Hi, and thanks for choosing to read my very first fanfiction! Before you start reading my story, I would like to explain some things.
First, I DO NOT OWN SAILOR MOON OR ANY RIGHTS TO IT. It would be really cool if I did, but I don't. I am simply one of the many thousands of fans out there exercising my imagination. (I suspect that you are a fan of Sailor Moon too, otherwise you probably wouldn't be reading this.)
Second, this story is dedicated to my cousin, who got me interested in Sailor Moon after over 10 years away from it. (I had very nearly forgotten about it after that time!)
And third, as I've said, this is my first fanfiction, so please be nice!
I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
"Melina... Melina... Wake up... Please..."
"Melina!..."
"No! Melina! Don't leave us! We need you!..."
"Hang in there, Melina. Just hang on, we'll help you!..."
Melina Pattini suddenly sat bolt upright in her bed, cold sweat trickling down her neck. She stared dazedly around her dimly lit bedroom as she swept her long brown hair out of her pale blue eyes and thought of the nightmare she just had. It was the same one that she had been having for months, but although the voices sounded very familiar, she had no idea who they belonged to or what the dreams meant. She glanced at the silver alarm clock beside her. 7:30. Smiling, she jumped out of bed with excitement, forgetting all about the nightmares. It was her 13th birthday.
"Morning, Mum! I'm late!" Melina said as she slid down the banister to the front hallway.
"Hurry up, girl! You don't want to miss the bus again," said Mrs Pattini, holding out Melina's bag and a piece of toast. Melina grabbed both and dashed out the door to the waiting bus, wondering why her mum didn't say "Happy Birthday". She jumped on and sat down, panting hard.
"Hey, Mel. Can't you ever be ready on time?" said a voice teasingly. Melina turned around to see her red-haired, eleven-year-old friend Hannah smiling cheekily at her.
"Hey, Hannah. I'm so tired; I hardly got any sleep last night, I was so excited about today," Melina smiled, stifling a yawn.
"Yeah, I'm looking forward to those two high school girls visiting too," said Hannah, bouncing in her seat with excitement.
"No, that's not what I-"
"So, anyway, I'm having my birthday party this Saturday down at the arcade, and I was wondering if you'd like to come," said Hannah, cutting Melina off.
"Your party? Oh, s-sure, that sounds fun," said Melina, staring out the window sadly. Have Mum and Hannah both forgotten that it's my birthday today? she wondered.
The rest of the day passed by slowly and sadly for Melina. Many people said 'Happy Birthday' to Hannah, and one person even gave her an early birthday present, but no-one said or gave anything to Melina. Melina's spirits were even lower by lunchtime, when she was sitting up by the basketball courts eating her lunch. A squeak from the court gate brought her back to reality, and she looked up to see David, the cutest boy in class (and the boy that Melina had a crush on), walking towards her.
"Hey, Melina. What'cha doing up here all by yourself?" David smiled, his sky blue eyes twinkling.
"Oh, n-n-n-nothing. J-just eating my lunch." Melina stuttered, going red as David sat down beside her.
"What's up? You seem quieter than usual. Are you sick or something?" David asked, staring at Melina with concern.
"What? Oh, no, no, I-I'm fine. I just want to be alone for a while, David," said Melina, staring across the basketball court and wiping a tear from her cheek.
"OK. I understand. Keep your chin up, OK?" David asked, squeezing her shoulder. Melina nodded, still staring across the courts. A while after David left, Melina went to her locker and put her lunchbox away, then walked slowly to the toilets and locked herself in a cubicle. She couldn't control her emotions any longer, and burst into tears. Life wasn't fair. How could EVERYONE have forgotten my birthday? she thought. Over her furious sobbing, Melina could hear several girls coming into the bathroom and whispering. Then the bell went, and she unlocked the door and shuffled past the crowd of whispering girls, going slowly back to class.
Melina slumped into her seat, wiping the tears from her now-crimson eyes. David noticed, and gave Melina's shoulder another squeeze as he made his way to his seat. Hannah just gave her a funny look as she sat down, which made Melina's blood boil. She was just considering getting out of her seat to knock a few of Hannah's teeth out when...
"Alright, everyone, settle down," said Miss Kaiou, entering the room followed by two tall, pretty girls, one whose blonde hair was tied into what looked a lot like spaghetti and meatballs, and the other whose brown hair was tied back into a ponytail. The girl with the meatball hair was carrying a large shopping bag full of colourful balls, and both girls smiled at the class as they followed Miss Kaiou to the front of the classroom.
"Class, I'd like you to meet our two special guests," said Miss Kaiou.
"Hello! I'm Usagi Tsukino!" said the girl with the two buns.
"And I'm Makoto Kino," said the girl with the ponytail.
"As I mentioned earlier, they're going to take you out for some games. I'll let them take it from here," Miss Kaiou.
"So, are you all ready to play Dodgeball?" Usagi asked excitedly. A deafening 'YES!!!!' answered her.
"Then let's go!" shouted Makoto.
The two girls led the class out to the basketball courts, where some cones had been set up. Usagi began placing the balls along a white line, while Makoto got everyone to stand to one side. Melina hurried to stand at the back, out of sight. She was still rubbing the tears from her red eyes, and didn't want anyone staring at her.
"OK, does everyone know how to play Dodgeball?" asked Makoto, smiling. The class answered with another deafening "YES!!!!", all except for Melina, who simply nodded and wiped more tears away. Makoto smiled, then she and Usagi began splitting the class up into two teams. Melina was somewhat relieved to see that Hannah wasn't on her team. The two teams walked to opposite sides of the basketball court, then, on Makoto's signal, all the boys and a few of the girls raced to get a ball to throw. A few second in, all hell broke loose, and soon most of the class was throwing balls as hard as they could, and Usagi and Makoto were screaming for them to stop. Melina didn't notice one of the balls come flying at top speed in her direction, and it hit her in the head with a resounding THUNK. The balls stopped flying as Melina blacked out and collapsed.
As the world slowly and painfully returned, Melina heard someone sigh with relief.
"Oh, thank goodness! You had us worried there, Melina. How are you feeling?" asked Makoto as her face came into focus. Melina groaned and clasped her throbbing head.
"Um, yeah, OK, I guess. My head really hurts, though," Melina said weakly, sitting up. She got uncertainly to her feet, then found herself on the ground again as her knees buckled.
"Maybe you should just sit down on the sidelines for a while," said Makoto, smiling sympathetically. Melina nodded, and Makoto helped her to stand and walk slowly to the edge of the courts. Melina and Makoto sat down together and watched the game start up again, this time much less wild.
"So, I don't mean to pry or anything, but I noticed you seem quite upset today. Do you want to talk about it?" Makoto asked gently. Melina sniffed and sighed as tears started welling up again.
"Today's my birthday," Melina whispered through the cloud of tears filling her eyes.
"Really? That's great! Happy Birthday! So what's wrong?" Makoto smiled, holding out a pale pink hanky with delicate, pale-green embroidery on it.
"Well, i-it's just that you're the first one who's said "Happy Birthday" to me," Melina sniffed, taking the hanky and blowing her nose. "Not even my mum said it."
"Oh, really? That's a pity. I bet you're feeling pretty lonely and forgotten right now, huh?" asked Makoto, putting her arm around Melina. Melina could only nod and wipe more tears from her eyes. A sharp whistle made Melina and Makoto look up.
"Alright, everyone! Good game! At least no-one else got hurt," called Usagi, glancing over at Melina and smiling, before gathering up the coloured balls again.
"How're you feeling now, Melina?" Makoto asked, helping Melina to her feet. Melina took an uncertain step forward, before smiling at Makoto.
"I'm feeling much better now, thanks, Makoto. Thanks for letting me talk to you," Melina said, wiping her eyes one more time before handing the hanky back. Makoto smiled back.
"That's great. I'm glad you're feeling better. Here," Makoto said, taking out a scrap of paper and a pen. She scrawled some numbers down on the paper before handing it to Melina. "My phone number. Just in case you need to talk some more."
"Wow! Thanks!" Melina said, smiling even more.
"OK! Time to go back to your classroom, Miss Kaiou asked us to take you guys back at 2:30, and it's 2:25 now, so let's hustle!" Usagi shouted, leading the class out the gate. Melina and Makoto brought up the rear, Makoto hugging Melina with one arm.
The class travelled back to the classroom in this way, and found it extremely dark inside. The rest of the class dashed into the classroom, while Melina and Makoto stopped at the doorway. Why is it so dark in our classroom? Melina wondered. Makoto smiled and gave Melina a gentle push into the room, then flipped on the light.
"SURPRISE!!! Happy Birthday, Melina!" shouted the class, who were gathered with Miss Kaiou on one side of the classroom. Melina looked around to see a large table with lots of party food, not to mention the rainbow of streamers and balloons adorning the walls. Melina's eyes filled with tears once again, but this time they were tears of joy.
"I tought you guys had all forgotten my birthday! Melina said. Miss Kaiou stepped forward took Melina's hand and guided her to the food table, where a huge chocolate cake decorated with 12 gold candles stood waiting. Melina wiped her eyes and blew out the candles, then Miss Kaiou handed her a knife to cut the cake with. Melina smiled around at everyone, especially at Makoto and Usagi, who were standing at the side of the room, and at Hannah and David, who were grinning happily from the front of the group. Melina gently pressed the knife into the cake and touched the bottom, causing much chatter from the girls in the class.
"Oooh, you touched the bottom, Melina! Now you gotta kiss the nearest boy!"
"David! David's the nearest! You gotta kiss David!"
"You're gonna kiss David?!? Are you crazy?"
"Now, now, Melina doesn't have to kiss David if she doesn't want to," said Miss Kaiou, smiling. Inside, Melina was screaming, Of course I want to kiss David!!! Doesn't everyone know that already?!?
"How about me kissing the birthday girl instead of her kissing me?" David said loudly, smiling. Melina almost fainted at that. The whole class went deadly silent as David walked to Melina's side.
"Happy Birthday, Melina," David whispered into Melina's ear, before planting a gentle kiss on her cheek. Melina could only giggle dazedly at that. David rejoined the group as fierce whispering erupted form the class.
"Melina, would you like to open your presents now?" Miss Kaiou asked, taking out a knife and cutting up the cake. Melina nodded.
"OK, before I give Melina the one from all of us, is there anyone who wants to give a present just from you?" Miss Kaiou asked.
"Yes," said David. Everyone, including Melina, looked around at hm.
"Shall I go first, then?" David asked, smiling. Miss Kaiou nodded, and David took a small, flat box from his locker.
"Happy Birthday, Melina," he said, holding the box out. Melina took it and opened it gently. Inside was a beautiful white and gold brooch with a large, golden sun in the middle.
"Oh, wow! This is beautiful! Thank-you, David!" said Melina, picking up the brooch and fastening it to the front of her uniform.
"That's OK. And, Melina?"
"Yes, David?"
"Would you like to be my girlfriend?" David whispered. Melina stopped dead, her heart pounding in her ears.
"R-really? Y-you mean it, David?"
"Yeah, I mean it. I love you, Melina," David said, wrapping his arms around her. Melina went to push him away because all her classmates were watching, but suddenly, she realised that she didn't care about any of that anymore. All she cared about was David, and David didn't seem to care about all the people there. They stood there sharing the most electric kiss that Melina had ever experienced, with the rest of the class whispering around them, and Makoto and Usagi smiling happily. After what seemed like an eternity and a split second at the same time, they parted, and stood side by side, hand in hand while Miss Kaiou finished cutting the cake.
"OK, does anyone else have a present?" Miss Kaiou asked.
"Yeah, I do, but I'll wait until you've given Melina the present from the entire class before I give her mine," said Hannah, smiling. Several other students said, "Same here." Miss Kaiou nodded and took a large, brightly decorated box with gold ribbon round it from behind the food table. When Melina looked closer, she could see several holes in the sides of the box.
"We checked with your Mum, and she said it was OK for us to get you this," said Miss Kaiou, smiling. Melina removed the ribbon and gently opened the box to find a ginger kitten curled up asleep.
"Oh! It's so gorgeous!" cried Melina, reaching in and gently lifting out the kitten, which uttered a small 'mew' at being woken.
"She's 6 months old, and she doesn't have a name yet, so you can call her whatever you like," said Miss Kaiou, smiling.
"Gee, thanks!" Melina said, cuddling the kitten, which opened its eyes and looked blearily up at Melina, before uttering another small 'mew' and cuddling up to Melina. Melina smiled lovingly at her, before placing her gently back in the box. When she looked up again, almost half the class had presents in their hands, including Hannah, who was holding a large white cat carrier with a gold bow on the handle. The other presents turned out to be things for the kitten too: a blanket, food and water bowls, and a LOT of cat toys.
"Gee, anyone'd think it was Sunshine's birthday instead of mine," said Melina looking at the piles of cat things and giggling.
"Sunshine? Who's that?" asked Hannah.
"My kitty, of course," smiled Melina, giggling and picking up her kitten again. Sunshine opened her eyes and looked at up at Melina, purring upon finding herself in her arms again.
"Come and get cake, everyone!" said Miss Kaiou, smiling. Melina placed Sunshine back in the box and hurried over to get cake. The class was so distracted by the party that no-one noticed the golden sun shape that flared momentarily on Sunshine's forehead, nor did they notice the audible gasp that emanated from her lips.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Author's Notes: Oooh, now there's something! What do you guys think of my fic so far? I know it's long, but I hope you like it! I would love to hear your feelings about Melina so far. I tried to get Melina's character as close to the one I have in my head. Does she seem a little unstable, or just kind of shy, lonely and confused? I'll try and get the next few chapters up as quickly as possible, but I can't promise anything because my daily schedule changes all the time (I hate that!) Please review!