|
|
Recalling the exam renewed in her the anxiety she'd felt three months before. The room had been far from clinical; to the contrary, the doctor's office was filled with wood, warmly reflecting the dim lamplight, casting cozy shadows across the two velvety chairs. Still, her soulful eyes were clouded with fear. She remembered curling up into one chair, shoeless silver-socked feet tucked neatly under her, arms clasped around her corduroy-clad knees.
"Kairi," the doctor began. "Oh, do you mind my calling you Kairi?"
"Actually," she replied solidly, "I prefer my given name."
"Very well. Kairiku, you are here because you are applying to Harvard, yes?" She nodded. "The admissions board has decided that, given the uniqueness of your situation, they would like me to evaluate your abilities to withstand the pressures of post-seconday education."
So continued the interview for what seemed like an eternity, formal and restrained but, in her estimation, favorable. Near the end of the appointment, the doctor produced a stack of cards - ink blots. Kairiku was instantly concerned; something in her rang with dread. Upon sight of the first blot, she began sobbing. Somewhere in the black black ink lay her mother, imprisoned and crimson with encrusted blood. But... her mother was outside the office, waiting for the appointment to end. She closed her eyes and breathed slowly, then gathered her strength for a second look. Still, her mother was chained fast, sorrow pouring from her terrified eyes. Unaware now of the doctor's presence, Kairiku leapt from the chair and raced to the waiting room, where she curled tightly into her mother's lap, rocking with tears. There she stayed for the duration of the appointment, safe from herself in her mother's arms.
Her mother never confronted her about the event, even after the letter came. She simply allowed the girl to cry and sob and mourn. She wasn't surprised by the rejection; neither was her father. It was almost as though they had known it would happen.
Kairiku, however, was devestated. Enrolling at the College had been her dream; she had already planned her first semester course load and what she would say if she met her beloved Queen Amidala. She realized that she could apply again next year, but the ink-blot tragedy had probably left a bright red stamp across her admissions file: DERANGED - DO NOT ACCEPT.
Time passed; Kairiku regained her strength. She quickly recovered from the week of
Harvard courses she could not bring herself to attend. Still, the emotional scar
remained. She could not understand why she had felt that her mother was beaten and
imprisoned - she had known that her mother was sitting in the reception area the
entire time. And what she had seen did not resemble her mother at all; while her
mother was tall, with pale blonde curls and piercing green eyes, the figure was
much shorter, nearly Kairiku's height, her face hidden behind a veil of knotted
dark hair. How could a woman so different be her mother? She tried, with relative
success, to put the figure out of her mind.
August in Cambridge was dreadfully hot. Although Kairiku's house was air-conditioned,
the oppressive atmosphere outside permeated the walls and her life, coloring her
perception. The summer on its own had been a lonely one for her; with school out of
session, she had no contact with the few acquaintances who didn't ostracize her
completely, and she was not permitted to enroll in the summer genetics research course
she so desperately wanted to attend. She spent much of her time reading, becoming an
avid fan of the Star Wars Jedi Apprentice novels and churning through Shakespearian
tragedies like picture books. She also wrote frequently, journaling ten pages per
night and composing lengthy odes to her alter ego, Anakin Skywalker.
One morning in mid-August, Kairiku wandered into the kitchen, poured a glass of iced tea, and sat down to contemplate the Tatooine heat outside. Suddenly, a chestnut voice interrupted her musings.
"Kairiku, dear, we need to buy your school supplies soon."
As she recognized her mother's reflection in the glass door, the sandy-haired girl winced at the thought of returning to that dreadful middle school. It was inevitable, she knew, but it reminded her again of her failure to be accepted to the College.
"I guess so," she replied glumly, her voice still tired. She continued to gaze at the green-brown grass carpeting their lawn. "I'll go get dressed."
Twenty minutes later, Kairiku was sitting silently in the passenger's seat of her mother's BMW as they drove to the discount office supply her father owned.
"Kairi, are you still thinking about the psychologist incident?" her mother ventured, anxious to break the silence. "You'll be accepted when you apply next year."
"Kairiku. My name is Kairiku." She did not respond further, as much as she longed to vent her frustrations about the pressure her parents continually put on her.
So continued the ride from store to store as they searched for the Star Wars merchandise that had been so common a year earlier.
Riding home on the expressway, Kairiku dropped her head against the hot glass and watched the people in the passing cars. They all seemed so happy, so content, singing to the radio if alone, talking easily if accompanied. The fair-haired girl yearned for that sort of freedom.
Suddenly, one passing car caught her eye. It was a sleek sportscar shimmering navy in the sunlight, driven by a loquacious green-eyed blonde whose tiny braids flew from her head as she looked back at her passengers. In the passenger's seat was an attractive girl, a few years her senior, her vibrant blue hair gathered into a bun atop her head. However, it was the two girls in the back seat who held her interest. On the far side sat an exotically beautiful brunette with dark almond-shaped eyes, a large deep red stone set in gold hanging from her neck. She almost looks like the figure from the... No, it can't be, she thought increduously. Near her sat a girl nearly her age with hair the color of Tatooine sand, her head turned. As the car passed, the younger girl turned and looked out the window, making her blue cap-sleeved bodysuit visible. She raised a white-gloved hand and waved at Kairiku, the car carrying her twin speeding away.
Kairiku's mind flooded with the familiar emotions: confusion, shock, disbelief. Tears came to her eyes as a deluge, soaking her parched cheeks. Surely she was crazy. Imagining once that she'd seen a beaten woman in a spot of black ink was nearly possible; seeing the same woman, along with herself, on the expressway was fully delusional.
Finally arriving home, the child sage ran wildly up the elegant spiral staircase to her bedroom, shutting and locking the door behind her. She could feel her parents' sighs downstairs at their daughter's degeneration. In need of the company of another like herself, Kairiku rammed her Phantom Menace video into the VCR, throwing herself onto her bed and wrapping tightly in a fleecy Amidala blanket. Still, before the Jedi arrived on Naboo, the girl's swollen eyelids had fallen, concealing her quickly-darting eyes.
Downstairs, her parents looked at each other and sighed, each waiting for the other to
speak the words they knew to be true. Finally, her mother's whispered voice cut through
the silence.
"It is time."
That afternoon, Kairiku dreamed.
She found herself standing, apparently alone, surrounded by billows of fog that obscured the ground. The humidity hung thick in the air, gladly condensing onto Kairiku's bare arms. She noticed suddenly that she was wearing not the shorts and blouse she'd fallen asleep in, but rather a vaguely provocative watery blue bodysuit with an unreasonably short gray-blue skirt. As she reached down to tug the skirt in an effort to increase its length, she felt a cape, sea green and gauzy as it extended from a wide collar, flutter against her thighs.
What is going on? she thought confusedly. I'm wearing a tiny skirt and a bodysuit, standing in an empty misty field. Then, with hesitation - Maybe I really am insane. This is completely -
Her jumbled musings were interrupted suddenly by the faint sobs of a girl, thin and wispy through the haze.
Someone was in pain.
Snapping immediately into the present, Kairiku began to search for the source of those sobs. Quickly entering a deep meditative state, she felt her surroundings with her mind, placing the girl nearby. Carefully, she stepped over pools of mud, taking care not to dirty her tall white boots. As she proceeded, the sobs became piercing cries; in response, Kairiku quickened her pace until she was racing blindly through the muck, mud splashing onto her face from the force of her steps.
Suddenly, she stopped. Now it was her body that was racked with tears as the inkblot vision returned.
Her mother.
Someone was hurting her mother.
Now Kairiku ran faster than ever, certain that the mysterious dark-haired beauty was her mother. The tears that blurred her vision were those of determination; her mother was in pain, and only Kairiku could help her.
Reaching a clearing, the muddied girl slowed to a creep, carefully surveying the half-hidden trees for signs of her mother. And not fifty feet away, in a particularly dense pocket of fog, she felt it. Her mother was there. Kairiku approached with particular caution, trying to sense the evil that had done this, feeling none. Presently Kairiku came upon the fog, water droplets again soaking her arms. And as her eyes adjusted to the murkiness, she saw her.
The girl she felt to be her mother was chained against an unusually large tree, hanging outward by her arms, legs bent, ankles held fast at the tree's roots. Her head hung forward exhaustedly, dark brown hair matted with knots, obscuring her face. Quietly, Kairiku gasped. At that, the figure stirred, straightening her small frame and raising her head with a shake that knocked her hair back, revealing a delicate face still radiant through its scars.
Kairiku examined this face closely, looking for the features she already knew were there. Beneath a heavy mask of dirt, mud, and dried blood, she saw the remains of a layer of white makeup, reflecting the little light that penetrated the fog. Two dark, almond-shaped eyes gazed out in mild alarm, red and bloodshot with tears and lack of sleep. Around the woman's neck hung the same round red jewel set in gold that Kairiku had seen on the expressway, Kairiku knew this girl.
"Queen Amidala," she whispered in awe. "You're Amidala. You're my mother."
Tears welled in the girl's eyes as she sadly shook her head. "I am Amidala, but your mother is of another universe," she breathed hoarsely.
As confusion clouded Kairiku's face, a blinding ray of sunlight split through the clouds, quickly burning away the fog, hiding the Queen behind a beam of pure energy. Kairiku held her face to the sky, feeling it warm in the atmosphere of perfect enlightment. As the light faded, Kairiku's opening eyes saw that a new figure had replaced the last. This young woman's brown eyes held the same faint terror, but she was several inches taller, with her shock of blue hair pulled into a high bun, loose ends and pulls everywhere. Her skin, also covered in dirt and filth, was pale, interrupted occasionally by a deep gash. Kairiku drew back unconsciously as she recognized another girl from the expressway.
You're... she thought, vision blurred by falling tears of truth.
As the figure's eyes met Kairiku's with a new sense of calm and recognition, she faded from sight, the entire swamp becoming an ever-darkening blur... until Kairiku was left alone again in pure blackness.
Yet not alone. At the sensation of a warm hand on her shoulder, Kairiku whirled around suspiciously, coming face-to-chest with a tall, dark-haired masked man wearing a top hat and Jedi-like cloak, lit only by a dim glow.
"What is going on?" she asked sharply, mustering all her strength to hide her terror.
"Fear not," the man's dark voice said soothingly. "You know who you have just seen." A pregnant pause. "It was your mother, Kairi-chan."
"How do you know my name?" Kairiku demanded, knowing in her heart the truth of this strange man's words.
"My name is Kousotsu Renjiro. I am from a parallel universe bridging those of Star Wars, Sailor Moon, and Earth."
Kairiku stared at him, her face blank with disbelief.
"The realities of Earth and Sailor Moon are safe, but that of Star Wars is under attack. You must join me and the other Star Wars Sailor Senshi to save the worlds you love most dearly."
"Star Wars Sailor Senshi?" Kairiku inquired, her shielded face softening imperceptibly.
"The Star Wars Sailor Senshi are the guardians of the Star Wars universe in the same way that Sailor Moon and her allies are the guardians of Earth."
Kairiku nodded barely. Having been in grammar school when Sailor Moon began running in Cambridge, she understood the gravity of this bizarre situation.
"The vision you saw was indeed that of your mother. She is Kyoko, Sailor Naboo. She is in no immediate danger, however; the image was strictly for your purposes. Still, she and the other senshi need your help."
"And I imagine that you are my father?" she asked, her voice laden with sarcasm.
"It is possible. However, that is a fact that remains yours to uncover."
The young blonde was surprised by this man's unflappability. Still, she persisted. "But what of my parents?"
"They were but guardians sent to protect you in your youth. That is why they pushed you so much - they knew that you must grow to your full potential quickly so you could aid us in time."
Kairiku sighed softly, forgiving all the grudges she'd held for so long, realizing her parents' purpose. "How will I help?"
"You are far more powerful than you realize, Kairi-chan. Listen to your heart, to the Force - it will tell you how to help."
Quieting her mind, Kairiku suddenly sensed movement. "Where are we going?" she demanded with her original vigor.
"To join the other senshi," Renjiro replied. "They have been sent to your planet by their enemy. We shall meet them in California."
Kairiku smiled. She had never been out west.
