Revised
The Spawn of Satan or Thank God for Little Brothers
Chapter 4: The Confrontation
* * are for emphasis
Thoughts are no longer in italics cuz the DA^*&%$&^&%*&MN things are not showing
up on either website I am posted at. They will now and forever be in these pretty little
things that I don't remember the name for. Ex. ~I hate typing.~
AN are 'Author's Notes'
Standard Disclaimers Apply, so don't bother suing. (Notice I am not crying how poor I
am like everyone else does snicker)
Notes, if I care when I get done with typing, may be at the bottom.
* * * * *
Entering the house, the first thing they all heard was "Usagi? Shingo? Do you
know what time it is?" followed by the appearance of Tsukino Ikuko. She stopped
abruptly, staring at the crowd in her hallway. She took one look at them all and said in a
voice fit to freeze ice, "I demand to know what is going on here."
"Mama – " Shingo started, but was cut off as Ikuko got a good look at her son's
blood-covered face.
"Shingo! What happened?!" she exclaimed, noting that he was being carried by
Usagi's tall friend, Makoto, she remembered absently.
"Daijoubu, Mama," he rushed to assure her. "A youma attacked us in the park.
It's not as bad as it looks," he told her when she grabbed his head to examine the cut.
"Well, at least it's not bleeding," she said with a measure of relief. "But why are
you carrying him?" she asked Makoto.
"When we were running away, I tripped and hurt my ankle," Shingo answered for
her. Swallowing, he said, "Usagi . . . Usagi protected me."
Ikuko saw the dark-haired young man holding an unconscious Usagi for the first
time. "Usagi! Kami-sama!" Her voice rang with fright as she leapt to her daughter's
side. Her face paled when she saw the blood.
"Bring her upstairs." Ikuko immediately took charge, shooting off orders like a
drill sergeant. "Ami, boil me some water. Rei, there's a first-aid kit in the bathroom, go
fetch it for me. Minako, run ahead and turn down Usagi's bed. Makoto, put Shingo down
in the living room then call the doctor for instructions. His number's by the phone. You,"
she pointed at Mamoru, "come with me. Let's move people!" she rapped out.
Half an hour later, both Shingo and Usagi were cleaned up, bandaged, and
resting comfortably in bed, with instructions from the doctor to come in the next day for
crutches for Shingo and a complete examination for Usagi. Usagi stayed unconscious the
whole time.
"Phew." Ikuko let out a long pent-up breath as she closed the door to Usagi's
room. She looked at the concerned faces of her daughter's friends clustered in the
hallway and said, "She seems to be sleeping normally now. Why don't we all go
downstairs so you can tell me *exactly* what happened?"
Once everyone was settled in the living room, Ikuko commanded, "OK, spill."
"Um, actually, we didn't get there until the very end. All we saw was the part
where the Sailor Senshi beat the youma." Minako spoke for all the girls, while they
silently nodded their assent. "But Mamoru-san was there from the beginning," she added
brightly.
Mamoru sighed as everyone turned their collective gaze his way. ~Thanks a lot,
Minako~ he thought sourly.
Leaving out as many details as possible, such as the fact that her daughter was
Sailor Moon and that they were at this minute in the company of the other Senshi,
Mamoru told Ikuko a pared down version of the events that took place earlier that night.
He finished with, "Gomen nasai. I know I should have protected them better."
Ikuko denied this. "What you did was more than enough. I don't know how to
thank you." Privately, she suspected there was a lot this nice young man was leaving out,
especially about his own actions. She'd have to get the whole story from her babies later.
"I didn't do anything worth your thanks," he muttered, looking away.
Ikuko frowned, but let it go when she noticed how drained everyone was looking.
"Well, this has been quite a night! Why don't you all go home and get some sleep? Then
come and visit Usagi tomorrow after school."
They all rose, amidst murmured "Hai"'s, and filed out the door.
On the sidewalk in front of the house, Mamoru paused, and turned back to gaze at
what he was sure was Usagi's window.
~I have to tell her~ he thought, unaware of the heartbreakingly painful expression
that crossed his face at the unspoken possibility that doing so might mean losing her. No
matter what he thought he'd heard her call him.
* * * * *
The next day, Mamoru went to class as usual, but his mind was on Usagi. He'd
decided sometime during the small hours of a restless night that when he checked up on
her today, he'd tell her everything he knew and beg, if necessary, for her forgiveness.
Whereas the night before had dragged on endlessly, the day seemed to fly by as
his watch ticked off the seconds to his confession. As the time approached, Mamoru
became more and more depressed. By 3 o'clock, he was convinced the coming
confrontation could only end in tragedy for him and more pain for his Usako. He was
seriously considering giving up the whole idea, but then her face flashed though his mind.
Laughing, sad, determined, angry, happy; there were so many memories he had of her.
One more image popped into his head. The way she had looked last night, as Sailor
Moon, face pale and strained from pain as she fought to protect them.
~No. At the very least, I owe her the truth. The real reason she was hurt was
because . . . because of me~ Mamoru thought in despair.
Resigned, he started the long walk towards whatever destiny (AN: or his fanfic
writer ^_^) had in store for him.
* * * * *
"Usagi-chan, you're looking so much better," Minako said in relief.
She, Ami, Rei, Mako, Luna, and Artemis were all scattered around Usagi's room.
The girl in question was sitting up in bed and petting Luna, who sat in her lap. The color
in her cheeks was a big improvement over the pallor of last night.
"Arigato, Mina," Usagi replied. "I feel okay, except when I move," she added
wryly.
"That's not very funny, Usagi-chan," Luna scolded her.
"Gomen. It's true though. I ache all over," she complained.
"One good thing about being a senshi is how fast we heal," Mako commented.
"You'll probably be feeling well enough to come back to school in a day or two."
"Ugh, don't remind me. I don't even wanna think about the homework I'll have to
make up," moaned Usagi. "Anyway," she changed the subject, "did you figure anything
out about that youma last night? I mean, it was weird. It didn't try to steal our energy or
anything! It just tried to kill us." She shivered at the memory.
"I analyzed the data I collected from it," Ami spoke in a puzzled voice. "As I
mentioned before, the energy signature was different, but in a way I can't determine."
"There isn't anything that could tell us what it was after?" Minako continued,
concern plain in her voice, "If this is some new plot by Zoisite, we have to be prepared."
Ami shook her head. "I'm sorry. That's all I have. I was hoping Luna could use
the computer at the game center to help. I've already transferred all the info onto hard
disk," she informed Luna, taking said disk out of her bag and handing it over.
"Artemis and I'll go tonight and see if we come up with anything," Luna agreed.
"Now that we've got *that* covered," Rei spoke up for the first time, "what do
we do about Shingo and Mamoru?"
"Good question," Makoto said. "What if they tell?"
"They won't," Usagi assured them. "Shingo's my brother so I can probably keep
him quiet, and Mamoru – well, um, I don't think he's the type to break a promise," she
finished lamely.
"You can't be sure about that, Usagi," Artemis said. (AN: My God, he speaks!)
"Artemis is right. I agree that they will *try* to keep their promise, but accidents
have a way of happening to the best intentioned," Ami cautioned regretfully.
"It's not like we can do anything about it," Minako pointed out. "They know.
We'll just have to make the best of it. Who knows? Maybe they could be of help." She
tried sound optimistic.
"Yah, right." Rei snorted sarcastically. "Maybe we could throw them at the next
youma we fight."
The girls broke into laughter at this image, until a deep voice said:
"I don't think I'd enjoy that very much."
Mamoru had arrived at the house fully ten minutes before he decided to make his
presence known. Ikuko met him at the door and told him that Usagi was awake and
visiting with the other girls. He'd lingered outside her room trying to build up courage
and listening to the chatter going on inside. When he heard Usagi stick up for him, he
felt worse than at anytime during that endless night. ~She's wrong~ he had thought.
~I've already broken my promise to protect her.~
Entering, he continued, "I hope I'm not interrupting."
Minako looked at Mamoru, then at Usagi, then back and forth a few times as they
continued to stare at each other, and finally, when no one else spoke, the Senshi of Love
said, "No, no! In fact, we were just leaving."
"We were?" asked Mako.
Minako jabbed a not-so-subtle elbow into Mako's ribs and hissed, "Yes! We
were!" She started tugging at the other girls and pushing them towards the door.
"I'll just take Luna with me," she stated, coming over and scooping the cat off
Usagi's lap. "Artemis could use her company."
"Minna, mat- " started Usagi, half-raising a hand in protest, then sighed when the
door thunked shut behind Minako's traitorous back. " -te," she finished resignedly,
dropping her hand.
Hesitantly, she slid her gaze up to meet Mamoru's eyes. Swallowing through a
throat gone suddenly dry, she started to speak, only to have her words, whatever they
might have been, halted when he held up a hand.
"Onegai, matte." Mamoru's voice held a note she didn't recognize. "I have
something I need to tell you. Something important. I don't know if . . . " He trailed
off, and Usagi's heart ached at the lost expression that entered his eyes.
Taking a deep breath, he continued, "I don't know if after I tell you this, you'll
still have anything to say to me."
Usagi tried to speak again, but he moved to the bed and placed a finger lightly
against her lips. "Shhh," he insisted. "Just wait until I'm . . . until I've told you
everything." With his deep blue eyes gazing at her so intently, all Usagi could do was
nod.
Taking her hand in both of his, he began.
As promised, Mamoru held nothing back. He told her all of it. Starting with the
accident that had claimed both his family and his memories, he went on to the orphanage,
where he had first begun to dream of her, his Princess. Usagi was on the verge of
speaking several times, but he always shushed her with a finger on her lips.
He skipped the years after the orphanage, going directly to when the blackouts
had started. Ironically enough, it was the same day as that fateful meeting with Usagi's
test paper. He jumped from there to when he'd discovered that he was, in fact, Tuxedo
Kamen, thanks to the nijizuishou.
Usagi gasped at this revelation and opened her mouth, determined to speak this
time, but Mamoru forestalled her with a quietly murmured, "I'm not finished yet." She
barely managed to keep silent.
From that point on, Usagi's gaze was riveted to his face, staring at him, almost
staring through him. Mamoru was sure she must be running over and over in her mind all
the times they had ever been together, whether as Tsukino Usagi and Chiba Mamoru or as
Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen. He knew that's what he had done. He also feared that
she must, by now, be wondering why he hadn't helped her last night, and cringed inside at
the thought that she might hate him. Resolutely, he pressed on with his story.
"I want you to know that I wasn't angry at you for losing the nijizuishou. It was
myself I was upset with. If I had paid better attention, then Zoisite wouldn't have been
able to trick me like he did. That's still no excuse for taking it out on you, I know, and
I'm sorry," Mamoru said. He paused a moment. The hardest part was yet to come. He
tensed and spoke, not quite able to hide the tremor in his voice. "It was my fault you
were injured. I can't tell you how much I regret not helping you. You were depending on
me and I wasn't there. I'll understand if you never want to talk to me again, but from now
on I swear I'll always be there for you. Whether it's as Tuxedo Kamen or Chiba Mamoru,
if you need me, I'll come." At the end of this brave speech, Mamoru stopped and waited
with baited breath for Usagi's reply.
Usagi was silent, apparently thinking through all the startling information that
had been dumped on her in the last half hour. Her face was turned now to stare blindly
out her window, and Mamoru took this opportunity to study her delicate features. It was
easier than dealing with the fear that grew by leaps and bounds at every second that
ticked by without Usagi uttering a word.
Finally, after what seemed like a small eternity, Mamoru nodded, and pulled his
hands away from hers. Standing, he spoke to her averted gaze. "I understand." The
words tasted flat and dead in his mouth, like ashes, and the sound that reached his ears
was hollow. Empty. Devoid of life. He felt something die within him, something that not
even the accident and the orphanage combined had been able to kill.
He turned, moving slowly towards the door. With his hand on the knob, he
paused, and by a supreme effort of will, managed to choke out, "Sayonara, Usako."
* * * * *
End Chapter 4
AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'M SO PROUD OF THIS CHAPTER!!!!!!!!!!
I think I'm gonna be sick I'm so disgustingly proud. I have a legit reason, too. I've had
writer's block for the last three weeks. BUT, today I've finally been able to finish chapter
5. I'm sure I'll post it soon. Once I type it up, anyway. And you all know how much I
*HATE* typing. I took a break from fanfic writing and worked on something else, which
I think helped tremendously.
OK, enough of that. What do you people want to know about this chapter? Well, it's
obviously a cliffhanger. I have to have angst. It's a must for things I write. Do you think
I made Mamoru suffer enough? We'll see next chapter, won't we? HAHAHAHA!!!!!!!
Also, this chapter, this whole fanfic so far, is my revenge on all those other authors out
there who've left me hanging in the past. Turnabout is fair play, after all. But, truthfully,
I don't keep my loyal readers waiting all *that* long. Just until I get the next part typed
up. So, unless I have a relapse into writer's block (NO NO NO!!!!!) the next chapter may
be done (I have to type it up and revise it) sometime next week. No, I can't promise, I'd
jinx myself. Then no one would ever see the end of this fanfic. (HORROR!!!)
I went thru all the Japanese words I used and I think they've all been explained before (to
the best of my knowledge and ability) in other chapters. If I missed anything, or you
want something clarified, e-mail me. It may take me a while, depending on whether I can
get to a computer with Internet access or not, but I'll always reply.
That one line Artemis had was his first in four chapters. It'll probably be his last. But,
ya never know. We'll see how the story goes.
I've bored everyone long enough. See ya next time.
"He who loses wealth loses much; he who loses a
friend loses more; but he that loses courage loses all."
~Cervantes
MaiyaV ^_~
maiyav@yahoo.com
Japanese Word List:
Kami-sama - means 'God' (hee he, I found one)