Chapter eleven:
Pieces of an Unknown Puzzle
Stopping at the Slytherin common room, she prepared herself to confront her past. If she was going to find out about it, then the best thing for her to do, would be to ask the one person who would know best. Draco had been the closest person to her then.
He would be the only one who could give her the answers she needed. She raised her hand to knock on the hidden door, when a sound behind her stopped her. Lifting her head, she frowned.
"Usagi."
The blonde paused, turning slightly at the sound of her name. Albus stood near the stairs, his arms crossed over his middle. "Albus?"
He nodded, and waved one hand towards the stairs. "You're friends are waiting for you in the great hall. They're leaving."
"What?"
Forgetting about Draco, she quickly hurried after the older man. They climbed the stairs, and crossed the entrance hall. For once, the doors to the Great Hall had been left open. Within the room, stood a few of the teachers, along with Hotaru and Haruka.
Walking into the large room, she shivered. It was practically empty, like that day when she had first came here. All but the teachers had been there, the students having yet to arrive.
Usagi looked around the empty room, before looking at the two girls dressed in plain clothing. "You're leaving already?"
Haruka stuffed her hands into her pockets. "Hai, Setsuna only gave us a month. In a few minutes she'll be sending us back." she looked down at the smaller girl, who nodded.
Reaching them, Usagi said, "Well, then, tell everyone I'm okay. I'll be home soon."
Hotaru looked like she wanted to say something, but kept her mouth shut. Seeing the two of them shuffling uneasily, she was the first one to make a move.
She hugged Haruka first, patting her on the back. "I'm not pregnant." The older woman let out a sigh of great relief. The taller blonde pulled back, eyed the smaller girl, before hugging her again. Usagi was started to see that her friend's eyes looked glassy. The sky blue eyes held back tears, as she gushed, "Thanks Kami-sama."
Usagi smiled, holding the older woman tightly to her. "Take care of Michiru-chan." Haruka nodded, and let the girl go finally.
Next Usagi crouched down to pull Hotaru into her arms. "Talk to my family. Tell them, I'll see them soon, okay." the smaller girl nodded, "Hai, Usagi-mama, I will."
When she let the smallest senshi go, she was startled to see her smaller frame slowly fading away. "Hotaru?" she felt her heart twist, the ache building as she stared at two of her senshis. She had a strange thought that she might not ever see them again. That now was her last chance to say good-bye. "Be careful, okay. Tell…tell the others too."
The dark haired girl trembled, her eyes widening, as if understanding dawned on her. She moved forward, fighting off the spell that was going to take her home. Usagi looked down as the girl's hand grabbed a hold of her arm suddenly. As if time was becoming short, she spoke quickly, "Please come back Usagi-mama. You must come back to us. Promise you'll come home." She was fading quickly, her body just a hazy image before her, and her strong grip was already faint.
Why would Hotaru think she wouldn't come back?
Tearing her eyes away, Usagi looked at Haruka. The older woman was smiling sadly. "We must let her decide Hotaru." Usagi looked back down at Hotaru, and felt like she needed to reassure the girl, that she would be coming back. "I'll see you soon Hotaru." Haruka took the smaller girl into her arms, just as their bodies vanished all together.
Tears welled up in her eyes. She hadn't been able to hear their parting words. Their lips had moved but she hadn't been able to hear anything. She wondered that maybe is she stepped forward, she might disappear as well. That she would step into a portal and find her friends waiting for her. But before she could test out the theory, someone behind her cleared their throat.
"Usagi."
The blonde haired girl lifted her head, looking at the aged headmaster. "You should get some rest. For the next couple of weeks, you're going to be quite busy."
She frowned. "I am?"
Albus tilted his head slightly, a knowing look on his face. The one Usagi had learned to fear. "Well for one, teaching your students. Also keeping up with that club you started. And then training to become the headmistress of this school."
"I am??"
She took a tentative step back. Why did she see something bad coming out of this kind of news?
"Yes, because I'm going to be leaving during the Christmas break. For two weeks, you're going to be put to the test at running this school."
"I'm what?!?"
~~~~
The next few weeks were, as the Headmaster had explained, busy. She hardly had enough time to even think about the fact that her friends were gone. And that her mission was being delayed, again. But most of all, she was no where near to finding out about her past here.
And the crystal shard, which was still missing, was an unwanted nagging thought in the back of her mind. When she wasn't teaching her classes, she was training.
Days quickly molded into passing weeks.
She didn't even have any time to ask questions, to figure out pieces of the unsolved puzzle of her life. Albus Dumbledore made sure of that.
She had never expected that she would really play Headmistress. Wasn't that Minerva's job? Usagi had always assumed it was a for sure cover for her reasons being at the school. Never had she suspected that Albus was going to make her a headmistress.
Surely he didn't think she was right for the job? If he did, he surely was insane.
Usagi sighed, staring at the papers she had to read. There were a lot of them. Her students first homework assignment, turned out to be a disaster. No one could explain the functions of a rubber duck. They clearly misunderstood her. And now, their second homework assignment, was just alarming.
Sure they couldn't tell her that a rubber duck was an inanimate object used to entertain someone in a bath tub. But they could tell her the uses and functions of the unforgivable curses. What was the world coming to?
Yawning, Usagi rubbed at her eyes, shoving another paper out of her way. Albus was pushing her beyond her capabilities. He was expecting her to teach her classes, and also learn how to run the school. In two days, she would be doing just that. Sure most of the students would be leaving, but still!
Maybe Albus wasn't as wise as she had first pegged him for after all.
"Done yet?"
Startled, Usagi let out a yelp, before jerking her head up. She shouldn't have been surprised to see Draco. Since he was a constant visitor at this time of the day. After the dinner feast he usually snuck away, and found his way in this area of the school. For one reason or another.
Leaning back in her seat and she studied him carefully. He was propped up against the door frame of her classroom, and looking quite smug. If anything, since the closet incident, his determination had intensified. No matter what she said, he always came back.
"Hey."
He nodded in reply to her greeting, and asked again, "Are you done?"
"Nope."
She studied her stack with a frown. It didn't look any smaller than it had an hour ago. "Look Draco-"
He shook his head, cutting her off before she could even start her explanation. "When will you be done?"
Usagi sighed, and she finally looked at him. "Can I ask you something?"
He smirked, and he pushed himself from the doorframe. "You just did." Casually, he entered the room, walking towards her desk in a leisure pace.
"Ha, ha. Look, I've been wanting to talk to you about this for a few weeks now." Pushing her chair back, she stood, and rounded her desk. He stopped a few feet in front of her. After a brief minute of silence, he asked, "About what?"
To her, he sounded weary, and she half wondered if he already knew what she wanted to ask him. Carefully, she chose her words. "How much do you know about Usagi Tsukino?"
Draco frowned, his brows drawing together in mock confusion. "I don't think I-"
Usagi shook her head, "Yes, you do. Severus showed me. You knew Usagi Tsukino, the girl who disappeared two years ago." inhaling deeply, she added as an after thought, "Tell me, I want- no I need to know what you know about her."
The smile he gave her was rueful, almost mocking. "Don't you mean how much I remember?"
This time she was startled. How much did Draco really know?
With a sigh, he chose a seat in the front, and fell into it. Leaning back, he studied her carefully from where he sat. "That is what you mean, right? How much do I remember about my fifth year? How much do I remember about the blonde haired girls that disappeared?"
Usagi felt herself lean against her desk, but she didn't remember doing it deliberately. It was like her body was preparing her for something she wasn't ready to know. Slowly she nodded.
"I figured as much." He stuffed his hands into the pocket of his robes. "Well, I started to remember things this year. It was when I met you, I believe.
I guess you could call them fleeting images. I would walk into a room, and I would remember something, that was familiar, and yet not. I would remember someone I didn't think I ever met." he sighed, taking his time on explaining.
"I don't remember a whole lot, but I think I remember enough. She was a first year, and was struggling in all of her classes. I was assigned to tutor her."
Usagi nodded, her hands unconsciously gripping the edge of the desk.
"Well, you should. Do you think, that finding out who your father is, is going to keep me from tutoring you?"
Struggling to keep herself composed, she asked, "Wha-what did you say?" she frowned, feeling an ache forming at her right temple. Draco was watching her closely, but didn't add anything.
"Think again. We have to work over time considering how far behind you must be."
Shaking her head, she tried to clear, and asked, "You were tutoring me?"
Now they were back to tutor and student again.
Usagi snorted at the thought. Of course, she was the teacher, he the student. There shouldn't be anything else. Right?
"Usagi what's wrong?"
"Now what's wrong?"
She felt her face warm, even though there shouldn't be a reason for her to feel embarrassed. They were having a decent conversation…for once. Without think about it, she spoke what was on her mind, "If you think I'm going to forgive you for dragging me out of the library without my consent, you have another thing coming."
Usagi frowned. Where the hell had that come from? She looked around herself, in confusion. They weren't outside the library. They were in her office, him sitting at a table, while she used her own desk for support.
"What did you just say?"
Shaking her head, she reached up to massage the part that was beginning to pound. Why couldn't she concentrate on their conversation?
This had happened once before. With Professor Snape. She had started to hear voices, and was talking to herself, without even realizing she had been doing so. Today was the same, she was letting her thoughts get muddled with the conversation.
"I'm sorry, I don't think I'm feeling to well." Draco stood from his chair, and walked towards her. "What are you keeping from me?" he was frowning, his eyes searching her for some clues to answer his question.
"N-nothing, Draco. Look I'm tired, I'm going to go to sleep. I'll see you in class, tomorrow." Moving pass him, she started to leave, but paused. "Was that all you remembered? That you were tutoring her?"
He turned to look at her, his eyes narrowed slightly. "No." she hesitated, wondering if she should ask more, but feared he would get upset if she did. Instead he made the decision for her, by saying, "She fought her own father, and died doing so."
~~~~
Not only had Draco given her a valuable piece of information for her, but he had also created a large crack in the wall of her past. She was starting to remember. Bits of information came. Sometimes in a flood of images or thoughts, sometimes just pieces of a conversation.
Christmas break arrived, and most of the student had left. Only a few remained, hardly enough to make being the Headmistress a trouble really.
It was easier then trying to teach, that much was for certain. Just as surprising as it sounded.
It was only two days into her Headmistress job, when she heard the sound of the staircase moving. Looking up from Albus' desk, she waited till the door to the room opened. Who she saw, startled her.
Shoving her chair back, Usagi asked, "Shingo?"
The messy brown haired boy, she had grown up with, or thought she did, eyed her closely, before entering the room. He shut the door behind him, and moved to sit in an empty chair.
Holding her breath, she wondered what she did to deserve this opportunity. From the get go, Shingo had literally gone out of his way to avoid her. Including by removing himself from her class.
He wasn't anything like her brother in Tokyo, even though he resembled the little twerp. This boy, was taller than her by a good few inches. He was a teenager now, fourteen years old at least.
But unlike her younger brother at home, this Shingo looked more aloof, than cheerful. His attitude did not strike her as a happy go lucky teen, like her Shingo.
"Um, what can I do for you Shingo?"
He was staring at her, with cool blue eyes, the only resemblance between the two of them. After a few minutes of silence he spoke. "You're not my Onee-san." Startled by the statement, she tried to explain to him, she wasn't saying she was, but he cut her off, before she could even begin. "You may look like her, may act like her, even have her name, but you're not her. My Onee-san died two years ago, because our oba-san told her she should find out who her parents were."
Casually, he crossed his arms over his middle, "Her real Oto-san killed her. She was adopted, but she was still my Onee-san. Now I want to know, who are you?"
She had never imagined having this conversation with him. Not even when she realized he was here. So when he ordered her to explain herself, she told him the truth, because it was all she could come up with at the moment.
"I'm Usagi Tsukino, as you already know. I'm sixteen, and I've lived in Tokyo, Japan all my life. I have an Okaa-san, and an Oto-san, and an Otooto I live with." She hesitated only for a fraction of a second, before adding, "And I live in a different dimension. Where I'm from, I was adopted by the Tsukinos when I young. Ikuko and Kenji Tsukino. A few years later, they had a boy, and named him Shingo." She watched his face for a reaction.
There was a slight movement, but hardly any activity to show he was believing her or not. "It may sound absurd but it's true. I'm from a different timeline, where I didn't become a witch, but I became Sailor Moon."
This time he moved. He shifted in his seat, slightly leaning towards her. "You're my Onee-san in a different dimension?" She hadn't expected him to believe her so readily.
Usagi nodded, "Hai. Sort of like that. I'm not even supposed to be here. But I am because I need to fix a mistake a friend of mine made." After another hesitation, she finally relented. Pulling out her brooch, she held it in her hand. A few seconds later the crystal from within materialized before them.
She let the younger boy stare in fascination for a full minute, before saying, "From what I leaned, I'm a reincarnation of your Onee-san. When she died, this shattered." Pointing at the near flawless crystal, she pointed out a small chip in the perfect sphere. "And a piece is still missing. Without this piece, our worlds are still linked."
Shingo nodded, taking everything in strides. She wondered if it had to do with the fact that he was a wizard. Because usually, she was sure, a normal person would be doubtful with what she was saying. But the boy was believing everything she said, without a question or visible doubt.
She let the crystal return to it's original place in the brooch, before pocketing it. It wasn't until it was gone, before he started talking again. And what he said, told her enough.
"Our parents died a year before we went to Hogwarts. We lived with our oba-san for a year before she told us we had magic. Then a month later, we went to Hogwarts.
I was placed in the Gryffindor house, my Onee-san in the Slytherin house. It hadn't been fair, she wasn't meant to be a Slytherin. No one thought she did. Our Obasan wanted her to find out who her parents were, and what happened to them."
He smiled bitterly, but didn't waste long to continue. "It wasn't long into the year before they stared disappearing. Girls, not from a certain house, or a certain year, but from all of them. But they were all blonde, and they had blue eyes. Soon all the girl's had to have an escort. But things didn't get bad until Christmas."
Usagi shivered, thinking about her nightmare. Instinctively she reached up, touching the marks on her face. They were still there, so much a part of her, she hardly thought about them.
"Yea. It wasn't until I saw those, that I decided to talk to you. They happened to her too. She got a present for Christmas. Some sick prank. There was a rat, and poison needles. The poison made the marks permanent. People started talking then. Rumors spread."
"Do you know what they say, when I leave the room, do you hear them talking when I lay in my bed and close my eyes. Do you understand, what I go through day in and day out, night after night, listening to them?"
Usagi felt tears sting her eyes. She knew. She understood. Even now after all this time she could hear their accusations, see their accusing stars.
"She was the Dark Lords musume. And those girl's disappeared because he wanted her. He was trying to find my Onee-san."
"Poor, poor first year, you shall take the blame. Troubled, troubled first year, they are all the same."
She shivered, feeling a chill crawl up her spine. Shoving the feeling aside, she forced herself to speak, "Artigato Shingo. For coming and talking to me. I'm slowly able to put the pieces together. And soon I'll be able to go home."
Which she dearly hoped was true. As much as she liked it here, a part of her was homesick. She missed her friends. The longer she stayed her, the more distant she felt from them. Like the bonds that held them together were depleting.
Shingo nodded, and slowly he stood. He stopped from leaving to look at her. After a brief inward debating, he finally asked her, "What's going to happen when you leave?"
Usagi frowned, thinking over his question. What was going to happen indeed?
If she took the crystal back with her, the link would be severed. Wouldn't then, all evidence of her existence be erased? Would she forget everything she had been through during her stay here?
"I don't know. I never really thought about it."
He didn't comment on that, but instead left the office silently, leaving Usagi to debate whether she was willing to do that. To leave, and forget. Sure she had done it before, but this time she would have to go willingly.
One thought plagued her for the rest of the day, if the time arose, would she be able to say good-bye?
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Well there we are, another chapter written. Sorry it took so long to get out, but things have been difficult with writers block, and my teachers hounding me with so much homework….
But I got it out, and I hope you enjoyed it. More is revealed. Now the question is, the real question, will she ever finish this mission? We all hope so, because LP can ramble on for years with this kind of story. Hehe.
Tata, LP
