Burning Love
Whoosh! The cherry blossom trees swished around in the brisk autumn wind. For a while that was the only noise, until the footsteps of a teenage girl could be heard, quickly approaching the trees.
"She will never turn her back on a friend," Raye sang as she skipped merrily along to her beloved cherry blossoms, raven black hair swaying in the wind. "She is always there to defend, She is the one on whom we can depend, she is the one named… Sailor Mars!" and with that Raye began playing the air guitar, making rather out of tune screeching noises.
"Whoa, totally bodacious Raye, I never knew you had wicked skills like that," said Chad, who had just slithered up out of nowhere.
"Eep!" Raye cried, and then quickly began to stand in a posture much more suitable for a lady. "You want something, Chadwick?" she asked, mimicking the lead character of her Sailor V comics. Who, Raye noted, acted nothing like the real person.
"Not really, I just wanted to say good morning," Chad replied.
"Good Morning then, now, off to your chores."
"Okay, see you Raye," Chad said as he began to walk back to the cabin. As he walked past Raye, she thought she heard a minimal sigh escape the man's lips. She turned to look at him as he proceeded to his duties. He was rather tall, and was built very well. She had seen those muscles in action just last week, when he had fought off a gang of kids who thought vandalizing the temple was a good way to spend a Saturday night. Of course, against foes like Zoisite or Catsy, Chad stood little chance. But still, his skills were impressive. He had brown, long, bushy hair which normally covered his deep brown eyes. What could be troubling the young man?
Deciding to put the thought at the back of her mind, Raye proceeded towards her wish tree. Her wish tree was her favourite cherry blossom tree, and everyday she wrote a wish on a piece of paper, then tied it to a tree branch and hoped for it to come true.
For the majority of her life, Raye had wished for one thing, "To find true love". There were odd occasions were she wished for something else, like, "For the safe passage of my friends into high school" or "For Catsy to adjust well to human life", but true love had always been her strongest wish.
There was a time when Raye had thought she found true love, but her relationship with Darien was not to last. Her wishes slowly changed back into ones for true love, even when she was dating Darien. She realized they weren't connecting, but she hoped one day they might. However, it turned out that Darien, or more accurately, Endymion, was destined for Serenity. Raye didn't mind really, she knew Darien wasn't right for her, and she wished he and Serena the best.
After writing those all too familiar words, Raye tied the paper to the tree, and turned to go begin her own chores.
Little did she know that morning was going to contain more hard work than she anticipated.
Chad walked into the cabin, proceeded to his room, shut the door and began to change out of his pyjamas and into his traditional temple clothing. As he pulled off his shirt and opened the top drawer to his dresser, he spotted the picture frame he always kept on top. It was a picture of himself with Raye on the Ferris Wheel back when the carnival had come to town. He had his arm around her, and she was laughing while she was giving him bunny ears in the picture.
Chad looked at his now naked torso in his mirror, and examined his big muscles that had taken almost five years to develop. How, Chad asked himself, was it that this body could attract all kinds of girls, yet the one girl he truly loved barely ever gave him a second thought? He tried so hard, but the raven-haired beauty only treated him as an inferior co-worker. Sighing, Chad then slipped on his temple robes, and left the room to begin his duties.
Meanwhile, Raye was giving the bushes that surrounded the temple a quick trim, when she heard the ever familiar voice call out, "What'cha doing Raye?"
"I'm planning a vacation in Maui," Raye said sarcastically, then turned around to face Serena and yelled, "WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE I'M DOING?!," then added, "Hi Darien."
"Hey Raye," Darien responded. He was a rather tall, college age, well built man with dark black hair and blue eyes. Next to him was his girlfriend, Serena. She was about a foot shorter than her lover, and had long, blonde, hair in the odango hairstyle. Her eyes were a brilliant blue and were very compelling. Whenever Raye looked in them she felt the warm glow of friendship, even when Serena was being a brat.
"It looks like your yelling at me again Raye, but they sometimes say looks can be deceiving. Obviously that's not the case with you," Serena replied.
Raye smiled, although she and Serena fought like sisters most of the time, (three year old sisters, their friends would say) Raye's closest friend was Serena. She was the first person Raye ever met who didn't think she was "the weird temple girl". This meant a lot to Raye, and she tried to hold onto Serena's friendship as much as possible. Raye had even died for Serena before, and it was always through Serena that she was miraculously returned to life.
"What are you guys doing here anyway?" Raye asked the couple.
"We wanted to say hi, and see of you needed us to help you with anything," Darien said.
"Oh, well, thanks guys. I guess you could watch over the temple while I go to the store and buy more charm paper," Raye replied.
"You can just buy those things at the store?" Serena asked, slightly bewildered, "and here I thought you went through all this time making the things. Gee, I wish I could buy donuts at just about any old store."
"Now, see Serena, If you didn't eat as many donuts you'd be able to walk the extra few steps to the donut shop," Darien said.
"Hey," Serena whined, then she lightly shoved her boyfriend. Darien responding by lifting her up in a bear hug and spinning her around. When he stopped spinning, the two began to kiss each other passionately.
It was then that Raye's jealousy kicked in. It wasn't that she was jealous of Serena for having Darien (And she certainly wasn't jealous of Darien for having Serena). She was jealous of both of them for having each other. She always wished for a relationship like theirs, but lady luck was never on her side when it came to men.
"Hey, isn't Chad able to look after the place?" Darien asked after he had parted lips with Serena.
"Chad?" Raye asked, "He'd probably just mess something up and burn our whole temple ground down."
"Yet your trusting Meatball Head here," Darien said.
"Darien!" Serena snapped, still in the big man's arms.
"Well, I'm sure things will be safe while you're supervising, Darien." Raye replied. And with that she turned away from the couple and left for the department store.
After Raye was out of sight, Serena said to Darien "She totally has it bad for Chad."
Darien nodded in agreement, he had seen it in her face when he mentioned Chad's name. "But I don't think she knows it yet." he said.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, Raye is still waiting for Mr. Right, yet she has a crush on Chad. I don't think she's connected the dots and figured out Chad and Mr. Right could be one and the same."
"Oh. I think your right, now that I think about it," Serena said.
That was when they felt it, a surge of dark power approaching. They looked at each other to confirm their suspicions, then began to scan the area with their eyes, looking for any sign of danger.
Their search was rewarded a few seconds later, when six dark figures descended from the sky onto the temple grounds. They were humanoid in shape, but their arms were slightly longer. They had two red orbs in the front of their heads, which looked like eyes. They looked, to Serena and Darien, like walking shadows.
Hearing the creatures landing, Chad rushed outside. "Whoa," he said, then looking at the couple, "Serena! Darien! You guys better hide, I'll try and take care of these things."
Serena and Darien looked at each other, then ran behind the temple to hide in the bushes. Just as they got out of hearing range they heard Chad scream in agony.
"We have to help him!" Serena cried.
"I know," Darien replied as he pulled a red rose out of his pocket, "Meet you once you're transformed," Then he held the rose above his head, and in a flash he was transformed. He was now wearing a tuxedo, with a long cape that was black on one side and red on the front. He was also wearing white gloves, a top hat, and a white mask which covered his eyes. He was no longer Darien, he was Tuxedo Mask.
Tuxedo Mask, after giving a curt nod to Serena, leapt into the air and towards the battle.
Serena quickly grabbed the brooch that was on her chest pulled it off and held it into the air. The brooch was the shape of a golden heart with wings, and had a number of multi-coloured jewels on it.
"MOON ETERNAL POWER!" she shouted.
The brooch opened, and the pink gem inside of it began to glow. Serena then began to rise off the ground, and entered that strange place the sailor scouts go when they transform. Serena's skin and hair began flashing different colours, like blue, green, and pink as she started becoming something more than human. As her clothes disappeared, a sideways, golden crescent moon insignia emblazoned itself upon her forehead. Next, a pair of large white feathered wings grew out of her back. After that, the wings wrapped themselves around Serena's torso, and when they opened again, Serena was wearing a white leotard, a bow that looked like wings with Serena's brooch in the center on her chest, and short pink sleeves that barely covered her shoulders. Next, a string of feathers began circling Serena's arms, and after a flash, the feathers were gone and in their place were long white gloves that reached to just before her elbow. There was also a line of red around the edges and around the wrists of each glove. Then, after another swish of her wings, Serena gained a pair of tall white boots with red trim and a three levelled skirt. The bottom level was black, the middle was burgundy and the top, most visible layer was yellow. On the back of her skirt was a burgundy bow, with strings that went down to the back of her knees. Serena's skin then faded back into flesh color and the transformation was complete. She was Sailor Moon.
With a flap of her wings, Sailor Moon began flying towards the battle. As soon as she cleared the roof she saw what was taking place. Chad had a large cut down the side of his chest, and he was being supported by Tuxedo Mask, who was continually throwing roses into the shadows that were now surrounding the pair.
"Sailor Moon!" Tuxedo Mask called out, "My roses aren't working, see if you can do something!"
"Okay," Sailor Moon responded as she materialized her sceptre out of thin air. It was a long, pinkish-white rod which had a red and golden heart-like shape on the top. She grabbed it and began to swing it around, finally yelling, "SILVER MOON CRYSTAL POWER KISS," She then pointed the sceptre at the shadowy figures, and golden beams began to emit from the tip of it. The beams hit the shadows and, to the eternal relief of Sailor Moon, Tuxedo Mask and Chad, the shadows began to disperse into nothingness. All that was left was one red orb from each shadow, which was floating off the ground and inside seemed to be storing built up static electricity. To be on the safe side, Tuxedo Mask pulled out six roses and sank one into the core of each orb. The orbs shattered, but before the pieces could hit the ground, they simply faded out of existence.
Sailor Moon descended to the ground, where she ran to the men. "Is he okay?" she asked frantically, referring to Chad, who had lost a lot of blood from his slash and was now unconscious.
"I think he's going to have to go to a hospital, but how can we get him there without any suspicion? And de-transforming would take to much time," Tuxedo Mask responded, sounding slightly frightened himself.
"I think Amy's covering for her mom in the hospital today, you should go there."
"Okay," Tuxedo Mask said. It was their best option. He took Chad and threw the younger man over his shoulder. Luckily for the warriors, Chad had been out, unable to wonder about their identities or how they knew Amy.
Tuxedo Mask leapt into the air, carrying Chad. He landed on the temple rooftop. "You should find Raye, she's gonna need to be there."
"You're right," Sailor Moon replied. She began flapping her wings and ascended into the air. The two then took off in two different directions, one to find Raye and the other to deliver Chad to a hospital room. Coincidentally, or perhaps not, the two lovers thoughts mirrored at the same time, What if there's not enough time?
Amy was bored. Bored, bored, bored, bored, bored. The life of medicine, while important, was not for her. She only had to sit in for her mother as a payback favour for the Ultra-Hyper-Mega-Super Chemistry set her mother had gotten her for her experiments she liked to conduct in her room. Fortunately, (or unfortunately) her boredom would soon be replaced with nervousness, anticipation and fear.
All of a sudden, Tuxedo Mask had jumped through the open window with a much bloodied Chad over his shoulder. "Amy!" he panted, out of breath from his trek over to the hospital.
"What happened Dar…Tuxedo?" Amy asked, nearly revealing the masked man's identity in the process.
"Chad…shadow monsters…attack…"Tuxedo gasped. Amy got the general idea of what happened immediately. She wasn't the girl with the highest average in the history of her school by fluke.
"Set him on this bed," Amy instructed, taking charge immediately "I'll go see what supplies we have available," she then ran out of the room, straight towards where most of the medical supplies were kept.
While she was gone, Tuxedo Mask lowered Chad off his shoulder and onto the hospital bed. Please, he thought, let one of the Sailor girls find something to do for him.
Meanwhile, across town, Sailor Moon landed outside the department store, and rushed inside with such speed, you'd think her mother just found out about her recent test score. "Raye!" she cried, as soon as she saw the temple girl.
Raye looked at Sailor Moon, bewildered, as the sailor scout ran through the store, her large wings knocking over all the contents of the shelves. "What is it Ser…Sailor Moon?" she asked sounding irritated.
"It's Chad, these evil creatures surrounded the temple and Chad insisted on fighting and he got slashed and Tuxedo's taking him to the hospital but you need to be with him Raye you love each other you just don't know it and he needs you to be with him right now Raye," Sailor Moon said, without any punctuation, and with such speed she could rival Amy talking about science.
It was like a dagger had sunken into Raye's heart. No, it was worse; it was more like her heart itself had been shot out of her body. Again. Raye couldn't imagine life without Chad. He had always helped her at the temple, and he was sweet, charming and kind. He was also brave and courageous and always ready to fight off foes to help Raye. And kinda cute. Raye had to go to him, she just had to. She loved him, and she knew that now.
"Do you think we could use the Sailor Teleport?" Raye asked frantically. Sailor Moon grabbed Raye's wrist and pulled her out of the store, where they could converse more openly, without having to worry about civilians overhearing anything.
"Are you kidding? There's only two of us and you're not even transformed!" Sailor Moon cried after they were out of earshot.
"Please Serena… I'd do it for you if it was Darien." Raye whispered, a solitary tear running down her cheek.
Sailor Moon saw the pain and seriousness in her friend's face, and conceded, "Okay," The two girls linked hands and let their power flow through themselves and each other. "Moon Eternal Power," Sailor Moon whispered.
"Mars Crystal Power," Raye responded.
A glow of pink and red energy surrounded the girls, and, amazingly, in a flash they disappeared, leaving a crowd of confused onlookers in the store. The clerk then announced anything Sailor Moon's wings touched to be free, and the civilians began racing for all the products that were now on the floor.
Meanwhile, Tuxedo Mask was sitting in the hospital room, feet propped up on Amy's currently vacant seat. He hoped the young girl would return soon, Chad's condition was definitely not improving. It was then that a pink and red glow appeared in the centre of the room, and Sailor Moon and Raye materialized out of thin air. Raye quickly ran to Chad's bed, and began weeping for her love. Sailor Moon walked up behind her friend and put her hand on Raye's shoulder. "Let's heal him now," she said softly. Raye nodded vigorously.
Sailor Moon took her brooch off her chest and held it straight out in front of her, it opened, revealing the pink gem inside of it. Raye also put her hand on the brooch, and took out one of her charm papers. "Moon Healing Activation," Sailor Moon whispered, and the pink, star shaped gem began to glow.
"Mars Power," Raye whispered, and the paper in her hand also began to light up. Tuxedo Mask held up a rose and began adding his own power to the mix, for what it was worth.
Miraculously, Chad began to glow, then the gash down his torso began to seal itself, and all blood on his body was removed, while the missing blood inside his body was replaced. Next, the light died down, and Chad awakened. "Whuh…Where am I?" he asked.
"Oh, Chad," Raye sobbed as she threw her arms around the neck of her close, close friend.
"Huh? Raye, what's going on?" Then he looked up at the two warriors who had aided him in battle. "Oh, right, the shadows, and the temple, is everything okay?"
"They are now," Raye said, hugging the man close to her.
"Well," said Tuxedo Mask, "Looks like we won't need Amy's help anymore."
"Hey, where is Amy?" Sailor Moon asked.
"I don't know," Tuxedo Mask replied, "It's been like, fifteen minutes since she left for medical supplies."
"Fifteen minutes? Amy would never be that inefficient. She would've been here in two," Raye said.
"Yeah," Chad chimed in, "She's normally at meetings in Raye's room before Raye is."
"Ah, Ami…" said a new, disembodied, cold, cruel voice. "Is this the blue haired one?"
"What have you done with her!?" Sailor Moon screamed, angered that another friend would be hurt by evil.
It was then that more shadows materialized into the room. There was about twenty of them this time. And one of them was gigantic, about twice as tall as Darien. And he was holding an unconscious Amy by the throat.
"You must be those who dispatched my warriors," said the largest shadow, "We scanned earth and discovered there was almost always a high power rating in or around the temple. We decided to stage our attack there, and dispatch the power, but that plan had an opposite effect. When the orbs broke, the pieces were teleported back to our ship, where we scanned them and discovered the rose to be the source of their destruction. So, we decided to follow the carrier of the roses and dispose of him. It appears we have a few more opponents then predicted, but surely this will not hinder our progress. Come my fleet, let us destroy these weaklings."
The large shadow then threw Amy towards Tuxedo Mask. The large man caught her and set her down in her chair. It was then that one of the shadows jumped onto the man's back and began to try to wrestle him to the floor. Tuxedo was slightly amused as he began to try and throw the creature off. However, while he was trying to do that another shadow knocked Tuxedo's legs out from under him and the two shadows pinned him to the floor.
"Tuxedo Mask!" Sailor Moon cried. She then began to summon her sceptre, but as soon as it appeared a shadow snatched it away from her and gave it to the big shadow.
"We've been studying," The shadow taunted, waving Sailor Moon's wand around.
"Well he didn't study me." Raye stated as she stood up.
"Wait Raye," Chad said, "You might get hurt, and I wanna help but I don't think I'm up for a fight yet."
"Chad, you've already proven you're a capable young man, and no one will look down on you if you sit this one out." Raye replied. She then took out her transformation pen. It was a long, thick, round pink stick, with a red orb on top. Beneath the orb attached to the stick were white wings with a tinge of red to them. And, in the centre of the orb was a golden symbol of mars, lying across a golden bow and arrow. Raye looked back at the man sitting in the hospital bed and said, "I love you."
Next, she held up her pen and shouted:
"MARS CRYSTAL POWER!"
Raye then left the ground and entered that strange dimension. The symbol of mars in her pen was now glowing a brilliant crimson. Raye's skin and hair began flashing different colors, like brown and purple and orange. Her clothes vanished, and then flames began flowing out of the orb in her pen. The flames formed into several circles around Raye's body, then began getting smaller, closing in around her, and in a flash Raye was no more. She was now Sailor Mars. She had red high heel shoes, a red skirt with a purple bow on the back with ribbons that hung down to just above the back of her knees. She was also wearing a white leotard with a purple bow on her chest which had a red button in the centre. She also had on long white gloves, with dark red trim around the edges. Finally, on her forehead she was wearing a golden tiara, which had a red oval gem in the centre, directly in the middle of her forehead.
Chad stared. This was a rare occasion in that his eyes were so wide they could actually be seen under all his hair. Raye, was Sailor Mars? Now that she had transformed in front of him, he could see the uncanny resemblance between Raye's two identities. He also now knew why Sailor Mars was the sailor scout who always got to the temple first. He continued staring, until Sailor Mars leapt into battle.
A shadow leapt at Sailor Moon, but before it was able to strike, Sailor Mars had held out her arms straight in front of her, clasped her hands, and pointed her index fingers towards the monster, shouting "MARS FIRE IGNITE!" and a large flame had erupted from her gloved hands and struck the monster, revealing it's orb which Sailor Mars then broke by throwing on of her anti-evil charms at it.
Then, Sailor Mars turned to Tuxedo Mask and the shadows pinning him. A small sphere of flame appeared on her right pointer finger, which she then wove into a circle, creating a floating circle of flame. She then pointed her hands again and yelled, "MARS CELESTIAL FIRE SURROUND!" causing several white hot rings of flame to escape from her fingertips. The first few rings burnt away the shadows, and the rest heated the orbs until they exploded, causing the built up electricity inside to escape and hit two more shadows, thoroughly disintegrating them.
"Well," said the big shadow, "It appears we have a problem. It's about time I activated this magic wand," He began twirling the sceptre in his hands.
"Oh no you don't!" Sailor Mars cried as she ran towards the evil creature. She held out her hand, and the symbol of Mars appeared on her palm. The symbol then burnt away, leaving a monstrous flame which then formed itself into the shape of a bow and arrow. Sailor Mars aimed the arrow at the gigantic creature, pulled back on the arrow, and shouted, "MARS FLAME SNIPER!" Then, she let go and the arrow sunk itself dead into where the shadow's heart should be. This wasn't enough to fully dematerialize the creature, but it was enough to reveal it's core, and drop Sailor Moon's sceptre. Sailor Mars caught it and threw it to her partner. "Now, Sailor Moon!" she cried.
"Okay!" Sailor Moon responded as she snatched her wand out of the air. And Seiya said she was bad at baseball. Sailor Moon pointed at the evil thing and shouted once again, "SILVER MOON CRYSTAL POWER KISS!" The golden beams struck the monsters centre and completely shattered the orb. The evil shadows began to dissipate, all of them at once. The Sailor Scouts and Tuxedo Mask let out a huge sigh of relief.
"Hey," Tuxedo said, "The pieces of the orbs didn't disappear this time, you know, to go back to their ship. Which means…"
"…this is the entire fleet. We don't have to fight off anymore shadows!" Sailor Mars finished.
"Good," the trio heard Chad moan, "I don't wanna see another one of those things again."
Sailor Mars walked over to her hopefully-more-than-friend and knelt beside his bed. "This must be a bit of a shock, huh?" she whispered softly so only the man could hear.
"Well, I always expected you'd be able to kick monster butt, and now I know you have been for a long time," he replied.
"Look Chad of this is too weird for you…" Sailor Mars began, but she was cut off by Chad's finger touching her lips, silencing her.
"Too weird? Look Raye, fighting alien creepos like Zoisite or Kaorinite is pretty weird. But I will never think of you as weird Raye, no matter who you truly are. You were never just the weird temple girl to me."
"Oh, Chad, you don't know how much that means to me," she whispered, while tears began streaming down her face.
"You don't know how much you mean to me," he whispered. The next thing he knew she was kissing him, kissing him with a flaming passion. He began, finally after all these years, to kiss her back.
Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask watched the two as a warm feeling started growing in their hearts. They put their arms around each other, both glad Raye would finally have a relationship like their's. Amy then began to stir, and she sat up with one hand on her head, moaning, "What happened?" Then, looking at the two newly found lovers said, "A lot obviously,"
That night Serena, Raye, Darien and Chad went to the beach to just relax for once. They played volleyball, swam, had piggyback fights where the girl would be on her man's back and try to push the other girl over, and had all other kinds of fun. Finally, as the sun began to set the couples began to walk back to where they had left their clothing. "This was a lot of fun," Raye said.
"Well it was until Chad whipped all our tails at volleyball," Darien joked as he put the younger man into a headlock and began ruffling his hair.
"You better get used to it," Serena said, "Because being in love is a whole lot of fun."
Raye smiled, "Thanks Serena," she said to her friend. Then she linked arms with her new boyfriend and they walked off into the sunset together, remembering all their good times, and contemplating all the new ones.
The End