EPILOGUE
I don't know how much later, I wake up with Naru-chan still
cradled in my arms. She's blinking, coming awake too,
slowly. She focuses on my face, then reaches her arms up to
pull me close, gratefully.
"Where is everyone?" she wonders in a moment, looking about
her at the empty room.
"Kunzite and Zoicite, I think, chose to forget," I tell her.
"To start over. But I imagine wherever they are...or will
be...they're together. It's what saved them - they saved
each other. As Moon saved Endymion. As you saved me."
Naru smiles sadly and turns herself in my arms, cuddling in,
her head on my chest.
"And the others?"
"I don't know," I admit.
And it's true - of Jadeite I have no idea...where he's gone,
what he chose. As for Rachael - all I have are hopes...that
she has gone home. For in those last few seconds, I forced
her grip from mine and dropped her hand. There was no other
way. And no time for thanks or farewells. The only hope
for her a fresh start - the life she had before I destroyed
it. I pray she's gone to that - with not a recollection of
me. And perhaps, one day, I can forgive myself for what I
did to her...
"Won't you miss them?" Naru asks.
"I will," I sigh, resting my chin on the top of her head.
"But they're free now. That's all I ever wanted."
She's quiet in my arms, and I pull her up into a tighter
embrace, moving my face alongside hers, pressing her soft
cheek against mine.
"Although," I add quietly, my mouth close to her ear,
feeling her tense expectantly in my arms. "There's one
thing that I still want. Do you know what that is?"
"No," she answers nervously, blushing so that I'm ashamed of
my attempt at levity.
"A chocolate parfait," I whisper, smiling, but expecting
anger now...or at least disappointment.
But she merely laughs, blushing more deeply at her own
thoughts.
She sighs, stifling another giggle, resting her head on my
shoulder relievedly. "Is everything really going to be all
right now?"
"I hope it is," I tell her...the only thing I can tell her.
"I hope it will be."
= = = R = = =
It's overcast as usual as I make my way home from class.
The wind rustles the leaves fitfully and the night air has a
sharp cold tang. I draw in a breath savouringly as I come
to the brow of the hill, stopping a moment near the empty
park bench...looking down to the dark sea. A queer feeling
of deja vu rushes over me, and I stand puzzling a moment,
trying to decipher it.
Of course it feels familiar, I tell myself. I come by here
every other night!
But it doesn't feel...familiar. It feels...like something's
wrong...missing.
The wind whips up more insistently and a cold drizzle
starts. I shake the odd feeling off and walk away, putting
up my umbrella.
I cross the street and head towards home. As I near my
block, I notice that same gorgeous red car, parked near my
door. I've seen it a few times now, here and there. I
wonder whose it is?
I try to act nonchalant as I walk closer. As I come
abreast, I'm about to duck my head to get a look at the
driver, but the car pulls away - off with a roar into the
night. I stare after it a moment, then shrug.
If he's a stalker, he's a rich one. You could do worse,
Rachael.
I grin as I turn the key in the lock, but the grin doesn't
last until the elevator.
I make a little dinner, correct my papers, then climb into
bed with a book - all as usual...as empty as usual...but I'm
feeling...slightly worse. As if...I'd lost something I once
had.
In the morning, I'm too busy to be morose, hurrying to class
as usual. When I get to the lecture hall, the prof is late
- also as usual, so I pull out a book to catch up on some
reading. A soft voice from my right interrupts me.
"Excuse me."
I'm drawn to the sound...a low quiet voice, a seductive tone
that somehow commands and cajoles simultaneously.
I turn to the desk beside me to stare somewhat drop-jawed
into deliciously deep blue eyes...attractively obscured
beneath spikes of blonde.
He's staring back at me unabashedly, and raises an eyebrow
in confused inquiry.
"Have we met?"
I shake my head. I would remember. To say the least.
Yet...I'm overcome once again with that peculiar
recognition...that frustrating sense that my heart knows
something my brain does not remember.
After a few moments of frowning concentration, he lets the
matter pass and smiles at me with devastating charm.
"I've just joined this class. Would you mind if I borrowed
your notes?"
-----------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------
That's all she wrote. ^_~