Chapter Seven: Birthdays
Usagi was crushed. Mamoru's birthday was coming up, but she didn't know what to get him for his birthday. She had thought of several ideas, but none of them seemed to be perfect. She trudged onwards towards the video arcade until she bumped into a certain tall, black haired and eyed youth. "Oh! Seirei-chan! I didn't see you," she apologized, helping him pick up his books. "That's alright, Usagi. Hey, why are you looking so down? This is not the bubbling, bouncy, happy Usagi that I know." "I just can't find the perfect birthday gift for Mamo-chan." Usagi wailed, sitting down on the sidewalk, crying. "That's it?" he asked, a bit incredulous. "You're making such a fuss over that?" Usagi sniffed and nodded. She knew that she was being a baby, but she felt so bad about it, she just couldn't act normally. "Why don't you come with me to the book shop. He's started to like to read more now, and there's been this book that he's been dying to have. He said that he can't buy it, being on a budget for college and all, but I think that you could afford it." Seirei smiled, one of his winning smiles. "Oh, okay," and with that, they set off towards the bookstore.
"Master, I have the perfect idea." Ryuu Kuki was pleading with her master for what felt like the hundredth time. She had been punished after the Sailor Scouts had escaped, and she wanted to get back into his good graces again. "What issss it thissss time?" he asked exasperatedly. The wraith was perched on top of the throne that had once been Queen Beryl's. Kuki was on the steps, kneeling. "I can use the werewolves that we have and have them track down the Sailor Scouts! Catching all of them and using the at the same time will make our powers increase tenfold!" "You'llll have to givve meeee a bettter rreasssson than that, Kuki." "Master, just let me try and capture Tuxedo Kamen. He's the weakest of them all, so it will be proof of my powers." There was a few seconds pause, then "Fine." Kuki bowed, and retreated from the throne room. But something appeared from the dark columns. It shifted to form what vaguely resembled a human female's body. Kuki took a step backward, and said with loathing, "Tenma, what do you want this time?" "Only to offer my services to a worthy comrade. Seeing as you are failing by yourself, I think you could use some help." "Oh, shut up, Tenma. I have been training the werewolves to perfection. I don't need your help," she spat. "Well then, when you do need my help, come over to my throne room. And make sure that you are ready to beg." A pearly white smile broke the darkness. "Go to hell." "Been there, done that. Heaven would be fun to destroy. Hell was too easy." She disappeared with a poof of smoke. "Bitch."
"Hey, is this the book?" Usagi asked Seirei, throwing him a book from across the aisle. "No, keep looking. Its here somewhere, I know it." Seirei was currently scanning the titles of books, from A History of Witchcraft to How to Beat Mortal Kombat: A Guide. "Are you sure that this is where you saw it?" Usagi asked, exasperatedly. "Positive. Ahah!" he exclaimed, taking a book off the shelf he had been looking at. "Found it!" he cried, throwing it to Usagi. "Mythology: Fact or Fiction?" she asked. "Are you sure that this is the book he wanted?" "Absolutely. Now, let's see how much it is.. We can get it for him." He said confidently. He immediately brought it over to the cashier and bought it. "Now that we've got that out of the way, what do you say we go and get something to eat? It's almost lunchtime," he said with a grin, "and I have heard plenty about your appetite from Fukumi and Mamoru." "I'm not that bad," she said, racing to catch up to his long strides. "They were just exaggerating a bit, that's all." Two sandwiches, a piece of pie, and a Double Cherry Shake later, Usagi was quizzing Seirei about his life. She learned that he lived with his wealthy parents outside of town. He hated them, and so he liked to act as if he didn't have all that money. He was a book reading man, and he loved them. "Almost as much as Fukumi," he said, laughingly. When asked what he did with Fukumi on their dates, he was evasive, no matter how hard Usagi begged him to tell her. But the pleasant afternoon was ruined when a piercing shriek rent the air. "What the-" but Seirei never got to finish his sentence. A huge, wolflike creature crashed through the glass, grabbing him in his dagger-like teeth. Just as quickly as it came, it was gone, taking the young man with it. Usagi, for once without hesitating, ran towards a bathroom, and transformed. "Moon Prisim Power!" Once she had finished transforming, she dashed out of the now ruined bathroom to find the werewolf standing outside of the restaurant, faced by a very pissed off Sailor of the Nebula. "What is your purpose, monster?" she asked, almost too sweetly. "Why have you come here? Don't try to hide it from me," she said, seeing the werewolf shake it's head. Seirei was hanging limply from its jaws. Sailor Nebula's eyes had gone white, stark white. "I can command you to reveal your secrets, but it is so much easier if you just tell me. No?" she asked, while the werewolf growled at her. "Then you shall suffer the same fate as the rest of your brethren have. Sailor Moon!" "Yes?" she asked shakily. "Use a move. Now!" she cried, seeing her hesitate. "Spiral Heart Attack!" The stream of hearts made a beeline for the werewolf, but it just shook them off like little gnats. "What? That should have worked!" Nebula cried, but the werewolf took no notice. It leaped over the car that she was standing on, knocking her over. Sailor Nebula hit the ground with a snap of broken bone. "World Shaking!" The huge planet attack hit the monster, blowing out one of its legs. Sailors Uranus and Neptune had arrived, and just in the nick of time. Damnit, that Nebula gets into more trouble in a day than odango atama does in a week! Uranus didn't know why, but something drove her to try and keep this girl alive, no matter how much it took. Since she's got her memories back, I'll have to ask her why the hell I am her "protector"! A red rose hit the ground in front of the now heavily bleeding werewolf. Tuxedo Kamen had arrived to help save one of his best friends. The werewolf had dropped Seirei to the ground, and it was obvious that he had fainted. "Trying to steal away young men who have just found the meaning of true love is a crime, and I will not have it. Sailors, combine your attacks to defeat this monster!" "Spiral Heart Attack!" "Deep Submerge!" "World Shaking!" The attacks combined into a spiral of planet shaped figures, and created a huge explosion. But when the dust cleared, the werewolf was still standing, and Seirei was nowhere to be found. "Well, it seems as if you Sailor Senshi are having a little bit of trouble with my newest creation," Kuki laughed as she floated down from the sky. "Did you happen to notice the little charm on its neck?" The senshi stared at the hair on the monster's neck until they could make out the little charm shaped like a moon. "That charm makes it so that the more powerful your attacks, the faster it will regenerate." "We'll destroy it, no matter what you have done to it!" Sailor Neptune cried, but she could see the truth in the Negaverse woman's words. Already a new leg was growing to replace the one that Sailor Moon had destroyed. All of a sudden, a ball of white flame engulfed the werewolf, burning it into ashes. Everyone there heard a ghostly voice, but only Fukumi recognized it. If you touch my friends, then you will have to pay the consequences. And with that, Kuki disappeared with a look of abject terror on her face (and obviously against her will). After the senshi had a few moments to recover, they started trying to help the rescue workers clean up the mess (for in the battle, a few people had been injured and buried under rubble). Fukumi was helping too, although a swarm of paramedics made this difficult, because they wanted to set her compound fracture in her right arm.. Only a direct order from Sailor Moon made the strong-willed Nebula submit to the administrations. However, the strangest part of the cleanup came when Sailor Uranus was taking a break from the work. She stood back and wiped her eyes. All of a sudden, she saw Seirei appear right in front of her face falling towards the ground. She barely managed to catch him. He's heavy! She thought with surprise. She barely managed to hand him off to a burly rescue worker before she dropped him. As she stood there, rubbing her arms, she thought I know for a fact that he wasn't there a second ago. What the hell is going on?
?
A few days later, at Mamoru's birthday party, everyone was celebrating for different reasons. Most of all, they were celebrating the fact that they had won against a new foe, and had come away relatively unscathed. Fukumi would wear the cast for a few months but as she jokingly put it, "If I do end up getting assaulted again, I can just smack him upside the head with my rock solid cast!" After everyone got tired of seeing Usagi and Chibi-Usa try and best each other at eating Makoto's excellent food, it was present time. Rei stepped forward and gave Mamoru a CD of his favorite songs, which he immediately started to play on his stereo. Minako gave him a beautiful white rose bush, while Makoto gave him a couple of easy but good recipes. Now Seirei and Fukumi's big secret was revealed (for they had been plotting for weeks to get his gift), for they gave him a customized laptop that was covered in rose engraving. Ami gave him some computer software that would help him get back in shape for school again, and Chibi-Usa gave him a very well made wallet that she had spent all of her allowance on. Usagi was nervous when it came to her turn. She was worried that Mamo-chan had decided to get the book after all, and that she would look the fool. She handed him the wrapped package and stepped back as he opened it. "Usagi, did you really buy this for me?" She nodded mutely. She saw his eyes running over the little inscription that she had written. After he finished, he looked into her eyes, and embraced her. Everyone cheered as they stood there, Usagi blushing furiously, while Mamoru was oblivious to it all. "Thank you, Usako. Thank you for everything." "You're welcome," she whispered back.
Usagi was crushed. Mamoru's birthday was coming up, but she didn't know what to get him for his birthday. She had thought of several ideas, but none of them seemed to be perfect. She trudged onwards towards the video arcade until she bumped into a certain tall, black haired and eyed youth. "Oh! Seirei-chan! I didn't see you," she apologized, helping him pick up his books. "That's alright, Usagi. Hey, why are you looking so down? This is not the bubbling, bouncy, happy Usagi that I know." "I just can't find the perfect birthday gift for Mamo-chan." Usagi wailed, sitting down on the sidewalk, crying. "That's it?" he asked, a bit incredulous. "You're making such a fuss over that?" Usagi sniffed and nodded. She knew that she was being a baby, but she felt so bad about it, she just couldn't act normally. "Why don't you come with me to the book shop. He's started to like to read more now, and there's been this book that he's been dying to have. He said that he can't buy it, being on a budget for college and all, but I think that you could afford it." Seirei smiled, one of his winning smiles. "Oh, okay," and with that, they set off towards the bookstore.
"Master, I have the perfect idea." Ryuu Kuki was pleading with her master for what felt like the hundredth time. She had been punished after the Sailor Scouts had escaped, and she wanted to get back into his good graces again. "What issss it thissss time?" he asked exasperatedly. The wraith was perched on top of the throne that had once been Queen Beryl's. Kuki was on the steps, kneeling. "I can use the werewolves that we have and have them track down the Sailor Scouts! Catching all of them and using the at the same time will make our powers increase tenfold!" "You'llll have to givve meeee a bettter rreasssson than that, Kuki." "Master, just let me try and capture Tuxedo Kamen. He's the weakest of them all, so it will be proof of my powers." There was a few seconds pause, then "Fine." Kuki bowed, and retreated from the throne room. But something appeared from the dark columns. It shifted to form what vaguely resembled a human female's body. Kuki took a step backward, and said with loathing, "Tenma, what do you want this time?" "Only to offer my services to a worthy comrade. Seeing as you are failing by yourself, I think you could use some help." "Oh, shut up, Tenma. I have been training the werewolves to perfection. I don't need your help," she spat. "Well then, when you do need my help, come over to my throne room. And make sure that you are ready to beg." A pearly white smile broke the darkness. "Go to hell." "Been there, done that. Heaven would be fun to destroy. Hell was too easy." She disappeared with a poof of smoke. "Bitch."
"Hey, is this the book?" Usagi asked Seirei, throwing him a book from across the aisle. "No, keep looking. Its here somewhere, I know it." Seirei was currently scanning the titles of books, from A History of Witchcraft to How to Beat Mortal Kombat: A Guide. "Are you sure that this is where you saw it?" Usagi asked, exasperatedly. "Positive. Ahah!" he exclaimed, taking a book off the shelf he had been looking at. "Found it!" he cried, throwing it to Usagi. "Mythology: Fact or Fiction?" she asked. "Are you sure that this is the book he wanted?" "Absolutely. Now, let's see how much it is.. We can get it for him." He said confidently. He immediately brought it over to the cashier and bought it. "Now that we've got that out of the way, what do you say we go and get something to eat? It's almost lunchtime," he said with a grin, "and I have heard plenty about your appetite from Fukumi and Mamoru." "I'm not that bad," she said, racing to catch up to his long strides. "They were just exaggerating a bit, that's all." Two sandwiches, a piece of pie, and a Double Cherry Shake later, Usagi was quizzing Seirei about his life. She learned that he lived with his wealthy parents outside of town. He hated them, and so he liked to act as if he didn't have all that money. He was a book reading man, and he loved them. "Almost as much as Fukumi," he said, laughingly. When asked what he did with Fukumi on their dates, he was evasive, no matter how hard Usagi begged him to tell her. But the pleasant afternoon was ruined when a piercing shriek rent the air. "What the-" but Seirei never got to finish his sentence. A huge, wolflike creature crashed through the glass, grabbing him in his dagger-like teeth. Just as quickly as it came, it was gone, taking the young man with it. Usagi, for once without hesitating, ran towards a bathroom, and transformed. "Moon Prisim Power!" Once she had finished transforming, she dashed out of the now ruined bathroom to find the werewolf standing outside of the restaurant, faced by a very pissed off Sailor of the Nebula. "What is your purpose, monster?" she asked, almost too sweetly. "Why have you come here? Don't try to hide it from me," she said, seeing the werewolf shake it's head. Seirei was hanging limply from its jaws. Sailor Nebula's eyes had gone white, stark white. "I can command you to reveal your secrets, but it is so much easier if you just tell me. No?" she asked, while the werewolf growled at her. "Then you shall suffer the same fate as the rest of your brethren have. Sailor Moon!" "Yes?" she asked shakily. "Use a move. Now!" she cried, seeing her hesitate. "Spiral Heart Attack!" The stream of hearts made a beeline for the werewolf, but it just shook them off like little gnats. "What? That should have worked!" Nebula cried, but the werewolf took no notice. It leaped over the car that she was standing on, knocking her over. Sailor Nebula hit the ground with a snap of broken bone. "World Shaking!" The huge planet attack hit the monster, blowing out one of its legs. Sailors Uranus and Neptune had arrived, and just in the nick of time. Damnit, that Nebula gets into more trouble in a day than odango atama does in a week! Uranus didn't know why, but something drove her to try and keep this girl alive, no matter how much it took. Since she's got her memories back, I'll have to ask her why the hell I am her "protector"! A red rose hit the ground in front of the now heavily bleeding werewolf. Tuxedo Kamen had arrived to help save one of his best friends. The werewolf had dropped Seirei to the ground, and it was obvious that he had fainted. "Trying to steal away young men who have just found the meaning of true love is a crime, and I will not have it. Sailors, combine your attacks to defeat this monster!" "Spiral Heart Attack!" "Deep Submerge!" "World Shaking!" The attacks combined into a spiral of planet shaped figures, and created a huge explosion. But when the dust cleared, the werewolf was still standing, and Seirei was nowhere to be found. "Well, it seems as if you Sailor Senshi are having a little bit of trouble with my newest creation," Kuki laughed as she floated down from the sky. "Did you happen to notice the little charm on its neck?" The senshi stared at the hair on the monster's neck until they could make out the little charm shaped like a moon. "That charm makes it so that the more powerful your attacks, the faster it will regenerate." "We'll destroy it, no matter what you have done to it!" Sailor Neptune cried, but she could see the truth in the Negaverse woman's words. Already a new leg was growing to replace the one that Sailor Moon had destroyed. All of a sudden, a ball of white flame engulfed the werewolf, burning it into ashes. Everyone there heard a ghostly voice, but only Fukumi recognized it. If you touch my friends, then you will have to pay the consequences. And with that, Kuki disappeared with a look of abject terror on her face (and obviously against her will). After the senshi had a few moments to recover, they started trying to help the rescue workers clean up the mess (for in the battle, a few people had been injured and buried under rubble). Fukumi was helping too, although a swarm of paramedics made this difficult, because they wanted to set her compound fracture in her right arm.. Only a direct order from Sailor Moon made the strong-willed Nebula submit to the administrations. However, the strangest part of the cleanup came when Sailor Uranus was taking a break from the work. She stood back and wiped her eyes. All of a sudden, she saw Seirei appear right in front of her face falling towards the ground. She barely managed to catch him. He's heavy! She thought with surprise. She barely managed to hand him off to a burly rescue worker before she dropped him. As she stood there, rubbing her arms, she thought I know for a fact that he wasn't there a second ago. What the hell is going on?
?
A few days later, at Mamoru's birthday party, everyone was celebrating for different reasons. Most of all, they were celebrating the fact that they had won against a new foe, and had come away relatively unscathed. Fukumi would wear the cast for a few months but as she jokingly put it, "If I do end up getting assaulted again, I can just smack him upside the head with my rock solid cast!" After everyone got tired of seeing Usagi and Chibi-Usa try and best each other at eating Makoto's excellent food, it was present time. Rei stepped forward and gave Mamoru a CD of his favorite songs, which he immediately started to play on his stereo. Minako gave him a beautiful white rose bush, while Makoto gave him a couple of easy but good recipes. Now Seirei and Fukumi's big secret was revealed (for they had been plotting for weeks to get his gift), for they gave him a customized laptop that was covered in rose engraving. Ami gave him some computer software that would help him get back in shape for school again, and Chibi-Usa gave him a very well made wallet that she had spent all of her allowance on. Usagi was nervous when it came to her turn. She was worried that Mamo-chan had decided to get the book after all, and that she would look the fool. She handed him the wrapped package and stepped back as he opened it. "Usagi, did you really buy this for me?" She nodded mutely. She saw his eyes running over the little inscription that she had written. After he finished, he looked into her eyes, and embraced her. Everyone cheered as they stood there, Usagi blushing furiously, while Mamoru was oblivious to it all. "Thank you, Usako. Thank you for everything." "You're welcome," she whispered back.