One Summer's Moment

"One Summer's Moment"
A tale from the Suburban Senshi Expanded Universe
By Dr. Xadium
May 3rd, 2005

Author's Note: This is set sometime in the past before Xadium and Minako join the Suburban Senshi, in early-mid 2001. It's inspired by the lazy mood which inspired this picture. The spring always makes me feel this way.

"God, it's so hot today," Minako exhaled, walking into the bedroom of the TARDIS, her hair matted against her forehead from the early spring heat. She sighed loudly and looked at the sunlight streaming through the artifical window, which transmitted an exact image of what was outside the craft at any given instant. She wished she could roll the thing up like a real window, but alas that was impossible. And the TARDIS air conditioner was broken.

"I got some food," she continued. American supermarkets were interesting, she reflected. They were huuuuuuuge and the fruit was even left out so people could actually *touch it* with their hands. It was kind of gross. Still, she'd brought some back anyway, because she didn't want herself or X-chan to get sticky wickets.*

* = rickets

"X-chan?" She asked, finally turning her attention to the Time Lord whom she was, incredibly, living with. She was still getting used to that whole idea, too. It was scary and fun all at the same time. Scary because she was thousands of miles from home, because he was an *alien* and because she was acting on an impulse she still didn't quite understand. Was she really in love, or still suffering the after effects of the enemy that had told her she was in love? Was this still a trap for X-chan, and they were still living out some fantasy in a matrix or something?

She sighed and prayed it wasn't true. Life wasn't perfect by any means-- X-chan was a geek, and shy, and easy to fluster, and not at all comfortable around her a lot of the time, and crochety too-- but at the same time there was a kinder, tender side that showed through if you knew where to look. That's what kept her there. That, and she was kind of worried about the idiot.

"Baka," she muttered under her breath as she saw Xadium at last, lying splayed across the bed, face down, his head buried in between the pages of a textbook, snoring a bit. As part of his cover as a university student, he had decided to actually take classes, in order to gain access to the campus and the technology stored therein, so he could repair his TARDIS, which was really screwed up somehow and fused into the walls of an apartment. But being a student meant studying subjects that meant little to him, and the constant barrage of tests and papers and things had worn him out.

Climbing on top of the bed and making her way across the silk sheets, careful not to dusturb the books, or papers, or pens that were strewn all over it, she clambered over to Xadium and rested on his back slightly, ruffling her fingers through his hair.

"Are you ok?" She asked softly, whispering into his ear, but getting no reply.

"Moh~" she exhaled, gently shoving him off the book, and wincing as the sweat from his forehead stuck the page to his face for a moment before it let go. The afternoon was really hot, and it was just spring. It was a horrible time for anyone to be cooped up inside, especially studying.

"Arrgh," Xadium said slowly, waking up and seeing Minako hovering over him, loking at him with an expression of concern and perhaps pity.

"Hello," he said in a groggy voice, eyes still half-closed, and not bothering to do anything else by way of recognition or movement.

"Do you need anything?" Minako asked, knowing that she couldn't really help him study. She usually sat there and let him explain what he was learning to her, but that was the best she could do. She usually cheered him on from the sidelines with a wink and a pretty smile.

"No, no," Xadium muttered, propping himself up by the elbows, then sliding himself up and backwards so he was sitting against the bedhead. He looked over at all the books and sighed. "By Rassilon, I fell asleep again, didn't I. Finals are next week, and I am *not* ready. Why am I paying them for the privilege of putting me through this again?" He sighed and looked at Minako with a wearied expression, shaking his head slightly.

Minako cracked a smile and turned around, scooting closer and leaning against Xadium like a chair. She snuggled even closer as he reflexively wrapped his arms around her waist. Resting her head on his shoulder, she hooded her eyes slightly and followed his gaze, looking out the window, the couple's face lit by the simulated noontime sun.

"Because you want to have a bright future," she replied, running a hand through her hair.

After a few seconds, the atmosphere became one was that of a heavy, lingering quiet, with only the chirping of some birds outside to puncutate the almost solid stillness.

Xadium didn't want to speak as he sat there, with Minako leaning close, just watching the world pass by. It was a perfect, comfortable moment. A sort of nostalgia in progress, a memory being forged by the two of them, right then and there.

"Do you think," he began tentatively, voice low so as not to shatter the ambient flow, "that one day, years from now, we'll look back at this time, with all its stress, and aggravation and annoyance, and think of it as the best time of our lives?"

"Maybe," Minako replied, subconciously adopting his hushed tone, but not whispering per se. "Maybe we'll wish for the time when it was just you, me, this small room with the TV, the bed and a stack of textbooks, with Pizza, soda and pocky on the side... when life was simple..."

"It's simpler for you," Xadium replied, the hint of a playful jab in his voice, "you don't really have to study."

"Maybe, but we're in this together," Minako exhaled, closing her eyes and sliding down a bit so her head rested against Xadium's chest, his chin basically propped on top of it. "We're friends. Your problems are mine too."

Xadium smiled slightly. He didn't quite know how to reply. He knew how he *felt*, which was grateful and glad, but he lacked the capacity to put that into words. Emoting was still a hard task for him, a being used to expressing himself in the most aloof and detached manner possible.

"Thanks," he finally said at length, after too long a moment had passed (he thought, annoyed). No sooner had the word escaped his lips than he instantly thought of a hundred other words and phrases that would have been more apt, more expressive, better. Xadium replayed the last few seconds, imagining himself saying those words to the sweet Minako, watching her smile, imagining whole conversations spawning in a dozen different directions. But, as usual, reality had paled compared to his fabulous hindsight.

The conversation had been had, annoyingly weak as it was.

Minako let out a small chuckle. She understood the sheer effort, bordering on the physical, that must have gone into that "Thank You." For all they had gone through at the hands of his mind-bending enemy-- for all they had elected to go through afterwards, for all their intimacy and sharing-- he was still at a loss when it came to letting his feelings come through aloud. But it didn't matter. One day, she was sure, that day would come.

"Mmm," she mumbled slightly in relaxation as she decided to just go limp and fall asleep right there, soothed by the sound of Xadium's twin heartbeats by her ears. "It's no problem." She took a deep breath and shifted slightly, her face relaxing to a state of blissful sophorific tranquility.

Yes, Xadium decided, as he looked down at her angelic sleeping face, leaned back a touch, also closing his eyes, feeling the warm stillness of the air, and simply basking in the tangibility of her *presence* by him-- yes, these times would be looked upon fondly when the pain of the future would come, as it always would. This oasis of memory he would seal in his hearts forever-- a bulwark against bleaker times.

One moment of perfect, tender happiness.