Title: The Truth, the Whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth
Author: Helene
E-mail: aishiteru@nightmail.ru
Setting: First Season
Rating: PG-13 (mightily exaggerated)
Disclaimer: I own nothing of value, and this category includes the
copyright for Sailor Moon.
Author Notes: Whaaa, my old style refuses to be resurrected! It said that it would be better off in hell. What do I do?
Chapter 6
Love. So abstract as to imply mutually exclusive ideas, and yet so real that everyone claims to have experienced its sundry essences. Omnipresent and omnipotent, capable of rendering you helpless and helping you survive the moment of weakness.
It cannot be ranked, or measured, as it is absolute. If love is what drives you at a given moment, you will not allow anything to interfere with your actions. It is arbitrary, which should inspire and discourage. And baffle when it accomplishes both feats.
Its general existence can be neither determined nor disproved, not even by inventing euphemisms and epithets. You might call it devotion, brand it lust, consider it an emotion, or believe it to be a force, and the name won't make the slightest difference unless it underlies the real thing.
Which is…
"Well, well, well, long time no see, Mister Elusive" – sounded a sinister voice behind him. "Now when you are left to my tender mercy…"
"Cut it out, Andrew" – said Darien tersely. "I'm not in the mood".
"Your love life giving you troubles?" The blond student's eyes widened exaggeratedly, his teeth clenched in an attempt to stifle laughter.
"What are you doing here?"
"I need to pick up some books" – answered Andrew, deciding to respect his friend's unwillingness to venture his troubles.
"And so you have skipped the afternoon class" – stated Darien.
"And so lover boy seems to be unwary of time, dwelling on the virtues of his beloved". As usually, Andrew's gentlemanly side gave in to the more rewarding instinct.
"How have you derived that, Sherlock?"
"Easy. It's four thirty" – began Andrew smugly – "and you seem to assume that it is earlier. Also, the books in front of you are closed, which means you have not been working. The conclusion is… You're in love".
"I have to get going. See you later".
"Hey, Dare! Who is she?"
Yet again, his query was not answered. Not at all surprising, considering the fact that he was friends with the most enigmatic person in Tokyo after Tuxedo Mask.
*********************************************************************
"What?" – she questioned huskily, her eyebrows going all the way up, and her mouth opening slightly to lend her the expression of a gaping fish that was dragged unceremoniously out its home. It would have been amusing had he witnessed the scene instead of enacting it, he mulled.
"Did you…" – her pitch changed abruptly to a height no fanfiction writer would endow her with. "Did you just ask me that?!"
Who knew that the girl had such a formidable pair of lungs.
"I do not see why I shouldn't…"
"You cad! You jerk! You egocentric…"
"Would you please calm down…" – he supplicated, trying to reason with the fuming beauty.
"Calm down?" – she interrupted incredulously. Her face went taut, the teeth clenched fast, the deep purple eyes seeming to sizzle with measureless rage.
"Calm down!?" She snapped her fingers, making a broom appear in her hands. "You have the nerve of asking me, the girl which you've dated up until now, about the whereabouts of one of her best friends…"
That's about it.
"Stop yelling, Raye, and hear me out…" – he attempted only to be intercepted much more violently.
"No, you hear me out" – shouted the girl, wielding her weapon of choice and advancing at him.
Feeling the blood leave his face, and the legs turn into unmovable columns, Darien shut his eyes bracing himself for the impact, knowing that he would rather get the penalty over and done with than participate in one of the infamous chases around the shrine as Raye's prey.
*********************************************************************
"Ouch" – a female voice squeaked from somewhere below. "Do you wear an armor under that jacket?" – she inquired earnestly, effectively shattering his daymare about a pest off priestess.
He sighed, a fluttery relief inflating his chest and tugging at the corners of his lips as he bent the neck to look down at his counterpart. What he saw there, however, made him gasp with astonishment.
"Serena, what have you done with your hair? Did you cut it? Was it because of my teasing? Oh, God, Sere, I'm so sorry" – he gushed at the girl, coldness creeping into his heart at the thought of his teasing hurting her so badly as to make her part with her beloved hairstyle.
She raised her head to regard the guy with the steel hard muscles, and encountered a wavering gaze of the most gorgeous dark blue eyes. There was something about it that she could not quite place; something that should have appeared entrancing yet evoked nothing except a sincere compassion. Entrancing or not, however, those murderer looks were meant to be appreciated no matter how confusing their owner was.
"One should not tease one's girlfriend's hair, but I would surely have forgiven you, handsome" – she announced alluringly and batted her eyelashes to add to the seduction efficiency. "So why mope about her when you can have me?" The girl sprang to her feet and twirled about a few times to give him an opportunity to examine her figure.
Darien chuckled at the teen's antics, although it came out mirthless, since it was not Serena who bumped into him the time when he needed it to be her.
"I'm sorry, miss" – he began ruefully, - "but…"
"You're really taken with that girl, Serena. All the good ones are taken with somebody else" – she complained, not wanting him to grow even sadder. "And here I believed that I had found my knight in shining armor" – she joked to ease the tension and distract the forlorn young man.
"Oh, I'm nothing like that" – admitted Darien graciously.
"Well you should be" – admonished the blond sternly, - "at least around her".
"Hmm" – he drawled, and then a wide grin itched its way onto his face. "I think I could swing that one".
"Good hunting, than. Come on, Artemis" – she instructed cheerfully and went on her merry way, leaving the preposterously happy Darien behind.
"Yep" – he affirmed, nodding his head vigorously, - "I could definitely swing it despite the fact that I don't have an armor. And the best part is that I won't have to face Raye, not as Darien, anyway".
*********************************************************************
Void? No, not anymore.
Exhilarated?
Stressed out?
No.
Raw. "Raw" was the answer.
She felt raw. "Raw" as in painfully exposed to the emotions that plagued her: love, fear, compassion, anxiety, restlessness… "Raw" as in inexperienced, untrained to deal with them. "Raw" as in chill and alarming.
Serena could not help giving in to the self-commiseration spree. Her carefree life had not prepared the girl to cope with most kinds of misfortunes excluding having to struggle with school and gravity. It had been going easy on her up until she had met Luna, who brought about the unwelcome responsibility of fighting, waking up almost on time, and braving the homework.
She wanted things to change back, way back to the glorious times when all she had to preoccupy herself with was spending time with her friends, maneuvering through the classes and seeking delightful interruptions of the mundane routine.
No.
She drew a slow breath.
Sometimes a person did not want to be reminded of the truth. In fact, they did not wish to be aware of the pesky nuisance, yearning to put it behind and push it somewhere dark and cramped. That is why it was so unfair that she should pick up the snooty nonsense of an inner voice, or whatever such things were called.
But since she had, the truth was to be acknowledged. And the truth was that she would not renounce her newly found friends and love, or waive the ability to help people… in distress.
Note to self, she thought grimly. Lay off maiming winged words, even for the purposes of dark humor. It certainly did not do much for a person's reputation, and hers could not endure any more blows.
Inhale. Exhale. Such safe words to think to oneself. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale…
"Serena! Serena?"
An urgent voice jolted her out of reiterating her brand new mantra.
"Yes Raye?" Serena's reaction was uncharacteristically quiet, and the other girls flinched at the resignation in her tone.
"Don't you want to do something? Train, spar, do the homework? Go mall trolling?" – prodded Raye gently, allowing Serena to answer with a simple "yes" or "no", but hoping openly to elicit some additional information.
"No, not really. But I shall spar anyway" – said the subdued girl, wanting to discard the disagreeable thoughts and shake off the distressful feelings.
Not the best motives to embark on anything, she mused reaching out for her broach.
*********************************************************************
One of the good things about being a superhero, unfairly pushed to the sidelines by anonymity and supreme fighting skills, was the ability to ascend outrageously long stairs in several graceful bounds. It also helped that people, not endowed that way by the whimsical fates, tended to eagerly leap to one's assistance. Sometimes, however, those people were prone to forget about the world's well being for the sake of attending to their own interests, effectively impeding the progress of the aforementioned superheroes.
Being ordinary people they could not perceive the urgency of one's situation, and instead of answering one's questions asked him to stay for autograph hand out, appear at some fundraiser, or offer the young female visitors to join a temple staff. In such cases, the beggars, even if the person was an elderly priest, were to be politely dismissed, and the hero was to stomp off exploring the grounds on his or her own, leaving the civilian population to stare after him, shrug and resume their previous occupation.
That is why that formerly uneventful afternoon found Tuxedo Mask treading gruffly about Hikawa Shrine premises, muttering profane comments regarding over-industrious God ministers and their lack of common courtesy. He was halfway through searching the quarters when he heard a familiar voice cry out in anguish.
"Sailor Moon? Here?" – he whispered incredulously before sprinting out of the house. Finding nothing of the slightest resemblance to a raging battle or a monster on a rampage, he tore to the other side of the building to bear witness to the most appalling scene.
Two of the scouts, Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Mercury, were lying haplessly on the lawny earth of the backyard, and alongside them Sailor Mars was strangling Sailor Moon, while the weakened girl clutched the suffocating arm and flailed her legs to escape the nearing demise.
"How dare you betray your own cause, behaving toward your leader and combat fellows this rankly!" – shouted Tuxedo Mask, flinging a serrated rose at the offending scout's arm. "Friendships akin to hers are meant to be revered and cherished, not abused and double-crossed" – he continued, covering the distance between him and Sailor Moon in one stupendous leap. Having landed, he made a move to sweep the warrior into his arms and away from the raving fire avatar, who was busy cradling her injured forearm.
Two small hands gripped his collar, hauling his head down so that he meet two shards of summer sky shooting sparks of sheer wrath. He had never looked straight into her eyes, and the first time was turning out to be quite interesting.
"What are you doing here?" – demanded the leader of the scouts as the rest of the girls, including Sailor Mars, came to stand next to her.
"I…" – he wavered, not knowing how to explain his presence, or the skirmish between the team members.
The small hands gave a might shove, and the formidable Tuxedo Mask went sprawling to the ground. Two legs straddled his waist, and the hands pushed at his chest. The breathing became labored, and it remained to be enucleated whether the hands or the legs hampered it.
"How did you find us? Had you spied on us while we had been detransforming?"
"No!"
"Than how come you knew where to find us?"
"I had felt you transform and followed the pull?" – he volunteered tentatively, his voice going slightly up in the end of the phrase to indicate lack of ascertained knowledge.
"No, you had not" – said Sailor Moon, whose mind had apparently interpreted Tuxedo Mask's last sentence as a question addressed to her. "You do not feel me transform. You can only sense where I am when I am in danger, and there is no danger for me to train with the scouts".
"How do you know that?" – queried the awed man.
Immediately, a gloved hand clamped to the pigtailed hero's mouth.
"She won't answer" – informed Sailor Mars firmly. "Sailor Moon" – she proceeded in a milder tone, - "will you wait inside while we interrogate him?"
Sailor Moon moved her head from side to side wildly and flailed her arms, trying to manifest extreme displeasure with the situation.
"What is it, Sailor Moon?" – asked Sailor Mercury, struggling to keep her hand on the squirming scout's mouth. "Do you want to say something?"
Sailor Moon nodded.
"Do you deem it is safe to say it in his presence?"
Sailor Moon nodded again, and Sailor Mercury withdrew the hand.
"Tuxedo Mask, I know those things about the bond between us since my mother had been the one to establish it when we had become engaged".
"Who am I?" – blurted the befuddled young man before it occurred to anyone to prevent him from speaking.
"You are prince Endymion of Earth, my protector and fiancé" – she responded, seemingly as astounded at the revelation as her newly found betrothed and her earlier found friends. "We used to be together, but I…" – Sailor Moon's voice faltered, - "I just can't love you anymore" – she cried out, getting to her feet and making a few quick steps in the direction of the building.
Tuxedo Mask tried to go after her but Sailor Jupiter caught him by his cape.
"You've done enough damage for one day" – informed Sailor Mars scathingly. "And you are still to advise us on the reasons of your barging in on our training".
"Do you think she had been telling the truth?" – he asked pleadingly, the stormy eyes fixed at the girl's face as if to read the facts there, the stance got rigid and alert.
His heart was virtually pummeling against his ribs. His lungs were sore from the quickly forced sniffs and the forceful exhaling. His head swelled, making it difficult to watch his counterparts. He felt weakened and frighteningly exposed, and there were also great many other sensations none of which could be described as relief that he should have felt at having finally learned a whit of something about himself.
"Yes, Tuxedo Mask, she most certainly was" – said Sailor Jupiter taking mercy on the fitful guy.
"It is impossible for her to lie about something this important" – confirmed Sailor Mercury.
"But you, her not-so-dear protector" – began Sailor Mars evilly, - "still owe us quite a bit, and I doubt you might be willing to really talk to us, or apologize for the macho stunt you've pulled here. So there's just one thing for you to do" – she paused for the dramatic effect and lunged at him. "Run".
And run he did, dashing towards the entrance of the shrine without a single thought about the irony of having avoided being chased by Raye only to get into the very predicament with not much meeker and much more threatening Sailor Mars. These had been stored to ponder at a later hour after having contemplated his newly disclosed identity.
*********************************************************************
Oh, yea. Last minute author notes. Need reviews. Need e-mail. Need feedback. Need another vacation. Oh, no. I'm pretty much doomed since I'm unlikely to get any of the wishes, am I?
Author: Helene
E-mail: aishiteru@nightmail.ru
Setting: First Season
Rating: PG-13 (mightily exaggerated)
Disclaimer: I own nothing of value, and this category includes the
copyright for Sailor Moon.
Author Notes: Whaaa, my old style refuses to be resurrected! It said that it would be better off in hell. What do I do?
Chapter 6
Love. So abstract as to imply mutually exclusive ideas, and yet so real that everyone claims to have experienced its sundry essences. Omnipresent and omnipotent, capable of rendering you helpless and helping you survive the moment of weakness.
It cannot be ranked, or measured, as it is absolute. If love is what drives you at a given moment, you will not allow anything to interfere with your actions. It is arbitrary, which should inspire and discourage. And baffle when it accomplishes both feats.
Its general existence can be neither determined nor disproved, not even by inventing euphemisms and epithets. You might call it devotion, brand it lust, consider it an emotion, or believe it to be a force, and the name won't make the slightest difference unless it underlies the real thing.
Which is…
"Well, well, well, long time no see, Mister Elusive" – sounded a sinister voice behind him. "Now when you are left to my tender mercy…"
"Cut it out, Andrew" – said Darien tersely. "I'm not in the mood".
"Your love life giving you troubles?" The blond student's eyes widened exaggeratedly, his teeth clenched in an attempt to stifle laughter.
"What are you doing here?"
"I need to pick up some books" – answered Andrew, deciding to respect his friend's unwillingness to venture his troubles.
"And so you have skipped the afternoon class" – stated Darien.
"And so lover boy seems to be unwary of time, dwelling on the virtues of his beloved". As usually, Andrew's gentlemanly side gave in to the more rewarding instinct.
"How have you derived that, Sherlock?"
"Easy. It's four thirty" – began Andrew smugly – "and you seem to assume that it is earlier. Also, the books in front of you are closed, which means you have not been working. The conclusion is… You're in love".
"I have to get going. See you later".
"Hey, Dare! Who is she?"
Yet again, his query was not answered. Not at all surprising, considering the fact that he was friends with the most enigmatic person in Tokyo after Tuxedo Mask.
*********************************************************************
"What?" – she questioned huskily, her eyebrows going all the way up, and her mouth opening slightly to lend her the expression of a gaping fish that was dragged unceremoniously out its home. It would have been amusing had he witnessed the scene instead of enacting it, he mulled.
"Did you…" – her pitch changed abruptly to a height no fanfiction writer would endow her with. "Did you just ask me that?!"
Who knew that the girl had such a formidable pair of lungs.
"I do not see why I shouldn't…"
"You cad! You jerk! You egocentric…"
"Would you please calm down…" – he supplicated, trying to reason with the fuming beauty.
"Calm down?" – she interrupted incredulously. Her face went taut, the teeth clenched fast, the deep purple eyes seeming to sizzle with measureless rage.
"Calm down!?" She snapped her fingers, making a broom appear in her hands. "You have the nerve of asking me, the girl which you've dated up until now, about the whereabouts of one of her best friends…"
That's about it.
"Stop yelling, Raye, and hear me out…" – he attempted only to be intercepted much more violently.
"No, you hear me out" – shouted the girl, wielding her weapon of choice and advancing at him.
Feeling the blood leave his face, and the legs turn into unmovable columns, Darien shut his eyes bracing himself for the impact, knowing that he would rather get the penalty over and done with than participate in one of the infamous chases around the shrine as Raye's prey.
*********************************************************************
"Ouch" – a female voice squeaked from somewhere below. "Do you wear an armor under that jacket?" – she inquired earnestly, effectively shattering his daymare about a pest off priestess.
He sighed, a fluttery relief inflating his chest and tugging at the corners of his lips as he bent the neck to look down at his counterpart. What he saw there, however, made him gasp with astonishment.
"Serena, what have you done with your hair? Did you cut it? Was it because of my teasing? Oh, God, Sere, I'm so sorry" – he gushed at the girl, coldness creeping into his heart at the thought of his teasing hurting her so badly as to make her part with her beloved hairstyle.
She raised her head to regard the guy with the steel hard muscles, and encountered a wavering gaze of the most gorgeous dark blue eyes. There was something about it that she could not quite place; something that should have appeared entrancing yet evoked nothing except a sincere compassion. Entrancing or not, however, those murderer looks were meant to be appreciated no matter how confusing their owner was.
"One should not tease one's girlfriend's hair, but I would surely have forgiven you, handsome" – she announced alluringly and batted her eyelashes to add to the seduction efficiency. "So why mope about her when you can have me?" The girl sprang to her feet and twirled about a few times to give him an opportunity to examine her figure.
Darien chuckled at the teen's antics, although it came out mirthless, since it was not Serena who bumped into him the time when he needed it to be her.
"I'm sorry, miss" – he began ruefully, - "but…"
"You're really taken with that girl, Serena. All the good ones are taken with somebody else" – she complained, not wanting him to grow even sadder. "And here I believed that I had found my knight in shining armor" – she joked to ease the tension and distract the forlorn young man.
"Oh, I'm nothing like that" – admitted Darien graciously.
"Well you should be" – admonished the blond sternly, - "at least around her".
"Hmm" – he drawled, and then a wide grin itched its way onto his face. "I think I could swing that one".
"Good hunting, than. Come on, Artemis" – she instructed cheerfully and went on her merry way, leaving the preposterously happy Darien behind.
"Yep" – he affirmed, nodding his head vigorously, - "I could definitely swing it despite the fact that I don't have an armor. And the best part is that I won't have to face Raye, not as Darien, anyway".
*********************************************************************
Void? No, not anymore.
Exhilarated?
Stressed out?
No.
Raw. "Raw" was the answer.
She felt raw. "Raw" as in painfully exposed to the emotions that plagued her: love, fear, compassion, anxiety, restlessness… "Raw" as in inexperienced, untrained to deal with them. "Raw" as in chill and alarming.
Serena could not help giving in to the self-commiseration spree. Her carefree life had not prepared the girl to cope with most kinds of misfortunes excluding having to struggle with school and gravity. It had been going easy on her up until she had met Luna, who brought about the unwelcome responsibility of fighting, waking up almost on time, and braving the homework.
She wanted things to change back, way back to the glorious times when all she had to preoccupy herself with was spending time with her friends, maneuvering through the classes and seeking delightful interruptions of the mundane routine.
No.
She drew a slow breath.
Sometimes a person did not want to be reminded of the truth. In fact, they did not wish to be aware of the pesky nuisance, yearning to put it behind and push it somewhere dark and cramped. That is why it was so unfair that she should pick up the snooty nonsense of an inner voice, or whatever such things were called.
But since she had, the truth was to be acknowledged. And the truth was that she would not renounce her newly found friends and love, or waive the ability to help people… in distress.
Note to self, she thought grimly. Lay off maiming winged words, even for the purposes of dark humor. It certainly did not do much for a person's reputation, and hers could not endure any more blows.
Inhale. Exhale. Such safe words to think to oneself. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale…
"Serena! Serena?"
An urgent voice jolted her out of reiterating her brand new mantra.
"Yes Raye?" Serena's reaction was uncharacteristically quiet, and the other girls flinched at the resignation in her tone.
"Don't you want to do something? Train, spar, do the homework? Go mall trolling?" – prodded Raye gently, allowing Serena to answer with a simple "yes" or "no", but hoping openly to elicit some additional information.
"No, not really. But I shall spar anyway" – said the subdued girl, wanting to discard the disagreeable thoughts and shake off the distressful feelings.
Not the best motives to embark on anything, she mused reaching out for her broach.
*********************************************************************
One of the good things about being a superhero, unfairly pushed to the sidelines by anonymity and supreme fighting skills, was the ability to ascend outrageously long stairs in several graceful bounds. It also helped that people, not endowed that way by the whimsical fates, tended to eagerly leap to one's assistance. Sometimes, however, those people were prone to forget about the world's well being for the sake of attending to their own interests, effectively impeding the progress of the aforementioned superheroes.
Being ordinary people they could not perceive the urgency of one's situation, and instead of answering one's questions asked him to stay for autograph hand out, appear at some fundraiser, or offer the young female visitors to join a temple staff. In such cases, the beggars, even if the person was an elderly priest, were to be politely dismissed, and the hero was to stomp off exploring the grounds on his or her own, leaving the civilian population to stare after him, shrug and resume their previous occupation.
That is why that formerly uneventful afternoon found Tuxedo Mask treading gruffly about Hikawa Shrine premises, muttering profane comments regarding over-industrious God ministers and their lack of common courtesy. He was halfway through searching the quarters when he heard a familiar voice cry out in anguish.
"Sailor Moon? Here?" – he whispered incredulously before sprinting out of the house. Finding nothing of the slightest resemblance to a raging battle or a monster on a rampage, he tore to the other side of the building to bear witness to the most appalling scene.
Two of the scouts, Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Mercury, were lying haplessly on the lawny earth of the backyard, and alongside them Sailor Mars was strangling Sailor Moon, while the weakened girl clutched the suffocating arm and flailed her legs to escape the nearing demise.
"How dare you betray your own cause, behaving toward your leader and combat fellows this rankly!" – shouted Tuxedo Mask, flinging a serrated rose at the offending scout's arm. "Friendships akin to hers are meant to be revered and cherished, not abused and double-crossed" – he continued, covering the distance between him and Sailor Moon in one stupendous leap. Having landed, he made a move to sweep the warrior into his arms and away from the raving fire avatar, who was busy cradling her injured forearm.
Two small hands gripped his collar, hauling his head down so that he meet two shards of summer sky shooting sparks of sheer wrath. He had never looked straight into her eyes, and the first time was turning out to be quite interesting.
"What are you doing here?" – demanded the leader of the scouts as the rest of the girls, including Sailor Mars, came to stand next to her.
"I…" – he wavered, not knowing how to explain his presence, or the skirmish between the team members.
The small hands gave a might shove, and the formidable Tuxedo Mask went sprawling to the ground. Two legs straddled his waist, and the hands pushed at his chest. The breathing became labored, and it remained to be enucleated whether the hands or the legs hampered it.
"How did you find us? Had you spied on us while we had been detransforming?"
"No!"
"Than how come you knew where to find us?"
"I had felt you transform and followed the pull?" – he volunteered tentatively, his voice going slightly up in the end of the phrase to indicate lack of ascertained knowledge.
"No, you had not" – said Sailor Moon, whose mind had apparently interpreted Tuxedo Mask's last sentence as a question addressed to her. "You do not feel me transform. You can only sense where I am when I am in danger, and there is no danger for me to train with the scouts".
"How do you know that?" – queried the awed man.
Immediately, a gloved hand clamped to the pigtailed hero's mouth.
"She won't answer" – informed Sailor Mars firmly. "Sailor Moon" – she proceeded in a milder tone, - "will you wait inside while we interrogate him?"
Sailor Moon moved her head from side to side wildly and flailed her arms, trying to manifest extreme displeasure with the situation.
"What is it, Sailor Moon?" – asked Sailor Mercury, struggling to keep her hand on the squirming scout's mouth. "Do you want to say something?"
Sailor Moon nodded.
"Do you deem it is safe to say it in his presence?"
Sailor Moon nodded again, and Sailor Mercury withdrew the hand.
"Tuxedo Mask, I know those things about the bond between us since my mother had been the one to establish it when we had become engaged".
"Who am I?" – blurted the befuddled young man before it occurred to anyone to prevent him from speaking.
"You are prince Endymion of Earth, my protector and fiancé" – she responded, seemingly as astounded at the revelation as her newly found betrothed and her earlier found friends. "We used to be together, but I…" – Sailor Moon's voice faltered, - "I just can't love you anymore" – she cried out, getting to her feet and making a few quick steps in the direction of the building.
Tuxedo Mask tried to go after her but Sailor Jupiter caught him by his cape.
"You've done enough damage for one day" – informed Sailor Mars scathingly. "And you are still to advise us on the reasons of your barging in on our training".
"Do you think she had been telling the truth?" – he asked pleadingly, the stormy eyes fixed at the girl's face as if to read the facts there, the stance got rigid and alert.
His heart was virtually pummeling against his ribs. His lungs were sore from the quickly forced sniffs and the forceful exhaling. His head swelled, making it difficult to watch his counterparts. He felt weakened and frighteningly exposed, and there were also great many other sensations none of which could be described as relief that he should have felt at having finally learned a whit of something about himself.
"Yes, Tuxedo Mask, she most certainly was" – said Sailor Jupiter taking mercy on the fitful guy.
"It is impossible for her to lie about something this important" – confirmed Sailor Mercury.
"But you, her not-so-dear protector" – began Sailor Mars evilly, - "still owe us quite a bit, and I doubt you might be willing to really talk to us, or apologize for the macho stunt you've pulled here. So there's just one thing for you to do" – she paused for the dramatic effect and lunged at him. "Run".
And run he did, dashing towards the entrance of the shrine without a single thought about the irony of having avoided being chased by Raye only to get into the very predicament with not much meeker and much more threatening Sailor Mars. These had been stored to ponder at a later hour after having contemplated his newly disclosed identity.
*********************************************************************
Oh, yea. Last minute author notes. Need reviews. Need e-mail. Need feedback. Need another vacation. Oh, no. I'm pretty much doomed since I'm unlikely to get any of the wishes, am I?
