"NATURE LOVER"
A Neo-Sailor Moon fanfic Chapter 7: "Stalked"

By Bill K.

Walking down the palace corridor leading to her quarters, the senshi-in-training Cere-Cere suddenly got a tingle at the base of her spine. It was a nameless sensation, something subconscious that told her of a potential threat. But when she turned around, nothing was there. The first time she had this feeling and found nothing, she cursed herself for her stupidity. Cere-Cere didn't do that now.

The door hissed closed behind her and she leaned against it. Only Palla-Palla was present in the room and she was occupied with a vid of "Yumi-chan's Toyshop". Cere-Cere couldn't tell if it was a new one or the same one that Palla-Palla had seen seventy times and at that moment didn't care. Sensing her presence, Palla-Palla turned to her sister.

"Palla-Palla," Cere-Cere began nervously, "do you sense anyone else besides us?"

Palla-Palla went blank for a moment. "No. She only senses your thoughts. Why are you so worried, Cere-Cere?"

"I don't know," she sighed, sliding into a chair and propping her elbows onto a desk. "It's just that for the last few days I've gotten this feeling of . . . oh, it's stupid!"

"You think someone's following you?" Palla-Palla asked.

"You read that?"

"Yes. Palla-Palla is getting better at reading your thoughts."

"I'm not sure how thrilled I am about that," Cere-Cere muttered.

"Don't worry," Palla-Palla smiled innocently. "When Palla-Palla comes to thoughts about Mister Gallan-sir, she closes her eyes."

"Good thing," smirked Cere-Cere. "You're too young for that stuff." She huffed out a sigh. "So am I crazy?"

"Palla-Palla can't hear anyone else's thoughts," her sister offered. "But she doesn't think you're crazy. There's all sorts of things Palla-Palla doesn't know. But if somebody is following you, just ask and Palla-Palla will do all she can to help."

"Thanks," Cere-Cere said meekly.

Palla-Palla returned to "Yumi-chan's Toyshop" and cackled as Yumi and Tree-san traded jokes. Cere-Cere thought about her problem. If she wasn't crazy then someone was following her. But who and why? Was some guy in the palace stalking her? Her natural beauty had attracted the unwanted advances of several males in the palace, some of them even her own age. Was she being stalked now? Or was it something else? But what? Who would have it in for her enough to stalk her?

Absently Cere-Cere focused on the vid. Yumi-chan was listening attentively as Tree-san told a story. Suddenly her thoughts sprang to life.

"Tree," she mumbled.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

One of the characteristics of her second sight was the ability to anticipate a visit. Rarely was Rei Hino caught unaware when someone stopped by to call. In fact only Queen Serenity herself could "sneak up" on Rei's psychic radar. So when Usa entered the shrine, Rei was already out of her office and there to greet her.

"Hi, Usa," Rei smiled, for visits from her favorite (and only) "niece" were special occasions.

"Hi, Aunt Rei," Usa murmured. Rei's smile faded.

"What's wrong, honey?"

"Oh, too many things to name," the girl sighed.

"Then just name one," Rei said, putting her arm around the girl. "I'm used to listening to people's troubles."

"Well," Usa replied glumly, "maybe you can help with one." She pulled out some folded up sheet music. Rei took it and looked it over. "I've been trying to write a really soulful ballad. I'm satisfied with the lyrics, but all the music I write to them seems so shallow and immature. Can you make any suggestions?"

"Maybe," Rei replied, looking the work over. "I'll need to hear it, though. You mind if I play it to hear what it sounds like?"

"Sure," Usa nodded.

The two adjourned to the practice room behind the palace theater where a grand piano was stored. Rei sat down behind the keyboard and set the sheet music before her while Usa watched. She'd always admired Rei's musical talent as much as that of her more famous Aunt Minako. Rei and Minako's tastes and styles were night and day, but Usa always felt that Rei was Minako's equal musically.

The priest began playing and immediately Usa noted how much more powerfully Rei played than she did. Her keyboard work was more dynamic and self-assured, knowing when to be quiet and when to be dramatic. The music sounded better when Rei played it than when she did, but Usa noticed she was still dissatisfied with it. After a one chorus run-through, Rei played the music again, singing the lyrics with her resonant, haunting voice. It was a thrill hearing her words framed in Rei's rich tones.

"The music's not bad," Rei said. Usa knew her Aunt Rei wouldn't sugarcoat her feelings about the work. That's why she trusted Rei's opinion. "Though I can see why you might not be satisfied. If you're looking for more seriousness and gravity in the song, you could try a lower key."

"OK, I could try that," Usa nodded.

"But don't go too low. You don't want to be depressing. You might also simplify the bridge so the power of the chorus isn't covered up." She seemed to observe Usa as if for the first time. "These are some heavy lyrics. Are they about anyone in particular?"

Usa shrugged cryptically.

"Have you shown this to Hotaru yet?" Rei asked, then quickly added. "Silly question. You two share practically everything - - except maybe boyfriends."

"Yeah," Usa replied softly. Rei's eyes were glued to the girl the entire time.

"Anything you'd like to talk about?" Rei asked.

"No," Usa replied, suddenly uncomfortable. "I got to go anyway. But I will try your suggestions."

"Hope they work," Rei offered to the teen as she exited.

Long after the girl had left, the priest stared after her pensively. That was the trouble with being psychic. A lot of the time people were afraid to open up around you, for fear that you'd see too much. As a result, it didn't let you help someone who really seemed to need it without pushing and risking offending. It was a problem Rei had grappled with for a thousand years and she didn't like it anymore now than she did when she was eight.

Still, if what she thought she saw in Usa was correct, there was something she could do if she was cautious enough.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Ami entered her office despite her promise to Makoto not to do so. She wasn't going to work. She was just going to check on some late reports, scan the patient logs from the previous night of all the city hospitals and make some quick notations - - and maybe do a quick look at the lab results for the new test drug for Cystomyotheosis B.

That was all. To her surprise, though, when she entered the office, someone was there.

"Hotaru?" Ami gaped. The young girl turned to her from the computer screen. Ami could see she was highlighting key passages from the lab report for Ami's benefit. "It's Sunday. What are you doing here?"

"I just had a few things I wanted to finish," Hotaru said. "This report on the test drug for Cystomyotheosis B is amazing - - the parts I understood. It seems like the results are very encouraging."

Ami crossed over to the girl and put her hand on Hotaru's shoulder.

"Well I appreciate your enthusiasm and dedication," Ami smiled. "But it's Sunday. Wouldn't you much rather be out with your friends?"

"Well, Yutaka's helping his dad with some maintenance," Hotaru offered.

"What about Usa?"

"Usa's in the practice room behind the stage. I think she's working on a song." Hotaru grew uncomfortable. "I didn't want to disturb her."

"That is very considerate," Ami began, then sat down next to Hotaru. She looked down,
seeming to gather her thoughts and emotions, then looked at the girl again. "Hotaru, don't think I'm not grateful for your assistance. I am. And I want to encourage your passion for the medical arts. I think you're going to make a fine doctor someday if you keep working hard."

Hotaru smiled, though she was perplexed at where this was leading.

"But you've been here every day this week," Ami continued. "And practically every day for the last three weeks. Hotaru, it's all right to take time off from work and study to be with your friends and have fun. That's a lesson the queen taught me a long time ago and it's a very valuable lesson."

"But Usa and the asteroids understand I want to be a doctor some day," Hotaru said.

"Well, they're very nice girls and they want you to be happy," Ami told her. "Perhaps you and they are both forgetting how happy you are with them, too. Just hanging out with your friends can be as beneficial to the human mind as learning. It's not logical, but happiness isn't always about logic. Neither is friendship."

"You make it sound like we're drifting apart," Hotaru said with a touch of uncertainty.

"I would hope that would be an overstatement," Ami countered. "But sadly the possibility exists. And isn't it strange you came to that conclusion." Ami studied the emotions on Hotaru's face while the young girl looked down with guilt. "When I was a girl, there was this boy. We were friends and it could have been more. But before it could become more, he had to leave. We met again later in life and we were still friendly, but the bond we had wasn't there anymore. I don't know where it went exactly - - I guess being apart meant we took differing paths without knowing the path the other one was taking. And without knowing it, we were soon miles apart - - figuratively speaking as well as literally."

Hotaru looked down.

"But it doesn't have to happen that way. I never drifted away from Usagi because she never let me drift away. There were many times when she dragged me to the mall, times I would rather have been studying. But in the end it was better that she did it, because it renewed those bonds of friendship and gave me a chance to play. If she and I had taken those bonds for granted,
they might not have always been there - - just as it wasn't with Urawa-kun."

Hotaru digested this. "You think I've been neglecting Usa?"

"Only you and she can accurately answer that. But I think she might not object to an audience while she's wrestling with her song," Ami said. "Particularly if you're the audience. And you might just benefit, too, even if it's just the joy of sharing in your friend's triumph. But you won't share that or anything else with her if you're cooped up in this office for sixty percent of your week. Hotaru, there's a time for work, a time for love and a time for being with friends and family. Devoting excessive time to one cheats you on the other two."

"I get the message, Mizuno-san," Hotaru said. "I'll try not to be such a workaholic in the future."

"Believe me, it's a trap you can very easily fall into."

After Hotaru left, Ami took a few minutes to skim over the highlighted sections of the report. Nodding to herself, the doctor left her office and descended to the floor below in the palace. Turning into the shrine, she walked up to the waiting priest.

"You were right," Ami nodded to her. "I didn't expect to find out so soon, though."

"And?" Rei asked expectantly.

"Mission accomplished," smiled Ami.

"I knew I could count on you," Rei smiled back.


One of the queen's favorite duties fell every afternoon at four. That's when she went into the palace orphanage for story time. Selecting a story from her vast and very old collection of actual books printed on actual paper dating back from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries,
she would gather the children around her and read to them as she had for nearly a thousand years. And no matter their ages, the children always seemed to want to gather and listen. Serenity assumed it was because she had a wonderful collection of storybooks.

Gathered today in a circle around her, Serenity's audience of three sat and looked at her eagerly. On one side was little five-year-old Junichi. On the other side was eight-year-old Kunihiko. And in the middle was fifteen-year-old Palla-Palla.

"Aren't you a little old for this?" Kunihiko asked pointedly.

"Palla-Palla likes the way the queen tells stories," Palla-Palla replied.

"Don't let 'hiko-kun make fun of you, Big Sister," Junichi told her, his eyes glaring at Kunihiko. "He's just mean."

"Now, now, children, don't fight," Serenity gently admonished as she glided in, storybook in hand, and sat down on a low stool so she was level with the children. "I'll read stories to anyone who wants to listen to them. Their age doesn't matter."

"If anybody's too old around here, it's 'hiko-kun," huffed Junichi. "He should leave Big Sister alone."

"Well, you're right about one thing," Serenity began playfully. "Kunihiko is very mature. I'm sure he only stays because he knows I love having big, strong, handsome men around me." Kunihiko flushed slightly, while Palla-Palla smothered a grin.

The story was a charming and simple tale about a dot that rejects a line for a complex squiggle, only to learn that the simple looking line was the deeper and more reliable companion. The children sat enraptured by the queen and her spirited reading of the story. They marveled at the illustrations in the book, even though they were simple geometric patterns interacting. And when she finished, Palla-Palla squealed and clapped with delight while the two boys beamed at the happy ending. With that, Serenity kissed the two boys on the head and sent them off,
Kunihiko to play while Junichi was off to his nap. Only then did she notice Palla-Palla lingering.

"Was there something else, Palla-Palla?" Serenity asked.

"Yes, Serenity-mama," Palla-Palla admitted, for the queen had long ago granted Palla-Palla permission to call her "Serenity-mama" in private. She hesitated. "Palla-Palla is worried about Cere-Cere."

"What's wrong with Cere-Cere?"

"Cere-Cere thinks someone is following her," Palla-Palla began. As she spoke, her fear seemed to grow. "And Palla-Palla thinks it might be true. And Palla-Palla doesn't want anything to happen to her big sister. Even though her sister calls her 'baby' all the time, she loves Cere-Cere a lot and she doesn't want anything bad to happen to her."

"Palla-Palla, calm down please," Serenity cooed, kneeling down to the girl. "Who's following Cere-Cere?"

"Palla-Palla doesn't know! But Cere-Cere told her so this morning and she wouldn't lie about something like that! Palla-Palla's been trying to sense anyone who might be following her sister, but she can't find anyone. Can you help, Serenity-mama?"

"I'll do anything I can, Palla-Palla," Serenity smiled. "I don't want to see Cere-Cere hurt anymore than you do. Let me just check where she is now."

The queen went blank for a moment as she reached out with her phenomenal abilities. After a moment she found the girl in the grove of trees behind the palace with her sister Jun-Jun. They seemed to be staring at one tree in particular. A moment later, Gallan materialized from the tree and seemed to introduce himself to the startled and amazed amazon. Seeing Palla-Palla was still worried, the queen reached out and touched her index finger to the girl's forehead. This transmitted the mental picture into her mind and Palla-Palla relaxed visibly.

"Well, she's safe for now," Serenity smiled. "That's something good. Do you know if Cere-Cere has anyone who's angry with her?"

"Just Ves-Ves," Palla-Palla replied meekly. "But they're always angry with each other."

"Well, has there been a boy who's been really interested in Cere-Cere lately - - like he might like her?"

"Just her boyfriend, Mr. Gallan-sir," Palla-Palla replied.

"That's the one in the picture," Serenity said. "My, he is a cute one. If I were a thousand years younger," and Serenity shook herself.

"But Mr. Gallan-sir wouldn't hurt Cere-Cere."

"I'm sure you're right." She grasped Palla-Palla by the shoulders. "How does this sound? I'll go and talk to Ami and Rei and Mako-chan and Mina-chan and we'll make sure nothing happens to Cere-Cere. Does that sound like a good idea?"

Palla-Palla nodded enthusiastically, so much so that the balls dangling from her headband whipped back and forth against her shoulders.

"That's good," Serenity smiled. She kissed Palla-Palla on the forehead. "Now you run along and don't worry, OK?"

Palla-Palla grinned, nodded and scampered off. When she was gone, Serenity moved to the window. From there, she could see Cere-Cere, Jun-Jun and Gallan. Her brow knit wondering what could possibly be threatening two beings so obviously in love.


In the wings of the practice room behind the stage, Hotaru stood and listened to her friend sing. The voice of the princess filled the room with the melancholy of the song. It was a ballad of loneliness, of loss. It was a ballad of losing something precious, of not knowing how to recover it and of the pain and hopelessness of that realization. It was mature beyond the years of a mere fifteen-year-old, speaking in song of a subject someone her age shouldn't ever be familiar with, but in reality knew only too well. The music tore gaping holes in Hotaru's chest, causing raw emotion to spill out from her onto the floor. She watched her friend exorcize the loss she had been suppressing the only way available to her. It moved her.

The song climaxed powerfully, then just faded down to a few lightly played notes and an end. Usa rested her hands on the keyboard for a few moments, drained emotionally by the performance. When she looked up, Hotaru was standing beside the piano.

"That was about us, wasn't it?" Hotaru asked.

"I," Usa began, then stopped. She couldn't lie. Could she tell the truth?

"I guess I started taking our friendship for granted," Hotaru continued. "I've been so wrapped up with my parents being back and my new part-time job and Yutaka. I had all these wonderful new things happen to me and I just took it for granted that you'd always be there for me. But I forgot that if I'm supposed to be your friend, I have to be there for you, too."

"I understood," Usa offered.

"I know you did. I didn't understand. I forgot how horrible it is to be lonely. I forgot who rescued me from that because she knew exactly what I'd gone through. I figured we could just pick up where we left off anytime I wanted. I was being thoughtless."

"I'm not mad at you," Usa said sympathetically.

"I know," Hotaru sniffed. "I'm mad at me."

The two friends fell into a joyful hug.

"Oh, Usa, I'm sorry. I've been so wrapped up in me that I forgot about you. I've been a terrible friend. But that's going to change. Are you free today - - or any day? Name the day and we'll spend it together, doing anything you want."

"You don't have to do that."

"Yes I do - - because I've missed it, too. I've just been too dense to notice."

"Well," Usa began, "you're sure?"

"Name it - - we'll do it."

"There is a holo-vid I wanted to go to," Usa began. "But you've probably already seen it with Yutaka."

"I'll see it again," Hotaru shrugged. "And afterwards maybe we can go shopping?"

"Well I am 'comped' pretty much everywhere," Usa smiled self-consciously. "And maybe grab a pizza?"

"At our favorite place," Hotaru said. "My mouth's watering already."

"You talked me into it," Usa grinned.

"Good," beamed Hotaru. "Because I want to hear all the gossip I've been missing."

"I don't know why," Usa said as the two young friends headed for the door. "Most of it's about you."

Continued in Chapter 8