Beware of the Abuse.
By Sailor Earth1997
Neko stands firm watching Caped Kamen walk slowly towards someone. His stops short and turns to her.
"NEKO-CHAN! Move!" He jumps behind her and she snaps around in an instant to see him take the blunt of a deadly blow.
"CAPED KAMEN-SAMA!"
Neko snaps up in bed. Sweating and panting for breath. She looks around her room. Green walls with three blue bookshelves and a blue dresser decorate her walls along with pictures of the solar system over her head and door. Her green ribbons in her long hair tumble into her lap. She brings her knees up to her eyes and starts crying. She looks at a picture on her white nightstand. A woman with mud-brown hair and crystal blue eyes holds the hand of a man with blond hair and forest-green eyes. In between them is a younger Neko. Smiling and laughing having just gotten off a roller coaster. Neko's hair has an even amount of blue and green ribbons in her braid. Her teal skirt sets off her eyes nicely and her sea-blue shirt lines with her collarbone and silver locket. The same circular locket sits on her nightstand. Neko picks it up and opens the top. A gentle lullaby starts to play. Her father called it "Piano Love." Neko's mother had played the piano and that exact same song was what she'd played when they first met. Neko holds the necklace close to her chest. A plus sign turns inside it. The light coming from it reveals a line of bruises going down Neko's arm and a small one above her eyebrow. The theme song plays.
"Neko-chan! Matte! You're going too fast!"
"Sorry Terran. But if I'm late Rei-oneesama will get angry." Neko's dressed in her red school dress. Terran desperately trying to keep up with her cheetah-fast mistress. Neko's sleeves cover most of her new bruises until the reach the middle of her forearm. She let some of her hair out of the braid to hide her forehead. She races up the stairs to Rei's room. She bursts in the door.
"Neko-chan."
"I'm so sorry Rei-oneesama. I got caught up reading."
"Reading what?" Neko pulls Romeo and Juliet from her bag.
"They assign this in elementary school?" Usagi shakes the book near her head.
"No that's my pleasure read." Mamoru looks up from an essay for school.
"Complicated is pleasure?" Neko shrugs.
"I like knowledge." Minako shakes her head and pinches the bridge of her nose.
"Well. Talk to Ami-chan. She's the bookworm here." Usagi hits her almost twin upside the head.
"Minako-chan." Minako cradles the sore area of her head and looks at Usagi. Her face is stern. It's not the face of a normally joking Usagi. Its the face Serenity would give Venus when she made fun of any of the other Senshi. Minako backs away a little. Usagi turns her focus to her homework. When Mako goes to touch her friend's shoulder she's instantly shrugged off. Mamoru pretends not to notice this attitude. Usagi closes her book and opens her pleasure read. Neko glances up at her. She gives her arm a stretch. Mamoru's eyes dart to the dark markings on her pale skin. Neko quickly pulls her sleeve right. As Neko gathers her things to go home Ami takes notice of the dark bruise playing hide-and-seek behind Neko's hair. Usagi looks up as Neko leaves and notices a few yellow bruises on her legs. No one says anything until Neko's gone.
"Did you guys see what I saw?"
"What?"
"On Neko's legs."
"What?" Rei's bent over her math homework with warning eyes glaring at Usagi.
"Yellow splotches."
"I saw one playing hide-and-seek under her hair." Ami jumps into the conversation with her info.
"I saw a line of them headed up to her shoulder when she stretched." Mamoru sends his homework in and closes his laptop. Usagi ponders all this.
"No way she could get into a fight." Mako closes her book to join the conversation.
"Actually. When I got home last night. Shingo was complaining about how much his backside hurt because Neko flipped him over her shoulder." Mamoru turns his head to the closed door.
"Child abuse?"
"No way. Who would want to hurt Neko-chan? She's the most wonderful, energetic, grateful, and beautiful children I've ever known." AMi jumps up to stake her claim.
"Same here. Shingo's nothing more than an annoyance."
"I agree. She's amazing at fire-reading." Rei stands up to defend her pupil.
"Even my parents would take her in." Minako stands up. Her parents constantly fought over the tiniest things. "And they wouldn't argue because Neko-chan can find neutral ground in an instant."
Just listening outside was an abused Neko. Hearing what her friends said brought tears to her eyes. Mamoru had hit it right on. She pushed up her sleeve to reveal the line of black bruises. The fabric touching them made her suck in her breath. She hears someone coming to the door and takes off.
Mamoru opens the door to head home. He looks up at the little red spot at the stairs. "She didn't leave. She heard every word." Mamoru follows the little girl back home. As the door opens a hand shoots out and grabs the girl. He believes it's only her mother and walks away. A tiny scream makes him turn. He shakes his head. "Probably a horror movie." He feels uneasy as he enters his apartment. "But what if it was Neko-chan?" He shakes his head. "No parent would want to hurt a child like Neko-chan. Would they?" He stands on his balcony. Trying to put the pieces together. But with the minimal amount of things he knew about Neko he found himself trying to put pieces together that didn't exist. Frustrated with himself he turned back inside to at least try to sleep.
Neko shuts her door. Her arms sore and her nose covered in caked blood. Her cheeks covered in tear streaks and her left one red from a recent slap. She washes the blood off her face and looks at herself in the mirror as she finds her pajamas for bed. Her small body, wrapped in a towel, just starting to mature was covered in bruises. Her towel didn't need her help to stay on anymore. Her legs were longer and her body just a little thiner. She shakes her head.
"I can't let her do this to me anymore. I have to tell someone." She pulls on her nightie from the night before. She opens her window to look outside at the bird's nest. The mother just feeding her babies as the father comes with more food. They snuggle all together in the nest.
FLASHBACK
Neko's mother opened the door to their one-room apartment.
"Neko-chan! Papa! I'm home!" Neko runs around the corner with a little bit of chocolate cupcake on her mouth. "Happy birthday Neko-chan." Her mother wraps her arms around her precious child.
"Mama. Can we go for a walk now?" Her mother chuckles.
"Of course. My little six-year-old." She takes Neko's hand. Her father turns the corner to join his wife and daughter. He takes Neko's other hand.
"Papa." He smiles down at her. She turns to her mother. "Mama."
"Yes Neko-chan?" They enter the elevator headed downstairs.
"We'll always be together. Forever right?"
"We'll be here as long as you need us." The doors open and gunshots ring out. Neko's father jumps in front of his precious family and takes three shots in his chest, arm, and stomach.
"PAPA!" The masked man takes an aim at Neko. Her mother covers her with her body as gunshots ring out. Her mother falls onto her daughter with her eyes closed. Her back has two bullet holes in her back. "MAMA!"
FLASHBACK ENDS.
"Mama. You promised me you'd stay with me until I didn't need you as much. I still need you." She picks up the picture and holds it close to her cheek. "Mama. Papa. I want to see you. It hurts without you. Mama. Papa." In a random second she thinks of Usagi, Mamoru and Motoki. She falls onto her bed and lets herself cry herself to sleep.
Motoki sits at his desk. Feeling the same pain that Sailor Earth was. Whoever she was.
"Poor kid. Abused. Orphaned. If I only knew who she was." He pinches the bridge of his nose with the most recent letter from Rieka. Along with a hospital notice. Rieka had a mental illness that made her insane. She was being put into an asylum until further notice. he walked to his balcony. Next to him was an empty lot. Across the street was a line of girls for the fortune teller that was there. He shrugged. "I'll never understand girls." He notices a blond man in a brown trench coat and hat walking away. Not a girl in sight. He was either stalking one or was just passing through.