Hello all! Remember me? You can call off the bounty hunters for I have returned at last with a lovely update for you all, I hope this is getting interesting as I think it is. Heck half the time *I* don't even know what will happen next, ah the joy of words flowing without concious thought...the mark of a true author. What kept me away from my keyboard? Co-workers leaving at work, writing Harry Potter slash (yes I tried anyway), getting ready to go back to Canada and a pregnancy scare! (Negative thank God!). So with much humble meekness I give you the next offering of Watch Me Shine. Out of all the guesses for who could be behind the whole thing, only one was actually right! Thank you all who reviewed! Please read and review but be kind! No flames! Good ratings! I own nothing and if I did it would be Tom Felton and Alan Rickman!
Minako dreaded the night, dreaded feeling that tug she knew would come, the tug that would lead her to Rei, would make her move against her will, would make her do whatever Rei wanted. She waited in the silence for the inevitable. Cursing her blindness, cursing her feelings, she cursed the day she had ever thrown her support behind Rei, abandoned Usagi and had followed what she knew to be wrong. She had wanted to stay on the winning side, with those who were her friends. Eight against one had seemed so smart, and once she had realized her mistake it was too late. True, Usagi claimed she had forgiven her, but Minako had noticed that she also didn't trust her. Usagi was above her now, the plans she made Minako was kept ignorant of, the future of the senshi she did not know. Until she regained Usagi's trust, she would not be able to be the personification of the Goddess of Love. How could she make amends for what she had done?
She closed her eyes to think and felt the invisible summons. Rei was calling and she was compelled to go.
Rei sneered at the sight of her senshi. HER senshi, not Chibi Usa's no matter what the chit said. She was the leader, she was Sailor Mars, the Flame Sniper and damned if anyone was going to take from her what she had worked for three years to get: her leadership. Ami, Makoto and Minako knelt before her. Oh Minako was going to pay for her treachery make no mistake. Once she had fulfilled her usefulness she would be disposed of, once she realized the price of double crossing one who had turned it into an art form.
"Rei, it is late and I have an examination in the morning." Ami sighed. "Can you make this snappy?"
"Do not talk to me in that way." Rei said in a cold tone that was a contrast to the fire leaping in her eyes. "You and Makoto have been underutilized and the time has come for you to make yourself useful."
"Oh do tell." Makoto muttered sarcastically.
"Since it is obvious that Usagi doesn't trust Minako for reasons that are painfully obvious to those of us with brains, you Makoto are tasked with re-befriending Usagi and finding out her plans by whatever means are necessary. If you have to take her out and torture her, then so be it."
"And how do you propose I get past Haruka?"
"That is your own affair, I don't care what you do or how you do it, as long as I get results. You have 48 hours to do this."
Makoto said nothing but she shot Rei an venemous glare and nodded her head slowly.
"Ami you are going to put that big brain of yours to use and figure out a way to take Usagi out of the game. Thanks to Minako, our little snitch here, we know that she has completed three of her twelve Trials. I want her out of the picture before she can complete any more. She is becoming as troublesome as her mother was a thousand years ago." Rei ordered.
Ami's eyes opened wide and she began to say something but thought better of it and swallowed silently, nodding her head.
"Minako, my traitor, my little worthless one who couldn't even get Usagi to trust her again - perhaps she has managed to grow a brain since all this began...but somehow I doubt it. No doubt it's her having those traitors Haruka and Michiru whispering in her ear that tipped her off, she certainly isn't smart enough to have known not to trust you on her own. You are to stay by my side so that I can personally retrain you. When you don't go to school, you will be here where I can keep an eye on you. Soon you will realize where your loyalty should lie." Rei instructed, an imperious air around her.
"And what will you be doing great spiritual leader?" Makoto asked in a voice that managed to slightly veil the sneer.
"Figuring out how to take down Chibi Usa and protect my child. I do not know who the father is, nor do I care, for no matter what I will have an heir who will be worthy of my legacy." she smiled unpleasantly. "Chibi Usa and Luna have overstepped their bounds with me and now it's time for me to fight back." she turned from them. "You are dismissed."
"She's barking mad." Makoto raged once Rei was out of earshot.
"Be careful of what you say, she is no doubt listening to us this instant." Ami counselled.
"What will we do?"
"What we have been told to do. Artemis is on the verge of finding out the true force behind all this and until then we must bide our time. Once the real power is revealed, then we can take what we know to Usagi and hopefully she will be able to concot a plan that will get rid of it once and for all." Ami sighed. "I have a calculus exam to study for now, so if you will excuse me."
Minako turned to Makoto who was seething with rage while Minako was white as a sheet. "Where did we go wrong Mako-chan?"
"When I figure that out, I'll let you know." was her terse reply.
Usagi was seriously irritated and more than happy when her shift ended if for no other reason then people would stop staring at her like she was some kind of freak - or worse - a goddess of some sort. Her eyes glazed over slightly as she recalled her conversation with the mirror. "Who are you?" she had demanded.
"Foolish girl. I'm you."
"How can you be me if I'm right here?"
"I'm the opposite side of the mirror. The part of yourself that you deny, the part of yourself you are afraid to see."
"That cannot be. I have opened up that part of myself. Indeed I have embraced it."
"Not fully you haven't. Yes you have shown your ruthlessness and power, your temper and your skill, but you have not shown your true colours yet Tsukino Usagi. You have not shown me." the reflection smirked at her.
"Why are you doing this to me? Why is any of this happening to me?" the real Usagi had wailed.
"The answer is only important if you ask the right question." the mirror replied gibly.
"The right question?"
"Once you figure that out, you'll know it all now won't you?"
"Give me a hint, give me a sign, give me some help!" Usagi beseeched.
"Knock knock Usagi." the mirror taunted.
A knock at her door sent her whirling around and when she faced the mirror again, it was herself...her changed self but her speaking reflection was gone.
She closed her eyes and leaned back on her couch letting out a sigh. Not bothering to turn on the lights, she let herself sink into the cushions and go limp. 'Three Trials done, nine to go. I have barely managed to survive thus far, how can I continue?'
"The strength is within you, you just have to search to find it. You have come so far and done so much. I really am happy to have been proven wrong about you." a voice echoed around her apartment. Rather than being afraid and startled, Usagi groaned and threw her arm over her eyes.
"I am sick to DEATH of strange and unseen voices echoing around my apartment!" she yelled. "I have been spoken to by a mirror, I have voices following me and people appearing out of nowhere to face things I've never even heard of and I have had enough! If you can't show yourself then get the HELL out of my living room!"
"Temper temper." the voice admonished. "But I should have expected that from you given all that I have seen recently."
"Who are you?" Usagi muttered. "Not that I care."
"I am the one who is behind this entire thing." the voice was amused. "I am the one who convinced Rei to overthrow you, I am the one who fed the lunacy of your daughter and I am the one who convinced your advisor to side against you - not that it was hard."
"Why me? Out of all the people in existence, past, present and future, why me?" Usagi snarled as she sat up. "I have had a horrid day at work, I look like a freak...I don't even recognize myself anymore. All I wanted, the point of this whole thing, the reason this all began was to show the world the strength I have that sometimes can't be seen. I was tired of being walked on and I wanted respect, that's all. I didn't want to be an impersonation of Ebenzer Scrooge being visited by ghosts and spirits and people from alternate planes of existence!" she burst.
"I chose you for a very simple reason."
"Do share, since this seems to a therapy session." Usagi snapped.
"I don't think I will, not yet." the voice paused. "I'm having too much fun here."
"FUN? You're doing this so you can get your jollies?" Usagi was incredulous. "You MUST be joking me."
"Not really. You have to be found worthy in any case."
"Worthy for what? And don't give me that 'fate of the future' crap because frankly I don't believe it. Flimsy lies, paper thin shields. Can't I know the truth?" Usagi shook her head, one hand resting at the back of her neck, massaging the muscle spasm that had begun there.
"As I said, I am having too much fun to tell you. Truly you mortals are so amusing! While you lie here on this couch, your former senshi Rei is conspiring with Mercury, Jupite and a cowed Venus...thankfully you don't trust her. Your treacherous daughter is making love to a half horse man and thinking of a future in which she reigns supreme. Your former advisor is trying to figure out who I am. Uranus and Neptune are rather occupied themselves and your boyfriend is wanking off because he's deprived of your lush figure." the voice was silent for a moment. "You try to be so pure and so righteous, all of you, thinking you are justified in everything that you say and do when you are no better than bugs, to be eradicated. You were all given a priceless and precious gift and before you even knew what you had you threw it away. You are no better than the dirt beneath my feet Tsukino Usagi."
"I don't need to listen to this." Usagi said quietly, her rage building. "Get out of my apartment."
"If I go, it's because I choose to go and not because of any order that you give me." the voice sounded angry. "You and your kind have always been more self righteous than anyone else. I chose you...because I wanted to." the voice spoke again, a smile evident in the tone. "And yes I have been watching how you changed, and I appreciate the new you, the part of you that won't take crap from anyone, the part of you that has grown a backbone, the part of you that you refused to see, but until you realize who and what you really are, you take what I give you."
"Again I ask, why me? You have spoken in riddles, and told me nothing useful."
"I prefer blondes." the voice replied before it vanished. Usagi closed her eyes and sank back onto her couch, not even bothering to give it another thought. She had only one thought in her mind: 'Can the remaining nine Trials be combined together into one?' and 'Where is a bottle of tequila when you need one?'
"Well Tsukino Usagi...as I live and breathe." Haruna-sensei said sarcastically. "I was wondering when you would deign to grace me with your presence in my classroom again. Is it too much to hope for that you studied for today's exam?"
"Good to see you too sensei." Usagi muttered, ignoring the stunned looks of her classmates and wishing more than anything that Naru was here. 'Damn exchange programs.' she thought as she took her seat and ignored Makoto, Minako and Ami. She prayed she knew enough to pass this exam she had forgotten about and not studied for.
"Psst...Usagi!" Makoto hissed at her, throwing a ball of paper at her.
"Can't talk, concentrating." Usagi said in a monotone without even turning around.
Haruna sensei passed around the examinations, pausing at Usagi's desk to make an announcement. "I do hope that your last will and testament has been properly prepared Usagi because if you fail this, your dead."
Usagi sighed and looked her teacher right in the eye. "Have I failed anything recently?"
"Not yet Usagi," Haruna said quietly as she leaned over on the pretense of making sure that no one was watching them. "Your Trials have only just begun."
Usagi's eyes widened in shock. "What?" she whispered furiously as her mind went blank.
"I prepared a *very special* examination for you Usagi, and I do hope you pass it." Haruna winked at her. "You are my best student, the one I am proudest of and will pray for you."
Usagi couldn't think of anything to say as Haruna stood upright again and in a normal tone announced "Begin!"
She turned her eyes to her paper, but the equations and questions she expected to see were not there and she was unable to look away as the words began to swirl and her mind was sucked in while her body remained inert.
Haruna watched as Usagi began her fourth Trial and sent out a word of luck to her student, before heading towards the desk of one she knew was cheating and calling down the wrath that was Haruna.
'Here we go again.' Usagi thought as her mind was surrounded by whiteness. 'Gotta give them credit for making it interesting though.'
"I knew you'd say that Odango."
Finis! This chapter anyway! Next one up shortly as I actually have ideas and want to write them down before I bloody well forget! I write based on reviews so let's get them in here! Hope you enjoyed and please check out my websites! Any guesses who the host of her next Trial is? Anyone surprised at Haruna? still taking guesses on who you think is behind this whole thing! Remember no flames!
Ja ne!