Tear Pearls
By LadyPrin
Disclaimer Applies.
Thanks to Valkyrie Celes (I'm still working on how he'll be handling that event! ^_^), Katblue, Broadwaychick07 (The things she knows about she learned from Proffessor Kenji (remember him from the first chapter?), but most of the stuff he taught her she forgot. She can sometimes call upon what she knows and sometimes she can't. That's her memory for ya'!), Sayain46, Markus777, KagomeFire, Champion of Justice, RichForce, Ra, Lady Tristana Rogue, Kayla, and Neokstar for reviewing!
Sorry it took me so long to write another chapter, I've been busy, plus I haven't had much time on either of the computers. But here's the new chapter, and I hope it's good! I haven't been feeling very uppity lately when it comes to writing. Oh, and I'm fully well now too!
HAPPY NEW YEAR 2008 EVERYBODY!
Chapter Seven ~ The Fury of the Sand Youma (Part 1)
Serena and Darien still missed the small sprinklings of sand that skittered past their feet every now and then, though the amount of sand was growing.
All the store windows they passed by captivated Serena's attention even though she had passed most of them by before. Now she had a chance to look at them close up and she didn't waste it.
She chattered to Darien about the things she saw in them, how cute they looked, how many there were, etc. Half the stuff she saw she didn't know of, but only on two things did she ask Darien for information on.
The first thing was called an IPhone, and Darien could understand how she didn't know about this device.
To spare her the headache it might cause her if he went into a longwinded explanation, like he would with a normal person, he cut it short. She still didn't understand anything except that it played music. She really liked that about it and complimented it through the window.
Then she dragged Darien off to the next window display.
It shocked Darien for being asked about these particular items and set him to blushing and coughing at the same time.
"I don't know what her secret is, but I don't think I want to know. Let's go!"
Darien was the one to drag Serena away this time.
After coming to the end of the street, Serena turned to look at Darien.
"So, where do you usually go around this time?" Serena asked cheerfully, still brimming with energy.
"Usually, I go to school to learn things about being a doctor. Then afterwards I used to go to this small hospital for kids to help out there." Darien replied, grabbing Serena's arm and pulling her out of the street as a motorcycle sped past.
Serena stared at the motorcycle as it rounded a corner, then let out a large sigh.
Then she turned back to him with a smile on her face.
"Do you want to go to the school or the hospital now? I'd love to see them!" Serena asked, wondering what those places where he spent some of his time were like.
"It's too late to go to the school, and besides I stopped going weeks ago." Darien's voice went slightly dead with those last six words.
Serena caught the tone and knew what he might be thinking about.
"Okay, then! We'll go to the kids' hospital instead!" Serena announced cheerfully, grabbing Darien's arm and starting him moving again.
He shook his head a little and looked down at her.
After five minutes or so of walking down the next street, Serena looked up to find Darien staring at her with a hint of a grin on his lips.
"Where is the kids' hospital?" She asked questioningly, and Darien grinned fully.
"I've been waiting for you to ask that." He explained, and then turned her around. "It's halfway between here and my apartment."
Serena walked contentedly along beside him for a while, only slightly noticing that her feet were beginning to ache with pain, and her legs were beginning to tingle.
"There's the children's hospital." Darien pointed to the four-story building just ahead of them.
They walked up to the front gate that surrounded the front yard and walked through it, closing it behind them.
As they walked up onto the porch, Serena stopped and leaned against the wall with one arm.
She moaned a little as she fought to get one shoe off.
When it finally came off, sand slid out as she tilted it over.
Darien stared at the sand in a questioning way.
He knew the only sand around was at the beach, but they were miles away from it.
He now saw the sand that blew past them on the street and into the grass. He looked around alertly for anything unusual, but saw nothing apart from the sand.
Serena put that shoe back on, and took off the other one as Darien looked back at her.
He then noticed the bandages around Serena's feet.
"What happened to your feet?" Darien asked as Serena put that shoe back on and stood up.
"I walked around for almost a full day without shoes." Serena explained with an apologetic smile. "Turns out I mustn't do that on the street and sidewalk."
Darien was tempted to call her meatball head again, but then remembered the pain that Rei would inflict on him if she should ever find out. So he held his tongue, though it was very hard for him to do.
"When was the last time you changed the bandages?" Darien asked as he opened the door for her.
"Rei put them on yesterday, and they haven't been changed since." Serena replied, walking through the door.
Inside the first room were a group of chairs half filled with young children and their parents.
There was a desk further back and a woman rifling through papers and such behind it.
"We'll change the bandages in a moment then. We can't have sand get into the wounds." He advised as he walked up to the desk.
"Ah, Darien Chiba! How nice to see you again!" The red haired woman behind the counter greeted him when she saw him. "You haven't been around here for weeks, we were getting worried about you!"
"Sorry Mrs. Suki. I haven't been feeling very, cheerful, lately, and didn't want to impose my bad mood on the children or staff." Darien apologized.
"Thank you for the consideration, but I hope you're feeling better today." Suki asked with concern.
"Amazingly, I am." Darien replied, glancing once at Serena who was craning her neck around to watch the children in the waiting room.
Suki didn't miss the look, but she mistook it for meaning something else.
"So, who's your new girlfriend?" Suki asked with a wide smile, glancing pointedly at Serena.
Darien's eyes immediately deadened and he didn't say anything for a moment. He clenched his jaws together hard to keep from saying anything rude and hurtful he would regret later.
Serena had heard the question and had looked back up at him just in time to see his eyes go dead.
She knew she must take immediate action to get him back off that train of thought, and though it pained her to have to say it, she forced herself to say the words she knew she must.
"I'm not his girlfriend, Mrs." Serena answered to the confused looking woman. "I'm just a friend. I met him earlier today, and he's showing me around town, because I'm new."
Darien slowly unclenched his jaws, as the expression on Suki's face became understanding.
"Oh, I see. I'm sorry, my mistake." She apologized as the phone beside her rang. "Oh, Darien, if you're here to help with the children again, Dr. Retu is with some in room four."
"Thank you." Darien replied as Suki picked up the phone.
Darien took Serena by the arm and guided her down the hall on their left.
"First we'll go to room eleven on the second floor and get your bandages changed." Darien told Serena as they walked down the hall to the elevator.
That was his train of thought, but it was derailed as Serena heard crying and sniffling as they walked by room four.
She quickly walked around Darien and opened the door just enough to look inside.
There were four beds in this room, two by the left wall, and two by the right. Cushions littered the floor, which was covered in soft wooly blue carpet. The wall across from the door was, from the floor to halfway up just like the other walls, white plaster. The rest of the way up though, was one big long clear glass window. Right now light green curtains were drawn over the wall, and it gave the room the sense of needing to be quiet and grim.
One little boy of around five sat on one of the beds to the left. Another little boy of around eight occupied the other bed beside the five year old.
In the other two beds by the right wall, a ten-year-old boy occupied the bed closest to the door, and a small three-year-old girl occupied the last bed nearest the window wall.
The two boys were each in their beds, and were both crying and sniffling. The ten year old wasn't crying though he looked very close to doing so, but he sat on his bed with his knees pulled up to his chest.
All three were staring at the little three-year-old girl in bed four, who laid on the bed as if she were sleeping as a doctor leaned over her.
Darien's mind was taken off of Serena's feet when he opened the door a bit wider and looked in too.
After glancing at Serena for a moment, Darien walked into the room and over to the doctor.
Serena trailed in behind him.
"Doctor Retu?" Darien asked when he was standing beside the doctor.
"Ah, Darien. Haven't seen you around lately." Doctor Retu replied, straightening up and looking over at him.
The doctor looked worn, tired, and was beginning to show gray in his short black hair.
"What's wrong with Sakura?" Darien asked looking down at the sleeping three-year-old.
Seeing her up close they could tell that her breathing was shallow and uneven.
"I thought she was getting better?" Darien asked worriedly.
"She seemed to be, and we released her soon after you quit coming, but two days later she was back again. We still don't know what ails her, but whatever it is, it's stronger now then ever." The doctor replied, running a tired hand through his hair. "She won't respond when we try to wake her up now, and we're having a respirator moved down here to help her breath, but I fear she might not see the sunrise tomorrow."
The two boys had joined each other on one of their beds and were crying harder now.
Serena walked over to them as Darien continued to converse softly with Doctor Retu.
"Hi there." She greeted them softly, sitting on the foot of the bed. "You're scared aren't you?"
They nodded.
"We like Sakura. She's been here with us for so long we're all friends." The eight year old replied. "But she's real sick now and the doctors keep saying she might die."
"She can't leave us, she can't!" The five year old cried.
Serena looked over at Sakura whose eyes fluttered gently behind their lids.
'Serenity, I can help you save that child, if that is what you so wish to do.' A voice suddenly offers to her.
Serena looked around for the woman who spoke, but there was no woman in the room.
'You must decide now Serenity, for there isn't much time left to her.' The voice continues.
Serena disregards the fact that the voice has no body, and instead focuses on the child.
Serena has always felt a special connection to children of any species. She always wanted to help out with the baby seahorses, though there were too many to pay attention too.
Once there was this one seahorse that had been born crippled, and Serena tried to help it. Professor Kenji even tried to help, but it died before the next day.
Serena was devastated. She knew from that experience what it felt like to loose a child, even if it wasn't your own child, or from your own species.
'I want to help!' She thought forcefully.
'Then it's time to learn what else Tear Pearls are useful for.' The voice replied. 'Take a Tear Pearl from each of the three children here.'
Serena looked back at the two boys in front of her, and smiled to them.
She reached up to the face of the five-year-old and gently wiped his cheek with one finger.
A pure white Tear Pearl appeared on the tip of that finger.
The boys' faces lit up with awe and they stared at it.
Serena quickly dropped that Tear Pearl into her other hand and reached up to wipe the eight-year-olds cheek.
After she made that Tear Pearl and had put it with the other one, she smiled at the boys.
"These will help Sakura." She assured them, though she didn't quite yet know how herself.
They nodded, still looking stunned, and Serena stood up from that bed and moved over to the ten-year-old.
The ten-year-old had watched her make Tear Pearls from the other boys and now watched her wide eyed as she came to sit on his bed.
"Will those things you just made, really help Sakura?" He asked in a low wondering tone.
Serena nodded.
"Will you trust a Sailor Scout?" She asked the boy in a whisper only he could hear.
He blinked and a single tear escaped his eyes.
Serena was quick, but gentle, to catch it.
The boy smiled a half smile, and Serena smiled back.
'What you're about to do must remain a secret for now.' The voice warned.
"I must ask one more thing from you. Can you distract the Doctor and my friend Darien?" Serena asked the boy.
The boy glanced over at the two men who were still standing over Sakura, talking softly, and glancing every now and then at the kids.
The boy nodded, and a small mischievous grin tugged on the corners of his mouth.
He suddenly doubled over, clutching his stomach and making horrible retching sounds.
Serena was startled for a moment at such a change in him, but it worked.
Darien and the Doctor immediately rushed over, and Serena stood back to let them by the bed.
As they stood over the boy, asking him many questions and trying to figure out what was wrong with him, Serena sat down on the edge of Sakura's bed with her back to them.
The other two boys caught on to what the ten-year-old was doing and started acting sick themselves.
Serena quickly pulled Sakura up to a sitting position, letting Sakura's head lay against Serena's chest.
She held up the three Tear Pearls of the children.
'Put them in the child's mouth.' The voice instructed.
Serena quickly and gently did so, one at a time.
She could see the little girl slowly swallowing them by the motion of her throat muscles.
'The caring and love those other children hold for their friend, and which you have encased in those Tear Pearls, will help give her the strength to fight against whatever sickness has a hold on her.' The voice explained. 'She will not be well immediately, but she will awaken, and be able to breath better. She will not die today, but continue to get stronger as time passes.'
Serena smiled as she watched Sakura start to breath better.
Then abruptly Sakura was coughing and sputtering, and Serena was afraid she had done something wrong.
Then with one last huge cough, Sakura spit out whatever was making her breathing so hard, and looked up at Serena with a wide smile.
Serena smiled again as Darien and the doctor rushed over to them.
Serena then noticed that what Sakura had spit out, was sand.