30_flowers: Aino Minako/Tsukino Usagi [theme 53]
Title: Healing Aromas
Authoress: never_chan
Fandom: Sailor Moon
Claim: Aino Minako and Tsukino Usagi
Theme: #53 - Aloe :: Grief
Rating: G
Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon or any of the characters.
Written for: 30_flowers
Summary: ‘Mamoru-san is gone…’ Usagi grieves and Minako comforts over a cup of tea.
(Check out the rest of the challenges here)
Minako sighed, stirring her tea absently as she waited for her host to settle down with her. This was not the ideal way she pictured spending her Saturday afternoon, but things had gone on long enough, and her friend needed to grasp reality.
‘Mamoru-san is gone…’
The words were final, spoken in a quiet defeated tone. Though to her, she supposed they were as loud as a foghorn in the night.
‘Galaxia crushed his star-seed a year before she attacked Tokyo, we didn’t even know she was around at that time…’ Minako added, her blue eyes avidly watched the sombre girl in front of her, completely zoned out. At the moment the two of them were sitting in the girl’s apartment, under the pre-tense of two friends sharing a cup of tea. Though judging by the vacant look on her companion’s pale face, she wasn’t even sure if the girl was actually listening. Licking her dry lips, Minako choose her next words carefully still regarding the girl with concern.
‘Galaxia was just too much, too powerful.’ She said this with earnest, for even if the sailor solider was their enemy at the time, she was their greatest foe they had yet to face off. Her next words stung, the venomous truth of them soaking on her tongue, before silkily flowing out. It hurt. ‘Even I - nor the senshi were able to hold our own.’
Lifting her mug to her mouth, Minako took a deep gulp, hoping the aloe aroma would wash down her ill-boded feelings at herself. After all she was the leader of the sailor senshi, and she had been one of the first to fall, leaving the one person she sworn life times to protect, alone. It was a thought that rewarded a little self loathing, as much as she hated to admit it.
‘There is - was, nothing left, to be recycled within the cauldron… and there was too much time gone by… He just doesn’t exist anymore.’
Just as we would have perished without you… so why can’t you help yourself like you helped us?
‘You have to let go.’
Deep cerulean orbs blinked. It was hardly something to make note of, had the girl not been sitting still as a statue for the past ten minutes.
Finally a reaction.
-
Gone?
Never Coming Back?
Let Go?
So many… hurtful things to process and all at once. What did Minako think to accomplish by saying these things to her? What was the point? It was simply ludicrous.
No, she refused to believe any of that. Not Mamoru - her Mamo-chan. He was the stronger of the two of them, the one who protected her when she, Sailor Moon, couldn’t do it herself. People like that, they just don’t disappear.
‘Do you understand, Usagi-chan?’
People like him, were supposed to conquer and live on. Live to come back to her, to be with her, to grow old with her. That was just the way it was supposed to be, so nothing else mattered.
Really? What is silly Minako thinking? Saying such horrible things about Mamo-chan… someone had to set the blonde straight. (And she supposed it would be her.)
Parting her lips, Usagi sucked in the cold air filling her lungs to form her words.
‘The crystal can -’
‘Iie! It’s been two years Usagi!’ interrupted Minako, refusing to let younger girl have her way this time. She had let this go on long enough already. The grieving process had been stretched on for far too long, and it was time to start to heal.
Pale lips, once a blooming smile, thinned.
‘Minako, I don’t understand why you’re so adamant about this.’ spoke Usagi harshly, her shoulders hunched. ‘Mamoru will be back - he just has to wait for reincarnation.’
‘No, he won’t. That’s what I’ve been telling you, what we all have - and what you already know.’
Blue meet Blue, and if not for the summery sunlight flittering through the living room, one might have thought they were 14 again and off to face Queen Beryl in the Artic.
‘Your lies are upsetting me, Minako.’ stated Usagi tartly, breaking their frigid gaze to stare at the wall.
‘They aren’t lies, Usagi.’ Answered Minako, eyeing the girl wearily. She shifted in her seat, and picked up her mug again. Sipping it contently as she waited for her friend to unwind.
The silence was an awkward comfort, and the blonde welcomed it.
-
-
The sun was starting to set, and yet the two girls had yet to say anything. Once Minako had gotten up to put the kettle on again, seeing she had heartily finished her own drink and Usagi’s untouched one had gone cold.
Setting the steaming mug in front of her unresponsive friend, Minako shifted to her own seat. A quick glance at Usagi told Minako all she needed to know about the girl’s mood. All traces of anger were gone from her facial expression, leaving it a void of nothing. Though her glazed over expression would sometimes follow Minako as she moved around the kitchen, expressing irritation and annoyance but curiosity as well. Minako was taking a leap of faith in saying that was a good sign, and decided to press her friend once again. (Hopefully the results would be better this time around.)
‘You know how much Mamoru-san loved you,’ quarried Minako cautiously. It was a dangerous topic to bring up, speaking of the dead as if they still had an opinion, it could potentially backfire and only fuel Usagi’s thoughts that her deceased fiancé was live and well. Though it appeared to have worked, as by the straightening of the other girl’s posture, Minako knew she had Usagi’s attention in full.
Closing her eyes, Minako spoke her next words clearly. She didn’t need to look at Usagi to speak from her heart.
‘What am I talking about, everyone knew how much Mamoru-san loved you. He adored you, Serenity-sama or not. He truly was a prince, and you were his fabled, lost-love of a princess - a classic fairy-tail ending…’ Minako paused, taking a deep breath more to encourage herself than make a dramatic pause in her speech. She hoped this worked.
‘There is no question about how much Mamoru-san loved you Usagi-chan, and I’m sure wherever he is now - he still loves you with that same passionate burning love that you still feel for him… because the love that the two of you share doesn’t go away over night, or two years. Or maybe even ever.’ Part way through her spiel, she heard Usagi’s sharp intake of breath. Minako felt a pain of guilt, as she listened to the girl quietly sob in her seat. But she dared not look, not wanting to also lose her composure.
‘And I know it’s hard right now, to even fathom the thought of him not being here… but Usagi-chan, do you really think that if he could escape whatever prison, dimension or confinement he was in that he would not have done so already - just to be back by your side. Because he loved you that much.’
With the high pitch of the girl’s strangled gasp, Minako carefully opened her eyes. And what she saw broke her heart, despite it being necessary. Usagi sat hunched over the table, a quivering mess. Her whole body shook from head to toe, as her elbows continuously knocked against the hard wood. Deep oceanic-like orbs were now a chaotic storm of emotion, her lashes dark and wet, gave her a sort of deviant look - save the puffiness of her cheeks that had flowing trails of crystalline tears that dipped down to her chin.
Minako watched in silent fascination as the water-form fell in droplets like a leaky faucet, perfectly into the girl’s untouched tea. The healing aroma of the aloe, danced in the air, engulfing her princess’s sorrows, soothing it.
Unknowingly, Usagi had opened herself again. To all the pain, the sorrow, the loneliness - and Minako couldn’t have been more grateful. As now, the healing process could begin.
‘Mamoru-san would not have wanted you to suffer, ever. He would want you to find happiness again, to live out every day to it’s fullest … and not look back in regret.’
‘H-how d-do y-y-ou kn-oo-w’ mumbled Usagi between ragged gasps and hiccups, her tears starting to subside as Minako spoke with unwavering conviction.
Minako smiled, a true one as she gently took the girl’s hand in her own. ‘Because if he was here right now, that is what you and him would be doing.’
Usagi started to cry all over again.
-
-
By the time Usagi’s tears had finally ebbed away, it was already late in the evening. Said girl was now quietly sitting in her seat, waiting for Minako who fumbled around in the kitchen trying to put something of a snack together for them.
After much banging followed by mumbled curses, the other blonde triumphantly strode back into the living room where she set a tray of sandwiches on the table top accompanied with another pot of tea. (It must have been her British up-bringing that made the Venus senshi so obsessed with the beverage.)
Usagi eyed the elephant-shaped teapot forlornly, as Minako filled her third cup to the brim and pushed a smaller plate with food in her direction. For once she wasn’t all that hungry.
‘Something is bothering you?’ mused Minako, as if reading her friend’s mind. Usagi blushed, though didn’t deny it.
‘About what you said earlier… about not regretting anything… and letting go’ she said the last two words in a bare whisper, not believing she was even thinking about it.
Minako’s smile was kind, as she tapped her chin in thought - not once had she lost her patience with Usagi, nor patronized her. Since the beginning she had been nothing but caring and compassionate towards her fellow blonde. That thought alone, gave Usagi’s new resolve a little more strength.
‘What can I do?’
‘Not a whole lot.. You have to take everyday one at a time and go from there. Even then there is no knowing how long it will take, but you’ll never recover completely. Mamoru-san was your first love in both lives… he meant a great deal to you and will always be with you, in your memories. But that is the beauty of life… and love. The people we cherish never part from us, even if they are not there in person. They remain in our hearts. And Usagi-chan, you have a big, beautiful heart. It’s meant to love, even when you think you can’t go on.’ spoke Minako passionately, her gaze locked with the other girl who did not look away.
‘Please don’t give up on love, or yourself.’
Awed by her friend‘s speech, all Usagi did was nod. ‘I promise Minako-chan…’
‘Good, me and the girls were worried - this was a last resort before we tossed you off a building,’ joked Minako, relaxing into her seat. She could feel the tension leaving her in waves, it felt good to get all that out.
Usagi gave a small eep at the threat, looking down at her hands - which were encircled around her own forgotten mug of (aloe) tea.
‘Where do I even begin? It’s been so long…’ whispered the blonde, her mind yearning to wander.
Minako smiled gently, knowing that they still had a long road to travel before Usagi would be remotely functional without the memory of Mamoru haunting her constantly.
‘Drink you tea, it will help.’
Fin.
Ha, sorry if It seems jumpy I wrote some of the middle then the beginning then the ending and then had to write parts in between all of those parts to connect them. Also I haven’t written anything in forever, I hope it is still enjoyable to read.
Story notes -
Aloe can be used as a medicinal herb, with healing properties. And yes there is such a thing as Aloe tea, which Minako and Usagi just so happens to be drinking. So in this sense, it can been used as a healing mechanism, towards their negative thoughts, as well as it’s flower meaning “Grief”.
Authoress: never_chan
Fandom: Sailor Moon
Claim: Aino Minako and Tsukino Usagi
Theme: #53 - Aloe :: Grief
Rating: G
Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon or any of the characters.
Written for: 30_flowers
Summary: ‘Mamoru-san is gone…’ Usagi grieves and Minako comforts over a cup of tea.
(Check out the rest of the challenges here)
Minako sighed, stirring her tea absently as she waited for her host to settle down with her. This was not the ideal way she pictured spending her Saturday afternoon, but things had gone on long enough, and her friend needed to grasp reality.
‘Mamoru-san is gone…’
The words were final, spoken in a quiet defeated tone. Though to her, she supposed they were as loud as a foghorn in the night.
‘Galaxia crushed his star-seed a year before she attacked Tokyo, we didn’t even know she was around at that time…’ Minako added, her blue eyes avidly watched the sombre girl in front of her, completely zoned out. At the moment the two of them were sitting in the girl’s apartment, under the pre-tense of two friends sharing a cup of tea. Though judging by the vacant look on her companion’s pale face, she wasn’t even sure if the girl was actually listening. Licking her dry lips, Minako choose her next words carefully still regarding the girl with concern.
‘Galaxia was just too much, too powerful.’ She said this with earnest, for even if the sailor solider was their enemy at the time, she was their greatest foe they had yet to face off. Her next words stung, the venomous truth of them soaking on her tongue, before silkily flowing out. It hurt. ‘Even I - nor the senshi were able to hold our own.’
Lifting her mug to her mouth, Minako took a deep gulp, hoping the aloe aroma would wash down her ill-boded feelings at herself. After all she was the leader of the sailor senshi, and she had been one of the first to fall, leaving the one person she sworn life times to protect, alone. It was a thought that rewarded a little self loathing, as much as she hated to admit it.
‘There is - was, nothing left, to be recycled within the cauldron… and there was too much time gone by… He just doesn’t exist anymore.’
Just as we would have perished without you… so why can’t you help yourself like you helped us?
‘You have to let go.’
Deep cerulean orbs blinked. It was hardly something to make note of, had the girl not been sitting still as a statue for the past ten minutes.
Finally a reaction.
-
Gone?
Never Coming Back?
Let Go?
So many… hurtful things to process and all at once. What did Minako think to accomplish by saying these things to her? What was the point? It was simply ludicrous.
No, she refused to believe any of that. Not Mamoru - her Mamo-chan. He was the stronger of the two of them, the one who protected her when she, Sailor Moon, couldn’t do it herself. People like that, they just don’t disappear.
‘Do you understand, Usagi-chan?’
People like him, were supposed to conquer and live on. Live to come back to her, to be with her, to grow old with her. That was just the way it was supposed to be, so nothing else mattered.
Really? What is silly Minako thinking? Saying such horrible things about Mamo-chan… someone had to set the blonde straight. (And she supposed it would be her.)
Parting her lips, Usagi sucked in the cold air filling her lungs to form her words.
‘The crystal can -’
‘Iie! It’s been two years Usagi!’ interrupted Minako, refusing to let younger girl have her way this time. She had let this go on long enough already. The grieving process had been stretched on for far too long, and it was time to start to heal.
Pale lips, once a blooming smile, thinned.
‘Minako, I don’t understand why you’re so adamant about this.’ spoke Usagi harshly, her shoulders hunched. ‘Mamoru will be back - he just has to wait for reincarnation.’
‘No, he won’t. That’s what I’ve been telling you, what we all have - and what you already know.’
Blue meet Blue, and if not for the summery sunlight flittering through the living room, one might have thought they were 14 again and off to face Queen Beryl in the Artic.
‘Your lies are upsetting me, Minako.’ stated Usagi tartly, breaking their frigid gaze to stare at the wall.
‘They aren’t lies, Usagi.’ Answered Minako, eyeing the girl wearily. She shifted in her seat, and picked up her mug again. Sipping it contently as she waited for her friend to unwind.
The silence was an awkward comfort, and the blonde welcomed it.
-
-
The sun was starting to set, and yet the two girls had yet to say anything. Once Minako had gotten up to put the kettle on again, seeing she had heartily finished her own drink and Usagi’s untouched one had gone cold.
Setting the steaming mug in front of her unresponsive friend, Minako shifted to her own seat. A quick glance at Usagi told Minako all she needed to know about the girl’s mood. All traces of anger were gone from her facial expression, leaving it a void of nothing. Though her glazed over expression would sometimes follow Minako as she moved around the kitchen, expressing irritation and annoyance but curiosity as well. Minako was taking a leap of faith in saying that was a good sign, and decided to press her friend once again. (Hopefully the results would be better this time around.)
‘You know how much Mamoru-san loved you,’ quarried Minako cautiously. It was a dangerous topic to bring up, speaking of the dead as if they still had an opinion, it could potentially backfire and only fuel Usagi’s thoughts that her deceased fiancé was live and well. Though it appeared to have worked, as by the straightening of the other girl’s posture, Minako knew she had Usagi’s attention in full.
Closing her eyes, Minako spoke her next words clearly. She didn’t need to look at Usagi to speak from her heart.
‘What am I talking about, everyone knew how much Mamoru-san loved you. He adored you, Serenity-sama or not. He truly was a prince, and you were his fabled, lost-love of a princess - a classic fairy-tail ending…’ Minako paused, taking a deep breath more to encourage herself than make a dramatic pause in her speech. She hoped this worked.
‘There is no question about how much Mamoru-san loved you Usagi-chan, and I’m sure wherever he is now - he still loves you with that same passionate burning love that you still feel for him… because the love that the two of you share doesn’t go away over night, or two years. Or maybe even ever.’ Part way through her spiel, she heard Usagi’s sharp intake of breath. Minako felt a pain of guilt, as she listened to the girl quietly sob in her seat. But she dared not look, not wanting to also lose her composure.
‘And I know it’s hard right now, to even fathom the thought of him not being here… but Usagi-chan, do you really think that if he could escape whatever prison, dimension or confinement he was in that he would not have done so already - just to be back by your side. Because he loved you that much.’
With the high pitch of the girl’s strangled gasp, Minako carefully opened her eyes. And what she saw broke her heart, despite it being necessary. Usagi sat hunched over the table, a quivering mess. Her whole body shook from head to toe, as her elbows continuously knocked against the hard wood. Deep oceanic-like orbs were now a chaotic storm of emotion, her lashes dark and wet, gave her a sort of deviant look - save the puffiness of her cheeks that had flowing trails of crystalline tears that dipped down to her chin.
Minako watched in silent fascination as the water-form fell in droplets like a leaky faucet, perfectly into the girl’s untouched tea. The healing aroma of the aloe, danced in the air, engulfing her princess’s sorrows, soothing it.
Unknowingly, Usagi had opened herself again. To all the pain, the sorrow, the loneliness - and Minako couldn’t have been more grateful. As now, the healing process could begin.
‘Mamoru-san would not have wanted you to suffer, ever. He would want you to find happiness again, to live out every day to it’s fullest … and not look back in regret.’
‘H-how d-do y-y-ou kn-oo-w’ mumbled Usagi between ragged gasps and hiccups, her tears starting to subside as Minako spoke with unwavering conviction.
Minako smiled, a true one as she gently took the girl’s hand in her own. ‘Because if he was here right now, that is what you and him would be doing.’
Usagi started to cry all over again.
-
-
By the time Usagi’s tears had finally ebbed away, it was already late in the evening. Said girl was now quietly sitting in her seat, waiting for Minako who fumbled around in the kitchen trying to put something of a snack together for them.
After much banging followed by mumbled curses, the other blonde triumphantly strode back into the living room where she set a tray of sandwiches on the table top accompanied with another pot of tea. (It must have been her British up-bringing that made the Venus senshi so obsessed with the beverage.)
Usagi eyed the elephant-shaped teapot forlornly, as Minako filled her third cup to the brim and pushed a smaller plate with food in her direction. For once she wasn’t all that hungry.
‘Something is bothering you?’ mused Minako, as if reading her friend’s mind. Usagi blushed, though didn’t deny it.
‘About what you said earlier… about not regretting anything… and letting go’ she said the last two words in a bare whisper, not believing she was even thinking about it.
Minako’s smile was kind, as she tapped her chin in thought - not once had she lost her patience with Usagi, nor patronized her. Since the beginning she had been nothing but caring and compassionate towards her fellow blonde. That thought alone, gave Usagi’s new resolve a little more strength.
‘What can I do?’
‘Not a whole lot.. You have to take everyday one at a time and go from there. Even then there is no knowing how long it will take, but you’ll never recover completely. Mamoru-san was your first love in both lives… he meant a great deal to you and will always be with you, in your memories. But that is the beauty of life… and love. The people we cherish never part from us, even if they are not there in person. They remain in our hearts. And Usagi-chan, you have a big, beautiful heart. It’s meant to love, even when you think you can’t go on.’ spoke Minako passionately, her gaze locked with the other girl who did not look away.
‘Please don’t give up on love, or yourself.’
Awed by her friend‘s speech, all Usagi did was nod. ‘I promise Minako-chan…’
‘Good, me and the girls were worried - this was a last resort before we tossed you off a building,’ joked Minako, relaxing into her seat. She could feel the tension leaving her in waves, it felt good to get all that out.
Usagi gave a small eep at the threat, looking down at her hands - which were encircled around her own forgotten mug of (aloe) tea.
‘Where do I even begin? It’s been so long…’ whispered the blonde, her mind yearning to wander.
Minako smiled gently, knowing that they still had a long road to travel before Usagi would be remotely functional without the memory of Mamoru haunting her constantly.
‘Drink you tea, it will help.’
Fin.
Ha, sorry if It seems jumpy I wrote some of the middle then the beginning then the ending and then had to write parts in between all of those parts to connect them. Also I haven’t written anything in forever, I hope it is still enjoyable to read.
Story notes -
Aloe can be used as a medicinal herb, with healing properties. And yes there is such a thing as Aloe tea, which Minako and Usagi just so happens to be drinking. So in this sense, it can been used as a healing mechanism, towards their negative thoughts, as well as it’s flower meaning “Grief”.