"Wait up!" Lance caught up
to Candra. "I'll walk you there."
"Lance, it's
alright," Candra tried to reassure her brother. "I can
take Diana back all by myself. I'm a big girl now!"
Lance
smiled. "Yeah. But you'll always be my lil' sis."
They
stopped at an intersection. "Now hold my hand! We are
crossing a big street," Lance said.
Candra rolled her
eyes, but held his hand his hand anyway. "Oh, Lance. . ."
As
they crossed the street, they were spotted by Haruka and Michiru.
"Who is that guy she's with?" asked Haruka.
"I
don't know," said Michiru as Candra gave Lance a peck on the
cheek. "Maybe they are going out."
"Like
boyfriend and girlfriend?" Haruka started heading towards
Candra and Lance.
"Haruka!" Michiru had to use all of
her strenght to hold Haruka back.
"If he hurts her. . .!"
Haruka growled.
"Calm down!" Michiru pleaded.
"They're just walking across the street! It doesn't mean
anything!"
"Thank
you for bringing Diana home, Candra-chan!" said ChibiUsa.
Diana lept from ChibiUsa's arms to her shoulders.
"No
problem," said Candra with a smile. "Besides I had to.
Lance was threatening to turn her into kitty stew if I
didn't."
"AAAAAAAAAACHOOOOOO!!!! It's not my fault
I'm allergic to cats," said Lance as he wiped his nose.
Ikuko
walked in to the room. "Usagi, who are your friends?"
"This
is Candra-chan, that girl I told you about, Mama."
"Very
nice to meet you, Mrs. Tsukino," Candra said with a
smile.
Usagi continued. "And this is. . .?"
"This
is my brother, Lance," answered Candra. "Well, we should
get going. I just wanted to make sure Diana made it home in time
for lunch. It was nice to meet you, Mrs. Tsukino."
"Why
don't you two stay over for lunch? As a way of saying thank you,"
suggested Ikuko.
That's when Luna walked into the room.
"A-another cat?" Lance made one of those funny,
surprised faces. "Uh, sorry! Er, Gomen! Can't accept! Too
many cats! Bye!" Lance ran off.
Since Lance had finished
the conversation in English, Candra had to translate; then they
all had a good laugh.
"Mama. I told you before; I
don't like rice balls!" Shingo pouted.
"Well, you
liked them last night," said Ikuko. "Here, have
another."
"Mama!"
"Shingo!" said
his father.
"Gomen, Mama," Shingo apologized.
"That's
better. So, Candra-san, how long have you been in Japan?"
asked Kenji.
It was a question that was always asked, but
Candra still had trouble answering it. "Since April, sir. I
have really enjoyed it here, especially since meeting Usagi,"
answered Candra.
"So what do you parents do for a living?"
asked Ikuko.
"My. . .uh. . .father is a teacher at a
college and my mother is a homemaker." Candra started to pay
more attention to her food.
"We should meet them
sometime," said Kenji.
Usagi noticed Candra's reaction and
quickly changed the subject. "This is really good,
Mama."
"Thank you, dear. Want some more?"
"Yes,
please!"
I wish Mom was still alive. As she watched
the Tsukino family joke around, Candra started to feel a little
jealous. She was very close with her brothers and they acted in
the same way at the dinner table, but it just wasn't the same.
Usagi had a mom and dad; she didn't.
Candra put her fork on her
plate and pushed back her chair. "Gomen ne. I have to
go."
Candra left the table, but not before Usagi noticed
the tears in her eyes. "Candra-chan! Wait!" Usagi pushed
back her own chair and followed.
The rest of the family stopped
eatting. "Was it something we said?" asked Kenji.
Even
though it was just after noon, it was starting to get dark. Candra
ran into an alley just as it started to rain. She leaned against
one of the buildings and slid slowly down the side. Her body shook
as she started to cry.
Usagi squealed in fear as lighting
flashed. Catching her breath, she quickly continued her search.
"Candra-chan! . . .Can. . .Hey!" Usagi almost ran past
the alley and had to back up.
"I'm sorry." Candra
sniffled. "I'm jealous of you."
"Why?"
"Because
I want a family."
Usagi looked at her friend. She couldn't
believe what Candra had just said. "You want a family? You
have a family!" Usagi knelt next her friend. "You told
me you have brothers who care deeply about you. And you have a
sister who loves you very much."
"But it's not the
same as having a mom and dad! That's what I want!" Candra
broke down. "I can't take it anymore! I want my
mommy!"
Usagi's eyes filled. "Please don't cry! You
can be part of my family!" She rapped Candra in a big hug.
"We'll adopt you! And your brothers!"
"But we're
adults!" Candra pointed out. "What would be the
point?"
"Everyone needs a family no matter how old
they are!" Usagi said. "And even if that family isn't
the family they were born into, everyone needs a family! I want
you to be part of mine! Please!"
Candra looked at Usagi
and could not believe what she had just heard. "No one has
ever been that nice to me. They always made fun of me. But you
haven't done that. If fact, you want to get closer. Thank you,
Serenity."
"No problem, Candra-chan."
"That's
terrible," said Ikuko.
"Yes. Please, come over as
much as you want," added Kenji.
"Thank you, Mr. and Mrs.
Tsukino. I should be getting home now." Candra stood up,
bowed, and headed toward the door.
Usagi followed her. "You
have my phone number, right?"
"Yep."
"You
call me for any reason, even to yell at me about my grades,
okay?"
Candra cutely stuck out her tongue. "Okay. See
ya tomorrow!"
"They seem awfully close, dear,"
said Ikuko. "I think we should be doing more than letting her
come over whenever she wants."
"Me, too,"
replied her husband. "But
what?"
Meanwhile, on the Moon. . .
Sir Grety watched Mamoru as he left
the house. Grety saw that he was in a hurry and taking a shortcut
through the woods.
"Hmmm. It seems very dense in there,"
Grety thought aloud. "I could kill him in one swipe! "Grety
then processed to laugh that really annoying bad-guy-laugh. "I'll
get him, then Serenity will have to fall for me! Great plan, old
boy! And I'm so glad that the Moon Kingdom computers still work.
This place has such a good view. But enough about that. Look out,
Endymion! Death awaits you!" He then threw back his head and
laughed some more. (Have you noticed all bad guys do that?
Why?)
Mamoru
couldn't believe how much time he had spent at Motoki's. He looked
at his watch. It wasn't very late, but he did have that exam to
study for. He was thinking about re-enrolling in Harvard to finish
out his college education and to do that, he need to keep his
grades up. "If nothing else, I should at least try to get
some more sleep." Mamoru smiled as he pictured himself to be
like Usagi: asleep in the middle of class.
Mamoru sensed
something and turned around. Someone's here. Where are they?
Should I transform? Mamoru didn't want to overreact, but you
never know. "Is anyone there?" he asked in a clear
voice.
Something caught the corner of his eye. Out of instinct,
he jumped to the right. Right where he had been was a big
hole.
"Earth Star Power! Make Up!" Tuxedo Kamen's
outfit has changed since we saw it last. He ditched the cape and
top hat. On his forehead was his symbol and his tux was now green.
(Now that I think about that, it seems as if that will look very
weird.) He took out his replacement for the cane: a sword. "Okay,
who's there?"
"The Angel of Death!" Sir Grety
came flying at Kamen, who ducked. They started a duo that went on
for several minutes. It became obvious that Tuxedo Kamen was out
of shape as it was difficult for him to keep up.
Grety managed
to knock our hero's weapon away from him and beat him up to say
the least. "You know, you two were a cute couple."
"What
are talking about?" Tuxedo Kamen didn't even know what he was
fighting about. He was just defending himself.
"You
remember the Moon Kingdom?"
"How do. . .?"
"How
do I know? Because I was her fiancée!" Grety took another
swipe at Kamen who dodged and landed on the ground. "See, since
the Princess and was unable to choose a husband, I was chosen to
marry her when she turned eighteen. Now, she was perfectly okay
with this; in fact we were best friends. So she was as happy with
the arrangement as I was.
"When she met you at the summit
meeting, you made fun of her hairstyle and she made fun of your
height. You two always bickered though, so I wasn't worried a bit.
But then I realized that you two were actually play-fighting, that
you liked her and she liked you. Still, I thought it was just a
friendship, one that would benefit both worlds. So I made plans
for the wedding and didn't interfere.
"One day, though, I
overheard a conversation Serenity was having with her sister.
Serenity kept saying that she was too shy to kiss you and Cynthia
told her to admit she liked you! That's when I saw through your
little game. You stole my girl! And now, it's pay back time!"
Grety went to stab his foe.
Kamen managed the roll out of the
way. (Good thing he ditched the cape). "I didn't know she was
engaged!"
Grety blasted him against a tree. "Too
late! Die!" Grety raced toward Kamen, who was too drained to
move. All he could do was close his eyes. Usako!
Then he
realized that this attack was taking way too long. He looked up
and saw Sailor StarMoon. Her StarWand was longer and she was using
it to block Grety's sword.
"How nice to see you,
Serenity!" greeted Sir Grety.
"How many times do I
have to say it? Address. . ." She pushed him back. ". .
me. . ." Her wand got smaller. " . . .properly!" A
thick, star-shaped beam came out, the most powerful one yet. Grety
screamed as he was hit and disappeared to avoid further
damage.
Breathing heavily, Sailor StarMoon turned around and
asked, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," answered
Kamen. "I'm fine."
"Luna Sphere Kitty Magic!"
Luna-P became made a first aid kid and StarMoon started working on
fixing up Kamen. "Try to sit up, but other than that, don't
move."
Kamen smiled. "This will go down as the only
time I'm glad you were follwing me," he told her.
StarMoon
rasied an eyebrow. "The only time?" she joked.
"Well,
you always spied on Usako and I back on the Moon," Kamen
reminded her. "I know that I really didn't like that. Ow!
That stings."
"Yeah, well, neither did Serenity,"
said StarMoon. "Sorry, but I don't want your wounds to get
infected. Can you feel your arms and legs?"
"Yeah. My
wrist hurts, though."
"After I get you cleaned up
here, I'll take you to the hospital, okay?" She turned back
to her kit to get another bandage when a bubble surrounded her.
"What the heck? Wha-?" The bubble flew up into the black
sky. StarMoon pressed her hands against the inside.
"Chiba-san!"
The first-aid kit became Luna-P again.
Kamen slowly and painfully got to his feet. "Candra!"
Grety
reappeared leaning on the bubble. "You know, I really wanted
to kill you, Prince, but since I have her now, there's really no
point. Say all you want, but it better include
'Goodbye'."
"Chiba-san! Please tell Usagi I love
her!" Those were the last words she was able to say before
Grety kidnapped her.
Kamen and Luna-P stared up at the spot.
What have I done? thought Kamen.
Chpater Nine: A Race Against Time! Save Candra!
