By: [Young Feldinaut, age 11]
I remember the day when Sailor Universe arrived. I remember it like yesterday, though it happened well over a year ago. I remember it all...
It's Lita Kino again. Who were you expecting, Serena? Anyway, remember when I said I would tell you more about Sailor Universe? Well, here it is. This is only a summary, for she has done a lot more than described in these chapters. Here goes.
It all started when we were having a meeting at the temple shortly after defeating Queen Beryl (and after getting back our memories) when there was a knock on the door. Raye got up and opened the door. It was her grandpa who told her we had a visitor waiting for us outside a store in the mall. She had not given her name, so we figured it was the Negaverse, again. Wrong.
As we trekked to the mall, we had to wonder what this person was like. Raye and I thought it was a boy and the rest of the scouts thought it was a girl. We would find out soon enough.
Finally, we reached the mall, but decided not to confront the person until we had examined them. We peered through some fake plants at the outside of the store by which we were to meet the person. There, standing to the left of the door was a girl about our ages with blue eyes and brown hair in a ponytail a little lower than I put mine. She was wearing plain old jeans and a T-shirt, and she kept glancing at her watch as if she was very nervous. We decided she looked harmless enough, so we approached her.
To our surprise, she greeted us by, one by one, pointing to each of us and saying our names. I, myself, was too shocked to say anything, but heard Raye whispering something to Luna about bad feelings and the Negaverse.
"Okay," she began. "Where do I start?" Before we could answer the stranger continued. "I'm sorry. I haven't introduced myself. My name is Lauren Tsukino. I know this is going to be a shock to you, but you have to know. Serena, I am your twin sister."
Yeah, I know. You're thinking, "WHAT?!" Well, that's exactly what Serena screamed.
"Yes, I know. It's pretty darned weird having someone you don't even know claiming they're your twin sister," Lauren replied.
Serena stammered, "I don't believe you! How can we be twins when we don't look the same?" As she said this, Ami and Lauren sighed as if they were science teachers talking to students who obviously didn't pay attention in class.
"There is such a thing as twins who aren't identical. It happens when [The birth cycle of fraternal twins was explained here in way too much detail for my tender age to have comprehended, which means I probably asked my mother to write a description for me. OH. MY. HORRORS.]--" Ami was interrupted by everyone else's impatient sighs. "I think you get the point, Serena."
"Yeah," started Serena, "but I still can't believe you! You just come out of nowhere and expect us to believe you?"
Lauren thought for a minute then said coolly, "You listen to a talking cat."
Everyone was speechless. Luna broke this silence saying, "Why shouldn't we believe her? You DO listen to me."
"Well, okay," everyone said simultaneously.
"There is much more to tell you, but let's not talk about it in the mall. How about the temple?" asked Lauren. We were all so stunned she even knew about the temple that we couldn't disagree.
Back in the temple, Lauren told us her story, which went something like this:
"It all started in the Silver Millenium. Queen Serenity, of course, had Serena and me but had to keep us in separate parts of the castle because of the law. I, the eldest (by a few mere minutes), as never to see my sister or my mother until I was 15 years of age when the royal judges judged us on who would be a better leader, as in leadership qualities, skill in battle plans, and strength. Until then I was to be told Queen Serenity found me on the streets, felt sorry for me, and took me in to live in the castle.
"I was very well aware that you, Serena, had an illness when you were about 3 years of age and would be somewhat weak for the rest of your life."
Serena cut into the story, obviously annoyed. "And who, may I ask, told you this?"
"Ah," Lauren began, "I also had a talking cat named Xavier, but the queen was not aware of that. Xavier would roam around the castle finding pieces of valuable information like this. We are very good friends."
The rest of us pointed out, "We ARE very good friends?" with that, an orange cat popped its head out of Lauren's shirt with a friendly "Hello!"
"So you listen to a talking cat too?" Mina pointed out.
"No," replied Lauren with a grin. "He listens to me."
"That's right!" added Xavier.
"Gee," thought Serena aloud. "I wish Luna would do that." Luna then lightly scratched Serena.[23] "OW!"
Lauren continued. "Anyway, I knew what was about to come, so I ran to see the Queen. No guards even tried to stop me.
I rushed into the throne room and heard the Queen gasp when she saw me. The guards shot at me, one bullet hit me in the left arm, but not even that pain could stop me. The Queen finally recognized her oldest daughter, commanded the guards to stop shooting, and then cried, feeling that she should take the blame for my arm. I, myself, was pretty irritated that she didn't even apologize for lying to me all those years."
Luna added, "Yes, yes! I remember it all now! And then..."
Lauren interrupted saying, "Excuse me Luna, but can I tell the story for myself?"
"Yes, please go ahead."
"I said to the Queen, 'Please, oh Queen, do not let me be judged, but give my sister, Serena, control over the Moon Kingdom.' Then she said to me, 'My daughter, you have shown great amounts of bravery and courage this very day. You shall be greatly rewarded for this.' I refused but she insisted that I take the Moon Kingdom for myself and not for Serena. I again refused, but the queens of all the other planets offered me their kingdoms. I turned them all down.
"Finally, Sailor Pluto sent a message reading, 'Now that the young princess knows her true self, let her come and stay with me, and do not tell the other princess, Serena, about this.' The Queen agreed to this, but her last words to me were, 'I will see you again some day, Queen of the Universe.' My last words to her were 'No! You can't give that to me! I'm not worthy..." but as you know, the Moon Kingdom was destroyed the very next day."
"So you know Sailor Pluto?" asked Raye.
"Yes, very well. So far, she is the only human friend I have," answered Lauren, looking up at the ceiling, as if trying to see Pluto that instant.
"What does she look like?" I asked, wanting to know more about this new Sailor Scout.
Lauren's only response was, "You'll find out in time, in time."
We sat there in silence for a moment, looking up at the ceiling like Lauren, soaking in the story like a sponge soaks up water. After a while Raye said, "Lauren, you know how you said you only have 1 human friend? Not anymore." We all nodded in agreement.
For about 15 minutes we all sat there in our own little world thinking about the story that was just told. Even Lauren was thinking, though she was the one who told the story. Mina interrupted our thoughts saying, "Gee, I never liked the government, but compared to the Silver Millenium, it hardly seems real!"
"Yeah, tell me about it," agreed Raye. "All those laws and rules, but they were a lot stricter during the Silver Millenium. I had no idea, but then again, Queen Serenity was probably to embarrassed to tell us."
Ami added, "I couldn't stand not seeing my parents for 15 years."
I was a little irritated. "I wouldn't know." Ami apologized, and I said it was okay. After all, it wasn't her fault my parents died in a freak plane crash.
Anyway, the conversation went on like this for about half an hour until Ami announced she had to go study for a math exam that Serena and I forgot about. It reminded us that we were going to ask Lauren where she went to school, so we did. She said she didn't go to school, so she decided that since school was almost over, she would start high school with us.
That was the beginning of Lauren's lifetime with us.
That summer, we defeated Wise Man's army of not-so-bad people. There was one battle I particularly remember. I believe it was the first battle against Rubius and the Four Sisters, you know the one where nobody won and Renee found out our identities (the little brat).
Sailor Universe was nowhere in site while we all battled the designated sister. Suddenly, Rubius hurled an attack at Serena and, out of nowhere Sailor Universe came, launched an attack, missed, and got hit by Rubius' attack.
After the battle, we all rushed over to the fallen Lauren who said, "Remember my dying words..." but then collapsed in my arms. We rushed her to the hospital, now de-transformed, and waited patiently outside, thinking our beloved friend was dead. We were wrong.
The next half-hour was painful, wondering what happened and if she really was dead. To our surprise, she met us in the lobby looking healthier than ever. We were so relieved to see her up and going like her normal self again that we went to the 24-hour burger joint and ate like no tomorrow. Unfortunately, there was a tomorrow and we all had really bad stomach aches until then.
Later, we joked about what really happened. What happened was that Lauren was just really stunned when the energy hit her, she thought she was going to die. She described it as being light-headed and really dizzy. When we thought she died, she really fainted. They kept her in the hospital so long because they were taking x-rays to make sure the radiation didn't effect her.
The thing we thought was funniest is how she didn't even get to finish her "dying" words. Lauren thought that was pretty funny and thought she couldn't have possibly done anything dumber. She told us that she didn't even know what she was going to say, she was just trying to make a "lasting impression."
We still talk about that battle to this very day.
One thing I want to point out about Lauren is that she is usually quiet and tries to stay calm. If something really, really gets her angry, thought, she'll track that person down and give them what they deserve. What I mean by she gives them what they deserve is that she might give them a long lecture or if the case is bad enough, she will actually beat them up, good. Let me tell you about one of those times.
This one takes place after we had met Sailor Uranus, Sailor Neptune, and Sailor Saturn. [Uh... If you don't know about the thing between Uranus and Neptune, never you mind!]
Sailor Uranus (Hotaru) was riding along in her motorcycle one day. Everything was all fine and dandy for her. We (the Inner Scouts) happened to be going to get ice cream as we always did on Saturday at 7 p.m. Hotaru knew that because she had come with us before.
Well, she happened to be speeding down the road we were currently trying to cross. Xavier looked left and right, said it was safe to cross, got in the middle of the road then stopped because he saw Hotaru's motorcycle coming right at him at about 55 m.p.h. He couldn't move if he tried. Hotaru didn't bother stopping to let poor Xavier cross the road. We just sat there in horror as Hotaru's motorcycle ran across Xavier and kept going. She didn't even bother to stop and help or apologize for that matter.
The fist thing Lauren did was run across the street, picking Xavier up on the way. We ran after her. We stopped on the sidewalk and checked Xavier's heart beat. It was fine, but Xavier wasn't. We ran him down to the nearest vet and they fixed him up for free since it was an emergency.
Lauren was happy Xavier was up and running, but she seemed to have something else on her mind. She told us later that the scene was flashing through her head over and over. Serena said she couldn't sleep that night either.
The next morning, we couldn't get a word out of her. We kept trying to talk to her so we didn't notice we had followed her to the place Hotaru likes to hang out.
When we approached her she asked, "Hey guys. What's up?" We stood back at this point as Lauren stepped toward her.
Lauren answered, "You ran over my cat and obviously don't care. That's what's up!"
"You shouldn't have let him get in front of me!"
"Haven't you heard that pedestrians have the right of way?"
"Oh get a life!"
"Oh get a brain! You must be the dumbest person I've ever met! Not to mention the sickest! You have a pretty sick mind to run over a poor, helpless cat! You disgust me, Scum of the Universe!"
"What did you just call me?"
"I called you Scum of the Universe! You got a problem with that, Miss Scum?"
"Are you looking for a fight?"
"If you are."
"I'll take you on with one hand behind my back."
"You're just a sorry excuse for a coward." With that, the 2 feuding scouts transformed.[53]
The battle didn't last for very long. Uranus used something really stupid, I don't remember what. The thing I remember is when Sailor Neptune transformed and tried to help Uranus. [Lauren ridicules Sailor Neptune, devastating her forever.] They never said another word to Lauren.
The thing I remember about how Lauren fought was that she didn't use any of her moves. She only used hand-to-hand combat. I thought that was pretty smart because any of her moves could easily destroy the strongest of people. You must be wondering why she didn't destroy all of Wise Man's people when they appeared. She wanted to see if we could do it ourselves. That is one of the reasons I admire her.
Lauren believes in hard work and training, so she is often gone for long periods of time too others countries and dimensions. You can understand, then, why we're always so happy to see her. We usually spend hours just talking to her. In doing so, we've learned a lot about her past and present life and her hobbies and stuff like that. This chapter is just a list of stuff like that.
Name: Lauren Tsukino
Birthday: June 30
Blood Type: O
Favorite Color: Black
Favorite Food: Ice Cream
Favorite Animal: Cat (Xavier)
Favorite Subject: English
Least Favorite Subject: Chorus
Likes: Being with friends, karate
Dislikes: Singing, boys
Strong Points: Very sensible, thinks of others before herself
Weak Points: Sometimes lets her temper get out of control
Quote: "You'll find out soon enough."
If you know Serena pretty well, like I do, then you'd notice she and Lauren have a lot in common. Such things are birthday, blood type, favorite food, and they like to be with friends. It just tells you how much twins have in common.
You might be wondering, from looking at the chart above, why in the world Lauren doesn't like boys. At first, I also wondered this. I honestly thought she must be crazy. How could anyone not like them? There is always an answer to everything, and I will tell you the answer to this question.
Remember I told you that Lauren likes to go to other dimensions and train? Well, once she accidentally went into the future instead. It happened to be in the Universal Castle where she will live in the future. There she saw her future self fighting with a man known as Universe Knight. She hid in the bushes in the garden they were standing in and tuned in on the conversation.
"No, I will not let you take over the other planets for yourself!" her future self argued. "My friends live there, and I will not let you hurt them!"
The man disagreed, "I don't care about your puny friends! Don't you want to control the Universe?"
"No, not with an evil man like you or anyone at that. Aren't you content just being the overseer of all that goes on?"
"No! I must rule it all! The foolish Kings and Queens of the other planets don't know how to rule! I do, so I feel I must take them over."
"Well I don't, Scum of the Universe!" That sounded familiar. "You're nothing but a power hungry fool with no respect for women or for anyone else!" With that, she knocked the man over.
Universe Knight looked really mad now. "Say good-bye to your kingdom forever!" With that, he grabbed a nearby torch and set the castle to flames.
Lauren could take no more. As she transported out of the future, she heard herself screaming, "No!"
To this day, she dislikes boys. She is afraid that if she falls in love, that person may be the future Universe Knight.
Before I sum this up, there is one more thing about Lauren I want to point out: how many friends she has.
When we first met her, she said she only had 2 friends, Xavier and Sailor Pluto. Now she has many more than she could have imagined. Why? Because, despite what she thinks, Lauren is a very nice person and a good friend. Most people can't help but notice this and find they have a new friend.
I've lost count of how many people we've met, but Lauren has found a friend in almost every one of them. I guess you could say she has a Universe of friends.
Well, maybe all this didn't make sense to you, but the thing I was trying to point out is what an impact she has had on each of the Sailor Scout's lives. She has been a friend and a sister to Serena. She has been someone we could trust to the rest of us. She always comes to the rescue when needed. To Uranus and Neptune, well, you can figure that out for yourself.
I hope you enjoyed the life story of my good friend, Lauren Tsukino.
