Chapter 31: "Prelude to Nurse Venus"

"Usagi are you ready to go?" Ikuko called up.

"Just a minute mom." Usagi replied for the sixth time

from her room before turning back to her suitcase.

Picking up the last few articles of clothing from her

bed, she placed them in her bag and closed it. Or at

least that was her intention, but the bag refused to

close. Struggling against it, she repeatedly attempted to

force it closed.

ChibiUsa who was sitting on the floor by the door was

quite amused by her mother's efforts. Not able to keep

her mouth shut any longer, she said, "You would think

with all the weight you must put on from eating

everything in sight, you would have no trouble forcing

that suitcase closed."

Instantly forgetting about the bag she was attempting to

force closed, Usagi cried out "Why you little spore!" why

lunging towards ChibiUsa.

"Usagi, ChibiUsa" an impatient Kenji called from the

bottom of the stairs.

Hearing Kenji-papa's call, ChibiUsa quickly left Usagi's

room and headed downstairs to safety. Left alone, Usagi

turned back to her bag, which because of the recent

distraction had spilled some of its contents back out.

* * * * *

When ChibiUsa walked out the front door of the house a

few minutes later, it was just as another car was pulling

up in front of the Tsukino household. Parking her car,

the driver got out and walked over to where the Tsukinos

were packing their car to apologize for her tardiness.

"Forgive me Tsukino Kenji-san, Ikuko-san for my

tardiness. I was unfortunately detained at the hospital

longer than I had anticipated, but that is no excuse for

delaying you on your trip." The blue haired woman said in

an apologetic voice.

"Don't worry about it Mizuno-san, Usagi is still packing

and I never expected to be pulling out of here till at

least fifteen minutes from now, so your delay didn't cost

us anytime." Replied Kenji.

"By the way how is Ami doing?" Ikuko asked in reference

to Mercury's own injuries from the battle a week ago.

"Usagi had said that she had gotten beat up pretty badly

in the battle."

"She is pretty much all recovered. Though, I am still

having a hard time grasping how these girls are able to

heal so fast." Rikou replied

"I can imagine. I have a hard enough time myself, but you

being a doctor have much firmer understanding of how long

they should take to heal." responded Ikuko.

"Hai, though she was still down for a few days last

weekend. I know that if I hadn't learned her secret, she

would have been up and about pretending that nothing was

wrong. But as much as she might not like hearing it and I

might not want to admit it, she is a weaker warrior than

the others. And as a result she can't take quite the same

punishment, however a weekend of bed rest seemed to have

been fine for her."

"And I am assuming that as long as she had her study

materials she didn't have any problem with it?" Ikuko

asked, a bit envious with regards to Ami's study habits.

"Hai, she found ways to keep herself fully occupied over

the weekend. Though next time I think I will forbid her

from doing research while she is recovering. That

requires me carting way too many books back and forth to

her bed." Mizuno-san said.

Both Ikuko and Kenji smirked at that. Neither had

actually seen Ami's study habits, though they had heard

Ami whine about only being a dozen chapters ahead of the

class various times when the girls had been over.

"Well I better go see to Usagi's wing." The doctor said,

before taking her leave and heading on in.

Climbing the stairs to the second floor, she walked down

the hallway to Usagi's room. Even before she opened the

door, she knew what Usagi was up to, the sounds of a

struggle with a suitcase were all to clear.

* * * * *

After an umpteenth attempt to close the bag, Usagi

finally gave in, opened the suitcase back up and began

removing some items. Taking the three items out of her

bag she placed them in a pile on her bed and tried to

close the bag again and this time was easily able to lock

the latches. Taking a second look at the small pile of

clothing, she couldn't see how that little amount that

she removed could have been the difference between easily

closing her bag and being unable to.

Hearing a light knock on her door, Usagi turned and

cheerfully said, "Hi" to Mizuno-san.

"You look to be doing well Usagi-chan." The older woman

replied. "How is your wing feeling?"

"It's still a bit sore and as you have suggested I

haven't tried putting any weight on it yet." Usagi

replied as the blue haired doctor walked over and removed

the bandage.

Looking over the wing, Mizuno-san first examined where

the smaller wounds had been. However, as was the case a

couple of days earlier in the week, there was no trace of

those injuries. Unfortunately, the same could not be said

for the one that had punched a hole through muscle and

nicked a bone. That wound was taking its good old time to

heal, though the hole had finally closed up.

Before rebandaging the last remaining wound, she had

Usagi move her wing around so that she could make sure

that Usagi was not loosing any motion of her wing. Unlike

a week ago when she had first treated these injuries of

Usagi, she now had at least a partial idea of how to

treat wing injuries. Over the weekend, her daughter had

researched veterinary medicine for the treatment of wing

injuries. And as a consequence she now at least had a

basic idea of what she was doing and more importantly

what sorts of complications that she needed to be on the

lookout for. And while this last injury was taking its

time, it appeared to be doing just fine. After warning

Usagi, she probed the new skin with her fingers, looking

for tender spots and other indications that the muscle

was not healing correctly. Hearing no complaints from

Usagi and seeing no visible reason to cover the skin with

a bandage, she told Usagi what she had found.

"Well it looks like your wing has mostly healed. That

final wound has now fully closed up, so you no longer

need to keep it bandaged. Though I don't know how long it

will take before you regrow your feathers over that

region."

"Arigatoo for taking care of my wounds Mizuno-san." Usagi

replied, happy that she didn't have to mess with changing

bandages anymore. "Can I fly again?"

Mizuno-san thought about that one for a bit. "While it

looks like everything is healed, I would avoid rushing

anything. You are spending time with relatives this

weekend, so you wouldn't get a chance then anyways. And

with the way you all heal, that should be sufficient to

take care of my worry. However, when you do get back, I

would suggest not stressing it too much at first. Try

just doing some low level gliding for the first day or

two and then after that begin building up the active

flying. However, if you feel any pain, pull back and let

it heal some more. You injured a muscle and you will need

to allow it time to regain its strength. If you push it

too fast, you can seriously injure it and you can face a

sudden fall as your wing suddenly gives out again like it

did last week.

"Hai." Usagi replied with an unpleasant expression on her

face as she remembered the pain of that fall.

"Well you have a fun time out in the country." Mizuno-san

said

"I will." Usagi said with a large smile after which

Mizuno-san turned and left.

Alone again, Usagi took a final look around her room,

making sure that she hadn't missed anything. Though how

she would be able to take anything if she did find

something was a good question. Checking her desk, she

found her schoolbooks piled in a nice orderly stack there

(there was no way she was going to ruin a little weekend

trip like this to her aunt's with homework). The

Ginzuishou was safely nestled in her broach and affixed

to the front of her blouse and she couldn't think of

anything else that she needed to check on.

Returning to her bed, she got her bag and headed out the

door. Walking down the stairs and into the living room,

she stopped to pick up Luna and placed the black cat on

her shoulder so that the two of them could talk as she

walked out. "Now, Luna behave yourself while we are gone.

No throwing any wild parties."

Luna scoffed at that remark, She's telling me to behave

myself? "Are you sure you don't want any of the others

to come along? Haruka, Michiru or Setsuna could easily

follow you guys up and stay somewhere nearby should you

need them."

"Luna my mind is final, everyone is to stay here. This is

where they are needed, not out in the countryside

protecting me." Usagi said forcibly. "I will be fine.

Unlike Beryl, Rubeus does not have a personal vendetta

against me and anyways he seems strictly interested in

causing trouble here in Tokyo. And I'm sorry that you

can't come, but my aunt does not like cats. Gomen Nasai,

Luna." Usagi said, the last part addressing the real

reason why Luna had been so insistent the last few days

that she take some of the others with her.

After getting a goodbye head scratch from Usagi, Luna

jumped off of her charge's shoulder and walked over to

Mizuno-san's car. Arriving at the car she was picked up

by Rikou who held Luna in her arms while she watched the

Tsukinos all pile into their car. Then as the Kenji

pulled out into the street and started their drive, Rikou

gave them a wave before finally heading to her own car.

Opening the passenger door, she placed Luna down on the

seat before going around to get in on the other side.

Closing the door she watched as the Tsukinos pulled out

of their driveway and left.

Reaching over to the other seat, Rikou petted Luna for a

bit while telling the worried feline, " "Don't worry Luna

she'll be fine."

"Hai, I know. It's just that since I awoke her power I

have never been away from her for more than a few hours

at a time. Even when she is at school I am often up in a

tree outside. I know it's silly, but there was a blood

moon this morning and it makes me afraid that something

is going to happen."

Rikou gave a knowing smile for she had had many of the

same worries these past few weeks, knowing that her own

child was constantly putting her life on the line.

Putting the car into gear, she pulled away from the

Tsukino house.

* * * * *

Around seven that evening, the Tsukinos pulled off the

country highway and started down the driveway to their

destination. The car had barely come to stop before the

back doors opened and the three children bailed out of

the car, eager to stretch their legs and to get away from

being in such close quarters with each other. The parents

followed them out of the car at a bit more sedate pace,

but also just as happy that the trip was over.

Before they got the chance to remove a single bag from

the car, the door to the house swung open and Auntie

Misaki bounded out. Spotting the children, she made a

beeline to each of them. She first pulled Shingo into a

bone-crushing hug and then proceeded to do the same to

Usagi. A youma trying to kill me is gentler than Auntie

Misaki. But I love her just the same. Usagi thought as

her face began to turn a bit blue.

ChibiUsa looked on with amusement that was quickly

begging to turn to horror as Usagi's face began to change

color. Feeling a comforting hand on her shoulder,

ChibiUsa looked up and behind to see the warm smile on

Ikuko-mama's face. The older woman softly told her that

everything would be okay, having had expected this

reaction from ChibiUsa.

After what seemed like an eternity for Usagi, Misaki

finally released her niece, but not completely. One hand

loosely held onto Usagi's left arm, while her other hand

took a hold of some of Usagi's hair. Examining it, she

asked, "Usagi what did you do to your hair?" horrified

that Usagi might have dyed her beautiful hair.

"Nothing really." Well nothing other than channeling a

few thousand mega joules of energy through my body. "It

has been turning silver for about the past year. Till

recently, I fought the change by constantly dying my

hair, not wanting to have gray hair. But one day I just

decided that I liked the silver hair and since then, I

have not done anything to it. What do you think?" Usagi

asked as she stepped back and slowly twirled so that her

aunt could get a good look.

"Yes you are right it does look good on you." Misaki

replied. Then really noticing for the first time that

there was a third child here, Misaki turned to her sister

and asked. "Ikuko, since when did you have another

daughter?"

Ikuko smiled in response Not a daughter, but would you

believe a granddaughter? she thought to herself before

responding. "Nope she is not mine. Though when she has

her hair done the same way as Usagi it sure looks like

it." Ikuko said addressing the obvious similarities

between the two girls and hoping that that would satisfy

any potential questions in that direction. "She is

actually the daughter of a second cousin on Kenji's side

of the family. Peculiarly enough her name is also Usagi.

I guess there is must be something about being named

Usagi and wearing your hair up in Odangos."

That comment earned her an unhappy look from both Usagi

and ChibiUsa. However, Usagi was not able to elaborate on

the look she gave her mother, as her father choose that

moment to give her a bunch of stuff to take inside.

"Well it is nice to meet your Usagi-chan." Misaki said

before pulling her newest relative into a bone-crushing

hug. Then releasing the child, she said to Ikuko, "I

guess it must get a bit confusing with two Usagis

around."

"It's not that bad, as this one here has been going by

ChibiUsa the whole time she has been with us." Ikuko said

while lightly laying a hand on ChibiUsa's head. "That is

even what she goes by at school and her friends call her

by, if you can believe it."

Misaki raised an eyebrow to that. Though she guessed that

it was somewhat reasonable, a way to distinguish herself

from her older cousin. Then turning to back to the little

girl. "Well then ChibiUsa-chan it is. I think I can

remember that. And please just call me Auntie Misaki."

"Ok, Auntie Misaki." ChibiUsa replied.

"I take it that ChibiUsa has been with you a while?"

Misaki asked after returning to her feet

"Hai," Kenji replied, having just come back out from the

house. "She has been with us for some months now and will

be with us for at least a few more. Her parents moved

overseas before she was born. However, they want their

daughter to know of her Japanese heritage and decided to

have her live in Japan for a while. As luck turns out we

ended up being the best choice for the job and for the

time being she has become another member of our family."

Kenji explained, parts of which were not too far from the

truth.

"It must be tough for such a young child to be away from

home for so long." Misaki said as the three of them

headed into the house.

"Hai it is." Ikuko said. "And there are times when she

misses her parents very much and I know she would like to

be able to go home. However, most of the time she is able

to handle the situation quite well. Amazingly, Usagi is a

big part of that; she helped ChibiUsa make the transition

quite well. The first few weeks, ChibiUsa was a wreck,

but Usagi got her through it and now I am more likely to

have to save ChibiUsa from a vengeful Usagi after one of

her pranks than having to deal with homesickness."

* * * * *

Not long after the car was unloaded, everyone sat down

for dinner, which was not a moment too soon for the two

Usagis. Conversation during the meal mainly focused on

ChibiUsa, with Misaki wanting to know as much as possible

about this new relative. By the end of the meal, the

family was very glad that they had given into Luna's

insistence that they practice ChibiUsa's cover story

multiple times the previous night, as otherwise there was

no way that they would have been able too keep it

coherent under all of Misaki's questioning.

Over the course of dinner Ikuko noticed as her daughter

seemed to withdraw from the conversation, after a while

not even reacting to the barbs that ChibiUsa would throw

her way. Ikuko hoped that Usagi's behavior was just a

result of being cooped up in the car for the long ride

and nothing more serious, particularly not indicating

some kind of Sailor problem. With everyone else focused

on ChibiUsa during the meal, Ikuko was the only one to

notice Usagi's behavior. When the meal finally ended,

Usagi and Ikuko stayed at the table to clean up while the

others went to get the telescope.

"Honey, are you feeling okay?" Ikuko asked once the

others were out of the room, in case something more than

just the car ride was bothering her daughter.

Usagi put down the dishes she was carrying into the sink

before responding, "Am not sure, I kind of feel a little

out of it." Usagi said, trying to voice what she was

feeling, but not really finally feeling the right words.

Relieved that nothing more serious than maybe a cold was

bothering Usagi, Ikuko replied, "You are probably just

tired out from the car ride. It was a long trip and even

though you slept for most of it, it was not a restful

sleep for your body."

Usagi thought about that and decided that her mother's

explanation made a lot of sense. These wings she had

gotten from her battle with Beryl could at times be quite

inconvenient and this was one of those times. A long

drive crammed in the back seat of the car was never very

comfortable and having wings made it even less so. And

while she did ride here with her wings pulled in,

figuring that would be more comfortable and less likely

to cause a problem should she forget to pull them in

before getting out of the car, there was that strain

associated with just having them pulled in and she could

feel her body wanting to let her wings out.

As if reading her mind with regards to letting her wings

out, Ikuko suggested, "You might want to skip the

stargazing tonight and get a good night's rest. Plus it

will let you really stretch out after that car ride."

Ikuko finished.

"Hai," a less than happy Usagi agreed. She did not want

to miss tonight's stargazing that was one of the

highlights of trips to her aunt's. And it was something

that now that she was Sailor Moon that she wanted to do

even more so, so that she could get a good look with her

own eyes at the birthplaces of her warriors. And right

now Jupiter, Mars, and Saturn were all visible in the

night sky.

However, even though she had agreed that skipping the

stargazing was the best idea, Usagi still headed out to

the back porch after she was finished helping her mother

clear the table. If she was not going to be able to gaze

through the telescope, she was still going to take this

opportunity to look at the night sky. Plus it felt great

out this night.

Most times, Usagi and her mother were the last of the

group to be ready, but this night the others were still

in the house. Though Usagi figured that their delay was

probably caused by Auntie Misaki showing ChibiUsa her

collection of star maps, model rockets and other related

paraphernalia. And so she spent her time waiting by

gazing at the moon, which had recently risen, feeling a

bit refreshed just by being in its rays. About ten

minutes later Shingo and ChibiUsa finally came out onto

the porch and not long after that her mom, dad and aunt.

"Everyone ready?" Kenji asked.

Getting up from where she had been sitting, Usagi said,

"Oji-san I think I may be coming down with something. And

so I am going to go to bed early tonight."

"You sure about that?" Kenji asked, knowing how much his

daughter had been looking forward to this stargazing.

"Hai,"

"Well, feel better and maybe tomorrow night we can look

for rabbits on the Moon." her dad said.

"Dad!" Usagi replied in mock indignation over his usual

astronomy joke for her, though of course now it held a

lot more truth than he had known when he first made it

eight years earlier.

Before heading in, Usagi walked over to her aunt to give

the older lady her apologies. Though, Misaki did not give

her chance to even begin apologizing, as she instead

immediately pulled the teenager into a quick hug.

Sensitive to Usagi feeling ill, this time her hug was

less bone crushing and shorter. Releasing the silver

haired girl, she said, "Get a good night's rest and to

make sure you are back to yourself tomorrow I'll make you

some of my special pancakes in the morning."

"Hai," Usagi happily though sedately agreed, a further

indication to all present that she was definitely coming

down with something.

They waited until Usagi disappeared into the house before

beginning their hike out to the field where they were

going to set up the telescope. Ikuko walked beside

ChibiUsa during the short hike and let a gap open up

between the two of them and the other three members of

the family so that she could ask ChibiUsa a question. "I

would have thought her Senshi powers would keep her from

getting sick."

Chuckling at memories from her past trip into the past

that were triggered by that comment, ChibiUsa replied,

"Nope, not at all, though by my time, they rarely get

sick and generally not for long. However, I have seen all

of them completely knocked out by a flue bug that was

going around Tokyo. A bug that even you got, which left

me and Minako the only ones unaffected and responsible

for taking care of everyone."

Not realizing that ChibiUsa was talking about the

timeline which no longer existed, Ikuko was about to ask

the child what she was referring to, since she hadn't had

anything more serious than a minor cold in the past few

years. But then just as she was opening her mouth to

voice her puzzlement, she realized that ChibiUsa was

referring to the previous timeline and quickly closed her

mouth. Silently she scolded herself for almost committing

that faux pas and opening a can of worms that they did

not need to address on this trip. Though she was

intrigued by how ChibiUsa had voiced that she and Minako

were the ones taking care of everyone, as if that was

some kind of problem. Voicing her confusion, she asked,

"So what was the problem with you and Minako taking care

of everybody."

"Well there was no problem with the care I gave."

"Of course." Ikuko replied.

"However, Minako is Minako." ChibiUsa said.

That response was not much of an answer. Thinking about

ChibiUsa's response, Ikuko knew Minako to be a very

energetic and outgoing child, much like her own daughter,

if not more so. And while Minako utterly minced any

standard saying, that did not seem to be anything that

could be a real issue. Plus Minako did not seem to ever

be bothered by any of those. Furthermore, she did not

seem to be the type of person for whom failures meant

anything other than needing to try harder next time.

Reaching that point in her pondering, Ikuko began to see

the potential problem and as it became more apparent she

said, "Uh, oh."

"Hai, lets see. She tried to poison Ami, Makoto, Rei and

Usagi. Blew up a couple of stereos after killing their

eardrums. Oh and she lost control of the vacuum cleaner

when trying to clean the house for you and flooded the

laundry room when doing your laundry."

Ikuko's face just went white as she imagined the

disasters that ChibiUsa was describing. Making a mental

note to herself, Ikuko decided that should she ever think

she was going to be knocked out with some kind of illness

or injury she would immediately hire a maid service

before Minako could even think of volunteering to help.

Haruka-san or Michiru-san would probably good allies to

enlist in keeping her home Minako free as well.

"There is a reason why Momma had to sign a treaty with

other systems stating that she agreed that care of

prisoners by Venus is considered a crime against sentient

life." ChibiUsa added.

That added bit caused Ikuko to break out with her own

laughs. Thankfully, enough distance had opened up between

them and the others that she didn't have to try to

explain what she had found so funny to her sister.

* * * * *

"You should be able to see the rings of Saturn, their

inclination with Earth right now makes them quite

visible." Misaki said as she finished focusing the

telescope in on the gas giant. As was the case with the

Crab Nebula and every other object they had looked at

this evening, ChibiUsa made sure that she was the first

one to look at the planet after Misaki.

Even though she had visited the colonies, seeing the

various planets up close, there was something special

about viewing them from here on Earth with Misaki.

Looking through the telescope, she gasped at the majesty

of Saturn. Looking at Saturn was even more special than

the other planets as she had never before seen Saturn or

Pluto. Amazingly this was the first time in her life that

she had done any serious stargazing that is using a

telescope. The only reason she had seen the other planets

was because she had either been on them or on a colony in

orbit of said planet and consequently since Pluto and

Saturn had no colonies she had never seen either of those

two planets before.

A few years before the Dark Moon attack she had asked

Mercury-sensei why there were no colonies in orbit of

Saturn or Pluto. Unfortunately the multi-hour long she

got as an answer did not make things any more clear. She

did somewhat understand the part about soon after the

death of a Sailor Senshi a replacement would be born from

the colonies on or in orbit of her planet. That part made

sense, since a Mars born should really be the Senshi of

Mars and not say a Jupiter born child. But the

explanations of why Saturn and Pluto were special, she

did not follow at all.

Finished with looking at Saturn, ChibiUsa moved away from

the telescope so that the others could have a look.

Shingo was the first to follow and then followed by Kenji

and Ikuko with Misaki taking a final look after all of

the others.

Seeing Misaki pull back from the telescope, Kenji said,

"Well that is probably enough for tonight. It is time for

these two to get some sleep."

Shingo and ChibiUsa reluctantly agreed and helped to

gather up the supplies from the evening's stargazing.

"So what did you like looking at the most?" Misaki asked

the two children.

"The Horse head Nebula" replied Shingo

"And how about you ChibiUsa?"

ChibiUsa thought of the various planets and nebula they

had looked at, trying to think of which one she liked the

best. As she ran down the list she found that she did not

have a favorite, or at least that was the case until she

got to the last object they had looked at, Saturn. It

wasn't really any more spectacular, in fact some of the

nebula looked better. But for some reason she felt a

comforting feeling looking at the planet as if it would

protect her, in much the same way that her mother's smile

made her feel safe. Voicing those thoughts, she said

"Saturn."

"Saturn does look quite beautiful tonight with its

rings." Ikuko said.

"Hai, it does." ChibiUsa replied. "But I just like it."

she added, explaining what she liked about it.

Kenji and Ikuko just smiled in response to that,

wondering if the reason why ChibiUsa liked it was because

of its Sailor Senshi. Neither of them could remember any

of the girls being introduced as Sailor Saturn, but that

meant nothing from when ChibiUsa came from.

Not long after that, they arrived back at the house.

After first stopping in the bathroom to brush her teeth,

she headed to her and Usagi's room and got changed for

bed. Turning off the room's light she subconsciously

walked over to where Usagi lay sleeping first and sat

down beside her. She did not know why she wanted to come

over by her mother and so she just sat there until a

content feeling coursed through her body. Satisfied she

walked over to her own sleeping bag, crawled in and went

to sleep.

* * * * *

All too soon as far as ChibiUsa was concerned morning

came. She tried to stay in bed and get some more sleep,

but the bright morning sun soon ended that battle.

Finally admitting defeat, ChibiUsa opened her eyes and

stretched. Looking across the room, she saw where Usagi

was still sleeping. Leaving Usagi asleep, ChibiUsa

quietly dressed herself before leaving the room.

"Well good morning ChibiUsa-chan." Misaki said as she saw

the still sleepy child walk into the dining room. "Did

you sleep well?"

"Morning, Auntie Misaki. And, Hai I did." ChibiUsa

replied, to which her tummy grumbled its desire to be

fed.

Misaki just smiled to that while telling ChibiUsa to sit

down at the table while she walked into the kitchen. "If

you think you can wait a few more minutes to feed that

tummy of yours, I'll make up some blueberry pancakes for

you."

"Suigoi!" ChibiUsa replied.

The young girl did not have to wait long before Misaki

brought her a nice tall stack of pancakes to eat.

"Arigatoo Auntie-Misaki."

"Your welcome ChibiUsa-chan. Ikuko told me that you have

an appetite similar to Usagi, so I hope this will be

sufficient for you." ChibiUsa nodded an agreement that

the stack looked sufficiently large. "Speaking of Usagi

how is she doing?"

Taking a break from stuffing her mouth with pancake,

ChibiUsa replied, "Sleeping, I'll wake her after I finish

breakfast. Blueberry pancakes are sure to get her up."

"Hai." Agreed Misaki, knowing how easy it could be to

motivate her niece with food.

The rest of ChibiUsa's breakfast passed with just the

sound of her munching on the pancakes, though as usual

that did not last that long. Finished with her meal,

ChibiUsa said, "Those were very good, thank you again

Auntie Misako." as she got up from the table.

"Glad that you enjoyed them ChibiUsa-chan. Here I'll take

those from you, you go see to your cousin." Misaki said

as she took ChibiUsa's dishes.

"Hai," ChibiUsa replied as she took her leave. Arriving

at the door to her and Usagi's room, she quietly opened

it and entered. Walking to where Usagi was sleeping on

the floor, she knelt down beside her mother and softly

said, "Okaa-san, Auntie Misaki is making blueberry

pancakes for you."

"Blueberry pancakes?" came the enthusiastic reply from

Usagi as her body made a sudden transition from being

dead to the world to being full of energy. Sitting up she

turned to face ChibiUsa and could smell the blueberries

on the young girl's breath. But as she did so she found

that she needed to put a hand down on the ground to

steady her body, finding herself to be a little light

headed.

"Okaa-san are you ok?" ChibiUsa worriedly asked as she

saw Usagi sway.

"Don't worry, I think I am just coming down with a bug.

But I am sure those pancakes will make me feel better."

Usagi said trying to sound cheerful. "Here help me up."

she asked the younger girl.

Grabbing a hold of Usagi's offered hand, ChibiUsa helped

to pull the teenager to her feet. Standing all of the way

up, Usagi paused for a moment to take stock of how she

was feeling. She still felt a little woozy, but not

enough that she felt she was in danger of falling back

down. Along with the woozy feeling, there was a distinct

sense of being sick, but she could not pin down anything

being wrong in particular. She just felt overall sick,

and unfortunately, that probably did mean that she had

indeed come down with a nasty little cold bug and would

likely be out for the rest of the weekend. Now why

couldn't I get this cold bug at a better time, like say

during the school week? Usagi silently complained to

herself. While going back to sleep was a very tempting

option, the call of blueberry pancakes was even more so.

And anyways, Usagi told herself that she could always

return to the bed after getting her fill of pancakes.

Usagi was about to start walking to the door, when she

remembered that she could not go walking around the house

with her wings out. But that was no problem; it took just

a simple thought to initiate the magic that hid her

wings. Before the trip, she had given a fair bit of

thought to the whether she wanted to sleep with her wings

pulled in or not. While pulling them in theory would take

care of the possibility of forgetting to pull them in

before leaving her room (as she almost just did), there

were the issue of it being quite uncomfortable to keep

them pulled in for extended periods of time and now even

more so with her wing injury.

The issue of what to do with her wings had even been the

topic of a recent meeting, with Minako pointing out on

that part that Usagi was going to need to make sure that

she got a single when she went off to college. When Ami

had pointed out that singles were often hard to get for

freshmen, the blonde had just replied that Ami with her

computer could take care of that and then let her mind

wonder to other hacking that Ami could do, a train of

thought that was quenched soon after by Rei and Makoto.

Smiling at the memory of how that conversation ended,

Usagi initiated the magic to look like anyone else. All

set, she turned to look at ChibiUsa while reaching out a

hand to take her daughter's hand. However, she never

finished turning around, as her turning was accompanied

by a sudden collapse to the floor, unconscious.

ChibiUsa watched like a deer caught in headlights as her

mother fell to the ground, unable to move her body. It

was only the sound of Usagi's upper body hitting the mats

that snapped ChibiUsa into motion. The young girl cried

out in a sob "Usagi!" which while forceful was not loud,

not that she was thinking at the moment about the need to

avoid drawing Aunt Misaki's attention, while also lunging

towards Usagi.

Usagi lay on the floor for a few moments as her world

stopped spinning and she regained the ability to put a

string of conscious thoughts together. Not yet realizing

what happened, Usagi opened her eyes and lifted her head

just in time to see ChibiUsa consumed with fear hurtling

herself towards her. Maternal instincts controlling her

actions, Usagi rolled her body and lifted herself up

slightly so that she could reach out and pull the

trembling child to her chest. "Shush my muzume, I'm okay.

Guess being light headed doesn't match too well with

being a scatterbrain and klutz." Usagi said, the last

part trying to get a laugh out of ChibiUsa.

A tear streaked ChibiUsa looked up at Usagi, not quite

believing the older girl's statement. However, Usagi's

joke did have the intended effect of stopping ChibiUsa's

tears when the young girl gave a solitary giggle. Usagi

smiled back at ChibiUsa before pulling the young girl

back into the embrace, an embrace that they remained in

for a while. When they finally did break apart so that

they were looking at each other's faces again, ChibiUsa's

eyes widened in alarm.

"Usagi your moon mark is visible!" ChibiUsa exclaimed.

"Nani-ka." replied the older girl, as she reached up to

her forehead as if she could feel the mark. "I wonder why

it is visible, it should be hidden."

ChibiUsa shrugged her shoulders not sure of the answer

either. Then noticing something else, she said, "Usagi,

it's dim. It looks a lot like you do."

Usagi did not quite know what to make of that, though

filed it away for asking Luna about after the trip. She

tried a couple of times to hide the crescent moon mark,

but each time ChibiUsa just shook her head. Usagi also

tried to pull in her wings a second time, but this time

she didn't even succeed for a moment, though she at least

remained conscious.

"My cold it must be affecting my powers." Usagi

theorized. As she spoke that thought out loud, Usagi

realized that in fact she wasn't really that surprised

about this unexpected effect, part of her having

subconsciously already expected it. ChibiUsa also

appeared to buy Usagi's explanation and finally

completely calmed down.

"Of course with us being at Auntie Misaki's this proves a

problem." Usagi said

"Of course it does odango-atama." ChibiUsa said in a

harsh voice.

Usagi recognized that ChibiUsa was only voicing her

frustrations and decided to let that comment slide.

"ChibiUsa-chan, I have a makeup kit in my bag could you

bring it here. I think I might be able to hide the

crescent moon with it."

"Hai." replied ChibiUsa as she got up and walked over to

where Usagi's suitcase lay on the ground. Opening the

bag, she hunted around in it for a few minutes before

finding the requested item. Taking it out, she asked,

"Bring enough stuff?" as she walked back. Usagi just

replied to that comment by sticking out her tongue.

Accepting the makeup kit with a quiet word of thanks,

Usagi went about attempting to disguise some of her non-

Tehran heritage. She hadn't tried to do this before,

instead being able to rely on her glamour magic and as

she went about hiding the mark, she became very

appreciative of her glamour magic. The Moon mark had an

intrinsic glow that made it hard to obscure, though

thankfully with it already being quite dim from her

illness it was not too difficult. Many minutes later she

was finally satisfied with her disguise. As a final touch

to help hide it from prying eyes, she decided to leave

her hair down to partially obscure it that way as well.

With that done, there was now only the minor issue of her

very obvious wings. For a moment, she contemplated just

going back to bed and remaining in bed all weekend long.

However, she really wanted those blueberry pancakes. Of

course, she could just have ChibiUsa get them for her.

But she was going to have to be seen out of the bed at

some point by Auntie Misako, if not now, when they left

Sunday evening. And she might as well figure out what to

do about this problem. Plus, most importantly, there was

no telling how many of those delicious pancakes ChibiUsa

would pilfer while bringing the plate in.

Not sure of how she was going to hide her wings, Usagi

went over to her bag and began to rummage through it,

looking for anything that might potentially be useful.

Five minutes later, as she reached the bottom of her bag,

she found something – a slightly oversized robe. When she

had been packing her bag, she had not known why she had

felt the need to pack it, but now she was very glad that

she had. Taking it out she carefully folder her wings

before putting it on. Turning around in front of

ChibiUsa, the younger child gave her approval of the

disguise.

Now ready to be seen by her aunt, Usagi said, "Ok I think

I am ready to try this again." and reached out a hand to

take ChibiUsa's.

"Hai" ChibiUsa replied as the two of them left the room,

with ChibiUsa walking very close to her mother.

* * * * *

"Oh you poor thing!" Misaki exclaimed as she saw Usagi

enter the dining room. Quickly getting up from the table,

she walked over and pulled Usagi into hug. Even when she

was perfectly healthy, Misaki's strangulation hugs were

just a hair breath from tortuous pain. But now having her

wings out and on top of that her wing injury, that hug

caused Usagi to grimace in intense pain. However, even as

that grimace began to cross her face, Usagi hid it away

with a smile, making sure that her aunt would not feel

any guilt over the pain that she was inadvertently

causing her niece.

While Usagi was able to hide her pain from her aunt, the

same was not the case with ChibiUsa. The link the two of

them shared worked both ways and so ChibiUsa was able to

feel a shadow of her mother's pain. Knowing how much

Auntie Misaki's hug was hurting her mother, ChibiUsa

looked up worriedly. She wanted to do something, anything

to force Misaki to release Usagi, however one look into

Usagi's eyes cut those thoughts short. Instead, ChibiUsa

was left to only hold her worry in as the hug continued.

But before long, the hug was over and Misaki was guiding

Usagi to a spot by the table.

"Now you just sit right there and ChibiUsa and I will get

your breakfast for you. Before you know it, I'll have you

back to your normal self. And if this breakfast is not

enough there is always my chicken soup for lunch."

"Arigatoo" Usagi replied already feeling some of her

strength returning as she thought about her aunt's

cooking. While Makoto was a very accomplished cook,

Misaki was at a completely different level. Her meals

were simple, yet the love she managed to incorporate in

them, made them better than even the fanciest meals. And

as a result a simple bowl of her chicken soup could heal

the nastiest colds.

Before Usagi could daydream too much about her aunt's

cooking, ChibiUsa returned with a bowl of Miso soup for

Usagi to start off with. She also brought back a small

bowl for herself. Picking up the spoon, Usagi began to

sip the soup, enjoying it flavors. Looking over to

ChibiUsa, she gave the girl a smile letting her know that

she'll be okay.

Finishing the bowl of soup, Usagi placed her spoon down

in the bowl and moved it off to the side. And she was

just in time, as Misaki chose that moment to come out of

the kitchen with a heaping plate of pancakes.



"Hope that this is enough for you. Though after seeing

how many of these ChibiUsa was able to pack away, I am

not sure if I have enough pancake mix in the house for

your appetite."

"Auntie-Misako!" both Usagi and ChibiUsa exclaimed in

response to her teasing of their appetites. ChibiUsa had

initially been gloating while Misaki was saying her

taunt, but then realized that she was being taunted in

the process of the taunt at her older "cousin."

"I take it the food inhaler is awake." Shingo said as he

walked bleary eyed into the dining room. Usagi's only

response to which was to stick out her tongue and pull

down an eyelid. ChibiUsa just smirked.

"Now that is not a nice thing to say Shingo-chan. Even if

you older sister can eat an army's worth of rations."

Misaki said, getting another sour look from her niece.

"Just remember she has to be doing something with all

that food she eats. And since she has kept her slim body,

she must be using that to gain strength. If you are not

careful she might be able to beat you up even when you

grow older."

Shingo just grumbled in response to that, as he lost her

support for his taunting. She doesn't realize how truly

accurate that prediction is. he thought to himself.

Even Ami will always be able to beat me up like it was

nothing. Though as he thought about Ami, he internally

blushed, thinking about how cute she was. Of course just

like Sailor Moon, Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune,

Sailor Mercury was also off limits. That didn't really

leave much in the way of the Sailor Senshi for a young

boy to have crushes on. Sailor Pluto was just a bit too

intimidating, so that only left Venus and Jupiter. Though

Venus was the original, Sailor V, and she was the goddess

of love, she just did not stack up quite so well with her

sister in coolness (for the rescue) and Sailor Mercury

for cuteness. As for Sailor Jupiter, she was just a bit

on the tall side.

"Earth to Shingo." Usagi said as she waved a hand in

front of her brother's face. While he had knelt down at

the table, he was just staring blankly ahead lost in her

internal rating of who was the cutest Senshi.

Blushing, Shingo snapped out of his thoughts and mumbled

an excuse that nobody could make out. Thankfully, his

sister was not given the opportunity to ask any questions

as Misaki choose that time to come out with his own stack

of pancakes. Watching Shingo take a bite of his

breakfast, Usagi was reminded of her own food and dug

back in.

* * * * *

"What is it that you wished to speak with me about, oh

Wiseman?" Rubeus humbly asked as his reality became that

of the Death Phantom's prison.

"The candidate to replace Kaolinite, Eudial is no good."

The Wiseman responded.

"Why, if I might ask?" Rubeus questioned, as he had been

sure that of the remaining potential warriors, Eudial was

the best to take up the task of searching out energy and

these supposed Talismans.

"I question her loyalty." was the Wiseman's only

response.

"Her loyalty? Then should I have her killed." Rubeus

eagerly asked.

"No, right now she is fully devoted to the professor.

However, that is a result of the previous demon that had

attempted to use the professor and his daughter to invade

the Earth. I don't know how giving her more power will

effect that spell, it could very well allow her to break

free. She is entirely devoted to Hotaru and if her mind

is given the power to seek other solutions it will." The

Wiseman explained, having recently probed Eudial's mind.

"Can't you replace that spell with a better one?" Rubeus

asked, in particular referring to how the Wiseman was

planning on turning the Rabbit.

"I could, but she is not worth it. Find me another

candidate." The Wiseman commanded and then the connection

was broken and Rubeus found himself back in the real

world. Standing up he crushed the crystal he was holding,

frustrated with this complication. Not quite satisfied he

blasted the body from which he had extracted this life

force before teleporting out of the warehouse.

Ideally, he would have liked to have gifted all of the

professor's lab assistants with the power of Nemesis and

let them fight to be the best. However, the Wiseman could

not expend that much energy and so he was left choosing.

He guessed that the next best option was Mimete, however

something about her just did not strike him as right. She

was competitive, yet very lax in actually doing the work.

Maybe one of the other witches would work. Though he did

not want to send out his best warriors right away, he

wanted to save them for the final real battle against

Serenity.

* * * * *

Finishing up with her breakfast, Usagi got up and

returned to her room while Shingo and ChibiUsa headed

outside to play. Sitting down on her bed, Usagi tried to

assess how she was feeling. She definitely felt quite a

bit better having had some breakfast. Though even while

the boost of energy from breakfast was making her want to

be up and about, she could still feel that she was still

sick.

Finally deciding on what she wanted to do, Usagi went to

her bag and pulled out some of Rei's manga. With those in

hand she then proceeded to head outside. Walking out on

the porch, she went over to the swinging bench that

Misaki had and after adjusting the pillows plopped

herself down on it and proceeded to begin reading her

friend's manga.

Very quickly Usagi became lost in her reading and the few

remaining hours of the morning passed her by bringing

lunch. Eating lunch wit the rest of the family, she,

Shingo and ChibiUsa learned that their parents and Auntie

Misaki were going to go into the town for a bit after

lunch.

Finished with her lunch, Usagi turned to ChibiUsa and

asked her, "ChibiUsa-chan would you like to go swimming?"

"Hai!" the young girl enthusiastically replied.

"Then why don't you go get yourself changed and we can

head on down." ChibiUsa's reply to that statement was to

tear off toward the room that the two of them were

sharing and to quickly change.

"You sure you feel up to walking down to the pond?"

Misaki asked her niece.

"Hai, I am feeling a lot better after having your chicken

soup to eat." Usagi replied. In some ways the pick up in

energy that she was feeling was not that much different

from the energy boost she felt when here friends would

band together and lend her their energies.

"Even still Usagi, I would like Shingo to go down to the

pond with you as well." Ikuko said not entirely happy

with how Usagi looked.

Shingo who was finishing the last bit of his lunch looked

up in surprise, having heard his name called. "Huh?" he

said not having been paying attention to the

conversation.

"Shingo, I would like you to go to the pond with Usagi

and ChibiUsa-chan, so that you can keep an eye on your

sister. She may be saying that she is feeling all better,

but I know better."

Shingo nodded his understanding as he got from the table

to go get himself changed, all the while mumbling under

his breath about having to baby sit his baka sister.

Though under that mumbling was a sincere happiness to be

asked to do this, there was just something about being

asked to watch over the one called Sailor Moon while she

was ill that he found pride in, now for at least a short

period of time he could be the strong one. Of course

under no circumstances would he let anyone and especially

not his sister know his real thoughts on the matter, or

at least no one other than Luna.

"Hai, Shingo can come," Usagi said agreeing to her

mother's requirement and then took her leave to get

changed into a bathing suit.

* * * * *

An hour later found the trio down by the pond. As soon as

they arrived, ChibiUsa and Shingo dropped what they were

carrying, undressed down to their swimsuits and made a

beeline for the water. Usagi would have been right up

there with them if it were not for her illness. As it

was, she was feeling a bit winded from the walk down to

the watering hole. They had not walked that far, only

about ten minutes. But thankfully that was all the

distance they had to walk, much further and she would

have had to take a breather. And having Shingo accompany

them down was good fortune as he ended up being their

pack mule.

So while ChibiUsa and Shingo played in the pond, Usagi

decided to sit down by where those two had discarded

their clothes and Shingo had left the supplies he had

been carrying. Getting a blanket out of the bag, she laid

it out on the ground before sitting down on it lying down

on it. Closing her eyes she just enjoyed the peacefulness

of the countryside while she listened to the sounds of

Shingo and ChibiUsa playing. Usagi rested like that for a

while before finally sitting back up. While she had been

lying down, ChibiUsa and Shingo had started up a game of

Marco Polo. Currently Shingo was it and appeared to be

having a hard time catching ChibiUsa, for the pink haired

girl kept making quick dives down to the bottom of the

pond to escape from Shingo when he got too close.

ChibiUsa's strategy held up for quite a few minutes, but

eventually on one dive Shingo had managed to get close

enough to her to get a general gist of which direction

she was heading in and took off in that direction. The

two of them swam at a similar rate and when ChibiUsa

finally surfaced, she popped up right under in front of

Shingo. Coming to the surface she stopped swimming so

that she could look around and find Shingo, however,

Shingo, swimming with his eyes closed, did not stop and

as a result rammed ChibiUsa. Watching from the shore,

Usagi couldn't help but breaking into a spat of giggles

at what she saw.

Hearing Usagi's hyena laughs ChibiUsa and Shingo turned

and looked her direction. Glancing at each other, a

silently communicated plan was developed as evidenced by

the evil smile that crossed both of their faces. Turning

back to their quarry, they both suddenly dived down to

the bottom of the pound and swam for the shore. They swam

not straight at Usagi, but to points a few meters to

either side of Usagi. Surfacing in the shallow water, the

two of them quickly jogged out of the water and then made

a turn to runs towards Usagi. Usagi for her part had

stopped laughing and had just realized that ChibiUsa and

Shingo were no longer in the water. But before she could

wonder where they could have gotten off to, she found

them at her sides grabbing a hold of her arms. The two

younger children then quickly pulled the protesting

teenager to her feet and then with some more effort out

into the water.

With the two pulling Usagi, she stumbled through her

initial steps into the pond and shivered at the coolness

of the water. Though whether or not the water was too

cold for her tastes was never an option as just as she

was straightening herself back up from being pulled out

to the water, Shingo lunged for her legs and took her

under. Surfacing, a drenched Usagi gave her brother a

mock glare and contemplated how she was going to get her

revenge, though that thought process was cut short when

she was dunked a second time, this time by ChibiUsa. Not

about to let her daughter have it easy, she reached up a

hand as she went down and grabbed a hold of the little

girl, pulling her down as well.

Shingo smirked at his sister's second dunking and an

additional one for her ability to grab ChibiUsa on the

way down. However, being an expert prankster, he knew

that he was the next target and so took the opportunity

to swim away. When Usagi and ChibiUsa came up a few

moments later, he was safely on the other side of the

pond. Giving her brother a glare, Usagi decided to let

her revenge wait for later. Letting her body fall

backwards, Usagi resumed her lounging. Seeing that she

had gotten all the fun that she was going to get out of

her mother for now, ChibiUsa swam over to the other side

of the pond so that she and Shingo could continue their

game.

Some time later, Usagi noticed that the sun had fallen a

fair bit of the way through the sky. Realizing that meant

that her parents and aunt would be getting back soon,

Usagi knew it was time to get out of the water. The last

thing she wanted was for her aunt to come down here to

join them at the pond and see her wings. If only she

wasn't sick she could stay in the water a while longer,

it was just so nice out here. But as it was, she was

pushing her luck. Getting out of the water she walked

over to where their stuff lay and picked up a towel and

began to dry herself off. Examining her wings for a

moment, she was glad to see that they seemed to have had

no problem with getting wet, this was the first time she

had gotten them wet. Pulling on a shirt and a pair of

shorts, Usagi called out to the other two, "ChibiUsa,

Shingo it is time to get out."

"Another five minutes." Shingo called back

"Please, okaa-san" ChibiUsa added in her most adorable

puppy dogface.

Any other day Usagi would have fallen for their pleading

but not today. "If I have to get out of the water, then

you have to too. Now lets go you little spore." Usagi

replied

ChibiUsa responded by pulling down an eyelid and sticking

out her tongue. However, she and Shingo did do as

directed and climbed out of the pond.

Before long, Shingo was loaded back up with all of their

stuff, and Usagi was again wrapped up in her robe. All

set, they began the trek back up to the house, Usagi

wishing that Makoto was there to carry her back. Even

though she had spent the past hour just lounging around

in the water, being out in the sun had tired her out and

she was all set to drop back off to sleep.

"So ChibiUsa how is Hotaru doing?" Usagi asked, referring

to the incident the previous week.

"She seems to be all better, she was back in school on

Wednesday. And she said that her father only kept her out

of school on Monday and Tuesday because he was worried

about her. She said, she was all dressed and walking out

the door when her father told her that he had called the

school and told them that she wasn't going to be coming

in."

Usagi let out a muffled laugh at that last bit and

remembered vaguely of ChibiUsa telling her Wednesday

evening that Hotaru had returned to school that day.

"Nothing happened to her as a result of that attack?"

"She was badly bruised and cut up, but nothing more than

that. She didn't remember anything more about what

happened than I did. Both of us passed out after that

witch blasted us. I guess that must have been when Pu

arrived."

"Which reminds me, I need to find out from Diana what she

knows about that gentleman who brought you and Hotaru

back to Hotaru's house. You don't happen to know anything

about him do you?"

"Gomen, all I know is that his name is Keffer. I was too

worried about Hotaru at the time and he of course was

gone before I woke up in the morning." ChibiUsa replied.

"Don't worry about it, you had your mind full." Usagi

said as she pulled her daughter in close against her as

they walked.

Hearing the snapping of some twigs, Shingo asked, "What's

that?"

"Huh?" replied Usagi and ChibiUsa as they turned to look

at Shingo.

"Thought I heard something in the woods." explained

Shingo.

Looking in the direction that Shingo was indicating,

Usagi did not see anything and so said, "You probably

just heard a squirrel."

Though not exactly satisfied with Usagi's explanation,

Shingo accepted it and so the trio continued walking.

Though they had not walked that far when all three of

them heard a large beast grunting. Hearing that sound,

they stopped and turned in the direction of the noise,

none of them wanting to see the creature that made that

noise. This time the creature was plainly visible, having

come out of the woods and onto the path, and none of them

liked what they saw, for what stood in front of them was

a vaguely minotaur like demon with a large wooden club.

"Nani-ka, what is that doing here?" Usagi asked as along

with ChibiUsa and Shingo she began to slowly back away

from the creature. She did not know how the enemy had

found them here, but she was going to make sure that this

creature did not harm her brother or daughter. But even

as she let her body slip into a fighting stance, Usagi

knew that she could not fight this creature, she did not

have the strength or energy in her current condition. She

also knew that there was no way she was going to get

ChibiUsa and Shingo to leave her here, and so that left

only one option. Standing back up, she quickly pivoted

around and grabbed the hands of ChibiUsa and Shingo and

yelled "RUN!"

As soon as Shingo and ChibiUsa began running, Usagi let

go of their hands, to let them run faster. And given that

unlike her they were healthy, the two of them quickly

began outpacing her. While Usagi was running at a much

slower pace, the creature was not a fast runner either

and so Usagi was able to maintain her lead. Unfortunately

for Usagi, running was not a recommended activity given

her current condition, and consequently with a hundred

meters she began to tire. From her training as Sailor

Moon, she was able to force her body to keep up the pace,

but what she could not maintain were her reflexes. And so

she began to find it hard to dodge tree branches and

other obstacles.

Hearing a yelp of shock from Usagi, ChibiUsa and Shingo

stopped running and turned. To their horror, they found

Usagi splayed out face down on the ground, having tripped

over a rock with the demon closing quickly. The two of

them let out a sigh of relief as Usagi began to push

herself up off the ground, but that sigh quickly became

even more horror when Usagi collapsed right back down

this time slipping into unconsciousness from lack of

energy.

While Usagi's collapse back to the ground took Shingo by

surprise, the same was not true for ChibiUsa. From their

link she could feel her mother's life-force waver and

therefore knew that something was wrong. When that fear

was confirmed, ChibiUsa sprung into motion as she took a

hold of her transformation broach and became Sailor

ChibiMoon and began running towards her mother.

ChibiUsa's transformation snapped Shingo into action and

he also went to the aid of his big sister.

Realizing that Shingo was joining her, ChibiMoon said,

"That thing is an Oni, a naturally occurring demon. They

are not very powerful, though they are not very pleasant

either." and quite ugly as well.

By the time the two of them got close to Usagi, the

creature had already reached where the silver haired girl

lay and was in the process of stooping down to pickup its

dinner. Moving quickly to draw its attention away from

her mother, ChibiMoon summoned her moon wand and used her

Pink Sugar Heart Attack.

ChibiMoon's attempt to distract the demon's attention

away from Usagi was successful, as the young girl quickly

had to dive out of the way of a horn first charge by the

demon. A motion that she had to quickly follow with

another dodge to avoid being impaled by the spiked club

that the demon carried, the demon was much more nimble

than appearances would give it credit for.

Not about to let his cousin have all the fun, Shingo had

taken a few moments to grab a large branch that was lying

just inside of the woods. Using it as a club he charged

the demon, to his advantage Onis are fairly simple minded

creatures generally only able to focus on one thing at a

time. Given that the creature was focused on turning

ChibiMoon into a Sailor Pancake, it was caught unaware

when Shingo smashed his club into its back.

The creature roared out in pain and reared back away from

ChibiMoon to regard this new threat. Snorting, it swung

its club widely at Shingo. Thankfully it missed, as if it

hadn't Shingo would not have survived. Seeing Shingo

almost clobbered, ChibiMoon ran to Shingo's side, which

was unfortunately not a good idea for the beast upon

reaching the end of its swing, just swung the club right

back in the other direction equally as fast. With a large

gasp as the air was forced out of her lungs, ChibiMoon

was flung back into the woods to hit a large oak tree.

From where he knelt on the ground Shingo saw ChibiMoon

get clobbered in her stomach and then heard the sickening

sound as her head smashed into the tree.

Rage now fueling his actions, Shingo cried out, "You

leave my cousin alone!" as he returned to his feet and

swung his club at the demon again. This time the hit

caused the creature to noticeable stagger, disrupting its

on club swing thereby giving Shingo the time he needed to

hit the creature a second time and then a third and

fourth. By the fifth swing the creature was being forced

down to its knees, but on his sixth swing Shingo's luck

ran out when with a snap his own club broke in two. Panic

crossed Shingo's face, and then he was sent flying when

the demon backhanded him. With the distractions taken

care of, the Oni turned its attention back to its dinner.

Feeling a bit dazed, ChibiMoon ignored her pain and got

back to her feet. Walking back out of the woods she tried

to think of how she was going to defeat this demon.

Thinking back to her combat lessons from Jupiter-sensei

and demon hierarchy lessons from Mars-sensei, she knew

that Onis were not that difficult to take out. They were

about as dangerous as a bear, which meant that they were

nothing for regular humans to go after, but would be

nothing for a Sailor Senshi, even one in training.

However, even if she intellectually knew that she could

beat this creature that was quite different from actually

having to face one.

What would Sailor Moon do in a situation like this?

ChibiUsa asked herself. Well first she would cry in

fright and then run around in circles dodging its attacks

until Tuxedo-kamen showed up. Then she would moon dust it

with her… Wait, that's it. ChibiUsa thought as she

suddenly realized the solution to her problems. There was

one weapon that she and Sailor Moon did share in common,

or at least she hoped that they shared. She had never

actually used it before, but if she was supposed to be

Sailor Moon, then she would logically have that ability

as well.

Reaching up, ChibiMoon removed her tiara. Looking at it

she wondered, Ok, now how do I go about making this

work. It can't be took complicated, as Usagi was able to

figure out how to do it on her own. As she stared at the

tiara, she felt it begin to get warm as her energy flowed

into it and she found herself knowing the necessary

words. "Hey ugly, I am not finished with you." She called

out to the Oni.

The creature stopped and turned to regard ChibiMoon with

some annoyance figuring that she was going to try and

steel its dinner yet again. Seeing how banged up this

dinner thief was, the Oni decided that ChibiMoon was not

much of a threat and with a dismissive snort it turned

back to its meal. That was a mistake.

"Moon Tiara Action." called out Sailor ChibiMoon as she

turned her tiara into a discus and tossed it at the

creature. With a clean swipe it cut the demon in half,

halves that proceeded to disintegrate into moon dust.

Seeing the demon defeated, ChibiMoon released a sigh of

relief while falling to her knees grateful that she had

been able to defeat the creature. Getting back to her

feet she ran over to where Shingo lay.

Sensing somebody nearby, Shingo turned his head. Finding

ChibiUsa he gave her a smile and said, "You did it."

"We did it." ChibiUsa corrected before asking, "Are you

okay?"

Not about to let his masculinity be called into question,

Shingo lied and said, "I'm fine, nothing but some minor

scratches. Why don't we see to Usagi."

"Hai." ChibiUsa agreed and quickly got up and ran over to

where her mother lay. Shingo followed much more slowly

and in a fair bit of pain.

"Usagi! Usagi wakeup!" ChibiUsa cried as she knelt beside

her mother.

Hearing, ChibiUsa's cries, Shingo quickly jogged the rest

of the distance to where his sister lay. Kneeling down,

he placed a hand on Usagi's back to see if he feel the

rise and fall of her chest and was relieved to find her

still breathing. "ChibiUsa-chan help me roll Usagi onto

to her back." he said, as he tried to remember the little

bit of school first aid training. Though about the only

thing he remembered from those lessons was that she

should be on her back and something about raising the

feet. Needing something to use to raise his sister's feet

he asked, "ChibiUsa can you get me the bag?"

Not sure what Shingo was getting at, ChibiUsa however did

do as asked, eager to do anything that would make Usagi

wake up. When she got back with the bag Shingo took it

and placed it under his Usagi's feet. However, Usagi

still remained unconscious. With ChibiUsa getting more

worried by the minute, and himself not doing much better,

Shingo tried to think of something else to do to wake his

sister up. "Usagi, you're late for school." He yelled

into her ear, however that did not garner any response.

Then trying another phrase, he said, "Usagi, Mamoru-kun

is here."

While that attempt did not wake Usagi, it did give

ChibiUsa an idea. While unlike during her previous trip

she and Usagi did not fight over Mamoru, ChibiUsa

wondered if that might still work and decided to give it

a try. Leaning in close to Usagi's ear she softly

whispered, "Usagi, Mamo-chan is here and he is going to

take me out on a date not you."

Reacting instantly, Usagi yelled, "Why you little spore,

Mamo-chan is my boyfriend not yours!" as she bolted up

right. The sudden act of sitting up caused Usagi to get a

little light headed and she complained, "Ooh, my head."

as she placed a hand up against her head. Sitting there

like that for a few minutes, she began to remember what

had happened. Forgetting what ChibiUsa had said to wake

her, she instead just asked, "Where is the demon?"

"ChibiUsa defeated it." Shingo proudly said.

Surprised by that, but not showing it too much, Usagi

proudly looked at ChibiUsa and asked, "All by yourself?"

"Well not exactly, Shingo helped quite a bit." ChibiUsa

admitted, "And it was only an Oni."

Usagi's response was to just pull ChibiUsa into a tight

hug while giving Shingo a bright smile as well. "Well

then, it is time for us to continue on back; mom, dad and

auntie Misako are probably starting to wander what

happened to us." Releasing ChibiUsa, Usagi prepared to

stand up, but then realized that she did not have the

strength to get back to her feet. With an embarrassed

look and a hand behind her head, Usagi turned back to the

other two and admitted, "I don't think I have the

strength to get up."

ChibiUsa's reaction to that statement was to get very

worried. Seeing that Shingo said, "ChibiUsa stay here

with Usagi and watch her, I will go get mom and dad." As

soon as ChibiUsa nodded her head in agreement, Shingo

took off in a dead run.

Pounding his feet as fast as he could, it was not long

before he arrived at the house. Ripping the door open, he

found three very surprised adults. "Usagi… Usagi, she

fainted on the trail." Shingo managed to get out between

gasps of air.

"Something's wrong with my baby?" Ikuko asked, fright in

her voice and Shingo nodded.

Though even before Shingo's confirmation the there adults

were already heading to the door to put on their shoes.

Once they had their shoes on they all headed down the

trail to see to Usagi, however Shingo remained behind.

Now alone in the house, Shingo lumbered off to the

bathroom to clean his wounds. Any other time, he would

have wanted his mom to take care of his injuries. But

with a momentarily mature insight, he knew that it would

be best to let his mom focus all of her energy on Usagi

and not worry her that he had been hurt as well or even

more so that there had been a demon attack.

* * * * *

An hour later found Ikuko sitting on the floor beside

Usagi. The three of them had found Usagi easily enough

and carried her back to the house and immediately to bed.

She had feared the worst as she ran down the path to her

fallen daughter, but to her relief she found Usagi

conscious, just too weak to stand up. Though to her

dismay she found that Usagi was running a fever, which

worried her.

Misaki and Kenji had already gotten up and left Usagi to

rest a few minutes earlier and Ikuko knew that she should

do the same. There was nothing more she could do for her

daughter and Usagi did need her rest. All the same there

was just this nagging feeling in her gut that there was

more to this illness. However, she was no doctor, but

that gave her an idea.

Getting up, Ikuko left the room and silently made her way

to the room that she and Kenji were staying in. Entering

the room, she closed the door and leaving the lights off

walked over to the nightstand. Picking up her purse she

quickly rummaged through it and pulled out a piece of

paper with the phone number that she needed.

Dialing the number, it was not long before she heard

"Moshi Moshi."

Hearing Mizuno-san's voice on the other end of the phone,

Ikuko realized that while Mizuno-san had been stopping by

every few days this past week to check on Usagi, she did

not really know this woman. Feeling a bit guilty for

using Mizuno-san's services for free and also feeling

some responsibility for the fact that Mizuno's daughter

was fighting under the leadership of her own daughter,

Ikuko resolved to make an effort to get to know this

woman after Usagi was healthy again. And as she thought

about Ami fighting along side Usagi, Ikuko also realized

that she should get to know the other parents as well.

These thoughts all crossed Ikuko's mind during the time

it took Rikou to answer the phone and they all fled from

her mind as the gates of worry broke and Ikuko said,

"Mizuno-san, this is Tsukino-san there is something wrong

with Usagi."

From her years as being a doctor, Rikou instantly

recognized the fear that was in Ikuko's voice. Instantly

transitioning to her professional mode, Rikou walked over

to the kitchen counter and picked up a pen and paper

while asking, "Ikuko-san what seems to be wrong with

Usagi?"

"I'm not exactly sure. If it were not for her wings I

would have taken her to the county clinic, but I am not

sure what to do."

The mention of Usagi's wings caused a part of Rikou's

mind to register that Usagi couldn't really be seen by

her regular doctor any more. That instead she was going

to need to become this girl's regular physician, but that

was an issue to deal with later. Right now, she needed to

calm a worried mother down and then do her best to

diagnose Usagi's condition.

"How is her pulse and breathing? Are they strong?" Rikou

asked.

"Hai they are." Ikuko absently replied.

"Then you probably don't have anything to worry about.

Remember that Usagi and the others have very strong

constitutions. You have seen some of the damage left by

the battles they have walked away from, I am sure that no

illness could keep these girls down." Rikou said in an

encouraging voice, figuring that Usagi was probably

suffering from a nasty cold or a viral infection.

"Hai." Ikuko half-heartedly agreed.

"Now why don't you describe her current condition to me

and we'll see if we can figure out what is wrong with

your daughter."

Over the next half hour Ikuko relayed what she knew of

Usagi's condition and after walking back into Usagi's

room with the phone, checked various things for Rikou.

Rikou was a bit disturbed by the multiple fainting

instances that Ikuko described, Ikuko had learned of

Usagi's problems that morning from ChibiUsa, but she did

not let Ikuko know her worries and anyways Rikou also

knew that many viral infections could cause similar

results.

"Ikuko-san, I still don't think you have anything to

worry about right now. From what you have described to

me, I would have to say that she probably has a viral

infection, though without a blood sample I can't be sure.

I am sure you are familiar with mononucleosis, it has

very similar symptoms to Usagi's and in particular it

makes the patient very drained. If she is indeed coming

down with a viral infection, then this afternoon's

fainting spell in addition to the one this morning are

completely understandable and expected.

"My recommendation to you is make sure that she spends

the rest of the weekend in bed getting plenty of rest and

stays well fed. I am sure that you are going to be

checking on her frequently, so don't hesitate to give me

a call if her condition changes. About the only thing you

can do for her is to make sure that she eats, as she will

need to keep her energy levels up, which given her unique

physiology is even more important."

"Hai. Arigatoo Mizuno-san." Ikuko responded feeling

confident again. She had suppressed a chuckle when

Mizuno-san had mentioned the need to make sure that Usagi

ate that was one thing she was not worried about.

"Oh one other thing. Ami has told me how close Usagi and

ChibiUsa are to each other. The last thing you need right

now is for ChibiUsa to get sick. From my own experience

with Usagi, I know that will be the worst thing in terms

of getting Usagi better."

"You're right." Ikuko agreed, knowing very well that no

matter how sick Usagi was she would still insist on

tending after a sick ChibiUsa. And that further more that

it was going to take proactive actions on her and Kenji's

part to keep ChibiUsa away from Usagi while the older

girl got better.

"I'll call you around eight tonight to check on how Usagi

is doing." Rikou added.

"Arigatoo again, Mizuno-san. Sorry to have bothered you

for some viral infection." Ikuko said, now a bit ashamed

of her apparent over reaction.

"Not at all Ikuko-san, I am happy to help out. I owe your

daughter a large debt for what she has done for my own

daughter. And please remember that you can call be Rikou.

Now I suggest you get some rest for yourself, you don't

want to get sick."

Hanging up the phone a few minutes later, Rikou walked

back to the counter where she had left the piece of paper

with Usagi's symptoms and thought of what to do next. Her

professional mind said to just wait till 8 and then give

Ikuko a return call, but another part of her knew that

she had to go find her own daughter and tell her the bad

news. She did not want to burden her daughter with what

looked to be no more than a viral infection, but somehow

she instinctively knew that Ami would not care how

trivial the illness was.

Rikou could plainly see in the eyes of the girls and the

way they acted how protective they were of Usagi. From

her talks with Ami, Rikou knew that Makoto was open with

herself with regard to Usagi and that Rei was beginning

to go that way as well. And while she knew her daughter

did not yet realize it, she knew Ami loved Usagi very

much and was just as protective of her as any of the

others. And as such she knew keeping this information

from her daughter, would be to wrong her in the worst way

possible.

With only one option for what needed to be done, Rikou

picked up the slip of paper and folding it placed it in

her pocket. Leaving the house, she decided to walk to the

library, knowing that she needed the extra time to find a

way to break the news to Ami that wouldn't have the blue

haired Senshi making a mad dash for Usagi's aunt's place.

* * * * *

For Usagi, the rest of the weekend passed in a haze of

short and long naps interspaced with food. She had been

vaguely aware of her mom talking to Mizuno-san after she

had been brought back to the house. It was hard after all

to sleep while being poked and prodded. Around eight that

evening when Ami's mom called back she had been sitting

up eating a large bowl of chicken soup. And while her mom

talked with Ami's mom on the phone, she had talked with

her friend over their communicators. She was a bit

annoyed that they had to spend the first part of the

conversation talking about how she was feeling, but

eventually she was able to divert Ami into just idle

gossip. Unfortunately that did not last too long, as

shortly after that the phone conversation her parents and

aunt were having with Mizuno-san ended.

Though given the large yawn that Usagi gave a few minutes

after she signed off with Ami, it was probably a good

thing that their conversation had ended when it did. And

only a few minutes later found the silver haired girl

snoring heavily. The adults continued to check on her

throughout the evening.

And as Ikuko and Rikou had feared, keeping ChibiUsa away

from Usagi that night was quite difficult. During the

afternoon and early evening it was not that hard, since

ChibiUsa understood that Usagi needed her rest and being

a young child she had lots of energy that needed burning

off. So during the daytime, ChibiUsa was content playing

outside with Shingo. But when it came bedtime, Ikuko

found a pouting ChibiUsa when she told the younger girl

that she would have to sleep with Shingo that night.

Seeing the look on ChibiUsa's face as she went to

bathroom to get ready for bed, Ikuko knew that ChibiUsa

was not going to stay away from Usagi's room. Oh ChibiUsa

would go to sleep in Shingo's room, however she knew that

once she and the others had gone off to sleep that

ChibiUsa would get back up and return to Usagi's room. It

was Misaki who thankfully realized how to solve this

little problem, and the solution Ikuko had to admit was

quite simple and really straightforward. All Misaki had

to do was have ChibiUsa think of what Usagi would do if

the situation was reversed (take care of ChibiUsa no

matter what) and then have the young child think of what

that would mean if she got sick while Usagi was still

sick. The look of instant understanding and guilt that

came across ChibiUsa's face assured Ikuko that she did

not have to worry about this anymore.

Usagi slept to lunch the next morning, before Kenji woke

her and brought her some food to eat. He was a bit

disheartened to see that Usagi looked worse, but he knew

from the phones conversation the previous night that

Usagi was bound to get worse for a while. Once Usagi

finished eating he helped his daughter up and over to the

bathroom so that Usagi could get changed and ready to go.

Usagi came out of the bathroom a few minutes later, still

wrapped in her blanket, which was fitting given that she

was likely to sleep the rest of the way home. Taking her

out to the car, Kenji set her up in the passenger seat

with a pillow before going back into the house to round

up the others.

Saying their goodbyes, the Tsukinos began their trip back

to Tokyo a little after two that afternoon. After they

had been driving for a few hours, Kenji noticed that his

daughter was awake.



"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Tired." Usagi replied, "Though a bit better."

"That's good, though you should not get your hopes up.

The boost of energy that you are feeling right now is

just a result of having freshly woken up."

Usagi nodded her acknowledgement before turning her gaze

back to the road ahead and silently watching their drive

back to the city. But as she sat there watching the road,

she did not feel her energy drop, nor did she feel the

need to go back to sleep. By the time, they got back to

the house; she was feeling quite a bit better. Guess it

was some nasty cold bug. Usagi thought to herself.

Though as she got out of the car and walked into the

house, she did have to admit to herself that being sick

did provide once very nice benefit, she did not have to

help with the unpacking of the car. Opening the door and

walking inside, she found an additional downside to being

sick. There sitting on the couch was Ami who appeared to

be reading a astrophysics book while petting Luna who was

napping on her lap and on the other side of the room was

a frozen statue of Minako wearing what appeared to be

nurse's uniform. Huh? she thought to herself And what

is that charred smell that I am smelling?

Looking up from her book, Ami saw that Usagi had

returned. After placing the book down on the end table

and waiting for Luna to hop off of her lap, she got up

and walked over to Usagi. "You must be feeling better."

Ami said as she shifted into her Mercury form before

deploying her visor and taking out her computer.

Not quite sure of what to make of the scene in front of

her, Usagi's brain finally gave up and shut itself down.

And with a sudden sag, the princess of the Moon Kingdom

fell into the awaiting arms of Mercury.

-End Chapter

? Ooh, is this chapter late. Once again a short

chapter goes long and adds a few more months to the

writing process. Of course there were plenty of

other distractions: refreshing my bridge playing

skills, starting to learn a new language, trips to

visit my girlfriend, and of course work (hey being

over busy at work is quite a good thing, means you

don't have to worry about RIFs), plus new shows on

Toonami and Adult Swim.

? For those who did not get the references in the

previous chapter. Pluto's little trick with the

Garnet Orb was Sight-Beyond-Sight from Thunder Cats

and Saturn's little banishment trick is based on

what the Dark Yugi does to some of his opponents in

the Manga (currently running in Shonen Jump).

? And this chapter's bad guy of the day, the Oni, is

from one of the one-page articles in Shonen Jump.

? The given name for Ami's mother is a nod to Sailor

Moon Millennials by The Judge, as that is the name

he chose to give Ami's mother.

? I am sure everyone knows why there is a frozen

statue of Minako in the Tsukino household. Like many

elements of my story, that part was completely

unplanned and was told to me by the muse.

? Well here is to seeing if I get a manage a final

chapter this year.

? Oh and my titles have taken a break from Babylon 5,

mainly as I have used up all easy to apply ones and

plus this chapter is really hard to pick a good

title for.

? And a reminder to everyone that I have a yahoo

groups mailing list that is used exclusively for

emailing announcements of the posting of new

chapters. Either send an email to: FOTupdates-

subscribe@yahoogroups.com or visit

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FOTupdates/. And given how

infrequent that is, it is probably quite useful. ?