Well, after a little delay (it is December after all, the most hectic time of the year) I give you chapter 4. It's a tad short, but important in it's own little way.
I want to thank all the people who have reviewed, especially those people who have done so for every chapter. You are the best, and I am so grateful for everything you've all said. Everytime I see a review alert it's like Christmas morning!
Ria
"Odango, lower the decibels before my ears start to bleed!"
"I would, but your head is so full of yourself that you can't hear anything else anyway!"
"Ah, a typical day at the arcade," Makoto exclaimed the next day, watching Usagi and her arch enemy engaged in their usual sparring match from across the arcade.
Rei huffed and frowned at her from across the table. "Heaven knows we can't ask for something normal."
Ami put down the book she was reading. "Oh, but it is normal Rei. This happens everyday, so this is considered the norm." Her piece said, she raised her book to her nose again.
"Well then I want a strange day!" the priestess snapped back angrily. "I'm never going to get a chance to ask Mamoru out if she keeps this up. He's going to think all of us are as irritating as Odango-brains."
Makoto chuckled and took a sip of the soda in front of her. She glanced at Minako, seated beside Rei, who was watching the exchange at the counter solemnly. "Is there something wrong, Minako-chan?"
With a jolt, the blonde seemed to come back to herself. She plastered on a bright smile. "No, no, nothing's wrong." She waved a hand in the air. "I just spaced out there for a moment."
"Now that's normal," Rei muttered under her breath.
-----
To the untrained eye, nothing had changed between the two combatants at the front of the arcade. They still fought like cats and dogs, insulting each other with an ease of one long practiced at it. But to someone like Minako, who had the innate ability to sense the connections and emotions between people, nothing was the same. She's sensed something between the two before, but had never been able to put her finger on what it was. Now she could.
Each time Usagi would punch Mamoru on the arm, it was a caress. Each verbal jibe was more like an endearment. Each glare was full of so much passion she wondered how anyone could miss it.
And it hurt to see it. Not because she was jealous, but because Usagi had never told her what she really felt for Mamoru, or anything else important for that matter. She glanced at Rei, who was glaring daggers at her best friend, and had to admit she wouldn't tell anyone about it either if it incurred the raven-haired priestess' ire.
Well, Minako thought, breaking out into a wide smile, further confusing Makoto, who was still watching her, I'll just have to corner her about it when no one is around. No one can escape the Soldier of Love!
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"Zoicite, my patience wears thin." Beryl, the Queen of the Dark Kingdom, sat upon her obsidian throne, longing to crush something in her hands. Her continual failure to locate the Silver Crystal and the Princess was driving her to the brink of recklessness. She wanted to lead a whole army against the Sailor Senshi and crush them all, and tear their secrets from their broken bodies.
But she could not. Metallia may be getting impatient, but she continually preached against doing such a rash action. Such would only lead to failure, until the dark being's power was fully restored and she was let loose.
As much as Beryl hated to admit it, she needed Metallia's powers to conquer the planet. This time, she would not fail. They would be fighting on her turf , without that wench Queen Selenity there to use the Crystal. This time, she would get revenge.
So for now Beryl was forced to make reconnaissance missions, trying to flush out any information she could. And the constant lack of anything was driving her mad.
"I want you to go out alone tonight, Zoicite. No youma's to draw attention to yourself. I want you to flush out anything you can about the Senshi, not matter how small."
Zoicite, kneeling at his queen's feet, looked up at her. "As you wish, my Queen," he acquiesced. With a flutter of petals, he was gone.
"When I find you, little princess," Beryl promised the empty chamber, "I am going to kill you myself, and enjoy every second of it."
------
That evening saw Usagi and Mamoru sitting in the park at the same bench where yesterday a piece of the puzzle that surrounded them finally fit into place. For Mamoru, his puzzle was complete. Usagi's, however, was missing some of the border, the parts that held the whole together.
"Do you think they'll ever see that they are holding themselves back?" The blonde asked, twirling a rose that Mamoru had given her between her fingers. The first one he had produced had no thorns, she had asked for one with. Sometimes I need the pain. I need to know how to avoid it as well.
Mamoru sat back and gazed up into the darkening sky in thought. "They might not understand why this is happening," he said softly. "I think they believe that if they just wait, something will happen. That none of this concerns them, that this is something beyond their ability to solve."
Usagi frowned at him. "I've told them that they weren't ready. Did they think I was talking to a wall?"
He chuckled. "You've got to admit, Usako, up until that point you hadn't really said anything that could be called insightful."
The girl accepted his point with a long suffering sigh. "That was three years ago! You'd think that someone as smart as Ami would figure it out. That whatever was wrong was what they were doing. That there had to be major changes in the group before we could proceed."
"There's a difference between being book smart, and knowing the deeper meanings of a friendship. She's new at this."
Usagi bit back a growl. Sometimes even thinking about the girls' attitudes made her angry. "Please tell me you're not sticking up for her." It wasn't a question.
Mamoru held up his hands in defense. "Never that. I'm just trying to get you to understand that people can't know everything."
In her anger, Usagi had crushed the rose in her hand. She barely registered the pain, nor the blood running down her fingers. "They are not blind Mamoru. How can they not see that this is not the way things are supposed to be? That we are not supposed to pick on each other. We need to have faith in each other's abilities, take strength in knowing that we guard each other's backs, and not worry if one of us is going to have a sudden klutz attack and they end up setting hurt."
Her boyfriend gently pried the flower from her hand and set it on the bench beside her. Plucking a kerchief out of his shirt pocket, he carefully wrapped it around Usagi's injured palm. "You haven't tripped up in a while, Usa."
Usagi snorted bitterly. "Tell that to Rei."
"Usagi-chan?"
When Usagi looked up from her hands, she saw Minako approaching them, wearing a timid smile, as if she were almost afraid to interrupt them. Maybe I can give a little nudge here, get the ball rolling myself. Goodness knows how long it'll take them. I don't want to stay in hiding forever. I just want this all to be over so I can get back to my normal life.
Plastering on a bright smile, Usagi got up and embraced her friend tightly. She gestured for Minako to sit with them, but her fellow blonde declined.
"I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" the girl asked, scuffing the toe of a shoe into the ground. She nodded quickly to Mamoru in greeting. She suddenly felt really nervous before them. Like walking in on your parents when you knew they were talking about you, and it wasn't good.
Usagi was confused at the girl's lack of enthusiasm for catching the two of them together outside of the arcade. It's just wasn't like her. She should be all smiles, practically screeching that she knew something was up between them.
"Is there something wrong, Minako-chan?"
Minako smiled weakly. "Nothing important. At least nothing that involves youma."
Mamoru raised an eyebrow. "Minako-san, do you know what you're saying? Or who you're saying it in front of?"
"Mamoru, I think there is something you should know about Venusians." Minako replied back. She laughed a little. "Or reincarnated ones. We have always had a talent for feeling strong emotions. You have always had strong feelings for Usa-chan, whatever personality you were wearing at the time."
The former prince relaxed a bit. He knew not all the senshi were tolerant of him. Mars and Jupiter thought he was an enemy sent to relax Sailor Moon's guard when it came to the Silver Crystal and the Princess. He also knew that Venus was always her main supporter, even on the Moon. She'd always try to cheer her up if the other's had been particularly brutal with her.
Minako looked back to Usagi, the dusk painting half her face in shadow. She dropped to her knees, ignoring the cold and damp that was seeping through her pants.
"I want to apologize Usagi-chan" she started, trying not to break eye contact in her embarrassment. "I have been a horrible friend to you. I have ignored what you have been feeling recently, if not longer. I have let the other girls continually criticize you on things that are petty. I have given into the pressure of following what the others have been saying." She stifled back a sob. "I have broken a vow a Venusian takes: To be the guardian of emotions."
Usagi rose and joined her friend on the grass. She felt so happy she felt like she would burst. Someone finally understood! She is finally the leader of my senshi again. I only hope the others will come to the same conclusion she did.
"Mina-chan, don't apologise. I understand. Rei and Makoto can be hard to stand up to when they believe something so strongly." She chuckled. "They could probably make me believe the sky was green if they really wanted to." She grabbed a hold of her friend in a crushing embrace, which Minako willingly returned.
"Usa, are you going to tell me what is really going on here?" To tell the truth, she was a little confused. It was unheard of for Usagi to keep anything a secret. It had been only a guess that made her ask the question.
Usagi glanced at Mamoru for conformation, to which he nodded. I could get used to having him to rely on like this. She gripped her fellow blonde by the shoulders. "Okay, Mina-chan. You must promise not to tell anyone. This secret is to be kept between the three of us and Luna only. The other's are not ready." The other girl indicated agreement with a small nod, although she looked a little nervous, like the world was going to suddenly fall down upon her.
"I welcome you back into my service, Venus," Usagi said solemnly and, before Minako could process her words, she remembered, and the world went black.