"Come on, hurry up!" Ami said quietly, looking around, then glancing down at her phone, motioning for the others to go past quickly.
"Are you sure it's this way Amy?" Minako said.
"Of course, we just need to hurry. Usagi! Stop lagging!"
"But we skipped breakfast!" Usagi whined, rushing after the girls who took off down the corridor. She tripped and fell on the cobblestone floor. "Wait!" she said pushing herself up only to see they were gone. The door next to her opened and a solider stepped out, startled to see her, and before she knew it she was in cuffs, sobbing as she was lead down the corridors to the dungeon.
Usagi's cell was small and spongy. Her feet sank into the floor but not too far and everything moved like jello.
"Dumb intergalactic ship," she whined, sinking to her knees and looking out the glass port.
"Hey lady! Why are you crying?"
Surprised Usagi looked up and noticed that through a hole in the wall of her cell she could see into the cell next door and what looked like a couple of children were looking through at her.
Usagi rubbed her eyes and carefully made her way over.
"Is it because you're bleeding?" one of the kids said sticking their hand through the hole and pointing at Usagi's knees that got scuffed in her fall.
"You'll be okay lady!" one of the other kids said grinning.
"What are you doing here?" Usagi asked.
"We got caught,"
"Caught?"
"Yeah, the ship went through our home planet and-"
"we tried to stop them-"
"but they were too strong-"
"so we hid-"
"on the ship-"
"but they caught us-"
Usagi squinted and studied the children closer, they were small with green skin and two-toned hair of blue and pink.
"I'm Usagi," Usagi said holding her hand out. Both children reached out to her take her hand happily and shook it.
"I'm Ail" the child with mostly blue hair said smiling up at her.
"An" the child with mostly pink hair said shyly.
"What are you doing here Usagi?"
"My friends and I were trying to stop the ship from attacking Earth by taking out, something, I can't remember exactly what it was," Usagi said rubbing her head as she tried to remember.
"Are you spies?"
"Superheroes?"
Both children looked up at Usagi with shinning eyes.
"No. One of my friends is just really smart, and another is really strong, and no one listened so we decided to do it on our own."
"That's so cool! You are superheroes!"
Usagi grinned, "Maybe we are, we are pretty cool huh?"
"Except you got caught," An said.
"Yeah…" Usagi said looking away awkwardly.
"Are those your ears?" Ali asked pointing to the blonde round buns on the top of her head.
"What? No! That's my hair!" she said awkwardly patting the buns.
"Ah! You look like him! Doesn't she look like him?" Ail said in surprise, grasping the pink haired child on the shoulder.
An studied her closely, then their eyes widened and nodded.
"Wait right here!"
"Where are you going?" Usagi called but didn't receive an answer.
She sighed and looked out the window, Earth could been seen in the distance. She wondered what her parents were doing. She hoped someone had remembered to feed Luna. She missed her cat, and her mouth watered thinking that maybe her family was just now waking up and having breakfast, a big one.
"What do you want? Oh hey, what are those? Meatballs?" a voice said from the other side of the room.
Turning red and indignant Usagi whirled around, tears in her eyes. "Excuse me?"
"They are!" was followed by laughter.
"What are meatballs? Do you know An?" Ali asked confused.
"Wait, how did you two get over there?" Usagi asked walking across her cell to the other side where there was another hole in the wall and three people were looking at her through it.
"We dug through this stuff when we heard someone was in this cell," Ali explained tapping the spongy wall which wobbled.
Inside the other cell was a man not too much older than Usagi with short black hair and blue eyes. He was smirking.
"What?" Usagi asked, folding her arms.
"Your hair is ridiculous," he said.
"Well your face is ridiculous," Usagi said looking away from him, "I can't even stand to look at you,"
"Wait? Are you not the same as Mamoru?" Ali asked looking back and forth between them. "Are you enemies?"
"I've never seen him before in my life," Usagi said, arms folded, back to them.
"You're upset though. Why would you be upset with someone you've never seen before?" Ali asked, "Give us a moment and we'll be with you."
Usagi heard digging and the ground underfoot began to shake and wobble. "He's mean!" she explained, yelping as the earth fell out beneath her with a big wave.
Arms wrapped around her waist and she looked up in surprise at blue eyes and her heart fluttered wildly.
"You turn pink!" An said from nearby.
Ali yawned as Usagi stood back up.
"Your face is pink," An said wobbling.
"It takes a lot of energy to break through the walls," Ali murmured, eyes sliding shut.
Usagi caught both children before they fell, already fast asleep in her arms.
"There was no need for that," she murmured sitting down carefully with her back against the wall.
"Nice catch," Mamoru said as he sat down next to her.
"Thanks, you too,"
"They've been here a very long time. The aliens in control of this ship destroyed their planet. All they have left is each other, so they tend to be some what clingy. They dug their way into my cell without any hesitation, without any fear that I was dangerous, and fell asleep on me. I think their life force was attached to something at home. Something that was destroyed with the planet so they're constantly weak."
"We have to get them out of here," Usagi said looking up at Mamoru who was looking down at the children in her arms fondly.
"Do you have a plan?"
"Well I have friends who are aboard, they'll come looking for me."
"So you were the weakest link, the damsel in distress?"
"Hey!"
Mamoru laughed softly at her indignation and held a finger to his lips, motioning to the sleeping children.
"Hey," she whispered, "I tripped. It was poor timing. Plus we missed breakfast!"
"Sure, whatever you say meatball head."
"You're a jerk," Usagi said digging at the spongy floor.
"It's no use, our hands can't dig through it. Ali and An can but not enough to get through to the hall. We've tried," Mamoru said digging through the pockets of his jacket and pulling out a meat bun.
"Here. I've been saving this, if you're so hungry, you can have it," Mamoru said.
Usagi looked up at him in surprise, "Really? Wait how long have you been here?"
"It's still good, I got stuck here just a couple days ago. During, I suppose, their routine sweep of the planet. Seems they tend to pick a creature from random on the planet to try and understand to better before they mine it for things they need. Worst lottery to win ever," Mamoru said. "Plus they do feed us. Little weird balls of energy that taste like bitter vegetables."
"No," Usagi said in horror, "I can't stay here that long."
"Then here, eat this and lets hope your friends get here soon," Mamoru said.
Usagi took it from him, carefully unwrapping the plastic and taking a bite. They sat in silence and it was surprisingly comfortable, leaning against each other in an interstellar prison on a planet destroying ship.
"Can this stuff be cut?" Usagi asked suddenly.
"Probably but I don't have anything sharp on me. It'd have to be pretty sharp."
"I've got an idea! Thanks for the meat bun," Usagi said carefully disentangling the children from her and shifting them Mamoru's lap.
Usagi dug in her bag, pulling out candy wrappers and crumpled up tests with low scores and cute make up compacts. "Ah, here it is," she said pulling out a disk.
"What is that?"
"Something Ami made for me," Usagi said pressing a button and sides flipped out, making a glowing boomerang. She fiddled with it a little and swung it at the wall. It bounced back and she caught it, watching as a layer of the wall drooped down like peeling wallpaper. She tossed it again and again until she could see the hallway through a slice in the wall.
Usagi turned to Mamoru and grinned, "Come on, let's get out of here."
Mamoru stood, carefully picking up the sleeping children.
Usagi pushed the wall apart and Mamoru made his way through the hole in the wall quickly followed by Usagi.
"What do we do now?" Mamoru asked.
"We've got to find my friends," Usagi said carefully heading down the hall, and looking around the corner.
Mamoru followed after her. They made their way through the maze of the ship. Their footsteps echoed on the cobblestone and the children slept on.
Usagi rushed down a hall but Mamoru reached out and pulled her back into the shadows as a door opened and soldiers poured out. Usagi looked at Mamoru who just nodded, shifting the children in his arms. Usagi took, An from him and as the clattering footsteps of soldiers faded they continued on. After several dead ends and finally ending up in a path that looked familiar the ship shook and the smell of smoke filled the air.
"I think my friends-"
An explosion that shook the ship interrupted Usagi knocking her off balance as the ship tipped, and sent her sliding down the hall. Mamoru was behind her and caught her, twisting to protect her and the children as they crashed into a wall.
"Are you okay?" Usagi asked worriedly.
"I'm fine meatball head. Was that your friends?"
"Yeah, they got the power core."
"Then we should probably hurry."
"How though? Everything is falling."
Doors that weren't shut properly opened and everything not nailed down was rushing down the halls; papers, alien bitter veggie balls, and beds.
"Do you still have that sharp boomerang?" Mamoru asked.
"I do, what about it?"
"Maybe we could use it like a grappling hook, and climb. We just need rope."
"Will that work?" Usagi asked as cables slid past them, being pulled by hardware.
Mamoru reached out and grabbed it, wincing.
"Could you cut it free?"
Usagi gently set An down and pulled out her boomerang and leaned down to cut free the hardware which crashed in an explosion of glass against a dead end in the hall.
Usagi handed the cord to Mamoru who tested it's strength before carefully tying the children, one securely on his back the other on Usagi's before tying Usagi to himself .
"Ready?" Mamoru asked tying the end of the cord to the boomerang.
Usagi nodded, leaned out into the hall, waited for a large desk to slide past and swung it like a grappling hook. It broke through a window and she ducked out of the way as glass rained past. She turned to Mamoru who gave it a tug, and began to climb, with Usagi holding onto him. They made their way slowly, having to swing out of the way of falling things to protect the rope and themselves.
Eventually, after many more broken windows and enough time to turn their arms into jelly they heard voices.
"Where did she go?"
"I swear she was right behind us."
"We forgot to check."
"She could be anywhere now."
"We've got to go back."
"But we don't know where she is and you said yourself that we've only got ten minutes before the ship explodes."
"Over here!" Usagi yelled.
There was the sound of footsteps and five girls peered over the edge of a hallway, looking for the owner of the familiar voice.
"Usagi!" Makoto called, "We'll get you up here, just hold on!"
"Just move back!" Mamoru called, he looked down at Usagi, they were sitting in a broken window, pulling up the cord and boomerang. "Almost home, okay, meatball head? How about I treat you to a big breakfast once we get back?"
Usagi grinned aimed for a window over her friends who had scrambled out out of the way. She broke one last window, the glass falling down as she tugged on the rope, cutting up her arms.
Mamoru frowned, taking the rope from her and brushing glass from her hair. Usagi held onto him and he climbed.
"Wait!" a voice called above them and a girl with blue hair peered out over them.
"Why?" Mamoru asked.
"We can make this faster. Just hold on!"
The girls carefully reached out and grabbed a hold of the rope and pulled. Mamoru looked up at them and stiffened seeing that the cord was coming apart. He felt Usagi look up to see what had caught his attention.
"Were so close," Usagi said voice filled with dread.
"We need you to start catching!" Mamoru said, carefully untying An and pulling them free.
"Okay!" Rei said letting go of the rope, Makoto and Ami holding it steady.
Mamoru tossed An up to them and Rei caught the sleeping child setting them gently on the ground. Usagi was struggling with the knots on Ali. She finally got Ali free and into Mamoru's hands and he tossed Ali up. Usagi looked up at Mamoru who began to free her.
"Wait, what about you?" she asked realizing he wouldn't be able to toss himself up.
Mamoru smiled, "Sorry about breakfast meatball head," he said before tossing her up into Rei's waiting arms. The two stumbled back falling on the ground. Usagi scrambled to her feet and to the edge of the hall. Ami and Makoto were doing their best to pull him up as quickly as they could.
"It was nice meeting you, Usagi," Mamoru said as the cord broke and he fell, sending Makoto and Ami into a collapsed pile.
"Mamoru!" Usagi screamed, tears in her eyes.
Minako rushed forward throwing a orange whip into the air after Mamoru.
"Some help guys?" she called with a strained smile.
The girls rushed forward and helped Minako pull Mamoru up. As he was disentangled from the whip Usagi rushed forward and slammed her fist against his chest, looking up at him with angry tears in her eyes.
"Whoa! What's wrong?" he asked holding his hands up in front of him to ward off her attacks.
She pressed her face against his head and sobbed.
Mamoru laughed, "I thought you hated my ridiculous face, but here you are crying because you would have missed it."
"Shut up!" she said with a sniff.
"We've got to go!" Ami said, yanking down the boomerang. "We've got only a couple minutes to get out before the ship explodes.
Mamoru scooped up An and Usagi picked up Ali and ran with the girls out of the ship and to safety.
-One week later-
"Come on Seijūrō! Natsumi! We're late!"
"We've been ready Usagi, you're running late."
Usagi looked at the two children standing in the door way. Natusmi hugging a small potted tree to her chest that looked ancient and alien but also a bit like a bonsai. They looked almost like normal children if Usagi didn't know better.
"You just want an excuse for being late for you daaatttee!" Seijūrō teased.
Usagi turned red, pushing the door open and shooing them out, hopping as she put on her shoe and kissing her black cat atop the head.
"We'll be back later Luna!" Usagi called. The cat watched her go with a sigh, curling up in the sun in front of an open window that a white cat jumped up on.
"You over slept again didn't you?" Natsumi said.
"It's hard to wake up in time to go out for breakfast. It's Sunday, why couldn't we have done brunch?" Usagi whined as they crossed the street.
"You stayed up too late reading comic books again didn't you?"
"I did not!"
"Video games then?" Seijūrō asked.
"You didn't finish your homework at all, did you?" Natsumi said with a giggle.
"Come on, your as bad as my mother!" Usagi said as they rain into Ami.
"Have fun you guys! Bye!" Usagi said, ruffling their hair, giving Ami a hug and then running.
"She's late," Ami noted.
"She couldn't decide what to wear," Seijūrō said.
"And she overslept," Natsumi said.
"Well let's go, I wanted to show you around the green house," Ami said, taking the children's hand.
Usagi made it to the restaurant and came to a skidding stop, breathing heavily. She turned to look in the window and carefully fixed her hair. She noticed something else in the window and jumped noticing Mamoru behind her, smirking.
"Don't sneak up behind people!" she said turning around to face him, face bright red.
He laughed and held out his hand, "Shall we, meatball head?"
She took his hand and they went in. Usagi looked around in wonder, ivy was growing along the inside of the walls with flowers in bloom. She didn't notice that Mamoru had already ordered, for both of them.
She frowned as her menu was taken away.
"Don't worry," Mamoru said with a smile, "I think you'll like what I ordered."
"What did you order."
"Orange cardamom cinnamon rolls, ham and cheese crepes, and strawberry blueberry almond smoothies." Mamoru said.
"Sounds amazing,"
"I also konpeitō for you to share with Ali- I mean with Seijūrō and Natsumi," Mamoru said digging through his bag and handing over the brightly colored candies shaped like stars.
"Oh they'll love these, and so will Luna!" Usagi said taking the package and smiling at a sketch of a bunny with a hearts in the To: From: sticker and a rose in the from section.
"Your cat?"
"Yes, she loves konpeitō."
"You are a weird girl meatball head," Mamoru said, resting his head in his hand, smiling at her.
"I'm glad your here," Usagi said.
"All thanks to you," he said taking her hand and kissing the top.
Their peaceful silence of unaware hand holding was only interrupted by the appearance of their breakfast. Which Mamoru was surprised at how quickly Usagi ate, without seeming to get full. He quickly ordered more with momentary regret of picking such a nice restaurant for a promised big breakfast and the dent it would have on his wallet.