Post by raekuul on Dec 31, 2008 14:29:34 GMT -4
It was six in the morning, and her alarm clock had been blaring for an hour. But Moriwaka Ikuko slept on, clinging to the sort of dreams that would embarrass parents everywhere. It wasn't until her father Ryuta started banging on the door that she really woke up. "Yeah dad?"
"Ikuko, not everybody likes to be awake at six in the morning. Turn off your alarm clock, or I'll make sure you have buckets of ice water to wake up to tomorrow instead!"
Oh, yeah, my alarm clock. "Ice water? Probably make my boyfriend all bothered." She pondered this for a moment as she got dressed for the day. More blaring. "Naah, I'll stick with the alarm clock. Thanks for the offer, though!" Click. Silence.
"When's your next date with Tsukino-san?"
"Don't know yet, probably end up as a make out session like the last one." She and her dad teased each other like this all the time.
"Just don't start making out in front of me again. I might be a pervert, but I am not a pedophile!"
"You say that, but with how you act with him around..."
"I'm excited that he might be the right one for you."
"Riiiight. And I'm the future mother of a moon princess."
"You never know, dear. You might be a moon queen yourself!"
Ikuko never could tell if her father was joking, or if he meant it seriously. "I had that dream again."
"The one where Ken and you do the..." He went on for a good five minutes, describing a raunchy fantasy that his daughter often described to him about her boyfriend. "... while balancing on a banana peel and dancing disco?"
"That still sounds like something I should try with him once we're married. But, no. The other one."
"About a moon kingdom?"
"Exactly. This dream was more... real." She was too embarrassed to admit that it had been fairly ecchi to begin with. "We were looking at the ruins of a kingdom on the moon. Me and Kenji-kun and... hmm..."
"Lemme guess: Future son?"
"Daughter, I think. At least, she acted like I was her mother, and Kenji, her father. She said something about a rabbit of fourteen returning to her rightful place in the moon."
"And exactly how ecchi was it before this?" He could feel his daughter blushing through the door. "Forget I asked."
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Skip forward a number of years. Kenji had married Ikuko, and they had had two children. But, if it wasn't on the other side of town, it was the other side of the solar system. Meioh Setsuna peered into the pool of destiny, trying to see if Ikuko would get the hints that she and the Queen had been dropping for years. She worried that they may have been too cryptic. She sensed a presence, and called the Garnet Rod (which was more of a staff) to her hands.
The figure of Queen Serenity appeared again to her. "I know you dislike meddling, but I feel she needs to know who will be born of her. We visit her again tonight. We're too close to the awakenings for her not to know outright."
Pluto retorted in acidic tones "Oh sure. I've only been the Angel Gabriel for the sixth time in two millennia!"
Serenity pondered this for a moment, unsure of what she meant. "Gabriel... a Christian Angel, am I correct?"
"As well as a herald of things to come. As well as the rightful heir to the keys of time."
"He refused of his own volition, am I correct?"
"Only to end up playing messenger boy!"
"Didn't... It was for... He knew..." Somehow, only four people had ever had this effect on Queen Serenity. Two of them had been reincarnated within the last two decades, the third had always existed and always will, not that they were going to meet again for a long time. The fourth was talking to her. "I really don't know how I should feel about this, Plu."
Setsuna lowered her head in shame. "My queen, I must apologize. I should not lose my temper so easily."
"If nobody lost their temper, things would be pretty boring for you, wouldn't they?"
Pluto pondered this for a moment, and then conceded the point. "In a way, I'm like the enemy. I revel in the unknown, despite my actions to solidify the future."
"Remember, Plu, that even the timeless Senshi is still only human. A powerful human, but human nonetheless."
"What of you, my queen?"
Eventually, this degraded into their usual discussion of life, the universe, and everything. Setsuna was glad for these visits from her old friend, even if she suspected it was just her imagination.
"If I'm part of your imagination, Plu, then you have a very dull one."
Despite how little sense it made scientifically, people from Earth called it the Day of Laughter, as everyone save for two people heard an otherworldly laugh that made them all chuckle at the joke between the two ancient friends. A laugh that managed to travel across time itself to get there. Those two people, when recounting to their grandchildren, would say that the cosmic joke was on them for not seeing it sooner.
When the laughter died down, Serenity said "I really wish you wouldn't be so emotionless in public. It makes parties a little... dull, when the person I want to have fun with is a cold statue that talks... like... a robot..."
More laughter, and a loud thwack, were heard.
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Something in Ikuko's memory had stirred at the birth, and she refused to have her daughter be known as anything other than "Usagi". Tsukino Usagi, Rabbit of the Moon, future heiress to the Silver Crystal, future heroine of Earth numerous times over, future Queen Neo Serenity, leader of the Inner Senshi, blah blah blah. Ikuko still did not understand what her dreams meant, but as Usagi's fourteenth birthday (as well as a fateful encounter with a certain black cat) loomed nearer, so too did the dreams escalate.
A queen encased in crystal, waiting for her past self to come and save her daughter... how do I know that? Why do I trust her to keep my daughter safe?
Behind her stood a green haired woman. "Who are you, and why do I keep having these dreams?" Ikuko asked.
"My name is Sailor Pluto. I am the guardian of time, and a warrior of death."
"Am I going to die?"
"Eventually, but you will live to see your granddaughter." Damnit, she thought, too vague.
"What of these dreams?"
A new voice answered her with "Warnings, actually," and she was in the Moon kingdom again, standing next to... her daughter?
"Are you the Moon Princess, or my Daughter?"
"I once was a Moon Princess. I am now but a ghost. That is neither here nor there. Tsukino Ikuko, you and I both must play the same role to the same person, only with a difference of a few millennia."
"You are talking about Usagi." This wasn't a question. "You look like her more than I do. You also have the same air of feigned incompetence. It drives Haruna-chan mad, being around her."
Pluto stifled a giggle. "So 'Miseruna' was reincarnated too, huh?"
Ikuko thought she was going to go mad. Haruna was her friend for the longest time, and her daughter's past mother's friend was using Usagi's name for her. Well, either mad or about to go in denial. "Don't fight it; we all go mad in the end." she mumbled to herself.
"I once thought I was King Arthur and that Pluto there was Lancelot." giggled the queen. "Lots of fun, that was." The perverted mind of Ikuko quickly made note of that one. It did not help that Pluto started blushing at the memory. "Anyhow, I'm going to see if I can hide in the back of your mind. We're more alike than you may think, 'specially with that idea about the banana peel and the disco dancing."
"So that was you in the dream all those years ago!"
"Like I said, more than you know."
"Will I have to share my Kenji-kun with you?"
"Your body, unfortunately for me, is entirely yours. I'll have fun with your imagination, though, I can tell you that much now." It was the blush heard 'round the world.
It was Pluto's turn to speak up. "Shall I give Shingo and Kenji the Truth Sight, 'King Arthur'?"
"Hmm... Best let Ikuko decide that, 'Lancelot'."
"Decide what now?"
"If you want your husband and son to see the truth for what it is."
"Will that hurt?"
"It shouldn't, but the last person to get it went mad."
"It didn't help that she was only awakened to kill us all so that the others would be reborn."
"Who are we talking about, the guardian of rebirth or something?"
"Actually, yes. That is exactly who we are talking about." Pluto sent a warning glance to the Queen. "Erm, but not the object of the choice at hand."
"So, describe this Truth Sight to me."
Pluto sighed. Best to do it now. "Your daughter will be Sailor Moon, Warrior of... where's that paper?"
"Left pocket." Said Ikuko automatically.
Pluto checked hers, only to remember that she didn't have any pockets in the uniform. She blushed visibly. "I'll need to-"
"I don't mind, and I doubt that Ikuko will either."
"Lemme guess - she fights in the name of the moon for love and justice, and will fight evil in a sailor suit."
"I think that sums it up rather nicely. Don't you?"
"There's a catch though. Unless she transforms in front of you, or would otherwise spill the beans about her 'other life', you would not make the connection without either the Truth Sight or someone to talk you through it, no matter how much of a coincidence you think that a blonde superhero girl with twin odongos - just like Usagi - would go around fighting supernatural forces, sound just like Usagi, and only appear when Usagi was nowhere to be found. Having me in the back of your mind will eliminate this for you since I already would be able to point out that it is in fact Usagi and not just a remarkable coincidence. Shingo and Kenji will try - and fail - to make the connection without the Truth Sight."
Pluto frowned. "I foresee that Shingo will make better use of it, as well as be better at keeping Usagi's secret better than Usagi ever will."
"Yeah, Kenji-kun can't keep a secret. Shingo it is, then."
"I will be joining you again about a day before Usagi and her advisor meet. I have... other mothers to warn."
"I can wait. I'll make sure to have a very nice, and very ecchi, fantasy waiting for the three of us."
"Three?" Pluto blinked.
"Me, the Queen, and Kenji-kun. Would you like us to save you a seat, or would you be content to watch?"
This time, it was Setsuna's turn to blush, although only lightly. "I'll watch, sorry. I'm not much fun at parties."
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Three weeks later. Early in the morning…
Ikuko wondered if she really had only dreamed that meeting. Yet, she had to wonder - every time someone tried to hide a secret from Shingo, he made a very good guess as to what the secret was. Usagi was sleeping in later and later. And she could feel something about to give, soon.
Then she heard it. Quietly, at first, then much more loudly. She assumed it was Usagi's alarm clock again - then she realized it was only six in the morning. There was a haunting rhythm to it. She woke Kenji, who assumed that she just wanted more fun.
"Ikuko, it's six in the morning. Isn't it a bit early to be rowdy?"
"We need to talk. And I'd like to see the moon before it set."
Kenji could only guess what she had in mind. "No more banana peels, dear."
Ikuko smiled him one of her rare, purely honest smiles. "Not tonight dear, this is important." They were outside now, and the full moon was shining bright. "Three weeks ago, I told you that our daughter had a destiny to fulfill, one that would require us to help her keep it a secret without her knowing that we know."
"Considering that you mentioned this in the middle of us making out, I doubt that I should remember. I do, though. Something about the moon kingdom and her old mother coming to stay in the back of your mind."
"That's about it in a nutshell. I'll know her once I see her, and Shingo will as well, but since we figured that you wouldn't be able to keep a secret, well, you won't. Not at first. Hopefully, not ever, but we know that Usagi's as bad as you are with her secrets."
"..."
"There's also someone else here to meet you. She's been coming over here every other day, waiting for Usagi's first mother to give the signal."
"You are not...?"
"In this life, and for all time to Usagi, I will be her mother. My mother died giving birth to me, so Queen Serenity may as well be her grandmother."
"I'm telling her you said that." Setsuna appeared.
"Oh, she already knows. She's already in there, ready to pounce on me if I start to give it away. Did you already?"
"He slept right through it. The next time that he won't control it will just happen to be when he sees her transformed, past tense. Then he'll learn to control it at will. Unfortunately, as far as I can see, that's still at least a month away."
Pluto saw that the couple would shoo her away if she didn't go soon, so she went ahead and left. "Lady and Lord Tsukino, stay safe. And don't tell Luna what we've revealed to you. She - and the others – must discover the princess on their own."
"Was that who I was supposed to meet today?"
"Yes. And you didn't object to doing disco with me this morning."
It was Kenji's turn to smile; a sly little smile. "Of course. Usagi might be a moon princess, but for me, you are my only Moon Queen, Ikuko of the Moon."
They danced with such passion; it was a wonder that they weren't naked by the end. "Will we be able to talk to the Queen?"
"You, no. Me, well, she's in the back of my mind now. No getting rid of her now."
"Is she saying anything?"
"Two things: you're nowhere near as flexible as that in my fantasies, and that we should have kept going."
"Are you sure that's not just you?"
"We're more similar than I thought." They danced in silence, until Usagi rushed out the door for the day...
"You're late for work, Kenji-kun." Ikuko and Serenity spent the rest of the day... bonding. And fantasizing. Pluto came by to look in. She knew that the bonding would go well, given how similar Ikuko and Serenity were.
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[I've missed my daughter so much. But, seeing her here, doing this poorly...]
{Trust me, it's no picnic for Haruna-chan, either.}
[Yeah, I think I know why Beryl wanted Endymion for her own now.]
{The who with the what now?}
[I'll explain later. It's a long story, and I think that you and Usagi should learn it at about the same time.]
{How will you know that she's about to learn it, Serenity?}
[She'll come and find me, entirely of her own will. My being in the back of your mind does not exclude her access to it.]
{How do you know this?}
[Hey, you can't spend entire geological epochs with Plu without picking up some precognizant abilities. Give her some credit. Oh, and her alarm clock's about to ring again.]
As if on cue... BRIIIIIIIIIING!
"Oh no, I'm late for school AGAIN!!!"
[Again? Sounds like she hasn't gotten any better about it.]
"Aren't you forgetting something, dear?" {Did she ever forget her lunch?}
[Not in my memory. This is a first. Poor Usagi. But today's the day.]
{Payday?}
{With my families, I needed it. Between Ryuta-papa, Shingo, and Kenji-kun...}
[You wish that Usagi did not have this destiny?]
{She's too lazy. Every test is the same. Algebra, English Japanese, History, whatever the course it... She goofs off instead of studying, hardly ever does her homework, and then fails the tests.}
[Sounds just like her.]
{Drives Haruna-chan up the wall with it. We all know she's smart, but if she doesn't actually put effort into it, she'll never be able to operate under pressure.}
[Pancake.]
{I smell it. I like my personal pancakes a little burnt. But, yeah, this'll be good for her. Plus, I don't think I ever had a say in the matter once I married Kenji. Have you seen the pizza coupons?}
[Over by the icebox.]
{Oh, thanks. You know, I think I'm going to like chatting with you.} She flipped the pancake. {Should I have told her I was looking for porno?}
[What's porno?]
{Let me explain...} Ikuko and Serenity giggled. Kenji shuddered. Somewhere, Pluto moaned in fear of what sort of evils Serenity could do to her with this new information. Somewhere else in Tokyo, a certain Chiba Mamoru used the phrase "Odongo-atama" for the first, and never the last, time. {...and sometimes even with banana peels and disco dancing!}
[All of a sudden, I'm glad that the moon kingdom didn't have cameras. I'll bet Plu is afraid of what I could come up with for next time.]
{You'll get used to it.}
[But why would you tell her that?]
{Because she's as different from me as she is from Haruna, and it would have made her forget her lunch.}
[In short, a joke?]
{Yep.}
{Promise. On the Silver Crystal, even.}
[How do you know about the Silver Crystal?]
{... I'm not sure.}
[Pancake.]
{Got it.} It was very burnt on one side, but for some reason, Ikuko liked it that way. Serenity had had pancakes before, but they had always been cooked for her. Somehow, Ikuko's burnt pancakes were better than the so-called "Perfect Pancakes" of the moon kingdom. Maybe it was from being dead for millennia, or maybe it was because she had helped to make it. [Best pancake I've had. Ever.]
{When I'm not burning them, they're even better.}
[Remember, Ikuko, we're...]
{More alike than I think. I know.}
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Feedback?
"Ikuko, not everybody likes to be awake at six in the morning. Turn off your alarm clock, or I'll make sure you have buckets of ice water to wake up to tomorrow instead!"
Oh, yeah, my alarm clock. "Ice water? Probably make my boyfriend all bothered." She pondered this for a moment as she got dressed for the day. More blaring. "Naah, I'll stick with the alarm clock. Thanks for the offer, though!" Click. Silence.
"When's your next date with Tsukino-san?"
"Don't know yet, probably end up as a make out session like the last one." She and her dad teased each other like this all the time.
"Just don't start making out in front of me again. I might be a pervert, but I am not a pedophile!"
"You say that, but with how you act with him around..."
"I'm excited that he might be the right one for you."
"Riiiight. And I'm the future mother of a moon princess."
"You never know, dear. You might be a moon queen yourself!"
Ikuko never could tell if her father was joking, or if he meant it seriously. "I had that dream again."
"The one where Ken and you do the..." He went on for a good five minutes, describing a raunchy fantasy that his daughter often described to him about her boyfriend. "... while balancing on a banana peel and dancing disco?"
"That still sounds like something I should try with him once we're married. But, no. The other one."
"About a moon kingdom?"
"Exactly. This dream was more... real." She was too embarrassed to admit that it had been fairly ecchi to begin with. "We were looking at the ruins of a kingdom on the moon. Me and Kenji-kun and... hmm..."
"Lemme guess: Future son?"
"Daughter, I think. At least, she acted like I was her mother, and Kenji, her father. She said something about a rabbit of fourteen returning to her rightful place in the moon."
"And exactly how ecchi was it before this?" He could feel his daughter blushing through the door. "Forget I asked."
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Skip forward a number of years. Kenji had married Ikuko, and they had had two children. But, if it wasn't on the other side of town, it was the other side of the solar system. Meioh Setsuna peered into the pool of destiny, trying to see if Ikuko would get the hints that she and the Queen had been dropping for years. She worried that they may have been too cryptic. She sensed a presence, and called the Garnet Rod (which was more of a staff) to her hands.
The figure of Queen Serenity appeared again to her. "I know you dislike meddling, but I feel she needs to know who will be born of her. We visit her again tonight. We're too close to the awakenings for her not to know outright."
Pluto retorted in acidic tones "Oh sure. I've only been the Angel Gabriel for the sixth time in two millennia!"
Serenity pondered this for a moment, unsure of what she meant. "Gabriel... a Christian Angel, am I correct?"
"As well as a herald of things to come. As well as the rightful heir to the keys of time."
"He refused of his own volition, am I correct?"
"Only to end up playing messenger boy!"
"Didn't... It was for... He knew..." Somehow, only four people had ever had this effect on Queen Serenity. Two of them had been reincarnated within the last two decades, the third had always existed and always will, not that they were going to meet again for a long time. The fourth was talking to her. "I really don't know how I should feel about this, Plu."
Setsuna lowered her head in shame. "My queen, I must apologize. I should not lose my temper so easily."
"If nobody lost their temper, things would be pretty boring for you, wouldn't they?"
Pluto pondered this for a moment, and then conceded the point. "In a way, I'm like the enemy. I revel in the unknown, despite my actions to solidify the future."
"Remember, Plu, that even the timeless Senshi is still only human. A powerful human, but human nonetheless."
"What of you, my queen?"
Eventually, this degraded into their usual discussion of life, the universe, and everything. Setsuna was glad for these visits from her old friend, even if she suspected it was just her imagination.
"If I'm part of your imagination, Plu, then you have a very dull one."
Despite how little sense it made scientifically, people from Earth called it the Day of Laughter, as everyone save for two people heard an otherworldly laugh that made them all chuckle at the joke between the two ancient friends. A laugh that managed to travel across time itself to get there. Those two people, when recounting to their grandchildren, would say that the cosmic joke was on them for not seeing it sooner.
When the laughter died down, Serenity said "I really wish you wouldn't be so emotionless in public. It makes parties a little... dull, when the person I want to have fun with is a cold statue that talks... like... a robot..."
More laughter, and a loud thwack, were heard.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Something in Ikuko's memory had stirred at the birth, and she refused to have her daughter be known as anything other than "Usagi". Tsukino Usagi, Rabbit of the Moon, future heiress to the Silver Crystal, future heroine of Earth numerous times over, future Queen Neo Serenity, leader of the Inner Senshi, blah blah blah. Ikuko still did not understand what her dreams meant, but as Usagi's fourteenth birthday (as well as a fateful encounter with a certain black cat) loomed nearer, so too did the dreams escalate.
A queen encased in crystal, waiting for her past self to come and save her daughter... how do I know that? Why do I trust her to keep my daughter safe?
Behind her stood a green haired woman. "Who are you, and why do I keep having these dreams?" Ikuko asked.
"My name is Sailor Pluto. I am the guardian of time, and a warrior of death."
"Am I going to die?"
"Eventually, but you will live to see your granddaughter." Damnit, she thought, too vague.
"What of these dreams?"
A new voice answered her with "Warnings, actually," and she was in the Moon kingdom again, standing next to... her daughter?
"Are you the Moon Princess, or my Daughter?"
"I once was a Moon Princess. I am now but a ghost. That is neither here nor there. Tsukino Ikuko, you and I both must play the same role to the same person, only with a difference of a few millennia."
"You are talking about Usagi." This wasn't a question. "You look like her more than I do. You also have the same air of feigned incompetence. It drives Haruna-chan mad, being around her."
Pluto stifled a giggle. "So 'Miseruna' was reincarnated too, huh?"
Ikuko thought she was going to go mad. Haruna was her friend for the longest time, and her daughter's past mother's friend was using Usagi's name for her. Well, either mad or about to go in denial. "Don't fight it; we all go mad in the end." she mumbled to herself.
"I once thought I was King Arthur and that Pluto there was Lancelot." giggled the queen. "Lots of fun, that was." The perverted mind of Ikuko quickly made note of that one. It did not help that Pluto started blushing at the memory. "Anyhow, I'm going to see if I can hide in the back of your mind. We're more alike than you may think, 'specially with that idea about the banana peel and the disco dancing."
"So that was you in the dream all those years ago!"
"Like I said, more than you know."
"Will I have to share my Kenji-kun with you?"
"Your body, unfortunately for me, is entirely yours. I'll have fun with your imagination, though, I can tell you that much now." It was the blush heard 'round the world.
It was Pluto's turn to speak up. "Shall I give Shingo and Kenji the Truth Sight, 'King Arthur'?"
"Hmm... Best let Ikuko decide that, 'Lancelot'."
"Decide what now?"
"If you want your husband and son to see the truth for what it is."
"Will that hurt?"
"It shouldn't, but the last person to get it went mad."
"It didn't help that she was only awakened to kill us all so that the others would be reborn."
"Who are we talking about, the guardian of rebirth or something?"
"Actually, yes. That is exactly who we are talking about." Pluto sent a warning glance to the Queen. "Erm, but not the object of the choice at hand."
"So, describe this Truth Sight to me."
Pluto sighed. Best to do it now. "Your daughter will be Sailor Moon, Warrior of... where's that paper?"
"Left pocket." Said Ikuko automatically.
Pluto checked hers, only to remember that she didn't have any pockets in the uniform. She blushed visibly. "I'll need to-"
"I don't mind, and I doubt that Ikuko will either."
"Lemme guess - she fights in the name of the moon for love and justice, and will fight evil in a sailor suit."
"I think that sums it up rather nicely. Don't you?"
"There's a catch though. Unless she transforms in front of you, or would otherwise spill the beans about her 'other life', you would not make the connection without either the Truth Sight or someone to talk you through it, no matter how much of a coincidence you think that a blonde superhero girl with twin odongos - just like Usagi - would go around fighting supernatural forces, sound just like Usagi, and only appear when Usagi was nowhere to be found. Having me in the back of your mind will eliminate this for you since I already would be able to point out that it is in fact Usagi and not just a remarkable coincidence. Shingo and Kenji will try - and fail - to make the connection without the Truth Sight."
Pluto frowned. "I foresee that Shingo will make better use of it, as well as be better at keeping Usagi's secret better than Usagi ever will."
"Yeah, Kenji-kun can't keep a secret. Shingo it is, then."
"I will be joining you again about a day before Usagi and her advisor meet. I have... other mothers to warn."
"I can wait. I'll make sure to have a very nice, and very ecchi, fantasy waiting for the three of us."
"Three?" Pluto blinked.
"Me, the Queen, and Kenji-kun. Would you like us to save you a seat, or would you be content to watch?"
This time, it was Setsuna's turn to blush, although only lightly. "I'll watch, sorry. I'm not much fun at parties."
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Three weeks later. Early in the morning…
Ikuko wondered if she really had only dreamed that meeting. Yet, she had to wonder - every time someone tried to hide a secret from Shingo, he made a very good guess as to what the secret was. Usagi was sleeping in later and later. And she could feel something about to give, soon.
Then she heard it. Quietly, at first, then much more loudly. She assumed it was Usagi's alarm clock again - then she realized it was only six in the morning. There was a haunting rhythm to it. She woke Kenji, who assumed that she just wanted more fun.
"Ikuko, it's six in the morning. Isn't it a bit early to be rowdy?"
"We need to talk. And I'd like to see the moon before it set."
Kenji could only guess what she had in mind. "No more banana peels, dear."
Ikuko smiled him one of her rare, purely honest smiles. "Not tonight dear, this is important." They were outside now, and the full moon was shining bright. "Three weeks ago, I told you that our daughter had a destiny to fulfill, one that would require us to help her keep it a secret without her knowing that we know."
"Considering that you mentioned this in the middle of us making out, I doubt that I should remember. I do, though. Something about the moon kingdom and her old mother coming to stay in the back of your mind."
"That's about it in a nutshell. I'll know her once I see her, and Shingo will as well, but since we figured that you wouldn't be able to keep a secret, well, you won't. Not at first. Hopefully, not ever, but we know that Usagi's as bad as you are with her secrets."
"..."
"There's also someone else here to meet you. She's been coming over here every other day, waiting for Usagi's first mother to give the signal."
"You are not...?"
"In this life, and for all time to Usagi, I will be her mother. My mother died giving birth to me, so Queen Serenity may as well be her grandmother."
"I'm telling her you said that." Setsuna appeared.
"Oh, she already knows. She's already in there, ready to pounce on me if I start to give it away. Did you already?"
"He slept right through it. The next time that he won't control it will just happen to be when he sees her transformed, past tense. Then he'll learn to control it at will. Unfortunately, as far as I can see, that's still at least a month away."
Pluto saw that the couple would shoo her away if she didn't go soon, so she went ahead and left. "Lady and Lord Tsukino, stay safe. And don't tell Luna what we've revealed to you. She - and the others – must discover the princess on their own."
"Was that who I was supposed to meet today?"
"Yes. And you didn't object to doing disco with me this morning."
It was Kenji's turn to smile; a sly little smile. "Of course. Usagi might be a moon princess, but for me, you are my only Moon Queen, Ikuko of the Moon."
They danced with such passion; it was a wonder that they weren't naked by the end. "Will we be able to talk to the Queen?"
"You, no. Me, well, she's in the back of my mind now. No getting rid of her now."
"Is she saying anything?"
"Two things: you're nowhere near as flexible as that in my fantasies, and that we should have kept going."
"Are you sure that's not just you?"
"We're more similar than I thought." They danced in silence, until Usagi rushed out the door for the day...
"You're late for work, Kenji-kun." Ikuko and Serenity spent the rest of the day... bonding. And fantasizing. Pluto came by to look in. She knew that the bonding would go well, given how similar Ikuko and Serenity were.
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[I've missed my daughter so much. But, seeing her here, doing this poorly...]
{Trust me, it's no picnic for Haruna-chan, either.}
[Yeah, I think I know why Beryl wanted Endymion for her own now.]
{The who with the what now?}
[I'll explain later. It's a long story, and I think that you and Usagi should learn it at about the same time.]
{How will you know that she's about to learn it, Serenity?}
[She'll come and find me, entirely of her own will. My being in the back of your mind does not exclude her access to it.]
{How do you know this?}
[Hey, you can't spend entire geological epochs with Plu without picking up some precognizant abilities. Give her some credit. Oh, and her alarm clock's about to ring again.]
As if on cue... BRIIIIIIIIIING!
"Oh no, I'm late for school AGAIN!!!"
[Again? Sounds like she hasn't gotten any better about it.]
"Aren't you forgetting something, dear?" {Did she ever forget her lunch?}
[Not in my memory. This is a first. Poor Usagi. But today's the day.]
{Payday?}
{With my families, I needed it. Between Ryuta-papa, Shingo, and Kenji-kun...}
[You wish that Usagi did not have this destiny?]
{She's too lazy. Every test is the same. Algebra, English Japanese, History, whatever the course it... She goofs off instead of studying, hardly ever does her homework, and then fails the tests.}
[Sounds just like her.]
{Drives Haruna-chan up the wall with it. We all know she's smart, but if she doesn't actually put effort into it, she'll never be able to operate under pressure.}
[Pancake.]
{I smell it. I like my personal pancakes a little burnt. But, yeah, this'll be good for her. Plus, I don't think I ever had a say in the matter once I married Kenji. Have you seen the pizza coupons?}
[Over by the icebox.]
{Oh, thanks. You know, I think I'm going to like chatting with you.} She flipped the pancake. {Should I have told her I was looking for porno?}
[What's porno?]
{Let me explain...} Ikuko and Serenity giggled. Kenji shuddered. Somewhere, Pluto moaned in fear of what sort of evils Serenity could do to her with this new information. Somewhere else in Tokyo, a certain Chiba Mamoru used the phrase "Odongo-atama" for the first, and never the last, time. {...and sometimes even with banana peels and disco dancing!}
[All of a sudden, I'm glad that the moon kingdom didn't have cameras. I'll bet Plu is afraid of what I could come up with for next time.]
{You'll get used to it.}
[But why would you tell her that?]
{Because she's as different from me as she is from Haruna, and it would have made her forget her lunch.}
[In short, a joke?]
{Yep.}
{Promise. On the Silver Crystal, even.}
[How do you know about the Silver Crystal?]
{... I'm not sure.}
[Pancake.]
{Got it.} It was very burnt on one side, but for some reason, Ikuko liked it that way. Serenity had had pancakes before, but they had always been cooked for her. Somehow, Ikuko's burnt pancakes were better than the so-called "Perfect Pancakes" of the moon kingdom. Maybe it was from being dead for millennia, or maybe it was because she had helped to make it. [Best pancake I've had. Ever.]
{When I'm not burning them, they're even better.}
[Remember, Ikuko, we're...]
{More alike than I think. I know.}
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