The Cupid 500
LAST TIME IN THE CUPID 500:
Usagi and Minako play a horrible prank on Duo, leaving him with a few presents. A youma pops out of the blue, and the two Senshi discover that the Ginzuinshou has a macabre sense of humor and that they have been provided with particularly destructive attacks. They go to Rei's temple, and Usagi sees something in the fire that she does not care for. Upon returning to Usagi's house, they see another something that they could have done without.
ON YOUR MARK! GET SET! GO!
"That," Minako said shakily, "can NOT be good."
Usagi swallowed her horror and let that good time feeling (anger!!!) rise in her throat. "That no-good blood-sucking bastard! How dare he! How dare they? How---" Usagi screeched in frustration and marched towards the expensive motorcycle parked in front of her house.
The man leaning against the cycle seemed to completely ignore the livid blonde's approach. He calmly lit a cigarette, pinched the match out and flicked it over his shoulder. Usagi walked right up to him and smacked him on the head.
"What the hell are you doing here you bastard?" she roared.
The man touched his head tenderly and then turned to face her. A smirk built its way onto his face, and he calmly blew the smoke into her face. Usagi snatched the cigarette out of his mouth and crushed it under her heel.
"Answer me, dammit!"
"Why Usako, I was expecting a warmer reception," Mamoru Chiba drawled.
Usagi's fists clenched. What the hell was he doing out of jail? HE WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE OUT OF JAIL! Drug lords were supposed to serve a penance a little bit longer than three years! She had to admit that even after three years in prison, the man looked good. Damn good, she thought with a wince. But just because he happened to be a very handsome man didn't mean that he wasn't a jackass!
"A warmer reception? HA! That's a laugh. Allow me to demonstrate: HAHAHAHAHA! Let me inform you of some of the things that I've decided while you were gone. You, Mamoru Chiba, are a complete and total mother fucking jackass. You're a bastard that likes to sit on his ass and fuck up the lives of hundreds of less than fortunate kids that come along! You're a crappy excuse for even a shitty boyfriend! I hate you," she announced.
He raised an eyebrow and lit another cigarette. Usagi scowled at him and tore it from his mouth. "Will you cut that out? You're going to kill yourself!"
Mamoru cast a significant look at Usagi's own pack of cigarettes and lit another. "Will you shut up?" he asked pleasantly.
"What the hell are you doing out of prison?" she finally exploded.
"Ah-ha! I thought you'd never ask, my dear. My punishment for "fucking up the lives of hundreds of kids" was being a test subject. Kind of like a lab rat, except held in a little lesser regard. All the doctors were aware that I was not a good man, and so did not hesitate to do their worst to me. At least they give a damn about what happens to rats."
He sighed desolately and took another puff of his beloved cigarette. "As the story goes on in a more or less unentertaining manner, the good doctors decide that they want to implant a chip into my brain that will regulate good behavior. Think Spike, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I know you never liked that show, dear, but it was just like that."
Usagi nodded reluctantly, skeptically trying to decide whether he was telling the truth or not. If he was, it would mean that he would never do another bad thing in his entire life. He'd still be a jackass, and people would know it. But he'd never do anything to them. On the other hand, if he wasn't being honest, he'd gain her trust and then rape her or something. She wouldn't put it past him, that much was for sure.
"I don't believe you," she declared.
"I do!" Minako said cheerfully.
Mamoru and Usagi both flinched, startled by Minako's sudden appearance. The nicer blonde of the two grinned at the identical looks on their faces. "Think Usa-chan. The Mamoru we knew would have you on the ground by now. And I can tell that he wants to punch you right now for not believing him. It's in the muscles in his hand and that creepy gleam in his eyes."
"And you know this how?" Usagi demanded.
Minako sniffed and flipped her hair over her shoulder. "I'm an actress," she said importantly. "I know these things. I have to be able to copy emotions and pre-actions perfectly. If I don't, I'm worth crap. Now how about we go inside and have a Pepsi or something? Oi, Usa! Is Hiiro still here?"
Usagi glanced warily at Mamoru and then inched inside. She still didn't trust Mamoru. And she didn't know whether he had realized by know that she wasn't his Usako anymore. So it was best to tread softly until she had a chance to introduce him to Yohji. Speaking of Yohji, where was he?
She directed her attention to the four heads of recognizable hair that were sitting on the couch. Usagi walked over to them and rapped her knuckles on Hiiro's head. He swore loudly and pulled out his gun, placing her at gunpoint again.
"Konichiwa, Hii-kun! Where do you hide that gun? I mean, it can't go in your boxers. That would be kind of noticeable."
Hiiro glared at her and turned back around to glare at the TV. Then he almost swore. What was it about Usagi pissing him off at the same time that damned Spears woman was on? His glare intensified, and he was pleased to discover that if he glared hard enough to squeeze his eyes somewhat, that Spears woman became a curvy blur. A curvy blur that made irritating noises, yes, but a blur nonetheless.
"Quat-kun, have you heard from Yohji-kun today? Fei-kun? Tro-kun? Hii- kun? Any of you?"
They all shook their heads the negative. Frowning, Usagi went off to her phone, intent on finding out where the hell her partner in crime was. Back in the living room, Mamoru and the four pilots were having a staring contest. A silently giggling Minako couldn't help but see the picture as the quintessence of unfixable hilarity.
You had four kawaii men wearing their boxers and sitting next to each other on a couch staring at a fully clothed man who was lounging on the big red chair and returning their stares. Mamoru sunk further into the chair, finally deciding that he was comfortable. He frowned at the four men in their boxers, and then laughed.
"I feel out of place," he announced, chuckling.
After her brief conversation with Yohji via the cell phone, Usagi changed into a red halter topped sundress and pulled on her beige flip flops. She grabbed her woven reed beige purse, she charged downstairs and into the living room. Then she stopped and stared.
Minako was sitting on the floor in her bra and underwear, laughing so hard that it looked like she was going to fall over. Quatre. Wufei, Hiiro, and Trowa didn't look any different, except that they were gathered around with Mamoru and Minako and that they were all holding cards. But it was Mamoru that was making her stare. She had left him in the living room fully clothed, but now he was sitting quite contently in his boxers, inspecting his cards.
"What the hell?" she asked herself softly.
Minako's head went up, and she laughed even harder at Usagi's expression. "Mamoru and I felt out of place among all this underwear," she explained.
Usagi nodded like this explained everything and walked out the door. Shaking her head, she turned the key and backed cautiously out of the garage. Once she had assured herself that the coast was clear, she let out a whoop and slammed on the gas. The love of her life, her beloved Jeep, roared like a lion and jumped forwards.
And that, of course, was the beauty of taking care of your own car. If you let anyone else touch it, it would immediately lose its' complete loyalty to you. It would lose some of its gusto, the charge that made it so that you were the only one that could successfully operate it. In addition to loyalty from your car, its performance level soared when you cared for it like a baby. And her Jeep was her baby. God save anyone who tried to even dent her car.
She screeched to a dramatic halt in front of Yohji's flower shop and walked inside. She marched straight to the counter and propped her arms on the top. "Konichiwa, Omi-kun!" she called.
The man jumped and turned around looking very sheepish. "Gomen Usagi-san, I didn't hear you come in."
She laughed. "That's alright. Now do you have the flowers for us?"
Omi nodded. "Hai. Oh, and the man that you bought the black rose from is here right now. Would you like to speak to him? Yes? Alright, I'll go get him."
"No need, Omi-san. I'm right here. My, my Sere-chan. Haven't you grown up."
Usagi's mouth had dropped open when he walked into the room. What was with all these gorgeous men waltzing into her life now that she had broken up with Duo? It wasn't fair!-she cried to herself. But it was nice to see old acquaintances.
"Konichiwa, Di-kun. How have you been? Haven't seen you in, oh, say, eight years? God, that makes me feel old!"
Diamond shrugged. "Well, age has certainly not hindered your beauty in any way, Princess."
Usagi laughed uncomfortably. Goddamn all men that talked! Goddamn them to Hell! "Ah, thanks Di-kun. Omi-kun," she said a bit desperately, "where's Yohji-kun?"
"Right here, Usa-chan. Who's this?"
Her nerves already frayed, she jumped about three feet into the air when she heard his voice right behind her. "Dammit, Yohji! Don't do that!"
The playboy raised an eyebrow, and then smiled indulgently. "Of course, tenshi. Are you getting the flowers from Omi-kun?"
Usagi massaged her temples. "Hai, hai. Omi-kun, please?"
Trying to ignore the desperate curiosity that was needling his head, he handed the two flowers over to the panicking Usagi, who snatched them out of his hands and rushed out the door. Looking mildly curious himself, Yohji sauntered after her with his hands in his pockets. Omi cleared his throat and looked over at the silver haired man who was still staring out the way Usagi had left.
"Mr., umm, Diamond? Would you like her number and address so you can collect payment for the flower?"
The man turned his unnaturally bright purple eyes on Omi and then plucked the slip of paper from his fingers. "Hai. Agriato. Please give me the rest of the flowers, please."
"If you don't mind me asking," Omi ventured, "how do you know Usagi-san?"
Diamond shrugged again and took the bouquet of black roses. "I kidnapped her when she was fourteen and tried to kill her daughter. Then I saved her life, so she owes me big time," he said nonchalantly.
He swept out the door, leaving poor Omi to wonder how the hell he seemed to meet all the crazy people in life, not excluding Miss Usagi "Let's Get Revenge On My Last Boyfriend" Tsukino.
*
"We've got make a plan of attack for the dinner tonight," she announced as they walked through the park.
Yohji shrugged. "I say that you're giving Duo more fun than he deserves."
Usagi glanced up at him. "Nani?"
"Just what I said. By reacting like this, you're at least letting him know that you give a damn that he broke up with you. Now, this is my idea. I say we completely ignore Saori and Duo, and just have fun tonight."
"Ignore them?" Usagi asked in shock.
Yohji nodded. "Yep. Ignore them. Let's tell them that we don't give a damn about them. It'll be fun," he added to erase Usagi's skeptical look.
Usagi exhaled and blew her bangs from her face. "I don't know. Duo's pretty vicious in his revenge."
He grabbed her arms and steered her towards a park bench. Yohji pushed her down and took her hands. "Listen up, Sagi-chan. Every other time you've kept this revenge going until you got back together, ne?"
"Hai," she said, beginning to see where he was going with this.
"Well, if this time you cut the revenge off and you two haven't gotten back together, that would mean something, ne?"
Usagi gasped, and then a perfectly evil smile curved her lips. "Hai! Oh this will be perfectly diabolical! Agriato Yohji-kun!"
She gave him a firm kiss that left him partly dazed, and then hauled him to his feet. The two twined their fingers together and Usagi rested her head on his shoulder again. It really would have been a beautiful picture, except for that Usagi and/or Yohji would cackle evilly from time to time.
"So, Yohji. When shall we crash this little dinner party of Quat-kun's? I think we should be on time for once. You know, to make a good impression. It would be fun to see if we could pull of pretending to be a very, umm, well, you know," Usagi stopped, trying to figure out exactly what she was trying to say.
"Rich? Snobby? Well bred?" Yohji supplied.
"Hai," Usagi said with a laugh, "I'll be able to do it perfectly well. You on the other hand, my dear.."
Yohji snorted. "You, my dear Usagi, are a perfectly wicked person. The day I see you behave is the day I kiss, um, Ami Mizuno!"
An innocent smile played about her lips. So Ami wanted to play Matchmaker Major Leagues? Well than she wouldn't mind being matched at all. She's got to play by the rules, Usagi thought, a maniacal edge coming to her smile.
"Accepted," she said softly.
"Nani?" Yohji asked, snapping back to attention.
"I'm accepting your bet. If I behave myself, you have to kiss Ami. If I don't behave myself, I'll, umm, go to a nunnery and join the sisterhood or whatever."
Yohji stared at her. "You're kidding, right?"
"Iie."
"Eeehhh.alright. I'll do it. Where are we going?"
Usagi smiled up at her "boyfriend". "We are going to Rei's house, then Makoto's house, then Michiru, Haruka, Setsuna, and Hotaru's house, then Ami's house, and then my house, where we're going to invite Minako to come to the dinner too."
"Whew. All that walking? At my tender age?"
Usagi shook her head, hair flying in all directions. "Iie! We're going to walk back to that flower shop---"
"One day you're actually going to remember the name," he commented.
"Shut up, Yohji-kun! Well, we're going to go back to that flower shop and get in my car."
Yohji froze, leaving Usagi a few feet in front of him. Sighing to herself, she turned around with her hands on her hips. "What the hell's wrong with you?" she demanded.
"Your car?" he asked tremulously.
She folded her arms. "Yes, my car dammit! Now let's get going! The party starts at six PM sharp and if I'm going to make you kiss Ami-chan, I'll need to get there on time so I can behave! Walk! Walk!" She stopped, her jaw hanging open. "Run! Now!"
Yohji looked at her, confused. "Nani?"
Usagi ran towards him and shoved him into a bush. "STAY THERE YOU DUMB SHIT!" she roared.
He sat down with a thud and watched her run in the other direction. He poked his head out of the bush and saw a man floating in mid air, laughing madly as Usagi went running towards him. There was a heated conversation, and then Usagi ran into the cover of the trees.
Usagi swore loudly as she hid behind a tree. Looking around to make sure no one was watching, she pressed the all call button on her communicator. "Guys! Guys! Can you hear me? Come in, dammit! We've got another youma in Sakura Park! Maybe they just like this place or something, but damn! This is the second one here today! Get your lazy asses over here and help me fight, dammit! Shit!"
She threw herself out of the way as a blast of fire scorched the bark where her head had been seconds before. Usagi grabbed her broach and rolled out of the way of another attack.
"Moon Eternal---shit! Will you just fuck off? MoonEternalPower!" she yelled in a rush.
Moon leaped into the air. "Shit! Hey you goddamn asshole! Yeah! Up here! I am having one HELL of a day, and you are NOT prepared to meet a super-heroine on a BAD DAY! I'M TALKING TO YOU, GODDAMMIT! Twilight Cannon!"
She swore when the attack was absorbed into its skin. The reptilian woman looked upwards and frowned. Moon looked around in a panic. What to do, what to do? Ah!
"Wings of Strength and Speed!" she said.
Pointedly ignoring the near staggering pain, she flew quickly in the other direction. Much to her dismay, as she was passing over a clearing she saw Yohji, Saori, Duo, and Rei standing there arguing. The youma saw them too.
"GODDAMMIT YOU BASTARDS! GET THE FUCK OUT OF THE WAY!" Moon bellowed.
The four looked up just in time to see the youma punch Moon, slamming her into the ground. The blonde senshi groaned and picked herself off her feet. The youma let out a triumphant roar and threw itself at her. Still using every colorful word she knew, Moon grappled with the youma, trying desperately to get its claws away from her throat.
"DIAMOND! MARS! SOMEONE!" she managed to shout.
"TEARS OF BLOOD!" a familiar voice cried out.
Thousands of blood red teardrops zinged at the youma, who looked mildly irritated. It rolled off of Moon and began advancing on Mars. Moon glanced down as the Ginzuinshou seemed to glow with a sickly light. You're going to have to use it, it seemed to crow. The now battered Sailor Moon struggled to her feet.
Yohji looked at her intently, and then let his eyes travel down her legs. They looked familiar. Ah, yes. They looked like Usagi's. Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait. His mind screeched to a halt as he just stared up in shock.
Moon bunched up her legs and shot into the air. Coming to a shuddering stop directly above the youma, she motioned for Mars to get out of the way. The Fire Senshi obeyed.
"Triple Beam!" Moon cried out.
A huge stream of raw black power came rocketing out of her hands, the force flinging Moon into the sky. After spinning haphazardly, she finally regained control of her wings and flew downwards to where Mars was just picking herself up.
"What the hell was that?" she asked.
Moon, trembling with exhaustion, shook her head. "The hell that I know. Damned Ginzuinshou made me."
They both drew nearer to where the youma had once been and gazed at it solemnly. Mars looked up at her terrified leader. "Moon-chan, that attack is not something I remember Serenity-sama ever giving you. That attack is something brand new."
"Think I don't know that?" Moon snapped.
But privately she agreed. The person Sailor Moon was and the bottomless hole in the ground were two things that did not sound good when put together.
Saori tugged at Duo's arm. The fright on her hero's face was making her uneasy. She felt the need to be reassured. "Duo-chan, let's go talk to Sailor Moon! Please!"
"I don't think I could stop you," he said with an absent smile.
Saori led him over to the precipice of the pit, where Sailor Moon and Sailor Mars were conferring. "Sailor Moon?" Saori asked timidly.
Sailor Moon turned to them with a raised eyebrow. "Hai?"
"I didn't recognize that attack," Duo said suddenly.
Sailor Moon's attention snapped to him and for an instant it looked like she was going to say something nasty, but then Mars pinched her, and Moon's expression sweetened. Her tone, however, did not.
"Well that makes two of us, doesn't it?"
Duo's interest sharpened. "You didn't recognize that attack? How is that possible? I thought you were in complete control of your attacks and everything."
Moon laughed bitterly. "If only that were the case. Think I had any idea what the hell I was doing my fist night as a super-heroine?"
"Then where did that come from?"
She made a vague gesture with her right hand and suddenly turned towards Mars, who was looking a trifle petulant. "You had a new attack too! What the hell was that?" Moon demanded.
Mars looked offended. "Damned if I know! I just got back from England, baka! And I only had one new attack! You and Venus each have two! And you get more attention than I do!"
Moon rolled her eyes. "That's because I'm prettier," she said, flipping her hair over her shoulder.
"Baka!"
"I was just kidding!"
Duo and Saori stared at the bickering Senshi. Well, Duo thought with a small grin, at least they're human. His eyes went to where Yohji was standing stock still. What was with that? Shouldn't the man at least be thanking the Senshi for saving his life?
"Yohji-san! Come over here and thank the good ladies for their work!"
The Senshi just stared at Duo, who smiled charmingly at them. Moon looked like she was going to rip his head off, but altered her expression when Mars gave her a knowing look.
"It applies to Senshi time," she said quietly, but loud enough for Duo to hear.
Moon glared at Mars who just laughed. Yohji walked up to them with his characteristic smirk. "Hello ladies. Senshis, I should say, ne? May I give a pretty lady a thankful hug?"
"Only if she's the one you're hugging," Mars muttered, waving her hand at Moon.
Yohji smiled and stepped forwards to hug the smiling Senshi. "I caught you, Usa-chan," he whispered in her ear. He let her go and barely restrained a chuckle as she backpedaled.
"Mars-chan, we need to go. Fly. Up. Now. And talk. Right now," she added for extra emphasis.
"All right, all right! And how do you propose that we get wherever you want to be "Right Now"?"
"We'll fly," Moon said instantly.
The blonde senshi slipped her arms under Mar's armpits and flapped into the air. With a rapid succession of beats, Moon and Mars were flying at top speed towards Rei's shrine.
"Rei, Yohji recognized me," Moon said finally.
"NANI? HOW? LUNA SAID THE MAGIC PROTECTED US!" Mars shouted furiously.
"Stop squirming, or I'll drop you! I think he recognized my legs," Moon said thoughtfully.
"Nani?" Mars asked in shock.
Moon shrugged and began a controlled fall towards Rei's house. "He boasted that he could tell a girl by their legs. Ken-kun and I tested him by taking a magazine of well known models and stars and ripping their legs off. Then we showed them to him and he went all weepy about how we "ripped poor Jennie Lopez's legs off", or we "dismembered little Christina Ricci". It was really very entertaining. And it would make sense that he'd be able to recognize my legs. I do have a tendency to show them off, you know. That's a trait that Sailor Moon and I have in common."
"You are positively insane, Usa-chan," Mars said in amazement.
"Hai, I know. Demo, the people I know are the reasons that I'm that way."
Mars mulled over this comment for a while and then realized the implication right as they landed in her courtyard. "HEY!" she cried, delivering a solid thwap to Usagi's golden head.
*
Minako yawned again. "So why are we here, besides that you wanted to tear me away from my winning card game?"
Usagi stared at her friend. They were all sitting around in Rei's room for the second time that day, and Minako was not very happy about it. Usagi cleared her throat. "Minako, you were playing strip poker."
"I know!" she snapped. "And Hii-kun was LOSING! That was going to be vital in his capture!"
"Eh, was Mamoru still there?"
"Hai! He wasn't doing very well either! Usagi no baka!"
Haruka snapped to and stared at Usagi and Minako. "Are you meaning to tell me that Chiba's out of jail? How?"
"Well, he's a scientific experiment. He has a chip in his head regulating his behavior. I'm told that the punishment for being bad is very painful. I'm glad I'm not in his place."
Ami clapped her hands excitedly. "Ruthie was telling me about that! Usagi, ask him about Dr. Ruth McGowen, alright? I read her article on that chip! They had said that a someone named Darien Shields had been the recipient, but I had never connected him with Mamoru!"
At their blank looks, she elaborated. "I once did a interview with him for Speech, and one of the questions was what he always wanted his name to be!"
"Oh," they all chorused.
"Anyways," Rei snapped. "We've got to get down to business. We've had two attacks in the same area in the same day. If this wasn't a warning in and of itself, I'd be tempted to say that it was just a few leftovers. But Usa- chan mentioned that Prince Diamond is back somehow, and that we've been getting some odd attacks. Usagi used one called the Triple Beam today, and it blasted a hole in the ground that looked like it went on forever. I'm sure that her other attacks might have been able to do that, I repeat, MIGHT have been able to. But the attack was black. Not pink, silver, or gold like all of her other ones. It was black."
"I hate to tell you guys this, but we're in deep shit," Hotaru announced.
"Oh really, why do you think that?" Makoto asked sarcastically. "We've got a new enemy, and Usa-chan's getting destructive, black colored attacks! What could be worse?"
Usagi coughed. "Well, Yohji figured out who I am," she said into the gaping silence.
"Wow Usa-chan, you're really brave," Minako said teasingly.
"HE FOUND OUT THAT YOU'RE SAILOR MOON?" Haruka roared, jumping to her feet.
"Iie," Usagi drawled. "He more specifically found out that Sailor Moon was me."
"GODDAMMIT!" she roared.
"Haruka Ten'ou! Watch your language, dammit!"
"Michi-mamma!" Hotaru gasped before bursting into laughter.
"So I'll see you all at six PM?" Usagi asked loudly.
All conversations and mini-wars stopped as the women stared at Usagi. Then Minako let out a loud gasp, making everyone transfer their stares to her. She squealed loudly. "Quatre's party is tonight!" she whispered loudly.
"That's right! You're all invited!" Usagi said with a bright smile.
"Gomen Usa-chan, but we can't come," Michiru said sadly. Haruka nodded violently, opposed to anything that even remotely sounded like a party, unless it had the word "birthday" tacked on the front.
"I've got to guard the Time Gates against what is happening," Setsuna explained.
"I think I can come," Ami said thoughtfully.
"Me too!" Makoto cheered.
"Eh, I suppose I can take time out of my busy schedule," Rei said with a sniff.
"I'm coming!" Hotaru shouted.
Usagi clapped her hands together. "Great! Come on over to my house, and we'll get ready!"
*
"You really think this looks okay?" Hotaru asked worriedly.
Usagi glared at her. "For the last time Hota-chan, you look fantastic!"
Hotaru looked skeptically at her reflection. They had been digging through Hotaru's princess clothes that she had put in subspace and had found this dress. It was a spaghetti strap style dress with a loose neckline that hung in a few shimmering black folds against her chest. The dress clung to her upper body nicely, and then loosened abruptly at the V-waist. A dark purple underskirt hemmed with beautiful purple lace showed at the very bottom of her dress when she spun. Maybe she did look alright.
Usagi handed her some long black gloves and helped her down off the stool. "You really do look great Hota-chan," she said sincerely.
"USAGI! REI NEEDS HELP!"
"I DO NOT!"
The blonde rolled her eyes and ran down the hall to where Minako was trying to do Rei's hair. She pushed open the bathroom door and raised an eyebrow at Rei, who looked just as marvelous as Minako and Hotaru did.
Rei was wearing a red Chinese dress trimmed with gold. A dragon wound across her chest region, briefly reminding Usagi of her pajamas. Shaking the thought out of her head, she cast Minako a cursory look.
Her fellow blonde looked magnificent, as she damn well should. She wore a clinging orange dress that loosened a tiny bit as it fell towards the floor. Her hair was piled on top of her head with a few artfully curled strands snaking out of confinement.
"Rei won't let me do anything with her hair," Minako complained.
Usagi shrugged. "Leave her alone. Her face looks thin when her hair's up, and we do not want thin faces with that dress."
Minako inspected the dress, and then nodded. "Hai, I guess you're right. Let's go check on Ami-chan and Mako-chan!" she said enthusiastically.
"Hai, hai, hai," Usagi said with a smile.
Ami was wearing something that looked a lot like a Greek style toga, except much more becoming. It was also light blue, and showed off enough cleavage to get anyone's attention. It seemed that Ami wasn't so modest anymore, unless she didn't know about what she was displaying. A tiny smirk sent towards Usagi convinced her that Ami had grown up-a little bit.
Makoto was wearing a strapless forest green dress. It had a long slit up the right side, showing a lot of leg. Usagi gave Makoto a thumbs up sign, who just humphed and returned to reading about how marvelous the Jupiter was.
Usagi sighed happily. They were ready to go sweep those bastards off their feet.
The first problem they had was actually getting to the dinner. The cars they had were Usagi's Jeep and Setsuna's big green van (made for carting Hotaru and her friends around). Yohji had arrived late, which meant that whoever was lucky enough to get a ride with Usagi was going to be in for it. After a minor scuffle, it was decided that Minako and Mamoru would ride with Yohji and Usagi. Michiru, Haruka, Hotaru, Rei, Makoto, and Ami would ride with Setsuna, much to their profound relief.
Minako noted with slight unease that Usagi was smiling, and that her smile was slightly insane. Following the bunny's gaze, Minako was partially amazed to discover that Usagi was starring at Ami with an avid interest. She then would look over at Yohji and her smile would take on a maniacal edge. Preventing herself from being freaked out too much, Minako coughed loudly, drawing Usagi's attention.
"Ready? Of course you are! Mamoru-kun, I suggest that you buckle your seatbelt."
The dark haired man snorted. "Usagi, I know how you drive. One day you'll get a ticket for going too slow."
"Oh, really?" she asked, hands tightening on the steering wheel. "Then you won't mind that I up the speed a little bit, I presume."
"Not at all."
Usagi grinned again, showing all of her teeth. Watching her slam on the gas and then laugh as Mamoru was thrown hard into the back of his seat, Yohji wondered with a smirk why he never thought of Usagi as a girlfriend before. Because she and Duo looked so well together, the back of his mind supplied. Well, now Duo was out of the picture and it was HIS turn to have Usagi, or Sere as her friends sometimes called her.
Someone up there must love me, he thought with a grateful look towards the sky.
Oblivious to Yohji's gleeful thoughts beside her, Usagi kept the gas pedal on the floor; taking a perverse pleasure in watching Mamoru's horrified expression through her rear-view mirror. Setsuna's car was left behind VERY quickly.
"USAGI!" Mamoru yelled in protest. "SLOW DOWN, DAMMIT!"
The blonde driver paid absolutely no attention to him whatsoever.
Mamoru didn't know how long it took, but the Jeep finally screamed to a halt. He opened his eyes cautiously and looked around bemusedly at the shiny, expensive, wannabe God cars. Usagi gave a snort of contempt and slid out of the car, smoothing her red dress---which was to die for, Mamoru saw with annoyance. Why hadn't she ever dressed like that when he had gone out with her? Life wasn't fair, he decided.
"I think I need to run over all these cars," she declared.
Minako giggled. "I'd like to see you try! One of this has to be Peacecraft's car, and she'd probably have all of her little assassins kill you or something!"
"I'd like to see them try," Yohji said with a teasing smile. "Sagi-chan would probably fry them with her Hiiro patented Glare-O'-Death. Either that or seduce them," he added with a smirk.
"To much energy," Usagi retorted with a laugh. "Well, shall we commence being well bred jackasses?"
Yohji held out his arm, which Usagi laid her gloved hand on. "We shall," he said teasingly. "Sister Usagi," he murmured under his breath.
"Dream on, baka!" she hissed back, smacking him lightly on the arm.
They walked through the main doors and nearly gaped in awe. So this is what it meant to see a real fancy type dinner party, Usagi thought in shock. The room seemed to glitter with the light glinting off of wine glasses. The dance floor was alive with whirling colors of dresses and the evening black of the men. Energy and heat draped over the festivities like a heavy cloak. The clockwork of the dance seemed to pause as they walked through the room, like magnets reacting to their opposites. She didn't know about Yohji, but she was flattered that they had big enough presences to make everyone stop and look at them, even if it was only for a second.
Yohji descended the stairs with a smiling Usagi on his arm, and after what seemed like an eternity stepped onto the floor. The couple was almost instantly surrounded by the important people of society, and Yohji found himself (quite unexpectedly) being drawn into that light, superficial conversation that the powerful and rich dwelled on. What really amazed him though was how elegant and, well, decent Usagi was being. She was actually acting like a well bred woman of a higher class than she was.
But wasn't Sailor Moon supposed to be a princess or something? If not a princess, it really didn't matter. Superhero was a class all by itself. It was looking like he was going to be kissing Ami Mizuno before the night was over. Noticing a slight commotion at the top of the stairs, he looked up in time to see Ami gliding down the stairs with the exact same expression that everyone else in the room was wearing. His trained eye caught the swell of her bosom beneath the Greek style dress and he smirked.
Not that he'd mind if he had to kiss her..
Usagi barely kept herself from an ungraceful snigger, almost as if she had read his thoughts. She knew exactly what he was looking at and, more importantly, why he was looking at her. Now it was time for her to lay the finishing and final touch on her revenge. Her blue eyes skipped across the room and finally landed on a long braid. She touched Yohji's arm, mouthed what she was going to do, and melted into the crowd.
Twisting, turning, and winding through the masses of people, she finally made it to where Duo, Quatre, and Saori were talking. Usagi summoned a pleasant smile to her face and touched Duo lightly on the shoulder. He flinched, and then narrowed his eyes when he saw it was her.
"What'd you do?" he asked suspiciously.
Usagi smiled serenely. "I just came over here to say thank you, and that it was fun."
"It?" he asked skeptically.
"It," she confirmed. "You, me, everything. Thank you. It was fun," she repeated, annoyance shading her sweet tone.
When Duo didn't say anything, she smiled again, wished him a good life, and melted back into the crowd. She popped up again by Yohji's side, which was a trick that gained lots of laughs and the general goodwill of all those people that she didn't even care about.
Usagi plunged into more "How's the weather" conversation, and was dismayed to find her mind wandering back to where Duo was. She yanked it back, firmly telling herself that she had no regrets. It had been fun, but now it was over. No regrets. Just good memories of a relationship that had ended.
She was saying something (she had no idea what she was talking about) to someone when yet another someone tugged on her arm. Usagi turned around with a pretty, welcoming smile when her eyes fell on a familiar brown head of hair.
"Shingo-kun? What are you doing here?"
He gave her a half smile. "So it is you. I wasn't sure. We haven't seen you since you graduated from high school, you know. What are you doing here? I'm here with a friend. Omi. Do you know him?"
Usagi swallowed hard. Why was it so hard to talk to Shingo? "Hai, I know him. He works with Yohji-kun, who's around here somewhere. I'm here because I'm a friend of the host, Quatre Winner."
Shingo raised a disbelieving eyebrow. "Oh really. And how'd you meet him?"
She took a dainty sip of her wine, and nearly gagged when it went down. Whoever said this type of wine was a delicacy was lying, she thought in disgust. Realizing Shingo was awaiting her answer, she smiled again.
"I used to date one of his friends."
"Right. Uh, Usa-chan? Remember the night you told me about-well, you know? Chibiusa-chan and everything? Well, since you're not dating Mamoru any more, and since he's in jail, I thought, well-"
"Spit it out!" she said impatiently.
Shingo frowned, and then looked over to the left of the room, where there was a thick knot of younger people. "I tried to get her to tell me how she was here, but she wouldn't. She just wanted to see you."
"Who are you talking about?" she hissed.
"Usagi?" came a soft, sweet voice from beside her.
Usagi met Shingo's apologetic look, and then turned slowly around to stare into way too familiar red eyes. Red eyes framed with pink hair. Oh God, she thought witlessly.
"Chibiusa?"
The teenage girl bobbed her head up and down excitedly. "Hai! It's me! I didn't think it was you, but Shingo-kun seemed to think it was, so we came over here to check!"
"'Sagi-chan, who's this charming young lady?"
Usagi panicked, realizing that Yohji had come up quietly behind her again, and had probably overheard at least half of the conversation. Wonderful. How the hell was she going to explain this?
__________________________
HAHAHAHAHAHA! I love doing that to people, as if you couldn't guess. I have a trick up my sleeve on our little Chibiusa.. If I choose to use it.. It'll certainly be interesting. YES, WELL, I HAVE A FAVOR TO ASK OF Y'ALL! (heehee, I'm Texan (JK)) There's this great author watergoddess, and she's got these two great stories that no one is reviewing (because it's VERY hard to get reviews in the Original section, as far as I'm concerned) READ AND REVIEW! FOR BOTH OF US! THANKS!
LAST TIME IN THE CUPID 500:
Usagi and Minako play a horrible prank on Duo, leaving him with a few presents. A youma pops out of the blue, and the two Senshi discover that the Ginzuinshou has a macabre sense of humor and that they have been provided with particularly destructive attacks. They go to Rei's temple, and Usagi sees something in the fire that she does not care for. Upon returning to Usagi's house, they see another something that they could have done without.
ON YOUR MARK! GET SET! GO!
"That," Minako said shakily, "can NOT be good."
Usagi swallowed her horror and let that good time feeling (anger!!!) rise in her throat. "That no-good blood-sucking bastard! How dare he! How dare they? How---" Usagi screeched in frustration and marched towards the expensive motorcycle parked in front of her house.
The man leaning against the cycle seemed to completely ignore the livid blonde's approach. He calmly lit a cigarette, pinched the match out and flicked it over his shoulder. Usagi walked right up to him and smacked him on the head.
"What the hell are you doing here you bastard?" she roared.
The man touched his head tenderly and then turned to face her. A smirk built its way onto his face, and he calmly blew the smoke into her face. Usagi snatched the cigarette out of his mouth and crushed it under her heel.
"Answer me, dammit!"
"Why Usako, I was expecting a warmer reception," Mamoru Chiba drawled.
Usagi's fists clenched. What the hell was he doing out of jail? HE WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE OUT OF JAIL! Drug lords were supposed to serve a penance a little bit longer than three years! She had to admit that even after three years in prison, the man looked good. Damn good, she thought with a wince. But just because he happened to be a very handsome man didn't mean that he wasn't a jackass!
"A warmer reception? HA! That's a laugh. Allow me to demonstrate: HAHAHAHAHA! Let me inform you of some of the things that I've decided while you were gone. You, Mamoru Chiba, are a complete and total mother fucking jackass. You're a bastard that likes to sit on his ass and fuck up the lives of hundreds of less than fortunate kids that come along! You're a crappy excuse for even a shitty boyfriend! I hate you," she announced.
He raised an eyebrow and lit another cigarette. Usagi scowled at him and tore it from his mouth. "Will you cut that out? You're going to kill yourself!"
Mamoru cast a significant look at Usagi's own pack of cigarettes and lit another. "Will you shut up?" he asked pleasantly.
"What the hell are you doing out of prison?" she finally exploded.
"Ah-ha! I thought you'd never ask, my dear. My punishment for "fucking up the lives of hundreds of kids" was being a test subject. Kind of like a lab rat, except held in a little lesser regard. All the doctors were aware that I was not a good man, and so did not hesitate to do their worst to me. At least they give a damn about what happens to rats."
He sighed desolately and took another puff of his beloved cigarette. "As the story goes on in a more or less unentertaining manner, the good doctors decide that they want to implant a chip into my brain that will regulate good behavior. Think Spike, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I know you never liked that show, dear, but it was just like that."
Usagi nodded reluctantly, skeptically trying to decide whether he was telling the truth or not. If he was, it would mean that he would never do another bad thing in his entire life. He'd still be a jackass, and people would know it. But he'd never do anything to them. On the other hand, if he wasn't being honest, he'd gain her trust and then rape her or something. She wouldn't put it past him, that much was for sure.
"I don't believe you," she declared.
"I do!" Minako said cheerfully.
Mamoru and Usagi both flinched, startled by Minako's sudden appearance. The nicer blonde of the two grinned at the identical looks on their faces. "Think Usa-chan. The Mamoru we knew would have you on the ground by now. And I can tell that he wants to punch you right now for not believing him. It's in the muscles in his hand and that creepy gleam in his eyes."
"And you know this how?" Usagi demanded.
Minako sniffed and flipped her hair over her shoulder. "I'm an actress," she said importantly. "I know these things. I have to be able to copy emotions and pre-actions perfectly. If I don't, I'm worth crap. Now how about we go inside and have a Pepsi or something? Oi, Usa! Is Hiiro still here?"
Usagi glanced warily at Mamoru and then inched inside. She still didn't trust Mamoru. And she didn't know whether he had realized by know that she wasn't his Usako anymore. So it was best to tread softly until she had a chance to introduce him to Yohji. Speaking of Yohji, where was he?
She directed her attention to the four heads of recognizable hair that were sitting on the couch. Usagi walked over to them and rapped her knuckles on Hiiro's head. He swore loudly and pulled out his gun, placing her at gunpoint again.
"Konichiwa, Hii-kun! Where do you hide that gun? I mean, it can't go in your boxers. That would be kind of noticeable."
Hiiro glared at her and turned back around to glare at the TV. Then he almost swore. What was it about Usagi pissing him off at the same time that damned Spears woman was on? His glare intensified, and he was pleased to discover that if he glared hard enough to squeeze his eyes somewhat, that Spears woman became a curvy blur. A curvy blur that made irritating noises, yes, but a blur nonetheless.
"Quat-kun, have you heard from Yohji-kun today? Fei-kun? Tro-kun? Hii- kun? Any of you?"
They all shook their heads the negative. Frowning, Usagi went off to her phone, intent on finding out where the hell her partner in crime was. Back in the living room, Mamoru and the four pilots were having a staring contest. A silently giggling Minako couldn't help but see the picture as the quintessence of unfixable hilarity.
You had four kawaii men wearing their boxers and sitting next to each other on a couch staring at a fully clothed man who was lounging on the big red chair and returning their stares. Mamoru sunk further into the chair, finally deciding that he was comfortable. He frowned at the four men in their boxers, and then laughed.
"I feel out of place," he announced, chuckling.
After her brief conversation with Yohji via the cell phone, Usagi changed into a red halter topped sundress and pulled on her beige flip flops. She grabbed her woven reed beige purse, she charged downstairs and into the living room. Then she stopped and stared.
Minako was sitting on the floor in her bra and underwear, laughing so hard that it looked like she was going to fall over. Quatre. Wufei, Hiiro, and Trowa didn't look any different, except that they were gathered around with Mamoru and Minako and that they were all holding cards. But it was Mamoru that was making her stare. She had left him in the living room fully clothed, but now he was sitting quite contently in his boxers, inspecting his cards.
"What the hell?" she asked herself softly.
Minako's head went up, and she laughed even harder at Usagi's expression. "Mamoru and I felt out of place among all this underwear," she explained.
Usagi nodded like this explained everything and walked out the door. Shaking her head, she turned the key and backed cautiously out of the garage. Once she had assured herself that the coast was clear, she let out a whoop and slammed on the gas. The love of her life, her beloved Jeep, roared like a lion and jumped forwards.
And that, of course, was the beauty of taking care of your own car. If you let anyone else touch it, it would immediately lose its' complete loyalty to you. It would lose some of its gusto, the charge that made it so that you were the only one that could successfully operate it. In addition to loyalty from your car, its performance level soared when you cared for it like a baby. And her Jeep was her baby. God save anyone who tried to even dent her car.
She screeched to a dramatic halt in front of Yohji's flower shop and walked inside. She marched straight to the counter and propped her arms on the top. "Konichiwa, Omi-kun!" she called.
The man jumped and turned around looking very sheepish. "Gomen Usagi-san, I didn't hear you come in."
She laughed. "That's alright. Now do you have the flowers for us?"
Omi nodded. "Hai. Oh, and the man that you bought the black rose from is here right now. Would you like to speak to him? Yes? Alright, I'll go get him."
"No need, Omi-san. I'm right here. My, my Sere-chan. Haven't you grown up."
Usagi's mouth had dropped open when he walked into the room. What was with all these gorgeous men waltzing into her life now that she had broken up with Duo? It wasn't fair!-she cried to herself. But it was nice to see old acquaintances.
"Konichiwa, Di-kun. How have you been? Haven't seen you in, oh, say, eight years? God, that makes me feel old!"
Diamond shrugged. "Well, age has certainly not hindered your beauty in any way, Princess."
Usagi laughed uncomfortably. Goddamn all men that talked! Goddamn them to Hell! "Ah, thanks Di-kun. Omi-kun," she said a bit desperately, "where's Yohji-kun?"
"Right here, Usa-chan. Who's this?"
Her nerves already frayed, she jumped about three feet into the air when she heard his voice right behind her. "Dammit, Yohji! Don't do that!"
The playboy raised an eyebrow, and then smiled indulgently. "Of course, tenshi. Are you getting the flowers from Omi-kun?"
Usagi massaged her temples. "Hai, hai. Omi-kun, please?"
Trying to ignore the desperate curiosity that was needling his head, he handed the two flowers over to the panicking Usagi, who snatched them out of his hands and rushed out the door. Looking mildly curious himself, Yohji sauntered after her with his hands in his pockets. Omi cleared his throat and looked over at the silver haired man who was still staring out the way Usagi had left.
"Mr., umm, Diamond? Would you like her number and address so you can collect payment for the flower?"
The man turned his unnaturally bright purple eyes on Omi and then plucked the slip of paper from his fingers. "Hai. Agriato. Please give me the rest of the flowers, please."
"If you don't mind me asking," Omi ventured, "how do you know Usagi-san?"
Diamond shrugged again and took the bouquet of black roses. "I kidnapped her when she was fourteen and tried to kill her daughter. Then I saved her life, so she owes me big time," he said nonchalantly.
He swept out the door, leaving poor Omi to wonder how the hell he seemed to meet all the crazy people in life, not excluding Miss Usagi "Let's Get Revenge On My Last Boyfriend" Tsukino.
*
"We've got make a plan of attack for the dinner tonight," she announced as they walked through the park.
Yohji shrugged. "I say that you're giving Duo more fun than he deserves."
Usagi glanced up at him. "Nani?"
"Just what I said. By reacting like this, you're at least letting him know that you give a damn that he broke up with you. Now, this is my idea. I say we completely ignore Saori and Duo, and just have fun tonight."
"Ignore them?" Usagi asked in shock.
Yohji nodded. "Yep. Ignore them. Let's tell them that we don't give a damn about them. It'll be fun," he added to erase Usagi's skeptical look.
Usagi exhaled and blew her bangs from her face. "I don't know. Duo's pretty vicious in his revenge."
He grabbed her arms and steered her towards a park bench. Yohji pushed her down and took her hands. "Listen up, Sagi-chan. Every other time you've kept this revenge going until you got back together, ne?"
"Hai," she said, beginning to see where he was going with this.
"Well, if this time you cut the revenge off and you two haven't gotten back together, that would mean something, ne?"
Usagi gasped, and then a perfectly evil smile curved her lips. "Hai! Oh this will be perfectly diabolical! Agriato Yohji-kun!"
She gave him a firm kiss that left him partly dazed, and then hauled him to his feet. The two twined their fingers together and Usagi rested her head on his shoulder again. It really would have been a beautiful picture, except for that Usagi and/or Yohji would cackle evilly from time to time.
"So, Yohji. When shall we crash this little dinner party of Quat-kun's? I think we should be on time for once. You know, to make a good impression. It would be fun to see if we could pull of pretending to be a very, umm, well, you know," Usagi stopped, trying to figure out exactly what she was trying to say.
"Rich? Snobby? Well bred?" Yohji supplied.
"Hai," Usagi said with a laugh, "I'll be able to do it perfectly well. You on the other hand, my dear.."
Yohji snorted. "You, my dear Usagi, are a perfectly wicked person. The day I see you behave is the day I kiss, um, Ami Mizuno!"
An innocent smile played about her lips. So Ami wanted to play Matchmaker Major Leagues? Well than she wouldn't mind being matched at all. She's got to play by the rules, Usagi thought, a maniacal edge coming to her smile.
"Accepted," she said softly.
"Nani?" Yohji asked, snapping back to attention.
"I'm accepting your bet. If I behave myself, you have to kiss Ami. If I don't behave myself, I'll, umm, go to a nunnery and join the sisterhood or whatever."
Yohji stared at her. "You're kidding, right?"
"Iie."
"Eeehhh.alright. I'll do it. Where are we going?"
Usagi smiled up at her "boyfriend". "We are going to Rei's house, then Makoto's house, then Michiru, Haruka, Setsuna, and Hotaru's house, then Ami's house, and then my house, where we're going to invite Minako to come to the dinner too."
"Whew. All that walking? At my tender age?"
Usagi shook her head, hair flying in all directions. "Iie! We're going to walk back to that flower shop---"
"One day you're actually going to remember the name," he commented.
"Shut up, Yohji-kun! Well, we're going to go back to that flower shop and get in my car."
Yohji froze, leaving Usagi a few feet in front of him. Sighing to herself, she turned around with her hands on her hips. "What the hell's wrong with you?" she demanded.
"Your car?" he asked tremulously.
She folded her arms. "Yes, my car dammit! Now let's get going! The party starts at six PM sharp and if I'm going to make you kiss Ami-chan, I'll need to get there on time so I can behave! Walk! Walk!" She stopped, her jaw hanging open. "Run! Now!"
Yohji looked at her, confused. "Nani?"
Usagi ran towards him and shoved him into a bush. "STAY THERE YOU DUMB SHIT!" she roared.
He sat down with a thud and watched her run in the other direction. He poked his head out of the bush and saw a man floating in mid air, laughing madly as Usagi went running towards him. There was a heated conversation, and then Usagi ran into the cover of the trees.
Usagi swore loudly as she hid behind a tree. Looking around to make sure no one was watching, she pressed the all call button on her communicator. "Guys! Guys! Can you hear me? Come in, dammit! We've got another youma in Sakura Park! Maybe they just like this place or something, but damn! This is the second one here today! Get your lazy asses over here and help me fight, dammit! Shit!"
She threw herself out of the way as a blast of fire scorched the bark where her head had been seconds before. Usagi grabbed her broach and rolled out of the way of another attack.
"Moon Eternal---shit! Will you just fuck off? MoonEternalPower!" she yelled in a rush.
Moon leaped into the air. "Shit! Hey you goddamn asshole! Yeah! Up here! I am having one HELL of a day, and you are NOT prepared to meet a super-heroine on a BAD DAY! I'M TALKING TO YOU, GODDAMMIT! Twilight Cannon!"
She swore when the attack was absorbed into its skin. The reptilian woman looked upwards and frowned. Moon looked around in a panic. What to do, what to do? Ah!
"Wings of Strength and Speed!" she said.
Pointedly ignoring the near staggering pain, she flew quickly in the other direction. Much to her dismay, as she was passing over a clearing she saw Yohji, Saori, Duo, and Rei standing there arguing. The youma saw them too.
"GODDAMMIT YOU BASTARDS! GET THE FUCK OUT OF THE WAY!" Moon bellowed.
The four looked up just in time to see the youma punch Moon, slamming her into the ground. The blonde senshi groaned and picked herself off her feet. The youma let out a triumphant roar and threw itself at her. Still using every colorful word she knew, Moon grappled with the youma, trying desperately to get its claws away from her throat.
"DIAMOND! MARS! SOMEONE!" she managed to shout.
"TEARS OF BLOOD!" a familiar voice cried out.
Thousands of blood red teardrops zinged at the youma, who looked mildly irritated. It rolled off of Moon and began advancing on Mars. Moon glanced down as the Ginzuinshou seemed to glow with a sickly light. You're going to have to use it, it seemed to crow. The now battered Sailor Moon struggled to her feet.
Yohji looked at her intently, and then let his eyes travel down her legs. They looked familiar. Ah, yes. They looked like Usagi's. Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait. His mind screeched to a halt as he just stared up in shock.
Moon bunched up her legs and shot into the air. Coming to a shuddering stop directly above the youma, she motioned for Mars to get out of the way. The Fire Senshi obeyed.
"Triple Beam!" Moon cried out.
A huge stream of raw black power came rocketing out of her hands, the force flinging Moon into the sky. After spinning haphazardly, she finally regained control of her wings and flew downwards to where Mars was just picking herself up.
"What the hell was that?" she asked.
Moon, trembling with exhaustion, shook her head. "The hell that I know. Damned Ginzuinshou made me."
They both drew nearer to where the youma had once been and gazed at it solemnly. Mars looked up at her terrified leader. "Moon-chan, that attack is not something I remember Serenity-sama ever giving you. That attack is something brand new."
"Think I don't know that?" Moon snapped.
But privately she agreed. The person Sailor Moon was and the bottomless hole in the ground were two things that did not sound good when put together.
Saori tugged at Duo's arm. The fright on her hero's face was making her uneasy. She felt the need to be reassured. "Duo-chan, let's go talk to Sailor Moon! Please!"
"I don't think I could stop you," he said with an absent smile.
Saori led him over to the precipice of the pit, where Sailor Moon and Sailor Mars were conferring. "Sailor Moon?" Saori asked timidly.
Sailor Moon turned to them with a raised eyebrow. "Hai?"
"I didn't recognize that attack," Duo said suddenly.
Sailor Moon's attention snapped to him and for an instant it looked like she was going to say something nasty, but then Mars pinched her, and Moon's expression sweetened. Her tone, however, did not.
"Well that makes two of us, doesn't it?"
Duo's interest sharpened. "You didn't recognize that attack? How is that possible? I thought you were in complete control of your attacks and everything."
Moon laughed bitterly. "If only that were the case. Think I had any idea what the hell I was doing my fist night as a super-heroine?"
"Then where did that come from?"
She made a vague gesture with her right hand and suddenly turned towards Mars, who was looking a trifle petulant. "You had a new attack too! What the hell was that?" Moon demanded.
Mars looked offended. "Damned if I know! I just got back from England, baka! And I only had one new attack! You and Venus each have two! And you get more attention than I do!"
Moon rolled her eyes. "That's because I'm prettier," she said, flipping her hair over her shoulder.
"Baka!"
"I was just kidding!"
Duo and Saori stared at the bickering Senshi. Well, Duo thought with a small grin, at least they're human. His eyes went to where Yohji was standing stock still. What was with that? Shouldn't the man at least be thanking the Senshi for saving his life?
"Yohji-san! Come over here and thank the good ladies for their work!"
The Senshi just stared at Duo, who smiled charmingly at them. Moon looked like she was going to rip his head off, but altered her expression when Mars gave her a knowing look.
"It applies to Senshi time," she said quietly, but loud enough for Duo to hear.
Moon glared at Mars who just laughed. Yohji walked up to them with his characteristic smirk. "Hello ladies. Senshis, I should say, ne? May I give a pretty lady a thankful hug?"
"Only if she's the one you're hugging," Mars muttered, waving her hand at Moon.
Yohji smiled and stepped forwards to hug the smiling Senshi. "I caught you, Usa-chan," he whispered in her ear. He let her go and barely restrained a chuckle as she backpedaled.
"Mars-chan, we need to go. Fly. Up. Now. And talk. Right now," she added for extra emphasis.
"All right, all right! And how do you propose that we get wherever you want to be "Right Now"?"
"We'll fly," Moon said instantly.
The blonde senshi slipped her arms under Mar's armpits and flapped into the air. With a rapid succession of beats, Moon and Mars were flying at top speed towards Rei's shrine.
"Rei, Yohji recognized me," Moon said finally.
"NANI? HOW? LUNA SAID THE MAGIC PROTECTED US!" Mars shouted furiously.
"Stop squirming, or I'll drop you! I think he recognized my legs," Moon said thoughtfully.
"Nani?" Mars asked in shock.
Moon shrugged and began a controlled fall towards Rei's house. "He boasted that he could tell a girl by their legs. Ken-kun and I tested him by taking a magazine of well known models and stars and ripping their legs off. Then we showed them to him and he went all weepy about how we "ripped poor Jennie Lopez's legs off", or we "dismembered little Christina Ricci". It was really very entertaining. And it would make sense that he'd be able to recognize my legs. I do have a tendency to show them off, you know. That's a trait that Sailor Moon and I have in common."
"You are positively insane, Usa-chan," Mars said in amazement.
"Hai, I know. Demo, the people I know are the reasons that I'm that way."
Mars mulled over this comment for a while and then realized the implication right as they landed in her courtyard. "HEY!" she cried, delivering a solid thwap to Usagi's golden head.
*
Minako yawned again. "So why are we here, besides that you wanted to tear me away from my winning card game?"
Usagi stared at her friend. They were all sitting around in Rei's room for the second time that day, and Minako was not very happy about it. Usagi cleared her throat. "Minako, you were playing strip poker."
"I know!" she snapped. "And Hii-kun was LOSING! That was going to be vital in his capture!"
"Eh, was Mamoru still there?"
"Hai! He wasn't doing very well either! Usagi no baka!"
Haruka snapped to and stared at Usagi and Minako. "Are you meaning to tell me that Chiba's out of jail? How?"
"Well, he's a scientific experiment. He has a chip in his head regulating his behavior. I'm told that the punishment for being bad is very painful. I'm glad I'm not in his place."
Ami clapped her hands excitedly. "Ruthie was telling me about that! Usagi, ask him about Dr. Ruth McGowen, alright? I read her article on that chip! They had said that a someone named Darien Shields had been the recipient, but I had never connected him with Mamoru!"
At their blank looks, she elaborated. "I once did a interview with him for Speech, and one of the questions was what he always wanted his name to be!"
"Oh," they all chorused.
"Anyways," Rei snapped. "We've got to get down to business. We've had two attacks in the same area in the same day. If this wasn't a warning in and of itself, I'd be tempted to say that it was just a few leftovers. But Usa- chan mentioned that Prince Diamond is back somehow, and that we've been getting some odd attacks. Usagi used one called the Triple Beam today, and it blasted a hole in the ground that looked like it went on forever. I'm sure that her other attacks might have been able to do that, I repeat, MIGHT have been able to. But the attack was black. Not pink, silver, or gold like all of her other ones. It was black."
"I hate to tell you guys this, but we're in deep shit," Hotaru announced.
"Oh really, why do you think that?" Makoto asked sarcastically. "We've got a new enemy, and Usa-chan's getting destructive, black colored attacks! What could be worse?"
Usagi coughed. "Well, Yohji figured out who I am," she said into the gaping silence.
"Wow Usa-chan, you're really brave," Minako said teasingly.
"HE FOUND OUT THAT YOU'RE SAILOR MOON?" Haruka roared, jumping to her feet.
"Iie," Usagi drawled. "He more specifically found out that Sailor Moon was me."
"GODDAMMIT!" she roared.
"Haruka Ten'ou! Watch your language, dammit!"
"Michi-mamma!" Hotaru gasped before bursting into laughter.
"So I'll see you all at six PM?" Usagi asked loudly.
All conversations and mini-wars stopped as the women stared at Usagi. Then Minako let out a loud gasp, making everyone transfer their stares to her. She squealed loudly. "Quatre's party is tonight!" she whispered loudly.
"That's right! You're all invited!" Usagi said with a bright smile.
"Gomen Usa-chan, but we can't come," Michiru said sadly. Haruka nodded violently, opposed to anything that even remotely sounded like a party, unless it had the word "birthday" tacked on the front.
"I've got to guard the Time Gates against what is happening," Setsuna explained.
"I think I can come," Ami said thoughtfully.
"Me too!" Makoto cheered.
"Eh, I suppose I can take time out of my busy schedule," Rei said with a sniff.
"I'm coming!" Hotaru shouted.
Usagi clapped her hands together. "Great! Come on over to my house, and we'll get ready!"
*
"You really think this looks okay?" Hotaru asked worriedly.
Usagi glared at her. "For the last time Hota-chan, you look fantastic!"
Hotaru looked skeptically at her reflection. They had been digging through Hotaru's princess clothes that she had put in subspace and had found this dress. It was a spaghetti strap style dress with a loose neckline that hung in a few shimmering black folds against her chest. The dress clung to her upper body nicely, and then loosened abruptly at the V-waist. A dark purple underskirt hemmed with beautiful purple lace showed at the very bottom of her dress when she spun. Maybe she did look alright.
Usagi handed her some long black gloves and helped her down off the stool. "You really do look great Hota-chan," she said sincerely.
"USAGI! REI NEEDS HELP!"
"I DO NOT!"
The blonde rolled her eyes and ran down the hall to where Minako was trying to do Rei's hair. She pushed open the bathroom door and raised an eyebrow at Rei, who looked just as marvelous as Minako and Hotaru did.
Rei was wearing a red Chinese dress trimmed with gold. A dragon wound across her chest region, briefly reminding Usagi of her pajamas. Shaking the thought out of her head, she cast Minako a cursory look.
Her fellow blonde looked magnificent, as she damn well should. She wore a clinging orange dress that loosened a tiny bit as it fell towards the floor. Her hair was piled on top of her head with a few artfully curled strands snaking out of confinement.
"Rei won't let me do anything with her hair," Minako complained.
Usagi shrugged. "Leave her alone. Her face looks thin when her hair's up, and we do not want thin faces with that dress."
Minako inspected the dress, and then nodded. "Hai, I guess you're right. Let's go check on Ami-chan and Mako-chan!" she said enthusiastically.
"Hai, hai, hai," Usagi said with a smile.
Ami was wearing something that looked a lot like a Greek style toga, except much more becoming. It was also light blue, and showed off enough cleavage to get anyone's attention. It seemed that Ami wasn't so modest anymore, unless she didn't know about what she was displaying. A tiny smirk sent towards Usagi convinced her that Ami had grown up-a little bit.
Makoto was wearing a strapless forest green dress. It had a long slit up the right side, showing a lot of leg. Usagi gave Makoto a thumbs up sign, who just humphed and returned to reading about how marvelous the Jupiter was.
Usagi sighed happily. They were ready to go sweep those bastards off their feet.
The first problem they had was actually getting to the dinner. The cars they had were Usagi's Jeep and Setsuna's big green van (made for carting Hotaru and her friends around). Yohji had arrived late, which meant that whoever was lucky enough to get a ride with Usagi was going to be in for it. After a minor scuffle, it was decided that Minako and Mamoru would ride with Yohji and Usagi. Michiru, Haruka, Hotaru, Rei, Makoto, and Ami would ride with Setsuna, much to their profound relief.
Minako noted with slight unease that Usagi was smiling, and that her smile was slightly insane. Following the bunny's gaze, Minako was partially amazed to discover that Usagi was starring at Ami with an avid interest. She then would look over at Yohji and her smile would take on a maniacal edge. Preventing herself from being freaked out too much, Minako coughed loudly, drawing Usagi's attention.
"Ready? Of course you are! Mamoru-kun, I suggest that you buckle your seatbelt."
The dark haired man snorted. "Usagi, I know how you drive. One day you'll get a ticket for going too slow."
"Oh, really?" she asked, hands tightening on the steering wheel. "Then you won't mind that I up the speed a little bit, I presume."
"Not at all."
Usagi grinned again, showing all of her teeth. Watching her slam on the gas and then laugh as Mamoru was thrown hard into the back of his seat, Yohji wondered with a smirk why he never thought of Usagi as a girlfriend before. Because she and Duo looked so well together, the back of his mind supplied. Well, now Duo was out of the picture and it was HIS turn to have Usagi, or Sere as her friends sometimes called her.
Someone up there must love me, he thought with a grateful look towards the sky.
Oblivious to Yohji's gleeful thoughts beside her, Usagi kept the gas pedal on the floor; taking a perverse pleasure in watching Mamoru's horrified expression through her rear-view mirror. Setsuna's car was left behind VERY quickly.
"USAGI!" Mamoru yelled in protest. "SLOW DOWN, DAMMIT!"
The blonde driver paid absolutely no attention to him whatsoever.
Mamoru didn't know how long it took, but the Jeep finally screamed to a halt. He opened his eyes cautiously and looked around bemusedly at the shiny, expensive, wannabe God cars. Usagi gave a snort of contempt and slid out of the car, smoothing her red dress---which was to die for, Mamoru saw with annoyance. Why hadn't she ever dressed like that when he had gone out with her? Life wasn't fair, he decided.
"I think I need to run over all these cars," she declared.
Minako giggled. "I'd like to see you try! One of this has to be Peacecraft's car, and she'd probably have all of her little assassins kill you or something!"
"I'd like to see them try," Yohji said with a teasing smile. "Sagi-chan would probably fry them with her Hiiro patented Glare-O'-Death. Either that or seduce them," he added with a smirk.
"To much energy," Usagi retorted with a laugh. "Well, shall we commence being well bred jackasses?"
Yohji held out his arm, which Usagi laid her gloved hand on. "We shall," he said teasingly. "Sister Usagi," he murmured under his breath.
"Dream on, baka!" she hissed back, smacking him lightly on the arm.
They walked through the main doors and nearly gaped in awe. So this is what it meant to see a real fancy type dinner party, Usagi thought in shock. The room seemed to glitter with the light glinting off of wine glasses. The dance floor was alive with whirling colors of dresses and the evening black of the men. Energy and heat draped over the festivities like a heavy cloak. The clockwork of the dance seemed to pause as they walked through the room, like magnets reacting to their opposites. She didn't know about Yohji, but she was flattered that they had big enough presences to make everyone stop and look at them, even if it was only for a second.
Yohji descended the stairs with a smiling Usagi on his arm, and after what seemed like an eternity stepped onto the floor. The couple was almost instantly surrounded by the important people of society, and Yohji found himself (quite unexpectedly) being drawn into that light, superficial conversation that the powerful and rich dwelled on. What really amazed him though was how elegant and, well, decent Usagi was being. She was actually acting like a well bred woman of a higher class than she was.
But wasn't Sailor Moon supposed to be a princess or something? If not a princess, it really didn't matter. Superhero was a class all by itself. It was looking like he was going to be kissing Ami Mizuno before the night was over. Noticing a slight commotion at the top of the stairs, he looked up in time to see Ami gliding down the stairs with the exact same expression that everyone else in the room was wearing. His trained eye caught the swell of her bosom beneath the Greek style dress and he smirked.
Not that he'd mind if he had to kiss her..
Usagi barely kept herself from an ungraceful snigger, almost as if she had read his thoughts. She knew exactly what he was looking at and, more importantly, why he was looking at her. Now it was time for her to lay the finishing and final touch on her revenge. Her blue eyes skipped across the room and finally landed on a long braid. She touched Yohji's arm, mouthed what she was going to do, and melted into the crowd.
Twisting, turning, and winding through the masses of people, she finally made it to where Duo, Quatre, and Saori were talking. Usagi summoned a pleasant smile to her face and touched Duo lightly on the shoulder. He flinched, and then narrowed his eyes when he saw it was her.
"What'd you do?" he asked suspiciously.
Usagi smiled serenely. "I just came over here to say thank you, and that it was fun."
"It?" he asked skeptically.
"It," she confirmed. "You, me, everything. Thank you. It was fun," she repeated, annoyance shading her sweet tone.
When Duo didn't say anything, she smiled again, wished him a good life, and melted back into the crowd. She popped up again by Yohji's side, which was a trick that gained lots of laughs and the general goodwill of all those people that she didn't even care about.
Usagi plunged into more "How's the weather" conversation, and was dismayed to find her mind wandering back to where Duo was. She yanked it back, firmly telling herself that she had no regrets. It had been fun, but now it was over. No regrets. Just good memories of a relationship that had ended.
She was saying something (she had no idea what she was talking about) to someone when yet another someone tugged on her arm. Usagi turned around with a pretty, welcoming smile when her eyes fell on a familiar brown head of hair.
"Shingo-kun? What are you doing here?"
He gave her a half smile. "So it is you. I wasn't sure. We haven't seen you since you graduated from high school, you know. What are you doing here? I'm here with a friend. Omi. Do you know him?"
Usagi swallowed hard. Why was it so hard to talk to Shingo? "Hai, I know him. He works with Yohji-kun, who's around here somewhere. I'm here because I'm a friend of the host, Quatre Winner."
Shingo raised a disbelieving eyebrow. "Oh really. And how'd you meet him?"
She took a dainty sip of her wine, and nearly gagged when it went down. Whoever said this type of wine was a delicacy was lying, she thought in disgust. Realizing Shingo was awaiting her answer, she smiled again.
"I used to date one of his friends."
"Right. Uh, Usa-chan? Remember the night you told me about-well, you know? Chibiusa-chan and everything? Well, since you're not dating Mamoru any more, and since he's in jail, I thought, well-"
"Spit it out!" she said impatiently.
Shingo frowned, and then looked over to the left of the room, where there was a thick knot of younger people. "I tried to get her to tell me how she was here, but she wouldn't. She just wanted to see you."
"Who are you talking about?" she hissed.
"Usagi?" came a soft, sweet voice from beside her.
Usagi met Shingo's apologetic look, and then turned slowly around to stare into way too familiar red eyes. Red eyes framed with pink hair. Oh God, she thought witlessly.
"Chibiusa?"
The teenage girl bobbed her head up and down excitedly. "Hai! It's me! I didn't think it was you, but Shingo-kun seemed to think it was, so we came over here to check!"
"'Sagi-chan, who's this charming young lady?"
Usagi panicked, realizing that Yohji had come up quietly behind her again, and had probably overheard at least half of the conversation. Wonderful. How the hell was she going to explain this?
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HAHAHAHAHAHA! I love doing that to people, as if you couldn't guess. I have a trick up my sleeve on our little Chibiusa.. If I choose to use it.. It'll certainly be interesting. YES, WELL, I HAVE A FAVOR TO ASK OF Y'ALL! (heehee, I'm Texan (JK)) There's this great author watergoddess, and she's got these two great stories that no one is reviewing (because it's VERY hard to get reviews in the Original section, as far as I'm concerned) READ AND REVIEW! FOR BOTH OF US! THANKS!