Taiyoo Soshite Tsuki

Nominated for Best Overall Fanfic '04

(Sun and Moon)

Prologue, Part One

Year 5874

Life is never easy. But there are people who may have it worse than others. Taiyoo and Tsuki know that, as they are a pair who do have it worse. They have it worse than humans. They have it worse than Cybertronian Predacons. Why is that, you ask? Read on, and you will see.

~Tsuki . . . Tsuki!~

The girl sat up straight in bed, and panted. She heard the call, and it scared her. She knew the voice intimately, and she had known that he would never again call her, since . . . since that argument. But he was going against his word of honor. And honor had been drilled into him by his father . . . Satsujinhan’nin. Never had he gone back upon his word . . . Never, until now.

She got out of bed, and paced. Her nose twitched, and she sighed, rubbing at it with a paw, then resumed pacing again. Something was completely wrong, but what would scare him . . . no . . . harm him, since she had violated her own vow of indifference toward him, and had let herself find his pain . . . But what could be so bad, that he would call her?

~Tsuki . . .~

With a sigh, she opened the window in her room, and stepped out onto the balcony. A familiar human stood there, watching the stars. Tsuki shifted forms, then walked over to her. Kelsi put an arm around the young woman’s shoulders. "Something wrong, Tsuki?"

"I don’t know."

"Tell me."

"You remember that me and your son parted on bad terms. Swearing that we’d never speak to each other again. But he’s broken that vow that he took on his honor, and I heard him call."

Kelsi sighed, hiding her happiness, knowing those long two years ago that this would happen. A hand gently brushed Tsuki’s long hair, with the same tine of voice accompanying it. "Out of that form, daughter mine, and come here."

Tsuki ran to her father’s arms, and heeded the request, coming to rest in her tall and lithe robot mode. "Dadda . . ."

He sighed, and held her back gently. A bell rang, and Kelsi left to answer it. A yell was heard, soon followed by the sound of steel being drawn. The father and daughter ran out in beast mode, each ready for battle. A boy and a girl, both looking to be the same age, stood in the doorway, each facing a sword. Satujinhan’nin glared from one face to another, seeing familiar traits in both. Tsuki gently pushed the tall warrior’s sword aside with a paw, to stand before the two. Her tail waved lazily from side-to-side, as she looked the two humans over curiously. Wrangler, her father, was snarling somewhere behind her, and she could sense that he was bunching his muscles for a spring. Kelsi lowered her sword, glanced at the panther, then sighed, seeing that to fight two young children . . . not a good idea. "Wait, Wrangler. Name yourselves, twins."

"Katrina, and this is my brother, Tamm."

"Why are you here?" Satsujinhan’nin asked, lowering the sword-tip to the floor. "Who sent you?"

Katrina looked to Tamm, who said, "Our mother has been forbidden to com here. But she learned that she was wrong, and she wanted to send her apologies."

Wrangler’s eyes clouded over with red, and with a roar, Satsujinhan’nin reverted to his beast mode, and pinned Wrangler down, trying to talk sense back into his head, while Tsuki sighed, and changed to her human mode, in a flash of light. Her silvery-white hair settled along her back, down to her waist, and her midnight-black eyes came to rest gently upon the girl. She walked closer, seeing Katrina tremble. The black eyes met blue ones, and the elder one said, "Tell your mother that it is her own duty to come here, and that if she wants our forgiveness . . . she faces us."

Her eyes softened, and she embraced first the girl, then included the boy as well. They were young, barely thirteen, if that, and scared. Tsuki realized this, as they clung to her, not letting her go. Wrangler’s hands rested on each of the twins’ heads, and they looked up at him in surprise. He smiled sadly. "Forgive me, younglings, I . . . I still bear some sorrow from the past."

Tsuki look at him, and said in a matter-of-fact voice, "They should have some tea."

Satsujinhan’nin chuckled, and said, "Always the sensible one. Come, then, and we’ll serve you as best as we can."

He left with the twins in tow, and Tsuki looked to Kelsi. "I have to go after him."

"You know that you’ve never jumped that far," the human replied softly.

"I know, Kelsi, but I have to go. And stealing a ship is out of the question." She sighed, and bowed her head, her long, straight white hair hiding her face. The half-human, half-Predacon whispered, "I still love your son, Kelsi. I love him with everything I am. And I can’t stop loving him."

Kelsi placed her hands upon Tsuki’s shoulders. "You know that you’re as good as I daughter to me, Suu. And if the two of you want to really marry, not just be connected, as you and he were when you were two, then you have my and Sats’ blessing. He acknowledged that two years ago."

Tsuki felt her father embrace her again, and she buried her face into his shoulder. His voice rumbled thoughtfully. "My Little Moon is growing into a Full Moon."

"No, Da . . . I’m always your Little Moon."

"You’ll be happy with him, once you two get over all of your differences." He played with a strand of hair, then whispered, "Please don’t leave tonight."

Tsuki sighed, and as they walked to the kitchen, whispered, "He’s not opening the link. I want to see his face, before I suggest it to him, and I don’t know how much time he has."

Wrangler nodded, and saw that no matter what he said, she was still going to go. As they entered the kitchen, they saw Kelsi hand Katrina a mug. "Tsuki! Make yourself useful, and hand Tamm that mug over there."

The twenty-one-year-old picked up the mug, and placed it upon the table in front of the boy. He touched it, then yanked his hand back, looking up at her. "How did you manage to wrap your hands around that?!"

She pulled her hair aside, to reveal a metal strips riding along her cheekbones, and two coming down from her hairline, above her eyebrows. She them pulled her sleeve up, to reveal one on the back of her hand, as well as one running up the underside of her lower arm, as well as the top. They were all a milky-white color, the color of the moon on a clear night. He blinked at them, and reached a hand out tentatively, to touch them. She held her arm closer, so that his sister could do the same. After a moment, Tamm asked, "Did that hurt?"

Tsuki smiled, and chuckled gently. "No. I was born with them. It’s just a side-effect of my lineage, and I’m glad that the side-effects aren’t any worse than they have to be. Actually, they’re pretty cool, come to think of it," She replied, chucking as she sat. "Now. Tell me about your mother. Who did she send you here for?"

Tamm shook his head, and replied, "All she said was, ‘Wrangler will recognize you. Tell him I’m sorry.’"

Tsuki sighed. "And did she mention anything about me?"

They shook their heads. Tsuki closed her black eyes, and said, "Willow is her name. She . . ." Tsuki’s eyes opened again. "She’s my mother. I’m your half-sister."

Katrina looked at the white-haired warrior, and asked, "How old are you?"

"Twenty-one." They were silent, and Tsuki said after a moment, "When you’re ready, you should go. Answer whatever questions she asks, especially about me, my condition, whatever. And," she added, dark eyes flashing, "tell her that I’m waiting for her apology. She is on this planet, I hope."

Tamm nodded. "Yeah, she is."

"Please tell her then, that I have to go for a while, but I’d like that apology face-to-face."

Katrina saw the young woman stand, and paused. But affection overrode caution, as she leapt over, and wrapped her arms around Tsuki. Tamm followed suit, and the half-human smiled sadly. "Even though this is the first time I’ve met you two, I have the feeling that it isn’t the last. And I love you, no matter how short of a time I’ve known you. You’re good kids. Hm? Katrina? Oh . . ." Tsuki chuckled, and bent, to wipe the girl’s tears away. "I’ll see you again. I promise. Tamm, look after your sister, and Katrina, you’d better look after your brother. He looks like a trouble-maker. Both of you, though, please look after your mother, okay?"

They nodded, and Katrina wiped the last of her tears away. Tsuki smiled, and stepped away from them. In a flash of light, she changed into her fourth mode, a winged being. All three of her other modes were represented in this one. She looked to her father, saying, "I have to jump now, Da . . . I’m sorry. He’s weakening. Kelsi, please tell Ai that she’s in charge."

Kelsi embraced the angel-like being, as did Satsujinhan’nin. "Tell him that we’ve been waiting for him to get back in touch, Suu. He knows that we forgave him long ago, and that we’re never going to stop hoping for him to come back."

Tsuki embraced the older bot again, and replied, "I will. On my honor, Father, I will."

She smiled once more at the twins. "Take care, you two. See you around."

She closed her eyes, and created an energy ball between her hands, focusing upon Taiyoo’s Spark signature. Then, she found a safe midpoint between her and him, for a short rest. Finally, with a determined look upon her face, she was gone.

Katrina sighed. "Do you really think that she’ll be back?"

Wrangler chuckled, and ruffled her hair. "When my daughter says that she’ll do something, she will."

"But she said that she’d see us again . . . not that she’d return," Tamm pointed out.

"You weren’t watching her eyes close enough then," Kelsi said, smiling, and leading them back to their seats. She sat between them, and said, "Now. Tell me how Willow is doing."