"Eh? Wah!" Usagi cried when she stepped onto her scales. "Not possible! Not possible!"
"Usagi? What's the matter?" Ikuko asked as she, Kenji and Shingo all stuck there heads in through the bathroom door.
"I don't get it!" Usagi wailed. "I haven't been eating more than usual, and with the self defence classes I've been working out more, and all the study burns calories too, right? So why have I gained weight?" she demanded tearfully.
"Oh Usagi," Ikuko said, and shooed the boys away while she stepped into the bathroom. "There there," she cooed.
"I'm fat!" Usagi wailed in despair. "Fat, fat, fat!"
"You are not fat," Ikuko said firmly. "You're growing. Some of that weight will have come from you getting taller," she pointed out. "And some of that weight will be muscle mass. Muscles weigh more than fat."
Usagi blinked. "They do?" she asked, surprised.
Ikuko nodded with a comforting smile on her face. "They do," she confirmed. "And now that I look at you in just a towel... I think we need to do some shopping. Your papa won't be happy, but I think you're developing young."
"Developing?" Usagi repeated with a wide-eyed squeak.
Ikuko gave a wink. "You can thank me for that," she said with a conspiratorial smile and a gesture to Usagi's chest. "Just like some day you may decide to dye your hair darker, like I do to fit in here in Tokyo, you need to shop for a proper, supportive bra younger than most full Japanese girls."
Ikuko had been born in America, and was actually a natural blonde. She'd been adopted by a Japanese couple when her parents had died in an accident on a holiday in Osaka, and they'd given her a new Japanese name (though she did know that her birth name was Ilene Farris, since her adopted parents had told her when she was old enough to ask about that). Ikuko had kept her blonde hair throughout her school years, but as she grew up, and grew older, having blonde hair just made her stand out. A dark, blue-black dye was used on her hair as regularly as shampoo and conditioner. Her curvy, Western frame was also quite different to the slimmer Japanese build, and Ikuko even wore coloured contacts (though her eye-sight was just fine) so that her bright blue eyes didn't give her away as too much of a foreigner.
The structure of her face and the colour of her skin gave that away quite enough really.
"B-bra?!" Usagi squeaked.
Ikuko nodded solemnly. "Tomorrow afternoon I will meet you at that arcade where you and Chiba-kun have your tutoring sessions, and once you're done with your homework, you and I will go shopping. Okay?"
"Okay. I still don't feel good about weighing more though," Usagi said quietly.
"Don't worry about what the scale says," Ikuko encouraged. "Only think about the size number on the clothes you buy."
Usagi giggled, but nodded in agreement.
~oOo~
"I've tried fasting, and eating nothing but pineapple, I've tried all sorts of things, but none of them last," one (somewhat tubby) girl, Hiroko, said sadly at lunch. Usagi wasn't the only one feeling frustrated with the scales lately it seemed.
"We know," Naru and Usagi agreed.
"Swimming is a great way to get thin," offered Ren – who was part of the swim team and was, indeed, much thinner. "Though, wouldn't the best diet be to lose weight because you're in love?"
"Hai," they all sighed.
"Have you ever been in love?" Hiroko asked.
Ren shook her head.
"It's okay, we can't help the way we're born," Hiroko comforted .
"I don't want to hear that from you," Ren said with a scowl.
"Speaking of diets though," Naru said thoughtfully, "Haruna-sensei seems to have lost a lot of weight very quickly."
Usagi and the others all nodded in agreement. It was hard to tell with Haruna-sensei's thick jacket and swishy, A-line skirt, but they all had the sharp eyes of girls who wanted to know how she did it.
"I can tell you what gym she went to," Umino offered, butting into their conversation with a smile.
"Tell us!"
Usagi knew she wouldn't be going to Shapely Gym with Naru and the others after school. She had an hour with Chiba-san and then shopping for new, more supportive under-things with her mother after that. Still, lately it seemed that things she heard about from Naru had some sort of strange impact on her life.
Naru told Usagi about Sailor V, and later that same day, Usagi was told she was Sailor Moon by a talking cat.
Naru told Usagi about a sale of jewellery at her mother's shop, and later that same day, Usagi was fighting her first monster there.
Naru told Usagi about the House of Fortune – and that she'd send Umino there – and Usagi was there later to fight another monster.
Naru told Usagi about Midnight Zero and the sleeping sickness. Usagi discovered the two were related, had to fight a third monster, and finally met the bad guy who was giving the monsters orders.
It was a disturbingly recurring theme, and now Usagi was hearing about a miracle gym that let a person lose a lot of weight fast. If Naru told her tomorrow that Shapely also had free introductory membership and that her scale told her she really had lost a significant amount of weight over night, then Usagi had the nasty feeling she'd have to go around and fight another monster.
"Tell me about what the gym is like tomorrow," she requested of her friend. "I'm not getting out of tutoring with Chiba-san for anything, and Mama is going to take me shopping for a few things afterwards."
"You're so lucky Usagi-chan," Naru said with a dreamy sigh. "You have such a handsome tutor, and then shopping after!"
~oOo~
When Usagi saw the girls at school the next day, she groaned to herself. They were all definitely thinner, but... underneath that I'm-so-happy-I-lost-weight smile, they all looked really really tired, and the girl who had been thin yesterday looked positively skeletal today.
That wasn't healthy. Ever.
Haruna-sensei wasn't looking too great either.
As she left the school gates at the end of the day, mentally, Usagi groaned. The bad guy was doing... whatever it was he was doing... faster, and taking advantage of women who wanted quick solutions to the faults that they saw in themselves to get what he wanted.
Usagi dared to sneak out of school during the lunch break to investigate the suspicious gym. She ran into Luna not five metres from the fence.
"Usagi, you have school right now," Luna scolded primly.
Usagi grinned. "Great," she said. "Then you can investigate Shapely Gym while I go back!" she chirped happily, and turned on her toes.
"Eh!? Shapely Gym?" Luna yelped, surprised, and chased after the girl. "Why?"
"Because it shouldn't be possible to lose that much weight that fast," Usagi said plainly. "Well, see you later Luna," she added happily, and hopped back over the fence and into the school yard, satisfied that the bossy feline would do the leg-work.
~oOo~
"Not concerned with the must-be-thin craze that's going on right now?" Chiba asked with a smile when Usagi had requested her usual milkshake from Motoki and they were migrating to 'their' booth to study. "Still having your extra-large milkshake with two scoops of ice cream and extra chocolate syrup?"
Usagi pouted up at him. "I'm a growing girl," she countered. "I need the energy I get from food so that I can grow healthy and strong," she said, nose in the air. Then sigh sighed. "And hopefully taller too," she added wistfully.
Chiba laughed softly. "I'm glad to hear you're not going on a diet," he said. "I think you're cute just the way you are."
Usagi blushed at the compliment. "A-arigato," she stammered.
"Nya!"
"Luna!" Usagi whined. "I have homework to do, and this is designated homework time. I haven't even had my milkshake yet, you can't pull me away now!" she begged.
Luna hissed and unsheathed her claws in Usagi's face very pointedly.
"I don't have any afternoon classes today," Chiba offered. "I'll wait until you've satisfied your cat if you like, Tsukino-chan."
"Really! Ah, thank you Chiba-san!" Usagi said, nearly crying in gratitude. "I promise, I'll be as fast as I can!"
"You can leave your bag here too," Chiba suggested when Usagi reached for it. "You're coming back, after all."
Usagi smiled and nodded happily. "Un!" she agreed, only for Luna to hiss again and remind Usagi of her claws – though she didn't scratch the girl. "I'd better go," she apologised, and hurried out.
"You were right about Shapely," Luna said once they were out of the arcade and running. "And Haruna-sensei was looking terrible when I spotted her going in. She may not live much longer."
"Okay, genuine emergency," Usagi agreed, and followed Luna down an alley that would be a shortcut to the popular new gym. While they ran, Usagi transformed, and then slipped in through a back window, from which point she followed Luna down into the lower levels of the gym.
"This is the place," Luna said softly, pointing a paw at a large, spooky room full of glowing pods and eerie blue light. "The victims get in those pods, have their energy sucked out of them, and when they come out, they're thinner."
Usagi went down into the room, reached for her tiara as quietly as she could, sighted the large glowing orb above the pods, and let loose. It shattered and the glowing lights all flickered out.
"Anything else while I'm here?" Usagi asked.
"The coaches here aren't monsters, but rather humans being controlled through the head bands they're wearing," Luna said. "I'll wait for you outside."
"I guess I'll break the controlling rings then," Usagi mused as she was left alone.
"They'll break you first, Sailor Moon," said a sneering voice from the top of the stairs.
Usagi whipped around to see Jadeite in a purple track-suit and lilac shades scowling down at her, three large body builders standing with him.
"Kill her," he ordered them.
The three large, muscular men charged.
Usagi threw her tiara again, and it bounced from one headband to the next like a pinball in a machine before it flew at Jadeite himself.
Still scowling, he disappeared before it hit him.
"He got away again," Usagi grumbled unhappily, but retrieved her tiara and slipped out of the gym again quietly. "Mission successful," she declared happily as she let the transformation go. "Ehe, I didn't even need to be saved by Tuxedo Kamen this time. I'm getting better!" she said and returned to where Luna was waiting for her. "Now, I'm off to go back to Chiba-san and my milkshake. See you later Luna!" she called, and dashed off.
Left behind, Luna sighed. "Yes, well done, Sailor Moon," she said quietly. "Well done."
~oOo~
Usagi got to enjoy a fairly normal week while Haruna-sensei recovered from almost killing herself trying to be 'beautiful', and things were generally quiet for another week after that. There were occasional nightmares about monsters that resolved either with Tuxedo Kamen killing the monsters with a rose and comforting her, or Chiba-san pulling her around a corner out of the way while the monsters charged on, then smilingly teasing her about how she really was smart and strong enough to take on the monsters herself.
One of the former dreams was interrupted by her brother screaming loudly one morning, and – a little frustrated that the dream had been interrupted, but also a little concerned for her brother – she got out of bed to see what he was screaming about.
It turned out that Luna was the cause for his screaming.
"Get out!" he yelled, and threw his pillow. His aim sucked. It hit Usagi in the face when she'd opened his door rather than Luna, who had leapt off his bed and was between Usagi's feet by that point. "Get that cat out of my room!" Shingo begged as he curled into a tight ball, shivering, at the head of his bed – which happened to be the end furthest from Luna.
"Oh Shingo, I forgot you hate cats," Usagi said. "Really though, Luna's very sweet. You don't have to be scared of her or anything."
"I don't care! Just get it out of my room!" Shingo begged again, his eyes tight shut.
Usagi quietly gestured for Luna to go, and with a nod, Luna went. "There, she's gone now," Usagi said softly.
Shingo peeled an eye open warily, in case it was a trick, but relaxed when he saw that the cat was indeed nowhere to be seen.
"Shingo, please give Luna a chance," Usagi requested, and quickly continued when her brother shook his head desperately. "She's been sleeping in my room for a while now, and this is the first time she's been in your room, right?" Usagi asked.
Shingo nodded grudgingly.
"It was probably just a mistake on her part, coming in late at night and getting the wrong room. If I promise that she will stay out of your room, would you be alright with me asking Mama and Papa if we can make Luna the family pet?" Usagi asked.
Shingo pouted. "Mou... I guess," he allowed. "But I still -"
"Hate cats," Usagi finished. "I know. But really Shingo, I think you'll like Luna if you give her a chance. That's all I'm asking for. You don't have to like all cats, just give Luna a chance. She's not going to bite you like that one did when you were a baby, and she won't scratch you either."
Shingo nodded. "Alright," he allowed. "I'll give this cat a chance. But it better stay out of my room, and it isn't allowed to jump on me!"
"Breakfast!" Ikuko called up the stairs.
~oOo~
Usagi happily relayed her conversation with Shingo as she and Luna walked to Usagi's school – her parents had agreed to keeping Luna as the family pet at breakfast, and so Luna was now officially a house cat. Usagi had been given extra money to buy Luna a collar and some kitty kibble on her way home after tutoring with Chiba-san.
"No surprising him, and stay out of his room," Luna summarised with a nod. "I can do that, but, Usagi-chan, do I really have to get a collar?" Luna asked.
Usagi giggled. "You can pick which one you like at the pet shop this afternoon," Usagi answered, "but yes, you need a collar, or else people will think you're just a stray."
Luna sighed. "You know, I don't have to be a house pet," she said. "I was effectively a stray until we met."
Usagi smirked. "And how much more comfortable is it for you to sleep in my room than it was for you to sleep in the alleyways?" she asked.
Luna's ears drooped at the reminder and she pouted. "Alright, you win," she allowed. "But I get to pick my collar."
Usagi nodded. "I'll see you later Luna."
~oOo~
"Oh? So Luna is only just today becoming the official family pet?" Chiba asked with a surprised, amused smile on his face. "She's been with you a long time, and your family only found out about her now?"
Usagi nodded and stroked Luna's head – the cat had jumped straight down into her arms as she'd left school that day, and Usagi had explained to Chiba about the morning fuss when he'd noted that Luna had shown up earlier than she had before.
"She mostly stays in my room or wanders around town, and I feed her, but last night she went into Shingo's room, and he's scared of cats, so he made a big fuss. We talked a bit, and now Luna is the family cat. Shingo isn't thrilled, but he's willing to give her a chance," Usagi said.
"That's very grown up of him," Chiba said with an approving nod.
Usagi nodded as well. "Hai," she agreed. "He's a brat, but he does have his moments. And Mama gave me some money to buy a few things for Luna today, collar, a dish just for her, cat food and such."
"Oh, does that mean you're going to leave me on my own and not come to the park and do your homework today?" Chiba asked.
"The park?" Usagi repeated, surprised.
Chiba nodded. "It's a nice day, I thought using one of the tables at the park and buying ice cream from a cart there would be a nice change," he explained.
Usagi grinned. "That does sound nice!" she agreed. "I was going to do the shopping for Luna after tutoring. There's a new pet shop that's just opened up -" Naru had told her about it, so Usagi had some concerns, and going with Luna would mean she could get a second opinion at the same time as doing her shopping "- and I thought I'd look for the things she needed there."
"Pet Shop Perfume, right?" Chiba asked, a frown crossing his face.
"Hai," Usagi agreed.
"Want me to come too?" he offered.
Usagi blinked. "A grown man offering to go shopping with a teen-aged girl?" she teased slightly, then giggled. "Arigato, I'd like that very much."
~oOo~
"Welcome," greeted the floor manager of the shop. "Please take your time," she added with a gesture to the display cases full of fluffy little things that were apparently called 'chanela'.
"Ah, I'm just looking for a collar, and some pet food," Usagi said with a shake of her head.
The woman blinked in surprise. "I'm sorry," she said, "but Pet Shop Perfume only sells chanela, which don't require food at all. Please do look around though, perhaps you would like to buy a chanela to take home?"
Usagi pulled a sceptical face, but nodded slightly, and the woman left them.
"Tsukino-chan?" Chiba asked curiously.
"My friend Naru-chan told me about this shop," Usagi said softly. "Lately, the things she's told me about have all had something suspicious going on with them that have ultimately led to terrible things happening. Midnight Zero and their flower brooches that put people to sleep, Shapely Gym and people becoming so thin they were on the verge of death... I thought that, maybe this time, I'd find out if something suspicious was going on here before anything terrible started to really happen," she explained.
Chiba blinked a couple of times, then lay a large hand on top of Usagi's head between her buns. "If you want, I'll help you," he offered.
Usagi smiled shyly. "Arigato," she answered.
"Nya?!" Luna yelped softly from Usagi's arms. That could be explained away by Usagi maybe hugging the cat a little too tight at that moment, but Usagi knew that it was really Luna asking what the girl thought she was doing, letting someone in on what was going on.
"I could really use all the help I can get," the blonde added softly.
Luna's ears dropped and her bright brown eyes seemed to apologise to the girl who was holding her, then she hopped down from Usagi's arms and went to do her own sniffing around.
"Is it alright for her to -?" Chiba asked.
Usagi nodded. "Luna's very smart and independent. Just because she's the family cat now doesn't mean she's suddenly going to start acting like a house cat," she answered.
Chiba smiled, offered his arm to Usagi, and together they walked around the pet shop, looking at the people more than the pets, and what they saw was disturbing.
The chanela were cute, but kind of creepy as well, and while the people in the shop all crowded around to look at them, there were clear instances when a person would look into a cage and make eye-contact with the chanela inside... and then go all droopy-eyed and stupid-looking over the perfumed little fluff-balls.
"There is something suspicious going on here," Chiba noted with a quiet, horrified awe. "But... it makes no sense! Why, and for that matter, how is this happening?"
"I'm going to ascribe it to either magic or aliens, or possibly alien magic," Usagi answered in a quiet grumble with an unhappy shake of her head. "Let's just get out of here before we get caught as well."
Chiba nodded in quick agreement, and was glad to see that Luna chose that moment to return to them as well. "There's a pet shop near where I live," he said as they exited the shop. "And I know they carry pet food, collars and toys, because one of my neighbours has a bag from there every other week with a bag of pet food in it. How about we go there for Luna's things?" he offered.
Usagi nodded. "Yeah, that sounds good," she agreed, even though she knew, just knew she'd be going back to Pet Shop Perfume later that night as Sailor Moon.
She hoped that whatever monster was in charge of the pet shop, they weren't too scary. She couldn't help but wonder if she'd be able to beat this one without help from Tuxedo Kamen, like she'd defeated the Shapely Gym plot... then again, there hadn't actually been a monster involved with that one. Just Jadeite, who hadn't seemed all that interested in fighting her himself after that first time on the roof of the radio station.
A delicate blue-black collar – the same colour as Luna's fur – was chosen, and a simple round tag was engraved with Luna's name and the Tsukino home information in the event she ever got 'lost' and someone 'found' her. Luna also picked out a kibble she liked the smell of, and a dish that had space for food on one side, and water or milk on the other.
Chiba walked Usagi home, and after dinner the pair (meaning Usagi and Luna) returned to Pet Shop Perfume where Usagi proceeded to win against the apparently reptilian monster at the pet shop on her own. She was pleased about that, even if she would have liked to have seen Tuxedo Kamen. Just to see him again, more than relying on him to save her.
~oOo~
Usagi hoped that, this time, something that Naru told her about wouldn't be some sort of plot by the bad guys she was being forced to fight. Some music should be safe though, right? Right?!
It was very nice. A sort of cross between classical music and jazz, and slow, sweet. The picture on the front of the CD case was the bottom half of a person standing in the rain with a bouquet of roses in one hand – and the music suited that image.
Despite the loneliness to it, the lovesick, aching heart that could just about be heard through the notes of the piano, it was very relaxing to listen to. Even Luna seemed to like it, curled up as she was, listening to it with the two girls.
Naru had to ruin the atmosphere though by saying she'd like to date the mature older man who had written the music on the disc.
"I'll leave that to you," Usagi said with a weak smile, and made a mental note of the artist, Amade Yusuke, so that she could buy a copy of the CD on the way home for herself.
Usagi should have known better than to relax about anything she learned about from Naru though.
On her way home from Naru's, a man quite literally ran into her. Knocked her down and begged for his life before he even looked at her.
"I'm not going to kill you," Usagi informed the man. "Why would you think such a thing?" she asked as she offered a hand to help him up. Okay, yes, she'd been initially upset about her new outfit being soaked when she was knocked down (it was raining and she'd landed in a puddle on top of that), but she wasn't going to kill a man over an outfit that was just wet. It would dry and be fine soon enough.
"You'll probably think I'm crazy," the man said with a shake of his head.
"Well, I'll walk with you where you need to go, since I have an umbrella and you don't, and you can tell me," Usagi suggested. "Oh, I'm Tsukino Usagi, by the way."
"Amade Yusuke," the man answered.
Usagi, once she got over the shock of having met a musician she'd just been listening to on her best friend's CD player earlier, noticed that her stomach was twisting in knots for a very different reason than Naru's would have been in this situation.
When Amade explained about being targeted by a monster, Usagi's bad feeling was confirmed – Naru had, once again, told her about something that the bad guys had a hand in, though she didn't know it yet. In fact, it was possible that the bad guys hadn't even completely gotten into it yet, since Amade had been running from a monster and Luna hadn't said anything about the music Naru had shared with them earlier.
He said goodbye not long after, but Usagi wasn't about to let him out of her sight when he was being targeted by a monster. A little help from the Luna Pen and she and Luna were in the club where he was performing. Once he was off the stage, she slipped out after him and dropped the disguise.
After that it was a helter-skelter, hair-um-scare-um race to get back a tape, then save Akiko (the woman Amade was in love with), destroy the tape (which wasn't Amade's tape for Akiko after all), and then Usagi and Luna were off after the monster while Amade and Akiko concerned themselves with each other.
She beat it (all on her own!) and got back in time to be greeted with the good news that Amade had proposed and Akiko and said yes. They were going to get married!
~oOo~
"Eh? You're going to be a bride's maid at the wedding of a musician?" Chiba asked, surprised, impressed, and confused when Usagi told him about it the next day.
Usagi nodded, a bright smile on her face. "Hai! And Amade-san and Akiko-san said I was allowed to bring one person, so that I'd have someone to talk to, since most of the other guests would be people they worked with, where I'm just the girl who helped save their lives and encouraged them to admit their feelings to each other," she answered. "And Luna got invited as well, since she helped!"
Chiba blinked. "That sounds like quite a story," he said.
"It is," Usagi agreed with a giggle.
"You're not going to tell me, are you?" Chiba asked, a little annoyed, but mostly amused at the blonde young teen. "Alright, so who are you going to ask to be your plus one at this wedding?"
"I asked Mama already," Usagi answered. "If I asked you or Motoki-onii-san, Papa would be upset and lecture me about being to young to go on dates, especially with college students. I couldn't invite Naru-chan to the wedding of a musician she has a bit of a crush on, and there's no way I'd take Shingo or Papa."
Chiba nodded in understanding. The logic was sound.
"And Amade-san said he was going to write a song inspired by how I'd helped them for his next CD, and send me a signed copy when it was finished!" Usagi added happily.
Chiba laughed. "You're very lucky," he said. "Now, are you done being excited about your news? You have homework."
Usagi sighed. "Hai, I'm done," she agreed. "Slave driver," she added teasingly.
"Odango Atama," Chiba countered with a grin of his own.
Usagi stuck her tongue out at him playfully, but pulled out her books all the same.
