MoMo-Chan1, Thorn on a rose, liberal, and Arabella: Your reviews mean more to me than you probably realize. I feel loved with reviews. But, hi everyone else. More greetings to those above. This is a cynically funny part I think, and a character that people have probably forgotten about is back…nah, you probably haven't, but I wanted to feel like I am a ninja…The usual is I am a broke junior, with no real life. Please R,R, and R.
Management in Life
"Oh bother, I am the head of this business when Nephrite isn't around, and here I am, acting like a secretary? I know Louisa has nothing to do, and took the time off because Nephrite likes her." Usagi knew that he was happily married; he was heard gushing about her one year...it might have been on their anniversary. Disgusting. "Hello, you are?" The door had dinged open while Usagi was in her thoughts, and now a blond and a bright red ribbon was standing in front of her. Judging by her skirt and jacket ensemble, she was used to better conditions. Usagi wanted her legs, as well, but it sounded like the blond was able to talk the talk of designing. The thoughts let her catch the name Minako Aino before she spaced out of her endless talking and found that indeed, she had an appointment, but she had to wait for half an hour. If Louisa didn't come up from her 'lunch break' by then, the secretary would hopefully be finding a new job.
They shoot went fine, and according to plan. There was minor conversation past the basic Modeling orders, but really no one said anything useful. By the end, both were emotionally guarding, and had barely enough energy to nod at each other. By dinner, Mina was feeling rather awful, and wanted to curl up for the night. Dinner really was also more of a watch each other watch each other not eat. Mina said nothing as she left the table with dishes still on it, and Kunzite staring after her. He gave her time, and used it to ponder what should be done about this, and thought that the getaway would be better when Mina would have a memory the next morning.
He found her curled up in the fetal position, still dressed, and on top of their comforter. She barely blinked when he sat down, but did respond enough to sit up, and move in for a hug. Saying nothing, he just held her, as she stayed to still, to silent. Her back was rubbed in pointless soothing motions. They stayed like that for quiet awhile. He finally said something at midnight. "Venus what's wrong?" She looked up at him with pain filled, and emotionally exhausted, eyes. Kunzite could feel and see sleep beginning to overwhelm his Venus. An expression of attentiveness was that she needed for prompting, before she looked away. "My photographer…my manager…she's Usagi…She's my princess…" Minako began to doze off, and She and Kunzite stayed there, till late in the morning.
Usagi finished mailing the last of the photo's out, and the brochures, and to her surprise, a letter was for her. It was in her backpack then, till after housekeeping of the modeling agency was finished, and stayed there till she went home. In her barren, lonely, colorless apartment it was opened. After reading it, she felt calmer, yet sadder. It was signed moonlit rose Inc, and gave her an invitation up to the estate. She knew the estate, very well actually, but after that incident...she had to refuse. The refusal was written then, and a sleep came over Usagi. In a way, something was just defeated, but she didn't know what. She didn't know who, either.
The triple shift schedule had finally let Ami go home, of course with a stack of records because she didn't stay for hours after her shift was over. As she entered the door, the smell of dinner greeted her, and as she sat down, a plate of food was set in front of her. "Zoisite, please you should be asleep now?" She wearily smiled up at her equally stressed blond husband. "I know, but since Mamoru had quit the medical business and Audrey and Riana conveniently got sick on the busiest night of the week. You haven't slept in 22 hours also." Ami blinked. Oh yeah. It was 2 am. "Still, you need to be at work in 4 hours." Zoisite nearly grumbled for the first time in his life as he gracefully plopped down into a chair across from Ami.
A silence fell over them. "Something's bothering you." Ami sighed. "Mrs. Chopro called a few days ago. She seemed to what to be friends." Another silence fell over the table. "Is that bad?" Ami put her fork down. "I don't know. I just don't have a social urge anymore. Since we left each other, I-It seems like a part me left." Ami's eyes were firmly locked on her plate, and Zoisite was dimly aware this was the most they had spoken about that subject since several years ago. "Have you had that dream yet?" She shook her short blue hair. "I've been taken sleep aid to not dream." Zoisite looked at his wife of 3 years and then went to the phone. The lack of sleep made Ami get a slow reaction and couldn't do anything to stop him. "Hi, Mamoru, I'll be into work later…no, I'm not sick…and no, I haven't been away from work in 3 years…Use Kunzite, he needs the extra hours…Go back to sleep, good night Mamoru." Ami had dozed off slightly while he was on the phone, and didn't resist his picking her up. As she was laid in the bed, she smiled weakly up at her husband. "Stay with me please." He had no chance to refuse as her iron grasp held onto his and he just crawled into bed next to her.
"So where's Zoisite?" Kunzite came into the executive lounge as Jadeite finished his question. "He is home, with him and Ami having 'the flu'." Kunzite, to, had been tempted to call in sick, because of Minako, but when he called, he was alerted that he was Mamoru's secretary for the day. She had been still asleep when he left. Jadeite stood up from his plush chair and threw out his remaining burger rapper. Mamoru was eating in his office, as usual, and nephrite had another building on the other side of Tokyo. It was the fire and the stone at the table today. Everyone else went to the café in the ground floor. Kunzite wrinkled his elegant nose. "What is that smell Jadeite?" The referred to smell of his sleeve. "Oh. Rei has been in the fire room constantly for the past few weeks. Something has been bothering her, and she's trying to figure it out." Kunzite sighed, and Jadeite responded by staring at him. "You showed an extra emotion. What's wrong?" Kunzite sent a withering glare towards Jadeite. "Minako…had another reaction last night. The ever resilient Ami, who works around germs, fakes getting a sickness. She probably was catching up on sleep sadly. Makoto's cookies were lacking a usual…ingredient. We could only eat half of the one's we smuggled out." Jadeite looked away. "Don't lie. You do it to. You are worse than me." Jadeite turned red slightly. "And Rei is spending every minute that she isn't needed for the temple in the fire room." There was a silence. "Since did when we become so emotional?" Kunzite finally stood up as well. "We found them." Jadeite didn't need to consider it. "Yeah." Both lunch breaks were over.
"Earth Wind Water Fire Air Earth Wind Water Fire Air." The fire crackled and reflected in dark purple hair. Her robes smelled of the sacred fire, as did her skin. Furrows dotted her forehead, and her hands were beginning to cramp from staying the same position for days. A vision started coming…It was of a stone separating off, followed by boundless form, a cackling boundless form…it over took just as the parts of the stone came close…It ended then, and purple eyes had to open. "Tell me what it is, please…please." As she was standing up, though, it did tell her, in the form of a memory.
MEMORY
Galaxica was defeated. All were alive. All were happy. They were relaxing in a graduation party slash end of the sailor battles party at Mamoru's estate. Yes, Usagi and Mamoru were gone for a few hours but they came back. Dinner came, and all sat. The usual food shots were directed at Usagi, and then retorts were made, and all conversations became small talk. Gradually, the small talk to diminished, and dinner was already over. No one knew what to do then. "We have been doing this a lot." Everyone nodded at that comment not knowing how to answer. "Have we been together to long?" Usagi hiccupped. Everyone turned a negative eye towards Usagi. "Be quiet Usagi." Usagi looked around, wide eyed. All she did was hiccup because she drank to fast. "I didn't do anything." The others looked at her saw that indeed, she was not crying. They shrugged. No apology? Were they finally tired of her, of 'the glue that held them together'? Yes, according to their turned away bodies, there tense eyes.
From her seat at the head of the table, across from Mamoru, Usagi stood up and scooted her chair back. "Fine. You all recognize me as your queen?" Hostile, yet loyal eyes met hers. "I order that we have no contact with each other. We have been together to long. We will be together no longer. Swear upon your senshi crystals." The hostile eyes turned shocked. Usagi gave up on hiding what she had been feeling for a long time. "Mamoru will swear upon his golden crystal." Usagi stood in the middle of the room, waiting for her senshi to fall into ranks. "The outers do not have to swear. Their loyalties fall as the safety of the universe falls."
Uranus, Pluto, Neptune, and Saturn were the first to kneel after that. "We do not swear to have no connections, yet we swear to stay within your safety radii." Usagi's crystal over took her mortal form, and replaced her with her queen form. "I see your vow and accept it." The outers began to glow, and disappeared.
It seemed to finally hit the inners what was happening. Serenities scepter pointed at the inners. "You have your orders. Now you swear, or treason falls on your head." Their eyes wide, they transformed and knelt in front of Serenity. "We swear off no future connections on our senshi crystals." The inners felt part of their crystals die and revive in Serenity's body. "Mamoru, Prince Endymon, do you accept your vow?" Mamoru, too, changed into Endymon. "No, Queen Serenity. I do not then." Serenity slowly nodded. "Very well. Upon my crystal, upon my rose, I will have no future connections with any of you, with Endymon."
At that, she detransformed, and went up to her room. Her dinner was untouched, and the remaining lunar court watched their queen leave and The Earth Prince saw his soul mate leave. The front door being shut echoed down the hall and into the dinning room. Minako sat down, beaten. Lita joined her, and Ami went to the computer. Rei felt her inner fire go dim, and knew it would diminish eventually. "The silver crystal does not register any more. None of our crystals are either. The golden crystal is dead." Everyone was gone midmorning. From outside the house, a dark shadow was receding from it, and back into the sky.
END MEMORY
At that time, as Rei was helped up and into bed by Jadeite, feeling her fire completely out, and 4 others felt it as well. Usagi woke up glaring at an alarm that went off 4 hours early with her crescent moon very visible that day. Minako started tossing and turning, and reliving her past dreams of Betrayal. Ami was already awake, but her mood was shot, and she had to make 3 trips home for her necessities. Makoto burnt all of her food that day, and was late for work because she kept having flashbacks of the fateful night 10 years back.
"Louisa, who is up today?" You little runt, you will stay in that chair for everything but bathroom and nourishment. How dare you have better connections with Nephrite than I. Serena didn't bother having her deadly mood be hidden. To her minorly sadistic nature, she inwardly smiled at the fear she could fear racing through Louisa's veins. "Uh, um, ma'am, Mina, ma'am, then Emerald." Serena twitched. Louisa cringed. "She is such a bitch." Speaking of the devil, the green haired Emerald came through the door, looking as conniving and arrogant as ever. Serena watched bemusedly as she sauntered forward, her green hair swaying as she walked, styled, as usual so Serena would have to take it down first. "No, emerald you are scheduled at 1, not 8." Emerald's grey green eyes were amused. "But I am a paying customer; much richer than what your other one is most likely, Ms.Tuskino." Serena blankly smiled, and realized that yes, she did end up paying more to the branch. A little bluffing was required here.
"No, your not. Aphrodite is first today." Emerald cocked a bored eyebrow. "Really." Serena smirked. "Do you remember that blond teen model that beat out every other super model and Mamoru?" Emerald expected to have her mind read, and assumed that it couldn't. Surprise, Serena could. "You do. She beat out your sales as a teen model, and you never forgave her." A scarlet colored her cheeks, and made further embarrassment by trying to cover it. "NO, I did no such thing." The door chime made Emerald turn, and to her embarrassment, turned fully red. Mina stood their, perfectly lovely and confused. "Um, I'm here for my 8 am shoot." Emerald's beautiful face turned into a snarl as attention was solely focused on her, yet it was not at all positive. "You keep me for five hours and I will never walk in here again." Serena shrugged unconsciously graceful. "That is your choice then that we choose to follow our schedule and you don't like it." Stepping non-threateningly to Emerald, Serena carefully led her to the door.
At the door, she stopped. "Here's the door, should you choose to want to leave." Emerald looked Serena over, in a relatively tight suit, and Mina, in her decent pjs. "We won't keep, since nothing is deemed necessary in the modeling field." The green haired one took in a deep breath, and puffed up her under adequate bust. "Fine, I'll be in at 2:00." Serena kept her face neutral as she nodded, and apologized for any inconveniences. With an annoyed huff, Emerald finally left, as did Serena's façade. "Wench. Come on Mina, let's get your room ready."
Louise was still scared of Serena, and Mina noticed it as well. It began to click that Louisa, emerald, and, according to bags under her eyes, no sleep meant a very crabby Serena, Mina noticed, and Mina decided she would try not to piss her off any further today. Granted she was feeling old emotions rise, and was rather depressed, but she had kept up a fake smile before. She could do it again.
The shoots went fine, and both women remained very neutral to each other, until it was finally 12:30, and Serena called it a day for Mina. It was Serena's lunch hour then, and for some reason, Mina hung around the front office for a while, longer than usual. Serena, in her ignore the world mood, finally asked her if she needed something. Mina was searching for the phrase; it looked like, as Serena stood their waiting. "Want to have lunch with me at the corner café?" Serena blinked. It took her that long to ask her to lunch? She looked around, saw no one but Louisa. "Of course. Anything to get out of this hole for a while." Even to talk to a former Senshi, Serena? Mina was wondering that, while Serena was trying to avoid how right that thought was, and how wrong the feelings were. Food was food. Mina was better than Louisa also.
The shoot with Emerald went as expected, and could not have ended earlier. Louisa had gone home early, with the closed message on the machine. Serena was closing up, with her suit replaced by jeans and a sweat shirt, and cleaning the last light fixture. Her walkman was hooked onto her jean waist, and the music was full volume. Nothing was heard but her music, so Nephrite, who had come in to check on his manager, had to tap her on her shoulder to get her attention. "Serena?" She pulled off her head phones and turned off the player. "Yes?" She felt like pouting. A good time was being had washing the lights.
She looked up to her tall boss, literally, and wondered why he would bother with his manager. He usually ignored her but this time he was gazing at her with an unusual look on his face. It was shaken out eventually. "Come to try Lita's cooking, we have ignored you, and want to make it up to you." Serena's face hardened. So he felt guilty, huh. "Sorry. I have my own plans. Thanks though." Her walkman was on full blast, and she ignored further attempts of Nephrite's. Finally, he left, and the light was cleaned in peace. She left for her solo dinner plans around 9.
Nephrite shut the door gently, feeling depressed, as he finally got home. A lot of things possessed him that night, he seemed. From insulting his manager to then trying to make it up and failing miserably, he guessed what else was wrong tonight. Lita was sad, that was what was wrong. Her cooking lacked its usual passion for the practice, and as it was better than most restaurants, her mood brought it down. Neither of them wanted to talk much, nor do anything at all, so lights went out around 11. From her side of the bed, a delicate hand reached for his, and the night was finally at peace.
"We need the RSVPs by Wednesday, people. That means we need to spring it on the ladies tonight." Chiba glanced around at guilty faces. Zoisite was particularly guilty. "Ami was depressed, overworked, and sick. We needed something to make her happy for a little while. She doesn't know where though." Chiba glanced at Kunzite. "Mina was fine with it. Happy to get out of town though, she said." Jadeite shrugged. "Rei didn't like the thought of leaving her fire. She said she would loose her 6th sense." Nephrite said nothing. "She refuses to go. She knows where it is. She said it would bring up bad memories." Chiba said nothing, not surprised at Lita, or the other non-responsive reactions. "We could always cancel." The others considered that. Kunzite had been bugged by this entire thing, and finally had an emotional ESP thing happen, as he described it. "No. It will be good I think. I get the feeling that it will help something." The others just nodded.
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This is an important ninja filled story of Saturns Darkness.