Well, here's another drabble for you guys! It's a continuation of Pocketknife, so I suggest you read that one first for this one to
make sense! Yikes! This one is really long for a drabble, but I needed to put it here.

Thank you to those who review, message, favorite, etc.!

Also, next week, instead of another chapter of Standing Aside, I'll probably just post another drabble I saved for a rainy day, because
since Standing Aside has been moving a bit slow (because it needs to), I'm going to be putting up chapter 3 and 4 at the same time,
because chapter five is where the real fun begins.

Sorry to a few of you who have seen my writing as unsatisfactory lately! I'll try harder!

A Hundred Weeds to Pull

By sakanascales876

Theme 75: My Soul's Shelter (Continuation of Pocketknife)
3,898 words

Silence used to be the one thing that I'd been so welcoming to whenever the end of my day passed. Getting away from all the strife and unnecessary drama was a given…something I wanted so badly to evade. But from the binds, ropes, and blindfolds that completely shut me off from the outside world in my confinement, I missed it.

I craved interaction, and that was exactly what I had trained my mind to hate.

With school, work, and battles, I've never really had any time to reflect on the meaningless and somewhat tedious tasks that seem to make my day. But I've come to realize one thing: when you're alone…for two years…strapped to a table with no access to vision or sound, you start to think about things.

You start to forget what you even look like, sound like, what you like.

I never liked many things in my lifetime anyway, but now some normal occurrences have been etched so deeply into my soul that it's a wonder I can still move on as the clock monotonously ticks away every second of my life. I can't hear one; they haven't given me that access, or basically any access that is to be given to the human for life and dignity. But nonetheless, I can still hear it ticking. Perhaps it was the smooth rhythm of my heart.

I missed Motoki; his uncanny knack for being able to cheer me up with some strange action would never cease to amuse me, even when I repeatedly told him that I hated it. I wonder if he does know about who I am…perhaps Usagi told him when she saw me being hauled away.

Damn.

There was one thing that I promised to myself while I was here: never, ever, think about her. Why? Because it brings on a vast amount of guilt, regret, and longing that makes me want to shrivel up and die on the darn examining table then and there. Really, I wanted to die anyway because this slow torture was slowly gnawing at my insides like a baby with a teething ring, but I refused.

There was just so much to live for, yet, there was too much to die for.

So, as I found myself lying on the cold table, hands, feet, waist, and neck strapped down by metal bars, I began to think some more.

First, I was never getting out of here…they would cut me open and experiment on me until they got bored, which was probably never. I had no family, one friend, an enemy; not one of them would care if I was missing, except Motoki. He probably cared, or at least I hoped he did.

Second, I was confused. With me gone, isolated, stolen from the face of the Earth…who was fighting the enemy? The planet had obviously not been blown up or exterminated yet, because I and the freaky scientists were still here. Or heck, maybe that did happen, and we were so far down underground that they couldn't even find us.

Then it occurred to me that perhaps Sailor Moon had finally gotten her act together, and didn't need me anymore. With me gone, she probably realized that she couldn't depend on somebody to save her each time she fell.

To me, that hurt. Even though a secret, the fact that I wasn't needed anymore…for anything really upset him.

I am a nobody.

A nobody who was strapped to a table listening to his own heartbeats just to assure himself that life was still going on, regardless of if he was there. The decision of whether or not to live or give up was pulling at my heart like two fish swimming in the opposite direction.

What was the point? I was never going to get out of here anyway. What decision would I ever have to make?

It seemed that that decision would occur today, whether I was prepared or not.

It was then that I first began to hear the tremulous whispers of desperation as I laid in a chipper hallucination of my parents. The blowing whisper against my ear tugged my soul away.

"Oh, God! Please be alive!"

The noise sounded so foreign to me…the last time he had heard someone speak was when he was getting shouted at by the soldiers, yet, this was a voice I could put a face to.

I hesitantly opened my mouth to speak, wondering what my tone would sound like. "Ur-saa…"

I closed my mouth, embarrassed. I hadn't spoken in so long that it would probably take forever for me to get the hang of it again. But the warmth of what seemed like a reassuring grip against my bare shoulder ripped me back to reality. I could almost feel a smile tug at the stranger's lips, if they were indeed who I thought they were.

"Yes, it's me, Usagi."

I heard her mournfully sigh, her soft hand tracing down my arm. "What have they done to you?"

I tried to respond, but this time my voice came out as a rasping growl that made me sound almost angry, but I felt guilty as she flinched.

She was here…it was impossible.

"Kamen, we need to get you out of here," she whispered quickly, but I shook my head.

There was no escape, and there probably wasn't anybody there…I was just imagining it all. Anger stopped my flow of blood and circulated it straight to my head. How could I be so stupid, naïve? Why would she ever come and rescue me? How could she even find me? This dream was too real, and I could feel my mind slipping…it had even believed that she was there, that she was close enough to touch me. It was fooling with me, making me feel and sense things that weren't really present, just because I craved it so much. Someone up there was mocking me.

The blindfold was removed.

As soon as the weight of the cloth was lifted, I felt a cold gush of air whoosh against my face, and I felt naked. With courage, I tried to open my eyes, and they groggily fluttered to the point where they were fully open, but I could barely see anything.

The haziness was starting to settle, and my eyes focused on the one person hovering above me.

The swirling golden hair that fell from two familiar pigtails trickled over the left corner of my mouth, tickling the side of my face gently. The effervescent cerulean eyes that bore holes into my own spoke many words to my deaf ears. She was pleading for my well-being, praising me for not giving up…all the words I wanted to hear from her if I ever did escape this hell, but knew she would never say. She didn't need to; her eyes told it all.

But this wasn't her…this wasn't her at all.

The golden tiara stretching across her forehead and receding into the camouflage of her hair sparkled down at me, along with the red jewels encrusted in her buns.

This wasn't Usagi; this was Sailor Moon.

My eyes, having not yet adjusted to the surrounding light, began to fill with tears. Or at least that was what I convinced myself that they were. It couldn't be from the utter joy of seeing her yet the disappointment that she wasn't who I wanted her to be filling my lungs until I gasped for more air.

She seemed to sense my frustration, for the next moment her gloved hands were cupping my face, tears filling her own eyes.

"It's just me…it's just Usagi," she sniffed. "We've got to get you out of here."

My chest convulsed from the sudden pain in my heart, and my hands struggled against their manacles to reach up and swipe her tears away.

I had to say something…anything. "S-Sai—llo-r…Moo-nn?" I coughed, glad that at least this time it was a bit comprehensible to my own ears.

It seemed that anything could be understood be hers.

She nodded, gulping down what seemed like a lump in her throat, before reaching down to my hands and grasping them, and I clutched at them as tightly as I could, our fingers lacing together and squeezing until I was certain that our fingers would fall off.

She lightly pulled her hands away, and I heard a moan of pain come from my throat from the loss of contact. I could feel her warm breath against my neck, every huff sending a prickle throughout my upper torso. She reached up and grasped both of her hands against the metal, reaching under and curling her hands against the skin of my neck and pulling it. There was a flash of light, and the bond was broken, my neck rising, trying to take up all of the room it could and had been deprived of before.

Usagi's hands snaked up my neck to around the sides of my head, her fingers massaging me and running through my hair. I felt a sudden weight against me chest, and I feebly managed to crane my neck to see her head lying against my heart, the warm skin of her cheek pressed against my cold flesh.

That was how we stayed for what I guessed to be a few minutes, before she lifted herself off me and released the binds on my wrists. I flexed my arms, noting how the once strong muscle weakly raised forward, something that I would have to work on to get back in shape.

I sat up, something I wasn't unaccustomed to, for at least once a day, men would come in and carry me out for food and to use the restroom, though I could never see anything, only wind through drafty hallways that reminded me vaguely of the hospital I had once stayed in.

But I could see now, and I slowly craned my neck toward Usagi, who was reaching down at my feet, attempting to release the clasps at my ankles. She paid no attention to me, so I leant down toward her and gingerly took her working hand in mine before I grasped the metal and easily snapped it, moving onto the other one just as quickly.

She stared up at me in awe, her hand trembling within mine.

"We have to get out of here," she repeated with a quiver.

I took my legs and swung them over the table, unsteadily planting my feet against the ground before standing up to face her, the pants that were too long on my dragging along the floor.

She gave me a smile that appeared to defrost my frozen body, for the next thing I knew, I engulfed her into a hug, rubbing my face into her hair and holding her as close as possible.

I was surprised that I was even strong enough to do this, but I whispered into her hair, "Th-thank you."

She nodded against my chest, reaching behind her and grasping my hand tightly, guiding me away from the room. I noticed the door had been busted open, lying on its shattered hinges looking almost as broken as I had been, pleading to nobody and everybody to be fixed.

Usagi directed my wobbly legs down a spiral of many hallways, each looking plainer than the last, though there were quite a few injured guards propped against the walls.

I stared at her in wonder, a frown creasing my forehead. "H-How did you get in h-here?" My speech was getting better to my happiness.

She didn't look back at me, something that troubled me deeply, though my feelings were unfounded. Just because I had been deprived of interaction for the past two years, didn't mean I had to leech onto her. But I wanted to.

"That Commanding Officer guy, Kyuubei-something 'anonymously' tipped me off after a battle in the park of where you were being held, and when the best time to get you would be. I-I would have gotten to you faster, but I just couldn't find you…"

She broke off there, and I knew she was choking on her tears. As we trudged quickly through the corridors, I reached up and circled an arm around her, driving myself faster and supporting some of her weight that I really couldn't handle at the moment. I put up with it nonetheless, and enjoyed the fact that she didn't push me off.

Kyuubei Iwao...I shook my head with almost-tears in my eyes, heart swelling with admiration. If I ever got the chance to see that man again…

Usagi kicked open a door at the end of a hallway, and I immediately shielded my eyes with a wince.

It was bright, blinding, and blurring against my eyes.

It was sunlight.

It shone against my deathly white skin, and I almost collapsed to the floor as the warmth washed over my skin.

My knees were still planted in the building, the disgusting linoleum running bitterly through the fabric of my pants. My hands were rooted into rough Earth that must have been trampled on a thousand times by angry boots who were the subject of my isolation.

But it was still Earth nonetheless, and it was my element. My fingers almost melted into the soil, and I crawled pathetically over to a fresh patch of grass, relishing as the soft bristles were pushed at me by the wind.

Usagi stopped to glance at me, furrowing her light brows and slowly stepping toward me. "Mamoru…we have to leave."

She offered me a hand to help me up, but I grasped it firmly and pulled her down, chuckling in my throat as her nose bashed uncomfortably against mine, nearly knocking my mask from my face.

"Just give me one minute," I asked softly, wanting nothing more but to lay there with her nestled in my arms, if not for just another moment.

She complied, but I could sense some agitation as she settled roughly beside me, heaving a sigh and crossing her arms over her chest.

I turned my head toward her and drew some breath in, readying to speak. "Where are we?"

She jolted as though awoken, which made me amused. The fact that it made me amused, however, seemed to irritate me. Since when did I become so dependent on someone that I had to keep them with me at all times? Since when did I ever act that way…especially toward her, my despised enemy?

I bit the corner of my lip as I stared at her, who was trying to respond, but couldn't find the words. I didn't hate her…she was practically the only person I thought about since I had been gone.

Numbness set through my fingers at that thought; it was sad. I actually had to rely on memories of my enemy to keep me moving on.

But if she was my enemy, why did she come to get me?

Why did she cry for me?

Why did she hug me when she saw me?

Was it pity?

She blew out a huge breath in my face, and my nose wrinkled at the sudden smell of what I immediately recognized as chocolate breath. God…when was the last time I had chocolate?

"Why don't you have a mustache?" she asked innocently, reaching out a gloved finger and tracing it across my upper lip.

I froze, my eyes crossing as she touched me, but I blinked it away and stared back at her.

"What on Earth are you talking about?"

"Well," she huffed, sitting up. "You've been in there for about two and a half years…I think logically you should have a mustache by now."

I stopped for a moment to scratch at my face, trying greatly to conceal my mirth. "Believe it or not, I had access to shaving, Odango."

She flushed, and I could feel her through the Earth digging her fingers into the soil. "They let you have a razor blade in there?"

"Of course not. Some men in there ran it across my face every week or so," I said, rolling my eyes. But I reached up a hand to trace a scar that was running across my cheek from when one of the soldiers or scientists or whatever had accidentally 'slipped.'

"I think you would look cool in a mustache."

"I think I'd look like some kiddy stealer."

She slapped her hand against the dirt. "That is so mean! My uncle has a mustache!"

I reached out a finger and tilted her chin up, my miserable eyes drinking in all the reserves of light that were held in hers. "Does your uncle have children?"

"Yes!"

"Bingo."

Usagi pushed my hand away. "Let's just go!"

"Where to?" I asked, looking around the field of grass, which was sparsely littered with a few patches of trees.

"Motoki's," she answered. "He moved all your stuff to his place after you got taken. We'll go and figure out what to do from there."

I shook my head at her, my tone turning soft. "Usagi…where are we?"

I saw her shoulders stiffen and she turned around, looking forlornly at anywhere but my eyes. "I feel so stupid…"

The wind whipped around us, her hair lashing at my face, but I purposefully tangled my fingers within it to keep it out of my way, standing up and reaching out for her. She pulled away, fiercely looking past me.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered, slowly crumpling to the ground and wrenching shaking hands over her ears.

Stupidly, I frowned and said down to her, "For what?"

To my shock, her shoulders began to tremble and a rasping voice tore from her throat. Instinctively, my body tensed up, and I was afraid to touch her.

She was crying.

I stared at her uncertainly, pondering on what to do. I wasn't exactly a consoling guru, but if I just stood there I'd feel like a jerk. Hesitantly, I stepped toward her and crouched down next to her, patiently waiting for her to stop crying. I felt that if I reached out to put a hand on her shoulder or something that she'd snap off my finger with a pair of pliers.

And it didn't exactly get any better when she began to shout at me either.

"You're in a base in Northern Japan!" she sobbed. "I could have saved you sooner if I had just tried! But I failed! I failed as a leader…I failed as a Senshi…and I failed as your friend!"

My gaze quaked as her essence seeped into my arms along with her lithe figure that was now squeezing my waist with enough force to knock the wind out of me.

"It's not your fault," I tried to say, but she just continued to cry, "I failed!" over and over into my chest.

She wouldn't let go, not that I was pushing her away, but I just wanted her to stop crying. It hurt me just as much as it hurt her and I wasn't just talking about the fact that she was using me like a pillow to wring her anger out on.

There was a clacking, and she tensed within my hold, her head slowly rising and staring fearfully over my shoulder. I was almost too afraid to turn myself, but I craned my neck far enough to see the gun that was unambiguously pointed at the back of my head.

"Don't move," the guard growled, a trickle of blood seeping down from the side of his head.

My mind began to formulate a plan, trying to work out every scenario. The odds weren't looking too good for me, but as long as I got Usagi out of there…

"Kamen," she whispered fiercely in my ear. "We have to get out of here." Her nails dug into my shoulders.

I slowly, as in by millimeters, began to sink into the ground…literally. Usagi let out a squeak when she noticed the movement, but I looked at her warningly. At this rate, the guard would notice us falling into the Earth, but if I just fell quickly, he might take a shot at us from the jolt. There had to be another way…

I looked around, but closed my eyes and winced as my long bangs were blown into my face.

I shifted slightly on my knees and leant over so I was completely sheltering Usagi, encasing her confused head between mine and murmuring, "Stay still."

"Stop talking!" the guard barked, jabbing the tip of the gun into my back. I stiffened, fear manifesting from where it touched me, but I continued to shield her from harm.

The wind began to pick up, and I realized my chance was now.

I could hear dogs and many other heavy boots storming toward us, but I closed my eyes, breathing in and out deeply…waiting.

It appeared as if our skin was melting together, twisting and turning as the wind swept us up, our colors blending together.

I heard the guard shoot, but it passed right through me, merely rippling through my back and passing straight through Usagi. I willed it with my mind, having it latch onto us and carry us away, the invisible color of the wind soiled with the golden and black swirls that lifted our spirits back into civilization.

It was less than a minute before we were planted firmly on the roof of the Starlight Tower.

I collapsed to my side, panting heavily and clutching at my head as it pounded brightly against my skull. She fell beside me and placed her hands over mine, her thumbs massaging my temples like I used to back when I was a stressed-out college student.

"Thank you," I rasped, trying to collect myself. I just couldn't; I used more power than I should have, especially in my weak condition.

"Mamoru…I'm so sorry!" she croaked, burying her head into my chest and shaking it back and forth. "You shouldn't have--,"

"Usagi," I growled harshly, feeling irritated. I wished she would stop berating herself…it wasn't like she was the one who was idiotic enough to walk through Air-base security with a pocketknife with your alter-ego's name engraved on it, right?

"Just get me home," I pleaded, taking her hands in mine and lifting her up so instead of being on my chest she was staring me directly in the eye. "Just get me home."

After a while, she nodded shakily, the tears that seemed to be restrained falling from her eyes from the movement. A few dripped onto my chest, and each one seared a hole in my skin, almost making my back arch from the pain.

She helped me onto my feet, throwing one arm over my shoulder and half carrying me across the roofs of buildings, my feet involuntarily trained to know when to jump.

Closing my eyes, I dropped my soul into her hands, trusting her to keep it safe as we lumbered across the city to Motoki's apartment. She clutched it uncertainly, nearly dropping it a few times, but catching it at the last moment.

Hiding the beaded tears cascading down my face, I buried my head into the crook of her neck, ignoring the shame of feeling the cold liquid press against her skin.

"Thank you, Usa."

She'd saved me. Finally...she'd saved me.

Well, there you go! I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope Mamoru's character was correct!
Please Review!

-Fishyscales ;)