Title: Far Away From Home
Author: DDFA (Mark A Page)
email: ayanami@merlin.net.au
ICQ: 9845111
IRC: Saitou^Hajime on DALnet's #AJAS
Fic Rating: PG

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FAR AWAY FROM HOME
by DDFA

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	I expected her to be there.

	She was.

	There isn't anything strange about that.

	People are ALWAYS where I expect them to be.

	It's a curse of mine, you see....


	I step up to her, softly and slowly, through the darkened 
halls of the Palace at night.  She looks up at me, and gasps with
surprise.

	"I....  I did not...."

	She stands to attention, and salutes me.  I expected that from
her.  Originality in our relationship was rarely in her mind.

	"What are you doing here?"  I ask, already knowing the answer.
She shifts on her feet, uncomfortably.

	"I'm sorry.  I didn't mean....  I mean, it was wrong of me to
enter this part of the Palace, but...."

	I shake my head, brushing hair away from my eyes with one 
hand.  "You can see the lights of the city from here.  Is it not 
beautiful?"

	She seemed genuinely surprised at my question.

	"Y... Yes, ma'am....  They are very beautiful from here."

	"But they are not like the lights of your home city, are 
they?"  She becomes introspective, turning away from me despite the
fact that it is punishable by the laws of the Palace Guard to not
display eternal deference to her superiors.

	"No, ma'am.  They are not."

	"Tell me, then....  Why did you become a Senshi of the Palace
Guard, if it pains you to be away from your family so?"

	"Because....  The calling is sometimes stronger than the 
heart."  She looks up at me.  "I did not ask to be a Senshi.  It was
what I am.  To remain with my family...."

	"....Would have been frowned upon by them."

	She nodded.  "Yes, ma'am."  And with that, she returned to her
formal posture.  "I apologise for my familiarity, ma'am.  I shall 
return to my duties."

	"Would it not be better to linger, for a while?"

	"Ma'am?"  She raises an eyebrow.

	"To linger....  On the lights of the city....  If they so 
remind you of your home...."

	"That would be rude, ma'am....  I am not where I am allowed to
be...."

	"Sad, isn't it....  That you are never allowed to be where you
want to be....  Neither here, nor with your family."  I watched her 
as she swallowed, trying to contain her emotions.  "You have been a
diligent officer....  Very few have spent the time you have within 
the bounds of the palace.  That is, perhaps, the reason you are 
here."

	"Ma'am?"  I smile at her, not with the good-naturedness that
she probably expects the smile to represent....  It is a smile that 
I have perfected over the many years of my altogether too-long life.

	"Perhaps it is time for you to take a break from your duties.
Go and see your family, before the bonds of blood are severed 
forever in your diligence."

	She stares at me, open-mouthed, not quite knowing what to say
or even think.  "I....  I'm sorry, ma'am....  I shall take it into
consideration....  But my family may have other ideas...."  She bows
to me, and marches away, trying to maintain that stiff formality....

	Still, the seed of the idea was planted firmly in her mind....
It took someone of my position and standing to say it, of course.  
Otherwise it would never have gotten through to her....

	I ponder over the lights of the city, and marvel at how close
they, indeed, appear to be to the hometown of that Palace Guard....
A hometown that shall soon be in danger, from internal and external
political forces, unless there is the presence of a member of the
court of Crystal Tokyo, no matter whom they may be....


	I expected that, too, of course.

	There isn't anything strange about that.

	Things are ALWAYS how I expect them to be.

	It's a curse of mine, you see....

	The curse of being Pluto.

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   _________
  /    @    \  		DDFA (The Right Dishonourable Mark A Page)
 / / ^   ^ \ \ 		ayanami@merlin.net.au
/</    w    \>\		Chief Propoganda Officer, Keeper of
\/           \/		the Tapes and Co-Founder of the Saitou-chan
 \___________/		Appreciation Society - Adelaide Japanese
  /_/     \_\  PU		Animation Society

Version 1.0 - Tuesday 29th September 1998