*************************************************************
Part 5
Ok, I know that part 4 sucked hardcore...I'm thinking this whole
story is going to be mega-long! Uh, I don't own Sailor Moon,
or any other familiar brand name in this story, but I don't
want to list them all. All feedback is appreciated; tell me
how much this rules or sucks ass, whatever.
Venusorbit1@aol.com
* * * * * * * * * * *
Raye's alarm rang at quarter to seven, before the sun
even came up. Mina stirred under her covers in the darkness
and instinctively reached for Artemis, who of course was not
sleeping next to her in her bed but in a modified doggie bed
in Darien's apartment. She could hear Raye getting up to turn
off the alarm, and the earsplitting beeping stopped abruptly,
leaving the earsplitting silence to pound away at her head.
Raye clicked on the dim desk lamp, casting soft yellow light
into the room. Mina moaned and squeezed her eyes shut against
the intruding light, lest it hammer any more pain into her
tortured skull.
Raye knelt on the floor next to her bed and touched
her friend's forehead gently. "Mina? How're you feeling?"
"Like crap," came the muffled reply. She pulled her
blanket down so that her eyes peeked out over the fleece. "My
head hurts."
Raye sighed, and ran a hand down her exhausted face. "I'll
kill them, I swear, hon. The next time they show their ugly
Negaverse faces I'll shove my foot so far up their asses that
they'll be tasting red pump." She went over to the mini-fridge
and pulled out a slightly cold water bottle, and gently placed
it against the side of Mina's head. "Keep this here. It's not
that cold but it'll help, I guess. I'll bring back some ice
after class, OK?"
Mina nodded once and closed her eyes again. Her head
throbbed so hard she felt sick to her stomach, thanks to a certain
Negaverse cretin who had kicked her while she was down. A
youma had attacked last night, outside the dining hall, a weak,
stupid one made out of a disposable napkin holder. They had
easily defeated it; the pitiful excuse for a monster had barely
even learned how to attack with rolls of scratchy, cheap napkins
before Mars incinerated the entire thing with one shot, leaving
a charred metal box on the ground. Sailor Moon had just turned
to suggest that they grab some Cookie Crisp before hitting
Thirsty Thursday at Delta Chi when Venus was thrown forward on
her face, stunned, knocked down by one of Jedite's energy blasts.
She had lain there on the ground, paralyzed, scared, while
Jedite held her down with his boot.
"Let her go, you...you soon to be dead piece of trash!"
Jupiter raged, readying herself for attack.
"Or what Sailor Brat?" Zoycite jumped out of a tree and
deftly landed next to Jedite, smirking, and shoved his boot on
Venus as well. "You can't hit us without hitting your leader
too, Mars, so I'd think twice before I started shooting fireballs
left and right."
Mars lowered her hands, her rage so palpable it was a
wonder that the two Dark Kingdom generals didn't explode into
smoking pieces like cartoons did. Sailor Moon chose that
precise moment to throw a kindergarten-grade hissy fit.
"What do you MEAN, our leader? I'm the leader, not Venus."
She stomped her foot for emphasis. "Let her go or you're
moondust, Nega-dweeb!"
Jedite rolled his eyes dramatically. "What is it with
all this Negaverse crap? We are the DARK KINGDOM, Sailor Sluts,
get it right. Or do you need me to spell it for you?"
"For your information, dumbass, Mercury found that your
kingdom exists in negative space, so we started calling...wait,
never mind! Get off of her unless you want to meet your maker!"
Her trembling voice was not at all intimidating.
"Shabon Spray!" Mercury, fed up with all the meaningless
trash-talking, took matters into her own hands and enveloped the
area in fog.
"Cute, Mercury," Zoycite snarled, firing a barrage of
ice crystals in the direction of where he remembered Mercury to
be. "Very noble of you to try and annoy us to death."
Venus groaned on the ground, her entire body still
aching from the dark energy coursing through it, and tried to
lift her hands so at least she could take advantage of her
situation and blast the jerks from below where they least
expected it. I'll take out their balls! She was scared,
no, terrified, since she had never actually been on the receiving
end of a hostage situation, and without full use of her voluntary
muscles, she was completely defenseless. Please, please,
girls. Do something. She would have cried from panic, but
she would not, could not. What good were tears when the safety
of the princess depended on her?
"Oh I don't think so." Zoycite noticed her movement and
swiftly connected his boot with her head. She yelped, like an
injured animal, and Mars screamed with rage.
"We have to do something! Why are we just standing
here?"
Mercury assessed the situation through her visor. "Mars,
it's up to you."
"WHAT?"
"Your Flame Sniper is the closest in accuracy next to
Venus's Love Chain. You have the best chance of hitting them
and not Venus."
"Thank you! Finally!" She aimed up carefully the most
important shot of her life. "Flame Sniper!"
A red rose joined the flaming arrow mid-flight, and
side-by-side they closed the distance between the Senshi and
the generals. Jupiter held her breath, certain that this would
be the day that they toasted two of the generals and evened the
score, but the two men vanished at the last second and the
lethal combination slammed into a nearby tree, leaving a rather
nasty, flaming gouge. Tuxedo Mask leaped off the lamppost,
hung suspended in the air, and landed next to Venus. He
carefully took her into his arms and laid her head on his lap.
"Venus! Are you all right?" Behind his mask, his eyes
were two slits of worry. The other girls caught up and surrounded
their fallen friend.
"Oh God! Venus, say something!" Mars pleaded, brushing
blond hair out of her best friend's face.
Venus lay there and wished they'd all just stop talking;
their voices drilled into her head like a jackhammer. She
swallowed and wished she were back home, in Japan, in her
yellow and pink bedroom, in her own bed. "I'm OK," she croaked
without opening her eyes. She heard Mercury tapping the
keyboard of her computer at a record pace. You could be a
stenographer, Ames, they start you at forty grand. Ow,
thinking hurts. No wonder Serena doesn't do it that often.
"She'll be OK," Mercury declared. "Just a minor
concussion, no signs of hemorrhaging. She needs to rest,
though."
Darien must have carried her back into her room, and
Raye must have changed her clothes, because she woke up in
sweats and not in the jeans and sweater she had been wearing
that night. She immediately zonked out while Raye showered
and dressed.
"Mina," Raye shook her arm, waking her up. "I'm going
to class now. Do you want anything besides ice?"
"Tylenol. No, sorry, Demerol," she mumbled under the
covers.
"How 'bout some crack? I'll buy it from that burnout
downstairs." She gently whacked Mina on the butt. "All right,
if you need anything, call my cell. Amy's going to stop by
later and check on you, OK? I hope you feel better, hon, bye!"
She gently shut the door behind her. Mina stayed awake for
about twenty seconds after she left, and then drifted off;
unaware that her last thought before she fell asleep was of
the Silver Millennium.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Raye!" Raye stopped and turned at the sound of Lita's
voice. "Wait up!"
Lita had obviously overslept; she was sporting windpants
and a hat, and not a touch of makeup. Half of a Bryce University
College of Culinary Arts key chain stuck out of the front flap
of her book bag, obviously from a Lita-like stuff and run.
She held a Styrofoam cup of steaming coffee without a lid, and
tried her best not to spill it as she trotted alongside of Raye.
"How's Mina feeling? Is she OK? Boy, what I wouldn't give to
be alone in a room with Zoycite right now..."
"I know," Raye agreed, fumbling in her coat pocket for
a pair of gloves. "Damn it's cold! I hate these eight o' clock
classes!"
"Damn right," Lita said, blowing on her coffee, which
served the dual purpose of waking her up and warming her hands.
"Is she going to skip class?"
"Who? Mina? Probably. I wouldn't go to class if I had
a concussion."
"Yeah, like Dr. Eicher would let you skip math," Lita
smirked, taking a careful sip of her coffee and burning her
tongue nonetheless. "OW! And you wouldn't go to class if you
had a zit."
Raye's jaw dropped open like a hinge. "I wasn't about
to let that hot rugby player see me with that volcano on my
forehead! And that was only one time; you must be confusing me
with Serena."
They half-ran, half-walked the rest of the way to the
Technology Center, relishing the blast of hot air that greeted
them inside the building and defrosted their numb fingers and
runny noses. Running up three flights of stairs to their
classroom in record time, Lita slopped coffee all over her
bare hands. "Oh, NUTS! Raye, do you have a tissue or something?
My hands are gonna get all sticky."
Raye wasn't paying attention to Lita's plight; instead
she muttered, "What are they doing here?"
Lita looked up from her java-soaked hands to the
classroom doorway, which was blocked by a flock of girls.
She didn't recognize any of them at first, but when Raye
regally lifted her head and straightened her back, giving
herself a more daunting air than usual, she identified them
as a group of girls that lived in Goshin Hall with Raye and
Mina, and had been dubbed by the two as the "Seventh Floor
Bitches." The girls had decided that they hated Raye and Mina
after the male population of Goshin had started migrating
towards the second floor instead of the seventh, where the
aptly dubbed bitches resided, and had tried to redirect the
Y chromosome flow by spreading extremely false and highly
unbelievable rumors about Ms. Aino and Hino. There were five
main bitches; all loved tight black pants and heavy blush,
despite the fact that they had, as Lita put it, "...Asses and
faces as round as pumpkins, and not nearly as appetizing."
They spoke at volumes that were hazardous to the human ear,
and were prone to high-pitched squealing and giggling that
Serena herself would not be able to reproduce. They were
also notorious sluts.
They were crowding the doorway of the classroom, so
Lita entered first, pushing their round bodies away like a
tank. "Sorry, didn't see you there," she sneered, then
whispered to Raye, "Yeah, right, like that's possible."
The algebra professor was late, so they had a few
minutes to screw around before class started. The Seventh
Floor Bitches took seats directly behind Lita and Raye, and
almost immediately Kristen Hayes, the most obnoxious of all
the bitches, began unwisely running her mouth. "Hey Ashley,"
she poked the bleach blonde with her fluorescent pink gel-pen.
"Are we going to Boris St. tonight? Jay Melman invited us up,
and he said he really wants to see me there."
Lita glanced over at Raye, but girl's face was as
unreadable as their algebra book. She pursed her lips together,
hoping she possessed the necessary the self-restraint to keep
herself from turning around and punching Kristen in the face if
she said anything about Raye. Not that Raye couldn't hold her
own, but she was heavily outnumbered, and Lita would be more
than happy to take on more than one bitch at one time.
The girl Ashley was sitting right behind Raye "Oh God!
Are you guys back together or what?"
Kristen talked not to Ashley but to the back of Lita's
head. "I have a feeling that we're going to hook up tonight.
He still wants me, bad, he called my room like three times
yesterday."
Ashley sighed into Raye's hair. Lita noticed a
microscopic twitch below Raye's eye, but other than that, there
was no indication that she was even slightly fazed.
"Kristen, you are SO lucky! He is SO hot!"
"I know. Aren't you glad he's back with me and not
with some foreign exchange student?" Kristen talked directly
to Raye's head.
Lita clenched her hands together so tightly that her
fingernails left half-moon impressions in her palms. "Please,
please, please," she hissed across the aisle to Raye. "Let me
hit them. Just once. Right in the middle of all that Maybelline
makeup."
"Shh," Raye whispered back once the professor entered
the room. But for the next hour, the mental picture of beating
the living crap out of Kristen Hayes was stuck in repeat mode
in her head.
* * * * * * * * * *
"Ooh, let's get a bagel!" Serena pleaded while passing
Lola's Café, undoubtedly her favorite place in the entire world,
due mostly to their Death by Chocolate sundaes and
ham-and-egg-on-a-croissant sandwiches. "PLEASE!! We
have time, Amy!"
Amy glanced at her watch and realized that Serena
was right; they had a good forty-five minutes until their respective
classes. "Well, sure, I won't mind. I could use some cappuccino,
anyway." More for the caffeine than anything else. I can't
believe I was online all night with Zach. He had spent at least
two hours trying to convince her to come to Boris St. that night,
citing everything from, "All your friends are doing it," to "Do it for
me as a personal favor," to "I have a fatal neurological disease,
and if I'm ever unhappy it will flare up and kill me." Finally, after
hardcore groveling on all levels, Amy promised she would stop
by, even though she hated parties. Well, it won't be so bad if
all my friends are there, will it?
"YAY!" Serena squealed, yanking the door open and
practically leaping inside. Lola's was a quaint little eatery with
dark wood floors and booths, and brass coat hooks stuck on every
available inch of wall. The countertops were also wooden, but the
stools were glistening chrome. One always had a feeling of comfort
in the place, despite its antique floors and booths. It was almost
always dim, and large, framed photography covered the dark green
walls. The photographs were rotated every month, and were usually
taken by local artists or students in the art department. This month,
they were black and white shots of students on the campus.
"Mmm," Serena breathed, inhaling the scent of cinnamon
and coffee. Lola's lunch crowd still lingered, almost every booth
and table was occupied. Amy was about to suggest they come
back later when Serena squealed, "Darien!" and made a beeline to
a booth in the back. Amy followed, shaking her head and hoping
that Darien had the necessary funds to satiate Serena's appetite.
"Hey girls," Darien smiled, sliding down to make room for
Serena. Kevin sat on the other side, and he also moved down for
Amy, who was halfway mental at the thought of sitting next to a stranger.
"Hi Kevin!" Serena chirped, taking a big sip of Darien's
soda. "What's up?"
"Nothing, what's up?" he replied, offering one of his French
fries to Amy, who politely shook her head.
"No thanks, I'm just going to get some coffee."
"What are you up to, girls?" Darien asked, throwing a look
to Serena, who smiled sheepishly with the now-empty glass in her hand.
"Oh, we just had a break between classes and decided to grab
some lunch," Amy said, picking up a menu. She didn't have it memorized
like Serena did.
Raymond, the cook and co-owner of Lola's, appeared at Serena's
elbow. He knew almost every customer inside out, and never forgot a
face, no matter how many years. He had shared the same amount of
laughs and tears with them, and they were "his kids," as he liked to call
them. "Hey Sweetie! Long time no see!"
"Hi, Raymond," Serena said with a grin. She had become one
of Raymond's favorites ever since she first tasted his meatball sandwich
and gave it such rave reviews that the old, mustached man had tears in his
eyes. "Silly, you just saw me last week! I came to try the candy cane milkshake!"
"A week? Exactly!" He hugged her around the shoulders and
winked at Darien. "A week is a long time for Serena to stay away from this
place!"
She blushed as Amy and Darien laughed good-naturedly. Kevin
simply blinked, unaware of Serena's food fetish. Raymond nodded at him
next.
"Hey Kev, how's the shoulder? We gonna beat Coast Ridge next
year or what? My neighbor, Louie, all he talks about is that quarterback
boyfriend of his tramp daughter, how many yards he threw for and all that!
You gotta show him a thing or two!"
"It's doing better, Mr. Angelo. We'll get them next year, I promise."
"What! WHAT! What's with all this 'Mr. Angelo'?" Raymond
roared, his chubby face swelling so much he resembled an Italian puffer fish.
"Call me Raymond; Mr. Angelo is my father! Jeez, you kids! I had this one,"
he gestured towards Serena, "calling me Mr. Angelo-san for two months! Eh,
Sweetheart?" he elbowed her and smiled.
"Yep."
"What'll it be Sugar? Is there anything on the menu you didn't try
yet?"
"Um, let's see, I think I'll have the Chicken Angelo and hot chocolate."
"Ah! The Chicken Angelo! And how 'bout you, Sweet Pea? Anything?"
"Just coffee please," Amy replied. "Thank you."
"Raymond don't make just coffee! How 'bout some pie, it's fresh
outta the oven, you'll like it."
"OK," she agreed, even thought she wasn't that hungry. Oh well,
Serena will probably eat it for me.
Raymond threw his dishrag over his wide shoulder and disappeared
into the back. Darien started drinking out of Kevin's glass. "So are you guys
coming tonight?"
"You bet! Oh, and guess what! Amy's coming too!"
"Oh really?" He raised his eyebrows and smiled at her. "Did
someone talk you into it?"
"Yes, Zach did," Amy said softly, swiveling around and pretending
to look for Raymond.
Kevin smiled behind his napkin. "Is Mina coming? Did you talk to
her?" OK, God, I've never asked for anything more than a mountain bike
and a crappy 8-bit Nintendo. Give me this, please!
Serena, Darien, and Amy froze, frantically trying to come up with a
cover story that would make the most amount of sense. Amy threw one out
when she spotted Serena opening her mouth to deliver an undoubtedly
improbable explanation. "Oh, I don't know, she slipped in the shower this
morning and hit her head. We think she has a concussion."
Kevin's gray eyes sharpened with concern. "Is she OK? Did you
take her to the hospital?"
"Well-" Serena began.
"Yes," Darien kicked her under the table. "Yes, we did. And
she's going to be fine, she just has to rest."
Kevin stared into space for a second, and Serena spotted her
opportunity like a running back sees an opening in the defensive line.
"You know, she's really bummed out about not being able to go. I bet it would
really make her day if someone would stop by before the party and bring her
some ice cream. She likes banana."
He looked at her a second, so intensely that Serena was almost frightened.
She imagined for a second to be on the receiving end of an unreserved glare of
his, and internally she quaked. "That's a little transparent." He smiled warmly,
and the adrenaline drained from her body. "Sure she wouldn't mind?"
"NO!" Serena squeaked, still a bit unnerved. "Of course not!" She
made a mental note to stop by and persuade Mina to shower and dress, or
at the very least brush her teeth. Darien and Amy sighed.
Raymond reappeared with a tray. "There you go, Love!" he
trumpeted, placing a plate in front of each girl. Serena's eyes lit up like
birthday candles at the mound of whipped cream and chocolate shavings
capping her hot chocolate.
"Raymond, you're the best!" She grabbed her fork and stabbed
into her chicken, potato, and cheese combination.
"Hey, Kev, you should see how many girls have been asking for
the phone the phone number of a few particular boys in a photograph!
Gods, if I knew those pictures would be such a hit I would have let that
goofy hippie hang them in here months ago!" He chuckled, his beefy arms
and stomach shaking.
Kevin reddened to the color of Amy's cherry pie, which she had
decided to eat after all, and was enjoying. He mumbled something, and
Serena asked, "What picture?" around a mouthful of food."The one hanging
next to the door! I bet this one noticed it, eh?" He elbowed Amy, who
smiled and also turned red. "HAHA! You kids!" he snorted, wandering
to another table.
"I want to see!" Serena announced, jumping up and making
a beeline to the door. They followed her, Kevin rather reluctantly.
"Oh wow!" The picture was big, about 15" by 18", standard
black and white. Kevin, Jay, Matt and Zach were crowding the view screen,
shirtless, covered in dirt and grass, their faces frozen in varying degrees of
male enthusiasm. Matt had a dirty football raised in the air. "Hmm," Serena
said at the sight of all those exposed, rippling boy muscles.
"This is typical," Kevin remarked, pointing to Jay, who had made
sure to flex his bicep for the photograph.
"Really?" Serena replied absent-mindedly, staring at the abundance
of six-packs in front of her. Darien noticed and cleared his throat loudly.
"I didn't know you had a tattoo, Kevin," Amy said about the tribal
design encircling his enormous right bicep.
"Yeah, my mom almost killed me when she saw it. Jay has one on
his back, you just can't see it in this picture."
"Hey," Serena said, moving closer. "Doesn't that guy look like
you, Darien?" She pressed her finger against the glass, leaving a greasy
fingerprint on the face of a passerby in the background.
Darien squinted and moved closer. He recognized the haircut,
battered book bag, and sunglasses immediately. "Uh, yeah, Serena, that is me."
"Really?" she squealed, shoving herself in front of the picture.
"Ohmygosh! It IS you, hon!"
"Oh wow that's...unusual," Amy observed. "Who would have
suspected that the four of you would meet and become friends?"
"Huh," Kevin grunted, staring at the picture of him and his friends.
It was eerie, that a picture taken in late August would reflect their lives now.
Darien was walking towards the posing guys, like he had been heading
there all along. It just took him a few months to get here.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Mina had been watching silently as Raye brutally ripped
a brush through her ink-black hair, pulling out the tangles with such
ferocity that Mina wondered why they hadn't been able to defeat the
Negaverse, or at least kick one of the general's asses by now. Raye
had come home in a bad mood, which was not unusual, but the tiniest
of disturbances, like the dining hall being too crowded and the cap of her
lotion bottle breaking, sent her into an El Nino-like tirade that dissuaded
Mina from practically breathing, much less saying a word. She could
almost see the ripples of heat across her friend's skin, flowing like lava,
which always appeared when she was Sailor Mars. She's a fiery one,
Jay. Good luck. She had run into Jay the previous day on the street,
and he had reminded her that they were supposed to stop by that night
and to tell Raye hi.
"DAMMIT!" Raye shouted, launching her black pants into
the dirty laundry basket, which subsequently tipped over from
the impact and spilled its contents onto the floor. Mina cringed,
but didn't say a word.
The door opened, and Serena, Lita and Amy let themselves
in. Serena and Amy carried book bags, their zippers opened partially
for ventilation for two particular dorm-forbidden cats.
"Serena don't you ever KNOCK!" Raye shrieked, fiercely
yanking drawers open and ferociously rummaging through them.
Serena dropped her book bag on Mina's bed none too gently,
prompting an "OW!" from the occupant inside. "What's up your butt?"
she said, pulling off her coat and looking in the mirror. "Mina, do
you think I should leave my hair down or pull it up?" She, Raye,
and Serena had hacked off a good three feet of hair before coming
to America, and sometimes Mina would still run her fingers through
her much-shorter hair and feel naked without the added length. She
had let it grow to mid-back, a little longer than Raye's, and Serena
had gotten scissor-happy and cut it just below the shoulders. She
had stopped wearing the odangos once she started college, but they
always spontaneously appeared when she transformed into Sailor
Moon, just as Mina's retired red bow reappeared on Venus's head.
Lita had discovered in high school that her hair was naturally curly,
and she let it fall down her back in glossy ringlets instead of forcing
it straight with a round brush and hair dryer. As was the case with
the other three, her hair pulled up into a familiar ponytail when she
transformed.
Luna slipped out of the open book bag, gasping for air.
"Ugh! Serena practically had that bag zipped shut; I was suffocating."
"Yeah? Well it's better than sharing a bag with Amy's laptop!"
a muffled voice cried from inside Amy's bag. Amy unzipped it dutifully,
and Artemis leapt out and jumped onto Mina's lap, panting. "How are
you feeling?" he asked, rubbing his head against her shoulder. She
smiled and hugged him.
"Just a slight headache. I'm feeling much better, but Amy
says I should take it easy tonight."
Amy pulled out her laptop and knelt on the floor. "Quick
Senshi meeting, you guys," she announced, opening her computer
and rapidly punching the keys. "We have a bit of a mystery on our
hands."
Raye stopped hunting for clothes, Mina slid off the bed,
and the gathered in a circle around Amy. Lita stood up and shut
the door. "OK, Ames, what's up?"
"I took this picture of Zach a few night ago," she said, and
a picture of Zach's face slid over half the screen.
"That's pretty close, Amy!" Serena laughed. "Were you
two getting cozy?"
Amy took a breath and blushed. "I was just helping him with
his calculus, we had to sit close together. Besides, my computer DOES
have a zoom lens."
"Yeah, I'm sure," Lita snickered, elbowing Raye, who
was sitting shamelessly in her underwear.
Amy ignored them all. "Anyway, I took this picture," she
hit another key and an unfortunately familiar face popped up, "last night."
Lita began popping her knuckles at the sight of Zoycite's face. "Now
I believe in your zoom lens, Amy. There's no way you'd get that close
to that Nega-creep."
Mina rubbed the place on her head where Zoycite had kicked her the previous night. "When did you have time to take this one?"
"When he was kicking you."
"Oh."
"Well, back to the subject," Amy continued. "Watch what
happens when I lengthen Zach's hair." She tapped the mouse. "And
age him by five or six years, and take away his glasses, voila!"
Serena gasped, and Mina's stomach turned to a block of ice.
The two faces on the screen were identical, except that Zoycite's eyes
were as flat and evil as a serpent's, while Zach's remained warm and
friendly. His face was innocent, without a trace of the malevolence that
covered Zoycite's face. There was something else, something familiar
that Serena couldn't place.
"Oh my friggin God!" Lita breathed. "That is unreal."
"But Darien was with Zach last night," Luna said. "He was slightly
embarrassed when he ran out of their apartment after he got the call. He
said he was with Zach all evening."
"So unless Zach travels faster than Tuxedo Mask, which isn't likely,
then he and Zoycite are two individuals," Raye said, absently scratching
Artemis's head. "So why the hell do they look exactly alike?"
Amy clicked again, and a birth certificate filled the screen, complete
with little baby ink footprints. "I don't know. Here's Zachary Elias Straub's
birth certificate, hospital records, driver's license, and..." she dramatically
punched another key, "high school yearbook photo. Zach Straub is a
normal human being, and there's no explanation as to why he looks so
much like Zoycite."
And the other three," Raye said slowly. "They look like the
Generals, too. But they're not. I don't sense any evil in them."
"What about the Moonlight Knight?" Lita suggested. "Could
the Dark Kingdom Generals be a part of their soul, or something?"
"No," Amy said, typing again. "The Dark Kingdom Generals have
vital signs; they are actual physical beings, while the Moonlight Knight
was a nothing more than a spirit. We could touch him, he could be tangible
matter, but he had no heartbeat, body temperature, brain waves, catch my drift?"
"Yeah," Mina said. "And the Moonlight Knight always
went back into Darien's body. The Generals go back to Beryl and the Negaverse."
Serena frowned and fingered her brooch, which she wore constantly
regardless of the occasion. She hated not knowing all the answers, not
knowing what to tell her friends when they looked to her for guidance. "I wish
I could ask my mother," she said. It was acknowledged that she didn't mean
her mother back in Japan, but Queen Serenity.
Raye sighed and stood up. "We're never going to figure this out,"
she said, opening the wardrobe and thumbing through. "Mina, if you're not
going out, can I wear this?" She held up a gold tank top and diaphanous gold
button-down shirt.
"Yeah sure," Mina replied, crawling back in bed. Serena dropped
Luna on the floor and began sifting through Raye's makeup case.
"Mina, uh, I bet you would feel a lot better if you took a shower!"
she suggested, swiveling a tube of lipstick up.
"Why? I'm not going out?" she yawned, curling Artemis to her.
Serena put the lipstick down and turned to face her. "Uh, um,
because you kinda stink, too!"
Lita made a face. "Serena!"
"Do I?" Mina asked, sniffing her collar.
"I don't smell any-oof!" Serena shot across the room and
clapped Artemis's mouth shut.
"Oh don't worry Mina! We all get kinda ripe when we don't
shower all day! Right Amy?" She threw a look to Amy.
"Uh, right," Amy said, looking down quickly.
"Why don't you take a nice, hot shower, and you'll feel
tons better! Here's a towel, go ahead!"
Mina shrugged. "Might as well." She gathered up towels,
a bathrobe, and her shower caddy. "I'll just be a few minutes."
"My gosh, Serena!" Raye snapped after Mina had left.
"Could you possibly be a little more offensive? Why don't you just
tell her she's ugly, too?"
"Raye! You don't understand! Kevin's going to stop by and
see her and what kind of friend would I be if he walks in and she's sitting here with bed hair and morning breath!"
Lita sucked her breath in. "OK, good call, Serena. That was
justified."
"Why do you think Zoycite said that Mina was our leader?"
Raye said, pulling on stretchy brown flare pants. "He told me not to
fire at him or I would hit out leader."
"Yeah! And I'm the leader!" Serena said emphatically. "Right,
Luna?"
"I presume. I don't see why Venus would be the leader of the
Sailor Senshi and not Sailor Moon."
"Don't you remember, Luna?" Lita asked, smoothing her hair
down.
"I remember as much of the Moon Kingdom as you four do."
"Which is almost nothing," Raye concluded, flipping her head
upside down to brush her hair. "OK, next dead end, please."
Mina returned from the shower shortly after. "You're right,
Serena, I do feel better!" She unwound the towel from her head and released
her wet locks.
"Here!" Serena said, holding up a clean pair of pink pajamas.
"You look really cute in these! Did you brush your teeth or what?"
Lita guffawed loudly, and Raye smacked her with a t-shirt that was
lying on the floor. Mina looked at each of her friends, and then the cat guardians.
"What's going on, guys? It's not like I have a hot date or something."
Serena forcefully laughed. "What are you talking about, Mina? I
just thought you'd feel better if you cleaned yourself up. Flip over," she
instructed, pointing the stream of hot air at the crown of Mina's head. Mina
bent over obediently, letting her sodden blond strands fall around her face.
Serena blew them dry, fluffing periodically with her fingers with the sureness
of a hairstylist or a mother.
"There!" Serena proclaimed, whipping Raye's hairbrush through
the thick blonde mass like she was beating eggs. Wow, Mina's hair is so
much lighter than mine. Maybe I should get highlights.
Mina settled back into bed, her recently un-greased hair flowing over
her yellow pillowcase and hanging off of the sides of her bed. She hated
Zoycite more than ever at the moment; the anticipation of seeing Kevin that
week had twisted her nerves and toyed with her imagination, until she would
spent entire classes staring into space, imagining platinum eyes staring at
her with shimmering heat from the desert. The Mina of her imagination was
brighter, wittier, captivating, the kind of girl that could capture a man's heart
and hold it in her hands like a precious jewel. She wished she could shine
brighter than the sun and intrigue him with brilliance, blocking out other
people the way the noontime daylight hid the electric beam of a flashlight.
Or at least go five minutes without saying something stupid and then
bursting into giggles. She wanted his mind to be on her, and hers on him,
until their separateness disappeared and they knew each other as well as
they knew themselves. She wanted to touch him, envelop him with her
essence, suffocate him with her skin and scent and hair, drink the heat
off his lips like water.
Oh my God Mina get a grip you've known him for like a week.
"Shut up brain," she mumbled to herself. "I know something you
don't."
Meanwhile, Lita was pacing around the small room, her long stride
covering half the floor space in one step. She tugged at the hem of her shirt,
wanting to be slim and petite like Serena and not a curvy, hulking giant who
had to special order pants and pull down her shirts all the time because the
torso was too short. "You guys? Do you think I should wear this?" she said,
voicing her insecurities. She was only a few inches shorter than Matt; if she
could chop off inches of her height for one night, she would have done so without
hesitation. Maybe I'll just get really wasted, and then I won't care.
Amy looked away from the mirror for a second. "No, it looks good, Lita.
Keep it."
Raye, who was midway through smearing foundation on her face with her
palm, ("Not like that, Raye! Use a sponge!" Mina scolded.) noticed Amy trying to
smooth a few stray hairs down with de-frizzing cream. Wait a second! "Amy!"
she shouted, startling the small blue-haired girl into dropping the tube of Physique.
"When did you start using hair crap?"
Lita jerked out of her self-esteem rut and elbowed Amy in the ribs.
"Hey, Ames, gonna look all pretty for a certain guy? Ooohhh!"
"No I just-" Amy began, her genius mind choking in the face of such
opposition. How can I be so quick to solve a problem but be such a bad
liar?
"AMY!" Serena screeched. "Let me do your, makeup, puh-leeeeze?"
"Well," Amy began, rather frightened at the sight of Serena brandishing
an eyelash curler in front of her. "I guess. Don't make me look too weird
though. I really don't wear a lot of-"
She ended up wearing a lot, even though it didn't look like a lot since
Serena had perfected an art known as "blending," a skill that had bypassed
the Seventh Floor Bitches. She carefully touched one eyelid, wondering if the
specks of iridescent glitter were too much. "Do I look OK?" she asked
tentatively. Serena smiled and hugged her.
"You look awesome! Zach is going to piss himself when he sees
you!"
Raye rolled her eyes. "Now THAT'S a wonderful analogy. Are you
guys almost ready to go?" She pulled on her camel-colored peacoat and
slid into her shoes. "We have to drop off the cats, too."
"I'll stay here with Mina," Artemis offered. Mina smiled and was
about to accept when Serena grabbed him by his ruff and stuffed him in the
Jansport.
"No, I think she needs to rest tonight, OK Artemis?" Serena breathed
hurriedly, zipping the bag despite muffled protests and swearing. "You get
better, OK, Mina? We need you at that EKE mixer tomorrow night, Luna thinks
that the Negaverse is going to attack there since that's the only fun they haven't
ruined yet."
"Bye hon," Lita waved, smoothing her hair one last time. "Wish me
luck."
"Oh! Good luck!" Mina blew her a kiss. "Get lucky in the name of Venus!"
Raye rolled her eyes. "Crackhead. She'd better not get lucky unless
she wants a beatdown."
Mina studied the lines furrowing into her friend's forehead, and wondered
what was bothering her so much that she transformed into a total shrew. "Raye?"
she asked timidly.
Raye nodded at her. "Huh?"
"What's wrong?"
She stiffened a little, then reached over and grabbed her keys.
"I'm fine, Mina, OK?" She snapped harsher than she intended.
I'm sorry, Mina, you don't know the whole story. Hell, I don't
even know the whole story.
"OK," Mina said softly, sliding in between her covers. "Have a
good time tonight. And be careful. You staying over?"
"I don't know, later," she said, heading out the door. She stopped,
turned, and looked carefully at Mina sitting upright, staring after her,
not hurt like Raye expected, but concerned. She softened a bit,
shoving her insecurities to the background for now. "I'm sorry.
Get some rest, OK?"
Mina nodded. "OK, Raye. Be careful." Why did I repeat
that?
* * * * * * * * * * *
"DAMMIT!" Zach screamed, grabbing his foot. After the initial
mild swear, he let loose with a stream of the most vulgar obscenities
that he could think of, ranging from the standard four-lettereds to
creative names for various body parts and functions. Jay stuck his
head into the kitchen to see what the fuss was about. What he found
was Zach hopping on one foot in a puddle of gold, foamy liquid
peppered with broken glass.
"No," he muttered, not wanting to believe the scene
in front of him. "Zach, you didn't spill a Corona."
"Yes I did so just shut up," Zach winced. "I don't want
to hear it, I just dropped the little bastard on my foot." The phone
rang, and Zach reached over to pick it up.
"DON'T ANSWER THAT!" Jay screamed, knocking the
phone out of Zach's hands and sending it skittering across the linoleum.
"It might be Crazy Kristen; she already called three times today."
"You're sh***ing me."
"NO! She keeps asking me when she should stop by. I
keep telling her I'm going to 114 tonight. She better not show up and
mess things up between me and Raye." For the last four hours, he
had been stressing hardcore about Raye: if she would come, if she
found him charming and attractive, if she found her clothes terribly
constraining. He had plugged Darien for all the information he
could get, a key factor in releasing the mojo. Now, if he could just
keep Crazy Kristen off his back for a few minutes.
There was a kick at the front door, and a yell. "Would
someone open the GD door?" Matt screamed through the oak.
"Why does the door have to be locked all the time?"
"To keep you out," Zach quipped, unlocking the dead bolt.
Darien, Kevin and Matt burst through the door, each loaded with
cases of MGD.
"OK, don't help or anything," Matt barked at Jay, who nodded
complacently and didn't help, or anything. The stack of cases that
was Kevin swung around and dropped a six-pack of bottles on the
kitchen table.
"Why didn't we get kegs?" Darien asked, dropping his cases
onto the table and rubbing his aching arms. Damn, I thought I was in
pretty good shape. Then again, the four unholy warriors of Queen
Bitch smack me around once a week.
"4C's got kegs; let them get evicted. The penalty's so much
more hardcore for kegs than for just cases. Besides, those kegs are for
everybody-" Jay ripped open the cardboard and held up two handfuls
of cans. "-these are for us!"
"Yo, Jay, you have to check out Chiba's car!" Matt enunciated
each word by pounding Darien on the shoulder. "Brand new Eclipse,
fully loaded. Can't fit Kevin in it, though."
Jay lifted his eyebrows, and then sauntered over to Darien
and put his arm around his shoulders. "Darien, my brother in everything
but blood..."
My brother in everything but blood...
"...please let me drive your car. At least once. I don't
have a car, I have to use Kevin's crappy Blazer or Matt's station
wagon."
"It's not a station wagon!" Matt bellowed. "The Subaru
Outback is a friggin SUV, thank you very much, not a GD station wagon!"
"Whatever, soccer mom."
Kevin opened the fridge and started loading cans in.
"Want me to hide the Woodchuck?"
"Yes!" Zach bellowed before anyone could speak. "Those
are for Amy."
Everyone stared at him. "But, Amy doesn't drink," Darien stated
simply, like he was talking to a kindergartener.
"Amy doesn't drink YET," Zach corrected, shuffling the cans
and bottles around until he was satisfied that Jay wouldn't accidentally
stumble across and down them. "I thought I'd start her off easy.
Woodchuck is for girls."
"I like Woodchuck," Kevin said. No one challenged his
masculinity.
Music suddenly started pounding through the walls, rattling the
concealed bottles of Woodchuck together. "Guess 4C's starting early," Matt announced,
checking his watch. "Hey Darien, when are the chicks getting here?"
"I told them around ten. Why, what time is it?"
"Nine-thirty. Should we start early, too?" He passed out cans to
everyone except Kevin, who pulled a round container out of the freezer and
grabbed his keys.
"Coming back?" Jay asked, wincing when a shriek of female voices
filtered through the walls. "OK, we're not going over there until Crazy
Kristen and her ho posse are gone!"
He was dragged over anyway.
* * * * * * * * * * *
"Coming up on 'Dateline:' Are you paying too much for your cereal? '
Dateline's' hidden camera goes undercover to reveal the truth behind the box..."
"Oh for the love of-" Mina sighed as she flipped through the channels.
What crap. They must have figured that the only people watching TV on Friday
night are losers with concussions. She settled back on her pillow, pouting.
I really, REALLY wanted to wear my ass pants and Raye's red halter-top
and grind with Kevin. Damn Zoycite! That fruity little bastard is going to get a
face full of Crescent Beam the next time I see him. She flicked "Dateline"
back on and for the next half-hour, was bored half to death by Stone Phillips
warning America about the abomination of overpriced Count Chocula.
Wonder what the girls are doing. Watch this be the only time
that Amy's drinking and I'll miss it. Dammit!
Lulled into a semi-stupor by reruns of "The Real World," Mina almost
fell out of bed when someone knocked lightly on her door. Probably someone
from down the hall. She reasoned, rubbing her face and throwing the
door open. "Yeah? What is it?" she harshed on the victim before realizing
he was 6'6" and beautiful, with an expression of bewilderment crossing his
face. "OH!" she said, instantly sorry and embarrassed beyond belief.
"What are you-I mean, I thought your place was going tonight, oh God
I look like-why did you-is that banana?"
Kevin smiled, holding out the container as a peace offering.
"Sorry to bust in. Serena said I should stop by and see if you're feeling
OK."
Aha! I knew there was a reason she was so desperate for me
to wash my hair! "Oh, she did?" Mina said, smiling in a way that
caused Kevin's knees to border on buckling.
"Yeah," he said, wondering why the hell he couldn't string
together a rational sentence when he was within two feet of her.
"And," she prompted, slouching and gazing up at him.
He gulped. "Are you feeling better?"
She took the container of ice cream from him. "This will help.
Want to come in for a while? I know that you want to get back to your
house..."
He followed her in the room and shut the door. The only light in
the room was from the TV. "It can wait," he said, meaning it completely.
He would rather be in the room with her at that moment than in Times
Square when the ball was dropping.
Mina produced two plastic spoons from a bag near the
refrigerator, and offered one to Kevin. They sat on her bed together,
albeit a tight squeeze, and Mina ended up sitting half on his lap.
"Thank you so much!" she said, digging into the pale yellow
cream. "How did you know that banana was my favorite?"
"Serena."
"Ah." What the hell? She's taking over my job! Oh my
God! I just realized I'm not wearing a bra!
"How's your head?" he asked, looking down and staring
at the part in her hair, expecting to see stitches or a bruise or something.
"I still have a slight headache. It was really bad last night
after Z-I mean, after I slipped on ice."
Kevin's spoon stopped halfway to his mouth. "I thought
you slipped in the shower? That's what Amy said."
Note to self: kill Amy later. "Oh yeah! I'm sorry, I just,
you know, after I bumped my head I've been a little foggy..." P.S. Kill
Serena too for not warning me.
"Oh."
They sat in comfortable silence for a while, finishing the rest of
the ice cream and watching a rerun of "Law & Order." Mina snuggled up
to Kevin's warm body, resting her head against the smooth, hard muscles
of his chest. She smiled as the steady thump-thumps of his heartbeat
vibrated under her cheek, reminding her that he was still alive. "Kevin?"
"Hmm?" Kevin replied, feeling blood pound into his face as he
stared down at the crown of her head. Oh God does she even know
what she's doing to me?
"Tell me about you."
"What do you want to know?" he said softly, putting one
hand on the small of her back and rubbing.
"Anything. Just talk about you. Tell me where you're from,
and what you like, and what you don't. Everything."
Kevin didn't want to talk, he wanted to kiss her all over until
his mouth was dry and his lips were chapped. But instead he said,
"Well, I live in Junta, it's about an hour away from here, up north farther.
Jay lives there, too, one street over. We've been best friends since sixth
grade."
"Really? I've been friends with the girls since junior high. How'd
you meet him?"
"Jay was being his annoying self at recess and this big fat kid
Mike Malone started beating on him. So I started beating on Mike.
Almost got expelled."
"That sounds like Jay."
"Yeah, I know. He started following me around, and I guess
he rubbed off on me, because we've been tight ever since."
"My room at home is pink and yellow," Mina said out of the
blue. "There's a big tree outside my window that Artemis, he's my cat,
used to climb up and down. I have a whole bunch of stuffed animals,
and pictures of my friends, and Sailor V stuff that they used to give me
when I would model."
"I used to have all this 49er stuff in my room, but for some
reason it made Kaylee cry, so I got rid of a lot of it."
"Who's Kaylee?"
"My sister. I have two of them. Kaylee's six, Jennifer's
thirteen, and a big pain in the ass."
Mina laughed, tickling Kevin with her breath. He shifted
a little and Mina spooned onto his side. "I don't have any brothers
or sisters. I used to wish I did, though, when we moved to England
and I was all by myself. I wanted someone to side with me when my
mother would go postal. What's your mom like?"
"She's OK, I guess, a lot better than Jay's mom. We have
this ongoing joke that she beats him with empty liquor bottles. Then
again, if I was Jay's mom, I would beat him with empty liquor bottles too."
Mina ran one hand lightly down his side, noticing how hard it
was. God I love male muscles. "Does this bother you?"
"No." Oh God no. Nothing you could do would bother me,
unless you hooked up with Jay or something.
"What does bother you?" she asked, staring up at him with
her huge blues. He locked eyes with her, and lost his breath for a second.
"Me? Uh, when Jay uses my car and forgets to put the seat
back, when I stay up all night reading, and when my bad ankle starts
hurting." When I'm this close to you and want more than anything
in the world to kiss you and I choke.
She moved up closer to his face, never breaking eye contact.
Her blond strands split over her shoulders like molten gold. "And
what do you like?"
He put both hands around her back and brought her face
within inches of his, close enough that they exchanged breath.
"Blond girls with blue eyes from Japan, who have concussions and
white cats."
She smiled. "Quick, when's your birthday?"
"What? Oh, January 19th. Why?"
She looked down at his lips, and back into his gray
eyes. "Because now I know enough about you to kiss you."
She pulled forward and touched her lips to his.
Outside, the moon emerged from behind the clouds
that had been blocking its face.
* * * * * * * * * * *
"There." The twisted woman stabbed her blood red talon
at the image in her crystal. Her four minions leaned closer, studying
the image in the cloudy ball. They saw a red brick apartment building,
with cars double-parked on each side of the street and people
streaming into the front doors. All the windows of the top floor
were dimly lit, with silhouettes of people dancing. "That is where
you will strike. Nephlite, Zoycite, you two go, and if those Sailor
Brats appear," She narrowed her slit-like eyes and grinned, revealing
malicious, pointed fangs. "Take hostages. They are all too
ridiculously noble to let a human die. Go, and do not fail me."
The two men bowed. "Yes, my queen," they said in unison.
Part 5
Ok, I know that part 4 sucked hardcore...I'm thinking this whole
story is going to be mega-long! Uh, I don't own Sailor Moon,
or any other familiar brand name in this story, but I don't
want to list them all. All feedback is appreciated; tell me
how much this rules or sucks ass, whatever.
Venusorbit1@aol.com
* * * * * * * * * * *
Raye's alarm rang at quarter to seven, before the sun
even came up. Mina stirred under her covers in the darkness
and instinctively reached for Artemis, who of course was not
sleeping next to her in her bed but in a modified doggie bed
in Darien's apartment. She could hear Raye getting up to turn
off the alarm, and the earsplitting beeping stopped abruptly,
leaving the earsplitting silence to pound away at her head.
Raye clicked on the dim desk lamp, casting soft yellow light
into the room. Mina moaned and squeezed her eyes shut against
the intruding light, lest it hammer any more pain into her
tortured skull.
Raye knelt on the floor next to her bed and touched
her friend's forehead gently. "Mina? How're you feeling?"
"Like crap," came the muffled reply. She pulled her
blanket down so that her eyes peeked out over the fleece. "My
head hurts."
Raye sighed, and ran a hand down her exhausted face. "I'll
kill them, I swear, hon. The next time they show their ugly
Negaverse faces I'll shove my foot so far up their asses that
they'll be tasting red pump." She went over to the mini-fridge
and pulled out a slightly cold water bottle, and gently placed
it against the side of Mina's head. "Keep this here. It's not
that cold but it'll help, I guess. I'll bring back some ice
after class, OK?"
Mina nodded once and closed her eyes again. Her head
throbbed so hard she felt sick to her stomach, thanks to a certain
Negaverse cretin who had kicked her while she was down. A
youma had attacked last night, outside the dining hall, a weak,
stupid one made out of a disposable napkin holder. They had
easily defeated it; the pitiful excuse for a monster had barely
even learned how to attack with rolls of scratchy, cheap napkins
before Mars incinerated the entire thing with one shot, leaving
a charred metal box on the ground. Sailor Moon had just turned
to suggest that they grab some Cookie Crisp before hitting
Thirsty Thursday at Delta Chi when Venus was thrown forward on
her face, stunned, knocked down by one of Jedite's energy blasts.
She had lain there on the ground, paralyzed, scared, while
Jedite held her down with his boot.
"Let her go, you...you soon to be dead piece of trash!"
Jupiter raged, readying herself for attack.
"Or what Sailor Brat?" Zoycite jumped out of a tree and
deftly landed next to Jedite, smirking, and shoved his boot on
Venus as well. "You can't hit us without hitting your leader
too, Mars, so I'd think twice before I started shooting fireballs
left and right."
Mars lowered her hands, her rage so palpable it was a
wonder that the two Dark Kingdom generals didn't explode into
smoking pieces like cartoons did. Sailor Moon chose that
precise moment to throw a kindergarten-grade hissy fit.
"What do you MEAN, our leader? I'm the leader, not Venus."
She stomped her foot for emphasis. "Let her go or you're
moondust, Nega-dweeb!"
Jedite rolled his eyes dramatically. "What is it with
all this Negaverse crap? We are the DARK KINGDOM, Sailor Sluts,
get it right. Or do you need me to spell it for you?"
"For your information, dumbass, Mercury found that your
kingdom exists in negative space, so we started calling...wait,
never mind! Get off of her unless you want to meet your maker!"
Her trembling voice was not at all intimidating.
"Shabon Spray!" Mercury, fed up with all the meaningless
trash-talking, took matters into her own hands and enveloped the
area in fog.
"Cute, Mercury," Zoycite snarled, firing a barrage of
ice crystals in the direction of where he remembered Mercury to
be. "Very noble of you to try and annoy us to death."
Venus groaned on the ground, her entire body still
aching from the dark energy coursing through it, and tried to
lift her hands so at least she could take advantage of her
situation and blast the jerks from below where they least
expected it. I'll take out their balls! She was scared,
no, terrified, since she had never actually been on the receiving
end of a hostage situation, and without full use of her voluntary
muscles, she was completely defenseless. Please, please,
girls. Do something. She would have cried from panic, but
she would not, could not. What good were tears when the safety
of the princess depended on her?
"Oh I don't think so." Zoycite noticed her movement and
swiftly connected his boot with her head. She yelped, like an
injured animal, and Mars screamed with rage.
"We have to do something! Why are we just standing
here?"
Mercury assessed the situation through her visor. "Mars,
it's up to you."
"WHAT?"
"Your Flame Sniper is the closest in accuracy next to
Venus's Love Chain. You have the best chance of hitting them
and not Venus."
"Thank you! Finally!" She aimed up carefully the most
important shot of her life. "Flame Sniper!"
A red rose joined the flaming arrow mid-flight, and
side-by-side they closed the distance between the Senshi and
the generals. Jupiter held her breath, certain that this would
be the day that they toasted two of the generals and evened the
score, but the two men vanished at the last second and the
lethal combination slammed into a nearby tree, leaving a rather
nasty, flaming gouge. Tuxedo Mask leaped off the lamppost,
hung suspended in the air, and landed next to Venus. He
carefully took her into his arms and laid her head on his lap.
"Venus! Are you all right?" Behind his mask, his eyes
were two slits of worry. The other girls caught up and surrounded
their fallen friend.
"Oh God! Venus, say something!" Mars pleaded, brushing
blond hair out of her best friend's face.
Venus lay there and wished they'd all just stop talking;
their voices drilled into her head like a jackhammer. She
swallowed and wished she were back home, in Japan, in her
yellow and pink bedroom, in her own bed. "I'm OK," she croaked
without opening her eyes. She heard Mercury tapping the
keyboard of her computer at a record pace. You could be a
stenographer, Ames, they start you at forty grand. Ow,
thinking hurts. No wonder Serena doesn't do it that often.
"She'll be OK," Mercury declared. "Just a minor
concussion, no signs of hemorrhaging. She needs to rest,
though."
Darien must have carried her back into her room, and
Raye must have changed her clothes, because she woke up in
sweats and not in the jeans and sweater she had been wearing
that night. She immediately zonked out while Raye showered
and dressed.
"Mina," Raye shook her arm, waking her up. "I'm going
to class now. Do you want anything besides ice?"
"Tylenol. No, sorry, Demerol," she mumbled under the
covers.
"How 'bout some crack? I'll buy it from that burnout
downstairs." She gently whacked Mina on the butt. "All right,
if you need anything, call my cell. Amy's going to stop by
later and check on you, OK? I hope you feel better, hon, bye!"
She gently shut the door behind her. Mina stayed awake for
about twenty seconds after she left, and then drifted off;
unaware that her last thought before she fell asleep was of
the Silver Millennium.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Raye!" Raye stopped and turned at the sound of Lita's
voice. "Wait up!"
Lita had obviously overslept; she was sporting windpants
and a hat, and not a touch of makeup. Half of a Bryce University
College of Culinary Arts key chain stuck out of the front flap
of her book bag, obviously from a Lita-like stuff and run.
She held a Styrofoam cup of steaming coffee without a lid, and
tried her best not to spill it as she trotted alongside of Raye.
"How's Mina feeling? Is she OK? Boy, what I wouldn't give to
be alone in a room with Zoycite right now..."
"I know," Raye agreed, fumbling in her coat pocket for
a pair of gloves. "Damn it's cold! I hate these eight o' clock
classes!"
"Damn right," Lita said, blowing on her coffee, which
served the dual purpose of waking her up and warming her hands.
"Is she going to skip class?"
"Who? Mina? Probably. I wouldn't go to class if I had
a concussion."
"Yeah, like Dr. Eicher would let you skip math," Lita
smirked, taking a careful sip of her coffee and burning her
tongue nonetheless. "OW! And you wouldn't go to class if you
had a zit."
Raye's jaw dropped open like a hinge. "I wasn't about
to let that hot rugby player see me with that volcano on my
forehead! And that was only one time; you must be confusing me
with Serena."
They half-ran, half-walked the rest of the way to the
Technology Center, relishing the blast of hot air that greeted
them inside the building and defrosted their numb fingers and
runny noses. Running up three flights of stairs to their
classroom in record time, Lita slopped coffee all over her
bare hands. "Oh, NUTS! Raye, do you have a tissue or something?
My hands are gonna get all sticky."
Raye wasn't paying attention to Lita's plight; instead
she muttered, "What are they doing here?"
Lita looked up from her java-soaked hands to the
classroom doorway, which was blocked by a flock of girls.
She didn't recognize any of them at first, but when Raye
regally lifted her head and straightened her back, giving
herself a more daunting air than usual, she identified them
as a group of girls that lived in Goshin Hall with Raye and
Mina, and had been dubbed by the two as the "Seventh Floor
Bitches." The girls had decided that they hated Raye and Mina
after the male population of Goshin had started migrating
towards the second floor instead of the seventh, where the
aptly dubbed bitches resided, and had tried to redirect the
Y chromosome flow by spreading extremely false and highly
unbelievable rumors about Ms. Aino and Hino. There were five
main bitches; all loved tight black pants and heavy blush,
despite the fact that they had, as Lita put it, "...Asses and
faces as round as pumpkins, and not nearly as appetizing."
They spoke at volumes that were hazardous to the human ear,
and were prone to high-pitched squealing and giggling that
Serena herself would not be able to reproduce. They were
also notorious sluts.
They were crowding the doorway of the classroom, so
Lita entered first, pushing their round bodies away like a
tank. "Sorry, didn't see you there," she sneered, then
whispered to Raye, "Yeah, right, like that's possible."
The algebra professor was late, so they had a few
minutes to screw around before class started. The Seventh
Floor Bitches took seats directly behind Lita and Raye, and
almost immediately Kristen Hayes, the most obnoxious of all
the bitches, began unwisely running her mouth. "Hey Ashley,"
she poked the bleach blonde with her fluorescent pink gel-pen.
"Are we going to Boris St. tonight? Jay Melman invited us up,
and he said he really wants to see me there."
Lita glanced over at Raye, but girl's face was as
unreadable as their algebra book. She pursed her lips together,
hoping she possessed the necessary the self-restraint to keep
herself from turning around and punching Kristen in the face if
she said anything about Raye. Not that Raye couldn't hold her
own, but she was heavily outnumbered, and Lita would be more
than happy to take on more than one bitch at one time.
The girl Ashley was sitting right behind Raye "Oh God!
Are you guys back together or what?"
Kristen talked not to Ashley but to the back of Lita's
head. "I have a feeling that we're going to hook up tonight.
He still wants me, bad, he called my room like three times
yesterday."
Ashley sighed into Raye's hair. Lita noticed a
microscopic twitch below Raye's eye, but other than that, there
was no indication that she was even slightly fazed.
"Kristen, you are SO lucky! He is SO hot!"
"I know. Aren't you glad he's back with me and not
with some foreign exchange student?" Kristen talked directly
to Raye's head.
Lita clenched her hands together so tightly that her
fingernails left half-moon impressions in her palms. "Please,
please, please," she hissed across the aisle to Raye. "Let me
hit them. Just once. Right in the middle of all that Maybelline
makeup."
"Shh," Raye whispered back once the professor entered
the room. But for the next hour, the mental picture of beating
the living crap out of Kristen Hayes was stuck in repeat mode
in her head.
* * * * * * * * * *
"Ooh, let's get a bagel!" Serena pleaded while passing
Lola's Café, undoubtedly her favorite place in the entire world,
due mostly to their Death by Chocolate sundaes and
ham-and-egg-on-a-croissant sandwiches. "PLEASE!! We
have time, Amy!"
Amy glanced at her watch and realized that Serena
was right; they had a good forty-five minutes until their respective
classes. "Well, sure, I won't mind. I could use some cappuccino,
anyway." More for the caffeine than anything else. I can't
believe I was online all night with Zach. He had spent at least
two hours trying to convince her to come to Boris St. that night,
citing everything from, "All your friends are doing it," to "Do it for
me as a personal favor," to "I have a fatal neurological disease,
and if I'm ever unhappy it will flare up and kill me." Finally, after
hardcore groveling on all levels, Amy promised she would stop
by, even though she hated parties. Well, it won't be so bad if
all my friends are there, will it?
"YAY!" Serena squealed, yanking the door open and
practically leaping inside. Lola's was a quaint little eatery with
dark wood floors and booths, and brass coat hooks stuck on every
available inch of wall. The countertops were also wooden, but the
stools were glistening chrome. One always had a feeling of comfort
in the place, despite its antique floors and booths. It was almost
always dim, and large, framed photography covered the dark green
walls. The photographs were rotated every month, and were usually
taken by local artists or students in the art department. This month,
they were black and white shots of students on the campus.
"Mmm," Serena breathed, inhaling the scent of cinnamon
and coffee. Lola's lunch crowd still lingered, almost every booth
and table was occupied. Amy was about to suggest they come
back later when Serena squealed, "Darien!" and made a beeline to
a booth in the back. Amy followed, shaking her head and hoping
that Darien had the necessary funds to satiate Serena's appetite.
"Hey girls," Darien smiled, sliding down to make room for
Serena. Kevin sat on the other side, and he also moved down for
Amy, who was halfway mental at the thought of sitting next to a stranger.
"Hi Kevin!" Serena chirped, taking a big sip of Darien's
soda. "What's up?"
"Nothing, what's up?" he replied, offering one of his French
fries to Amy, who politely shook her head.
"No thanks, I'm just going to get some coffee."
"What are you up to, girls?" Darien asked, throwing a look
to Serena, who smiled sheepishly with the now-empty glass in her hand.
"Oh, we just had a break between classes and decided to grab
some lunch," Amy said, picking up a menu. She didn't have it memorized
like Serena did.
Raymond, the cook and co-owner of Lola's, appeared at Serena's
elbow. He knew almost every customer inside out, and never forgot a
face, no matter how many years. He had shared the same amount of
laughs and tears with them, and they were "his kids," as he liked to call
them. "Hey Sweetie! Long time no see!"
"Hi, Raymond," Serena said with a grin. She had become one
of Raymond's favorites ever since she first tasted his meatball sandwich
and gave it such rave reviews that the old, mustached man had tears in his
eyes. "Silly, you just saw me last week! I came to try the candy cane milkshake!"
"A week? Exactly!" He hugged her around the shoulders and
winked at Darien. "A week is a long time for Serena to stay away from this
place!"
She blushed as Amy and Darien laughed good-naturedly. Kevin
simply blinked, unaware of Serena's food fetish. Raymond nodded at him
next.
"Hey Kev, how's the shoulder? We gonna beat Coast Ridge next
year or what? My neighbor, Louie, all he talks about is that quarterback
boyfriend of his tramp daughter, how many yards he threw for and all that!
You gotta show him a thing or two!"
"It's doing better, Mr. Angelo. We'll get them next year, I promise."
"What! WHAT! What's with all this 'Mr. Angelo'?" Raymond
roared, his chubby face swelling so much he resembled an Italian puffer fish.
"Call me Raymond; Mr. Angelo is my father! Jeez, you kids! I had this one,"
he gestured towards Serena, "calling me Mr. Angelo-san for two months! Eh,
Sweetheart?" he elbowed her and smiled.
"Yep."
"What'll it be Sugar? Is there anything on the menu you didn't try
yet?"
"Um, let's see, I think I'll have the Chicken Angelo and hot chocolate."
"Ah! The Chicken Angelo! And how 'bout you, Sweet Pea? Anything?"
"Just coffee please," Amy replied. "Thank you."
"Raymond don't make just coffee! How 'bout some pie, it's fresh
outta the oven, you'll like it."
"OK," she agreed, even thought she wasn't that hungry. Oh well,
Serena will probably eat it for me.
Raymond threw his dishrag over his wide shoulder and disappeared
into the back. Darien started drinking out of Kevin's glass. "So are you guys
coming tonight?"
"You bet! Oh, and guess what! Amy's coming too!"
"Oh really?" He raised his eyebrows and smiled at her. "Did
someone talk you into it?"
"Yes, Zach did," Amy said softly, swiveling around and pretending
to look for Raymond.
Kevin smiled behind his napkin. "Is Mina coming? Did you talk to
her?" OK, God, I've never asked for anything more than a mountain bike
and a crappy 8-bit Nintendo. Give me this, please!
Serena, Darien, and Amy froze, frantically trying to come up with a
cover story that would make the most amount of sense. Amy threw one out
when she spotted Serena opening her mouth to deliver an undoubtedly
improbable explanation. "Oh, I don't know, she slipped in the shower this
morning and hit her head. We think she has a concussion."
Kevin's gray eyes sharpened with concern. "Is she OK? Did you
take her to the hospital?"
"Well-" Serena began.
"Yes," Darien kicked her under the table. "Yes, we did. And
she's going to be fine, she just has to rest."
Kevin stared into space for a second, and Serena spotted her
opportunity like a running back sees an opening in the defensive line.
"You know, she's really bummed out about not being able to go. I bet it would
really make her day if someone would stop by before the party and bring her
some ice cream. She likes banana."
He looked at her a second, so intensely that Serena was almost frightened.
She imagined for a second to be on the receiving end of an unreserved glare of
his, and internally she quaked. "That's a little transparent." He smiled warmly,
and the adrenaline drained from her body. "Sure she wouldn't mind?"
"NO!" Serena squeaked, still a bit unnerved. "Of course not!" She
made a mental note to stop by and persuade Mina to shower and dress, or
at the very least brush her teeth. Darien and Amy sighed.
Raymond reappeared with a tray. "There you go, Love!" he
trumpeted, placing a plate in front of each girl. Serena's eyes lit up like
birthday candles at the mound of whipped cream and chocolate shavings
capping her hot chocolate.
"Raymond, you're the best!" She grabbed her fork and stabbed
into her chicken, potato, and cheese combination.
"Hey, Kev, you should see how many girls have been asking for
the phone the phone number of a few particular boys in a photograph!
Gods, if I knew those pictures would be such a hit I would have let that
goofy hippie hang them in here months ago!" He chuckled, his beefy arms
and stomach shaking.
Kevin reddened to the color of Amy's cherry pie, which she had
decided to eat after all, and was enjoying. He mumbled something, and
Serena asked, "What picture?" around a mouthful of food."The one hanging
next to the door! I bet this one noticed it, eh?" He elbowed Amy, who
smiled and also turned red. "HAHA! You kids!" he snorted, wandering
to another table.
"I want to see!" Serena announced, jumping up and making
a beeline to the door. They followed her, Kevin rather reluctantly.
"Oh wow!" The picture was big, about 15" by 18", standard
black and white. Kevin, Jay, Matt and Zach were crowding the view screen,
shirtless, covered in dirt and grass, their faces frozen in varying degrees of
male enthusiasm. Matt had a dirty football raised in the air. "Hmm," Serena
said at the sight of all those exposed, rippling boy muscles.
"This is typical," Kevin remarked, pointing to Jay, who had made
sure to flex his bicep for the photograph.
"Really?" Serena replied absent-mindedly, staring at the abundance
of six-packs in front of her. Darien noticed and cleared his throat loudly.
"I didn't know you had a tattoo, Kevin," Amy said about the tribal
design encircling his enormous right bicep.
"Yeah, my mom almost killed me when she saw it. Jay has one on
his back, you just can't see it in this picture."
"Hey," Serena said, moving closer. "Doesn't that guy look like
you, Darien?" She pressed her finger against the glass, leaving a greasy
fingerprint on the face of a passerby in the background.
Darien squinted and moved closer. He recognized the haircut,
battered book bag, and sunglasses immediately. "Uh, yeah, Serena, that is me."
"Really?" she squealed, shoving herself in front of the picture.
"Ohmygosh! It IS you, hon!"
"Oh wow that's...unusual," Amy observed. "Who would have
suspected that the four of you would meet and become friends?"
"Huh," Kevin grunted, staring at the picture of him and his friends.
It was eerie, that a picture taken in late August would reflect their lives now.
Darien was walking towards the posing guys, like he had been heading
there all along. It just took him a few months to get here.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Mina had been watching silently as Raye brutally ripped
a brush through her ink-black hair, pulling out the tangles with such
ferocity that Mina wondered why they hadn't been able to defeat the
Negaverse, or at least kick one of the general's asses by now. Raye
had come home in a bad mood, which was not unusual, but the tiniest
of disturbances, like the dining hall being too crowded and the cap of her
lotion bottle breaking, sent her into an El Nino-like tirade that dissuaded
Mina from practically breathing, much less saying a word. She could
almost see the ripples of heat across her friend's skin, flowing like lava,
which always appeared when she was Sailor Mars. She's a fiery one,
Jay. Good luck. She had run into Jay the previous day on the street,
and he had reminded her that they were supposed to stop by that night
and to tell Raye hi.
"DAMMIT!" Raye shouted, launching her black pants into
the dirty laundry basket, which subsequently tipped over from
the impact and spilled its contents onto the floor. Mina cringed,
but didn't say a word.
The door opened, and Serena, Lita and Amy let themselves
in. Serena and Amy carried book bags, their zippers opened partially
for ventilation for two particular dorm-forbidden cats.
"Serena don't you ever KNOCK!" Raye shrieked, fiercely
yanking drawers open and ferociously rummaging through them.
Serena dropped her book bag on Mina's bed none too gently,
prompting an "OW!" from the occupant inside. "What's up your butt?"
she said, pulling off her coat and looking in the mirror. "Mina, do
you think I should leave my hair down or pull it up?" She, Raye,
and Serena had hacked off a good three feet of hair before coming
to America, and sometimes Mina would still run her fingers through
her much-shorter hair and feel naked without the added length. She
had let it grow to mid-back, a little longer than Raye's, and Serena
had gotten scissor-happy and cut it just below the shoulders. She
had stopped wearing the odangos once she started college, but they
always spontaneously appeared when she transformed into Sailor
Moon, just as Mina's retired red bow reappeared on Venus's head.
Lita had discovered in high school that her hair was naturally curly,
and she let it fall down her back in glossy ringlets instead of forcing
it straight with a round brush and hair dryer. As was the case with
the other three, her hair pulled up into a familiar ponytail when she
transformed.
Luna slipped out of the open book bag, gasping for air.
"Ugh! Serena practically had that bag zipped shut; I was suffocating."
"Yeah? Well it's better than sharing a bag with Amy's laptop!"
a muffled voice cried from inside Amy's bag. Amy unzipped it dutifully,
and Artemis leapt out and jumped onto Mina's lap, panting. "How are
you feeling?" he asked, rubbing his head against her shoulder. She
smiled and hugged him.
"Just a slight headache. I'm feeling much better, but Amy
says I should take it easy tonight."
Amy pulled out her laptop and knelt on the floor. "Quick
Senshi meeting, you guys," she announced, opening her computer
and rapidly punching the keys. "We have a bit of a mystery on our
hands."
Raye stopped hunting for clothes, Mina slid off the bed,
and the gathered in a circle around Amy. Lita stood up and shut
the door. "OK, Ames, what's up?"
"I took this picture of Zach a few night ago," she said, and
a picture of Zach's face slid over half the screen.
"That's pretty close, Amy!" Serena laughed. "Were you
two getting cozy?"
Amy took a breath and blushed. "I was just helping him with
his calculus, we had to sit close together. Besides, my computer DOES
have a zoom lens."
"Yeah, I'm sure," Lita snickered, elbowing Raye, who
was sitting shamelessly in her underwear.
Amy ignored them all. "Anyway, I took this picture," she
hit another key and an unfortunately familiar face popped up, "last night."
Lita began popping her knuckles at the sight of Zoycite's face. "Now
I believe in your zoom lens, Amy. There's no way you'd get that close
to that Nega-creep."
Mina rubbed the place on her head where Zoycite had kicked her the previous night. "When did you have time to take this one?"
"When he was kicking you."
"Oh."
"Well, back to the subject," Amy continued. "Watch what
happens when I lengthen Zach's hair." She tapped the mouse. "And
age him by five or six years, and take away his glasses, voila!"
Serena gasped, and Mina's stomach turned to a block of ice.
The two faces on the screen were identical, except that Zoycite's eyes
were as flat and evil as a serpent's, while Zach's remained warm and
friendly. His face was innocent, without a trace of the malevolence that
covered Zoycite's face. There was something else, something familiar
that Serena couldn't place.
"Oh my friggin God!" Lita breathed. "That is unreal."
"But Darien was with Zach last night," Luna said. "He was slightly
embarrassed when he ran out of their apartment after he got the call. He
said he was with Zach all evening."
"So unless Zach travels faster than Tuxedo Mask, which isn't likely,
then he and Zoycite are two individuals," Raye said, absently scratching
Artemis's head. "So why the hell do they look exactly alike?"
Amy clicked again, and a birth certificate filled the screen, complete
with little baby ink footprints. "I don't know. Here's Zachary Elias Straub's
birth certificate, hospital records, driver's license, and..." she dramatically
punched another key, "high school yearbook photo. Zach Straub is a
normal human being, and there's no explanation as to why he looks so
much like Zoycite."
And the other three," Raye said slowly. "They look like the
Generals, too. But they're not. I don't sense any evil in them."
"What about the Moonlight Knight?" Lita suggested. "Could
the Dark Kingdom Generals be a part of their soul, or something?"
"No," Amy said, typing again. "The Dark Kingdom Generals have
vital signs; they are actual physical beings, while the Moonlight Knight
was a nothing more than a spirit. We could touch him, he could be tangible
matter, but he had no heartbeat, body temperature, brain waves, catch my drift?"
"Yeah," Mina said. "And the Moonlight Knight always
went back into Darien's body. The Generals go back to Beryl and the Negaverse."
Serena frowned and fingered her brooch, which she wore constantly
regardless of the occasion. She hated not knowing all the answers, not
knowing what to tell her friends when they looked to her for guidance. "I wish
I could ask my mother," she said. It was acknowledged that she didn't mean
her mother back in Japan, but Queen Serenity.
Raye sighed and stood up. "We're never going to figure this out,"
she said, opening the wardrobe and thumbing through. "Mina, if you're not
going out, can I wear this?" She held up a gold tank top and diaphanous gold
button-down shirt.
"Yeah sure," Mina replied, crawling back in bed. Serena dropped
Luna on the floor and began sifting through Raye's makeup case.
"Mina, uh, I bet you would feel a lot better if you took a shower!"
she suggested, swiveling a tube of lipstick up.
"Why? I'm not going out?" she yawned, curling Artemis to her.
Serena put the lipstick down and turned to face her. "Uh, um,
because you kinda stink, too!"
Lita made a face. "Serena!"
"Do I?" Mina asked, sniffing her collar.
"I don't smell any-oof!" Serena shot across the room and
clapped Artemis's mouth shut.
"Oh don't worry Mina! We all get kinda ripe when we don't
shower all day! Right Amy?" She threw a look to Amy.
"Uh, right," Amy said, looking down quickly.
"Why don't you take a nice, hot shower, and you'll feel
tons better! Here's a towel, go ahead!"
Mina shrugged. "Might as well." She gathered up towels,
a bathrobe, and her shower caddy. "I'll just be a few minutes."
"My gosh, Serena!" Raye snapped after Mina had left.
"Could you possibly be a little more offensive? Why don't you just
tell her she's ugly, too?"
"Raye! You don't understand! Kevin's going to stop by and
see her and what kind of friend would I be if he walks in and she's sitting here with bed hair and morning breath!"
Lita sucked her breath in. "OK, good call, Serena. That was
justified."
"Why do you think Zoycite said that Mina was our leader?"
Raye said, pulling on stretchy brown flare pants. "He told me not to
fire at him or I would hit out leader."
"Yeah! And I'm the leader!" Serena said emphatically. "Right,
Luna?"
"I presume. I don't see why Venus would be the leader of the
Sailor Senshi and not Sailor Moon."
"Don't you remember, Luna?" Lita asked, smoothing her hair
down.
"I remember as much of the Moon Kingdom as you four do."
"Which is almost nothing," Raye concluded, flipping her head
upside down to brush her hair. "OK, next dead end, please."
Mina returned from the shower shortly after. "You're right,
Serena, I do feel better!" She unwound the towel from her head and released
her wet locks.
"Here!" Serena said, holding up a clean pair of pink pajamas.
"You look really cute in these! Did you brush your teeth or what?"
Lita guffawed loudly, and Raye smacked her with a t-shirt that was
lying on the floor. Mina looked at each of her friends, and then the cat guardians.
"What's going on, guys? It's not like I have a hot date or something."
Serena forcefully laughed. "What are you talking about, Mina? I
just thought you'd feel better if you cleaned yourself up. Flip over," she
instructed, pointing the stream of hot air at the crown of Mina's head. Mina
bent over obediently, letting her sodden blond strands fall around her face.
Serena blew them dry, fluffing periodically with her fingers with the sureness
of a hairstylist or a mother.
"There!" Serena proclaimed, whipping Raye's hairbrush through
the thick blonde mass like she was beating eggs. Wow, Mina's hair is so
much lighter than mine. Maybe I should get highlights.
Mina settled back into bed, her recently un-greased hair flowing over
her yellow pillowcase and hanging off of the sides of her bed. She hated
Zoycite more than ever at the moment; the anticipation of seeing Kevin that
week had twisted her nerves and toyed with her imagination, until she would
spent entire classes staring into space, imagining platinum eyes staring at
her with shimmering heat from the desert. The Mina of her imagination was
brighter, wittier, captivating, the kind of girl that could capture a man's heart
and hold it in her hands like a precious jewel. She wished she could shine
brighter than the sun and intrigue him with brilliance, blocking out other
people the way the noontime daylight hid the electric beam of a flashlight.
Or at least go five minutes without saying something stupid and then
bursting into giggles. She wanted his mind to be on her, and hers on him,
until their separateness disappeared and they knew each other as well as
they knew themselves. She wanted to touch him, envelop him with her
essence, suffocate him with her skin and scent and hair, drink the heat
off his lips like water.
Oh my God Mina get a grip you've known him for like a week.
"Shut up brain," she mumbled to herself. "I know something you
don't."
Meanwhile, Lita was pacing around the small room, her long stride
covering half the floor space in one step. She tugged at the hem of her shirt,
wanting to be slim and petite like Serena and not a curvy, hulking giant who
had to special order pants and pull down her shirts all the time because the
torso was too short. "You guys? Do you think I should wear this?" she said,
voicing her insecurities. She was only a few inches shorter than Matt; if she
could chop off inches of her height for one night, she would have done so without
hesitation. Maybe I'll just get really wasted, and then I won't care.
Amy looked away from the mirror for a second. "No, it looks good, Lita.
Keep it."
Raye, who was midway through smearing foundation on her face with her
palm, ("Not like that, Raye! Use a sponge!" Mina scolded.) noticed Amy trying to
smooth a few stray hairs down with de-frizzing cream. Wait a second! "Amy!"
she shouted, startling the small blue-haired girl into dropping the tube of Physique.
"When did you start using hair crap?"
Lita jerked out of her self-esteem rut and elbowed Amy in the ribs.
"Hey, Ames, gonna look all pretty for a certain guy? Ooohhh!"
"No I just-" Amy began, her genius mind choking in the face of such
opposition. How can I be so quick to solve a problem but be such a bad
liar?
"AMY!" Serena screeched. "Let me do your, makeup, puh-leeeeze?"
"Well," Amy began, rather frightened at the sight of Serena brandishing
an eyelash curler in front of her. "I guess. Don't make me look too weird
though. I really don't wear a lot of-"
She ended up wearing a lot, even though it didn't look like a lot since
Serena had perfected an art known as "blending," a skill that had bypassed
the Seventh Floor Bitches. She carefully touched one eyelid, wondering if the
specks of iridescent glitter were too much. "Do I look OK?" she asked
tentatively. Serena smiled and hugged her.
"You look awesome! Zach is going to piss himself when he sees
you!"
Raye rolled her eyes. "Now THAT'S a wonderful analogy. Are you
guys almost ready to go?" She pulled on her camel-colored peacoat and
slid into her shoes. "We have to drop off the cats, too."
"I'll stay here with Mina," Artemis offered. Mina smiled and was
about to accept when Serena grabbed him by his ruff and stuffed him in the
Jansport.
"No, I think she needs to rest tonight, OK Artemis?" Serena breathed
hurriedly, zipping the bag despite muffled protests and swearing. "You get
better, OK, Mina? We need you at that EKE mixer tomorrow night, Luna thinks
that the Negaverse is going to attack there since that's the only fun they haven't
ruined yet."
"Bye hon," Lita waved, smoothing her hair one last time. "Wish me
luck."
"Oh! Good luck!" Mina blew her a kiss. "Get lucky in the name of Venus!"
Raye rolled her eyes. "Crackhead. She'd better not get lucky unless
she wants a beatdown."
Mina studied the lines furrowing into her friend's forehead, and wondered
what was bothering her so much that she transformed into a total shrew. "Raye?"
she asked timidly.
Raye nodded at her. "Huh?"
"What's wrong?"
She stiffened a little, then reached over and grabbed her keys.
"I'm fine, Mina, OK?" She snapped harsher than she intended.
I'm sorry, Mina, you don't know the whole story. Hell, I don't
even know the whole story.
"OK," Mina said softly, sliding in between her covers. "Have a
good time tonight. And be careful. You staying over?"
"I don't know, later," she said, heading out the door. She stopped,
turned, and looked carefully at Mina sitting upright, staring after her,
not hurt like Raye expected, but concerned. She softened a bit,
shoving her insecurities to the background for now. "I'm sorry.
Get some rest, OK?"
Mina nodded. "OK, Raye. Be careful." Why did I repeat
that?
* * * * * * * * * * *
"DAMMIT!" Zach screamed, grabbing his foot. After the initial
mild swear, he let loose with a stream of the most vulgar obscenities
that he could think of, ranging from the standard four-lettereds to
creative names for various body parts and functions. Jay stuck his
head into the kitchen to see what the fuss was about. What he found
was Zach hopping on one foot in a puddle of gold, foamy liquid
peppered with broken glass.
"No," he muttered, not wanting to believe the scene
in front of him. "Zach, you didn't spill a Corona."
"Yes I did so just shut up," Zach winced. "I don't want
to hear it, I just dropped the little bastard on my foot." The phone
rang, and Zach reached over to pick it up.
"DON'T ANSWER THAT!" Jay screamed, knocking the
phone out of Zach's hands and sending it skittering across the linoleum.
"It might be Crazy Kristen; she already called three times today."
"You're sh***ing me."
"NO! She keeps asking me when she should stop by. I
keep telling her I'm going to 114 tonight. She better not show up and
mess things up between me and Raye." For the last four hours, he
had been stressing hardcore about Raye: if she would come, if she
found him charming and attractive, if she found her clothes terribly
constraining. He had plugged Darien for all the information he
could get, a key factor in releasing the mojo. Now, if he could just
keep Crazy Kristen off his back for a few minutes.
There was a kick at the front door, and a yell. "Would
someone open the GD door?" Matt screamed through the oak.
"Why does the door have to be locked all the time?"
"To keep you out," Zach quipped, unlocking the dead bolt.
Darien, Kevin and Matt burst through the door, each loaded with
cases of MGD.
"OK, don't help or anything," Matt barked at Jay, who nodded
complacently and didn't help, or anything. The stack of cases that
was Kevin swung around and dropped a six-pack of bottles on the
kitchen table.
"Why didn't we get kegs?" Darien asked, dropping his cases
onto the table and rubbing his aching arms. Damn, I thought I was in
pretty good shape. Then again, the four unholy warriors of Queen
Bitch smack me around once a week.
"4C's got kegs; let them get evicted. The penalty's so much
more hardcore for kegs than for just cases. Besides, those kegs are for
everybody-" Jay ripped open the cardboard and held up two handfuls
of cans. "-these are for us!"
"Yo, Jay, you have to check out Chiba's car!" Matt enunciated
each word by pounding Darien on the shoulder. "Brand new Eclipse,
fully loaded. Can't fit Kevin in it, though."
Jay lifted his eyebrows, and then sauntered over to Darien
and put his arm around his shoulders. "Darien, my brother in everything
but blood..."
My brother in everything but blood...
"...please let me drive your car. At least once. I don't
have a car, I have to use Kevin's crappy Blazer or Matt's station
wagon."
"It's not a station wagon!" Matt bellowed. "The Subaru
Outback is a friggin SUV, thank you very much, not a GD station wagon!"
"Whatever, soccer mom."
Kevin opened the fridge and started loading cans in.
"Want me to hide the Woodchuck?"
"Yes!" Zach bellowed before anyone could speak. "Those
are for Amy."
Everyone stared at him. "But, Amy doesn't drink," Darien stated
simply, like he was talking to a kindergartener.
"Amy doesn't drink YET," Zach corrected, shuffling the cans
and bottles around until he was satisfied that Jay wouldn't accidentally
stumble across and down them. "I thought I'd start her off easy.
Woodchuck is for girls."
"I like Woodchuck," Kevin said. No one challenged his
masculinity.
Music suddenly started pounding through the walls, rattling the
concealed bottles of Woodchuck together. "Guess 4C's starting early," Matt announced,
checking his watch. "Hey Darien, when are the chicks getting here?"
"I told them around ten. Why, what time is it?"
"Nine-thirty. Should we start early, too?" He passed out cans to
everyone except Kevin, who pulled a round container out of the freezer and
grabbed his keys.
"Coming back?" Jay asked, wincing when a shriek of female voices
filtered through the walls. "OK, we're not going over there until Crazy
Kristen and her ho posse are gone!"
He was dragged over anyway.
* * * * * * * * * * *
"Coming up on 'Dateline:' Are you paying too much for your cereal? '
Dateline's' hidden camera goes undercover to reveal the truth behind the box..."
"Oh for the love of-" Mina sighed as she flipped through the channels.
What crap. They must have figured that the only people watching TV on Friday
night are losers with concussions. She settled back on her pillow, pouting.
I really, REALLY wanted to wear my ass pants and Raye's red halter-top
and grind with Kevin. Damn Zoycite! That fruity little bastard is going to get a
face full of Crescent Beam the next time I see him. She flicked "Dateline"
back on and for the next half-hour, was bored half to death by Stone Phillips
warning America about the abomination of overpriced Count Chocula.
Wonder what the girls are doing. Watch this be the only time
that Amy's drinking and I'll miss it. Dammit!
Lulled into a semi-stupor by reruns of "The Real World," Mina almost
fell out of bed when someone knocked lightly on her door. Probably someone
from down the hall. She reasoned, rubbing her face and throwing the
door open. "Yeah? What is it?" she harshed on the victim before realizing
he was 6'6" and beautiful, with an expression of bewilderment crossing his
face. "OH!" she said, instantly sorry and embarrassed beyond belief.
"What are you-I mean, I thought your place was going tonight, oh God
I look like-why did you-is that banana?"
Kevin smiled, holding out the container as a peace offering.
"Sorry to bust in. Serena said I should stop by and see if you're feeling
OK."
Aha! I knew there was a reason she was so desperate for me
to wash my hair! "Oh, she did?" Mina said, smiling in a way that
caused Kevin's knees to border on buckling.
"Yeah," he said, wondering why the hell he couldn't string
together a rational sentence when he was within two feet of her.
"And," she prompted, slouching and gazing up at him.
He gulped. "Are you feeling better?"
She took the container of ice cream from him. "This will help.
Want to come in for a while? I know that you want to get back to your
house..."
He followed her in the room and shut the door. The only light in
the room was from the TV. "It can wait," he said, meaning it completely.
He would rather be in the room with her at that moment than in Times
Square when the ball was dropping.
Mina produced two plastic spoons from a bag near the
refrigerator, and offered one to Kevin. They sat on her bed together,
albeit a tight squeeze, and Mina ended up sitting half on his lap.
"Thank you so much!" she said, digging into the pale yellow
cream. "How did you know that banana was my favorite?"
"Serena."
"Ah." What the hell? She's taking over my job! Oh my
God! I just realized I'm not wearing a bra!
"How's your head?" he asked, looking down and staring
at the part in her hair, expecting to see stitches or a bruise or something.
"I still have a slight headache. It was really bad last night
after Z-I mean, after I slipped on ice."
Kevin's spoon stopped halfway to his mouth. "I thought
you slipped in the shower? That's what Amy said."
Note to self: kill Amy later. "Oh yeah! I'm sorry, I just,
you know, after I bumped my head I've been a little foggy..." P.S. Kill
Serena too for not warning me.
"Oh."
They sat in comfortable silence for a while, finishing the rest of
the ice cream and watching a rerun of "Law & Order." Mina snuggled up
to Kevin's warm body, resting her head against the smooth, hard muscles
of his chest. She smiled as the steady thump-thumps of his heartbeat
vibrated under her cheek, reminding her that he was still alive. "Kevin?"
"Hmm?" Kevin replied, feeling blood pound into his face as he
stared down at the crown of her head. Oh God does she even know
what she's doing to me?
"Tell me about you."
"What do you want to know?" he said softly, putting one
hand on the small of her back and rubbing.
"Anything. Just talk about you. Tell me where you're from,
and what you like, and what you don't. Everything."
Kevin didn't want to talk, he wanted to kiss her all over until
his mouth was dry and his lips were chapped. But instead he said,
"Well, I live in Junta, it's about an hour away from here, up north farther.
Jay lives there, too, one street over. We've been best friends since sixth
grade."
"Really? I've been friends with the girls since junior high. How'd
you meet him?"
"Jay was being his annoying self at recess and this big fat kid
Mike Malone started beating on him. So I started beating on Mike.
Almost got expelled."
"That sounds like Jay."
"Yeah, I know. He started following me around, and I guess
he rubbed off on me, because we've been tight ever since."
"My room at home is pink and yellow," Mina said out of the
blue. "There's a big tree outside my window that Artemis, he's my cat,
used to climb up and down. I have a whole bunch of stuffed animals,
and pictures of my friends, and Sailor V stuff that they used to give me
when I would model."
"I used to have all this 49er stuff in my room, but for some
reason it made Kaylee cry, so I got rid of a lot of it."
"Who's Kaylee?"
"My sister. I have two of them. Kaylee's six, Jennifer's
thirteen, and a big pain in the ass."
Mina laughed, tickling Kevin with her breath. He shifted
a little and Mina spooned onto his side. "I don't have any brothers
or sisters. I used to wish I did, though, when we moved to England
and I was all by myself. I wanted someone to side with me when my
mother would go postal. What's your mom like?"
"She's OK, I guess, a lot better than Jay's mom. We have
this ongoing joke that she beats him with empty liquor bottles. Then
again, if I was Jay's mom, I would beat him with empty liquor bottles too."
Mina ran one hand lightly down his side, noticing how hard it
was. God I love male muscles. "Does this bother you?"
"No." Oh God no. Nothing you could do would bother me,
unless you hooked up with Jay or something.
"What does bother you?" she asked, staring up at him with
her huge blues. He locked eyes with her, and lost his breath for a second.
"Me? Uh, when Jay uses my car and forgets to put the seat
back, when I stay up all night reading, and when my bad ankle starts
hurting." When I'm this close to you and want more than anything
in the world to kiss you and I choke.
She moved up closer to his face, never breaking eye contact.
Her blond strands split over her shoulders like molten gold. "And
what do you like?"
He put both hands around her back and brought her face
within inches of his, close enough that they exchanged breath.
"Blond girls with blue eyes from Japan, who have concussions and
white cats."
She smiled. "Quick, when's your birthday?"
"What? Oh, January 19th. Why?"
She looked down at his lips, and back into his gray
eyes. "Because now I know enough about you to kiss you."
She pulled forward and touched her lips to his.
Outside, the moon emerged from behind the clouds
that had been blocking its face.
* * * * * * * * * * *
"There." The twisted woman stabbed her blood red talon
at the image in her crystal. Her four minions leaned closer, studying
the image in the cloudy ball. They saw a red brick apartment building,
with cars double-parked on each side of the street and people
streaming into the front doors. All the windows of the top floor
were dimly lit, with silhouettes of people dancing. "That is where
you will strike. Nephlite, Zoycite, you two go, and if those Sailor
Brats appear," She narrowed her slit-like eyes and grinned, revealing
malicious, pointed fangs. "Take hostages. They are all too
ridiculously noble to let a human die. Go, and do not fail me."
The two men bowed. "Yes, my queen," they said in unison.