Meanwhile, at an unidentified point in space-time, a tanned, green-haired woman leaned against her large, key-shaped staff and massaged her temple. “Just for once, I’d like things to get less complicated. Just once. Is that so much to ask?” It wasn’t the first time she’d said it, and it wouldn’t be the last. Sailor Pluto did not like having to deal with reincarnation. In her opinion, it was just too damn unpredictable to satisfy an admitted control freak like her.
Naturally, she knew that Serenity the Younger, her court, and her consort Prince Endymion of Terra would all be reincarnated around the same time and in the same area; that’s what the Queen’s spell was supposed to do, after all. She also knew that odds were good that Serenity the Elder would eventually be reincarnated the old-fashioned way herself. She didn’t even have any problem accepting that a reincarnated Serenity the Elder might be distantly related to the reincarnation of the Younger. But this….
Serenity the Elder had indeed reincarnated — as one Ikuko Tsukino. Pluto had taken note of it; at the time, it just seemed like an odd coincidence that Serenity would be reborn only a few decades before her daughter was due to do the same. As the factors indicating the Princess’ rebirth started to coalesce, Pluto did think it was somewhat odd that Ikuko Tsukino stayed within that frame of reference. But when the Princess finally was conceived — in Ikuko’s womb — Pluto’s course of action was swift and certain: she left the Time Gates, transformed into her “Setsuna Meioh” persona, went to the nearest bar, and got blind stinking drunk.
Pluto believed in coincidences, yes, but not when they were this coincidental.
Once she got over her initial surprise (and the hangover that accompanied said surprise), however, Pluto was able to recover a more appropriate, businesslike attitude towards the whole situation. Nothing important had changed: Beryl and Metallia were still out there somewhere, and it was the Princess’ destiny to stop them, with the assistance of her Senshi and her consort. Certainly, the Queen’s presence complicated things a little, but this would probably matter little in the big scheme of things. In fact, there was even a chance that Ikuko’s memories of her life as the Queen would never resurface.
Yeah, right.
Ikuko was still troubled as she served breakfast to her family. The more she thought about it, the more certain she was that the Princess from her dream looked like Usagi. Sure, that probably didn’t mean anything, in and of itself; after all, this was hardly the first time that her daughter had showed up unexpectedly in one of her dreams. But this dream wasn’t like her other dreams; it didn’t really have the dreamlike quality that accompanied most of her nocturnal musings. For one thing, it was eerily consistent; while there was certainly oddness to it, like demons and magic and talking cats, nothing happened that could be considered “out of context,” like, say, pink elephants surfing on a tsunami of hot fudge. In fact, it almost felt like a long-forgotten memory, rather than the spontaneous product of her grey matter. But that was impossible, right? After all, Ikuko would have liked to think that she’d remember being royalty without the help of a weird dream (as though it could possibly be true).
Even more to the point, Ikuko was certain that having to watch her daughter die was something she would never have repressed or forgotten. If something like that ever happened to Usagi, she simply could not allow herself to do such a thing. Still….
“Are you alright, dear?” asked her concerned spouse.
“I… I’m fine, Kenji… why do you ask?”
“I ask because you’ve made natto for breakfast.”
“I thought you liked natto.”
“I do… but nobody else in this family can stand it, including you, yet you’ve made more than enough for everyone. Unless, of course, you think I’m getting too skinny.”
Ikuko then looked down at the counter and saw that she had indeed prepared far too much of the fermented soybean dish. “I’m sorry, I must have been on autopilot.”
“Is something on your mind?”
“No… not really….”
“Is it that nightmare you mentioned last night?”
“I… I suppose it is.”
“You want to talk about it?”
“Hmm? Ah, no. Not really. It wasn’t as though it’s anything to be worried about — it was just unusually vivid, that’s all.”
“You sure?”
“I’m sure. Besides, don’t you need to leave soon? You said you planned on going to work early today, right.”
“I did… but if there’s something wrong….”
“There’s nothing out of the ordinary going on, Kenji. Don’t worry — I’m a big girl; I can handle a few bad dreams.”
“Okay….” Kenji replied, though his tone of voice suggested that he didn’t think this was ordinary in any sense of the word.
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(Posted Tue, 06 Feb 2007 04:30)
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