Crystal-Winter: Sorry 'bout that. It's integral to the plot. ^^;;
Zaeria: Nope. Pluto didn't kill Serenity. That would be evil, and Setsuna isn't the grr type.
The Noble Name of Black
She blinked. "Eh?"
Tears filled his eyes. That was the same blank expression that she had had when she was alive! Well, when she had been alive before. Apparently she was alive now too, something that mystified him. If you're dead, aren't you well, dead? Why was Serenity up and walking around? And why hadn't she aged? Serenity would definitely never wear her hair like that. And hers was silver, not gold. Odd.
Unless it wasn't really Serenity, only someone that looked like her. A twang of sadness shot through his heart at the thought. Sure she had died a long time ago, but she was still Serenity, and he had never really let go of her, no matter what anyone said. Seeing her limp corpse all those years ago… He shuddered at the mere memory of it.
"Aeagioang doaifhd goeiurea?" growled a blonde man close to him. His navy blue eyes glittered threateningly.
"Excuse me?" he asked.
"Aeagioang doaifhd goeiurea?" the man asked again, clearly annoyed.
A pretty petite woman with - strangely enough - blue hair came forth. "Your name is what?" she asked, her voice heavily laced with an accent.
"Sirius Black," said the man. Realization dawned on him as a memory snapped back into place.
A great pain in his chest…
Falling…
Complete and utter darkness…
He had fallen through the veil. Looking down at himself, he saw he was still wearing his dingy robes that he had thrown on when heading to the confrontation at the Ministry of Magic. Before he had fallen through the veil.
Dropping his head into his hands, Sirius tried to stop the tears that welled up in his eyes. How was Harry? Did Voldemort win? Had anyone else died? Would he ever be able to get back home? Would Harry be forced to live with the muggles forever? Would his name ever get cleared? A sob escaped his mouth.
A comforting hand was placed on his shoulder. His head snapped up to see the face of the wannabe-Serenity smiling down at him. She said some comforting words, and though he couldn't understand what she was saying, he knew she meant that things were going to be okay. Her blue eyes sparkled with the same sincerity that Serenity's had held.
Without thinking twice, Sirius engulfed her in a large hug. The initial contact surprised her, making her emit a high-pitched squeak. After a few seconds though, she loosened and hugged him back. Hugging her tighter, there was a gasp of pain from her.
She pulled away, holding his wand. She looked at it curiously, before a wide smile broke out on her face. Grasping it firmly in her hand, she waved it around. On the table behind him, a vase smashed to pieces. Looking horrified, she dropped it.
His wand. Sirius had quite forgotten he had it. He picked it up gingerly. Suddenly, the room seemed too cold. There was a flash of red light and a burning pain on his chest… As quickly as it had appeared it, it disappeared, leaving him stunned and still holding his wand. The woman's eyes gazed at him curiously while the others' expressions were worried.
A smile forming on his lips, he pointed the wand at himself. "Translato." A swirl of blue sparkles surrounded him, before disappearing into his skin. Pleased with himself, he looked up to find a long, sword pointed at him… and it was glowing.
"Good Lord!"
"Haruka! I don't think he means any harm! Put the sword down!" said a very attractive woman with sea green hair. She glared at the man.
"But Michiru!"
"No buts. Put it down!"
"He could be an intergalactic rapist!!!" whined the man. "How can we endanger the future like that?"
"He seems nice enough to me," added the girl with blue hair that had asked him his name.
"I don't think he'll hurt her," said an exotic looking woman with mystic violet eyes. "He's aura is… different, but it's not evil. There is no demonic presence in him. No youma factor either."
"Besides which, you basically just blew our cover," said a pert blonde with a red bow in her hair and quite a nice form. She was picking up the pieces of the vase, along with the Serenity look-a-like.
"Excuse me?" asked Sirius. "Would anyone mind telling me where I am, who you are, and what I'm doing here?"
They all jumped to hear him speaking in their language. The Serenity one looked curious. The others looked suspicious, and kept glancing between her and him.
"You speak Japanese?" asked the nice one with the weird hair.
He shrugged. "Apparently."
"Hi! My name is Usagi!" said the nice one, beaming brightly. The other women immediately pushed her into a small room off to the side and shut the door.
Great. He was left alone with the man who had a big shiny sword. Perfect. The man sat down and stared at him. After a long pause, the man spoke.
"So… is your name Golgatha?"
Okay. That was definitely a weird question. Frowning, Sirius said, "No."
"Really? You look like a Golgatha."
"And what about me implies that I'm a Golgatha?"
"Everything. Evil villains usually have weird names; Beryl, Mistress 9, Nehelenia, Pharaoh 90, Galaxia, the list goes on and on. Besides, you're English. They have weird names, like Amara." He shuddered. Seeming to compose himself, he continued. "So, where did you say you come from?"
"England."
"Where did you spend the most time in England then?"
"Azkaban."
"Azkaban. Huh. Is that like a cult or something?"
"It's a prison."
"Prison huh? Nothing says Golgatha like a prison escapee."
"My name isn't Golgatha!"
"Really? Could have fooled me. So if you're not a prison escapee, are you a bum?"
"No."
Sirius was getting annoyed. This had to be one of the most moronic conversations he'd ever had. Obviously this man had a few screws loose in his head or something.
"You look like a bum," remarked the man, totally unaware of Sirius' thoughts. "You know, with the whole dress and all."
"I am not a bum, and these are robes."
"Robes? As in a bath robe?" The man frowned. "Why the hell are you wearing a bathrobe around the street?"
Sirius opened his mouth to respond when the women came back out. They all looked at him warily, and were clutching brightly coloured tacky plastic wands. And there were balls at the top with planetary symbols.
"So?" asked the woman with the sea green hair.
"Well, he's not a bum, and he's most likely not insane. Probably thinks I am though."
A brunette walked forward. "How can we be sure we can trust you?"
"Because he's not a bad man," said the taller blonde suddenly. Everyone in the room looked at her. Squinting her eyes at him, she added, "I didn't recognize you before, but I do now. I thought it couldn't be you, because if it was, you wouldn't be dressed in robes, but here you are."
Sirius frowned. "Do I know you?"
Smiling secretively, the blonde said, "My name is Minako. You already know Usagi next to me." The weird haired blonde waved. "The woman with black hair is Rei. The brunette is Makoto, the one over there is Ami." Ami was the one with the blue hair. "This here is Michiru and the woman you were talking to while we left the room is Haruka."
The man was a woman? Sirius looked at him - her more closely. There was definitely a feminine line of her jaw, but if he hadn't been looking for it, Sirius was sure he wouldn't have found it. As Haruka glared at him, he averted his gaze.
"So he's a good guy?" asked Usagi.
"Definitely," smiled Minako.
"Do I know you Minako? I've never known anyone with that name before," said Sirius, looking at her suspiciously.
"No, you have probably not met anyone named Minako, but I wasn't Minako at the time." She laughed. "Don't worry, I'm not some rabid fan girl out to get you. I got sick of stalking after Seiya, Taiki and Yaten." She looked him over. "Do you have any other clothes?"
Sirius looked down at his robes. They were black and mangy. They hadn't been washed in a while, seeing as Kreacher hadn't liked him. A flicker of hate ran through him. Kreacher. That stupid house elf that had betrayed him.
"Does that mean…?" Usagi trailed off.
Minako smiled evilly. "You bet." The other women groaned and made their way quickly out of the apartment, leaving a very confused Sirius.
"Oh! Look at that hat! It would so match the ensemble!"
"Hey! This one has a cape!"
"Maybe a perm would look good…"
"Look! A manicure salon! We could get these nails done!"
"What about those shoes? Every person needs a pair of leather boots!"
"Look at this! Would it just look perfect?"
"It would be just like in the manga!"
"Yeah! We could so recreate him!"
"Let's do it!"
"Yeah!"
"What? That's spandex! I'm not wearing that!"
"Oh yes you are!"
Two hours later, Usagi, Minako and Sirius immerged from the mall laden with bags and bags of clothing. Among their favourite purchases were a leather jacket, and a complete costume of a certain Saiyan prince. The two had even tried to convince Sirius to get his hair done the same way, but the wizard firmly declined. Thirty-seven years had taught him not to let girls do anything to him without knowing what it was.
The girls chatted happily beside him, telling him things that they had done, the super fun arcade games at the Crown, how good he looked in his clothes, and various other things. Sirius had inquired about muggles, and the two had stared at him blankly. Apparently they weren't witches. What were those odd wands then? Sirius doubted they'd ever tell him freely.
Everything was so unmagical. It scared Sirius to be walking around like a normal muggle, seeing weird things like fellytisions, and mellophones. He was beginning to see why Arthur Weasley was so fascinated by them: they were fascinating. Never in his wildest dreams could he have pictured things they had done by magic.
If his family could see him now… If his picture hadn't been burned out of the tapestry before, it would be now.
"Oh!" said Usagi suddenly. "There's Mamo-chan!" Shoving all her bags into Sirius' arms, she ran forward and was embraced in a tight hug by a man. At least, Sirius thought it was a man. Then again, he'd thought the same thing about Haruka, and look where that had gotten him.
"Who's Mamo-chan?" asked Sirius.
"Chiba Mamoru," clarified Minako. "You probably shouldn't call him Mamo-chan, he might get the wrong impression. Anyways, he's Usagi's soul mate. They're meant to be together. It's their destiny. Don't they make such a cute couple?"
Well, judging that would actually require that Sirius see this Mamoru's face. Seeing as he currently couldn't as it was blocked by Usagi's face, that action proved quite impossible. One thing Sirius could tell, was that Usagi and the man were most definitely in love. Imagine! Practically snogging in the middle of the street! Okay, well, it was just a short kiss, but who's counting?
As the two lovebirds pulled away, Sirius had to hold back a gasp. Mamoru had raven black hair, and dark blue eyes. His cheekbones exhibited a somewhat noble blood. In his eyes, there was a happy gleam, like a dog with a bone. His face was pulled into a warm smile.
It looked like him when he was younger!
He looked at Minako. She didn't seem to notice, merely waved at him with her heavy-laden arms. How could she miss it? Was everyone bloody blind? Azkaban may have done a number on his spirit, giving him a shadowed look that did not go unnoticed by him every time he looked in the mirror, but it hadn't made him into a Mongolian sewer rat!
Hell, even the way the man walked looked like him? Just where exactly had he appeared when he fell through that stupid veil? Was this a crazy backwards universe or something? Was the sky going to turn green at the moment? Were pigs going to fly? Was some evil alien going to come and take over the Earth? Well, the last one was a bit far fetched…
The Mamoru guy walked up to him and bowed respectively. Straightening out, he held out his hand for a handshake. "I am told this is how you greet in your country," he said.
Letting out a sigh of relief he hadn't known the situation warranted, Sirius' mind danced happily. At least the weirdo's voice wasn't the same. What was it with this place? Did everyone look like someone he knew? Even the bouncy blonde Minako next to him seemed vaguely familiar, and she had recognized him.
Why then didn't she see it? And why didn't she seem to remember vouching for him? Was everyone on crack??? Sirius was beginning to feel like Alice in Wonderland. Oh, and just for the record, he had only heard the story when Lily had read it to Harry as a child. That's it.
Shaking hands, the two men nodded in greeting. Usagi beamed, looking very happy the men seemed to like each other. While smiling on the outside, on the inside, Sirius was feeling queasy. A doppelganger of his sister was dating a doppelganger of him? Why him of all people? Why couldn't it have looked like James at least? Or Remus…
"So, you're new? Where exactly do you come from?" Mamoru posed it as an innocent question, but Sirius didn't miss the underlying suspicion in his voice.
"England. I'm not quite sure how I ended up here." It wasn't a lie.
"And you can speak Japanese so fluently, how…?"
"Mamo-chan!" said Usagi, slapping him gently on the arm. "Sirius was found by the senshi in the park. No person could pull off a scam like that. He's been through a lot. I've given him permission to stay with me."
"You have?" Both men asked at the same time.
"Yup!" said Usagi cheerfully.
"I see," said Mamoru slowly. Glaring suspiciously at Sirius, he took Usagi's hand in his.
"Which reminds me," said Usagi thoughtfully, tapping a finger to her chin, "we have to go back to the apartment now. She's meeting us there."
"Who is 'she'?" asked Sirius.
"A friend," smiled Minako. She picked up a few extra bags off the ground. Getting the drift, Sirius picked up the others.
The walk back to Usagi's apartment was quiet. Mamoru and Usagi walked side by side, while Sirius and Minako walked behind. It took about ten minutes for them all to arrive. Just inside the door, Sirius and Minako dropped the bags on the floor, kicked off their shoes and collapsed into the couches. Closing his eyes and rubbing his temples, Sirius revelled in the softness of the couch.
Someone cleared their throat. Opening his eyes, Sirius' own blue ones clashed with the garnet coloured ones of the person sitting in the seat opposite him.
A secretive smile. "Welcome Mr. Black."
A/N: *gasp* Well, it's a cliffhanger, but hey! I won't leave it as long. I'm guessing you all know who the person is. Not that hard. Oh, and before anyone asks, Sirius is not in love with his sister or whatever your uber weird imaginations think up.
