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By Annika Nesicha/Sailor Bakura
Xarae
Kairiku
Coru and Aster
Tuxedo Jedi
Annika
The Jedi Master and The Shiroi Knight
Hisui and Obi-Wan
Ordinarily she would have saved her personal sadness for when she was alone, but when she awoke that morning, there was a note laying on the table. She wasn’t the type to be nosy, yet something propelled her to read the letter. And now it was reminding her of the sharp pain of loss that she has felt every day since her love, Khameir, died.
"Dearest,
How the night stars remind me of your smile,
your eyes, your laugh, and your being. I watch
them tonight, and I think of you. If this were
only a different time and place, I would be free
to be with you, to love you. It is torture for
me, this living without you. On days when I
am most peaceful, I can almost smell you,
and I am in bliss. My arms ache to hold you.
I love you, if only in secret."
Xarae laid the note back on the table where she found it, the tears now sliding down her cheeks. Her warm hand wiped them away and pushed her hair behind her ears. Sighing, she stood and walked outside to the gardens. Each Senshi had a specific flower and in this garden they each were growing. She passed Chikako’s purple alyssum, Yuki’s Ume, Annika’s red roses, Priire’s asters, and finally she stopped in front of her white rose bush. They were a beautiful double bloom and filled the air with their fragrance. She remembered Khameir’s large hands, and how they would caress her face. How he would bring her white roses…
Her long legs glistened in the sunlight. From her position on the grounds of the Jedi Temple, she could see the young children, future Jedi, playing among the statuary. A young girl would close her eyes tightly and the other children ran and hid behind trees and crumbling figures. Their laughter echoed throughout the courtyard.
The little girl’s eyes snapped open, "One, two, three, you can’t hide your presence from me!" she yelled. Ah, Xarae thought, they are testing their Force skills. What an interesting game.
She smiled at them. Her children, had they lived, would have loved to play these sorts of games. Once more her eyes became cloudy and her heart beat accelerated. No, not here. She wouldn’t cry, not when she should be enjoying herself this day. It was too beautiful of a sky to let her tears fall.
As the morning dew was drying, she was glad she thought of Khameir, glad she still had the feelings she did, even if they were horribly painful. It meant that her passion and love was just as strong. A smile crossed her usually placid face, for she was also glad she decided to be nosy and read the love letter. The breeze picked up and blew through her long hair, it caressed her face. He was close, he shared her pain and love.
"I love you too," she whispered back to the wind.
"Wouldn’t it be wonderful if this was for me?" she said aloud hugging the document to her chest. Kairi-chan liked daydreaming, and this letter plus the boy outside gave her enough ammunition for enough daydreams to last her all day. She folded it and took it with her to the kitchen where she met up with Ippin and Priire. They were trying to make something called Fiesta Gungan Party Creme Blue Boober Balls with Blueberry Sauce.
She manoeuvred between the two bickering sisters and made her way to the refrigerator. A bowl was perilously perched on the edge of the counter and when it started to fall, Kairiku quickly reached for it, and caught it with one hand.
"Kairi-chan! What are you doing in here? Can’t you see we’re busy?" Priire snapped, snatching the bowl from her hands.
"Yeah! We’ll play with you later, Kairi-chan! Go talk with Anakin," Ippin chimed in. Pouting, Kairiku made sure they weren’t looking when she replaced the sugar with Kessel salt. She smiled sweetly and excused herself. That’ll teach them, she sang in her head.
She skipped down the hallway and up the stairs to her room, stopping on the way to eat some of the candy that was always in a huge glass dish. She collapsed on her bed all the while thinking of the romantic things that awaited her when she got older. She reached for the letter, but it was gone. I must’ve dropped it in the kitchen, she determined. Oh well, she didn’t need it anyway. She had an imagination. She pictured herself sitting in a lovely room. Candles were lit and giving off a glow that illuminated her face.
"Are you an angel?" Anakin asked from behind her. She turned to see the young boy. He was wearing a black tuxedo and he brought her a bouquet of flowers.
"Oh Anakin," she said rising from her seat. But he stopped her by putting a hand on her shoulder.
"I’m glad you got my letter. I was afraid that either Priire or Ippin would get it. And you know they can be such dummy heads-"
Kairiku came out of her daydream. "Dummy heads? No, that was too childish. Let’s try that part again," she said slipping back into her daydream.
"I was afraid either Priire or Ippin would get it. And you know they can be so immature." That’s better, she thought.
"Oh, I agree. Let’s have dinner."
"Of course. It looks delicious," he said. He stopped and kissed her on the cheek before sitting down to eat. "You know Kairiku, I really love-"
"Kairi-chan!!!!!" came a loud bellow. It was Priire. They must have tasted the cake batter. Kairi-chan laughed so hard tears ran from her eyes. When she stopped giggling she shrugged her shoulders. They can wait a while longer, she decided.
"I have more important things to think about now," she said, smiling.
"This is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever read!" Coru sighed. Obviously it must be from Riku. It had to be, who else could write such poetry? She sighed again, dreamily and waltzed around the kitchen.
"Why are you so happy?" Priire asked, the taste finally gone. She watched as Coru danced and danced around the kitchen, humming a song. With one quick gesture, Priire grabbed the note from her hand.
"Give that back Aster! It’s mine!"
Priire read the letter. Tears came to her eyes. "It’s from Kousotsu. I just know it is, who else would write this to me?"
"To you? It’s from Riku. It’s for me!"
"Yeah right! How do you know it’s for you, huh? It’s not signed."
"That’s true, so how do you know it’s for you?" Priire sighed. Her sister was right. There was no real way to know. It didn’t matter; Priire knew it just had to be from her Kousotsu. She smiled and decided that tonight would be special, she would dress up and they could go star gazing, just her and Tuxedo Jedi. She cleaned off the flour from her forehead and exchanged her plastic cooking gloves for her black ones.
"Where’s the letter?" she asked after noticing it was gone from where she laid it.
"What letter?"
"Oh, Coru…you had better give me that!"
"Come and get it Aster!" The red head took off running, with Priire following. Ippin looked over her shoulder and laughed at Priire. A moment later it was Priire’s turn to laugh because Ippin had run straight into Kousotsu, and she fell on her backside.
"Ow," she moaned, rubbing her back. Priire snatched the letter from her sister, wrapped her arms around the tall man, and kissed him on the cheek.
"Let’s go star gazing tonight."
"What’s the occasion?" the puzzled man wondered. Priire winked at him.
"You know why. You’re so sweet!" she said, kissing him again. She handed him the letter, then took her sister’s hand.
"Let’s go, you need to help me find something to wear."
When he first came to this universe, he had no thoughts of love or romance. Until he saw her. At first, his feelings were that of a strong friendship, yet over time, they blossomed into something more than friends. Something more than he could describe.
He smiled and put the letter next to the candy dish. He remembered the time Priire got into a shouting match with a card dealer who tried to swindle her, and how it ended up in a shoot out. She was tough and liked to defend herself, but he saw the look in her eyes, when he, as Tuxedo Jedi came to her defence. She smiled despite herself. From that moment, she always looked at him with those eyes. The eyes that told of a thousand lifetimes of love.
He sighed. Tonight they were going to look at the stars. Maybe he should try one more time to write her something. It won’t matter if it’s not the prettiest sounding letter, as long as it comes from my heart, he thought. He gathered paper and pen and walked outside to sit. His thoughts always flowed more freely when he was in nature.
He waved at Xarae who was pruning her white rose bushes. She had placed a few in her hair. He noticed Kairiku lazily staring at Anakin who was busy showing some of the younger children the best way to handle a lightsaber. From an upstairs window, he could hear Priire throwing clothes all over the floor and Ippin telling her to try and not be so messy.
He had to laugh at that. He closed his eyes. Images of Priire came floating into his head. He couldn’t think of words to describe his feelings; they were so overwhelming. They almost had lives of their own. He put the tip of the pen to the paper and wrote the first words that came to his mind:
I love you Priire.
Her heart was racing. She wondered how he knew she frequented the candy dish.
"It’s lucky for whomever this admirer of mine is, that no one else found this letter!" she said. "But how did it get so torn up?" She read the letter over and over again trying to figure out who the secret mystery man was. Only a few possible choices ran through her mind. She was hoping it was one in particular; a certain Jedi friend of hers. She sighed.
She remembered all the boys back home on Bakura. None of them ever paid her any attention. Even when they found out she was a princess and the next queen, they still considered her to be not worthy of their time. Now, someone was writing her love letters. She sighed again. How perfect.
Her hair was still up in the two familiar white odango. She took them down and brushed her hair. It fell to the middle of her back in soft, wavy, white tendrils. She never considered herself pretty, but with the light falling just so, and the healthy blush of love colouring her cheeks, she decided she might not be so weird looking after all. Pulling out her pink bag of makeup, she applied only the slightest bit, and put only a heart shaped barrette in her hair, leaving it lay long.
Putting the letter in her pocket, she figured she should go into town to see if the new shipment of bubble bath was finally in. The door to her room opened quietly and she crept down the stairs. She found Seiyun busily reading over various Senatorial reports from the Supreme Chancellor. She was making faces at the papers and mumbling under her breath.
Kousotsu was sitting outside writing something, and Kairi-chan was getting lightsaber lessons from Anakin. She saw Obi-Wan supervising the Jedi children as they played training games. Her heart beat quickened and her face blushed. Miharu sat nearby and came over to talk to her. "Why are you so happy today?"
"None of your business," she said.
"You know, I think at least half of the Senshi have raving crushes on that guy. I don’t know why of course. He’s quite dull, if you ask me."
"Well, I didn’t ask you, and he’s not dull! He’s the most wonderful man in the whole world! Besides, he’s only a few years older than I am," She stuck her tongue out at Miharu. Chakra came running up to Annika and accidentally knocked her over.
"Annika, can I come with you to town? I wanted to get some candy?"
"Sure!" she answered standing up and brushing dirt out of her hair, "But we have to get my bubble bath first, OK?"
"All right, let’s go!" The young girl grabbed her hand and led her away. Annika stole three quick glances at Obi-Wan as he scolded a child for hitting another smaller child. Then he laid a hand on the boy’s head and told him to mind the Force.
Annika sighed and blushed again.
"What is the meaning of this?" Miharu yelled thrusting the small piece of paper that had fallen from Annika’s pocket at him. He waved it back and forth in the older man’s face.
Obi-Wan looked at him quizzically, "I have no idea what you are referring to Miharu."
"Don’t be coy. I know you wrote this letter. And I don’t know who you think you are, but you had better stay away from her. Stay away from all of them!"
"Who and what?"
"Annika! And the rest of the Sailor Jedi! I’m warning you, Kenobi…they are mine!"
"All of them?"
"Yeah, so?"
Obi-Wan laughed and folded his arms, "What exactly is that piece of paper that seems to incriminate me?"
Miharu opened the wrinkled paper and showed it’s contents to Obi-Wan. When he reached for it, Miharu stuck it into his shirt pocket.
Obi-Wan cleared his throat and glanced around the grounds. "I’m sorry Miharu, but you are mistaken. I never wrote that letter, and I’m not sure who did, but I’m too busy to worry about such things." He began to walk off, but Miharu jumped in front of him.
"I know I haven’t been here long, but I know a liar when I see one."
"Miharu, I have no reason to lie. If I wrote that letter, I’d admit it, I have nothing to hide. Besides, how do you know it was from a man? It could have been written by one of the Senshi."
The black haired, blue eyed man thought about this for a moment. "Who could be so lovesick they could’ve written something this?"
"I assure you I don’t know. I suggest you just forget about the letter. Put it somewhere and forget about it, I’m sure the owner will claim it eventually. I wouldn’t however, tell anyone about it, as it could rather embarrass the writer."
Miharu realised that Obi-Wan was right. Which infuriated him, considering he didn’t like the cocky, good-looking man, and was always jealous of the time he spent with the girls. He wasn’t worried about Kousotsu or Souru because they both had girlfriends. Miharu knew his job was to protect the women, the soldiers, and he didn’t need any other Jedi trying to take over his job. And Miharu just plain loved females. He was flirty and readily admitted that, he couldn’t help it if he was possessing of the girls, it was his nature to protect.
Obi-Wan excused himself and Miharu took his advice. He went back to the Room Behind the Waterfall and laid the note on the front table.
"I think I need to apologise to Miharu, is he in?"
"No, he went for a walk with Kyoko and Chikako. You’re more than welcome to wait, I’m just making some tea, follow me to the kitchen." They walked past a napping Mika and Solai, into the kitchen. Hisui rolled her eyes at the mess that Priire and Ippin left. "Can you believe this? These are soldiers, and they make the biggest messes I’ve ever seen!" They both laughed. The redhead set the trash in her arms onto the counter while she poured Obi-Wan and herself some hot tea.
She loved quiet moments like this, when she has a chance to reflect and think of her future. Her future with Luke Skywalker. From the moment that she had been taken to the future to meet an aged Anakin Skywalker, and he told her about how she was Mara Jade, his son Luke’s future wife. She always felt a sense of peace and love wash over her when she thought about Luke. She also knew how important Obi-Wan would be to Luke Skywalker, and she was forever grateful. Plus, he was really cute.
"So, did you and Miharu have an argument?"
"Not really, Hisui. I just was somewhat rude to him earlier and I wish to talk to him about it."
Hisui nodded. She got the sugar and sat down everything on a silver tray that was a gift from Queen Amidala. Obi-Wan moved the trash out of the way to make room for the tray when he saw a familiar piece of paper. He slowly opened it to reveal the contents of the letter inside. Using two quick movements, he slipped it into the folds of his Jedi robe.
"Tea’s ready!"
"Oh, thank you Hisui, but I’m afraid I must be going. We’ll have tea tomorrow, I promise. I always keep my promises." He cleared his throat nervously twice and hastily exited. Hisui shrugged her shoulders and sipped her tea.
Obi-Wan took a deep breath and looked at the paper. "I don’t know how this got out of my diary, but I’m going to kill Anakin!" He ran back to his room inside the Jedi Temple.
Hisui was joined by Yukiko and they both drank tea and talked about the strange ambivalence that had settled over some of the Senshi. Yuki thought it was Coruscant fever, and Hisui thought it was Gungan fever. At any rate, they both agreed that whatever it was, it was nice to have so many of the Senshi in good spirits.
About the Senshi in this story:
Xarae/Sailor Iridonia
Khameir/Darth Maul
Chikako/Sailor Myrkr
Yukiko/Sailor Hoth
Annika/Sailor Bakura
Priire/Aster/Sailor Asteroid
Kairiku/Sailor Chibi Naboo
Ippin/Coru/Sailor Yavin
Riku
Kousotsu/Tuxedo Jedi
Seiyun/Sailor Coruscant
Miharu/The Shiroi Knight
Chakra/Sailor Chibi Dathomir
Souro/Corellian Knight
Hisui/Sailor Vjun
Mika/Sailor Yavin IV
Kyoko/Sailor Naboo
