It's too late for you and your white horse
Title : It’s too late for you and your white horse
Author : Araya
Theme : Fail
Genre : Angst (Do I write anything else?)
Rating : G
Now it’s too late for you and your white horse to come around
“What are you doing here Kunzite?”
He does not answer at first; but to Minako his silence is deafening. There is deep emotion stirring behind his ice blue eyes and she sighs. It is not a frustrated sigh because he didn’t answer her question but a sigh of defeat. Kunzite is not blind to this and clears his throat.
“Would you like to take a walk with me?”
Minako glances over her shoulder at her disastrous apartment. There are so many other things that need tending to but she supposes that this conversation would have come sooner or later. Later, would have been more preferable.
Offering him a small smile, she nods in agreement.
They walk around the block, each too caught up in their own thoughts to make small talk. It is familiar and easy, far too easy, for Minako to enjoy this. His legs are long but not difficult to keep up with and his presence is oddly comforting despite the thoughts she is entertaining. For the first time in far too long, she feels at ease.
She feels at home.
It isn’t until they reach the park that Kunzite speaks up, “I know that our return is not easy for the senshi; but we hope to make it an easy transition.”
This isn’t what he really wants to speak about but she plays along anyways. “The Prince and the Princess are very welcoming of the Shitennou. We only serve to please them and will not make your jobs any more difficult.”
He stops and looks down at her; his eyes filled determination but masked with hope. “It is appreciated, Akemi.”
Minako abruptly looks away and continues walking. “I have to ask that you not call me by that name.” Memories from a thousand years prior is shifting through her mind and it takes all that she has to swallow them and push them away. She does not need to be reminded of happier times when it was so easy to love.
He catches up to her without difficulty and there is curiosity in his voice, “Why? It is your given name as the Crown Princess of Venus, after all. You should be honored to carry that name.”
“In case you have not noticed, Kunzite, Venus was destroyed over a millennia ago and is currently uninhabitable.” Anger is beginning to boil within her, “I am no longer a Princess. My name is Aino Minako; and in the next millennia, not even she will exist.”
“What is it you would like me to call you then?”
His voice is filled with irony but she ignores it, “Sailor Venus will do.”
“Sailor Venus, then,” He gives her a small smile as he looks down at her. “What are your hopes for the thirtieth century?”
Minako shrugs her shoulders. “The same as Usagi; peace, happiness, the end of illness, and so on.”
“No,” Kunzite grasps her wrist and turns her to him. “What is it that you want? What will you do for yourself?”
She can’t help it, but she bursts out laughing. It is such a ridiculous question. Perhaps at one point, Minako allowed herself to dream, to become a famous idol; but that all ended with the knowledge of Crystal Tokyo. She was forever stuck fighting evil. She was forever stuck hidden behind her identity as Sailor Venus.
Kunzite furrows his brow in worry and Minako rolls her eyes. “Surely, as the leader of the Shitennou, you do not have to ask such a ridiculous question? There are no hopes, no dreams, that I harbor,” her tone is full of bitterness and she hates the taste but cannot spit it out. She has kept this far too long to herself. “I am Sailor Venus and I live to serve my future queen. There is nothing more important nor greater than that.”
“You are a fool Akemi.”
“A fool, am I,” her laughter is deranged. “If I am a fool, than so are you Kunzite. You are Endymion’s right hand; just as I am Serenity’s.”
“At least this fool is not looking forward to a lifeless existence! At least this fool was hoping to spend it with the woman he loves!” It is rare that Kunzite loses his temper but it has long been Minako that has pulled it out of him. Love makes one irrational.
“Oh, reincarnation has made you a dreamer if you think that we ever had a chance.”
Kunzite reaches up and tugs harshly at his scalp. “It was a mistake of which I have already apologized for! A mistake, Akemi!” He is pacing back and forth and it is so unlike him that Minako has to force back a smile. “Can you not forgive me? Must I spend the rest of eternity wallowing in my sins?”
“A mistake I can forgive,” Her voice is quiet, sad. “It is failure that I cannot.”
He stops pacing to stare at her. He is confused. “Failure?”
“Yes, failure.” Minako crosses her arms across her chest, as if everything would simply pour out of her if she didn‘t. “You lost sight of what I was fighting for; what is true and just and beautiful. To lose sight in that, is to lose sight in me.” She brushes a stray blonde tendril behind her ear to hide the tears building up. “I cannot forgive you for letting go of everything we ever worked for.”
“You failed me,” she whispers.
They stand opposite of one another for a long moment. Kunzite, unmoving, except for the deep, steadying breaths he is inhaling. There is so much stirring behind his eyes, like a window to his soul; but Minako turns away. She cannot bear to look.
It is not too long; however, before his eyes harden and he nods his head in acceptance. “So, this is it then?”
“Yes.” She is just barely able to get it out. “We’ll never be anything more to one another than the leaders of our respected alliances.”
“Sailor Venus,” He nods and gives her a stiff bow before turning away from her.
And Minako, for her part, cannot help but imagining him garbed in his ancient European robes and riding away upon a white horse.
Nominated January 2009 - Best Dialogue