Fic: Airmail, The Epilogue (Part 1/4)
The Epilogue - A year in the Life of...
A/N: I know, I know. It's been ages since I posted anything Airmail related and I am so so sorry. My muse has decided to jump ship several months ago, but I decided to put some pressure on her by posting the epilogue in four parts, starting now. venusorbit1 , feel free to bug me mercilessly. God knows I need it.
June
"Do we have to do this?"
"Stop whining, this is fun, you'll like it."
Umino suddenly felt like his eight year old self again. His older cousins had always been into sports and had graciously tried to include little Umino and his two left feet into their wild and fast games. That little Umino would have much rather climbed a tree and hidden among its leafy branches with a book in his hands had not been something they understood or cared for. He was their family and family did things together. Watching Hiromasa's broad back and hearing his enthusiastic laughter made him remember these carefree days of childhood. His green eyes looked around the park, finding one tree that he would very much like to spend the afternoon in, especially with the book he had hidden in the back pocket of his sweatpants. He was no longer as clumsy as he had been as a child, but ball games were still beyond him.
Hiromasa was already kicking the black and white ball, happy to have an outlet for his strength and energy and watching him wearily, Umino already knew that he would return home covered in bruises. Well, at least Ami could fix him. Squeaking sounds that wanted to be barking but weren't quite there alerted him to the puppy's presence.
"You brought Spock? The ball is almost bigger than him!"
Ears waggling, the beloved pet ran after his master and thus after the ball.
"Of course I brought him. Look, he's having the time of his life. And we both know that you're only making such a face because he ran right past you and after the ball. Apparently, he likes it better than you. Oh, how that must rankle you, to come second to an inanimate object."
Snickers behind him told Umino that the rest of their group had arrived.
It was Mamoru's deep voice that he heard first.
"Maybe you should get a pet yourself, Umino, seeing how much you like the little one."
"No pets in the flat. He can get one once he moves in with Ami."
Turning, Umino welcomed this flatmate, his prince and Takeshi, all of whom were wearing sports attire. Ando had hidden his biting green eyes behind dark sunglasses, thus making it impossible to tell what his mood was like today. He ranged from barely tolerable to outright monster and Umino had actually taken to spending as much time in Ami's guest room as possible. Had Ando been in a good mood, he would have talked about Ami as Umino's frosty princess or naughty nurse, completely ignoring that the fact that she was a doctor. But his humour had left him after the night of the engagement party and he had steadfastly refused to talk about it. The philosopher had an inkling that Minako knew something, but he hadn't seen her as of late, which was mysterious in itself.
"Hellooooo, let's start, the football is waiting!" Hiromasa impatient voice cut through the sweet summer air.
Mamoru quickly surveyed their small group. "We're an uneven number-"
Takeshi immediately spoke up and only his innate authority kept his voice from sounding too eager.
"I'll referee."
Laughing, Mamoru and Hiromasa exchanged looks that didn't bode well.
"No, you won't. Ando and Hiromasa will be on one team and you, Umino and I will form another. So our team has one member more, but only one player that is actually able to hit the goal," Mamoru explained cheekily. Not used to being the weakest link, Takeshi knitted his brows and unconsciously fumbled for the tie he wasn't wearing. It was quite comical to see the always proper Takeshi Nakamura in sweatpants (brand new and never worn before) and a very white t-shirt that he would never ever get the grass stains out of.
It turned out that with Takeshi's and Umino's inaptness and the delighted puppy running in front of everyone's feet, a proper game was out of the question. Finally, Mamoru had agreed to Takeshi playing the part of the referee and to Umino taking care of the dog and now the three men played alone, more intent of stealing the ball from another than actually scoring goals. Miraculously, Ando had regained some of his usual spirit and surprised everyone by being a rather formidable player. That he fouled quite a lot didn't come as a surprise, though.
Scratching Spock behind his ears, Umino addressed Takeshi, who still seemed disgruntled.
"Meeting like this was a good idea, wasn't it?"
The architect looked at Ando, who had just shoved Mamoru out of the way and onto the ground and made a goal the second after. The grin on his face was contagious.
"It was. Maybe we could play tennis next time."
Biting down his chuckle so as to not offend his friend, Umino watched Mamoru and Ando squabble over whether or not the goal counted. To an outsider, Ando would have appeared happy. But Umino knew that the good mood was not even skin deep and that the journalist would fall apart again the minute he got home and shut himself in his room where treacherous solace in the form of a liquor bottle awaited him. The flat was so chaotic nowadays that Ami was as good as forbidden from entering it. Also, it had begun to smell like a tavern and Umino had moved all of his precious books to his girlfriend's flat. This obviously meant that he had as good as moved in as well (he still had a dissertation to work on, after all), something Ando would have normally teased him mercilessly about. Practically living with a girl he hadn't even slept with... But Umino didn't care about that, he only cared about being with her. She made him feel whole, she allowed him to be at peace. He had a feeling that Takeshi would understand, but then there were few things the white-haired man didn't seem to grasp. Possibly except for football.
Closing his eyes, he let the sun warm his face and grinned.
July
Applying her make up for the third time in twenty minutes, Makoto was ready to scream. The bride was supposed to cry, not sweat her make up off.
But then it was the hottest day of the year, she wanted nothing more than a cool beer and a bikini and was instead trapped in three to four layers of chiffon.
"I don't think I want to do this."
Usagi laughed.
"That's just nerves, think of Hiromasa."
"No, I don't mean that I don't want to get married, I mean that I'm sick of re-applying all that make-up. It's simply too hot. Why didn't I go for a veil? Then nobody would be able to tell whether or not I was wearing any make-up."
Taking a sip from her iced latte, Minako refrained from pointing out that a veil would have made Makoto only hotter. Even with the small beads of sweat on her forehead, her friend looked radiant. She could have worn a dress made out of old newspapers and still been the prettiest bride Minako had ever seen. She even surpassed Usagi, who had been a vision in white on her wedding day. Deep down, Minako knew that she felt this way because she hadn't expected any of her fellow senshi to find love. It made this day even sweeter.
Across the room, Rei shook her head.
"Makoto, this is your day. If you feel comfortable without make-up, then don't wear any. You look very pretty anyway." All eyes fastened on her as she spoke; compliments from Rei were something to be treasured as she wasn't generally in the habit of making any.
Ami wrinkled her brows.
"I could transform and put some cool mist in the room, would that help?"
After a moment's consideration, Makoto nodded. "Please do."
Just as Ami's slender fingers found the henshin pen and pulled it out of her soft green purse, a brief knock on the door was followed by three laughing women bursting into the room: Hiromasa's mother, grandmother and favourite aunt. They immediately latched onto Makoto, who was torn between being delighted that her new family came to see her before the nuptials and damning them to eternity because their hugs caused the dress to stick to her sweaty back. Shrugging her shoulders apologetically, Ami let the pen drop to the satin-lined bottom of her purse. Minako giggled and offered the bride the iced beverage, only to have it swatted away by Usagi, who was worried about possible coffee stains on the dress.
A soft knock at the door told them that it was time. Time to get married, time to be happy.
The small church was far from packed, despite the best efforts of Hiromasa's large family. There wasn't a single blood-relative of Makoto's present - they had all died a long time ago - so Hiromasa had quietly arranged for the mixing of both parties. Otherwise the bride's side of the church would have seemed devastatingly empty. For him, there were old school friends, fellow designers, his family, his football team and countless other people that had come to celebrate his happiness. Makoto had no such luck. Her support system was smaller. In fact, her only guests were the girls, Umino, Motoki and Reika (who still hadn't tied the knot), and two old teachers from high school with whom Makoto had always gotten along especially well. When Setsuna and Hotaru arrived almost too late, Minako wished that Ando was here to point out the irony of the guardian of time and space having poor time management. There had been no question of convincing Ando to come; he had sworn that he would stay away from Rei, and so he did. Another dearly felt absence was that of Michiru and Haruka. They had been furious upon hearing about the shitennou's return and had thus not even dignified Makoto's invitation with an answer. Hiromasa had almost driven over to their house to introduce himself and to give them a piece of his mind, but a crying Makoto had begged him not to. They just were like that; fierce, loyal, unforgiving. Usagi had secretly contacted the two and had told them to better accept the shitennou in general and the marriage of Makoto and Hiromasa in particular, or they would find themselves in a very sorry position indeed. It was another sign of her easing into the role of a ruler.
Unfortunately, Makoto had no one who could give her away. Mamoru had immediately offered himself, but it would have felt wrong. They just weren't that close. They hadn't even hugged each other until that fateful day in the park. The issue was briefed during the weekly dinner Makoto and Hiromasa had with Minako and Takeshi, and while Minako and Hiromasa had grudgingly left the room to do the dishes (a ploy of Makoto's to get them to make up), Takeshi had given the bride-to-be a long look and then solved her problem in a heart beat.
"I would do it. If you want to. I'd be honoured."
So when the architect lead her down the aisle, Makoto thought once again how lucky she was to have such friends in her life.
The ceremony itself was short and sweet, and Hiromasa had managed to stay immobile during most of it, fighting his innate jumpiness. He hadn't been nervous; but still he had barely heard one word the old priest said. He had looked at the woman next to him and counted himself the luckiest man in the world. Today, nothing could bring him down. That the church was decorated with tons of roses, that all the girls were wearing matching green dresses, that Ando wasn't there, that Takeshi and Minako exchanged meaningful glances throughout the service, that his mother was crying so hard that his grandmother tutted at her; all of that he didn't notice.
The happy couple almost missed the I do, so engrossed were they in each other's eyes. It was like the night they had met again, words were unnecessary in the face of love that great.
When everyone jumped up to applaud the newly-weds, Rei felt someone staring a hole in her back. She turned slowly, for she already knew who it was. In the very last row stood a man who looked like death, oozing off unhappiness to a degree that sent shivers down her spine. Their eyes met, and she wondered if in this lifetime, she was the one who had destroyed an innocent soul.
A warm hand reached for hers, and Ami pulled her back into the safe cocoon that was their mutual friend's happiest day. By the time Rei turned again, Ando was gone.
August
They were standing in front of a canopy bed and Minako's eyes had taken on an expression so rapturous that it bordered on loving. Feeling that someone should do this, Rei cursed her absent luck and reached for the subtly placed price tag.
"This bed costs more than a year's worth of insurance for the temple," she exclaimed after checking the offensive numbers, disdain etched into her delicate features.
Minako waved her hand dismissively and Rei was secretly glad that the blonde hadn't followed Makoto's example and had allowed her boyfriend to stick a ring on her finger. The moving in together part was bad enough.
After prodding the mattress twice, Minako threw decorum in the wind and jumped on the thick mattress with a little more force than necessary. Noticing that the bed hadn't so much as made a sound, she looked pleased. Her companion winced and not only because of the sales assistant's shocked face. Sometimes she wished she wouldn't be able to follow Minako's thoughts quite so well. Shaking the image of Kunzite and Venus in an ardent embrace from her mind, she sat down on the edge of the mattress, legs primly folded. Her days were filled with visions from past, present and future even though she hadn't been near the holy fire for months now.
"This is perfect."
"If by perfect you mean over-priced and over-sized, then yes, it is."
"Oh, be quiet. Takeshi is ridiculously tall and you know how much space I need in bed."
"It's decadent."
"Don't be such a sour puss. You're just jealous because you sleep on the floor."
A slow smile spread on Rei's face. Everyone walked around on egg shells in her presence; everyone but Minako. Usagi was the worst one; she had practically stopped speaking to Rei in fear of saying something that made her feel even worse. So whenever Usagi and Rei went for a coffee, it was an awfully silent affair. It seemed that Minako on the other hand had simply accepted that being broken was a part of the girl that had been a priestess for so long and since it was a part of her, it was normal and to be treated as such. Minako had obviously decided to behave as if the world had not fallen apart and Rei had never been so grateful to her. For once, the convoluted reasoning Minako was so infamous for worked in her favour and while it didn't make life easier, it made it more bearable.
"Hiromasa will be offended that you didn't buy all of your furniture at his shop."
Rolling her big blue eyes, Minako moved over to look at the matching nightstand.
"Am I offended because he plays other video games than the Sailor V ones? No, I'm not. And I bought a bloody desk from him, that's quite enough."
"Has he still not gotten over you leaving for New York?"
Not acknowledging what that simple question must have cost her friend, Minako pulled open the nightstand's drawer and inspected it with a furrowed brow.
"Since the wedding, he's talking to me again, but it's not like before. We did get along quite well, but now... Let's just say that the weekly dinners are not as much fun as they could be. At least not for me. Takeshi is having a blast."
Casting her eyes to the floor, the unspoken apology hung in the room and rendered Rei speechless. She stroked the soft linens that hung from the bed's tall frame, too lost in guilt and pain to find the right words.
Once again, Minako ignored the descending gloom and continued breezily.
"Okay, now we've picked a bed, a nightstand and a dining table. A desk we already have, same goes for a chair. And we will keep my couch because they don't make them any bigger and because it's red. Hey, what do you think a about a free standing claw bath tub? That would be fantastic. Where do I get one of those?" The question was accompanied by a not so gentle shove that ironically allowed Rei to find her footing again.
Three hours, a shop assistant close to tears and an undisclosed amount of money later, Minako had found and bought almost everything she needed. The girls now sat in a sushi bar too busy for Rei's liking, but the invitation had been a small gesture of thanks on Minako's side for Rei's company and the senshi of fire found herself unable to decline.
"Are you sure that Takeshi is fine with you picking out all the furniture?"
"Well, he did reserve a veto right for the kitchen because he's the one who cooks, but other than that, it's my call."
Minako seemed blissfully happy, even more so since she had returned from the impromptu holiday she and Takeshi had embarked on two weeks prior. They had spent one week on a tropical island and had swum in the turquoise ocean, taken longs walks, looked at a dormant volcano and had quietly mocked other tourists in their often too skimpy bathing attire. If anyone would have told Rei back in January that the reincarnated and miserable Kunzite would enjoy soaking up the sun for hours on end and listen to her friend's never-ending chatter with delight, she would have sent that person straight to an asylum.
"I still need some decorative stuff, do you have nice things in the shop?"
Rei had taken up a job in an antique shop after leaving the temple. Her grandfather refused to speak to her, not because of her leaving behind what he felt was her vocation, but because she had moved out of the temple that had been her home for such a long time. The old man had taken it as a personal rejection, an insult delivered with a deadly blow to their relationship. They had always been close, drawing strength from one another, but she hadn't been able to stay and be close to what she needed to leave behind. A clean start was all that could help her. Staying would have broken her even more and the bitter truth was that there wasn't a lot left to break.
Usagi had taken to visiting her grandfather for tea once a week, making sure that he knew what his grandchild was doing and that she still cared. It was yet another thing Rei could not express enough thanks over and more than once she had wondered what she would have done without her friends. Ami had found her a small apartment within two days, Makoto had given her some of her old furniture and a surprise letter from Michiru had alerted her to the small antique shop that needed a saleswoman rather desperately. It was owned by an old lady with ailing health and the two of them got along splendidly. While she had never seen herself as anything but a priestess, she had taken to the new field of work like a duck to water. The shop held a lot of history, both of a general and a personal kind and it appealed to her more than she would have thought possible.
After promising Minako to check for items she might like, while silently doubting that her pop culture loving friend would be able to appreciate the intricate beauty of 18th century paintings, Rei had taken her leave. She was already wishing for autumn, hoping that wind and rain would blow away the doubts that had become her constant companions. Should she haven given Jadeite another chance? Had her decision to leave the temple been a right one? Was finding herself again in this changed world worth alienating the only family that she had? At least missing her grandfather hurt just as much as thinking about Jadeite's cold eyes at the wedding did. She could now chose which pain to dwell on, a perverse luxury she didn't have before.
Heading home, she wondered what the word really meant and decided that she no longer knew. Her steps were graceful, always more a ballerina than a warrior, but they brought her no closer to the absolution she craved.