SAILOR ECLIPSE,
Chapter Four: "Encounters In The Dark"
By Bill K.
Artemis and Luna sat in the park under a bright crescent moon.
Luna had a miniaturized headset on, the headset connected to a
wafer-thin hand-held computer. After analyzing the data on the
screen, she sighed and turned to the white cat.
"What exactly are we looking for?" she asked.
"Something out of the ordinary," Artemis replied while
maintaining his concentration on dissecting prior readings on his own
hand-held.
"I'm not finding much. Perhaps what we're looking for isn't
that different from human life energy."
"A normal human with all of Minako's abilities? How do you
explain that?"
"Human science?" offered Luna. "It is possible. They're doing
all sorts of things with genetics and micro-circuitry these days."
She glanced at Artemis and caught him staring at her. He
quickly looked away.
"Artemis, what is it?" Luna asked.
"Nothing," he coughed nervously. When her look persisted, he
sighed. "I, um, was just noticing how, um, how beautiful you looked
in the moonlight."
Luna turned to conceal her smile. "You need to keep your mind
on your work," she admonished. Glancing back at him, she saw his
chagrin. The black cat leaned over and licked his chin. "It 'tis
appreciated, though." Artemis grinned at her.
Turning the antennae connected to the hand-held, Luna suddenly
got a spike on her screen.
"Artemis, look at this!" she said. Artemis was beside her in a
second and Luna noted how welcome his closeness was.
"That's what we're looking for," Artemis said. "I'll try to
triangulate on it."
"What an odd wave pattern," Luna remarked. "I've never seen
anything like this."
"Neither have I," Artemis said as he worked on his hand-held.
"It's powerful, though."
"Powerful enough to generate Crescent Beam - - or a reasonable
facsimile?"
"I think this could generate a thousand Crescent Beams,"
Artemis said as he pressed buttons. The cat shook his head in
frustration. "I can't get a fix on it. It's distorting the
triangulation lines!" Finally he broke off the program in
frustration.
"Buck up," Luna said, leaning in and licking his cheek. "We've
eliminated three quarters of Tokyo and we've got a measurable wave
pattern to compare. That puts us that much closer to solving this."
"Yeah," Artemis agreed reluctantly. Both cats did a double
loop backflip and the hand-helds disappeared. "Lucky for me you're
not just a sexy body."
"Oh, you're so forward!" clucked Luna. Inside, though, she
loved every word.
* * * *
Usagi closed the distance between herself and Mamoru and every
movement her body made was an invitation. Mamoru stood transfixed.
It was one of his greatest desires come true and yet it was so
totally alien to Usagi's nature that he couldn't believe it was her.
She slid her warm, round, soft body up against his, her hands
gliding up his chest until they could snake around his neck. She
looked up at him, her large pool blue eyes whispering her longing for
him. Her lips pursed and she rose up onto tiptoes to kiss him.
And he wanted to - - to kiss her, to consume her, to consummate
everything they'd been to each other so far and everything they were
destined to be. But something was wrong. Some little tickle in the
back of his mind was telling him to beware.
So, though she was near enough that he could feel her breath on
his lips, Mamoru closed his eyes and felt along his psychic
connection to her. And suddenly his hands closed around her wrists.
"Who are you?" he asked coldly. His arms forced a few inches
of distance between them.
"Who do you think I am?" Usagi grinned, unsure if he was
teasing her. When his expression didn't change, hers sobered.
"Mamo-chan, it's me! It's the woman who loves you - - the woman
who's pledged her life to you!"
Her eyes began misting over in that way Usagi had that always
tore his heart to ribbons. And at that moment, he wasn't sure any
longer that he'd felt what he felt.
"I just wanted to surprise you," she said, contracting into
herself, grimacing with embarrassment and humiliation. "It's what
we've both wanted for so long - - at least I thought it was what we
both wanted." She looked up at him, betrayal mirrored in her face.
"Mamo-chan, don't look at me like that! It's me!"
"Is it?" he asked, unsure.
And she struck him, her hand across his face powered by a
capacity for anger he didn't think she possessed. The pain didn't
hurt as much as the look of bitter vengeance in her eye.
"Have you been playing with me all this time?" she demanded.
"Was this all some sort of game to you, to see how far I'd go, how
much I'd endure, how far I'd humble myself? Did you and your college
buddies all have a good laugh over it?"
"Usagi," he began. He reached for her and she swatted his hand
away.
"Fine!" she spat, stalking to the door, unmindful of the scant
covering her body had. "I finally caught on, I guess! You're free
to chase women your own age or your own intellect, or whatever turns
you on!" Grasping the knob, she whirled. "But I'll get even for
this! I will get even!"
The door slammed. Mamoru was there in seconds and whipped it
open again, only to see the elevator doors close on her. Numbly he
closed the door again and sagged back against it. Confusion gripped
his mind. What had just happened here? And was what he sensed
correct? The person that had been standing before him had been
Usagi.
But not the Usagi he knew.
* * * *
Slipping in through her special door, Luna padded up through
the dark Tsukino house. She headed for Usagi's room to check on her.
If she had time, she'd glance at Usagi's homework, too, to see how
she was doing. Frankly the dedication Usagi had shown towards doing
her homework promptly and briskly the previous night was both
heartening and alarming. Slowly walking into the strangely quiet
room, Luna looked up at Usagi's futon.
"That's odd," Luna thought, leaping up on the empty bed. "It
looks as if she hasn't been here all night."
Leaping over to Usagi's desk, Luna worked her satchel open and
pulled papers out.
"Hmm, she did her homework," Luna thought as she looked over
the papers. "That's her sloppy handwriting. And that answer's
wrong. So she was here. But where did she go? Was there a sailor
emergency? Has she run into trouble?"
Scampering across the room, Luna was about to fire up her
communicator and call Artemis when Usagi walked in. Though it was
dark and shadows obscured her expression, Luna could sense Usagi was
burdened by something.
"Where have you been?" Luna asked, leaping up on the bed.
Usagi absently stroked Luna's back as she sat on the edge of the bed.
"I had something to do," Usagi responded evasively. Luna
instantly noted she was withholding something, but her voice was so
blue that she didn't directly pursue it. Instead she examined Usagi
as the girl pulled off her top.
"Did you run across any trouble?"
"Hmm? Oh, nothing like that. You worry too much."
"You give me too much to worry about."
Usagi stuck her tongue out and it somehow made Luna feel
better. "Did you find out anything?"
"We've got an energy reading we're trying to identify.
Hopefully we can use it to identify our 'mystery sailor'." Luna
glanced up at Usagi. She seemed to be zoned out, which was hardly
unusual.
"Luna?" Usagi said at last. "Does it seem like Ami's been
acting strange to you?"
"Ami? I hadn't noticed. Do you have something specific in
mind?"
Usagi shrugged. "Maybe I'm wrong." She grinned. "First time
for that, huh?"
"I'm planning on writing a book one day," Luna smirked back.
Usagi stuck her tongue out again and went to brush her teeth.
Luna watched her leave. Was it Ami she was worried about, the cat
wondered, or was it something else?
* * * *
From a deep sleep, Rei's eyes popped open. Deimos and Phobos
were caterwauling outside. She listened to hear what they were
saying, because if they were arguing again, she was going to wring
their feathery little necks.
Then she felt it: a presence in the room. The frantic clatter
from the crows confirmed it. There was an intruder in the room.
Keeping still, Rei scanned the dark room. As her gaze swept from
right to left, seeing nothing, she felt her heart beating faster.
Just then something touched her left ear.
"Tag," a woman whispered in the ear. "You're it."
Lurching away, Rei tumbled out of bed onto the floor. Twisting
around as she scrambled to her feet, she saw Sailor V at the door.
The woman turned, blew Rei a kiss, and leapt through the open door.
"Mars Crystal Power Make Up!" Rei shouted as her henshin stick
materialized in her hand. Sailor Mars burst through the bedroom door
out onto the garden behind the shrine. She found 'Sailor V' calmly
leaning against a tree about twenty-five meters away, grinning
smugly. She saluted Mars.
"Who are you?" bellowed Mars. "I know you're not the real
Sailor V!"
Sailor V waggled her finger, silently admonishing her
adversary. Mars fumed impotently. She took several belligerent
steps forward.
"Crescent Boomerang!" yelled Sailor V.
With the speed of thought a gleaming golden crescent formed in
her hand and was launched toward Mars. Only a desperate dive into
the sharp cobblestones of the garden path allowed her to avoid the
missile.
Hearing cawing, Mars looked up. Deimos and Phobos were flying
around Sailor V. The crows would whip their wings in her face and
strafe her with their claws, in defense of their goddess. Sailor V
swung wildly, trying to drive them away. The birds avoided the wild
swings and kept harassing her.
"Mars!" Sailor Mars shouted, crouching on the ground, "Flame
Sniper!"
The flaming bow materialized in her hand, a flame arrow
elongating back to the 'string'. She took deadly aim for Sailor V's
thigh, hoping to disable and capture her, and let fly.
The arrow whizzed through the air, covering the distance
between them in moments. But impossibly, at the last moment, Sailor
V leaped up and tumbled away from both the arrow and the crows. She
rolled up to a kneeling position, ready for action. Mars aimed her
bow for another shot.
"Venus Power! Love Crescent Shower! Pour Down Rain!" Sailor V
shouted.
And from out of nowhere a torrential downpour sprang up. The
sheets of water battered the crows, sending them careening to the
ground. Mars and Sailor V were both instantly soaked to the skin.
Mars let loose her arrow even as her bow sputtered and died in the
cascade of rain. But the fiery shaft, battered by raindrops as
thick as a quarter, disintegrated halfway to its target.
Stunned, Mars quickly marshaled herself to her feet. Sailor V
was already on hers, charging the raven-haired senshi, even as the
rain died away.
"Sailor V Kick!" she yelled, launching a swinging roundhouse
kick at Mars' head. Sailor Mars barely managed to block it, but her
block left her vulnerable to her opponent's trailing leg. It
followed the same arc as Sailor V acrobatically spun in mid-air and
caught Mars hard on the side of the head. Mars crumbled to the
ground.
Sailor V stood triumphantly over Sailor Mars. Then her head
turned when she heard running footsteps approaching. The moonlight
glinting off of the lenses of her red mask, she pointed at Mars and
concentrated. Sailor Mars' costume faded, leaving Rei laying in the
wet grass in her nightgown.
"Rei!" Yuuichiro cried as he ran across the grounds. The man
gently cradled Rei's head in his lap. "Rei, are you hurt?"
"Not really," groaned Rei. "But could you dial down your voice
a little? You're not helping my head."
"Granddaughter!" Grampa said, waddling up quickly. "What
happened?"
Rei grimaced, knowing she couldn't lie to him and get away with
it.
"I," she began, "there was someone in my room. I chased them
out here, but they caught me with a lucky shot and got away."
"How dare they!" roared Yuuichiro.
"Do you know who it was?" Grampa asked.
"No," Rei replied, seething frustration, "but I'm going to find
out."
Then she noticed that Yuuichiro had noticed her intimate
apparel - - in fact he seemed mesmerized by it. Her hands went up to
her bodice reflexively.
"You can put your eyes back in your head, Yuuichiro," she
grumbled. Yuuichiro's face grew red and he looked away.
* * * *
"Get up, Luna," Usagi chirped, shoving the sleeping cat. "It's
a bright new morning." She strutted to the bathroom.
Luna opened one eye and glared at Usagi.
"Leave it to her to make me regret succeeding in my efforts,"
the cat thought.
"MOVE IT, SHINGO!" Usagi was heard to bellow. "I've got to get
ready for school!"
"Well, that eliminates the pod theory," Luna murmured.
By the time Usagi returned from the bathroom, Luna was up. She
noticed Usagi's chipper mood was sagging a little.
"I was wondering how long this would last," Luna commented.
"Buck up, Usagi. It is nice to see you up and about with time to
spare. It's also quite gratifying to see you buckling down on your
schoolwork."
"Well, I don't want to disappoint Komatsu-sensei," Usagi said,
then yawned widely. "I've got to start getting to bed earlier."
"There's that name again. All you seem to talk about anymore
is this Komatsu-sensei."
"Well why not? He's so nice! And he's really interesting!"
Usagi sighed. "And he's SO dreamy!"
"Oh, really!" huffed Luna. "Mooning over another man! Shame
on you, Usagi! Have you forgotten about Mamoru already?"
"Never!" Usagi gasped, horrified. "I love Mamo-chan! I'll
always love Mamo-chan!" Then she grew a naughty grin. "Doesn't mean
I can't look."
"You're disgusting," sneered Luna.
"Oh, you should talk! As long as you've been in love with
Artemis, it didn't stop you from cuddling up to Yaten!"
"That was completely different!" Luna said indignantly.
"Sure, Luna," she said, straightening her top, "pull the other
one."
The war of words suspended for breakfast. When she finished,
Usagi waved to her still amazed family, grabbed her satchel and
headed off to school. Luna scampered after her.
"I think it would be best if we all had a short meeting at the
shrine," Luna suggested.
"OK. I just hope it's not too long. I want to make sure I get
my homework done."
Luna was about to respond, but Usagi responded first.
"MAMO-CHAN!" she squealed. Mamoru was standing at the gate,
waiting for her. She ran up to him to jump in his arms. "Oh, you're
going to walk me to school! Oh that's so . . ."
She stopped because Mamoru caught her around the ribs and held
her at bay.
"Mamo-chan?" Usagi squeaked. "What's wrong?"
"Well I wasn't sure if you were going to hug me or slap me," he
said anxiously.
"Mamo-chan, I would never slap you!"
"Not even last night?"
"Last night?"
"When you came to my apartment?"
"Mamo-chan, I didn't come to your apartment last night!"
Mamoru looked confused. He took a moment to digest this.
"Mamo-chan, what happened at your apartment last night?" Usagi
asked fearfully.
"I'm not sure," he replied. "But unless I'm studying too hard
and hallucinated it, someone who looked and sounded just like you was
in my apartment last night."
"Remarkable," Luna said, glancing at Usagi.
"You and she didn't, um . . ." Usagi asked nervously. Mamoru
smiled and caressed her cheek with his hand.
"No," he said. "Something deep down told me it wasn't you.
I'm glad to know now that the voice was right."
Usagi smiled broadly even as her eyes watered. She plunged her
face to his chest and hugged him.
"We'd better be going or you'll be late for school," Mamoru
grinned.
"SCHOOL!" gasped Usagi. She tore away from Mamoru and ran off
down the street. Mamoru started to follow.
"Mamoru," Luna said, stopping him. "Could you go into a bit
more detail about last night's incident? You see," and the cat
hesitated, "well, I hate casting aspersions, but Usagi has been
acting a bit strangely lately - - and she did disappear for a time
last night."
Concern growing on his face, Mamoru glanced at the rapidly
disappearing form of his beloved down the street.
Continued in part 5
Chapter Four: "Encounters In The Dark"
By Bill K.
Artemis and Luna sat in the park under a bright crescent moon.
Luna had a miniaturized headset on, the headset connected to a
wafer-thin hand-held computer. After analyzing the data on the
screen, she sighed and turned to the white cat.
"What exactly are we looking for?" she asked.
"Something out of the ordinary," Artemis replied while
maintaining his concentration on dissecting prior readings on his own
hand-held.
"I'm not finding much. Perhaps what we're looking for isn't
that different from human life energy."
"A normal human with all of Minako's abilities? How do you
explain that?"
"Human science?" offered Luna. "It is possible. They're doing
all sorts of things with genetics and micro-circuitry these days."
She glanced at Artemis and caught him staring at her. He
quickly looked away.
"Artemis, what is it?" Luna asked.
"Nothing," he coughed nervously. When her look persisted, he
sighed. "I, um, was just noticing how, um, how beautiful you looked
in the moonlight."
Luna turned to conceal her smile. "You need to keep your mind
on your work," she admonished. Glancing back at him, she saw his
chagrin. The black cat leaned over and licked his chin. "It 'tis
appreciated, though." Artemis grinned at her.
Turning the antennae connected to the hand-held, Luna suddenly
got a spike on her screen.
"Artemis, look at this!" she said. Artemis was beside her in a
second and Luna noted how welcome his closeness was.
"That's what we're looking for," Artemis said. "I'll try to
triangulate on it."
"What an odd wave pattern," Luna remarked. "I've never seen
anything like this."
"Neither have I," Artemis said as he worked on his hand-held.
"It's powerful, though."
"Powerful enough to generate Crescent Beam - - or a reasonable
facsimile?"
"I think this could generate a thousand Crescent Beams,"
Artemis said as he pressed buttons. The cat shook his head in
frustration. "I can't get a fix on it. It's distorting the
triangulation lines!" Finally he broke off the program in
frustration.
"Buck up," Luna said, leaning in and licking his cheek. "We've
eliminated three quarters of Tokyo and we've got a measurable wave
pattern to compare. That puts us that much closer to solving this."
"Yeah," Artemis agreed reluctantly. Both cats did a double
loop backflip and the hand-helds disappeared. "Lucky for me you're
not just a sexy body."
"Oh, you're so forward!" clucked Luna. Inside, though, she
loved every word.
* * * *
Usagi closed the distance between herself and Mamoru and every
movement her body made was an invitation. Mamoru stood transfixed.
It was one of his greatest desires come true and yet it was so
totally alien to Usagi's nature that he couldn't believe it was her.
She slid her warm, round, soft body up against his, her hands
gliding up his chest until they could snake around his neck. She
looked up at him, her large pool blue eyes whispering her longing for
him. Her lips pursed and she rose up onto tiptoes to kiss him.
And he wanted to - - to kiss her, to consume her, to consummate
everything they'd been to each other so far and everything they were
destined to be. But something was wrong. Some little tickle in the
back of his mind was telling him to beware.
So, though she was near enough that he could feel her breath on
his lips, Mamoru closed his eyes and felt along his psychic
connection to her. And suddenly his hands closed around her wrists.
"Who are you?" he asked coldly. His arms forced a few inches
of distance between them.
"Who do you think I am?" Usagi grinned, unsure if he was
teasing her. When his expression didn't change, hers sobered.
"Mamo-chan, it's me! It's the woman who loves you - - the woman
who's pledged her life to you!"
Her eyes began misting over in that way Usagi had that always
tore his heart to ribbons. And at that moment, he wasn't sure any
longer that he'd felt what he felt.
"I just wanted to surprise you," she said, contracting into
herself, grimacing with embarrassment and humiliation. "It's what
we've both wanted for so long - - at least I thought it was what we
both wanted." She looked up at him, betrayal mirrored in her face.
"Mamo-chan, don't look at me like that! It's me!"
"Is it?" he asked, unsure.
And she struck him, her hand across his face powered by a
capacity for anger he didn't think she possessed. The pain didn't
hurt as much as the look of bitter vengeance in her eye.
"Have you been playing with me all this time?" she demanded.
"Was this all some sort of game to you, to see how far I'd go, how
much I'd endure, how far I'd humble myself? Did you and your college
buddies all have a good laugh over it?"
"Usagi," he began. He reached for her and she swatted his hand
away.
"Fine!" she spat, stalking to the door, unmindful of the scant
covering her body had. "I finally caught on, I guess! You're free
to chase women your own age or your own intellect, or whatever turns
you on!" Grasping the knob, she whirled. "But I'll get even for
this! I will get even!"
The door slammed. Mamoru was there in seconds and whipped it
open again, only to see the elevator doors close on her. Numbly he
closed the door again and sagged back against it. Confusion gripped
his mind. What had just happened here? And was what he sensed
correct? The person that had been standing before him had been
Usagi.
But not the Usagi he knew.
* * * *
Slipping in through her special door, Luna padded up through
the dark Tsukino house. She headed for Usagi's room to check on her.
If she had time, she'd glance at Usagi's homework, too, to see how
she was doing. Frankly the dedication Usagi had shown towards doing
her homework promptly and briskly the previous night was both
heartening and alarming. Slowly walking into the strangely quiet
room, Luna looked up at Usagi's futon.
"That's odd," Luna thought, leaping up on the empty bed. "It
looks as if she hasn't been here all night."
Leaping over to Usagi's desk, Luna worked her satchel open and
pulled papers out.
"Hmm, she did her homework," Luna thought as she looked over
the papers. "That's her sloppy handwriting. And that answer's
wrong. So she was here. But where did she go? Was there a sailor
emergency? Has she run into trouble?"
Scampering across the room, Luna was about to fire up her
communicator and call Artemis when Usagi walked in. Though it was
dark and shadows obscured her expression, Luna could sense Usagi was
burdened by something.
"Where have you been?" Luna asked, leaping up on the bed.
Usagi absently stroked Luna's back as she sat on the edge of the bed.
"I had something to do," Usagi responded evasively. Luna
instantly noted she was withholding something, but her voice was so
blue that she didn't directly pursue it. Instead she examined Usagi
as the girl pulled off her top.
"Did you run across any trouble?"
"Hmm? Oh, nothing like that. You worry too much."
"You give me too much to worry about."
Usagi stuck her tongue out and it somehow made Luna feel
better. "Did you find out anything?"
"We've got an energy reading we're trying to identify.
Hopefully we can use it to identify our 'mystery sailor'." Luna
glanced up at Usagi. She seemed to be zoned out, which was hardly
unusual.
"Luna?" Usagi said at last. "Does it seem like Ami's been
acting strange to you?"
"Ami? I hadn't noticed. Do you have something specific in
mind?"
Usagi shrugged. "Maybe I'm wrong." She grinned. "First time
for that, huh?"
"I'm planning on writing a book one day," Luna smirked back.
Usagi stuck her tongue out again and went to brush her teeth.
Luna watched her leave. Was it Ami she was worried about, the cat
wondered, or was it something else?
* * * *
From a deep sleep, Rei's eyes popped open. Deimos and Phobos
were caterwauling outside. She listened to hear what they were
saying, because if they were arguing again, she was going to wring
their feathery little necks.
Then she felt it: a presence in the room. The frantic clatter
from the crows confirmed it. There was an intruder in the room.
Keeping still, Rei scanned the dark room. As her gaze swept from
right to left, seeing nothing, she felt her heart beating faster.
Just then something touched her left ear.
"Tag," a woman whispered in the ear. "You're it."
Lurching away, Rei tumbled out of bed onto the floor. Twisting
around as she scrambled to her feet, she saw Sailor V at the door.
The woman turned, blew Rei a kiss, and leapt through the open door.
"Mars Crystal Power Make Up!" Rei shouted as her henshin stick
materialized in her hand. Sailor Mars burst through the bedroom door
out onto the garden behind the shrine. She found 'Sailor V' calmly
leaning against a tree about twenty-five meters away, grinning
smugly. She saluted Mars.
"Who are you?" bellowed Mars. "I know you're not the real
Sailor V!"
Sailor V waggled her finger, silently admonishing her
adversary. Mars fumed impotently. She took several belligerent
steps forward.
"Crescent Boomerang!" yelled Sailor V.
With the speed of thought a gleaming golden crescent formed in
her hand and was launched toward Mars. Only a desperate dive into
the sharp cobblestones of the garden path allowed her to avoid the
missile.
Hearing cawing, Mars looked up. Deimos and Phobos were flying
around Sailor V. The crows would whip their wings in her face and
strafe her with their claws, in defense of their goddess. Sailor V
swung wildly, trying to drive them away. The birds avoided the wild
swings and kept harassing her.
"Mars!" Sailor Mars shouted, crouching on the ground, "Flame
Sniper!"
The flaming bow materialized in her hand, a flame arrow
elongating back to the 'string'. She took deadly aim for Sailor V's
thigh, hoping to disable and capture her, and let fly.
The arrow whizzed through the air, covering the distance
between them in moments. But impossibly, at the last moment, Sailor
V leaped up and tumbled away from both the arrow and the crows. She
rolled up to a kneeling position, ready for action. Mars aimed her
bow for another shot.
"Venus Power! Love Crescent Shower! Pour Down Rain!" Sailor V
shouted.
And from out of nowhere a torrential downpour sprang up. The
sheets of water battered the crows, sending them careening to the
ground. Mars and Sailor V were both instantly soaked to the skin.
Mars let loose her arrow even as her bow sputtered and died in the
cascade of rain. But the fiery shaft, battered by raindrops as
thick as a quarter, disintegrated halfway to its target.
Stunned, Mars quickly marshaled herself to her feet. Sailor V
was already on hers, charging the raven-haired senshi, even as the
rain died away.
"Sailor V Kick!" she yelled, launching a swinging roundhouse
kick at Mars' head. Sailor Mars barely managed to block it, but her
block left her vulnerable to her opponent's trailing leg. It
followed the same arc as Sailor V acrobatically spun in mid-air and
caught Mars hard on the side of the head. Mars crumbled to the
ground.
Sailor V stood triumphantly over Sailor Mars. Then her head
turned when she heard running footsteps approaching. The moonlight
glinting off of the lenses of her red mask, she pointed at Mars and
concentrated. Sailor Mars' costume faded, leaving Rei laying in the
wet grass in her nightgown.
"Rei!" Yuuichiro cried as he ran across the grounds. The man
gently cradled Rei's head in his lap. "Rei, are you hurt?"
"Not really," groaned Rei. "But could you dial down your voice
a little? You're not helping my head."
"Granddaughter!" Grampa said, waddling up quickly. "What
happened?"
Rei grimaced, knowing she couldn't lie to him and get away with
it.
"I," she began, "there was someone in my room. I chased them
out here, but they caught me with a lucky shot and got away."
"How dare they!" roared Yuuichiro.
"Do you know who it was?" Grampa asked.
"No," Rei replied, seething frustration, "but I'm going to find
out."
Then she noticed that Yuuichiro had noticed her intimate
apparel - - in fact he seemed mesmerized by it. Her hands went up to
her bodice reflexively.
"You can put your eyes back in your head, Yuuichiro," she
grumbled. Yuuichiro's face grew red and he looked away.
* * * *
"Get up, Luna," Usagi chirped, shoving the sleeping cat. "It's
a bright new morning." She strutted to the bathroom.
Luna opened one eye and glared at Usagi.
"Leave it to her to make me regret succeeding in my efforts,"
the cat thought.
"MOVE IT, SHINGO!" Usagi was heard to bellow. "I've got to get
ready for school!"
"Well, that eliminates the pod theory," Luna murmured.
By the time Usagi returned from the bathroom, Luna was up. She
noticed Usagi's chipper mood was sagging a little.
"I was wondering how long this would last," Luna commented.
"Buck up, Usagi. It is nice to see you up and about with time to
spare. It's also quite gratifying to see you buckling down on your
schoolwork."
"Well, I don't want to disappoint Komatsu-sensei," Usagi said,
then yawned widely. "I've got to start getting to bed earlier."
"There's that name again. All you seem to talk about anymore
is this Komatsu-sensei."
"Well why not? He's so nice! And he's really interesting!"
Usagi sighed. "And he's SO dreamy!"
"Oh, really!" huffed Luna. "Mooning over another man! Shame
on you, Usagi! Have you forgotten about Mamoru already?"
"Never!" Usagi gasped, horrified. "I love Mamo-chan! I'll
always love Mamo-chan!" Then she grew a naughty grin. "Doesn't mean
I can't look."
"You're disgusting," sneered Luna.
"Oh, you should talk! As long as you've been in love with
Artemis, it didn't stop you from cuddling up to Yaten!"
"That was completely different!" Luna said indignantly.
"Sure, Luna," she said, straightening her top, "pull the other
one."
The war of words suspended for breakfast. When she finished,
Usagi waved to her still amazed family, grabbed her satchel and
headed off to school. Luna scampered after her.
"I think it would be best if we all had a short meeting at the
shrine," Luna suggested.
"OK. I just hope it's not too long. I want to make sure I get
my homework done."
Luna was about to respond, but Usagi responded first.
"MAMO-CHAN!" she squealed. Mamoru was standing at the gate,
waiting for her. She ran up to him to jump in his arms. "Oh, you're
going to walk me to school! Oh that's so . . ."
She stopped because Mamoru caught her around the ribs and held
her at bay.
"Mamo-chan?" Usagi squeaked. "What's wrong?"
"Well I wasn't sure if you were going to hug me or slap me," he
said anxiously.
"Mamo-chan, I would never slap you!"
"Not even last night?"
"Last night?"
"When you came to my apartment?"
"Mamo-chan, I didn't come to your apartment last night!"
Mamoru looked confused. He took a moment to digest this.
"Mamo-chan, what happened at your apartment last night?" Usagi
asked fearfully.
"I'm not sure," he replied. "But unless I'm studying too hard
and hallucinated it, someone who looked and sounded just like you was
in my apartment last night."
"Remarkable," Luna said, glancing at Usagi.
"You and she didn't, um . . ." Usagi asked nervously. Mamoru
smiled and caressed her cheek with his hand.
"No," he said. "Something deep down told me it wasn't you.
I'm glad to know now that the voice was right."
Usagi smiled broadly even as her eyes watered. She plunged her
face to his chest and hugged him.
"We'd better be going or you'll be late for school," Mamoru
grinned.
"SCHOOL!" gasped Usagi. She tore away from Mamoru and ran off
down the street. Mamoru started to follow.
"Mamoru," Luna said, stopping him. "Could you go into a bit
more detail about last night's incident? You see," and the cat
hesitated, "well, I hate casting aspersions, but Usagi has been
acting a bit strangely lately - - and she did disappear for a time
last night."
Concern growing on his face, Mamoru glanced at the rapidly
disappearing form of his beloved down the street.
Continued in part 5