Well, here I am! Wow, this is one quick update, especially for me!
But the only reason that this is happening is because Halloween is
this weekend and that's always a busy weekend for me, so I
promised myself that I would at least get this chapter out before
the weekend.
I seem to have forgotten my disclamer so far...how dare I?
Don't own Sailor Moon. Never have, never will.
But I am a bit sad, for no one answered my question before:
Which story should I revise first? None Shall Fair When Love is War,
or Plunging Swords, (I prefer the first one! ;)) But it's up to what you
want me to write though, eh?
Thank you to all my reviewers. You are very appreciated, and I'm sorry
that I'm not going to adress each one seperately, but I got one so long
that I couldn't resist.
xGekkeiju: thanks for the review, and I hope this chapter satisfies you.
Thank you for the Constructive Criticism, for I have noticed something
that I'm going to be working on for the rest of the story. Although I do
believe that Usagi was a little OOC in her scene with Motoki, it was
necessary. When I lost my older brother, I went through the same thing.
My entire personality changed, and I looked for anything that would
cheer me up, so I kind of based Usagi's attitued on that, but I now
realize that this is Usagi we're talking about, so I'm going to work
on the whole angst-but-keep-her-in-character thing. :) And about the
police guy, I don't know if I was clear or not, so forgive me if I wasn't,
but I believe I wrote that he was just a security guard from the building,
so his instructions would have been short an brief to keep the people
back as the youma ran her little rampage around the building, but
thank you for bring that to my attention, and if it doesn't make sense,
I can change it. Thank you so much for the review, and I hope you
enjoy this chapter! ;) -Fishy
And now that my ramblings are finished...enjoy.
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Never Walk it Off
Chapter 3
by sakanascales876
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Her mom had gone nuts when she had brought the cat home. And not in the bad way either. She basically clawed the cat out of Usagi's arms and began to frantically nurse it back to health. And while she enjoyed seeing her mom so enthused about something, Usagi just had to get out of the house and breathe.
Sighing, she quickly grabbed her jacket and rushed out the door before anyone could stop her. The moon was a sliver in the sky, creating barely any light to illuminate her path as she blindly stumbled about the streets of Tokyo. It was eerie how the crowded streets seemed to be completely barren at such a late hour. All of the lights of the city were still burning brightly, but there were no people to marvel at them.
It seemed that people really were taking this monster business seriously, Usagi noted. No one wanted to be a target, and no one wanted to be caught out so late at night alone.
But there she was, under the cold street light, scared and alone.
Perhaps Motoki's place would still be open this late at night, or she could even put up with Naru's concern long enough to get a ride home. But she quickly crumpled the idea and threw it away. The last thing she wanted right then was to see Naru, and the worried expression she would have on her face when Usagi told her that she was fine.
Sighing, she continued the direction she was going, finding her feet slowly taking her to Juban Park, a place that she hadn't trodden in for over six years, finding the playgrounds being replaced with boys and manga.
Sitting on a bench, she buried her head in her hands, letting all her sorrows out in an anguished sob. The whole ordeal kept playing like a broken record in her mind, something that not even her therapist had been able to weasel out of her.
"Hey there, little girl."
Usagi gasped and looked up, expecting nothing more than to look up into the face of some rapist or serial killer, but after seeing who she was dealing with, she wished it had been the former.
She stood up quickly and trotted nervously around the bench, trying to put some space between her and the monster that was slowly pacing towards her.
"W-what do you want from me?" she stuttered.
The beast stepped closer, magnifying the burgundy colored skin and the dagger silver claws in the moonlight. Its teeth were barred in an unearthly grin, making her shiver as she watched the billowing cloak it wore flutter in the wind.
"Energy," it hissed, raising up one clawed arm to strike.
She yelped as she dove backwards, watching in terror as the bench she had just occupied was no more than splinters anymore. A distinct burn began to radiate throughout her arm, and she spied down to see that blood was running down her sleeve where one of the claws had grazed over her forearm. It stung worse than a regular cut, like acid was pouring from them and onto her milky skin.
"Energy," the beast hissed again, lunging at Usagi.
She rolled out of the way, her eyes widening in shock while the beast tried to pry its claws from the ground. Getting up, Usagi scurried through the park, down the winding sidewalks and past colorful playgrounds, her breathing speeding up and tears brimming in her eyes from the pain.
Coming to a clearing in a thick patch of forest, Usagi stopped to regain her breath. She held back her sobs as she pressed one limp arm to the wound on the other.
But the fear tipped over and spilt; she was alone.
Sinking to the ground, she tried her hardest to relax. But it felt as though every bone in her body was shaking along with her nerves.
Usagi fell back, spreading about the soft leaves as she tried desperately to regain her composure. The back of her throat felt scratchy and sore from screaming and crying, but the soothing moonlight shone into her skin like the sun did as she tried to tan at the beach.
But the moon was more comforting to her.
"Why are you out here so late?"
Usagi's eyes popped open and she quickly sat up, ready to evade any attacks sent her way. But it was not the monster; it was the man in the mask. Immediately, Usagi found herself crawling away on her elbows, but the man swooped down and lifted her up, ignoring her frightened cry. But instead of swooping her into his arms, he steadied her on the ground.
"Why are you out here so late?" he repeated, a bit more firmly.
She shook her head and looked away from him, trying to find any route of escape. Seeing none, she forced herself to meet his cold eyes.
"W-why are you here?" Usagi stuttered.
He cocked an eyebrow. "Despite what you may think, when one usually hears a scream, they go and see what caused it."
"But why here? Why is it that you always show up whenever one of those monster things appears?"
"They're called youma," he said softly. "And what do you mean? Is there one here right now?"
Usagi nodded, holding up her arm. "And I don't suppose you wouldn't have anything to do with this, either?"
He looked at her in surprise. "You think that I'm the one who is causing all this? Usagi, you don't know how wr---"
"How did you know my name?" she demanded.
His eyes rolled skyward and she heard him curse himself a couple of times.
"That doesn't matter. What does matter is that you need to tell me where this youma is," he said.
Usagi found herself pointing beyond the horizon of the trees, where the ominous darkness shrouded the area in fear and danger.
"Stay here," he muttered, bounding into the forest, his velvety cape flowing wildly suavely behind him.
"Wait!" Usagi cried, jogging behind him.
He continued running, but looked back at her harshly.
"Just do as you're told for once!" he growled.
And as the billowing cape rose to the sky as the man in the mask took one giant leap into the trees, Usagi cursed all men in general and followed him.
Usagi peeked through the briars with awe struck eyes, her heart speeding up as she watched the masked man battle the clawed creature. It was brutal in a way, yet strangely majestic. The beast would try to take a swipe at the Masked Man, but he would always evade the attack before it caused any damage.
He had even pulled some kind of magical sword out of thin air, Usagi mused. The "youma's" vociferous cries were really starting to hurt her ears, but although it seemed that the beast was winning, it looked as though the man in the mask wasn't even trying.
His agility, his stamina, his punches….they all looked so weak. Like he was holding back and waiting for something. Waiting for what? She squinted to analyze his face, but it looked no different from the angry glare he had tossed her way when he had told her to do as she was told.
Her blood was bubbling in her body like molten lava. How dare he? He had looked at her as though she had been a child!
Grumbling, she stood up, balling her fists as she stepped out of the bush, waving her arms wildly around her head.
"Hey!" she cried. "Over here!"
The affect had been exactly what she wanted. They both turned to her with dumbfounded looks, the Masked Man's sword hanging in the air.
The creature's face, however, slowly curled into a menacing smirk, extending its claws and raising them in the air.
The Masked Man, however, did not look so amused. His face scorched into a scowl, but then melted into a glare.
But it was then that Usagi realized that she hadn't the faintest clue what she was doing. The look on the man's face was priceless, but as she saw the beast raise its claws, her throat seemed to swell shut.
"Energy!" It cried, lunging toward her.
Usagi shrieked and tried to run out of the way, but she felt her side get clipped as she was pushed to the ground, a loud clanging of metal on metal resounding above her head.
Looking up, the Masked Man had his sword against the beast's claws, preventing them from getting any closer to either of them.
It was like an arm wrestle, she thought, and she was glad that the masked man was winning. Had he been a second late, she would have…
Usagi winced and stared at her scraped hands, trying vainly to brush off any dirt.
She felt a violent shake on her shoulder, forcing her to look up.
"Run!" the Masked Man cried.
She remained where she was, her eyes widening in fear as the struggle continued.
"You idiot!" he roared. "Get into the bushes now! And don't you dare leave until I've said that it's alright to do so!"
She nodded shakily, darting back into the thicket of briars, ignoring the pain she was feeling from all the dagger sharp thorns cutting into her legs.
The battle seemed as though it lasted for hours, and Usagi was tempted to run out into the clearing again and see if the masked man was alright. But remembering his last words, Usagi reluctantly stayed put.
The sounds of the fight reverberated in her ears, the shrieks of the creature outmatching the grunts of the Masked Man's by far. She supposed that was a good thing, but Usagi was still worried.
At last, there was one last grunt, and a thud on the ground.
Peering over the bush, Usagi popped one eye open to see if the worst she had expected had come true.
But lying in the dirt was none other than the youma.
"Didn't I tell you to stay in the bushes," the Masked Man spat from behind her.
Usagi turned around and looked nervously into his eyes. "I-I'm sorry!" she cried. "I just wanted to see if you were okay."
He sighed and slapped a hand to his forehead. "And what if that wasn't me? You would have blown your cover completely to that youma and there would have been nobody around to hear you screaming!"
Usagi shivered and looked at her feet, frowning as she noticed that one of her sneakers was starting to fall apart. She was about to bend down and play with it until a warm weight was placed upon her shoulders. Looking up in curiosity, she saw that he had placed his cape around her, though his eyes still donned the same glare.
"It's okay," she said. "I'm not really cold."
"I know," he spoke, the low timbre of his voice causing Usagi to shudder.
But in less than a second, he had scooped her up into his arms and leapt into the air. She screamed at the top of her lungs, finding smugly that the man winced as they landed in one of the trees.
"What are you doing?" Usagi cried.
He gave her no reply, but they were suddenly lifted from the ground again as he jumped into the next tree, and Usagi clutched the collar of his shirt in fear as he continued to leap through the park.
But when they stopped landing on trees and on a much smoother and harder surface, Usagi looked down. He was jumping from the darn rooftops! She whimpered into his tuxedo jacket, and she noticed how he had seemed to slow down a bit after that, much to Usagi's relief.
But she had to admit that the scene was beautiful. When she had looked at the bustling streets of Tokyo before, she had been hit by inspiration and avid curiosity. But when she looked down from the view of a building, it was as if she had been struck by a bolt of lightning.
It was a tad exhilarating, too. The way they skimmed over the roofs, the people below ignorant as to what was going on above them.
But when they lurched to a sudden stop, Usagi felt her stomach lurch, and almost vomited from it. She hardly paid any attention to it though, for she realized that they had stopped at her house.
Struggling, she tried to disentangle herself from his arms and at least try and escape him now that she was so close to home plate, but his grips were like manacles, and as he hopped on the rim of her balcony, she felt the dread and terror rise within her like Dracula from his coffin.
Usagi felt a hand over her face, and then nothing.
"Usagi, honey, wake up," her mother said softly into her ear before leaving the room.
Usagi groaned and slowly sat up, rubbing her eyes as she rolled over the side of her bed. Stumbling, she made her way over to the floor length mirror on the pastel pink wall, expecting to see a disgusting laceration on her arm and side. But even when she lifted her pajama shirt, there wasn't even a tiny bruise. 'Weird,' she thought. Had that whole ordeal been a dream? The pain and the fear and emotion had been too real, and she had never had a dream before where she could recall the whole ordeal so easily like a memory.
Frowning, she sauntered down the stairs to see her mother doting on the cat, which seemed to look as though all its wounds had been cleaned up pretty well.
The cat's eyes fell on her, and its tail swished back and forth as the red eyes flickered over her.
Her mom quickly walked up to her and kissed her on the head, pulling her into a tight hug.
"Good morning," she whispered, setting a place at the table for breakfast.
Usagi held up one of her hands. "No mom, I'm fine. Not really hungry anyway."
Ikuko almost looked hurt, but her cheerful smile was back on her face in an instant.
"That cat's doing pretty well," she said, putting the plate back on the counter.
Usagi nodded, drumming her fingers on the countertop. "I'm glad. But can I go back to bed mom? I'm still really tired."
"You're lucky it's a Saturday," Ikuko muttered.
Usagi grinned and turned to walk back upstairs, before her mother called behind her. "And by the way, young lady, the next time you stay out you need to tell us when you come back home. Your father and I were so worried! But an hour later we found you sleeping in your room."
Usagi blanked for a second. "Uh, I fell asleep?"
Ikuko furrowed her brow. "Yes, honey. You fell asleep. And there was some weird cloak type thing hanging in your room. I have no idea what it is so I put it on your chair."
"Um, thanks mom," Usagi said quickly, walking back towards the stairs.
"Oh, and Usagi?"
She stopped and turned to see her mother looking at her worriedly. "Please be careful out there, okay?"
Usagi's eyes softened and she softly said back, "I will. Promise."
She hastened into her room, and sure enough, the cape was laying right over her chair in the corner. Shutting the door behind her, she switched on the light and turned back around. But the cape wasn't resting in the chair anymore.
Because sitting there was the Man in the Mask.
Oh, suspicious. I hope that satisfies you until Halloween is over. And by the way I
forgot to mention that this story is a slight AU, if you haven't noticed already. ;)
Please review, even criticism is good, for it is constructive and builds strong
bones, just like milk. :) Until next time........
