Note: this takes place in Crystal Tokyo. PS: I don't own the characters, I only wish I did. Please
don't sue. Also, Reflections and True to your Heart belong to Disney, Savage Garden's songs
belong to them. Masquerade and Atsui belong to me.
Minako stared at herself in the clear blue lake and sniffed. Her jaw ached from holding back
tears. Looking around her she could see many lovers out on the lake of Crystal Tokyo. The sight
blurred in front of her and she could hold back her tears no longer.
Not fair. Everyone is matched up except for me. Usagi has Mamoru, Rei has Yuu, Mako
has that best friend of hers that she suddenly decided she was in love with, Michiru and
Haruka have each other, and Hotaru has that hunky librarian. Ohhhh, why can't I have
someone? Then with irony, And they call me the Goddess of love and beauty.
Sure, all those people come to the palace during balls to see me, dance with me. But they
see my beauty, my position, not me. Now there are, according to that computer Jupiter
built to keep track of people, only about 1000 people my within a year of me who haven't
been to the palace. Everyone who has been to the palace so far is just after my image!
Venus usually went out in princess form these days, since it was more powerful. In princess form,
all the girls had dresses in the same design, and also butterfly shaped wings. The dresses were all
long and flowing. The tops were shaped the same way as the Sailor uniforms, but the bottoms
flowed down with the legs until billowing out around the feet, in a way that reminded Minako of a
tulip flower. As for the colors, the dresses matched the skirts of the corresponding Sailor uniform,
and also the princess's hair and eyes. Her wings would match the front bow.
The outer scouts didn't follow this as closely. Neptune and Saturn both did, but Uranus's eyes
matched her front bow instead, as did Pluto's. "Venus..." a voice said suddenly as she docked the
boat. "Come with me," it said, sounding as if it was echoing from the bottom of a well. Pluto
suddenly appeared and offered Venus her hand, and Venus took it, with trepidation. She found
herself at the gates of time.
"Venus, I have a suggestion for you. Go to school and meet some nice boys."
"Won't work. Everyone knows my civilian form better than any of the other scouts because I'm
the unmatched one."
"I know that, dear. That's why I'm giving you this." Pluto clapped her hands and a chest appeared.
She rummaged through it until she came out with a pen, diamond capped.
"The disguise pen. Jupiter upgraded it, but the Queen doesn't need it, so she asked me to keep
track of it. Now it doesn't just change height, clothes, and hair legnth, it can change any physical
feature."
"Thank you Pluto! But shouldn't you use it? Why are you doing this for me?"
"There is no place for a lover at the gate of time." Pluto said sadly. "My one true love I can't have
anyway, so I'm helping you because you're my friend, and you deserve to be happy. Maybe my
dream of true love will live on through you."
Venus turned, sadly, and left through the gate of time. "'Be happy. On behalf of the Moon, you
will be happy'" murmurred, repeating the final words of the queen of the silver millenium, 2000
years ago.
Venus, back at the docks, yelled "Disguise power! Turn me into a perfectly boring-looking girl."
She wanted people to like her for something other than her looks, but couldn't bear looking ugly.
What she came out as was a girl with shoulder-legnth brown hair, brown eyes, medium height,
and a plain face. Her figure was quite shapely though. To make up for that, she wore baggy
clothes.
Hmmm. School starts tomorrow, probably why Pluto chose today to talk to me. I'd better
enroll. Since she would be in her second year of high school now if she had decided to enroll,
that's what grade she decided to be in. Juuban was the biggest school in Tokyo, since everyone
wanted to go there, knowing the Scouts had. Therefore, Minako would meet the most people
there.
She shifted back to her normal form to explain things to the principal, who found Pluto's idea
absolutely hiarious. "Sure, sure," he said, with tears of laughter in his eyes. "Of course I'll help you.
You need a name."
"Er...Call me Kino Kou, since I'm looking for a boy who can see the light of my true personality."
"I love it!" the principal cackled. "Don't worry, I'll be the only person who knows your identity, so
you better be on time," he said with a mock frown. He gave her a schedule and waved her on her
way.
The next morning Minako woke up to the insistent buzzing of her alarm clock getting louder every
minute. Oh, shoot, I'm sooooo late!
She used her disguise pen to change into Kou, dashed downstairs, grabbed a slice of toast and
her stuff (and forgot her lunch), and used "single teleport" to get to the school gate. It was one of
three tricks that the scouts learned to do in normal (or diguised) form. The second was telepathy.
The last one was a downscaled version of each girls' power, which they tended to use only
semi-dicreetly when someone ticked them off.
The powers were "Mercury snowflake", "Mars spark", "Jupiter shock", "Venus love link", "Dead
glare", "Shallow submerge", "Dust shaking", and "Quiet space".
Despite her best efforts, Kou made it to class two minutes after the tardy bell. "Miss Kino!
Detention!" The teacher barked.
Some of the ruder students in class started to snicker. "The queen wouldn't be happy," one of the
students said, using the latest scare tactic to get little kids to bed on time.
Kou snorted derisively. "The queen shows up to meetings late all the time."
"And how would a nobody like you know something like that?"
"Um, uh, common knowledge," Kou fumbled.
"Class! I'm supposed to tell you that there are co-ed volleyball tryouts after school today."
Kou immediately brightened at the prospect of something she was good at, and where there might
be people who have similar intrests.
Her first two classes, chorus and gym, were great. However, Kou's day went downhill from there.
She was completely clueless in math, she burnt the toast in home-ec, she tripped and knocked
over the glass beakers in science class, misquoted in english, and had nothing to eat and nobody
to sit with at lunch.
After school, however, was volleyball, and she began to perk up a bit. "Welcome, minna-chan! I
am Aihi Atsui. (for those of you who don't know, that's love-fire hot, literally translated.) My
parents named me that because everyone in the family has a hot temper. I'm the captain of this
team.
"Now, this is the most prestigious volleyball varsity team in the nation, seeing how Sailor Venus
was a member one year. You have to be GOOD to make this team.
"Now! Out on the court. People from here on over, this side of the court, and the rest, this side.
Warm up for five. After that, you go on a one on one match with me. If you can keep me from
scoring three points in three minutes, you're on the team. If you can beat me, you deserve a
medal. Or at least a milkshake. I'm not Captain of this team for nothing. All right. Enough
chit-chat. Move, move move!"
Whoa! Ego alert! Ego alert!
Kou noticed that there were about ten people for each letter of the alphabet, and they were going
in reverse order. Sigh. It'll be awhile. Lemme see, ten times twenty-five is two hundred and
fifty, times three minutes apice, plus an extra one changing...that would be 1000 minutes!
Divided by sixty...yaag! Almost seventeen hours!
However, as people watched Atsui, they realized what their chances were, and about
three-quarters of them left That leaves about...four hours. Still a long wait. She pulled out a
romance novel and began to read.
Three and a half hours later, she finished her book (actually it was her favorite; she had read it
about ten times and the pages were seperating from the cover, and the cover was peeling at the
edges. It contained Kou's favorite quote-one she actually got straight-that said "life is the song,
love is the music.") and watched Atsui. He didn't appear the least bit tired. Viva! That's
something!
Five minutes later she was finally called. "Kino Kou!" Why do I get the feeling that that
warmup was completely pointless?
As it turned out, it didn't matter. She beat him two to zip as everybody gaped.
"So how about that shake?" Kou teased the still gaping Atsui after practice.
"Nani?"
"You said that anyone who could beat you deserved a shake."
"So I did. C'mon!"
"NANI? But, but, I wasn't serious!" Kou squealed.
"That's OK. Come on!" Kou allowed herself to be dragged down to the cafe over the arcade for
a shake. Atsui started the conversation. "So which Scout is your favorite?"
"Jupiter."
"Really? I thought for sure you'd say Venus, her being a volleyball star and all.
They continued to chit-chat about small things, like music, favorite foods and colors, hobbies,
favorite books (as it turned out, they both liked romances) and other small things.As they chatted,
Kou looked him over carefully. He was tall and muscular, at about five foot eleven, and had
golden hair and hazel eyes. He confessed to her that while he was better at volleyball, he really
enjoyed to swim, and that's where his stregnth came from. They confessed that they both liked
Matchbox 20 and Savage Garden, and found that they agreed on the best novel, Life is a song.
"You know," he said, "You seem like the sort of person I can confide in."
"Sure."
"I think I love Sailor Venus."
Kou bit her lip as tears of disappointment welled up in her eyes. He's just like all the others. He
doesn't care about *me*. Still, I could've sworn I'd never seen him at the palace.
Jupiter!she suddenly said telepathically.
Yes?
Look up Aihi Atsui to see if he's paid us a visit. However, Atsui went on to say, "I went to one
of her balls. But her eyes swept over me coldly. I guess I was thinking like everyone else, seeing
only her beauty and fame. I don't blame her."
Kou paused. Did he deserve a chance? She decided to give it to him, because Pluto's voice
echoed in her head, "Follow your heart, girl." OK, but he's gotta like me as me. As Kou."Why
do you like her?"
"She's nice and understanding to her friends. She can always see what's troubling them and what
to do about it. She likes romance and her favorite colors are way cool. Plus she likes volleyball."
"I see. Well, I had a nice time, but I gotta book it. See ya!"
Kou had been looking forward to her volleyball game all week. To kick off the season, Juuban
was playing its toughest competition, Jouzu high. Jouzu's team kept sneering that Juuban was
nothing without Venus.
Most of the team that wasn't playing was sitting on the hard benches or on the floor, but Kou had
smartly brought a fold-out chair. Atsui, sitting on the floor next to Kou, pointed off into the
bleachers.
"Hey, I think that cute guy is waving at you!"
"Cute? Where?" Kou exclaimed, hopping out of her chair. Atsui, snickering, immediately took it.
"Hey! That was mean!" she exclaimed, trying unsuccesfully to push him out of her chair. And
oooooh! Mr. Ego's wearing that silly floppy grey hat again. Doesn't he ever take it off?
Kou snatched it off his head and threatened to throw it onto the court.
"Okay, okay," he said, vacating the chair.
The rest of the game went well. Juuban won, and you could almost see the steam coming from the
Jouzu team's ears.
The next day, Saturday, Kou decided to take a trip to the "beach" she had helped build. It looked
very real, and Mercury and Mars worked together to keep the water at a pleasent temperature.
She went as Kou, hoping to meet some guys there. She showed off her curves in a bathing suit,
even though almost everyone was down the beach a ways, where there were snow-cone and
hot-dog stands. She was sitting in the same chair she used during the game.
Suddenly someone scooped her up. "Ha. Got the chair back," Atsui whispered in her ear as Kou
squealed. He waded into the ocean and dumped her. She jumped on him and tried to dunk him,
which ensued in a wrestling/breath holding contest. They ended up on the beach, panting, after
being hit by a wave and washed ashore. He was lying on top of her, and they were both grinning
like idiots.
"Say cheese!" Usagi's voice interrupted their panting. "Oh gee, am I interrupting anything? Not
that I care," she added with a devilish grin.
"Odango atama! You come back with that now!" shrieked a furious Kou. Usagi just laughed and
ran faster. Kou, being the athlete, almost caught her, but she threw the camera to Mamoru, who
had been just watching and laughing, and a game of monkey-in-the-middle ensued.
"I give up," Kou finally panted. "You, Meatball head, and your spaghetti-brained boyfriend can
have it."
"Friends of yours, Kou?" Atsui said as he sauntered up. "Strange, but they look familiar."
"We should," Usagi teased. Kou rolled her eyes and did intros, but to her relief, Atsui didn't quite
seem to recognize the names.
Just then, Chibi-Usa came running up. "Sweetie, weren't you supposed to be with Hotaru
today?"
"She's coming." Chibi-Usa replied. More introductions took place as Hotaru, palace baby-sitter
ran up, and everyone had a great time on the beach.
A few days later, Kou was in the palace, writing a song.
MASQUERADE You see me
In my masquerade,
But can you tell me
Who I am?
Chorus: Masquerade,
I see the words,
But I can't find the music,
And it isn't heard.
Masquerade,
I dance to silence,
Till I find the music,
My masquerade hides
Masquerade,
The real me hides,
Behind walls of stone
Who can set me free?
(CHORUS)
Maquerade,
When life is a song
And love is the music
There's nothing inside
No tune
(CHORUS)
Who can set me free?
Set me free...
Set me free
Kou was trying to come up with a melody, but she had never been good at that. Rei was the only
person who could come up with a good melody so quickly. Kou sighed and left it for later.
Saturday was the big Halloween dance at the school. No one had invited Kou, though she hadn't
expected to be, since she hadn't met any guys she really had a crush on, and she was somewhat
of an outcast. She used the disguise pen again ("Turn me into Kou wearing a wicked cool Sailor
V costume!") and went with all the inners (as themselves), Naru (as Venus) and Mamoru (as
Tuxedo Mask). They went with her mostly for moral support, but Kou could tell they liked fooling
people.
At the dance, she was mostly sitting on the bleachers, as her friends danced (all except for
Makoto, who didn't like to dance, and Usagi and Mamoru; they constantly had fun turning down
invitations and explaining to shocked people that they were married.) After awhile, she wandered
outside to get some air.
"Well, if it isn't the wall flower! I don't know why those friends of yours bother to hang out
around you. Probably cause your costume's so neat. Well, when we're done with you, you won't
look so great."
Kou found herself surrounded, as several hands grabbed her and began to rip her costume. She
shrieked, seeing red. "Venus, love link!"
"Ouch!" the boy who had been teasing her before said. "What was that?" There was the shape of
a heart burned into his forearm, but nobody else seemed to care. They continued to rip Kou's
costume.
Suddenly Makoto came barreling in, both fighting and using "Jupiter shock." Atsui charged in a
few seconds later, proving a decent fighter, but twenty or so people were too much for the three.
Atsui, the one without magic to aid fighting, collapsed with a bloody nose, and Kou fell right on
top of him, leaving only Mako standing.
"Stop right now!" ordered a steely voice, and there stood the queen. Several voices gasped. The
queen knelt by Kou and drew on her love chain power.
"Venus...love chain...encircle!" The chain tied all of the gang together. "What is the meaning of
attacking one of my best friends? Kou! Are you all right?!"
"Whaa?" Kou said groggily. "Yeah, I'll be fine."
"Friend?" someone gaped.
"Yes. And I'm going to see you all get kicked out of Juuban for this. Min...er, Kou shouldn't have
to put up with this."
Mako and Usagi, detransformed (to the shock of almost everyone present), helped Atsui inside.
After a few quick repairs with the disguise pen, Kou's costume was fixed, so no one would know
the difference. Atsui's nose quickly healed with Usagi's help, and he was back to ignoring her.
Kou sat back to listen to the music and try to calm down.
"Must I pretend that I'm
Someone else for all time?
When will my reflection show
Who I am inside?
Why must we all conceal
What we think
How we feel?
Must there be a secret me
I'm forced to hide?"
How true. Why? Why don't people see who I am, me, Minako, not what I am, a princess
with great beauty?"
"Neptune just paged us from the palace, Kou." Usagi whispered. "You don't have to come if you
don't want." Kou nodded absentmindedly and went back to listening to the music.
Atsui was dancing with anyone who asked, not really caring.
"Is love really the tragedy the way you
Might describe?
Or would a thousand lovers
Still leave you cold inside?
Make you cry...
These tears of pearls
All these mixed emotions
We keep locked away like
Stolen pearls
Stolen pearl devotions we
keep locked away from all the world"
Am I kidding myself? Do I love her? But I've been hurt one time too many. People...they
just use me to become more popular. A quote echoed in his mind...
"Take me away from this place...make me forget for awhile..."
"Forget?"
"Who I...what I am...
"Twist and turn where angels burn
Like fallen soldiers we will learn
That once forgotten, twice removed
Love will be the death...
Death of you!
Couldn't agree more...I should know. I might love HER, but if I don't? And if she doesn't
love me? Should I settle for her, if she does? Or go for my dream?
"Baby, I knew at once that
You were meant for me
Deep in my soul I know
That I'm your destiny
Though you're unsure
Why fight the tide
Don't think so much
Let your heart decide
Baby I see your future
And it's tied to mine
I look in your eyes and see
But you'll never fall
Till you let go
Don't be so scared
Of what you don't know
True to your heart
You must be true
To your heart
That's when the
heavens will part
And baby, shower you
With my love
Open your eyes
Your heart can tell
You no lies
And when you're true
To your heart
I know it's gonna lead
You straight to me
True to my heart? My heart is saying I love Kou.
He got up slowly. So I've got to tell her.
Across the room, Kou heard a voice echo in her mind. Follow your heart, girl! You'll get him!
She stood up too.
Neptune was staring in her aqua mirror. "Youma! It seems to have come through a random hole
in deep space. It's not being sent by anyone, it's just looking for energy. Wait a minute! It's
heading towards the school!"
"Kou!" Mako yelled into her communicator. "Renegade youma heading right towards the..." The
line went dead.
Kou's watch went dead, surrounded by dark energy. As if on cue, the monster appeared. People
screamed. Atsui, a few feet away, gaped.
"Hey you big ugly monster! Go dunk your head in lime jell-o!" Kou yelled. When the monster
came after her, she dodged aside. She avoided two more near hits before falling on her butt. She
could see the monster coming for her, but knew she wouldn't be able to move aside in time. I
should have transformed...but I would've blown my cover.
Suddenly she was pushed aside, and looked up to see Atsui, sprawled where she had been a
moment before, bleeding from a gash in his arm. She ran to his side, ripped a tear in her costume,
and started to bandage his wound. He whispered, "I just thought you should know...that I- I love
you."
"I love you too."
"How dare you!!!"
What happened after that seemed to be in slow motion.
Kou saw red, and the Venus symbol blazed out on her forehead.
The beam of light hit the youma and threw him back against the wall, as Kou transformed with
"Venus princess POWER!"
Atsui gaped.
"How dare you, you renegade youma. I am the princess Venus, and I will destroy you!"
"Venus!!!!! Light of Love! ENCASE!" Her hands were spread apart to either side, and two
halves of a hollow, three-dimensional heart formed by either one. They flew at the youma and
came together with it in the center.
"Venus love case...EXPLODE!" The shell blew up, leaving nothing of the youma.
"V...ve..nus?" Atsui stammered.
"Shhhhh...I'll take you to the queen. She'll take care of you."
Later, after Atsui had been deposited in Minako's bedroom, she took the words to Masquerade
down to the piano. The music flowed smoothly beneath her hands in a haunting melody.
*****************************************************************************
Well, did you like it? It's my first fan-fic, but I didn't want to scare you off before. Send flames,
grunts, COMPLIMENTS (hint, hint) to miathewarrior@hotmail.com. If you want to see some
more stuff I'm working on, my homepage is
http://www.geocities.com/athens/olympus/1823/sm.html. I'm looking for someone to help me on
the first continuing story up there.
Love,
The queen of music,
Sailor Lyra