Title: Not a God Part 7 (Version 1.3)
Author: nIGHT rIDER
Email: ikari@wantree.net.au
Rating: G
--------------------------------------------------------------------
From the Personal Journal of Neo-Queen Serenity
(Tsukino Usagi I)
6/29/98
Fear.
Is having one's mother make a mother's inspection of your
boyfriend's home, especially after one has come to see his home as a
private domain for the two of you to share quiet moments
together....
----o
"Mamoru's flowers.... I haven't watered them for a couple of
days, now.... I have to stop off, here.... It will only take a few
minutes." Usagi looked at her mother, hopefully. Ikuko shrugged
and turned to the driver, who glanced over at her.
"I don't see why not. This is my last job for the night....
I'll stop the meter until you get back." He smiled. "It'll give
me an opportunity to do my books for the afternoon. Save me from
having to do them back at the office."
Ikuko turned back to Usagi. "Looks like you get to water your
flowers, then." She giggled. "And Miki and I get to see inside
your Mamo-chan's private domain." Ikuko and Miki made ominous
noises to each other.
"Woah.... Mamo-chan's secret lovenest." Miki giggled.
"The dark pit of iniquity itself." Ikuko slapped her thigh.
"This SHOULD be amusing."
Usagi felt a large weight drop down on top of her shoulders...
----o
From the Personal Journal of Neo-Queen Serenity
(Tsukino Usagi I)
6/29/98
Of course, I'll probably do the same to Chibiusa, when she is
old enough to have a true boyfriend of her own. If she is ever
given the opportunity to have a normal relationship....
--------------------------------------------------------------------
BISHOUJO SENSHI SAILORMOON / TAIHO SHICHAUZO
NOT A GOD
by nIGHT rIDER (Assistance by DDFA)
Disclaimer - all characters pertaining to the series Bishoujo Senshi
Sailormoon and Taiho Shichauzo are owned by Takeuchi Naoko,
Fujishima Kosuke, Bandai, TBS, and Kodansya. All other characters
were thought up by me. Well, its true, isn't it?
Chapter 7
A Right Pretty Picture
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Life at the Bokutoo Police Station was not what anybody could
vaguely describe as normal, especially for a police station.
Tsujimoto Natsumi pondered this fact as she pushed the station's
resident cross-dressing officer, Futaba Aoi, back through the
doorway of the ladies' changerooms.
"Another five minutes, at the very least, Aoi-chan." She
muttered to the tallish, effeminate-looking man, remarking that he
seemed to keep himself looking a great deal better than any female
member of the station's staff, as his long, wavy brown hair dangled
in her face.
"But you should have been finished by now.... We had an
agreement, I get to use the changerooms at a certain time after the
change of shift." Aoi turned to Natsumi, affecting a disconcerted
and overdramatic feminine pose. Natsumi sighed, rolling her eyes.
"We were delayed by a meeting with Lord Enma.... What can I
say?" She shrugged and turned back to walk into the changerooms.
"So what's Yoriko's excuse, then?" Aoi pointed to the short,
dark-haired girl, who was peering around the door of her locker,
trying to hide the fact that she was near-naked behind it.
"Don't you get me involved in this." Yoriko shook a fist at
him. Aoi stuck his tongue out at her and strode away in a fit of
pique.
"Yoriko!" Natsumi waved a finger at her, admonishingly. The
girl huffed.
"He should KNOW better than to start changing when he SEES us
in here.... He's just trying to push the terms of our agreement,
that's all.... Just because he wants to BE a woman...." She
grabbed her civvies from the locker and placed them down on a bench
seat in the middle of the aisle.
"Well, he almost qualifies.... He seems to attract more men
than you." Natsumi smiled at Yoriko, who made something akin to
volcanic grumbling noises. Deciding she didn't want to be close
when Yoriko finally erupted, she stepped into the neighboring
aisle, where her partner, Kobayakawa Miyuki, was buttoning up her
skirt.
"You really should know better than to tease Yoriko like
that." Miyuki looked up at her partner. "She might be small, mousy
and annoying, but she's not unattractive.... Besides, she WAS the
one who caught the eye of a Prince.... A real-life one, even...."
Natsumi threw up her hands. "Yeah, well.... Unlike some, I'm
not praying some Prince comes along to scoop me up in his arms....
I've already got.... The Captain!" Natsumi clasped her hands
together as she went doe-eyed, staring into space and giggling
inanely. Miyuki looked at her, dubiously.
"Yeah. Right."
Natsumi snapped out of her reverie, and leaned forward into
Miyuki's face. "And so how are you and Ken-chan going, hmmm?"
"Natsumi...." Miyuki pulled back. "I've told you, many
times, don't call Nakajima-kun Ken-chan...."
"Why not? You do." Natsumi started her patented evil laugh,
to which Miyuki decided it was time to abandon this thread of
conversation and start on something more pertinent.
"Aaaaaanyway.... What do you think of this plan of Arizuka-
san's, to have cadets working with experienced officers, on the
job...?"
Natsumi stood back and threw up her hands. "I ask you....
What makes Lord Enma think we'll be able to deal with an on-the-job
cadet?" She leaned up against her neighboring locker, crossing her
arms. "I mean, it's a ridiculous idea....."
"I think the idea is quite a good one." Miyuki smiled,
looking into her locker, pausing for thought. "It should teach the
girl a few things about the job, thus giving her some idea about how
dangerous it can be before she advances any further...."
"Yeah, and she could get hurt in the meantime." Natsumi shook
her head. "I had to pass the entrance exams before I could receive
my cadetship, and they aren't exactly easy...."
"I think you forget..." Miyuki giggled. "I seem to remember
a certain workmate of ours who managed to pass her entrance exam by
a process of sheer luck."
"You be quiet!" They heard Yoriko bark from the other side of
the lockers. Natsumi and Miyuki grinned at each other.
"Why am I not surprised that she is listening in?" Miyuki
whispered as she threw on an overcoat and reached down to take out
her shoes. Natsumi smiled.
"It's the stock in trade of the professional gossip." She
nodded. "Whatever the case.... There has been only one young girl
I can think of who was dedicated enough to become an on-the-job
cadet.... And she had her own strange reasons...."
"Saori-chan?" Miyuki looked up, blinking.
"Indeed." Natsumi nodded, remembering the troublesome
schoolgirl, who decided to become a police officer for no better
reason than she thought it would be cool, after being saved a couple
of times by Natsumi and Miyuki from various criminals and perverts.
At least, as far as Natsumi knew....
Saori had gone so far, after their best efforts to dissuade
her, to put herself in danger, hoping to help Miyuki and Natsumi
catch a couple of illegal porn video makers, trading on young women
and schoolgirls.... Utilising her trust mobile phone to help track
them down before they could have their way with her.... Not that
she behaved in a manner that allowed the pair of hapless saps to
take advantage, and as soon as Natsumi arrived on the scene....
"She was almost hurt, herself...." Natsumi took a breath.
"That's the problem with kids these days.... They're too
enthusiastic, and don't know the dangers involved, or the real
meaning of responsibility...."
"Reminds me of someone I know." Miyuki winked at Natsumi.
"What are you saying?" Natsumi shook a fist at her. "I am a
completely responsible individual, I'll have you know." She put a
hand on her chest in an overdramatic display of wounded pride.
"Yet you STILL can't wake up on time...." Miyuki ducked as
Natsumi took a half-hearted swing at her.
"Baka.... You know that's different." Natsumi stepped away
from the lockers, walking in circles around the aisle. "It's my
condition, you see.... I've never been able to get up before
eight...."
"Is that PM or AM?" Yoriko's disembodied voice echoed through
the changeroom. Miyuki almost toppled back onto the bench seat
behind her, laughing out loud.
"You better have good health insurance, Yoriko.... You're
going to need it when I get my hands on you." Natsumi shook her
fist at the lockers.
"It's just a joke, Natsumi." Yoriko whined. "Jeez, you're
in a foul mood, today...."
"I am NOT in a foul mood!" She shouted. "What makes you
think I'm in a foul mood?"
"The fact you have your voice raised." Miyuki sighed. "Come
on, Natsumi.... Taking on this girl isn't going to be THAT
hard...." She paused. "That IS what is upsetting you, isn't it?"
Natsumi turned to Miyuki. "Of course it is.... I mean, the
job here is hard enough, without having to look after some snotty-
nosed kid."
Miyuki shrugged. "Well, I wouldn't call someone who risked
their life to save a young girl a 'snotty-nosed kid'.... From what
the Chief Inspector told us, her actions were very similar to the
kind of almost unthinking, heroic behaviour you specialise in."
"My actions are not unthinking." Natsumi huffed. "And I AM
a hero, so there, nyahhh boo." Natsumi blew a long, slobbery
raspberry at Miyuki and stormed off, out of the changerooms. Miyuki
started counting to see how long it would be before she came back to
put on her pants....
----o
The taxi arrived outside Makoto's apartment block with a
superbly executed handbrake slide, stopping perfectly against the
kerb.
"This is the address you wanted, ladies?" The driver turned
to Mercury and Mars. "Oro.... Why are you hugging each other like
that?" He blinked as the pair of senshi clutched each other for
dear life in the front passenger seat, their eyes screwed shut.
Suddenly realising that the taxi was no longer moving, they peeked
out of nervous eyes and took in the situation, promptly letting each
other go and brushing themselves down in an attempt to regain some
lost dignity.
"Ano.... hai. This is the address we specified." Mars said
in a slightly imperious tone as she wiped beads of sweat from her
forehead.
"That'll be 950 yen, thanks." The driver hit his meter and
lifted up his record book from the door pocket. Mercury and Mars
stared at each other for a moment.
"B... but...." Mercury swallowed. "We don't keep money in
our senshi uniforms...."
"But.... I had money on me when I changed...." Mars stared
at her uniform, looking for an otherwise hidden pocket she'd not
seen in her previous endeavors. "It was in the pocket of my uniform
jacket."
"This isn't your school uniform." Mercury reminded her,
holding a lecturing finger in the air. "And there ARE no pockets in
these uniforms.... In short, when we change, the money goes with
our normal clothes."
Mars sweatdropped. "Ano.... We.... We NEED money right
now. This isn't a matter of logistics, concerning the availability
of pockets on our senshi costumes."
Mercury put a finger to her mouth, staring at the roof of the
car in sudden realisation. "Oh yes. Sorry. Forgot about that."
"Kami forgive me.... I promise not to two-time my boyfriends
any more, if you just keep me alive a moment longer." Said an arm
that was rising from the back seat. Arimus, still partly hidden
under her cloak, leaned forward, bemused by Venus's crumpled form
that lifted itself from the footwell at the base of the back seat.
"Were we supposed to be frightened by this?" She whispered
softly into Venus's ear. The blond-haired senshi looked at her
incredulously.
"Are you for real?" She gave Arimus a pained expression.
"I may be a Youma, but I am real, I can assure you." Arimus
sat back in the seat, closing her eyes to conserve her strength as
Venus pulled herself back onto the seat.
"You can relax now, Jupiter." Venus patted Jupiter on the arm
as the tall girl continued to sit, her arms and legs holding her
form rigidly in place. Jupiter turned her face to Venus, grimacing,
her teeth clamped together.
"Not until the world stops moving, thankyou very much. Would
you like a side order of fries with that?"
"Ano.... Mako-chan?" Venus waved her hand in front of
Jupiter's eyes, getting no sense of recognition at all.
"Sorry, your call could not be connected. Please check the
number you have dialed and try again."
"So, what you girls are trying to say is, you don't have any
money. Am I reading you right, or something?" The driver's pen
hovered over his logbook as he ground his teeth together. Customers
had this tendency to forget cash with an alarming regularity,
nowadays.... More often than not because they couldn't remember
anything after experiencing his driving.
"Oh, no no no...." Mercury sweatdropped. "I'm sure Mako-chan
has money up in her apartment. Ne, Mako-chan?"
"We apologise for this disruption to services. We shall
return to the normally scheduled program shortly." Jupiter's three
companions facefaulted as she giggled inanely and started to recite
the three o'clock fairy rhyme.
"Kami help me.... If she starts babbling just ONE THING about
her long lost senpai, she'll be seeing Crystal Tokyo from butt to
breakfast time." Mars grumbled.
"So...." The driver began to drum his fingers. "Let me get
this straight.... I have brought you all this way, yet you have no
money?" The driver turned, staring Ami and Rei down.
"But I DID have money...." Rei protested, patting the sides
of her sailorfuku. "It's GOT to be here, somewhere...."
The driver narrowed his eyes. "Do you know what I do to
passengers who don't pay me?" His tone managed to bring even Makoto
back to the real world. All four senshi watched with alarm as a
huge, steaming red aura of battle energy rose around the driver. "I
am a member of the taxi-drivers' union.... It is not a good idea to
cross us!" He growled.
Fortunately, their salvation came at that point. There was a
gentle tapping on the driver's window. He turned to see a pair of
hypnotic, scarlet-red eyes staring in at him, belonging to a well
dressed woman, with an olive complexion and dark green hair. It was
love at first sight for the driver, as he wound the window down.
"C... Can I help you?" he asked, drooling. The woman smiled,
sweetly, and pulled something out of the pocket of the jacket of her
expensive, light-coloured business jacket.... Money...
"Shall this pay for the ride of these young fools?" The woman
asked, feigning a cute, high voice. The driver looked down at the
notes she was holding out.... There was more than enough, plus a
healthy tip, to cover. He nodded dumbly, taking the money.
"Thankyou... uhh... ma'am."
"You're welcome." The woman smiled sweetly again, making the
driver melt in his seat.
"Get out." He snarled briefly at the others, then turned back
to Setsuna, who was posing like a model, keeping the attention of
the driver as the others helped Arimus from the taxi, looking at her
with cynical, dubious eyes.
"The things I do for these idiots...." Setsuna thought to
herself....
----o
"It's clean." Ikuko remarked, as she stepped through the
front doorway to Mamoru's apartment. Usagi turned to her mother as
she removed her shoes.
"Of course it's clean. What did you expect it to be?" Usagi
sniffed indignantly as she dropped her shoes at the step before the
carpet. She turned as Miki pressed into her side.
"It's big.... Bigger than my old house." Miki said as she
looked up at Usagi. "Is your house as big as this?"
"Ours is bigger." Usagi thumped her chest, proudly. "Only
the best for the Tsukino family."
"And let's face it...." Ikuko giggled, putting a hand to her
mouth. "We've needed a big house to put up with Usagi and Shingo's
arguments that have been raging all these years."
"Mama!" Usagi looked daggers at Ikuko.
"Will I be able to have arguments, too?" Miki smiled
innocently at Usagi. "Mama and I never really had much to argue
about." Usagi and Ikuko stared at Miki, incredulously.
"Uh.... Yes, I suppose you will be able to have arguments....
Not that I could see why you'd want to have any...." Usagi kneeled
down to Miki. "Why? You have anything you want to argue about with
me?" She flicked Miki's nose, making the girl giggle.
"Not really.... But all the dramas I saw on tv had people,
members of the same families, arguing with each other. I wondered
if that was what normal families did...."
"Miki-chan, if you got most of your understanding on families
from television, then you have a LOT to learn." Usagi hugged Miki,
then leaned back. "Now, you wait with Ikuko-mama here while I deal
with Mamo-chan's flowers, ne?"
"Haaaiiii." Miki smiled, and Usagi stood, patting her on the
head, then turned and walked into the apartment, disappearing
through a doorway. Ikuko removed her shoes and took Miki by the
hand.
"What do you say, we take a look around?" She smiled down at
Miki, mischievously.
"Un." Miki nodded, smiling back. Ikuko helped Miki up the
step and wandered through the main room, towards one of the doors
that lead further into the house.
They peered down the darkened passageway, then at each other.
Miki shrugged, and Ikuko reached to switch on the light. It was as
obsessively clean as the rest of the house, that they had seen.
Slowly, they made their way along, towards the closest room.
The room was dark, and had the distinct, thickly carpeted
smell of a more private domain.... Ikuko guessed that it was
probably Mamoru's bedroom, although one couldn't be sure. Flicking
on the light, she could see that it was, indeed, a bedroom....
Whether or not it was Mamoru's, or a spare bedroom, there was no
sign. There were little personal embellishments to the room, but
nothing that made it look distinct.
The bed was set in the middle of the room, up against the far
wall, with cabinets on both side. There was a mirror desk near the
door, and a dresser sitting underneath the window, with a couple of
wardrobes on either side. Ikuko was so busy taking this in, that
she hadn't realised that Miki had let go of her hand, and was
wandering through the room, touching things.
"Don't move anything, Miki-chan, or we'll probably get into
trouble.... Don't want Usagi biting our heads off, or anything."
"Haaaaiii." Miki smiled back at Ikuko as she ran a hand along
the end of the bed. "Has Usagi-oneechan slept in here, before?"
"Eh?" Ikuko frowned. "Well, I don't know... That's... kind
of personal...." She sweatdropped. Miki giggled.
"Silly...." She padded her way to one of the bed cabinets,
and picked up a photograph that was sitting there. Ikuko hadn't
noticed it when she had made her brief scan of the room. "They look
like a family...."
"Who?" Ikuko stepped into the room, taking in the atmosphere
of the room. If there was anything she had been good at, it was
reading the atmosphere of particular rooms, getting a feel for their
use and frequency of usage.
"Usagi-oneechan, her boyfriend and the little girl." Miki
held up the photograph to show Ikuko. She recognised it as a copy
of the one that sat on Usagi's dresser, and had to agree that,
indeed, Usagi, Mamoru and Chibiusa DID look like a family, excluding
the fact that Usagi would've had to have been half her age to have
given birth to the pink-haired girl. "Who is this little girl?"
Miki turned the photograph around and touched it, tracing her
fingers around the image of Chibiusa.
"Ah, that's Chibiusa.... She's Usagi's cousin.... I think."
Ikuko scratched her head. She always did have something of a blind
spot when it came to that girl....
"No.... She really seems.... Really feels.... Like Usagi-
oneechan's daughter...." Miki swallowed, feeling strange, all of a
sudden. A twinge of sadness ran through her that she couldn't
explain, and she quickly put the photograph back on the cabinet,
turning away from it, as if trying to remove its existence from her
mind.
"Are you alright, Miki-chan?" Ikuko looked at her with
concern. The little girl turned to her, eventually, and smiled.
"Un." She nodded. "I just felt a bit dizzy."
"We really should be getting home and getting you into a nice,
warm bed." Ikuko sat on the edge of the bed and reached over to
Miki. The girl stepped into her arms, allowing her to be guided up
to her, pressing into Ikuko's chest.
"Aww.... I don't want to go to bed just yet.... I still
wanna see a few things." Miki screwed up her face, looking up at
Ikuko who was smiling down at her, kindly.
"Now now now.... We don't want to get you sick on your first
night out of the hospital, now do we?"
"I suppose so." Miki said, solemnly. "I'm feeling better
now, anyway."
"That's good." Ikuko rubbed Miki's back, gently, and looked
up at the dresser that sat opposite the bed. For some unknown
reason, her curiosity about what lay inside grew, and she stood
from the bed. Miki stepped aside, watching her strangely.
"What is it, Ikuko-mama?" Miki frowned as Ikuko placed her
hand against the groove of the dresser's sliding door.
"I don't know.... There's something...." She slid the door
open, and stood back in surprise. Miki gasped.
"A.... A painting...." Miki clasped onto Ikuko's hip. "Is
that REALLY Usagi-oneechan and her boyfriend?"
Ikuko had a hand placed over her mouth as she stared at the
painting, that sat upon a shelf within the dresser. She looked down
at the name of the artist in the bottom corner. "Yumeno? Yumeno
Yumeni? My daughter posed for a picture by Yumeno Yumeni?"
Before her stood the painting, of Usagi and Mamoru, as a
Princess and her Prince....
END OF PART 7
--------------------------------------------------------------------
I think I should mention that the "Saori-chan" mentioned in this
chapter is a character from the YUA series, not the Saori of SM....
In the manga, Saori was the girl who stepped onto the road in front
of the Mini-Pat in the hope of committing suicide, so her beauty
would be preserved forever in death.... In the anime, she was
almost run over by Oushou's red mini, after she ran onto the road
to collect her mobile phone, which had twirled off her finger....
It was Oushou, who had taken Saori back to his shrine to recover,
after she had passed out from the shock of seeing the red mini
bearing down upon her, who introduced her to Natsumi and Miyuki....
My knowledge of "You're Under Arrest", or "Taiho Shichauzo" is about
as good as someone with 34 unsubtitled episodes could be, with only
the barest smattering of Japanese in their vocabulary.... It is a
good thing that the plots for the episodes aren't all that complex.
^_^;;
One apologises for the time this chapter has taken in writing....
Several things have conspired against my working on this chapter,
mostly involving my car, which has broken down three times in as
many weeks (major breakdowns, too.... snapped timing belts, shafted
starter motors etc etc etc). Then, after having fixed all these
things, the car was promptly stolen.... -_- It was recovered a
week later, without much damage, however....
Well, one can say I haven't been having a fun time, lately. Any
moment, now, I expect the sky to fall on my head. ^_^;;
JTW
nIGHT rIDER ikari@wantree.net.au
Member of the AJAS Fanfic Circle
Author: nIGHT rIDER
Email: ikari@wantree.net.au
Rating: G
--------------------------------------------------------------------
From the Personal Journal of Neo-Queen Serenity
(Tsukino Usagi I)
6/29/98
Fear.
Is having one's mother make a mother's inspection of your
boyfriend's home, especially after one has come to see his home as a
private domain for the two of you to share quiet moments
together....
----o
"Mamoru's flowers.... I haven't watered them for a couple of
days, now.... I have to stop off, here.... It will only take a few
minutes." Usagi looked at her mother, hopefully. Ikuko shrugged
and turned to the driver, who glanced over at her.
"I don't see why not. This is my last job for the night....
I'll stop the meter until you get back." He smiled. "It'll give
me an opportunity to do my books for the afternoon. Save me from
having to do them back at the office."
Ikuko turned back to Usagi. "Looks like you get to water your
flowers, then." She giggled. "And Miki and I get to see inside
your Mamo-chan's private domain." Ikuko and Miki made ominous
noises to each other.
"Woah.... Mamo-chan's secret lovenest." Miki giggled.
"The dark pit of iniquity itself." Ikuko slapped her thigh.
"This SHOULD be amusing."
Usagi felt a large weight drop down on top of her shoulders...
----o
From the Personal Journal of Neo-Queen Serenity
(Tsukino Usagi I)
6/29/98
Of course, I'll probably do the same to Chibiusa, when she is
old enough to have a true boyfriend of her own. If she is ever
given the opportunity to have a normal relationship....
--------------------------------------------------------------------
BISHOUJO SENSHI SAILORMOON / TAIHO SHICHAUZO
NOT A GOD
by nIGHT rIDER (Assistance by DDFA)
Disclaimer - all characters pertaining to the series Bishoujo Senshi
Sailormoon and Taiho Shichauzo are owned by Takeuchi Naoko,
Fujishima Kosuke, Bandai, TBS, and Kodansya. All other characters
were thought up by me. Well, its true, isn't it?
Chapter 7
A Right Pretty Picture
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Life at the Bokutoo Police Station was not what anybody could
vaguely describe as normal, especially for a police station.
Tsujimoto Natsumi pondered this fact as she pushed the station's
resident cross-dressing officer, Futaba Aoi, back through the
doorway of the ladies' changerooms.
"Another five minutes, at the very least, Aoi-chan." She
muttered to the tallish, effeminate-looking man, remarking that he
seemed to keep himself looking a great deal better than any female
member of the station's staff, as his long, wavy brown hair dangled
in her face.
"But you should have been finished by now.... We had an
agreement, I get to use the changerooms at a certain time after the
change of shift." Aoi turned to Natsumi, affecting a disconcerted
and overdramatic feminine pose. Natsumi sighed, rolling her eyes.
"We were delayed by a meeting with Lord Enma.... What can I
say?" She shrugged and turned back to walk into the changerooms.
"So what's Yoriko's excuse, then?" Aoi pointed to the short,
dark-haired girl, who was peering around the door of her locker,
trying to hide the fact that she was near-naked behind it.
"Don't you get me involved in this." Yoriko shook a fist at
him. Aoi stuck his tongue out at her and strode away in a fit of
pique.
"Yoriko!" Natsumi waved a finger at her, admonishingly. The
girl huffed.
"He should KNOW better than to start changing when he SEES us
in here.... He's just trying to push the terms of our agreement,
that's all.... Just because he wants to BE a woman...." She
grabbed her civvies from the locker and placed them down on a bench
seat in the middle of the aisle.
"Well, he almost qualifies.... He seems to attract more men
than you." Natsumi smiled at Yoriko, who made something akin to
volcanic grumbling noises. Deciding she didn't want to be close
when Yoriko finally erupted, she stepped into the neighboring
aisle, where her partner, Kobayakawa Miyuki, was buttoning up her
skirt.
"You really should know better than to tease Yoriko like
that." Miyuki looked up at her partner. "She might be small, mousy
and annoying, but she's not unattractive.... Besides, she WAS the
one who caught the eye of a Prince.... A real-life one, even...."
Natsumi threw up her hands. "Yeah, well.... Unlike some, I'm
not praying some Prince comes along to scoop me up in his arms....
I've already got.... The Captain!" Natsumi clasped her hands
together as she went doe-eyed, staring into space and giggling
inanely. Miyuki looked at her, dubiously.
"Yeah. Right."
Natsumi snapped out of her reverie, and leaned forward into
Miyuki's face. "And so how are you and Ken-chan going, hmmm?"
"Natsumi...." Miyuki pulled back. "I've told you, many
times, don't call Nakajima-kun Ken-chan...."
"Why not? You do." Natsumi started her patented evil laugh,
to which Miyuki decided it was time to abandon this thread of
conversation and start on something more pertinent.
"Aaaaaanyway.... What do you think of this plan of Arizuka-
san's, to have cadets working with experienced officers, on the
job...?"
Natsumi stood back and threw up her hands. "I ask you....
What makes Lord Enma think we'll be able to deal with an on-the-job
cadet?" She leaned up against her neighboring locker, crossing her
arms. "I mean, it's a ridiculous idea....."
"I think the idea is quite a good one." Miyuki smiled,
looking into her locker, pausing for thought. "It should teach the
girl a few things about the job, thus giving her some idea about how
dangerous it can be before she advances any further...."
"Yeah, and she could get hurt in the meantime." Natsumi shook
her head. "I had to pass the entrance exams before I could receive
my cadetship, and they aren't exactly easy...."
"I think you forget..." Miyuki giggled. "I seem to remember
a certain workmate of ours who managed to pass her entrance exam by
a process of sheer luck."
"You be quiet!" They heard Yoriko bark from the other side of
the lockers. Natsumi and Miyuki grinned at each other.
"Why am I not surprised that she is listening in?" Miyuki
whispered as she threw on an overcoat and reached down to take out
her shoes. Natsumi smiled.
"It's the stock in trade of the professional gossip." She
nodded. "Whatever the case.... There has been only one young girl
I can think of who was dedicated enough to become an on-the-job
cadet.... And she had her own strange reasons...."
"Saori-chan?" Miyuki looked up, blinking.
"Indeed." Natsumi nodded, remembering the troublesome
schoolgirl, who decided to become a police officer for no better
reason than she thought it would be cool, after being saved a couple
of times by Natsumi and Miyuki from various criminals and perverts.
At least, as far as Natsumi knew....
Saori had gone so far, after their best efforts to dissuade
her, to put herself in danger, hoping to help Miyuki and Natsumi
catch a couple of illegal porn video makers, trading on young women
and schoolgirls.... Utilising her trust mobile phone to help track
them down before they could have their way with her.... Not that
she behaved in a manner that allowed the pair of hapless saps to
take advantage, and as soon as Natsumi arrived on the scene....
"She was almost hurt, herself...." Natsumi took a breath.
"That's the problem with kids these days.... They're too
enthusiastic, and don't know the dangers involved, or the real
meaning of responsibility...."
"Reminds me of someone I know." Miyuki winked at Natsumi.
"What are you saying?" Natsumi shook a fist at her. "I am a
completely responsible individual, I'll have you know." She put a
hand on her chest in an overdramatic display of wounded pride.
"Yet you STILL can't wake up on time...." Miyuki ducked as
Natsumi took a half-hearted swing at her.
"Baka.... You know that's different." Natsumi stepped away
from the lockers, walking in circles around the aisle. "It's my
condition, you see.... I've never been able to get up before
eight...."
"Is that PM or AM?" Yoriko's disembodied voice echoed through
the changeroom. Miyuki almost toppled back onto the bench seat
behind her, laughing out loud.
"You better have good health insurance, Yoriko.... You're
going to need it when I get my hands on you." Natsumi shook her
fist at the lockers.
"It's just a joke, Natsumi." Yoriko whined. "Jeez, you're
in a foul mood, today...."
"I am NOT in a foul mood!" She shouted. "What makes you
think I'm in a foul mood?"
"The fact you have your voice raised." Miyuki sighed. "Come
on, Natsumi.... Taking on this girl isn't going to be THAT
hard...." She paused. "That IS what is upsetting you, isn't it?"
Natsumi turned to Miyuki. "Of course it is.... I mean, the
job here is hard enough, without having to look after some snotty-
nosed kid."
Miyuki shrugged. "Well, I wouldn't call someone who risked
their life to save a young girl a 'snotty-nosed kid'.... From what
the Chief Inspector told us, her actions were very similar to the
kind of almost unthinking, heroic behaviour you specialise in."
"My actions are not unthinking." Natsumi huffed. "And I AM
a hero, so there, nyahhh boo." Natsumi blew a long, slobbery
raspberry at Miyuki and stormed off, out of the changerooms. Miyuki
started counting to see how long it would be before she came back to
put on her pants....
----o
The taxi arrived outside Makoto's apartment block with a
superbly executed handbrake slide, stopping perfectly against the
kerb.
"This is the address you wanted, ladies?" The driver turned
to Mercury and Mars. "Oro.... Why are you hugging each other like
that?" He blinked as the pair of senshi clutched each other for
dear life in the front passenger seat, their eyes screwed shut.
Suddenly realising that the taxi was no longer moving, they peeked
out of nervous eyes and took in the situation, promptly letting each
other go and brushing themselves down in an attempt to regain some
lost dignity.
"Ano.... hai. This is the address we specified." Mars said
in a slightly imperious tone as she wiped beads of sweat from her
forehead.
"That'll be 950 yen, thanks." The driver hit his meter and
lifted up his record book from the door pocket. Mercury and Mars
stared at each other for a moment.
"B... but...." Mercury swallowed. "We don't keep money in
our senshi uniforms...."
"But.... I had money on me when I changed...." Mars stared
at her uniform, looking for an otherwise hidden pocket she'd not
seen in her previous endeavors. "It was in the pocket of my uniform
jacket."
"This isn't your school uniform." Mercury reminded her,
holding a lecturing finger in the air. "And there ARE no pockets in
these uniforms.... In short, when we change, the money goes with
our normal clothes."
Mars sweatdropped. "Ano.... We.... We NEED money right
now. This isn't a matter of logistics, concerning the availability
of pockets on our senshi costumes."
Mercury put a finger to her mouth, staring at the roof of the
car in sudden realisation. "Oh yes. Sorry. Forgot about that."
"Kami forgive me.... I promise not to two-time my boyfriends
any more, if you just keep me alive a moment longer." Said an arm
that was rising from the back seat. Arimus, still partly hidden
under her cloak, leaned forward, bemused by Venus's crumpled form
that lifted itself from the footwell at the base of the back seat.
"Were we supposed to be frightened by this?" She whispered
softly into Venus's ear. The blond-haired senshi looked at her
incredulously.
"Are you for real?" She gave Arimus a pained expression.
"I may be a Youma, but I am real, I can assure you." Arimus
sat back in the seat, closing her eyes to conserve her strength as
Venus pulled herself back onto the seat.
"You can relax now, Jupiter." Venus patted Jupiter on the arm
as the tall girl continued to sit, her arms and legs holding her
form rigidly in place. Jupiter turned her face to Venus, grimacing,
her teeth clamped together.
"Not until the world stops moving, thankyou very much. Would
you like a side order of fries with that?"
"Ano.... Mako-chan?" Venus waved her hand in front of
Jupiter's eyes, getting no sense of recognition at all.
"Sorry, your call could not be connected. Please check the
number you have dialed and try again."
"So, what you girls are trying to say is, you don't have any
money. Am I reading you right, or something?" The driver's pen
hovered over his logbook as he ground his teeth together. Customers
had this tendency to forget cash with an alarming regularity,
nowadays.... More often than not because they couldn't remember
anything after experiencing his driving.
"Oh, no no no...." Mercury sweatdropped. "I'm sure Mako-chan
has money up in her apartment. Ne, Mako-chan?"
"We apologise for this disruption to services. We shall
return to the normally scheduled program shortly." Jupiter's three
companions facefaulted as she giggled inanely and started to recite
the three o'clock fairy rhyme.
"Kami help me.... If she starts babbling just ONE THING about
her long lost senpai, she'll be seeing Crystal Tokyo from butt to
breakfast time." Mars grumbled.
"So...." The driver began to drum his fingers. "Let me get
this straight.... I have brought you all this way, yet you have no
money?" The driver turned, staring Ami and Rei down.
"But I DID have money...." Rei protested, patting the sides
of her sailorfuku. "It's GOT to be here, somewhere...."
The driver narrowed his eyes. "Do you know what I do to
passengers who don't pay me?" His tone managed to bring even Makoto
back to the real world. All four senshi watched with alarm as a
huge, steaming red aura of battle energy rose around the driver. "I
am a member of the taxi-drivers' union.... It is not a good idea to
cross us!" He growled.
Fortunately, their salvation came at that point. There was a
gentle tapping on the driver's window. He turned to see a pair of
hypnotic, scarlet-red eyes staring in at him, belonging to a well
dressed woman, with an olive complexion and dark green hair. It was
love at first sight for the driver, as he wound the window down.
"C... Can I help you?" he asked, drooling. The woman smiled,
sweetly, and pulled something out of the pocket of the jacket of her
expensive, light-coloured business jacket.... Money...
"Shall this pay for the ride of these young fools?" The woman
asked, feigning a cute, high voice. The driver looked down at the
notes she was holding out.... There was more than enough, plus a
healthy tip, to cover. He nodded dumbly, taking the money.
"Thankyou... uhh... ma'am."
"You're welcome." The woman smiled sweetly again, making the
driver melt in his seat.
"Get out." He snarled briefly at the others, then turned back
to Setsuna, who was posing like a model, keeping the attention of
the driver as the others helped Arimus from the taxi, looking at her
with cynical, dubious eyes.
"The things I do for these idiots...." Setsuna thought to
herself....
----o
"It's clean." Ikuko remarked, as she stepped through the
front doorway to Mamoru's apartment. Usagi turned to her mother as
she removed her shoes.
"Of course it's clean. What did you expect it to be?" Usagi
sniffed indignantly as she dropped her shoes at the step before the
carpet. She turned as Miki pressed into her side.
"It's big.... Bigger than my old house." Miki said as she
looked up at Usagi. "Is your house as big as this?"
"Ours is bigger." Usagi thumped her chest, proudly. "Only
the best for the Tsukino family."
"And let's face it...." Ikuko giggled, putting a hand to her
mouth. "We've needed a big house to put up with Usagi and Shingo's
arguments that have been raging all these years."
"Mama!" Usagi looked daggers at Ikuko.
"Will I be able to have arguments, too?" Miki smiled
innocently at Usagi. "Mama and I never really had much to argue
about." Usagi and Ikuko stared at Miki, incredulously.
"Uh.... Yes, I suppose you will be able to have arguments....
Not that I could see why you'd want to have any...." Usagi kneeled
down to Miki. "Why? You have anything you want to argue about with
me?" She flicked Miki's nose, making the girl giggle.
"Not really.... But all the dramas I saw on tv had people,
members of the same families, arguing with each other. I wondered
if that was what normal families did...."
"Miki-chan, if you got most of your understanding on families
from television, then you have a LOT to learn." Usagi hugged Miki,
then leaned back. "Now, you wait with Ikuko-mama here while I deal
with Mamo-chan's flowers, ne?"
"Haaaiiii." Miki smiled, and Usagi stood, patting her on the
head, then turned and walked into the apartment, disappearing
through a doorway. Ikuko removed her shoes and took Miki by the
hand.
"What do you say, we take a look around?" She smiled down at
Miki, mischievously.
"Un." Miki nodded, smiling back. Ikuko helped Miki up the
step and wandered through the main room, towards one of the doors
that lead further into the house.
They peered down the darkened passageway, then at each other.
Miki shrugged, and Ikuko reached to switch on the light. It was as
obsessively clean as the rest of the house, that they had seen.
Slowly, they made their way along, towards the closest room.
The room was dark, and had the distinct, thickly carpeted
smell of a more private domain.... Ikuko guessed that it was
probably Mamoru's bedroom, although one couldn't be sure. Flicking
on the light, she could see that it was, indeed, a bedroom....
Whether or not it was Mamoru's, or a spare bedroom, there was no
sign. There were little personal embellishments to the room, but
nothing that made it look distinct.
The bed was set in the middle of the room, up against the far
wall, with cabinets on both side. There was a mirror desk near the
door, and a dresser sitting underneath the window, with a couple of
wardrobes on either side. Ikuko was so busy taking this in, that
she hadn't realised that Miki had let go of her hand, and was
wandering through the room, touching things.
"Don't move anything, Miki-chan, or we'll probably get into
trouble.... Don't want Usagi biting our heads off, or anything."
"Haaaaiii." Miki smiled back at Ikuko as she ran a hand along
the end of the bed. "Has Usagi-oneechan slept in here, before?"
"Eh?" Ikuko frowned. "Well, I don't know... That's... kind
of personal...." She sweatdropped. Miki giggled.
"Silly...." She padded her way to one of the bed cabinets,
and picked up a photograph that was sitting there. Ikuko hadn't
noticed it when she had made her brief scan of the room. "They look
like a family...."
"Who?" Ikuko stepped into the room, taking in the atmosphere
of the room. If there was anything she had been good at, it was
reading the atmosphere of particular rooms, getting a feel for their
use and frequency of usage.
"Usagi-oneechan, her boyfriend and the little girl." Miki
held up the photograph to show Ikuko. She recognised it as a copy
of the one that sat on Usagi's dresser, and had to agree that,
indeed, Usagi, Mamoru and Chibiusa DID look like a family, excluding
the fact that Usagi would've had to have been half her age to have
given birth to the pink-haired girl. "Who is this little girl?"
Miki turned the photograph around and touched it, tracing her
fingers around the image of Chibiusa.
"Ah, that's Chibiusa.... She's Usagi's cousin.... I think."
Ikuko scratched her head. She always did have something of a blind
spot when it came to that girl....
"No.... She really seems.... Really feels.... Like Usagi-
oneechan's daughter...." Miki swallowed, feeling strange, all of a
sudden. A twinge of sadness ran through her that she couldn't
explain, and she quickly put the photograph back on the cabinet,
turning away from it, as if trying to remove its existence from her
mind.
"Are you alright, Miki-chan?" Ikuko looked at her with
concern. The little girl turned to her, eventually, and smiled.
"Un." She nodded. "I just felt a bit dizzy."
"We really should be getting home and getting you into a nice,
warm bed." Ikuko sat on the edge of the bed and reached over to
Miki. The girl stepped into her arms, allowing her to be guided up
to her, pressing into Ikuko's chest.
"Aww.... I don't want to go to bed just yet.... I still
wanna see a few things." Miki screwed up her face, looking up at
Ikuko who was smiling down at her, kindly.
"Now now now.... We don't want to get you sick on your first
night out of the hospital, now do we?"
"I suppose so." Miki said, solemnly. "I'm feeling better
now, anyway."
"That's good." Ikuko rubbed Miki's back, gently, and looked
up at the dresser that sat opposite the bed. For some unknown
reason, her curiosity about what lay inside grew, and she stood
from the bed. Miki stepped aside, watching her strangely.
"What is it, Ikuko-mama?" Miki frowned as Ikuko placed her
hand against the groove of the dresser's sliding door.
"I don't know.... There's something...." She slid the door
open, and stood back in surprise. Miki gasped.
"A.... A painting...." Miki clasped onto Ikuko's hip. "Is
that REALLY Usagi-oneechan and her boyfriend?"
Ikuko had a hand placed over her mouth as she stared at the
painting, that sat upon a shelf within the dresser. She looked down
at the name of the artist in the bottom corner. "Yumeno? Yumeno
Yumeni? My daughter posed for a picture by Yumeno Yumeni?"
Before her stood the painting, of Usagi and Mamoru, as a
Princess and her Prince....
END OF PART 7
--------------------------------------------------------------------
I think I should mention that the "Saori-chan" mentioned in this
chapter is a character from the YUA series, not the Saori of SM....
In the manga, Saori was the girl who stepped onto the road in front
of the Mini-Pat in the hope of committing suicide, so her beauty
would be preserved forever in death.... In the anime, she was
almost run over by Oushou's red mini, after she ran onto the road
to collect her mobile phone, which had twirled off her finger....
It was Oushou, who had taken Saori back to his shrine to recover,
after she had passed out from the shock of seeing the red mini
bearing down upon her, who introduced her to Natsumi and Miyuki....
My knowledge of "You're Under Arrest", or "Taiho Shichauzo" is about
as good as someone with 34 unsubtitled episodes could be, with only
the barest smattering of Japanese in their vocabulary.... It is a
good thing that the plots for the episodes aren't all that complex.
^_^;;
One apologises for the time this chapter has taken in writing....
Several things have conspired against my working on this chapter,
mostly involving my car, which has broken down three times in as
many weeks (major breakdowns, too.... snapped timing belts, shafted
starter motors etc etc etc). Then, after having fixed all these
things, the car was promptly stolen.... -_- It was recovered a
week later, without much damage, however....
Well, one can say I haven't been having a fun time, lately. Any
moment, now, I expect the sky to fall on my head. ^_^;;
JTW
nIGHT rIDER ikari@wantree.net.au
Member of the AJAS Fanfic Circle
