Setsuna checked her watch and saw that it was nearly time for lunch. She spun around in her modern office chair

---and got dizzy and fell out the window. The end.

from the computer console in front of her; the glow of the monitor cast a hazy blue shadow onto the back of her head. Her wide eyes blinked rapidly as the midday sunshine poured onto her shoulders.

---Auuuughhhhh!!! Natural Light!!! NOOOO!!!

She pulled her hair back and let it fall gracefully around her shoulders. She stood up and stretched, yawning loudly. Anyone who had walked into the room at that moment would have observed the strength and courageousness present in her frame.

--- Yup. Just like her. Always acting like a frame...

Her carriage, her very appearance suggested nobility...a regal appearance, as though she was the displaced queen of a far-off island kingdom.

---Like Borneo

She turned around and walked over to a stout white refrigerator that had been stuck long ago in a lonely corner of the office. She bent down at the knees and opened the door carefully, as if some angry horde of forgotten sandwiches and ketchup packets would attack her.

--- I'd love to see that insurance claim!!!

She removed a small salad in a plastic container.

She shut the door and walked over to the water bubbler nestled beside the refrigerator.

---But something's not right. It isn't bubbling.

Two nearly identical spouts protruded proudly from the beige plastic base, one with a red button to designate hot water, and the other pale blue to designate cold water. To the right of this bubbler, a collection of mugs were arranged in a gossipy clump on a makeshift desk

---Gossipy? Let's just make up words as we go along!

fashioned of a wooden plank resting on top of a gargantuan pile of books. Selecting a yellow coffee cup with her slender fingers, she poured water from the red spout into the cup, and dropped a pale green tea bag into the steaming water. She brought the salad and the tea back to her computer workstation and sat down. As she removed the lid from her salad, she heard noises coming from behind her.

---OH NO!! THE SANDWICHS ARE ATTACKING!!!

She turned to see the source of the disruption, and saw that the door to her office, the only door in the room, was opening slowly all the while as the intruder struggled with the doorknob.

---Help. I can't reach the door knob!

"Setsuna?" called a masculine voice.

"Manabu-san?" Setsuna answered in a rich, velvety voice. The door opened completely.

---Voice activated doors. What'll they think of next.

A young man, quite handsome with jet-black hair and blue eyes, entered the room. The man was Azawa Manabu

---Hey Manabu, that man's a zawa!!!
---huh?
---The man was a zawa, Manabu...

, Setsuna's boyfriend. A tall, pale, and thin young man, no older than 27 but rather sophisticated considering his status in society as a police officer.

Meiou, he thought. An attractive girl, but always so quiet and painfully shy. She had taken a job as a research assistant; he had been investigating a case...that was how they had met. He recalled their first meeting...

"Are you Meiou Setsuna?"

"That's correct, sir."

---add a point for Zawa.

"Do you work for a Professor Souichi Tomoe?"

"Yes I do, sir."

"Do you have any knowledge of the incidents occurring around this lab recently?

---Any loud noises? Fights? WHERE WERE YOU ON THE NIGHT OF JULY 12???

I've received reports of several disturbances in this area, most of which are said to have originated from within this lab. A lot of strange people, I'm told."

She paused. "No sir, I don't know anything about that."

"Really?" He disbelieved her.

"So far as I know, things are fine."

And that had been it.

---She snapped. Grabbed a gun and fired.

He knew that she knew what was going on, but she seemed either reluctant or unwilling to divulge anything she knew. As he had suspected, there HAD in fact been something afoot at the Tomoe Research Facility.

---They should call Dr. Sholls

However, that had been a year ago; and Setsuna no longer worked there. She now worked at the University's astrophysical lab. Since they met again, quite accidentally at that, as they literally bumped into each other on the street, there was no mention made of their prior encounter. He hadn't brought up the subject of Tomoe, and neither had she,

--- and all were happy.

and it seemed best to be left that way. Instead, as Manabu was heavily attracted to Setsuna's exotic features and quiet nature, he instead asked her to dinner.

---"May I eat you liver dear?"

She had accepted, and went out on several dates, seeing each other exclusively and frequently. Their relationship was now at the point where it wasn't strange for Setsuna to spent the night at Manabu's apartment or vice versa...Setsuna even left some of her clothes at Manabu's place.

---WHOA!!! They're movin' pretty quickly huh!?

The true mystery in this relationship was Setsuna's tendency to give vague answers and vacant looks when asked about her family, or any other subject that dealt with her past.

--- I'm getting a bad feelin' about this "SETSUNA" character.

Manabu reasoned that some people just didn't like to discuss themselves, but he couldn't help but feel uneasy

---He wasn't used to planes.

...it was part of his job as a police officer. If this was her idea of a game, he was through playing it.

---How about "hungry hungry hippos?"

"Good afternoon, Manabu-san..." She stood to greet him. Manabu pulled her close as she reached him, feeling her muscles tighten nervously [No this isn't turning hentai!]. He kissed her slowly. When he pulled back, her face was red.

---She turned into an alien RIGHT BEFORE HIS VERY EYES.

"That's not the usual way you say 'hello', Manabu."

---Saying "hello" is.

She looked stricken.

---Rhymes with chicken

"Well, what do you think that was for, Meiou?"

---Let's see how many vowels we can stuff in this name.

He smiled wickedly and let go of her. "I came to see you..."

Setsuna smiled. "And I'm glad to see you! I was about to have a salad."

---You can FEEEL the tension building.

Manabu's smile faded. "Screw that. Let's go out."

"Sure..." Setsuna picked up her bag from the floor. Manabu looked at the black leather purse curiously.

---"is that genuine leather" he asked in a sort of understated tone.

"My treat, leave your purse."

"Are you kidding? I can't go anywhere without this!"

---I keep my pills in it.

She smiled, thinking of the henshin wand [transformation pen, for you Nihongo-free readers] tucked inside.

He shook his head. "Why do women carry so much crap around with them?"

---Yeah! Tell us.

"Why do you carry a gun?" She replied with a grin.

---Could you answer the question first.

---Pukey racing green

"Manabu-san, why don't you drive?" She smiled at him, knowing what his reaction would be.

---"I'm drunk. you know that!

"REALLY?" he exclaimed with the voice of a little boy.

---That wasn't coffe in that cup mister.

She nodded. "I'm too cramped around the arms and shoulders."

---sure signs of a hang over.

She handed him the keys after deactivating the alarm.

Manabu took one look at the BMW and then thought of his own Honda parked somewhere, and ran over to the driver's side, keys jingling madly.

---It's a car Ad!

He jumped into the car and reached over to get the door for Setsuna, who slid into the leather seats without a sound. He started up the engine, shifted into gear, and backed out of the parking space arrogantly.

--without a sound.

The car sped away dangerously from the garage's perimeters.

"Eh?" Setsuna looked at him.

---Let's move to Canada!!!

"Are you going to answer me or is lunch over?"

"Manabu-san....please. I don't tell you anything because

---they held a gun up to my head.

there's nothing to tell. What do you want to know?"

"Your parents' names. Never ONCE have you ever told me your parents' names. What are they?"

---I need to remind them of their mistake.

He hadn't meant to sound like he was interrogating her, but for chrissakes,

---All one word to save space

they'd been going out for months and he still felt like she was a mystery. He knew that he had said this last statement harshly.

There was a deadly silence.

---As if everyone was dead.

Setsuna looked at the glass in her hand and swirled the ice cubes around in her straw

---That's a big straw!

. She looked up at Manabu and saw the gentleness of his eyes...and something else, too...was it...what was it? Was it love?

No,no...

---just a speck of dust. That's all.

there was no room for love here. She was a Senshi first, human last, everything else got stuffed in between. She knew that falling in love would be a huge disappointment for her. She was too busy dealing with the burden of history. Her own needs were nonessential to the existence of the universe;

---Now that's a lot of stress.

she had an important job to do, and that job was not data entry at the University, nor was it becoming the wife of this man...but she knew that she felt otherwise.

She was quite sure that she was in love with Manabu. He was handsome, strong, intelligent, kind...anything that one could wish for in a partner. It had been foolish of her to fall in love,

---blame it ALL on her here!

because she knew that she would only deceive this man in the end. She was a Sailor Senshi, one of the greatest warriors in the galaxy, and he was not.

---I SURE HOPE NOT!!! OY!!!!

He was a detective. She yearned to tell him everything...but she knew she couldn't. Instead, she blurted out the first two names she thought of in a fairly literate statement.

---Bill and Monica!!!

"Now, was that so hard? Now I know your parents' names! What cute names...Tsukino Usagi and Chiba Mamoru."

Setsuna blushed. "It's very embarrassing to discuss." She knew that she was about to fabricate the biggest pile of garbage in her life.

---The garbage man 'll be mad in the morning.

"Growing up, they made me promise never to discuss these things with others." She looked at Manabu in disbelief, regretting the spew of rubbish that had just come from her mouth.

---EWWWWWW!!!!

Manabu couldn't believe the next thing that HE said. "That's not true, and you know it."

Setsuna's face flared. "Excuse me?"

---I just farted.

She tried to seem cool, but her voice and red face said otherwise. "What constitutes that label, Manbu-san? The fact that I never told you before? Well, maybe I didn't WANT to tell you. Maybe it's an uncomfortable topic! Ever think of that? I don't think it's your business!"

"It's my business if I love you, for god's sake! Why can't you tell me something as...as..MUNDANE as your parents' names?

---"AND WHAT'S SO "MUNDANE" ABOUT MY PARENT'S NAMES???"

Why the excuses?"

"What does love have to do with my parents?" she fired back, carefully avoiding his last question. She stood up and grabbed her bag. Manabu also stood up, knocking against the table so hard that its contents rattled nervously.

"Setsuna...wait!"

"Thank you for lunch, Manabu-san, but I don't care to see you again, now that I know what kind of person you are. I'll drop you at your car."

"But —"

"Please. Give me my keys."

---They don't constitute as a weapon... do they?

"But why—"

"Just give me they keys!"

Setsuna was overreacting and she knew it. She had totally lost her cool, which was extremely rare for her.

---i like it well done.

What better way to end a good relationship than with her acting childishly, and on top of that, like a crazy person.

Manabu reluctantly gave her the keys. She grabbed the keys in one violent motion

---by punching him

and stomped away from the cafe. Manabu hurried after her.

"I don't think you're in any state to drive —"

---You're drunk. Remenber. Or... Maybe you can't.

She lost it. "LEAVE ME ALONE!" she cried out in a voice that most certainly wasn't her own. For the first time in a very long time, Setsuna felt as though all of the fronts she had created for herself had suddenly and without warning come under attack. All of her weaknesses and vulnerability were on display. She shook her head and walked faster. Manabu caught up to her and grabbed her arms in both hands.

"What is WRONG with you?" Why are you getting so worked up over a little thing?"

---I hate you. That's why.

Setsuna shook her head. "I—I can't tell you..." she kept shaking as she started to cry. right there on the sidewalk in front of her car and in front of the world. She looked down, ashamed of herself for being so weak.

Manabu lifted up her face with her hands, and looked at her carefully.

--- to make sure she was all there

"Please, don't cry like that. I'm sorry..."

She sniffed and broke away from his grasp, and unlocked the passenger side door of her car. She sat down roughly and held out the keys at arm's length to Manabu. "I can't drive," she choked.

---Who is this person? Who am I? Where am I?

She looked at him, as though she could read his thoughts and spoke softly.

---Don't think those horrible thoughts!!!

"Manabu-san...my parents were murdered."

Manabu was dumbfounded.

---like the tobacco industry

"I'm...I'm sorry." He paused. "When did this happen?"

"When I was still a child. I don't talk about it, ever."

"Of...of course you don't." Manabu decided that somewhere, it must have been Insensitive Male Day. "Setsuna, I'm sorry. If you ever want to talk about it, you know that you can talk to me. Remember, it's my job," he said as he folded her into his arms.

--- and consiquently broke her back

"Please forgive me."

---for braking your back

She smiled. "I forgive you."

He looked at her again. "You'll never be alone again, Meiou. I'll never find another one like you." [cue tender music] He kissed her softly. "I love you."

Setsuna's eyes grew wide.

---Her jaw dropped, her nose flared, her ears wiggled...

Manabu smiled and kissed Setsuna again. "I love you, Setsuna, no matter what happens, ever again. I love you."

Setsuna's face flushed as red as her eyes.

---NO!!! GET AWAY FROM HER!!! SHE'S A BLOODY PULP!!! NOOOO!!!

Hot tears swelled in her eyes. She shook her head, her body trembling and her heart pounding. "Manabu..." She stopped. He looked at her tenderly, thinking that she always called him "Manabu-san".

"Manabu...I love you too..."