"Guys..." she began. The laughing stopped. She had their attention. "Where's Mamoru?" she asked. None could meet her eyes.
"He's in the hospital, Usagi." Rei finally said. Usagi's eyebrows furrowed.
"How? What happened? Was it a youm-" she was cut off by Rei's hand being stuck over her mouth.
"He wrecked his motorcyle." Matoko answered.
"Oh." Usagi said. An akward silence fell over the five friends.
"I'm going to sleep." Minako declared.
"You sure need your beauty sleep." Rei teased, recieving a stuck out tongue from Minako. The five of them laid down around the room and gave in to sleep.
Beeeeeeep! Beeee-
The wristwatch alarm was cut off by Usagi quickly pressing one of the buttons. She sat up slowly, the adrenaline rush wearing off. She reached into her pillowcase cover and pulled out her laptop. Luckily it turned on silently, without many of the annoying sounds that some computers made. She opened the email program and began typing.
To: Wufei
From: Love: Usagi
Subject: This bites
Message: I hate Fate, Destiny, and all that other crap. Kami I miss you so much. I've made amends to some friends here, and Mamoru's in the hospital. And before you say anything, I didn't do anything to him to put him there. I'm going to find a way back, I promise. I'm going to try and talk to one of my friends, Ami, and see if she knows any loophole in the 'law' that I could use. Is anything different with you guys? Not like I would know what 'different' is. Hey that reminds me you never did tell me where you were that morning I threw myself down the stairs. I'm really sad that I didn't get to know the others better before I had to leave. (Not that I like any of them the way I like you.) Kami I am still so pissed off that I have to stay here. KUSO THIS REEKS!!! And I don't even know when I'll be able to tell the other Senshi where I was or who I was with.
Aishiteru, Wufei. I'll find a way back.
Love, Usagi
She hit the 'Send' button and then looked in her Inbox.
'Wow, I wasn't expecting one from Hiiro.' she thought, clicking on the email from him.
To: Usagi
From: Hiiro
Subject:
Message: Usagi, you don't know the whole story about Wufei. Ask him about Meriam or Shenlong or Nataku sometime. See what he says. I can't tell you- it's not my place.
'Huh.' Usagi thought. 'I wonder what he's talking about. Meriam? Shenlong? Nataku? I don't know much about Chinese names but those don't sound like them, especially not Shenlong. I'll have to ask Wufei about it next time I email him. I wonder what the time difference is between here and there. I wonder if... Ami... could...' her thoughts trailed off as she fell asleep with her head on the laptop's keys.
Beeeeeeep! Beeee-
Once again Usagi was woken up, this time by the soft beeping of her computer. She cut the noise off quickly, looking around to make sure none of her friends had woken up. They hadn't. She looked at the laptop screen. The small message displayed on the screen made her heart leap.
'New Messages'- it read. She clicked on the image and the first new email came up.
To: Usagi
From: Trowa
Subject:
Message: I was just checking to make sure you got home safely. You never did tell us much about yourself, but we all have our reasons for keeping things from one another. I wanted to tell you that Wufei really misses you, even if he won't admit it to us. It's only been a day and a half since you left but Wufei is different somehow. It's hard to explain. I'll tell Quatre to email and explain it better. Take care, and I'm here if you want to talk.
Usagi smiled and hit the Reply button. She grinned as she tapped out a message, and then sent it. She continued looking through her new mail. She had one from each of the five, but decided to save Wufei's for last.
To: Trowa
From: Usagi
Subject: Arigato
Message: Arigato, Trowa. I feel like I know you, like I can really trust you. It's not just because of what you say, (heck, you hardly said anything while I was there), but I feel something from you.. I hope my leaving didn't have too much of an effect on Wufei... I hope he doesn't forget that I love him. Trowa, can you do me a favor? O-negai, next time you send an email include the time and date on it? It's May 16th, 2000 here, 4:45 AM. Arigato if you do, if not, it's alright. Take care of him, Trowa. I don't want to cause any more damage with my actions.
(These next few pages will just be the emails she recieves and her replies to them.)
To: Usagi
From: Duo
Subject: Hey babe!
Message: Hey girl whazzup? I guess if you get this then you got home safely, wherever your home is. Dude, you gotta get back here as soon as possible because Wufei's going crazy here. Yesterday he actually cried after you left. I've never seen him cry before. Anyways, how old are you? I don't remember you ever telling us. It might just be my memory. I'm sixteen, nearly seventeen. I'm an orphan so I kind of made up my own birthday. Trowa's eighteen, Hiiro and Wufei are seventeen and Quatre's the same as me, almost seventeen. Well I don't want to bore you to death and Quatre wants me to help him with something so I got to go. Talk to you soon, Usagi!
To: Duo
From: Usagi
Subject: You're crazy
Message: You know you're the craziest of all five of you, right? Good. I'm fifteen. My birthday is June 13th. Not too far away, huh? Just a couple of weeks from now, really. I got here safely, just in time to save the world from this messed up power-hungry baka named Wise Man. *Sigh* Oh well. That's my life for you- someone's always trying to either kill me or marry me. It's a crazy world out there isn't it? Mail me back!
To: Usagi
From: Quatre
Subject: Hello again
Message: Hello Miss Usagi. I know all of the other guys have probably done this but I just wanted to make sure that you're alright. That Miss Pluto said that you were from another time- Hiiro is skeptical but we're all working together for the first time to build a time machine. I wanted to ask you about the dream the five of us had. Was it really one of your memories? I got that impression from Miss Pluto, and I felt fear from you when she mentioned it. If you don't want to talk about it, that's alright, but I just wanted to know if it was real. I had a nightmare last night- strange thing was, you were in it, and a bunch of girls I didn't reconize. You fought this man who wore a cloak and didn't show his face. He hurled a ball of black stuff at you and you responded with white stuff. Eventually you won and then- this is going to sound crazy I know- you met up with the four other girls and went to spend the night at a temple. I know, I know, crazy. Is this another of your memories?
To: Quatre
From: Usagi
Subject: Time
Message: Stop calling me 'Miss'! A time machine? I don't think it's possible, but then again with the five of you working together nothing is impossible. I hate to admit this, but yes, the dream that the five of you had was one of my memories and it was real. It really happened, but that was a long time ago. Longer ago than you would think, really. I'm so sorry you had to see that. To understand me, Quatre, you have to understand and accept one thing as fact: Magic is real. It's as real as you and me. As real as you, anyway. I'm not sure what I am anymore. You really had that nightmare? Quatre, that's not really one of my memories- that was what happened to me right after I left you all. That's wierd. Anyway, please tell me if it happens again. You have the gift of empathy, like I do. It can be a curse, can't it? O-negai, use it well.
To: Usagi
From: Hiiro
Subject:
Message: We are working on a time machine. Attached are the propsed blueprints. We would like your input on them. Has that Endymion been bothering you any more? If so, I'll kill him. I should kill you, too, for what you did to Wufei.
To: Hiiro
From: Usagi
Subject:
Message: I don't know how a time machine is going to work because Pluto has forbidden that type of technology to be used. She can prevent it. But o-negai by all means try. Kami don't you think I'm sorry about what I did? I am! Wouldn't you do the same for the others? My friends would have died if I hadn't gone back. Now I have to live with this feeling that I've betrayed the one I love, Wufei. As for Endymion, he's now known as Mamoru Chiba. He wrecked his motorcyle and is in the hospital right now.
To: Usagi
From: Wufei
Subject: Re: This bites!
Message: Couldn't you just sneek into the hospital and poison him or something? Kuso, the braided baka has rubbed off on me. Are you alright? Kami, Usagi, I miss you. Nothing's really changed between me and the guys, except that we're better friends. We weren't really friends before you came, but somehow, in the stretch of just ten days you were here we all became great friends. Who are the 'other Senshi' and why can't you tell them where you were? Aishiteru, Usagi. We're working overtime on the time machine in between everything else we have to do. By the way, you tell me if that Endymion even touches you. If he does, he's dead. I swear to God I'll kill him. Wait for me, Usagi.
To: Wufei
From: Usagi
Subject:
Message: I can't poison him! Well, I could, but that would be wrong. Anyway, I'm glad that you and the others are better friends now. The 'other Senshi' are my friends- Ami, Rei, Minako, and Matoko. It's not that I can't tell them where I was it's just I don't want to talk about it with them. When I tell them that I don't love Mamoru-(You know him as Endymion but here he's known as Mamoru Chiba)- and I tell them that I love you all their going to say is that it doesn't matter because I still have to marry Mamoru because it's destiny. Like I said before, my life is seriously screwed up. Let me know how the time machine works. I just had an idea- I'm going to see if I can open portals between here and your time. If it works, I'll tell you exactly where to be and when to be there and you five can come here that way. I'm going to go experiment as soon as I figure out how to do it. Oh yeah, Hiiro sent me a really odd email. He told me to ask you about 'Meriam, Shenlong and Nataku'. Do you have any idea what he's talking about? I don't. Aishiteru, Wufei.
Exhausted from the day, she closed and hid the laptop. She yawned and layed back down, falling asleep instantly.
"Hey Hiiro!" Wufei called, running into the kitchen after reading Usagi's email.
"Hnn. What?" he replied, not glancing up from his laptop screen which displayed the plans for the time machine.
"Why did you tell Usagi to ask me about Meriam and Shenlong and Nataku? You would kill me if I told her what we do, so why did you bring it up?" he asked, pretty calmly for being as mad as he was.
"I thought she would want to know that you've been in love before, that's all." Hiiro said.
"Oh." Wufei grunted. "I don't want to tell her what we do. Read this." he said, shoving the paper with her email on it under his nose. Hiiro read it quickly and then passed it on to the other three. He sat completely still for a minute while they read it, and then Wufei could literally see a lightbulb go off over his head as he grabbed his laptop and started a new program.
"Can she really do that?" Duo asked.
"What do you mean?" Trowa replied.
"Open a portal between times." he clarified.
"I would normally be inclined to say that it's impossible." Wufei said.
"I think that considering what we've seen in the past few days it's very possible for her to do so." Quatre said.
"Do you really believe all this stuff?" Duo asked. "I mean about magic and time travel and destiny and all. Do you believe it?" They each pondered the question a moment and then answered.
"I do."
"Me too."
"I believe it."
"So do I."
"So I'm not the only one." the braided pilot said.
"Kuso." Hiiro said, looking intently at the screen.
"What is it?" Quatre asked.
"I assumed that Usagi lived in Tokyo because she mentioned something about it when she was here. I searched the old hospital records there for Mamoru Chiba. According to this, he died on May 17th, 2000 AD, at 12:26 PM in Central Tokyo General Hospital in the intensive care unit." he said. They moved to look over his shoulder.
"What did he die of?" Wufei asked. Hiiro scanned the screen.
"He went into cardiac arrest after a motorcycle accident. He had three broken ribs, possible brain damage and a twisted nerve in his neck. He was in a coma and the twisted nerve overreacted to the painkiller they injected him with. It caused his heart to shut down." he interpreted.
"Wait a second what date was it that he died?" Trowa asked.
"May 17th, 2000 AD." Hiiro answered. "Why?"
"Usagi asked me to tell her the date here so she could figure out the time difference. She told me what the date was there, too." he said. He glanced up (down, since he's the tallest) at their expectant faces. "When she sent the email it was May 16th, 2000."
"What time was it there and here?" Hiiro quickly demanded.
"There it was 4:45 AM, here it was 9:28 AM." Trowa answered. Hiiro thought for a moment, and scribbled a few numbers on a scrap of paper nearby.
"If I'm right, it's May 17th, 10:43 AM there. Time seems to pass twice as fast there as it does here."
"So for every day we spend here, two days pass there?" Wufei asked. Hiiro nodded.
"So Mamoru's not dead yet?" Quatre asked. Hiiro shook his head.
"Not yet."
"Come on Usagi wake up!!!" Rei practically screamed in her ear. Usagi rolled over. She hadn't recieved any replies to her emails, though she checked constantly. A day had passed since the night she had sent them. They had spent the past day shopping and hanging out at the arcade. They had once more spent the night at the shrine, and once more it took them a long time to wake Usagi up. (It was May 17th.)
"Duo, leave me alone." she mumbled.
"Duo?" Rei asked. "She's dreaming again."
"Let me try." Matoko said. "Come on silly rabbit, wake up!" she called.
"Wufei, make Duo leave." Usagi muttered.
"Wake up!" Ami yelled.
"Fine, Quatre, I'm getting up." she said as she rubbed her eyes and then blinked groggily. She sat up in shock when she saw who stood in front of her.
"Oh-" she said hastily. "It was just a dream!" she grinned at them, hoping they would buy it.
"Usagi you're weird." Minako told her.
"I know. I call first shower!" she exclaimed, and took off. Once in the bathroom she quickly locked the door.
"Hey no fair you got first shower last time!" Rei yelled through the door.
"You snooze you loose." Usagi said between giggles. The commotion outside the bathroom trailed off and Usagi got in the shower.
About twenty minutes later Usagi was showered, dried, and dressed. She emerged from the bathroom only to see Minako race by her to get in the bathroom. Ami came only a second after.
"Minako! You said I could go next!" she yelled.
"You snooze you loose!" Minako called back. Ami rolled her eyes and went into the kitchen. Usagi followed.
An hour later all five of them had gotten a turn in the shower, and they were all sitting at the kitchen table, eating pancakes that Matoko had made.
"Hey Mato these are really good." Usagi said through a mouthful of chocolate chip pancakes.
"Arigato, 'Sagi." Matoko replied, grinning.
"So, Usagi, what happened when you disappeared?" Ami asked.
"I really don't want to talk about it just yet." Usagi replied after a moment. They nodded.
"Fair enough." Minako said. "I'm sure you'll tell us sometime." Usagi nodded.
"Hey let's go to the Arcade again. I mean, we never got to see Motoki there yesterday because he was at the hospital with Mamoru, so why don't we go now?" Matoko suggested.
"Okay, let's go!" They agreed. They grabbed their shoes and headed out the door, laughing and giggling the whole way across town.
"Hey Motoki!" they cried as they entered the arcade. He glanced up from serving ice cream to a young girl.
"Hey girls, what's up? Haven't seen you here in awhile, Usagi. Where've you been?" Motoki asked.
"Around." Usagi replied. "How's Mamoru doing?"
"He's in a coma, Usagi." Motoki replied. "He's got a couple broken ribs and a twisted nerve in his neck. The doctor thinks he might come out of it soon, though, so they're dosing him with some painkillers in case he does."
"That's good." Usagi replied as they sat down in a nearby booth.
"The usual, I assume?" Motoki asked.
"Yup!" Minako replied.
"Okay then it'll be one cheesburger, small ice cream and fries for Ami; two cheeseburgers and a large fry for Matoko; one hamburger and a medium ice cream for Rei; one cheeseburger and a large fry for Minako; and three cheeseburgers, large milkshake, and a large fry for Usagi." Motoki rattled off.
"Nope!" Minako cried.
"We just finished breakfast." Matoko informed him.
"Oh, so the OTHER usual." Motoki asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yup!" Minako replied.
"Okay then it'll be five large milkshakes- two vanilla, two chocolate, one strawberry." Motoki asked.
"Yup!" Minako replied. The older boy chuckled.
"Okay I'll be right back." he said, and made his way over to the counter. He soon had a tray of the drinks, and brought them over to the girls.
"Here you are." he said as each grabbed their milkshake. "Hey girls-" his comment was cut off by the Arcade's phone ringing. He shot them an apologetic look and walked over to the counter again to answer it.
"Moshi moshi!" he said. He listened for a moment.
"Hai, I did.... Nani?! Iie, iie... Hai, I'll come. Kami... Hai, ja ne." his expression when he got off the phone was much different. He stood in front of the phone for a moment with his back to the girls. His shoulders shook. When he turned around they could see tears in his eyes.
"Daijoubu ka, Motoki?" Usagi asked, suddenly appearing next to him.
"Iie, Usagi." he replied.
"What happened?" Ami questioned as the four girls joined them.
"Mamoru's dead." he said. "I'm going to the hospital."
"We're going too." Usagi declared. He nodded, and slowly took off his apron and pulled on his jacket. After briefly speaking with his manager, they left the Arcade.
"And who are you?" the nurse at the station asked.
"I'm Mamoru Chiba's best friend. My name is Motoki." he said. The nurse scanned the screen.
"Are you aware that your friend is deceased?" she asked. He nodded.
"Then go down the hall and turn at the fourth hallway on the left. You'll want the third door on the right, the morgue." she informed him, and they walked away.
Upon arriving at the morgue, Motoki knocked on the door. It was opened by a tall man dressed in white.
"You are here to see...?" he asked.
"Mamoru Chiba." Usagi supplied. The doctor's gaze turned to her.
"Come in." he said. They filed into the room. He pulled a rolling cot to the center of the room.
"Mamoru Chiba, age 22, birth date unknown." the man said. "Died at 12:26 PM, May 17th, 2000. What is your relation to him?" he asked.
"Best friend." Motoki replied.
"Girlfriend and soon to be fiancee." Usagi said.
"Friends." the others chimed. The doctor looked puzzled.
"Not that it has anything to do with his death, but how could you be a soon to be fiancee?" he asked.
"I'm only fifteen. It's not legal for us to be engaged or married until I'm eighteen." Usagi replied, sighing. The doctor nodded, understanding.
"How did he die?" Ami asked.
"He had a twisted nerve in his neck. When he was injected with painkiller the nerve overreacted and his heart shut down. They tried to revive him." he explained. He reached to the top of the sheet that covered Mamoru's body and pulled it down. Mamoru's face still held his trademark sneer, even in death. Usagi gasped and turned away from the sight. Her "boyfriend"'s face was bruised and battered from the wreck. Rei guided Usagi outside and sat with her on one of the hospital's many green plastic couches.
"Daijoubu ka, Usa-chan?" Rei asked as Usagi cried on her shoulder. Usagi nodded. Rei thought she was crying over her dead boyfriend and "destined" husband. Really, Usagi was crying in happiness.
'Because Mamoru's dead I can't marry him. Maybe I can be with Wufei after all.' Usagi thought. Something caught her memory. She excused herself from Rei's presence and ran off to the park.
"Pluto, I need you." she called. She stood in a small grove of sakura trees in the Tokyo Central Park. A swirl of energy appeared and Pluto stepped out.
"Hime, must you always call upon me when you already know what I'm going to say?" the older woman teased. Usagi smiled.
"If Mamoru is dead then there will be no Neo-King Endymion, will there?" Usagi asked. Pluto shook her head.
"Iie." she said.
"Then can I go back and be with Wufei?" she asked.
"Iie." Pluto replied. Usagi took a step back.
"Why not?" she demanded.
"It's not your destiny." the green-haired one said. Usagi exploded.
"Dammit Pluto then what is my destiny?!" she yelled.
"I can't explain it yet, Usagi-hime." Pluto said, disappearing through the portal. Usagi growled and spun around, punching a hole into a nearby tree.
"Kuso!" she screamed. Birds rose up out of the trees and bushes around her and flew off. She calmed herself down by taking a few deep breaths.
"Fine. If she won't take me there I'll bring them here." she said. Usagi sat down crossed-legged on the the ground and placed her hands on the ground on either side of her. She closed her eyes and concentrated, not really knowing what she was doing.
'If I want it bad enough the Ginzuishou will grant my wish.' she thought, and continued her thoughts with memories of Wufei and the others. She thought about the week when Wufei refused to even speak to her, leaving her with a different boy each day. She had had a lot of fun with each of them- Duo and she had played hide and go seek, Trowa and Quatre had began to teach her to play various instruments, especially the flute. Hiiro hadn't really taken an interest in entertaining Usagi, and merely put up with her. She felt energy flow through her, and she opened her eyes just enough to see a portal begin to form in front of her.
"I did it!" she cried. As soon as the words fell from her lips, the portal disappeared. Her shoulders sagged.
"Shimatta." she shook her head, frusterated.
"03! Taurus, behind you!" Duo cried. They usually tried to not use each other's names over the communication system for fear that one of the soldiers would pick it up. Trowa immediately spun around and destroyed the attacked suit. The battle commenced. Suddenly, the mobile suits stopped moving.
"What's that?" they could here the soldiers asking one another. The Gundams, upon seeing what the suits saw, stopped as well.
"What is that?" Wufei demanded.
"It looks like the portal that Pluto used." Trowa said.
"It is made of a strange energy. The energy code matches Pluto's." Hiiro added in monotone.
"It's Usagi, trying to get us back there!" Quatre said, just as the portal disappeared.
"Well, at least she's trying." Duo commented before they were distracted by more attacking mobile suits.
"Hey Usagi where did you go?" Motoki asked as Usagi met them back in the Arcade. Usagi smiled a bit.
'I have to pretend that I loved him. No one else knew what he did.' she thought.
"I just wanted to be alone for a little while. I talked to Setsuna for a few minutes." Usagi said. "Are you going to be okay?" Ami asked. Usagi nodded.
"It'll take some time." she said. Her friends enveloped her in a huge group hug.
"At least there are no more youma." Minako said. Matoko slapped her on the back on the head.
"Oww what was that for?" the blonde demanded. The taller brunette tilted her head slightly towards Motoki.
"Oh. Gomen." Minako said.
"Come on, let's go back to the shrine." Rei suggested. They paid for their earlier drinks and left the arcade.
Beeep! Beee-
Usagi was now used to the guys' emails coming in the middle of the night. She opened her computer and excitedly read the emails.
To: Usagi
From: Trowa
Subject: Date and Time difference
Message: Hiiro figured out the time difference between our time and yours. For every day that passes here, two days pass where you are. That means that your noon occurs at our noon and again at our midnight. Included is a program that (when installed) will tell you exactly what time it is here. Hiiro and I designed it.
To: Usagi
From: Duo
Subject: Crazy, crazy, crazy
Message: Yeah, I know I'm the craziest! That's what you love about me, isn't it? Just kidding. So, what was up with that portal today? It just appeared out of nowhere... Was that you, or can other people make them, too? Yes, the world is a crazy place... Are you coming back soon? Wufei 's getting worse.
To: Usagi
From: Quatre
Subject:
Message: You've been through a lot, haven't you? Has he ever done anything else like that? Usagi, I had another dream with you in it- you spent one day at a mall in Tokyo, I think, and at an arcade. Then you and your friends fought over the shower and went back to the arcade and then to the hospital. You took off to the park, talked to and got mad with Miss Pluto and tried to open a portal but lost concentration. You went back to the arcade and there was something about a youma, and then you went back to the same temple and fell asleep. There were a lot of details but I didn't think you'd want to hear them since it's probably the last two days. Am I right? What's causing this??
To: Usagi
From: Hiiro
Subject:
Message: Keep trying on the portal. We saw it earlier today. Maybe you should ask Wufei about some meditation techniques.
To: Usagi
From: Wufei
Subject:
Message: Meriam was my sister. Shenlong was one of my best friend's nickname growing up, Nataku was her real name. Like the others must have told you, we saw the portal. Keep trying, Usagi, and keep focused. I'll bet you lost concentration because you were surprised that it worked. You can do it. I know you can. Try to control the portal, though. It opened in a bad place. A lot of people are talking about it now.
To: Wufei, Hiiro, Trowa, Quatre, Duo
From: Usagi
Subject: Tired
Message: Gomen for just sending one email to all of you. It's late here and I'm really tired. I'll try to send more later. I'm going to try the portal again sometime soon. It really drained me of energy, so it might be awhile, what with everything else... Mamoru died early this afternoon. I was crying I was so relieved. I wasn't exactly happy, Mamoru was human after all, but I was grateful, in a way. Thank you for the time program. Quatre- I don't know what's causing it, but feel free to use it to tell the others what's happening here. Kami I'm about to fall alseep... I'll talk to you soon.
With that, Usagi sent the email and shut down her computer. Then she fell fast asleep.
The five sirls spent the next two weeks alternating between each house. Usagi continued to contact the boys through email. She also found plenty of opportunities to slip away and work on the portal. By this time, she could open one and hold it open just long enough, she thought, for the others to slip through. It tired her out, but not as bad as it had the first time or two. Youma had begun attacking once more, and she had to save her energy for defeating them. She had become lighter on her feet, learning to dodge and avoid youma attacks without the unexpected yet welcome help of Tuxedo Mask and his trusty roses. She was still clumsy, yes, but she was learning.
Usagi sat in the park, on a bench under some sakura trees. She and Mamoru had been there thousands of time, but she was thinking of Wufei.
"It's been almost three weeks." she thought miserably to herself. She pulled out her communicator and pushed a small button on the side. The screen flickered and changed to show a date and time.
"3:30 their time... I wonder what's happening..." she trailed off. The screen of the communicator changed again.
"What's happening is that we have a youma here!" Mars yelled. "Come on!" she said. Usagi nodded and began running, transforming behind some trees as she went. Instinct led her to an alley near her school, where the fight had already begun. Mercury and Mars merely dodged the green youma's attacks and countered when they could. She watched in horror as one of the attacks hit it's mark on Sailor Mars's side.
"Leave my friends ALONE!" Sailor Moon yelled as she jumped down from a fire exit nearby and attacked the youma. He was soon Moon Dusted. Jupiter and Venus showed up just in time to see the ugly monster obliterated.
Moon helped Mars up and they soon joined the others.
"Nice shot, Sailor Moon." Jupiter complimented.
"Why thank you." she replied, grinning. They checked to make sure no one was watching and then detransformed.
"Do you all want to go to the arcade?" Rei asked. Three agreed.
"I've got to do something." Usagi said.
"Oh, okay. We'll see you later, then?" Matoko asked before Rei could question what Usagi was doing. The odango-haired one nodded and headed back to the park.
"She's been doing that all week. I wonder what's up with her." Rei said as the four of them walked to the arcade.
"She probably just wants some time alone to deal with Mamoru being gone." Minako commented.
"I don't think so." Ami said gently.
"Why not?" Matoko immediately demanded.
"I'm not really sure. I don't know how to explain it, it's just a feeling I have." she said.
"I know what you mean. I feel love emulating from Usagi every time I'm around her, but I don't think it's for Mamoru." Minako said.
"So what are you saying, that Usagi's got another man?" Rei asked angrily.
"Iie, I'm saying that we have no idea where she went or what happened to her when she disappeared." Ami replied, as calm as Rei was mad.
"It will work this time and they will come through." she told herself as she sat one the ground beneath the sakura trees. She concentrated hard, and almost instantly the portal opened about twenty feet in front of her. She kept her eyes shut and felt for their presence. Subconsiously her mind registered that they were near the portal. What she didn't sense was that other things were coming through the portal... Things that weren't supposed to be on Earth for thousands of years yet... Weapons of mass destruction that had no living pilots.
She had brought mobile dolls to the twenty-first century.
"He's in the hospital, Usagi." Rei finally said. Usagi's eyebrows furrowed.
"How? What happened? Was it a youm-" she was cut off by Rei's hand being stuck over her mouth.
"He wrecked his motorcyle." Matoko answered.
"Oh." Usagi said. An akward silence fell over the five friends.
"I'm going to sleep." Minako declared.
"You sure need your beauty sleep." Rei teased, recieving a stuck out tongue from Minako. The five of them laid down around the room and gave in to sleep.
Beeeeeeep! Beeee-
The wristwatch alarm was cut off by Usagi quickly pressing one of the buttons. She sat up slowly, the adrenaline rush wearing off. She reached into her pillowcase cover and pulled out her laptop. Luckily it turned on silently, without many of the annoying sounds that some computers made. She opened the email program and began typing.
To: Wufei
From: Love: Usagi
Subject: This bites
Message: I hate Fate, Destiny, and all that other crap. Kami I miss you so much. I've made amends to some friends here, and Mamoru's in the hospital. And before you say anything, I didn't do anything to him to put him there. I'm going to find a way back, I promise. I'm going to try and talk to one of my friends, Ami, and see if she knows any loophole in the 'law' that I could use. Is anything different with you guys? Not like I would know what 'different' is. Hey that reminds me you never did tell me where you were that morning I threw myself down the stairs. I'm really sad that I didn't get to know the others better before I had to leave. (Not that I like any of them the way I like you.) Kami I am still so pissed off that I have to stay here. KUSO THIS REEKS!!! And I don't even know when I'll be able to tell the other Senshi where I was or who I was with.
Aishiteru, Wufei. I'll find a way back.
Love, Usagi
She hit the 'Send' button and then looked in her Inbox.
'Wow, I wasn't expecting one from Hiiro.' she thought, clicking on the email from him.
To: Usagi
From: Hiiro
Subject:
Message: Usagi, you don't know the whole story about Wufei. Ask him about Meriam or Shenlong or Nataku sometime. See what he says. I can't tell you- it's not my place.
'Huh.' Usagi thought. 'I wonder what he's talking about. Meriam? Shenlong? Nataku? I don't know much about Chinese names but those don't sound like them, especially not Shenlong. I'll have to ask Wufei about it next time I email him. I wonder what the time difference is between here and there. I wonder if... Ami... could...' her thoughts trailed off as she fell asleep with her head on the laptop's keys.
Beeeeeeep! Beeee-
Once again Usagi was woken up, this time by the soft beeping of her computer. She cut the noise off quickly, looking around to make sure none of her friends had woken up. They hadn't. She looked at the laptop screen. The small message displayed on the screen made her heart leap.
'New Messages'- it read. She clicked on the image and the first new email came up.
To: Usagi
From: Trowa
Subject:
Message: I was just checking to make sure you got home safely. You never did tell us much about yourself, but we all have our reasons for keeping things from one another. I wanted to tell you that Wufei really misses you, even if he won't admit it to us. It's only been a day and a half since you left but Wufei is different somehow. It's hard to explain. I'll tell Quatre to email and explain it better. Take care, and I'm here if you want to talk.
Usagi smiled and hit the Reply button. She grinned as she tapped out a message, and then sent it. She continued looking through her new mail. She had one from each of the five, but decided to save Wufei's for last.
To: Trowa
From: Usagi
Subject: Arigato
Message: Arigato, Trowa. I feel like I know you, like I can really trust you. It's not just because of what you say, (heck, you hardly said anything while I was there), but I feel something from you.. I hope my leaving didn't have too much of an effect on Wufei... I hope he doesn't forget that I love him. Trowa, can you do me a favor? O-negai, next time you send an email include the time and date on it? It's May 16th, 2000 here, 4:45 AM. Arigato if you do, if not, it's alright. Take care of him, Trowa. I don't want to cause any more damage with my actions.
(These next few pages will just be the emails she recieves and her replies to them.)
To: Usagi
From: Duo
Subject: Hey babe!
Message: Hey girl whazzup? I guess if you get this then you got home safely, wherever your home is. Dude, you gotta get back here as soon as possible because Wufei's going crazy here. Yesterday he actually cried after you left. I've never seen him cry before. Anyways, how old are you? I don't remember you ever telling us. It might just be my memory. I'm sixteen, nearly seventeen. I'm an orphan so I kind of made up my own birthday. Trowa's eighteen, Hiiro and Wufei are seventeen and Quatre's the same as me, almost seventeen. Well I don't want to bore you to death and Quatre wants me to help him with something so I got to go. Talk to you soon, Usagi!
To: Duo
From: Usagi
Subject: You're crazy
Message: You know you're the craziest of all five of you, right? Good. I'm fifteen. My birthday is June 13th. Not too far away, huh? Just a couple of weeks from now, really. I got here safely, just in time to save the world from this messed up power-hungry baka named Wise Man. *Sigh* Oh well. That's my life for you- someone's always trying to either kill me or marry me. It's a crazy world out there isn't it? Mail me back!
To: Usagi
From: Quatre
Subject: Hello again
Message: Hello Miss Usagi. I know all of the other guys have probably done this but I just wanted to make sure that you're alright. That Miss Pluto said that you were from another time- Hiiro is skeptical but we're all working together for the first time to build a time machine. I wanted to ask you about the dream the five of us had. Was it really one of your memories? I got that impression from Miss Pluto, and I felt fear from you when she mentioned it. If you don't want to talk about it, that's alright, but I just wanted to know if it was real. I had a nightmare last night- strange thing was, you were in it, and a bunch of girls I didn't reconize. You fought this man who wore a cloak and didn't show his face. He hurled a ball of black stuff at you and you responded with white stuff. Eventually you won and then- this is going to sound crazy I know- you met up with the four other girls and went to spend the night at a temple. I know, I know, crazy. Is this another of your memories?
To: Quatre
From: Usagi
Subject: Time
Message: Stop calling me 'Miss'! A time machine? I don't think it's possible, but then again with the five of you working together nothing is impossible. I hate to admit this, but yes, the dream that the five of you had was one of my memories and it was real. It really happened, but that was a long time ago. Longer ago than you would think, really. I'm so sorry you had to see that. To understand me, Quatre, you have to understand and accept one thing as fact: Magic is real. It's as real as you and me. As real as you, anyway. I'm not sure what I am anymore. You really had that nightmare? Quatre, that's not really one of my memories- that was what happened to me right after I left you all. That's wierd. Anyway, please tell me if it happens again. You have the gift of empathy, like I do. It can be a curse, can't it? O-negai, use it well.
To: Usagi
From: Hiiro
Subject:
Message: We are working on a time machine. Attached are the propsed blueprints. We would like your input on them. Has that Endymion been bothering you any more? If so, I'll kill him. I should kill you, too, for what you did to Wufei.
To: Hiiro
From: Usagi
Subject:
Message: I don't know how a time machine is going to work because Pluto has forbidden that type of technology to be used. She can prevent it. But o-negai by all means try. Kami don't you think I'm sorry about what I did? I am! Wouldn't you do the same for the others? My friends would have died if I hadn't gone back. Now I have to live with this feeling that I've betrayed the one I love, Wufei. As for Endymion, he's now known as Mamoru Chiba. He wrecked his motorcyle and is in the hospital right now.
To: Usagi
From: Wufei
Subject: Re: This bites!
Message: Couldn't you just sneek into the hospital and poison him or something? Kuso, the braided baka has rubbed off on me. Are you alright? Kami, Usagi, I miss you. Nothing's really changed between me and the guys, except that we're better friends. We weren't really friends before you came, but somehow, in the stretch of just ten days you were here we all became great friends. Who are the 'other Senshi' and why can't you tell them where you were? Aishiteru, Usagi. We're working overtime on the time machine in between everything else we have to do. By the way, you tell me if that Endymion even touches you. If he does, he's dead. I swear to God I'll kill him. Wait for me, Usagi.
To: Wufei
From: Usagi
Subject:
Message: I can't poison him! Well, I could, but that would be wrong. Anyway, I'm glad that you and the others are better friends now. The 'other Senshi' are my friends- Ami, Rei, Minako, and Matoko. It's not that I can't tell them where I was it's just I don't want to talk about it with them. When I tell them that I don't love Mamoru-(You know him as Endymion but here he's known as Mamoru Chiba)- and I tell them that I love you all their going to say is that it doesn't matter because I still have to marry Mamoru because it's destiny. Like I said before, my life is seriously screwed up. Let me know how the time machine works. I just had an idea- I'm going to see if I can open portals between here and your time. If it works, I'll tell you exactly where to be and when to be there and you five can come here that way. I'm going to go experiment as soon as I figure out how to do it. Oh yeah, Hiiro sent me a really odd email. He told me to ask you about 'Meriam, Shenlong and Nataku'. Do you have any idea what he's talking about? I don't. Aishiteru, Wufei.
Exhausted from the day, she closed and hid the laptop. She yawned and layed back down, falling asleep instantly.
"Hey Hiiro!" Wufei called, running into the kitchen after reading Usagi's email.
"Hnn. What?" he replied, not glancing up from his laptop screen which displayed the plans for the time machine.
"Why did you tell Usagi to ask me about Meriam and Shenlong and Nataku? You would kill me if I told her what we do, so why did you bring it up?" he asked, pretty calmly for being as mad as he was.
"I thought she would want to know that you've been in love before, that's all." Hiiro said.
"Oh." Wufei grunted. "I don't want to tell her what we do. Read this." he said, shoving the paper with her email on it under his nose. Hiiro read it quickly and then passed it on to the other three. He sat completely still for a minute while they read it, and then Wufei could literally see a lightbulb go off over his head as he grabbed his laptop and started a new program.
"Can she really do that?" Duo asked.
"What do you mean?" Trowa replied.
"Open a portal between times." he clarified.
"I would normally be inclined to say that it's impossible." Wufei said.
"I think that considering what we've seen in the past few days it's very possible for her to do so." Quatre said.
"Do you really believe all this stuff?" Duo asked. "I mean about magic and time travel and destiny and all. Do you believe it?" They each pondered the question a moment and then answered.
"I do."
"Me too."
"I believe it."
"So do I."
"So I'm not the only one." the braided pilot said.
"Kuso." Hiiro said, looking intently at the screen.
"What is it?" Quatre asked.
"I assumed that Usagi lived in Tokyo because she mentioned something about it when she was here. I searched the old hospital records there for Mamoru Chiba. According to this, he died on May 17th, 2000 AD, at 12:26 PM in Central Tokyo General Hospital in the intensive care unit." he said. They moved to look over his shoulder.
"What did he die of?" Wufei asked. Hiiro scanned the screen.
"He went into cardiac arrest after a motorcycle accident. He had three broken ribs, possible brain damage and a twisted nerve in his neck. He was in a coma and the twisted nerve overreacted to the painkiller they injected him with. It caused his heart to shut down." he interpreted.
"Wait a second what date was it that he died?" Trowa asked.
"May 17th, 2000 AD." Hiiro answered. "Why?"
"Usagi asked me to tell her the date here so she could figure out the time difference. She told me what the date was there, too." he said. He glanced up (down, since he's the tallest) at their expectant faces. "When she sent the email it was May 16th, 2000."
"What time was it there and here?" Hiiro quickly demanded.
"There it was 4:45 AM, here it was 9:28 AM." Trowa answered. Hiiro thought for a moment, and scribbled a few numbers on a scrap of paper nearby.
"If I'm right, it's May 17th, 10:43 AM there. Time seems to pass twice as fast there as it does here."
"So for every day we spend here, two days pass there?" Wufei asked. Hiiro nodded.
"So Mamoru's not dead yet?" Quatre asked. Hiiro shook his head.
"Not yet."
"Come on Usagi wake up!!!" Rei practically screamed in her ear. Usagi rolled over. She hadn't recieved any replies to her emails, though she checked constantly. A day had passed since the night she had sent them. They had spent the past day shopping and hanging out at the arcade. They had once more spent the night at the shrine, and once more it took them a long time to wake Usagi up. (It was May 17th.)
"Duo, leave me alone." she mumbled.
"Duo?" Rei asked. "She's dreaming again."
"Let me try." Matoko said. "Come on silly rabbit, wake up!" she called.
"Wufei, make Duo leave." Usagi muttered.
"Wake up!" Ami yelled.
"Fine, Quatre, I'm getting up." she said as she rubbed her eyes and then blinked groggily. She sat up in shock when she saw who stood in front of her.
"Oh-" she said hastily. "It was just a dream!" she grinned at them, hoping they would buy it.
"Usagi you're weird." Minako told her.
"I know. I call first shower!" she exclaimed, and took off. Once in the bathroom she quickly locked the door.
"Hey no fair you got first shower last time!" Rei yelled through the door.
"You snooze you loose." Usagi said between giggles. The commotion outside the bathroom trailed off and Usagi got in the shower.
About twenty minutes later Usagi was showered, dried, and dressed. She emerged from the bathroom only to see Minako race by her to get in the bathroom. Ami came only a second after.
"Minako! You said I could go next!" she yelled.
"You snooze you loose!" Minako called back. Ami rolled her eyes and went into the kitchen. Usagi followed.
An hour later all five of them had gotten a turn in the shower, and they were all sitting at the kitchen table, eating pancakes that Matoko had made.
"Hey Mato these are really good." Usagi said through a mouthful of chocolate chip pancakes.
"Arigato, 'Sagi." Matoko replied, grinning.
"So, Usagi, what happened when you disappeared?" Ami asked.
"I really don't want to talk about it just yet." Usagi replied after a moment. They nodded.
"Fair enough." Minako said. "I'm sure you'll tell us sometime." Usagi nodded.
"Hey let's go to the Arcade again. I mean, we never got to see Motoki there yesterday because he was at the hospital with Mamoru, so why don't we go now?" Matoko suggested.
"Okay, let's go!" They agreed. They grabbed their shoes and headed out the door, laughing and giggling the whole way across town.
"Hey Motoki!" they cried as they entered the arcade. He glanced up from serving ice cream to a young girl.
"Hey girls, what's up? Haven't seen you here in awhile, Usagi. Where've you been?" Motoki asked.
"Around." Usagi replied. "How's Mamoru doing?"
"He's in a coma, Usagi." Motoki replied. "He's got a couple broken ribs and a twisted nerve in his neck. The doctor thinks he might come out of it soon, though, so they're dosing him with some painkillers in case he does."
"That's good." Usagi replied as they sat down in a nearby booth.
"The usual, I assume?" Motoki asked.
"Yup!" Minako replied.
"Okay then it'll be one cheesburger, small ice cream and fries for Ami; two cheeseburgers and a large fry for Matoko; one hamburger and a medium ice cream for Rei; one cheeseburger and a large fry for Minako; and three cheeseburgers, large milkshake, and a large fry for Usagi." Motoki rattled off.
"Nope!" Minako cried.
"We just finished breakfast." Matoko informed him.
"Oh, so the OTHER usual." Motoki asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yup!" Minako replied.
"Okay then it'll be five large milkshakes- two vanilla, two chocolate, one strawberry." Motoki asked.
"Yup!" Minako replied. The older boy chuckled.
"Okay I'll be right back." he said, and made his way over to the counter. He soon had a tray of the drinks, and brought them over to the girls.
"Here you are." he said as each grabbed their milkshake. "Hey girls-" his comment was cut off by the Arcade's phone ringing. He shot them an apologetic look and walked over to the counter again to answer it.
"Moshi moshi!" he said. He listened for a moment.
"Hai, I did.... Nani?! Iie, iie... Hai, I'll come. Kami... Hai, ja ne." his expression when he got off the phone was much different. He stood in front of the phone for a moment with his back to the girls. His shoulders shook. When he turned around they could see tears in his eyes.
"Daijoubu ka, Motoki?" Usagi asked, suddenly appearing next to him.
"Iie, Usagi." he replied.
"What happened?" Ami questioned as the four girls joined them.
"Mamoru's dead." he said. "I'm going to the hospital."
"We're going too." Usagi declared. He nodded, and slowly took off his apron and pulled on his jacket. After briefly speaking with his manager, they left the Arcade.
"And who are you?" the nurse at the station asked.
"I'm Mamoru Chiba's best friend. My name is Motoki." he said. The nurse scanned the screen.
"Are you aware that your friend is deceased?" she asked. He nodded.
"Then go down the hall and turn at the fourth hallway on the left. You'll want the third door on the right, the morgue." she informed him, and they walked away.
Upon arriving at the morgue, Motoki knocked on the door. It was opened by a tall man dressed in white.
"You are here to see...?" he asked.
"Mamoru Chiba." Usagi supplied. The doctor's gaze turned to her.
"Come in." he said. They filed into the room. He pulled a rolling cot to the center of the room.
"Mamoru Chiba, age 22, birth date unknown." the man said. "Died at 12:26 PM, May 17th, 2000. What is your relation to him?" he asked.
"Best friend." Motoki replied.
"Girlfriend and soon to be fiancee." Usagi said.
"Friends." the others chimed. The doctor looked puzzled.
"Not that it has anything to do with his death, but how could you be a soon to be fiancee?" he asked.
"I'm only fifteen. It's not legal for us to be engaged or married until I'm eighteen." Usagi replied, sighing. The doctor nodded, understanding.
"How did he die?" Ami asked.
"He had a twisted nerve in his neck. When he was injected with painkiller the nerve overreacted and his heart shut down. They tried to revive him." he explained. He reached to the top of the sheet that covered Mamoru's body and pulled it down. Mamoru's face still held his trademark sneer, even in death. Usagi gasped and turned away from the sight. Her "boyfriend"'s face was bruised and battered from the wreck. Rei guided Usagi outside and sat with her on one of the hospital's many green plastic couches.
"Daijoubu ka, Usa-chan?" Rei asked as Usagi cried on her shoulder. Usagi nodded. Rei thought she was crying over her dead boyfriend and "destined" husband. Really, Usagi was crying in happiness.
'Because Mamoru's dead I can't marry him. Maybe I can be with Wufei after all.' Usagi thought. Something caught her memory. She excused herself from Rei's presence and ran off to the park.
"Pluto, I need you." she called. She stood in a small grove of sakura trees in the Tokyo Central Park. A swirl of energy appeared and Pluto stepped out.
"Hime, must you always call upon me when you already know what I'm going to say?" the older woman teased. Usagi smiled.
"If Mamoru is dead then there will be no Neo-King Endymion, will there?" Usagi asked. Pluto shook her head.
"Iie." she said.
"Then can I go back and be with Wufei?" she asked.
"Iie." Pluto replied. Usagi took a step back.
"Why not?" she demanded.
"It's not your destiny." the green-haired one said. Usagi exploded.
"Dammit Pluto then what is my destiny?!" she yelled.
"I can't explain it yet, Usagi-hime." Pluto said, disappearing through the portal. Usagi growled and spun around, punching a hole into a nearby tree.
"Kuso!" she screamed. Birds rose up out of the trees and bushes around her and flew off. She calmed herself down by taking a few deep breaths.
"Fine. If she won't take me there I'll bring them here." she said. Usagi sat down crossed-legged on the the ground and placed her hands on the ground on either side of her. She closed her eyes and concentrated, not really knowing what she was doing.
'If I want it bad enough the Ginzuishou will grant my wish.' she thought, and continued her thoughts with memories of Wufei and the others. She thought about the week when Wufei refused to even speak to her, leaving her with a different boy each day. She had had a lot of fun with each of them- Duo and she had played hide and go seek, Trowa and Quatre had began to teach her to play various instruments, especially the flute. Hiiro hadn't really taken an interest in entertaining Usagi, and merely put up with her. She felt energy flow through her, and she opened her eyes just enough to see a portal begin to form in front of her.
"I did it!" she cried. As soon as the words fell from her lips, the portal disappeared. Her shoulders sagged.
"Shimatta." she shook her head, frusterated.
"03! Taurus, behind you!" Duo cried. They usually tried to not use each other's names over the communication system for fear that one of the soldiers would pick it up. Trowa immediately spun around and destroyed the attacked suit. The battle commenced. Suddenly, the mobile suits stopped moving.
"What's that?" they could here the soldiers asking one another. The Gundams, upon seeing what the suits saw, stopped as well.
"What is that?" Wufei demanded.
"It looks like the portal that Pluto used." Trowa said.
"It is made of a strange energy. The energy code matches Pluto's." Hiiro added in monotone.
"It's Usagi, trying to get us back there!" Quatre said, just as the portal disappeared.
"Well, at least she's trying." Duo commented before they were distracted by more attacking mobile suits.
"Hey Usagi where did you go?" Motoki asked as Usagi met them back in the Arcade. Usagi smiled a bit.
'I have to pretend that I loved him. No one else knew what he did.' she thought.
"I just wanted to be alone for a little while. I talked to Setsuna for a few minutes." Usagi said. "Are you going to be okay?" Ami asked. Usagi nodded.
"It'll take some time." she said. Her friends enveloped her in a huge group hug.
"At least there are no more youma." Minako said. Matoko slapped her on the back on the head.
"Oww what was that for?" the blonde demanded. The taller brunette tilted her head slightly towards Motoki.
"Oh. Gomen." Minako said.
"Come on, let's go back to the shrine." Rei suggested. They paid for their earlier drinks and left the arcade.
Beeep! Beee-
Usagi was now used to the guys' emails coming in the middle of the night. She opened her computer and excitedly read the emails.
To: Usagi
From: Trowa
Subject: Date and Time difference
Message: Hiiro figured out the time difference between our time and yours. For every day that passes here, two days pass where you are. That means that your noon occurs at our noon and again at our midnight. Included is a program that (when installed) will tell you exactly what time it is here. Hiiro and I designed it.
To: Usagi
From: Duo
Subject: Crazy, crazy, crazy
Message: Yeah, I know I'm the craziest! That's what you love about me, isn't it? Just kidding. So, what was up with that portal today? It just appeared out of nowhere... Was that you, or can other people make them, too? Yes, the world is a crazy place... Are you coming back soon? Wufei 's getting worse.
To: Usagi
From: Quatre
Subject:
Message: You've been through a lot, haven't you? Has he ever done anything else like that? Usagi, I had another dream with you in it- you spent one day at a mall in Tokyo, I think, and at an arcade. Then you and your friends fought over the shower and went back to the arcade and then to the hospital. You took off to the park, talked to and got mad with Miss Pluto and tried to open a portal but lost concentration. You went back to the arcade and there was something about a youma, and then you went back to the same temple and fell asleep. There were a lot of details but I didn't think you'd want to hear them since it's probably the last two days. Am I right? What's causing this??
To: Usagi
From: Hiiro
Subject:
Message: Keep trying on the portal. We saw it earlier today. Maybe you should ask Wufei about some meditation techniques.
To: Usagi
From: Wufei
Subject:
Message: Meriam was my sister. Shenlong was one of my best friend's nickname growing up, Nataku was her real name. Like the others must have told you, we saw the portal. Keep trying, Usagi, and keep focused. I'll bet you lost concentration because you were surprised that it worked. You can do it. I know you can. Try to control the portal, though. It opened in a bad place. A lot of people are talking about it now.
To: Wufei, Hiiro, Trowa, Quatre, Duo
From: Usagi
Subject: Tired
Message: Gomen for just sending one email to all of you. It's late here and I'm really tired. I'll try to send more later. I'm going to try the portal again sometime soon. It really drained me of energy, so it might be awhile, what with everything else... Mamoru died early this afternoon. I was crying I was so relieved. I wasn't exactly happy, Mamoru was human after all, but I was grateful, in a way. Thank you for the time program. Quatre- I don't know what's causing it, but feel free to use it to tell the others what's happening here. Kami I'm about to fall alseep... I'll talk to you soon.
With that, Usagi sent the email and shut down her computer. Then she fell fast asleep.
The five sirls spent the next two weeks alternating between each house. Usagi continued to contact the boys through email. She also found plenty of opportunities to slip away and work on the portal. By this time, she could open one and hold it open just long enough, she thought, for the others to slip through. It tired her out, but not as bad as it had the first time or two. Youma had begun attacking once more, and she had to save her energy for defeating them. She had become lighter on her feet, learning to dodge and avoid youma attacks without the unexpected yet welcome help of Tuxedo Mask and his trusty roses. She was still clumsy, yes, but she was learning.
Usagi sat in the park, on a bench under some sakura trees. She and Mamoru had been there thousands of time, but she was thinking of Wufei.
"It's been almost three weeks." she thought miserably to herself. She pulled out her communicator and pushed a small button on the side. The screen flickered and changed to show a date and time.
"3:30 their time... I wonder what's happening..." she trailed off. The screen of the communicator changed again.
"What's happening is that we have a youma here!" Mars yelled. "Come on!" she said. Usagi nodded and began running, transforming behind some trees as she went. Instinct led her to an alley near her school, where the fight had already begun. Mercury and Mars merely dodged the green youma's attacks and countered when they could. She watched in horror as one of the attacks hit it's mark on Sailor Mars's side.
"Leave my friends ALONE!" Sailor Moon yelled as she jumped down from a fire exit nearby and attacked the youma. He was soon Moon Dusted. Jupiter and Venus showed up just in time to see the ugly monster obliterated.
Moon helped Mars up and they soon joined the others.
"Nice shot, Sailor Moon." Jupiter complimented.
"Why thank you." she replied, grinning. They checked to make sure no one was watching and then detransformed.
"Do you all want to go to the arcade?" Rei asked. Three agreed.
"I've got to do something." Usagi said.
"Oh, okay. We'll see you later, then?" Matoko asked before Rei could question what Usagi was doing. The odango-haired one nodded and headed back to the park.
"She's been doing that all week. I wonder what's up with her." Rei said as the four of them walked to the arcade.
"She probably just wants some time alone to deal with Mamoru being gone." Minako commented.
"I don't think so." Ami said gently.
"Why not?" Matoko immediately demanded.
"I'm not really sure. I don't know how to explain it, it's just a feeling I have." she said.
"I know what you mean. I feel love emulating from Usagi every time I'm around her, but I don't think it's for Mamoru." Minako said.
"So what are you saying, that Usagi's got another man?" Rei asked angrily.
"Iie, I'm saying that we have no idea where she went or what happened to her when she disappeared." Ami replied, as calm as Rei was mad.
"It will work this time and they will come through." she told herself as she sat one the ground beneath the sakura trees. She concentrated hard, and almost instantly the portal opened about twenty feet in front of her. She kept her eyes shut and felt for their presence. Subconsiously her mind registered that they were near the portal. What she didn't sense was that other things were coming through the portal... Things that weren't supposed to be on Earth for thousands of years yet... Weapons of mass destruction that had no living pilots.
She had brought mobile dolls to the twenty-first century.