DISCLAIMERS:
All canon characters are (C) 1992 - whatever year it is Naoko Takeuchi and all other related parties. The Shadow senshi are (C) Wild Nature 2006. This is a fanfic based upon the anime version and all written work that this consists of is (C) 2006 Wild Nature.
Once upon a time, there was a Queen who thought beauty was her only friend.
Once upon a time, she was cursed by a vision of a self that was to be all alone.
Once upon a time, a Queen became mad and in her furious state, tried to destroy the White Moon.
Once upon a time, a Princess took a stand and gave a second chance to a Queen.
Once upon a time, the Queen fell into legend.
And once upon a time, the idea of senshi became a cursed myth of the Dark Moon.
And centuries later, in the days of the year 1996, nine shadows are changing.
Episode One: Amidst the Forbidden Shadows Lay Danger; Words of A Dead Queen
Usagi was fiddling with her book bag. She tried to not glance at the clock that continuously clicked. She was feeling rather nervous as of late and she couldn't explain it. Minako sat next to her, trying to write something down but she seemed to keep forgetting whatever message she had in her head. For all Usagi knew, she might be coming up with new lyrics to some song.
'The bell is getting ready to ring,' Usagi thought. She sat still, her head forward as her bangs hid her face. She studied her ring, currently shining in her eyes and she blinked. She frowned and looked over to the floor, perplexed about something.
She stared down and only saw her shadow, still as night. Nothing out of place. Or else, that's what she figured.
If one really looked, she would have realized that her shadow was facing the wrong way, right into the sunlight itself.
The bell let out its shrill cry and before even Usagi could jump, Minako was up and out of the room.
"Mina!" Usagi shouted. "Wait for me!"
She plucked her bag off her chair's side and moved to exit but her bag had caught onto the chair leg and she stumbled backwards with a squeal. Her brooch, safely hidden in her book bag, went flying out with a loud scrapping sound that echoed in the now empty room.
A foot came out and caught it with her foot just as it was about to skid through the doorway. Usagi was reminded momentarily of when she was fighting Eudial but she shook her head and stood up awkwardly, still forgetting that her bag was caught on her chair leg.
"Let me help," The young girl reached out and pulled the chair up with a small smile. She then handed Usagi her brooch. "That's pretty. Get it an antique shop?"
"No.. more like I inherited it."
"Huh."
Usagi studied the girl. She was taller than Usagi but then most usually were. Not to say Usagi hadn't grown, she was almost five and a half foot tall by now. She took note of the violet eyes, seeing how bright they were.
"Well, see ya," the girl turned without doing anything more and disappeared into the hallway.
And Usagi blinked, coming out of a semi-trance. "Aye, I've been way too occupied lately. I need to do something to clear my head."
She walked out just as Ami and Makoto were about to pop in. "Hey, I was thinking you had gotten detention again," Makoto grinned.
"Or maybe you forgot something," Ami added quickly. She didn't want to make Usagi upset. Ami had been watching Usagi for a while now, knowing that the events with Nehellenia and nearly losing Mamoru and Chibiusa would catch up to her, so she watched her friend like a hawk. So she was well aware of how tired Usagi had been lately. "How do you feel?"
"Fine, fine," Usagi stepped by them, the two girls glancing at each other. Makoto shrugged when Ami raised an eyebrow and then they followed the blonde out to her locker.
"Minako went to get Rei. Says she wants to go the Crown Parlor for some relaxing time," Makoto quipped.
"I suppose after such studying, we need a break for a little bit," Ami admitted.
"Yea! It'll be great! Right Usagi?"
Usagi grinned. "That's it! I haven't played a game in like forever! Let's go!"
Mamoru was talking with Motoki, something about a college professor. Usagi wasn't really paying attention as she cheered on Rei's attempt at Sailor V.
"I can't believe this game has lasted this long!" Makoto commented.
"What's that supposed to mean! It's a classic!" Minako growled.
"Oh, please. Everything goes out of date sooner or later," Makoto pointed out.
Minako's face paled. "Am I... out of date?"
"No, no," Ami quickly interjected. "Just the game."
"You too, Ami?" Minako wailed.
"I got to the next level!" Rei was heard cheering. Usagi pulled away, seeing that Rei definitely didn't need her to show her any special moves.
She moved away from the group, once more studying her ring. She liked the light cast by it, spraying across her front in tiny dots of colors. She covered her hand up as she sighed and moved.
Or she tried to. She was feeling strange, sluggish even. She found herself falling down into a black hole and she tried to say something.
"USAKO!" She heard her beloved shout her name in worry. And she fell into complete nothingness.
She awoke to her parents talking softly to themselves. "She's been overworking. Stress most likely, the doctor says."
"She just struggled through the high school entrance exams, of course it'd catch up on her."
"Still, we should be more watchful."
"Dear, you're much too protective. We should just trust Usagi."
Usagi smiled, hearing her mother's voice echo as she fell asleep again.
She woke up the next morning, feeling very refreshed and alert. She stretched fluidly, her eyes bright for the day to start. And she looked to the clock and saw that it read ten o'clock.
"They didn't wake me up for school?" She was quiet for a moment. "SCORE! Free day!" And she waltzed off to cleanse herself. She entered the kitchen around a half hour later, fiddling into the fridge for a bit to eat. She saw her mother left over some breakfast and she reheated it, munching idly as she picked up the newspaper.
"Boring, boring, bor..." Usagi blinked as she opened the paper, her eye caught on a heading. "Discovery of a stone on the moon called Nepheline?"
She thought back to Nehellenia at that moment, wondering suddenly what had happened to her. She shook her head and sighed, closing the pages up with a shake of her wrists. "Whatever."
She got up and washed up her dishes before she went to the living room. And she sat there, fiddling with the channels but she was distracted. "Nepheline? What kind of thing is that? Is it a new type of moon rock?"
She stood up, brushing her hands onto her blouse before she left the building entirely. She merely had to take a bus to get to her destination as Mamoru's apartment building loomed over her, stretching taller to the skies the nearer she was driven up.
She bounced up to the elevator and found his room with expert ease. She thought for a moment. "I wonder if he's even home?"
And she smiled and knocked on the door, waiting for the answer to be revealed.
Mamoru was currently exiting his bedroom, holding one of his science textbooks. He looked up at the knock and proceeded to answer it. "Usa?"
"Hai! I missed you!" She grinned happily.
"How do you feel?" He asked as he guided her in. "That was a scare you gave me, and the others too."
"I was just tired, that's all," She looked around his living room. "Mamo-chan, it's a little messy in here."
"Yes, well, I'm studying for midterms right now."
"Really? How is that going?"
Mamoru blinked. "What's with the sudden interest, Usako? We don't have to talk about my work."
"Oh.. Well, I think I'm doing better. I got a D on my last math test."
Mamoru grinned. "Usako."
"It was a high D!" She protested. She rubbed the side of her head ruefully. "I know, I know. I need to try a lot harder."
"Glad you know that."
"Do you have class today?"
"Later this afternoon. I was using the time I had to read up on..." He had been holding the science textbook up and once she had seen that, her eyes kind of glazed over with disinterest. "Well, I could always read later. What would you like to do?"
And Usagi stood there before a very faint and slow blush blossomed. He wasn't paying much attention of which she was glad.
"Um.. why not a walk through the park?" She asked finally.
Minako was fiddling with her notes. She vowed to take some notes for Usagi, since she hadn't been able to come. She hoped that the other blonde was feeling better. She felt upset that Usagi had fainted.
She was so lost in her thoughts, she was unaware of the bell having rung until she looked around and saw no one there.
Well, save for a raven haired girl. She wore her hair in two buns, pinned to the lower of her head and nearly hidden when she gave a front view. Each one had a shoulder length wave of hair pulled down from the wrapped bun. She had partial heart shaped bangs, flatter than most hair and at each ear, she had two slender strands, one of them slightly longer than the other one.
She was currently fiddling a set of books on the teacher's desk.
"What are you doing?"
"Teacher says I can borrow his English guidebooks," She answered.
Minako leaned over and smiled. It was a alphabet book. "Having some trouble with English?"
"One of my worst subjects," she looked up with her violet eyes and Minako grinned.
"I'm quite good. Maybe I could help you?"
"Really?"
"Yea! When do you have free time?"
"After four today."
"You too?"
"Oh, I'm on the soccer team. I'm the goalie."
"Really!" Minako's smile blossomed. "I'm on the volleyball team."
"That's great. So.." She paused momentarily.
"OH! I'll meet you on the playing field at four then! See you!"
"Hey! Wait!" She was laughing openly. "Shouldn't we introduce ourselves or something!"
"Oh right! I forgot about that! Once I get to thinking about volleyball, everything goes out my ear."
"Well, I am Ginbano Eizou."
"Aino Minako."
"May I call you Mina?"
"Sure! My friends call me Minako-chan sometimes."
"My brothers call me Zou-chan."
"You have brothers! How many?"
"Three! But two of them are twins and are younger than me!"
"I'm an only child. I really prefer that way, actually."
"Sometimes I do to but that's only when they won't let me play any sports with them."
"That's mean!"
"Well, they're boys and they always think that girls can't do what they do," Eizou shrugged.
"Yea... well, I'll find you at four! We'll go to the place my friends and I frequent. It's called the Fruit Parlor."
"Oh! I've seen it but I've never gone in it!"
"It'll be fun! Bring whatever notes you have!"
Four o'clock came and Minako stood waiting patiently, watching the soccer practice game come to a close. Eizou finally pulled away from the group, waving goodbye as she ran over to Minako. "Let me clean up. I'll be out in five minutes!"
Minako waited patiently as Eizou came bounding out, her bag slung over her shoulder. Eizou had dressed in a pair of jean shorts and a t-shirt that was dyed as of rainbow splashed.
"That's a interesting shirt..." Minako smirked.
"Really? I like it a lot!" Eizou answered brightly.
"Well, we need to take the bus to get the place. If any luck, Ami will be there."
"Ami?"
"Mizuno Ami, she's one of my good friends."
"WOW! You're friends with THE genius Mizuno-san?"
"Well, yea but she's just like you and me, really."
"Oh...Will she be helping?"
"I don't know," The bus pulled in as the two climbed in. They both sat on the bench closest to the front, still talking as they settled. "She might be willing to. Of course, she has to help Usagi first."
"Usagi...?"
"Tsukino Usagi. She's the one with the odango hair style."
"Oh... Yea, her. I saw her the other day. She seemed a bit sick."
"She fainted. I think she's been really stressed."
"I'm sorry. She's better now?"
"I hope so."
"She had a really nice brooch. She said she inherited it."
"Oh? Right, she did! It's very important to her."
"That's nice. I like jewelry."
"Me too but I try to find something sophisticated," Minako added.
"I don't mind things being simple," She reached into her pocket. "I don't wear this during the game practice cause I don't want it to break." She opened her hand to showcase a violet gem with six sides. Just on the inside was a nearly visible crescent moon outline.
"Wow! That's pretty! How'd they put that crescent in there?" Both Eizou and Minako leaned over to examine the gem.
"You know, I don't know.." Eizou admitted slowly. "I've never questioned that. Oh well," She took the chain it was attached to and clipped it around her throat. "What do you think?" She asked, her hand pressed slightly on the gem.
"Where'd you get it?"
"Huh? Oh! I think my mom got it for me," Eizou shrugged. "It might have been my grandma's or something cause she says it's very valuable."
The bus was lurching to a stop. "Here we go!" Minako nodded to the other as they both got up and left the bus. Minako looked around with a quick scan.
"I guess they're not here. Rats! Ami could've backed me up!"
"Minako-chan!" Minako's eyes brightened.
"Usagi!" Minako grinned. "Hey! How are you feeling?"
"Better," She had her arm wrapped around Mamoru's arm. "I'm walking Mamo-chan to his class."
"Why not stay with Minako?" Mamoru suggested. "I'll call you, all right?"
"Oh..Okay!" She smiled brightly. She watched him leave with a sigh. "He's been working himself awfully hard lately."
"I heard he's not the only one," Eizou quipped.
Usagi blinked. "You're the girl from the other day. Thank you again for getting my brooch. It's very important."
Eizou smiled. "No problem. I'm Ginbano Eizou."
"Tsukino Usagi," Usagi said politely.
"Minako was going to help me with my English. Care to join?"
"Err..."
"It's in the Crown Parlor," Eizou added.
"Really?" Usagi perked up. "Well, sure, if it's in there!"
Eizou blinked as Usagi nearly ran to the building. Minako merely shook her head. "She's almost all better."
"What?"
"Huh? Oh, nothing."
Usagi was already settled at a table as the two others pulled out their notes and Eizou the teacher's books.
"So how much trouble are you having?" Minako asked.
"Err.. does nearly failing count as trouble?"
"You're failing English?" Usagi sighed sadly. "I know what that's like to nearly fail at school."
"I do fine in my other classes," Eizou said through taunt lips. "English just isn't my cup of tea."
"Are you thirsty?" Usagi asked with a frown.
"What?"
"You just said 'cup of tea'," Usagi began.
"I mean English is the worst subject for me," She glanced at Minako who was cleverly hiding her face in her notebook. "All right, teacher, what's the first lesson?"
Minako snickered before coughing to clear her throat. "Let's begin by going over this book." She pulled out 'My Dog Spot'.
Fast forward time about a hour and a half and Eizou was getting highly agitated. She read the book for the eighth time, still having trouble pronouncing the words.
Usagi wasn't helping by laughing at her and Minako tried to shush Usagi only to break into contagious giggles.
'Whap!' Eizou stood up, her hands slamming the book shut. "You know what? I'm tired of being laughed at."
"Oh no! Wait!" Minako began.
Eizou began to shove her things into her book bag, her eyes stinging. "I told you I was having trouble! Minako, you at least tried to help me! But you!" She glared at Usagi. "You need to learn some manners! Not everyone can be perfect at other languages!"
She pulled some change from her jean pocket. "Here, this will pay for myself." And she stomped off, growling to herself.
"Usagi, that was mean! She was having a really hard time!" Minako exclaimed. Usagi sat there, her eyes downcast like a lost puppy.
Usagi then noticed that Eizou had forgotten her notebook. "We need to give this back to her! It's got all of her notes in it!" She snatched it up and ran out the door, Minako rushing to pay and then run out as well.
Eizou stomped quietly, glowering, her face burning. "So what if my English sucks! Not like that odango baka knew what she was doing!"
She sighed. "Great... I promised Mom that I'd try harder and I had a great tutor..." She sighed again before turning to go down the street to take another bus that she knew would take her home.
She sat quietly on the seat, her finger absently rubbing the gem. It was warm and soothing to her as she looked out the windowpane, her thoughts not quite there as she waited for the bus to roll to a stop.
Once off, she headed down the street to homeward bound. It was a bit of a large house, after all, she, her parents, and three brothers all lived there. She wondered if her mother or father was home.
"They've been really busy lately.." She mused as she walked up the steps. She fiddled with her pocket, the sure place she'd place her keys in and found them just in time for the door to swing open and whack her in the forehead. She looked up into a mirror version of herself, only it was her older brother. "KAKUSHI!"
Kakushi was a beautiful man, as many of his girlfriends loved to brag. At the ripe age of twenty, he still lived at home, helping tend to his younger siblings. His hair was as black as the rest of the other Ginbano family and he wore it long and pulled back into a backlength ponytail. Eizou couldn't count how many times girls had said how 'dangerous' he looked. He was a dangerous as a kitten, that's for sure.
"Aye! Little sister, I'm sorry," He patted the spot where she'd been hit. "Here, let's go get some ice."
She grumbled as she followed him. "And where were you, young lady?" He asked lightly.
"Well, DAD, if you listened to the phone message, you'd know that I went to study!"
"You? STUDY?" He gasped mockingly.
"Oh shut up! The girl who was helping me had this friend right who kept laughing at me!"
Kakushi lost his laughing face and became very serious. "That's not nice. No one picks on my sister!" He turned for the door as Eizou sighed noisily. "WHAT?" He frowned. "Don't you wanna have me stand up for you and blah blah blah?"
"It was a girl! You can't go 'stand up' to a girl!"
"Is she cute?"
"Oh, you're no help whatsoever!"
"I'm plenty help!"
"Hey!" Boya came bounding in. He and his twin brother were both thirteen and very, very loud. Boya was a bit taller and a lot more skinner, having a very lanky, almost delicate body. He was also the smarter of the two. He took after their father were deep emerald green eyes but he, too, had black hair that was cropped into a bowl style around his head.
His twin, Chuukou, was a very meaty guy. Not fat but bulked up, he was always playing American football or even wrestling. He had the same colored hair but had his sides shaved and the rest of the hair spiked upward. He was just as energetic though.
Chuukou popped his head in after Boya, blinking innocently. "Who's planning dinner?"
And they all looked to Eizou. "Oh come on! Just cause I'm a girl! Besides," She pointed to Kakushi with a hard look. "He's the oldest. Look to him."
Promptly, two sets of eyes were on the older brother. He grinned. "We'll order out!"
Eizou swore.
"HEY!" Before Kakushi could catch her, Eizou had run out of the room, snickering.
"Oh no you don't!" He glared at the two brothers as they were about to open their mouths. "DON'T REPEAT THAT!"
And they grinned at each other.
Meanwhile, Eizou had reached her room. It was organized simply but was still characteristically messy for a teenager. She sat down on her bed, stretching her shoulders out before laying down completely. "Phew.."
"I've got half a mind to.." She heard Kakushi making his way to her room and she hurriedly ran to lock the bedroom door. "HEY! EIZOU! Come on! LET ME IN!"
"You just want to yell at me!"
"You can't go around swearing! Especially around the younger ones!"
"Please! I've heard worse out of your mouth," She called out, leaning against the door with a giggle. She felt the knob bobbing as he struggled to open it.
"Come on! You gotta act more girlie!" He began.
"GIRLY!" She shouted. She unlocked the door and swung it open, glaring at him. "I don't not have to act more GIRLY!"
"No, I just knew it'd get you to open the door," Kakushi grinned ferally as he lunged.
She shrieked as he began tickle fight that she fast was losing. "Not fair! Not fair!"
He pulled off, Eizou panting in air. "There! Now honestly, watch that tongue of yours! Dad will have you washing your mouth out with soap!"
There was a commotion coming from downstairs. "What are they up to now?" Kakushi began before there was a collective scream of surprise. Both siblings ran down the stairs fast, each nearly tripping over each other.
"WHAT!" They both shouted.
"COOL!" Boya shouted. "Lookie! A dog!" He presented a rather large canine.
"It looks just like a wolf!" Chuukou pointed out.
It did. It was nearly all white save for the pointed arrow line between it's eyes, giving the dog the impression it had eyebrows. It's paws were huge, as was it's snout, but its eyes were warm and intelligent, flavored deep golden yellow.
"It's gorgeous..." Eizou sighed as she moved toward it.
Kakushi pulled her away and growled at the others. "Move away from it! It could be feral!"
"Oh, but look at it!" Eizou cried as it rolled over to his back, the legs sprawled playfully. It blinked innocently at Kakushi who slowly grinned.
"He is pretty cool.." He said finally.
Eizou bent down and began to rub the dog's belly.
"HEY! Look at it's wee wee!" Boya began.
"STOP THAT!" Kakushi shouted. "You sick little kid!"
"HEY! I'm not sick, it's just huge."
Kakushi reached over to drag Boya out of the room. "WHAT! What'd I say! WHAT!"
Chuukou blinked, watching his twin get dragged off. "Should we call someone?"
"I don't know. Probably the animal shelter," Eizou mentioned idly, distracted by the soft, soft fur. "You're so cute! Aren't you? Aren't you!"
Chuukou made a gagging gesture as he dipped out of the room, probably to call a close animal shelter.
The dog sat up easily, rolling over naturally as he sat, his face to hers. His eyes twinkled mirthfully as his tongue loped out, his breath panting.
"Ew... dog breath..." She mumbled. she sat up and started to move only to find the dog following her, step by step. "Hey!" She took a few more steps, watching him as he followed with a seemingly grin on his face. "You're good! Wonder who trained you?"
She looked up at Kakushi waltzed in, eyeing the dog. "Don't make friends. He'll probably be put down or something."
"HUH? Why?" Eizou cried out.
"Look at him! He looks more like a wolf than anything!"
"But watch!" She moved, the dog following. "He's trained! He'd be a good dog!"
"He's just too big.." Kakushi began.
"I'm going to ask Mom and Dad if I can keep him," She butted in, glaring at him. "He's a good dog!"
"They're not going to..."
"Says you!"
"No," Kokei, her father, said flatly. He stared at the dog laying at his daughter's feet.
"Why not?" Eizou tried to not whine but after a half hour of convincing, it just wasn't working anymore.
"Honey, look at him," Hanshou, her mother, said gently.
"All I see is a good dog. He's trained! Look! Sit up boy!" The dog dutifully sat up, his tail wagging. "Good boy! Now roll over!"
He rolled over, right into the living room table. It shook but otherwise was fine.
"He's too big for this house," Kokei began.
"I'll make him a doghouse!"
"You don't know construction!" Kokei was losing his cool, his eyebrows furrowed as he tried to count to ten. Didn't help that his wife was getting less and less adamant about 'their' decision.
"The guy from the pound is here," Chuukou called out.
"Daddy, please! Kakushi said they'd put him down! That's not fair!" Eizou began as her father pulled the dog up with a grim face. "They're going to kill him cause he looks like that! But he's a really good dog!"
Kokei sighed as he neared the door. The man at the door pulled out a hook liner, the loop prepared to be placed so that the dog would be held tightly. "Please, daddy.."
"Here," He opened the door as the man easily tied the dog and began to pull him down the stairs.
Eizou's eyes widen, watching the dog begin to resist. It was whimpering now, it's cries easily getting to her.
Without thinking, she ran down the stairs and wrapped her arms around him, going to her knees. The man with the hook frowned. "Let him go, miss."
"No! You'll only hurt him!"
"Honey, he'll be fine," Hanshou began.
"Don't worry. If he does get put down, it'll be painless," the man offered.
"But he won't even get a chance," She looked up at her father, her eyes spilling forth as she hiccupped. "Just cause he's different... Look at him! I mean really look at him! Does he truly look like a threat?"
The man was tired of this and he tugged the pole hard, causing Eizou to fall down to her side with whimper. The dog growled at that before trying to lick at her scrapped elbow. But the man pulled harder and Eizou watched the black band pull too tightly over the dog's throat.
"STOP THAT!" Kokei reached out with a swing, pulling the handle from the man. "That's inhumane!"
"He's fine!"
"You were choking him!" Eizou cried out.
"Oh, shut your mouth, woman!" The man was frazzled but he shouldn't have taken that kind of tone as Kokei hit him with a left hook.
"Don't talk to my kid like that! Get out of here!" He shouted as the man took off running. They watched him drive off like a chicken before Kokei blinked, feeling a lick on his left hand.
"Aye..." He looked to his wife who was smiling happily. "A trial, all right? One week.."
Before he could finish, the family were crowding him and the dog, cheering and petting the dog.
"I'm going to call him Apple!" Eizou said proudly.
"Why'd you get to name him?" Boya began.
"Because Apple is her duty now. Remember, he's yours and you have to feed him, walk him, brush him, and take him to the vet."
"Thank you daddy!" She nearly crashed him to the floor with her running hug. He merely sighed.