Kimiko Tendo was an extremely lucky woman, and she knew it. When she’d been diagnosed with an malignant, inoperable brain tumor seven years previously, the neurologist on staff hadn’t minced words: barring a miracle, she had only six months to live. Ever the optimist, Kimiko still managed to see a sliver of good in her dire situation; at least she’d have time to put her affairs in order. As the weeks flew by, and Kimiko made her farewells to myriad people and places from her 32 years of life, she felt a sort of peace fall over her—somehow, she knew everything would be alright, that Soun and her three precious daughters would be able to keep on.
As it turned out, Kimiko’s premonition was absolutely correct, but in a way she never could have foreseen: five months after it was diagnosed, her tumor vanished. Her neurologist was completely dumbfounded, as the best he’d expected was some sort of remission, but all of the CAT scans and MRIs were completely clear; it was as though Mrs. Tendo had never been sick in the first place. Kimiko still remembered the doctor’s dumbfounded words: “I don’t believe it! An actual honest-to-kami miracle!”
Pluto smiled at the memory of the celebrations that followed Kimiko’s recovery. At the time, she’d been worried that the extremely powerful healing spells she’d cast would misfire and make the tumor even worse—after all, that sort of magic was completely unrelated to her Senshi powers, and generally required a lot of skill to pull off effectively. But it had definitely been worth it; not only because of the satisfaction of knowing that she was capable of successfully casting high-level healing spells (albeit with extreme difficulty), but because this was one of the few times that she was absolutely certain that she’d done the right thing—sure, at the time, the only thing she was sure of was that Venus had to be a member of the Tendo family, but she was confident that the Senshi of Love would do much better if she had a mother to help her through the difficult stages of life.
Thus, when Pluto realized that Kimiko wasn’t actually the mother of Sailor Venus, but was, in fact, Venus herself, she thanked every deity she could think of for her decided lack of a screw-up in this matter—an easy task, actually, as her knees had already buckled from the surprise. But then, after the Neko-ken debacle, the Time Guardian had been due for a lucky break anyway.
The Tendo matriarch was now 39, and she’d never felt better in her entire life—getting a “second chance” tends to really improve your outlook. Still, there was this nagging feeling that she’d been spared for a reason, which was why she devoted much of her time to volunteering in her community. It was a chance to “give something back,” as she put it. And while helping others in need was quite fulfilling, Kimiko’s instincts were telling her that there was something more….
Not that that mattered at the moment, as she was currently in the midst of a tiny disagreement with her spouse.
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me about this!”
“B-But Kimiko… it’s an honor pact….”
“I understand the concept, Soun. What I want to know is why you’ve waited until now to tell me!”
“Well, I didn’t want you to get stressed out over this—”
“An idea which you’ve executed brilliantly, by the way.”
“C’mon, honey, it’s not like we they’re.”
“You haven’t seen this friend of yours for sixteen years. We have absolutely no idea what his son is like, yet you have apparently decided to marry off one of our daughters to him!”
“I’m sure Genma’s son will be upstanding—”
“That’s not the point. You should have told me.”
“I’m telling you now.”
“And you’ve also told me that they could show up ‘at any time!’ How are the girls supposed to get ready without any notice?”
“Um….”
“Never mind. What’s done is done, and now all we can do is try and work with it. Why don’t you round up our daughters and give them the news, while I try to get this house in order.”
“Yes, dear.”
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(Posted Sat, 16 Sep 2006 09:14)
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