A/N: Hullo, all you happy people out there in TV-land—wait, no, wrong script…. /rummage rummage/ Socrates! What did you do with the script! /Socrates purrs./ …Oh you're a big help. Right, improv it is…. Hullo, readers dear—Jikkan-chan again, introducing an idea which has happily disrupted all her College Algebra homework. I told it to Arashi-chan, and next thing I knew I had three pages already written—and as anyone who bothers to read any of Wren Truesong's work knows, molasses on a cold day has nothing on me. Let's hope it's as good as its omen! This my very first chaptered fic, but fortunately Arashi-chan's an old hand at this.
This is a first season Alternate Reality, occuring between
Episode 28, 'Koino irasuto, Usagi to Mamoru ga sekkin?' ('Illustrations
of Love, Are Usagi and Mamoru getting closer?'--AKA the Yumeno
Yumemi/Lonnie Lanai ep) and Episode 29, 'Daikonsen! Gucha gucha koi no
shikaku kankei' (Total Chaos! The Messy Square Relationship' AKA
Meet Motoki's Girlfriend). It delays and doubtless greatly
changes the events of 29 and 30 '(Ojii-chan ranshin, Rei-chan no kiki' (Grandpa Goes Crazy, Rei-chan's in Jeopardy)), and blots out the events of Episode 31,
'Koisarete owarete! Luna no saiakuno hi' ('Loved and Chased! Luna's
Worst Day Ever'--the Tuxedo Neko Kamen/Rhett Butler episode) entirely,
as the plot depends on an entirely different nijizuishou bearer.
Disclaimer, as ever, in the profile.
Aika no Tsuki
A Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon fanstory by Arashinobara Jikkankakyoku
I - Itamu
His voice was like the crack of a whip. "Ima da, Sailormoon!"
She shook herself out of the reverie, half-pensive, half-joyful, brought on by his very presence and nodded, the Moon Stick already slapping into her palm. "H-hai! Moon…" The ritual took over, something welling deep inside her soul, driving her to bring the stick up so the crescent framed her face, then further up to salute its mate in the sky.
"Healing…" twirling on her toes to an ephemeral harp—how could she do that, when she regularly tripped on air without help?—one orbit to mimic the true orbit, then bring it forward to draw the magic circle around the poor victim…
"Escalation!" And all the power that had leapt and frothed inside her soul poured out of her through the precious wand in her hand.
The golden circle that framed the half-stunned youma in her vision expanded with a sweep of harp strings, then exploded into a welter of silver lightning that coated the poor beast and the ground around him—
"Refresh!" a man cried, his voice almost drowned out by the conflicting emotions in it, pained and angry and sad and joyful and freed all at once.
'Freed…? And why do they always say that? How can having all the evil scoured out of your soul be refreshing, and if it is, why do they always say so in English? For that matter, why are our spells in English? ' part of her mind wondered, while the rest of her fought valiantly just to stay up. Why was that always so draining? Why did that feel wrong…?
The lightning evaporated as if it had never been, leaving a frail-looking man in a hospital gown where a monster had once stood, just as ever, on his tiptoes, reaching for the sky as if pulled there by marionette's strings—
—and just as if those things had been cut, he crumpled, and she rushed forward to catch him. Being healed must be just as tiring as being turned into a monster; they always collapsed, but some recovered quicker than others. She hoped this man would be quick; the Sailor Senshi couldn't just leave him there if he was supposed to be in a hospital, but he'd have to tell them where he was staying.
…wait…
…something was wrong. Missing.
Oh no. Oh Selene, no.
"MERCURY! HE'S NOT BREATHING!"
Someone was screaming; someone was shaking the frail person in her hands, begging him to breathe, begging him not to be dead, I healed you I fixed you you can't be dead I order you not to be—
Someone else was shoving her aside, pulling him in the hospital gown out of her arms. Blue hair obscured Hospital Gown's face as the someone checked for a pulse, yelled incoherent garble at a forbidding figure in black who placed his hands on Hospital Gown's chest, began to press in firmly, rhythmically.
A girl in green rushed past her. Black stopped what he was doing to pull down the gown, point to a place on the figure; Green held two fingers just over the skin, and Blue and Black pulled away just before something tiny and bright leapt from her hand to his chest. He convulsed for a moment, then lay still.
Someone else was tugging at her shoulder, turning her around, hugging her tightly. Red obscured her vision.
Her ears were ringing, and Red's hair must be falling over her eyes—the ringing was louder and louder and she couldn't hear anything else, she couldn't—
Mamoru stirred the coffee in his cup detachedly as his gaze bored a hole in the wall opposite.
"It's too late, we can't do anything for him."
"Jupiter, Moon's gone and fainted on us, d'you mind giving us a hand?"
"Don't pretend to be so unfeeling, Mars. You know how she is…she'll probably grieve for days, weeks, months…"
"Hey, where'd Tuxedo Kamen go?"
"He's a smart guy, disappearing; someone's probably gotten the media already. We need to get out of here…"
"What about this man?"
"Moon-brain would scream us deaf if she found out we just left him there."
"Mars, don't be so uncharitable! Wait, she's waking up."
"One of us should stay and give a technical report on the reason the victim died as a result of Moon's healing."
"Ano, Mercury… Do you think…the nijizuishou?"
"That's what the Mercury computer says so far."
"Should we stay, then?"
"No, just one of us…."
"Hey, she's awake! You okay there, girl?"
"…Hai, Jupiter, I'm fine…. I just killed a man, why wouldn't I be fine?"
"Don't be like that, Moon…"
"It doesn't matter. Right now, though, we need to reassure the public that we are still capable of defending the city. They know we're just a bunch of teen schoolgirls. Must be real reassuring, especially with me as leader…"
"Moon–"
"Quiet, Mars. Look, I should have been home ages ago. Who can stay? Mercury?"
"Hai, I can. I'll do the explaining–I know most of the technical stuff, anyway."
He'd left then. What more could he say or do that her guardians would not? The fight was over, she was safe. Physically, at least.
He had stayed close enough, long enough, to see the unshed tears. Tears she would cry later in private, because her grief was a private one, and she must stay strong for now. He had heard a new bitterness that had not been there before, seen opaque turquoise where there had always been crystalline cobalt. He had been witness to the birth of a leader where there had been a clumsy, unsure girl.
He knew, without knowing, the thoughts that would hum incessantly through her mind. He had read it in her body stance, in the trembling, yet sure way she had faced the other senshi.
"I need to shape up before I kill someone else."
Guilt.
"I need to be strong for my senshi."
Fear.
"I need to make sure this never happens again."
Dread.
"I need to remember this as a lesson to be better; the best."
Grief.
Mamoru let himself lean backwards, easing his tired body onto the couch.
"I need therapy," he spoke out loudly into the silence of his apartment, only half joking. He closed his eyes. "Damn, but do I ever."
He would sleep fitfully until he could see her again, could hold her again, could protect her again.
The coffee mug and its contents were left to grow cold on the table.
A little huddle of girls wandered the streets of Juuban at three in the morning. They were a strange group: two girls, one exotic Japanese beauty, one tall Amazonian brunette, walked shoulder-to-shoulder, trailing worriedly after a tiny blonde who stalked down the avenue a few strides before them, her lips pressed tightly together and her face very white.
The dark-haired girl poked her companion in the side. "Say something, Mako-chan," she hissed.
'Mako-chan' poked back; the shorter girl winced and rubbed her side. "You say something, you're the priestess."
"Oh, sure, hold that against me," the first mumbled. "Fine, fine…" She quickened her steps a little. "Oi, Odan—Usagi. Slow down a little, you're making the rest of us look bad."
Usagi turned to regard the speaker, walking backwards. "I need to get home, Rei-chan. If you don't like how fast I walk, you don't have to come along." She whirled, long blonde ponytails fluttering in her wake. "Why are you and Mako-chan following me, anyway?"
"To make sure you actually get into bed instead of collapsing halfway, Odango," Rei said gruffly. "We can't have you lying about in the street, they'd be having bunny road kill for breakfast all over Tokyo by morning."
"…thank you. But you can stop, now."
"Oh, no, you dumpling head, I am not leaving until I see you home—" she stumbled to a halt just before running over the smaller girl, looking around. "—oh."
"We're here," Usagi said quietly.
"Good, then we're almost done," the priestess said briskly, snatching the key out of Usagi's hand and putting it in the lock. "Good thing your parents are at that convention, we'll only have to deal with Luna."
"Why would we have to deal with Luna? And why are you opening my door instead of letting me do it myself?"
"Because it's that or you let Mako-chan carry you up the stairs, Moon brat. Now get inside already, you have a date with your bed and I have a date with your cat."
"…I love you too, Rei-chan."
Rei went faintly pink and looked away. "Shower and bed. Off you trot."
Usagi went without further comment, and Makoto chuckled quietly to herself as she locked the door behind them. "Trust you," the Amazon said mildly. "You go talk to Luna—I'm going to go see to her comfort food supply."
"Again with the hard jobs," Rei muttered, and trudged up the stars after her formerly-dauntless leader.
She was met halfway by a frantic cat. "Rei-chan! What are you doing here at this time of night? What happened at the battle? Usagi walked straight by me and didn't even glance down—she's so pale, and her fists were clenched so tightly her hands are bleeding! What happened? What's wrong with my daughter?"
The Senshi of Mars raised an eyebrow. "Daughter? Why, Tsukino-san! Is there something you're not telling us?"
She was treated to the rare and fascinating sight of a cat blushing. "Slip of the tongue," Luna said briskly. "Now stop dodging the subject."
Rei scooped the cat up and carried her into Usagi's room. "It's a long story," she said tiredly. "And yet somehow, very short."
Luna gave her a Look. "You're stalling," she observed suspiciously.
"Am I now? Fancy that," Rei said loftily, settling on the bed. Luna snorted, curling into the girl's lap, and for a moment, there was silence.
"…I made the call tonight because I saw Zoicite harvesting the nijizuishou of a hospital patient," she said after a moment. "Makoto called it in just afterwards because it leapt out of the window and landed damn near on top of her—Tuxedo Kamen chased it out right after, beating it with his stick—we have to thank him for that sometime, I don't even want to think about trying to fight in a hospital. Thing was damn hard to put down; Tuxedo Kamen eventually had to distract it long enough for Jupiter to fetch a rock and whang it over the head, because Kami knows nothing else was working. Then Usagi healed it….
"…and I guess that's where the problem begins."
Luna's fur bristled under Rei's hands. "What happened? Could Usagi not heal it?"
"Oh, she healed him, all right… went back to human and everything, collapsed just as usual, and we were certain everything was fine until Usagi screamed out that he wasn't breathing."
Luna's eyes softened. "Oh, Usagi," she murmured.
"Hai. She's beyond devastated—Mako-chan and I have no idea what to do around her, and Ami's probably not much better off."
Rei watched Luna struggle for a moment between emotion and duty before the black feline seemed to come to a painful decision. "What caused the man's death, then? If the nijizuishou…"
"The man was already dying," Ami interrupted, scuttling into the room. Making a reaching motion, she retrieved her Mercury computer from her sub-space pocket. "I spoke at length to the paramedics and pulled up his health files by hacking into the hospital's computer system."
Under any other circumstances, Rei would probably have teased the bluenette genius about the hacking issue, but tonight she stayed silent.
Luna pounced on this issue. "He was already dying, you say?"
"Hai, that he was. Ensei Yamu, age sixty-seven, male. Diagnosed with chronic Emphysema, a lung disease that could be described as crippling—it can be treated, but not cured. He was the only patient in one of the long-term wards." Ami sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose before continuing. "According to the paramedics, he should have… passed on long ago. No one knew why he held on to life like that. He's had several heart attacks already, but something kept him alive."
Rei's eyes widened in comprehension. "The nijizuishou?"
"Hai. When Sailormoon healed him, the nijizuishou had already been expelled from the body, which meant that it was only negative, dark energies that had kept him alive until they too were dissipated," Ami concluded. "I told the paramedics and the media that there had been something the 'bad guys' wanted, keeping Ensei-san alive. When it was taken away, he turned into a demon, but was technically dead already. His… spirit, for lack of another word, merely lingered long enough to ascend."
Wordlessly, Luna stood and bolted from the room. Rei and Ami watched the feline guardian go.
"Usagi-chan…" Rei murmured huskily. "Ganbatta na."
Ami lifted her eyes to the light of the benevolent moon. "Selene be with her."
She was slumped limply in the darkest corner of the shower stall, head bowed slightly, arms wrapped around herself. What Luna could see of her eyes were blank, expressionless yet seething with so many emotions…
She didn't seem to realise that the hot water was scalding her, as flawless pale skin darkened to an irritated pink.
The sight brought a long-forgotten sensation to reside somewhere inside the feline's chest, constricting painfully as her heart turned over for this poor, lonely child.
"Usagi-chan," Luna called softly, padding up to the shower and placing two front paws against the translucent glass. Her voice broke as she witnessed her charge's pain. "Usagi-chan, wake up." She couldn't think of anything else to say. "Wake up," she repeated, batting a small paw at the glass.
"…you should hate me," the petite blonde mumbled, tired voice echoing faintly against the porcelain tiles. "I failed you all."
"You failed no one this night," Luna almost snarled. 'You failed no one but yourself…' "Usagi-chan, please, talk to me," she begged.
"Go away," Usagi almost shouted. "I want to be alone!" 'I am alone…they'll all hate me now. How selfish am I to think more of myself and what my senshi…my sisters think of me, than the poor man who I killed?'
Luna exhaled deeply. "Usagi-chan… it was not your fault."
Silence, save for the running water that somehow made the grieving quiet all the more pronounced.
Then, the door opened slowly and a stoic-looking Usagi sat under the showerhead, face strangely blank.
Without hesitation, Luna leapt into the stall, getting her dark fur drenched immediately as she curled up in her young charge's lap, nuzzling her fiercely and checking her over for injuries.
Slowly, almost painfully, Usagi's arms spread and she held the sodden cat to her breast as if she would never let go.
"It was my fault I killed him I'm so sorry I failed you Luna…" Usagi whispered hoarsely, tears finally falling.
"It was not your fault, never your fault, Usagi-chan." 'Daughter.' "Never forget that."
Usagi didn't answer, and Luna knew it would take time.
They stayed there for what seemed hours, never realising when the water finally ran cold.
Aika no Tsuki—'The Moon's Lament'.
Itamu—'Lament'.
Ima da—'Do it now!'
Ganbatta na—'be strong/fight proudly/be of good spirit'
Neko—'cat'
