Tear Pearls
By LadyPrin
Disclaimer Applies.
To those who reviewed, thanks Katblue, Jingy5 (You'll see whether she is or not in this chapter), Markus777 (You'll see in this chapter -), KagomeFire (You're welcome, and thanks!), Champion of Justice, Richforce, DivaMercury, Neokstar (I guess you could say a mix, though I hadn't meant to make it so), and GuitarBabe2005!
Chapter Four (Making Friends, and Another Transformation)
Andrew was wrong; it didn't take Rei a half an hour to come back.
It took her a full hour, and when she did come back she wasn't alone.
Three other girls were with her, one of which was leaning on Rei heavily as her right leg was bandaged from calf to knee.
Rei gave Serena the 'one minute' finger, and walked with her friends over to the booth by the window where they normally sat.
The girl who had been leaning on Rei was a tall girl, with brunette hair that was up in a ponytail. Her green eyes winced in pain as she scooted onto the bench.
The smallest girl of the four had short blue hair, and blue-eyes, which were kind and gentle as she slid in beside the brunette. She had a timid air about her, but she looked very professional as she asked the brunette questions about how she was feeling.
The last of Rei's three friends was a blond whose hair came to her waist and was held back by a big red ribbon. She also had light blue eyes and she was watching the brunette carefully too. She sat on the other bench opposite the blue and brunette.
Andrew hurried over to the table looking at the brunette worriedly.
"What happened to you Lita?" He asked with concern.
"Got in a fight, but be assured, I didn't lose." Lita replied arrogantly.
Andrew half smiled, but it was gone as quickly as it had come when Lita suddenly slapped her head onto the table and groaned.
She slapped her right hand onto the tabletop before raising her head with a pleading expression.
"Can I have some ice, Andrew? Please?" She asked, pain evident in her voice.
"Sure, be right here!" Andrew exclaimed as he hurried away into the back room.
Serena sat on the stool with one leg stretched toward the floor, watching silently as Lita rocked back and forth slightly.
Rei walked over to Serena, and glanced toward both their plates.
Rei's was still there, though the hamburger was now cold.
Rei saw that Serena's plate and glass was empty, and she smiled at her.
"Did you enjoy the food?" She asked.
"Yes, all ten of them!" Serena replied, still looking at Lita.
"TEN?" Rei cried in shock.
Serena turned to look at her, as Rei's three friends looked over at them after hearing Rei's outburst.
"Five milkshakes and five hamburgers!" Serena explained. "After I finished the first one, Andy said that I could have more! Don't worry, they were free!"
"Thank the fire goddess they were free." Rei whispered, and then said at normal level. "How could you eat all . . . all that?"
"They were delicious and I was hungry." Serena replied simply. "Did I do something wrong?"
"No, no, nothing wrong!" Rei assured her quickly. "It's just, I've never known anybody who could eat that much in so short a time. I think you made a new record."
Serena beamed at that.
Then it hit Rei as to what she had called Andrew.
"Andy?" Rei asked, for Andrew had once been called that by another girl and that girl had gotten an (albeit polite) "please don't call me that ever again" reply.
Andrew came back then with a dishtowel full of ice in a makeshift icepack.
"Come over and join us Serena!" Rei offered.
Serena slid off the stool and walked with Rei over to the table, as Andrew handed Lita the icepack.
"So, Andrew, you're allowing Serena to call you Andy?" Rei asked with a smile.
The others glanced up at him with grins.
Andrew blushed slightly and shrugged.
"Why not?" He asked. "It's not like she wants to date me or anything."
With that he quickly walked back to the counter and commenced to wipe it to a pure shine.
The girls giggled.
"Now we know the reason behind the madness!" The blond stated with a mischievous grin.
"Yeah, he won't allow any girl to call him Andy if they have the intention of trying to get a date out of him." Lita added, placing the cold icepack on her leg.
"Serena, I'd like you to meet Lita, Ami and Mina!" Rei introduced them.
Lita half waved, Ami the blue haired girl shyly smiled, and Mina the blond waved energetically.
"You can have my seat, Serena." Ami offered as she slid out of it. "I have to go to the bathroom."
"Thank you!" Serena replied, sliding in next to Lita.
"Are you okay?" She asked Lita, worriedly.
"I'm fine." Lita assured her. "Like I said, I got into a fight and now I have a long gash down my leg, but it'll heal. No big deal, really."
Her eyes said otherwise as they started tearing up from the pain.
Serena watched the tears form, and as they gently fell from Lita's face, Serena quickly and quietly reached under the table and caught them. They landed in her palm and she put them in one of her pockets. No one saw her do this they were too intent on watching Lita's face.
Mina eventually decided that it was time to get off of Lita's case. If she were in too much pain they would find out one way or the other. Her attention quickly focused on Serena.
"That's a new hairstyle, I haven't seen it before!" She exclaimed.
While Rei was gone, just after Serena had finished her last hamburger, Serena had asked Andrew for a couple things to stand in for hair holders. He had found her two rubber bands, and using them she had put her hair up in buns, one on each side of her head. This had been her favorite kind of hairstyle for a while. She had come up with it on her own! At the moment though, because she hadn't had anything to comb it with, the streamers were kind of tangled.
"Here, let me help with those streamers!" Mina cried as she fished a red plastic comb from her purse.
Rei let her slip out from the booth, where she then came to kneel beside Serena and started to gently comb out her tangles.
"I like the hairstyle, and you've got such beautiful hair! I don't know of anyone else who has hair this long, but I must say that dress doesn't suit you!" Mina stated, critically eyeing what she could see of the hot pink dress that Serena was still wearing. "Girls, I think it's time for a shopping trip!"
"I don't think Lita's up for one, you know how we get carried away." Rei explained.
"It's okay, I'll stay here." Lita replied. "I'll have an endless supply of ice, and I won't have to move very far. You all go ahead. I don't want to cheat Mina out of her fun, or Serena out of the chance of having a brand new wardrobe."
Rei and Mina grinned.
Serena grinned too. She didn't know what a 'wardrobe' was, but whatever it was she figured it was a good thing when put to the word shopping.
~*~
When Ami had come back to the booth, she had agreed to come along, as she needed a new book on Human Anatomy for Science Class.
Before they had left however, Serena felt the urge to wash her fin again. She had quietly asked Rei if there was any water nearby where she could wash her fin without getting noticed.
Rei had gone with her to the bathroom so she could instruct Serena in its use. She didn't want Serena to use the water from the toilet instead of the water from the sink, for instance.
After that they had gone to the nearest clothing store.
It turns out that Mina, thoug only fourteen years old, was a highly paid teen model for a couple of local magazines and thus was able to have these lavish shopping trips. Turns out she, Ami, Rei and Lita had them often.
After trying on many articles of clothing it was decided that the colors that suited Serena best was deep yellow or gold, blue, silver, white, and red.
Ami and Mina had separated from Serena and Rei to scout out some clothing options.
Rei and Serena were just browsing when Serena came upon some jewelry making supplies.
"What's this used for?" She asked, holding up a small spool of thread.
"That's used for stringing beads together to make necklaces and bracelets." Rei explained, picking up another spool of thread. "If you'd like to make some, I'd suggest using this kind, it's waterproof."
When all the shopping was done, Serena had three different outfits, three different pairs of shoes, a purse, some hair holders, and two spools of waterproof thread.
After they had paid for all this, they took her to the dressing rooms to change her clothes.
She put on a short-sleeved red blouse, a pair of yellow shorts, and yellow tennis shoes. The girls were disappointed that she couldn't wear high heels until after her feet healed, but that didn't discourage them from making one of the three pairs of shoes high heels.
Mina helped put her hair back up with the new hair holders, and when they weren't looking Serena slipped Lita's Tear Pearls into the new yellow purse.
The sun was beginning to set by the time they separated.
Mina and Ami went back to the Crown Arcade to see if Lita needed help getting home, and Rei helped Serena carry some of her bags back to the temple.
When they were walking under the Welcome sign, Rei felt the eyes upon her this time, but when she looked up they weren't there.
She was alerted to them now though, so her eyes darted around anxiously, looking for any sign of danger.
They reached the porch and sat the bags down under the overhanging.
"Grandpa?" Rei called out, trying to keep the worry from her voice.
Serena wasn't oblivious to her sudden shift in mood, and was looking around worriedly too, though for what she didn't know.
"I'll be back in a few minutes." Serena told Rei after a couple seconds of standing there just looking around. "I'm going to the pond out back."
"Okay." Rei replied after a moment.
Serena walked off the porch and down the path that led to the pond, taking only her purse with her.
Rei walked into the house still calling for her grandpa.
Once by the pond, Serena slipped her shoes and shorts off and grew back her fin.
She sat on the water's edge, splashing her tail gently in and out of the water.
She pulled from her purse the spools of thread and sat them beside her on the grass. Then she dumped the seven Tear Pearls she had collected from Lita out into her palm.
She gasped.
These Tear Pearls were a deep shade of green with a slightly lighter shade of green swirling silkily around in them.
Serena wondered if she'd be able to see anything in them too, like she had in Darien's Tear Pearl.
Serena picked one Tear Pearl up gently between her thumb and forefinger and stared at it.
A picture did form.
Lita seemed to be lying on the ground, and she was staring up at what can only be called a monster.
It was vaguely human in shape, but its skin was all deep sickening shades of purple. Its eyes were red and glowing, and it didn't have a mouth. Hatred seemed to spew forth from it in waves. It's hands, or claws would better describe them, were reaching for her. The nails were several inches long and looked deadly. The fresh blood that trickled down them did not help, and Serena guessed that those nails were what gashed Lita's leg.
Fear and anger swelled in Lita as she raised a white-gloved arm up, though she knew that it would do her little good.
"Venus Love Me Chain ENCIRCLE!" Someone cried from out of Lita's view.
A gold glowing chain of hearts flew out of nowhere and wrapped around the monster. The girl on the end of the chain gave it a hard jerk and the monster was yanked away from Lita, tumbling over backwards by the force.
"Stay away from her!" The same voice yelled.
Then two girls came to stand in front of Lita, in defensive positions facing the monster.
Lita could only see the backs of them. One had short blue hair; one had long black hair.
The blue haired girl was wearing a short-sleeved white bodice and a short dark blue skirt. She had dark blue knee high boots, and elbow length white gloves with three blue rings around the elbow.
From what Lita could see through her hair, the other girl seemed to be wearing the same thing, only where the other girl's outfit was blue, hers was red, and she wore red high heels instead of boots.
"Are you okay Jupiter?" The black haired girl turned halfway around to look at Lita.
She had burning violet eyes, and wore a thin v shaped gold tiara on her forehead with one small red jewel at its point.
Serena felt she knew her, but at the moment couldn't place her.
"My leg's hurt, and I don't think I can stand up!" Lita replied, the feeling of relief mingling with her emotion of pain.
"Don't worry, Jupiter. We'll finish her off." The blue haired one assured her confidently.
Then Lita watched as both the blue haired girl and the black haired girl converged on the monster.
"Mars Fire IGNITE!" The black haired one cried.
"Mercury Aqua ILLUSION!" The blue haired one cried.
"Venus Crescent V SMASH!" The third voice cried, the same one who had called forth the chain, but had yet to come into Lita's view.
All their attacks combined and with a big display of lights, the monster disappeared with nothing more than a scream.
A very hideous, painful scream.
Then all three girls converged on Lita, helping her to stand up and walk.
The third girl who's voice Serena heard twice, had the same outfit style but in white and orange. She also had blue eyes and blond hair.
Serena felt she knew all these girls, but couldn't figure out from where.
And she couldn't figure out why they were calling Lita, Jupiter.
Just as Lita looked down at her leg to see the gash, a chorus of angry and scared bird cries split the air and it wasn't coming from the Tear Pearl.
Serena quickly jerked her head up, the image that was formed in the Tear Pearl dissolved, and she looked around.
She felt that something was wrong, but couldn't pinpoint where or what.
She quickly pulled her feet from the water. She turned her fin back into legs, feeling sure that she was wasting the precious seconds it took. She slid the pearls back into the purse while she waited, and pulled her shorts and shoes over to her side.
When her feet were back, she quickly pulled on her shorts, and her shoes just stuffing the shoelaces in around her feet, and she ran down the garden path back to the temple.
She made it to the edge of trees before she stopped in her tracks.
Rei was on the porch in a defensive crouch, another monster was facing her from the steps.
This monster was similar to the one Serena had seen in the Tear Pearl, but was a deep shade of gray, and was much larger.
It's red eyes shone madly as they stared at Rei.
"Finally, I have found the home of the Red Scout." It hissed, though the voice seemed to come from the air around it because it didn't have a mouth.
"And defend her home the Red Scout will!" Rei declared loudly.
She raised her right hand in the air, and cried.
"Mars Star Power MAKE-UP!"
Red light blazed around her, and in split seconds she transformed into the same person Serena had seen in the Tear Pearl, the one in the red skirt.
Serena put the puzzle together and realized that the other two girls must be Ami and Mina.
'That's how they became friends.' Serena thought to herself as she hid behind a tree to watch Rei and the monster. 'They fight together.'
"I am the Scout of Fire and Passion, I am Sailor Mars, and you have picked the wrong home to mess with!" Mars cried angrily. "Mars Fire IGNITE!"
Serena now got to see the full form of this attack.
Fire came forth from Sailor Mars's hands in fireballs, and hit the monster with a lot of force, but though it singed the monster it didn't seem to have done any good.
Sailor Mars looked at the temple, and then at the path to the pond and seemed to come to a quick decision.
She ran toward the monster, and then at the last minute jumped. She jumped so high that she cleared the monster, and landed safely on the other side.
As she ran down the steps she flipped open her phone, though where the phone came from since her pockets had disappeared Serena didn't know.
"Girls, I have a youma at my house! I've transformed, but my attacks aren't doing much good. I've got to get it away from here before grandpa or Serena gets hurt. Meet me at the park, we'll take it down there!" Serena heard Mars say into the phone, before Mars was out of earshot and out of the temple grounds.
The monster was right on her heels.
Serena wanted to do something to help. Her first friend in this new land, her first friend in general, was in trouble! She had the magic of fire to fight with, but it wasn't doing much good. Even if the other three girls joined her to fight, Lita was badly hurt, and this monster was bigger and tougher than the last one.
She wished so deeply to help them.
"AH!" She cried, as white light shined forth from her chest.
Out from her chest appeared a locket. A red and gold heart shaped locket, with four red, blue, green and yellow jewels placed evenly around a gold crescent moon in the middle.
It fell into her hands with almost no weight at all, like a feather lands in an outstretched hand.
Words came to her lips and before she could even think about it, she shouted them.
"Moon Prism Power MAKE-UP!"
In a flash of rainbow colored lights, Serena transformed herself.
In seconds she had gone from part time human and part time mermaid, to super human heroine. She wore the same outfit as the others, only her skirt was deep blue, the bow on her chest was red, she wore a red choker with a small crescent moon, and in her ears were crescent moon earrings. On her legs she wore knee high red boots with a crescent moon on each of them, and on her arms she wore white elbow length gloves with three red rings. On her forehead was a thin v shaped tiara with one red jewel at the point, on her buns were two huge red jewels, and on her chest nestled in the center of the bow was the locket.
Serena only took one second to look at what she could see of herself before she was off and running out the entranceway after Mars and the monster.
She didn't know where this park was, but she was being led by her feelings. Her feelings told her which way was the right way, or the wrong way.
She was briefly aware of the stares that people gave her as she ran by them on the street.
She briefly noted the hushed statements and questions that people spoke.
"Look at her, is she a Sailor Scout?"
"She looks like one! Which one is she?"
"I don't know, I think she's a new one!"
When she finally came to the park, she did not like what she saw.
Jupiter was down, and she wasn't moving.
Venus had her chained wrapped around one of the arms of the monster, and was pulling, but her strength couldn't match that of the monsters.
Mars was trying to revive Mercury who seemed to have been thrown into a tree, and she wasn't yet able to see straight, much less stand.
Before Serena could get within speaking distance of them, the monster gave a jerk of its arm and sent Venus flying over its head through the air.
She would've landed painfully if someone hadn't caught her.
"Thanks Tuxedo Mask!" Venus cried as he lowered her down to the ground.
The new arrival had on a black and white tuxedo, a black top hat that shone in the rising moon, a long black cape, and he hid his eyes behind a thin white mask.
"No problem, Venus." He replied.
Then from within his cape he produced a long stemmed red rose and threw it at the monster.
It left a long scratch down its side, and it didn't like that.
"Tuxedo Mask, we haven't a clue how to get rid of it!" Venus cried. "Jupiter was able to stand up long enough to join her attack with all of ours, but it didn't do much damage. The thing is still fighting. Now Jupiter's down, Mercury's down, and –"
Her summary was cut short, when Tuxedo Mask grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her out of the way of a clutching claw as it swiped at her.
"And none of us have an attack that is powerful enough to bring it down!" She finished hurriedly.
Serena decided it was time to intervene.
"Hey! Ugly thing!" She cried at the monster to get its attention.
She hadn't thought about what she would do once she got it, but thankfully she didn't need to.
Unbidden, words came to her mouth again, and she yelled them with a confidence she didn't yet feel.
"I fight for love and justice, I am Sailor Moon, and in the name of the Moon, I shall punish you!" She cried, striking a pose.
"Great, another one!" It hissed. "How many of you dang scouts are there?!"
It made to run at her.
Serena, now Sailor Moon, reached for her tiara, and cried these words as she spun and threw it.
"Moon Tiara ACTION!"
The tiara became a disc of light and flew straight into the torso of the monster.
The monster was ripped apart by the light, and disintegrated, but not before one of her claws reached Sailor Moon.
Before it disintegrated, it scratched her deeply on the right hand.
"AH!" She cried in pain, but her cry was lost in the scream of the monster.
The air was silent for a few minutes afterward.
Mars was still beside Mercury, holding onto her arm and staring at Sailor Moon. Mercury had woken up and was staring groggily at Moon too.
Tuxedo Mask still had a hold of Venus by the shoulders and they too were staring at Sailor Moon.
Sailor Moon was holding her right hand to her chest, as red blood slowly came through her white satin glove, staining it crimson. A small trickle of blood ran down her arm and dripped off her elbow.
Without shedding tears of pain, Sailor Moon raised her head, and with her left hand caught her rebounding tiara and slipped it back onto her forehead.
Then she looked at Jupiter, still lying on the ground, unmoved.
The other Sailor Scouts and Tuxedo Mask watched Sailor Moon silently as she came to stand a few yards from Jupiter.
Not knowing why, Sailor Moon reached with her left hand up and behind her. Not knowing how, she pulled her hand back and was holding a wand with a large crescent moon on it's top.
More words came to her then, and she let them out.
"Moon Healing ESCALATION!" She cried, raising the wand up in the air, and then circling it around once.
Gold light surrounded Jupiter, slowly turning green.
When all the light had turned green, it vanished, and Jupiter rolled over.
Then she sat up and groaned.
"I feel like a bus hit me." She complained, and then her eyes went wide as she saw her leg.
No wound was there.
"My leg! It's healed!" She cried in disbelief and joy.
That's when the others seemed to break out of their trance.
Mars, Mercury and Venus rushed over to Jupiter and helped her to stand.
All exclaimed happy comments about the healing, and Venus rushed to tell Jupiter all about how the new scout came out of nowhere, destroyed the monster and then healed Jupiter.
While the scouts talked among themselves, Sailor Moon thought it was best if she left. She didn't want attention drawn to her, and her hand pained her horribly.
She left the park quietly, but not unseen.
Tuxedo Mask had been watching her and saw her go.
He quickly followed, thus both were out of the park before the other scouts noticed.
"We have to find her!" Venus cried.
"I want to thank her for saving us and healing me!" Jupiter exclaimed.
"I'd like to know who she is!" Mars cried.
"We need to know what she knows about the mission!" Mercury added.
They ran after her.
Sailor Moon soon realized she was being followed, and her Sailor instincts took hold. She jumped to a low rooftop and from there she jumped to another rooftop.
Tuxedo Mask lost her trail, and then he realized that the other scouts were also looking for her.
Although he was burning to know who this new scout was, he wanted to find out alone. So he gave up the chase and headed back to his apartment.
The other scouts however had not lost her trail.
Thanks to Mercury's Super Visor she was able to track Sailor Moon's power.
After a few minutes Sailor Moon paused in her rooftop jumping and realized that she was now on the opposite side of town, far away from Cherry Hill Temple.
She felt that she needed to get back to the temple, and have her hand taken care of before Rei got back.
"Sailor Moon?" She heard someone call her name from a couple buildings behind her.
She turned and jumped down from the rooftop, not taking into account that it was a seven-story drop.
She needn't of worried though, as she landed on a balcony halfway down.
She landed facing the clear sliding doors, and quickly turned around to jump over the railing and get the rest of the way down.
"AH!" She cried as she came face to face with a man.
And not just any man.
Darien!
He had cried out in surprise at the same time she had, and was staring at her in shock.
Sailor Moon wanted so desperately to talk to him now, but she knew she had no time if she wanted to avoid the others.
She skirted around him and was about to jump over when she thought of something she needed to say to him.
"Darien Chiba," She began firmly, and he looked taken aback at her knowing his name. "You may be heartbroken, but you're never going to heal if you keep yourself isolated like this. You're friends are all worried sick about you, and as much as you may feel that the world stopped moving when she said no, it didn't. It's still moving and moving fast. You need to get back in the world before you miss it completely!"
With that, she jumped.
Darien leaned over the railing to watch her run off down the street and out of his sight.
He looked up as he heard the other scouts above him, and then quickly he stepped into his living room, sliding the doors shut.
He watched from the shadows of his living room as all four scouts landed on his balcony and then jumped off, intent on catching up to Sailor Moon.
After they were gone, Darien stepped back out onto his balcony and leaned on the railing.
He let the cool night breeze that he hadn't noticed before now ruffle his short black hair and he wondered.
He wondered how this new scout had known his full name. How she had known that he was heartbroken. How she had known that the love of his life had said no to him when he asked her to marry him. How?
He was glad the new scout had gone, for he couldn't come up with a decent reply to her firm scolding.
Meanwhile on the other side of town, Sailor Moon had made it back to Cherry Hill Temple.
She had detransformed at the pond, and had quickly washed her hand in the water.
She had then gathered her things and ran inside to find the bandages that Rei had used to wrap her feet up in.
She quickly found it and bandaged up her hand as neatly as she could in a hurry.
Then she slowed down her flight to look normal, and carried the bags of clothes and shoes into Rei's room. On her way to the room, she found Rei's grandpa asleep in his bedroom.
Serena sat down on the bed and pulled out the thread and Tear Pearls.
She measured enough thread to make a bracelet, but she needed something to cut it with. She normally would've used a sharp seashell, but she didn't have one here. So she searched through Rei's writing desk and found something else that was sharp.
Scissors.
She cut the thread and then commenced to string the Tear Pearls onto it.
At the last moment, she changed her mind about putting all of them on it.
After she tied the bracelet, and slipped it onto her wrist, she untied the thread from around her neck, the one that held Darien's Tear Pearl. She quickly slipped the last one of Lita's Tear Pearls onto it and retied it around her neck.
At that moment Rei came to the doorway.
"Oh, you're in here!" She exclaimed happily.
She looked tired, and worn out.
"Yes, I came back from the pond, and you weren't here. I figured you'd gone somewhere important again so I carried the bags in. Your grandpa's sleeping in his bedroom." Serena replied, hoping that Rei would be too tired to notice her hand.
Not so lucky.
"Oh, okay. Serena! Your hand?" Rei exclaimed, rushing forward to hold the wounded hand.
Serena looked around quickly, saw the scissors and had an idea.
"I cut myself on these." Serena fibbed, holding up the scissors. "I was trying to cut the thread so I could make myself a bracelet."
"Oh." Rei responded, looking relieved. "I hope it's not too deep. It looks like you did a pretty good job of patching it up. Listen, I'm tired so I'm going to bed now. You can sleep here in my bed. I'm going to sleep in the fire room. Okay?"
"Okay, thanks!" Serena exclaimed.
Rei smiled and left the room, closing the door behind her.
Serena felt a little ashamed of fibbing to Rei, but she felt that it wasn't the time to tell anyone about this new development, this new third side to herself.
She glanced at the yellow purse where she had hidden the locket for now that was lying on the dresser.
She felt like she needed to understand it herself, before she told anyone else.
And upon thinking about the last few events of the day, she couldn't believe she had her first encounter with Darien and had spoken so bluntly to him . . .
She picked up the pillow, flopped down on her back onto the bed, and covered her blushing face with it.
'Darien.' Was her last conscious thought before sleep claimed her for the night.
