Storms in Africa

(1/5)

How long is it since,

How long is it since…

The sky was a deep royal blue tapestry, sprawled across the horizon with a dazzling array of embroidered stars that twinkled merrily from their suspended viewpoint around the pale yellow glow of the aristocratic moon. A loud, ear-piercing wail of feigned anguish permeated the tranquil night air and resonated for several seconds before dying down into a graceful decrescendo.

'Ooowwww!' howled a young, adolescent girl, whose sunny, golden locks adorned her head in what remarkably resembled two dumpling shapes. Her unnaturally large, blue eyes welled up brightly with unshed tears as she clutched a tiny hand to her slender ankle.

'Geez, odango atama! Could you lower it a decibel or two? You know, for the sake of everyone else, including me?' I picked myself up off the payment, brushing bits of debris and dirt from my favourite green blazer, and turned to the source of the feline-like yowl. With an exasperated sigh, I shook my head and offered a hand to help the girl to her feet, tapping my foot impatiently.

I did not have the time for this right now! The Senshi were in trouble and I was already late enough as it was. Of course, it would only be my luck to bump into Usagi on the way; we always manage to run into each other at the most inappropriate times. In fact, I don't think I can remember a day that has passed where I had not at least exchanged a few heated words with the short-tempered little brat, if not a loud argument. It really was too easy to get under her skin sometimes.

'C'mon, odango atama…' I coaxed as I slid my arms under Usagi's in an attempt to help her to her feet. Unfortunately, she knocked my hand away and told me not to touch her… after calling me a baka. Really, the girl could be so childish sometimes… childish and incredibly stubborn.

'Don't touch me, Chiba!' Usagi yelled again, squirming to get out of my grasp. 'Just let me go!'

At this point, I began to contemplate whether she was worth all of the trouble. She was wasting my time just sitting there! However, I couldn't just leave her, damn my courteous demeanour. The sun had long ago sunk to sleep beneath the horizon and people were in bed at this hour. More importantly, though, what was a fourteen year old girl doing out this late by herself anyway? Furthermore, what was she doing in the middle of the park?

At that moment, Usagi let out a small cry, startling me and consequently causing me to drop her back to the ground. 'Perhaps you should lay off the higashi for a while, odango atama,' I suggested lightly. It wasn't like she weighed an enormous amount, as she was quite light.  All I had done was run into her, accidentally of course, and she had gone flying! I hadn't really been concentrating on where my feet were taking me as they automatically knew where to go. Instead, they had run right into Usagi who had been coming from the opposite direction. This resulted in my eating the pathway's pavement and her letting out the loudest shriek of all time. She could not have been hurt that badly as we run into each other nearly every single day.

'Sumimasen, alright? You just came out of nowhere! I've really got to go, so, why don't you just let me help you up and we can both be on our way?' Again, I extended a hand, trying my best to refrain from pulling a rose from my inside jacket pocket. If she did not hurry up, I would not have any choice but to leave her where she was.

'You know what, Mamoru?' Usagi sniffled, rubbing her dirty face across the sleeve of her… badly torn shirt. 'Why don't you just leave me alone, baka! Go, on! I don't care… I just don't care anymore.'

Her voice was small, very small and incredibly soft, especially that last murmur. The usual spark in her tone had vanished and was replaced with one of… defeat? What was going on here?

I let my hand drop momentarily and took a moment to thoroughly survey the mess sitting on the ground in front of me. The first thing that I noticed was that one of her infamous dumplings was beginning to unravel from its tight bun. Her long, usually shiny hair that bounced with a life of its own, hung limply down her back, streaked with dirt and tangled with twigs. The sleeves of her pink shirt were singed, torn, and stained a brownish-crimson. On her left leg, specifically around the ankle area, rivulets of blood trickled their way down her shoeless foot.  The ankle itself was red and swollen, and with the abundance of sticky red liquid, it looked as though the injury was not minutes old; that meant, that Usagi did not receive this injury as a result of running into me. If that was so, then what caused it?

Walk through the storm.


Usagi's shoulders sagged as she let out ragged breaths and she flinched as I once again attempted to bring her to her feet. 'Can't you take a clue, baka? I would have thought that someone at university would have enough brains to figure out that I. Want. To. Be. Left. Alone!' Her voice wobbled as she spat out the last word, standing on her own, albeit not very well, and pushing my arm away.

'What's wrong, Usagi-san?' I inquired softly, using my so-called lack of brains, and not calling her by the nickname she apparently loathed… even though, deep down, I figured she secretly liked it when I call her that. 'What happened to you?'

'Kaimu, Chiba. At least, nothing that concerns you.' Usagi shuffled a foot forward, biting on her lips as she did so. Her arms were held out in front of her, undoubtedly to help her keep her balance, and she was trembling like a leaf.

'Kaimu?' I raised a brow questioningly as Usagi inched herself away from me; a mouse could walk faster than she could at the moment. 'I hardly think that not being able to walk is called 'nothing'.'

'Look…' Usagi ceased her shuffling and stood stock-still. '… the Dark… er, darkness, kinda gives me the… creeps, alright?' She lifted her face up and gazed into the sky, letting the moonlight illuminate her tear-streaked cheeks. 'No… no, that's not right….' She whispered quietly before turning her piercing gaze upon me

'What's not right?' For a moment, I forgot all about the Senshi. Usagi's expression was a wistful and deeply melancholy one; it was a total one-eighty from her usual bubbly, cheerful self. I watched as crystalline tears threatened to spill down her scraped up cheeks, and then reached out to brush the offending liquid away from her pale face as one daringly escaped.

'I'm…' she laughed a little, batting away my hand and again using her soiled sleeve to rid the tears from her eyes. 'I'm a terrible liar.'

'Well, that's not a bad thing, is it?' Of course it wasn't, surely the odango atama knew that? She had never struck me as the type of person who would do that sort of thing. After all, she did have a nasty habit of yelling out the first thing that came to her mind. As a student in medicine, I would diagnose her with having chronic 'insert-foot-in-mouth' disease.

There was a pause before she blurted out 'I'm tired, just so tired. I can't take it anymore. It's so hard to keep secrets from everyone, especially when you want… no, when you need the support. Mama and Papa  are always worried, and Shingo doesn't even talk to me anymore. He says I've changed and that I'm unrecognizable! My own brother said that!' And with that, she slid down to the pavement and laid her cheek to the ground.

'You don't know what it's like, Mamoru-san.' Usagi began, closing her eyes and releasing a long, relatively stable breath. 'My life is too complicated. I just want to be normal, that's all I want.'

Go through the storm.

Well, that was just great, wasn't it? Now what was I supposed to do? Was she going to sleep, or what? I fell to my knees and gingerly reached out a hand to finger the scruffy fabric of her school uniform. As I had suspected, the material was doused with blood. Whatever she had gotten into, it certainly had taken a piece out of her.

I froze in my thoughts. What if it was someone or something from the Dark Kingdom? They could still be lurking around somewhere… and where was I? Sitting here, of course, fawning over some cry-baby girl who harassed me to no end. But… I paused again, knowing that leaving Usagi here was highly unethical and against everything I was learning about and practicing in school. How about if I were to put her on a bench somewhere, give her my jacket, and then go check on the Senshi? Once the youma and I had no doubts to that it was a youma, was defeated, I could come back and take her home.

That sounded like an all right idea. It wasn't the greatest plan, but it was better than nothing. In one swift motion, I scooped the small girl into my arms and set off looking for a park bench. There was one a few yards down the path, and I laid her prone form down before pulling off my blazer and using it as a blanket for her.

'Don't worry, Usagi,' I whispered, swiftly depositing the rose to my pants pocket. 'I will find out who did this to you and make sure no one else was hurt. Then I'll be back and I'll take you home, alright?' I leaned down to her face, and thoughtlessly… instinctively, was about to place a reassuring kiss on her forehead when her eyes fluttered open.

'You don't have to worry, they've gotten it already.' Usagi said in the most serious tone that I had ever heard her use. 'W- I mean, they always get them.'

'Who's 'they'? I asked, quickly jerking myself away from her face. I didn't know she had a light dusting of freckles across her nose and cheeks, and her eyes… well, they were her most attractive feature. I quickly averted my gaze away from hers and concentrated on… yes, a nice tall tree blooming with rosy cherry blossoms across the pathway. Looking at Usagi right now was causing a weird twinge in the pit of my stomach.

'The Sailor Senshi, of course!' Odango atama exclaimed, a little of her old excitement bursting out, completely opposing her previous serious tone and manner. 'Don't tell me that you've never heard of them!'

Of course I had heard of them… they were my 'partners'.

'…Sailor Moon, of course. Isn't she the best? She is definitely my favourite… she's so smart, brave, and absolutely gorgeous…' Usagi carried on while slowly repositioning herself to a semi-prone position.

With those last couple of comments, I barely suppressed a snort of disbelief. 'Sailor Moon, brave? Are you sure you know who you're talking about? She is always running away, and geez, you have to tell her what to do all the-' I stopped in mid-comment, having realized what I was saying and because of the strange look Usagi had plastered upon her face.

'And how, exactly, would you know all of this? Do you know Sailor Moon?' Now it was her turn to raise a questioning eyebrow. '…because I don't think that you would ever be cool enough for her to be friends with you.'

'Uhh…' Dammit! Now what was I supposed to say? I scolded myself mentally, cursing at my own odango atama'd behaviour: opening my big mouth. 'Well, you know… that is what I've heard… about Sailor Moon, that is.' Oh yes, that was real smooth there.

'Anyways, not that it's any of your business,' I narrowed my eyes and turned away from the bench, 'but Sailor Moon happens to think I'm 'cool', which of course, I am. Maybe you're just jealous, odango atama, that someone as famous as her would rather be friends with me than with you.' How old was I? Now I was acting like a hormonal teenager. I shouldn't let her comments get under my skin like that. It could be very detrimental to my wellbeing in the long run.

'Yeah, right!' Usagi protested. 'All of the Senshi would rather be friends with me than with you! Who likes anyone with an over-inflated ego anyway? You are so conceited sometimes! No, make that all the time!'

How long is it since,
The start of the storm.

Fortunately, I had long since trained myself to tune out Usagi's threats, and instead focused on thing about what she had said earlier on. If the Senshi had destroyed the youma, then why was Usagi looking the way she was? Had she been attacked? I knew that some sort of trouble had occurred… that is what had woken me up. The danger was not present anymore, as the anxiety to rush to the scene had faded, something that had happened while I was with the odango atama.

How irresponsible of me! Now I was irritated for letting myself become carried away with Usagi. I had a promise to the moon princess to find the ginzuishou. The princess and my past memories were somehow connected together; I knew that much, and now, I had let an opportunity to possibly gain more information, slip through my hands!

'How about we get you home, odango atama?' It was best to do this and then dwell on tonight once I was at home and not at risk of blurting out something stupid in front of Usagi. '…odango atama?' There was not an answer.

Oh, this was great! I whipped around to find an empty bench.

'Hey, odango atama! Give me my jacket back!' I yelled while tearing down the path to catch up. I was rather surprised at how far she had managed to travel in such a short period of time. 'You just can't take things that don't belong to you!'

Usagi didn't say anything in reply to my comment, but instead gave me a cold glare before sliding the fabric off of her shoulders and holding it out to me.

'No… keep it on,' I insisted, taking the jacket and wrapping it around her shoulders once again. 'You will catch a cold or something if you are not covered up. Your clothing isn't doing anything to help you.'

'Why…' she sniffled, '…are you being so nice to me?' she asked tearfully, pulling the blazer tighter around herself.

Why was I being nice to her? That was a good question, wasn't it? She was so rude and I chased after her… again. 'Well…' I began, scratching my head in thought, '… you're hurt, for one thing. I can't just leave you out here by yourself, can I?"

'You could have, you know. I gave you plenty of chances to leave. But, you have to be stubborn, don't you?'

I leant in closer to her face and grinned, 'I learned from the Master. Besides, I wouldn't feel well knowing you were out here by yourself… walking slower than a snail in the park.'

'Hmmph! Why do you have to insult me, Mamoru-baka? Can't you just say something nice for once without tacking 'odango atama' or something else on to the end?' Usagi tried to give me a steely gaze, but it really was hard to take it seriously when she had fresh tear tracks running down her face. It was a pitiful sight.

Begrudgingly, I kept my mouth shut. It hardly seemed appropriate to mention that I was barely able to keep from flustering up what I wanted to say when I was around her. Instead, it was much easier to let insults and teasing comments bleed from my lips. Usagi confused me, and I did not want to be anymore confused than I already was. I had a mission, a very important one, and I should not let distractions keep me from obtaining the truth… even a girl as beautiful and magnanimous… and as young as the one standing before me. Shaking my head in an attempt to rid my mind of traveling down a path I did not wish to go at the moment, I pressed my hand to the small of her back to let her know that it was time to get her home. Surprisingly, she didn't say anything, and instead pressed herself against my side and wrapped her arm around my waist to support herself.

We hadn't made it more than a block out of the park, when Usagi spoke up. 'I'm supposed to be staying the night at Rei's.' I was not sure if she had meant to say it aloud, or not. I didn't say anything, hoping that she would continue talking. The silence that had draped upon us on the way home was rather uncomfortable; it was weird for her mouth to stay shut for more than a minute, eating, of course, excluded.

'How will I explain that to Mama?'

'Explain what?' I wondered aloud, looking down upon the blonde girl's head. 'Just say that plans changed.'

Usagi's arm promptly dropped from around my waist. Apparently, she had not meant to talk aloud. 'That wouldn't work. Why would I be coming home this late if plans had changed? Besides, she would ask questions, for sure, if I said that and was looking like this. Perhaps I could sneak in somehow… through my bedroom window.' Usagi abruptly stopped before letting out a groan. 'But, my room's on the second floor….'

'Do you have a tree in your yard? You could get in that way.' I suggested lightly, letting a smile dance across my face as one of the (very few) fond memories of the orphanage flickered in my mind. Myself and another kid, Fiore, shared a room. It wasn't the biggest room, by far, but it was our own; something we had earned after years of (seemingly) exemplatory behaviour. Every Friday night, Fiore and I would sneak out through the window and down the ancient tree that was so conveniently situated outside, scampering off into the night, only to return hours before dawn. We had gotten away with it for quite a while, that is until Fiore decided to jump off of the branch instead of sliding down the trunk as we usually did. He landed on his ankle the wrong way and the snap of his bone resounded into the quiet night, followed by a yelp of pain that was loud enough to disturb the matron on the ground floor. Needless to say, that was the end of our nightly escapades.

So caught up I was in reminiscing, that I didn't even realize that Usagi was leaving until she shoved my jacket into my hands and breathed a soft 'goodnight'. Then, she had disappeared through the row of hedges that lined the corner of the street. She was not in any condition to run, I thought, listening to the pitter of her tiny feet as she ran down the sidewalk. Well, at least she didn't look it. What if she had been faking it? She certainly was a great actress if she was.

How long is it,
From beginning to end

Before I knew it, I was running after the blonde teenager. Why, I could not really say. On one hand, my head was ordering me to turn around and go home. I was tired, and running around in the middle of the night after some girl was not the most productive activity I could be doing at the moment. However, then there was my heart, and it was commanding me to run after her and make sure that she was all right. She had dodged so many of my questions, that it wasn't really difficult to see that she was hiding something. She was an awful liar, indeed.

It did not take very long for me to catch up to where she had stopped beside a lamppost. As soon as I came around the corner, I quickly drew to a halt. Usagi was standing there, looking around cautiously; for what, I did not know, and I didn't have very much time to ponder her actions for she threw her hand into the air, calling out 'Moon, Prism, Power, Make-Up!'

Lift your heart.
Walk through the storms

Usagi floated into the air in a flash of light while ribbons wrapped around her… very… naked… body. My jaw hit the ground. I let out a strangled gasp as a very familiar fuku, and then tiara, formed. Then, she threw her hands into her characteristic pose. Odango atama… Usagi… she was Sailor Moon! Suddenly, my life just became a whole lot more complicated.

I attempted to swallow the large lump that had formed in my throat while my brain processed what had just happened… unsuccessfully. There was no way that the queen klutz herself was the very girl I had been rescuing for the past few months. A strangled gasp escaped my throat and I understood now why her delicate frame was so mangled and bruised. Her annoyance at my opinions of Sailor Moon were now justified, and the reasoning's behind her being out so late… sleeping through classes… and most likely failing her tests, were all very clear.

Should I turn around and pretend this never occurred, or should I confront Usagi about what I saw? A million questions were running through my mind, but those were the ones that were the most important. However, I didn't have the chance to think about what I was going to say before she had let out a small whimper, ran into the yard, and jumped on to the roof of a house. By the time I had made it to the end of the driveway, she was gone.

Lift your heart!
Go through the storms

After I had drained the very last drop of coffee from the starch-white, porcelain mug that Motoki had filled not even a half an hour ago, I pushed it to the centre of the booth table. That had been my fifth cup this morning… and it was barely eleven o'clock! I had a little trouble falling asleep the previous night, to say the very least. Every time I had shut my eyes the image of Usagi's sorrow-filled gaze, of which her eyes had glittered beautifully in the moonlight, imprinted itself on to the backs of my eyelids. It was an eerie image in that, until I had turned from the spot where I had last seen Sailor Moon, I hadn't realized how much she had looked like the girl from my dreams, the princess.

'Hello? Earth to Mamoru!'

Motoki's cheerful tone startled me from my distracting thoughts as I looked up to find him waving his close to tattered dishrag in front of my face. Oh, great. Now, don't get me wrong, I like Motoki. In fact, he is one of my closest friends, and we get along pretty well. The only problem is that my blond headed pal is too nosy.

'What's going on? You're pretty quiet today… and spacey too, actually,' Motoki noted, letting the worn blue rag fall to the tabletop as he slid into the booth, opposite Mamoru.

He should not be allowed to have conversations with people who are withholding information. With an innocent question like that, unsuspecting individuals could find themselves digging themselves a hole, and a deep one at that. Let it be known that Furuhata Motoki is not as innocent as he comes across to be. This guy, although he claims to do it for the 'good' of everyone else, has the worst time keeping his lips sealed when it comes to other people's business. Therefore, when my good friend asks me such a question, I am always careful as to how I respond.

'I'm just tired, that's all. I was up late studying last night…' An automatic, forced smile widened on my face as I nodded my head reassuringly. 'Could I have another cup?' I grabbed said mug and held it out, hoping to signal that I really did not feel like talking now.

'Yeah, sure… I'll be back in a second,' Motoki replied apprehensively, sliding out of the booth. I was lucky this time, though I knew that he knew that I was not telling the whole truth.

While I waited for Motoki to return with my refill, I thought about Usagi. Well, I continued thinking about Usagi. My mind really had not been able to process much of anything else since last night. There were many unanswered questions hanging in the air, some were definitely regarding things Usagi had said, and some things she hadn't mentioned, yet were blaringly obvious as well.

A deep sigh escaped my throat as I leaned back against the plush, bright red upholstered seat. Why was life so complicated and tormenting? It was hard enough to be a teenager, let alone a teenaged superhero… to some extent. Sailor Moon was always a bit more popular. Damn, there I go again. Honestly, every little thing reminds me of Usagi.

'Are you sure you are all right?' Motoki's voice asked again, setting my cup down in front of me. 'You don't have to take it out on the table, you know.'

I did not respond to my friend's comment as the jingling of the front door caught my attention. A bobbing head with long golden pigtails bounced into the arcade, flung a shopping bag onto an empty stool, and jumped on to the one beside it.

'Motoki!' Usagi's voice rang out, spinning herself around on the cushioned stool, and swinging her feet around like a child. "A double chocolate strawberry 'shake with extra whipped cream for yours truly!"

'Hai, coming right up!' Motoki gave me a 'we'll talk about this later' look before heading back to the counter.

Well, I guess this was a good of time as any to interrogate the odango atama. My inability to sleep last night gave me ample time to ponder over the events of the previous night and now I had some questions that needed answering. A rather loud and obnoxious squeal of laughter erupted from Usagi's direction, and I wondered what had put her in such a good mood as there were not any visible scratches or marks and her gait was perfectly normal.

'…and I slept right through my alarm clock. Even Luna didn't bother to wake me up! She is so annoying in the mornings, meowing right in my face and pulling the covers off. Oh, and Mama didn't even scold when she came in to make sure I was up! She took one look at me, tucked a thermometer under my tongue, and told me to rest… said I looked awful. Do I really look that awful, Motoki?'

'Er, you look… just as you always do…?' Motoki dropped a cherry on top of the mound of whipped cream before pushing Usagi's sickeningly sweet concoction in front of her.

'Mmm… so good….' The blonde chirped happily, taking a huge slurp and wiping whipped cream off of the tip of her nose and then returning to her treat.

'Careful, odango atama, don't choke yourself by inhaling too much at once.' I found myself leaning nonchalantly against the counter, somehow having migrated over from my booth. I honestly did not remember having gotten up, but then again, I had been… and still was, focused entirely too much on the girl sitting before me.

At my words, a frown immediately creased Usagi's forehead. 'I should have known that going a whole day without running into you was too good to be true.'

'Ahh, but you didn't run into me… for once, odango.'

Usagi's face flushed a deep crimson and let out a snort. 'You know what I meant and stop calling me 'odango', BAKA!' And with that screamed endearment, she grabbed her milkshake and dumped the remnants of the sticky brown goo over my head.

Yuck. Luckily, I had enough sense to close my eyes, though apparently not enough to jump out of the way. That little fiasco was not something I would have expected from Usagi, but then again, nothing really could surprise me now. I ran a hand through my hair, trying to remove as much of the gooey mess as I could. In the background, Motoki's audible (and attempted) suppression of laughter bubbled through the air before erupting into obnoxiously loud gasps that echoed throughout the Crown.

After I had wiped my face clean with my clean hand, I cautiously cracked an eye open. Usagi was gone, though I could see the last of her hair pass by the arcade window. In a rush, I threw some yen on to the counter to pay for my coffee and Usagi's milkshake and took off after the valiant bunny.

Great Journey.
Heavy, through the storms

 'You know, that wasn't a very nice thing to do.' There wasn't a response, not that I expected one really. Usagi was quite angry indeed. It did not take me long to catch up with the odango atama. As swift as she was, my legs were much longer than hers were. 

'But, seeing as how I'm such a nice guy… I think I can forgive you for being such a baka…' Oh boy, what was wrong with me? Quick, someone tape my mouth shut. You would think that I had a penchant for being yelled at with the way my mouth was running off on me.

There still wasn't any response from Usagi as she slid onto the park bench that was beside her and buried her increasingly reddening face into her hands. With a sigh, I reluctantly sat down beside the petite girl.

'Look, I-'

'Don't,' Usagi interrupted me, 'just go away.' She removed her hands from her face and turned to stare at me with tear-brimmed eyes.

The smile on my face faded away at the very controlled and quiet tone, however, I did not move.

'Are you deaf?' Usagi jumped to her feet suddenly and whirled around, her arm bent out and her palm flexed. I stared at her uncertainly... not of her outstretched hand, that was definitely non-threatening… she was just too tiny, but because of her mood swing. First yesterday night and now today, something was definitely going on with Usagi.

With a roll of her eyes, Usagi propelled her hand towards my face, and in a blink of my eye, I had deftly captured her wrist in my grasp.

'No, I am not deaf,' I stated calmly as her beautiful blue eyes widened before narrowing into slits. She struggled to remove her hand, but I refused to let her go. 'However, before I let you go, we are going to discuss some things.'

'Nani?! You are such a creep! You let me go this instant! I'll scream… someone will surely come.…' Usagi's voice crescendoed and became quite shrill. If she had another minute, her voice would begin to wail. Fortunately, she was not going to get to that point.

'Who will come for you, Usagi, Sailor Moon?'

'That's right! The champion of love and justice will not allow such cruelty against anyone, let alone a defenceless girl!' Usagi halted her struggle and instead resorted to glaring at me once again.

'I don't think she'll be coming any time soon, then.' Releasing her wrist, I leaned back on the bench and rested my hands behind my head.

'And what makes you think that?' Her hand fell to her waist and she cradled it in her opposite arm. My gaze fell to her caresses and tentative palpations to the hand I had once held; I didn't think my grip was harsh enough to warrant any type of trauma.

'Because you're standing here, that's why.' I answered slowly.

There was a moment of silence before Usagi said, 'I don't know what you're implying, baka….'

'You know what I mean, Usagi.' I guess now was the time to do it. Leaning forward, I tapped the golden crescent moon pendant she had hanging from her neck. Dropping my voice to barely a whisper, I traced the outline of the satellite and murmured, 'I saw you last night after you brushed me off.'

Again, Usagi did not say anything for a while. I didn't know what to say as I looked up to watch an array of emotions flicker across her very ashen face. At first, I thought she was going to start laughing and deny what I had just said, but instead her chin fell to her chest and a droplet of emotion fell to the ground.

'You can't tell anyone, Mamoru, you have to swear it.' Her voice was quiet again, and her breathing had become quite shallow. There was a sniffle as Usagi lowered herself back down to the bench and then the dam burst. For once, there were not any impertinent wails or shrieks. Usagi's small frame shuddered as… I do not know what emotion: grief, hopelessness, embarrassment…, wracked through her body.

Wet and messy rivulets of tearstains bled their way down Usagi's colourless, taut face as she glanced upwards. Her eyes were shiny with emotion, just as they were last night, and the image of the princess flashed in my mind once again. 'Onegaishimasu, onegaishimasu, Mamoru! Onegaishimasu, you have to promise that you won't say anything!'

Reaching my hand up to brush away the fresh tears that were beginning to escape, I nodded. I would do anything for her; she was Sailor Moon. Usagi was Sailor Moon… and, and… something more beyond that. I don't think I could even put into words as to how she was more than Sailor Moon, but I was certain that there was a bigger picture than what was before us at this moment.

All of the questions about last night had faded away as I observed the young girl who was meekly pressing her cheek into my palm. Her frustrations and her pent up feelings of loneliness were none too clear on her face now. Now I understood what she had meant about it being hard to keep secrets and about how everyone had thought she had changed. It was different for me because I grew up with only myself to rely on. It was not so hard to keep a secret to myself, as I did not ever have anyone to confide in up until I met Fiore, and then after that, Motoki, a few years back. But, for a girl such as Usagi: bright, bubbly, gossipy, always honest about everything and so naively trusting of everyone, keeping a secret of such magnitude from her family and friends must have been a great burden.

'You can trust me, Usagi,' I said earnestly. 'I understand what it's like to not have anyone to discuss things with.' I could not bring myself to tell her that I was her beloved Tuxedo Kamen. I didn't think that the new information would go over too well at the moment, and I wasn't ready for the howl of mortification that I knew would occur once Usagi discovered the truth. No, it was best to just let her get to know Chiba Mamoru first and then break the news to her.

Usagi did not say anything, but she did not turn away from me either. That was a good thing. Taking my hand in hers, she threaded our fingers together so that we were palm-to-palm, fingers intertwined with each other's. Slowly the corners of her mouth turned upwards into a small smile and she let out a soft breath of air. 'Arigatou, Mamoru-san.'

With those last words, she stood, wiped her face with her hands and smoothed out her pale blue dress. 'Arigatou,' she whispered once again before turning away. While the confrontation did not go quite as I had hoped, I could not help but feel strangely satisfied. She thanked me and did not call 'baka' when she left.

Looking down into my palm, I let my thumb trace the edge of the golden crescent moon that Usagi had pressed into my hand. The curved inner edge of the satellite glittered as the afternoon sun caught it, and I smiled. I was looking forward to tomorrow and every day after that… when I could see my little odango atama, my Usagi, my… Usako.

Long Journey
Look through the storms

Storms In Africa

Roma Ryan (Irish adaptation by Enya)

Irish Gaelic

Translation

Cá fhad é ó [1]
Cá fhad é

Siúl trí [2] na stoirmeacha [3]
Gabh trí na stoirmeacha [4]

Cá fhad é
Tús na stoirm
Cá fhad é [5]
" tús go deireadh

Tóg do chro
Siúl trí na stoirmeacha
Tóg do chroísa
Gabh trí na stoirmeacha

Turas mór
Trom trí na Stoirmeacha

Turas fada
Amharc trí na stoirmeacha.

How long is it since
How long is it since

Walk through the storms
Go through the storms

How long is it since
The start of the storm
How long is it
From beginning to end

Lift your heart
Walk through the storms
Lift your heart!
Go through the storms

Great Journey
Heavy, through the storms

Long Journey
Look through the storms