino Rei she had met but a few months before.

            "A memory box?" Nami inquired with total fascination at the silver case sitting closed on Meiou Setsuna's lap.

            Aino Minako smiled.  "Oh, something that came and went," the blonde explained vaguely.  "The idea was a great one though.  Everyone inputs their memories into this little bulb and the machine constructs the memory that everyone gives it into a flowing picture show.  It's a really sophisticated idea, but as you can see, it was a bit lacking."

            Akina and Nami both nodded their heads a bit dumbly, not really quite sure what Minako meant.  "Was that?" Akina hesitated for once.  "Was that before Mars Reiko, um, I mean Hino Rei San, got famous?"

            Minako gave a pained smile, "Yes," she answered as she smoothed an imaginary wrinkle.  "That was when I was still trying to make it in the world of idols and such," the blonde said, looking down at her hands.  "It was a very different time then.  We had very different dreams and aspirations from what we have now."

            "Mm." Setsuna leaned on her hands.  "I wonder how much of that is true."  The woman smiled, not really looking at anyone.

            "Very little has changed in all this time, hasn't it?"  Akina asked.  "It just seems to me that you all just switched roles, but no one really fit into the role they gave themselves.  Back then, the two of you were smiling so honestly.  Even if there had been no real change in the relationship between you two, there had been truth and feeling in what you did back then as opposed to the lie you live with now."

            Minako and Setsuna both looked a bit startled by this.  "Change is needed," the blonde finally said after a bit of silence.  Her words seemed a bit dead, lacking conviction but very well practiced.  It sounded like an important line in a play that the main actor didn't believe in very much.  Only now did Nami and Akina truly take note of the fact that their hostess and her friend didn't seem very convinced of all the things they said either.  "Without change, there's stagnation and then the inevitable death.  Even if it's just a small bit of difference, it's still needed."

            Nami blinked in surprise at their hostess, sensing the subtle change in the atmosphere around them.  "A small bit?" Nami inquired.  "Is that why there are gh-ghosts around?  Like everything here, something's holding everything in Tokyo back?  As if, time stopped or went slower here, but everyone, in their own way, is trying to move on from it but at the same time, fearing about letting go of the past and who they used to be?  Changes on the outside don't mean anything without the changes on the inside to reflect it.  Such physical changes just become shallow and meaningless without real backings."

            "Even you have noticed?"  The olive-skinned woman seemed more pleased at this than surprised.

            "Everyone's dialect and speech patterns seem older than Kobe, and Kobe's been trying to keep to the older ways these last few decades to attract tourists," Nami explained as she patted an old box to check its security before sitting on it carefully.  Akina shivered a bit again from her place on the floor, but it wasn't really because of the cold anymore.  "When we got a room at the hotel it wasn't just the place that seemed out of the time we've grown up in, but the manager as well.  Most of the guests you can immediately tell were not Tokyo residents a little too easily, even those of Japanese descent that lived near Tokyo.  Just the airs around those natives here are strange, and not even you, Meiou Setsuna San - as urbane and traveled as you are - use even the most conventional of slang words that have popped up in the last fifty years."  Nami closed her eyes in recollection.  "And this place makes one want to reminisce... I've noticed."  Nami smiled slowly.  "It's as if all of Tokyo is filled... with a nostalgic joy and an equal sadness."

            Their blonde hostess blinked in surprise, but it was Setsuna who spoke.  "Mm, I never really would have described it that way, but those words fit very well with this city.  Once, it was a metropolis of Japan, a very first in everything.  But time and events took that away from Tokyo, along with many other things.  Now, it is just a place that has stilled in time, one that lingers and clings to a near past, never really living beyond the memories of its own creations."

            "However," Minako cut in, "there are still people who walk away from this place."  She bowed her head down and touched the sleeve of her robe thoughtfully, a gesture not lost to Setsuna but meaningless to her other guests.  "Others change the roles they play."  Minako smiled sadly at this.  "It is just difficult to decide which is harder though.  But in the end, even a little change is necessary."

            "Mm," Meiou Setsuna agreed as she studied the blonde for a moment longer.

            "It sounds to me like you're just fooling yourselves."  Akina crossed her arms over her chest with a determined look on her face.  "Living like this isn't living at all.  If it's all a lie, nobody will be happy in the end."

            Minako looked angry now.  "Who are you to judge?" the blonde demanded, "People aren't living day by day just for the sole reason to be happy."

            "Aren't they?"  Akina asked softly.  "Isn't that what we all want?  Even if it's selfish, even if it's hard, as long as we're living for something we truly desire with every cell of our body and every ounce of our being, it's not so bad, is it?  Misery is there only when we give up hope or we live lives that we tell ourselves are the ones we want.  But in our hearts, in everyone's hearts, we know it's just the excuses we give ourselves while living up to other people's expectations.  In the end, everyone's sad and everyone suffers because no one wants to admit the truth."

            Minako was silent and so was Setsuna.  The silence was heavy, but at least everyone was thinking over the words Akina had spoken.  "The truth hurts, though."   Nami finally broke the silence.  "Living the truth can be very painful.  Sometimes, you dream of something impossible to have and you live each day to make it possible, hoping an opportunity would one day arise and fearing to leave because of that possibility - no matter how small.  Because we are humans, we fear regret...  But, in the end, it's not hard to realize that you really weren't suited for some of the things you really thought you wanted or needed.  Sometimes, one needs to admit defeat and throw in the towel, try something fearsomely new."

            "There'll still be doubt," Akina argued.

            "There's always doubt, little sister."  Nami smiled.  "That is also a part of life.  Sometimes, sadness and failures are needed.  All people strive for happiness, but not every road we choose is the one that is meant for us.  Sometimes, we need to switch the road we're on to truly find happiness, to try things we never knew existed and pick up opportunities that we would not have dreamt of taking before pushed to certain extremes."

            Nami laced her fingers together and there was a glow about her that Akina never realized.  It was very soft and not very visible, but Nami had an aura of peace and satisfaction on her, a silent, inner joy that Akina never before seen.  It made Nami, perhaps the plainest in looks and mannerisms of all of the Kumada children, seem more beautiful than anyone Akina had ever met.  Now, Akina could see how even the devilishly charismatic Hidekai Kiyoshi would be drawn to her older sister.

            "Happiness is not what roles we play in life, or the road we're on, it depends on the person who walks such paths that they have chosen.  Some people never find happiness because the person inside would not be able to hold onto happiness even if they were given it freely.  Some people find happiness wherever they go because the well of happiness within them will never run dry.  It is in each of us to obtain the happiness we desire, but most of the time it isn't what we envisioned that would bring us to such a state in our lives.  That which would bring such happiness to us is hardly ever what we thought we would want but it always turns out to be what we truly need.  Only when such a gift is accepted with open arms can such an emotion flow freely within us.  Akina Chan, to be truthful to oneself is also to admit defeat sometimes.  As human beings, we are not always right.  In fact, you may discover that we are hardly ever right.  We make mistakes in life.  But it's alright, because if we're truthful to ourselves, we can very easily correct such mistakes."

            Akina reluctantly nodded.  At this moment, she wondered if her father giving up on Hino Rei and going to Mother was not so bad of a choice on his part.  Maybe, all this time that she had alienated herself from her father because of her own suspicions were based on the false feelings of her own insecurities.  Lately, Akina found herself reminiscing a lot.  "A city of memories, huh?"  Akina thought out loud.  "If this city is living a memory," Akina pondered, suddenly looking up startled in realization, "whose memory is everyone living in?"

            Both Minako and Setsuna turned their gazes sharply onto her.  Nami though touched her bottom lip in thought, a habit that she had not used since she was a young child, "I wonder," Nami agreed in thought.

            Their hostess and her friend shared a look, but the blonde was the first to break into a smile.  "My, I can't believe we didn't think of it sooner!" Minako exclaimed with a giant grin.

            Even Setsuna's smile seemed a bit more genuine than before.  "All this time," the woman agreed.

            Nami and Akina looked from one to the other in confusion.  "Was it something I said?"  Akina pointed to herself, slightly annoyed at having been suddenly left out of the loop.

            "Oh!" Minako grasped Akina's shoulder happily.  "Who'd have thought an annoying brat like you could really bring so much change to our situation!"

            "H-hey!"  Akina protested against the insult.

            Laughing, their blonde hostess waved away Akina's reaction with another brilliant smile.  For once, Akina realized that Minako hadn't really been smiling genuinely at them either, just like Setsuna, who had yet to stop smiling.  Neither of the strange, older women had been smiling with too much emotion, not until this very moment.  Akina realized that she wouldn't have known that if she hadn't saw the memories play out in front of them, but now she saw it very clearly.  These women wore very similar masks, but the emotions inside weren't as clear or as true as what the masks portrayed.  "Thank you," the blonde said, grasping Akina's cold hands in her own cool ones.  "Thank you for everything."

            Speechless, Akina could only nod dumbly in reply, not at all sure what this woman meant.  Exchanging a look with Nami, the two silently decided that perhaps, it was time to leave Tokyo.  Both women thought they'd had more than enough of an adventure to last them a lifetime.  Surely, it would be much better to return to the known routines of home, without any more of this drama that seemed to have always been at the core of their father's old life.

            How these Tokyo women lived it, Akina just didn't know.

To be continued...

- The person that Aino Minako and Hino Rei were discussing, who left is Tsukino Usagi.  The reason for her disappearance is not elaborated on, but in previous chapters it is hinted that a great battle or confrontation took place and everyone suffered for it.  [This battle was after Galaxia.]  sTsukino Usagi just happened to have not returned from that battle and disappeared for whatever reason.  Because that had happened 41 years ago, the entire city of Tokyo has stood still since, as a testament of the powers that was once displayed that day, 41 years ago.  Whatever had happened, the Senshi were never the same again and have disbanded.  No one has attacked since and nothing "seemed to change" in Tokyo, time moving neither forwards or backwards.  However, the event is not something everyone is aware of - think of D-Day in the anime, at the end of the first season - everything returned to normal right away after the fighting... no evidence to prove any major fighting went on.  There were evidences though; for example: the ghosts.

-The airplane flying scene was brought on by the nostalgic music of "Leaving On a Jet Plane" by Mammas and Pappas (at least that's what it says on my mp3).  It is not because Minako or the author has gone insane.  Try listening to it and you'll see what I mean =)

- What Minako is so excited about is that because everyone's minds have been warped in a way so that no one can really "change" willingly, not one of the Senshi had been able to figure out the phenomenon, too close to it most likely, in all this time.  They either tried to forget whatever had happened or tried to move on.  Akina suggested the theory that they were living in someone's memories, that's why it is so hard for them to change.  We can all guess who's memories Aino Minako and Meiou Setsuna are thinking everyone is living, right?

-I thought Akina learned enough about her own misgivings; since up to now, everyone's been ganging up on her.  So, I thought there were things Nami and she could teach the Senshi as well, since they are outsiders looking in.  The nature of the two sisters also play off of each other well enough to bring about such a conversation, filling in the gaps between optimism and wisdom that have been missing in the lives of all the Senshi after Usagi's disappearance.  (So, one point each for the Kumada girls!)

Special Thanks To:

My editor, Yumeko San!  She had to wade through my horrible grammar to help me polish this baby to perfection!  Thank you so much Yumeko San!  I would be so lost without you!  [Dabs away tears of gratitude]