Nurse Venus

Twenty months had passed. The bouquet had thrived, but its promise had not. There were men in Makoto's life, but not a man. There was Zo�, of course, but she was starting middle school now, and Makoto knew the years were flying. Makoto was 26 now, according to the records--and, actually, thirty, thanks to the time-bending journey that had brought her Zo�. Men said Makoto looked younger and she believed most of them were sincere, but Makoto didn't feel young. If anything, she felt older.

Kino Makoto walked along the fence, checking each bush. The one that grew black roses happened to be by the walk-in gate. She noticed that one of the blossoms had fallen whole. She bent down to pick it up, and examine the bush, and had a brief coldness pass through her. <An omen?> Rei was the great one for those, and sometimes Naru, with the spells she had learned from the little man and the books he had given her. <But . . . >

"Kino-san?"

The voice startled her. She sprang up, and saw a short man standing just on the other side of the fence. He was holding the hand of a little girl with golden-brown skin. The girl wore a little middie-dress like Usagi had put on her daughters before they decided they wanted to dress like regular American girls all the time. The little girl hid behind the man, peeking out from behind his legs.

"I am Ms. Kino," Mako replied in English; it was automatic by now.

The man smiled awkwardly. "I am sorry to startle you."

Makoto said, "I'm afraid I don't remember you."

The man said, "I am Urawa Ryo. We met years ago, when I first knew Mizuno-san. We met only once, but I remember you . . . You were tall then, but you are so much taller now, I thought you were an American lady." He paused for a moment, lowering his eyes. "I'm sorry, I am being foolish. I should have called . . ."

Now Makoto did remember. "Yes, of course . . . You have come here visit Ami?"

Urawa said, "I hoped . . . This is the last place I knew she was living. I had business in Berkeley, and . . . I thought I would drop by . . . foolish. Perhaps I should go."

Urawa looked as sad as a person can without crying, touching Makoto's heart. <There is something very wrong here,> Makoto thought, <Where is his wife? Trouble with her? Can't say anything about that with his little girl right here.> "No, no, come in," said Makoto, punching in the code that unlatched the gate. "Ami is not here, but she wonders what happened to you. We all wonder."

"All?" asked Urawa.

Makoto said, "Come inside! Look, that cloud! It will be raining here in a minute."

Once inside, they were alone, a rare occurrence, as Makoto pointed out. "All the babies and tots are at the Mercurius day care center. Usagi's father is on an assignment somewhere and her mother went with him--she does that a lot now. Rei and Yuuchirou are in Japan for a few days. Minako will be with her patient until the children come back. Usagi said she might do some shopping, so I'm not sure when she'll be back. Michiru is performing in Seattle tonight, and of course Haruka is with her. And Setsuna is we don't know where--the usual."

"I know most of those names only from Ami's old letters, I am afraid." Then Urawa said, "What about Hino-san's grandfather? Does he live here too? Everyone talked about his leaving Hikawa Temple. I know he moved to America to be with Hino-san. I would like to see that old hentai again."

"I'm sorry, Urawa-san, he passed away . . ." Makoto saw a cloud pass across Ryo's face, and the little girl's. "And who are you?" Makoto asked, kneeling down and sitting on her legs to make her face closer to the child's height.

"Zara," answered the child.

"Zara? You have a pretty name, Zara-chan. We have something here you might like to do while we grownups talk about our boring grown-up stuff." Makoto took her to the coloring books and showed her the crayons. Zara picked out a picture and started coloring it.

Easing far enough away from the child to talk privately, but not far enough away to alarm her, Makoto began to talk again. "About Ami . . . " Makoto made her voice gentle but firm. "Ami-chan is married, Urawa-san. She has been married for several years, and she has a child. Hermetia. We call her Erma or Meti-chan. She's a little over a year now."

Urawa was silent for a long moment, and then said, "I sensed something . . . my old power comes back now, sometimes." Urawa put his head down for awhile, and then brought it up to say, "It was better to hear it from you this way, Kino-san, than over the phone or in a letter. You are a kind person."

"Thank you, Urawa-san." There was an awkward moment, which Makoto ended by looking back at Urawa's daughter. "Zara-chan looks a little small for her age." <Maybe like Chibi-Usa? Or Kimi? Or Ishtar?> They were all small for their ages now, something that Usagi especially worried about . . .

"Zara-chan is not quite four," said Urawa. "I think she is going to be a short person, like me. Not like Pritpal."

"Pritpal?" asked Makoto.

"My wife," said Urawa.

"Oh. If I knew her name, I forgot." Makoto said. Then she turned back to Zara. "Zara is that young? But Ami-chan said you were about to have--"

Urawa said, "That was Soraya. She was killed with her mother. And my mother, and both of my wife's parents."

Makoto exclaimed, "Oh, no . . . how?"

"An airplane crash," said Urawa.

"Like my parents . . ."

"Not quite," said Urawa. "I saw visions of a plane crashing. Okasan missed Japan, so we we were all going to fly there for our holiday. I got everyone to change their minds. Instead, we went up to Scotland by train. And a plane crashed into the place we were at. I grabbed Zara and got her out. But I could not save anyone else."

"When did this happen?" asked Makoto.

Urawa said, "It was a few days before Christmas, the year before last. I--what's wrong?"

"Was it the Friday before Christmas?" asked Makoto. Makoto was aware of a familiar squeaking on the floor, but she paid it no mind.

Urawa, a little put-off, said, "No, actually it was the Saturday. About three in the afternoon. We'd just--Tsukino-san?"

Usagi answered, "Mrs. Chiba, now . . . Mamoru and I married on that day."

"What has become of you?" asked Urawa.

Usagi was silent for a notable time. "I am sorry for you, Urawa-san. I know what it is to lose one's child . . . Her name is Zara?"

"Yes," said Urawa.

Usagi said, "Would you mind if I spend a little time with her now? Makoto, you need to talk to Urawa-san some more."

Makoto knew the feel of Usagi using her command power now . . . but she did not use it lightly on her friends. "Urawa-san . . . people are going to be stumbling over us if we stay here. Let's go to my room to talk."

His eyes widened. But he got up and walked away with her. Glancing down from the landing on the way up, Makoto saw Zara give her an uncertain look over her shoulder. She went on.

Once they were in the room, Makoto swept her arm around. "That is where Minako sleeps. Her daughter Ishtar often sleeps with her. And this is my bed," she said, and sat down on it. "I have an adopted daughter, but she is so grownup, she doesn't sleep with me more than once a week." <After one of her nightmares, but Urawa-san does not need to hear about more nightmares now . . . > "Her name is Zo�."

"You have many rooms in this house. It is not like Japan. You have so many here, you cannot have a room of your own?"

"I could if I wanted." Makoto shrugged. "I have grown so used to it. I have tried sleeping alone, but . . . I do not like to. I prefer sharing this room with Minako . . . I do not sleep alone as well." She was wearing a man's shirt, with pockets, and realized she had stuffed the fallen blossom into one of them--and now it formed an unsightly lump on one of her breasts. She took it out, and showed it to him. "I picked it up, just as you came here . . . it was not clipped; it fell whole. That does not happen very often."

He took the black blossom from her hand. He looked at it for awhile, and said, "I saw this. I thought of this house. I walked by it. A flower like this fell in front of me. I stepped on it, and walked on into . . . nothing . . . It was when I was thinking of whether to come here today."

He stepped back to the dresser, set the blossom down, and picked up a picture. Urawa looked at it awhile, and then came to Makoto. He sat down next to her, not quite touching her. "Who are these people? Her? And her?"

Makoto explained. "That is Chibi-Usa's Aunt Nancy, and that is her stepsister Felicia . . . and that is my Zo�, about three years ago . . . Are you sensing something about them with your power?"

"I feel something," Urawa said, "Felicia . . . she's tall. Almost like you . . . Pritpal was tall, not like you, but tall . . . Soraya would have been tall like her . . ."

Makoto took the picture from him, and got up. She set it back in its place, and picked up the blossom. "Does your power tell you anything about me?"

"I'm not sure," said Urawa.

"Then maybe we have no future," said Makoto.

"Perhaps . . . or maybe our future is here."

Still holding the blossom, she bent down and kissed him, and let the blossom fall. She undid her jeans, and stepped out of them, putting them on Minako's bed as she returned to hers. Sitting down next to Ryo, she kissed him again. Then she asked, "Has there been anyone since your wife?"

Ryo said, "Once."

Makoto said, "I have not been with a man for a long time. Remember that, when you are gone."

They made love over and over. The clock marched past noon, past three, past four, past five. Zara came in once to show her father a drawing she had made; she seemed completely unsurprised that they were in bed together, obviously naked under the covers. It was insanity, and it was pure joy, and aching relief, and it came to an end too soon.

"You are flying out at ten?" asked Makoto as they dressed.

"Yes," replied Ryo.

Makoto said, "Time enough for dinner before you leave. We eat at six . . . I think. I do most of the cooking . . . do you have to go tonight?"

Ryo said, "Yes. I must do something tomorrow. After that--"

Makoto said, "After that, you will never come back. What we did here today, you will try not to think of." She held him to her bosom like a child. "This was to help you with your pain. I know that. This is not the first time I have helped someone like this. Don't feel guilty. If you do, you will only want to forget me more, and I want you to remember me."

They ate dinner together with the others, not the best meal, even considering that Urawa Ryo would be leaving soon after.

Despite her resolve, she made a big scene when it was time for him to finally go. Before he could get into his car, she picked him up and held him, kissed him, crying like Usagi had used to. Her heart was broken in more bits than ever before, crushed like the blossom she had found on the floor when she changed into the dress she had put on for his last sight of her.

Suddenly, she was aware they weren't next to the same car.

Makoto looked down, and Chibi Moon looked back up and said to her primly, "I think you should get married now."

Makoto looked up. They were in a parking lot, in the back of a building. A sign on a windowless door read:

"PRIVATE PROPERTY. NO TRESPASSING. AUTHORIZED PERSONS ONLY. Service Entrance, Rose Love Chapel."

The other senshi started popping in about a minute later.

This time, Minako caught the bouquet.

There was a tapping. It was ten in the morning. Makoto felt next to her make sure she was waking up from a dream alone, again. Then she pulled up the covers over Ryo and herself, and said softly, "Come in, Mina-chan."

But it was not just Minako. Usagi came in as well, and Naru. Naru closed the door once they were all inside. Usagi then said, "Urawa-san, you should think about having Zara stay on with us. Moving here, so she can do that."

"What?" Ryo was startled at the suggestion.

Naru spoke. "Have you had visions about her? Strange ones? Or dreams?"

Ryo said, "I have had dreams about her . . . but no visions."

"What was special about the dreams?" asked Naru.

Ryo said, "I dream that she flies. But everyone can fly in dreams, sometimes."

"But you dream about that a lot, don't you?" asked Usagi.

Ryo said, "Yes, I guess . . . what do you mean?"

Usagi said, "We think Zara is a senshi. Kimi-chan says she can see her sigil."

"She has magic," said Naru. "Strong magic. I sensed it even before Usagi told me. If I can see it with what little I know, it must be very strong magic."

Ryo shook his head.

"You are refusing?" asked Minako.

But Usagi held her back, physically and mentally. "No, he is not . . . You see it now, Urawa-san?"

"Yes," said Ryo.

Makoto was bewildered. "What, Ryo-chan?"

Ryo said, "My vision . . . I think it meant there was nothing else but to come here."

Usagi got that old look in her eyes as she went on. "You wanted just to live a normal life. That is what we all wanted. What we all really want . . . but the power always comes with a price. Always."

Minako spoke. "None of us are just senshi. Zara can have a happy life."

"Like you?" said Ryo.

"What do you see?" asked Minako.

"Trouble . . . a lot of it, I'm afraid."

Minako smiled, but in her eyes, Ryo saw the ancient General within her. "That is not news."

Makoto decided to break up the meeting. "Well, you did catch the bouquet. That means you'll have a husband soon. And he will be a lot of trouble." She touched him under the covers in a spot she knew would have him helplessly laughing in a second. But, while Naru blushed when Ryo's nakedness emerged, with the others, she took her time in leaving, and spent a little too long looking first . . .