DISCLAIMER: Relatively standard stuff. Existing characters are properties of the people who made them up. The story's mine, hence ownership and copyright of it belongs to me. Contact me at domino@netaccess.com.au if you want permission to use anything I've written for whatnot purposes.
SAILOR MOON SHORT:
Friends of the Moon
by
Raymond Cooper
Usagi sat bolt upright as her alarm went off, for what seemed like the tenth time.
"Really, Usagi," Luna said from beside the bed, "must we go through this every morning?"
Usagi slapped at the alarm, shutting it off, and her mother poked her head into the room.
"Do you need help getting out of bed, sleepyhead?" she asked.
Usagi fumed. "No, mother, I don't." She hauled herself out of bed, and headed into the kitchen as she pulled on her uniform. She quickly buttoned up her shirt as she grabbed some breakfast from the table, waved goodbye at her mother, and headed from the house on her way to school. Late again, it would seem.
She held her slim leather bag in one hand, let her long golden hair trail out behind her as she trudged towards yet another boring day of school. She wasn't learning anything there that she thought she should: no ways of saving the world, no new fighting manoeuvres to kill monsters, no magiacl spells to help find the missing Moon Princess. Usagi had to learn all that by herself.
She hadn't noticed Naru on the way to school; indeed, she didn't spot her best friend until she entered the classroom and made her way to her chair up the back of the room. Naru rolled her eyes at her. "Late again, Usagi? Geeze, you just never get here on time. What do you do in the morning? Have to oil your wheels before you can get out of bed?"
Usagi poked her tongue out at Naru playfully, and took her seat. As expected, class began slowly and continued slowly. Today's major theme in the room seemed to be one of the greater economic patriotic wars that appeared to have disappeared from the history books, and Usagi tuned out, staring off into the distance...
... directly at a blue-haired girl on the other side of the room. She was buried in her history textbook, a palmtop open behind the book that she was furiously tapping notes into. Usagi noted that her head didn't rise to watch the teacher once, let alone drift back to stare at the ceiling, nor out the big window she sat next to. Totally absorbed in her schoolwork, the girl was oblivious to everything else.
"Naru! Pssst, Naru!"
"What?"
"Who's that girl, over by the window?"
Naru looked, but shrugged. "I don't know. Shut up; I'm trying to work."
Usagi tried to concetrate on her books, but just couldn't. In the end, she sighed, put her book on the desk in front of her, and leaned down on it, intent on sleeping. She didn't notice anything from the rest of the lesson.
She woke when the bell rang, and started upright. Everyone stood, and left the room to eat, drifting out in groups of three, four or five people as they gathered with their friends. Usagi slowly made her way outside, noticing the blue-haired girl had already left ahead of her and she'd missed her chance to grab her and speak to her already. She headed along the pathways of the school yard slowly, peering that way and this, constantly searching for the deep blue of the girl's hairstyle.
Usagi didn't find the girl, but she did find Naru. "Hey, Naru, have you seen that - Oh wait, there she is." Usagi headed off towards some bushes, where she could just see the other girl sitting behind, back to everyone. She didn't catch what Naru said behind her, nor did she care much. Her attention was focussed on making a trip across the grass, making certain she didn't fall.
She'd been called clumsy by some of the other students, and she didn't want to add to that belief. "Hey!" she called out, "Why are you eating your lunch all the way out here?"
The girl turned her head, a blank expression on her face. She said nothing, as if she was nothing but a mannequin for maybe half a minute as she chewed her lunch meal slowly. In her lap was the palmtop Usagi had seen before, indecipherable script covering the small colour LCD monitor. "Yes?" she asked, eventually.
"I said, why are you eating lunch all the way over here?"
The girl turned and looked over her shoulder. She couldn't see the crowd of students watching Usagi curiously, watching what she was doing, giggling, because the shrub was in the way. Usagi didn't care much if they laughed; becoming friends with people was something she did well, and it was something she enjoyed proving she could indeed do. "Why? Because people will laugh at me," she said, primly, eventually. It seemed to take her a while to think of a response, but the glasses sitting low on her nose suggested she was intelligent. Moreso than Usagi, at least.
"Why would they laugh at you?" Usagi asked, wondering. "Because you eat?"
The girl continued to stare at Usagi, and Usagi grew uncomfortable. She pushed that discomfort away from her conscious mind, though, and continued her conversation. "I mean, why are you worried about what they think?"
"Because... well," the girl said, becoming more animated, "don't you worry about what they think?"
"No," Usagi said, determinedly, "I don't care what other people think. I'm Usagi Tsukino; what's your name?"
The blue-haired girl paused, looking thoughtful as if generating a name on the spot. Usagi guessed she was just distracted from whatever she'd been working on when she'd been interrupted. "Ami," she said eventually. "Ami Mizuno." She held her hand out, politely, yet cautious. Usagi shook it firmly.
"Do you want to be friends?"
Ami looked unsure, and again glanced towards the other students of the school, as if she could see them through the bushes. "Are you sure? I think your... other friends... wouldn't understand. Why you would be friends with me, that is." She kept trying to give Usagi an out, if she felt she needed it. But, Usagi was really Sailor Moon, a reincarnated senshi from a fiefdom destroyed over a thousand years before. Guardian of the Moon, Defender of Love and Justice and Friendship, Punisher of Those Who Would Do Wrong.
A person such as that didn't need to worry about little things like a few people not liking her, not understanding her.
"I'm sure," she said, firmly, finally letting go of Ami's hand. Then, she drew herself up to sit next to Ami, and looked down at the computer. "What are you studying?"
"Geopolitical stresses in pre-War Japan as it led to the fracture of control of military by royal and governmental order," Ami replied, letting the words roll off her tongue. Usagi was impressed; she could understand now the text as it discussed generals' bids for power, the continued attrition of respect for government in military circles, and then the invasion of mainland China.
"Wow."
"It is a rather difficult subject, but it is one of my favourites."
Usagi engaged Ami in small talk for a time, as they ate their lunches, before the bell for classes rang again. Ami and Usagi headed back to class, and took their seats again, where Usagi fell asleep again shortly after the teacher began talking.
The afternoon bell rang, waking Usagi again from her slumber. Ami had left, and Usagi headed home reluctantly, wondering why her new friend had abandoned her, but outside the school gates, she saw Ami standing there, nervously. Usagi smiled widely, and waved; Ami blushed, a little embarrassed at the reaction, but Usagi didn't care - she did what she wanted to do, when she wanted to, and besides, no one was around to see. Everyone had gone home by the time Usagi had exited, her and Ami were the last two students on the grounds.
They said their helloes, and continued heading towards their homes, until Usagi stopped Ami by placing a hand on her arm, and asking, "Hey, you're a brainiac kind of girl. Why aren't you going to a study school now? I'd have thought you would... you know... be doing that kind of thing."
Ami stared at Usagi thoughtfully for a few minutes. Then she said, "I don't need to go today. There is no study session this afternoon. And I studied enough at school today, and will again tonight, so it's no problem me walking you home." They continued walking again.
A few minutes passed before the silence was broken by Ami exclaiming, "Oh!" as Luna landed in front of Usagi, on the ground.
"Usagi! Quickly! You've got to transform into Sailor Moon and follow me! A Dark Kingdom monster is attacking the park, and you're the only person who can stop it!"
Usagi's eyes shot to Ami, who was staring interestedly at Luna. "A talking cat," she murmured with delight.
Usagi grabbed her hand and held it to her chest. "Ami, please don't be afraid by what you're about to see. You're only a new friend, but I think I can trust you with my greatest secret: I am Sailor Moon, hero of everyone."
Ami's eyes opened wide with surprise, then glistened with tears as she smiled at Usagi, a light touch of pink to her cheeks. "Usagi, I should have known; the clues were all there for me to see."
"They were?"
"Yes," Ami said, but didn't elaborate further. Luna looked up at her, then turned back to Usagi before whipping her head back to Ami.
"Usagi!" Luna gasped. "The reason Ami isn't surprised by seeing a talking cat, or hearing that you're really Sailor Moon, is -"
"Because she's smart?" Usagi interjected.
"No! Because she too is one of the senshi! The guardian of the planet Mercury!"
Usagi gasped at that information; Ami looked surprised again, eyes glistening with tears, a light touch of pink to her cheeks as she covered her mouth with a hand. "Really? I am a hero, a magical girl, like Sailor Moon?"
Luna nodded. "And if you'll give me a moment, I'll give you a transformation wand, so you too can transform and help fight Sailor Moon as Sailor Mercury!"
Usagi frowned, thinking that didn't sound right.
Luna nodded again. "If you'll give me a moment, I'll give you a transformation wand, so you too can transform, and help fight evil with Sailor Moon as Sailor Mercury!"
Ami nodded decisively. "I'll do it!" She held her hand out, and scant moments later, there was a transformation wand resting in her palm. Usagi hadn't even seen Luna move, she'd been so fast.
She held her own wand up in the air. "Moon Planet Power Make-Up!" Her clothing burst apart into a tangle of pink ribbons before reforming in the short-skirted sailor suit costume of Sailor Moon. She felt the weighted metal of her tiara, and her hair tied up in magical hair ties, as well as the knee-high leather boots hugging her calves. Beside her, Ami repeated the gesture.
"Mercury Planet Power Make-Up!" Another swirl of pink ribbons, and Sailor Mercury stood beside her, posing. As one, they bounded off for the park.
Reaching the park, they quickly assessed the situation and found monster rampaging through the huge sandpit. It threw sand everywhere, into the eyes of children, at adults, trying to smash trees and sandcastles. "Fear the Sandman!" the monster roared, "for I will collapse your childhood dreams of stability into piles of empty, urine-soaked sand!"
"Hey! You! Stop trying to trample on the dreams of innocents, or else I'll make sure your future will be endangered! If you persist, in the name of the Moon, I'll punish you!"
The monster paused in his attack, and looked confusedly at Sailor Moon. "What did you say?"
Sailor Mercury jumped to Sailor Moon's defence. "Your evil work cannot go unpunished!" she yelled. "Shabon Spray!" A blast of frigid air cooled the temperature down around the monster, bringing up a heavy fog. It flailed in the white-out, while Sailor Moon gave a chop at the creature's body. It folded up around her hand, then returned with a vicious kick to her ankle.
"OW!" Sailor Moon cried out, dropping to the ground in pain. Mercury returned with a spinning kick through the mist, that kicked the monster back into the sand. He started climbing to his feet, but Sailor Moon got to hers first.
"Use your tiara," Luna urged, and Sailor Moon grabbed it, spun around and threw it. "Moon tiara magic!" she shouted as she released it. It struck the monster fair in the centre of his forehead, and the monster collapsed backwards, bursting into shadows and disappearing. Mercury looked at Sailor Moon, and with a simple nod, both turned to leave, but there was that blond man again.
"Sailor Moon!" he yelled, "You cannot keep doing this to the Dark Kingdom! This time, I, Jadeite, *will* destroy you!" He pulled his fist back to strike, but then paused, seeming to think the better of his actions, and he passed by, gathering the remains of his pet monster and leaving. Sailor Moon and Mercury left the area without another glance around them.
They let their transformations drop a distance from the park, and Ami smiled shyly at Usagi before waving hesitantly and promising to meet again in the morning on the way to school. Usagi headed home then, a smile on her face, and she didn't even mind as Luna jumped on her. "All's well that end's well, yes?" Luna purred as Usagi scratched her under her chin.
"Luna, I've been thinking," Usagi said, slowly. "Why did that monster attack the sandpit in the park?"
"Why does the Dark Kingdom do anything?" Luna replied after a moment. "It doesn't make sense. That swimming pool last week, the shopping centre the week before... maybe they're trying to steal the energy of humans?"
"That sounds good," Usagi sighed. "Plausible. So, though, what do you think of Ami?"
"Sailor Mercury? She will be a good friend, and an excellent fighter against the dark forces in the world." Luna fell silent for a while, then she yawned.
"Luna? Do... do you think *she* might be the Moon Princess we're looking for?"
Luna eyed Usagi carefully. "No, Usagi, I think we can safely surmise at least that much."
"Oh." Usagi seemed somewhat dejected as they continued home. Up ahead, she saw Naru, out of her uniform and walking slowly towards Usagi's home. "Naru!" she called out, waving wildly. Naru stopped, turned around, and sighed, making hurry-up gestures with her hands. Usagi hurried up to her side "I didn't see you after school," she said, almost sadly. "I thought... you might want to go to the arcade or something."
"I... I would have, Usagi, but... something came up and..." Naru's eyes would not meet Usagi's. Usagi shrank back a little, then stopped. Naru stopped after a few steps, and turned back, her eyes still not meeting her friend's. "Usagi," she said eventually, "I'm sorry. I can't be your friend anymore."
"Because I like that other girl too?"
"Because that other girl doesn't exist. You're doing it again, Usagi," Naru lifted her eyes to Usagi's. They looked hard, as if this was something Naru had been psyching herself up to say for a long time. "They never are real. This 'Tuxedo Kamen' you moan about in your sleep, your super powers from the moon, your friends... none of them exist. I'm it, Usagi. I'm your last friend. And I can't do it any more."
Strangely, Usagi felt tears in her eyes. "Why? Why not?"
"You're different now. You... you see things, you say things, you talk to people who aren't there. It's not healthy, Usagi." Naru finished the words in a rush, taking a breath before continuing again. "You're a smart girl, Usagi. Incredibly smart. I watched you do genius-level things even a year ago. And now, now you can't even be bothered to stay awake in class. Now, you can't focus on one thing for any time at all. Now, you just embarrass me. You attacked that kid at the swimming carnival last week; you've got a nice bruise on your leg, so I guess you've been beating up kids again. I don't know where you are in your head, Usagi, but snap out of it. If you can't be my old friend, I don't want you as one now. My other friends will stop talking to me if I don't stop talking to you. And I'm sorry, Usagi, but... you're not the friend you were. I'm sorry."
"Oh," was all Usagi could think of to say, while continuing to stroke Luna. "But - but- ! Talk to Luna! Ask her -"
"Get real, Usagi, that's just a stuffed cat."
It was, of course. But Luna was special. As Naru had left Usagi more and more in the recent months, Usagi had relied more and more on the magical talking cat that had shown her a new world. Luna really was a magical cat. "She's not," Usagi whined, defensively. "She's real!"
"It's just material and stuffing, we bought a matching pair last year, remember? I got the white cat, you took the black? You don't remember, do you?"
"She's all I've got," Usagi whispered. "You never come to see me. You never came to see me. I was lonely. And I still am, and -" She fell silent, aware of someone else at her back. Ami's cool hands rested on her shoulders, and she looked up into a smiling face.
"You'll always have us," Ami said quietly.
"That's right," Luna said from her lap. Usagi stroked her, contentedly, smiling warmly again.
"That's what I mean!" Naru cried, wanting to pull her hair out. "You can see it! You just - I don't know, go somewhere else! Your mother said -"
"My mother said what?" Usagi asked, when she realised Naru wasn't going to continue. Naru looked away.
"I promised her I wouldn't tell."
"Tell me! Please! Naru? Please, tell me. Is it something I should know?"
"It's something you already know," Luna offered quietly.
"Usagi... the accident... you know... it... you... I..." Then Naru turned away, and her shoulders took on a rigid posture before Usagi realised they were shaking slightly.
"Naru? Please... what's wrong? Tell me what's wrong? So I can -" So I can what? Usagi thought suddenly. So she could know? So she could comfort her friend? She she could try to keep her friend? So she would understand why her friends had all left her, why even now Naru was leaving her, why she was so alone all the time. Why was Usagi wanting to know? Perhaps it was better not to know? To live in bliss? In a world where superheroes fought evil monsters, and the heroes always won? Where young girls weren't torn apart by speeding cars and weren't put back together not quite right? Usagi suddenly wasn't sure she wanted to know. Her hand, reaching for Naru's, paused, hesitated, and then Naru sucked in a breath, drew herself upright, and turned back.
"What am I saying?" she said with a smile, pretending her eyes weren't filled with tears. "You're my oldest friend, Usagi, I couldn't leave you. Ever. We'll always be friends. Nothing - NOTHING - could ever tear... tear us apart." Naru, seeing Usagi's hand growing more limp in the air, reached forward and took it in hers, stroking with one hand softly, reassuringly. "Come on, Usagi," she said, suddenly, stepping around behind her friend's wheelchair and taking the handles, "I'll push you home."
And with that, Naru pushed her oldest, dearest friend, the friend she had been told would be dead in a year, thanks to continuing injuries in her brain, home, and spent the afternoon playing with her as they hadn't in years.
******
Sailor Moon says:
Okay, Love chapter 16 is *almost* done. So close to te finish now I can smell it. And just a few K short of 200K in size right now, too. It's looking good, but the time frame within that single chapter is so small that I'll be needing to make a THIRD chapter in this mini-arc... so, because I've started a new job (yay! A job!) and have some time in between calls to waste from time to time, yesterday and today I've spent my downtime writing a short SM fic.
I apologise about horrid formatting, and the fact that I didn't elaborate on a lot of the possibilities, nor did I carry through with much of what I wanted to, but for what the fic was, I think it's okay. A few more of these little short unconnected fics might pop up from time to time, and I was already considering adding a few more chapters to this fic, going into some of the details I had missed out, and going further into others I hadn't even brought up. But who knows? Regardless, this is a filler, for people waiting on my next chapter of anything. I'll also note that I may be being bumped up to full time (after a month of work) so chapter 16 of Love *might* just take a little longer than I was wanting; if my next week isn't too full of work and transit (2 hrs each way, and up to 8 hrs at work) I should have the next chapter up by Wednesday. I hope.
Regardless, I am still alive, and kicking. And typing. Chapter 17, however, will be a damned kicker to write. And might be bigger still. Bleh.
Edit: Guah... just looked at it on ff.net, and the formatting is even worse than I feared... editing it so it doesn't look QUITE so evil...
SAILOR MOON SHORT:
Friends of the Moon
by
Raymond Cooper
Usagi sat bolt upright as her alarm went off, for what seemed like the tenth time.
"Really, Usagi," Luna said from beside the bed, "must we go through this every morning?"
Usagi slapped at the alarm, shutting it off, and her mother poked her head into the room.
"Do you need help getting out of bed, sleepyhead?" she asked.
Usagi fumed. "No, mother, I don't." She hauled herself out of bed, and headed into the kitchen as she pulled on her uniform. She quickly buttoned up her shirt as she grabbed some breakfast from the table, waved goodbye at her mother, and headed from the house on her way to school. Late again, it would seem.
She held her slim leather bag in one hand, let her long golden hair trail out behind her as she trudged towards yet another boring day of school. She wasn't learning anything there that she thought she should: no ways of saving the world, no new fighting manoeuvres to kill monsters, no magiacl spells to help find the missing Moon Princess. Usagi had to learn all that by herself.
She hadn't noticed Naru on the way to school; indeed, she didn't spot her best friend until she entered the classroom and made her way to her chair up the back of the room. Naru rolled her eyes at her. "Late again, Usagi? Geeze, you just never get here on time. What do you do in the morning? Have to oil your wheels before you can get out of bed?"
Usagi poked her tongue out at Naru playfully, and took her seat. As expected, class began slowly and continued slowly. Today's major theme in the room seemed to be one of the greater economic patriotic wars that appeared to have disappeared from the history books, and Usagi tuned out, staring off into the distance...
... directly at a blue-haired girl on the other side of the room. She was buried in her history textbook, a palmtop open behind the book that she was furiously tapping notes into. Usagi noted that her head didn't rise to watch the teacher once, let alone drift back to stare at the ceiling, nor out the big window she sat next to. Totally absorbed in her schoolwork, the girl was oblivious to everything else.
"Naru! Pssst, Naru!"
"What?"
"Who's that girl, over by the window?"
Naru looked, but shrugged. "I don't know. Shut up; I'm trying to work."
Usagi tried to concetrate on her books, but just couldn't. In the end, she sighed, put her book on the desk in front of her, and leaned down on it, intent on sleeping. She didn't notice anything from the rest of the lesson.
She woke when the bell rang, and started upright. Everyone stood, and left the room to eat, drifting out in groups of three, four or five people as they gathered with their friends. Usagi slowly made her way outside, noticing the blue-haired girl had already left ahead of her and she'd missed her chance to grab her and speak to her already. She headed along the pathways of the school yard slowly, peering that way and this, constantly searching for the deep blue of the girl's hairstyle.
Usagi didn't find the girl, but she did find Naru. "Hey, Naru, have you seen that - Oh wait, there she is." Usagi headed off towards some bushes, where she could just see the other girl sitting behind, back to everyone. She didn't catch what Naru said behind her, nor did she care much. Her attention was focussed on making a trip across the grass, making certain she didn't fall.
She'd been called clumsy by some of the other students, and she didn't want to add to that belief. "Hey!" she called out, "Why are you eating your lunch all the way out here?"
The girl turned her head, a blank expression on her face. She said nothing, as if she was nothing but a mannequin for maybe half a minute as she chewed her lunch meal slowly. In her lap was the palmtop Usagi had seen before, indecipherable script covering the small colour LCD monitor. "Yes?" she asked, eventually.
"I said, why are you eating lunch all the way over here?"
The girl turned and looked over her shoulder. She couldn't see the crowd of students watching Usagi curiously, watching what she was doing, giggling, because the shrub was in the way. Usagi didn't care much if they laughed; becoming friends with people was something she did well, and it was something she enjoyed proving she could indeed do. "Why? Because people will laugh at me," she said, primly, eventually. It seemed to take her a while to think of a response, but the glasses sitting low on her nose suggested she was intelligent. Moreso than Usagi, at least.
"Why would they laugh at you?" Usagi asked, wondering. "Because you eat?"
The girl continued to stare at Usagi, and Usagi grew uncomfortable. She pushed that discomfort away from her conscious mind, though, and continued her conversation. "I mean, why are you worried about what they think?"
"Because... well," the girl said, becoming more animated, "don't you worry about what they think?"
"No," Usagi said, determinedly, "I don't care what other people think. I'm Usagi Tsukino; what's your name?"
The blue-haired girl paused, looking thoughtful as if generating a name on the spot. Usagi guessed she was just distracted from whatever she'd been working on when she'd been interrupted. "Ami," she said eventually. "Ami Mizuno." She held her hand out, politely, yet cautious. Usagi shook it firmly.
"Do you want to be friends?"
Ami looked unsure, and again glanced towards the other students of the school, as if she could see them through the bushes. "Are you sure? I think your... other friends... wouldn't understand. Why you would be friends with me, that is." She kept trying to give Usagi an out, if she felt she needed it. But, Usagi was really Sailor Moon, a reincarnated senshi from a fiefdom destroyed over a thousand years before. Guardian of the Moon, Defender of Love and Justice and Friendship, Punisher of Those Who Would Do Wrong.
A person such as that didn't need to worry about little things like a few people not liking her, not understanding her.
"I'm sure," she said, firmly, finally letting go of Ami's hand. Then, she drew herself up to sit next to Ami, and looked down at the computer. "What are you studying?"
"Geopolitical stresses in pre-War Japan as it led to the fracture of control of military by royal and governmental order," Ami replied, letting the words roll off her tongue. Usagi was impressed; she could understand now the text as it discussed generals' bids for power, the continued attrition of respect for government in military circles, and then the invasion of mainland China.
"Wow."
"It is a rather difficult subject, but it is one of my favourites."
Usagi engaged Ami in small talk for a time, as they ate their lunches, before the bell for classes rang again. Ami and Usagi headed back to class, and took their seats again, where Usagi fell asleep again shortly after the teacher began talking.
The afternoon bell rang, waking Usagi again from her slumber. Ami had left, and Usagi headed home reluctantly, wondering why her new friend had abandoned her, but outside the school gates, she saw Ami standing there, nervously. Usagi smiled widely, and waved; Ami blushed, a little embarrassed at the reaction, but Usagi didn't care - she did what she wanted to do, when she wanted to, and besides, no one was around to see. Everyone had gone home by the time Usagi had exited, her and Ami were the last two students on the grounds.
They said their helloes, and continued heading towards their homes, until Usagi stopped Ami by placing a hand on her arm, and asking, "Hey, you're a brainiac kind of girl. Why aren't you going to a study school now? I'd have thought you would... you know... be doing that kind of thing."
Ami stared at Usagi thoughtfully for a few minutes. Then she said, "I don't need to go today. There is no study session this afternoon. And I studied enough at school today, and will again tonight, so it's no problem me walking you home." They continued walking again.
A few minutes passed before the silence was broken by Ami exclaiming, "Oh!" as Luna landed in front of Usagi, on the ground.
"Usagi! Quickly! You've got to transform into Sailor Moon and follow me! A Dark Kingdom monster is attacking the park, and you're the only person who can stop it!"
Usagi's eyes shot to Ami, who was staring interestedly at Luna. "A talking cat," she murmured with delight.
Usagi grabbed her hand and held it to her chest. "Ami, please don't be afraid by what you're about to see. You're only a new friend, but I think I can trust you with my greatest secret: I am Sailor Moon, hero of everyone."
Ami's eyes opened wide with surprise, then glistened with tears as she smiled at Usagi, a light touch of pink to her cheeks. "Usagi, I should have known; the clues were all there for me to see."
"They were?"
"Yes," Ami said, but didn't elaborate further. Luna looked up at her, then turned back to Usagi before whipping her head back to Ami.
"Usagi!" Luna gasped. "The reason Ami isn't surprised by seeing a talking cat, or hearing that you're really Sailor Moon, is -"
"Because she's smart?" Usagi interjected.
"No! Because she too is one of the senshi! The guardian of the planet Mercury!"
Usagi gasped at that information; Ami looked surprised again, eyes glistening with tears, a light touch of pink to her cheeks as she covered her mouth with a hand. "Really? I am a hero, a magical girl, like Sailor Moon?"
Luna nodded. "And if you'll give me a moment, I'll give you a transformation wand, so you too can transform and help fight Sailor Moon as Sailor Mercury!"
Usagi frowned, thinking that didn't sound right.
Luna nodded again. "If you'll give me a moment, I'll give you a transformation wand, so you too can transform, and help fight evil with Sailor Moon as Sailor Mercury!"
Ami nodded decisively. "I'll do it!" She held her hand out, and scant moments later, there was a transformation wand resting in her palm. Usagi hadn't even seen Luna move, she'd been so fast.
She held her own wand up in the air. "Moon Planet Power Make-Up!" Her clothing burst apart into a tangle of pink ribbons before reforming in the short-skirted sailor suit costume of Sailor Moon. She felt the weighted metal of her tiara, and her hair tied up in magical hair ties, as well as the knee-high leather boots hugging her calves. Beside her, Ami repeated the gesture.
"Mercury Planet Power Make-Up!" Another swirl of pink ribbons, and Sailor Mercury stood beside her, posing. As one, they bounded off for the park.
Reaching the park, they quickly assessed the situation and found monster rampaging through the huge sandpit. It threw sand everywhere, into the eyes of children, at adults, trying to smash trees and sandcastles. "Fear the Sandman!" the monster roared, "for I will collapse your childhood dreams of stability into piles of empty, urine-soaked sand!"
"Hey! You! Stop trying to trample on the dreams of innocents, or else I'll make sure your future will be endangered! If you persist, in the name of the Moon, I'll punish you!"
The monster paused in his attack, and looked confusedly at Sailor Moon. "What did you say?"
Sailor Mercury jumped to Sailor Moon's defence. "Your evil work cannot go unpunished!" she yelled. "Shabon Spray!" A blast of frigid air cooled the temperature down around the monster, bringing up a heavy fog. It flailed in the white-out, while Sailor Moon gave a chop at the creature's body. It folded up around her hand, then returned with a vicious kick to her ankle.
"OW!" Sailor Moon cried out, dropping to the ground in pain. Mercury returned with a spinning kick through the mist, that kicked the monster back into the sand. He started climbing to his feet, but Sailor Moon got to hers first.
"Use your tiara," Luna urged, and Sailor Moon grabbed it, spun around and threw it. "Moon tiara magic!" she shouted as she released it. It struck the monster fair in the centre of his forehead, and the monster collapsed backwards, bursting into shadows and disappearing. Mercury looked at Sailor Moon, and with a simple nod, both turned to leave, but there was that blond man again.
"Sailor Moon!" he yelled, "You cannot keep doing this to the Dark Kingdom! This time, I, Jadeite, *will* destroy you!" He pulled his fist back to strike, but then paused, seeming to think the better of his actions, and he passed by, gathering the remains of his pet monster and leaving. Sailor Moon and Mercury left the area without another glance around them.
They let their transformations drop a distance from the park, and Ami smiled shyly at Usagi before waving hesitantly and promising to meet again in the morning on the way to school. Usagi headed home then, a smile on her face, and she didn't even mind as Luna jumped on her. "All's well that end's well, yes?" Luna purred as Usagi scratched her under her chin.
"Luna, I've been thinking," Usagi said, slowly. "Why did that monster attack the sandpit in the park?"
"Why does the Dark Kingdom do anything?" Luna replied after a moment. "It doesn't make sense. That swimming pool last week, the shopping centre the week before... maybe they're trying to steal the energy of humans?"
"That sounds good," Usagi sighed. "Plausible. So, though, what do you think of Ami?"
"Sailor Mercury? She will be a good friend, and an excellent fighter against the dark forces in the world." Luna fell silent for a while, then she yawned.
"Luna? Do... do you think *she* might be the Moon Princess we're looking for?"
Luna eyed Usagi carefully. "No, Usagi, I think we can safely surmise at least that much."
"Oh." Usagi seemed somewhat dejected as they continued home. Up ahead, she saw Naru, out of her uniform and walking slowly towards Usagi's home. "Naru!" she called out, waving wildly. Naru stopped, turned around, and sighed, making hurry-up gestures with her hands. Usagi hurried up to her side "I didn't see you after school," she said, almost sadly. "I thought... you might want to go to the arcade or something."
"I... I would have, Usagi, but... something came up and..." Naru's eyes would not meet Usagi's. Usagi shrank back a little, then stopped. Naru stopped after a few steps, and turned back, her eyes still not meeting her friend's. "Usagi," she said eventually, "I'm sorry. I can't be your friend anymore."
"Because I like that other girl too?"
"Because that other girl doesn't exist. You're doing it again, Usagi," Naru lifted her eyes to Usagi's. They looked hard, as if this was something Naru had been psyching herself up to say for a long time. "They never are real. This 'Tuxedo Kamen' you moan about in your sleep, your super powers from the moon, your friends... none of them exist. I'm it, Usagi. I'm your last friend. And I can't do it any more."
Strangely, Usagi felt tears in her eyes. "Why? Why not?"
"You're different now. You... you see things, you say things, you talk to people who aren't there. It's not healthy, Usagi." Naru finished the words in a rush, taking a breath before continuing again. "You're a smart girl, Usagi. Incredibly smart. I watched you do genius-level things even a year ago. And now, now you can't even be bothered to stay awake in class. Now, you can't focus on one thing for any time at all. Now, you just embarrass me. You attacked that kid at the swimming carnival last week; you've got a nice bruise on your leg, so I guess you've been beating up kids again. I don't know where you are in your head, Usagi, but snap out of it. If you can't be my old friend, I don't want you as one now. My other friends will stop talking to me if I don't stop talking to you. And I'm sorry, Usagi, but... you're not the friend you were. I'm sorry."
"Oh," was all Usagi could think of to say, while continuing to stroke Luna. "But - but- ! Talk to Luna! Ask her -"
"Get real, Usagi, that's just a stuffed cat."
It was, of course. But Luna was special. As Naru had left Usagi more and more in the recent months, Usagi had relied more and more on the magical talking cat that had shown her a new world. Luna really was a magical cat. "She's not," Usagi whined, defensively. "She's real!"
"It's just material and stuffing, we bought a matching pair last year, remember? I got the white cat, you took the black? You don't remember, do you?"
"She's all I've got," Usagi whispered. "You never come to see me. You never came to see me. I was lonely. And I still am, and -" She fell silent, aware of someone else at her back. Ami's cool hands rested on her shoulders, and she looked up into a smiling face.
"You'll always have us," Ami said quietly.
"That's right," Luna said from her lap. Usagi stroked her, contentedly, smiling warmly again.
"That's what I mean!" Naru cried, wanting to pull her hair out. "You can see it! You just - I don't know, go somewhere else! Your mother said -"
"My mother said what?" Usagi asked, when she realised Naru wasn't going to continue. Naru looked away.
"I promised her I wouldn't tell."
"Tell me! Please! Naru? Please, tell me. Is it something I should know?"
"It's something you already know," Luna offered quietly.
"Usagi... the accident... you know... it... you... I..." Then Naru turned away, and her shoulders took on a rigid posture before Usagi realised they were shaking slightly.
"Naru? Please... what's wrong? Tell me what's wrong? So I can -" So I can what? Usagi thought suddenly. So she could know? So she could comfort her friend? She she could try to keep her friend? So she would understand why her friends had all left her, why even now Naru was leaving her, why she was so alone all the time. Why was Usagi wanting to know? Perhaps it was better not to know? To live in bliss? In a world where superheroes fought evil monsters, and the heroes always won? Where young girls weren't torn apart by speeding cars and weren't put back together not quite right? Usagi suddenly wasn't sure she wanted to know. Her hand, reaching for Naru's, paused, hesitated, and then Naru sucked in a breath, drew herself upright, and turned back.
"What am I saying?" she said with a smile, pretending her eyes weren't filled with tears. "You're my oldest friend, Usagi, I couldn't leave you. Ever. We'll always be friends. Nothing - NOTHING - could ever tear... tear us apart." Naru, seeing Usagi's hand growing more limp in the air, reached forward and took it in hers, stroking with one hand softly, reassuringly. "Come on, Usagi," she said, suddenly, stepping around behind her friend's wheelchair and taking the handles, "I'll push you home."
And with that, Naru pushed her oldest, dearest friend, the friend she had been told would be dead in a year, thanks to continuing injuries in her brain, home, and spent the afternoon playing with her as they hadn't in years.
******
Sailor Moon says:
Okay, Love chapter 16 is *almost* done. So close to te finish now I can smell it. And just a few K short of 200K in size right now, too. It's looking good, but the time frame within that single chapter is so small that I'll be needing to make a THIRD chapter in this mini-arc... so, because I've started a new job (yay! A job!) and have some time in between calls to waste from time to time, yesterday and today I've spent my downtime writing a short SM fic.
I apologise about horrid formatting, and the fact that I didn't elaborate on a lot of the possibilities, nor did I carry through with much of what I wanted to, but for what the fic was, I think it's okay. A few more of these little short unconnected fics might pop up from time to time, and I was already considering adding a few more chapters to this fic, going into some of the details I had missed out, and going further into others I hadn't even brought up. But who knows? Regardless, this is a filler, for people waiting on my next chapter of anything. I'll also note that I may be being bumped up to full time (after a month of work) so chapter 16 of Love *might* just take a little longer than I was wanting; if my next week isn't too full of work and transit (2 hrs each way, and up to 8 hrs at work) I should have the next chapter up by Wednesday. I hope.
Regardless, I am still alive, and kicking. And typing. Chapter 17, however, will be a damned kicker to write. And might be bigger still. Bleh.
Edit: Guah... just looked at it on ff.net, and the formatting is even worse than I feared... editing it so it doesn't look QUITE so evil...