Prologue: The Tree of Doom, Not to Be Confused With the Doom Tree

Some days, Makoto REALLY hated her life. Not often, mind you.. really, she was a pretty easy-going girl. There were just those select few times - such as when she was dangling from a tree by the back of her Senshi uniform - that she had the intense desire to go to sleep and wake up in someone else's life. Sighing dramatically, she crossed her arms over her chest and waited patiently for one of the other Senshi to notice exactly WHERE the latest in a long line of youma had flung her.

The irony that it was a tree she was stuck in did NOT escape her.

Perhaps she could manipulate one of her attacks to hit the tree, she thought idly, green eyes following the fight below with detached interest. If she burned the damn thing to a crisp, it couldn't very well keep her stuck fifteen feet up in the air, now, could it? But then she might hit herself, and as much as she'd like to be free - and to feel firm ground under her feet again, because boy, did she loathe heights - she REALLY didn't want to have to explain away electrical burns. Not to mention the pain. Seriously.. ouch.

"SAILOR MOON! Quit tripping over your own hair and get OVER HERE!" Sailor Mars bellowed, pausing directly below Jupiter to scold their leader. It would have been funnier if the blonde Senshi hadn't literally been tripping over her own bloody hair. "Geez, do you have moon rocks rolling around in that head of yours? I swear, if you don't cut off those ridiculous pigtails, one of these days you are going to end up BALD!"

Sailor Moon gave a very unlady-like shriek of protest, and turned on her heel in mid-run to give the Senshi of fire a piece of her mind. Unfortunately, this left Sailor Venus to race directly at the youma alone.

The youma, which strongly resembled a carton of milk with the face of a woman (seriously, where did these things COME from?), took the opportunity to send the blonde flying - right into the tree that Jupiter still occupied.

"Owwww!" Venus whined, struggling to disentangle herself from the branches of the vile plant. "Geez.." She paused, noticing her companion. "Er.. Mako-chan, how long have you been there?"

Jupiter waved a hand dismissively. "A while." She wasn't exactly sure how long ago the youma had tossed her into the tree, and she didn't really care. God, how she missed Mercury right now. Where was sanity and the voice of reason when you really needed it? "Where's Ami, anyway? Leaving those two," she gestured vaguely at the bickering senshi below, "to fight together isn't exactly..."

"Intelligent in any way, shape or form? I know. She had some kind of exam tonight, I think. She wasn't answering her communicator." Venus grumbled, shoving away a branch that had been poking into her thigh in a most uncomfortable manner. "OI, you two! Think you could maybe give us a HAND?" She plucked a generous handful of leaves from the offending branch, and flung them ineffectively in Sailor Moon's general direction.

"You know, somehow, I just don't think that's going to get their attention." Jupiter commented off-handedly, now wondering if she could manage to strike the youma with an attack from this angle. Of course, she MIGHT hit Mars or Moon but... Actually, that idea was starting to sound VERY tempting.

"Shut up. It was totally worth a try." Venus struggled in place, working to break the dozens of various-sized branches that kept her suspended in place. Sometimes, she REALLY wished she'd listened to her mother and become a dentist. Particularly when she had leaves wedged in places she'd rather not think about, and... was that something CRAWLING UP HER LEG? "Ugh, this is hopeless. I hope there aren't any APHIDS on this thing..." She shuddered, and redoubled her efforts to free herself, doing her absolute best to pretend that the tickle on her leg was just an errant leaf and NOT, as it felt, a creepy crawly of dubious origin.

Jupiter decided she didn't have the heart to point out the enormous spider crawling steadily up her friend's skirt, instead choosing to focus on detangling the bow of her fuku from the foliage it was caught on. She wanted to keep her hearing til she was at least twenty, thank you very much, and having Venus shrieking directly into her ear would not much aid her in her quest for auditory maintenance.

"Okay, this is getting a bit ridiculous. Seriously, I've had enough of this psychotic, overgrown.. BUSH!" the ensnared Senshi growled, and redoubled her efforts to free herself from said plant. Unfortunately, as is usually the case with such things, the more she struggled, the more tangled she became.

Venus, meanwhile, had begun directing her various attacks at the youma - or attempting to. More than once, her Love Me chain had barely avoided taking out one of Sailor Moon's precious odango, and Jupiter wasn't entirely convinced it wasn't on purpose. Fortunately, this did have the effect of alerting the two bickering Senshi below to their friends' somewhat precarious position.

"Venus, Jupiter... ah.. how long have you been up there?" Sailor Moon queried, and was promptly forced to dodge another chain of glowing hearts as it was flung (completely by accident, of course) in her direction.

Surpressing the urge to smash her forehead repeatedly against the nearest wall (or tree), Jupiter flung an irritated look at her leader. "I have no idea. Now would you two idiots shut up long enough to GET US DOWN?!" The stress really was getting to her. Maybe she ought to take up yoga, like Ami had suggested.

The youma, having been completely forgotten up until this point, took the opportunity to send itself flying at Sailor Moon's back.

And without even looking up, the Odango Atama toasted it with a wave of her scepter. "Um.. well. Maybe if we get a really tall ladder.." she was muttering, using her free hand to scratch at an imaginary itch on her neck.

The Senshi stared, mouths open. The little ditz didn't even realize she'd done it!

Sailor Jupiter's eye twitched, and she sent out an electrical burst of energy that somehow managed to burn away most of the branches keeping her tethered to the overgrown weed of doom. This had the unfortunate effect of freeing her, but also dropping her directly onto Mars, who promptly shrieked in surprise and more-than-a-little discomfort.

"JUPITER! GET OFF!"

"Heyyy, you couldn't have gotten ME down, too?"

"Uh, Mako, Rei's looking a bit squished..."

"OBVIOUSLY, you meatball-brained..!"

"AHHHHHH!!" the frustrated Senshi screamed, leaping to her feet and growling at them in a move not unlike that of an angry bear about to go on the warpath. "Shut up! Enough! For the love of all that is holy, just KNOCK IT OFF!"

Obediently, her companions froze and stared at her with wide-eyed surprise. Makoto, her fuku fading back into her everyday clothing, just glared at them in what they could only define as a supremely scary manner. "Can't you two stop bickering long enough to fight ONE YOUMA?! Come on! None of us are fourteen anymore, or did you MISS that memo?" The accused Senshi stared at her some more, obviously unable to get past their shock at their friend's unusual behaviour. Makoto threw up her hands in disgust, and turned to storm off in the general direction of her apartment complex.

Silence reigned.

"Er.. guys.. About this tree..."


Motoki Furuhata had definitely seen better days. Of course, when you worked in an arcade constantly overflowing with shrieking, messy children and even messier, attached-at-the-hip-to-their-catch-of-the-week teenagers, those "better days" weren't exactly something to write home about to begin with. Today just happened to be one of the particularly awful days. So far, he'd managed to slip five times in various spills ranging from soda to ice cream to some unidentified substance he really didn't want to think about, break his favourite mug (he'd been holding it when he encountered the ice cream), get into a nasty argument with a co-worker about the pros and cons of peanut butter, of all things.. The list went on, but he forced himself not to think about it. It only made him want to climb a tree and hide, anyway. Fortunately, his shift was ending in an hour and his replacement, Akira, was headed for the back room. Thank God for small favours, at least.

Akira, a long haired nineteen year old with dull blue eyes and strange taste in clothing, paused next to the counter and looked hard at Motoki. Or, Motoki THOUGHT he was looking at him. The kid's hair was in the way, and he couldn't actually see much of his eyes. "Today," he announced seriously, "I have decided to become an omelette. I'll be in the kitchen if anyone needs me." And leaving a gaping Motoki frozen mid-counter wipe, he sauntered off toward his projected goal.

Mamoru, who had been watching the whole scene with an irritatingly calm expression, snickered and put his two cents worth in, ("Motoki.. you should seriously consider finding a new occupation."), and was promptly forced to dodge the pitcher of water that his bestfriend sent flying at his head. "Hey! That could have really hurt, you know!" he grumbled, peering up over the counter from his relatively safe position on the floor. "And you got water everywhere."

For some reason, Motoki couldn't bring himself to give a damn about the water he'd inevitably be forced to mop up, seeing as Akira was off trying to fit himself onto a plate with some hashbrowns and sausage gravy. "Shut up, Mamoru, or the blender's next." He sighed, glancing at the clock. Still a good fourty-five minutes to go, and he had a feeling things weren't going to get any better. Running a hand through his hair, he shuffled out from behind the counter and flopped himself down on the stool beside Mamoru, who had finally decided that he was safe from the impending threat of kitchenware and resumed nursing his cup of coffee. "You're right, though. I've been working here for years, and the only thing I've gotten out of this place is a firm resolve to never, EVER have children. Dirty little brats. If I have to clean sticky fingerprints off of one more video game... I'll... I don't know what I'll do, but it will be bad. Just you watch."

"You know, you could just quit. I'm sure there are plenty of other jobs you could be just as miserable at, while making far more money." Mamoru said, leaning against the counter and staring at his friend with the practiced air of one well accustomed to dealing with dramatic whining. Not that he thought Motoki didn't have reason to complain, but any way you sliced it, it was still overly dramatic whining. "Besides, man. You have a college degree. One that you haven't actually bothered to USE, might I add."

"I know. It's just.. while I was with Reika, she kept insisting that I not do something better. Kept whining about how it would cut my time with her short, or something stupid like that." Motoki rolled his eyes. "Only, then she went and moved off to Africa to study. I just haven't thought much about it until recently." he admitted, picking at an imaginary spot on his apron. He needn't have made one up, though, considering how many real stains marred the abused garment. "To be honest, I think I only started to get uncomfortable here when I noticed all of the.. couples. It's damn annoying, all these teenagers hanging around, sucking face all day long."

Oh boy, thought Mamoru. Here we go. "You're lonely. It's understandable; you were dating Reika for a long time and now you're suddenly single." he said, trying his best to sound sympathetic and giving his friend a reassuring pat on the back. "You should get out more. Maybe try dating again." He paused, looking thoughtful. "What about one of the girls? I know Minako had a huge crush on you a while back. Maybe she's still interested." And heaven help the poor guy if Usagi's bow-wearing twin got her hooks into him, he added privately.

Motoki laughed weakly. "No thanks, dude. I'll uh.. pass on that one."

"I just thought you'd get a kick out of the suggestion," Mamoru said dryly, an evil grin twisting his handsome features. And if anyone knew how to do an evil grin, it was Mamoru. How many times had the man been brainwashed, anyway?

The blonde rolled his eyes. "Oh, you just tickle me pink, honey bunch." he muttered, glancing forlornly up at the clock (thirty minutes left!). "But next time, I think I'll ask Akira for suggestions. He's bound to be more helpful than you, and he's so dense he makes my head ache every time I lay eyes on him."

"Drink soy sauce and DIE!" came the well-timed cry from the general direction of the kitchen, quickly followed by a series of crashes and the exclaimation of, "I have a spork and I'm not afraid to use it!"

"Just more proof that growing old is mandatory, but growing up is optional." Mamoru sighed, shaking his head. "Seriously. Just quit. You still have open job offers from a few places, don't you?"

"I think you may be right, my friend." Motoki finally agreed, sliding off of his stool and reaching around himself to untie his apron strings. "I'm going to go get that idiot out of the kitchen before he breaks everything again. Can I use your 'net later, to look up a few places? My internet connection is emo. Er.. I mean evil."

"That's the spirit. Just head over whenever you need to. If I'm not there, you know where the spare key is." Mamoru drained the last of his coffee, and set his mug down. "It's about time you stopped all of this nonsense." he said, gesturing at the chaotic arcade.

Motoki stuck his tongue out at him, strangely annoyed by the stab at his soon-to-be-ex workplace. "You know, a little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men. Or so the saying goes."

"Yes, but a lot of nonsense all the time is a sign of the insane," Mamoru countered, raising an eyebrow.

"...But still relished by the wisest men." Motoki sulked. "Now.. hand me my spine. I need to go have a word with the boss."


AN: To be honest, I started this quite a while ago and I'm just now finding myself interested enough to try to continue it. I thought I'd try posting it, to see what the general fanfic-reading public thinks, so.. here it is, the prologue, of sorts. Any and all feedback would be appreciated, though if you don't mind.. keep your flames in the fireplace and out of my reviews page. Thanks!

Lady Silk