Arc One - An Auspicious Beginning
Chapter One - An Amazing Coincidence! Usagi Escapes a Terrible Fate!
In every young woman's life, there comes a time when she must face adversity. When she must bravely rise against the forces that seek to drag her down into corruption and depravity and make a stand. When she must gather all of her will and virtue, and hold fast to the ideals of charity, patience, wisdom, kindness, resolve and honesty.
Such were the thoughts of Usagi Tsukino, 16-year old resident of Juuban Municipal High School, on a sunny summer afternoon as she walked home from school. For that time was now upon her, and the final pair of these moral principles were proving somewhat difficult to live up to. The source of her dilemma lurked in her satchel; a malevolent paper fiend waiting with cruel anticipation for a chance to bring down fire and calamity on her head.
In retrospect, she should probably have studied a bit harder for that English test. She might have just barely gotten away with only a disapproving glare had she managed half marks on it. But a 30...
"Ahhh..." she moaned quietly to herself as she trudged down the pavement. "Mum is going to kill me when she sees this mark..."
'... going to kill you if you keep...'
Usagi squeaked in fright and spun around, looking for the source of the sudden voice. It was faint, and seemed to be coming from some distance away. It also sounded annoyed. Very annoyed indeed. Usagi actually blushed slightly at some of the language it was using. She didn't understand most of it, but it sounded... bad.
But despite the language the voice was using, it sounded scared and panicky, in need of help. Closing her eyes and turning in a slow circle to pinpoint the direction it was coming from, Usagi dashed towards it, the certain doom waiting for her at home temporarily forgotten.
'... furthermore, you brats are not funny, okay? Now go... hey! Oh no you don't, put me down you little dolts, or I'll... whoa, what's that? What are you... oh no, get... argh! Hey! Stop that! Get it away from..."
The voice cut off abruptly, and Usagi's eyes widened. Putting on an extra turn of speed, she skidded round the last corner separating her from the commotion, a shout of condemnation on her lips.
"Hey!"
She found herself in a small parking lot, mostly empty of cars at this time of day. There was no sign of whoever had been shouting, only a group of kids across the lot from her, clustered around something in between them. Usagi looked around, frowning as the phone in her pocket chimed. The girl ignored the noise. She had been sure that the voice had come from this direction.
"Mreow! Mreaa, mreeoooow!"
The yowling cries of an angry cat erupted from the centre of the group of kids, and Usagi forgot her puzzlement as a new injustice presented itself. "Hey!" she yelled again, this time more forcefully. "You brats! What are you doing? Stop it!"
The children – they couldn't have been more than five or six – looked up, took one look at her annoyed expression, and ran for it. Usagi stalked over to the little black form they had been crowded around, and squatted down next to it.
"Hello kitty," she said, stroking it. It uncurled tentatively and looked up at her with startlingly red eyes. Usagi sucked in a surprised breath at the colour – cats didn't normally have red eyes, did they? – then frowned. There was a sticker plastered over the cat's forehead, and its coat was all muddy. "Poor thing," she said sympathetically. "Don't worry, I'll help you! Even if you weren't who I was looking for. Say... did you happen to hear someone yelling just now? Then suddenly go quiet?"
"... reoow?" The cat looked up at her curiously, then hissed and batted her hands away, drawing a couple of thin lines of blood where its claws caught the side of her hand. Usagi yelped, and quickly drew back as the animal started pawing at its forehead, trying to dislodge the sticker.
"Hey, hey," she said as softly as she could manage. She reached forward again, trying to avoid the frantic movements of the claws and get a grip on the sticker. "Here now, just... ow! Just stay still, and let me... there we go!"
With the writhing animal in a firm grip, she gently thumbed the edge of the sticker up, and pulled it off slowly and carefully, revealing a strange pale marking on its head, like a bald spot in the shape of an upturned crescent. The cat went limp for a second as she did so, blinking at her in dull surprise.
"See?" Usagi said cheerfully. "Isn't that be- ahhh!" She was cut off as the cat renewed its struggles to get loose, becoming a writhing ball of fur and claws and fangs. It managed to find a fleeting purchase on her sleeve, ripped its way free from her grasp and leapt, ricocheting off her head to land on one of the few cars still in the lot.
Usagi yelped, and her eyes glazed over for a second as she swayed dizzily and waited for the world to stop spinning round and round. When everything settled back down to normal, she found the cat still standing there, head tilted slightly to one side, staring at her intently.
"... uh..." she said. "... hi, kitty? Um... you're welcome?" She smiled, hoping against hope that the animal wouldn't decide to try clawing her again. But it had clearly been mistreated by those brats, and she wouldn't be surprised if it didn't like anyone human-shaped at this point.
The eerie stare continued.
"Well then..." Usagi laughed, a trifle nervously, "if you're okay, I'll just... get going, then..." She took a few paces back. The cat advanced forward by the same amount, leaping down to the ground and looking up at her. The clear crimson eyes narrowed, and the little animal made a quiet noise that was half purr, half hiss.
Usagi's freaky-weird-stuff limit had been reached. "Well! I'll be going then!" she announced, and spun around. If it kept following her, she reasoned, then at the very least she wouldn't see it following her.
... which sounded a lot less encouraging when she put it that way, but she could probably outpace a cat if she had to. Not that she was going to run away from it. Marching smartly back towards the parking lot's entrance, she blinked as she noticed the figure leaning on the wall next to it for the first time.
Naru Osaka raised an eyebrow at her, clearly struggling to hold back a grin. "Hey, Usagi-chan," she said. "Any reason you're talking to a cat?"
Usagi grinned sheepishly, hooking an arm through her best friend's and dragging her along. "Hush up, you," she ordered cheerfully, "and tell me if it's still following us."
Naru rolled her eyes. "It darted into the bushes as soon as it saw me," she reassured Usagi. "Don't worry, it's gone now. And I won't ask why you were having a Mexican standoff with a housecat, either, or why you didn't answer my text. Because there's something more important going on! Our store is having a jewellery sale! Want to come?"
"Really? A sale?" Usagi gasped, eyes widening. Naru's mother ran a high-class jewellery store that carried some of the best pieces in the city, enough that Naru always got an obscene (from Usagi's point of view) amount of pocket money. The redhead had been given a few necklaces or earrings on past birthdays as well, and they were always gorgeous. Usually, everything the store sold was way, way outside Usagi's price range. But with a sale, she might actually be able to buy something for herself! And even if she couldn't, she could still look, right?
"Awesome!" she squealed excitedly. "Of course I'll come! Ooo, I should get some rings! No, a cute bracelet! Or a locket!"
A dark shadow slipped back out of the undergrowth as the two girls departed, chattering enthusiastically with the occasional squeal or giggle. Silent and sure, wary of any attention, it slipped onto the pavement in pursuit. Watching intently, in careful feline calculation.
...
The store that Naru's mother ran was a multi-floor building on a street corner in town, with bright walls and sparkling windows offering tasteful displays to pedestrians passing by. The news about the sale seemed to have spread, because by the time they got there, it was packed. No, it was thronged with people, rushing from counter to counter, elbowing each other out of the way and eagerly snatching for the best offers. And checking out the merchandise, Usagi could see why.
"Ooohhh!" she cooed, scrutinising a delicate filigree necklace of silver links and lustrous pearls. "Naru-chan, look at this! It's beautiful!" Naru glanced over from her own perusal of the display case and whistled.
"Beautiful, yeah," she agreed. "But look at that price tag." She pointed to the label just under the stand, on which was marked the price.
Usagi looked, and winced. "300,000 yen? I can't afford that!" she complained. "Aww... but it's so pretty! Why does it have to be so expensive?"
"It's because of the white diamonds in the lattice," a new voice explained. Yelping, Usagi spun around to find a young woman in a store uniform, with her black hair tied up in a ponytail. "But for you, I can lower the price to just 15,000 yen!"
Usagi gaped. So did Naru. "300,000 yen to 15,000?" she exclaimed. "That much? Oh, yes! Usagi-chan, this is Saya-chan, she's one of the store assistants! Mum's out of town at the moment, so she's in charge of the store. Saya-chan, this is my friend Usagi-chan!"
"Ahh?" the woman said. "Very nice to meet you, Usagi-chan! I think that would really suit you, if you wanted it!"
Usagi was torn. On the one hand, it was gorgeous. On the other hand, even with the discount, it would cost her five months' worth of her pocket money. And her birthday was past, so she couldn't get it that way.
The point was rendered moot, as Saya had spoken a little too loudly. A squeal of eager greed rang out, and Usagi was elbowed out of the way by a gaggle of middle-aged women and schoolgirls who surrounded the counter in a frenzy of bidding and jockeying for position. Struggling to breathe and wincing at the pain from her smarting ribs, Usagi squeezed out of the mob into the comparatively open space of the shop floor. Naru emerged beside her, looking somewhat frazzled, and cast a glance back to where Saya was enthusiastically encouraging the clamour and chaos.
"Well," she said. "She's certainly having fun. Though I'm surprised Mum authorised this. I guess maybe she's trying something different? Did she? Maybe I should call her... no, she'll be busy and I don't want to put her in a bad mood. I mean, she might get me a present. But still, this is..." she looked around the store, taking in the bustling crowds, "... well, it's certainly bringing people in." Her tone of voice suggested that she did not think this was entirely a good thing.
Usagi shrugged, equally mystified. Her attention was only half there, as she was checking her funds. Or rather, her lack of them. A thorough search of all her pockets and the deepest recesses of her satchel turned up twenty-four yen, three sweets, a hairtie, a pretty stone she'd found a few days ago which had turned out not to be lucky, her somewhat battered mobile phone and housekeys, and the Test of Doom. And that last one more or less nuked her chances of getting an advance on the next five months of pocket money.
"Sorry Naru-chan," she sighed regretfully. "I'm broke. And this place is really crowded, so I'm gonna go off home, okay? See you tomorrow."
"Sure. See you!" Naru replied, turning back to the store. Though not before throwing one last parting shot over her shoulder. "As long as your mum and dad don't kill you over that test score!"
Muttering under her breath and pouting sulkily, Usagi left the store. No sooner had she walked out of the door, however, when she collided with something tall, broad and hard.
"Ow!" she complained, then realised that what she had walked into was in fact someone's chest. "Oh! Sorry, sorry, I didn't mean to..."
Usagi tailed off as she looked up, and scowled as she recognised who she was apologising to. It was Him.
She didn't actually know his name; they had never got as far as introductions. All she knew about the young man was that he seemed to be a local university student, and had been the bane of her existence for the past few months. It was bad enough that he was snarky, insulting, rude and mean whenever they met, taking every opportunity to snipe at her just as she did him...
... but why did he have to be so damn hot? It was a crime against Love and Justice for such a hunk to be such a jerk! Tall, dark and handsome, with intense eyes and dark, dishevelled hair that all but cried out to have fingers threaded through it... he was the kind of guy most girls dreamed of meeting! At least until he opened his mouth and came out with some sort of...
"Oi, meatball-head! Are you blind as well as clumsy? Look where you're going!"
... insult. Usagi glared at him. "Well excuse me for stumbling!" she fired back irritably. "There must not have been enough room on the pavement for me and your ego to both fit!"
He sniffed dismissively, and glanced at the shop she had come out of, and then back to her. A single eyebrow rose, taunting. "Buying pretty jewellery for yourself?" he asked, smirking. "You know, however many bracelets and necklaces you put on, they're not going to help any more than makeup will. I'd just save the money, if I were you."
Oh, he had not just implied what Usagi thought he had just implied. She turned the glare up a few notches, flushing red in a mixture of anger and embarrassment. "Well... well... what are you doing heading in there, then?" she fumed. "Are you between girlfriends at the moment? I guess plying a girl with expensive gifts would be the only way you could get a date."
"Well, at least I have that resort. How are you doing on the dating front?" The question caught Usagi off guard, and she gaped in surprise for a second, blushing genuinely at the unexpected intimacy of the question. Was he...?
The jerk raised an eyebrow. "Well? Found anyone with an interest in those greasy meatballs you call hair?"
If looks could kill, he would have had to be scraped off the storefronts on the other side of the street. "You... i-it's none of your business! Jerk!" Sticking her tongue out at him and spinning on her heel, she marched off down the street towards home, muttering colourful indictments with every irritated step.
Her irritation had mostly burnt itself out by the time she arrived home, with the cold ashes of dread replacing them. Maybe... maybe if she told her dad first? Or better yet, didn't tell them at all? No, no, that would be lying. She'd just... forget to tell them, for a week or so. Until she'd got a better mark to offset it. Yeah, that would work.
The TV was audible as a low drone as she entered the house, and she caught a bit of it as she passed the living room. A news channel, from the sound of it.
"... returning again to the bombing at the Shinten Electronics factory in Osaka, we have eye-witness reports that confirm that the masked vigilante Sailor V was present. According to official sources, the criminal group known as Five has claimed responsibility for the attack, and sworn to defeat Sailor V for her meddling. Police continue to pursue both anonymous groups, and police chief..."
That meant that she wouldn't be seeing her dad until suppertime. First obstacle, cleared! Now all she had to do was get past...
"Usagi! There you are!" Ikuko Tsukino leaned out of the kitchen, blue hair falling in gentle waves behind her. Dusting off her hands, she stepped out into the corridor to look her errant daughter up and down. "I was starting to wonder if you'd managed to get lost somehow."
... her mother. Usagi froze, cold sweat beading on her forehead. "Ah ha ha... yes, sorry about that!" she replied hastily. "Naru-chan's mother has a sale at her jewellery store. But everything's still too high-priced for me, so I came back here straight after. Anyway, I'll be off up to my room now, so..."
"Oh, that reminds me, I ran into Umino-kun as he was coming back! He said there was a test today. He got very good marks on it." Ikuko smiled brightly and cheerfully, extending a hand. "So, Usagi? What did you get? Let me see?"
"..." With extreme reluctance, Usagi slid the test paper out of her satchel and handed it over. Ikuko had to tug quite hard to get it out of her grip, and raised an eyebrow at her before looking down to see how she had done.
An ominous silence ensued. And was broken by menacing tones of maternal ire.
"Usagi..."
"Waaah! I did my best, don't hurt me!"
Ikuko was having none of it. "What kind of mark is this?" she growled. "Thirty percent? You told me you were doing well in your English classes!"
Usagi waved her hands frantically, denying she had done any such thing. "It was a fluke! The stars were aligned wrong! I'll do better on the next one, I promise!"
The anger seemed to drain out of the older woman as she sighed. "So you keep saying... I worry about you, Usagi. At this rate, you're going to have real trouble getting into a good university."
Great. Now Usagi felt like a total heel, as well as terrified for her life. She wasn't fooled by the concerned tones, and was well aware that her mother's temper could flare up again at any moment, given cause.
"I'm sorry, mama," she said, truthfully. She did hate disappointing her parents. It was just that studying was hard. As were tests. And homework. And school in general. She could generally get through it when she could bring herself to concentrate on it for more than five minutes at a time, but more often than not she'd get distracted by something before she'd even finished working on the first question.
"I really will try harder next time," she promised hanging her head. "I know you just want what's best for me. And that you're right."
"Alright. Go on up to your room, then," sighed Ikuko, turning back to the kitchen. "Oh," she threw back over her shoulder, "and you're grounded for a week."
"What?" Usagi shrieked, shame and guilt gone as she spun around in protest. "That's not fair! You can't do that!"
"Ha ha!" laughed Shingo from the top of the stairs. "Dumbo Usagi! Mum, you should ground her until she brings her next test home, and not unground her till she gets a better mark!"
"Shut up, runt!" yelled Usagi, turning a death glare on her little brother and shaking a fist at him. Catching her expression, Shingo yelped in fright and dashed into his bedroom, slamming the door behind him.
"Hmm... he has a good point, though," mused Ikuko. "Alright then, you're grounded until your next test comes back, and then we'll decide. Alright?"
"But..."
"No arguing." For a moment, Usagi heard the hollow tones of the apocalypse in Ikuko's voice, a certain promise of death, doom and damnation. Sensing that her life was in imminent peril, her body took over from her brain and she nodded frantically.
"Okay sure that sounds fair I have to go study now so I hope you've had a good day but bye!" she babbled, and raced upstairs as fast as her legs could carry her. Only when she was in her room, leaning against the door and breathing hard, did her body hand conscious control back over to her brain along with a dirty look and a stern warning not to put it in danger like that again.
"... great," she muttered. Grounded, with no phone calls allowed, and she'd promised to study. Trudging over to her desk, she slumped into the chair and tugged her English book out of her satchel. Flipping it open to roughly the right page, she stared at the incomprehensible gibberish and willed it to make sense.
The afternoon dragged out slowly, broken only by supper and a brief diversion on the way back up from the kitchen to chase Shingo into his room again and yell threats of brutal vengeance through the door. Besides that, though, there was just Usagi and the monstrous spectre of schoolwork. By the time the evening came, she was thoroughly wiped out, and slumped onto her bed with a put-upon sigh. Sleep came quickly, and brought with it...
... dreams.
...
Figures danced in a vast hall, swirling and blending together in veils of colour. Couples waltzed on the wide, mosaic-tiled floor, steps tracing out intricate patterns. Others twirled on crystalline discs that spun lazily through the air, drifting from barely above head height to almost as high as the distant, vaulted ceiling. Music filled the air, a slow, heart-tugging melody. Its simplicity concealed layers upon layers of subtle complexities, swelling and surging like the tides. And carried upon it were sweet, foam-soft songs, caressing every person there as if sung for them alone.
Music was not the only thing in the air. Hundreds of birds of silver light soared and circled above her. Their softly glowing feathers illuminated the room with a cool, gentle glow. Further above them still, through the crystal panes set into the high ceiling, the shining blue-green planet in the velvet-black heavens added its own faint light to the room, drawing approving glances from those that danced below.
She stepped forward lightly from the base of the grand staircase she stood on, and took the offered hand of a pale woman with greyish-black eyes, whose chalk-white skin was dusted with paler grey markings. The woman smiled to her and said something, though the words themselves floated away on the swelling chords of the music. Together, they stepped lightly onto the floor, the woman's grey-silver robes swirling gracefully while her own white dress shimmered as the thousands of tiny gemstones woven into it caught the light.
The music shifted, speeding up ever-so-slightly into a new tempo. Sliding away from the pale woman, she took the hand of a handsome young knight clad in ceremonial armour, who bowed low to her and kissed her fingers. Fingertips touching, they began to mimic the quick, graceful steps that other couples were using, turning and spinning across the floor. Their movements took them away from the stairs, towards the far wall. There, floating panes of clear water hung in the air, rippling every few moments as richly-attired courtiers emerged out of them, bone dry, to join the festivities.
The music faltered, and a murmur ran through the crowd. Slowly, the gently spinning couples and loosely clustered groups began to shift, drifting out away from the centre of the floor and forming a wide circle. Abandoning her partner, she moved forward curiously, slipping closer to see what the source of the commotion was. Finally reaching the edge of the open space that had been cleared, she felt herself gasp.
Two men faced one another at the centre of the wide ring, clad in richly decorated armour of lacquered black and shining steel. They had each cast aside their cloaks, and wielded long, gleaming blades with the ease of long practice. The taller of the two - dark-skinned and dark-haired - had his back to her, but his opponent was a young, handsome man with blonde hair and a determined expression. Slowly they circled; their eyes intent and watchful for any openings in their opponent's guard.
Abruptly, as if on some invisible signal, they struck. The younger man lunged forward, extended arm wreathed in a serpent of scarlet light. His dark-haired opponent flicked his blade out and a radiant eagle of gold flashed into life, seizing the snake in its claws. A clash of steel rang out, and the serpent faded to reveal the young blond skidding back. He shook out his arm and saluted his opponent with his blade, who returned the gesture in kind. Polite applause ran around the ring of spectators, and she felt her heart leap with pride and warmth, directed towards the taller knight.
The younger man was not so easily beaten, though. He darted forward again, aura resolidifying around him to outline the hulking form of a big cat with a barrel chest and sparking scarlet fangs. It reared up to lash out with a paw in concert with his slash, opening powerful jaws to bite and snap at its foe. But the eagle dissolved even as he did so, scattering in every direction as a cloud of silver-white butterflies. Like a leaf on the wind, the taller man slid away from the blows as if they were the childish strikes of an untrained child.
Scowling now, the blond's aura changed again, into a hawk. With a piercing battle cry, it swooped forward with him, aiming for the very heart of the swarm of butterflies. This attack was far more intense than those before, a blindingly fast rush outlined in scarlet fire. The same scarlet burned along the outstretched wings of the hawk, and the butterflies they struck vanished in tiny plumes of flame. If this totem swept through the swarm, it would incinerate everything it touched, consuming the silver-white kaleidoscope in a ravenous bonfire. She felt as though a cold hand had seized her by the throat, and a gasp of fear escaped her.
But butterflies became a falconer's hood, and blades clashed as white light blinded and bound the bird. It squirmed free, shifting to become a regal symbol of authority, calling the servant to hand. But that too was countered, as many stood against one, forcing obedience. The clash of blades and the flares of light were almost too fast to track now, as the two men waged a dual duel of metaphor and martial arts. Rams were tamed, herders driven off by horsemen, horsemen cut down by infantry who fell ill until healing came – yet all this was just half the contest of skills. And it was on the martial field that the blond slipped up. Too slow to leap away from a rising foot, he took the blow to his knee, and collapsed.
Her heart soared, and she sought to drown out the applause of others with her own.
The fallen man was not quite done for, though. Rising shakily onto his feet, he gathered himself again and called forth his aura once more. This time, though, he did not shape it into a totem. Instead, he compressed it down, forming a roiling ball of dark gold and bloody scarlet hues. Glaring defiantly up at his advancing opponent, he hurled it. As it flew, it grew in size until it was taller than a man, a molten ball of power that left scorch marks on the polished floor as it sped towards its target.
The dark-skinned man folded his arms, and waited. Fear consumed her, a sickly pang of dread coiling in her belly and stopping her breath.
The attack struck, and the explosion of light and force made the onlookers flinch backwards reflexively. For a moment, a rising smoke cloud obscured the point where the man had been standing. But even as a shocked and horrified gasp went up from around the ring, the smoke was blown violently away from within.
Standing unharmed at the centre was the dark-haired victor, a light-wreathed mandala shining behind him. A many-coloured core of opal shone at its centre, illuminating the stone strata of the halo itself. Prismatic layers overlaid the rock, shifting and turning around the ornate ring like the movement of tides and continents. Backed by the transcendent manifestation of his power, he looked regal, magnificent. Her emotions were a turbulent mess of relief and desire as he strode over to his opponent, the sword swinging out to tickle the beaten man's throat. The blond chuckled and said something, but over the noise of the crowd she could hear neither him nor the victor. She felt pulled towards the champion, wanting him, yearning to be back in his arms...
"Stop daydreaming, gal," a harsh voice croaked. A gnarled hand grabbed her by the shoulder, fingers digging in hard enough to bruise, and yanked her round to face...
... a woman.
She was ancient, with dark, wrinkled skin so old and weathered it looked like stone. Her hair was bone-white, bound tightly into dreadlocks that were adorned with brass and silver charms and amulets, and she wore opulent robes of scarlet and black. But most shocking of all was her face. A terrible scar ran down from her left temple, slanting down parallel to her cheekbone and splitting her eyebrow in two. The eye in that socket was a thing of liquid brass, with a glinting black pupil that looked hard and polished. It burned into her as fiercely as its dark brown partner as the crone scowled at her in disapproval.
"Much as you are clearly enjoying the duel, sweet princess, I fear I must interrupt," she said, in a tone that did not sound at all apologetic. Her grip shifted from shoulder to wrist, tight enough that there was no way of escaping from it. "Which is to say, you are coming with me, and we are going to have a talk. In preparation for the talk I will be having with your father, and the talk he and your mother will be having with you. Your behaviour recently has been disgraceful, and entirely out of keeping with the standards expected of you."
A sharp tug on wrist pulled her closer, and that glinting brass-obsidian eye narrowed at her as the woman hissed in a menacing voice too low to be heard over the cheers and applause of the crowd. "And don't think I don't know you were listening in on your mother and me talking earlier. We'll be discussing that, as well."
...
Usagi woke with a strangled gasp of terror, flinching back from the lingering spectre of that ancient woman. She lay on her side weakly, staring at the door with wide, frightened eyes as her breathing slowed down and her heartbeat returned to normal. That dream... what had that been? That woman... and the man, before her, they'd seemed so familiar... and yet a thousand miles away at the same time.
A faint noise came from behind her, and a gust of cool night air wound its way into the room. Usagi glanced back absently, her mind still half dream-snarled. The window was hanging open – the source of the cold air. When had that happened? She was sure she had shut it properly this morning. It must have swung open sometime during the night. She grumbled quietly, unwilling to leave the soft, warm haven of the covers to close it.
"Stupid windows..."
Well, it was July. A bit of fresh air wouldn't kill her. Her eyes slid shut again, and she wriggled comfortably in her cocoon of blankets as she drifted off towards sleep – hopefully dreamless this time.
Another quiet sound. Softer, this time, and a series of them rather than just one. Almost like... footsteps...
The mattress squeaked as a light weight landed on the bed next to her legs, and a voice spoke.
'Usagi Tsukino,' it said in tones of quiet triumph. 'At last, I have found you.'
Usagi opened her eyes again and blinked at the opposite wall. This was not how her dreams normally started. She shifted under the covers, turning to see who was talking to her. And froze as she met a pair of vivid red eyes.
'You are a sacred warrior, a chosen child of the Moon,' said the cat from the parking lot. Her coat gleamed in the faint light of the streetlamps reflected from outside, a lustrous ebony shape cut out of the night. The crescent on her forehead gleamed gold, and her eyes were shining pools of crimson.
'And you are needed.'
...