The Tale of the Golden Bracelet

Natalie Fuukou stooped and knelt on the small hill. She sat her two-month-old twin babies down and spoke softly to them, hoping that even their infant minds would remember her message. "My darlings, someday you will do many wonderful things, and many horrible evils, as the prophecy states. My dear, mischievous Priire, you truly are starbred, as the prophecy said you would be. You shall grow to be a great warrior. My little princess, my dear little Ippin, you will grow to be a great lady. Remember this day, and remember me always. You will face many trials and many cruelties, both of you. But in the end you shall prevail - the prophecy has said this too. Though one thing neither the priests nor the prophecy could tell me was how dear you would be, or how much I would love you. But for your future and the future of the galaxy, I must sacrifice my children. It hurts to do this, but Ippin, with your strength and courage, must be parted from your family. You shall go under my name, and you will become a Jedi. If you were to keep your father's name you could be found, and all would be lost. But I myself will care for you, my dangerous one. I cannot part with you both."

Natalie was quiet after this point as she stood and prepared for the journey to the capital city of Coruscant.

Two days later, Natalie stepped off the transport and hurriedly carried the twins to the Jedi Temple. She carefully masked her presence and stayed in the shadows. She didn't want to be discovered before she had finished her mission - which sounded far more ominous than leaving a child with a Jedi Master should seem, but as she thought - and she was correct in her thoughts - that if she wasn't careful in assuring that the twins' destinies would be fulfilled, then it was possible that the universe wouldn't survive.

Natalie silently crept along the halls towards the quarters of the Jedi Master Depa Billiba. She had chosen the young woman because whenever Natalie saw her, she saw a kindness in her face.

Tears filled her eyes as she silently lay the basket on the steps. She whispered a prayer over her daughter's head, then reached down and removed from the basket the blonde baby. The twin left in the basket stared up at her - if Natalie didn't know better, she'd think the baby's brown eyes looked accusing. She quickly pulled from her bag a wooden box that nearly filled the space beside the twin in the basket.

"Good-bye," she whispered brokenly. She rapped soundly on the door, then turned and fled as fast and as silently as she could.

Fuukou Ippin sat in her chambers, doing her best to calm down. At first she hadn't quite understood what the group of girls had been telling her. She was a Sailor Jedi. She wouldn't have minded being anything else, she wouldn't complain if she was a Sailor Chicken, but a JEDI? That was too much. And now she was supposed to go to the Jedi Temple. The Jedi Temple! The place she had been trying to forget about for five years. And now she was supposed to live there again. Well, they could say whatever they want, she was not going to leave her ship. She was not going to talk to a single trainee and she was NOT going to talk to the Council. They could just tell them she was the elusive Sailor Yavin, and that they had just better leave her alone. If a single Jedi-wannabe tried to bug her, she would slice them in half. Yes, that's what she'd do. She glowered at her innocent lightsaber. She angrily picked it up and started practicing some old moves. Suddenly an idea popped into her head. She'd show them! She'd master all those old techniques and prove that she WAS a Jedi, whether they liked it or not. She laughed loudly - startling poor Yukiko, who had the misfortune of being Ippin's bunkmate, and who has been reading up till then.

"You okay Fuukou-san?" the ice-haired senshi asked with concern.

"Fine fine," Ippin muttered. "And don't call me that - you make me nervous."

Yukiko looked at her oddly. "What do you want me to call you then?"

"I don't know. Anything."

"Priire called you Coru..."

"Well Priire's strange."

Yukiko grinned. "No arguments here. How did you meet her anyway?" Her voice lowered unconsciously. "Are you a mercenary too?"

Ippin looked up at her in surprise. "Me? No way. I'm smarter than Aster. I mean that literally. I had an education to back me up when I ran away - Aster had nothing but a holdout blaster. It's understandable."

"It's never understandable to murder," Yukiko said quietly.

Ippin stood suddenly. "She did what she had to. You try surviving in a universe where nobody wants you and everyone's willing to hurt you, see how squeamish you are then. I'm not exactly the Hawkbat, but I've got my share of blood on my hands."

The Senshi of Ice was on her feet as well by now. "There's no excuse for killing innocent people! It's wrong! No matter how much you try to explain it away by saying, 'It's the way the universe works,' it will never make it right!"

Ippin's face was as red as her hair in her anger. "You're so self-righteous! You've never been faced with the problem of kill an innocent person or die yourself, have you? You know what? I think it's wrong too! I know there's no excuse for it, but I have to make one or kill myself!"

Yukiko was obviously startled. "What?"

Ippin sighed and sat on her bed. "Just... go away. You couldn't understand what it's like to constantly hear people screaming in your head, feeling that if you'd just done something else, found another way, they'd be alive."

Yukiko looked sadly at the other girl. "Yes, I do. When I was eight, my parents died. We were shopping for toys. I was there. I've been torturing myself ever since, thinking that if I'd just been braver I could have saved them."

"At least your parents wanted you. I was abandoned at the Jedi Temple. They didn't even find me - my mother left me there. Even Aster's mother wanted her."

"You never know what happened. She might have been dying and wanted you to be taken care of, you never know."

Ippin shrugged, tired of the topic. "Let's drop it. I'd rather not talk about my mother."

Yukiko nodded, at least partly understanding. "What do you want to talk about?"

The redhead shrugged. "Well, is there anything you want to know about Aster? I can tell you anything about her - well, anything that's not confidential."

Yukiko sat and lay back on her bed. "Well, for starters, why do you call each other those nicknames?" she asked, turning to face her roommate.

Ippin grinned. "Well, when we first met, Aster and I were both miners - we still do it sometimes - but we mined different things. Aster mined asteroids, and I mined Corusca gems."

Yukiko groaned. "You're kidding, right?"

Ippin laughed. "I wish. Hey, we were ten years old!"

Yukiko laughed with her. "Well, at least you never had a cat named Fluffy!"

"You can't really have cats in my line of work - they're too hard to keep track of on ships. But I love them."

"They are very cute."

"Kirin?"

"Yeah?"

"You can call me Coru."

"You can call me Yuki."

The two girls smiled at each other across the room, forming a bond stronger than that of teammates. Instead, it was of friends.

Priire literally had to carry Ippin off the ship. She was determined she would not set foot in the Jedi Temple, but Yoda had said that all the Senshi must appear before the Council. So they dragged her kicking and screaming before the Council.

Ippin was in the center of the group, glaring at the back of Priire's head. "Remind me to hurt her one of these days," she muttered to herself. Unfortunately, Ippin was one of the tallest Senshi, and with her flaming hair she didn't blend in very well. So when they entered the Council chamber, it was impossible for her to hide behind the other girls.

She tried to blend in while Kyoko announced who they were, and the addition of several new Senshi. Ippin could feel Yoda's gaze upon her, but she refused to meet his eyes. Instead, she crowded behind Priire, for once hoping to be overshadowed by the blonde's exuberant personality.

To her distress, Yoda demanded that each Senshi stand in front of the group, declaring their name, age, planet and 'senshi ofs' as the group called them.

Ippin was last because she was the most recent addition to the group. Finally, it was her turn.

"Fuukou Ippin, sixteen, Sailor Yavin, Senshi of Beauty and Wisdom," she declared, staring defiantly at the two foremost members of the Jedi Council.

Yoda nodded. "Fuukou Ippin, apprentice you were?"

She narrowed her eyes. "An unfortunate experience I'd rather forget."

"Ah, but forget you cannot. Jedi you are."

"I am not!" she declared heatedly. "I'd rather be anything than a Jedi! I've gotten enough grief from you people over the years to last me a lifetime - I'm not coming back to this!"

"What come back from you do?"

"Freedom! You take that away! We're not allowed emotions, we're not allowed anything but discipline and calm! I am a REDHEAD! I am not a calm person!"

Priire silently applauded her friend, hoping that the outburst would clear the girl of the anger she felt towards the Jedi.

Ippin nodded at the blonde. "Thanks Aster." She stopped herself. "Oh no. Just being AROUND you people has made me start with the mind-reading again! I don't want to be a Jedi! I'd rather be... a SITH then a Jedi!" Several of the senshi gasped.

Even Priire couldn't help but think that she had gone overboard.

"Mean this do you?" Yoda asked quietly.

Ippin's glare faded. "No. No, I didn't. Just had to get it off my chest, I guess. I went through a lot at the Temple. You and your blasted Jedi ways, I have to be honest. I guess I was blaming the Jedi for my mother abandoning me and all." She sighed. "I had to blame someone, couldn't blame myself, and I couldn't bring myself to blame my mother."

Yoda almost seemed to smile. "Ah, but abandon you she did not. You're destiny it was, interfere she could not. Protection you needed, give it we could. Leave this she did." He reached behind the chair he sat on to bring out a box. He definitely smiled this time. "Come back someday I knew you would, saved this for you I did."

Ippin took the box in silent and read the words carved on the top. Fuukou Natalie. She bit her lower lip, and Priire came up behind her. Yoda nodded, and Priire led the stunned girl to the quarters they had been given.

Ippin gently opened the box, her eyes widening. "It's empty." She whispered, staring at the velvet lining of the box. She felt her eyes fill with tears and wanted to slap herself. She'd expected something from her mother. Ha - she should have known better. She was about to close it and throw in the in the trash, when she noticed that the inside of the box seemed far more shallow than the outside. She'd been a trader long enough to know how to find the catch to a false bottom and in moments was removing the velvet-covered wood.

What was underneath made her gasp. He first thing that caught her eye was a beautiful gold bracelet, engraved with the words "Fuukou Ippin, the strongest girl I've ever known - Fuukou Natalie."

Beside it was a small holo of a young woman with reddish-gold hair, holding a small redheaded baby in her arms. Had she noticed, she would have seen in the background a man holding a slightly smaller blonde baby in his arms, but she wasn't interested - she only wanted to see her mother. "How I wish you could be here with me. I wish I could have known you. I wish... I wish you could have met Priire - you'd love her Mother, I know you would."

A soft knock on the door pulled her out of her reverie. She opened the door to find - not Priire as she'd expected, but Yukiko. The blue-haired girl smiled. "You all right?" she asked gently.

Ippin smiled. "I'll be okay, Yuki-chan. Just let me do something, then we'll go find the others." She went back to her bed and put on the bracelet. She smiled as she gently locked the clasp. She smiled again, and went to the door, leaving behind her all her anger and blame, deciding once and for all, to forgive her mother. She wore that bracelet every day for the rest of her life.