When I Was A Little Girl

Chapter 14

By: Chibi J

Rated: G

Editor: Sailor Sista

Um...hi!

SSista: Don't mind her... she's a little tired. Here's the much wanted Chapter Fourteen! Enjoy!!

Standard disclaimers apply.

AN - Author's Notes

EN - Editor's Notes (Sista: Wow. I feel important!)

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By the time the clock struck noon, the people of Tokyo were wishing that the bizarre snow that was on the ground in the early hours of the morning had stayed where it was. Instead, it was 101 degrees Fahrenheit outside, on a day that should have been no more than 72 degrees. The hospital was swarming with people suffering from heat stroke, and the ice cream parlors were making a fortune.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A Brief Interlude.

She frightens me sometimes, she really does. I mean, her plan for taking over the world really is great, but her ways of accomplishing it could use a little fine-tuning.

"Zoisite!" An evil voice hissed out. But, being the humble servant that I am, I always put aside the feeling of bile rising in my throat when I hear her call my name.

"Yes Beryl-sama." I said with a low bow to the ground. Really, the woman is only a mastermind. She doesn't have the inborn power that the other generals and I have, or should I say had. After all, Kunzite and I are the only two remaining. No, her power comes from the mysterious being called Metallia.

"How is the search?" She snarls. Really, the woman could use a makeover. She could be fairly attractive, if she tried. Personally not my choice, but I'm sure that the right man is out there for her. Endymion isn't the only fish in the sea.

"We have gathered two of the Nijizuishou. The Sailor Senshi have collected three." I know that I must keep my eyes away from hers and my head low, or she will kill me for insubordination. However, I'm not quite certain about killing me for the bad news I just delivered.

"Very well. I expected such a distraction. Do not let them gain the rest of the crystals." She said with a wave of her hand that meant I was dismissed. Thank Kami!

Resuming my full height, I gave a salute, crossing my fist over my heart before teleporting out of the throne room. It seems ironic to me that I salute her in such a way. Such a salute is one of honor that should be bestowed upon a king or queen, not a bitter woman.

Yet here I am. I have spent years serving this woman and will do so until my dying day. It is all that I deserve for betraying my prince as I have.

"How did she take it?" Kunzite asked as he walked into my quarters, without even knocking. I suppose when you have spent an eternity of hell with another person, you give up on manners.

"Better than I had expected. I am alive still, after all." I replied with a slight groan of laughter. "She didn't even yell. Only instructed that we must not fail her again."

"We won't." He replied, almost mysteriously, before leaving my quarters.

The irony of life is that you give up everything for the promise of fortune and glory, only to end up a slave. I betrayed the one person that I was supposed to sacrifice my life for. Fooled into this hell and the promises it held.

For my treasons, I deserve death. Yet that is the only thing this world will not grant me.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"I'm tired." I moaned as I dragged my feet along the sidewalk.

"I know," Minako replied, her disposition matching mine.

"I'm hot."

"I know."

"I'm sweaty."

"I know."

"I'm..."

"Will you two knock it off?!"

"Gomen Rei." I mumbled. For some reason, in the terrible heat that had settled in, I couldn't find the strength and stamina my body usually maintained. Perhaps it was because I had chosen to wear my winter uniform, thinking the snow indicated that the odd weather would turn colder.

"I hope Ami figures out what is going on soon. I don't think I can stand you two going through your weather mood swings much longer." Rei muttered, exposing the fact that the absurd weather was also making her quite cranky.

"I agree. After all, if anyone can figure this out, Ami can." Minako said with a sigh as we continued to trudge down the sidewalk.

"Thank you for the compliment." Ami said, appearing out of nowhere and practically scaring me out of my skin.

"AMI! Don't sneak up on us like that!" I screamed out.

"Gomen, gomen." Ami smiled. Sometimes I swear that I can see a little devil on Ami's right shoulder. "Well, I have done all the tests I can, and have come to a conclusion..."

"What's that?" Rei asked, her voice full of curiosity for the answer to our miserable state.

"It's the Dark Moon." Ami supplied.

"And?" I prodded her on.

"And that's it. I don't know how they are changing the weather patterns or why. Gomen." Ami concluded with a sigh.

"That's okay Ami, I'm sure we'll figure out something eventually." Minako said with a soft smile.

"Arigato Minako!" Ami said, smiling back wearily. Then, her features brightened, as if she knew some great secret.

"Out with it." Rei insisted.

"I don't know what you are talking about Rei." Ami replied, although her grin was as large and mysterious as the Cheshire Cats.

"It's a boy." Minako and I shouted out at the same time.

"What?!" Ami continued to pretend she hadn't a clue what we were talking about.

"How do you figure?" Rei asked Minako and I.

"Well, being the love goddess, there's just something about a girl liking a boy. And how Ami's acting right now...yeah, I'm definitely picking up boy vibes." Minako shared her philosophy with us. Actually, it ranked up there with the smartest things Minako had ever said.

"And you?" Rei looked to me questioningly. We had agreed in the past to never use our telepathic abilities to steal secrets from others, and I'm sure that's what Rei was really asking.

"It's written all over her face!" I insisted, but knew it really wasn't enough. "Remember how I looked right after Mamoru and I first met?" Rei nodded her head and then looked at Ami's telltale blush. "Do you see it now?"

"Hai, I do." Rei agreed.

"So, who is he?" Minako asked innocently.

"No one, really." Ami tried. But the looks we gave her must have convinced her that it was hopeless to fight against us. "His name is Urawa Ryo. He just started here and is in all the advanced classes with me." She admitted quietly.

"Awwww." Minako and I cooed, grasping onto each other in a loving embrace.

"I knew I shouldn't have told you two." Ami grumbled as we continued our trip to the shrine.

~*~

"Mamoru!" I shouted as I skipped up to my boyfriend, who was waiting outside the shrine for us.

"Hi!" He responded cheerfully, as he picked me up and spun me around in his arms. When he set me down, he placed a kiss on my cheek, causing me to blush slightly.

"Awwww." Minako grabbed on to Rei this time in her attempt to enjoy romance. Ami simply blushed and looked at the ground.

"What's wrong Ami?" Mamoru asked, noticing the state she was in. She didn't reply, but continued to stare at the pebbles that were randomly scattered on the path.

"Ami's in love!" Minako blurted out.

"Minako!" Ami shouted before chasing Minako around the shrine.

"Well, some things never change around here." Haruka said with a laugh as she and Michiru approached us.

"Hai, Haruka, some things will never change." Mamoru agreed.

I looked around the group and came up a few people short. Haruka, Michiru, Mamoru, and Makoto had all said that they needed to stop at home before coming to the shrine, yet Makoto was still missing.

"Where's Makoto?" I asked, assuming that Mamoru would know where his housemate was.

"She said something about meeting a friend for a little while. She said she'd be here within an hour..." Mamoru replied absently, while watching Ami pin Minako down to the ground. "Um, should we break that up?" He said, pointing to the wrestling match.

"Nah. Ami's winning, let's let her have her victory." Rei replied. I had to somewhat agree. After all, Minako shouldn't have just blurted out Ami's secret.

"Well then, how about we go get settled in then?" Michiru suggested, much to our approval.

Less than an hour later, Makoto arrived. She seemed slightly shocked to see Minako rather rumpled in appearance, but didn't question it. "Gomen, sorry about being late. I was meeting with an old friend, Shinozaki Kenji."

"Oh. I remember him." Mamoru said with a smile. "Isn't he the one you had a cru..."

Mamoru was cut off by a hand over his mouth. Makoto quickly silenced him and left no chance for him to say anymore. However, her face was a reoccurrence of another face we had seen that day. Minako noticed it as well.

"Awwww." We both embraced again, causing Rei and Ami to groan.

"What?" Makoto asked with a voice and expression that indicated that in no way would we survive if we finished the thoughts in our head.

"Nothing." We both replied, sitting down quickly.

"That's what I thought." She replied gruffly, before releasing Mamoru from her hold. He had a grin spread from ear to ear and looked directly at me. His face was screaming for me to read his mind and who am I to argue?

"You kissed him on New Year's last year!" I basically screamed out. After all, a secret that good needs to be known by all.

"Mamoru!" Makoto screamed, obviously knowing the source of my knowledge, and a chase commenced.

After about another hour, we were finally able to get down to business. Ami filled us in on everything she could regarding the weather patterns, and we tried to determine a way of finding the last two crystal carriers. Nothing we came up with was possible and the meeting drew to an end.

And apparently right on time.

"Usagi?" Shingo asked, sliding open the door. "Grandfather said that you have the science calculator. We need to borrow it."

"We?" I asked, getting up to get the calculator from my school bag. I hated the thing, it was so complicated, but I had needed it to keep up in class.

"Um, hai," He said and stepped to the side. A girl his age stepped into the doorway. She had a pale complexion and dark black hair. "This is Tomoe Hotaru." Shingo said and the young girl bowed.

"Hello Hotaru." I said with a smile. She was very pretty and Shingo's blush once again caused an "Awwww" from Minako. "This is.... (AN: let's just say that she introduces everyone. I don't think I need to go through all the names. EN: Ha ha... lazy!). It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Um, well, we need to go work on our science project." Shingo said as he turned around and pushed Hotaru out of the room ahead of him.

"She looks familiar." Michiru quietly spoke to Haruka, who simply shrugged her shoulders.

~*~

In the days that followed, the weather changed several times, leaving confused weathermen in its path. Ami was not having any more luck that previously and she was getting frustrated. The rest of us dealt with it the best way possible. For me...I enjoyed the snow and mild temperature days. The hail was a little annoying and the hundred degree days just needed to go.

After a week of the weather, it decided to remain calm and quiet on Sunday. The temperature was just perfect for a picnic on the beach with a mid-afternoon swim and a game of evening volleyball. And to top it off, roasting marshmallows over a fire (AN: that's for all of you at AI!).

To say that the day started out perfect would be an understatement. It was beyond perfect. All of the senshi, Mamoru, Shingo, his "science partner" Hotaru, and the two boys responsible for Ami and Makoto's blushes: Kenji and Ryo; were there.

The water temperature was perfect. The picnic that Makoto packed was perfect. The volleyball game was a blast (even if my team lost to Minako's). The sunset was beautiful (especially since I spent it wrapped up in Mamoru's arms). The marshmallows were sticky, but great, and we even had some S'mores.

"Ahh, it's all stuck to my fingers." I complained to no one in particular as I tried to remove it.

"I'll take care of that." Mamoru suggested with a husky voice. I was more than a little surprised when he took my hand into his and began to remove the marshmallow goo with his mouth.

I was in heaven. How could I not be?

"Aww, were sorry to intrude on your fun, but we need something from you." A wicked voice crowed from above the fire.

Damn.

Looking up, I wasn't too surprised to see the voice to be that of Zoisite. Floating in the air next to him was his comrade, Kunzite. Although their faces were carved of stone as they stared down at our group, I couldn't help but sense that they weren't upset by the fact that we weren't crying and screaming.

'What do we do?' I mentally shouted at Rei. Not only would we give away our secret if we transformed, but it wouldn't be just to other people. It would be to the bad guys.

'I don't know!' She shouted back into my mind.

Before any of us could do anything, however, the bad guys in question sent beams of light out towards Kenji and Ryo. They screamed as they were pulled up into the air. The scene at the music concert replayed in my mind, and I knew that they were carriers of the Nijizuishou.

There was no option left but to transform. "Henshin yo, minna!"

Shingo stepped back from us, trying to drag Hotaru with him. She seemed fascinated with what she was seeing, but not as surprised as I would have thought.

"Moon Power, Make-Up!"

"Mars Power, Make-Up!"

"Mercury Power, Make-Up!"

"Venus Power, Make-Up!"

"Jupiter Power, Make-Up!"

"Uranus Power, Make-Up!"

"Neptune Power, Make-Up!"

"Saturn Power, Make-Up!" Huh??!! What was that?

As our transformations subsided, I noticed that Shingo was open-mouthed, gawking at the young girl standing next to him.

"H-H-Ho-Hotaru??!!" He somehow managed to splutter out her name.

"Gomen, I would have let you know earlier, but I didn't know you were who you were." She responded to the many shocked faces around her.

"It's not your fault Sailor Saturn." A new voice added. One that I was finding liked to show up at the most mysterious of times.

"Sailor Pluto." At least half of the senshi stuttered out.

"Hai. I thought you might need some help." She said with a mystifying smile. She knew secrets, lots of them. And I had a funny feeling that she wouldn't be sharing them anytime soon.

"Um," Tuxedo Kamen cleared his throat. "We might want to take care of this first." He suggested, indicating the two generals who had removed the crystals from Kenji and Ryo.

I quickly tried moving the crystal from Zoisite's hand, as he seemed the weaker of the two, only to have him quickly grab it out of the air. Kunzite also grabbed onto the crystal, refusing to let it go.

And they didn't need to, as we were quickly distracted from the generals to the two youma that began to attack. Kenji had turned into a large orange youma and Ryo had turned into a violet one.

The two youma began to release numerous bursts of energy at us, leaving us no time to fire off any attacks, as we were too busy dodging.

My heart burst as I saw a large blast of energy barreling its way towards my younger brother.

"SHINGO!" My shout did little good, as he had no time to escape the blast. It hit him full on in the chest and sent him flying back several feet. Luckily, we were on the beach, so the impact on the ground did not cause him any other damage.

'Shingo! Shingo!' I tried to probe into his mind to wake him, but nothing worked. I turned to leave the battle to help him, when Hotaru placed her hand on my arm.

"I'll help him. You need to save your strength to save them." She said, indicating the youma. I nodded my head, sincerely hoping that she knew of a way to help him.

The battle raged on in front of me, but my attention was constantly drawn to the section of the beach where Hotaru was releasing a deep purple glow into Shingo. Her hair was blowing in a mysterious wind that only surrounded them.

"Sailor Moon! Now!" Someone shouted. I'm not sure whom, as my attention was so torn from the battle. I released my power through the moon wand, barely recognizing the feeling of happiness as the two youma returned to normal.

"Shingo!" I shouted as I made my way to Hotaru's side. She was healing him, but she was showing signs of fatigue. I quickly placed my hands next to hers and added my energy. Together, white and purple energy danced above my brother, healing him completely.

After a few minutes, we both removed our hands as we heard him start to groan. He lifted his eyelids and smiled up at me.

"Usa," he whispered quietly. "I feel like I was hit by a truck." I giggled slightly as I wiped the tears from my eyes.

"Hai Shingo, you kind of were." I said as I smiled down at him.

"Hotaru?" He whispered as he looked up to the newest and youngest of the senshi.

"Hai." She simply replied.

"You're pretty." He quietly said as he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

Haruka came over and lifted Shingo into her arms as Hotaru and I stood up. Mamoru immediately wrapped his arms around me from behind, holding me as if he thought I would disappear.

(EN: May I just put a collective 'awwww' here?? Awwww...)

~*~

To say that we were all shocked when Sailor Pluto didn't just disappear from the scene of the battle was one thing. When she transformed and stood in front of us as a normal human being, we were floored.

"I may be a mysterious being that rules the time gates for eternity, but I am also a Sailor Senshi. I have a duty to perform for my Princess and Prince." She explained, which really explained little at all. When we asked her to clarify, or tell us if she knew the Princess and Prince, she wouldn't answer. In the days to come, we realized that she liked being an enigma.

The days quieted down, to the point where we wondered what the Dark Moon was up to. They saw us all transform and would probably have little trouble trying to determine who we were. So why hadn't they attacked anyone yet? We decided that it was best that we not meet as a whole group for a while, lest the generals show up and ambush us before we had a chance to transform. We no longer held the element of surprise. They did.

The weather stabilized, but not completely. The hot weather days dissipated and left in its trail the bitter cold. It was early October and the weather should have been in the cool 50's, not the low 20's. Snow was constantly falling and the trees that never got a chance to shed their leaves, were weighed down with snow and ice.

Phobos and Deimos hid in the home we had made them years ago at their arrival, and were refusing to come out. When we tried to talk to them, they just kept muttering something about evil. I wanted to scream out "DUH!" but thought that they might not appreciate it.

Luna informed me that Phobos and Deimos weren't experienced with evil beings like she and Artemis. They were meant to be messengers, or in this case, seekers. They were sent out to help find us and had succeeded. That was their duty, not fighting evil.

Knowing that something big was coming, we were constantly training and practicing our attacks. We quickly found that although Hotaru could heal, she could easily bring death to all. Her power was scary, but her happy personality made it impossible to be afraid of the young girl.

Two weeks went by with nothing. That was more than nerve-racking and the senshi were starting to get antsy. They began to nit-pick and fight over little petty things more and more. The worse came at a practice session.

"What kind of attack is that? Fog? Really, what good will that do against an enemy!?" Makoto asked, pushing the much shorter Ami in the shoulder.

"Look you Neanderthal, I can't help it if your pea brain has never heard of defense." Ami replied, stretching her body as much as possible in an attempt to face off with Makoto.

"Oh, yeah!"

"Yeah!"

With that, Makoto took a swing at Ami who easily ducked. Michiru quickly grabbed Ami while Haruka struggled to restrain Makoto.

"Come on girls, we can't do this!" I pleaded with the two very upset senshi.

The two girls huffed and turned and walked in the opposite directions of each other. I sighed and nodded my thanks to Haruka and Michiru, who tried to smile in understanding.

I walked over to where Mamoru was sitting with Hotaru and Shingo and sat next to him. He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me close.

"What has gotten into those two lately?" I absently asked myself, although I did voice the question.

"I think they're just scared Usa. They both saw people that they greatly care for get caught up in this whole mess." Mamoru replied. I hadn't even thought about that before. "They are probably upset that they couldn't do anything to prevent the generals' attack."

"I suppose you're right. I'm going to go talk to them." He nodded his head in understanding as I stood to leave. Having known Ami the longest, I decided to talk to her first.

"Ami?" I asked quietly as I approached her. Her shoulders were shaking and it sounded as if she was crying.

"Gomen ne, Usagi." She stuttered out between tears before turning around to face me. "I didn't mean to fight with her."

I reached out and pulled Ami into a hug, which she graciously returned. "I know Ami. It's okay. We're all a little stressed out."

"Arigato." She whispered into my shoulder.

"Come on." I took Ami's hand and led her over to where Makoto was kicking an old tree stump repeatedly. Ami had a very hesitant look on her face, but I was not going to let two of my friends argue at such an important time.

"Makoto. Can we talk?" I asked timidly. I must admit, her strength is intimidating, no matter how well trained you are in physical combat.

"Hai Usagi." She answered roughly, still not turning around. I nodded my head at Ami and she took over.

"Makoto, I'm so sorry. I didn't want to fight with you." She pleaded to the taller senshi's back.

Makoto turned around to see Ami with her head bowed down. In her eyes, I could see tears that Makoto had refused to let fall. "Ami..." She whispered softly.

Ami looked up to meet Makoto's eyes and the two threw themselves into an embrace.

"No Ami, it's my fault. I shouldn't have been picking on you."

"No, it's neither of your faults. It's the Dark Moons fault." I insisted to the girls. Both looked at me with a smile.

"Aw, we get blamed for everything." Damn. Damn Damn DAMN!

(EN: Oh come on... you KNEW it'd happen!!)

"Zoisite." I grumbled under my breath. Of course he would wait for the most peaceful moment in days to come and attack.

"Sorry to break up this touching scene, but I really need to get the Nijizuishou for my Queen. So if you would just be a sweetheart and hand them over..." He said, holding out his hand as if he expected me to just hand them over.

"USAGI!" Mamoru yelled as he ran over towards where we were standing. He and the other senshi were not far from reaching us when Kunzite appeared before them.

"Well, I guess if we can't do this the easy way..." Kunzite said as he swept his arm around in the air.

The next thing I knew was darkness. Then falling. Then, I screamed. Around me I could see nothing, but could feel that I was falling from some great height in the air. I was gaining speed when I smacked down on my butt. The hard ground caused me to groan in pain as I stood up and rubbed my sore bottom.

I could not see or hear anything around me. Nothing. No senshi. No Mamoru. Nothing.

To be honest, a moment after cursing the silence, I regretted it. I would have preferred the deaf stillness as opposed to hearing the hideous cackle that surrounded the air around me.

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MWHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

ChibiJ77@yahoo.com