The Road Less Travelled
Black Beyond
black_beyond@hotmail.com
PG13
~'~
This is probably going to be the longest chapter, but
it's kind of boring so I made it long to make up for
it. It gets a lot more dramatic and exciting than this,
you just have to bear with me until I get to the good
stuff.
~'~
When Usagi got back to school it was the last
class. After listening to her teacher yell at her for
about fifteen minutes, before she held up her hand and
uttered two words that NO ONE in the entire history of
Juuban High School had ever uttered to a teacher.
"Be Quiet."
The class fell silent. The teacher actually
stopped talking out of pure shock.
"I went with Hotaru and Setsuna because Haruka-
san is one of the only people that helped me when I was
on the streets. She's closer than any friend or family
I've ever had. I had to go see if I could do anything
for her, I just had to. And you can go ahead and expell
me, I know enough to take the college entrance exams
anyway." And she sat down.
The teacher stared at her for a long time,
before turning to the chalkboard.
"Open your books to page 629..."
There was yet another stunned silence before
everyone but Usagi picked up their textbooks and turned
to the ordered page.
Usagi turned to look out of the window, and
suddenly, her whole body exploded in pain, like every
cell was being split.
It only lasted for a second, but it left her
gasping for air.
She knew what that meant.
She stood up, just as the first screams rang out.
The teacher, prepared for this, jumped up and was
about to shut and lock the door.
A hand stopped her.
The teacher whirled around to face Uasgi once
more. There was a chilling light in those blue orbs, a
knowledge that the teacher never dreamed of knowing. A
pain that could never be healed.
"Get out of the way."
The teacher hesitated. She was indimadated by
this new student, though Usagi didn't look like she
could kill a fly. But there was something about that
look of pain in her student's eyes.
She stepped aside, almost unwillingly. Before
leaving, Usagi bowed to her.
"You are of my kind." Usagi whispered, before
running down the hall.
The teacher stared after her. What had the girl
meant?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Usagi ducked into a restroom and made sure no
one was in any of the stalls before raising one had up
in the air, her crystal amulet grasped in it.
She smiled insanely as she felt the power
lashing at her soul, demanding it be released.
"Moon Lunar Power, Make up!" She cried.
If anyone had been out in the hallway would
startled to see the sailor suited warrior run out of
the guys restroom, a mix of blonde, silver, and blue.
She tapped the bracelet around her wrist once
with her finger, and it turned into a communicator.
"Minna, I'm at the school and there's trouble.
I'm going to stay hidden to see if the inner senshi can
handle it, but I'd like some back-up in case they try
to nab me."
"Sure thing, Sailor Moon." said Hotaru's voice.
"Puu and I will be there ASAP."
"Thanks, Taru. See you." She tapped the
communicator, and it turned back into a bracelet. She
looked around silently.
Another scream-- from the gym?
Somehow that seemed a bit ironic as she
literally jumped down the stairs and ran, crashing into
more than one student, through the school in the
direction of the gym.
She passed one of the inner senshi-- Sailor
Jupiter, who stared as the silver senshi outraced her
into the open gym doors.
But when Jupiter got inside, the senshi was no
where to be seen. Jupiter was about to think she'd
imagined her when the youma left for her throat.
"Supreme Thunder!"
The youma was stopped by her assault, but not
damaged.
It was about to go for her again when a new
voice interrupted them.
"HEY! You're not throwing a party without lil'
ol' me, are you?" It was the new senshi again, in a sailor
fuku of silver bows and a blue skirt. Her eyes seemed
to focus on something the youma had clenched in it's
hand.
She grinned.
Jupiter stared in utter astonishment. This youma
was big, bad, and ugly, and this girl was grinning?
The yuoma seemed to be shaking.
"Now now now..." The new senshi wagged her
finger at the youma and chucked her tongue. "That's not
fair. You know I can't let you take that."
"You arrre dead!" the youma screeched.
"Really? Opps... yeah, I guess I was kind of
really close to dead last time I saw one of you. But
you see, Sailor Moon's a little harder to kill than
that!" She pulled out a long grayish staff from thin
air. "The Moon, you see, is my guardian and protector,
for I fight for justice in it's place. I am Sailor
Moon!"
The youma seemed very shaken.
"The planet lost in time and space is my
gaurdian deity. The senshi of time, Sailor Pluto!"
"The planet of silence and destruction is my
gaurdian! The soldier of silence, Sailor Saturn!"
Two others appeared suddenly. They didn't look
very happy.
"Has it already taken the soul, Sailor Moon?"
Saturn asked.
"Yeah." Sailor Moon gave them her crazy grin.
"I'm going in!"
"WAIT, PRINCESS!" Saturn yelled, but Sailor Moon
was already in the air, going for the youma at an
alarming speed.
"Selene Crescent Erruption!" She shouted,
hitting the youma and snatching the object from the
youma's hand all at once.
The youma howled in rage at it's treasure being
taken. But Saturn and Pluto held it at bay as Sailor
Moon carefully examined the thing in her hands.
It was gorgeous. A simple, misty, shifting
sphere, with a single point of light in it. This one
had a slight discoloring to it, no, it's wasn't It.
Sailor moon sighed. After so much, they were
still no closer to finding It than they were proving
Santa Claus existed.
She walked over to a limp, unconscious girl she
vaguely recognized and let the soul drift back into
it's owner.
Then she stood up. The insane look was gone as
she picked her staff up form the ground. Something
flickered in her eyes, and Pluto whispered to Saturn to
back off.
"Fire Soul!
"Crescent Beam!"
"Shabon Spray!"
The shouts were instant and at the same time.
Sailor Moon began swearing.
"WHO THE HELL JUST DID THAT FOG THING? WHEN I
GET MY HANDS ON YOU--" The youma was screaming things
not unlike that.
Mercury hid behind Jupiter and made the fog go
away.
"That's better." Now two more senshi had joined
Sailor Moon, Saturn, and Pluto.
"Princess, we got here as soon as we could!"
Uranus exclaimed, breathless.
"Was it It?" Neptune asked.
"Nope." Sailor Moon rolled her eyes. "All the
fun just left this fight." She lazily pointed her staff
at the yuoma. "Selene Crescent Erruption."
The youma imploded.
"Time to go!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
The four inner senshi plus two cats were
agthered in the temple of Hiwaka Shrine.
"But there is no Sailor Moon!" Luna protested.
"There is now." Makoto said grimly. "And those
four senshi who fought with her look like someone to be
reckoned with. And she-- she was crazy!"
"Really! I was watching." Minako exclaimed. "She
entered the gym running really fast, and just *jumped*
into the rafters of the gym. THAT GYM IS THREE STORIES
TALL. After Jupiter got in, she jumped down and got mad
because the youma tried to attack Jupiter first INSTEAD
OF HER! She was toying with the damn thing. I'm betting
she could have destroyed it in about two seconds!"
"The youma was after a pure soul." Rei cut in.
"It had already taken it when I got there. Sailor Moon
took it and said it wasn't It and put it back before
those two... Uranus and Neptune... arrived. They seemed
kind of worried about Sailor Moon-- Uranus called her
princess."
Artemis and Luna shared a glance.
"She could very well be the princess." Artemis
said slowly. "After all, she might have the ginzuishou
and used it to transform herself to fight. But--"
Artemis looked confused.
"Her phyiscal despcription matches perfectly."
Luna added. "But the Moon Princess hated fighting. She
never fought. She never even spoke a cross word. She
wouldn't learn even the most simple self defense
techniques."
"And from what it seems, this girl was a great
fighter and loved the battle."
"She was oozing positive energy." Ami spoke up
fromi her computer. "Her power level is through the
roof. She was drawing the energy from something else--
I couldn't get a lock on that, though."
"Does she remind you of anyone?"
"Besides a psycho?" Minako asked.
"Hey, guys--" Makoto grinned. "Did you hear
about Usagi? She took off at lunchtime o come back
right after last period started. The sensei started to
lecture her, but she told the sensei off. And then she
got up and left!"
"Left when?" Luna asked quickly.
"It was right before the attack." Makoto said.
"That's what Naru told me. Naru's in that class with
Usagi. Why?"
"Nothing, Makoto." Luna gave Artemis a 'look'
and they headed outside.
Right smak into Usagi.
Usagi was holding onto the arm of Haruka,
looking at the cats like they were poison.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Usagi froze. Haruka could feel her fear of the
small black cat.
"It's *her*, Haruka!" She gasped in a whisper.
"Wait, Luna! We want to ask you ab-- HI, Usagi!"
Minako quickly covered up her surprise.
"Oh, hi, Minako. We were looking for the miko of
this shrine." Haruka said, smirking slightly as Minako .
"Do you know where we can find her?"
"I'm the miko of Hiwaka Shrine. What can I do
for you?" Rei stepped out from behind Minako.
Haruka shot a look at the three girls.
"My friend here has been having strange--
visions." Haruka nodded toward Usagi, who was still
staring at Luna with a strange expression on her face.
"We were told to come see you. That you have such
talent to us what they mean."
Rei nodded, and turned to her friends.
"I'm going to take them to the Great Fire. You
guys go back to my room."
Usagi relaxed as the black cat followed Rei's
orders.
Rei led hem into a small room were a fire
blazed. She took a seat before the fire. Haruka and
Usagi sat down behind her.
"What are your visions about?" Rei asked.
"The end of the world. Everything's so quiet..
and we're all frozen in stone--"
Rei gasped.
"And a tornado comes and destroys everything."
She said, in a small choked voice. "Everyone dies, and
you're helpless to do anything."
"You've had them too." Haruka said. Rei turned
around to see that Haruka had a funny expression.
"Michiru, Hotaru and I, along with Usagi, have them
once a day. Or more," she added ruefully. "We think
they are of the future, to come. We want to know if
they're true."
Rei looked away, her violet eyes giving to
evidense to the emotions within.
"Visions may be of the past or future. Sometimes
it's impossible to tell which until it is too late--"
"NO!" Usagi yelled, jumping to her feet, her
silver hair twisting around her in her sudden movement.
"I will not let the world be destroyed! I'll die
first!"
Rei looked at her curiously. This girl did look
like Sailor Moon a little bit, but her presence was
calmer than the one that Mars had felt when she
approached Sailor Moon.
"Usagi, please. You know we won't permit it to
happen. Calm down, Sere!" Haruka hissed softly.
Usagi didn't loose the furious look.
"Alright, Haruka. We've got an appointment,
remember? With *Setsuna*? You know, the one where I
kick her sorry ass?"
"She's not going to tell us anything, Odango.
You know that." Haruka said softly, trying to reason
with the younger girl. "Hold yourself together. We wont
let it happen."
Rei looked at Haruka. Now, this girl, however,
would be a great senshi. She had the potential-- but
was she one of the senshi they'd seen eariler?
"Thank you, Rei-san. I'd better get Odango home
before she throws a fit and goes spastic." Haruka put
her arm around her princess's shoulder. "Last time that
happened--- well..."
Usagi flushed.
"It wasn't mty fault! But look at it my way,
they *do* think I'm dea--" Her word was cut off as
Haruka clamped one hand over Usagi's mouth and led her
out of the temple.
Rei looked down to see Artemis.
"Did you catch all that?"
"Yes."
"And...?"
"She's either the villian or the senshi. And I'm
guessing the villian. That girl is a murderer..."
~**~
Usagi frowned as she was embraced by Ikuko the
very second she stepped into the house, and regreted
telling Haruka to buzz off, which the older woman had
done.
"What?" She asked, as Ikuko stood back. "Is it
my birthday?"
"Where have you been, I was so worried... what
if you'd gotten attacked by a youma? Oh, Usagi, it's
after ten..."
"Oh." Usagi blinked. No one but Hotaru had ever
worried about her *this* much.
"I was with Haruka, Ikuko-san. She and I had
things to discuss. I'm sorry if I worried you, you
shouldn't."
"Shouldn't what?"
"Worry about me."
"But you're like my own daughter! Why wouldn't
I?"
Usagi gulped as a memory hit her.
"You're my daughter! I worry about you!"
"I can't let him die."
"Serenity, if you go to earth again..."
"You'll what?"
"I'll die without you. You can't die on me..."
"Because of my job, Ikuko."
"You have a job?"
"Ikuko-san, why on earth do you think I'm an
orphan? Because my mother was murdered by youma. And I
do the same job she did, Ikuko. Don't worry about me--
that's Haruka's job."
"Haruka's? Is she your mother?"
"Are you kidding? Mention marrage, childbirth,
etc to Haruka. She's pass out. Please don't ask what I
do, Ikuko. I can't tell you." Usagi smilied sadly. "And
I'll probably be out at odd hours, coming in beaten up,
and in mortal peril a few times a week. But other than
that, I usually come home alive. So, Hakuna Matata!"
Ikuko stared at Usagi's back as the girl bounced
up the stairs with a reckless giddiness.
There was something in those silvery eyes of
Usagi's that unnerved her. The look of someone who
could see anything and laugh. Perhaps it was
indifference, perhaps it was ditziness.
But it seemed more like the look of a warrior.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Usagi was not a happy camper.
Usagi was not a happy anything.
Usagi was downright cranky.
Two o'clock. IN THE MORNING, mind you. A youma
had decided it was a nice time to go out stealing
souls. Usagi, or rather, Sailor Moon, had been woken at
two o'clock in the morning by Haruka, and had climbed
back into bed at 4:42 a.m. precisely.
Lost sleep, no matter how little, did not make
Usagi a nice person to deal with.
"Hi, Usagi! How's it hanging?" Minako said
brightly.
"By a noose." Usagi replied, throwing her
bookbag to the floor of the classroom and all but
falling into her chair. "Death to yuoma..." She
muttered.
"What?"
"Nothing." Usagi groaned. "What's up, Minako?"
"Oh, nothing really. Artemis woke me up in the
middle of the night, silly neko, and I couldn't go back
to sleep froever, but other than that, I'm good. You?"
Usagi nodded, a slight smirk playing o her
features. Yes, she'd seen the inner senshi, running
openly in the street after the less-than-stupid youma.
"Trouble sleeping too. Sheesh... you think if I
went to sleep Haruna-sensei would freak?"
"Hard to say. You *are* way ahead, almost as far
as Ami-chan. That reminds me... why were you at the
temple yesterday?"
Usagi arched one eyebrow at the golden child.
"I wanted to ask the miko there... Rei-san... if
she could interpret the meaning of my dreams. She
couldn't tell me anything I didn't already know."
"Oh." Minako blinked. "What kind of nightmares?
About cats, maybe? You really freaked out at Luna."
It was Luna!
"Er... I just don't like cats very well."
Especially not cats that can blow everything to the
world if they touch me. "I'm gonna take a nap, 'kay? If
she asks for homework, could you fish mine out of my
bag? Thanks."
Thirty minutes later, Haruna had sent many
glares at the sleeping girl, but could do nothing to
object-- Usagi had already shown she knew all the math,
science, history, and grammar the school could teach,
and was far more advanced in languages that Haruna
could dream of.
"Pass your homework to the front." She said
finally. Minako turned around to see if Usagi was still
asleep, and finding her friend was, began to dig around
in Usagi's backpack.
She came up with a notebook, and opened it.
She found the paper immediatly, for it was right
on top. She was about to close the notebook when
something caught her eye. She turned the page...
And thought she would faint.
The page was split diaognoally with a single
line. One one side, in ordanary gray lead, was her own
face, Minako's own face, done in perfect detail, down
to the bow in her hair, winking at the veiwer.
On the other half, in blue colored pencil,
giving the viewer a sharp, calculating look, was Sailor
Venus. Complete in tiara, boots, and bows, a chain of
hearts encircling her.
On the top of the paper, in perfect kanji, was
written 'Aphrodite'.
Minako took several deep breaths, and thought
fast. Usagi knew she was Sailor Venus, obviously. But
what to do? She couldn't very well challenge her, Usagi
was a friend. And an unknown, at that.
She didn't have to make the decision, it was
made for her. The notebook was snatched out of her
hands, and she looked up to see a pair of silver-
colored eyes that seared into her soul.
Usagi frowned.
"You weren't supposed to see that." She said
softly.
"How did you know?" Minako asked, just as
softly.
Usagi looked away.
"Lucky guess." She muttered, stuffing the
notebook back into her bag and looking away. "A very
lucky guess."
Class dragged by then for both of them. At
lunch, they both waited until Haruna and the other
students cleared out.
Minako immediatly turned around.
"How did you know?" her voice was now sharper,
harder. Usagi stared back her her, an expression
between a smirk and a frown coming onto her features.
"For me to know... and perhaps you never to fnid
out, Minako Aino. May we leave it at that? Despite your
statis, I would like to be friends."
Minako took a deep breath before answering.
"And the others?"
"I know who all of you are." Usagi answered.
"Not that I care nor does it matter." She looked out
the window at the students milling into the courtyard.
"Innocents." It was said with a sneer. "Minako, do you
realize that you an I, with your senshi friends, are
the only ones who understand that the world isn't a
nice place? I was so suprised when I recognized you."
"How much do you know?"
"More than you want to." Usagi walked over to
the window, shoved it open, and reached out onto the
ledge, and retrieved a white tabby cat with a black
left paw.
"Minako, you've met Athena, right?"
"Merow." Athena said, as Minako petted her.
"Yes. Your cat sits outside the window? Does she
do that always?" Minako asked curiously.
"She will from now on. She has for the last
couple of days, since that youma attack. Haven't you,
neko-chan?"
"Merow." Athena rolled her eyes.
"She's cute. Artemis would like her."
"Oh, Athena has met Artemis, haven't you,
Athena? I heard that Artemis came out worse in that
fight. Hehe, maybe next time he'll think twice, ne,
Thena?"
Athena glared at Usagi.
"Oh, so you're the mangy tabby cat that couldn't
think a cohertent thought to catch a rat and it wasn't
his fault that you were faaster than him?" Minako asked
innocently. Minako could have sworn the cat grinned.
"Probably. Of course, Athena's not what you'd
call a slow kitty. Shall we go to lunch or argue some
more? And there's no use to tell the other senshi I
know... they shall know me soon enough."
"Huh? Why?"
"Like I said, you'll know me soon enough..."
"Merrrow."