Subject: The Rose Garden, Chapter 9 [FANFIC]
Part 4: Chasing The White Rabbit;
The Princess In The Painting
Date sent: Wed, 28 Jan 1998 18:28:25
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~~~~~~~@ THE ROSE GARDEN @~~~~~~~
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A fanfic by Chiba Mamoru, as re-told to Pandora Diane Waldron
@~~~~~~~
"Mystery glows in the rose bed, the secret is hidden in the rose."
--Farid ud-din Attar, 12th Century Persian poet.
CHAPTER 9: My Odango Atama (continued)
===============================(@
Part 4: Chasing The White Rabbit
=======================(@
[MAMORU's NOTE: This part is taken from Luna's and Usagi's
reminisces. I am amused to note that Luna took the opportunity, when
re-telling her experiences, to complain about the lack of
ergonomically designed keyboards for cats. It's the first thing I
remedied when I became King Endymion; I personally commissioned the
*Luna laptop*, designed to fit the paws of small feline users like
Luna, Artemis and Diana.
Luna was so inspired by receiving her special laptop, she
designed a special database program for cats to plan special
low-ash diets, remedy furball cough-up, keep nails in trim without
wrecking furniture, and many other cat-wonders. Luna's program has
sold many more copies in Crystal Tokyo than WIN95 ever did, and being
Luna's program, has NO bugs in it. But I digress...]
"Ami-chan? I need your help!" Luna came running into the cram
school class where Ami was studying late, alone.
"What's up, Luna?" Ami, hands poised over the keys, looked down from
her laptop at a very alarmed looking Luna.
"Usagi-chan got on the Sendai Hill bus..and there's something else.
Just before the bus disappeared, I saw the girl we met the other day,
that temple priestess, Hino Rei...slumped in one of the bus seats.
She was lying unconscious. So we have to find them both. I'm glad
you have your laptop there. We can use it to locate Usagi-chan's
communicator."
"Hai! [Right!]" Ami replied. And her fingers flew into action.
Suddenly, they both hear Usagi's voice coming from the laptop
speakers. "Luna! Come in, Luna!"
"Usagi-chan?" Ami cried. "Is that you? Where are you?"
"I don't know!" Usagi's voice sounded wobbly, frightened. "After
the bus went through the hole, I jumped off and I came to this
place..all I can see is a stone castle. But Luna, I've lost the bus!
Oh Luna, Ami, what am I going to do?" she wailed.
"Usagi-chan, listen to me. There's only one thing to do. You must
transform to Sailor Moon...now! And you must save all those
students!" Luna ordered.
"Hai!" Usagi replied.
"Luna, she needs me to help her too! Is it possible for me to
transform too and transport to that place?" Ami asked.
"Yes, it is possible. But, here, you will need this when you get
there." And she handed Ami a second transformation pen.
"Why will I need this?" Ami asked.
"You'll see when you get there. I have great faith in you....Sailor
Mercury!"
Ami smiled. "Thank you, Luna! I'll try to prove worthy of your
trust in me!" Then, tossing her own pen in the air, she called out,
"Mercury Power!" And then she disappeared.
Luna sat down at the laptop in Ami's place, and donned a headset.
"Really," she muttered to herself. "When I get a chance, I'm going
to type up a letter of complaint to the manufacturer. These
keyboards are very poorly designed for cat paws. It's time they took
the special needs of feline users into consideration. But never mind
that now. Let's get a fix on Sailor Moon and Sailor Mercury."
@)~~~~~~~
The shrine maiden, Hino Rei, lies splayed out on her side on the
ground, her dark hair spread out like an ebony fan. Jadeite kneels
beside her, reaching out to caress her hair. "So beautiful," he
murmured to himself. "I've wanted this girl since I first saw
her...and now, no one is going to stop me...."
At that moment, not far away, following Luna's instructions blindly,
Usagi called out, "Moon Prism Power...Make Up!" and transformed to
Sailor Moon. And much to her delight, Sailor Moon looked around to
see Ami materializing next to her. "Ami-chan! Thank goodness you're
here!"
Ami gave Sailor Moon one of her warm smiles, and promptly transformed
to Sailor Mercury. Her eyes widened as she noticed Jadeite with his
arms wrapped tightly around Rei, one arm with a stranglehold on Rei's
throat. "Look, Usagi-chan! Over there..we've got to help that girl!"
Jadeite smiled grimly, "So you've come at last, Sailor Moon. But it
won't do you any good. I have this beauty now, and I intend to keep
her!"
"Rei-chan! Are you all right? Please say something! Please,
Rei-chan!" Usagi shouted, desperately trying to arouse the
unconscious Rei. She called out to Jadeite, "I won't let you trap
all these innocent people here! In the name of the moon, I'll punish
you!"
Sailor Mercury spread a fog across the room, hoping to blind Jadeite.
"Quickly, Usagi-chan!" She yelled. "You must save Rei-chan while
Jadeite is blinded!"
But Jadeite, with one hand still tightly bound around Rei's throat,
made a quick motion before his face with his other hand.
Derisively, he jeered at Sailor Mercury. "Is THAT all you've got?
You're not so very tough!" The moment his hand moved, the fog began
to dissipate.
"Hey! He got rid of Mercury's mist! He can't do that! That's not
fair! Oh no, what am I going to do now? Please Luna, help me!"
Usagi was starting to whimper, and, as usual, she looked to her furry
advisor to help her find the answer.
Luna, at the other end of the communicator line, wearing a head set
while she operated the laptop, knew it was time to rein in her
charge.
"Now don't you start crying, Usagi-chan!" Luna used her
sternest voice. "If you start crying, you'll start supersonic waves
vibrating again. Those are really dangerous, and uncontrollable!
Then, you won't be able to save everyone. So get a hold of
yourself, and toss your Moon Tiara--now!"
Sailor Moon, shamed into quick reaction, tossed her tiara spinning
towards Jadeite.
"What--What's this?" Jadeite cried.
Luna, remotely controlling the tiara's trajectory from her keyboard,
pressed a key, and the tiara promptly locked around Jadeite, trapping
his arms.
"How.....? It's caught me!" Jadeite yelled. "But don't you think
for a moment I'm beaten!" His eyes blazed with a cold light,
focussed directly on Sailor Moon and Sailor Mercury. Sailor Moon
felt a powerful force from Jadeite's gaze, causing her knees to give
way, and to slam hard into the ground. From Sailor Mercury's moans,
Sailor Moon realized that she couldn't stand up either.
But from the communicator, they both heard Luna's voice, piercing in
its urgency. " Ami-chan! That pen I gave you! Throw it at
Rei--now!!" Mercury couldn't get up, but she could still throw,
and she did.
A beam of moonlight seemed to appear from nowhere, lighting Rei like
a spotlight. And suddenly, a symbol appeared on her forehead...the
symbol of the planet Mars. The pen was still glowing in the air,
suspended, as if weightless, above Rei's head. Then, as if
answering their mistress's summons, Rei's two crows appeared, flying
overhead.
"Phobos, Deimos!" Rei cried, happily, as she transformed
into...Sailor Mars. The crows circled above her, like a heavenward
benediction of the new Sailor Senshi. Sailors Moon and Mercury
looked on, awestruck. "Rei-chan..is that really you?"
It was a confident, revitalized Rei, who smiled back at them. So,
this was the truth of her vision...and Jadeite was the true source of
the evil she had sensed near the shrine. She felt a surge of power
concentrating in her arms, and instinctively raised them towards
Jadeite. A ball of energy glowed from Sailor Mars' arms. She drew
her breath in sharply and spoke the words of power. "Evil spirit,
begone!"
There was an agonizing shriek from Jadeite as the ball of fiery
energy leaped from Mars' hands, and charred his body to a corpse!
Sailor Moon gasped. But before she could have time to take in the
fact that Jadeite was gone, just like that, she heard Luna's urgent
voice again on her communicator.
"Girls! You must come back, now! There's not a moment to lose! The
dimension you're in is distorting, shrinking, closing in on itself.
If you don't all gather together and leave this dimension now, you'll
be trapped forever!"
"But how do we get all those people on the buses out of here fast
enough?" Sailor Moon moaned. "We just can't do it in time, Luna!"
Mercury and Mars looked at her, stunned. There just wasn't time for
them to come up with a plan of action.
But just then, the empty bus, where Rei had been held captive,
started its engines. Sailor Moon's eyes widened in horror. "There
must be another enemy inside the bus! We'll never escape here in
time!" she thought.
There was no time to run, though. The bus roared up and came to a
stop, exactly opposite Sailor Moon, and the door opened.
A very familiar voice spoke cheerfully. "Going my way, ladies?"
@)~~~~~~~
[Chiba Mamoru continues his narrative:]
The bus..the bus..have to get to the bus. Have to find the Rabbit,
the Rabbit in White, the Rabbit on the Moon, Tsukino Usagi...cause
I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date! Oh Mamoru, you have
TOTALLY lost it now...if you feel like you're Alice In Wonderland,
that's a sure sign...but wait a minute. Oh....I'm on the bus! What
the..in the driver's seat? Now how did I get here? Oh, why do I
ask? Through the Looking Glass, through the Black Hole Dimension,
what difference does it make? None of it makes sense anyway.
Might as well drive this bus...none of this is real, anyway. Oh, my
top hat's falling into my eyes. Let's adjust it, in the rear-view
mirror. Yeah, that looks better. There now. The Mad Hatter, at
your service. Quite, quite mad. But even crazy dreams have their
own crazy logic. For sure, if I drive this bus, something will turn
up. Who will it be, I wonder? Dunno, but it's my unbirthday today,
and my unbirthday gift is, I get to drive the bus. Let's see now.
There's the gear shift, key's in the ignition. Shall I crash this
baby, or what? Could be fun. Nah. Would Tuxedo Kamen crash the
bus? Never. Never.
Gradually, the high-octane mix of adrenaline in my blood starts to
slow, and my head begins to clear, just a bit. God, where is that
girl? Is she all right? Tsukino Usagi, last seen as...an Airline
Stewardess? On a bus? Hey, we'll make a great couple, won't we?
The Mad Hatter and the Airline Stewardess. Coffee, tea, or me?
Yes, of course, we'll have a tea party, the Mad Hatter's Tea Party,
on this bus. Why not, on the bus?
She's fine, says my inner voice, she's fine. Just drive the bus.
Your White Rabbit [my WHAT?] is fine. Anyway, if Tuxedo Kamen is
needed, then Sailor Moon must be somewhere around. So you find
Sailor Moon. That is your mission. Stop getting sidetracked with
White Rabbits. That, if you recall, is what got Alice in Wonderland
into trouble all the time...chasing White Rabbits. Hey, that makes
perfect nonsensical sense to me, I thought.
Well, you can see how spaced out I was. I had stretched my powers
as Tuxedo Kamen to some level never used before, and somehow I
reached the other dimension. I don't think I went there bodily...I
think my essence left my body and went there, and I stayed behind on
the park bench, where I passed out. I think that, because something
like that happened to me again, when I later became the Moonlight
Knight.
The strain of pushing myself like that meant it took a while
for my mind to go back to normal. Yet, I am sure, if Usako had
really needed me, before my stint as bus driver, I would have found
her. I know that, as surely as I know the sun will rise in the
morning. And at some level, I have always known that.]
Well, who's this? The gorgeous Sailor Moon, the spunky Sailor
Mercury, and who's this new Senshi in the red high heels? She looks
like...oh, stop it, Mamoru. Everyone you know can't be a Sailor
Senshi. If I start imagining things like this, I am definitely the
Mad Hatter.
As I roll the bus to a stop, and flick the door switch, [Wow, I
could get used to this...just think, I could pick up entire busloads
of girls. Oh, the Tea Parties I would have....], I consider
breaking into song, "A very merry unbirthday, to me, to me!", but I
think better of it. That may be the Mad Hatter's best line, but it's
not mine.
"Going my way, ladies?" I call out cheerily. And I am rewarded by
definite responses from at least two Senshi....the one with the
lovely smile, and the new one in the red heels. They seem delighted
to have this Mad Hatter as their driver. As for the Senshi with
hair the colour of an autumn deep blue lake, she is also relieved to
see me. But she is much shyer than the other two.
So. Not late for that very important date after all. Came in time
to see them safely home, anyway. I sneak a look through the
rear-view mirror, and notice all the other buses, with the missing
students, are lined up in tandem. How do you DO these tricks, Tuxedo
Kamen? Well, really, I don't have a clue. Must be all done with
mirrors. Rear view mirrors. And soon after I start thinking that
silly thought, I stop thinking at all. Blackout again.
@)~~~~~~~
The Princess In The Painting
====================(@
I think you know by now that I really don't like being stared at, let
alone poked and prodded, and told what to do. So you may
wonder how I was ever persuaded to sit still and pose long enough to
be in a painting, without being ready to climb the walls [well, you
knew I like climbing walls and roofs, anyway]. It's a long story,
but here goes.
Not long after my stint as the Sailor Senshi bus driver, I was
passing by an art gallery. I was on my way to meet a friend at
school for a study session, when my eye was caught by a painting in
the window there. It stopped me dead in my tracks. I couldn't
believe it, when I saw that the two figures in the painting looked
very much like Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen.
So then, imagine how shocked I felt, when I recognized the
oh-so-distinctive style of the artist Yumeno Yumemi, whose first two
paintings were secretly hanging in my closet at that moment. I knew
every brushstroke of Yumeni's style, for she, and she alone, had
brought my Dream Princess to life. Every day, I would look at
each picture: one of the Princess, full of wistful yearning
in her gaze, and the other of the Princess in the arms of her Prince,
and I wondered if she would ever be more to me than just a dream.
And there was something else I remembered, something that
suddenly chilled me inside, despite the warmth of the day. Yumeni
also knew that a certain Chiba Mamoru had purchased a tuxedo from her
seamstress friend. Yet Yumeni-san and I had never met, and I *hoped*
she was still keeping my secret.
As I looked at the beautiful paintings in the window, I now regretted
never meeting Yumeno Yumeni. This girl I had never met had
shared these beautiful works with me and yet, she had refused to
accept payment or acknowledgement for it. She had told her friend
that she knew the paintings belonged with me. I should at least
thank her, I thought. I must find her, and thank her.
But for now, that painting rivetted me. There was something about
the girl in the picture, something familiar. In my mind, I flashed
back to Yumeni's other pictures...why, it was the same girl!
Wasn't it? So I backed up for a better look at the entire scene.
Well, obviously, I wasn't watching where I was backing, was I?
I felt my back thud into something soft, and I heard a cry of
distress behind me. Then there was the ominous sound of things
clattering to the ground. [Cripes, it's catching, Mamoru. You're
turning into Usagi the Klutz! See what happens when you can't stop
thinking about her?]
Quickly, I whirled to see a girl on her hands and knees, her
hair in a long dark braid, trying desperately to retrieve an artist's
portfolio, and her glasses.
"Sorry!" sounded so inadequate, but it was all I could manage to say
to her. But I helped her pick up all the things she'd dropped, only
to feel, of all things, the girl clutching my wrist! The girl, now
wearing huge glasses that dominated her face, was holding onto my arm
now, her face wreathed in smiles. She reminded me for all the world
of a groupie, looking at me like I was the filet mignon on her dinner
menu. [Not AGAIN! What IS it I do to girls, anyway? To some girls,
I mean sigh. Well, speak of the Klutz. Here comes Usagi. For
sure, SHE'S immune to my charms, whatever they may be.]
"Well, look who's here!" Usagi chortled. "I'm telling Rei-chan!"
[She gives me that smug look of hers, and I can feel my hackles
rising. How does that Odango manage to get right under my skin like
that? And those paintings are already making me feel edgy. A
sparring match with Odango is all I need right now.]
"Look, don't get the wrong idea, Odango," I tell her, and I can feel
myself scowling, I can't help it. How does she always get me SO
wrong?
"What do you mean, I've got the wrong idea?" Usagi demanded. "Hasn't
she got you by the arm? So you're two-timing Rei-chan! And when I
tell her what a creep you are..."
She's working herself up now, enjoying how uncomfortable she's making
me. What have I ever done to deserve this? I am dangerously close
to losing my temper, I can feel it. But just as I can feel myself coming
to the boil, the crazy girl with the glasses comes to my rescue. Cause
now she's grabbing Usagi by the arm, too!
"You're perfect, too! Both of you, you're just perfect!" [Perfect
what? Perfect fools, for staying here listening to this crazy girl?]
"I need you both to model for my painting. Please, please, I promise
I won't take long," The girl's face is lit up in her eagerness.
"Well, I can't stay long," I start doubtfully. [You MARSHMALLOW,
Mamoru! Say NO! You don't have time for this, and...And she's
standing next to me....and there goes my thinking processes, dammit.
She doesn't even like me, and look at me. Tsukino Usagi--she did it
to me again. I dunno if I love her or I hate her. But Mamoru the
Marshmallow just got sucked in again, and I don't like it. I don't
like it at all.]
The girl smiles a very winning smile at me, and Usagi is all excited
at the idea of modelling. I start to feel a smile welling up at that
excitement, and quickly stifle it. Mamoru--get it through your head.
She doesn't like you. She doesn't like you. So stop being a doormat.
The girl takes us to what looks like every romantic artist's dream of
the Cottage in the Country. Wide porch, flowers everywhere,
picturesque and very feminine. The whole place looks like one of
those art prints women love having on their living room wall, too
kawaii [cutesy] to be real. Not my style at all, but it's obviously to
Usagi's taste. She's wandering all over the garden, gushing about
what a beautiful place this is, and making the girl with the dark
braided hair blush.
"Come on, Odango Atama! Can we get on with this? I don't have all
day to kill, you know!" How peevish my voice sounds. How is it that
Usagi always brings out the worst in me, it seems?
Usagi looks up at me mischievously, and continues her tour of the
cottage front. "What's your hurry? I thought you stuck-up students
at Moto Azabu High just played around all the time!"
I can feel my scowl deepening, as I reply furiously, "I do NOT play
around all the time! I have to study very hard there, I'm on
scholarship, not rich, you know, and..." And Usagi is snickering at
me. She got me AGAIN. And smugly, she turns away and starts going
through all the things kept on the porch.
Oh, no, Usagi, please! You DON'T just go riffling through someone's
personal stuff like that. She's going through what looks like this
girl's other works on the porch, and I think I am going to die of
embarrassment at that Odango's behaviour. But part of me is also
frustrated. She would just about rather do anything, it seems, than
notice I'm alive. Why in God's name am I here, then? Why do I make
myself miserable like this?
Sunk in misery, I don't immediately look at the paintings Usagi is
toying with. Then I do, and I gasp! And so does Usagi.
"B-b-but this looks just like Yumeno Yumeni's paintings!" Usagi
stammers. I can see she is a definite fan of Yumeni's. [Well, at
least she has good taste.]
Then it dawns on me..this is the same Yumeni whose first paintings I
own...and who knows I wear a tuxedo. A look passes between us.
"Are you Yumeni-san?" I ask.
Yumeni, smiles, a bit embarrassed, and blushes. "Yes, I don't fit at
all with the romantic images in these pictures, do I? So I pretended
to be more beautiful."
But something else passes through her eyes that Usagi doesn't catch.
She has just remembered who Chiba Mamoru is, and is looking at me
speculatively, and pleased about this situation. So now, no matter
how uncomfortable I am, I can't go to that meeting at the school
until Yumeni has had a chance to do whatever it is she wants to do
with me. I can't take a chance on her blurting out to Usagi as to
how it is, that I happen to have two more of her paintings myself.
Tuxedo Kamen MUST remain nameless. It's no longer just for school
reasons. The Dark Kingdom folks would very much like to know who has
been frustrating their efforts to find the Illusion Silver Crystal,
and by now, Tuxedo Kamen is certainly on their hit list.
"Please, Mamoru-san, relax. I'll get you some coffee,"Yumeni says,
coaxingly. Well, she DID give me those paintings out of the
goodness of her heart, a gift I treasure, though I can't thank her now,
not with Usagi there. It seems that all the thanks Yumeni would like,
is that I model for her now. I'm gonna be late for that meeting at the
school for sure, and I don't know if my friend is going to wait for me
if I'm late. I don't like letting people down like that, being late. [Yes,
you're right, I'm not a bit like Usako, in that way. Being late is kind of
a point of pride with Usako, almost a mark of her personal importance,
that people have to wait for the great SHE to make her entrance.
She's lucky that we let her get away with it.]
But then it dawns on me now that I owe Yumeni, big time. Not just for
the paintings, but for keeping my secret, and never asking me any questions
about the tuxedo I purchased. I groan inwardly. Seems I have no choice.
Damn. How do I get myself into these situations?
Then Yumeni adds, to both of us, "Don't tell anybody about this. No one
must know what Yumeno Yumeni really looks like, " [Hey, that goes
double for ME, Yumeni. Don't tell anyone about ME! But I can't say a
word in front of Usagi. God, I wish I'd never come here. I wish I
hadn't been such a Marshmallow.]
"But what about your friends?" Usagi cries. "Don't they know?"
"I only have a few, very close friends. None of the public who buy
my paintings know. I don't need them to know, Usagi-san. As long
as my pictures are good, and I can sell them, that's the important
thing." Yumeni explained.
Yumeni bustles around, outwardly nervous, but inwardly, I think she
knows that I, at least, won't go anywhere, however I mutter and complain.
I guess she wishes I WANTED to be here. Oh, good grief! Homemade
cookies, yet? She thinks THAT will soften me up? Here Yumeni comes
with a tray full of warm cookies. An avid student of Martha Stewart,
I bet, when she's not painting. No wonder klutzy Usagi's impressed.
"Now, Usagi-san, you sit here," Yumeni says, indicating the spot
next to me on the couch. [Does Yumeni actually think the White
Rabbit will stop bouncing and hopping around long enough to sit next
to Chiba Mamoru? Let alone stay still long enough for her portrait
to be sketched? This, I gotta see.]
"Whaaaat?" Usagi screeches. "You want me to sit side-by-side with
this guy?" [Looking at her expression of distaste, Mamoru's
incredible shrinking ego goes down another 10 notches.]
"Don't look so happy," I respond, bitterly.
Turning all sorts of colours, Usagi wails, "I don't WANNA model
for romantic pictures with HIM!!"
"Please," Yumeni begs, "Take a seat there. I can't get any
inspiration without models. I've been looking everywhere for a
couple who look like you. I only need you for today. Please?"
"Fine," My voice is Mamoru at his most cutting, and determined.
For God's sake, let's get this over with. Odango Atama, you will
live through this. Not so sure about me, though. You're sitting so
close to me, and my eyes are travelling around to the other pictures
in the room, and in my mind, to those two *other* pictures in my
closet at home.
And one of those two paintings, Usagi, would make you turn
would make you turn colours I've never seen, I bet. It is one
hot pic, that, of the Princess with her Prince. And now as I look
at you, so close, I can't help but notice how much you look like
THAT picture. My mind is putting you in place of that
Princess in the picture. God. I can feel my hands starting to sweat.
[It would have relieved my suffering at that moment, had I known that
Usagi was suddenly thinking that she liked my looks, and feeling
guilty for being attracted to me, first because, well, Rei would kill her!
And secondly, she thought her attraction to me was being disloyal to
Tuxedo Kamen! If I'd have known that, how I would have laughed
But instead, how I suffered that day!]
[And if you're wondering about Tuxedo Kamen's powers of telepathy,
I have since discovered that if you're upset enough, your powers to
perceive what other people are feeling, shut down entirely. And yes,
the proximity of Tsukino Usagi at that moment, and the sudden
overwhelming attraction I felt for her, coupled with the knowledge
that she obviously would rather be with anyone else but me...well,
that upset me badly enough right there, even without my other worries
about Yumeno Yumeni's silence, and my being late for my appointment
at the school.]
So all I saw, at the time, was crazy Odango Atama, getting the
fidgets as usual. Bouncy little bunny, can't stay still for a moment,
thought I. As she squirmed in her seat, apparently imagining Rei's
furious jealousy, though I didn't know that, I asked her, "What are you
doing?" [Can't sit next to me for two seconds. Why does she hate me
so much? And why does she, perversely, fascinate me so much?]
"None of your business!" Usagi snapped, coldly. Well, that's the end
of THAT conversation. [SIGH. We're like a pair of cacti, she and I.
All we can do is bristle at each other, it seems.]
A gratified sigh comes from Yumeni. "Ah, now I think I can get a good
sketch. I have a feeling this is going to be my masterpiece."
[Well, Yumeno Yumeni, I'm glad SOMEONE around here is happy.]"
PLEASE GO TO: Part 5: "True Love" Dreams
==============================(@
Final note:* The title "The Rose Garden" in relation to
Sailor Moon, and the fan fiction of this title, is legally
copyright of Pandora Diane Waldron. If you wish to quote from it on a
web site, or otherwise publish it, please ask permission of the
author, by e-mailing pwaldron@idirect.com. If you use it on a web
site without the author's permission, that constitutes copywrite
infringement. I have never said no to anyone yet, OK? And yes,
please e-mail me anyway with your comments. E-mail from our fans,
please don't forget, is the only *pay* we fanfic authors receive for
our hours of effort. So please e-mail me and tell me a little about
yourself, what city you live in, and your interests. All of you are
roses in MY garden, and I like to *see* your colours.
Part 4: Chasing The White Rabbit;
The Princess In The Painting
Date sent: Wed, 28 Jan 1998 18:28:25
@@@@@@@@@@
~~~~~~~@ THE ROSE GARDEN @~~~~~~~
@@@@@@@@@@
A fanfic by Chiba Mamoru, as re-told to Pandora Diane Waldron
@~~~~~~~
"Mystery glows in the rose bed, the secret is hidden in the rose."
--Farid ud-din Attar, 12th Century Persian poet.
CHAPTER 9: My Odango Atama (continued)
===============================(@
Part 4: Chasing The White Rabbit
=======================(@
[MAMORU's NOTE: This part is taken from Luna's and Usagi's
reminisces. I am amused to note that Luna took the opportunity, when
re-telling her experiences, to complain about the lack of
ergonomically designed keyboards for cats. It's the first thing I
remedied when I became King Endymion; I personally commissioned the
*Luna laptop*, designed to fit the paws of small feline users like
Luna, Artemis and Diana.
Luna was so inspired by receiving her special laptop, she
designed a special database program for cats to plan special
low-ash diets, remedy furball cough-up, keep nails in trim without
wrecking furniture, and many other cat-wonders. Luna's program has
sold many more copies in Crystal Tokyo than WIN95 ever did, and being
Luna's program, has NO bugs in it. But I digress...]
"Ami-chan? I need your help!" Luna came running into the cram
school class where Ami was studying late, alone.
"What's up, Luna?" Ami, hands poised over the keys, looked down from
her laptop at a very alarmed looking Luna.
"Usagi-chan got on the Sendai Hill bus..and there's something else.
Just before the bus disappeared, I saw the girl we met the other day,
that temple priestess, Hino Rei...slumped in one of the bus seats.
She was lying unconscious. So we have to find them both. I'm glad
you have your laptop there. We can use it to locate Usagi-chan's
communicator."
"Hai! [Right!]" Ami replied. And her fingers flew into action.
Suddenly, they both hear Usagi's voice coming from the laptop
speakers. "Luna! Come in, Luna!"
"Usagi-chan?" Ami cried. "Is that you? Where are you?"
"I don't know!" Usagi's voice sounded wobbly, frightened. "After
the bus went through the hole, I jumped off and I came to this
place..all I can see is a stone castle. But Luna, I've lost the bus!
Oh Luna, Ami, what am I going to do?" she wailed.
"Usagi-chan, listen to me. There's only one thing to do. You must
transform to Sailor Moon...now! And you must save all those
students!" Luna ordered.
"Hai!" Usagi replied.
"Luna, she needs me to help her too! Is it possible for me to
transform too and transport to that place?" Ami asked.
"Yes, it is possible. But, here, you will need this when you get
there." And she handed Ami a second transformation pen.
"Why will I need this?" Ami asked.
"You'll see when you get there. I have great faith in you....Sailor
Mercury!"
Ami smiled. "Thank you, Luna! I'll try to prove worthy of your
trust in me!" Then, tossing her own pen in the air, she called out,
"Mercury Power!" And then she disappeared.
Luna sat down at the laptop in Ami's place, and donned a headset.
"Really," she muttered to herself. "When I get a chance, I'm going
to type up a letter of complaint to the manufacturer. These
keyboards are very poorly designed for cat paws. It's time they took
the special needs of feline users into consideration. But never mind
that now. Let's get a fix on Sailor Moon and Sailor Mercury."
@)~~~~~~~
The shrine maiden, Hino Rei, lies splayed out on her side on the
ground, her dark hair spread out like an ebony fan. Jadeite kneels
beside her, reaching out to caress her hair. "So beautiful," he
murmured to himself. "I've wanted this girl since I first saw
her...and now, no one is going to stop me...."
At that moment, not far away, following Luna's instructions blindly,
Usagi called out, "Moon Prism Power...Make Up!" and transformed to
Sailor Moon. And much to her delight, Sailor Moon looked around to
see Ami materializing next to her. "Ami-chan! Thank goodness you're
here!"
Ami gave Sailor Moon one of her warm smiles, and promptly transformed
to Sailor Mercury. Her eyes widened as she noticed Jadeite with his
arms wrapped tightly around Rei, one arm with a stranglehold on Rei's
throat. "Look, Usagi-chan! Over there..we've got to help that girl!"
Jadeite smiled grimly, "So you've come at last, Sailor Moon. But it
won't do you any good. I have this beauty now, and I intend to keep
her!"
"Rei-chan! Are you all right? Please say something! Please,
Rei-chan!" Usagi shouted, desperately trying to arouse the
unconscious Rei. She called out to Jadeite, "I won't let you trap
all these innocent people here! In the name of the moon, I'll punish
you!"
Sailor Mercury spread a fog across the room, hoping to blind Jadeite.
"Quickly, Usagi-chan!" She yelled. "You must save Rei-chan while
Jadeite is blinded!"
But Jadeite, with one hand still tightly bound around Rei's throat,
made a quick motion before his face with his other hand.
Derisively, he jeered at Sailor Mercury. "Is THAT all you've got?
You're not so very tough!" The moment his hand moved, the fog began
to dissipate.
"Hey! He got rid of Mercury's mist! He can't do that! That's not
fair! Oh no, what am I going to do now? Please Luna, help me!"
Usagi was starting to whimper, and, as usual, she looked to her furry
advisor to help her find the answer.
Luna, at the other end of the communicator line, wearing a head set
while she operated the laptop, knew it was time to rein in her
charge.
"Now don't you start crying, Usagi-chan!" Luna used her
sternest voice. "If you start crying, you'll start supersonic waves
vibrating again. Those are really dangerous, and uncontrollable!
Then, you won't be able to save everyone. So get a hold of
yourself, and toss your Moon Tiara--now!"
Sailor Moon, shamed into quick reaction, tossed her tiara spinning
towards Jadeite.
"What--What's this?" Jadeite cried.
Luna, remotely controlling the tiara's trajectory from her keyboard,
pressed a key, and the tiara promptly locked around Jadeite, trapping
his arms.
"How.....? It's caught me!" Jadeite yelled. "But don't you think
for a moment I'm beaten!" His eyes blazed with a cold light,
focussed directly on Sailor Moon and Sailor Mercury. Sailor Moon
felt a powerful force from Jadeite's gaze, causing her knees to give
way, and to slam hard into the ground. From Sailor Mercury's moans,
Sailor Moon realized that she couldn't stand up either.
But from the communicator, they both heard Luna's voice, piercing in
its urgency. " Ami-chan! That pen I gave you! Throw it at
Rei--now!!" Mercury couldn't get up, but she could still throw,
and she did.
A beam of moonlight seemed to appear from nowhere, lighting Rei like
a spotlight. And suddenly, a symbol appeared on her forehead...the
symbol of the planet Mars. The pen was still glowing in the air,
suspended, as if weightless, above Rei's head. Then, as if
answering their mistress's summons, Rei's two crows appeared, flying
overhead.
"Phobos, Deimos!" Rei cried, happily, as she transformed
into...Sailor Mars. The crows circled above her, like a heavenward
benediction of the new Sailor Senshi. Sailors Moon and Mercury
looked on, awestruck. "Rei-chan..is that really you?"
It was a confident, revitalized Rei, who smiled back at them. So,
this was the truth of her vision...and Jadeite was the true source of
the evil she had sensed near the shrine. She felt a surge of power
concentrating in her arms, and instinctively raised them towards
Jadeite. A ball of energy glowed from Sailor Mars' arms. She drew
her breath in sharply and spoke the words of power. "Evil spirit,
begone!"
There was an agonizing shriek from Jadeite as the ball of fiery
energy leaped from Mars' hands, and charred his body to a corpse!
Sailor Moon gasped. But before she could have time to take in the
fact that Jadeite was gone, just like that, she heard Luna's urgent
voice again on her communicator.
"Girls! You must come back, now! There's not a moment to lose! The
dimension you're in is distorting, shrinking, closing in on itself.
If you don't all gather together and leave this dimension now, you'll
be trapped forever!"
"But how do we get all those people on the buses out of here fast
enough?" Sailor Moon moaned. "We just can't do it in time, Luna!"
Mercury and Mars looked at her, stunned. There just wasn't time for
them to come up with a plan of action.
But just then, the empty bus, where Rei had been held captive,
started its engines. Sailor Moon's eyes widened in horror. "There
must be another enemy inside the bus! We'll never escape here in
time!" she thought.
There was no time to run, though. The bus roared up and came to a
stop, exactly opposite Sailor Moon, and the door opened.
A very familiar voice spoke cheerfully. "Going my way, ladies?"
@)~~~~~~~
[Chiba Mamoru continues his narrative:]
The bus..the bus..have to get to the bus. Have to find the Rabbit,
the Rabbit in White, the Rabbit on the Moon, Tsukino Usagi...cause
I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date! Oh Mamoru, you have
TOTALLY lost it now...if you feel like you're Alice In Wonderland,
that's a sure sign...but wait a minute. Oh....I'm on the bus! What
the..in the driver's seat? Now how did I get here? Oh, why do I
ask? Through the Looking Glass, through the Black Hole Dimension,
what difference does it make? None of it makes sense anyway.
Might as well drive this bus...none of this is real, anyway. Oh, my
top hat's falling into my eyes. Let's adjust it, in the rear-view
mirror. Yeah, that looks better. There now. The Mad Hatter, at
your service. Quite, quite mad. But even crazy dreams have their
own crazy logic. For sure, if I drive this bus, something will turn
up. Who will it be, I wonder? Dunno, but it's my unbirthday today,
and my unbirthday gift is, I get to drive the bus. Let's see now.
There's the gear shift, key's in the ignition. Shall I crash this
baby, or what? Could be fun. Nah. Would Tuxedo Kamen crash the
bus? Never. Never.
Gradually, the high-octane mix of adrenaline in my blood starts to
slow, and my head begins to clear, just a bit. God, where is that
girl? Is she all right? Tsukino Usagi, last seen as...an Airline
Stewardess? On a bus? Hey, we'll make a great couple, won't we?
The Mad Hatter and the Airline Stewardess. Coffee, tea, or me?
Yes, of course, we'll have a tea party, the Mad Hatter's Tea Party,
on this bus. Why not, on the bus?
She's fine, says my inner voice, she's fine. Just drive the bus.
Your White Rabbit [my WHAT?] is fine. Anyway, if Tuxedo Kamen is
needed, then Sailor Moon must be somewhere around. So you find
Sailor Moon. That is your mission. Stop getting sidetracked with
White Rabbits. That, if you recall, is what got Alice in Wonderland
into trouble all the time...chasing White Rabbits. Hey, that makes
perfect nonsensical sense to me, I thought.
Well, you can see how spaced out I was. I had stretched my powers
as Tuxedo Kamen to some level never used before, and somehow I
reached the other dimension. I don't think I went there bodily...I
think my essence left my body and went there, and I stayed behind on
the park bench, where I passed out. I think that, because something
like that happened to me again, when I later became the Moonlight
Knight.
The strain of pushing myself like that meant it took a while
for my mind to go back to normal. Yet, I am sure, if Usako had
really needed me, before my stint as bus driver, I would have found
her. I know that, as surely as I know the sun will rise in the
morning. And at some level, I have always known that.]
Well, who's this? The gorgeous Sailor Moon, the spunky Sailor
Mercury, and who's this new Senshi in the red high heels? She looks
like...oh, stop it, Mamoru. Everyone you know can't be a Sailor
Senshi. If I start imagining things like this, I am definitely the
Mad Hatter.
As I roll the bus to a stop, and flick the door switch, [Wow, I
could get used to this...just think, I could pick up entire busloads
of girls. Oh, the Tea Parties I would have....], I consider
breaking into song, "A very merry unbirthday, to me, to me!", but I
think better of it. That may be the Mad Hatter's best line, but it's
not mine.
"Going my way, ladies?" I call out cheerily. And I am rewarded by
definite responses from at least two Senshi....the one with the
lovely smile, and the new one in the red heels. They seem delighted
to have this Mad Hatter as their driver. As for the Senshi with
hair the colour of an autumn deep blue lake, she is also relieved to
see me. But she is much shyer than the other two.
So. Not late for that very important date after all. Came in time
to see them safely home, anyway. I sneak a look through the
rear-view mirror, and notice all the other buses, with the missing
students, are lined up in tandem. How do you DO these tricks, Tuxedo
Kamen? Well, really, I don't have a clue. Must be all done with
mirrors. Rear view mirrors. And soon after I start thinking that
silly thought, I stop thinking at all. Blackout again.
@)~~~~~~~
The Princess In The Painting
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I think you know by now that I really don't like being stared at, let
alone poked and prodded, and told what to do. So you may
wonder how I was ever persuaded to sit still and pose long enough to
be in a painting, without being ready to climb the walls [well, you
knew I like climbing walls and roofs, anyway]. It's a long story,
but here goes.
Not long after my stint as the Sailor Senshi bus driver, I was
passing by an art gallery. I was on my way to meet a friend at
school for a study session, when my eye was caught by a painting in
the window there. It stopped me dead in my tracks. I couldn't
believe it, when I saw that the two figures in the painting looked
very much like Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen.
So then, imagine how shocked I felt, when I recognized the
oh-so-distinctive style of the artist Yumeno Yumemi, whose first two
paintings were secretly hanging in my closet at that moment. I knew
every brushstroke of Yumeni's style, for she, and she alone, had
brought my Dream Princess to life. Every day, I would look at
each picture: one of the Princess, full of wistful yearning
in her gaze, and the other of the Princess in the arms of her Prince,
and I wondered if she would ever be more to me than just a dream.
And there was something else I remembered, something that
suddenly chilled me inside, despite the warmth of the day. Yumeni
also knew that a certain Chiba Mamoru had purchased a tuxedo from her
seamstress friend. Yet Yumeni-san and I had never met, and I *hoped*
she was still keeping my secret.
As I looked at the beautiful paintings in the window, I now regretted
never meeting Yumeno Yumeni. This girl I had never met had
shared these beautiful works with me and yet, she had refused to
accept payment or acknowledgement for it. She had told her friend
that she knew the paintings belonged with me. I should at least
thank her, I thought. I must find her, and thank her.
But for now, that painting rivetted me. There was something about
the girl in the picture, something familiar. In my mind, I flashed
back to Yumeni's other pictures...why, it was the same girl!
Wasn't it? So I backed up for a better look at the entire scene.
Well, obviously, I wasn't watching where I was backing, was I?
I felt my back thud into something soft, and I heard a cry of
distress behind me. Then there was the ominous sound of things
clattering to the ground. [Cripes, it's catching, Mamoru. You're
turning into Usagi the Klutz! See what happens when you can't stop
thinking about her?]
Quickly, I whirled to see a girl on her hands and knees, her
hair in a long dark braid, trying desperately to retrieve an artist's
portfolio, and her glasses.
"Sorry!" sounded so inadequate, but it was all I could manage to say
to her. But I helped her pick up all the things she'd dropped, only
to feel, of all things, the girl clutching my wrist! The girl, now
wearing huge glasses that dominated her face, was holding onto my arm
now, her face wreathed in smiles. She reminded me for all the world
of a groupie, looking at me like I was the filet mignon on her dinner
menu. [Not AGAIN! What IS it I do to girls, anyway? To some girls,
I mean sigh. Well, speak of the Klutz. Here comes Usagi. For
sure, SHE'S immune to my charms, whatever they may be.]
"Well, look who's here!" Usagi chortled. "I'm telling Rei-chan!"
[She gives me that smug look of hers, and I can feel my hackles
rising. How does that Odango manage to get right under my skin like
that? And those paintings are already making me feel edgy. A
sparring match with Odango is all I need right now.]
"Look, don't get the wrong idea, Odango," I tell her, and I can feel
myself scowling, I can't help it. How does she always get me SO
wrong?
"What do you mean, I've got the wrong idea?" Usagi demanded. "Hasn't
she got you by the arm? So you're two-timing Rei-chan! And when I
tell her what a creep you are..."
She's working herself up now, enjoying how uncomfortable she's making
me. What have I ever done to deserve this? I am dangerously close
to losing my temper, I can feel it. But just as I can feel myself coming
to the boil, the crazy girl with the glasses comes to my rescue. Cause
now she's grabbing Usagi by the arm, too!
"You're perfect, too! Both of you, you're just perfect!" [Perfect
what? Perfect fools, for staying here listening to this crazy girl?]
"I need you both to model for my painting. Please, please, I promise
I won't take long," The girl's face is lit up in her eagerness.
"Well, I can't stay long," I start doubtfully. [You MARSHMALLOW,
Mamoru! Say NO! You don't have time for this, and...And she's
standing next to me....and there goes my thinking processes, dammit.
She doesn't even like me, and look at me. Tsukino Usagi--she did it
to me again. I dunno if I love her or I hate her. But Mamoru the
Marshmallow just got sucked in again, and I don't like it. I don't
like it at all.]
The girl smiles a very winning smile at me, and Usagi is all excited
at the idea of modelling. I start to feel a smile welling up at that
excitement, and quickly stifle it. Mamoru--get it through your head.
She doesn't like you. She doesn't like you. So stop being a doormat.
The girl takes us to what looks like every romantic artist's dream of
the Cottage in the Country. Wide porch, flowers everywhere,
picturesque and very feminine. The whole place looks like one of
those art prints women love having on their living room wall, too
kawaii [cutesy] to be real. Not my style at all, but it's obviously to
Usagi's taste. She's wandering all over the garden, gushing about
what a beautiful place this is, and making the girl with the dark
braided hair blush.
"Come on, Odango Atama! Can we get on with this? I don't have all
day to kill, you know!" How peevish my voice sounds. How is it that
Usagi always brings out the worst in me, it seems?
Usagi looks up at me mischievously, and continues her tour of the
cottage front. "What's your hurry? I thought you stuck-up students
at Moto Azabu High just played around all the time!"
I can feel my scowl deepening, as I reply furiously, "I do NOT play
around all the time! I have to study very hard there, I'm on
scholarship, not rich, you know, and..." And Usagi is snickering at
me. She got me AGAIN. And smugly, she turns away and starts going
through all the things kept on the porch.
Oh, no, Usagi, please! You DON'T just go riffling through someone's
personal stuff like that. She's going through what looks like this
girl's other works on the porch, and I think I am going to die of
embarrassment at that Odango's behaviour. But part of me is also
frustrated. She would just about rather do anything, it seems, than
notice I'm alive. Why in God's name am I here, then? Why do I make
myself miserable like this?
Sunk in misery, I don't immediately look at the paintings Usagi is
toying with. Then I do, and I gasp! And so does Usagi.
"B-b-but this looks just like Yumeno Yumeni's paintings!" Usagi
stammers. I can see she is a definite fan of Yumeni's. [Well, at
least she has good taste.]
Then it dawns on me..this is the same Yumeni whose first paintings I
own...and who knows I wear a tuxedo. A look passes between us.
"Are you Yumeni-san?" I ask.
Yumeni, smiles, a bit embarrassed, and blushes. "Yes, I don't fit at
all with the romantic images in these pictures, do I? So I pretended
to be more beautiful."
But something else passes through her eyes that Usagi doesn't catch.
She has just remembered who Chiba Mamoru is, and is looking at me
speculatively, and pleased about this situation. So now, no matter
how uncomfortable I am, I can't go to that meeting at the school
until Yumeni has had a chance to do whatever it is she wants to do
with me. I can't take a chance on her blurting out to Usagi as to
how it is, that I happen to have two more of her paintings myself.
Tuxedo Kamen MUST remain nameless. It's no longer just for school
reasons. The Dark Kingdom folks would very much like to know who has
been frustrating their efforts to find the Illusion Silver Crystal,
and by now, Tuxedo Kamen is certainly on their hit list.
"Please, Mamoru-san, relax. I'll get you some coffee,"Yumeni says,
coaxingly. Well, she DID give me those paintings out of the
goodness of her heart, a gift I treasure, though I can't thank her now,
not with Usagi there. It seems that all the thanks Yumeni would like,
is that I model for her now. I'm gonna be late for that meeting at the
school for sure, and I don't know if my friend is going to wait for me
if I'm late. I don't like letting people down like that, being late. [Yes,
you're right, I'm not a bit like Usako, in that way. Being late is kind of
a point of pride with Usako, almost a mark of her personal importance,
that people have to wait for the great SHE to make her entrance.
She's lucky that we let her get away with it.]
But then it dawns on me now that I owe Yumeni, big time. Not just for
the paintings, but for keeping my secret, and never asking me any questions
about the tuxedo I purchased. I groan inwardly. Seems I have no choice.
Damn. How do I get myself into these situations?
Then Yumeni adds, to both of us, "Don't tell anybody about this. No one
must know what Yumeno Yumeni really looks like, " [Hey, that goes
double for ME, Yumeni. Don't tell anyone about ME! But I can't say a
word in front of Usagi. God, I wish I'd never come here. I wish I
hadn't been such a Marshmallow.]
"But what about your friends?" Usagi cries. "Don't they know?"
"I only have a few, very close friends. None of the public who buy
my paintings know. I don't need them to know, Usagi-san. As long
as my pictures are good, and I can sell them, that's the important
thing." Yumeni explained.
Yumeni bustles around, outwardly nervous, but inwardly, I think she
knows that I, at least, won't go anywhere, however I mutter and complain.
I guess she wishes I WANTED to be here. Oh, good grief! Homemade
cookies, yet? She thinks THAT will soften me up? Here Yumeni comes
with a tray full of warm cookies. An avid student of Martha Stewart,
I bet, when she's not painting. No wonder klutzy Usagi's impressed.
"Now, Usagi-san, you sit here," Yumeni says, indicating the spot
next to me on the couch. [Does Yumeni actually think the White
Rabbit will stop bouncing and hopping around long enough to sit next
to Chiba Mamoru? Let alone stay still long enough for her portrait
to be sketched? This, I gotta see.]
"Whaaaat?" Usagi screeches. "You want me to sit side-by-side with
this guy?" [Looking at her expression of distaste, Mamoru's
incredible shrinking ego goes down another 10 notches.]
"Don't look so happy," I respond, bitterly.
Turning all sorts of colours, Usagi wails, "I don't WANNA model
for romantic pictures with HIM!!"
"Please," Yumeni begs, "Take a seat there. I can't get any
inspiration without models. I've been looking everywhere for a
couple who look like you. I only need you for today. Please?"
"Fine," My voice is Mamoru at his most cutting, and determined.
For God's sake, let's get this over with. Odango Atama, you will
live through this. Not so sure about me, though. You're sitting so
close to me, and my eyes are travelling around to the other pictures
in the room, and in my mind, to those two *other* pictures in my
closet at home.
And one of those two paintings, Usagi, would make you turn
would make you turn colours I've never seen, I bet. It is one
hot pic, that, of the Princess with her Prince. And now as I look
at you, so close, I can't help but notice how much you look like
THAT picture. My mind is putting you in place of that
Princess in the picture. God. I can feel my hands starting to sweat.
[It would have relieved my suffering at that moment, had I known that
Usagi was suddenly thinking that she liked my looks, and feeling
guilty for being attracted to me, first because, well, Rei would kill her!
And secondly, she thought her attraction to me was being disloyal to
Tuxedo Kamen! If I'd have known that, how I would have laughed
But instead, how I suffered that day!]
[And if you're wondering about Tuxedo Kamen's powers of telepathy,
I have since discovered that if you're upset enough, your powers to
perceive what other people are feeling, shut down entirely. And yes,
the proximity of Tsukino Usagi at that moment, and the sudden
overwhelming attraction I felt for her, coupled with the knowledge
that she obviously would rather be with anyone else but me...well,
that upset me badly enough right there, even without my other worries
about Yumeno Yumeni's silence, and my being late for my appointment
at the school.]
So all I saw, at the time, was crazy Odango Atama, getting the
fidgets as usual. Bouncy little bunny, can't stay still for a moment,
thought I. As she squirmed in her seat, apparently imagining Rei's
furious jealousy, though I didn't know that, I asked her, "What are you
doing?" [Can't sit next to me for two seconds. Why does she hate me
so much? And why does she, perversely, fascinate me so much?]
"None of your business!" Usagi snapped, coldly. Well, that's the end
of THAT conversation. [SIGH. We're like a pair of cacti, she and I.
All we can do is bristle at each other, it seems.]
A gratified sigh comes from Yumeni. "Ah, now I think I can get a good
sketch. I have a feeling this is going to be my masterpiece."
[Well, Yumeno Yumeni, I'm glad SOMEONE around here is happy.]"
PLEASE GO TO: Part 5: "True Love" Dreams
==============================(@
Final note:* The title "The Rose Garden" in relation to
Sailor Moon, and the fan fiction of this title, is legally
copyright of Pandora Diane Waldron. If you wish to quote from it on a
web site, or otherwise publish it, please ask permission of the
author, by e-mailing pwaldron@idirect.com. If you use it on a web
site without the author's permission, that constitutes copywrite
infringement. I have never said no to anyone yet, OK? And yes,
please e-mail me anyway with your comments. E-mail from our fans,
please don't forget, is the only *pay* we fanfic authors receive for
our hours of effort. So please e-mail me and tell me a little about
yourself, what city you live in, and your interests. All of you are
roses in MY garden, and I like to *see* your colours.