The mediwitch didn't stop to think that a student wouldn't be able to find Dumbledore's office, and the thought never struck her as she fawned over the unconscious patient in the Hospital Wing. Thankfully, Sirius was no ordinary student, and as a Marauder he not only knew how to get to the headmaster, but the fastest way possible as well. He skidded to a halt in front of the large stone creature that guarded Dumbledore's office, and just as he was cursing himself for not knowing the password, the statue jumped aside.
"Mister Black, shouldn't you be at breakfast?" Albus Dumbledore asked lightly, peering down at the Gryffindor over his half-moon spectacles. Recovering from initial shock, Sirius waved the question off completely.
"Madam Pomfrey sent me to get you. Usagi collapsed and she can't revive her." Albus looked concerned for a moment, before he nodded and set off in the direction Sirius had just came from. The black-haired boy hesitated for a moment before following the elderly man through the halls. As they reached the Hospital Wing, however, a voice held them back from entering.
"Headmaster, I'm sorry you had to even hear of this," the speaker was a woman, dressed in muggle business attire. Her dark red eyes swept over the both of them before she stopped in front of the door, settling her own hand onits knob. "She skipped this month and part of last, I imagine she's near death with weakness."
"I though that might be the problem. Normal methods won't revive her at this point, it made sense." The two filed into the infirmary, Sirius trailing behind them completely confused. He stood back as the two approached Usagi, and the unidentified woman dug in the pocketbook at her side. From it, she pulled an old fashioned broach with a crystal in the center. Sirius waited, expecting her to perform some sort of magic with it, but instead she just clasped the broach to the girl's robes.
"That's it?" The raven haired boy asked indignantly, but instantly he swallowed his statement. The crystal flickered with a strange light for a few seconds, before it began to glow softly, steadily. Sirius looked over the woman again, taking in the strange green hue to her dark hair, the unnatural red color of her eyes. Even her presence felt out of place, but he didn't think she was just some muggle. After all, she was here at Hogwarts.
"I'll watch over her. She'll need a good talking to when she regains her strength." Albus stayed silent for a moment, but whatever he contemplated saying he decided against. He tilted his head in a short nod and left the room, motioning Sirius to follow. Reluctantly the Gryffindor boy did, sending one last glance at the motionless Usagi, whose color had just started returning.
"Professor, who is that woman," He asked, turning his attention to the headmaster as they headed toward the Great Hall.
"Oh, you don't know?" Albus raised an aged eyebrow, before continuing, "She's Miss Moon's legal guardian. This is only the second time I've met her. Well, here we are." The two parted ways at the Great Hall, Albus heading for the staff table, and Sirius heading towards the usual seats him and his friends occupied. Lily and James both looked flustered, lingering on the events this morning involving Usagi's 'major plot.'
It occurred to Sirius that he was the only one who knew about Usagi collapsing. They offered up automatic greetings as he sat down beside them. Remus, as it turns out, was the first to notice the blonde girl's absence. "Hey, where's Usagi?"
"Hospital Wing," Sirius blurted, watching as the group turned to him, surprised. He relayed everything that'd happened that morning, including the bizarre woman that was apparently Usagi's guardian. Of them, Remus seemed the least surprised. They all gathered their things and left for first class, concerned about their pigtailed friend.
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Opening her heavy eyelids, Usagi could immediately feel the presence of the other woman in the room. The aura weighed down on her, pressed on her lungs until she felt suffocated. The inclination to close her eyes and feign sleep until she went away struck Usagi, but she knew it would be useless. Sighing in resignation, the blonde lifted herself up in sitting position, still feeling woozy.
"Fancy seeing you here, Setsuna," she chuckled lightly, but didn't get any response. Clearing her throat nervously, she turned her attention to the other person in the infirmary and giggled. Lucius Malfoy was perched on the bed across from hers, his arms folded over his chest and looking furious. His lips were swollen to about five times their normal size and a lovely cherry red, to match the makeup on the rest of his face.
She'd forgotten that the Marauders had planned to prank Malfoy, which James had told her in Defense Against the Dark Arts the previous day. Her laughter quieted, not because of the glare Lucius sent at her, but because Setsuna was looking at her in a worse way.
"Why do you do this, Usagi? Why must you be difficult in everything I ask you to do?" The tone could've been anger, or it could've been tired resignation. The blonde girl couldn't decide, as she pulled subconsciously on a lock of her hair.
"Bane was harassing me. I told you that. I told you several times." Usagi finally said, trying to sound as angry as she could without yelling. She glared up at the garnet eyed woman. "Why won't you ever listen to anything I say?"
"You couldn't have put up with one centaur?"
"No. No I couldn't." Usagi snapped back, furious at Setsuna's nonchalance to the whole matter. "What are you, some kind of robot? Don't you even care the least bit about me?"
Setsuna turned away, her eyes shining sorrowfully out of Usagi's vision. If only she could explain...the blonde girl spoke again, "I know you don't. You don't have to answer. I'm just some brat who was shoved on you, messing up your life."
"That's not true!" Setsuna said indignantly. The shock across the blue eyed girl's face was blatant. She couldn't believe she actually got a rise out of her guardian, but she wasn't going to waste it.
"Bull shit! You never cared! You never even pretended to, or you would have asked me how I felt. When I was a little girl who just saw her father shot to death, and her mother raped, you never even asked if I was okay. The least you could've done was send me to a shrink, but you never bothered. I never complained, no matter how cold you were, but the one time I try to tell you, 'Hey, this person is harassing me and I can't take it,' you just blow me off. And worst of all, you're going to...take everything away."
"You wouldn't understand." Setsuna said softly, cringing as Usagi sobbed into her hands. "You could never understand."
"And I don't want to, Setsuna. I really don't want to understand your life, because it's lonely. It's cold, and empty, and lonely." As she finished her statement, Setsuna rose from the chair by her bed and left for the door.
Before leaving, she paused to say, "You can keep the broach with you. You don't have to go to the forest anymore." The door clicked softly behind her, as Usagi collapsed into more tears.
Setsuna summoned her portal to get back to the Gates of Time, feeling the familiar transition into her senshi attire. The staff clattered against the floor as Setsuna sank to her knees, and for the first time since she'd been appointed Time Guardian, gave in to the bitter tears burning down her cheeks.
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"You skipped, huh?" Usagi turned towards the infirmary door, smiling lightly at the werewolf who stood there. She'd long since stopped crying, and the moisture from her cheeks had slowly evaporated. She doubted Remus could even tell she'd been grieving.
"Yeah, and I don't have to go back anymore. Sets gave me the crystal." Something flickered in the blonde's face, the fading of her normal façade. Ashamed, that's all she could justify herself being. Ashamed of the horrible things she'd said. As Remus came closer, to sit down most likely, she swallowed her humiliation and smiled at him.
"Sirius wanted to come, but I told him I'd check on you. He's worried." His fair colored hair glowed softly in the dim light of the hospital wing. He paused, and then added, "You look pretty worried yourself."
"Maybe," Usagi sighed, turning her eyes toward the gloomy ceiling, where faint flickers of candle light highlighted the shadows dancing across. Finally, she grinned, and said, "So, Remy, what are you going to the ball as?"
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Later that evening, Madam Pomfrey released her from the Hospital Wing with strict orders for bed rest. The blonde ignored them and made a beeline for the kitchens, where the house elves enthusiastically cooked a full course meal for her. Afterwards, she became groggy despite herself. Knowing that dinner was still going on, she went to the Gryffindors commons with the comfort of avoiding Sirius.
When she woke the next morning, preparing for the day, that comfort wasn't there. She put on her school robes, wishing it were the weekend again, and headed downstairs on the wayto breakfast. To her surprise, Sirius was waiting at the bottom of the stairs for her.
"Wow, you're giving up valuable sleep time for this. I'm impressed," The blonde jested, making Sirius roll his eyes.
"Why didn't you tell me what would happen if you didn't go to the forest. I could've gone with you, you know. I'm usually out with Remus anyway." Usagi's smile faded as she realized how serious the black haired boy was.
"I didn't want to worry you. I knew Sets would come with the crystal. It's no big deal. Please don't be mad at me." The sheer tone of voice the pigtailed girl used made Sirius stop. He was going to yell at her. He was going to be upset. Now he couldn't bring himself to do anything of the sort.
"Come on," he sighed, "Let's go to breakfast."
Usagi smiled, and as Sirius turned, she hopped on his back, yelling, "Piggy-back ride!"
"Oi, get off me you psycho!" He yelled, making the blonde laugh even harder as she climbed down.
"Thanks," she said sincerely, then her eyes lit up with laughter again, "By the way, I seen Lucius in the Hospital Wing yesterday. Bloody brilliant job, I doubt Narcissa will be kissing him for a while."
"Well, it was really mostly James's idea," Sirius laughed, thinking back on Lucius's ridiculous face. Not to mention Narcissa's, with her nose scrunched up even more than it usually looked. "James was pretty upset with me yesterday, though, for helping in your little matchmaking scheme."
"Aw, he should be thanking us," Usagi pouted, following Sirius out of the common room, "After all, he would've never worked up the courage to ask Lily in time, and we both know they're head over heels. My poor best friend would've ended up going with some loser because she was waiting for James to ask her until the last minute."
The blue eyed girl ended her rant as they entered the Great Hall and the aroma of good food hit her. Sirius followed her to the Gryffindor table shaking his head, but they were both jolted when someone stuck their foot out to trip Usagi. She stumbled, and turned to glare at the familiar face of Adam. While he glared back, Sirius 'accidentally' tipped the plate of steaming eggs into the brunette's lap.
The resulting shout sent the two laughing as they took their seats down the table. Not ten minutes later, the rest of the marauder gang joined them, talking animatedly over their meal like nothing had happened. Except that Lily refused to talk to Usagi.
"Aw, come on, you can't be that mad. After all, you wanted to go with each other anyway. I just helped you along." She whined, pulling on the sleeve of Lily's robes. The redhead had her nose in the air, but despite protest, her lips were tugging into a smile.
"Okay, okay, just don't ever do it again. And you have to go costume shopping with me to make up for it." Usagi nodded vigorously her agreement, and the two of them launched into their normal conversation. They all burst out laughing when Lucius Malfoy walked into the Great Hall, makeup gone but lips still swollen the size of a fist. James nearly choked to death on a chunk of scrambled egg, but Sirius smacked him in the back, hard, and the piece of food went sailing across the room.
The whole school thought Usagi was going to die of laughter when the egg hit Narcissa right on her scrunched up, unattractive nose.
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I know, I know, still no Halloween Ball. I'm putting it off...what can I say? As stated in the newest chapter of Forever, the site officially banned review replies, so I can't respond to you guys individually anymore. I don't have enough time to do it the way the site has set it up, as I barely have time to even work on stories. This is my first free night of internet time in a while, which is why I figured I'd try to update as much of this as I could finish.
I still have no clue why it's such an issue to reply to reviews inside the chapter. I'll still answer any questions you have about the story; I just can't address you personally.
I think everyone loved Malfoy getting hit with a shoe. :D Yes, Lily's last name is Evans; Lily Evans and James Potter. :) I appreciate every single one of you who reviewed, and I wish I could still do replies. Please do still review, it's the highlight of my day just reading them, and I apologize for being so poor at updating.
Like I said in my profile, I've been sick lately and with everything else going on I have sparse time to write or update. Try to be somewhat patient with updates. If you really want to contact me about the story, where I can reply to you, my e-mail is in my profile. I'd put it here, but underscores aren't allowed.
♥SachiNyoko♥