Unforgotten Part 1
"I'm home!" called Rei in a muffled voice, careful not to be too loud.
"Be there in a minute, darling!" came the reply.
Rei tiptoed to the room where the kids slept. She only had wanted to make sure they were okay, but then she stood there and couldn't get her eyes off the beautiful, peaceful angels, until she felt two arms around her and a kiss on the back of her head.
"Aren't they wonderful?" asked Hanako dreamily into her ear.
Rei leaned back into the embrace. "Yes. Sorry I'm late. Have they given you a lot of trouble tonight?"
"Not really. Little Morganite still thinks he can trick his old Mama, but he was wrong again. "
Hanako tightened the embrace and kissed Rei's neck, and Rei felt the stress of the day float out of her.
"You know what I am thinking, Rei-chan? Now that little Tanzanite is out of his diapers soon, wouldn't it be time you remembered your promise to have a little girl?"
The moan that Rei let out came from the bottom of her soul.
"Hanakoooo... nooo..."
"You promised! You promised me a little Hanako for all the time of my life that I lose because of this esoteric crap. I don't care how many boys you will need to have before you will learn how to make daughters. I want my baby girl, Rei-chan, and if she has a dozen older brothers, that's not my problem."
"Hanako!"
Hanako laughed. "Don't fight me, Rei-chan, you know I am going to win, you only make it longer and harder."
"Maybe I like it longer and harder," said Rei, turned around in Hanako's arms so she could face her, and kissed her. Once for loving to come home to her, once for telling her how mad she was about the dozen boys idea, and once to apologize for... well, everything that came with the "esoteric crap", even if it wasn't her fault. For reasons of simplicity, she packed all three in one kiss.
Hanako answered by welcoming her home, telling her she seriously meant business with the dozen boys idea, and that she didn't care a damn about lame excuses for the "esoteric crap". For a whole number of reasons, she packed it all in one kiss, too.
They often argued. They always had been arguing. Fortunately, they soon found out that this was the best way to do so.
They argued for a while.
"We'll wake the kids. Let's go to the living-room, I'll make you comfortable and bring you some wine, how does that sound?"
"That sounds wonderful, Hanako, but I am so tired, I wouldn't be able to enjoy it. How about I just hop under the shower and then we go to bed?"
Hanako smiled, brushed Rei's cheek with her lips and purred: "Bed sounds good."
She grabbed Rei's waist and pulled her with her to the bedroom.
"Hey, I wanted to take a shower!"
"No way," said Hanako firmly and pushed Rei against the doorframe of the bedroom, caging her with her arms so she couldn't get away. Hanako was taller than Rei and well-trained in one-to-one combat and played her physical strength shamelessly to her advantage over Rei whenever she could.
"I need you, Rei, I need you now. I don't want us to waste a single minute. And besides..." she trailed a drop of sweat on Rei's temple with her tongue, "I want to taste you. Not soap."
"But..."
Hanako quickly reminded her of the language she wanted to be argued in and closed her mouth firmly with a kiss, shaking off her bath gown, pressing her almost naked body against Rei until she felt her lover give in and kiss her back. As soon as she was certain Rei wouldn't escape, she became all gentle and sweet again.
"We have so little time together, Rei-chan. You're my love, you're the sweetest thing on Earth, you brought me back to life, you are the flame of hope in my heart."
Rei couldn't help melting under the soft brown eyes. And Hanako had obviously used the time to "be there in a minute" to put on one of her silly transparent night thingies with fuzzy ends, and the sight of her in that never failed to disarm Rei.
Hanako was a queen bitch, demanding, manipulative, temperamental, and it was agreed upon by their friends that they deserved each other. But there was another side to Hanako as well, soft and caring, that Rei couldn't get enough of. And then there was Hanako's desperate and irresistible hunger for life and for love, that got to Rei's head in no time, and made her wide awake and dreaming at the same time.
"You're in my heart as well. I love you, Hanako..." she said. "I will always love you!"
"Then how about now?" asked Hanako with a big grin and pulled Rei with her again. Only this time, she didn't really have to force her lover, as Rei suddenly couldn't think of anything better than getting to bed and into Hanako's embrace again. If she had thought coming home to a motherly Hanako was warming her heart, coming to bed to a passionate Hanako was heating it.
And then they were in bed, and Rei pulled a sheet around them, not because she was cold, but to close out the world and have Hanako entirely for herself. Well, as long as they didn't wake the kids...
"I'm so glad I have you back," Rei whispered and gave Hanako the closest hug she had, and then brought her face close to hers so she could take in every little detail.
She smiled and tried to push a strand of Hanako's short brown her out of her face. She loved Hanako's hair, and she tried hard to spot any changes, but it was like she always saw it. Her fingers brushed around the soft brown eyes that could do a film star batting of eyelashes, the smooth skin, the curve of Hanako's lips, and everything was exactly as she remembered it.
"One day, I'll find a little wrinkle and a grey hair," she promised.
"Yeah. In your mirror," grinned Hanako and kissed the fingertips that traced the lines of her face. "Right after I'm finished with you. Will you get out of this clothes now or do I have to bite the buttons off?"
She bit Rei's finger warningly.
Rei couldn't help giggling.
"Oh no, you don't. That blouse is new!"
"You have been warned, my love."
Hanako made a good attempt at the first button, and Rei got her fingers bitten some more while she was trying to open her blouse faster than Hanako could eat it.
As always, when she submitted to Hanako's wishes, she was rewarded with the sweetest and gentlest kisses and touches.
Before she knew it, she was out of her clothes, and they told each other in their wordless language how much they had missed and needed each other.
The first round would always go to Hanako, who covered every sensitive spot on Rei with hot kisses, and when her tongue took claim of her lover's lap, Rei was glad she already was lying down, because she now felt so weak that she wasn't certain her legs would have supported her anymore.
But then came her round. The part she had been looking forward to even more. The part where she got Hanako for herself, truly and entirely, where she took her in her arms, and pulled her close, looked into her soft brown eyes and told her sweet things, her hands running over the soft skin of the other woman, until Hanko melted into her embrace and they kissed and became one.
***
Later, they sat together, Rei in Hanako's arm, silent, just enjoying being together. Rei suddenly became aware of something that worried her.
"Hanako, what is this bottle of vodka doing in here?"
"Couldn't for the world think of a reason why someone would put that here," said Hanako innocently. "But do you want some?"
"No. Put it away."
Hanako ignored that, and instead opened the lid and took a long draw directly from the bottle.
"Hanako, that's not beer. It'll go to your head in no time."
Hanako put her arm around her again, pulled her closer and planted a kiss on her nose that smelled like it would disinfect every germ in two miles.
"That's the point, love. I need to relax a bit."
"Oh, Hanako... Why can't we just spend the whole night sitting like this?"
Another kiss. Another sip from the bottle.
"I can't just sit like this. I would start thinking. There's just this whole lot of things that I don't want to think about, so don't make me, love. Come on, take one, just for company."
She handed Rei the bottle, and Rei, who wanted nothing more than Hanako's company right now, took a mouthful and downed it as quickly as possible, and the alcohol stung all the way down and made her eyes water. She didn't usually drink, other than Hanako, who sometimes drank like there was no tomorrow when she was in the mood.
Rei hesitated, but if Hanako wanted company drinking herself senseless... the bottle passed a few times between them, Rei taking only the tiniest sips, and Hanako being more generous to herself.
"Promise me you will always be there, love," said Hanako after a while.
"I will, my heart."
It was a lie. She hadn't been there today when Hanako had arrived. Sometimes she couldn't make it in time, and regret was burning in her worse than alcohol now that she saw what it had done to her lover.
"You'll never forget me, right?" asked Hanako.
Rei felt the tears coming up in her eyes, but she couldn't cry in front of Hanako. Hanako deserved better than that.
"Of course not. Don't talk like that."
"It's only... I don't just want to leave memories behind. Have this baby for me, Rei-chan, please..."
Rei had to bite her lip before she could speak again. "They are all your babies, Hanako. You are their mama. They need you. I need you. You will never be forgotten."
"I know. But you promised me there will be a little Hanako, and I can't stop thinking about it. Just don't you forget it."
"I won't. A little Hanako. Promise."
"Alright then. I'm getting tired. Will you stay with me until I sleep?"
Rei nodded.
***
They spent the last few minutes together in silence, lying next to each other, Rei holding back the tears in her eyes, Hanako giving her reassuring and loving smiles, until finally she closed her eyes. It wouldn't be long now.
A few deep and peaceful breaths, and Hanako's body dissolved in a pink shimmer.
Magic. That esoteric crap.
The reason why Hanako would never have kids of her own, a love of her own, a life of her own. The reason she was so determined to fill every hour she had with laughs and kisses and love.
"No...," whispered Rei and let the tears and sobs out that she had held back for Hanako's sake. Every time, in all the years, she cried when she lost Hanako again. Hanako who was gentle and strong, who had wanted nothing of her life than get other people safe. Who had done nothing to deserve being taken by Queen Beryl and filled up with Dark Energy to the very last bit of her soul, and becoming one of the few people that were beyond salvation when Serenity brought everyone else back.
Rei cried while she watched Hanako's brown hair turn blond and curly, her cheekbones sink into a much more youthful face, her soft curves melt to a thinner and tougher form, her turning into him.
Jadeite.