A.N:
The main characters in this fic are from one of Naoko Takeuchi's earlier manga
series called 'The Cherry Project'.
But if you are familiar even slightly with The Cherry Project
(http://www.pqangels.com/cherryproject/cp-intro.html)
or even a fan of figure skating, you may like it. And it DOES have Usagi and
Mamoru in it.
SPOILERS for The Cherry Project because it takes place after that manga
ends.
This story takes place somewhere in the Sailormoon universe, all the inner
senshi are present, Chibi-Usa isn't (oop-sie. Oversight. Damn. ^_-).
Because TCP is manga, the Sailormoon characters are more manga based than
anything, although I think the anime might sneak in at certain times.
This is really, really, really mushy. Just warning you. ;;
-?Also, just like The Cherry Project, the action is focused not around
youmas or bad guys or magical powers, but about the confidence and strength one
must have inside themselves to meet a dream like winning a competition of any
kind. In other words: less action, more triple lutzes (what IS the plural of
'lutz' anyway?). ?
Disclaimer: The lovely Takeuchi Naoko takes credit for these wonderful manga I
am using. And even though it's *not* possible for a girl to do a quadruple, I
forgive her, and I'm sure Timothy 'Quad King' Goebel would, too. ;; :)
Silver Strings
A Love Story based on the Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon and The Cherry
Project, both works of manga-ka Naoko Takeuchi.
by Antigone
2000
PART I
I. Gold and Crystal
It was cool for springtime in Tokyo; a swift, though gentle, breeze
rushed between the skyscrapers and ruffled the beautiful pink and white of
cherry blossoms dotting the small city park.
Chiba Mamoru was out early that day, enjoying the walk to school. Like
much of the population that morning, he was forgoing any other form of
transportation for a chance to enjoy the brightest sunshine the city had seen
since last summer.
In a moment of carelessness that was rather out of character, he casually
lifted his face up to the sky, admiring the rare blue color that only spread
across the sky on days like this. Not looking where he was going, it was only
a short amount of time before a panicked, "Look out!" was his lone warning
before he snapped to attention, only to see a quick swirl of color flash by him
as he stumbled backward against a nearby building.
Gaining his footing back a little clumsily, ('I've been spending too much
time with Usako,' he thought dryly), Mamoru watched the scene before him in
amazement. The whirlwind of color, which upon closer inspection turned out to
be a short girl about his age, was just gliding to an amazingly graceful stop
on her purple in-line skates.
"I'm so sorry!" she said, even though she couldn't resist a quick
flourish to the small audience that her spectacular spin had attracted, "Are
you okay?"
She regarded the man in front of her guiltily, although it really was his
fault, she had hit him pretty hard when she went into an impromptu toe-loop to
avoid crashing into the nearby lamppost.
"I'm used to it," he answered cryptically, smiling tolerantly at her.
The girl returned his smile, a dimple appearing in her childlike face,
"Besides, it was my fault," he finished, as he took in her rather strange
appearance.
Flustered still from the near fall, she was desperately trying to tuck
one blonde braid back up to its ribbon. A school uniform jacket and skirt were
haphazardly flung over her warm-up clothes, the green subdued colors
distinguishing to Green Garden's Academy High School. Finally she gave a
little satisfied nod at her adjusted hair, which fastened in two strange loops
on either side of her head. Shifting a small duffel bag over her shoulder, she
called a quick good-bye to the still-stunned young man, and took off.
Wide-eyed Mamoru and the others gathered could just watch her as she
glided quickly down the crowded sidewalk, the sports bag over her shoulder
doing nothing to impede her impeccable balance and grace; even as she nearly
knocked into a few more hapless pedestrians.
"Wow," a student not much older than Mamoru commented to no one
specifically.
"I've seen her somewhere before," a woman said thoughtfully, finger to
her chin, "I wonder where?"
"She's such a cutie..."
Conversation fluttered and faded as the people dispersed, but as Mamoru
turned to leave, something glinting on the sidewalk caught his eye.
Nestled nearly completely into a large crack in the pavement lay a
beautiful golden chain, a glinting white crystal fastened on the end.
~~
Breathless, Asuka Chieri stumbled into the classroom, just in time, rows
and rows of perfectly groomed students taking in her appearance with shaking
heads.
Blue eyes downcast, Chieri walked into the room, fingers combing through
tangled blonde strands. One braid had unhooked and fell lopsidedly down the
left side of her face.
"Gomen nasai, Fujusawa-sensei," she said, bowing gracefully.
Her teacher just shook his head, "Iie, Asuka-san, you are not quite
late." Concern clouded his brown eyes for a moment as the girl took her seat
beside her brunette friend Nishimura Yuni.
"Practice go overtime again?" Yuni whispered under her breath.
Nodding, Chieri put a tired hand up to her forehead, "I just can't seem
to land right on the triple throw." She was about to continue when her teacher
stood, signaling the beginning of class.
Quickly putting all thoughts of skating out of her mind, the girl quickly
started taking notes, obviously overwhelmed by the information the teacher was
delivering. For a few moments Yuni just watched her friend, her face showing
faint worry.
~~
"Asuka-san?"
Chieri turned as she prepared to leave the classroom, books in hand and
gym bag over her shoulder. "Hai, sensei?"
Her teacher lowered her eyes for a moment before gesturing for her to
come stand in front of his desk. Finally looking up from his hands, he meet
her eyes and said, "We need to discuss your academic performance, Asuka-san."
Hugging her books to her chest, Chieri nodded silently, feeling her heart
sink in her chest.
"You came to us a straight-A student, top of the class and even Class
President all throughout Junior High. Now you come dangerously close to being
tardy to homeroom nearly every day this week. Is something wrong?"
From her position in the doorway, Yuni spoke up on behalf of her friend.
"Excuse me, sensei, but Chieri has risen very quickly in the world of figure
skating and-"
Cutting her off gently with a nod, he continued, not unkindly, "I realize
skating is large part of your life, Asuka-san, but you did apply to Green
Garden Academy knowing about our high standards and rigorous schedule. I hope
you had other reasons for doing so than being near your boyfriend."
Chieri mumbled something neither Yuni nor her teacher could hear.
"Pardon?" Fujusawa asked, and Chieri flushed deeper.
"I said, Tsuzuki not just my 'boyfriend', he's my skating partner."
Yuni grinned from the doorway.
A little nonplussed, the teacher finished, "I just want to make sure you
understand and can handle the workload." Putting a kind hand on Chieri's thin
shoulder, he smiled, "I have sincere faith in you, but I want to make sure ice-
skating doesn't take over your life. You need a solid education to fall back
on. After all, you can't skate forever."
~~
The necklace sat lightly in Mamoru's hand as he leaned against the
counter of the arcade. Shutting his eyes, he curled his fingers around the
gold one more time, concentrating hard.
Behind his eyelids he saw the blurred image of a kind blonde woman
running loving hands through her daughters looped braids, in his ear a child's
voice called for her mommy, breaking with tears.
The image faded and was replaced by a vision of the girl he ran into
today, a few years younger, standing before a tall boy. He leaned down to
fasten the necklace around her neck, tenderly smiling at her. 'Tsuzuki,' the
girl's voice was choked with love.
Opening his eyes again to look at the chain and crystal, Mamoru shook his
head in frustration. 'I have to return this.' It obviously held more
emotional value than most objects could, judging by the warmth and visions
radiating off of it. He knew how important sentimental worth was, for a moment
his mind drifted to a certain star-shaped pocket watch and the beautiful girl
it called to mind.
Motoki walked by then, frowning at Mamoru's detached look. "Still upset
about that?"
Sighing, Mamoru nodded. "I just wish there was some way for me to track
her down. She's probably missing this by now."
"I bet you could bring it Green Garden Academy and have them hold in the
office or something."
"I'm not sure it was a Green Garden uniform, though. And that's such a
huge school..."
A chipper female voice interrupted the two men, "What's up?" Unazuki
asked, leaning on the counter. With her high pony-tail and pinafore uniform
she looked every bit the cute waitress of the 50s. She whistled slightly when
Mamoru held up the necklace for her to inspect. "It's beautiful. Familiar,
though, somehow."
Mamoru noticed Unazuki's voice had taken the same thoughtful tone as the
woman from that morning had, and the expression that befell people's faces as
they tried to recognize what other movies a celebrity had been in, or where
they had seen a famous person before.
"I remember seeing it on an interview on TV where this pretty girl said
her necklace was her good luck charm," Unazuki finally said, snapping her
fingers. "She was a famous... something. Dancer, maybe."
"What did she look like?" Motoki asked, raising his eyebrows at Mamoru.
Although it wasn't exactly Hollywood, Tokyo was a large metropolitan city that
had its share of well-known residents. Perhaps Unazuki wasn't so far off. How
many necklaces like that could there be?
"Blonde hair? Weird style," Unazuki twirled her pointer fingers around
her ears in loops, "like the Swiss Miss girl."
"You mean Asuka Chieri?!" another voice echoed with teenage excitement
and Mamoru turned to see Kino Makoto staring at Unazuki in disbelief.
Nodding again, Unazuki cried, "That's it!"
Mamoru grimaced as Makoto grabbed his arm in her amazingly strong grip,
staring at the necklace in utter amazement. "You have Asuka Chieri... *the*
Asuka Chieri's..." she trailed off, tightening her hold on Mamoru's poor arm
in her excitement.
"What's going on?!" A familiar enraged voice washed over Mamoru's ears
and echoed throughout the arcade.
Marching over to the scene, Tsukino Usagi put her little hands on her
hips and scrutinized the four bystanders suspiciously.
Sweatdropping a little, the Furuhata siblings backed off nervously.
Makoto was for once too preoccupied to notice her friend's jealous state as
Usagi yanked Mamoru's arm away from Makoto's and preceded to hug it to herself.
"I ran into someone named Asuka Chieri today on the sidewalk and she lost
her necklace," Mamoru explained succinctly to his girlfriend who twisted her
face in a comical look of deep contemplation.
"Why is that name familiar?" Usagi asked Makoto.
Makoto nearly screamed.
II. Anything for You
A short while later, all party in question were seated around Makoto in a
booth, gathered around the large glossy pages of her magazine-like program.
"They sold this at one of the Pairs Performances at the Takanawa Wing,"
she explained. "A friend of mine used to work there, and she picked me up a
copy."
Flipping through the color pages of varies skaters, the tall brunette
stopped and turned the book around for them to see.
"New-comer Asuka Chieri, with well-known skating partner Tsuzuki
Masanori," Motoki read.
The couple were frozen in time in the several photographs, in complicated
spins and dance moves. Complimenting each other perfectly; lithe, cheerful
little Asuka and light-haired, controlled Tsuzuki, twisted together in
practiced unison for the moment the camera caught them.
"They've been together for about two years now, and already they've
toured the States, skating at Rockefeller Center for the Christmas
Performance." Makoto dreamily continued, "Tsuzuki was famous beforehand, but
Chieri was just new to single skating when they decided to work together."
Usagi smoothed her hand over a photo of Chieri, all lace and white wings,
smiling nervously beside the calm Tsuzuki just before the show. "She's so
pretty," the Odango-ed girl sighed wistfully.
"Demo, Usagi-chan, she looks like you," Unazuki pointed to a little file
photo of Chieri a few years ago, pigtailed and grinning with pure happiness
while accepting an award for single-skating.
Giggling, Usagi blushed, tugging on Mamoru's arm, "We have to meet them,
Mamo-chan!"
Just as he opened his mouth to protest, Usagi tugged at his arm again,
lifting pleading blue eyes to his, "*Please*, Mamo-chan, we'll go to the rink,
they have to be there sometime. That way she gets her necklace, and I get to
see them! PLEASE!!"
Motoki hid a smile as he watched his friend's usually iron resolve
completely melt. Man, Mamoru was so whipped.
"Ah, okay, we'll try the Takanawa Wing Skating Club this afternoon, if
Asuka-san's necklace is enough to get us in. But we are only going to try
once! If it's not allowed, I'll go through Green Garden Academy, since I know
her name now."
"Yey!!" Usagi wrapped her arms tightly around Mamoru, grinning for all
she was worth, "This is so kakkoi!"
Makoto grinned, "Try to get Tsuzuki's autograph for me," she said, her
green eyes not leaving his photograph, "he's so handsome. You are not going to
believe this, but he looks just my old boyfriend sempai..."
"Too bad he's taken." Aino Minako had just arrived and leaned her tan
arms along the back of the booth, nodding smugly at the photograph of Tsuzuki.
"Just because the two figure skate together doesn't mean they are
romantically attached," Mamoru told the blonde, who raised her pale eyebrows at
him challengingly.
"Wanna bet against the senshi of love?" Minako asked, "I don't know who
these people are," one pink fingernail tapped the photo of Asuka and Tsuzuki,
his arms around hers in a complicated lift, "but they are definitely in love.
I can almost see the strands between them, even in the photo."
Mamoru raised an eyebrow. Minako glared at him.
Glancing between them, Makoto silently flipped to the next page, a full
color spread of the two blondes, posed in the 'kiss'n'cry' before a show, hands
gracefully entwined, lips pressed together.
"I stand corrected." Mamoru said, and Usagi gasped at the picture,
releasing her hold on him to take the magazine from Makoto.
"They are so...beautiful," she said dreamily.
"Usagi-chan, you'll love this," Makoto said, leaning her head on her arm
with stars in her eyes, "rumor has it Tsuzuki was searching for a partner, but
only the right girl. Meanwhile, there was all this competition to be Tsuzuki's
partner because he was so well known in men's singles. 'The prince with a
poker face', they called him, I guess he was the 'heart-throb' of skating. But
he was already falling in love with Chieri even before they skated. That's why
they decided to skate together."
"Sugoi," Usagi breathed.
"Romantic," Unazuki sighed.
"They should make a miniseries or manga or something," Minako said,
dreamily.
"I wish he was *my* boyfriend!" Makoto announced, pulling the magazine
out of Usagi's hands and pulling it close to her face.
"Me too!" Cried Minako, clasping her hands together.
"Me too!" Unazuki cried.
All the company turned to her with shocked looks and she covered her
mouth with her hand. "Well," she straightened up and tossed her hair, "I do!"
Mamoru sweatdropped as he watched Motoki threaten his sister teasingly
with sharing this information with Unazuki's boyfriend. Suddenly, though, his
attention shifted as he felt Usagi's warm little hand fit into his. Giving her
a side-long glance he squeezed her hand gently and she rewarded him with a soft
smile.
"Thanks for letting me go to the rink with you," she said quietly over
the chaos erupting in the small café, leaning her head on his arm.
Figuring he could get away it since no one was watching, he leaned down
to kiss her quickly on the cheek, "Anything for you."
~~
The couple glided over the ice with scissor-like motions, so carefully
placed as to not tangle blades and fall over onto the ice. Arms were
outstretched for balance, while hands were spread for elegance, and fingers
were touching for comfort.
A slim woman stood on the ice, looking every bit the 'Coach' in gray-
sweats over her athletic body, and a clipboard in her hand. "One, two, three,
NOW Tsuzuki."
The taller boy released the small blonde from his grasp and spun a bit
ahead of her, opening his arms for her to ready herself for the triple throw
jump.
Chieri felt her lungs tighten, even as the familiar feeling of the ice
steadied for. Getting her momentum, she grasped Tsuzuki's hands and he pulled
her into his arms, gliding away from the side of the rink. She pressed her
hands to his shoulders before he spin a few degrees, met her eyes and she
nodded.
He spun her off into the air and she twisted her body, once, twice,
three... and slammed into the ice. Hard.
"Itai!" she cried, shoving her hands to her eyes like a child, "I just
can't do it!"
Quickly skating out to where the girl sat, the woman pulled Chieri up to
a standing position. "You really shouldn't be having trouble with this,
Cherry, it isn't that hard. You just have to be prepared for the extra spin
Tsuzuki is giving you when he throws you in the air. You have more room for
spinning while you are higher up, use it and you won't crash."
"Hai, Mori-san," she said, running a hand over her forehead, "you told me
all that this morning."
"Maybe you are having an off-day," Tsuzuki said as he glided backwards to
rejoin Chieri, "what did our horoscope say today?"
Sighing, Chieri knelt to tug at the laces in her ice-skates. "Um...
something will seem a misfortune but in the end show its true colors."
Nodding, he ran a hand through his tousled hair. "It's convenient,
having the same birthday, then I hear my horoscope from you any time I want" he
spun around the ice lazily, doing a quick jump and landing by Chieri who still
knelt on the ice frowning at her skate, "ne, Cherry?"
"You make my name sound like a dessert," she said, shaking her head as he
pulled her to her feet.
"Angel, then," he said, slipping easily into his more intimate nickname
for her, "are you hurting yourself at all, practicing the jumps?"
Chieri shook her head, "Iie. I'm okay."
"But you aren't meeting my eyes."
"Break it up, kids," Coach Mori called from her position leaning against
the side of the rink, "if Chieri's skate is re-laced we are going to practice
the jump until we get it right."
From his arms, Chieri could feel Tsuzuki tense slightly. He always
worried about her hurting herself with her relentless practice, even before
they were partners. She knew he had his reasons, good ones, but Chieri was
used to being eager and energetic in practice while Tsuzuki was poised and
confident. Even as child, when most girls felt like crying, Chieri just filled
with cheerful determination. She was, as Tsuzuki often liked to comment
teasingly, a Festive B bloodtype all over.
"Coach?" he offered, skating over to her effortlessly, and leaning
casually against the side of the rink, "why don't you and I go through the jump
a few times? That way Cherry can see how it looks and you can make sure it's
not me messing it up."
Nodding, Mori turned to Chieri, "Okay, Cherry? Just watch and do what I
do."
Starting at the crossover, Mori skated with Tsuzuki flawlessly, and he
lifted her in his arms nearly effortlessly, releasing her in the air like a
child letting a firefly free into the night. Mori spun three times perfectly
and ended with a flourish, right leg slightly behind her left. Tsuzuki
stretched out his hand to hers and they spun to a stop right before death-
spiral.
"You see, Cherry?" Coach Mori said, "just take the spin he gives you and
twist your body into it. Did you see what I did?"
Chieri's hands balled into fists, "Hai, Coach, but I know how it is
*supposed* to look. I just can't get it."
Tsuzuki glanced at Chieri with concern, "Do you want to try one more
time?"
"I want to try until I get it right!"
Rolling his shoulders a little, Tsuzuki winced, "My arms aren't made of
iron."
"Please Masanori?" she said, using his first name in a rare show of
either tenderness or desperation. She couldn't tell.
His stoic face breaking a little in a half-smile, Tsuzuki nodded.
"Anything for you."
"Okay, then, Cherry, just copy exactly what I did." Mori stood to the
side of the rink, and raised an eyebrow to them, singling start.
Spreading their arms, they repeated the steps Mori and Tsuzuki had just
skated, Tsuzuki spinning Chieri through the air and, again, she crashed onto
the ice, right leg first.
"I am going to be so bruised tomorrow," she murmured, wincing in the pain
she knew she would feel once the adrenaline wore off.
"Perhaps she needs to do it to music," a voice said from the stands,
where Fujiwara Hiroshi sat with his head resting thoughtfully on his hand, a
green baseball cape low over his eyes.
"Perhaps if she lowered it to a double spin," a tall, long-haired Akiyama
Kouichi said from his seat beside Hiroshi.
"You guys still here?" Tsuzuki said, shaking his head, "You need lives."
"Perhaps if you took the triple jump out of the program," a new voice
said, "it would go smoother." A small, lithe beauty was seated in the front
row, legs crossed and lips pursed thoughtfully.
"Hello Canty," Chieri said, greeting her friend Kouichi's little sister
awkwardly. It was strange, now that their rivalry was over, were they supposed
to be friends? Chieri was never sure, she had always admired the 'Princess' of
ice-skating, even while she was desperately trying to prove herself. Even now,
and at all her low points, Chieri compared herself to Canty, the younger girl
who had always loved Tsuzuki, always skated so perfectly.
Canty gave Chieri a sincere, if quick, smile, before calling to her
brother, "I'm going home now, it's nearly dinnertime and while you may have
nothing else to do but watch Cherry sit on the ice, I have a life. Ja ne!"
She waved very gracefully and turned to leave, but not before addressing
Tsuzuki and Mori with, "Think about what I said."
A few moments of silence followed Canty's exit.
"We could, you know," Tsuzuki said, hesitantly.
"Could what?" Chieri asked testily.
"Take the throw out of the program. We could go right from crossovers to
the death-spiral, maybe Mori could think of some more dance moves to give it
flare. What do you think?"
Chieri would glare, if she could possible glare into eyes that beautiful,
so instead she just frowned a little at him. "Let's try again."
"Only once more, Cherry," Mori said, "Tsuzuki is exhausting his arms, and
you are hurting your leg. We can do other parts of the program after this."
This time, as Tsuzuki lifted Chieri, she refused to meet his eyes,
focusing only on the landing she would have to make. He lifted his arms, gave
her an upward thrust into the air...
Twist once... twice...
"Cherry!"
All at once she felt Tsuzuki grab her hand, but too early, she hadn't
landed yet. Crying out, she lost her balance in the air and both people
crashed backward on to the ice.
"What was that?!" Kouichi's voice echoed throughout the rink.
Sitting up slowly, Chieri regarded her fallen partner, "Are you okay?"
"Hai, you?"
She nodded, confusion marring her features as they stood up. "Why did
you do that? I could have had it!"
Tsuzuki looked at her for second. "You were putting in too much twist.
You would have landed on your hip. Hard."
For a second Chieri thought she was going to cry, instead she screamed.
It was tearing her up inside, this jump she just couldn't seem to do for
Tsuzuki, no matter how hard she tried.
"I would have had it!" she cried, her voice raw, "I could have then! If
you had the littlest amount of faith in me, you'd let me just make my own
mistakes!!"
Shocked speechless, all present could just stare. This was so unlike
their cheerful little Chieri, they didn't know what to do.
Now that her outburst was over, Chieri just stood there, hands in fists,
eyes trained on the ice. Now what? She felt she couldn't look at her Tsuzuki,
or Coach Mori, after that embarrassment. Abruptly, she turned to leave,
skating to the exit and running into the dressing room.
'First you fall on the ice like a child's first time on skates, then you
through a tantrum like a little girl. Wonderful Chieri.' She thought, ripping
her skates off and tugging a sweater over her skating uniform.
Wiping tears fiercely from her eyes, Chieri slung her bag over her
shoulder, deciding to walk instead of rollarblade home. Skating in any form
made her happy and at peace, and that was one thing she didn't feel she
deserved tonight.
'He calls me 'Angel' but I can't even live up to being a half-decent
klutz. Perhaps he *should* have just skated with Canty from the beginning.'
Reaching up to clasp her mother's necklace in her hand, Chieri's tears
finally began to fall when she realized it was missing.
~~
"This is it," Mamoru said, as he and Usagi faced the rather imposing
building looming before them.
"It seems very high-class," Usagi commented, feeling a little intimidated
by the heavy doors.
"We might not be able to get in," Mamoru said realistically, but Usagi
was already tugging at his arm.
"Come on, Mamo-chan, we have the necklace so they have to let us in!"
"Can I help you?" A cold voice asked, and the couple found themselves
face to face with a stunningly beautiful girl, eyebrow raised and poise regal.
Clearing his throat a little, Mamoru answered, "Yes, actually, we have an
important delivery for Asuka Chieri."
Smirking a little, the girl shook her head, "She's not here right now,
left rather quickly actually. What is it you want to give her?"
Usagi held the chain in view, gold entwined with her fingers. "This."
The girl let out a low whistle, shaking her head so short blonde hair
swung around her face, "Chieri-chan's lucky necklace. You better give it to
Coach Mori." She turned to leave, before turning again and calling, "Oh, don't
worry about getting in, my father owns the place. Just tell them Akiyama Canty
said it was okay." Tossing her hair again, the girl again made her way
gracefully down the stairs.
"Akiyama Canty is another skater Mako-chan likes," Usagi murmured as the
two continued up the stairs to the door, "apparently she's the best singles
female there is."
Feeling a little like he was out of league, something Chiba Mamoru was
not used to feeling, Mamoru opened the door of rink.
It was a huge arena, seats and judges boxes set up around the huge
expanse of white ice, and cold, Usagi instantly cuddled closer to Mamoru as
they approached the ice.
"Do you know where, um, I guess someone called 'Coach Mori' is?" Usagi
asked a baseball capped boy sitting in the first row of the stands.
Blinking a few times, a blushing Hiroshi took in the sight of the pretty
blonde girl suddenly not two feet from him. "Yes," he said, pointing to one of
the two figures on the ice in front of them, "that's her. Why?"
"It's important," was all Usagi would say.
Kouichi put his hands around his mouth and called, "Hey, COACH!"
Usagi watched as an annoyed looking woman and a very handsome, familiar,
young man followed her.
Wordlessly, Usagi held out the necklace for them to see, and she saw the
man gasp.
"Where did you find that?" he said, as he reached out for it.
"Asuka-san and I ran into each other this morning," Mamoru explained,
"and she dropped that necklace on the sidewalk. I didn't find it until she
left."
Usagi let the ribbon of gold coil into Tsuzuki's hand and he gently held
the chain in his hands. "It's her lucky necklace," he murmured, "she wasn't
wearing it today."
Rolling her eyes, the woman who must have been Coach Mori sighed, "Don't
you get started in this superstitious stuff, too, Tsuzuki. Cherry depends too
much on charms, and you know it."
Mamoru thought back for a moment to the visions he saw when concentrating
on the necklace. Chieri's voice as the necklace was fastened around her neck
by her future skating partner, as she whispered his name.
Tsuzuki just curled his hand around the necklace, and gave Mori a
sarcastic look. "It means a lot to her, that's all."
He gave Mamoru a kind look, "Thank you for returning it. I'll make sure
she gets it back."
Mamoru returned his nod, and Usagi just gawked, feeling as starstruck as
Minako in the presence of someone as well-known, in the figure-skating world at
least, as Tsuzuki Masanori.
"What are your names?" Coach Mori asked, putting pencil to clipboard.
Although she did not approve of her protégé's dependency on luck and charms,
she knew how much Chieri valued the necklace as a connection to her late
mother, and she wanted to thank this pretty young couple in any way she could.
Perhaps tickets to the next performance... although most likely, at this rate,
all the famed Tsuzuki and Asuka pair would have nothing to show but how
fantastically they could fall all over one another.
Sighing, Mori glanced at Tsuzuki, pensive since Chieri left so quickly,
staring at the necklace, face expressionless. He had so much potential,
especially paired with Asuka, but potential didn't get you a gold metal,
potential wasn't enough to stable a career enough to go pro. Potential didn't
let you skate forever.
III. Cherry Blossoms
The night got cold quickly, but Chieri didn't bother to bundle up more.
She had spent entire nights in nothing but a leotard in the freezing cold
skating rink beneath Tsuzuki's mansion, this cold was nothing to her skater's
blood. Leaning her arms on her knees, she didn't move from her seat in the
park, ignoring the growling of her stomach and the goose-bumps on her legs.
The soft sweater only fell to her knees, her practice skating dress was purple
and light, and her sneakers nearly white with lack of use. What a strange
sight she must make, a strangely dressed, nearly crying girl huddled so
miserably on the outskirts on the city park while all other children were
eating with their families.
A cherry blossom from a nearby tree fluttered in front of her face, and
Chieri impatiently brushed it away. Another fell, then another one, and
finally she looked up into the sprinkling of petals to see Tsuzuki standing
behind her, hands full of pink blossoms.
"Cherry," he said lightly, "angel. What are you doing out here all
alone?"
She scooted over on the grass and he joined her, stretching long legs and
relaxing his aching shoulders.
"I'm sorry," she said softly.
He looked at her for moment, and she forced herself to meet his eyes,
blue like hers, and she knew there was no need for apologies.
Sighing, she leaned her head on her knees again, "Mom's necklace is
missing."
His lips moved into a slight smile, his eyes light in a look she had
never seen him give anyone else. "You lost it when you ran into that guy
today."
Chieri gasped as Tsuzuki gently tucked the precious item into the girl's
small hands.
"It keeps returning to you," he joked a little, "perhaps it really is
lucky."
Clutching it to her chest, Chieri blushed a little. She had always
believed, somehow, the necklace had some sort of power... it brought her and
Tsuzuki together. Running her finger slightly down the place on his face where
the necklace had cut him, so long ago, she smiled slightly and he knew what she
was thinking.
"The clasp is broken," Tsuzuki said, returning his gaze to the necklace,
"we'll have to get it fixed before the competition."
Chieri felt her heart squeeze in her chest, without the comforting weight
of the crystal against her. The competition was nothing too big, a corporate
sponsored thing, but winning that could well be their building block to get
onto the Japanese Olympic team. The triple throw jump was to be part of their
technical program, a jump complicated enough to up their standings against some
of the most well-known pairs in Japan.
"We can't take the jump out of the program," she admitted to him, "you
and I both know that."
He was silent for a while, his hand on hers comforting a bit. "Cherry?"
he began hesitantly, "Why didn't you just do what you saw Coach do? Follow her
exactly like-" he didn't finish his sentence but he didn't have to.
"I'm not a copy machine anymore!" she choked out, eyes shut and fists
clenched as she remembered a time when the ice scared her more than any thing
in the world, and she was all alone...
She felt Tsuzuki tug her quickly into his embrace, "I know," he said
softly, "I know, I know, angel, but you are missing so many basics because you
started so late, that's all." His voice was soft and gentle, but it had
already taken the tone she knew so well, the tone when he talked about
technical things. It was obvious he knew what he was talking about, and
nothing else mattered at that moment. "There is a fine line between being a
copy machine and just using other people's training to help you. That's all."
Chieri was silent, running her fingers over some haphazardly flung cherry
blossoms scattered around them. "I am trying," she offered, her voice choking,
"maybe I've reached my limit. You have potential, you don't have to waste it
on me."
She knew he was shocked. She knew the silence that suddenly took them
over was not a good thing. But she couldn't help it, she had finally said what
she had been feeling for so long.
When he finally spoke, Tsuzuki's voice was so quiet she had to strain to
hear him, "You have the best presentation of anyone Mori or I have ever seen
before. Once Yuni told me that since you did everything you tried with so much
enthusiasm, it made up for everything else. It's true. You are the best. You
skate with love."
"I love skating as much as I love you," she told him, "but you are the
top of the class, going to inherent your father's company. You have a future."
He just watched her.
"We can't skate forever."
Tsuzuki didn't say anything. He knew it was true. Mori talked about
going pro, but his father had enough trouble letting his son skate even for a
little while long, with the promise of the Olympics a major reason for that.
"We can be together forever," he offered, softly.
The dim evening light hid their faces from each other, but it didn't
matter, they knew what he meant.
"I'd like that," she answered.
For a moment neither spoke, until Tsuzuki abashedly ran his hand through
his hair and stood up. Offering her his hand, he said, "Let's go to my rink,
and run through our creative piece. No coach, no Kouichi and his peanut
gallery, just you, me and the music."
Taking his hand, Chieri stood and smiled, tucking the necklace into her
bag, "Sounds wonderful to me."
~~
Makoto leaned back against her sofa, the flickering light from the TV the
only illumination in the small room. Her four friends and fellow senshi were
draped in various positions over the couch, listening to the soft music from
the TV and Makoto's running commentary.
"Okay, this is where Asuka did that extra twist in the unison jump. The
coach maintains it was entirely unplanned, yet somehow Tsuzuki did the same
number of rotations. It was very strange, both of them say it was completely
spontaneous."
"Possibly they have some sort of mind connection," Rei said knowingly, as
she twisted glossy hair back behind to head to make a more comfortable pillow
out of the sofa's armrest.
"Mina-P?" asked Usagi thoughtfully, "How did you know they were in love,
when you saw the picture?"
For a moment the room quieted, and the girls leaned back a little to
listen to Minako's answer, while still pretending to stare diligently at the TV
screen.
"It's hard to explain," she said, "but it's part of my powers as the
senshi of love, to see connections between people. I'm not that great at it,"
this time she blushed a little sheepishly, "they have to really connected on a
spiritual, soul-mate level for me to see. But the strings between those two,"
she motioned to the screen, "are very visible. Even in the tape."
Shocked, Usagi leaned closer to the screen, squinting blue eyes, "You
mean you can *see* it? What does it look like?"
Laughing quietly, Minako didn't answer for a while, "It's not like
seeing, so much as feeling. But its like they are connected together, entwined
with thin strands."
Completely enamored with Minako's words and the couple on the screen,
Usagi just breathed, "I want to see."
Thoughtfully, Minako replied, "I don't see them all the time, otherwise
it'd be really tough to walk around and stuff," she giggled, "with all these
silver strings flying around. But if I concentrate, they are there in a few
people."
"Wow," Usagi spread her hands, "even me?"
"Especially you," Minako sighed a little enviously, "the first time I
ever saw the silver strings radiating strongly enough for me to be susceptible
they were between you and Mamoru. If I concentrate when I'm around you two, I
can see the air sparkle when you touch."
Wide eyed, Usagi just stared at her hands and squinted a little, as if
trying to see what Minako saw.
Then she lifted her eyes to the TV screen as the program ended, Chieri
throwing her arms around Tsuzuki excitedly at their scores were announced
throughout the arena. 5.9, 5.6, 5.4, 5.7, 5.8, 6.0, 5.8...
Glowing, the image of the two young teenagers on the screen pressed their
hands together and shared an elated look.
Minako sighed.
"Will you teach me how to see?! Please?!" Usagi said, pulling on
Minako's arm, begging with hopeful blue eyes.
'There goes my weekend.' Thought the senshi of love.
~~
The day was warm, relaxed and sunny. A weekend afternoon in all its
perfection. The air was sweet with the smell of the pink blossoms from Tokyo's
famous cherry trees, and filled with the sound of laughter and talking.
Minako, Rei, Ami and Usagi sat on a bench, watching people walk back and
forth throughout the park, admiring cherry blossoms, playing with children, or
just being together.
"Okay," Minako said, eyes bright with concentration, "I'm looking for
something strong enough for you to maybe see."
"Hai, hai," Usagi bounced, excited, squinting around the park with a look
on her face that made Ami giggle slightly behind her hand.
"There," Minako pointed to an older couple, walking slowly through the
cherry blossoms.
Leaning so far over as to almost fall off the bench, Usagi narrowed her
eyes and stared intently at the two people.
Noticing this, the woman elbowed the man slightly, who jumped and turn to
where his wife was looking. Sweatdropping profusely, both hurried along their
way, away from the spooky looking girl staring at them.
It was a while later that Minako sighed, "I am about ready to give up on
you, Usagi."
"Maybe its something she just can't do," Rei suggested, "these powers are
supposedly inborn, right?"
Stubbornly, Minako shook her head, even as Usagi sighed, "Another thing I
can't do."
"No," Minako said, "Anyone can see it. They just have to know how. Too
bad she can't just see them radiating off herself."
"Why not?" Usagi said, sitting up straighter, "You said Mamo-chan and I
were really strong with this silver thing."
"You can't," Rei said, "To do an accurate reading of anything in the
range of the sixth sense, spiritual, you must be apart as a third person. Only
the most skilled can do readings on themselves, and that involves a sort of
separation between Self and Mind which takes years to perfect."
Ami nodded, "According to studies on this subject, she's perfectly
correct. Think about it: Minako sees the physical manifestation of your
feelings for Mamoru-kun, something coming from your own soul. Since you are
creating the strings, so to speak, you cannot observe them from outside the
feeling."
Usagi blinked at them for a few minutes.
"You just can't," Minako told her simply.
At Minako's 'Usagi-friendly' explanation, the smaller girl nodded, "Got
it."
"What about Asuka and Tsuzuki?" asked Ami, "You said they were extremely
connected."
"Yeah!" Usagi said, leaping into the air to stand before her friends,
filled with excitement, "Mamo-chan got tickets for the coming competition from
their coach to thank him for returning the necklace! I can try then!!"
"How many tickets did you get?" Minako asked, standing over Usagi
suddenly.
Sweatdropping, Usagi answered, "Four." Shrinking away from her friend's
looks, she said, "I was going to bring Makoto since she's such a fan. And then
Mamo-chan said I could also choose the one other person to bring..."
The next few minutes found the blonde tearing through the park screaming
for help, while being chased by two of her closest friends, begging her at the
top of their lungs to choose them.
Ami sat quietly on the bench, notebook in hand, pencil scratching along
the paper, "If I corner Usagi when they come back around the loop," she
murmured to herself, "I can convince her with these arguments that she
definitely needs to take me to see Tsuzuki-sama..."
~~
Chieri walked dejectedly to the cot by the side of the rink, sitting down
heavily on the mattress and covering her face with her hands.
"Okay," Tsuzuki said diplomatically as he took off his skates, "that
could probably have gone better. But we have time..."
"No," Chieri said softly, "we don't have time to fix all this before the
competition next week and you know it."
He sat next to her, not touching her but watching her carefully, his eyes
showing all the sadness and frustration his face didn't.
"Maybe we just don't work so well together anymore." Chieri said,
softly, admitting what they were both afraid of. "Our bodies are changing, our
skating styles are changing, our focuses are changing... maybe it was
inevitable."
Chieri looked up quickly when she felt Tsuzuki take her shoulders in his
hands and force her to look at him, "Don't be stupid, Cherry! I've begged you
before not to quit skating and you ended up a champion! You said you would
pair skate with me, you said you would help our dreams come true! Don't back
out now."
He pressed his lips to hers, aggressively, quickly, before breaking away
and meeting her eyes. "I need you. We can fix this problem, together. Okay?"
It was nearing midnight, but Chieri had fallen asleep alone in this huge
private arena many times after night practice, sometimes with Tsuzuki passing
out beside her in the wee hours of the morning, skates still laced onto their
feet. Yawning, the small girl prepared herself for a similar night, she'd have
to re-wear her school uniform tomorrow, have to skate to school just to make it
on time. She leaned her head against Tsuzuki's shoulder and said, "Okay, how
do we fix it?"
"You told me once," he said, "that on the ice you clear your mind.
Instead of thinking of the program and what to do, you feel your way through
the program."
She nodded, eyes slipping shut.
"I do that, too, think only of what I want the audience to feel, what I
feel," he continued.
"But in pair skating you can't do that," she said sleepily, "you can't
change the program because your partner depends on it. You have to
think...think about everything..."
She was asleep before the sentence was over, and Tsuzuki lifted her
lovingly and placed her on the cot, covering her thin body with the thick
blanket to ward off the cold of the rink.
What she had just told him was still heavy in his mind as he turned to
look at the expense of man-made ice behind him, a strange blue color in the
nighttime lighting.
'My only angel,' he thought, 'once you found your own personality on the
ice, you were unstoppable. You and I would trust our feelings to guide us at
every performance, every competition.'
He knew they could, somehow, clear their minds while skating and not
worry about what was planned. They always kept unison, always kept the style
even when their minds were filled with nothing but skating, nothing but each
other. As if their arms and hands and feet were pulling and bound together on
the ice, they moved as one person. 'With wings', Chieri used to say, and he
called her angel. But when had she started thinking so technically? When had
she worried so much over one little jump?
Tsuzuki leaned over her, and brushed a strand of soft hair away from her
sleeping face. 'When did you start to doubt yourself so much?'
~~
To be continued in Part II.
*a-Hem* E-MAIL ME!
The main characters in this fic are from one of Naoko Takeuchi's earlier manga
series called 'The Cherry Project'.
But if you are familiar even slightly with The Cherry Project
(http://www.pqangels.com/cherryproject/cp-intro.html)
or even a fan of figure skating, you may like it. And it DOES have Usagi and
Mamoru in it.
SPOILERS for The Cherry Project because it takes place after that manga
ends.
This story takes place somewhere in the Sailormoon universe, all the inner
senshi are present, Chibi-Usa isn't (oop-sie. Oversight. Damn. ^_-).
Because TCP is manga, the Sailormoon characters are more manga based than
anything, although I think the anime might sneak in at certain times.
This is really, really, really mushy. Just warning you. ;;
-?Also, just like The Cherry Project, the action is focused not around
youmas or bad guys or magical powers, but about the confidence and strength one
must have inside themselves to meet a dream like winning a competition of any
kind. In other words: less action, more triple lutzes (what IS the plural of
'lutz' anyway?). ?
Disclaimer: The lovely Takeuchi Naoko takes credit for these wonderful manga I
am using. And even though it's *not* possible for a girl to do a quadruple, I
forgive her, and I'm sure Timothy 'Quad King' Goebel would, too. ;; :)
Silver Strings
A Love Story based on the Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon and The Cherry
Project, both works of manga-ka Naoko Takeuchi.
by Antigone
2000
PART I
I. Gold and Crystal
It was cool for springtime in Tokyo; a swift, though gentle, breeze
rushed between the skyscrapers and ruffled the beautiful pink and white of
cherry blossoms dotting the small city park.
Chiba Mamoru was out early that day, enjoying the walk to school. Like
much of the population that morning, he was forgoing any other form of
transportation for a chance to enjoy the brightest sunshine the city had seen
since last summer.
In a moment of carelessness that was rather out of character, he casually
lifted his face up to the sky, admiring the rare blue color that only spread
across the sky on days like this. Not looking where he was going, it was only
a short amount of time before a panicked, "Look out!" was his lone warning
before he snapped to attention, only to see a quick swirl of color flash by him
as he stumbled backward against a nearby building.
Gaining his footing back a little clumsily, ('I've been spending too much
time with Usako,' he thought dryly), Mamoru watched the scene before him in
amazement. The whirlwind of color, which upon closer inspection turned out to
be a short girl about his age, was just gliding to an amazingly graceful stop
on her purple in-line skates.
"I'm so sorry!" she said, even though she couldn't resist a quick
flourish to the small audience that her spectacular spin had attracted, "Are
you okay?"
She regarded the man in front of her guiltily, although it really was his
fault, she had hit him pretty hard when she went into an impromptu toe-loop to
avoid crashing into the nearby lamppost.
"I'm used to it," he answered cryptically, smiling tolerantly at her.
The girl returned his smile, a dimple appearing in her childlike face,
"Besides, it was my fault," he finished, as he took in her rather strange
appearance.
Flustered still from the near fall, she was desperately trying to tuck
one blonde braid back up to its ribbon. A school uniform jacket and skirt were
haphazardly flung over her warm-up clothes, the green subdued colors
distinguishing to Green Garden's Academy High School. Finally she gave a
little satisfied nod at her adjusted hair, which fastened in two strange loops
on either side of her head. Shifting a small duffel bag over her shoulder, she
called a quick good-bye to the still-stunned young man, and took off.
Wide-eyed Mamoru and the others gathered could just watch her as she
glided quickly down the crowded sidewalk, the sports bag over her shoulder
doing nothing to impede her impeccable balance and grace; even as she nearly
knocked into a few more hapless pedestrians.
"Wow," a student not much older than Mamoru commented to no one
specifically.
"I've seen her somewhere before," a woman said thoughtfully, finger to
her chin, "I wonder where?"
"She's such a cutie..."
Conversation fluttered and faded as the people dispersed, but as Mamoru
turned to leave, something glinting on the sidewalk caught his eye.
Nestled nearly completely into a large crack in the pavement lay a
beautiful golden chain, a glinting white crystal fastened on the end.
~~
Breathless, Asuka Chieri stumbled into the classroom, just in time, rows
and rows of perfectly groomed students taking in her appearance with shaking
heads.
Blue eyes downcast, Chieri walked into the room, fingers combing through
tangled blonde strands. One braid had unhooked and fell lopsidedly down the
left side of her face.
"Gomen nasai, Fujusawa-sensei," she said, bowing gracefully.
Her teacher just shook his head, "Iie, Asuka-san, you are not quite
late." Concern clouded his brown eyes for a moment as the girl took her seat
beside her brunette friend Nishimura Yuni.
"Practice go overtime again?" Yuni whispered under her breath.
Nodding, Chieri put a tired hand up to her forehead, "I just can't seem
to land right on the triple throw." She was about to continue when her teacher
stood, signaling the beginning of class.
Quickly putting all thoughts of skating out of her mind, the girl quickly
started taking notes, obviously overwhelmed by the information the teacher was
delivering. For a few moments Yuni just watched her friend, her face showing
faint worry.
~~
"Asuka-san?"
Chieri turned as she prepared to leave the classroom, books in hand and
gym bag over her shoulder. "Hai, sensei?"
Her teacher lowered her eyes for a moment before gesturing for her to
come stand in front of his desk. Finally looking up from his hands, he meet
her eyes and said, "We need to discuss your academic performance, Asuka-san."
Hugging her books to her chest, Chieri nodded silently, feeling her heart
sink in her chest.
"You came to us a straight-A student, top of the class and even Class
President all throughout Junior High. Now you come dangerously close to being
tardy to homeroom nearly every day this week. Is something wrong?"
From her position in the doorway, Yuni spoke up on behalf of her friend.
"Excuse me, sensei, but Chieri has risen very quickly in the world of figure
skating and-"
Cutting her off gently with a nod, he continued, not unkindly, "I realize
skating is large part of your life, Asuka-san, but you did apply to Green
Garden Academy knowing about our high standards and rigorous schedule. I hope
you had other reasons for doing so than being near your boyfriend."
Chieri mumbled something neither Yuni nor her teacher could hear.
"Pardon?" Fujusawa asked, and Chieri flushed deeper.
"I said, Tsuzuki not just my 'boyfriend', he's my skating partner."
Yuni grinned from the doorway.
A little nonplussed, the teacher finished, "I just want to make sure you
understand and can handle the workload." Putting a kind hand on Chieri's thin
shoulder, he smiled, "I have sincere faith in you, but I want to make sure ice-
skating doesn't take over your life. You need a solid education to fall back
on. After all, you can't skate forever."
~~
The necklace sat lightly in Mamoru's hand as he leaned against the
counter of the arcade. Shutting his eyes, he curled his fingers around the
gold one more time, concentrating hard.
Behind his eyelids he saw the blurred image of a kind blonde woman
running loving hands through her daughters looped braids, in his ear a child's
voice called for her mommy, breaking with tears.
The image faded and was replaced by a vision of the girl he ran into
today, a few years younger, standing before a tall boy. He leaned down to
fasten the necklace around her neck, tenderly smiling at her. 'Tsuzuki,' the
girl's voice was choked with love.
Opening his eyes again to look at the chain and crystal, Mamoru shook his
head in frustration. 'I have to return this.' It obviously held more
emotional value than most objects could, judging by the warmth and visions
radiating off of it. He knew how important sentimental worth was, for a moment
his mind drifted to a certain star-shaped pocket watch and the beautiful girl
it called to mind.
Motoki walked by then, frowning at Mamoru's detached look. "Still upset
about that?"
Sighing, Mamoru nodded. "I just wish there was some way for me to track
her down. She's probably missing this by now."
"I bet you could bring it Green Garden Academy and have them hold in the
office or something."
"I'm not sure it was a Green Garden uniform, though. And that's such a
huge school..."
A chipper female voice interrupted the two men, "What's up?" Unazuki
asked, leaning on the counter. With her high pony-tail and pinafore uniform
she looked every bit the cute waitress of the 50s. She whistled slightly when
Mamoru held up the necklace for her to inspect. "It's beautiful. Familiar,
though, somehow."
Mamoru noticed Unazuki's voice had taken the same thoughtful tone as the
woman from that morning had, and the expression that befell people's faces as
they tried to recognize what other movies a celebrity had been in, or where
they had seen a famous person before.
"I remember seeing it on an interview on TV where this pretty girl said
her necklace was her good luck charm," Unazuki finally said, snapping her
fingers. "She was a famous... something. Dancer, maybe."
"What did she look like?" Motoki asked, raising his eyebrows at Mamoru.
Although it wasn't exactly Hollywood, Tokyo was a large metropolitan city that
had its share of well-known residents. Perhaps Unazuki wasn't so far off. How
many necklaces like that could there be?
"Blonde hair? Weird style," Unazuki twirled her pointer fingers around
her ears in loops, "like the Swiss Miss girl."
"You mean Asuka Chieri?!" another voice echoed with teenage excitement
and Mamoru turned to see Kino Makoto staring at Unazuki in disbelief.
Nodding again, Unazuki cried, "That's it!"
Mamoru grimaced as Makoto grabbed his arm in her amazingly strong grip,
staring at the necklace in utter amazement. "You have Asuka Chieri... *the*
Asuka Chieri's..." she trailed off, tightening her hold on Mamoru's poor arm
in her excitement.
"What's going on?!" A familiar enraged voice washed over Mamoru's ears
and echoed throughout the arcade.
Marching over to the scene, Tsukino Usagi put her little hands on her
hips and scrutinized the four bystanders suspiciously.
Sweatdropping a little, the Furuhata siblings backed off nervously.
Makoto was for once too preoccupied to notice her friend's jealous state as
Usagi yanked Mamoru's arm away from Makoto's and preceded to hug it to herself.
"I ran into someone named Asuka Chieri today on the sidewalk and she lost
her necklace," Mamoru explained succinctly to his girlfriend who twisted her
face in a comical look of deep contemplation.
"Why is that name familiar?" Usagi asked Makoto.
Makoto nearly screamed.
II. Anything for You
A short while later, all party in question were seated around Makoto in a
booth, gathered around the large glossy pages of her magazine-like program.
"They sold this at one of the Pairs Performances at the Takanawa Wing,"
she explained. "A friend of mine used to work there, and she picked me up a
copy."
Flipping through the color pages of varies skaters, the tall brunette
stopped and turned the book around for them to see.
"New-comer Asuka Chieri, with well-known skating partner Tsuzuki
Masanori," Motoki read.
The couple were frozen in time in the several photographs, in complicated
spins and dance moves. Complimenting each other perfectly; lithe, cheerful
little Asuka and light-haired, controlled Tsuzuki, twisted together in
practiced unison for the moment the camera caught them.
"They've been together for about two years now, and already they've
toured the States, skating at Rockefeller Center for the Christmas
Performance." Makoto dreamily continued, "Tsuzuki was famous beforehand, but
Chieri was just new to single skating when they decided to work together."
Usagi smoothed her hand over a photo of Chieri, all lace and white wings,
smiling nervously beside the calm Tsuzuki just before the show. "She's so
pretty," the Odango-ed girl sighed wistfully.
"Demo, Usagi-chan, she looks like you," Unazuki pointed to a little file
photo of Chieri a few years ago, pigtailed and grinning with pure happiness
while accepting an award for single-skating.
Giggling, Usagi blushed, tugging on Mamoru's arm, "We have to meet them,
Mamo-chan!"
Just as he opened his mouth to protest, Usagi tugged at his arm again,
lifting pleading blue eyes to his, "*Please*, Mamo-chan, we'll go to the rink,
they have to be there sometime. That way she gets her necklace, and I get to
see them! PLEASE!!"
Motoki hid a smile as he watched his friend's usually iron resolve
completely melt. Man, Mamoru was so whipped.
"Ah, okay, we'll try the Takanawa Wing Skating Club this afternoon, if
Asuka-san's necklace is enough to get us in. But we are only going to try
once! If it's not allowed, I'll go through Green Garden Academy, since I know
her name now."
"Yey!!" Usagi wrapped her arms tightly around Mamoru, grinning for all
she was worth, "This is so kakkoi!"
Makoto grinned, "Try to get Tsuzuki's autograph for me," she said, her
green eyes not leaving his photograph, "he's so handsome. You are not going to
believe this, but he looks just my old boyfriend sempai..."
"Too bad he's taken." Aino Minako had just arrived and leaned her tan
arms along the back of the booth, nodding smugly at the photograph of Tsuzuki.
"Just because the two figure skate together doesn't mean they are
romantically attached," Mamoru told the blonde, who raised her pale eyebrows at
him challengingly.
"Wanna bet against the senshi of love?" Minako asked, "I don't know who
these people are," one pink fingernail tapped the photo of Asuka and Tsuzuki,
his arms around hers in a complicated lift, "but they are definitely in love.
I can almost see the strands between them, even in the photo."
Mamoru raised an eyebrow. Minako glared at him.
Glancing between them, Makoto silently flipped to the next page, a full
color spread of the two blondes, posed in the 'kiss'n'cry' before a show, hands
gracefully entwined, lips pressed together.
"I stand corrected." Mamoru said, and Usagi gasped at the picture,
releasing her hold on him to take the magazine from Makoto.
"They are so...beautiful," she said dreamily.
"Usagi-chan, you'll love this," Makoto said, leaning her head on her arm
with stars in her eyes, "rumor has it Tsuzuki was searching for a partner, but
only the right girl. Meanwhile, there was all this competition to be Tsuzuki's
partner because he was so well known in men's singles. 'The prince with a
poker face', they called him, I guess he was the 'heart-throb' of skating. But
he was already falling in love with Chieri even before they skated. That's why
they decided to skate together."
"Sugoi," Usagi breathed.
"Romantic," Unazuki sighed.
"They should make a miniseries or manga or something," Minako said,
dreamily.
"I wish he was *my* boyfriend!" Makoto announced, pulling the magazine
out of Usagi's hands and pulling it close to her face.
"Me too!" Cried Minako, clasping her hands together.
"Me too!" Unazuki cried.
All the company turned to her with shocked looks and she covered her
mouth with her hand. "Well," she straightened up and tossed her hair, "I do!"
Mamoru sweatdropped as he watched Motoki threaten his sister teasingly
with sharing this information with Unazuki's boyfriend. Suddenly, though, his
attention shifted as he felt Usagi's warm little hand fit into his. Giving her
a side-long glance he squeezed her hand gently and she rewarded him with a soft
smile.
"Thanks for letting me go to the rink with you," she said quietly over
the chaos erupting in the small café, leaning her head on his arm.
Figuring he could get away it since no one was watching, he leaned down
to kiss her quickly on the cheek, "Anything for you."
~~
The couple glided over the ice with scissor-like motions, so carefully
placed as to not tangle blades and fall over onto the ice. Arms were
outstretched for balance, while hands were spread for elegance, and fingers
were touching for comfort.
A slim woman stood on the ice, looking every bit the 'Coach' in gray-
sweats over her athletic body, and a clipboard in her hand. "One, two, three,
NOW Tsuzuki."
The taller boy released the small blonde from his grasp and spun a bit
ahead of her, opening his arms for her to ready herself for the triple throw
jump.
Chieri felt her lungs tighten, even as the familiar feeling of the ice
steadied for. Getting her momentum, she grasped Tsuzuki's hands and he pulled
her into his arms, gliding away from the side of the rink. She pressed her
hands to his shoulders before he spin a few degrees, met her eyes and she
nodded.
He spun her off into the air and she twisted her body, once, twice,
three... and slammed into the ice. Hard.
"Itai!" she cried, shoving her hands to her eyes like a child, "I just
can't do it!"
Quickly skating out to where the girl sat, the woman pulled Chieri up to
a standing position. "You really shouldn't be having trouble with this,
Cherry, it isn't that hard. You just have to be prepared for the extra spin
Tsuzuki is giving you when he throws you in the air. You have more room for
spinning while you are higher up, use it and you won't crash."
"Hai, Mori-san," she said, running a hand over her forehead, "you told me
all that this morning."
"Maybe you are having an off-day," Tsuzuki said as he glided backwards to
rejoin Chieri, "what did our horoscope say today?"
Sighing, Chieri knelt to tug at the laces in her ice-skates. "Um...
something will seem a misfortune but in the end show its true colors."
Nodding, he ran a hand through his tousled hair. "It's convenient,
having the same birthday, then I hear my horoscope from you any time I want" he
spun around the ice lazily, doing a quick jump and landing by Chieri who still
knelt on the ice frowning at her skate, "ne, Cherry?"
"You make my name sound like a dessert," she said, shaking her head as he
pulled her to her feet.
"Angel, then," he said, slipping easily into his more intimate nickname
for her, "are you hurting yourself at all, practicing the jumps?"
Chieri shook her head, "Iie. I'm okay."
"But you aren't meeting my eyes."
"Break it up, kids," Coach Mori called from her position leaning against
the side of the rink, "if Chieri's skate is re-laced we are going to practice
the jump until we get it right."
From his arms, Chieri could feel Tsuzuki tense slightly. He always
worried about her hurting herself with her relentless practice, even before
they were partners. She knew he had his reasons, good ones, but Chieri was
used to being eager and energetic in practice while Tsuzuki was poised and
confident. Even as child, when most girls felt like crying, Chieri just filled
with cheerful determination. She was, as Tsuzuki often liked to comment
teasingly, a Festive B bloodtype all over.
"Coach?" he offered, skating over to her effortlessly, and leaning
casually against the side of the rink, "why don't you and I go through the jump
a few times? That way Cherry can see how it looks and you can make sure it's
not me messing it up."
Nodding, Mori turned to Chieri, "Okay, Cherry? Just watch and do what I
do."
Starting at the crossover, Mori skated with Tsuzuki flawlessly, and he
lifted her in his arms nearly effortlessly, releasing her in the air like a
child letting a firefly free into the night. Mori spun three times perfectly
and ended with a flourish, right leg slightly behind her left. Tsuzuki
stretched out his hand to hers and they spun to a stop right before death-
spiral.
"You see, Cherry?" Coach Mori said, "just take the spin he gives you and
twist your body into it. Did you see what I did?"
Chieri's hands balled into fists, "Hai, Coach, but I know how it is
*supposed* to look. I just can't get it."
Tsuzuki glanced at Chieri with concern, "Do you want to try one more
time?"
"I want to try until I get it right!"
Rolling his shoulders a little, Tsuzuki winced, "My arms aren't made of
iron."
"Please Masanori?" she said, using his first name in a rare show of
either tenderness or desperation. She couldn't tell.
His stoic face breaking a little in a half-smile, Tsuzuki nodded.
"Anything for you."
"Okay, then, Cherry, just copy exactly what I did." Mori stood to the
side of the rink, and raised an eyebrow to them, singling start.
Spreading their arms, they repeated the steps Mori and Tsuzuki had just
skated, Tsuzuki spinning Chieri through the air and, again, she crashed onto
the ice, right leg first.
"I am going to be so bruised tomorrow," she murmured, wincing in the pain
she knew she would feel once the adrenaline wore off.
"Perhaps she needs to do it to music," a voice said from the stands,
where Fujiwara Hiroshi sat with his head resting thoughtfully on his hand, a
green baseball cape low over his eyes.
"Perhaps if she lowered it to a double spin," a tall, long-haired Akiyama
Kouichi said from his seat beside Hiroshi.
"You guys still here?" Tsuzuki said, shaking his head, "You need lives."
"Perhaps if you took the triple jump out of the program," a new voice
said, "it would go smoother." A small, lithe beauty was seated in the front
row, legs crossed and lips pursed thoughtfully.
"Hello Canty," Chieri said, greeting her friend Kouichi's little sister
awkwardly. It was strange, now that their rivalry was over, were they supposed
to be friends? Chieri was never sure, she had always admired the 'Princess' of
ice-skating, even while she was desperately trying to prove herself. Even now,
and at all her low points, Chieri compared herself to Canty, the younger girl
who had always loved Tsuzuki, always skated so perfectly.
Canty gave Chieri a sincere, if quick, smile, before calling to her
brother, "I'm going home now, it's nearly dinnertime and while you may have
nothing else to do but watch Cherry sit on the ice, I have a life. Ja ne!"
She waved very gracefully and turned to leave, but not before addressing
Tsuzuki and Mori with, "Think about what I said."
A few moments of silence followed Canty's exit.
"We could, you know," Tsuzuki said, hesitantly.
"Could what?" Chieri asked testily.
"Take the throw out of the program. We could go right from crossovers to
the death-spiral, maybe Mori could think of some more dance moves to give it
flare. What do you think?"
Chieri would glare, if she could possible glare into eyes that beautiful,
so instead she just frowned a little at him. "Let's try again."
"Only once more, Cherry," Mori said, "Tsuzuki is exhausting his arms, and
you are hurting your leg. We can do other parts of the program after this."
This time, as Tsuzuki lifted Chieri, she refused to meet his eyes,
focusing only on the landing she would have to make. He lifted his arms, gave
her an upward thrust into the air...
Twist once... twice...
"Cherry!"
All at once she felt Tsuzuki grab her hand, but too early, she hadn't
landed yet. Crying out, she lost her balance in the air and both people
crashed backward on to the ice.
"What was that?!" Kouichi's voice echoed throughout the rink.
Sitting up slowly, Chieri regarded her fallen partner, "Are you okay?"
"Hai, you?"
She nodded, confusion marring her features as they stood up. "Why did
you do that? I could have had it!"
Tsuzuki looked at her for second. "You were putting in too much twist.
You would have landed on your hip. Hard."
For a second Chieri thought she was going to cry, instead she screamed.
It was tearing her up inside, this jump she just couldn't seem to do for
Tsuzuki, no matter how hard she tried.
"I would have had it!" she cried, her voice raw, "I could have then! If
you had the littlest amount of faith in me, you'd let me just make my own
mistakes!!"
Shocked speechless, all present could just stare. This was so unlike
their cheerful little Chieri, they didn't know what to do.
Now that her outburst was over, Chieri just stood there, hands in fists,
eyes trained on the ice. Now what? She felt she couldn't look at her Tsuzuki,
or Coach Mori, after that embarrassment. Abruptly, she turned to leave,
skating to the exit and running into the dressing room.
'First you fall on the ice like a child's first time on skates, then you
through a tantrum like a little girl. Wonderful Chieri.' She thought, ripping
her skates off and tugging a sweater over her skating uniform.
Wiping tears fiercely from her eyes, Chieri slung her bag over her
shoulder, deciding to walk instead of rollarblade home. Skating in any form
made her happy and at peace, and that was one thing she didn't feel she
deserved tonight.
'He calls me 'Angel' but I can't even live up to being a half-decent
klutz. Perhaps he *should* have just skated with Canty from the beginning.'
Reaching up to clasp her mother's necklace in her hand, Chieri's tears
finally began to fall when she realized it was missing.
~~
"This is it," Mamoru said, as he and Usagi faced the rather imposing
building looming before them.
"It seems very high-class," Usagi commented, feeling a little intimidated
by the heavy doors.
"We might not be able to get in," Mamoru said realistically, but Usagi
was already tugging at his arm.
"Come on, Mamo-chan, we have the necklace so they have to let us in!"
"Can I help you?" A cold voice asked, and the couple found themselves
face to face with a stunningly beautiful girl, eyebrow raised and poise regal.
Clearing his throat a little, Mamoru answered, "Yes, actually, we have an
important delivery for Asuka Chieri."
Smirking a little, the girl shook her head, "She's not here right now,
left rather quickly actually. What is it you want to give her?"
Usagi held the chain in view, gold entwined with her fingers. "This."
The girl let out a low whistle, shaking her head so short blonde hair
swung around her face, "Chieri-chan's lucky necklace. You better give it to
Coach Mori." She turned to leave, before turning again and calling, "Oh, don't
worry about getting in, my father owns the place. Just tell them Akiyama Canty
said it was okay." Tossing her hair again, the girl again made her way
gracefully down the stairs.
"Akiyama Canty is another skater Mako-chan likes," Usagi murmured as the
two continued up the stairs to the door, "apparently she's the best singles
female there is."
Feeling a little like he was out of league, something Chiba Mamoru was
not used to feeling, Mamoru opened the door of rink.
It was a huge arena, seats and judges boxes set up around the huge
expanse of white ice, and cold, Usagi instantly cuddled closer to Mamoru as
they approached the ice.
"Do you know where, um, I guess someone called 'Coach Mori' is?" Usagi
asked a baseball capped boy sitting in the first row of the stands.
Blinking a few times, a blushing Hiroshi took in the sight of the pretty
blonde girl suddenly not two feet from him. "Yes," he said, pointing to one of
the two figures on the ice in front of them, "that's her. Why?"
"It's important," was all Usagi would say.
Kouichi put his hands around his mouth and called, "Hey, COACH!"
Usagi watched as an annoyed looking woman and a very handsome, familiar,
young man followed her.
Wordlessly, Usagi held out the necklace for them to see, and she saw the
man gasp.
"Where did you find that?" he said, as he reached out for it.
"Asuka-san and I ran into each other this morning," Mamoru explained,
"and she dropped that necklace on the sidewalk. I didn't find it until she
left."
Usagi let the ribbon of gold coil into Tsuzuki's hand and he gently held
the chain in his hands. "It's her lucky necklace," he murmured, "she wasn't
wearing it today."
Rolling her eyes, the woman who must have been Coach Mori sighed, "Don't
you get started in this superstitious stuff, too, Tsuzuki. Cherry depends too
much on charms, and you know it."
Mamoru thought back for a moment to the visions he saw when concentrating
on the necklace. Chieri's voice as the necklace was fastened around her neck
by her future skating partner, as she whispered his name.
Tsuzuki just curled his hand around the necklace, and gave Mori a
sarcastic look. "It means a lot to her, that's all."
He gave Mamoru a kind look, "Thank you for returning it. I'll make sure
she gets it back."
Mamoru returned his nod, and Usagi just gawked, feeling as starstruck as
Minako in the presence of someone as well-known, in the figure-skating world at
least, as Tsuzuki Masanori.
"What are your names?" Coach Mori asked, putting pencil to clipboard.
Although she did not approve of her protégé's dependency on luck and charms,
she knew how much Chieri valued the necklace as a connection to her late
mother, and she wanted to thank this pretty young couple in any way she could.
Perhaps tickets to the next performance... although most likely, at this rate,
all the famed Tsuzuki and Asuka pair would have nothing to show but how
fantastically they could fall all over one another.
Sighing, Mori glanced at Tsuzuki, pensive since Chieri left so quickly,
staring at the necklace, face expressionless. He had so much potential,
especially paired with Asuka, but potential didn't get you a gold metal,
potential wasn't enough to stable a career enough to go pro. Potential didn't
let you skate forever.
III. Cherry Blossoms
The night got cold quickly, but Chieri didn't bother to bundle up more.
She had spent entire nights in nothing but a leotard in the freezing cold
skating rink beneath Tsuzuki's mansion, this cold was nothing to her skater's
blood. Leaning her arms on her knees, she didn't move from her seat in the
park, ignoring the growling of her stomach and the goose-bumps on her legs.
The soft sweater only fell to her knees, her practice skating dress was purple
and light, and her sneakers nearly white with lack of use. What a strange
sight she must make, a strangely dressed, nearly crying girl huddled so
miserably on the outskirts on the city park while all other children were
eating with their families.
A cherry blossom from a nearby tree fluttered in front of her face, and
Chieri impatiently brushed it away. Another fell, then another one, and
finally she looked up into the sprinkling of petals to see Tsuzuki standing
behind her, hands full of pink blossoms.
"Cherry," he said lightly, "angel. What are you doing out here all
alone?"
She scooted over on the grass and he joined her, stretching long legs and
relaxing his aching shoulders.
"I'm sorry," she said softly.
He looked at her for moment, and she forced herself to meet his eyes,
blue like hers, and she knew there was no need for apologies.
Sighing, she leaned her head on her knees again, "Mom's necklace is
missing."
His lips moved into a slight smile, his eyes light in a look she had
never seen him give anyone else. "You lost it when you ran into that guy
today."
Chieri gasped as Tsuzuki gently tucked the precious item into the girl's
small hands.
"It keeps returning to you," he joked a little, "perhaps it really is
lucky."
Clutching it to her chest, Chieri blushed a little. She had always
believed, somehow, the necklace had some sort of power... it brought her and
Tsuzuki together. Running her finger slightly down the place on his face where
the necklace had cut him, so long ago, she smiled slightly and he knew what she
was thinking.
"The clasp is broken," Tsuzuki said, returning his gaze to the necklace,
"we'll have to get it fixed before the competition."
Chieri felt her heart squeeze in her chest, without the comforting weight
of the crystal against her. The competition was nothing too big, a corporate
sponsored thing, but winning that could well be their building block to get
onto the Japanese Olympic team. The triple throw jump was to be part of their
technical program, a jump complicated enough to up their standings against some
of the most well-known pairs in Japan.
"We can't take the jump out of the program," she admitted to him, "you
and I both know that."
He was silent for a while, his hand on hers comforting a bit. "Cherry?"
he began hesitantly, "Why didn't you just do what you saw Coach do? Follow her
exactly like-" he didn't finish his sentence but he didn't have to.
"I'm not a copy machine anymore!" she choked out, eyes shut and fists
clenched as she remembered a time when the ice scared her more than any thing
in the world, and she was all alone...
She felt Tsuzuki tug her quickly into his embrace, "I know," he said
softly, "I know, I know, angel, but you are missing so many basics because you
started so late, that's all." His voice was soft and gentle, but it had
already taken the tone she knew so well, the tone when he talked about
technical things. It was obvious he knew what he was talking about, and
nothing else mattered at that moment. "There is a fine line between being a
copy machine and just using other people's training to help you. That's all."
Chieri was silent, running her fingers over some haphazardly flung cherry
blossoms scattered around them. "I am trying," she offered, her voice choking,
"maybe I've reached my limit. You have potential, you don't have to waste it
on me."
She knew he was shocked. She knew the silence that suddenly took them
over was not a good thing. But she couldn't help it, she had finally said what
she had been feeling for so long.
When he finally spoke, Tsuzuki's voice was so quiet she had to strain to
hear him, "You have the best presentation of anyone Mori or I have ever seen
before. Once Yuni told me that since you did everything you tried with so much
enthusiasm, it made up for everything else. It's true. You are the best. You
skate with love."
"I love skating as much as I love you," she told him, "but you are the
top of the class, going to inherent your father's company. You have a future."
He just watched her.
"We can't skate forever."
Tsuzuki didn't say anything. He knew it was true. Mori talked about
going pro, but his father had enough trouble letting his son skate even for a
little while long, with the promise of the Olympics a major reason for that.
"We can be together forever," he offered, softly.
The dim evening light hid their faces from each other, but it didn't
matter, they knew what he meant.
"I'd like that," she answered.
For a moment neither spoke, until Tsuzuki abashedly ran his hand through
his hair and stood up. Offering her his hand, he said, "Let's go to my rink,
and run through our creative piece. No coach, no Kouichi and his peanut
gallery, just you, me and the music."
Taking his hand, Chieri stood and smiled, tucking the necklace into her
bag, "Sounds wonderful to me."
~~
Makoto leaned back against her sofa, the flickering light from the TV the
only illumination in the small room. Her four friends and fellow senshi were
draped in various positions over the couch, listening to the soft music from
the TV and Makoto's running commentary.
"Okay, this is where Asuka did that extra twist in the unison jump. The
coach maintains it was entirely unplanned, yet somehow Tsuzuki did the same
number of rotations. It was very strange, both of them say it was completely
spontaneous."
"Possibly they have some sort of mind connection," Rei said knowingly, as
she twisted glossy hair back behind to head to make a more comfortable pillow
out of the sofa's armrest.
"Mina-P?" asked Usagi thoughtfully, "How did you know they were in love,
when you saw the picture?"
For a moment the room quieted, and the girls leaned back a little to
listen to Minako's answer, while still pretending to stare diligently at the TV
screen.
"It's hard to explain," she said, "but it's part of my powers as the
senshi of love, to see connections between people. I'm not that great at it,"
this time she blushed a little sheepishly, "they have to really connected on a
spiritual, soul-mate level for me to see. But the strings between those two,"
she motioned to the screen, "are very visible. Even in the tape."
Shocked, Usagi leaned closer to the screen, squinting blue eyes, "You
mean you can *see* it? What does it look like?"
Laughing quietly, Minako didn't answer for a while, "It's not like
seeing, so much as feeling. But its like they are connected together, entwined
with thin strands."
Completely enamored with Minako's words and the couple on the screen,
Usagi just breathed, "I want to see."
Thoughtfully, Minako replied, "I don't see them all the time, otherwise
it'd be really tough to walk around and stuff," she giggled, "with all these
silver strings flying around. But if I concentrate, they are there in a few
people."
"Wow," Usagi spread her hands, "even me?"
"Especially you," Minako sighed a little enviously, "the first time I
ever saw the silver strings radiating strongly enough for me to be susceptible
they were between you and Mamoru. If I concentrate when I'm around you two, I
can see the air sparkle when you touch."
Wide eyed, Usagi just stared at her hands and squinted a little, as if
trying to see what Minako saw.
Then she lifted her eyes to the TV screen as the program ended, Chieri
throwing her arms around Tsuzuki excitedly at their scores were announced
throughout the arena. 5.9, 5.6, 5.4, 5.7, 5.8, 6.0, 5.8...
Glowing, the image of the two young teenagers on the screen pressed their
hands together and shared an elated look.
Minako sighed.
"Will you teach me how to see?! Please?!" Usagi said, pulling on
Minako's arm, begging with hopeful blue eyes.
'There goes my weekend.' Thought the senshi of love.
~~
The day was warm, relaxed and sunny. A weekend afternoon in all its
perfection. The air was sweet with the smell of the pink blossoms from Tokyo's
famous cherry trees, and filled with the sound of laughter and talking.
Minako, Rei, Ami and Usagi sat on a bench, watching people walk back and
forth throughout the park, admiring cherry blossoms, playing with children, or
just being together.
"Okay," Minako said, eyes bright with concentration, "I'm looking for
something strong enough for you to maybe see."
"Hai, hai," Usagi bounced, excited, squinting around the park with a look
on her face that made Ami giggle slightly behind her hand.
"There," Minako pointed to an older couple, walking slowly through the
cherry blossoms.
Leaning so far over as to almost fall off the bench, Usagi narrowed her
eyes and stared intently at the two people.
Noticing this, the woman elbowed the man slightly, who jumped and turn to
where his wife was looking. Sweatdropping profusely, both hurried along their
way, away from the spooky looking girl staring at them.
It was a while later that Minako sighed, "I am about ready to give up on
you, Usagi."
"Maybe its something she just can't do," Rei suggested, "these powers are
supposedly inborn, right?"
Stubbornly, Minako shook her head, even as Usagi sighed, "Another thing I
can't do."
"No," Minako said, "Anyone can see it. They just have to know how. Too
bad she can't just see them radiating off herself."
"Why not?" Usagi said, sitting up straighter, "You said Mamo-chan and I
were really strong with this silver thing."
"You can't," Rei said, "To do an accurate reading of anything in the
range of the sixth sense, spiritual, you must be apart as a third person. Only
the most skilled can do readings on themselves, and that involves a sort of
separation between Self and Mind which takes years to perfect."
Ami nodded, "According to studies on this subject, she's perfectly
correct. Think about it: Minako sees the physical manifestation of your
feelings for Mamoru-kun, something coming from your own soul. Since you are
creating the strings, so to speak, you cannot observe them from outside the
feeling."
Usagi blinked at them for a few minutes.
"You just can't," Minako told her simply.
At Minako's 'Usagi-friendly' explanation, the smaller girl nodded, "Got
it."
"What about Asuka and Tsuzuki?" asked Ami, "You said they were extremely
connected."
"Yeah!" Usagi said, leaping into the air to stand before her friends,
filled with excitement, "Mamo-chan got tickets for the coming competition from
their coach to thank him for returning the necklace! I can try then!!"
"How many tickets did you get?" Minako asked, standing over Usagi
suddenly.
Sweatdropping, Usagi answered, "Four." Shrinking away from her friend's
looks, she said, "I was going to bring Makoto since she's such a fan. And then
Mamo-chan said I could also choose the one other person to bring..."
The next few minutes found the blonde tearing through the park screaming
for help, while being chased by two of her closest friends, begging her at the
top of their lungs to choose them.
Ami sat quietly on the bench, notebook in hand, pencil scratching along
the paper, "If I corner Usagi when they come back around the loop," she
murmured to herself, "I can convince her with these arguments that she
definitely needs to take me to see Tsuzuki-sama..."
~~
Chieri walked dejectedly to the cot by the side of the rink, sitting down
heavily on the mattress and covering her face with her hands.
"Okay," Tsuzuki said diplomatically as he took off his skates, "that
could probably have gone better. But we have time..."
"No," Chieri said softly, "we don't have time to fix all this before the
competition next week and you know it."
He sat next to her, not touching her but watching her carefully, his eyes
showing all the sadness and frustration his face didn't.
"Maybe we just don't work so well together anymore." Chieri said,
softly, admitting what they were both afraid of. "Our bodies are changing, our
skating styles are changing, our focuses are changing... maybe it was
inevitable."
Chieri looked up quickly when she felt Tsuzuki take her shoulders in his
hands and force her to look at him, "Don't be stupid, Cherry! I've begged you
before not to quit skating and you ended up a champion! You said you would
pair skate with me, you said you would help our dreams come true! Don't back
out now."
He pressed his lips to hers, aggressively, quickly, before breaking away
and meeting her eyes. "I need you. We can fix this problem, together. Okay?"
It was nearing midnight, but Chieri had fallen asleep alone in this huge
private arena many times after night practice, sometimes with Tsuzuki passing
out beside her in the wee hours of the morning, skates still laced onto their
feet. Yawning, the small girl prepared herself for a similar night, she'd have
to re-wear her school uniform tomorrow, have to skate to school just to make it
on time. She leaned her head against Tsuzuki's shoulder and said, "Okay, how
do we fix it?"
"You told me once," he said, "that on the ice you clear your mind.
Instead of thinking of the program and what to do, you feel your way through
the program."
She nodded, eyes slipping shut.
"I do that, too, think only of what I want the audience to feel, what I
feel," he continued.
"But in pair skating you can't do that," she said sleepily, "you can't
change the program because your partner depends on it. You have to
think...think about everything..."
She was asleep before the sentence was over, and Tsuzuki lifted her
lovingly and placed her on the cot, covering her thin body with the thick
blanket to ward off the cold of the rink.
What she had just told him was still heavy in his mind as he turned to
look at the expense of man-made ice behind him, a strange blue color in the
nighttime lighting.
'My only angel,' he thought, 'once you found your own personality on the
ice, you were unstoppable. You and I would trust our feelings to guide us at
every performance, every competition.'
He knew they could, somehow, clear their minds while skating and not
worry about what was planned. They always kept unison, always kept the style
even when their minds were filled with nothing but skating, nothing but each
other. As if their arms and hands and feet were pulling and bound together on
the ice, they moved as one person. 'With wings', Chieri used to say, and he
called her angel. But when had she started thinking so technically? When had
she worried so much over one little jump?
Tsuzuki leaned over her, and brushed a strand of soft hair away from her
sleeping face. 'When did you start to doubt yourself so much?'
~~
To be continued in Part II.
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