Thank you, Thank you, Kei-chan (so glad you back from England) for you magical editing, and thank you thank you all the readers that kept bugging me for an update for all these months! I am honored that you still remember me and want to read this madness…heh…
Well, I am happy, but shame on me – chapter is short, heh….*cough* I tried, I swear! It just had to end where it ended. So…live with it! ;-) Kidding…I love you all!!! Thanks for hanging around, e-mailing and leaving great reviews. I will get on this fanfic this time and WILL finish it. :-)
On with the chapter…
Trigun and Sailor Moon belongs to it's rightful owners and big companies in Japan. Heh.
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Usagi groaned and slowly opened her eyes. Setsuna let out a sigh of relief and removed a wet washcloth from Usagi's forehead. "Why don't you listen, Usagi?"
"Sorry…I…I have a hard time remembering anything…." Usagi sat up in the bed. "Where am I? What is this place?" She looked around. What first looked like a cave to her was actually a large room with the low futon she was currently sitting on in the middle. Soft light came from a couple of electric lamps on the ceiling.
Setsuna watched Usagi carefully. "It's a ship, Princess—Seeds ship. Don't you remember?"
The blonde paled and quickly got off the futon. She circled the room and then followed a dark corridor to another room. Nine capsules were by the wall, each with a sleeping person inside. Usagi's breath quickened; she braced herself against one of the capsules. "Hotaru…over there is Minako then Rei, Haruka…they are all asleep…right?" Usagi turned around and stared at Setsuna.
"Yes, Usagi. I thought it was best to have them in the capsules, we don't know how long they will need to stay there."
"That's right…." Things were slowly coming back to her now. It had taken about a month to finish all the necessary preparations. They'd had to break into the Project Seeds main lab so Ami could work hard to try to come up with the best solution for Earth. They had to place the whole planet in slumber, and their powers alone would not work on everyone. The technology that scientists used for people on the Seeds ships worked perfectly fine. A few calculations and magic tricks of Senshi of Mercury and people were able to sleep outside of the capsules in the safety of their homes.
The next step was to announce to the Earthlings that things were extremely difficult and the planet had not much left: hardly any time remained to build enough Seeds ship and fly people off the planet. So they had to schedule a day when all would be put to a stop-- And have every living thing on the planet trust the Senshi, which was a rather risky step. They had to lock Mina in her house, because she had wanted to have a big beautiful Senshi spectacular, starring her, naturally. She came up with outrageous outfits they all would wear for the announcement that the planet was doomed. And of course, Mina would sing a beautiful song, and then the dancers and the fireworks and then…. Usagi giggled remembering all of it. They not only had to lock Minako in the house, but gag her and tie her to a chair, and take away her transformation pen. Oh well….
Usagi was still deep in thought when Setsuna came up to her and lightly touched her shoulder. "I have to go now, Princess; my place is by the Time Gate. I am sorry for leaving you all alone, but you will know what to do. It's in your hands now."
"What do you mean you have to go!" Usagi twirled around and tried to grab the disappearing Senshi. " No, wait! How do I wake everyone up, Setsuna?"
"You will know what to do. Trust in yourself!"
Usagi was left alone, gaping. "Darn it, Setsuna, you always do this to me! Come and go when you please and leave me all alone at the crappiest times! Now what do I do?"
Usagi sighed and came up to one of the capsules. Lightly touching the command display, she realized that she had absolutely no clue how to work it. Yes, she remembered all this…stuff…but…she had never dealt with capsules. All that was needed from her was to use her Crystal and Ami could direct the power to do the right thing.
Usagi groaned and slumped on the floor. "Great, just great! I have no clue which button to push on this thing to wake them up and get them out of the capsules! And I don't think I can find a manual here. Wait, I have one thousand years to come up with the solution! Or I can push wrong button and accidentally kill a person inside, but hey, I have nine Senshi to try it on! Right?" She covered her face with both hands and hunched over, crying hysterically.
She calmed down a few moments later. Laying down on the couch and curling into a small ball, Usagi tried to understand her situation. "Okay…Setsuna can come back in a few hours, or days, or weeks, or even months. Sitting here and waiting for someone to come to my rescue is ridiculous. I can't get my friends out without Ami telling me which stupid button I should push. And she's in a capsule the same as everyone else, and they are all counting on me to do the right thing at the right time and NOT TO SCREW UP!
"Dammit!" Usagi hopelessly flung her arms in the air. "Gee, thanks a lot, Mamo-chan! Instead of politics I could be taking some cool computer classes, so I would know how to deal with technology like that! But nooooooooo, I had to sit and sleep through those boring…."—Usagi's eyes got larger—"Wait…who would know anything about Seeds technology? Besides all the technicians and other smart Seeds people I had to put to sleep?"
A wide, silly grin spread across her face. "BINGO!"
The Senshi of the Moon concentrated and looked around, memorizing the surroundings. "If everything goes well I'll be back in no time with help. I absolutely refuse to do everything alone this time, plus a few hundred years could do some damage to a person. And I also have no clue how to use this new high-tech food simulator that Ami was working on, so I really need to find someone who can wake her up and make me a hamburger!" Usagi sighed and scratched her head. "And I swear…I am NOT making up excuses to go and see him."
Usagi closed her eyes and let the energy of the Crystal envelop her in its bright yellow light. She thought of the laughing green eyes and silly smile of someone she hadn't seen in years…someone she had tried to forget and someone she missed terribly….
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Vash wrapped Usagi's still form in his old red coat. His brain refused to give him any explanation of the current situation, so all he had to worry about at this exact moment was getting Usagi back to the ship and helping her any way he could. Her breathing was irregular, her skin clammy and yet hot to the touch, and Vash was more afraid than of in the world that he wouldn't make it back to the ship in time. He didn't remember starting the car or the crazy ride through the desert. He wouldn't place Usagi on the seat, fearing she would disappear if he let go, so he kept her on his lap and checked the pulse in her slim neck every now and then during the frantic drive.
He opened the ship door with the powerful kick. Knives, a white bed sheet wrapped around his thin body like a toga, showed up in front of Vash prepared to give his brother a fine lecture, but immediately shut up when he saw the body in Vash's arms. His eyes lit up when he saw crumpled white wings. "You brought me a plant, brother! Why, thank you! It's about time you decided to take care of me and my injuries; hurry up and place it in the bulb!"
"Shut the fuck up."
Vash didn't have the time or desire to argue with his nutty twin. He hurried and filled the bath with warm water, holding Usagi with one arm, not daring to put the girl down even for a moment. Knives was bitching behind the closed door but Vash paid no attention to him whatsoever.
He placed the broken angel in the bath, holding her head up. Her wings were definitely in the way, so Vash gently touched the dusty Crystal on Usagi's chest. Her Eternal Sailor Moon transformation slowly faded and Vash had to force himself to keep his eyes on Usagi's face. "She sure did grow up." Vash immediately flushed after taking a quick look at Usagi's nude form.
He wiped the sweat and dirt from her face with a washcloth and unfastened her hair. Then he placed his hands on the sides of her head and opened the link. He tried sharing his energy with her first, and then seeing what brought her here.
Usagi jerked and Vash abruptly stopped the connection. The girl grabbed his hands. "It's you!" Tears immediately fell from her crystal blue eyes. "You're okay! You're safe! You're here! Oh Vash, I was so scared!"
She threw herself in his arms, ignoring her state of undress. Vash busied himself with trying to cover her small soft body with her long hair while Usagi sobbed into his chest, her little hands grabbing and pulling on his already wet shirt.
"Shh…it's okay…. Everything will be fine, Usagi…I promise."