Tigers Dawn By Sailor Leo
Chapter Three: Hooray! A Long Promised Dance!
The mists of time and space are (or were, or will be, since the Fourth Dimension is odd like that) not something that every person gets to see. However, if one saw it, they would say that it resembles fog from a portable dry ice machine in a horror movie. No fog out of the ordinary, just the type that signals a horrible monster is about to appear in a movie. Well, unless one was deathly afraid of a tanned sailor suited warrior, there was no particular monster. This particular sailor suited warrior is (was, or will be, you know the drill) Sailor Pluto, the Senshi of Time. Her normal everyday duties of guarding the door of time and space never seem as long to her, because she affects the time around her. Her duties as the Time Guardian have lasted for thousands and millions of years, but because of her nifty time manipulating abilities, to her, it only seems as if it was a five-minute rest. Naturally, when her other duties arrive, it seems longer.
One of Sailor Plutos recent duties only just arrived, with a feline companion. This time, the young Princess was not with her cat advisor, Diana. Instead, the feline was particularly large, and orange with black stripes. Every so often, the young Princess would stop and scratch the tiger behind its ears, and whisper some encouraging words.
The Senshi of Time propped herself against her large time key and wondered what her young highness was up to.
"Small Lady," she asked, "What are you doing with that tiger?"
The small Princess looked up at her long time guardian and smiled impishly as she knelt down beside the tiger. She let out a giggle.
"It's Tigers Eye, Puu. And I think he can help."
This sparked Sailor Plutos curiosity. She smiled gently at her friend.
"With what, Small Lady?"
"Mako-chan, she…" Chibi-Usa fumbled with her dress as she tried to find the right words. "I've been worried about her. Nobody's seen her for years, except for JunJun. And even then, JunJun, she says that, JunJun says…" Chibi-Usa frowned. The tiger opened its jaws and let out a Tigers sigh of dissatisfaction, showing all its teeth.
Sailor Pluto nodded in agreement, as she gazed into her Garnet Orb perched at the top of her Time Key. The image wasn't too good. In her orb, reddened by the rubylike glow, she saw Makoto. Her hair was cut short, and scrapes, bruises, and other images injuries marred her skin. She was in a deep rock chasm, and thunderclouds rolled ominously overhead. A lightning bolt stuck, and Makoto transformed into Sailor Jupiter. She jumped nimbly to the side, but she stumbled on what looked like a swollen ankle. Another lightning bolt struck, and the Senshi dodged again. More and more bolts descended, and Sailor Jupiter dodged each, but every time she came closer and closer to being struck, until finally, one hit her. The Senshi let out a cry of pain, as she fell to the ground, and lightning bolt after lightning bolt struck her body, shaking it with electric convulsions, until finally the poor girl lost consciousness and the lightning stopped.
"Do you see, Puu?" the Princess asked. "She's been like that for years, as long as I can remember, and each time she spends a longer amount of time away from us. I know Mako-chan is powerful, but she keeps hurting herself trying to get stronger. It's all that she believes in now, JunJun thinks that it's the only thing that's keeping her alive!"
"And yet if this keeps up," Pluto finished for her, "Then it will be her demise. I see what you mean."
Puu looked at Tigers Eye, and then back at her Garnet Orb, gazing at the altered timestream that would be. For about three minutes, there was silence as Pluto checked to see several possible outcomes to such a move. After a while, she placed her hand on her Garnet Orb and eyed Tigers Eye carefully.
"Small Lady, as always, there are several outcomes for one action. All of these outcomes I can see can either work out to save Sailor Jupiter once and for all, as well as many lives that were doomed before. I see many great things happening, if this works."
"And if he fails?" Chibi-Usa asked tentatively.
"Then Sailor Jupiter will die, causing a ripple in time, and indirectly leading to the destruction of many. Sailor Jupiter is going to save a lot of people, Chibi-Usa. And these people, in their own way, will save a lot of people. And those people, well, you understand. However, in her current state, Sailor Jupiter will not survive much longer. He'll have to work hard, and it won't be easy. However, if he can travel back, and show Makoto that there is more in life to believe in than her Senshi duties, then many lives, and lives to come, will be affected by this in a positive way."
Tigers Eye cocked his head sideways, as he tried to comprehend this. Chibi-Usa patted Tigers Eye on his back in a comforting way.
"We have to try, right?" Chibi-Usa asked her best friend. Her Guardian nodded. "I can get my Mom to turn him back into…"
Sailor Pluto laughed, and raised her time key, poking the Princess with it playfully. Chibi-Usa furrowed her brown in confusion. The mists engulfed The Senshi of Time, and all that Chibi-Usa and Tigers Eye could see was the Time Key, as it jabbed the Princess in the neck. She reached her hands to her throat, and touched the necklace around her. She pulled out her own time key, and as well as her own shard of the Ginzuishou laced onto the same silver chain.
"Puu," the girl looked down at her fragment. She seemed to grow smaller, as she realized what her Guardian wanted her to do. "I can't, I mean, it's only a fragment, and I don't have enough power," The Princess trailed off. The mists moved away to reveal her Guardian, propped up on her Time Key. A warm and encouraging look filled her ruby eyes.
"Small Lady, you must not forget that you are the daughter of Queen Serenity, and the heir to NeoTokyo, and that if you believe in yourself, then you can do it." The older Senshi explained. Chibi-Usa nodded in acceptance.
"What do I have to do?"
"Hold your fragment close to your heart, and envision your heart, soul, and essence being poured into it. Believe in yourself, your Mother, and the powers of the moon, and you will have the power to turn this tiger back into a human." She instructed. Her pupil closed her eyes and did as she was told.
The dull gray mists of time seemed to dissipate as the young Senshi became enveloped in a bright light. Her feet rose off the ground (if there was ground in the fourth dimension) and her hair began to rise with her, flowing around her in all directions, being moved by invisible winds of power. She hovered in the air for a few seconds, and then the tiger next to her began to levitate directly in front of her, eye to eye. The felines whiskers twitched, showing a small amount of fear from him. The Princess's eyes opened. Her eyes blazed a bright aqua blue, matching the eyes of her mother.
Tigers Eye felt deep warmth from inside his chest, and it spread out to his newly formed fingers and toes. He was in his circus outfit, the last thing he wore before he was transformed into a tiger. His forest green eyes blinked.
"I…" he coughed a little bit. He had not spoken with a human tongue in so long. "I thank you, Princess, and Sailor Pluto."
"Now, Tigers Eye, you may go to the past under these conditions." Sailor Pluto carried on. "There are five, and you must remember these, they are very important. Should you forget any, you will be sent back to Elysion as a tiger. Time travel is something no human has done, with the exception of the Senshi. So, number one, you may not reveal to any normal human your true identity, with the exception of the Senshi. Number two, if you have forgotten; you are a human now, with human dreams. It means you do not have a lot of the powers you once had before, but you look human, you will blend in with
humans, and you will stay human, and you will not try to change that."
"Number three," Chibi-Usa continued, from behind him. He turned around Chibi-Usa looked normal now, except for small trickles of sweat on her forehead and heavier breathing. "You must not tell anybody anything you have seen in the Elysion Pond. Number four; you are not to repeat anything said here in the fourth dimension. And number five is the most important. You must not ever forget why you are being sent back to Earth. Don't think you were sent back to start a successful business, or fool around with some young girl. You know why you're going back, so don't forget it." The young Princess folded her arms over her chest, and stated firmly. "Is that understood, Tiger?" she asked him, while renaming him back to his original name from the Silver Millennium.
"I do." Tiger bowed. "I can't reveal my identity, I'm a human and I can't change it, I can't tell anybody the visions in the pond, I can't tell anybody this conversation took place, and I am on Earth for one reason, and one reason only."
"And do you know that reason, Tiger?" Sailor Pluto asked, as she gestured to the door. The door of time opened slowly. Tiger looked down, and realized he was slowly disappearing. But he was not afraid.
"My reason for being on earth is for Princess Makoto." He said quietly before he disappeared into the mist. A second later, he found himself in an ice skating rink. His clothes had changed to more earthy appearances.
He was wearing black jeans with black steel-toed worker boots. He was in a clean white tee shirt, and draped in a denim jacket. He felt a heavy weight in his jacket pocket, and was delighted to find a wallet filled with earth currency, as well as an odd piece of plastic that resembled a credit card, but it had the name "Crystal Moon Credit Union" on it. It was bordered with major credit card labels on it. Tiger would have bet his hair that the card would be accepted anywhere. Much to his joy, nothing had happened to his long orange hair, but placed atop of it was a pair of expensive sunglasses. Tiger glanced at the familiar girl ice-skating vigorously. He approached a desk behind him, and asked to rent a pair of ice skates. The clerk obliged, and Tiger found a place to lean against as he took off his boots and replaced them with ice skates.
And then he clumsily skated off towards his reason for being human.
---
"Answer me!" Makotos voice raised an octave. Tiger smiled, and skated near the edge of the rink. He leaned back on one of the poles that were placed to support beginner skaters in the rink, and smiled coolly..
Makoto skated closer to him, her eyes boring into his own, looking for a hint of malice or evil intentions. Her hands were planted firmly on her hips. Tiger stuffed his hands into his front denim pockets. He leaned forward, closer to her face, an annoying smirk played upon his face. Makoto didn't move. Tiger leaned closer. Makoto still didn't move. Her eyes just narrowed in defiance. Tiger leaned even closer to where their noses were almost touching. He could see her nostrils flaring, and feel her deep angry breaths. The next thing happened so fast that his head spun. One second Tiger was planting a quick good-humored light kiss on Makotos nose, the next second he was on his butt on the ice seeing stars with a throbbing jaw.
"Ow! That's a mean right hook you got there." Tiger stated obviously, massaging the bruise on his jaw. Makoto was wiping her nose furiously with the back of her wrist. "What's your problem?" he asked.
Makotos eyes blazed with the intensity of a thousand suns. She leapt over Tiger, off of the ice, and onto the normal ground. Makoto kicked off of her ice skates and grabbed her foe by the back of his jacket, pulling him over the barrier that separated the ice and the normal ground. She grabbed the front of his shirt roughly, pulled him up to his feet, and slammed him against a wall, which he verbally protested against. She held him in place with her hand holding him between the wall and herself. Makotos other hand was pulled back into a fist.
"Hey, hey! If you want it rough, that's fine with me, but we could at least do this somewhere more private!" Tiger joked. Makoto was not amused, and her teeth clenched.
"I'm not in the mood for games Tigers Eye! I wanna know who you're working for now, what you're doing here, where you plan on going with your little act, when you'll be leaving, why you have the STUPIDITY to pull something like that, and how you even got here!"
"And I win a brand new car I get all of them right?"
"Don't make me hurt you again."
"All right! All right!" Tiger held up his hands to show his submissiveness. "First of all, you can call me Tiger now. And I'm not working for anybody, ok?"
Makoto gritted her teeth, and her fist started shaking. More force was pressed onto Tigers sternum and he let out a nervous chuckle.
"Answer the rest. Why are you here?" she pressed on. Tiger sighed. He didn't like what he was about to do, even if it was to Makoto.
"Fine," he sighed, defeated. His eyes went from a joking to a more sincere look. "I came back to say that I'm sorry for leaving you."
Makotos eyes became glassy all of a sudden. Her mouth moved, as if she was trying to say something, but the words seemed to die in her throat. Her fist stopped shaking, and dropped to her side. Tiger took the hand that Makoto had placed on his chest and held it in both of his hands, as he brought it up to his lips and let his lips brush against her fingertips.
"It's one of the only things I regret. Dancing with you is one of the only memories that stayed with me, and I came back to say I'm sorry for not coming for you sooner, and making you wait out in the rain like that. I never got a chance to say that."
Makotos heart started beating a mile a minute. She felt all of her strength leave her body in a mere second as memories flooded her head. In her mind, she was waiting outside in the cold rain, each raindrop falling onto her skin. She could feel every fiber of her wet dress clinging to her skin And the feel of her heart slowly falling apart, piece by piece as each drop of rain landed overcame her again. Makoto suddenly became very cold. A shiver ran down her spine, and goosebumps rose on the back of her neck.
"I don't understand," Makoto breathed out softly. She pulled her hand back from Tigers grasp, and wrapped her arms around her body in an attempt to warm herself from her memories.
"I believe I owe you a dance, Ma-chan." He said softly. She took a step back. Tiger reached out towards her, and she stepped back again, holding herself as if she had been shot. Her eyes were glazed, and filled with painful memories. A pang of regret hit his heart. Her lips were still moving, as she was still attempting to say something. His fingertips barely touched her cheek when her eyes came back into focus. "Ma-chan, I," Her lips pulled back into a snarl as she knocked his hand back roughly.
"Don't call me that! You owe me a lot more than that, you creep!" she snapped at him. "Do you have any idea how long I waited for you? And you just betrayed me, like that. Didn't care whether I lived or died by that Lemur! I can't trust anybody anymore, because every time I try to get close to somebody, I remember," sparks began hop around her, crackling with energy.
"Ma-chan!" Tiger panicked "What do you want me to do?"
"Stop calling me that!" she spat "If you want to make me happy, find a way to launch yourself into the sun!" was the Lightning Senshis bitter reply.
"Wrong answer!" Tiger came back in a laughing voice as he recomposed himself. He stood up straight, pulled his shades over his eyes, and moved aside a strand of hair from his face. "You're going to let me take you to the Crown Fruit Parlor, and make sure I don't go crazy and try to steal peoples dream mirrors, or star seeds, or whatever it is that can be harvested from people these days."
The muscles below Makotos right eye twitched. The lightning crackles weren't as big anymore. Tiger did have a good point. He didn't seem to be evil, but she couldn't tell, not yet. For all she knew, it could be another trap. But it was better to keep an eye on him rather than turn him loose on the city. She looked down at her current attire, and realized that she couldn't go in her ice skating suit. She would look rather ridiculous.
"Fine." She stated, making her way to the changing room. "I'm going to go get changed. If you move from that spot, then I will know that you are a liar, and I will hunt you down and beat you to a pulp and then zap you into deep space. Is that understood, furball?"
"Wouldn't you be more at ease if I came with you into the locker room, so you'd be sure that I wouldn't run off?" Tiger teased with a mischievous grin. Makotos eye twitched again as she threw her ice skates back at his chest, hard. He caught them with a grunt as he took a step back from the force of the throw. "You need to control your strength, Ma-chan!" he called out to her as she walked into the womens locker rooms. She glared daggers at him. He only winked at her devilishly.
As soon as Makoto rounded the corner, she took a deep cleansing breath. A light smile crossed her features.
---
It was a slightly breezy and pleasant afternoon. Yuuichirou had long ago cut off the dangling branches, so it was finally safe to sit on the concrete steps that led up to the temple. Because of Yuuichirous recent surge in popularity, all of the love charms had been sold. Because of this, Rei had enlisted the help of Ami, Minako, and Usagi to make some more love charms. It was also a chance to teach their new temple aide the ropes. She was a small girl, and she looked to be only ten years old. She was placed in Yuuichirous lap as the older aide showed her how to loop the beads and tie the strings properly.
"You see, you loop it like this, and then you add the bead." He explained to the small girl. She looked up at him and nodded, her eyes were sparkling with a secret happiness, and a small smile was on her face.
And Rei watched on, realizing her own piece of string had missed the loop several times. Minako giggled, and whispered something to Ami and Usagi. Usagi giggled, and Ami blushed, and shook her head. Rei heard them, and turned around. She sent a fiery hot glare at the three, from which they quickly turned away and looked innocent. The air was tense for another few minutes, the silence only filled with chirping birds and Yuuichirou giving the girl instructions.
"How much more do we have to make?" Usagi complained. Minako held up a charm and winked.
"This is the last one, after Rei finishes the charm she's been working on for five minutes!" she chuckled. Reis face turned a light crimson, and she sent a fresh new glare at Minako.
"Quality over quantity."
"Your new aide has made more than you!" Ami pointed out. "What's her name?"
"My name," the girl answered for Rei, "Is Dana."
"Are you staying at the temple with Yuuichirou when we go away?" asked Minako. Dana nodded, as she finished her last charm, and rested in Yuuichirous lap. Usagi placed her last charm in the bag of finished charms and walked over next to Yuuichirou and Dana. She ruffled Dana's feathery soft hair, and laughed.
"Oh Rei! You're new assistant has such adorable purple hair!"
Just as Dana was about to reply, a soft ring was heard. Usagi reached inside of her jeans pocket and looked at her ringing cell phone.
"The Caller ID says that it's Unazuki." Usagi announced. Ami, Rei, and Minako looked on curiously as Usagi answered the phone. "Unazuki, hey! How are you?" Usagis face fell as the voice on the other end spoke. Usagis voice suddenly changed, and turned more stoic. "She is?"…."Are you sure?"….."Ok, we'll be right over." Usagi pressed a button to turn off the phone. She turned to the others.
"Unazuki-san says that Makotos sitting at the Crown Fruit Parlor, with that guy who danced with her at that college dance." She said vaguely, not wanting to let Yuuichirou or Dana in on it. The three girls looked at Usagi in disbelief. A second later, Usagi clarified their fears.
"And Makoto doesn't look too comfortable."
---
Hey! Sailor Leo here! Sorry about the long wait, if you're even interested at all. So, what will Tigers Eye, ahem, Tiger, do to prove that he doesn't want to hurt anybody? And how is the Sailor Jupiter in the future faring? None too good, it looks like. And what exactly is Dawuhn planning to do at the Cherryhill Temple? All this and more will be revealed in the next chapter:
Crash! Dawuhns Dilemma!
You have to focus on your duty JunJun! Nothing else matters! Not even your own life!
But Ma-chan, I have nowhere else to stay!
Why are you hesitating Sister?