The Circlet Seasonable Challenge
Theme: Spring Fever
Word count: 3121
The Klutzy Ghost Bunny
Pregnancy was a concept that made most girls go ‘Oooh and Aww! Babies, be these bunnies, kittens, (Mauans especially cute), to the ultimate in warm and fuzzy, adorable human babies. We squee whenever a girl’s mother, or aunt or girlfriend breaks the exciting news that they’re pregnant. Mother told me of girls at school who had to take an unexpected hiatus and landed in the maternity clinic and you get that call on your cell telling you to ‘move your butt quick smart to the hospital’ to sit by your friend’s bedside and hopefully get to hold the baby. Well, this time, in my case this was something a little different, especially if you find out you’re about to give birth to your own mother!
A Candle for Mother
Crystal Tokyo circa 30th century
Akina, meaning spring flower. That, was going to be the name of our first child, of that I was sure. For Spring Fever was sweeping over Crystal Tokyo in a blanket of pink and white. Couples, both the young and sometimes very old were spending time together planning, reminiscing or both as they strolled along the pathways stopping every now and again to watch the children playing or taking in the scent of the fragrant sakura. The magical feeling inescapable. I loved this time of year. I also loved to dance in the restored Azabu Park with Luna, Diana and the girls. Today was no exception. Helios looked on and laughed as he and some of the palace children clapped along as a shower of sakura blossoms fell all around us.
The Cherry Blossom Festival was a special time for us all, yet it was also a little sad, too. Memorial Day was also the focal point of the festival. Starting at dawn, we read out a tribute to mother. Father read his poetic prose dedicated to her memory also.
Dignitaries from the planetary kingdoms, as far as the Andromeda Galaxy attended. Tears were on the faces of all in the crowd, not just tears of sadness, but of love in remembrance of a woman who gave her all to protect those under her reign. Helios and I then read our dedications. Vesta, Juno, Palla and Ceres joined all the Senshi and Shitennou, whom in their turn recited their own tributes. Mars had sung a number of songs she’d dedicated to her friend and monarch. She would cry, as would we all at the performance of ‘My Only Love’ as Endymion played the piano and Rei, Venus and I sang the lyrics with such feeling there wasn’t a dry eye in the place.
Later, a holo-presentation of Neo-Queen Serenity’s life was projected across the globe, the planets and to the stars. Then the names of the families lost in the Big Freeze were read out, and after a two-hour recess, songs performed by some of Crystal Tokyo’s hottest bands lifted the spirits of all as we danced until the evening ended with a stunning fireworks display.
An Apple for the Teacher?
I was queen of the Earth but I also had another career in my spare time. Yes, my chosen profession was a schoolteacher. I thought that so ironic as mother would have found it most amusing that I would become a sensei. But was I in for a surprise that morning as I prepared my notes and set the holo-imaging pods on the desks of my adolescent students. This was my fifth year at the Crystal Tokyo College. I loved it, and my peers were a great support and always there for me.
There I was, seated at my desk when I was distracted by something out of the corner of my eye. I heard her footfalls as she moved to the front of the classroom. A girl with a pack slung over her shoulder. But it hadn’t registered that there was something a little strange about her.
“New here?” I said, studying my notes and not looking up at the girl.
“Um, kind of, can I sit at the front of the class? I’m shy and need somebody to keep me on my toes as I tend to daydream a lot.”
“Yeah, sure,” I said, still lost in my notes. There was something about this girl, and her voice sounded so familiar. I couldn’t quite place it. But when I looked up the room was empty. “Huh? Where did she go?”
Later as I keyed in the data for the geology subject, I noticed out of the corner of my eye the strange girl. But this time I arched an eyebrow, looking at her with more attention this time, and gasped. She was transparent. I had to check myself as my students were looking at me with concern.
“Serenity Sensei, is everything all right?” Cho, one of the class’s brainiac students asked.
I looked at her and smiled. “Um… Cho, I’m fine, I wanted to thank you for writing such an amazing paper on butterflies, and it was wonderful and I think you ought to base your next paper on this subject as you’re passionate about it.”
She blushed, “Thank you Serenity Sensei, I was thinking along those lines myself.”
The rest of the class went on as per normal, but the ghost girl, all pink, looked up from her textbook, it too bubblegum pink. Our eyes locked. She winked and I almost died. Usagi, it was Usagi, my mother’s younger self. I couldn’t believe it. She was just as I remembered her when I was a little girl, but for the loud pink color.
I placed my hand on my chest and almost went into palpitations. I looked at her again to make sure I wasn’t’ imagining it, bad idea, it was mother all right. From the Odangos, to her large blue eyes, the only feature not hot pink. I knew she loved pink, but this was silly. A pink ghost? I was being haunted!
I was feeling faint, but composed myself as my students busied themselves with the holo-assignments I set for them. An hour passed, then another. I sat and watched as Usagi too was working on her presentation, albeit a ghostly version. The charade was in full swing.
I closed my eyes, and almost jumped out of my seat at the sound of a loud ‘pop’ coming from Usagi’s direction. “Who is chewing bubblegum?” I blurted out without thinking.
“But Serenity Sensei, you can’t get bubblegum these days, you must have heard something outside the window,” Haya, a girl in the seat right behind Usagi spoke up, frowning.
“Yeah, I think that was it… Okay class, five minutes to go and it’s lunch. I’m famished, I bet you guys are as well.” I looked towards Usagi who was giggling and I tried to keep my expression neutral, but I knew my mother dearest was teasing me and having the time of her life, or was that, post life? I had to wonder, was she ‘channeling her appetite through me? I was hungry, but more so than usual today and it made me paranoid.
I heard the bell for lunch going off, Usagi vanished, and I sighed and put on my jacket and slung my bag over my shoulder and followed the students out, Cho offering me a warm smile and I returned it as she tossed her bento box into the air and caught it and licked her lips. “Study does make one hungry, Serenity Sensei, enjoy yours!” she bowed and I returned the gesture.
“Thank you, Cho.”
~*~
I walked along the causeway, heard somebody whistling behind me, and thought I knew the tune. I stopped abruptly and the silhouette of Usagi passed right through me as she had a supernatural, ‘klutz attack and landed flat on her ethereal face just ahead of me. I couldn’t help it. I burst out laughing.
Usagi growled and picked up her ghost pack, its otherworldly contents, including a digital music unit and headphones, scattered all over the floor. I wondered if she used it and if it actually played anything as she stared at me as if she expected me to help her pick up her belongings and put them into her pack.
“I’d help you up mother dearest,” I murmured, as nobody could hear me in the noisy passageway, thank the Kamis, my sanity uncompromised at least for the moment. ”I don’t think the laws of physics would allow me to help you up, Usagi.”
‘No I was not going crazy. I was, not. Going crazy, or was I?’
“You don’t have to laugh at me!” she said, heaving a sigh.
“You didn’t have to scare me half to death in class either,” I retorted. She huffed, and in the blink of an eye, her pack was back over her shoulder.
"Good to se some things don't change!" I muttered under my breath.
“That was mean!” she pouted and I rolled my eyes.
“Oh no, you’re not going to cry and make me feel bad, mother are you?”
“Do you really think I am here for my health… forgetting I said that, I’m dead, or somewhere in-between. But you get my point! Don’t’ you, Chibi-“
“Now hold it right there! I am not Chibi!” I kept my voice down as we went outside as some students were giving me an odd look. “Usagi, you’re going to have to be careful. We both do. You’re lucky nobody else can see you right now. Why is that actually?”
“Sorry Sere, got to go, secret ghost girl’s business!” she winked and vanished.
“Argh! No, you don’t-“
“Sorry Serenity Sensei, I didn’t mean to drop that paper, I’ll pick it up. I put in an all-nighter and I’m worn out…sorry.”
“Huh? Oh, yeah, it’s quite all right,” I grabbed the lifeline and clawed my way back to sanity once again. I was having a bad day and I had no idea when Usagi would show up next. I had so many questions of her, but I just couldn’t function rationally around her, as she was, well you know, Usagi!’ and a ghost.
~*~
I was feeling on edge. I had begun seeing my mother everywhere, her misty pink silhouette popping up in the most bizarre places. She appeared on holo-billboards, on my communicator, on the breakfast cereal packet pulling funny faces and even masquerading as a cyber doll and danced all around the throne room while I had to keep a straight face while entertaining an Orion diplomat and his wife. Not easy, I can tell you. Usagi was so naughty!
Spring had crept up on me unexpectedly and I had to get out of the house, no, palace and just be with nature and get my dose of fresh Crystal Tokyo air. I know, trite and cliché but that was how I felt that morning. I am not only a reluctant princess, but now I am a more reluctant queen. I miss her so; my mother was the epitome of love and of life itself.
Helios made love to me and it was so beautiful. I almost told him of the ghost of Usagi, but held my peace, for now. Besides, I had much more pleasurable things on my mind.
Bookcase
Seeing me forlorn on the patio in the morning crying, Helios sat beside me and took my hand. “Sere? I know there’s been something on your mind for the last week or so, is there something you wish to discuss?”
I sighed and thought if I couldn’t confide in Helios, my very own husband who presided over a realm that was as supernatural as one could get, then whom could I trust and so I spilled. “Usagi, it’s Usagi’s ghost. She is dare I say, haunting me, and she’s pink, even her odangos are bubblegum pink!”
I blanched as his eyebrows shot up and his brow furrowed. I braced myself for a lecture on stress or some such nonsense. But he surprised me. “You’ve been seeing her too?”
”Huh? You mean-“
“Yup, she’s been appearing to me every few days. So, I’m not going mad!” he sighed, the relief clearly visible now. He must have thought he was going mad.
“Oh mother!” I burst into tears. After I was done I felt normal again, even glad that we shared what was after all, a special bond with Usagi. My mother was visiting us as the teenage Usagi. This made sense as we puzzled over this over coffee.
“She always did love that part of her life and missed it the most.”
“Yes, those days in Tokyo of the past were special despite the enemies we fought. I think there is something she is trying to tell us, but what,” I asked, squeezing his hand.
“I have started to ask her questions, but she’s not letting on; I think that she will tell us when she is ready. We can only be patient for now,” Helios said, kissing me. I melted into his arms once more. He then picked me up in one easy motion and carried me to the bedroom, and we made love once more.
Queen Klutz
I couldn’t believe it, I was throwing up, I felt so bad, and leaning over the porcelain, I heaved.
“Oooh, that’s bad!” Usagi said, her face a lighter shade of pink.
“I am sick, deal with it, Usagi. Weren’t you like that with me?”
“I-I was, and you’re-“
“Pregnant!”
Usagi jumped up and down almost a dozen times and her ghostly plaits flopped about her body as if they possessed a life of their own.
“Oh yes, I’m pregnant mother and you’re going to be a great grandmother, albeit a teenage one!” I laughed, “and mother, Usagi, I love you!”
Usagi’s cerise figure drifted towards me and she knelt beside me and hugged me and I couldn’t believe it, I could feel her, kind of, her body was soft and warm. “I love you too darling, I am sorry for being such a pain in the ass over the last few weeks, but it’s been fun you know.”
“Yeah, it has been, and father, have you visited him the way you have Helios and i?” I ventured.
Usagi sighed and sat crossed legged on the floor and I put down the toilet seat and sat with as much dignity as I could manage after washing my face and waited.
“You remember the sandwiches that I caused to fly into the air after I somehow managed to make things move around the kitchen freaking out Mako-chan after I took an etheric tumble?” she giggled.
I grinned, “How can I forget that one, Usagi.” It was hilarious, there was Usagi flying into a pile of metal containers and mops and other kitchen paraphernalia and her pink silhouette like a blanket floating above the mess and then she snapped her fingers making all the airborne sandwiches reassemble and restack themselves on the platter in less than a second. I clapped. Makoto, gob smacked stared at me, then the whirling sandwiches and said, “New attack, Sere?”
Mother and I laughed till we cried and hugging her, was like hugging a very soft plushy, but why could I feel her now and not before. I didn’t know but I soon found out as we walked hand in hand into the living room where Helios stood and Usagi rushed into his arms and hugged him.
“Usagi, I think I know what is going on, but I would like you to explain it to us yourself,” Helios said, smiling at us both. Usagi, in that adorable way of hers, bit her lip and looked down shyly, doodling with her toe on the carpet.
“You’re not mad, Helios?” she said in a soft voice barely above a whisper. I shook my head. What were they on about anyway? Besides, I had my own news to share. But I needn’t have worried. “Well, you know when I destroyed Morok and the Dark Ones, and saved you guys and all I loved?”
“Yeah, I remember,” I said, beginning to choke up and Usagi, mother, was hugging me in an instant. I realized with a start that I could stroke her gorgeous pink hair; it felt so silky. That is, for a ghost.
She then looked up at me with tears in her eyes, smiling. “Well, I always wanted to recapture that life as I am now. I wanted so to live my life as a normal teenager and grow up in a world that was filled with love and peace…” she paused, looking first at Helios and back at me. “So, when I used the Ginzuishou in conjunction with Mamoru’s Kinzuishou, the Kami Amaterasu appeared on the threshold of this world and the beyond. That is the Crystal Nexus as you know, and it’s so pretty! But I digress,” Usagi smiled, then continued, “She asked if I had, any regrets, and if I had finished everything I has set out to do and I fell to my knees and shook my head. You know, she stood in front of me, all shiny like crystal and placed her hands on my head and she asked me to make a request of her and it would be granted.”
“And you asked for…” I smiled, able to wipe her tears away from cheeks as soft as butterfly wings, I was crying myself by this time. Helios knelt between us.
“I wanted to be with those I loved best. But in a new way in a new body and as your child, Sere. I am growing inside you. That is why you can sense and touch me. I had to tell you as now I am to return to your womb to be born anew.”
“Oh Usagi, my baby? Really? Oh, I don’t know what to say, major role reversal thing happening here mommy! I am so thrilled and I am looking forward to it. Will you remember all this?”
“I hope so, and I think it’s all right to tell me when I’m old enough as the Ginzuishou wants to give me back to you all, too. But in a new way!”
“Aishiteru, my beautiful baby girl!”
Crystal Palace News
Citizens of Crystal Tokyo, of the galaxy, and beyond. I have the great pleasure to announce the birth of Queen Serenity’s first child, Akina, meaning spring flower, and yes she is every bit as beautiful, too. The baby was born at 3 PM and her holo-images behind me with the king and her mother the Queen are just adorable. Happy birthday little Akina.
