Good Riddance
Chapter Three
"Ah…"
"Just say it!"
"But---"
"NO BUTS!"
Lorraine glared at Trunks and put her hands on her hips. He was such a blockhead!
"Trunks! Can you hear the words that are coming out of my mouth? USAGI IS ASLEEP!"
He blinked, and looked closely at the blonde girl sitting in the chair. Actually, she was sort of…propped in the chair. And was falling out. Lorraine and Trunks watched silently as the blonde leaned to the right and fell off of the chair with a terrific thump. Her eyes popped open and she stared up at the ceiling of the cabin.
"Ugh…"
Goten groaned and lowered the camera. "Good grief! Would you stop falling asleep? Trunk's dad made it very clear that he wanted a detailed account of Trunk's summer! Usagi! Wake up!"
She sat up and glared at them. "I am awake! Now, if your want a really good report, give us the camera."
Goten looked at her warily. Then he thought back to last night. She came in, tripped over the door frame, broke a lamp, apologized profusely, fell asleep standing up, hit her head, and almost knocked out Nick. Of course he was going to give the camera to her.
"No."
Usagi's face fell. "Why not?"
"Because you'd kill it."
"Would not! Now, give the camera to me before I kick your butt all the freaking way to China."
Goten handed her the camera without another word. Usagi squealed, and turned the camera so that it was facing her. She beamed into the lens, and then looked at Trunks.
"Trunks, what's your dad's name? And your mom, too. Any siblings?"
She pointed the camera at him. He gulped, and nodded. "Yeah…Dad is Vegeta, Mom is Bulma, and I have a sister, Bra."
Usagi turned the camera back to her. "Fascinating. Anyways! Hi Trunks' family! I'm Tsukino Usagi, his very best friend with privileges!"
She smiled evilly at Trunks, who was looking like he wanted to die. She turned the camera on him. Trunks moaned, and buried his face in his arms.
"Tsk tsk tsk. Mrs. Bulma, you raised a very moral son. Look! He is overcome with shame at his recent activities! Oh, poor Trunks….he just can't admit his feelings. We're really very much in love."
"USAGI, GIVE ME THAT CAMERA!"
"See? We share everything."
"EXCEPT THE CAMERA!!!"
"Oh, all right, I won't share."
Lorraine was totally cracking up. Usagi turned the camera on the laughing girl, and then on everyone else in the cabin. She gave Trunks' parents a very detailed tour of the cabin, providing a running commentary. She eventually made her way outside, where she spotted their leader.
"Bulma, Vegeta, Bra, and whoever else may be watching this, this wonderful man here is James Antoine, our group leader. James, tell us. How do you feel about this camp?"
"Well, we've been able to reform everyone that's come here, and Dr. Winner is so adorable!"
"Right. Tell us more about this tournament."
"Well, every year we have a tournament. All ten groups go up against each other in a series of tests. Whoever wins gets the trophy, and gets an all expense paid trip to Hawaii."
"Is that because we all die of mysterious causes in Hawaii?"
He laughed madly. "OF COURSE NOT!"
"Riiiight. Okay, let's go see the showers. Bulma, you might want to leave."
Usagi marched right into the showers, the camera rolling the whole time. The girls all looked over at her and waved. One girl punched the 'on' button to her stereo and began to dance. Four girls were dancing in a line to No Doubt. Usagi laughed.
"Yeah, well these are the showers. Nick, what the heck are you doing in here?"
"Um, well, I was…um…studying."
"Yeah, I'm sure. Believe me, I didn't come here to shoot a porn movie. There ought to be some action around here somewhere…like there! Hello Tendo!"
The blue haired girl turned around and stared at Usagi angrily. "Go away, Tsukino. I don't need to see your ugly face today."
"Aw…'cause I was totally thinking you could be a porn star or something!"
"I'LL KILL YOU!"
Usagi threw the camera to a smirking girl, who kept the camera on the fight the whole time. Akane and Usagi were both in a fighting stance. Akane was breathing heavily.
"I'll kill you, Tsukino."
"Whoa, you really do have some problems!"
Akane let out a shriek and charged at Usagi. Usagi squealed and flipped over the enraged girl's head. Akane's foot landed on a bar of soap, and she flew into the tile wall. After a few seconds, she groaned and fell backwards onto the ground. Usagi looked solemnly at the Akane-sized indent in the wall, and then inched over to the downed girl and nudged her with a toe. Then she knelt and rapped on her forehead with her knuckles. She looked up and smiled cheerfully.
"Well, she out of it! Hey, Rach, could you take her to the nurse's?"
"Why can't you?"
"Because I absolutely hate nurses."
"Fine."
"Thank you!"
Usagi reclaimed the camera and wandered over to the boys shower. She stopped right outside, sighed, and moved away.
"I'm scared of that place," she confessed to the camera. "Ugh. Guys. It's probably dirty in there, too. AH!!! Here's my buddy Hiiro! Hi Hiiro!"
"Hn."
"How do you like volunteering at this camp? Are you having a miserable time?"
"Give it up, Bunny."
"Eeeee!!! And here's my buddy Ranma! Bulma, Vegeta, this is my pal Saotome Ranma. He can turn into a girl. It's really cool, but he gets mad at me when I splash him. HA! It was so funny! Girl-Ranma was looking for hot water last night and GOT KISSED BY A GUY!!!! It was so funny. Ah, the guy's in the nurse's now. Eep! I'm gonna shut up. And why should I give up talking to Hiiro? It's my fondest hope that someday he will say something civil to me!"
"Bunny. Hiiro's really anti-social."
"Ranma! Hii-kun's not anti-social! He just doesn't like anyone! Oh, wow. Do you like anyone Hiiro? OH! I have an idea! Okay, if you hate everyone, don't kiss someone. If you *do* like someone, kiss someone!"
He glared at her, and then looked around. Then he rolled his eyes and kissed her full on the mouth. He pulled away and stalked off.
"Whoo…! He's a good kisser!" she said, beaming into the camera. "So he does like someone! I wonder who…?"
Ranma slapped his forehead. "You're so dense, Bunny."
"Oh! And here's where I killed a giant, human eating monster! It was huge! It had these huge fangs, dripping with blood! It was leaning down to eat Lexie when I killed it! I'm the camp's hero now!"
"Bunny, it was a spider."
"Shut up!"
Hiiro watched from behind a tree as Usagi and Ranma joked around. Usagi was so happy around teens like herself. When she was around normal teens, she was callous and mean. She was that way around adults too. Was this how she was before the fire changed her life? Because it really had. If that fire hadn't happened, she wouldn't have sold part of her soul, and she wouldn't have gone blind. If she hadn't gone blind, she wouldn't have ever made those disks. If she hadn't made those disks and downloaded those programs, she wouldn't have ever come to the camp, and the war would be lost. If she hadn't come to camp, he wouldn't have met her. Ugh. Emotions were so…messy.
Hiiro grunted and loped towards the main office. Maybe he could go shoot some cans. Or something.
"ALL RIGHT!"
Usagi and Lorraine screamed in unison, and James looked at them in disgust. He roared at them, and they screamed again. He frowned and bellowed at them. They clutched each other and screamed. Bleac popped her head up from where she was dusting her pictures and screamed at all three of them.
This went on for quite some time, until Trunks came in.
"SHUT UP!"
"YOU!" they yelled.
James growled at them. "Everyone! Outside! Now! Single file!" he bellowed.
Usagi and Lorraine tumbled off the bed and ran outside, closely followed by Shiro, Lexie, and the boys. Once outside, they stood around in a messy group, muttering. James marched outside.
"All right! I know the last two days have been all nice and cozy. I know you don't want to run six miles. I know you don't want to go through the "playground", and I know you don't want to run through the tree maze. But guess what? You're going to. Girls, go inside and get dressed in the clothes on your bed. Pull back your hair. Take off all jewelry. Make sure you have nothing that could get in the way of the training. GO!"
Usagi gave him the finger and trudged inside. Five minutes later, they all came out wearing the exact same thing. They were all wearing combat boots, camouflage pants, and tight white tank tops. They each had ponytails, except of course for Lorraine who's hair was still spiked. Usagi examined her outfit, and then smiled.
"Hey Lorra-chan! We look like army chicks!"
That night:
Usagi looked up from her position on the floor. The stars windmilled above her, and she was sure that her heart was just going to die any second. She felt like she had been rolled over by a steamroller. Repeatedly. The Sadist smirked at her.
"How do you feel?"
She whimpered.
He nodded once, and then looked at everyone else. "How do y'all feel?"
A chorus of groans answered his query. He smirked. "Just as I thought. You're all weak."
Then he left.
The seven teens in group ten lay there, drifting in and out of unconsciousness. Lorraine looked over at Usagi, and then over at Bleac, who wasn't in much better shape. She was entirely certain that they had entered Hell.
Usagi lost track of time. All she knew was that it was cold, and that she was going to get hypothermia if they stayed out. So she crawled over to a tree and pulled herself up. She leaned against the tree, catching her breath. She was sort of understanding why kids stayed in line after coming to this camp. They were scared to death that they'd have to come back. She shook her head, waited until the world stopped spinning, and carefully turned to look down at the others.
"Guys, we have to get back to the cabin. If we don't we'll get hypothermia."
Nick's voice rose out of the gloom. "Bunny…I can't even move. I hurt too much…."
Her voice snapped through the cold. "Guess what? I don't care! If you don't get up, you'll die! I'll be desolate! Inconsolable! Then I'll probably commit suicide. Trunks and Goten already left, and they're back in their nice, warm beds! GET UP, NOW!"
After several muttered curses, she had everyone standing. Several minutes later, they were dragging each other back to the cabin. Something in her brain twitched, and she fell behind as they kept stumbling towards home. Home, eh? Funny to think that in only three days that cabin had become "home". She turned around, wondering what had made her stop.
"Nice to see you again, Usagi."
She couldn't be surprised. She was way too tired to be surprised. "Hello Amos Whittaker."
"Now. About those gems in your wrists."
She didn't respond. She was too tired.
"You're supposed to swallow them. Concentrate on them, and they'll come out."
She glared at her wrists, and sure enough, they popped out. "So…I swallow them?" she asked slowly.
He nodded. She sighed, and dropped them into her mouth. Then she gulped them down. Nothing happened. She turned to him angrily.
"What the heck was that for? I just swallowed two indigestible stones for nothing!"
He smiled, and then it happened. The heat began in her stomach. Then it spread outward, touching her insides, warming her muscles, lending color to her pale visage. She felt the gold come back into her faded half-silver hair, and the blue come back into her drained orbs. She gasped at the feeling of power.
"What was that?" she choked out.
Amos went down on his toes in front of her. "Usagi, you realize that you lost half of your soul, correct?"
"Yeah…" she said suspiciously.
"Well, we couldn't leave you empty. So we filled you up with demon fire. Now, technically, you're half demon. Those stones are in every magical thing. If you kill one, they burst into flames. Nothing will be left except the stones. Eat them, and you gain power."
"I'm half demon?" she asked witlessly.
He nodded. "Yes. Usagi! Listen to me! You must go through with this training. The more you train, the stronger you are. I will send a teacher to train you at nights. Now go. Your secret training starts tomorrow."
Then he disappeared.
No big lights, no fancy noises. No good bye, either. Shoot. And he was really cute, too. She wandered back to the cabin in somewhat of a daze. She was fairly certain that being a demon was something that was no supposed to happen to her.
That's what she thought, anyways.
"I'm half demon?"
Usagi sighed, put the whole experience down to indigestion, and turned to go.
"Princess Serenity, stop right where you are."
The cold voice of her moon mama froze her. She turned, drawing upon her instincts to guide her.
"What do you want?" Her voice sounded cold, even to herself.
Queen Serenity marched forward and put her hands on her hips. "Serenity, I was trusting that you would overcome temptation."
Usagi could not believe her ears. "Resist temptation? What are you smoking? All my life you told me to be unselfish! To be sensitive to the need of others! Well, I think that selling my soul is pretty freaking unselfish, and that my family was definitely in need!"
Queen Serenity went white. "You were to marry Endymion and rule Crystal Tokyo! How on earth could you just throw it away?"
Usagi growled. "Why is it suddenly MY fault? I didn't do a damn thing! They kicked me out of their little clique because I WAS BLIND! I was perfectly willing to yield the position to someone else! It would be stupid for me to keep holding the position! I WAS BLIND! But they attacked me! They told me how stupid I was! They told me how worthless I was! Mamoru told me how he had never loved me! The only ones that stayed next to me were the Outers, and that was only because I was the Princess! My mom hated me! My dad hated me! My brother made faces at me because I WAS BLIND! I had absolutely no control over anything! No control! I was like a passenger in the backseat, watching as other people drove my life! WHY IS IT MY FAULT? I DID NOTHING!" she screamed at her mother.
Queen Serenity took a step forward and slapped her. Usagi's hand went up to her cheek, as her eyes stared at her mother in shock. The forest was dead silent as the Queen and the Princess stared at each other.
"Don't talk back to me, young lady." The queen hissed.
"You hit me." Usagi's voice was flat and emotionless. God, why had she even thought to try? Adults never saw anything outside of their own, pretty little box. They looked at someone like her and said only, "Take her away. Fix her. She's broken." They never stopped to think that there was another side to the story. They never stopped to think that it was their goddamned fault!
"You accuse me of being dishonorable. You blame me for their mistakes. You hit me."
"Serenity, you will continue this…program…until Setsuna comes to collect you. You will leave the camp with her, and you will return to you life, the way it should me. Liko Mia will keep the title of Sailor Moon, but you will remain the Princess. Farewell."
Then she disappeared in a shower of those annoying silver flakes. Maybe she had a dandruff problem. There was shampoo to treat things like that…
So Setsuna-mama was going to come "collect" her. And apparently she was going to be welcomed back into the Senshi group with open arms.
Bull.
The next morning:
"WAKE UP!"
Usagi popped an eye open. It couldn't see well, so it coaxed the other open as well. So, as a result of opening her eyes, she found herself staring right into the face of the Sadist.
"Aaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeee!"
She threw herself out of bed, yanked on her clothes and sprinted out the door. He blinked, and then smiled.
Ten minutes later, when he got everyone outside, Usagi was coming back from her six mile run. She jogged to a stop and then flopped onto the ground.
"Ugh…"
The Sadist kicked her, none too lightly. "Get up! Keep moving, and the cramps will go away! SHIRO! SON! EVERYONE!! GET YOUR LAZY ASSES INTO GEAR AND RUN!"
Usagi pulled herself up, and looked at the man above that was smiling. Wait. Smiling and Sadist were to words that were not good when used together. She began to wriggle away from him in sheer terror. He grinned, and picked her up.
"We're going to put you through the Playground until they get back."
Damn.
"Smiling sadists. When you see them, take my advice," she muttered into the hidden camera, "run like hell."
Trunks and Goten were the first to return from their nice, leisurely jog. Seriously, they were expecting Mr. Sadist to be standing there, waiting to torture them. Even though it wasn't really torture. But anyways, they weren't greeted by that sight. The area was totally empty. Wind howled through the trees, heralding the tornado.
It came crashing through the trees within five seconds. Screaming.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Usagi leaped over their heads and landed on a branch. She was shaking like a leaf. Her arms and legs were wrapped firmly around the tree branch, and her eyes were wide as saucers.
Goten ambled over to stand below her. He tilted his head back, and grinned at her. "Say, Bunny, you going to come down?"
She didn't even move. There was a rustling sound, and suddenly she shot up the rest of the tree, attempting to mold herself to the trunk. The Sadist came through the bushes, looking frustrated.
"Son, have you seen Tsukino?"
Goten clasped his hands behind his back and shook his head.
"Of course not, Mr. Antoine. Are you looking for her?"
"The damn twit ran off. I have to admit, she set a new record for the newbie Playground time. And now she's hiding so well that I CAN'T FIND HER!"
Trunks smirked. "What was her inspiration?"
"I had a spider. I had no idea that they worked so wonderfully. Say, Trunks, do you have a boyfriend?"
Trunks turned purple and fell to the ground. Goten thumped him on the back, and helped him up. Trunks looked warily at the innocent looking leader.
"Uh, I don't lean that way. I've got a girlfriend!"
The man sighed. "Of course. All the good guys are taken. But let's run this idea past you! Your girlfriend would never know!"
Trunks' face drained of color. "Uh…I have…to…go dry-clean…my mother…I mean…my girl…I mean…essay for school…my dog…uh, I have to go!"
Goten watched the lavender boy run off and totally busted up laughing. The Sadist sighed unhappily and started off down the trail.
"Just making sure the other morons haven't killed themselves…." He muttered as he passed Goten.
Goten kept that perfect smile on his face. You probably know the one. The one that he used to charm the principal, the girls, the parents of the girls, and even his parents. Because God knows they always favored Gohan. His face turned bitter. Gohan the superhero. Gohan the nice guy. Gohan the wonderful boyfriend. Gohan the scholar. Gohan the dad. And Goten was forced to follow in his brother's shadow all his life.
So he had done something that Gohan had never even tried. He got mixed up in drugs. He did Meth, XTC, Special K, and lots of other things. He had been caught, and got in major trouble. He knew that he had screwed his life up, and once he had been detoxified, was shoved right back into his brother's track.
But now he had something that his brother never had. His brother had always lived to make other people happy. But now Goten had a select group of friends that were screwed up, just like him.
Speaking of friends….
"Hey Bunny, it's safe to come down now!"
He waited, and then frowned when there was no answer.
"Bunny?"
Why were lakes always so damn peaceful? They had absolutely no right to be. Everything in the world was screwed up and chaotic, why couldn't the lake be? Why was there a pocket of calm in the midst of the whirling stream of chaos. As she moved on in her life, Usagi began to realize more and more that Chaos had won more completely that she ever had. Sure, the world had its good people. Like Quatre. He was the nicest guy she had ever met. Well, that wasn't fair. Motoki had been nice too. But Quatre was nice in a walk-all-over-me way, while Toki-kun was nice in a cheer-up / favorite-teddy-bear type.
Usagi bent down, picked up a stone, and threw it as hard as she could. She watched it arc high into the air, and then plummet into the water. When it hit, the water rippled out in wide rings. Usagi gazed at them, seeing nothing. She sat down and pulled her knees to her chest. Then she propped her chin on her knees and thought.
So. Her mother was taking an interest in her life again. This, of course, did not bode well for the bunny. Whenever mothers stuck their noses into business that wasn't theirs, they screwed everything up. Which was looking like a definite possibility, judging by the way things were going.
According to what the Wicked Witch had said, Setsuna was coming to pick her up and take her away in the near future. Once this happened, she was expected to resume being little miss princess again. Probably even take back her relationship with Mamoru. Renew shattered bonds with the Inners.
As far as she could see, none of this had a chance in hell of happening.
First off, she wouldn't let Setsuna take her away. If she had to, she could pull rank. But that wouldn't be enough if she had direct orders from the Witch. So she'd have to deal with that particular problem in the more believable world. She could act like a total bitch when she came…so they wouldn't release her. Or she could just hide out in the forest. And if worse came to worse, she could always hunt down a…magical thing and eat its…stone…things.
But in the unlikely event that she was kidnapped, there would be the whole trip home. They'd have to stop at a gas station so she could get out and pee…so she could just hop a semi that was there. Or hitchhike, if she had too. Huh. She had always wanted to do that, anyways.
But if even THAT didn't work, she could just ignore her senshi, refuse to have anything to do with them, and kick Mamoru in the balls. Or she could kill herself.
She considered this, and then shook her head. "Nah. Too much work. I'll just refuse to leave. That'll work. I don't think they'd release me, anyways."
"Talking to yourself, now?"
She shrieked and spun around. There was an absolutely HOT guy sitting behind her. He was wearing black. And he had a sword. And had red eyes. Damn. He was a demon. BUT HE WAS HOT!
She turned on her sweet smile. "Go away."
He smirked. "Nuh-uh. I'm not leaving you, girlie. Too much fun watching you think. Anyways, I'm your tutor. Get up."
She glared at him. "Why should I?"
"Because if you don't, I'll kill you."
"Okay, you've convinced me."
She jumped up and looked at him with those deep blue eyes. She arranged her face into that cute look that always got the grown-ups. Then she smiled at him. He simply rolled his eyes and shoved her off the cliff.
I'M TOO YOUNG TO DIE, her mind screamed frantically as she flailed her arms and legs. Her logic control looked at her hyperactive brain.
'Well then fly, you dumbass.'
Suddenly the wind stopped battering her face. Was she dead? Everyone always said that being dead would be like just going to sleep….
"Get up!"
Nope. Definitely not dead. That stuck-up, evil demon would NOT be in Heaven with her. Er…Purgatory. Or whatever. She opened her eyes, and found water about three inches from her nose. Her eyes widened, and she backed away. Then she realized that she wasn't standing on anything. She tried the equivalent of standing, and found her feet planted securely on…
…air.
Oh my. Usagi's mind promptly went into shock, and she calmly flew back up the cliff. She set her feet down on solid ground and looked at the demon.
"I hate you."
"Such strong words!"
"But so, so appropriate."
"USAGI!"
She eeped and spun around. Flashlights were shining through the trees, shedding their light over everything. She gulped, and ran towards the lights. The demon gazed after her and laughed. He smirked and looked over at a tree, where a squirming body was tied to a tree.
"Well, that was easy. She is *mine* to train, you understand that?"
The figure gave a muffled protest. The demon walked casually over.
"So, you disagree? I don't think you're in any state to protest."
The demon sauntered away, leaving the corpse tied to a tree with an arrow in its chest.
Usagi lay in bed with her chin propped on her arms. Thinking again. Enough of thinking about the Witch. Time to figure out how they could have some fun. She flopped over in bed, sighed loudly, and stared at the ceiling. Her eyes ran along the rafters, and then finally hit the door. She stopped. She smiled.
"Eureka!" she whispered.
Lorraine leaped out of bed and grabbed Usagi's neck. Her eyes were wild, and she was grinning madly. Lorraine shook the blonde furiously.
"What is it?? Tell me! Tell me! I need something to do!" Lorraine whispered urgently.
Usagi glared at the black girl. "I'll tell you if you stop shaking me!"
Lorraine promptly let go and leaned forwards to listen to the plan. Usagi cupped her hands around Lorraine's ear and whispered the plan. Lorraine nodded, and then clapped happily.
"It'll be so much fun!"
Lorraine jumped over her bed, tripped, and did a belly flop onto Bleac's bed. One eye opened, and then the other followed quickly. Bleac brought her feet up and threw Lorraine off. Then she sat up and stared at the two sets of eyes crouched by her bed.
"You know," she commented, "you're really scary people. What's up?"
When she found out, she burst out laughing. Lorraine and Usagi both shoved their friend's face into the pillow and stared at the curtain nervously.
Ranma poked his head out and looked around sleepily. "Hullo? What's the problem?"
Usagi cleared her throat and pitched it to sound like Tsuzumi's. "The damn Irish bitch had a nightmare. Go away, you ecchi!"
Ranma withdrew rapidly, and they soon heard four sets of snores. Usagi and Lorraine breathed sighs of relief. Bleac had *almost* busted them. And that wouldn't be fun. They waited without moving for fifteen minutes. An owl hooted outside the window. Usagi glanced at it, and caught a glimpse of it just in time to see its eyes glow.
I'll get it tomorrow. she promised herself.
Usagi and Lorraine stood up slowly, and checked for any irregular breathing. They heard nothing besides the deep, steady breathing of four males. They grinned at each other, hauled Bleac up, and then dug into Usagi's bag, giggling quietly as they pulled out the supplies. Then they tiptoed over to the separation and slipped into the boy's half of the cabin.
An hour later three more female snores joined the others in the fantastic Land of Snores. Wonderful place. It gets you kicked a lot, though.
*Usagi's Dream*
Chibi Usagi was sitting on a counter with her hand in a cookie jar. She heard the door open, and then heavy steps on the front hallway. She smiled, showing her missing tooth. Usagi pulled her hand out of the cookie jar, stuffed a chocolate chip cookie in her mouth, and put the lid back on. She toppled of the counter top and ran clumsily over to her backpack. She looked around, unzipped it, and pulled out a white piece of paper and ran to the hallway.
There she stopped and listened. She wasn't supposed to come in when Mommy and Daddy were talking.
"Dan, just give me the keys. You'll get another DUI." Her Mommy.
"Shut up, Asuza. I drive better than you any day."
"Dan, I need to take Usagi to Kenji and Ikuko's house."
"I told you to stop going there!"
There was the familiar sound of flesh striking flesh, and then her mother's cry. The sequence came again, and then the heavy feet came for her.
Later that night, sporting several new bruises, Usagi lay on her bed on her stomach. Tears were running down her cheeks. Why was her daddy so mean? Maybe it was her. She was a bad kid, so her daddy didn't love her…. A fat tear plopped down on the ripped picture she was slowly taping back together. She had spent so much time on it… Finally exhaustion overtook the little girl, and she cried herself to sleep.
The sixteen year old Usagi stepped from the shadows and looked down sadly at the picture. There was a picture of three stick figures. Two were taller than the middle one, which was about the size of a small child. The figures were labeled. Mommy. Daddy. Me. She remembered that picture all to well…
*Fin*
"Usagi, Usagi, wake up!"
Her eyes opened slowly, and she looked up at seven concerned faces. Lorraine touched her shoulder, but Nick opened his mouth first.
"Why were you crying?"
Usagi frowned and sat up. "None of your damn business."
Then she saw the four boy's faces, and she went though a three second Olympian struggle to keep from either smiling or totally cracking up. A civil war raged within her, but luckily (THANK GOD) she won. She kept her face perfectly calm.
Ranma smiled thinly. "Good. Now maybe you can tell us something."
The bunny smiled. "Depends on what the answer is."
Trunks shoved his face right up to hers. "WHAT THE FUCKING HELL DID YOU DO TO OUR FACES?"
For their faces were decorated in a delightful array of colors. Trunks was sporting all purple. His cheeks were tinted a light lavender, his lips were coated in dark purple lipstick, and his eye-shadow was a beautiful shade of purple. Absolutely fantastic. Goten was colored in hues of blue. Ranma was decked out colors ranging from faded red to deep, dark red. Nick was in black. Frankly, Usagi couldn't find anything wrong with the picture. She reached up to her temple and made sure that the mini-corder was shooting. Assured that it was, she smiled charmingly.
Goten was clenching and unclenching his fist. "Tsukino Usagi, can you find anything wrong with this picture?"
Usagi cocked her head. Everyone waited. Then she shook her head. "No. You look like queers, but that isn't a change from your usual selves. Frankly, I don't see what the fuss is all about."
Nick smiled. Ugh. He was picking up bad habits from the Sadist. "Usagi. You realize that we are going to kill you very, very slowly."
Usagi let out a small squeak. "You're just joking, right guys?"
They closed in on her, all grinning evilly. Ranma poked her. "Does this look like a joking face to you, Bunny?"
"Uh-oh…aaaaiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeee!!!! THAT TICKLES!!! AHHHH!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!"
Usagi totally cracked when the boys all began to tickle her. She screamed, and lashed out with her feet. The tickling didn't stop. God, she could barely breathe! BUT OH LORD, THAT TICKLED!
Usagi shrieked again, and tried to wriggle out of their Tickling-Reach. No such luck. But at fate would have it, she was saved.
"Tsukino Usagi, would you please accompany me to the counselor's office? Oh my…."
For the aide had laid eyes upon the four recent Freaks Of Nature, and was looking pale. Have you ever seen Rocky Horror Picture Show? Well, first off, it's the most insane movies ever created. Secondly, they have all the guys dressed up in questionable costumes. But that's not what I'm getting at. The lunatic of the movie, Dr. Frank N. Furter, wore all sorts of insane makeup. So that was the first thing that came to mind when the poor aide saw the four boys.
And it didn't help the picture much when she saw them sprawled all over the bed, and the little blonde girl breathing heavily beneath them. Her face turned bright red and she stumbled out of the cabin.
"Tsukino Usagi, please come out here!"
Inside, everyone was totally cracking up. LOL! The look on her face was priceless! Attacking the boys, and having them retaliate was totally worth it, just to see the look on her face! Usagi laughed again as she pictured her face and threw all the people off her bed.
She ignored the fact that she was only wearing a tight white halter top along with navy blue pajama bottoms and went right to the mirror. Usagi brushed her teeth for three minutes, spit into the sink, wiped her mouth, and then grabbed the brush. Then she smiled. When she came out, everyone stared.
She had her hair up in two odangos, with short pigtails falling to her shoulders. She dimpled at them, and put on her slippers. Then she glared at them.
"What?"
Nick shook his head. "Nothing. Just that the hairstyle is cute."
Usagi smiled. "Thanks, Nick."
Then she hopped outside, already planning the evils that the day would hold. Maybe she could toilet paper someone's cabin. Or sneak inside and demolish it with honey, feathers, and other fun stuff. Or…she could throw a party. Oh my god! Usagi smiled gleefully. How cool would that be? She could put on her mixed CD, bring out her stereos, knock out the aide, invite people, come up with a spot, arrange it…HOW COOL!
The aide stopped her with a still strangled voice. "We're here."
They stood there for a while, until the aide cleared her throat.
"You're supposed to go inside."
Usagi smacked her forehead. "Oh, silly me. All right, although I fail to see why this is more important than my previous activities."
The aide blushed a hot red, and hurried off. Usagi laughed, and moved to go inside. She was stopped, however, by yet another voice. This one more welcome than the last.
"Hey, where're you off to?"
She threw her arms around the braided boy and squeezed him tightly. "Ohayo Duo-kun! I have no idea. I thought that we were training again today, but apparently not. I kinda figured that one out when I didn't wake up looking into the Sadist's face."
"The Sadist? Do I want to know?"
Usagi shook her head. "Nope."
Duo sighed. "Yeah, I thought so. Well, I better be going. See ya, Bunny!"
She waved after him, and then smiled when he was out of distance. He was so kawaii! But it wasn't like the oh-my-god-I'm yours cute. It was the little-brother cute. Which was weird. She never had a brother besides Shingo, and he was adopted anyways. And that didn't work out well.
She shrugged, and pushed through the door to the counselor's office. The woman sitting in the desk was pouring over several files. Usagi caught a name before the woman closed it and shoved it under the desk. It was her name. For some reason, this didn't sit right with her. These bastards probably knew more about her than she did.
"Take a seat, Usagi."
Usagi slouched in the chair and glowered at the woman. "You may call me Tsukino-san until I tell you otherwise." She announced in her imperial voice.
The woman stopped, looked at her, and then folded her hands. "As you wish…Tsukino-san. May I ask you a few questions?"
"No."
There was an uncomfortable silence, until the damn counselor shattered it.
"Why?"
"Because I don't want big noses in my head." Usagi replied promptly, without opening her eyes.
The counselor frowned. "Usagi, we're not going to be able to help you unless you open up."
Usagi's eyes snapped open. "I don't want my help goddamnit! It's not even my fault!"
"How so?"
The blonde clamped her mouth shut. Nothing else was coming out of *her* lips. The counselor smiled again, obviously trying to keep calm. Usagi was very obviously stubborn. Why did *she* have to deal with Group Ten? Every other kid had a substance abuse problem, which she knew how to fix. Every other kid had a motivation problem, or a bad influence. Mrs. Lana Elliot knew how to deal with those kinds of kids. But every child in group 10 had gone bad for unknown reasons.
Like Usagi. She had been a sweet, cheerful girl with lots of friends. Then the fire came, and she went blind. Then she went bad. But no one knew why. Except for maybe Dr. Winner, but he wasn't talking. She snapped to attention when Usagi began to speak.
"Did you know that I never really had a family?"
She was holding Lana's family photo. Lana chose not to respond, lest it break Usagi out of this rare, peaceful mood. She held her breath and prayed that Usagi would speak on. The bunny did.
"My first family was dysfunctional. My dad beat my mother and I, and then the state took me away. Then they sold me to the Tsukinos. Ikuko and Kenji already had Shingo. They didn't need me. But they took me anyways. I was raised as their daughter. My life was perfect until I turned fourteen."
Lana bit her lip, going against every instinct as a counselor, and bit back the obvious question. If it was God's will, the blonde teen would speak on her own free will.
Usagi traced Lana's family's faces, a rare tender look on her face. "I never knew what happened. I went blind…and everyone hated me. I didn't understand. I still don't. My friends…." She trailed off.
Lana couldn't resist. "What did your friends do?"
Usagi stiffened, and then her eyes snapped up to bore into Lana's gray eyes. "Fuck off."
Lana sighed audibly. "Usagi, please talk to me! I'm trying to help you!"
The blonde girl jumped up. "No you're not! You're not trying to help me! God, who is? Every fucking adult that I've ever met doesn't give a damn about any of us! They just want us fixed up and put back together so the perfect people don't have to deal with us! That's the truth and you damn well know it!"
Lana tried not to shrink under the distraught blonde's tirade. Was that what they honestly thought? That no one cared? But that would make sense. No one cared, so why bother? If that was true, she'd have to fix it!
"Usagi, that's not true!" she said softly.
The blonde suddenly ripped a lamp off of the desk and threw it at the wall with all her might.
"JUST ADMIT IT!" she screamed as she watched it shatter.
Lana jumped out of the chair with her hand over her heart. What had she done wrong? Seeing no other alternative, she tried to placate the teen.
"Usagi, calm down!"
"NO!" she screamed. She hurtled the picture she held at the counselor and ran from the cabin. She heard Lana calling after her, and increased her speed. Ha! Teach them to treat her like a kid. It was so frustrating to be talked at by a parent! They just didn't understand, so they shouldn't try to! Then they would pull that spiel about how "they were kids once too, and had gone through the same things". Bull. They've forgotten. Wasn't that the whole point of maturing anyways? Growing out of those teen tendencies?
Usagi sped up again and increased speed, until she was at a flat out run. Arms pumping, feet thudding against the dry dirt, she ran and ran and ran. Her mind was churning, rolling over ideas and wondering just what the hell grown-ups thought they were trying to pull off.
Finally, after about a half hour of straight running, she slowed, stopped, and began to walk around in circles to work out her cramps. Then she dropped, did 50 push-ups, 100 crunches, and then stretched her arms and legs. Then she sighed, stood up, and reluctantly headed back to camp.
And was stopped.
Just what was it with this forest, her, and unwelcome people? It just didn't work for her. Ugh. Who could it possibly be now?
"So you're the stone-source I've been looking for."
Or what, she thought dimly as she looked at this absolutely hideous…freaky thing. It was big, blue, orange, and green, and had these crazy tentacle looking things sticking out of its sides. It sort of looked like a spider with six legs and two tentacles. It glowed at her.
"Surrender a Source."
Usagi gulped. Why, oh why, had she skipped training that one night? There was no way she could win. Of course, there was also no way that she was going to give up her stones. So.
"What's a Source?"
The spider-thing did something that looked like it was rolling its eyes. It made a squishing sound, and then thumped to the ground.
"A Source is one of four things. A Dream Mirror, a Star Steed, a Heart Crystal, or a Soul Gem. Give me one."
Usagi smiled at him winningly. "How about we just go our separate ways and forget about each other, okay?"
She turned to go, already coming up with an excuse for what happened, when she felt something shoot out of her chest. She screamed in pain and fell to the ground. THIS WAS NOT GOOD!
She was hazily aware of the monster laughing above her. Then she felt a wrenching sensation, a splitting pain, and then nothingness. Damn. There was the other half of her. Gone.
Usagi tried to roll over, but just thinking about it made her sick. She curled up in a fetal position and cried like a baby. He hadn't taken her heart, her dreams, or her power. He had taken her star steed. AND IT WASN'T A FUN FEELING! AND IT WAS A SPIDER!
Her pain fled under the heat of her terror / rage. She leaped up and looked around. IT WASN'T THERE! Her mind was running around in circles screaming hysterically while her logic control center just cried like a baby. If there was one thing that she had for sure, it was arachnophobia. Oh, God yes.
Anyways, finding out that it wasn't there absolutely terrified her. Of course, the only sensible thing to do was to HUNT AND DESTROY. Of course, she'd have to be sneaky about it. But there was no other choice, really. It was either HUNT AND DESTROY or wait for it to come back and pick her off little by little. So. The only reasonable choice, of course, was to HUNT AND DESTROY.
So off she went, bent on HUNTING AND DESTROYING the big spider that stole her star steed.
Left behind in the dust, Amos, our friendly Australian demon sweat dropped. Then he scratched the back of his head with this kawaii bewildered look on his face.
"Does she even realize that I filled her up again?"
A few miles down the road, Usagi was floating above the spider, who was looking up at her in terror. The blonde's pigtails were floating around her, giving her a pissed of demon look. Which, um, thanks to our friend Amos, wasn't a stretch of the imagination.
"Listen pal," Usagi was saying, "this is how I see it. YOU'RE A SPIDER, you stole my star steed, left me to die, AND YOU'RE A SPIDER! So. I'm thinking that it's payback time. Now. Give me your Sources of die a slow and painful death."
The spider stood still for a moment, and then tried to make a break for the trees. Usagi saw this and narrowed her eyes.
"Like hell!" she yelled as she sent a specialized blast towards the SPIDER.
It froze, made a sizzling sound, and toppled over. Usagi totally ignored the body as it burst into flames and flew over to the Sources. Smiling evilly, she absorbed the items. Then she turned, picked up the Gems, and swallowed them. Smiling a little at the warmth, she bounced home.
Back at the cabin, she heard hoots and catcalls. Smirking, she advanced on the cabin. She peeked her head inside and looked around in curiosity. There was no one on the girl's side besides Shiro and Lexie, and they didn't matter. Bleac came through the curtain right at that moment and spotted Usagi. She squealed and ran over to the blonde.
"Bunny, Bunny, Bunny, Bunny! Come *here*! We're all playing strip poker and guess who's losing!"
Usagi grinned. "Tell me!"
"NICK! HE ONLY NEEDS TO LOSE ONE MORE TIME!"
Usagi squealed and ran through the curtain. Tsuzumi stared at the curtain, just waiting for it to happen. Sure enough, within a matter of minutes she head Trunks laugh.
"You lose, Nick!"
There was a mild silence and then she heard Lorraine and Usagi's twin giggle.
"Ooooooooooh!"
Then everyone burst out laughing.
Chapter Three
"Ah…"
"Just say it!"
"But---"
"NO BUTS!"
Lorraine glared at Trunks and put her hands on her hips. He was such a blockhead!
"Trunks! Can you hear the words that are coming out of my mouth? USAGI IS ASLEEP!"
He blinked, and looked closely at the blonde girl sitting in the chair. Actually, she was sort of…propped in the chair. And was falling out. Lorraine and Trunks watched silently as the blonde leaned to the right and fell off of the chair with a terrific thump. Her eyes popped open and she stared up at the ceiling of the cabin.
"Ugh…"
Goten groaned and lowered the camera. "Good grief! Would you stop falling asleep? Trunk's dad made it very clear that he wanted a detailed account of Trunk's summer! Usagi! Wake up!"
She sat up and glared at them. "I am awake! Now, if your want a really good report, give us the camera."
Goten looked at her warily. Then he thought back to last night. She came in, tripped over the door frame, broke a lamp, apologized profusely, fell asleep standing up, hit her head, and almost knocked out Nick. Of course he was going to give the camera to her.
"No."
Usagi's face fell. "Why not?"
"Because you'd kill it."
"Would not! Now, give the camera to me before I kick your butt all the freaking way to China."
Goten handed her the camera without another word. Usagi squealed, and turned the camera so that it was facing her. She beamed into the lens, and then looked at Trunks.
"Trunks, what's your dad's name? And your mom, too. Any siblings?"
She pointed the camera at him. He gulped, and nodded. "Yeah…Dad is Vegeta, Mom is Bulma, and I have a sister, Bra."
Usagi turned the camera back to her. "Fascinating. Anyways! Hi Trunks' family! I'm Tsukino Usagi, his very best friend with privileges!"
She smiled evilly at Trunks, who was looking like he wanted to die. She turned the camera on him. Trunks moaned, and buried his face in his arms.
"Tsk tsk tsk. Mrs. Bulma, you raised a very moral son. Look! He is overcome with shame at his recent activities! Oh, poor Trunks….he just can't admit his feelings. We're really very much in love."
"USAGI, GIVE ME THAT CAMERA!"
"See? We share everything."
"EXCEPT THE CAMERA!!!"
"Oh, all right, I won't share."
Lorraine was totally cracking up. Usagi turned the camera on the laughing girl, and then on everyone else in the cabin. She gave Trunks' parents a very detailed tour of the cabin, providing a running commentary. She eventually made her way outside, where she spotted their leader.
"Bulma, Vegeta, Bra, and whoever else may be watching this, this wonderful man here is James Antoine, our group leader. James, tell us. How do you feel about this camp?"
"Well, we've been able to reform everyone that's come here, and Dr. Winner is so adorable!"
"Right. Tell us more about this tournament."
"Well, every year we have a tournament. All ten groups go up against each other in a series of tests. Whoever wins gets the trophy, and gets an all expense paid trip to Hawaii."
"Is that because we all die of mysterious causes in Hawaii?"
He laughed madly. "OF COURSE NOT!"
"Riiiight. Okay, let's go see the showers. Bulma, you might want to leave."
Usagi marched right into the showers, the camera rolling the whole time. The girls all looked over at her and waved. One girl punched the 'on' button to her stereo and began to dance. Four girls were dancing in a line to No Doubt. Usagi laughed.
"Yeah, well these are the showers. Nick, what the heck are you doing in here?"
"Um, well, I was…um…studying."
"Yeah, I'm sure. Believe me, I didn't come here to shoot a porn movie. There ought to be some action around here somewhere…like there! Hello Tendo!"
The blue haired girl turned around and stared at Usagi angrily. "Go away, Tsukino. I don't need to see your ugly face today."
"Aw…'cause I was totally thinking you could be a porn star or something!"
"I'LL KILL YOU!"
Usagi threw the camera to a smirking girl, who kept the camera on the fight the whole time. Akane and Usagi were both in a fighting stance. Akane was breathing heavily.
"I'll kill you, Tsukino."
"Whoa, you really do have some problems!"
Akane let out a shriek and charged at Usagi. Usagi squealed and flipped over the enraged girl's head. Akane's foot landed on a bar of soap, and she flew into the tile wall. After a few seconds, she groaned and fell backwards onto the ground. Usagi looked solemnly at the Akane-sized indent in the wall, and then inched over to the downed girl and nudged her with a toe. Then she knelt and rapped on her forehead with her knuckles. She looked up and smiled cheerfully.
"Well, she out of it! Hey, Rach, could you take her to the nurse's?"
"Why can't you?"
"Because I absolutely hate nurses."
"Fine."
"Thank you!"
Usagi reclaimed the camera and wandered over to the boys shower. She stopped right outside, sighed, and moved away.
"I'm scared of that place," she confessed to the camera. "Ugh. Guys. It's probably dirty in there, too. AH!!! Here's my buddy Hiiro! Hi Hiiro!"
"Hn."
"How do you like volunteering at this camp? Are you having a miserable time?"
"Give it up, Bunny."
"Eeeee!!! And here's my buddy Ranma! Bulma, Vegeta, this is my pal Saotome Ranma. He can turn into a girl. It's really cool, but he gets mad at me when I splash him. HA! It was so funny! Girl-Ranma was looking for hot water last night and GOT KISSED BY A GUY!!!! It was so funny. Ah, the guy's in the nurse's now. Eep! I'm gonna shut up. And why should I give up talking to Hiiro? It's my fondest hope that someday he will say something civil to me!"
"Bunny. Hiiro's really anti-social."
"Ranma! Hii-kun's not anti-social! He just doesn't like anyone! Oh, wow. Do you like anyone Hiiro? OH! I have an idea! Okay, if you hate everyone, don't kiss someone. If you *do* like someone, kiss someone!"
He glared at her, and then looked around. Then he rolled his eyes and kissed her full on the mouth. He pulled away and stalked off.
"Whoo…! He's a good kisser!" she said, beaming into the camera. "So he does like someone! I wonder who…?"
Ranma slapped his forehead. "You're so dense, Bunny."
"Oh! And here's where I killed a giant, human eating monster! It was huge! It had these huge fangs, dripping with blood! It was leaning down to eat Lexie when I killed it! I'm the camp's hero now!"
"Bunny, it was a spider."
"Shut up!"
Hiiro watched from behind a tree as Usagi and Ranma joked around. Usagi was so happy around teens like herself. When she was around normal teens, she was callous and mean. She was that way around adults too. Was this how she was before the fire changed her life? Because it really had. If that fire hadn't happened, she wouldn't have sold part of her soul, and she wouldn't have gone blind. If she hadn't gone blind, she wouldn't have ever made those disks. If she hadn't made those disks and downloaded those programs, she wouldn't have ever come to the camp, and the war would be lost. If she hadn't come to camp, he wouldn't have met her. Ugh. Emotions were so…messy.
Hiiro grunted and loped towards the main office. Maybe he could go shoot some cans. Or something.
"ALL RIGHT!"
Usagi and Lorraine screamed in unison, and James looked at them in disgust. He roared at them, and they screamed again. He frowned and bellowed at them. They clutched each other and screamed. Bleac popped her head up from where she was dusting her pictures and screamed at all three of them.
This went on for quite some time, until Trunks came in.
"SHUT UP!"
"YOU!" they yelled.
James growled at them. "Everyone! Outside! Now! Single file!" he bellowed.
Usagi and Lorraine tumbled off the bed and ran outside, closely followed by Shiro, Lexie, and the boys. Once outside, they stood around in a messy group, muttering. James marched outside.
"All right! I know the last two days have been all nice and cozy. I know you don't want to run six miles. I know you don't want to go through the "playground", and I know you don't want to run through the tree maze. But guess what? You're going to. Girls, go inside and get dressed in the clothes on your bed. Pull back your hair. Take off all jewelry. Make sure you have nothing that could get in the way of the training. GO!"
Usagi gave him the finger and trudged inside. Five minutes later, they all came out wearing the exact same thing. They were all wearing combat boots, camouflage pants, and tight white tank tops. They each had ponytails, except of course for Lorraine who's hair was still spiked. Usagi examined her outfit, and then smiled.
"Hey Lorra-chan! We look like army chicks!"
That night:
Usagi looked up from her position on the floor. The stars windmilled above her, and she was sure that her heart was just going to die any second. She felt like she had been rolled over by a steamroller. Repeatedly. The Sadist smirked at her.
"How do you feel?"
She whimpered.
He nodded once, and then looked at everyone else. "How do y'all feel?"
A chorus of groans answered his query. He smirked. "Just as I thought. You're all weak."
Then he left.
The seven teens in group ten lay there, drifting in and out of unconsciousness. Lorraine looked over at Usagi, and then over at Bleac, who wasn't in much better shape. She was entirely certain that they had entered Hell.
Usagi lost track of time. All she knew was that it was cold, and that she was going to get hypothermia if they stayed out. So she crawled over to a tree and pulled herself up. She leaned against the tree, catching her breath. She was sort of understanding why kids stayed in line after coming to this camp. They were scared to death that they'd have to come back. She shook her head, waited until the world stopped spinning, and carefully turned to look down at the others.
"Guys, we have to get back to the cabin. If we don't we'll get hypothermia."
Nick's voice rose out of the gloom. "Bunny…I can't even move. I hurt too much…."
Her voice snapped through the cold. "Guess what? I don't care! If you don't get up, you'll die! I'll be desolate! Inconsolable! Then I'll probably commit suicide. Trunks and Goten already left, and they're back in their nice, warm beds! GET UP, NOW!"
After several muttered curses, she had everyone standing. Several minutes later, they were dragging each other back to the cabin. Something in her brain twitched, and she fell behind as they kept stumbling towards home. Home, eh? Funny to think that in only three days that cabin had become "home". She turned around, wondering what had made her stop.
"Nice to see you again, Usagi."
She couldn't be surprised. She was way too tired to be surprised. "Hello Amos Whittaker."
"Now. About those gems in your wrists."
She didn't respond. She was too tired.
"You're supposed to swallow them. Concentrate on them, and they'll come out."
She glared at her wrists, and sure enough, they popped out. "So…I swallow them?" she asked slowly.
He nodded. She sighed, and dropped them into her mouth. Then she gulped them down. Nothing happened. She turned to him angrily.
"What the heck was that for? I just swallowed two indigestible stones for nothing!"
He smiled, and then it happened. The heat began in her stomach. Then it spread outward, touching her insides, warming her muscles, lending color to her pale visage. She felt the gold come back into her faded half-silver hair, and the blue come back into her drained orbs. She gasped at the feeling of power.
"What was that?" she choked out.
Amos went down on his toes in front of her. "Usagi, you realize that you lost half of your soul, correct?"
"Yeah…" she said suspiciously.
"Well, we couldn't leave you empty. So we filled you up with demon fire. Now, technically, you're half demon. Those stones are in every magical thing. If you kill one, they burst into flames. Nothing will be left except the stones. Eat them, and you gain power."
"I'm half demon?" she asked witlessly.
He nodded. "Yes. Usagi! Listen to me! You must go through with this training. The more you train, the stronger you are. I will send a teacher to train you at nights. Now go. Your secret training starts tomorrow."
Then he disappeared.
No big lights, no fancy noises. No good bye, either. Shoot. And he was really cute, too. She wandered back to the cabin in somewhat of a daze. She was fairly certain that being a demon was something that was no supposed to happen to her.
That's what she thought, anyways.
"I'm half demon?"
Usagi sighed, put the whole experience down to indigestion, and turned to go.
"Princess Serenity, stop right where you are."
The cold voice of her moon mama froze her. She turned, drawing upon her instincts to guide her.
"What do you want?" Her voice sounded cold, even to herself.
Queen Serenity marched forward and put her hands on her hips. "Serenity, I was trusting that you would overcome temptation."
Usagi could not believe her ears. "Resist temptation? What are you smoking? All my life you told me to be unselfish! To be sensitive to the need of others! Well, I think that selling my soul is pretty freaking unselfish, and that my family was definitely in need!"
Queen Serenity went white. "You were to marry Endymion and rule Crystal Tokyo! How on earth could you just throw it away?"
Usagi growled. "Why is it suddenly MY fault? I didn't do a damn thing! They kicked me out of their little clique because I WAS BLIND! I was perfectly willing to yield the position to someone else! It would be stupid for me to keep holding the position! I WAS BLIND! But they attacked me! They told me how stupid I was! They told me how worthless I was! Mamoru told me how he had never loved me! The only ones that stayed next to me were the Outers, and that was only because I was the Princess! My mom hated me! My dad hated me! My brother made faces at me because I WAS BLIND! I had absolutely no control over anything! No control! I was like a passenger in the backseat, watching as other people drove my life! WHY IS IT MY FAULT? I DID NOTHING!" she screamed at her mother.
Queen Serenity took a step forward and slapped her. Usagi's hand went up to her cheek, as her eyes stared at her mother in shock. The forest was dead silent as the Queen and the Princess stared at each other.
"Don't talk back to me, young lady." The queen hissed.
"You hit me." Usagi's voice was flat and emotionless. God, why had she even thought to try? Adults never saw anything outside of their own, pretty little box. They looked at someone like her and said only, "Take her away. Fix her. She's broken." They never stopped to think that there was another side to the story. They never stopped to think that it was their goddamned fault!
"You accuse me of being dishonorable. You blame me for their mistakes. You hit me."
"Serenity, you will continue this…program…until Setsuna comes to collect you. You will leave the camp with her, and you will return to you life, the way it should me. Liko Mia will keep the title of Sailor Moon, but you will remain the Princess. Farewell."
Then she disappeared in a shower of those annoying silver flakes. Maybe she had a dandruff problem. There was shampoo to treat things like that…
So Setsuna-mama was going to come "collect" her. And apparently she was going to be welcomed back into the Senshi group with open arms.
Bull.
The next morning:
"WAKE UP!"
Usagi popped an eye open. It couldn't see well, so it coaxed the other open as well. So, as a result of opening her eyes, she found herself staring right into the face of the Sadist.
"Aaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeee!"
She threw herself out of bed, yanked on her clothes and sprinted out the door. He blinked, and then smiled.
Ten minutes later, when he got everyone outside, Usagi was coming back from her six mile run. She jogged to a stop and then flopped onto the ground.
"Ugh…"
The Sadist kicked her, none too lightly. "Get up! Keep moving, and the cramps will go away! SHIRO! SON! EVERYONE!! GET YOUR LAZY ASSES INTO GEAR AND RUN!"
Usagi pulled herself up, and looked at the man above that was smiling. Wait. Smiling and Sadist were to words that were not good when used together. She began to wriggle away from him in sheer terror. He grinned, and picked her up.
"We're going to put you through the Playground until they get back."
Damn.
"Smiling sadists. When you see them, take my advice," she muttered into the hidden camera, "run like hell."
Trunks and Goten were the first to return from their nice, leisurely jog. Seriously, they were expecting Mr. Sadist to be standing there, waiting to torture them. Even though it wasn't really torture. But anyways, they weren't greeted by that sight. The area was totally empty. Wind howled through the trees, heralding the tornado.
It came crashing through the trees within five seconds. Screaming.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Usagi leaped over their heads and landed on a branch. She was shaking like a leaf. Her arms and legs were wrapped firmly around the tree branch, and her eyes were wide as saucers.
Goten ambled over to stand below her. He tilted his head back, and grinned at her. "Say, Bunny, you going to come down?"
She didn't even move. There was a rustling sound, and suddenly she shot up the rest of the tree, attempting to mold herself to the trunk. The Sadist came through the bushes, looking frustrated.
"Son, have you seen Tsukino?"
Goten clasped his hands behind his back and shook his head.
"Of course not, Mr. Antoine. Are you looking for her?"
"The damn twit ran off. I have to admit, she set a new record for the newbie Playground time. And now she's hiding so well that I CAN'T FIND HER!"
Trunks smirked. "What was her inspiration?"
"I had a spider. I had no idea that they worked so wonderfully. Say, Trunks, do you have a boyfriend?"
Trunks turned purple and fell to the ground. Goten thumped him on the back, and helped him up. Trunks looked warily at the innocent looking leader.
"Uh, I don't lean that way. I've got a girlfriend!"
The man sighed. "Of course. All the good guys are taken. But let's run this idea past you! Your girlfriend would never know!"
Trunks' face drained of color. "Uh…I have…to…go dry-clean…my mother…I mean…my girl…I mean…essay for school…my dog…uh, I have to go!"
Goten watched the lavender boy run off and totally busted up laughing. The Sadist sighed unhappily and started off down the trail.
"Just making sure the other morons haven't killed themselves…." He muttered as he passed Goten.
Goten kept that perfect smile on his face. You probably know the one. The one that he used to charm the principal, the girls, the parents of the girls, and even his parents. Because God knows they always favored Gohan. His face turned bitter. Gohan the superhero. Gohan the nice guy. Gohan the wonderful boyfriend. Gohan the scholar. Gohan the dad. And Goten was forced to follow in his brother's shadow all his life.
So he had done something that Gohan had never even tried. He got mixed up in drugs. He did Meth, XTC, Special K, and lots of other things. He had been caught, and got in major trouble. He knew that he had screwed his life up, and once he had been detoxified, was shoved right back into his brother's track.
But now he had something that his brother never had. His brother had always lived to make other people happy. But now Goten had a select group of friends that were screwed up, just like him.
Speaking of friends….
"Hey Bunny, it's safe to come down now!"
He waited, and then frowned when there was no answer.
"Bunny?"
Why were lakes always so damn peaceful? They had absolutely no right to be. Everything in the world was screwed up and chaotic, why couldn't the lake be? Why was there a pocket of calm in the midst of the whirling stream of chaos. As she moved on in her life, Usagi began to realize more and more that Chaos had won more completely that she ever had. Sure, the world had its good people. Like Quatre. He was the nicest guy she had ever met. Well, that wasn't fair. Motoki had been nice too. But Quatre was nice in a walk-all-over-me way, while Toki-kun was nice in a cheer-up / favorite-teddy-bear type.
Usagi bent down, picked up a stone, and threw it as hard as she could. She watched it arc high into the air, and then plummet into the water. When it hit, the water rippled out in wide rings. Usagi gazed at them, seeing nothing. She sat down and pulled her knees to her chest. Then she propped her chin on her knees and thought.
So. Her mother was taking an interest in her life again. This, of course, did not bode well for the bunny. Whenever mothers stuck their noses into business that wasn't theirs, they screwed everything up. Which was looking like a definite possibility, judging by the way things were going.
According to what the Wicked Witch had said, Setsuna was coming to pick her up and take her away in the near future. Once this happened, she was expected to resume being little miss princess again. Probably even take back her relationship with Mamoru. Renew shattered bonds with the Inners.
As far as she could see, none of this had a chance in hell of happening.
First off, she wouldn't let Setsuna take her away. If she had to, she could pull rank. But that wouldn't be enough if she had direct orders from the Witch. So she'd have to deal with that particular problem in the more believable world. She could act like a total bitch when she came…so they wouldn't release her. Or she could just hide out in the forest. And if worse came to worse, she could always hunt down a…magical thing and eat its…stone…things.
But in the unlikely event that she was kidnapped, there would be the whole trip home. They'd have to stop at a gas station so she could get out and pee…so she could just hop a semi that was there. Or hitchhike, if she had too. Huh. She had always wanted to do that, anyways.
But if even THAT didn't work, she could just ignore her senshi, refuse to have anything to do with them, and kick Mamoru in the balls. Or she could kill herself.
She considered this, and then shook her head. "Nah. Too much work. I'll just refuse to leave. That'll work. I don't think they'd release me, anyways."
"Talking to yourself, now?"
She shrieked and spun around. There was an absolutely HOT guy sitting behind her. He was wearing black. And he had a sword. And had red eyes. Damn. He was a demon. BUT HE WAS HOT!
She turned on her sweet smile. "Go away."
He smirked. "Nuh-uh. I'm not leaving you, girlie. Too much fun watching you think. Anyways, I'm your tutor. Get up."
She glared at him. "Why should I?"
"Because if you don't, I'll kill you."
"Okay, you've convinced me."
She jumped up and looked at him with those deep blue eyes. She arranged her face into that cute look that always got the grown-ups. Then she smiled at him. He simply rolled his eyes and shoved her off the cliff.
I'M TOO YOUNG TO DIE, her mind screamed frantically as she flailed her arms and legs. Her logic control looked at her hyperactive brain.
'Well then fly, you dumbass.'
Suddenly the wind stopped battering her face. Was she dead? Everyone always said that being dead would be like just going to sleep….
"Get up!"
Nope. Definitely not dead. That stuck-up, evil demon would NOT be in Heaven with her. Er…Purgatory. Or whatever. She opened her eyes, and found water about three inches from her nose. Her eyes widened, and she backed away. Then she realized that she wasn't standing on anything. She tried the equivalent of standing, and found her feet planted securely on…
…air.
Oh my. Usagi's mind promptly went into shock, and she calmly flew back up the cliff. She set her feet down on solid ground and looked at the demon.
"I hate you."
"Such strong words!"
"But so, so appropriate."
"USAGI!"
She eeped and spun around. Flashlights were shining through the trees, shedding their light over everything. She gulped, and ran towards the lights. The demon gazed after her and laughed. He smirked and looked over at a tree, where a squirming body was tied to a tree.
"Well, that was easy. She is *mine* to train, you understand that?"
The figure gave a muffled protest. The demon walked casually over.
"So, you disagree? I don't think you're in any state to protest."
The demon sauntered away, leaving the corpse tied to a tree with an arrow in its chest.
Usagi lay in bed with her chin propped on her arms. Thinking again. Enough of thinking about the Witch. Time to figure out how they could have some fun. She flopped over in bed, sighed loudly, and stared at the ceiling. Her eyes ran along the rafters, and then finally hit the door. She stopped. She smiled.
"Eureka!" she whispered.
Lorraine leaped out of bed and grabbed Usagi's neck. Her eyes were wild, and she was grinning madly. Lorraine shook the blonde furiously.
"What is it?? Tell me! Tell me! I need something to do!" Lorraine whispered urgently.
Usagi glared at the black girl. "I'll tell you if you stop shaking me!"
Lorraine promptly let go and leaned forwards to listen to the plan. Usagi cupped her hands around Lorraine's ear and whispered the plan. Lorraine nodded, and then clapped happily.
"It'll be so much fun!"
Lorraine jumped over her bed, tripped, and did a belly flop onto Bleac's bed. One eye opened, and then the other followed quickly. Bleac brought her feet up and threw Lorraine off. Then she sat up and stared at the two sets of eyes crouched by her bed.
"You know," she commented, "you're really scary people. What's up?"
When she found out, she burst out laughing. Lorraine and Usagi both shoved their friend's face into the pillow and stared at the curtain nervously.
Ranma poked his head out and looked around sleepily. "Hullo? What's the problem?"
Usagi cleared her throat and pitched it to sound like Tsuzumi's. "The damn Irish bitch had a nightmare. Go away, you ecchi!"
Ranma withdrew rapidly, and they soon heard four sets of snores. Usagi and Lorraine breathed sighs of relief. Bleac had *almost* busted them. And that wouldn't be fun. They waited without moving for fifteen minutes. An owl hooted outside the window. Usagi glanced at it, and caught a glimpse of it just in time to see its eyes glow.
I'll get it tomorrow. she promised herself.
Usagi and Lorraine stood up slowly, and checked for any irregular breathing. They heard nothing besides the deep, steady breathing of four males. They grinned at each other, hauled Bleac up, and then dug into Usagi's bag, giggling quietly as they pulled out the supplies. Then they tiptoed over to the separation and slipped into the boy's half of the cabin.
An hour later three more female snores joined the others in the fantastic Land of Snores. Wonderful place. It gets you kicked a lot, though.
*Usagi's Dream*
Chibi Usagi was sitting on a counter with her hand in a cookie jar. She heard the door open, and then heavy steps on the front hallway. She smiled, showing her missing tooth. Usagi pulled her hand out of the cookie jar, stuffed a chocolate chip cookie in her mouth, and put the lid back on. She toppled of the counter top and ran clumsily over to her backpack. She looked around, unzipped it, and pulled out a white piece of paper and ran to the hallway.
There she stopped and listened. She wasn't supposed to come in when Mommy and Daddy were talking.
"Dan, just give me the keys. You'll get another DUI." Her Mommy.
"Shut up, Asuza. I drive better than you any day."
"Dan, I need to take Usagi to Kenji and Ikuko's house."
"I told you to stop going there!"
There was the familiar sound of flesh striking flesh, and then her mother's cry. The sequence came again, and then the heavy feet came for her.
Later that night, sporting several new bruises, Usagi lay on her bed on her stomach. Tears were running down her cheeks. Why was her daddy so mean? Maybe it was her. She was a bad kid, so her daddy didn't love her…. A fat tear plopped down on the ripped picture she was slowly taping back together. She had spent so much time on it… Finally exhaustion overtook the little girl, and she cried herself to sleep.
The sixteen year old Usagi stepped from the shadows and looked down sadly at the picture. There was a picture of three stick figures. Two were taller than the middle one, which was about the size of a small child. The figures were labeled. Mommy. Daddy. Me. She remembered that picture all to well…
*Fin*
"Usagi, Usagi, wake up!"
Her eyes opened slowly, and she looked up at seven concerned faces. Lorraine touched her shoulder, but Nick opened his mouth first.
"Why were you crying?"
Usagi frowned and sat up. "None of your damn business."
Then she saw the four boy's faces, and she went though a three second Olympian struggle to keep from either smiling or totally cracking up. A civil war raged within her, but luckily (THANK GOD) she won. She kept her face perfectly calm.
Ranma smiled thinly. "Good. Now maybe you can tell us something."
The bunny smiled. "Depends on what the answer is."
Trunks shoved his face right up to hers. "WHAT THE FUCKING HELL DID YOU DO TO OUR FACES?"
For their faces were decorated in a delightful array of colors. Trunks was sporting all purple. His cheeks were tinted a light lavender, his lips were coated in dark purple lipstick, and his eye-shadow was a beautiful shade of purple. Absolutely fantastic. Goten was colored in hues of blue. Ranma was decked out colors ranging from faded red to deep, dark red. Nick was in black. Frankly, Usagi couldn't find anything wrong with the picture. She reached up to her temple and made sure that the mini-corder was shooting. Assured that it was, she smiled charmingly.
Goten was clenching and unclenching his fist. "Tsukino Usagi, can you find anything wrong with this picture?"
Usagi cocked her head. Everyone waited. Then she shook her head. "No. You look like queers, but that isn't a change from your usual selves. Frankly, I don't see what the fuss is all about."
Nick smiled. Ugh. He was picking up bad habits from the Sadist. "Usagi. You realize that we are going to kill you very, very slowly."
Usagi let out a small squeak. "You're just joking, right guys?"
They closed in on her, all grinning evilly. Ranma poked her. "Does this look like a joking face to you, Bunny?"
"Uh-oh…aaaaiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeee!!!! THAT TICKLES!!! AHHHH!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!"
Usagi totally cracked when the boys all began to tickle her. She screamed, and lashed out with her feet. The tickling didn't stop. God, she could barely breathe! BUT OH LORD, THAT TICKLED!
Usagi shrieked again, and tried to wriggle out of their Tickling-Reach. No such luck. But at fate would have it, she was saved.
"Tsukino Usagi, would you please accompany me to the counselor's office? Oh my…."
For the aide had laid eyes upon the four recent Freaks Of Nature, and was looking pale. Have you ever seen Rocky Horror Picture Show? Well, first off, it's the most insane movies ever created. Secondly, they have all the guys dressed up in questionable costumes. But that's not what I'm getting at. The lunatic of the movie, Dr. Frank N. Furter, wore all sorts of insane makeup. So that was the first thing that came to mind when the poor aide saw the four boys.
And it didn't help the picture much when she saw them sprawled all over the bed, and the little blonde girl breathing heavily beneath them. Her face turned bright red and she stumbled out of the cabin.
"Tsukino Usagi, please come out here!"
Inside, everyone was totally cracking up. LOL! The look on her face was priceless! Attacking the boys, and having them retaliate was totally worth it, just to see the look on her face! Usagi laughed again as she pictured her face and threw all the people off her bed.
She ignored the fact that she was only wearing a tight white halter top along with navy blue pajama bottoms and went right to the mirror. Usagi brushed her teeth for three minutes, spit into the sink, wiped her mouth, and then grabbed the brush. Then she smiled. When she came out, everyone stared.
She had her hair up in two odangos, with short pigtails falling to her shoulders. She dimpled at them, and put on her slippers. Then she glared at them.
"What?"
Nick shook his head. "Nothing. Just that the hairstyle is cute."
Usagi smiled. "Thanks, Nick."
Then she hopped outside, already planning the evils that the day would hold. Maybe she could toilet paper someone's cabin. Or sneak inside and demolish it with honey, feathers, and other fun stuff. Or…she could throw a party. Oh my god! Usagi smiled gleefully. How cool would that be? She could put on her mixed CD, bring out her stereos, knock out the aide, invite people, come up with a spot, arrange it…HOW COOL!
The aide stopped her with a still strangled voice. "We're here."
They stood there for a while, until the aide cleared her throat.
"You're supposed to go inside."
Usagi smacked her forehead. "Oh, silly me. All right, although I fail to see why this is more important than my previous activities."
The aide blushed a hot red, and hurried off. Usagi laughed, and moved to go inside. She was stopped, however, by yet another voice. This one more welcome than the last.
"Hey, where're you off to?"
She threw her arms around the braided boy and squeezed him tightly. "Ohayo Duo-kun! I have no idea. I thought that we were training again today, but apparently not. I kinda figured that one out when I didn't wake up looking into the Sadist's face."
"The Sadist? Do I want to know?"
Usagi shook her head. "Nope."
Duo sighed. "Yeah, I thought so. Well, I better be going. See ya, Bunny!"
She waved after him, and then smiled when he was out of distance. He was so kawaii! But it wasn't like the oh-my-god-I'm yours cute. It was the little-brother cute. Which was weird. She never had a brother besides Shingo, and he was adopted anyways. And that didn't work out well.
She shrugged, and pushed through the door to the counselor's office. The woman sitting in the desk was pouring over several files. Usagi caught a name before the woman closed it and shoved it under the desk. It was her name. For some reason, this didn't sit right with her. These bastards probably knew more about her than she did.
"Take a seat, Usagi."
Usagi slouched in the chair and glowered at the woman. "You may call me Tsukino-san until I tell you otherwise." She announced in her imperial voice.
The woman stopped, looked at her, and then folded her hands. "As you wish…Tsukino-san. May I ask you a few questions?"
"No."
There was an uncomfortable silence, until the damn counselor shattered it.
"Why?"
"Because I don't want big noses in my head." Usagi replied promptly, without opening her eyes.
The counselor frowned. "Usagi, we're not going to be able to help you unless you open up."
Usagi's eyes snapped open. "I don't want my help goddamnit! It's not even my fault!"
"How so?"
The blonde clamped her mouth shut. Nothing else was coming out of *her* lips. The counselor smiled again, obviously trying to keep calm. Usagi was very obviously stubborn. Why did *she* have to deal with Group Ten? Every other kid had a substance abuse problem, which she knew how to fix. Every other kid had a motivation problem, or a bad influence. Mrs. Lana Elliot knew how to deal with those kinds of kids. But every child in group 10 had gone bad for unknown reasons.
Like Usagi. She had been a sweet, cheerful girl with lots of friends. Then the fire came, and she went blind. Then she went bad. But no one knew why. Except for maybe Dr. Winner, but he wasn't talking. She snapped to attention when Usagi began to speak.
"Did you know that I never really had a family?"
She was holding Lana's family photo. Lana chose not to respond, lest it break Usagi out of this rare, peaceful mood. She held her breath and prayed that Usagi would speak on. The bunny did.
"My first family was dysfunctional. My dad beat my mother and I, and then the state took me away. Then they sold me to the Tsukinos. Ikuko and Kenji already had Shingo. They didn't need me. But they took me anyways. I was raised as their daughter. My life was perfect until I turned fourteen."
Lana bit her lip, going against every instinct as a counselor, and bit back the obvious question. If it was God's will, the blonde teen would speak on her own free will.
Usagi traced Lana's family's faces, a rare tender look on her face. "I never knew what happened. I went blind…and everyone hated me. I didn't understand. I still don't. My friends…." She trailed off.
Lana couldn't resist. "What did your friends do?"
Usagi stiffened, and then her eyes snapped up to bore into Lana's gray eyes. "Fuck off."
Lana sighed audibly. "Usagi, please talk to me! I'm trying to help you!"
The blonde girl jumped up. "No you're not! You're not trying to help me! God, who is? Every fucking adult that I've ever met doesn't give a damn about any of us! They just want us fixed up and put back together so the perfect people don't have to deal with us! That's the truth and you damn well know it!"
Lana tried not to shrink under the distraught blonde's tirade. Was that what they honestly thought? That no one cared? But that would make sense. No one cared, so why bother? If that was true, she'd have to fix it!
"Usagi, that's not true!" she said softly.
The blonde suddenly ripped a lamp off of the desk and threw it at the wall with all her might.
"JUST ADMIT IT!" she screamed as she watched it shatter.
Lana jumped out of the chair with her hand over her heart. What had she done wrong? Seeing no other alternative, she tried to placate the teen.
"Usagi, calm down!"
"NO!" she screamed. She hurtled the picture she held at the counselor and ran from the cabin. She heard Lana calling after her, and increased her speed. Ha! Teach them to treat her like a kid. It was so frustrating to be talked at by a parent! They just didn't understand, so they shouldn't try to! Then they would pull that spiel about how "they were kids once too, and had gone through the same things". Bull. They've forgotten. Wasn't that the whole point of maturing anyways? Growing out of those teen tendencies?
Usagi sped up again and increased speed, until she was at a flat out run. Arms pumping, feet thudding against the dry dirt, she ran and ran and ran. Her mind was churning, rolling over ideas and wondering just what the hell grown-ups thought they were trying to pull off.
Finally, after about a half hour of straight running, she slowed, stopped, and began to walk around in circles to work out her cramps. Then she dropped, did 50 push-ups, 100 crunches, and then stretched her arms and legs. Then she sighed, stood up, and reluctantly headed back to camp.
And was stopped.
Just what was it with this forest, her, and unwelcome people? It just didn't work for her. Ugh. Who could it possibly be now?
"So you're the stone-source I've been looking for."
Or what, she thought dimly as she looked at this absolutely hideous…freaky thing. It was big, blue, orange, and green, and had these crazy tentacle looking things sticking out of its sides. It sort of looked like a spider with six legs and two tentacles. It glowed at her.
"Surrender a Source."
Usagi gulped. Why, oh why, had she skipped training that one night? There was no way she could win. Of course, there was also no way that she was going to give up her stones. So.
"What's a Source?"
The spider-thing did something that looked like it was rolling its eyes. It made a squishing sound, and then thumped to the ground.
"A Source is one of four things. A Dream Mirror, a Star Steed, a Heart Crystal, or a Soul Gem. Give me one."
Usagi smiled at him winningly. "How about we just go our separate ways and forget about each other, okay?"
She turned to go, already coming up with an excuse for what happened, when she felt something shoot out of her chest. She screamed in pain and fell to the ground. THIS WAS NOT GOOD!
She was hazily aware of the monster laughing above her. Then she felt a wrenching sensation, a splitting pain, and then nothingness. Damn. There was the other half of her. Gone.
Usagi tried to roll over, but just thinking about it made her sick. She curled up in a fetal position and cried like a baby. He hadn't taken her heart, her dreams, or her power. He had taken her star steed. AND IT WASN'T A FUN FEELING! AND IT WAS A SPIDER!
Her pain fled under the heat of her terror / rage. She leaped up and looked around. IT WASN'T THERE! Her mind was running around in circles screaming hysterically while her logic control center just cried like a baby. If there was one thing that she had for sure, it was arachnophobia. Oh, God yes.
Anyways, finding out that it wasn't there absolutely terrified her. Of course, the only sensible thing to do was to HUNT AND DESTROY. Of course, she'd have to be sneaky about it. But there was no other choice, really. It was either HUNT AND DESTROY or wait for it to come back and pick her off little by little. So. The only reasonable choice, of course, was to HUNT AND DESTROY.
So off she went, bent on HUNTING AND DESTROYING the big spider that stole her star steed.
Left behind in the dust, Amos, our friendly Australian demon sweat dropped. Then he scratched the back of his head with this kawaii bewildered look on his face.
"Does she even realize that I filled her up again?"
A few miles down the road, Usagi was floating above the spider, who was looking up at her in terror. The blonde's pigtails were floating around her, giving her a pissed of demon look. Which, um, thanks to our friend Amos, wasn't a stretch of the imagination.
"Listen pal," Usagi was saying, "this is how I see it. YOU'RE A SPIDER, you stole my star steed, left me to die, AND YOU'RE A SPIDER! So. I'm thinking that it's payback time. Now. Give me your Sources of die a slow and painful death."
The spider stood still for a moment, and then tried to make a break for the trees. Usagi saw this and narrowed her eyes.
"Like hell!" she yelled as she sent a specialized blast towards the SPIDER.
It froze, made a sizzling sound, and toppled over. Usagi totally ignored the body as it burst into flames and flew over to the Sources. Smiling evilly, she absorbed the items. Then she turned, picked up the Gems, and swallowed them. Smiling a little at the warmth, she bounced home.
Back at the cabin, she heard hoots and catcalls. Smirking, she advanced on the cabin. She peeked her head inside and looked around in curiosity. There was no one on the girl's side besides Shiro and Lexie, and they didn't matter. Bleac came through the curtain right at that moment and spotted Usagi. She squealed and ran over to the blonde.
"Bunny, Bunny, Bunny, Bunny! Come *here*! We're all playing strip poker and guess who's losing!"
Usagi grinned. "Tell me!"
"NICK! HE ONLY NEEDS TO LOSE ONE MORE TIME!"
Usagi squealed and ran through the curtain. Tsuzumi stared at the curtain, just waiting for it to happen. Sure enough, within a matter of minutes she head Trunks laugh.
"You lose, Nick!"
There was a mild silence and then she heard Lorraine and Usagi's twin giggle.
"Ooooooooooh!"
Then everyone burst out laughing.