Taiyoo Soshite Tsuki
(Sun and Moon)
By: Sinead
Chapter Five: Discovering
Year 5865
Tsuki ran to Taiyoo, as he fell. At thirteen years of age, he was muscular, and twice as strong than humans of his same gender and age. He fought like a madman, and almost always defeated his opponent with brutal grace.
Yet this time, the life-bound couple were forced to fight each other.
Tsuki buried her head in his neck and shoulder, unable to cry. Although she was the smallest, she was lithe, strong, and able to move faster than any of the others in their group. Taiyoo’s arms went up around her, holding her gently. She stood, holding one arm over her shoulder, half-carrying, half-dragging him to the door. She set him down, and started to hot-wire the system. This was a trick that the group had learned over the years.
"Taiyoo, I’m almost done, and you get that butt of yours back on the ground."
"Tsuki . . ."
The door slid open noiselessly, and she helped him up again, bringing him to their parents’ apartment. Satsujinhan’nin leapt up from where he had been playing chess with Wrangler, and immediately took his son’s weight upon his own shoulders, bringing him to his room. Kelsi ran into the room, saw Tsuki, and asked, "How bad?"
Tsuki took a deep breath, and recited, "Uppercut to the chin, three kicks to his stomach and sides, a ten-foot throw into the wall, and numerous other injuries. Those were the worst ones."
"You were watching. Who was it this time?"
Tsuki looked at her hands, and whispered, "Me. They forced me to."
"How?"
"They threatened to take Dad away."
The half-human was embraced by the mother, who was seething beneath her skin. Aolani, Bastion, Brasswill, Ai, and Kirau all ran in. Ai embraced her leader swiftly, as Kirau went into the room. Aolani looked to Kelsi. "How is he?"
"Normal. His father has punished him worse during their training time together." She smiled. "Come on, then. I have to make some tea for us humans."
Tsuki sighed, and went to her room, followed by Ai. The older girl sat across from her. "Will we all have to fight our life-partners?"
The silver-haired girl sighed, and nodded. "That much I surmised, when one moved, and I saw another code-name for a test."
"I don’t want to fight Kirau."
Tsuki sighed, and hid her face in her hands. Tears dripped from between her fingers, as she cried silently. Ai embraced the leader, and rested the silver head upon her shoulder, rocking back and forth slowly. Before long, Kelsi, Brasswill, and Wrangler came in, with tea for the two girls. Brasswill tipped Tsuki’s head up slightly from his son’s life-partner’s shoulder. "You have to tell us what we have to expect, so we can tell the others, to warn them."
Tsuki sighed, and nodded. Kelsi handed a mug of tea to her, and she held it within her hands, warming them. "They will call the two down, for what would seem to be training. Then, they will threaten to have your parents taken from you, and that you would live the rest of your life in the labs, away from everyone else. They would, too, and we all know that." She sighed again. "Me and Taiyoo agreed to each other to fight to our fullest extent, but we didn’t show all of our strength. That’s about it."
Kirau walked in, and smiled sadly at Tsuki, then silently indicated that she go. She put her tea down on a side-table, and walked out of the room, into Taiyoo’s room. Satsujinhan’nin was standing beside his son’s bedside. He looked to Tsuki, and whispered, "Come on in, Suu."
The short, young teenager walked in, but said nothing. Taiyoo caught her gaze, and she sat beside him, her face sad. He grasped her hand awkwardly, and his father patted her shoulder. "He’ll be fine, Suu. I’ll be out in the living room if you need me or any of the others."
She nodded, still watching Taiyoo, and the door closed. Taiyoo whispered, "Don’t be sad. I’m fine. I’ll be fully recovered in a few days."
"But . . . I-I hurt you, Tai. And I had promised that I could never hurt you, and that I would never hurt you, but I did, and . . . I was . . ."
His other hand went to hold hers, his calloused fingers rubbing against hers. "You enjoyed it. You’re a warrior, like me, like your father, and like my mother and father. There is nothing more satisfying than seeing your opponent submitting to your will . . . to see that you’re winning . . ." He took a deep breath.
Tsuki took her hand away from his, only to slip between his back and the sheets of the bed, just as her other one was doing. He sighed, and closed his eyes, relaxing into her embrace. Carefully, hesitantly, she tried to open the link between them, that could help him heal faster. Taiyoo felt this, and then took a deep breath, opening it from his end. Soon, he reached up, and wrapped his arms around her back as well. Exhaustion overtook the two, and both were soon asleep.
"Sats, Wrangler . . . come look at this," Kelsi whispered, her voice smiling. The others had gone to spread the news of the new experiment that the children had to endure, and wouldn’t be back until the next pair had gone through it. They knew that it would be on the next morn.
Satsujinhan’nin walked over, and smiled, then beckoned to Wrangler, not bothering to look at the Predacon. He walked over, and looked in upon their children. They had fallen asleep with the circle of each other’s arms, peaceful and comfortable. Kelsi felt the air within the room, and then grabbed another blanket, draping it over the pair. Neither moved, as she kissed first her son’s brow, then his life-mate’s.
She left the room, and closed the door. "Well . . . I’d say that it should be time for them to know a few more things. I can explain to Suu, if you want, Wrangler."
Wrangler nodded, then sighed, looking away. "She’s been asking about her mother recently." He sighed again, and rubbed at his optics, weary from the past thirteen years. Weary of tests, of raising a beautiful young woman upon his own, weary of the grief and pain that Willow’s inability to keep to the responsibility of raising their child . . . it was starting to catch up to him. "I don’t know what to say to her. I’m afraid that . . . that if I tell her the truth, then she’ll hate Willow. And that’s not what I’d want her to do. Willow is her biological mother, and . . . and you’re not supposed to hate your parents." He sighed shakily, rubbing at his optics. "I mean, I don’t know about humans as much, but . . . for us Cybertronians, it’s just this side of blasphemy, if you admit you hate your parents. You just can’t hate them. They’re usually there for you all the time, whenever we needed it, and no matter what . . ."
Satsujinhan’nin put his hand upon Wrangler’s shoulder, his gruff voice somehow portraying a sense of comfort. "You’ll know what to say, Wrangler, I assure you. Tsuki’s a tough girl." He smiled. "She got it from you. Now go and rest. You’ll need your strength tomorrow."
Wrangler headed for the couch, saying, "I’ll sleep out here, tonight. You know, in case one of those two wake up. ’Night Kelsi, Satsujin."
As their door closed and locked, Kelsi looked up at Satsujinhan’nin. "He’s used to having her sleep in the same area as he is."
"Affirmative . . . and he would miss her."
His voice had lost its precise edge that it held around others, taking upon a more growling tone. He used this only around his family, and only those closest to him could tell which were words, and which were verbal projections of emotion, that his beast mode had given him access to. His son even understood him, when they were training in beast mode, and he swore in the secondary language to them. Taiyoo never did what his father could pull off, since his mother was usually watching them spar. She knew even more of the Velociraptors’ unique language that he, himself knew.
Satsujinhan’nin sighed, and rubbed at his eyes with a lightly-balled hand. "She’s all that he has left."
Tatakai and Shizukesa were the last two in the experiment. Tsuki and Taiyoo waited patiently until they had been dragged to their apartment, and then entered, helping the parents bring them to one room, so that they would heal better. Kelsi, Satsujinhan’nin and Wrangler arrived a moment later, with Aolani, Baron, Fola, and Rapid, each bearing a tray of food and supplies, so that Nari, Bastion, and Fiendfire wouldn’t have to cook, or do much else, other than watch over their children. Satsujinhan’nin ushered his son out the door, just as Wrangler was indicating for his daughter to go as well. They met up with Shi, Jinsei, Kirau, Ai, and Shinri and Uso, who were just recovering from their ordeal.
They all, by silent agreement, walked up to the roof, where they could speak, without being overheard by the adults. Taiyoo sighed. "Okay, two things. First off, things are moving on, and Mom’s gotten word that they want me and Tsuki to meet with Xanthos again."
"Woah, here!" Kirau said, holding his hands up. "Are they insane?! You two barely pulled off surviving him a year ago!"
Taiyoo sighed, and nodded. "Unfortunately. But . . . remember that we’ve managed to override that behavior chip every single time that me and Tsuki have been there."
"Barely, that second time that we met him," Jinsei muttered.
Tsuki sighed. "Guys, he remembers that he has overridden that chip, what . . . five times now? Three out of those five times, he had ripped it from himself, and crushed it within his fist. He hates being there. He understands us, and we’re some of the only ones who understand him. Other than us, only that young guard, Depth Charge, can stop him."
Shi had been glaring at her life-partner, but stopped, and looked at Taiyoo. "You basically cut it out of him once, didn’t you? On one of the times the rest of us weren’t there?"
The young leader looked ashamed at the fact, but tried to hide it with a gruff, "Yeah. And?"
"No need to be so testy, Tai. All I want to know, is why you and Suu have seen him five times, and the rest of us, only twice?"
Tsuki sighed. "Remember the first time that we went?"
"Primus," Uso whispered. "Your fourth form. You and Tai have it, but the rest of us don’t. They test the limits . . ."
"To the extreme," Tsuki finishes. "Out of the three times that myself and Taiyoo have been there alone, I can admit that I’ve walked out of that arena once. The other two times, I was carried."
"By who?" Shinri asked.
"Xanthos."
Shinri shook her head, then sighed. "I forgive him and all, but . . . still."
Tsuki smiled. "Don’t you worry about it. I know how it is. Forgiving and successfully forgetting are two separate things."
Everything was silent for a moment. Shi broke it, by asking, "So what was the second thing you wanted to talk to us about?"
Taiyoo turned crimson, while Tsuki laughed, and replied, "Remember ‘The Talk’ the parents had with us two years ago?"
"Oh, great," the boys muttered. Or something along those lines, anyway. Jinsei growled, "So you’re saying that we have another one coming up?"
"Yeah, I guess."
"How do you know?"
"Simple. I overhear almost everything that my dad and Tai’s parents talk about."
"Oh. Ew."
Tsuki laughed, and Kelsi popped her head up through the skylight that the kids had escaped out of. "Come on, you lot. Dinner’s ready."
They sighed, and followed the parent down, taking care to close the skylight fully.
Year 5871
Sparring was all they did now, but they were amazingly more brutal than any one of them had ever thought that they would be, when they were younger. Sometimes, they beat each other within inches of their life, only to help them back out, laughing and joking all the way home. Sometimes they had a tag-team approach. Other times, they were all-out, males against females, no holding back.
Most times, though, it was life-partner against life-partner.
Taiyoo was as large as his father, and almost four times as strong in his robot mode. His beast mode was somewhat bulky, but he was faster in that than his father was. He hardly sparred with his father now. For three years now, he had won every match.
He was also starting to slowly separate himself from them.
Tsuki, on the other hand, was just as close to her father as she was on the day she had been born. She was still slight, but had grown to be as tall as Taiyoo, while in her robot mode. When in beast mode, she was slightly more lithe than the other modes. No matter what mode she was in, though, no-one could touch her, if she didn’t want to be. And as either a human or a bot, she was thin, tall, and beautiful to many.
When walking down the halls, Tsuki noticed that when the new scientists saw Taiyoo, they always flattened themselves against the walls, or against the nearest White-Coat, as the group had come to call the scientists that had been their puppet-masters since their birth, or even before.
On the other hand, though, when they saw her, Taiyoo had told her that they stop and stare in wonder. They were continuing such a conversation out, while sparring.
"Slaggit, Suu!!! They gawk! Surely you would see that!" He swung a fist at her.
Tsuki batted it aside, bringing her knee up sharply, catching Taiyoo in the gut. "Tai, you nitwit, you know that I would never cheat on you!"
Resting his hands on his knees and regaining his breath in gasps, he answered in a growl, "But . . . I saw you . . . with one . . ."
"Pinned to the wall, and ready to put him though it, had you not come." She grinned, and put her hand upon his shoulder. "Thanks for doing that for me, Tai."
He swatted her hand away, and stood upright, glaring at her. "Again."
"Slag you, Taiyoo, listen to me!"
"No! Why should I?!"
Tsuki dodged and blocked his attacks, then flipped him to his back. She quickly rolled him to his stomach, and then knelt on his spine, pulling one arm up and backwards, hearing his servos screaming in protest. "Because I said so. Taiyoo, I love you, you know that, but right now, you’re being a dick." She let that sink in, before letting him up, and sitting a few feet away from him. "And those kids, well . . . they don’t understand me as you do."
He stood, without saying anything, and walked to the door of the sparring room. It opened, and he said over his shoulder, "Do? Try did."
The nineteen-year-old Predacon left the room. The door closed, and Tsuki felt the anger well up inside her again. With a bestial howl, she released a shock-wave of pure energy, knocking the energy out. In the dark room, the girl held her head within her hands, her optics black. She couldn’t get through to him. No matter what she had tried, she just couldn’t get through to him.
A shaft of light broke the darkness, which was soon obscured by a large shadow.
Hands pulled her head up, and she looked into optics that her life-partner owned. Satsujinhan’nin embraced the girl gently. "I know you hurt. My son . . . he needs to learn about himself a bit more. If you haven’t noticed, all the boys are distancing themselves slightly from everyone else. Hush now, quiet. This is normal. I did this to my parents, as my father did this to his. But I never was as far as Taiyoo is forcing himself."
"I want my father . . ."
"Suu, you know that he’s on the other side of the planet. You know that he can’t be there for you all the time." He sighed. "But please don’t think of me as any different than he is."
She nodded, and wept. Satsujinhan’nin sighed once more, and knew that this would be a wound that would take time to heal.
Yet it was already festering.
Wrangler was watching his daughter talking with Taiyoo. He knew that Satsujinhan’nin and Kelsi were watching from their own bedroom door as well. He could see it open a crack, like his.
"Taiyoo–"
"No. This is it. I can’t stay here. I can’t take this."
"Please, Tai . . ."
"Tsuki, you know how hard we’ve had it! You’ve nearly died more times than all the other femmes put together!" he growled, slamming his hands upon the table, his gaze intense upon her white optics.
She stood, and took up the same posture as he was in: hands on the table, optics locked upon optics. "But I took all those wounds, so that the others wouldn’t have to suffer."
"But they did!" he snarled. By now, his voice was almost a complete replica of his father’s. Only Kelsi, Wrangler, and Tsuki could tell them apart by voice alone now. "Seeing you out cold on one of those beds, barely this side of life! They suffered, because they cared for you! They couldn’t stand seeing you in the pain that you were in!"
"But they understood that I took those wounds for them! It is what a leader does!"
"Slagging lunacy!"
"So what?! So what if it is?! By the Pit below, Taiyoo, do you know how I felt, every time you were hurt?! Huh?! My Spark has been practically ripped from my chest every time I saw you limp out of a fight! Every time that you passed out because of an experiment, I felt as if I was going to die of worry, that this time was the last!" Tsuki stormed around the table to stand face-to-face with him. "And don’t you worry about taking shots for me. Far be it from me to question your manliness, of protecting me, when I could have done that myself!"
Taiyoo snorted, and hissed back, "At least I was sure that you were hurt before I protected you!"
"Really? Is that so? What of when the others weren’t paying as much attention, hm? You’ve protected them in the same way, too. Slaggit, Taiyoo, you know that you’re being hypocritical!"
He stopped, and blinked at her. Tsuki went on. "Yeah, I can see that. I can see straight through your Spark, pal. You’re trying to protect me from something that you know about, but you’re not telling me. Now, I know that your Mum told you that you had to protect me, and Dad told me that I had to protect you. But that only goes so far." She paused. "You gonna tell me?"
Taiyoo sighed, and then walked over to a chair. He sat, then rested his head upon his hands, sighing. "If I could tell you, Suu, I would."
"And what exactly is so important, that I can’t be bothered with it?"
"Suu, please don’t press me."
Tsuki stopped, then walked closer, and crouched, to look up at his face. "You heard something."
"Suu . . ."
"That’s a ‘yes.’ Okay . . . and something’s been bothering you for over a week, so I’d say that it was about a week ago."
He sighed, and shut his optics off fully in defeat. "Affirmative."
"Tell me."
He sighed, and then took in a deep breath. "Two of the scientists are in league with Megatron. He’s planning an invasion, and is planning to take you. You’re the beauty of us, Suu. You know that."
Tsuki’s face fell, and she reached up, to gently pull one hand away from his face. He looked at her, and she rested her fingertips along his cheek. "That’s why you’ve been so edgy."
The bot’s optics lowered. "He’d take you, Suu . . . He’d take you, and then do whatever he wanted to with you. Primus . . . the thought itself is sickening." He looked at her forlornly. "Please forgive me, Suu. I’ve been acting like an idiot."
Tsuki rested his hand upon her cheek, shutting her optics off. "I don’t need to, now that I know why you were acting like you were. I understand, and I would only be doing the same thing, had our roles been switched."
He pulled her closer, until she was sitting beside him, leaning against him. He ducked his head low to look into her optics. "Suu?"
"Mm-hm?"
~Remember "The Talk"?~
Tsuki laughed, and looked at him fully, then smiled. ~Your parents and my father wouldn’t take it very well if they found us on the couch like that.~
~Ooh . . . good point.~
~And Good Point number two: We agreed that we would, once we were sure that we were both ready.~
Taiyoo blinked, then rested his forehead upon hers. ~I know.~
Tsuki rested her hands upon his cheeks. ~ You and I both know that most of the others haven’t lasted out as long as you and I have, but I’m not ready. Please. Wait longer.~
He nodded, and embraced her tenderly. "I understand. And I’m sorry for saying earlier this week that I didn’t understand you. I was angry, and I . . . I wanted to hurt you, I guess. I’m so sorry . . ."
"I forgive you, Tai. You know that." Tsuki yawned.
Taiyoo released her, as she changed to her human mode. He did the same, and she laid her head upon his knee, sighing. "So what’s going to happen?"
"I do not know, however," he tucked Tsuki’s hair behind an ear, "always know that I love you. Whatever happens, I love you."
"I love you too, Taiyoo."
As she fell asleep, Taiyoo traced her cheekbone, thinking . . .