The Color of a Warrior: Sapphire
Ami walked along the street, carefully balancing an open book on one arm, carrying a bag of groceries and sipping delicately at a cup of hot chocolate. She was wrapped up in her book; hardly paying attention to the people she was passing on the street. People were watching her as she walked by – the strange blue-haired girl lost in her own world, but she didn't notice. She had stopped noticing a long time ago.
The click of the lock turning sounded loudly in the open apartment. She walked past the message board that read, "Will be home late, don't wait up! Good luck w/physics tomorrow! – Mom." The physics book she had been reading lay on the table as she put away the groceries, leaving out only enough to make a sandwich. Thirty minutes later her plate was empty, her cat Mozart was thoroughly enjoying an ear-scratching in her lap, and her eyes were skimming over her physics book.
A sense of restlessness was filling her. Her gaze drifted outside to the snow gently falling, and she decided to get out for awhile. She set Mozart down, got up and grabbed her keys on the way out. Surely someone would be at the arcade at this time of night.
Walking down the street, Ami couldn't help but feel a little lonely. Even though she had all of these great new friends and her mother had been making efforts to be home more often, she still felt like something was missing, something she couldn't quite quantify. It wasn't that she was depressed, and it certainly wasn't school – despite the fact that she studied often, it was more for personal enrichment. The grades just came to her naturally and she really had to put in little effort.
The root of her problem was quite evident to her – all that she had left after her friends, family, and her studies was her job as a senshi. Lately she had felt increasingly more useless, especially now that Sailor Venus had shown up. Mercury's powers were defensive at best, and even Sailor Moon had been growing a lot, and relying on Mercury's strategy and knowledge a lot less. She felt like a dead weight, and didn't know what to do about it.
She was almost to the arcade when she heard the boy sobbing from an alleyway. She peeked around the corner and barely stifled a gasp. Three much older boys were towering over him, laughing and having obviously been hurting the poor boy. Sitting in the snow near him she saw a doll, probably the source of his torture. The sight of the boy, curled on the ground crying, the boys standing over him, the idea that they were picking on him, inflicting physical pain on this poor boy for having a doll made her do something she hadn't even expected. It made her blood boil, and it made her decide to transform.
Seconds later she dropped down from a nearby rooftop, landing softly in between the bullies and the little boy. The three of them backed away for a moment, taken by surprise as she dropped in out of nowhere, and then proceeded to laugh. The leader of the group stepped forward, and it was only then that Ami realized that these boys were probably very close to her own age, and so they were much taller. Suddenly she felt as though she couldn't breathe. She didn't have the kind of strength the others did.
"Awww, what a pretty little girl, stepping in to save the baby?" One of his cronies cackled behind him.
"She better run if she knows what's good for her." Crony number 2 cackled right alongside him.
"She looks like she couldn't beat up a half-dead chicken!"
Suddenly her anger came rushing back, and as the leader grabbed for her, she punched him square in the jaw. There wasn't any mystical senshi strength behind that one, just good solid Ami. He reeled back into Crony #2, and Crony #1 charged at her as the two of them went down in a heap. She gave him a good hook to the stomach, and as he faltered, gasping for air, she threw him into his friends on the ground. She stalked over to them, causing them to cringe.
"Look here, you little punks. Just because you're bigger and you can is no excuse for picking on someone smaller than you for whatever reason. I'll give you five seconds to clear out of here before I freeze your feet to the ground and use you as punching bags. And if I ever see or hear of you picking on little kids again, that's exactly what I'll do." The leader looked up from underneath Crony #1, fear shining in his eyes, and shoved Crony #1 off him. The three of them scrambled up and ran.
As soon as they were around the corner her knees sagged, and she fell against the wall of the building beside her. Never in her life had she yelled at someone like that, much less submitted to physical violence. Was that how Makoto felt all the time? No wonder she had gotten thrown out of her last school for fighting. Even though her hands were trembling, she felt almost…exhilarated. She raised one of those quivering hands to her eyes, shaking her head. That kind of thinking was so far out of her comfort zone she felt like she needed to go home and study quantum physics. Sniffling came from behind her, and she remembered she still had half of an issue to deal with.
The little boy was sitting on the ground, holding the tattered remnants of a stuffed doll, tears coursing freely down his face. Ami walked over and knelt down in the snow next to him. He looked up at her and she realized he could not have been older than seven. His face was red from crying, but his eyes were surprisingly clear. He gestured towards the doll.
"It was for my sister. I spent everything I had on it, and they tore it in half. I hate them!" His face screwed up tightly, livid with an anger that shocked her. She frowned, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Don't hate them. They aren't worth your hate, and they aren't worth spoiling something that could be happy for you. Hate only makes you cold inside, rather than warm with love for your sister." The tears were still flowing, but an understanding seemed to form in his eyes. She smiled down at him, and an idea dawned.
She sat down beside him, unconcerned about the snow, and put her hands together, closing her eyes. Her brows furrowed in concentration, and a soft blue glow began to emit from between her fingers, casting her face in an eerie light. After a few minutes, she relaxed and the light faded. The boy peered anxiously at her opening hands.
Balanced on one palm was a tiny, beautiful ice sculpture of a ballerina dancing. The detail was exquisite, leaving even Ami to wonder at just how she had done it. The boy's face lit up as she handed it to him, and he plucked it very carefully from her hands, cradling it in his arms. She stood, brushing the snow from her skirt, and reached down to help him up. As she walked him home, the thought occurred to her that perhaps she simply hadn't explored her powers completely. Maybe she had spent so much time thinking she was weak that she had completely lived up to her own expectations. Well, she could certainly change that, and was looking forward to her next battle.
A/N: I feel like this one is kind of cliche, but I couldn't help but right a story about a strong Ami, one who takes charge of the situation. It's a little corny, but I love Ami (just like I love all the senshi...I'm a dork). I feel like she's often portrayed as a mouse when she's got a lot of inner strength. I've decided not to use the "predetermined" gemstone associations with the senshi, but the ones I feel fit. For Ami that happened to be sapphire, which is appropriate, but for Haruka I don't think Amber fits. We'll see how it turns out. Let me know what you think!
Serenity-hime