Thus, Ami is gone.
It's a short walk back to your dwelling, the cold of the night trying it's best to distract you from any musings you may have. For that matter, so is Kurumi, who is enjoying an extra mochi as you come in, staring out the living room window at the still and snow remnants-crusted evening.
She turns, smiling and wiping a dab of food from her lip. "That went well, didn't it," she asks. "Did your guest have fun?"
"She says she did," Natsume answers with a halfway smile. "By the smile on her face I'd be apt to believe her."
Nibbling on her snack, Kurumi nods. "Natsume," she smiles warmly to you, broadly. "Want to gossip to your sister," she asks simply. "Why'd you have Ami over and make it such a big deal, really?"
"Ah...eheh, yeah that would come off as pretty weird wouldn't?" Natsume begins with a nervous laugh. "Well, theres no point in trying, and failing, to be discrete about it anymore..."
She sits down next to Kurumi and takes a deep breath and preparation for what is about to come spewing out of her mouth.
"Ami...means alot to me, more so than just friendship," she explains. "Its not really anything...serious, I guess, at this point. Right now we're just trying it out, and hope something beautiful blooms from it. If that makes any sense."
Kurumi listens well enough, nodding at the end. Her smile is unperterbed, almost artificially so. "Oh, I see...." she nods to you again. "You mean that you and her...are...having a teenage indiscretion?" she phrases it.
"Teenage indiscretion?" Natsume repeats. It certainly was as good a term as any, she supposed. "Yeah, I guess you could say that. Just without the hot body contact, so far at least."
Which kept it from being a TOTAL live action J-drama, but it was damn close.
That gets a cough from your sister, a small blush working. "So, it's just in the beginning stages," she asks, putting aside the remnants of the mochi. "I wouldn't tell Grandfather, though...it it's just a silly teenage thing, there's no need to get him riled up, is there?"
Silly teenage thing? She certainly was not expecting that.
"R...right, good idea," Natsume agrees. "I wasn't my intention to spread the word around Japan anyway. I'm more than satisfied with keeping it between us."
She stares in silence at her younger sister for a moment, trying to figure out how to form the next question.
"Kurumi...what is your opinion on...these kinds of relationships?" she asks. "Like the one Ami and I are...trying to have."
"I think it's kind of cute," Kurumi smiles. "Since a good boyfriend is so hard to get, I can understand two girls needing the support from each other until they get good boyfriends," she explains to you. "Two of my friends did the same thing for awhile...Sakuya and Miho were so cute for that summer, until Miho met Daisuke and they started going steady."
Cute...she thinks its cute...like a passing fad kind of cute...
"I...see, well, um, thats wonderful for her," Natsume comments a bit off the subject. "So you don't think that kind of relationship could last?"
"Well..." Kurumi pauses, tapping her side as she thinks. "I guess it could, but that would make you a lesbian, and you'd never get married," she says plainly, before blinking. "Er, wait..." Kurumi blushes. "Is that what you're trying to say?"
Wonderful, this just got a zillion times more complicated...
"Ah...aha, well, not necessarily," Natsume said with another nervous laugh. "Who knows, it'll probably be just a passing thing like you said."
Though she very much hoped it wouldn't.
"Don't worry, I was just curious," Natsume said. "Well, anyway...I should be probably be heading to bed, all of tonight's excitement has me beat..."
Seemingly satifsed with that answer, "Well, you'll find out, I guess," Kurumi finally nods. "I hope it goes well...but don't tell Grandfather unless you're serious with her? I don't know how he'll take it."
"Well, he might be very traditional, but I'm sure he'll understand if love is involved," Natsume said. She could already taste her mouth souring up from the steady stream of bullshit that statement carried. "Then again it's probably just wishful thinking..."
"I know he will, if that's what you want," Kurumi agrees hopefully. "I...I don't know what to think about it yet," she admits, her cheery face slipping for the first time. "But if it's what you want...he won't disown you. You mean too much to him for that. He may not be happy, but he won't turn you away.
I think."
"Ugh, goodnight Kurumi," Natsume said, just leaving it at that. As she slowly marched up the stairs she pulled out the polished gemstone Ami had given her. She still could not believe that it had no apparent value, it certainly looked more beautiful than any diamond she'd seen. "Man, I really wish relationships weren't so complicated...."
Then again, soap operas tended to have happy endings...right?
You can hope...
---
OOC - Okay, you're paused pending on how Ami resolves. I fyou want to do anything before going to bed, do so, otherwise post going to sleep and any last thought sfor Natsume.
Natsume walks into her room, carefully removes the red kimono, slips on some nightwear, and flops onto the bed in exhaustion.
'Haah, at least its over,' she thinks. 'Now I can look back on this and laugh.'
She reaches underneath her pillow and draws out the lightsaber device Ami granted her not to long ago. She had not used it since the incident at the mall, but it looked like she was going to have to if she was going to put the gem Ami gave her to any kind of use.
"Let's see, she said remove the top and replace the diamond," she recalls. "Sounds easy enough..."
As instructed she unscrews (?) the top of the beam saber, quickly revealing the diamond focus set in the center. It only takes a few seconds to replace that with the new gem that was given to her and then rescrew the top back on.
"She said it would improve the blade strength, I suppose I'll have to test it out at some point," she mutters as she stairs at the old gem. "Whatever, sleep first, cutting practice later."
She slides the techno weapon back underneath her pillow, switches off the light, and quickly drifts off into dreamland.
Mmmmm...
"Natsume-chan," Kurumi's voice penetrates your slumber like an unwelcome case of head lice, niggling and gnawing away at your restful state. "Natsume! Phone! You have someone calling you at 4 in the morning!" From outside your room her voice carries well enough, so that you stir. Damn.
"Four...in the morning..." Natsume snarls as she slowly drags herself out of bed. "Whoever it is must be really anxious to die..."
She staggers over to and opens her bedroom door. Her eyes are barely open, and theres a sway to her that is usually associated with drunkards and addicts....
"Who is it?" she asks flatly.
"Natsume, it's Artemis," the cat says into the other line. "I'm sorry to wake you up in the middle of the night, but..."
"Eh? Artemis?" Natsume says. If she recalled correctly, he was the transforming white cat. "What is it? What's wrong?"
"There...there has been an incident with Ami," he explains. "She wants to see you for support." His voice isn't happy, sad and worried if anything.
"I...incident?" she repeats, not liking the tone of Artemis's voice at all. "W...what happened? What's going on?"
"Celcia," is Artemis' reply. "Celcia and Ami...Ami's going to be okay, we think, but she could use familiar faces for comfort."
"Her again, isn't she supposed to be sealed?" Natsume asks, more to herself than Artemis. "A...alright, I'll head over there right now!"
She is mere seconds from hanging up the phone before she is struck by a bolt of logic...
"Errr...where exactly are you?"
He half sighs. "I'll meet you at the front entrance of Mugen Academy. I'll explain more from there."
"Right! Mugen Academy!" she confirms before tossing the phone to Kurumi and scrambling to find something to wear. "Four in the morning and I'm already this active. Well, if its for Ami I can deal with it but..."
She throws on a sweater and jeans and bolts out of the door before Kurumi can even ask what's going on.
Kurumi's startled questions of "Where are you going, Natsume-chan," fall on deaf ears as you race out. It's bloody cold tonight, colder than it was this morning. The chill hanging in the air tries your body, but it's a trial you can win as you head to Mugen.
By the time you reach it on foot, the first rays of golden dawn are paining the horizon, peeking out from behind the gigantically tall edifice of Mugen Academy. The main entrance is a long set of stairs going upward, past a new fountain and various side paths that wind around the building to parking lots, other doors, etc. Sitting on the fountain is Artemis, his human form bundled up tightly against the cold. "Here, Natsume," he calls as you approach, gesturing for you.
"I r-ran h-here a-as f-f-fast as I c-c-could," Natsume explains as she shivers noticeably from the cold. Her habit of rushing headlong into freezing weather was beginning to annoy her. "W-w-where is A-a-ami?"
"She's...we'll need to go inside," he explains, rubbing his hands together. "Come on...it's warm in there, and Tellu lent me her card." So saying, he heads on towards the entrance doors.
Natsume gladly follows the cat turned human. The sooner she got out of this cold the sooner she felt like a living block of ice.
"O-on on the phone, y-y-you said s-s-something w-w-with Celcia," Natsume began. "W-w-what exactly h-h-happened? D-d-did she g-g-get loose a-a-again?"
A step inside warms your body wonderfully, the heat clearly on. Ah.
"She tried, but Ami contained her...in her own body, this time," Artemis says sadly. "You'll see when we get there." Leading you on, you soon come to a keycard door, which leads you to a quiet part of the school...
"Oh my god..." she whispers at hearing that bit of news. "Damnit, why did she have to go that far?!"
"Celcia was trying to take over her body," Artemis notes, idly rubbing his hand. The very faint remnants of a bruise can be seen there, just visible in the light as you head to an elevator.
"And from here...Usagi gave me permission to take you to Ami, because she is on the Moon," he says simply.
"Taking...over her body?" Natsume repeats at the first part. "What?! She's on the Moon?!"
She recalled Usagi explaining that there used to be a kingdom on the moon, and there was effort to restore the palace but...
"I'm...actually going to the moon?" she says in disbelief. "Does Mugen Gakuen have a rocketship as well?"
"Not quite," Artemis half winces, shaking his head. "Just...come on," he says. The elevator stops, leading you down into the twisted corridors beneath Mugen. On the plus side, it's a short trip this time to a fairly large and empty rooms. Machines surround a circle in the middle of the room, which glows a dull silvery-blue.
"Stand there...this will take us to the Moon," he explains.
"Ahh, a tachyon-based teleportation system that uses utilizes the breakdown and recreation of waveform quantum states to achieve instantaenous matter transference," Natsume babbles. "At least that's how it was explained in one of Kurumi's sci-fi manga."
"Close enough," Artemis shakes his head, as the two of you step in. "If you're really curious, as Professor Tomoe about it." With that, you feel pulled for merely a moment, then...
The bluish light from the great planet above shines down as you stand in a great, marbled hall. Shining with it's own light, the white marble is crafted wonderfully, a lost work of art all around you. Out of the corner of your eye, you can see a vast, ornate throne ahead and double doors out of the corner of the other. It's chilly here, the roof open to show the Earth's glow in orbit.
"A...amazing...its like stepping inside of a fairytale," Natsume says, mystified. "And all of this was destroyed once? You managed to restore all of this yourselves?"
"It's still not completed," he notes, giving you a tug forward so you don't dally. "Gawk later...Ami's this way," he notes, leading on to the double doors, huge doors cut of great stones, yet rigged to open with a single push.
"A..Ah of course," Natsume says, shaking away the awe thats clouding her brain. "Ami first, sightsee second."
With that, Artemis leads you on. A fairytale palace indeed, even if it's half ruined. What is repaired is magnificent, columns suitable for a great Roman temple supporting the roof, tapiestres and frescos of great art showing scenes unknown to your Earth education; even a few surviving worlds of art that look majestic and ancient.
What is ruined is even awe inspiring, fragments of a world long gone. Yet you have little time to ponder it as Artemis makes a fairly brisk clip, leading you into smaller, more private - and fortifiable, your mind notes - passages into a large suite of rooms. Into a large bedroom, namely, showing signs of being lived in and a giant canopy bed. Across from it is an open balcony, Earthlight streaming down on Princess Serenity - Usagi - , a girl with plant green hair who is rather disheleved, and Ami.
Ami lies on a futon on the balcony. Her arms and lower neck are tinted the blue of Celcia's skin as she squirms in her sleep.
"A...Ami," Natsume mumbles as she slowly approaches her sleeping form. She looked so utterly peaceful, save the moments when her face twisted slightly in what looked to be pain. She notices the odd tint of blue on the bare skin she can see, but the connection to Celcia is not apparent on her face. "What happened? Why is she like this?"
She kneels down beside her as she asks, and moves to touch her now azure skin...
New thread after IRC shenanigans.