Chapter One: Dawn of Tuxedo Mask
A.N./ To clarify, the nightmare Kagome's waking up from up here is not the prologue. The nightmare is actually a war flashback. Also, since Kagome is the main focus in this story where Usagi is in the show, yes, things will be a little slow for a while. I hope you can stick with me despite this!
~Present Day~
Kagome jerked awake violently, lurching as she sat up in the bed she'd had since childhood. Her pink flower-print pajamas were damp with sweat and her chest heaved with frenzied breaths. It took her a moment to remember that she was safe and sound in her own room, not somewhere in the wilderness in an unfamiliar time with demons hunting her every move. When she calmed down, she pressed the heel of one of her hands to her slick forehead and took a deep, cleansing breath. "Damn that nightmare," she whispered, barely able to even hear herself.
Her bare feet slid out from under the fluffy pink comforter and hit the wooden floor almost silently. She brushed her thick blue-black hair into an acceptable amount of tameness, dressed in her middle school's uniform, and brushed her teeth and washed her face in the bathroom before taking the stairs down to the kitchen to help her mother with breakfast.
It wasn't her mother in the kitchen when she arrived; instead, it was her adoptive brother, Chiba Mamoru, leaning against one of the aged counters and drinking coffee out of a mug. "Good morning, Mamo-nii," she greeted cheerfully, moving to the fridge to retrieve the ingredients for breakfast.
"Good morning," said Mamoru, his blue eyes sparkling with brotherly affection.
"You're up early," she noted.
He ran a hand through his bedridden black hair. "Nightmare, is all."
Kagome grimaced, preparing a pan to fry eggs. "Me too."
Mamoru suddenly went into overprotective-big-brother mode, something that had increased in occurrence since her return from her travels. He stepped forward and put a hand on her shoulder. "You've been having a lot of those lately. Is something wrong?"
She shrugged him off, ducking under his arm to get to the fridge in order to retrieve eggs. "I'm fine, Mamo-nii. It's nothing major, I promise."
He still looked concerned.
"Geez!" Kagome groaned, cracking the eggs in her hand a bit harder than strictly necessary. "I'm sixteen, Mamo-nii. You don't need to look after me anymore."
"I'm always going to look after you. You're my precious little sister, after all." Mamoru patted her head affectionately, calming her minutely.
"That's all well and good, but get out of the kitchen while I make breakfast. It's too small even without your giant self taking up half of it."
He laughed on his way out the door.
While Kagome walked home that day, she thought about her life. Now, that might seem a little odd thing for a girl her age to do, but she pondered her life choices quite frequently. A trip to a demon-infested feudal era and having a whole world of people's hopes resting on your shoulders will do that to you, after all.
On her fifteenth birthday, Kagome fell through the well at her family's shrine and ended up in Feudal Era Japan. There, she discovered she was the Shikon Miko, the guardian of the Shikon no Tama, a jewel of immense power. However, she broke it into many, many, many shards (like, it was ridiculous) and had to go on a quest to find them all before an evil demon named Naraku did.
The whole idea of this might seem a bit absurd to some people, but it really happened. Kagome had the scars and the Shikon no Tama to prove it.
After the final battle with Naraku which resulted in several casualties on both sides, Kagome returned to the present time to recollect her life. She wouldn't let her past demons haunt her now.
Her time in the Feudal Era affected her relationships. She'd matured beyond the level of a normal middle school girl, and her friends began to grow distant. Even Hojo, the boy who she'd always likened to a stray dog that kept coming to a person who pet it once, began seeking her out less and less. Before she knew it, her school days were spent solely on studying.
It was all for the better, she figured. Before her little time-traveling stint, her grades were horrible. Now that she had so much free time, she was in the top fifty students at her school. That ranking would surely help her out when applying for high schools that winter.
Maybe I'll go to Mamo-nii's school, she thought to herself. That way, he'll be able to look after me! But he'll be in college next year… Guess I'll be by myself anyway.
"Hey, you hit me, bump head," said a familiar voice. "Are you going to give me a few bumps, too?"
Mamo-nii? she thought, peering at the tall man who spoke. He certainly had Mamoru's build and hair, but why in the world was he wearing a tuxedo at four in the afternoon? Does Mamo-nii even own a tuxedo?
An aggravated female voice replied, "They're not bumps, they're buns! It's a hairstyle!"
"Wow, thirty percent? Better hit the books, Odango Atama."
"Mind your own business!" Suddenly, Kagome saw Maybe-Mamoru freeze, and she heard a feminine gasp. They stood like that for a moment before the girl started to walk away, letting Kagome get a glimpse of her. She saw two bright blond pigtails connected to buns on the top of her head and a uniform she recognized as Juban's.
A sudden throbbing pulsed through Kagome's head, making her stagger momentarily. She vaguely saw the girl come back to retrieve her bag, but her mind was focused on the image of a pure white castle against a dark sky.
Like that, it was suddenly gone, leaving Kagome with an unpleasant, empty feeling.
Maybe-Mamoru stood in place as the girl walked away, shouting something about conceited people wearing tuxedos in the afternoon, and Kagome felt an ache in her chest. She wondered why.
It was late that night, too late for anyone who had any common sense to be wandering around, when Kagome woke to a loud bang coming from Mamoru's room. She quickly slipped her feet from under her warm covers and padded her way down the hall to his door. "Mamo-nii?" she called, knocking on the wood slightly. "Are you okay?"
A tense pause. Then, "I'm fine, Kagome. Go back to bed."
"Are you sure?"
"Geez, Kagome, I'm seventeen. I don't need you to look after me." Kagome was sure he meant it to sound mocking, his repeating what she told him that very morning, but it came off as terse and angry.
"Okay, Mamo-nii. I'll see you in the morning."
"Good night, Kagome."
The smell of wet fur…wet noses nuzzling her stomach…a rough, calloused, warm hand on her cheek…
Kagome couldn't help but feel a bit mixed the next morning. While the dream had been lovely, it also made her remember his death, and that wasn't something she wanted to relive.
She heard heavy footsteps on the stairs, quickly recognizing them as Mamoru's. After all, he was the only one who was that loud when he walked. She spun from her place washing rice over the sink to watch him stagger through the kitchen's doorway, looking quite haggard.
Kagome immediately abandoned her breakfast-making and rushed to him. "Mamo-nii? What's wrong? You look like you didn't sleep at all?"
"That's because I didn't," he ground out between clenched teeth. "I need coffee."
"I'll make it—you sit down." She busied herself with preparing his coffee. "What kept you up?"
"Those dreams are coming back, Kagome. The ones about the princess."
As Kagome walked to school that morning, she mulled over her brother's words. He'd grown quiet after his admission, refusing to answer her questions. Mamo-nii has never done that before…
Lost in thought as she was, she didn't notice the girl in front of her until they collided. "I'm sorry," she immediately said, knowing she was to blame. She stood and offered a hand to the person she crashed into.
Light blue eyes framed with glasses looked at her gratefully. The girl accepted her hand and heaved her body up, Juban's uniform skirt bouncing with the movement. "Thank you," she said, brushing a strand of short blue hair out of her eyes. She glanced at her watch, eyes widening slightly. "I apologize for my rudeness, but I have to go now."
"Don't worry," Kagome assured, "it was my fault we fell, anyway."
"Thank you again." The girl bowed and ducked around Kagome, running the way Kagome ran before she ever actually ran from anything. She missed those days.
Kagome continued her way to school, completely missing the heading of a newspaper a man on a bench was reading as she passed.
SAILOR V'S COMRADE? A NEW SAILOR SENSHI SPOTTED IN TOKYO! AND WHO IS THE MAN IN THE TUXEDO? TURN TO PAGE 9 TO READ FIRST HAND ACCOUNTS!
