The Education of Usagi Tsukino
Sailormoon and sundry others are used without permission. Previous Lesson at my Lost Library page.
Elsa Bibat presents a tale of the Dance...
********************
The Education of Usagi Tsukino
Lesson 1
Learning
********************
1996:
Usagi Tsukino, future Queen of the world, was pissed.
"SETSUNA!!! I know you're in there! Open up!"
That was Haruka Ten'ou impression as she shared a glance with her long-time lover.
"Think it would be surprise her that Setsuna just left for New York a few minutes ago?"
Michiru just rolled her eyes and smirked in the most unladylike manner.
"I have dinner to cook. See you later." With that, the teal-haired woman flounced away. Must still be mad about the anniversary thing, the blonde grimaced. It was so not her fault that the race organizers scheduled it that way, but Michiru was taking none of it.
Another harsh round of knocking interrupted her contemplation, followed by Usagi's voice screeching for the Guardian of Time's head on a stick.
Sighing, Haruka reached for the doorknob to cure at least one of her headaches.
Besides, Setsuna left a letter.
********************
Usagi scowled as she watched Rei waving goodbye, while the dark-haired girl herded the other Inners away. Yesterday, after leaving her weirdo sensei's home she went to visit the Outer's apartment. They weren't of much help. Just a letter from the Guardian of Time on how everything was fine and that she should go with the flow.
Hmph
Today, she had somehow managed to convince everyone to take a look at her new sensei, hoping that someone would back up her suspicions. Luna and Artemis were no help; Setsuna's seal of approval was good as gold for them. Eventually, she had managed to wear them down and get them to come with her. Rei had met them on the way from Juuban High, also interested in what sort of person 'could stomach teaching you anything', so she said.
They had arrived at the estate's gates to be greeted by the two ravens again. One look at the pair and Rei just smiled, shook her head and pronounced everthing was fine. She then gave her best friend a smirk that just said 'you are _so_ screwed, Usagi-chan' according to the young Tsukino girl's Hino face vocabulary and proceeded to convince everyone to go on home. Soon, only the young blonde and her waiting pair of feathered guardians were left.
One of the dark birds let out a derisive caw and fluttered down to perch on her right shoulder. It regarded her with an ebon eye, the avian gaze somehow conveying amusement at her predicament.
Usagi stuck out a tongue at it.
"Careful, he might take a peck. Tongues are a favorite of his."
"ACK!"
The harsh voice cut through the silence like a sharp knife. Husky and low, Usgi recognized the voice of her teacher and she turned in surprise.
Weyland-sensei was standing underneath the shade of a nearby tree. Dressed in the same black clothes she wore yesterday, she looked like a gaunt spectre.
"Sensei!" Her quick bow forced her her shoulder's unwelcome tenant to leave abruptly, launching itself into the air and fluttering to her teacher's waiting hand.
The older woman bowed in formal response and reached her laden hand to her right shoulder, letting her pet jump to another perch. A flutter of wings and its twin had landed on the redhead's left shoulder, mirroring the other bird perfectly.
"Hugin prefers tongues." Ruffling the right-side raven's throat feathers with affection, her gloved hand disappearing into the ebon plumage. "His brother Munin likes the eyes."
A tight little smile appeared on Weyland-sensei's face as she gestured for her young charge to follow her.
"Come, child. Twilight is coming and we may as well get the preliminaries over with."
Puzzled, Usagi followed the red-haired woman as she walked off into the trees.
********************
The young blonde trudged alongside her teacher, managing to keep pace with the longer-legged woman's stride. Weyland-sensei must have stood a little over six feet, taller than Haruka or Mamoru. They were taking quite a while in their walk, which disturbed Usagi to no end. It wasn't possible that such a large estate could be found in metropolitan Tokyo. Something strange was happening and she didn't like it.
"Child, may I ask you a question?"
"Er...okay." Great. More qestions. Usagi really didn't like questions. They usually meant that she'd be embarassed by her own ignorance.
"Aren't you curious?"
"Huh!?" This was getting weird.
Turning her face towards her, Weyland-sensei spared her a look with her eye as they continued their trek.
"Curiosity, child. Don't you want to know?"
"Know?"
"To know the answers. To know the reasons."
Usagi just looked at her blanky. Weyland-sensei sighed and shook her head, a slight gesture of impatience.
"For example, why aren't you asking me why we seem to be taking quite a bit of time to reach our destination?"
"Er..." Usagi blushed.
Her teacher smiled, a surprising gentle expression on the redhead's face. "Japanese politeness, I see. My dear, asking questions is one of the things I'd like to teach you and I assure you I will not take offense to any question you may ask, though I may defer answering them to a different time."
The older woman returned her gaze forward, continuing both her walk and explanation.
"Setsuna has told me of you, child. She is of the opinion that you have potential and I agree with her. For you to unleash that potential, you must first learn to learn and the first step in learning is asking questions. You must have the desire to know if you wish to actually know."
"But-" Usagi blurted and stopped.
"Yes?" Her redheaded teacher asked they walked on.
"But, I don't want to know." The young blonde muttered and her head drooped in misery.
"Why?" One word, yet the tone was filled with both understanding and amusement.
Why? Usagi wondered. Looking back at her life for the past few years where she went from normal schoolgirl to savior of the planet, she decided on an answer. "Because... it makes things so complicated. Sometimes... it's better not to know. I just want everything to be simple...easy. I don't want to be special. I just want to be me. I know it's selfish but can't someone else do it?"
The tone of her teacher's response was kind, the voice it was delivered in like sandpaper on glass.
"'Saying, Mother, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless, not my will, but thine, be done.'," The eye turned to gaze at her again, this time with a considering look. "But, my dear, can you afford not to know? Is being special all that bad?"
"I..." Thinking again, the young girl thought of the adventures, the thrill of it all, the beauty she had seen and the magic she had experienced. "It's not so bad," she finished lamely.
A smile from Weyland-sensei and they continued their trek.
"Normal people think complexity is bad, that being different a curse. In the end, my dear, it is all a matter of perspective. You just have to have the right eye for it. As to how this relates to you education-Ah ha! Here we are! Just in time, too."
It was a small glade. A large tree, standing like some grim solitary giant holding up the sky, was at the center. An old-fashioned well of wood and stone stood just underneath it. Dusk was fast approaching and, to Usagi, the image somehow held some strange import.
"Come along, dear. I think you'd be quite thirsty after such a walk."
Motioning for her, Weyland-sensei strode towards the well with a purposeful gait. Usagi hurried after her, the dying sun leaving long shadows on the ground. Stopping at the well, the older woman dropped in the bucket, heard water splash and started to crank the wheel. In a few moments, the wooden vessel, filled with water, came into view. Picking up a wooden dipper, which Usagi only now noticed, the one-eyed redhead dunked it into the liquid-filled container.
Raising the dipper to her lips, the older woman drank it all in one gulp, eye closed, a sigh of refreshment indicating the pleasure of the cool water. When she turned to her charge, a strange light seemed to have been born in her single eye. Dipping once again into the bucket, she presented it to Usagi with a smile.
"Take a little sip. Water refreshes. It will make things a bit clearer." Usagi might have been dense, but even she could sense that there was another meaning to her one-eyed teacher's words. She wanted to say no, but there was some strange power in Weyland-sensei's eye that compelled her.
"All right." Usagi took the dipper from her teacher's hand and took a sip-
the world blossomed outwards-inwards
music-piping flutes from the centre of the universe- from the dawn of time
around her, the grass turned from green to brown to dead ashes under winter snow
the tree behind her grew to encompass the sky and the roots were gnawed by the lowly worms under the earth
an eye, a great bright burning eye set into a face that has seen pasts of so many worlds, eternally beautiful and terrifying in its wisdom
the dying sun lanced red fire across the firmament like tentacles grabbing, seeking
the wind rose up swirling turning, whispering secrets of the ages
the solid earth rumbled displeasure in its endless sleep
the water churned in her stomach spreading into her skin leaking out of her pores
all was chaos, all was change
it was all so beautiful-
Her cheek stung, a sudden sharp pain, and she noticed that she was back. As the pain in her cheek spread across her face, Usagi realized that she had been slapped.
"Sorry about that. But first-timers almost always need to be pulled back." Her teacher's apology was punctuated by a small laugh, the harshness in her voice turned it into a vicious bark of amusement.
"What was that?" The young girl looked around. Everything had returned to normal.
"That was the world through one set of eyes. How was it?"
"It was... strange." Usagi smiled, though it made half her face hurt. "It was beautiful."
Weyland-sensei smiled and reached out with a hand to the younger girl's burning cheek. The pain disappeared.
"And that, my dear, is the first lesson."
Elsa Bibat presents a tale of the Dance...
********************
The Education of Usagi Tsukino
Lesson 1
Learning
********************
1996:
Usagi Tsukino, future Queen of the world, was pissed.
"SETSUNA!!! I know you're in there! Open up!"
That was Haruka Ten'ou impression as she shared a glance with her long-time lover.
"Think it would be surprise her that Setsuna just left for New York a few minutes ago?"
Michiru just rolled her eyes and smirked in the most unladylike manner.
"I have dinner to cook. See you later." With that, the teal-haired woman flounced away. Must still be mad about the anniversary thing, the blonde grimaced. It was so not her fault that the race organizers scheduled it that way, but Michiru was taking none of it.
Another harsh round of knocking interrupted her contemplation, followed by Usagi's voice screeching for the Guardian of Time's head on a stick.
Sighing, Haruka reached for the doorknob to cure at least one of her headaches.
Besides, Setsuna left a letter.
********************
Usagi scowled as she watched Rei waving goodbye, while the dark-haired girl herded the other Inners away. Yesterday, after leaving her weirdo sensei's home she went to visit the Outer's apartment. They weren't of much help. Just a letter from the Guardian of Time on how everything was fine and that she should go with the flow.
Hmph
Today, she had somehow managed to convince everyone to take a look at her new sensei, hoping that someone would back up her suspicions. Luna and Artemis were no help; Setsuna's seal of approval was good as gold for them. Eventually, she had managed to wear them down and get them to come with her. Rei had met them on the way from Juuban High, also interested in what sort of person 'could stomach teaching you anything', so she said.
They had arrived at the estate's gates to be greeted by the two ravens again. One look at the pair and Rei just smiled, shook her head and pronounced everthing was fine. She then gave her best friend a smirk that just said 'you are _so_ screwed, Usagi-chan' according to the young Tsukino girl's Hino face vocabulary and proceeded to convince everyone to go on home. Soon, only the young blonde and her waiting pair of feathered guardians were left.
One of the dark birds let out a derisive caw and fluttered down to perch on her right shoulder. It regarded her with an ebon eye, the avian gaze somehow conveying amusement at her predicament.
Usagi stuck out a tongue at it.
"Careful, he might take a peck. Tongues are a favorite of his."
"ACK!"
The harsh voice cut through the silence like a sharp knife. Husky and low, Usgi recognized the voice of her teacher and she turned in surprise.
Weyland-sensei was standing underneath the shade of a nearby tree. Dressed in the same black clothes she wore yesterday, she looked like a gaunt spectre.
"Sensei!" Her quick bow forced her her shoulder's unwelcome tenant to leave abruptly, launching itself into the air and fluttering to her teacher's waiting hand.
The older woman bowed in formal response and reached her laden hand to her right shoulder, letting her pet jump to another perch. A flutter of wings and its twin had landed on the redhead's left shoulder, mirroring the other bird perfectly.
"Hugin prefers tongues." Ruffling the right-side raven's throat feathers with affection, her gloved hand disappearing into the ebon plumage. "His brother Munin likes the eyes."
A tight little smile appeared on Weyland-sensei's face as she gestured for her young charge to follow her.
"Come, child. Twilight is coming and we may as well get the preliminaries over with."
Puzzled, Usagi followed the red-haired woman as she walked off into the trees.
********************
The young blonde trudged alongside her teacher, managing to keep pace with the longer-legged woman's stride. Weyland-sensei must have stood a little over six feet, taller than Haruka or Mamoru. They were taking quite a while in their walk, which disturbed Usagi to no end. It wasn't possible that such a large estate could be found in metropolitan Tokyo. Something strange was happening and she didn't like it.
"Child, may I ask you a question?"
"Er...okay." Great. More qestions. Usagi really didn't like questions. They usually meant that she'd be embarassed by her own ignorance.
"Aren't you curious?"
"Huh!?" This was getting weird.
Turning her face towards her, Weyland-sensei spared her a look with her eye as they continued their trek.
"Curiosity, child. Don't you want to know?"
"Know?"
"To know the answers. To know the reasons."
Usagi just looked at her blanky. Weyland-sensei sighed and shook her head, a slight gesture of impatience.
"For example, why aren't you asking me why we seem to be taking quite a bit of time to reach our destination?"
"Er..." Usagi blushed.
Her teacher smiled, a surprising gentle expression on the redhead's face. "Japanese politeness, I see. My dear, asking questions is one of the things I'd like to teach you and I assure you I will not take offense to any question you may ask, though I may defer answering them to a different time."
The older woman returned her gaze forward, continuing both her walk and explanation.
"Setsuna has told me of you, child. She is of the opinion that you have potential and I agree with her. For you to unleash that potential, you must first learn to learn and the first step in learning is asking questions. You must have the desire to know if you wish to actually know."
"But-" Usagi blurted and stopped.
"Yes?" Her redheaded teacher asked they walked on.
"But, I don't want to know." The young blonde muttered and her head drooped in misery.
"Why?" One word, yet the tone was filled with both understanding and amusement.
Why? Usagi wondered. Looking back at her life for the past few years where she went from normal schoolgirl to savior of the planet, she decided on an answer. "Because... it makes things so complicated. Sometimes... it's better not to know. I just want everything to be simple...easy. I don't want to be special. I just want to be me. I know it's selfish but can't someone else do it?"
The tone of her teacher's response was kind, the voice it was delivered in like sandpaper on glass.
"'Saying, Mother, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless, not my will, but thine, be done.'," The eye turned to gaze at her again, this time with a considering look. "But, my dear, can you afford not to know? Is being special all that bad?"
"I..." Thinking again, the young girl thought of the adventures, the thrill of it all, the beauty she had seen and the magic she had experienced. "It's not so bad," she finished lamely.
A smile from Weyland-sensei and they continued their trek.
"Normal people think complexity is bad, that being different a curse. In the end, my dear, it is all a matter of perspective. You just have to have the right eye for it. As to how this relates to you education-Ah ha! Here we are! Just in time, too."
It was a small glade. A large tree, standing like some grim solitary giant holding up the sky, was at the center. An old-fashioned well of wood and stone stood just underneath it. Dusk was fast approaching and, to Usagi, the image somehow held some strange import.
"Come along, dear. I think you'd be quite thirsty after such a walk."
Motioning for her, Weyland-sensei strode towards the well with a purposeful gait. Usagi hurried after her, the dying sun leaving long shadows on the ground. Stopping at the well, the older woman dropped in the bucket, heard water splash and started to crank the wheel. In a few moments, the wooden vessel, filled with water, came into view. Picking up a wooden dipper, which Usagi only now noticed, the one-eyed redhead dunked it into the liquid-filled container.
Raising the dipper to her lips, the older woman drank it all in one gulp, eye closed, a sigh of refreshment indicating the pleasure of the cool water. When she turned to her charge, a strange light seemed to have been born in her single eye. Dipping once again into the bucket, she presented it to Usagi with a smile.
"Take a little sip. Water refreshes. It will make things a bit clearer." Usagi might have been dense, but even she could sense that there was another meaning to her one-eyed teacher's words. She wanted to say no, but there was some strange power in Weyland-sensei's eye that compelled her.
"All right." Usagi took the dipper from her teacher's hand and took a sip-
the world blossomed outwards-inwards
music-piping flutes from the centre of the universe- from the dawn of time
around her, the grass turned from green to brown to dead ashes under winter snow
the tree behind her grew to encompass the sky and the roots were gnawed by the lowly worms under the earth
an eye, a great bright burning eye set into a face that has seen pasts of so many worlds, eternally beautiful and terrifying in its wisdom
the dying sun lanced red fire across the firmament like tentacles grabbing, seeking
the wind rose up swirling turning, whispering secrets of the ages
the solid earth rumbled displeasure in its endless sleep
the water churned in her stomach spreading into her skin leaking out of her pores
all was chaos, all was change
it was all so beautiful-
Her cheek stung, a sudden sharp pain, and she noticed that she was back. As the pain in her cheek spread across her face, Usagi realized that she had been slapped.
"Sorry about that. But first-timers almost always need to be pulled back." Her teacher's apology was punctuated by a small laugh, the harshness in her voice turned it into a vicious bark of amusement.
"What was that?" The young girl looked around. Everything had returned to normal.
"That was the world through one set of eyes. How was it?"
"It was... strange." Usagi smiled, though it made half her face hurt. "It was beautiful."
Weyland-sensei smiled and reached out with a hand to the younger girl's burning cheek. The pain disappeared.
"And that, my dear, is the first lesson."