SailorStar9: With Chapter 73 out, this is Chapter 74 of this fic. Remember boys and girls, reviews are an author's subsistence. Really, is it so difficult for you guys to review instead of just putting this fic up in your favorites and alerts?
Pairings: No official Tieria/Ami for this Book, sorry. Just canon Mamoru/Usagi and quite possible Setsuna/Hotaru in S Season.
Standard BS Disclaimers: I do not own Sailor Moon, Gundam 00 or the pairings. If I did, the other Senshi would be as powerful as Sailor Moon and kicking MOTD ass more often and VEDA would have least an anti-hacker program installed. The only thing I do own is the plot.
Chapter 74: Usagi in Tears! Glass Shoes for Her Birthday
In Professor Tomoe's laboratory...
"Kaolinite," Professor Tomoe was cultivating his Daimon Eggs. "Have you found our new target?"
"Yes, I am sure of it this time." Kaolinite was confident. "This time, we have someone with a heart of unbelievable purity. I declare it to be a Talisman without mistake."
"Then, I will hand you the best Daimon I have." Professor Tomoe said. "You're the only one I can count on, Kaolinite." he handed Kaolinite the new Daimon Egg.
After school...
"Today, June 30th, is my birthday!" Usagi declared.
"Congrats." Rei stated, barely looking up from her geometry book.
"That's great." Makoto added, glancing up from her geography text.
"You had a birthday too, Usagi?" Minako asked from behind her idioms book.
"Let's try to act our age from now on." Ami remarked, still engrossed in her advanced geometry text.
"What cold-hearted people you are." Usagi twitched. "Wait a minute." she voiced as the four Inner Senshi got up in unison and walked off. "Is that all you have to say?"
"That's it." Rei retorted. "Even if it's your birthday today, don't be late for our study group at 4.00 pm."
"This can't be happening..." Usagi whined as the girls nonchalantly walked off. "You guys are all so cruel."
In the Juuban Shopping District...
"They're beautiful." Usagi gushed at the pair of glass slippers on display in a glass structure store. "They're so nice. I wish someone would give me such beautiful shoes as a birthday gift. I know, I'll have my Prince buy it for me. Mamo-chan!" she ran up to Mamoru, having contacted him on the phone.
"What are you doing all of a sudden?" Mamoru was confused at the overenthusiastic response from his girlfriend.
"Mamo-chan, I have been looking around for a long time." Usagi sang.
"Why's that?" Mamoru was still puzzled.
'Why', he asks? Usagi giggled. Mamo-chan is pretending to be clueless. I guess what people really need after all are lovers and not close friends. "Mamo-chan, I want something as my gift." she whined. "If I'm getting something from a Prince, I want glass slippers. They're at the glass structure shop on the corner of the third block. Please buy them for me. We can go together right now." she pulled Mamoru off.
"Come on, Christmas is still a while off." Mamoru reminded.
"Of course it is!" Usagi snapped. "Mamo-chan, don't know what day is today?"
"Today?" Mamoru blinked. "What's today?"
"You're kidding!" Usagi wailed.
"I'm kidding." Mamoru backpedaled. "I wouldn't forget an important day like this."
"Of course, you wouldn't, Mamo-chan." Usagi beamed.
"I know," Mamoru laughed nervously. "It's the day we first met, right?"
"It isn't, you blockhead!" Usagi fumed, giving Mamoru a slap across the face and ran off angrily.
"What's up with that?" Mamoru was completely befuddled.
In the Hikawa Shrine...
"Mamoru?" Rei took the call. "Usagi isn't here yet.
"I see, I don't really know why but I seem to have upset Usako." Mamoru admitted in the nearby phone booth.
"I see..." Rei nodded. "That's what's going on. You were always like this, Mamoru!" she fumed. "You don't understand how a woman feels. Today is Usagi's birthday."
A depressed Usagi made her way to Rei's room.
"Happy birthday!" the four Inner Senshi welcomed Usagi with party poppers.
"The main gust should sit down." Minako hurriedly offered Usagi the guest chair.
"Eat up." Makoto encouraged. "I made these the best I did."
"Here you go, Usagi." Ami handed the birthday girl her present. "This is from all of us."
Meanwhile...
Mamoru was running through the shopping district to find the glass structure store Usagi was talking about.
In the said store, a disguised Kaolinite planted the Daimon Egg into the glass slippers. "Welcome." he greeted Mamoru who had ran into the store.
"Excuse me, can I have those glass slippers?" Mamoru asked, spotting the shoes on the counter.
"Right away." Kaolinite let Mamoru purchase the shoes.
In Rei's room...
"What's wrong?" Ami heard Usagi's sigh. "You don't look very cheerful."
"I slapped Mamo-chan across the cheek." Usagi confessed. "It was sort of spontaneous, but I just can't forgive him."
"You're saying Mamoru forgot that today was your birthday, right?" Rei went straight to the point. "But Usagi, Mamoru didn't forget. He never knew."
"Usagi, did you ever tell Mamoru when your birthday was?" Makoto asked.
"Come to think of it, I never told him." Usagi admitted. "But if you really love each other, you'd realize things like that."
"Then, do you know Mamoru's birthday, Usagi?" Minako reversed the argument.
"Of course I do." Usagi replied. "Let's see... October 10 is Sports Day, and December 25 is Christmas... I don't know." she laughed.
"And speaking of birthdays..." Minako cast a teasing grin at Ami.
"Satoshi knows mine and I know his." Ami replied flatly. "We're both smart enough to take a hint from both our parents. We never missed each other's birthdays, not once."
"I'm going to apologize to Mamo-chan." Usagi declared and left the room, upset that Ami seemed to be bragging that Satoshi was a better boyfriend than Mamoru.
On the streets...
Both Mamoru and Usagi met with each other, the glass slippers were gift-wrapped and tucked under Mamoru's arm.
"I have been looking for you, Princess." Mamoru bowed. "Now, let's check to see if it's the right size." he unwrapped the gift box and presented the left shoe to Usagi.
Usagi slipped her foot in and activated the Daimon inside it.
"I will take your Pure Heart that care about that guy." Cenicienta approached Usagi. "Get out of the way!" she smacked Mamoru out of the way. Grabbing Usagi by the shoulders, she shortened the distance.
"In this case..." Usagi raised her henshin brooch. "Moon Cosmic Power, Make..." her transformation phase was cut short when Cenicienta smacked the brooch away.
Molding Usagi into the glass window and trapping her, Cenicienta showed the black star mark on her bicep and proceeded to extract Usagi's Heart Crystal.
"Uranus, shouldn't we help her?" Sailor Neptune asked her partner, the two Outer Senshi were watching from a nearby alley.
"She might be the owner of the Talisman." Sailor Uranus argued. "Neptune." she gasped, spotting the Heart Crystal's shine with the corner of her eye.
"This must be the light of a Talisman." Cenicienta gushed, stunned by the sheer brilliance of the Heart Crystal.
A thrown rose from Tuxedo Kamen forced the Daimon to drop the Heart Crystal and allowing the cross-shaped crystal to return back to its owner. "Take this!" the masked hero surrounded the Daimon with a circle of his roses, trapping the glass Daimon within an energy pillar. "Let's go." grabbing Usagi, the couple made their getaway.
"Cenicienta, what happened to the girl?" Kaolinite appeared beside the Daimon.
"Actually, we have an unexpected disturbance." Cenicienta reported.
"You idiot." Kaolinite chided. "Look for her immediately. This is..." she picked up the Cosmic Heart Compact on the floor after sending Cenicienta off. "Can that girl be...?" her suspicions were perked.
In an underground car-park...
Kaolinite finally cornered her victims. "You should give up." the red-haired woman taunted. "I won't let you run away anywhere."
"Luna." Usagi remembered the communicator. "Help me, Luna."
Kaolinite scowled and used her hair whip to knock the communicator off Usagi's wrist and destroying it. "It's no use calling your friends here, Sailor Moon."
In Rei's room...
"Everyone, we have a problem." Luna alerted the Senshi via Ami's communicator. "Something must have happened to Usagi. Everyone, it's time to act."
In the underground car-park...
"I challenge you." Tuxedo Kamen faced off against Kaolinite.
"How stupid." Kaolinite snorted. "Cenicienta, take care of him."
Said glass Daimon formed a sword with her left hand and charged at Tuxedo Kamen, the masked hero using his cane to parry off the Daimon.
"I said you won't be able to escape." Kaolinite blocked off Usagi's escape route. "Don't you want this back?" she produced the Cosmic Heart Compact. "You don't need it?" she smirked and dropped the brooch onto the floor. "If you don't need it, I guess I'll destroy it." she stepped on the brooch with her heel. "Now be obedient and let your Pure Heart be taken. Otherwise..." she ground her heel for emphasis.
"Fool." Cenicienta mocked, Tuxedo Kamen having turned his back on her to race back to Usagi. Opening her mouth, she shot out glass shards at the masked hero and turned him into a glass statue.
SailorStar9: Any OOC-ness is regretted. *Sighs* Don't you just hate plot bunnies sometimes? Read and review.
