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"The Missing Half" (Radat) Freed was home. It was only for a little while, but she hadn't seen him for quite a long time. There was a smile on her face and a lightheartedness about her that couldn't be ignored by even the birds who flew above, normally threatening to undo all the hard work she had done on the laundry hanging outside. She smiled all the more because of it. Well, only for a little while. Why? Let's just say the squirrels got to one of each of the pairs of socks, leaving one sock of each pair on the line. What happened next? Oh, we won't get into that. Anywho... late that afternoon, Yoshino was sitting near a front window of her house, taking a breather after the mad cooking spree she had performed all that morning. That Rikimaru must have had a stomach the size of all of Jowston. He even ate the leftover spinach gratin that she had hastily made three years ago. Yoshino had never seen such mold until she dug that up from the deepest corner of the basement. Well, at least she had gotten rid of it. She was beginning to wonder what that smell was, anyway. The shadows are getting longer, thought Yoshino, staring out the window through narrow, sleepy eyes. She yawned. Time for the daily house-cleaning. And of course, she got up from her chair and did the normal, everyday housewife things. She cleaned the dishes, she swept the floors, she dusted the shelves and the furniture.... You're probably bored already. Well, just as Yoshino was going to the kitchen to plan what she was going to cook for dinner, someone knocked on the door. Yoshino sneezed. Perhaps she shouldn't have skipped dusting yesterday. She rubbed her nose and headed for the door. Upon opening it, she saw... Well... First of all, there was this teenage girl in some strange powder blue robes. Her hair was long, but not as long as Yoshino's, and was a darker black color. She had a seemingly perpetual wide-eyed look to her. She was the first to pipe up. "Oh! Um... hello! We're members of the... um, Pretty Sailor Scouts!" Yoshino looked behind the stranger. To say the least, she was astonished at the sight. There was a group of women, all wearing sailor suits, and one off to the side... was her hair...? Her thought was interrupted by the girl in front. "So... um... we're currently out of money and we really need a place to stay. It's sad, really." Yoshino's stare reverted back to the black-haired girl. What was she supposed to make of this? She shook her head and put her hand on her forehead. No, it wasn't too warm. "Could you please let us stay here for only a few nights? We won't be any trouble." The other girls were saying some things, but Yoshino wasn't paying attention to them. She removed her glasses, rubbed her eyes, then replaced her glasses onto her nose. "Well... I'm not sure if my husband would appreciate it. But then again, I'm already letting another man stay over and he eats faster than I can cook, so I suppose a few more people wouldn't make too much of a difference." Her answer was received well, to put it in mild terms, and she was nearly trampled by the sea of sailor girls that poured into her house. As they were running inside, the first girl tried to introduce them hastily. All Yoshino really heard was, "I'm Viki. That's--". Now she was really wondering what she was going to cook for dinner. The, er, "blond" whose hair looked... green... that had earlier been standing slightly away from the sailors grabbed Yoshino's hand and shook it in greeting. "...Oh, and I'm... um.... Jennifer Lovehuett III! The scout master of these girls. Nice to meet you." Yoshino rather distractedly introduced herself, first and last name. "Yamamoto. That sounds familiar," said the scout leader. There was a slight pause as Yoshino turned her head. Then she heard, "Quiet, damn you!" "Is something wrong?" asked Yoshino. The woman answered with a negative, then asked for dinner. Yoshino smirked. She knew that was coming eventually. What was it they wanted? Tempura? She headed for the kitchen, only to find that Rikimaru had eaten everything. Of course, she should have figured that out from her spinach gratin. The sailor leader had, in the meantime, picked up Yoshino's naginata and was twirling it around expertly, though not quite paying attention to the girls around her. One of them got half her hair chopped off. The sailor leader discussed the weapon with Yoshino. Yoshino wanted to talk about something else. That woman, despite her not-so-blond hair, looked familiar. "Have I seen you before?" Viki, at this moment, decided she wanted in on the conversation. "Have you ever seen the admiral of the Toran Navy, before?" Toran Navy? Then she's... Sonya Schulen! She must have thought something out loud because she suddenly found her own weapon pointed at her face. "Yes, I am Sonya Shulen, one of the six great Toran Generals! My hair is none of your business and you'd better comply or else I'll..." Yes, crazy things happen when you have many many hungry strangers in your house, as Yoshino learned, especially when Freed came knocking on the door. Before she knew it, everyone, including General Schulen, was hiding somewhere. She was more glad that she had gotten that spinach out of the basement now. She walked to the door and opened it. Should I worry him with this dilemma? No, I'll wait. Freed and Rikimaru stood outside the door. They were telling her that they were leaving again. Yoshino nodded and reminded Freed to write to her on every Tuesday. The door closed again as Freed and Rikimaru left, and the room was filled with people again. Sonya stood in front of Yoshino. "Now, where were we?" Yoshino, who had retrieved her naginata, placed it under Sonya's chin. "I believe that you were trying to threaten me." Before she knew it, she was watching in horror as her only means of defense was flying across the room. She turned to Sonya to see that she was putting her weapon away. A truce? No, just a little temporary agreement. Sonya convinced Yoshino to let her and her comrades spend the night without being discovered. Yoshino's life would be spared.
That magician girl had left, and Sonya's crew was almost all sleeping in the basement. A few were sleeping on the floor in the master bedroom. Yoshino wouldn't let them touch the bed. She herself sat, wide awake, at a table across from Sonya, whose hair of snakes seemed to have fallen asleep. A fire was lit in the fireplace, and the grandfather clock seemed to say that the time was a few minutes after midnight. Yoshino stared behind Sonya at the wall where her naginata hung.
If only she could reach it.... But no, she could never outmatch a
general. Perhaps if she had chosen a different path in life, but
there was no way she could change the way things were now. What did
most people call it? Destiny,
"Mrs. Schulen?" Sonya shook her head. "No, Mrs. Yamamoto. I've never been married." Yoshino raised a curious eyebrow, then got up from her chair and sat on the floor facing the fire. She stared into it, feeling the warmth on her face. She could not look this woman in the eye, and it wasn't because of her hair. "Then will you allow me to address you as Miss Sonya?" "As you wish. Sonya suits me perfectly well." Yoshino lowered her head and blinked hard. "Then you may simply call me Yoshino." Yoshino lifted her head up again, but at no time did she turn around. "You aren't going to bed, are you, Sonya?" Sonya was silent. Yoshino assumed that she was shaking her head. "You don't trust me enough to go to sleep. You think I'm going to kill you, don't you?" Sonya smirked. This woman... Yoshino... wasn't nearly as ignorant as she might have first appeared. A mere housewife, yet aware of the limitless possibilities of betrayal. "I assume you are still awake for similar reasons?" Yoshino silently nodded. For a while, the two merely listened to the crackle of the fireplace. The night was cool and an occasional breeze blew the fire to and fro. Yoshino had her back to the enemy, she suddenly realized, but she did not care. If... "Destiny"... decided it was her turn to go, then at least she had seen Freed one last time.... She decided that if she was going to do anything, she was going to break the silence. "Well, if we are going to be sitting her all night, we might as well make some conversation." A gruff voice came from the other side of the room. "Fine, but the sun rises in six hours." Yoshino heard a click and turned around. Sonya was looking into a pocket watch. The sudden movement in this stagnant atmosphere startled the Toran general and she quickly closed the watch and put it away. "What was that?" Sonya turned bright red. "Just a watch, why?" "You seemed... lost... when you looked at it." "Fine. There's a picture inside." "Of what?" "Why are you so damned inquisitive?" Yoshino turned around again. "Because I've never seen anyone look so sad before." Sonya felt her heart sink. Yoshino could tell what she was feeling. Could the whole world read it on her face? Were the words written as clearly on her face as were the 108 names on the stone slab bearing the Stars of Destiny? "I was never married...," she whispered to herself. Yoshino turned to Sonya with a quizzical look on her face. So it was a man's picture in the watch. She would have so many questions... but she had to get off of this subject before Sonya decided to kill her for knowing all her deepest secrets. "You wanted to wait here for a few days. Why not leave tomorrow?" "We... were waiting for someone." Sonya's voice was soft and melancholy, contrasting exactly with her earlier and more usual commanding voice. "Waiting... here? In the Jowston city-state?" "He disappeared a few years ago." "Is he so important to you that you would take him back after so long?" "He is of little importance to me. I have little respect for that boy." "Why?" "He killed his father. He killed the man I love." A tear trickled down her face from her deep blue eyes, then one from the other. Her eyes were filled, and she could no longer suppress them. She sniffled and sighed, then said again in a broken voice, "I have little respect for that boy." Yoshino stood and walked towards the weeping woman cautiously, as one walks into a den of sleeping lions. She was afraid to ask her next question, but more than anything she wanted an answer. "Then why wait for him?" Sonya looked up at Yoshino, who was standing above her. Why was she standing above a general such as herself? Shouldn't she be cowering in fear? Oh, it was making her more angry by the second. But... she has a valid question, thought Sonya. She shook her head in despair. "I don't know. I don't know I don't know I don't know! Why! You have only questions! WHY! Can't you see? My life ended when he died! This boy is all that is left of him...." She banged her fist on the table in a blind rage, almost screaming, all the time crying up a storm. Yoshino hoped with all her might that Richmond was nowhere within a two-mile radius. She didn't want to force Sonya to be quiet, but for the benefit of everyone in the house, she might have to. "I'm... sorry...," muttered Yoshino. "Sorry? You don't know how it feels! You married the one you love! He is well! He lives!" "Sonya... shhhh...." Yoshino placed a finger over her lips. "Oh, why am I discussing this with you?" Sonya put her head in her hands and wept bitterly. Yoshino picked up her chair from the other side of the table and placed it next to Sonya. She sat down and tried to look into her face. "Sonya. Please calm down." Sonya's answer was a series of sobs and sniffles. She buried her face in her hands. "Sonya, did he love you?" Sonya quieted a little, then removed her hands from her face. She looked at Yoshino, whose quiet, concerned face looked back at her. The answer came without a thought. "...Yes." There was little else for her to say. Of course he had loved her! She had felt like all of Toran knew about their affair.... "If he loved you, would he want you to suffer like this?" Kindness, thought Sonya. I can't believe she's giving me kindness. "Wouldn't he have wanted you to be happy?" The crackling fire was dying down and the grandfather clock's pendulum ticked away, though the ticking was irregular since someone had decided to hide in it earlier that afternoon. Sonya, however, remained silent. "I can't imagine him wanting you in this condition after he left this world." One final tear. Sonya wiped it away with a shaky hand. A handkerchief. There was a handkerchief in front of her face. Yoshino. It was Yoshino. She took the cloth gratefully. "I... I think... you might be right." Yoshino smiled. "I know I'm right." "What?" "Freed. He's almost never home. I've lived here every day since our marriage, and he comes home from South Window very occasionally. It was only by chance that he was here this afternoon. But he doesn't want me lamenting over him. He only wants me to be happy, and I am perfectly happy right here, waiting for his next return. It's like... I'm one sock of a pair, and even without the other, I am still part of the pair." It took a little while for Sonya to digest everything, especially with the lack of food in her stomach. Shrugging at the last metaphor, she eventually nodded in understanding. "But you... are always here for him. He... never has to worry that you are gone, because you are always here. Every day... since your marriage." Yoshino was taken aback by this statement. The subject had changed against her will. Now how did that happen? "Yes, and that's because I love him. I trust him, he trusts me. What will happen to us if I break that trust?" "Do you mean to say that he can't trust you when you're away? You seem to be making all the sacrifices, wondering where he is, always waiting, waiting...." "Well, uh...." "Teo sacrificed his life for his country. As a result, I have suffered beyond comprehension." Phew, back to her, thought Yoshino. She had had enough of discussing her relationship with Freed with other people. Really, what was so strange about it? "If the point of being in love is to make each other happy, then I am content. But you..." Uh-oh. "Why do you stay here in this god-awful town?" "It's not a bad town," answered Yoshino. "Besides, the people need me, and Freed--" "Don't you ever think of yourself?" "Myself?" Yoshino said it as the thought had never dawned on her, almost as if the word had previously been missing from her vocabulary. "How much of the world have you seen?" "I, I...." stuttered Yoshino. How long had it been? Perhaps when she was a child and her father, a merchant, had taken her to Muse. But since then? "Don't get me wrong. We are enemies, but to see a person anchored here for her whole life probably bothers me as much as it bothers you to see a person stare glumly at her pocketwatch." Yoshino saw what looked like a smile on Sonya's face. Now wasn't that a rarity.... Sonya took out her pocketwatch again. "No, I'm never going to cry over him again, and I have you to thank." She opened it and checked the time against the grandfather clock. "There's still an hour before dawn. Suppose we get some rest before I leave this place?" "You're leaving... today?" Sonya laughed heartily. "Of course! You can come with me, if you like." Yoshino twitched. Go with a Toran General? Was she insane? "But Freed--" Yoshino stopped herself. Waiting. Every day. How much of the world have you seen? The words rung in her head clearly. Sonya crossed her arms in front of her. "I still have some tricks to teach you with that blade of yours," she said, pointing at the naginata on the wall. Yoshino couldn't help herself. She shrugged, then smiled and said, "So sensei, when do we start?" Outside, a squirrel dropped an unpaired sock from its nest.
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