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WARNING: It is recommended by the author of the following work of fiction that the parent or guardian of any individual under the age of thirteen read and review the following. As it may contain violence, strong adult language, and adult seductions. Thank you.

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DISCLAIMER: Those characters that are normal associated with the hit television series and the successful manga, or graphic novel series, Sailor Moon are not of my own creation. But rather the products of Naoko Takeuchi's imagination.

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Past Troubles: Secrets of the Moon

Chapter Two: The Aftermath

Written by: Kristen Long

Emergency vehicles of all sorts were whizzing down the street towards Jubban High School. News crews had already made the scene. The large vans blocking the progress of frighten parents who had hurried from work to find their children. It took twenty-minutes for the Tokyo's finest to clear a straight path to the school. Emergency vehicles were admitted first. Parents were redirected to another undamaged part of the school. Ikuko Tsukino was one of those parents. Her heart pounding in her throat for fear of the worst, she busied herself by blowing her horn. Ikuko knew that this wasn't helping, but she had to do something.

"Ma'am." A police officer said tapping on Ikuko's window.

Ikuko pressed a small electronic button on the door. The window made a whizzing sound as it descended into the door. "Yes, officer." Ikuko replied in her sweetest, and most calm voice.

"Ma'am, could you please stop blowing your horn." The police officer instructed.

"Yes, officer." Ikuko responded.

"Ikuko." The officer said removing his sunglasses. His dark violet eyes took Ikuko by surprise.

"Jason," Ikuko said. "I'm worried. Usagi's in there."

"Yes, I know. I'm worried about my little niece too. But, Usagi's tough. No doubt she was among the smart student, who took cover."

"What happened?" Ikuko asked. "I was at work and I got a phone call saying that I should come to the school because there an accident." Tears were filling her eyes. Ikuko remembered the conversation she had had with her daughter. Usagi's facial expressions and vocal response this morning confirmed that the teenager was at odds with her mother.

"Gas leak. Some students were playing with the gas in one of the student laboratory. They, apparently, forgot that they had turned the thing on. And, their project required that the students use a Bunsen burner." Jason pointed to the regiments of the top of the school building.

"But, you just said." Ikuko protested.

"That's what I've been instructed to tell everyone. But, like I said, Ikuko, our Usagi is a tough girl. She's fine."

"I hope so." Ikuko said. There was a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. "What was it really?" Ikuko asked.

Jason looked up towards the school. The line was moving. "Well, I got to get back to work." He said and waved her through."

In a room in the upper level of the school Usagi rolled over on to her back. Her chest ached and arms stung. Slowly she opened her eyes. Above her the sky was blue and one or two white clouds lazily drifted by. Usagi snapped her eyes shut. The sun's light was burning them. A second later she forced them to open. She tried to set up, but the pain in her side made her lay back down. She lay there starring at the sky.

"Usagi-san." A desent voice called. It sound as though the person was in the same room. Speaking as if they lay beside her.

"They said that she landed some where up here." A man's voice said.

"You search over there and I'll search over here." A second man's voice said.

"Usagi-san." The called it. It was so familiar. Like the one in her dreams.

Usagi took a deep breath and forced herself to sit up. Usagi was setting in a classroom. Desks, chairs, counters, and the floor had been covered in white dust. The desk and chairs that surrounded her had been crushed by the part of ceiling that had fallen. A large chunk of the corner walls was also missing. Usagi did not see the man walking up behind her. Instead, she was looking out over the school grounds.

The image of an elderly woman with wild salt-and-pepper hair wearing soiled white and yellow garments was standing in front of her. Floating in the mid-air. Her hair blowing in the breeze. A dispirited expression on her face. "Usagi-san." She called in a sweet, soothing, loving voice. "It's time." The woman reached out to Usagi. Usagi reached towards the nameless woman. Their hands came into physical contact and the woman deposited something into Usagi's hand. The woman folded Usagi's hand around it.

"Kadonosono, over here!" The first man yelled. Usagi turned around to see a member of Tokyo's fire department standing over her.

Kadonosono, as the second was called made his way into the classroom.

"Are you all right?" The man asked.

Usagi responded by fainting. The man made to catch her. "Get an ambulance around here."

Ikuko's van moved at a snail's pace with the other cars. It seemed to have taken forever to get around the school. The hot autumn was not increasing her mood for the better. Instead, she was growing more worried and angrier with each passing minute. Her rolled around the corner of the school, into the student parking lot. An ambulance was parked there. Four people surrounded a stretcher that was being rolled onto it.

Ikuko's heart went out to the mother of that child. Up ahead a police officer had stopped traffic. He walked to the first car. The window rolled down and there was an exchange of words. A second later the officer was speaking into his transceiver. He motioned for the car to proceed past the scene. The same happened until Ikuko's car pulled up. She rolled down her window. The police officer stood there. The palm of his hand held up to her. He motioned 'all clear' to the ambulance. The large white vehicle pulled out of the parking lot.

Ikuko watched as it left. She said a silent pray for the person inside and their loved ones. Finally, the police officer stepped up to her window.

"Hello." He said in mellow voice, trying to sound as though nothing had happened.

"Who is that?" Ikuko asked looking at the rear end of the ambulance in her rear-view mirror.

"So, ma'am, I am not at liberty to say." The officer said.

"You people aren't at liberty to say anything are you." Ikuko yelled.

The officer did not respond.

"Ma'am, who are you here to pick up." He asked.

"I'm Tsukino Ikuko. I'm here to pick-up my daughter, Tsukino Usagi."

The man lifted the transistor radio to his mouth. "This is Officer Takaiwa. Please, send a police escort to the rear of the school."

"Police escort?" Ikuko questioned. It felt as though five pieces of the debris had been dropped into the pit of her stomach. Her heart sank and her eyes filled with tears. Had the person being loaded into the back of the ambulance been her own flesh and blood.

"Ma'am." Officer Takaiwa repeated for the third time. Ikuko's head slowly turned to him. She refused to look at her. She kept her eyes forward. She had turned to look at him, she wasn't look at him, but through him to the track beyond. "Ma'am, could you pull your car over there." he instructed. Ikuko put the car in drive. Without thinking she maneuvered to set in the middle of an aisle of student cars.

Ikuko continued to star forward. Her mind searching for anything and everything to think about. But it kept coming back to the image of the stretcher being placed into the ambulance. She saw it drive off. What hospital where they taking her little girl to? How bad were her injuries? Was dying? Would she die before the ambulance got there? No. Jason was right. Usagi was strong. She had overcome all the odds in her life. Being born too early. Being born under the weight that would allow for her to survive on her own. All those childhood illnesses. No. Usagi was strong. Usagi was alive. Usagi would live.

There was a light tap on the window. Ikuko jumped. It took all of her strength to release the death grip she had on her stirring wheel. Absentmindedly she pressed the control for the window. The reminding two inches of it vanished into the car door.

"Yes, officer." Ikuko's voice squeaked.

"Mrs. Tsukino," the officer said. "I am Officer Toriire, and this is my partner, Officer Juunigatsu." He gestured towards a woman walking towards the van from the squad car. Officer Juunigatsu was woman in her early twenties with long blonde hair done into a bun and sky blue eyes. One look at the woman and Ikuko burst into tears. The woman looked so much like her daughter. Ikuko's head fell onto the stirring wheel.

Officer Toriire attempted to comfort her by rubbing her back. That was what he did for his wife, whenever she broke down and started crying. " Ma'am," he said in a soothing voice a few seconds. Ikuko looked up at him. "Can you drive?" He had decided that he did not have to say anything about the sixteen-year-old who had been loaded into the ambulance.

Ikuko nodded her head. "I can drive."

Ikuko sat crawled up in a chair in the waiting room at Tokyo Memorial. Her head rested on her husband's shoulders. The tears had stopped nearly thirty minutes ago. But, the heavy feeling in her chest and stomach had not gone way. Kenji sat with his head in his hands. Their twelve-year-old son, Shingo, sat in a chair on the other side of his father. A hand-held game in his hands. His brow furrowed in concentration of defeating his alien enemies.

There was a knock on the glass of the waiting room. Kenji ran his fingers through his hair and looked up. It was the Darien and the girls. Darien was Usagi's older boyfriend. Kenji disapproved of his daughter's relationship with the tall, dark hair, handsome young with azure eyes not because of the young man's age. He was fearful that Darien might try to pressure Usagi into something that she wasn't ready for. But no amount of threats could change his young daughter's heart. The girls were Usagi's friends Mizuno Ami, Hino Rei, Kino Makoto, and Aino Minako. All the girls attended Jubban High School as well. All of them expect for Hino Rei.

"How is she?" Darien asked in a concerned voice.

"They'll let us in as soon as she wakes up." Kenji replied. "The doctor's won't let anyone but family in too see her."

"Do you want to go first?" Ikuko asked.

Darien was taken aback by this invitation. He wasn't a member of their family. His azure eyes searched each of their faces. Kenji's wasn't the hard as it usually was when he and Darien's paths crossed. Instead, it was soft. "But, I'm..."

"Family." Kenji stated. His brown eyes looking up at the younger man. Darien nodded his head.

There was another knock on the glass. Everyone looked up. It was the doctor. "She's awake." He said. Kenji, Ikuko, and Shingo stood up. Kenji placed a hand on Darien's shoulder. Unsure if this was the right thing for him to do, Darien stepped forward. "I'm sorry, sir." The doctor said holding up a hand. "But only family can see her know. You'll all have to wait until tomorrow."

"He is family." Kenji said to the doctor. His eyes soft. The doctor nodded his head and allowed for Darien to follow. The twenty-two-year-old walked behind them at a leisurely pace. The doctor lead them to room number 420. It was small room in the middle of the hall. The window overlooked the parking lot. Usagi was setting in the bed cheerfully talking to her roommate. A young girl with short brown hair no older than Shingo. Instead of her school uniform, Usagi wore a hospital gown that did not have a back. Her long hair had been taken down and beneath the golden locks of her bang was a bandage was visible. Her left arm had been placed in a cast.

"I tell you Sailor V's boyfriend is clueless." The twelve year old.

"Did you see the episode when they were standing on the balcony?" Usagi asked.

"And, she told him that she was cold." The twelve year old asked in the same light humored voice. "If he was my boyfriend I would have strangled him." She grabbed her teddy bear, clapped her hands around its throat and began to shake, while saying, "If I ever say that I'm cold and you don't kiss me." Usagi chuckled at the girl performance.

"Oh." She said winced and grabbed her side. Underneath her backless garment were more bandages.

"Oh, hello." The girl said tossing the bear behind her back.

Usagi turned to the door. To see her family and Darien standing there. She gave them one of her heart warming smiles. "Darien." Usagi squealed. The four of them ran to Usagi's bedside. Each taking turns to hug her two or three times. The hug came to a stop when Usagi started wincing in pain. To the discomfort of her dad, Darien and Usagi exchanged a long kiss.

"I'm glad to see you too." Usagi said with a jiggle. "Bara, this my boyfriend Darien. When it comes to romance he's as dense as Sailor V's is." The two girls laughed at the inside joke. "This is my dad, my mom, and my brother, Shingo."

"He's cute." Bara said.

"Excuse me, Mr. and Mrs. Tsukino." The doctor said. "May I speak with you in private?"

"We'll be right outside if you need anything." Ikuko said. She kissed her daughter's forehead. Usagi nodded her head.

"So, how are you feeling?" Darien asked.

"From what I'm told I could be worse." Usagi said. "Guess, I was lucky, huh."

Kenji turned from the scene in the hospital room. For the first time since he came to the hospital forty-five minutes ago, he took the doctor's appearance in. The doctor was younger than himself, but older than his daughter's boyfriend. He had a fresh hair cut and violet eyes filled with concern. The doctor wore a white coat over a pair of jeans and a black printed tee-shirt that read, "I'm with stupid".

"You're daughter's injuries weren't as serve as we had thought. The report said that had passed out on the scene. No doubt, from the shock of find herself in a room without a ceiling. She's suffered minor head injury, a few bruised ribs, and a broken arm. You're daughter's very lucky."

"She's a strong willed girl." Ikuko informed.

"Still, although, she's healthy. We would like to keep her overnight. To be sure that everything is in the clear." The doctor said.

"Sure." Kenji replied.

"When she is released, I suggest that her movements be limited. That way her rib cage has time to heal itself probably. This means that she'll miss one or two days of school." Kenji nodded. "Now, if you will excuse me. I have other patients to see to."

"Hey!" Bara yelled. She tossed her teddy bear at the television. "I was watching something."

Usagi giggled. The animated motion picture Sailor V television production had been interrupted by a news bulletin. The news reporter was a dark skinned man with short hair, teal eyes, glasses and a mustache wearing a white dress shirt and tie.

"This is Harry Storm reporting to you live from Jubban High School, where moments ago the educational process was interrupted by what authorities are calling a gas explosion. This reporter has been told that several students were in that classroom," The camera zoomed in on the destroyed corner of the school. "playing with the gas voles when one of them lit a Bunsen burner. As you can see the resulting explosion has destroyed most of the school. The majority of the school's students and faculty escaped the explosion without harm. Still, there are several individuals who are, have been transported to Tokyo Memorial. Currently, I am not at liberty to disclose these individuals names, until their family members have been contacted. However, I am told that they are all fine. Channel five will continue to provide you with update information on this breaking story. We now, return to you to your regularly schedule program."

The end credits of the Sailor V movie came back. Bara groaned and fill back against her pillows. Shingo handed her the bear she had tossed at the television. "So, you attend, Jubban High School." Bara asked looking at Usagi.

"Yeah." Usagi said.

"Looks like it was bad." Bara said.

"The news always makes things out to be worse than they are. I just wonder where classes will be held though." Usagi said.

"Usagi!" Darien exclaimed. "Are you sick?" He pressed his hand to Usagi's forehead.

"Darien, I'm fine." Usagi said taking his head from her forehead.

"Well," Bara said pressing her finger to her temple. "I remember that when my school had caught on fire, we were made to have class at the college."

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AUTHOR'S NOTES/ RAMBLE: Well, that's all for chapter two "Aftermath" of Past Troubles: Secrets of the Moon. Don't forget to send me your thoughts, suggestions, and advice via e-mail or submitted review.

May many blessings rain down upon you.

Kristen

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