Title: Unicorn
By: Utena_Anthy_Antics
Disclaimer: I do not own Magic Knight Rayearth or Sailor Moon, though I sometimes wish I did. Though if I DID own MKR, I would not be able to do it justice like CLAMP did. Their artwork is so BEAUTIFUL!!!
AN: Okay, if you were wondering in the slightest, the reason I am posting so many stories at once is because I want to see which one is liked the best. I also like reviews…^_^ Thanks. Please enjoy!
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Usagi watched as her friends left her to walk to the store alone. She gazed dejectedly in their direction, and then started along, her shoulders slumped. Swinging her bag in front of her, she counted the cracks on the sidewalk and turned her thoughts to everything else.
It was almost time. She could feel it happening. And there was nothing she could do to stop it.
She sighed; it was so hard to be something other people believed were extinct or never existed. And keeping this form was taking its toll on her. Her Sailor Moon transformations took so much magic from her that she just wished she could sneak away at night and replenish it by frolicking in the moonlight.
Oh. That sounded so cliché. Frolicking in the moonlight, indeed. Well, it was the truth.
Continuing down the street, she wasn't exactly looking where she was going, and so only her extra sensory senses stopped her from walking into the small girl that stood in the middle of the sidewalk. Fear and anxiety assailed her mind, and she paused, kneeling down next to the girl. She knew that she could see Usagi's real form, and she put a smile on her face so the girl knew she knew.
"Are you real?"
Usagi nodded, "Very much so. I'm here to help you. Are you lost?"
The girl snuffled, wiping a chubby hand over her eyes. "I turned away for one moment to look at the window, and she wasn't there anymore!"
Usagi looked over her shoulder to see the display in front of the Toy Store. So innocent. Usagi had wandered in there many a time attracted by the glee of young children.
Turning back to the girl, Usagi leaned in conspiratorially, "Hey. Tell you what. If I help find your mother, I'll buy you an ice cream cone. Is that okay?"
She nodded happily. "Yes! But it isn't my mom. It's my sister. She's gonna be so mad when she finds me again!" The girl quickly sniffed back tears.
"I don't think that's the case," Usagi soothed, spying someone over the girl's shoulder that radiated joy as she approached the pair. "In fact, I think she's here now."
Alerted by Usagi's words, the girl smiled broadly. "Onee-chan!"
Usagi's hunch was correct. The girl stepped in and accepted the huge hug that the younger child offered her.
Standing, Usagi smiled and relished the joy and happiness that entered her mind.
"I'm glad you found her," Usagi winked at the small girl, "Otherwise I would have had to put a newspaper add up."
"I'm sorry. I hope Noriko didn't give you any trouble."
"No. Not at all. In fact, I was just going to take her for some ice cream. Is that okay with you?"
The girl looked down at Noriko in her arms, judging the hopeful look in her eyes, and then laughed. "Yeah, I guess. Thanks. For everything."
She had light brown hair to about her shoulders and a green headband. Soft emerald eyes shone out from behind a pair of glasses, and a shy smile flitted on her lips. She was wearing a school uniform, also green in color, which showed she went to a prestigious junior high. The girl in her arms, in contrast, had a head of dark black tresses that flowed to the middle of her back and bright blue eyes. Usagi could see the fondness that bound them together.
The girl set Noriko down and extended her hand, "I'm Houji Fuu,"
Usagi smiled brightly and accepted the handshake, "Tsukino Usagi at your service--" She broke off. When her hand touched Fuu, a shock ran through her, and she stumbled back.
It was her! The one that would release Usagi from the responsibilities that tied her down. The woman who would be able to give her leave to return to her own being.
Shaking her head, she hastily reconstructed the barriers around herself and drew more magic from the Ginzinshou into her body. Lately, it had been getting increasingly harder for her to stop the shifting of shape.
Feeling a tugging at her skirt, Usagi looked down to see young Noriko anxiously looking up.
"Are you all right?"
"Yes, I am now. It's just getting harder to hold this shape," she winked.
"Why do you? Why do you hold this shape?"
Usagi sighed. "That's a long answer, and I don't think you want to hear it all. C'mon, let's get that ice cream. Besides, look at your sister."
Fuu was staring at Usagi with a perplexed look on her face, one hand at her throat.
Noriko giggled, "She looks like a pigeon!"
Usagi laughed, "That she does." Standing up, Usagi suddenly caught a flash of yearning from Noriko's thoughts and she paused. Looking down at the girl, she smiled and knelt down again.
"Yes. It is possible to ride me."
Noriko's face lit up, "Really?"
Usagi nodded, a silly grin reaching across her face, "And it'll be fun, too."
And with that, Usagi walked back to Fuu, loving the feeling of happiness that surrounded her.
Sometimes it was good to be a Unicorn.
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Holding her book bag over her shoulder, Usagi laughed at something Noriko said and then swept back a golden bang from before her eyes. Fuu, walking behind the two, had an interested look on her face as she tried to analyze the vibes she was getting from the girl in front of her. They reminded her somehow of Cephiro, and that was saddening her.
Looking up, she caught Usagi's veiled gaze, and then smiled back when Usagi smiled and dropped back to speak to her. Usagi was too pure. Not in the sense of Hikaru who was just clueless, but in the way she moved and held herself.
They watched Noriko for a few seconds, and Usagi laughed softly when Noriko tripped after chasing a butterfly. "She's adorable, isn't she?"
"Yes, she is," Fuu agreed and nodded her head.
Glancing down at her watch, Fuu's eyes widened, and she was about to say something to Usagi when she heard Usagi catch her breath. Looking up, she followed Usagi's gaze and then a smile graced her lips.
"Hikaru-san!"
The smaller girl turned away from the window she was looking into and then bounded towards them, her red pigtail bouncing with her, "Fuu-chan! I was just talking to Umi-chan, and she said that you were coming, so I was so happy! It's almost time for us to go back to Cephi-!"
Fuu quickly hushed Hikaru, and then pointed at Usagi who was gazing at Hikaru as if she couldn't quite believe her eyes. Usagi's gaze kept on shifting from her to Hikaru, and then a thoughtful expression settled on her face.
"Oh! I'm so sorry! I'm Shidou Hikaru! Nice to meet you!" The energetic young teen turned away from Fuu and waved brightly. She stopped in mid-wave. Her red eyes widening (so much that Fuu thought her eyeballs would pop out of their sockets) Hikaru slowly took a step forward and walked around Usagi who was studying her solemnly. Hikaru finally stopped and reached out a trembling hand.
"Are-are you real?"
Usagi nodded, a small smile flitting on her lips. Reaching out a hand, she offered it to Hikaru, who slowly took it, joy crossing her face.
Usagi, however, jumped back again when her hand met Hikaru's; an equally surprised look graced her face as the time Fuu had shaken her hand. Something shifted under her skin, and sweat started to bead on her forehead. Stumbling back, she gripped the broach on her school uniform's ribbon, and slowly regained her composure.
"I'm sorry," she said, rather huskily, "I just get these flashes. I'm Tsukino Usagi."
Fuu watched as Noriko approached and said to Hikaru softly, "You see her too?"
Hikaru nodded, something flickering in her eyes that looked suspiciously like wonder as she gazed at the blonde girl, "I sure do."
"I-is there any more of you?" Usagi whispered hoarsely, rubbing her forehead as if it ached.
Hikaru snapped out of it enough to speak up, "Umi-chan's coming, Usagi-chan!"
"Three…there are three of them...Hmm…"
Fuu watched as suddenly Usagi jerked up, once again grabbing the broach. Wildly glancing around, her gaze settled onto Noriko, and she lunged for the little girl. She barely had enough time to roll out of the way before a giant claw smashed into the concrete the space Noriko had just been.
All the color drained from Fuu's face, and she only had a chance to give a breathy scream before the monster turned and looked at her. She froze, an unsettling numbness racing through her limbs and rendering her helpless. She was frozen – literally! She could watch but not do anything. Noriko…!
Behind her, Hikaru gritted her teeth and snarled in anger and annoyance. This was not Cephiro. She didn't have any magical powers or weapons at hand.
She had to do something!!
From behind the hulking figure of the monster, Hikaru caught a flash of silver and blue before something jumped onto the monster's back. Catching on, Hikaru quickly ran around the monster as it reared back, trying to dislodge the nuisance, and picked up Noriko, carrying her safely away.
Usagi strongly wrapped her arms around the youma's neck and hung on the hardest she could. Adding pressure, she ignored the angry bellows and felt the sweat trickle down her neck and under her school uniform. Feeling her grip slacken, she gritted her teeth and shifted her arms, wincing as the uneven ridges along the youma's neck and shoulders grabbed at her skin, rubbing it raw.
Glancing over her shoulder, she saw that Hikaru was a safe distance away, and that the people in the park had fled at the first sight of a fight. Looking over the youma, Usagi almost cried out as she saw the frantic claws of her captive heading straight for the immobile figure of Fuu, frozen in a perpetual expression of shock and fear.
Fear and dread bombarded Usagi's mind, her soul almost ripping apart with the magnitude of emotions flowing about the clearing.
Closer and closer; inch by inch; snapshot by snapshot; Usagi's mind could not sift through the images presented to her, seeing each in an abstract wave, ebbing and rising along with the order and revelation each one brought. Coalescing, shifting, bending out of shape…she was oblivious to anything else then pushing on through the sticky mist.
*Noriko crying in Hikaru's arms*
*Claws ripping through time and space*
*Usagi's arms slipping and falling*
*Wide eyes behind red-tinged glass*
*Her cheek grazing against a random spike*
*Hikaru's uncomprehending thoughts bumbling over each other*
*Tears pouring from young eyes*
*Fabric slicing easily as butter*
*Heart pounding emptily in a burdened chest*
*Innocence shattering…*
"NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! ONEE-SAN!!!!!!!!!"
-STOP!!!!!!!- (-STOP!!!!!!!-)
The monster imploded centimeters away from piercing Fuu's skin. A bright light bathed across her face and eased the tight numbness from her body. Receding, the blinding white faded, leaving a figure in the middle of the clearing, noble and pure.
A strong and beautiful arching neck the color of new stars held up an equine face of no other. A shining ivory horn shone out under a mane of glistening silver. Cloven hooves stood upon the concrete of the path, somehow seeming to hold up the whole Earth. The deepest blue eyes gazed calmly at Fuu, ancient mysteries swirling through their depths.
-FUU...I'M GLAD THAT YOU ARE OKAY. I'M SO SORRY I DID NOT ACT SOONER.- (-Fuu…I'm glad that you are okay. I'm so sorry I did not act sooner.-)
Understanding flooded into Fuu's head like a cool drink, and she shuddered with the power of it.
"You…You're Usagi-san." It wasn't a question.
The Unicorn nodded, a smile seeming to flicker on its lips.
-AND YOU ARE A MAGIC KNIGHT OF CEPHIRO..- (-And you are a Magic Knight of Cephiro.-)
Fuu nodded, and she fully understood.
"You're from Cephiro!?" Hikaru exclaimed, shock tinging her red eyes an even sharper color magenta.
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And I'll stop there. I hope you liked it, and if you did, would you be so kind as to review? You don't have to if you don't want to, it's just very scintillating for my ego. Oh, I also have a writer's block, so it may take a while for me to update…that is, if you want me to. Thanks! Bye now! ^_^