EMSiT Productions Presents:
To Stand Alone
by Una Moonstar and Quicksilver
Disclaimer: Sailor Moon is not ours. If it was, the skirts would be longer, and Usagi would kick ass a LOT faster.
Credit goes to Remy for signing on as the editor- hope you all see the improvement!
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Chapter Three: Man of Mystery
"So how did the audition go?" Umino asked the next day, naturally enough.
"Let's just say that I won't be famous anytime soon," she said, irony lacing her words.
Umino looked stricken. "I'm sorry!" he apologized. "I never should have pushed you into trying out!"
She gave him a sincere smile, a smile that reached her eyes. "No, Umino. Thank you. You've been pushing me to live my life again, and though I may act like a bitch, I do appreciate it. You're a very good friend, and I don't deserve you."
Umino Gurio had never been on the receiving end of such praise before, especially from a pretty girl, and he had no clue how to react. He blushed fiercely and tried to stammer out an answer, but the homeroom bell rung before he could get a coherent reply together.
Usagi just laughed, a real laugh, a laugh she hadn't been able to produce since before Naru died, as she hurried off to homeroom. That felt good, and she resolved to let herself feel that way more often. Naru would want it that way...
In class, her attention drifted to the window, and she remembered Yuusuke's flushed face as he watched the mysterious Tuxedo Kamen. She nibbled on her pencil as she considered the situation.
In the past, she would have been thrilled that a handsome man was paying attention to her. Now, though, he was merely an annoyance, one she had to surmount if she was going to succeed in... something. Her mind was foggy, but she knew that her powers just weren't for the protection of the innocent. She should have some kind of task...
She sighed as the concept refused to become clear. The last two thoughts that ran through her head was that she shouldn't be doing this alone (along with a brief silhouette of four - or was that eight? - other girls outfitted in similar fukus), and a flash of the colors of the rainbow. Talk about confusion!
She shook off the thoughts just as her name was called to take a message to the office. Usagi smiled slightly and left the room to fulfill the task. As she was returning, she heard screams coming from the schoolyard, where that hour's gym class was running laps. "Shimatta!" she cursed to herself fiercely. "Do they have to bug me here at school now, too?"
She ducked into the nearest alcove after taking a glance around to make sure no one was watching, and transformed. "I should have snuck outside first," she muttered. "Being caught inside wouldn't do much for the whole secret identity thing," she muttered. Luckily the nearest classroom was empty when she peeked in. With a relieved sigh, she went over to the window and opened it, balancing carefully on the ledge as she examined the scene.
What she saw when she landed did *not* make her feel any better about the whole thing. A tall, red youma stood roaring in the middle of the soccer field surrounded by unconscious students who had obviously been playing the game when it surprised them by appearing in their midst. Even though the situation was dire, she couldn't help but snicker when she saw that one of the goalies' heads was resting on the ball - she wished she knew how that had happened. She shook her head and decided to get on with this. "Okay, tall, red, and ugly! How dare you interrupt a group of students playing games! I'm Sailor Moon, and I'll vanquish you!" Vanquish! Yeah! Usagi knew reading over the thesaurus had been a good idea!
The huge beast - almost as wide as it was tall, and definitely all muscle - slowly turned its head in the direction of the defiant voice. Its eyes glowed as red as the rest of its body, and when it bared its fangs; the saliva that dripped from them was as well. "Well, there goes any appetite I had," Sailor Moon muttered. She didn't have time to say mush else before she found herself dodging a lightning fast charge.
She blinked slowly, watching as the demon managed to get hold of her waist. Its claws tried to rip through her fuku, but it had no luck. Still, its grip was strong enough to through her through the window of one of the first floor classrooms. Sailor Moon lay on the floor in dazed confusion, wondering when the monster would come to finish her off. To her surprise, it didn't enter.
As she sat up slowly, her vision became slightly blurry. She had hit her head harder than she thought. Around her the class, which had been in session watched, stunned and obviously confused about what to do. She got to her feet, which wobbled slightly as she tried to find her balance. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" she yelled, hurrying over to the window to see the monster attack a young middle schooler.
The thing merely spared her a quick glance that showed a wicked grin and returned its attention to the younger boy he had trapped against the fence of the field. Sailor Moon gurgled in shock as a red beam shot out from its eyes and struck the boy in the chest. It wasn't draining him... so what was it doing?
She soon had her answer when, amidst the pain-filled screams and her mad dash across the field once she jumped down from the window, a bright light seemed to withdraw from the area struck, finally coalescing into a large crystal the color of blood. Sailor Moon's sapphire blue eyes widened considerably, and realized she just found her purpose - not that she understood it exactly, but there it was all the same. Obviously if the Dark Kingdom wanted these crystals, and somehow she knew there were more, they were important, and it would be just as important to make sure they didn't get them. She blindly dove for the floating, spinning gem, not even feeling it when she was batted aside by the demon.
As she rolled back to her feet, she saw what she realized was a welcome sight: a red rose firmly planted between the monster's feet, stunning it. "You will not succeed in your wicked task today, youma! I, Tuxedo Kamen, will stop you!" There, atop the tall, chain link fence, stood the masked hero in a dramatic pose.
The pose! Sailor Moon resisted the urge to smack herself in the forehead. She knew she had forgotten something!
"Welcome, Tuxedo Kamen. Shall we send this monster packing?" Usagi called out, a truce obvious in her tone. She still remembered how she had felt at the studio and knew she had to make up for that somehow.
He looked at her a bit startled. Did his rival actually just offer to work together? During the confused pause, the boy's screaming changed from the tortured sound of an adolescent human male just hitting puberty to the enraged roar of a monster to be reckoned with. A blinding flash of red light emanated from the source of the sound, and when it cleared, the boy was no longer there. In his place was a tall, thin creature wearing a helmet and lots of blood red spandex. Both heroes turned their gazes slowly to take in the new sight, neither happy with this particular turn of events.
"They can turn people into monsters now?" she asked nervously.
"Looks like it, doesn't it?" he asked.
"Um... I hate to be a bitch, but I don't know if I can kill him... he WAS human until a minute ago."
Tuxedo Kamen frown. "There should be some way to change them back... she could do it, if she was here...." he whispered, sounding like he was walking in a dream.
"Who's she?" Sailor Moon asked.
Tuxedo Kamen didn't get a chance to answer. The youma had gotten tired of waiting for the two to notice his presence. "I am Gesen!" it announced, speaking in a mechanical voice. "And you are dead!"
It attacked.
For the first time since she had been able to transform to fight these things, Sailor Moon screamed as she dodged the blow of a metal claw that shot out from the thing's left hand. "I... I don't want to kill it!" she cried. "I think that boy's in there somewhere!"
Tuxedo Kamen found himself following her example - the dodge, not the scream - when the creature turned its next attack on him. "There's a way! I... just can't remember what it is..."
"Then it's not going to do us much good, now is it?"
Tuxedo Kamen almost threw back a biting retort when he realized her tone wasn't derogatory, but panicked. Thus, silently, the two of them jumped, spun, dove, and in all other ways got out of the way of every attack this monster threw at them for the next ten minutes. Finally they were both beginning to tire, and they found themselves hiding on the same side of a large tree opposite where Gesen stood howling his rage. "So what's a beautiful girl like you doing in a place like this?" he quipped shakily.
She caught the edge of terror-induced frivolity and realized it would work as a tension breaker. "Oh, same old, same old. Just hanging around until the big bad meanie gets around to making me run again. Got any ideas on how to cut this things rampage short?"
He grinned as she had hoped he would. "Actually no. But running does seem like a good idea for now." He reached out to grab her hand. When the two gloves met, a flash of white light blinded the both of them, and when it faded a small wand topped by a golden crescent moon hovered there.
Sailor Moon found her gaze captured by the sight. "Yes, that's it. Just what we needed..." Her dazed voice trailed off as her hand involuntarily rose and grasped the handle of the new wand. The knowledge of what she needed to do flowed into her mind effortlessly at the touch, and she stepped out into the open.
Tuxedo Kamen followed just as calmly, ready to defend her if need be. And she was lucky he did. For just as she was about to go into the stance that would begin the activation of the new device, the original youma sprung from the bushes that surrounded the school building, claws extended and ready to slice off the girl's arm before she could do anything. The masked hero leaped into action, drawing his cane from its extra dimensional pocket and parrying the staggering blow. And thus the duel face-offs began.
Sailor Moon lifted her scepter high into the air, standing proudly. Her eyes narrowed and she looked at the monster that stood before her, the monster that had once been her schoolmate. "I am Sailor Moon, the warrior of justice, and in the name of the Moon, I will bring truth back to your heart!" she declared.
Gesen laughed. "I'm finally myself again, and you think to return me to that.... insipid life? The life of a human?" He said it as though he was spitting out an extremely vile epithet.
His eyes narrowed dangerously and he pointed at her, and she suddenly became of a phantom force trying to crush her neck. "I- can't- breathe-" she gasped.
"Not surprised- I'm crushing your airway! Of course, I could just break your neck, but it's so much more satisfying to watch you suffocate. The fear in your eyes is beautiful," he finished.
It wasn't fear she was feeling, but fury. She raised her wand arm and started to draw a circle in the air the size of her body, ignoring the way her eyes started to see spots from oxygen deprivation. "Moon.... Healing.... Escalation!" she declared.
Sparkling moons exploded around her, and she smiled as they headed towards Gesen. It struck him glancingly, and he managed to dodge away, but the crushing pressure at her throat vanished.
"That's a start," she gasped, her left hand lightly grasping her sore throat.
Meanwhile, Tuxedo Kamen was having his share of problems. Three roses jutted out from different parts of the red creature's body, and they hadn't even slowed him down. The only good thing about it was that he had succeeded in drawing the thing's attention away from Sailor Moon, allowing her to try to heal the transformed student. "Come on, big guy," he taunted. "Didn't your mother have any youma that lived?"
The roar that comment inspired was deafening. The enraged beast flew forward pinning Kamen to the tree he and Sailor Moon had been hiding behind just a few moments before and probably cracking a few ribs in the process. "Okay, *that* was a mistake," he wheezed.
He somehow found the strength to bring his cane around and wallop the stupid thing in the head repeatedly. Finally the thing got the hint and let him go, watching through a wincing expression as the fancily dressed man crumpled in a heap at the base of the tree. "Now you've gone and made me angry," Kamen snarled, struggling to regain his feet. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Sailor Moon's eyes grow wide and heard her breath catch. He didn't understand what was going on with her, but he didn't have the luxury to find out with - big, red, and ugly did she call him earlier? - In front of him. With a quick motion he braced his cane and mentally activated the extension function of it, causing it to strike the youma right between the eyes.
It snarled, swiping at the space the cane had been moments earlier. A wild swing managed to send the caped hero flying; having just managed to catch him off-guard as the bright lights of Sailor Moon's attack filled the air. The masked man landed near the girl's feet, and a small part of him wished he fallen just a couple inches to the left. Oh, the view...
Sailor Moon seemed to take no notice of the almost compromising position she was standing in. Instead, she readied her wand for another attack, and not a moment too soon. For not just her original attacker was charging her, but Tuxedo Kamen's was as well. "Moon... Healing... Escalation!" she cried, pouring everything she had into the attack just as the two creatures met in front of her.
The effects couldn't have been any more different. The first creature, the one who had managed to call forth the red crystal from the boy's chest, screamed and faded into a pile of dull grey dust that blew away in a non-existent wind, just like all the others of his kind that had faced this petite hero. The second creature, on the other hand, screamed as well as it threw its arms into the air. Finally the word "Refresh!" rang through the air, and the light left in the monster's places the teenage boy it had sprung from. He staggered and fell, a look of frightened relief all the thanks Sailor Moon needed to know she had done the right thing.
Tuxedo Kamen rose to his feet, impressed. Sailor Moon was smiling gently at the terrified boy, something that surprised the man standing beside her. "It's okay," she assured the boy. "You're going to be alright."
Tuxedo Kamen looked at Sailor Moon, suddenly impressed by her beauty. This was the way she was meant to look- her eyes shining, and a soothing expression on her face, rather than a look of barely contained anger. "Nice work," he complimented her.
She grinned up at him impishly. "You too," she returned. She tossed the wand into the air and it vanished as she mentally banished it to subspace. How she knew to do that, she didn't know, but she was confidant she could summon it again when she needed it.
She walked over to the red gem that was lying on the ground, abandoned. She bent to pick it up, but was stopped when a rose struck near her fingers. "What do you think you're doing?" she demanded, all feelings of comradeship vanishing as though they had been no more substantial then mist.
"I can't let you have that," he said.
"I'm suppose to be collecting them!" she announced.
"The nijizuishou are my quest," he said firmly. "It's mine."
"Nijizuishou..." she whispered, as it clicked. "The colors are of the rainbow are represented, and they shall appear in order of the color spectrum.... that means they're.... seven? Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet...."
"That's right. And they're mine. I need them," he said, walking up to stand across from her, the sparkling red gem between them.
"Now hold on just a minute, buster," she said menacingly. "You're not the only one with needs here. And what exactly do you need them for, anyway?"
He drew himself up haughtily. "To fulfill the prophecy set forth to me in my dreams."
She felt her face fall into a smirk. "Right. In other words, you don't know either." She took a deep breath and let it go in a loud whoosh. "Look, all I *really* know is that the Dark Kingdom wants these things. That's enough reason for me to want them, if only to keep them from getting them. But I get the feeling that there's something more to this. And that means I need the Red Crystal - *badly*. Are we clear?"
"As mud," he snapped. "Don't you get that *I* need them?" He let out a breath explosively. "All right, let's think this through, shall we? We're both fighting against the Dark Kingdom, right?"
Sailor Moon narrowed her eyes as she tried to figure out what he was getting at. "Right."
"And no matter what else we may guess, letting them have these nijizuishou would be a bad thing, correct?"
"Duh."
"There are also six more crystals that have yet to be found." He looked to her for confirmation she was following along. He got a scathing look in return. "So why don't we split them up between us? You take half, I take the other, and once they're all found we'll decide who gets them once and for all. Fair enough?"
A suspicious look overtook Sailor Moon's features. "Why are you offering this to me? And who gets the extra crystal? There are an odd number, remember?"
His look softened minutely. "We're on the same side. We already established that. Other than this way we both get something we want, if one of us were to get captured the Dark Kingdom wouldn't get all the crystals that have been revealed so far. And we can decide who gets the violet crystal when we get to it." The distant sound of sirens just started to make themselves be heard. "We don't have time for this. Do you agree?"
Sailor Moon eyed him up for a moment longer before deciding he was being completely honest. But she also kept the suspicious look on her face past the time she truly felt the emotion. More quickly than even she realized she could move, she darted forward and snatched up the Red Crystal. "I agree!" she called back over her shoulder as she started to run for the exit at the far end of the field. "You can have the next one!"
Tuxedo Kamen stood there in utter shock for a minute before grinding his teeth together in frustration. "That girl could drive a saint to drink," he muttered before leaving the scene himself.
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After school Usagi started her daily walk home, the red nijizuishou buried safely at the bottom of her schoolbag. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to do them, but collecting them would at least provide her with a little more focus... and purpose.
She rounded a corner, deciding to treat herself to an ice cream at the Crown Arcade. She hadn't been there in a while, and it was time she started to live more normally. Besides, if she holed up in her room constantly and hid, there was a chance that she might miss one of the nijizuishou, and she didn't trust Tuxedo Kamen to keep their agreement.
She smirked slightly as she recalled his look of utter shock as she grabbed the red gem before he had the chance to. She felt slightly guilty that she hadn't waited around to justify it to him, but she figure that since he had been the one to suggest it, then her should be perfectly willing to let her have the first one. As a sign of good faith, of course.
The Crown looked much like it had in the past, though she felt strange that she didn't have Naru at her side. Her fifteenth birthday was coming up, and for the first year, Naru wouldn't be spending the night at her house, preparing to go to the Zoo with her the next morning, as was their tradition. It had always been fun, but Usagi wasn't sure that she wanted to do it on her own. There was no need to court pain, after all.
The glass doors slid open before her silently, and she stepped in, wondering if the place had changed. It was the after school hours, and the place was just starting to fill up. Her eyes alighted on the new games, and she had a shock when she was what one of them was called: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon.
'Hey, wow,' she thought to herself in shock, 'I *am* popular. Huh! Go figure!'
"You do realize that other people would like to get in here, don't you?" a vaguely familiar male voice said from behind her. She didn't know why, but it irritated and soothed her at the same time.
Glancing over her shoulder, she saw a face she never expected to see again: it was the rude guy she had run into after she had left the cemetery! "You are assuming I'd be moving out of the way of a *person*," she drawled back. Usagi knew full well she was being rude, but there was something about this character that set her off.
The handsome young man pulled his sunglasses down just far enough to look over them. "Do you practice being this rude and immature, or is it just a natural gift?"
Part of the blonde reeled back in shock at just how gorgeous those midnight blue eyes were. The rest of her, on the other hand, rebelled at the thought of liking anything about this creep. "Definitely practice. Only pompous, self-righteous jerks like you deserve this kind of treatment."
His lips tensed to a flat line as he shoved the glasses back to their rightful position. "Well, that answers my question." Before Usagi could ask what in the world he meant by that comment, the tall young man reached out, lifted her up by the armpits, and physically moved her to the side of the doorway. The beginnings of a self-satisfied smirk twitched at his lips as he walked purposefully away from the flabbergasted girl.
She didn't know how it happened, but suddenly her shoe was in her hand, and she was taking careful aim for the back of his head. With an easy throw, she launched it across the space between them. To Usagi's delight, it hit him right in the back of the head, the heel smacking him soundly.
"OUCH!" he yelled, spinning around to confront his assailant. He picked the shoe off the floor and stalked over to her, glaring dangerously. "Why in hell did you do that?" he demanded.
She smiled smugly. "Well, manhandling a girl you don't even know could get you sued!" she declared. "Sexual harassment! I was hoping to knock some sense into you," she explained, widening her blue eyes and doing her best to sound helpful.
"Really," he replied, his tones clipped. He held her shoe over her head, just beyond her reach. "Jump for it, Odango. I'm sure you could use the exercise."
"You- you- Neanderthal!" she exclaimed, not giving him the satisfaction of seeing her jump. "MOTOKI!" she yelled at the top of her lungs, not caring if anyone stared at her.
The handsome blond appeared rapidly, his face worried. "Usagi-chan, are you ok?" Then his eyes locked on the dark-haired man. "Mamoru, what are you do to her?"
"Usagi, ne?" The man, apparently the afore mentioned Mamoru, mused. "Well then she should definitely jump for it- it's what rabbits do best!"
Okay, that was it. Usagi had had enough. She took a determined step forward, grabbed the arm that didn't hold the shoe, and bit him. "What is with you?" Mamoru yelled, dropping the shoe and rubbing his abused limb. "What is your malfunction?"
Usagi grinned wickedly and put on her misplaced footwear. "You said you wanted me to act like a rabbit. I've watched a lot of Monty Python. Get over it." She started to strut toward the counter. "And thank you for giving me my shoe back so promptly. It was very considerate of you," she said sweetly over her shoulder before sliding gracefully onto a stool and waiting for Motoki to stop staring at her with his jaw on the ground.
With a discreet check to make sure she hadn't broken the skin, Mamoru turned back and grabbed the stool next to the triumphant blonde. "Motoki, pick your jaw up and get me my coffee. You're going to catch flies."
Usagi turned to him with a glare. "There are other seats here, buddy."
"True, but this is the one I normally sit at. Besides, you could always follow your own unspoken advice. Move if you don't like it."
She decided to ignore him. "Motoki, please ignore him and get me a chocolate milkshake, would you please? I haven't had one of yours for a long time."
By this time the blonde man had recovered and saw the humor inherent in the situation. "Sure, Usagi, Mamoru. Coming right up." He turned to get their orders, and, not coincidentally, to hide a smile of the highest magnitude.
Usagi turned to Mamoru. "So how do you know Motoki?" she asked curiously.
"He's my best friend," Mamoru said shortly. "You aren't one of those silly girls who had a crush on him, are you? He already has a girlfriend."
Usagi's eyes lowered. "I know- Reika. She's very nice... and I did have a crush on him, for a while." She sighed softly, remembering when she and Naru had giggled over him. When Naru had died, though, she realized that Motoki was merely a schoolgirl crush. She didn't have any interest in pursuing him anymore- she had more important things to do.
"'Used to?'" Mamoru echoed curiously.
"When my best friend died, crushes just weren't fun anymore- hardly anything is," she confessed, surprised that she was opening up to this stranger, annoying and handsome as he was.
To her surprise, he didn't offer he condolences or tease her. He merely nodded, as though he understood. "'When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things,'" he said softly.
"Huh?" she asked, confused.
"Corinthians I 13:11," he answered in reply. "It's a book in the Bible. Basically, it means that as we grow up, we put away the things of childhood. Childhood's end means the end of innocence... and a crush is something of innocence."
"I suppose so..." Usagi murmured thoughtfully, her attention turning inward.
She never saw Mamoru's gaze turn contemplative as he watched her, the midnight blues lighten and his features soften. But Motoki did, and he couldn't help but think this meeting was as fateful as they come.
END PART THREE
Up Next: The Importance of a Promise
And Feedback! You know you want too.... ^_~
To Stand Alone
by Una Moonstar and Quicksilver
Disclaimer: Sailor Moon is not ours. If it was, the skirts would be longer, and Usagi would kick ass a LOT faster.
Credit goes to Remy for signing on as the editor- hope you all see the improvement!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Chapter Three: Man of Mystery
"So how did the audition go?" Umino asked the next day, naturally enough.
"Let's just say that I won't be famous anytime soon," she said, irony lacing her words.
Umino looked stricken. "I'm sorry!" he apologized. "I never should have pushed you into trying out!"
She gave him a sincere smile, a smile that reached her eyes. "No, Umino. Thank you. You've been pushing me to live my life again, and though I may act like a bitch, I do appreciate it. You're a very good friend, and I don't deserve you."
Umino Gurio had never been on the receiving end of such praise before, especially from a pretty girl, and he had no clue how to react. He blushed fiercely and tried to stammer out an answer, but the homeroom bell rung before he could get a coherent reply together.
Usagi just laughed, a real laugh, a laugh she hadn't been able to produce since before Naru died, as she hurried off to homeroom. That felt good, and she resolved to let herself feel that way more often. Naru would want it that way...
In class, her attention drifted to the window, and she remembered Yuusuke's flushed face as he watched the mysterious Tuxedo Kamen. She nibbled on her pencil as she considered the situation.
In the past, she would have been thrilled that a handsome man was paying attention to her. Now, though, he was merely an annoyance, one she had to surmount if she was going to succeed in... something. Her mind was foggy, but she knew that her powers just weren't for the protection of the innocent. She should have some kind of task...
She sighed as the concept refused to become clear. The last two thoughts that ran through her head was that she shouldn't be doing this alone (along with a brief silhouette of four - or was that eight? - other girls outfitted in similar fukus), and a flash of the colors of the rainbow. Talk about confusion!
She shook off the thoughts just as her name was called to take a message to the office. Usagi smiled slightly and left the room to fulfill the task. As she was returning, she heard screams coming from the schoolyard, where that hour's gym class was running laps. "Shimatta!" she cursed to herself fiercely. "Do they have to bug me here at school now, too?"
She ducked into the nearest alcove after taking a glance around to make sure no one was watching, and transformed. "I should have snuck outside first," she muttered. "Being caught inside wouldn't do much for the whole secret identity thing," she muttered. Luckily the nearest classroom was empty when she peeked in. With a relieved sigh, she went over to the window and opened it, balancing carefully on the ledge as she examined the scene.
What she saw when she landed did *not* make her feel any better about the whole thing. A tall, red youma stood roaring in the middle of the soccer field surrounded by unconscious students who had obviously been playing the game when it surprised them by appearing in their midst. Even though the situation was dire, she couldn't help but snicker when she saw that one of the goalies' heads was resting on the ball - she wished she knew how that had happened. She shook her head and decided to get on with this. "Okay, tall, red, and ugly! How dare you interrupt a group of students playing games! I'm Sailor Moon, and I'll vanquish you!" Vanquish! Yeah! Usagi knew reading over the thesaurus had been a good idea!
The huge beast - almost as wide as it was tall, and definitely all muscle - slowly turned its head in the direction of the defiant voice. Its eyes glowed as red as the rest of its body, and when it bared its fangs; the saliva that dripped from them was as well. "Well, there goes any appetite I had," Sailor Moon muttered. She didn't have time to say mush else before she found herself dodging a lightning fast charge.
She blinked slowly, watching as the demon managed to get hold of her waist. Its claws tried to rip through her fuku, but it had no luck. Still, its grip was strong enough to through her through the window of one of the first floor classrooms. Sailor Moon lay on the floor in dazed confusion, wondering when the monster would come to finish her off. To her surprise, it didn't enter.
As she sat up slowly, her vision became slightly blurry. She had hit her head harder than she thought. Around her the class, which had been in session watched, stunned and obviously confused about what to do. She got to her feet, which wobbled slightly as she tried to find her balance. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" she yelled, hurrying over to the window to see the monster attack a young middle schooler.
The thing merely spared her a quick glance that showed a wicked grin and returned its attention to the younger boy he had trapped against the fence of the field. Sailor Moon gurgled in shock as a red beam shot out from its eyes and struck the boy in the chest. It wasn't draining him... so what was it doing?
She soon had her answer when, amidst the pain-filled screams and her mad dash across the field once she jumped down from the window, a bright light seemed to withdraw from the area struck, finally coalescing into a large crystal the color of blood. Sailor Moon's sapphire blue eyes widened considerably, and realized she just found her purpose - not that she understood it exactly, but there it was all the same. Obviously if the Dark Kingdom wanted these crystals, and somehow she knew there were more, they were important, and it would be just as important to make sure they didn't get them. She blindly dove for the floating, spinning gem, not even feeling it when she was batted aside by the demon.
As she rolled back to her feet, she saw what she realized was a welcome sight: a red rose firmly planted between the monster's feet, stunning it. "You will not succeed in your wicked task today, youma! I, Tuxedo Kamen, will stop you!" There, atop the tall, chain link fence, stood the masked hero in a dramatic pose.
The pose! Sailor Moon resisted the urge to smack herself in the forehead. She knew she had forgotten something!
"Welcome, Tuxedo Kamen. Shall we send this monster packing?" Usagi called out, a truce obvious in her tone. She still remembered how she had felt at the studio and knew she had to make up for that somehow.
He looked at her a bit startled. Did his rival actually just offer to work together? During the confused pause, the boy's screaming changed from the tortured sound of an adolescent human male just hitting puberty to the enraged roar of a monster to be reckoned with. A blinding flash of red light emanated from the source of the sound, and when it cleared, the boy was no longer there. In his place was a tall, thin creature wearing a helmet and lots of blood red spandex. Both heroes turned their gazes slowly to take in the new sight, neither happy with this particular turn of events.
"They can turn people into monsters now?" she asked nervously.
"Looks like it, doesn't it?" he asked.
"Um... I hate to be a bitch, but I don't know if I can kill him... he WAS human until a minute ago."
Tuxedo Kamen frown. "There should be some way to change them back... she could do it, if she was here...." he whispered, sounding like he was walking in a dream.
"Who's she?" Sailor Moon asked.
Tuxedo Kamen didn't get a chance to answer. The youma had gotten tired of waiting for the two to notice his presence. "I am Gesen!" it announced, speaking in a mechanical voice. "And you are dead!"
It attacked.
For the first time since she had been able to transform to fight these things, Sailor Moon screamed as she dodged the blow of a metal claw that shot out from the thing's left hand. "I... I don't want to kill it!" she cried. "I think that boy's in there somewhere!"
Tuxedo Kamen found himself following her example - the dodge, not the scream - when the creature turned its next attack on him. "There's a way! I... just can't remember what it is..."
"Then it's not going to do us much good, now is it?"
Tuxedo Kamen almost threw back a biting retort when he realized her tone wasn't derogatory, but panicked. Thus, silently, the two of them jumped, spun, dove, and in all other ways got out of the way of every attack this monster threw at them for the next ten minutes. Finally they were both beginning to tire, and they found themselves hiding on the same side of a large tree opposite where Gesen stood howling his rage. "So what's a beautiful girl like you doing in a place like this?" he quipped shakily.
She caught the edge of terror-induced frivolity and realized it would work as a tension breaker. "Oh, same old, same old. Just hanging around until the big bad meanie gets around to making me run again. Got any ideas on how to cut this things rampage short?"
He grinned as she had hoped he would. "Actually no. But running does seem like a good idea for now." He reached out to grab her hand. When the two gloves met, a flash of white light blinded the both of them, and when it faded a small wand topped by a golden crescent moon hovered there.
Sailor Moon found her gaze captured by the sight. "Yes, that's it. Just what we needed..." Her dazed voice trailed off as her hand involuntarily rose and grasped the handle of the new wand. The knowledge of what she needed to do flowed into her mind effortlessly at the touch, and she stepped out into the open.
Tuxedo Kamen followed just as calmly, ready to defend her if need be. And she was lucky he did. For just as she was about to go into the stance that would begin the activation of the new device, the original youma sprung from the bushes that surrounded the school building, claws extended and ready to slice off the girl's arm before she could do anything. The masked hero leaped into action, drawing his cane from its extra dimensional pocket and parrying the staggering blow. And thus the duel face-offs began.
Sailor Moon lifted her scepter high into the air, standing proudly. Her eyes narrowed and she looked at the monster that stood before her, the monster that had once been her schoolmate. "I am Sailor Moon, the warrior of justice, and in the name of the Moon, I will bring truth back to your heart!" she declared.
Gesen laughed. "I'm finally myself again, and you think to return me to that.... insipid life? The life of a human?" He said it as though he was spitting out an extremely vile epithet.
His eyes narrowed dangerously and he pointed at her, and she suddenly became of a phantom force trying to crush her neck. "I- can't- breathe-" she gasped.
"Not surprised- I'm crushing your airway! Of course, I could just break your neck, but it's so much more satisfying to watch you suffocate. The fear in your eyes is beautiful," he finished.
It wasn't fear she was feeling, but fury. She raised her wand arm and started to draw a circle in the air the size of her body, ignoring the way her eyes started to see spots from oxygen deprivation. "Moon.... Healing.... Escalation!" she declared.
Sparkling moons exploded around her, and she smiled as they headed towards Gesen. It struck him glancingly, and he managed to dodge away, but the crushing pressure at her throat vanished.
"That's a start," she gasped, her left hand lightly grasping her sore throat.
Meanwhile, Tuxedo Kamen was having his share of problems. Three roses jutted out from different parts of the red creature's body, and they hadn't even slowed him down. The only good thing about it was that he had succeeded in drawing the thing's attention away from Sailor Moon, allowing her to try to heal the transformed student. "Come on, big guy," he taunted. "Didn't your mother have any youma that lived?"
The roar that comment inspired was deafening. The enraged beast flew forward pinning Kamen to the tree he and Sailor Moon had been hiding behind just a few moments before and probably cracking a few ribs in the process. "Okay, *that* was a mistake," he wheezed.
He somehow found the strength to bring his cane around and wallop the stupid thing in the head repeatedly. Finally the thing got the hint and let him go, watching through a wincing expression as the fancily dressed man crumpled in a heap at the base of the tree. "Now you've gone and made me angry," Kamen snarled, struggling to regain his feet. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Sailor Moon's eyes grow wide and heard her breath catch. He didn't understand what was going on with her, but he didn't have the luxury to find out with - big, red, and ugly did she call him earlier? - In front of him. With a quick motion he braced his cane and mentally activated the extension function of it, causing it to strike the youma right between the eyes.
It snarled, swiping at the space the cane had been moments earlier. A wild swing managed to send the caped hero flying; having just managed to catch him off-guard as the bright lights of Sailor Moon's attack filled the air. The masked man landed near the girl's feet, and a small part of him wished he fallen just a couple inches to the left. Oh, the view...
Sailor Moon seemed to take no notice of the almost compromising position she was standing in. Instead, she readied her wand for another attack, and not a moment too soon. For not just her original attacker was charging her, but Tuxedo Kamen's was as well. "Moon... Healing... Escalation!" she cried, pouring everything she had into the attack just as the two creatures met in front of her.
The effects couldn't have been any more different. The first creature, the one who had managed to call forth the red crystal from the boy's chest, screamed and faded into a pile of dull grey dust that blew away in a non-existent wind, just like all the others of his kind that had faced this petite hero. The second creature, on the other hand, screamed as well as it threw its arms into the air. Finally the word "Refresh!" rang through the air, and the light left in the monster's places the teenage boy it had sprung from. He staggered and fell, a look of frightened relief all the thanks Sailor Moon needed to know she had done the right thing.
Tuxedo Kamen rose to his feet, impressed. Sailor Moon was smiling gently at the terrified boy, something that surprised the man standing beside her. "It's okay," she assured the boy. "You're going to be alright."
Tuxedo Kamen looked at Sailor Moon, suddenly impressed by her beauty. This was the way she was meant to look- her eyes shining, and a soothing expression on her face, rather than a look of barely contained anger. "Nice work," he complimented her.
She grinned up at him impishly. "You too," she returned. She tossed the wand into the air and it vanished as she mentally banished it to subspace. How she knew to do that, she didn't know, but she was confidant she could summon it again when she needed it.
She walked over to the red gem that was lying on the ground, abandoned. She bent to pick it up, but was stopped when a rose struck near her fingers. "What do you think you're doing?" she demanded, all feelings of comradeship vanishing as though they had been no more substantial then mist.
"I can't let you have that," he said.
"I'm suppose to be collecting them!" she announced.
"The nijizuishou are my quest," he said firmly. "It's mine."
"Nijizuishou..." she whispered, as it clicked. "The colors are of the rainbow are represented, and they shall appear in order of the color spectrum.... that means they're.... seven? Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet...."
"That's right. And they're mine. I need them," he said, walking up to stand across from her, the sparkling red gem between them.
"Now hold on just a minute, buster," she said menacingly. "You're not the only one with needs here. And what exactly do you need them for, anyway?"
He drew himself up haughtily. "To fulfill the prophecy set forth to me in my dreams."
She felt her face fall into a smirk. "Right. In other words, you don't know either." She took a deep breath and let it go in a loud whoosh. "Look, all I *really* know is that the Dark Kingdom wants these things. That's enough reason for me to want them, if only to keep them from getting them. But I get the feeling that there's something more to this. And that means I need the Red Crystal - *badly*. Are we clear?"
"As mud," he snapped. "Don't you get that *I* need them?" He let out a breath explosively. "All right, let's think this through, shall we? We're both fighting against the Dark Kingdom, right?"
Sailor Moon narrowed her eyes as she tried to figure out what he was getting at. "Right."
"And no matter what else we may guess, letting them have these nijizuishou would be a bad thing, correct?"
"Duh."
"There are also six more crystals that have yet to be found." He looked to her for confirmation she was following along. He got a scathing look in return. "So why don't we split them up between us? You take half, I take the other, and once they're all found we'll decide who gets them once and for all. Fair enough?"
A suspicious look overtook Sailor Moon's features. "Why are you offering this to me? And who gets the extra crystal? There are an odd number, remember?"
His look softened minutely. "We're on the same side. We already established that. Other than this way we both get something we want, if one of us were to get captured the Dark Kingdom wouldn't get all the crystals that have been revealed so far. And we can decide who gets the violet crystal when we get to it." The distant sound of sirens just started to make themselves be heard. "We don't have time for this. Do you agree?"
Sailor Moon eyed him up for a moment longer before deciding he was being completely honest. But she also kept the suspicious look on her face past the time she truly felt the emotion. More quickly than even she realized she could move, she darted forward and snatched up the Red Crystal. "I agree!" she called back over her shoulder as she started to run for the exit at the far end of the field. "You can have the next one!"
Tuxedo Kamen stood there in utter shock for a minute before grinding his teeth together in frustration. "That girl could drive a saint to drink," he muttered before leaving the scene himself.
~*~*~*~*~
After school Usagi started her daily walk home, the red nijizuishou buried safely at the bottom of her schoolbag. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to do them, but collecting them would at least provide her with a little more focus... and purpose.
She rounded a corner, deciding to treat herself to an ice cream at the Crown Arcade. She hadn't been there in a while, and it was time she started to live more normally. Besides, if she holed up in her room constantly and hid, there was a chance that she might miss one of the nijizuishou, and she didn't trust Tuxedo Kamen to keep their agreement.
She smirked slightly as she recalled his look of utter shock as she grabbed the red gem before he had the chance to. She felt slightly guilty that she hadn't waited around to justify it to him, but she figure that since he had been the one to suggest it, then her should be perfectly willing to let her have the first one. As a sign of good faith, of course.
The Crown looked much like it had in the past, though she felt strange that she didn't have Naru at her side. Her fifteenth birthday was coming up, and for the first year, Naru wouldn't be spending the night at her house, preparing to go to the Zoo with her the next morning, as was their tradition. It had always been fun, but Usagi wasn't sure that she wanted to do it on her own. There was no need to court pain, after all.
The glass doors slid open before her silently, and she stepped in, wondering if the place had changed. It was the after school hours, and the place was just starting to fill up. Her eyes alighted on the new games, and she had a shock when she was what one of them was called: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon.
'Hey, wow,' she thought to herself in shock, 'I *am* popular. Huh! Go figure!'
"You do realize that other people would like to get in here, don't you?" a vaguely familiar male voice said from behind her. She didn't know why, but it irritated and soothed her at the same time.
Glancing over her shoulder, she saw a face she never expected to see again: it was the rude guy she had run into after she had left the cemetery! "You are assuming I'd be moving out of the way of a *person*," she drawled back. Usagi knew full well she was being rude, but there was something about this character that set her off.
The handsome young man pulled his sunglasses down just far enough to look over them. "Do you practice being this rude and immature, or is it just a natural gift?"
Part of the blonde reeled back in shock at just how gorgeous those midnight blue eyes were. The rest of her, on the other hand, rebelled at the thought of liking anything about this creep. "Definitely practice. Only pompous, self-righteous jerks like you deserve this kind of treatment."
His lips tensed to a flat line as he shoved the glasses back to their rightful position. "Well, that answers my question." Before Usagi could ask what in the world he meant by that comment, the tall young man reached out, lifted her up by the armpits, and physically moved her to the side of the doorway. The beginnings of a self-satisfied smirk twitched at his lips as he walked purposefully away from the flabbergasted girl.
She didn't know how it happened, but suddenly her shoe was in her hand, and she was taking careful aim for the back of his head. With an easy throw, she launched it across the space between them. To Usagi's delight, it hit him right in the back of the head, the heel smacking him soundly.
"OUCH!" he yelled, spinning around to confront his assailant. He picked the shoe off the floor and stalked over to her, glaring dangerously. "Why in hell did you do that?" he demanded.
She smiled smugly. "Well, manhandling a girl you don't even know could get you sued!" she declared. "Sexual harassment! I was hoping to knock some sense into you," she explained, widening her blue eyes and doing her best to sound helpful.
"Really," he replied, his tones clipped. He held her shoe over her head, just beyond her reach. "Jump for it, Odango. I'm sure you could use the exercise."
"You- you- Neanderthal!" she exclaimed, not giving him the satisfaction of seeing her jump. "MOTOKI!" she yelled at the top of her lungs, not caring if anyone stared at her.
The handsome blond appeared rapidly, his face worried. "Usagi-chan, are you ok?" Then his eyes locked on the dark-haired man. "Mamoru, what are you do to her?"
"Usagi, ne?" The man, apparently the afore mentioned Mamoru, mused. "Well then she should definitely jump for it- it's what rabbits do best!"
Okay, that was it. Usagi had had enough. She took a determined step forward, grabbed the arm that didn't hold the shoe, and bit him. "What is with you?" Mamoru yelled, dropping the shoe and rubbing his abused limb. "What is your malfunction?"
Usagi grinned wickedly and put on her misplaced footwear. "You said you wanted me to act like a rabbit. I've watched a lot of Monty Python. Get over it." She started to strut toward the counter. "And thank you for giving me my shoe back so promptly. It was very considerate of you," she said sweetly over her shoulder before sliding gracefully onto a stool and waiting for Motoki to stop staring at her with his jaw on the ground.
With a discreet check to make sure she hadn't broken the skin, Mamoru turned back and grabbed the stool next to the triumphant blonde. "Motoki, pick your jaw up and get me my coffee. You're going to catch flies."
Usagi turned to him with a glare. "There are other seats here, buddy."
"True, but this is the one I normally sit at. Besides, you could always follow your own unspoken advice. Move if you don't like it."
She decided to ignore him. "Motoki, please ignore him and get me a chocolate milkshake, would you please? I haven't had one of yours for a long time."
By this time the blonde man had recovered and saw the humor inherent in the situation. "Sure, Usagi, Mamoru. Coming right up." He turned to get their orders, and, not coincidentally, to hide a smile of the highest magnitude.
Usagi turned to Mamoru. "So how do you know Motoki?" she asked curiously.
"He's my best friend," Mamoru said shortly. "You aren't one of those silly girls who had a crush on him, are you? He already has a girlfriend."
Usagi's eyes lowered. "I know- Reika. She's very nice... and I did have a crush on him, for a while." She sighed softly, remembering when she and Naru had giggled over him. When Naru had died, though, she realized that Motoki was merely a schoolgirl crush. She didn't have any interest in pursuing him anymore- she had more important things to do.
"'Used to?'" Mamoru echoed curiously.
"When my best friend died, crushes just weren't fun anymore- hardly anything is," she confessed, surprised that she was opening up to this stranger, annoying and handsome as he was.
To her surprise, he didn't offer he condolences or tease her. He merely nodded, as though he understood. "'When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things,'" he said softly.
"Huh?" she asked, confused.
"Corinthians I 13:11," he answered in reply. "It's a book in the Bible. Basically, it means that as we grow up, we put away the things of childhood. Childhood's end means the end of innocence... and a crush is something of innocence."
"I suppose so..." Usagi murmured thoughtfully, her attention turning inward.
She never saw Mamoru's gaze turn contemplative as he watched her, the midnight blues lighten and his features soften. But Motoki did, and he couldn't help but think this meeting was as fateful as they come.
END PART THREE
Up Next: The Importance of a Promise
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