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"You don't have a mom," Kleppa stated.
"Yes I do. Priire is my mom," Tashita retorted.
"No, you don't. She's not your true mom. You will never have a real mom." Kleppa skipped off happily, leaving Tashita in her thoughts.
Tears filled the girl's brown eyes, knowing that Kleppa was right; she would never have a 'real mom'. She would never have a biological mom or dad. Tashita collapsed onto the floor, letting the tears flow.
Priire poked her head into the room that Kleppa had come from. The blond noticed the figure on the ground and was taken back. She had hardly ever seen tears flow from her daughter's eyes. "What's wrong?" Priire asked tenderly while walking toward Tashita.
Tashita looked up at Priire, tears still filling her eyes. "Nothing is wrong, PRIIRE!" She quickly got up and ran out of the room.
Priire just stood there overtaken by shock. "She never calls me Priire."
Tashita found Myra outside lying on the grass, soaking up the sun's rays. Myra opened her eyes, feeling Tashita nearby. She looked up at Tashita's tear-stained face. With a worried look on her face, Myra asked, What's wrong? Tashita quickly ran over and hugged Myra.
Back in the temple, Priire was looking around for Kleppa. She finally found her in the kitchen, munching on some unattended cookies.
"What did you do to Tashita?"
"I didn't do nothin'."
"Okay, let me rephrase this. What did you say to Tashita?"
"I didn't say anything."
"She was crying - don't tell me you didn't say anything." Priire was getting a little mad.
"I told her that she will never have a real mom," she stated plainly while reaching for another cookie.
"You what?!"
"You heard me." Kleppa grabbed some more cookies and ran off.
I don't know who my parents are, Myra said gently.
Yeah, but it's important for humans to know who their parents are, where they came from.
But you already know.
Yeah, but I will never have a real mom, Tashita said with a disappointed tone.
And that's what you want?
Yeah, I guess.
Tashita hugged Myra. Thanks for listening, and being here for me.
No problem, that's what friends are for, Myra said with a wink. Tashita wiped her remaining tears away and grinned.
Uh oh.
What? Tashita said innocently.
You... never mind. Just don't get me involved, okay? I happen to like my home here.
Grinning, Tashita said, Sure. With that, Tashita hugged Myra again and left her scaly friend to enjoy the sun.
Priire and Kousotsu sat in Priire's bedroom. Priire had told Kousotsu everything she knew of what happened between Tashita and Kleppa. Priire was upset; the two 'sisters' shouldn't act that way toward each other.
"Everything will be alright," Kousotsu said, trying to comfort Priire.
"That's easy for you to say. You don't have to deal with it," Priire told him.
He laughed. "Even thought they aren't true sisters, it's sibling rivalry." Priire sighed. Kousotsu was right.
"Please, Aunt Ippin!!!" Tashita pleaded.
"Absolutely not," Ippin stated, trying to stand her ground.
"Come on - I don't ask much from you, do I?"
"Well, no, but I am not sending you to Earth. And that's that."
"Come on. I'll get you some manga." Tashita smiled, knowing that might work.
"How many times do I have to tell you... did you say manga?"
It felt good to be back on Earth. Something inside her - everything felt right. Tashita breathed in the air, a mix of fumes from the city and the fragrance of the park; she enjoyed it. She knew she was home. Now to find Kalil.
"You what?" Priire shouted.
"I sent her to Earth," Ippin said.
"You let her go?"
"Yeah. She is bringing me back some manga!" Ippin grinned.
"All you people are hopeless." Priire sighed. There wasn't anything she could do now, but wait. Wait impatiently.
Tashita was having a hard time finding Kalil. She looked in all the places that he would be. The sun was now starting to set, and it was becoming dark fast. Tashita sighed. Maybe she would never find him. Maybe he was dead... no! She wouldn't accept that. He was alive.
Where could he be?
"Of course! How could I forget?"
She ran down toward the edge of the lake and along the coast. Suddenly, she stopped. Standing in darkness, she looked around hoping this was the exact spot. Breathless, she whispered, "Kalil?" No answer. A little bit louder, she called, "Kalil?"
"Tashita?" answered a masculine voice.
"Yes," she answered back, choking on tears.
Slowly, a shadowy figure emerged from the foliage. Tashita had a hard time trying to make out his features. Above the two figures, something pushed the clouds away, letting the moonlight shine down onto the Earth.
In the moonlight, Tashita recognized his features perfectly. "Kalil!" she cried out.
They both ran the short distance to each other and held each other close. They hugged each other close - it seemed like forever.
"I thought I would never find you again," the teary-eyed girl said, breaking the silence.
"I know, but we are together now and that is all that matters," Kalil said gently, wiping Tashita's tears away.
Jokingly, Tashita said, "You still have your braid? I thought you were going to cut it off."
"Yeah, but I remembered how much you liked it, so I kept it." Tashita smiled.
Kalil and Tashita silently walked back to the small cave-like area that they both found many years ago. This was their place. They both looked out over the water, the moonlight reflecting off it, and they soon fell asleep in each other's arms.
Priire was getting more anxious.
"You're going to wear out the floor," Kirana said. Priire stopped and glared at her. "Would you stop worrying about her?" she said, ignoring the blond's glare.
"No."
"She will be fine." Laughing, Kirana added, "Since she has some of your genes, she will definitely be fine."
Priire plopped down next to Kirana and sighed. "I can't help it - she is my daughter."
"How did Kousotsu react to all this?" the pearlescent-haired girl asked.
"He was a lot calmer than I was. He told me the same thing you did, to calm down and that everything will turn out alright." Priire still wasn't convinced.
Kirana nodded.
Kalil slowly got up, careful not to disturb Tashita, who was still sleeping. He went to the water's edge, knelt, and splashed some cool water on his face to help wake him up. He looked back over his shoulder and saw the brunette waking up. He smiled, glad they were back together. He too was afraid that she was dead but wouldn't accept it, just as Tashita wouldn't.
Tashita walked toward Kalil, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She, too, knelt down and splashed the cool water in her face to wake her up. Before she knew what was going to happen, freezing water was splashed in her face again.
"That's cold!!" Tashita gasped from the iciness of the water. She then looked toward Kalil as a devilish smile crept over his face.
"You..." she said and quickly splashed water into Kalil's face.
Before either of them knew it, they were in a water fight. Laughing and waist deep in the lake, they were having fun. Soaked to the bone, they walked up on shore, leaning on each other and still laughing.
"Well, well, well. So the lovers have found each other once again."
They both looked up at the redheaded figure above them.
"Ariel," Tashita said annoyedly.
"Who? You know her?" Kalil asked.
"Yes, unfortunately. She's a Sith." Kalil gave Tashita a confused look. Tashita sighed. "I was going to tell you..."
"I have come to claim my belongings," Ariel stated, cutting Tashita off.
"I am not yours!!" Tashita yelled angrily.
Ariel smiled. "So you still don't know - either of you."
"Know what?" Kalil asked, confused as ever.
With an even bigger smile, Ariel said, "This is going to be fun."
"What are you talking about?!" Tashita and Kalil yelled.
"Why, your pasts, of course. Both of you knew each other before your life here on Earth," Ariel said.
They both looked at each other, and neither of them saw the blast coming toward them. The blast knocked them both out.
"Has she come back yet?" Priire asked Ippin.
"For the millionth time, no." Ippin rolled her eyes. Priire was antsy - she couldn't keep still. Her daughter was on Earth, and there wasn't anything she could do. She couldn't even protect her if she got in trouble.
Blackness, nothingness, silence. Tashita shivered. She tried to look around but was unable to identify anything but pitch black. She hugged herself; she was alone once again.
"Tashita?" Hearing her name startled her.
"Yes - is that you, Kalil?" she managed to answer back.
Kalil nodded, but he too noticed he was surrounded by darkness, so he answered, "Yes."
"Where are you? I can't see anything," Tashita said.
"Keep talking, and I will come to you," Kalil answered.
Tashita talked while Kalil was fumbling around in the dark. Suddenly, Tashita felt a hand on her arm. She jumped, but it was only Kalil finally reaching her. They hugged in the blackness.
"Any idea where we are?" Kalil asked.
"No. At least we're not alone - we have each other," Tashita stated.
"Yeah. Now, there was something you were going to tell me?" "Yes, there is. I am..."
Before she could finish her sentence, they found themselves in a dark room. The darkness had lifted some so they could actually see their surroundings. The surroundings were familiar to Tashita.
"Not again," Tashita groaned.
"What?" Kalil said. He was cut short by a certain redheaded woman standing by some vials, saying something about this being her greatest experiment.
"Something is real familiar about this," Kalil said.
Tashita noticed something new to her, someone standing in the corner of the room. She had not noticed him before when Priire and she had visited this place once before. He was wearing a dark uniform. Shadows fell across his body so it made it impossible for Tashita to make his features out.
"This is where I was created." There was disappointment in her voice.
"Created? You weren't born?"
"No. See that woman?" She pointed in the direction of the redheaded woman. "Her name is Ariel, the one that we saw before we came her, the one who is a Sith, the one who created me from someone's genes."
Kalil hugged Tashita closer. This was familiar to him somehow. He couldn't place it, but he understood; he somehow knew.
Suddenly the person Tashita had noticed earlier had walked toward where Ariel was standing.
"What do you want of me now, Master?" he asked.
"To protect my creation. My little pawn, my little girl," Ariel said.
As the man came out of the shadows, Tashita and Kalil both gasped. The features of the man were exactly like Kalil's.
"How?" Kalil asked, dumbfounded.
"I... I don't know," Tashita said, also dumbfounded.
"I'm starting to worry - this isn't like Tashita to be gone this long," Kousotsu said with a concerned look.
"I know," Ippin said.
"Did she tell you why she wanted to go to Earth?"
"No, just that she needed to go to Earth."
Both Ippin and Kousotsu had worried looks upon their faces.
Suddenly, their surroundings began to change. Tashita and Kalil both found themselves in a new room, with Kalil's double pacing back and forth in the room. They exchanged confused glances and watched the scene unfold before their eyes.
"I can't believe what she did! She should of never messed around with that senshi's genes. It's wrong!" He punched a hole in the wall with his fist. "I've had about enough of her - she's gone to far this time." With that, he stormed out of the room where Kalil and Tashita were.
Again, their surroundings changed. "I am getting sick of this." Kalil complained. Tashita nodded her head in agreement.
In this room, a small brunette child sat in bed rocking back and forth, a sad look upon her face. Kalil's double slowly entered the room. The small child's face brightened up some, but then grew sad again.
"What's wrong?"
"Mum told me to stay put. I can't leave my bed or something bad will happen to me."
"She told you that? How about if I carry you away, far away from here."
"No, then I won't be around Mum. I don't want to leave."
"Come on, sweetie - you know me. I would never hurt you," he said as he was picking up the small brunette.
"Okay, if you promise not to go far."
"Come on, I don't have to promise anything. You know me." He was trying to get out of promising anything, seeing as he didn't want to break her trust.
She nodded in agreement. He left the room with the child in his arms.
Tashita and Kalil, still in each other's arms, stared at each other in amazement. The scene once again changing, but this time they recognized it, for they found themselves on Earth. They both knew to keep quiet, for they both were caught up in the story of their pasts. They suddenly heard crying.
"Please!! Take me back. I wanna go home!" the small tear-filled face pleaded.
He sighed. He thought, Such an innocent child, and she already knows evil. He grew sad. He tried to do some good for once, but it wasn't working. He was forced to do something that he really didn't want to do. He waved his hand over the child's face. The child stopped crying and fell directly to sleep. He had erased her memory. He sighed again; it was the only way she would be able to live a normal life. He was going to do what Ariel said; he was going to look after the small Tashita, but under his conditions - on Earth and away from evil. A strange smile crossed his face; he was doing something good, and it warmed his heart.
From behind him, he heard a cruel laugh. He narrowed his eyes, for he knew that laugh.
He spun around and came face-to-face with Ariel.
"And where do you think you're going with my girl?"
"Away from you," he stated plainly.
Ariel got upset. "And to think, I thought you were my most trusted follower. Now you will pay!!"
She blasted him and he quickly dodged the attack. Ariel now was fully outraged. "You will die for deceiving me!!"
Kalil was determined to make sure Tashita would survive, even if he didn't. Out of sight from Ariel, he placed the sleeping child under a bush. He tenderly kissed her forehead and whispered her name - Tashita - in her ear to make sure she at least knew her name. He quickly left the area for fear that Ariel would see him and take Tashita back. He didn't get very far when he was hit in the back from a blast. He crumpled to the ground.
"You will never have her!!" he yelled to Ariel.
Ariel finished the job and killed Kalil. She went and kneeled at the side of her former follower. She cursed when she found that Tashita was not with him.
"Yes, I will - one of these days I will get her back," Ariel retorted and left.
Nearby, a small child slowly woke up. She said her name - Tashita - out loud. The little girl got up and went in search of food. She knew she was hungry, but that was the only thing she was sure of. She just couldn't remember anything else. The confused child wandered off.
The surroundings were now changing again. Kalil turned to look in the face of Tashita. He couldn't make out her features, so he carefully put his hand on her face, only to find that it was wet from her tears. He took one of her hands and gently put it to his face to show that he, too, was crying.
"So that's what happened to us." She sniffed and tried to wipe some of her tears away, but she only made room for more tears.
"At least we now know the truth," he said as he wiped some of his tears away.
"You died to save me." It took a minute for a confused look to cross her face. "If you died, how are you here now, with me?"
A couple of minutes after she said that, the next scene was set before them. Hearing the sound of a bell ringing, Kalil and Tashita observed Kalil before some anonymous figures.
"Seeing as you saved that child as your last deed before you died, we are convinced there is good in you after all. You are given a second chance of life. Your memory will be erased, and you will be sent to Earth." Kalil bowed before them, and in an instant, he was gone.
Kalil and Tashita found themselves back on Earth.
They saw off in the distance, a teen. A pre-teen at that. The brown-headed pre-teen girl sat on a step, crying. A brown-headed pre-teen boy walked up to the crying girl. They saw the interaction between them. They both knew what happened; they remembered that moment. The moment they both meet each other for the first time.
Both in tears, they held each other close in a death grip. They never wanted to lose or be apart from each other ever again.
Kalil awoke. He had a hard time focusing his eyes. He looked over at Tashita, and she too was waking up. They both found that they had a hold on each other's arms. They let go and saw the resulting red marks on their arms.
"So, they finally wake up. Have a nice nap?" Ariel was obviously being sarcastic.
"What do you want?" Kalil yelled.
"I got what I want - my possessions that I lost years ago," Ariel stated while crossing her arms.
"We are not your possessions, and we are not staying here!" Tashita was getting mad. "Eclipse Star-Force Power!"
Kalil watched in amazement as Tashita transformed into Sailor Eclipse. Suddenly he got a feeling in the pit of his stomach, a feeling like he never experienced before.
"I am Sailor Eclipse, senshi of calmness. You will let us go peacefully, or I'll kick your six!" She smiled as she added the last part.
Ariel smiled, knowing that killing them would be easy. She blasted Sailor Eclipse.
"Tashita!! You little witch, you better not have killed her or I'll..." Kalil was angry.
"Or you'll what?" she laughed as she flipped her red hair behind her shoulder. "You'll hurt me? Oooh, I'm scared." She rolled her eyes.
Kalil had had enough. He closed his eyes and was wrapped in white light. He slowly got up to face the redhaired Sith. He was now clad in armor, with a sword by his side. Ariel backed up into Sailor Eclipse.
On instinct, Kalil said, "I am Shadow Knight, knight of secrecy. You will let us go now."
Ariel gulped and disappeared. She had obviously transported Sailor Eclipse and Shadow Knight, because they found themselves by the Jedi Temple. They both smiled.
Before anything else happened to them Eclipse, blurted out, "I was going to tell you that I am a senshi."
"I can see that now." Shadow Knight smiled. "And I'm your knight."
They both smiled and hugged each other once again. They both de-transformed.
Priire, Kousotsu, Ippin, and a few others came running out of the Temple.
"Where have you been? We all have been worried," Ippin told Tashita.
"We found our forgotten pasts," Kalil said.
"And who exactly is this?" Priire was getting a little protective.
"This is my knight, Shadow Knight. His name is Kalil." She rested her head on Kalil's chest.
Priire was growing restless, seeing her daughter with a strange man. Kousotsu had to place his arms around Priire to restrain her.
"Oh, Aunt Ippin." Tashita handed something to Ippin. "There you go, just like I promised."
Ippin squealed. "Manga!! Thanks, Tashita!!" She ran off toward the temple, eager to read her new manga.
Tashita chuckled and hugged Kalil close. Everybody had gone back inside except for Tashita and Kalil.
"We will never be alone again. We are meant to be together, forever," Kalil said gently, cradling Tashita's head in his hands.
Kalil and Tashita kissed. They had both found each other and their memories.
