Chapter 2 - FIRST SIGHT
A/N: I do not own Sailor Moon and the following characters. Copyright rules apply.
This scenes in this chapter is taken from Episodes 1-6.
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3 October 2003. Friday. That was the day I first met Tsukino Usagi. Perhaps to some, the start of our romance should be one where we fell in love at first sight or at the very least, felt some stirrings of recognition. But the simple fact was that we didn’t. Not even close. I was at the Renaissance Hall to check out a jewelry show by a famous jewel designer, Osaka Mayumi, that would be held there the next day. I couldn’t let such a chance go by. The Ginzuishou might be there, no matter how unlikely the possibility.
I was just passing by some clothes rack when I bumped into her. She was in her school uniform and at that time, looked like any other typical middle school girl to me. The only thing striking about her was her unusual hairstyle, which made me notice her a bit more than I usually would, but did not hold my attention for long. I couldn’t even remember the conversation I held with her now, but as Usagi like to remind me every now and then, I was a jerk. We certainly didn’t leave each other with a good impression. If not for the later events, we probably would part as strangers and never give each other a single thought for the rest of our lives. Fate intervened though and gifted me with something which I did not know I was missing in my life. For that, I will always be grateful.
The next day was the first time I saw Sailor Moon. I couldn’t make her out at all. What kind of person was she? Dressed in a sailor suit, not unlike the school uniform I saw a girl wearing just the day before, but flitting past the youma’s attacks like a gazelle. Her impossible leaps and bounds, and finally, a surge of tremendous energy from a slender rod destroyed the youma in a shorter time than I thought possible. I was mesmerized.
I had already checked the jewels, deeming them of no significance and was about to go back when I saw her battling the youma. Hiding behind a pillar, I watched the whole battle unfold before me. She seemed not unlike an avenging angel, at least until she suddenly started jumping up and down, congratulating herself on her success. The image I had was dispelled at once. I could not help but smile though. Her exuberance was delightful. There were certainly worse things than a mini-skirted heroine saving the day, even if she did behave more like a teenager than a superhero.
I was about to leave when a flash caught my eye. A jagged crystal was flying straight at her and she, like the proverbial deer caught in the headlights, was shocked into a rigid stance. I did not think. I simply acted to save her, shoving her out of harm’s way. Seems that despite her saving the day, I was going to be the knight in shining armour after all. The look of awe in her eyes told me as much and I left the Hall somehow in a lighter mood than I usually would be after yet another failed mission. It was going to be the first of our many encounters.
We met several times over the next few weeks, both in our civilian and non-civilian forms. It was as if, after establishing the initial connection, the pull of fate was strengthened. The threads of destiny spared no effort in binding us tighter and tighter by throwing us together all the time in different situati
Of course, I may be reading too much into it. After all, we, and the Dark Kingdom were after the same things and a perfectly logical explanation is that we met each other all the time because we were both in the same area so as to find the Ginzuishou/ fight the enemy (which amounted to the same thing anyway at that time). Still, no matter how rational and logical that sounds, I have a sneaking suspicion that fate had a hand in it. Or maybe that’s because I’m around Usagi too much nowadays and she always prefers the first theory. She’s the hopeless romantic, not me.
It was during one of those encounters that we first learned each other’s name. I was at the PGS Cultural School Ceramic Art Exhibition, after seeing a photo on the newspaper from an article about the exhibition. I had spotted the lecturer in charge of the exhibition wearing a necklace with a pendant that looked as if it might be the Ginzuishou. I had to check it out. I dropped my name tag along the corridor though and of course, Usagi had to be the one to find it. It was such moments like this that made me question logical explanations.
“Chijou Ei.” Till now, I still snort in disbelief that anyone her age could have gotten the kanji wrong, but that’s simply very Usagi. Tsukino Usagi. It was a name that might have sounded ridiculous for anyone else, but… how fitting for her. Still, to be perverse, and I admit, just a bit aggravated that she had gotten my name wrong, I called her “Piggy”. I am like that sometimes. This part of my character just slipped out without my notice at odd moments. Like a mischievous imp that could not be caged. Despite this, and notwithstanding the fact that at that time, we were pretty much still strangers, her name somehow stayed in my mind.
As Tuxedo Kamen, I took on a role as her protector, even though I told myself on several occasions that I should have nothing to do with them. My main mission was to find the Ginzuishou and stop the dreams that haunted me every night. More vitally, I needed to find out what was so important about those dreams and if it had anything to do with my forgotten past. Rationally, I knew that I would hardly have anything to do with such matters at such a young age, but the six years of blankness still worried me, no matter how much I tried not to care. I wondered if there was some dark secret in my past that was hidden by my memory loss and the dreams were my subconscious trying to reveal that to me. No matter how implausible, these thoughts lingered and being who I was, I had to analyze and probe. It was no use telling me to leave things be. It’s simply not in my nature.
However, in spite of everything, I could not help myself. Something about Sailor Moon drew me in and I could not just stand by and watch her get hurt. There was no reason for it. It was just not possible for me. It seemed almost programmed in me to protect her. Not that she needed much saving, especially after the other senshi joined her in battle. She could take care of herself quite well, that much I could see. She was a natural fighter and watching her battle the youmas with the other senshi was almost like watching a beautifully choreographed, if deadly, dance. Still, the occasional time I was able to help, such as assisting her out of that sub-space, made me more determined to stay close. And the more I watched, the more she rose in my estimation.
She was beautiful, of course, but that was a given. All the senshi were beautiful. But even then, she was more than that for me. I respected her courage and admired her selflessness, but looking back, it was her sunny nature and optimism that appealed the most to me. She was and is still able to see beauty in everything, no matter how bad things were. I had to smile at the memory of that day when we fell off a building together. I was at Zaibatsu Sakuraki’s birthday party to see if the Blue Crystal she was debuting was in fact the Ginzuishou and as usual, was duly involved in the senshi’s battle. Sailor Moon’s dive to save the crystal threw her off-balance and I had watched in horror as she was about to plunge down seventy storeys.
NO!!!
I had thrown myself after her and caught her just in time but the impact of her fall made it impossible to haul her up. It was in fact, pulling me down as well.
“It’s no good. Just let me go.” She was characteristically selfless. But it was an impossible demand. I could not let her go. I chose not to question why. Instinctively, I knew the answer to that was not one in which I was ready for. Might never be ready for.
As I was falling with her, oddly, I was at peace. I was plunging to my death and all I could think about was that she was with me. I only regretted that I could not save her. I guess I should have known better. Super heroes do not die so easily. A soft warm glow encased us and instead of plummeting to the ground, we drifted instead. While I was still shocked by the turn of events, she was already past that, joy emanating from her very being as she sang a popular song that I often heard on radio those days. She did not even seem fazed by the experience and instead was entranced by the beauty surrounding her. The quintessential optimist, as opposed to me, the eternal pessimist. Her singing might be just average, but I could not help but smile at her infectious enthusiasm. It was what made her song beautiful.
As we touched the ground, her endearing apology had made me smile again. She just saved me and instead of expecting thanks, she was apologizing. Only she would do something like that and sounded utterly sincere about it. It delighted and annoyed me all at once. I did not need to like her more than I already did. I had a mission after all, a very important one, and I could not afford to keep being distracted from it. Which probably accounted for the sardonic and slightly harsh tone I took later on as Luna questioned me about my identity and motives. It was a question I was not even sure I had answers to, and it reminded me that Sailor Moon and I were searching for the same thing.
“As long as we search for the same thing, perhaps we’re enemies.”
I told Luna that and that was going to be my mantra as well. I needed to keep this fact firmly in mind. I might feel compelled to protect her all the time but I was not going to let it affect my primary goal.
Still... Enemies.
Why did that one word pain me though?
At that time, I could not answer that.
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