AN: Thank you so much for all the reviews, I love reading your takes on where the story is going and what you would have happen next!
Todays shout out is for LoveInTheBattleField, another one of my frequent reviewers!
Have a good week x
As Usagi was nearing her home she felt the pull of a monster. Despite desperately wanting to get home to give her family the good news she knew she had to go investigate if there was a monster. She went where her instinct was telling her and neared the nursery. If there is a monster terrorising those poor little children it doesn't know what's coming! She hid behind some bushes and transformed into Sailor Moon. She didn't see the cat sitting on the tree branches above her.
She ran into the main room of the nursery and shouted at the monster to gain its attention. The monster was aptly enough a large doll. It looked at Sailor Moon with big round eyes and huge smile on its plastic face.
"Play!" It shouted at Sailor Moon in a childlike voice.
Sailor Moon took a step back and tried to see if anyone had been injured as the doll lumbered towards her. It was slow moving and so Sailor Moon was able to jump around it and shoo some of the remaining children out the door. The two teachers left in the room were lying unconscious on the floor; they had been trying to defend the children. Unfortunately though some of the children were too scared too move and so were cowering under the small tables.
She turned her attention back to the doll again, thinking about how she could make it follow her outside and away from the children in the room. She let it get close enough to swipe her and then jumped out the way.
"Come on, come on…" She encouraged it.
A noise behind her startled her and she looked around, Luna had just come in through the window and landed on some toys and fallen over. Usagi tried not to laugh out loud, poor Luna!
"Luna, see if you can get those children out of here!" She ordered.
"Okay, Sailor Moon." Luna bounded over to the children and tried to nudge them out the door. As it turned out this wasn't the best of plans because the doll followed Luna shouting "Kitty, kitty!"
Usagi cursed, this was bad. Luckily just then Tuxedo-Kamen appeared with the Sailor Senshi on his heels.
"Tuxedo-kamen, throw your roses at the doll and we'll see if we can lure it outside. Senshi, help Luna get those children and the unconscious children out the back to safety, we'll meet you out the front." Sailor Moon commanded. Her tone and attitude were that of a leader.
Tuxedo-Kamen threw a flurry of roses at the dolls face and this enraged it, it screamed and with a surprising turn of pace ran after him and Sailor Moon. The Senshi meanwhile picked up the kids and the teachers and brought them out the back where the rest of the nursery could be found.
"Ami, stay with them, the children are scared." Rei ordered. Jupiter and Mars then ran through the building to the front where they found Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen having a hard time with the doll. Tuxedos roses were bouncing off it and Sailor Moon didn't have enough time to get her tiara off and throw it, and as that was her only attack it seemed a bit useless.
Usagi wasn't pleased when Mars and Jupiter showed up; she could see they looked less than impressed.
Jupiter launched into her attack and Mars got hers ready, Jupiter's stunned the doll and then Mars sent off Burning Mandala. The doll went down and that's when they realised they had hit Sailor Moon. Jupiter gasped and went to run over to her when Tuxedo Kamen stopped her.
"Leave her; I shall see she is alright. You have done enough for one day." With that he picked her up and launched himself away.
Mars and Jupiter stood there, Jupiter worried and Mars feeling guilty. Projecting her guilt Mars said: "She should have got out the way faster, she knew what was coming."
"I thought she had improved, she certainly seemed like she knew what she was doing until she got into the battle; once again she proved she is useless." Jupiter said masking her worry with annoyance.
They stood there unsure what to do next until Mercury came round the corner. They left the Nursery and headed over to the temple; once they got there they changed back and sat down to have a meeting.
"That did not go well." Rei stated the obvious.
"We need to talk to her." Makoto added.
"Yes, this has definitely gone far enough girls." Luna's voice came from the doorway. "I have left you to it to sort your own differences out, but I can see it isn't working. I didn't want to take sides so I have been staying elsewhere. However, I cannot let this continue, you are meant to be a team and what I am seeing right now is a mess."
"It was never meant to go this far Luna." Ami explained.
"We didn't think she would get so offended, I mean she must know she isn't that good." Rei added.
"She may not be as good at fighting as the rest of you, but what else does she have to offer?" Luna asked them.
"Well, she's got great heart; she would always sacrifice herself for one of us." Makoto said.
"But what good is that!" Rei argued, "If she sacrifices herself then we don't have her to finish the enemy off anyway. She needs to be more level headed. She has got it in herself to be a great leader, but she's never going to get there if we don't push her."
"I'm afraid I'm agreed with that Luna", said Ami, "Usagi will never get any better or improve if we aren't harsh with her."
Plus," Mako added, "She really was getting on our nerves. She wasn't showing up to meetings, she claimed she was always tired or busy or this or that, she kept getting in the way in battles, we'd just had enough."
Luna nodded; they obviously weren't ready to see the bigger picture where Usagi was concerned. She wasn't a fighter, Luna could tell that now, and that made her think; if she wasn't a fighter, then what was she meant to be? "I can see you girls aren't going to change your minds anytime soon, all I can say is be prepared to be shocked by the girl who once called you her best friends." With that Luna left the girls to themselves.
Tuxedo-Kamen didn't know where to take her, but he had to get her there fast so he could help her. He decided that although it was risky he had to take her to his apartment; he had all his first aid stuff there and frankly the chances of her discovering who he was by seeing his apartment were very low, the only person to ever visit had been Motoki and he seriously doubted that he was Sailor Moon.
He landed with her in his arms onto his balcony and put her straight down on his couch. She hadn't stirred and this was worrying him. He checked her over. She had a really nasty burn down the entire right side of her body, her arm and leg were blistering red and her suit had burnt through to her skin. To her beautiful creamy soft skin. He couldn't think that now! She also had a burn on the right side of her face but it wasn't as bad, and on inspection of the back of her hand he could tell she had tried to shield herself.
He felt awful, he should have protected her, he should have saved her, he should have been there for her and that was why he had to be there for her now. His hands were trembling as he got out the first aid kit and read the manual on how to treat a burn. He was studying to be a doctor yet his mind had gone blank, this was a good omen for his future career he thought ironically.
Stop the burning process – Done, he'd removed her from Sailor Mars' attack.
Remove any clothing or jewellery – Ahh, this was slightly more difficult. He couldn't take her suit off in case she transformed back into her original form. Instead he cut around where the burn was on her side, making sure that if any was stuck to the burn he left it there and didn't remove it.
Cool the burn with cool or lukewarm water – He picked her up again and carried her into his shower. This was going to be the fastest way. He turned it on making sure it was cool water coming out then stood underneath it holding her. As the water touched her skin he saw her visibly shudder with relief and she started to move. Her eyes opened and she looked up at him.
"Tuxedo-Kamen-sama?" She asked.
"I'm here Sailor Moon." He said while stroking her wet hair. She looked so beautiful under the rivets of water. Drops of water cascading over her face and down her body. Her wet, lithe body pressed against him. Stop it! He mentally scolded himself.
"Where am I?" She asked.
"Erm, you're at my place. I needed to treat your burns." He explained nervously, wondering if she would be mad at him.
"Oh." She said simply. She went quiet and he continued holding her under the water for another 5 minutes before he brought her out.
Keep yourself or the person warm – How he wouldn't mind doing that!
Cover the burn with cling film – He helped her into the front room and ran into the kitchen to grab some cling film. As he went to wrap up her burns he could see that they were much much better.
"Accelerated healing." She said with a shrug. "But thank you anyway." Now she was blushing.
He got her blanket and towel and let her dry herself off.
"I will need to blindfold you to let you leave. I cannot risk my identity."
"I understand", she replied, "Just take me somewhere central and I'll make my own way home from there."
He gave her some time to get herself together, she had after all been soaking wet. He then gently tied a piece of cloth round her head and picked her up. He took her to the park and set her down.
"Thanks, I can make my way back from here. Are we still meeting tomorrow at 6?" She asked him.
"Definitely." He said perhaps a little too eagerly.
She smiled shyly at him and then went up on her tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek. "See you then, and thanks for today." She ran off into the darkness and left him standing there, touching his cheek where she had kissed him.