*Bounces, clapping* Konnichiwa! Arigato for the reviews, minna! They inspired me to write more. ^_^v Thanks to ????'s very, erm, enthusiastic four reviews. *giggles* Oh, and Sailor-Sara-Moon who was so excited about it I nearly cried with appreciation! Arigato! Lady of Flame--GURL!!! I've missed you!!!! *Glomp* How are you?! Thnx for reviewing again! *v-sign and a grin* You're one of the people who keep me writing, gurl, never stop rocking my world. *Smirks* Sorry...Micheal Jackson just came on muchmusic. -_-;; Thnx for the feedback, Lulu, I promise I'll try my best to make them longer, hai? mairz87.....how many ways can i say thank you? *grins* very sweet review! I adore ya already. ^^;


Mmph. Chibi Angel's mad 'cos I didn't let her say the disclaimer last time, my bad. She's now insisting on reading it twice as long, so ignore her. *Protests loudly as C-A walks by and smacks her, then jumps up onto a swing and positively beams.

"We don't own Sailor Moon,
We know ya wouldn't sue,
Cos Runaway was just so good
It got 300 reviews!
So now we're gonna do it again,
With the sequel to it's plot
Goodbye, Usagi is gonna do great
[IE, send reviews, and lots!]

*Angel frowns at her* Well, that was cheesy. *Ignores the tongue sticking out at her.* Gomen, minna, here's the chapter, already....


Goodbye, Usagi [Yes. I switched from dub to sub.*frowns* So sue me.]
Chapter Nine
Something So Dirty


Back at Ivy's apartment, I was sitting on the floor of her locked bathroom and staring at the gleamingly clean toilet. How could something so innocently shiny and white be involved in something so dirty?

I stood up and walked over to it, looking down at the closed lid. Ivy's maids always shined the thing until I could see my face in it, and as I looked down at the softly curving top I caught sight of the reflection of my stomach. I nearly gagged--when did I get so fat? Glancing in the mirror for confirmation of what I already knew, I slowly kneeled down in front of the porcelein bowl and flipped up the lid, staring into the watery depths and feeling deeply disgusted in myself even as I brought my finger up to my throat again. I hated doing this, it made me feel cheap, but it was almost addicting and somehow...Strangely comforting. I closed my eyes and relocated my finger to deep inside of my throat, leaving it there and sort of sliding it around until I felt my stomach start heaving, then started coughing the way Ivy told me to to help it along. Finally the contents of my stomach spilled out into the toilet and I stood up on shaky legs, pressing the lever, and walking over to one of the many mirrors. Lifting my shirt slightly, I turned sideways and examined my stomach, finally smiling. "Ivy!" I called, opening the door. She came immediately. "Look, I think it's working!" I said excitedly, displaying my flatter stomach. "Do you think so, too?"

She came closer and placed a hand on my stomach, massaging it gently. I remember wondering why at the the time, but didn't question her. "Hai," she said finally, letting her fingers skid off my stomach. "It is. Just keep it up, Azure, and you'll be beautiful forever."

Stupidly, I believed her.



[AN: Oi, gomen, but I want to put a note in here. Please, just keep in mind that this is totally wrong, okay? Sadly and regretably, I have experience in this area, so I understand. Just, don't look at this as a promotion. Doing it does *not* make you beautiful, you're fine the way you are and I know that sounds like bull, but there's better ways to lose weight--more importantly, *healthily*. Oh, and do *not* go accusing skinny people of being anorexic, *please*. It's annoying and often completely unfounded. Sorry, I know this is all pretty much a granted and you're probably going, Duh, but I just didn't want to take chances. Gomen.]

* * *

Mamoru swallowed hard, looking around at the inner Senshi. "So, that's what happened." He finished weakly, lowering his eyes. "It was nothing like she thought, this is all a big misunderstanding.* He looked up and stared them all directly in the eyes. "You all *swear* you don't know where she is?" Four murmurs of assent and then silence followed his plea. Simulatenously, the group side, and then someone cleared their throat from the window. Immediately, all eyes turned to the black cat perched on the ledge, regarding them with disapproving ruby eyes.

"I know where Usagi is," she stated in a detatched, no-nonsense voice. "And no, I'm not telling you where." She cut them all off as all stood and started jabbering almost instantaneously. "She contacted me last night and she does not want any of you to know her whereabouts at the current time. She was very upset that her supposed best friends deserted her in her time of need, and quite frankly, so am I. I thought that after all Usagi's done for you and this planet, the least any of you could do is be faithful--" here a pointed glare at Mamoru--"or that at least *one* of you could listen to her for a half hour or so! No," she continued as the five tried to protest. "Don't talk. I don't want to hear it. To tell you the truth, I'm very disappointed in all of you--*paticularily* you, Mamoru-san." With that, she jumped down from the sill and walked away outside, not waiting to hear their explanations.

"Oh, Usagi," she sighed ten minutes later when she settled down on Usagi's bed, perfectly made up for once. "Please be careful."


* * *

[AN: LoL, I would have normally left this off at Usagi and Ivy. But, I promised to make the chapters longer, so I added it Mamoru and the Inners. Now, I have no idea what to do, but I suppose I'll work something out...Ah. Got it.]

"The wind is blowing from the East...Feels wet. Something's wrong." Ten'ou Haruka said, leaning against her car and narrowing her dark blue eyes at the wind ruffling her sandy blonde hair. Besides her, Kaiou Michiru folded her arms and leaned backwards as well. "I agree. The seas of Neptune are antsy, something in the universe is wrong--"
She hadn't finished talking when her girlfriend asked abruptly, "Have you seen Koneko over the last few days?"

* * *


"No..." Tomoe Hotaru answered Meiou Setsuna's question thoughtfully. "The last time I saw her was in the street holding a suitcase." The eight year old closed the 500 page book she was reading. "Why? Is something wrong?" Setsuna nodded, her red eyes troubled as she chewed her bottom lip fretfully.

"Don't tell anyone--*especially* Chibi-usa, Hotaru," she reprimended sternly, sitting on the couch beside the floor-bidden girl, "but there's something wrong with the timeline. It's pretty much distorting before my eyes." She sighed. "I can't even sense where Usagi is. Matte--you saw her holding a suitcase?!" Hotaru nodded and Setsuna leaped to her feet and grabbed the phone. Across Tokyo, Haruka's cell rang.

* * *

Somewhere across the galaxy......


"N...Nani?" a figure with long silver hair sat up in the darkness, rubbing her eyes sleepily. "Oi, Fighter. What the hell do you want?"

"Something's wrong on Earth," Sailor Star Fighter replied slowly, her dark blue eyes shining with worry in the dark. "I just have this feeling, I can sense it." Healer stifled a groan and leaned back against her pillows. "Nan?" She answered, trying to sound interested. Somehow she'd lost interest in Fighter's "feelings" when she'd "sensed" something wrong on Earth for the two thousandth time. Actually, turned out there *had* been something wrong last time--Usagi had dropped her ice cream. Of course, they'd had to physically restrain themselves from going to comfort her. Silently, Healer rolled her eyes, but somehow Fighter must have noticed it.

"Healer, I'm serious," she said sharply. "I know I've tried to go back to Earth before for small things, but this time I really think something's wrong." She didn't know if it was the words or the way in which her fellow Senshi said them, but when Sailor Star Healer opened the door and asked what was going on, she answered without hesitation...

"Something's wrong on Earth."


* * *

Across the hall, Kakkyu-hime sat up in her fourposter bed, frowning as she listened to her three Senshi's murmurs. She, too, had an uneasy feeling in her stomach about the Senshi of the planet that had saved her life. Tsukino Usagi had been good to her, Kakkyu was alive because of her and only her, and she'd made Fighter a better person. Everyone knew that, although no one spoke the words. Seiya had left Kakkyu's planet as a cocky teenage male and returned as a man-- well, a man before she'd transformed into her female counterpart, anyway. The Princess highly doubted she'd ever lose her gratitude towards the Princess of the Moon, although she was admittedly somewhat jealous of the girl's unintentional hold over Fighter. The thought of all that the other girl had done for them was the final straw, and Kakkyu strode to her bedroom door and flung it open, watching the three identically surprised expressions of her Senshi.

"Go." She said simply.

* * *

Back on Earth...


Later that night, Usagi was staring out her window at the distant outline of a planet she found herself watching more and more lately. "Shimatta, Seiya..." She breathed, not noting the out of character curse. "Had you not have come, would I still be happy with Mamoru? You showed me... Such love, such sweetness... Mamoru's distant affection couldn't compare any longer. And now this..." She turned from the window, angry tears filling her eyes. "Sometimes I wish you'd never come at all!" And it was precisely those tears that disabled her from seeing the three shooting stars streaking across the sky and falling towards Earth to end up at her previous location...
Tokyo.


* * *

"Nan da?" Mamoru asked sharply of the four girls watching the shooting stars in delighted disbelief. "What's so great about shooting stars?" Granted, they were very *bright* shooting stars, but nothing unusual enough for Minako to get hearts in her eyes over. Even *Ami* was starry eyed. "Minna! What is it?" Finally, Makoto turned her dreamy jade eyes to him. "It's the Starlights!" She announced gleefully, turning her eyes back to the quickly approaching silver lights. Finally, there were four thumps. The first was Yaten hitting the ground in a crouch on the left. The second was Taiki hitting the ground in a crouch on the right. The third was Seiya landing on his feet in this middle, a cocky grin on his face. And the fourth?

The fourth was Mamoru hitting the ground in a dead faint. [AN: *Snickers*]

* * *

Haruka, Michiru, Setsuna, and Hotaru were sprawled out on the car--Haruka lying on the hood, Hotaru lying in the backseat, and Michiru and Setsuna sitting on the back of the car--, gazing at the sky.

"So they've returned," Haruka noted. To a stranger, she would've sounded completely indifferent, completely expressionalist. But someone who knew her well knew to look for the cold hatred in her eyes and the tightening of her mouth. Hotaru looked up her uncertainly.

"Demo, Haruka-papa...Ano, you said you had respect, for them...Ne? So, isn't it good that they're came back?" She looked to Setsuna and Michiru for guidance. Michiru's eyes were closed and the jade-haired girl was worrying her bottom lip. '

"Iie, Hotaru. They've just come back to make trouble." Haruka paused, and then a slightly evil smile crossed her face. "Well, at least Koneko-chan won't be around for them to influence..."

The other two older females murmured in agreement, but Hotaru just stared up at them all.

"Demo, I don't understand...I thought they were our friends.. They saved us," she said, her face lost in confusion.

To her silent question, she got no answer.







Oi, lots of jumping around in this chapter. I'm not so pleased with the ending, but oh well. I'll have more up, soon.. *yawns sleepily* oh, no flames because of the Starlights, please...