Forest of Despair
Part 4
Disclaimer in Part 1
by: Usa and Emiri
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"Ami-chan, we've gotta sit down for a few minutes," Makoto grunted. "No offense, but you're not extremely light."
Ami laughed. "That's fine, Mako-chan."
"Is your knee any-" Makoto's question was cut off as they heard a gun fire.
"Kami-sama..." Ami whispered, eyes wide in fear.
"Ami-chan!" Ami looked up to see Luna and Artemis running towards the girls.
"Artemis! Luna! We're glad to see you!" Makoto cried. "Have you seen any of the others?" she added.
"We were with Usagi-chan about a half hour ago but she ran off. We haven't seen her since," Artemis replied.
"Did you hear that gunshot?" Luna asked.
Ami nodded. "We have to find out what happened. If that was one of the others, I don't think..." She trailed off as everyone nodded.
Makoto held up her hand to signal everyone to be quiet. A few second later, they heard someone running through the bushes at a high speed towards them.
Ami pointed to a spot where they could hide and Makoto helped her up. They wanted to be on the safe side in case it was one of those men.
But then they heard crying. It was a girl crying. Artemis' ears perked up. "That's Usagi-chan!" he told them.
"Usagi-chan!" Luna yelled. "We're over here!"
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Usagi was getting tired but she couldn't stop. She had to get as far away from Satsujin as possible. She jumped when she heard voices. She pointed the gun towards them, tears flowing, arms shaking.
"Usagi-chan! We're over here!"
*Luna!* Usagi ran towards her guardian's voice.
**
"USAGI!"
She sighed in relief when Ami, Makoto, Luna, and Artemis came into view. She knew her appearance was less then perfect but she didn't care at the moment. "Minna!"
Ami couldn't rush up to hug her friend as her knee was still a bit painful. However, she noticed that Usagi's eyes looked dull and expressionless. As if... as if her innocence was almost stolen from her.
"Usagi-chan, what ahppened?" Makoto asked, noticing her disheveled appearance.
Usagi dropped the gun and sank to the ground, crying uncontrollably. She was tired and she felt horribly dirty.
"Usagi-chan?" Ami said, limping over to her friend. "Daijobu?"
Makoto helped Ami over, and hugged Usagi. Usagi gently pushed them away. "Iie..."
Ami didn't know what to say and she finally put two and two together. Usagi's appearance, her demeanor, the gun she had been holding... the gunshot they had heard earlier. Usagi had an encounter with one of the men who shot at them!
"Ami-chan, could you two leave me alone for a minute?" Usagi asked. "But stay where I can see you..."
"Hai, Usagi-chan. We'll be right over there," she replied, pointing to a tree stump.
Makoto helped Ami maneuver over to the tree stump. "Mako-chan, do you realize what happened?" Ami asked in a hushed whisper.
"Hai, I know. Poor Usagi-chan..."
"We have to find minna and get her out of here. She was not only attacked by someone but she had to shoot him in self-defense. Even though she did it to save herself, she's not going to forgive herself anytime soon. You know how she is."
"Hai, I know. She'll think it was her fault it happened."
Ami looked at her computer. "Maybe I can fix Minako-chan's or Rei-chan's communicator through this."
"Hai, try it!"
Ami nodded and set to work. There was a sad sort of sigh from Usagi's direction. She looked up a minute to see Usagi's back to them. Ami held in her tears and went to work.