Eclipse pulled a lock of golden-blonde hair behind her ear and took off around a corner. She stopped quickly as her reflection caught her eye. Gold and Silver… She thought sadly, studying herself. Those aren't colors of this…. they're colors showing who I am. Who I really am.
She stood staring a little. She had known, but never really realized until now. She was losing herself. Becoming lost in this nightmare.
This can't be happening to me.
But it was. It was all too true. Soon, she would be completely lost….
She continued on her way.
She placed her hand firmly on DarkStar's shoulder. "Shiko, we need to talk. And this time no 'avoiding' it."
DarkStar stiffened. Barely glancing over her shoulder, she remarked, "I have nothing to say to you, remember?"
"Maybe you will if you listen for once." Eclipse replied, her grip not loosening in the least.
"Maybe. But what if I don't listen?"
"Princess!"
DarkStar flinched. "Ii…Iie. I also told you that, right? That I'm not your 'princess'?"
"Just listen to me for once. Like before, even if you were busy you always had time to hear us out." Warm tears began to roll down her cheeks, remembering how it used to be.
"Before…? Before?" DarkStar now turned to face her, her expression unreadable. "Am I supposed to care about …'before'? Is that supposed to mean something to me?"
"It…it should…" Eclipse managed to choke out the words. "But then again, you're so different…" She looked down.
DarkStar shook her head. "I'm afraid I don't understand…and…I'd appreciate it if you didn't try to make me."
Eclipse looked up, meeting DarkStar's icy blue eyes that for once, weren't concealed behind her mask. "First of all, I'm not trying to make you. I'm trying to help you. And second, that's not what I want to talk about."
"Well too bad, cause I'm not talking anyways, remember?"
"Listen, for once!" Eclipse cried, her voice uneven, as she tightened her grip on DarkStar's shoulder. "I know you don't like me around, I hate it too! I'm suffering! So
if-"
DarkStar peeled Eclipse's hand of her shoulder. "Have you even thought about my suffering!"
"Well, I-"
DarkStar continued, the words spilling out of her mouth as if they were finally escaping a prison, she didn't have time to realize what she was saying. And in front of who. "No one takes any notice of my sufferings, they only take notice of their own! I suffer, for everyone's mistakes!"
Eclipse watched silently, she was yelling, her voice breaking but her eyes were still as cold as ever. She refused to let the tears come, as always. "I don't see why you have to suffer because of what others have done."
DarkStar looked at her fully, her tone bitter when she replied. "Oh, and how do I stop suffering?"
Eclipse had no answer.
Jasumin headed towards the door of her apartment, she pushed the door open and was greeted my silence. Complete silence. She was beginning to hate this. Everywhere, it seemed, there was silence. And no one was taking action.
Their mission was to retrieve their princess; eventually they had arrived at the Milky Way Galaxy, home of the sailor soldiers who had defeated chaos. Who were known throughout every universe, even theirs. And it was soon revealed that their enemy, DarkStar, was their princess. Why was it taking so long to get her back? The answer; She didn't remember anything, and she was stubborn. Too stubborn.
As if it wasn't enough facing their princess, now they had to face Mika too.
She sunk down into the soft, plush seats of her couch and let her book bag fall to the floor, near her feet. Jasumin closed her eyes, trying her best to block out everything. She had to shut out everything. Or she would just keep suffering.
There was a soft rap on her door.
Sighing, she stood and headed to it. When she opened it she stared in disbelief.
"Hey." Makoto said.
"What do you want?" Jasumin asked, her voice holding no emotion at the moment.
DarkStar turned down the hallway sharply, Mika had left, but she still felt tense. Suffering. Yes, it was true. She had suffered, she was still suffering. Would it ever stop? Would the pain, the misery, ever stop?
The horrible thoughts left her head and a smile played on her lips when she rounded the corner and saw Midnight staring at, and questioning, Nightblade. "Erein, leave him alone."
Midnight looked past Nightblade and smiled at DarkStar. She looked up to DarkStar, DarkStar was her hero, and she would do anything to please DarkStar. Her dream was to be to be as defiant and talented as DarkStar. "Okay." She agreed readily. "Have you seen Istra around?"
DarkStar arched an eyebrow. "Iie, I haven't. Why do you want to know anyways?"
Midnight smiled. "Shunjin wants to see her, he sent me to look for her, demo…" She glanced at Nightblade. "I got distracted."
"I see…it's best you resume your search then." She answered, trying to get the younger senshi out of there quickly. She turned to Nightblade. "Sorry about that."
Nightblade nodded. "It's quite alright, milady."
Atari pushed her foot down to the ground with pressure, then raised it back up. Her skateboard picked up speed and her sandy colored hair whipped around her face. She placed her foot on the ground once more, steering the board as she rounded a sharp corner and was forced to screech to a stop when someone stood in her way. "Ami-san?" she asked, wiping some sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand. Okay… She thought while waiting for Ami to answer her. Why in the world is she here, of all places…? She had just been headed to a music store to buy Metallica's latest CD.
"Atari, we'd like to talk with you."
Atari flipped her skateboard with one foot and caught it in her hand. "About what?"
Ami paused. "You're suffering, aren't you?"
DarkStar leaned against the wall. She removed her mask, and she felt like she was revealing everything, even though there was no one around her. But even feeling bare, feeling like she was revealing everything, she felt lonely. What did she want in life anyways? Why was she here? What was her reason to live?
The answer was easier to provide than she imagined.
A friend was the only thing she wanted in the world, except for someone who loved her just the way she was.
People all around her tried to change her, those universal senshi, as they called themselves, tried to change her. That baka, Kaosu, tried to change her.
Erein looked up to her. But she wasn't really a friend.
Everyone said she didn't know a thing about love, faith, hope or friendship. But she knew more than they imagined. She wanted love more than anything. Wanted someone to love her.
Hirako slung a shopping bag full of jewelry and CD's over her shoulder. Her shopping was finished. It was almost sad.
She turned down the hall, almost wanting to go into at least one more store. But stopped herself from doing so. She exited the mall and nearly ran into someone.
"Hira!" Usagi exclaimed as the two nearly ran into each other.
"Usagi…" Hirako began; the other girl was her friend. But she wasn't necessarily the one she wanted to see right now. The whole reason she had done so much shopping today was to get her mind off how much she was suffering. "Ohayo…"
Usagi studied Hirako. "What's wrong?"
"What?" Hirako plastered a fake smile on her face. "Oh, it's nothing!"
"Hira…" Usagi started, she grabbed her friend's hand abruptly and pulled her down the street. "Come on, let's talk!"
Minako thundered up the stairs to her bedroom. "Ace!" She called, bursting into the room. She was lucky that her parents weren't home. Or else, they'd question her.
At first, when she entered the room Adonis was nowhere to be seen. "Ace?" She questioned. "Adonis?" She looked down, stunned as a flower fell to the ground in front of her feet. Bending down, she picked it up and inhaled its beautiful fragrance.
"You like it?"
Minako looked up from the white flower. "Oh! Ace, there you are!"
Ace laughed, and wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her close to him.
Minako sighed contently and leaned her head on Ace's shoulder. But something kept nagging at her. She had told Ace that she trusted him, but something still didn't feel right. "Ace…" She ventured. "Will you ever tell me why you're here?"
Ace looked down at her. "Will you ever just let it be, I can't tell you."
Minako wouldn't give up. "Why? Why can't you tell me?"
"Minako…" He wrapped his other arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer. "I'm sorry…I love you, that's all that matters isn't it?"
Minako buried her face in his chest, trying to cover her tears. "All of us…we're all suffering…"
Jasumin leaned against the wall, her arms crossed. She kept looking at Makoto, who stood at the other side of the room. "Why exactly are you here again?" She asked, this time her voice holding the emotion of annoyance.
Makoto looked up. "Relax, Jasumin, I'm going to tell you why I'm here…besides the fact that I live in this building too."
Jasumin sighed. "So get on with it!"
Makoto refused to meet Jasumin's gaze for a moment. "There's no use hiding it, it's apparent enough that you're suffering." Finally she met the other girl's gaze.
Jasumin was silent. It was true she was suffering. How long had Makoto known this? Did she know how much she was suffering? She hoped not, because it was unbearable. She had tried to bear this pain but it was starting to take its hold on her. There was no use lying now. "I…" For once in her life, as it seemed, she couldn't find the words that she wanted to say. Then they came to her like a strong wave in the ocean. "It's all true…" She choked out. "Ever since we couldn't save her, and it's just been getting worse…"
Suffering. Yes. She was suffering. She had known it all along, and tried to hide it. But that had been a mistake. "Hai…" Atari looked at the ground. She was suffering. Jasumin was suffering, Hirako was suffering. And Mika probably was too. "We all are…"
She and Ami were now sitting on cold, concrete steps. Atari was staring at the ground, arms' around her skateboard. She refused to look into Ami's eyes.
Hirako put her head in her hands. What was it Usagi had said? That she was suffering? She was soon aware of the tears that stung her eyes and cheeks and tried to cover her face yet more. She shuddered.
"Hirako…" Usagi was being mature, which happened on rare occasions. "I want to help you…"
Hirako looked up, her face tear-stained, eyes watery as the tears continued to flow. "You…can't…" She cried. "You can't help…" She grabbed up her shopping bag and tore off down the street.
Sailor Apolla, Sailor Nemesis, Sailor Chaos, and Sailor Midnight stood in front of Kaosu, their 'Shunjin'.
When he spoke, he's voice was like an icy wind that was whipping across the peaks of mountains. "Sailor Pluto, Sailor Mercury, and Sailor Saturn have all gained more power. We need to keep the others from following in their suit."
Sailor Chaos bowed her head; her bright red hair fell over her shoulders. "We will do what you ask, Shunjin."
Midnight glanced at Chaos in the corner of her eye, and once she had the older Senshi's attention, stuck out her tongue.
Nemesis mocked Midnight. "Don't you have any respect, Kid?" Not that she was too fond of Chaos herself.
Midnight pouted. "I'm not a kid!"
Apolla laughed, the sun charm around her neck waving to and forth. "We'll carry out right away, Shunjin."
{Authors Note; Kakyuu: YEAH! I got it! I got the authors' note first! WHOOH! Hee hee hee! …*. *…Ooh….'Longing for home again…home…is a feeling I buried in you! I'm all right, I'm all right, it only'- Puu: NO MORE SINGING! Kakyuu: -'Hurts when I breathe! Puu: ahem, anyways, in this chapter we revealed a – Kakyuu: *.*….OOH! Hehe…. Downfall! 'I've always been with you…. here and now…. you'll be my savior…and I'll be your downfall…hmmm…I want you to believe in me…I want you on my side…'- Puu: revealed a little more on the universal senshi, like what they're going through. Kakyuu: *head jerks back* Eh? *Looks around* Huh? Author's note already? …. Oh, yeah…Guess what, Puu? We said suffer/suffering TWENTY-FIVE times!…. And now 26! Puu: And about Adonis/Ace- Kakyuu: He's hot. Puu:…last time he showed up it was ch. 11….Sorry, we're just horrible at this, we bring someone in and – Kakyuu: Hate to say it, but he's not quite as hot as Hotohori. Puu: Pst…we're not talking about Fushigi Yugi…Anyways, as I was saying, we bring someone in and then are horrible at making sure they stay in. We'll try to be better from now on! Kakyuu: Oh, yeah? What ever happened to Mamoru? Puu: * runs away from little sister…* I didn't do anything! Kakyuu: …U
