To the Reader:
I have always wanted to mature Serena, because you must admit that after all the fanfiction you have most likely read, the Sailor Moon TV show just doesn't seem as … well, as "cool" as it once was. There are times when Serena's intelligence glimmers through, times when you just know that she can be a good princess. It is those moments I am planning on capturing and expounding upon.
I believe my following re-edit-ation (I made up a word!) will be about the anime (cartoon), not the manga (which, apparently, can be very confusing). Either way, I would first like to accredit that all information I received is from Hitoshi Doi's anime page, which is a very informative page if you're looking for Sailor Moon background research.
Either way, I would like to warn you beforehand that my Usagi (and yes, I will be using the Japanese names, despite my North American slip in my first sentence) will be of the omniscient type. You know. The ones that always have the "princess" in them throughout the fanfiction. The ones who know everything, see everything, calculate everything. It kind of dehumanizes her, but it's the best I can do given the circumstances.
Also, I will be using a couple of phrases of Japanese vocabulary, but everything I know about Japanese vocabulary comes entire from other fanfiction, so I will most likely get certain phrases wrong. I apologize, and I appreciate a correction, but I will get annoyed if fifteen reviewers in a row moan and groan about it.
Thank you for your time.
Most Sincerely,
A. Lee
Episode 1:
Nakimushi Usagi no karei naru henshin
[The crybaby Usagi's splendid transformation.]
For a blessed moment, there was a silence interspersed occasionally with a snore followed by a snort coming from a pink lump on the bed, which was covered with a comforter that had been kicked off at some point in the night and pulled back on when the occupier of the bed had discovered the frigidity of the night. The room itself was rather messy, and had the look of a girl who could manage to clean her room if forced to do so by a neat-freak mother, but until having her manga privileges taken away from her, chose not to do so. Various articles of clothing draped across the backs of chairs, and a towering pile of unread manga by the doorway just asked to be tripped upon or knocked over by a carelessly-thrown backpack.
The silence was pierced by a shout from below, one of a matronly mother who tolerated no nonsense from her children. "Usagi!" she cried for what seemed the umpteenth time. "It is eight-o-clock! If you don't get up now, you'll miss-"
Her shout was interrupted as a mussed-looking blonde sat straight up in bed, rubbing her eyes blearily as she glanced at the alarm clock balefully. She let out a soft (very soft) string of curses under her breath, cursing her stupidity for having stayed up late the previous night reading manga (with a flashlight under her covers, hurriedly tucking both manga and flashlight away every time she heard footsteps.) "Okaa-chan," she wailed, dragging out the middle syllable in a way reminiscent of the whining and crying of young toddlers, "why didn't you wake me up earlier?"
Not waiting for a reply, she tugged on a rumpled suit, not caring that it was the one she had worn the day before yesterday and had not yet been washed, only spending a couple of seconds before the mirror to scowl distastefully at the sailor-like uniform. She didn't even bother running a brush through her hair, just putting it up in two little buns with the skill of a pro. One swipe at her backpack, and it was in her hand. One bound, and she was out of the room. One leap and she found herself skidding down the stairs, flailing her arms wildly as she crashed haphazardly with her father. Gulping, she muttered a quick apology, before dashing into the kitchen and grabbing an apple, stuffing it in her mouth.
"I did," her mother said, not gazing at her only daughter as she was occupied with her task of washing the dishes. "I called you several times, but you didn't wake up. You weren't reading manga again, were you?" This time, she did turn her piercing gaze upon her fidgeting daughter.
"Nope," Usagi said, fingers crossed behind her back even as she pulled the apple out of her mouth to kiss her mother good-bye. "Seeya!" she cried, as she dashed out the front door. She had only taken a couple of steps before she realized that her lunch was still inside. She had only turned around, when her mother appeared in the doorway, and tossed the lunch to her daughter, who caught it with ease. "Thanks, Mom. Bye!" She raced down the sidewalk in her mad race to make it to school before the bell rang.
Ikuko Tsukino only shook her head wonderingly. If her daughter could be as graceful when not in a rush, life would be perfect. Unfortunately, when her daughter was not making her way to school (late, as usual), the grace left and was replaced with the awkwardness and clumsiness all adolescents found themselves saddled with at some point or other. She made her way back into the house, moving to make breakfast for her husband, who was rubbing a sore bruise from a head-on collision with Usagi earlier.
*
Usagi sprinted down the sidewalk, narrowly avoiding collisions with the pedestrians, most of who were used to this sort of thing and knew to avoid the sidewalks at eight. She almost rounded a corner, before something she caught in her peripheral vision stopped her. She rotated on her toes rather slowly (with all the grace of the ballerina, but none of the skills of one … her parents had tried to get her to go to ballet lessons when she was younger. As a result, she acquired a few of the ballerina's affectations, including the tendency to turn on tiptoes, but none of the true grace or flexibility or poise or precision or discipline). To her shock, there were a group of boys (ones she recognized as boys from the local gang-wannabes) torturing a little cat with band-aid on its forehead. She approached with all the fury of a righteous archangel, and the boys scattered upon seeing her.
Not only did she top them in years, her petite height still towered over them, especially when she put on her glare. Plus, they had come into contact with her younger brother Shingo once before, and she had abruptly put them in their place, and pulled Shingo home by the ear upon finding out that Shingo had joined them in picking on a poor six-year-old. The next time they saw that six-year-old, Noreko had bunched up her tiny fist and punched them soundly in the eyes. The next time they saw Shingo, he had coldly given them the silent treatment, and threatened to sic the teachers on them when they began to taunt him. Needless to say, the gang was convinced (and rightfully so) that Usagi had had a hand in both of these events.
She ignored their passing, and gently approached the wary cat. With a quick movement, her hand darted out and pulled off the band-aid and snatched it back before the cat could scratch her. She blinked in surprise as the black cat's eyes (which she could have sworn were clouded earlier) cleared, and were filled with startling lucidity. For some reason, she felt herself flinch at the sight. The cat backed away warily, before bounding off.
Shaking herself out of the stupor she had been in ever since she felt a nagging familiarity at the appearance of the cat, she looked at her watch and realized, not without some dread, that she was late for school. Without another thought for the peculiar cat, she jumped up and hurriedly began sprinting in the direction of the school again.
By the time Usagi made it to school, the bell had already rung. She slid into the classroom, and glanced at the clock hopefully, praying with all her might that time had turned back. No such luck. Sighing, she announced her tardy presence to the teacher, as she was required to do.
Haruna-sensei, more formally called Ms. Haruna as she was the English teacher as well as Usagi's homeroom teacher, who had been waiting for Usagi's announcement, shook her head. "This is the fourth time this week, Usagi. I don't know what to do with you. Just- Just stand outside the door. I'll talk to you later."
Usagi hung her head at the shame of having to stand outside the door, declaring her truancy to all that passed, and dragged her feet as she walked out the doorway.
When Ms. Haruna exited the same doorway fifteen minutes later, having just assigned the class some busy-work to do while she reprimanded Usagi, she found that Usagi had, in her hunger, opened her lunch and finished it off except for a couple of crumbs she was currently licking off her fingers. "Usagi," Ms. Haruna scolded. "You know you aren't allowed to eat in class. But you do it anyways. That's why you do so badly in school. You have so much potential, but you don't use it."
Usagi barely paid attention. Most of her teachers had used the word "potential" in reference to her at some point or another. She put on a contrite look, and allowed Ms. Haruna's harsh words to wash over her, barely feeling them pass.
"Are you listening to me, Usagi?"
"Of course, Haruna-sensei."
Ms. Haruna frowned, before pulling out a sheet of paper. "For example, this was your last test."
Usagi took the folded piece of paper and opened it rather slowly, a dreadful feeling at the bottom of her stomach. She almost let out an earsplitting screech when she saw the score.
"Thirty percent?" she asked. "But …"
"I expect this to be signed by your parents by tomorrow," Ms. Haruna said sternly.
Usagi nodded meekly.
"You may go back to class now."
Usagi did not let her sigh escape, but stalked into the room, not without some resentment, and sat down. She craned her neck to see what the assignment on the board was. Unfortunately, the girl sitting in front of her was a very tall one, and blocked her view of the blackboard.
She turned to Umino, who sat to her left. Ms. Haruna was currently conversing with another teacher outside of the classroom, and she felt that she had time to ask him what the assignment was. Before she could form the question, however, Umino began speaking. "How'd you do on the test, huh, Usagi? It wasn't very hard, was it? I forgot to study, and didn't try very hard and I still received a ninety-five percent."
Usagi grit her teeth, and did her best not to pummel Umino. She wanted more than anything to talk to her good friend Naru, but at this point, Ms. Haruna entered the room, and the tall girl in front moved to hand the assignment to the teacher. Seizing the moment, Usagi hastily scribbled down the assignment.
The rest of the day passed normally. Usagi ended up starving at lunchtime because she had eaten the lunch her mother made for her. She borrowed bits and pieces of food from Naru occasionally, but ended up sulking in a corner when Umino showed up to talk more about how "easy" the test was. Naru could only take a couple of moments of his babble, before moving to join Usagi.
At the end of school, as was their custom, Usagi and Naru chose to sit on the grass in the school courtyard and talk for a while until the mob of students had finished rushing out of the school and jamming up the gate. They talked in low tones, first about how nerdy Umino was, and how annoying he and his obsessive rumor mill was.
"Did you hear about Sailor V catching the jewel thief?" Naru asked excitedly, as soon as Umino approached, as both were forced to abandon their vilification of his bad habits.
Usagi looked blank. "Sailor V? Who's she? Like, a ship-person?"
Umino had, at this point, decided to interject a comment, feeling the need to spread the knowledge. "Ahhh, you must not have been reading the news lately," he said in an unknowingly condescending tone, not noticing Usagi bristling at the half-accusation. "Sailor V is a crimefighter who wears a sailor-suit while she battles jewel thieves and bank robbers." He tried to make his sentence as dramatic as possible as he barely resisted the urge to strike a pose.
Usagi blinked. "Crimefighter?"
"As in superhero," Umino said, not faltering from his firm belief that there were such things as superheroes in the world.
Usagi shrugged, dismissing Umino's odd statement. "There's no such thing as magic," she repeated, voicing something her mother had told her many times, not really paying attention. "But do you know what kind of jewels?" She went starry-eyed, imagining glimmering emeralds, shimmering diamonds, sedate pearls, sinister opals, and so on. "I almost sympathize with the poor jewel thief," she added. "I know what it's like to long for jewels …"
"Me, too," Naru added, thinking about some of the magnificent jewels in her own mother's store, that her mother wouldn't even let her go near, much less actually touch or hold.
Umino frowned. Were Naru and Usagi actually … considering jewel-thieving?
A sudden smile appeared on Naru's face. "I just remembered, Usagi. There's a bargain sale today at my mother's jewelry store. Do you want to go?"
"Sure," Usagi said, whole-heartedly advocating the idea. As most of the students had already left, leaving the exit empty, Naru and she jumped up immediately and raced to Osa-P, Mrs. Osaka's jewelry store.
Umino looked at their retreating backs, before scrambling up and following them, whining, "Wait for me."
*
An ominous figure was seated upon a black stone carved of onyx that exuded malevolence. Perched atop the dark throne was an equally dark and equally beautiful queen with dark red hair, and glowing green eyes. Unlike the magnificent mineral for which she was named, the one that spawned both the elegant aquamarines and the magnificent emeralds, she did not emanate a sense of brightness. Rather, her very aura proclaimed her to be a Dark Queen.
Queen Beryl's voice was calm, without inflection, yet not monotonous, and conveying a sense of terrible impatience. "Jadeite," she said coldly.
"Yes, my Queen?" Jadeite said in a half-sullen tone, not taking kindly to having to kneel on the cold stone floor in front of the Dark Queen while giving his report.
Queen Beryl merely flicked him a glance, before he was writhing on the floor in pain. She let him suffer for a couple of moments before jerking her head, and his writhing stopped. "What were you saying, Jadeite?" she asked saccharinely.
"Yes, Your Majesty," Jadeite corrected as best he could, still gasping from the pain.
Queen Beryl nodded. "How has the search for the ginzuishou progressed?" she wanted to know.
Jadeite cleared his throat nervously. "The ginzuishou is a silver crystal with special powers-"
"I know that already, you fool," Queen Beryl said, her voice filled with scorn. "I suppose you couldn't find it. Well, I hope that you have, at least, formulated a plan for gathering energy from the humans. The Dark Kingdom requires energy to keep up, and already, your existence is causing the energy to wane away!" Her voice was sharp, as she reminded him that the only reason he and any other member of the Dark Kingdom was alive was because they were a drain on the Dark Kingdom's energy, which constantly needed to be replenished.
Jadeite hastened to speak. "One of my- the youma is already gathering human energy."
Queen Beryl smiled. "Good." She paused, before snapping her fingers. Once again, Jadeite found himself writhing in pain. Finally, the torture stopped. "They are my youma, not yours. Try to remember that," she said silkily.
*
As Naru and Usagi arrived in front of the Osa-P Jewelry Store, they watched in amazement as Mrs. Osaka, a usually sedate and well-mannered person, ran around encouraging people to buy her goods like a used-car salesman. She proclaimed that every item was on sale, and her eyes glinted with something that neither girl could identify. Usagi would later learn that the glint signaled the presence of a youma, for that was who it was. Mrs. Osaka was shut away somewhere in the Osa-P Storage Room, while this youma impersonated the gentle woman to further the designs of her Master Jadeite and her Maker Beryl.
Naru seemed a bit fazed at first at her mother's unusual behavior, but shrugged it off and dragged Usagi up to meet her mom. "Mom, look," she said happily. "This is my friend, Usagi. Do you remember her?"
Usagi did not see the evil red glint in "Mrs. Osaka's" eyes, but she felt a shiver run down her back anyways.
"Usagi," "Mrs. Osaka" murmured, before smiling a truly evil smile. "I have a piece of jewelry perfect for you," she crowed. "I'll make it extra cheap, just because you're Naru's friend."
Usagi practically drooled with delight. "Really?" she demanded. "How much?"
"This," Naru's "mother" proclaimed, holding out a glittery diamond, "is actually 500,000 yen." Usagi trembled at the price she knew she could not afford, and her parents would not let her indulge in. The youma smiled as reassuringly as it could, adding, "You can have it for 30,000."
Before Usagi could apologize, saying that she had no money with her (because she had spent all of her allowance at the Arcade), she felt an old lady behind elbow past, thrusting 30,000 yen into "Mrs. Osaka's" hands, and grabbing the diamond. The transaction took place so quickly, Usagi could not be sure the diamond hadn't just magically disappeared and was replaced with the wad of money.
As more and more people crowded in front of the jewelry store, Naru and Usagi found themselves forced to move away, for fear of being trampled. Naru bid Usagi goodbye, as she had to help her mother wit the store. Usagi moped as she walked home alone.
She couldn't believe that the bargain price of 30,000 yen for such a beautiful diamond was snatched away by someone else because she couldn't afford it. And after her thirty percent she was to have signed, she would be surprised if her father ever bought her anything again. In a fit of resentment, she crumpled up the incriminatory test paper and threw it away.
Suddenly, a voice said from behind her, "That hurts. Watch where you aim, odango atama."
Usagi bristled at the nickname, and turned around, only to find her abysmal test being uncrumpled by some tall, dark, and handsome guy. She barely suppressed her urge to swoon, instead reaching out her hand. "Give me my test back," she said firmly.
The man tsked. "Odango atama, hasn't anyone ever taught you manners?" His gaze traveled to the test. "And a thirty? You really should study more."
Usagi seethed with the indignation of a complete stranger insulting her. She snatched the test back and, without giving him a second glance, stalked away, feathers ruffled.
She did not see the man chuckle as she left, or there would have been murder committed that day. As it was, Usagi was in a very bad mood when she passed by the Arcade, which was how it was known. It had no name, and there was no name needed, for in Usagi's life, there was only one Arcade. Either way, no matter how dejected she was from the test, and then the episode with the insulting (yet handsome, although she certainly wouldn't admit it) man, a glance at the Arcade cheered her up, for her eyes immediately fell upon the new Sailor V game that she had been itching to play for months. All thoughts of annoying guys with were delusional enough to think that her hair was a dessert (one of her favorite desserts, as a matter of fact) were banished from her head.
Of course, Usagi just had to try out the Sailor V video game a couple of times. Unfortunately, she had no money on her, which she remembered belatedly just as she was about to enter the Arcade. Depressed again, she stomped away back home, dreading the moment when her parents would learn of her grades.
*
Ikuko Tsukino smiled determinedly at her daughter when she thumped through the daughter. "Hello, Usagi, how was school today?" she asked. "I bumped into Umino today—he's such a sweet boy—and he told me that your class had a test, a pretty easy one. How did you do?"
Usagi opted for the plumping-dumb ploy. "What test?" she asked innocently.
Ikuko's brow darkened. "Usagi," she growled, you didn't fail this one, did you?" When Usagi did not answer, she held out an imperious hand.
Slowly, Usagi placed the test in her mother's hand, knowing that the failing grade was bad enough, and that the sore state the test was in would only serve to fuel her mother's anger.
There were a couple of moments of complete and utter silence.
And then there was pandemonium. Ikuko summoned hidden reserves of strength and began bellowing at her daughter, who became indignant, and bellowed right back. Their screaming match reached a peak as Ikuko brought up honor, the future, what Usagi would amount to, Shingo, Umino, and other subjects of the past that parents always dredged up when it came to arguments. In turn, Usagi brought up old-fashioned traditions, out-dated superstitions, old fogies, her simple ambitions (to be a housewife), and her most important point: that she did not care to be a tool used by Ikuko so that she could achieve what Ikuko as a child had not cared to. Ikuko was so infuriated by the last point, that she ordered her daughter out the daughter, adding, "And don't expect to come back in for dinner, either."
Usagi, with a rather noble hauteur, did not even deign to glance at her mother as she walked outside, clenching her fists in anger. Her mother never understood! Before she could even begin to bemoan the misfortune that was her life, her eyes fell on her younger, annoying brother Shingo. Before she could open her mouth to ask him why the *** he was home so late (so willing was she to take her anger out on someone), he sneered first. "God, I wish I had some one a bit smarter for an older sister. Instead, I only have you."
Taken aback by the sudden attack, Usagi stopped in mid-rant (mentally, of course). She was not allowed to retort.
"Now, Mom's in a bad mood," Shingo continued sullenly. "All because of you. Thanks a lot."
Usagi barely bit back an insult, and merely leveled a calm, cool gaze at him, and responded, "Sarcasm is the protest of people who are weak."
Shingo shot his sister a disbelieving gaze at such a lame retort, and went inside, slamming the door behind him.
Usagi merely smiled smugly. Although she wasn't sure she had gotten the quote exactly correctly (especially seeing as it was a translated quote), but it was close enough. Even if Shingo never read the book in his entire educational life (which was possible) the quote would stick out in his mind, and one day, he would stumble across it. On that day, she smirked, she would the one with the last laugh.
*
Naru emerged from the rather musty office she had been doing her homework in, now ready to help her mother in the store. As she approached the doorway, however, she was shocked to find that many of the women who (apparently) had been buying jewelry had either fainted dead on the spot, or were in the process of swooning. She could even spot a couple of guys among the heaped bodies (most likely ones trying to buy the prefect ring for their significant other). She turned, horrified, to search for her mother, and caught the lone, imposing figure among the heaps of corpses. Something possessed her to keep her mouth shut just a while longer, and her discretion was rewarded.
The woman she thought was her mother suddenly let out a quite evil cackle, and shed the mortal form as easily as a butterfly might shed its cocoon. As she surveyed her handiwork, Naru could almost feel this woman's self-satisfaction emitted in powerful waves. "I think I have collected enough energy to please Master Jadeite and Maker Beryl," the woman-monster-thing said in a discordant voice so out of place in this world that it literally ripped warp-holes into the air, albeit warp-holes that closed within moments. The monster (whom Naru did not know was called a youma, and was actually one of the neophytes of Jadeite's creations) suddenly spotted a flash of red out of the corner of its eye, and turned to face Naru.
"My daughter …" she said in a falsely saccharine voice.
Naru backed away in abject fear. "No…"
*
Usagi lay on her bed, dozing. Her mother had finally let her in after she began chucking stones in her mother's prize rose garden out of sheer boredom, and she was now too tired to do any homework. Unknown to the sleeping figure, her side window slowly wriggled its way open, and the black cat she had encountered earlier squeezed in through the window. The black cat warily glanced around the room, and finally, its eyes fell on the sleeping figure. IT leaped on the figure, and claws extended, began to scratch the sleeping girl.
"Ah," Usagi cried, now wide awake, holding her hands to her bleeding face. She turned to see what had scratched her, and came face to face with the black cat she had saved earlier during the day. She noted that it had a bald crescent moon patch on its forehead, something she had not discovered earlier. She tried to back away from it warily, but as it was on her bed and she was as close to the wall as she could get, all that resulted was a rather comical flail of paws and arms and legs as she fell off the bed.
"What did I ever do to you, stupid kitty with the bald patch," she grumbled.
To her immense surprise, the cat spoke (with a rather peculiar accent that Usagi ascribed to as British). "How rude. It's not a bald patch, I am not a 'kitty'—I am a full-grown Lunarian Mau Cat—and I am not stupid."
Usagi stared blankly at this amazing phenomenon.
"My name is Luna. I've been looking for you, Usagi," the cat continued, undeterred.
There was a silence in which the cat obviously waited for Usagi to become accustomed to the fact that it was a cat, and Usagi did not disappoint her. There were the expected blank stares, the pinching of various parts of her body, the muttering that this had to be a dream, and the determination to go to sleep just to prove that it was a dream.
"This is not a dream," the cat said, seeing Usagi's eyes close, only to open and stare at the cat suspiciously. "I suppose you want proof."
Usagi gave the cat a look that most obviously proclaimed, "Duh!"
The cat closed its eyes and braced itself for a moment before leaping into the air and doing a rather impressive back-flip. Out of nowhere, a broach dropped to the floor, the last vestiges of rainbow light still clinging to it. Luna turned to Usagi, holding the broach out in its mouth, and dropped the broach at the young girl's feet. "First of all, I am a 'she', not an 'it'. I just wished to clarify that."
Usagi paid no mind to the stuffy cat, intent instead on the beautiful broach that captured her attention.
Luna was unfazed. "There are many strange incidents taking place all over Tokyo. This means that the enemy has appeared, and you are the one who has to beat it. You were chosen to be a fighter, and your mission is to defeat the enemy. Your other mission is to find The Princess and her other Guardians."
Usagi was not paying attention. Her hand was resting on the broach, almost as if in a trance, her lips whispering words that Luna could not catch.
Luna waited a few moments for the words to seek into the girl's head, whether the chit knew that she had just assimilated vital information or not, before continuing. "Now, say 'Moon Prism Power, Make Up.' And try not to drop the broach while saying it."
Usagi stared at the cat for a couple of moments, wondering whether the cat was serious and when she had started actually believing the cat was real. Finally, she did as Luna ordered.
"Moon Prism Power, Make Up!"
The words were spoken levelly, yet they were infused with power, and seemed to spread throughout her room. The tingling in her spine when she said those words did surprise her, but she did not drop the broach, and when the tingling finally left, she felt different. She felt more confident, more powerful, and more self-possessed.
As she turned to ask Luna if something special was supposed to have happened, she caught a glance of a stranger in the mirror, and her head whipped around immediately. She hurried to move to stand in front of the mirror, gazing at herself with something akin to dismay. Her pigtail buns had a red and white orb in each, and her facial features were similar, yet different. She was dressed in, of all things, a red, white, and blue sailor fuku. Her bodysuit was white, her incredibly-short skirt and rather flimsy collar were blue, and a large red bow perched in the middle of her rather-flat chest and her waist. On her arms were white gloves that extended gracefully from her elbow to her fingertips with red ribbed ends at the elbow. On her feet were rather tall red boots, and perched in the middle of her forehead was a very beautiful tiara with a rare stone in the middle. She wore a red choker with a crescent moon on it, as well as earrings that dangled crescent moons. The rest of her costume became insignificant as a thought suddenly occurred to her. She turned to Luna.
"I'm supposed to fight in this?" Her scorn was understandable. No-one ran around fighting in ultra-mini-skirts, with impractical boots that didn't allow for much movement as they extended to her knees, earrings that would most obviously get in the way if there was ever a real fight, and long streamers of hair trailing behind her (she could have sworn her hair wasn't that long normally) that begged to be tripped over. The words had hardly left her mouth, however, when Usagi remembered that she wasn't supposed to be believing Luna, so she hastily added, "If I believed you in the first place."
Before she could go on to detail how impossible Luna's story was, something caught her ears. She paused in the middle of the breath she had just drawn in to use on the tirade she apparently wasn't going to rant on about after all, and heard, very faintly, Naru's voice.
"Help. My mother …"
Usagi became instantly worried. Luna, how appeared to have heard the premonition-of-sorts as well, urged Usagi to hurry up and go help Naru-chan. (How Luna had learned Naru's name, Usagi never learned.
*
In the jewelry store that was now scattered with, among other things, prone corpses and various debris, the youma was currently choking Naru. Naru was rapidly beginning to lose consciousness, the beginnings of black creeping into her vision, when a voice sounded from behind her and she was dropped by the youma.
"Get away from Naru-chan!" The voice was fierce.
"Who are you?" the youma sneered.
There was a short pause in Naru's hearing, before the same voice spoke again. "In the name of love and justice, I am the pretty sailor-suited femme fatale, Sailor Moon!"
There was another pause in which a distinctly British voice said disbelievingly, "Femme fatale? You're no femme fatale! You're a warrior, a guardian, a fighter, but certainly not-"
"I can call myself what I want," the first voice said irritably.
The youma laughed unpleasantly. "You can call yourself whatever you want, but that won't change how you end up—splattered mush! My loyal zombies, REVIVE!"
There was a millisecond in which Naru wondered what exactly the youma had meant by the word "zombie" before she understood. All of the unconscious women who had apparently been drained of energy now rose up, indeed rather zombie-like in manner, and began approaching Sailor Moon, slowly but interminably. Naru had by this time, of course, managed to turn on her stomach so she could watch the goings-on rather safely from her corner without disturbing her still-tender throat too much.
Instead of acting the part of a superheroine, as she had done earlier, Sailor Moon cringed with terror and backed away. A little black cat at her side (who, amazingly, spoke) was rather sharp when she said, "Fight them, Sailor Moon. Don't back away like a coward!"
Sailor Moon seemed unaffected by Luna's harsh tones, more concerned with the approaching undead people. She crumbled into a ball and began sobbing. Just as the youma raised a sharply-clawed hand, no doubt ready to wreak havoc upon the devastated superheroine, a rose sharply cut a path through the advancing zombies, managing to strike the youma in the doing. In the shadows of the jewelry store, perched atop some of the lofty rafters Naru had not known existed (because, of course, they had not existed until he crouched upon them and would cease o exist as soon as he leapt down) was a dashing masked man in a tuxedo. "I am Tuxedo Kamen," he said by way of introduction, "Nothing will be solved, if you must cry, Sailor Moon!"
Sailor Moon ignored the masked man for the present, some deep inherent fear within her shrieking for the need to express herself. Suddenly, she looked up with angry eyes at the disconcerted youma and shrieked as loud as she could her fear, her contempt, and her nervousness. The shriek pierced through the eardrums of the youma, as well as the various zombies, immobilizing them for the moment.
"Sailor Moon," Luna ordered briskly before the young girl could begin her sobbing again, "Take your tiara and throw it, saying 'Moon Tiara Action' to defeat the youma!"
Somewhat dazed, Sailor Moon nonetheless had the audacity to question the self-important Lunarian Mau Cat, asking why exactly she was to do so.
"Never mind," the cat said irritably. "Just do it."
Shrugging, Sailor Moon reached up to take from her forehead that peculiar tiara that had captured her interest earlier, and hurled it at the youma, praying that fortune guided her hand. "Moon Tiara Action!"
The tiara sliced through the youma, turning it into dust, and then neatly returned to the waiting girl's hand, before settling back on her forehead.
Surprised by her success, Sailor Moon could only stare in astonishment as one of the more handsome guys of her acquaintance leapt down from the nonexistent rafters upon which he had been perched, and congratulated her, saying, "That was great, Sailor Moon. I'll be sure to remember what took place tonight." Then he disappeared into the shadows.
"You did well," Luna agreed, appraising her charge with new eyes. Upon closer look, she realized that the chit wasn't even paying attention to her, direction her attention instead to the spot where Tuxedo Kamen had stood, obviously lovestruck.
*
It is of interest to note that the next day at school, Naru eagerly recounted her most exciting dream to her best friend, Usagi. Apparently, in the dream, some girl named Sailor Moon had defeated a most wicked monster with beclawed hands and bedeviled eyes. Upon her recitation, some of their nearby classmates chimed in with similar dreams that revolved around this mysterious superheroine and deadly monster. Usagi, of course, was not paying attention. Rather, she was sleeping on her desk, and only when the loud clamor of excitement disturbed her sleep did she deign to give her classmates consideration, telling merely to "shut up, because I'm tired."
As for what happened after that … well, that is for another day, another time … another episode.
To be continued …
Phew. I'm finally done. I highly doubt I'll post up another chapter anytime soon, though, just because this is time-consuming and there are other stories I need to work on. I am not, however, abandoning it. I never abandon any of my stories, even if I hate them. I just rewrite them. J Until next time…
Ja ne!