Author's Note:
Well another chapter is finished! . I'm going to treat myself with a bowl of ice cream, or better yet, Starbucks! SQUEE! Time for shout-outs, once again… /sighs\\ the chapter doesn't take half the time the shout-outs take, but I find writing the shout-outs are the most fun! . here goes:
Rutoh-Chan:
Yea, the story is pretty much just on a whim! If I didn't have any reviews, I probably would have dropped the story on the spot. The other scouts, ah, yes, I remember! They make their first entrance in chapter 11 - I hope that won't be too long to wait. The scouts react to this event? I'm not sure I follow you. They have no idea what Usagi is doing, actually. They will in later chapters, just not any time soon! Ah, chapter 11 is when the scouts appear. And after that chapter until the rest of the story. Including the three scouts that don't appear for most of the second half of the story (you'll understand later). /blushes\\ This story is perfect? I feel so honored//bows\\ Thanks much!
Hoshiko Megami:
Ah, interesting way to pick your name! My friends picked mine, actually. O.O You're the first reviewer to want a picture of the girls in their outfits//hugs\\ I'm still working on the sketches of the dresses, but I assure you I'll have them finished and I'll email them to you. Is that alright? I think I actually borrowed one of the designs from a Chobits picture I have, so technically that dress doesn't belong to me, but the actual one I made of it, does! Is this a soon enough update? Thanks much!
princess moon shadow:
/smiles\\ I'm glad you like this story so much! How'd you decide on your name? It's very intriguing! Thanks much!
Flame Ivy Moon:
You too! Where'd you get your name? I hope this is soon enough of an update! When school starts (in less than a month), you'll probably see less updates, but I promise to continue it and update every summer! Thanks much!
Chaos Moon Angel:
Ah, another awesome name! How'd you come up with it//puppy dog eyes\\ Really? I can use "wicked" too? AWESOMENESS//cough\\ I mean, WICKED! A double review? What's a "double review"? I don't speak/write/understand English (it's not my first language, I'm striving to learn more of it) that well… /blushes\\ I feel kinda stupid when people say things I don't understand and generally people stare at me when I ask weird questions about something obvious. NO hints. But I currently thinking of changing who she is in the story… I don't think I like what I did with her. Chica… um, is that English? Is this soon enough? Thanks much!
NOTE: This is the ninth installment and probably the second to last I'll actually get around to posting, so please bear with me when school starts! I'll probably update at least once every two months, if I'm lucky…
Much Love,
Tenshi no Yupiteru… and, Piter-chan (who, Thank Goddess!) is asleep in her Lime rose!
Love is a flower,
friendship is a sheltering tree.
Anonymous
Chapter 9: Just When I Found You
Setsuna Meiou leaned against the wall in the photo shoot runaway, gauging all of the models on a scale of one to ten; mentally, one being the best and ten being the worst. She had lost track of how many five's and six's she had given the wanna-be-models walking down the runaway with skimpy, poorly made and designed clothes. She tossed her dark green locks over her shoulder and shifted somewhat as she sipped on her hot black coffee. Her ruffles were disheveled on her white dress shirt; the ruffles were where the collar would be, but she preferred the long, flow-y ruffles to a collar. Her crimson dress-jacket was tossed over her right shoulder and held down on the inside by her index and middle fingers from her right hand. Adorning her legs was a comfortable pair of light-blue jeans and on her feet were crimson high heels, making her taller than usual.
This was Usagi's tenth modeling competition, but Usagi treated it like it was her first, because she was fidgeting nervously in the back. She tugged at her ice-blue dress hem and argued silently with the incredibly bothersome and ever-tight white hose she wore. Té a was also modeling; however she was lined up to go in front of Usagi. The models were allowed to wear two outfits from any company of their choice with professional make-artists and hairstylists fixing their hair and faces.
Té a watched Usagi fidget and let a muted giggle escape her cherry lips. She wore a deep red dress designed by Setsuna. It only had one shoulder strap on the right that was made of several thinner straps; however, on her left arm was a glittery-red-see-through sleeve that was puffy until mid-upper-arm, where a dark red ribbon was tied around her arm and in a small bow. The dress itself was a soft red material with gold glitter creeping up the sides around the mid-thigh slit on her right side. Her shoes were a matching shade of red with a three-inch heel and a ribbon wrapped around her ankle several times before ending in a knot. Té a didn't approve of the slit, but this was a competition, just as Setsuna had prepared them.
flashback
"No one will be nice to a bunch of new, younger teenage girls. Just because you are younger than most of them, beautiful compared to most of them, and probably will receive more attention than they do, does not mean you should back down," Setsuna had ordered when they were in Usagi's limo to the shoot.
"Go ahead and steal the limelight from them and you will make more money. Just ask Ishizu-chan, she's the one deciding which pictures appear in magazines. Alright, girls?"
end
Té a shook her head and studied Usagi's dress. It was a halter silver-ice-blue color with the straps tied around her neck twice before ending in a double knot behind her neck. The back scooped into a v-shape with a crisscross pattern until the end of the v-shape; towards the waist. From there, the dress pooled around Usagi's feet covering any sight of her shoes. Underneath the halter was a transparent layer of dark blue material. It was an off-the-shoulder add-on to the dress and one could barely catch a glimpse the material at the end of the silver-ice-blue silk material. Usagi bit her rose colored lips and gave Té a a half-smile.
"You look fabulous, Usa-chan," Té a teased her friend. "You've already bagged this competition!"
Usagi gave her friend an unladylike snort, "Yea right Té a-chan! You're the one who's gonna win! I should have gone with the other dress Setsuna gave me! Why didn't I choose it? This one makes my exasperating gold hair stand out!"
Té a chuckled, and laid her recently manicured hand on Usagi's shoulder and stood behind her.
"It's alright Usa. Just take a deep breath and focus on something else. What other dress did you bring from the competition?"
Usagi took a deep breath as Té a had recommended and beamed, "I brought the grown-up version of a dress Setsuna made me when I was five. It's cream-colored dress with one and half inch straps that hang more off-the-shoulders than stay on."
Usagi touched her shoulders, attempting to show Té a instead of verbally explaining it.
"Then it has these green vines and gorgeous deep rose and pale yellow flowers creeping up from the end. They're on a transparent colored material that really flow-y and starts right after the cream colored bows on each side. The ends of the ribbons end at around my ankles. There are also these pink butterflies and green vines on the top part too! The only part I don't like is the person who made the dress cut the front of it so low! It puffs my chest out! Like I'm trying to show off!"
Té a gave Usagi a smile and leaned in to hear her mutter, "I have a size 34C cup. It annoys me!"
Té a let out a heartily chuckle as she wrapped her arms around Usagi's fragile-looking shoulders and closed her cerulean eyes. Usagi hugged Té a around her waist and asked, "What dress did you bring? I thought you brought the green one, but I wasn't sure!"
"Yea, I brought the green one. It doesn't have straps, which irritates me, but it's like it's made of vine-like things. Like the person who made it wrapped material into tight dark green vines and just wove them around a mannequin! But the vines end around mid-thigh, where this light green material that also a vine pattern etched into it flows to my feet."
Té a shook her head, "Somebody was staring at one to many flowers when she designed these dresses!"
Usagi giggled, "I'm glad you like them!"
"You designed them?" Té a gasped.
Usagi nodded, "Yea, Suna-mama used to take me into the gardens my mom had planted. I remember there was this waterfall in the c-----…"
"GARDENER!" interrupted their conversation.
Té a let out an "EEP!" and quickly let go of Usagi. She winked one last time at her friend and whispered, "Break a leg, Usa-chan!" before she was ushered onto the runway.
Usagi sat there dumbfound. Break a leg? She didn't want to break a leg! Especially not walking down the runway! She snapped out of her reverie when she felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to stare up into deep garnet eyes.
"Hi Puu!" she softly said so nobody listening could hear her that well, except for the Time Guardian herself.
"Hello Usagi-hime," came Setsuna's deep mysterious voice. Her face was graced with a smile as she pulled up a seat next to her princess, but the smile fell as she murmured, "I have some unfortunate news, hime-sama."
Usagi's eyes glazed over as she opened her mouth to speak. Setsuna placed a single finger over her mouth and Usagi closed her gapping mouth.
"There have been more and more recent attacks in Juuban. The youmas have relocated themselves and are destroying more than the other senshi can handle. Plus, I have called reinforcements, but they do not seem to be getting along with the planetary senshi. I'll give you the rest of day to say your goodbyes because we have to leave as soon as possible."
Usagi let out of choke of a sob and then bit her lip as to not let the tears ruin her make-up job. Setsuna stroked Usagi's golden hair tied back into four round buns in the back of her head, her garnet eyes saddened somewhat.
"I am truly sorry Hime-sama. I swear on my life that we will return to this dimension, alright?"
Usagi just nodded and Setsuna turned walked out of the dressing room.
"PEGASUS!" came the shout from the photographer's assistant.
Usagi looked up and made her way to the runway. She sauntered her way down, gave two different poses and returned to the changing room, to find Té a changed and getting her make-up done. She quickly changed dresses and patiently waited for the make-up artist and hairstylists. The stylists straightened her lengthy hair and added little butterfly clips scattered everywhere. She even had two pink butterflies on either side of her face painted on her cheekbones.
'This is just a shoot, no runway. Three shots for every girl,' Usagi mentally recited in her head.
Té a looked over at her friend, who was oddly quiet and sapphire-silver eyes were saddened somewhat.
"Usa-chan, what's wrong? Are you okay? What were your scores?"
"Eh?" was Usagi's response, "oh, yea, I'm fine. The scores were 2, 2.5, 1, 2, 1, 1, 2. What were your scores?"
"Almost the same, except in a different order," Té a responded lightly, still slightly perturbed that Usagi was quite quiet.
They spent several moments in silence before Usagi asked, "What does 'break a leg' mean anyways?"
Té a laughed. "Is that what you're so worked up about? 'Break a leg' just means 'good luck' because no one wants to say 'good luck'. Somebody said it was a bad omen or something and bam! you have 'break a leg.' Okay?"
Usagi nodded mindlessly before hearing her last name and scampering away to the shoot. Té a stared at Usagi's form, still contemplating what was bugging the tiny blonde.
Immediately following Té a's shoot, the girls quickly changed and headed to Usagi's limo, where Setsuna was holding the girls trophies. Té a had placed first for the third time and Usagi had taken second; overall. Usagi had nailed the second shot, but her four scores of two on the first shoot wasn't enough to boost her overall score. As the two female teens got out of the limo, Usagi heard Setsuna muttered, "Be prepared."
Usagi gave a short nod and waved goodbye to Té a as she headed home. The limo turned the corner, leaving Usagi staring up at her apartment's balcony. She trudged up the stairs, dropped her stuff off, quickly changed into a pair of black faded jeans, a pair of black flip flops and white tank top with 'Princess' printed in blue glitter. She grabbed her keys, walked out of her apartment, locking the door and heading to the local park. She ended up staring at the vast ocean for several hours before contently falling into a slumber upon the bench she was sitting on, with her arms wrapped securely around her legs.
When she was awoken, she stared into crimson eyes and fell off of the bench with a loud "EEP!"
"I didn't know you were scared of me, Usa-chan. I'm hurt," feigned a deep voice with a slight hint of humor laced in it.
Usagi let out a soft laugh as she recognized the voice, then hugged the person with crimson eyes back.
"I missed you, Yami-chan," she mumbled in his black tank top.
He placed a butterfly kiss on her forehead and Usagi's eyes softened as they saddened. It would be the last time he kissed her that way until they returned. He raised her chin to look up at him.
He whispered softly, "What's wrong Usa-chan?"
Usagi shook her head and threw herself into his embrace.
"Just don't leave me," came her muffled reply from his shirt. A sob escaped her throat as she clung to his shirt as if she depended on him being there.
Yami leaned down and raised Usagi's face. He wiped a lone tear from her cheek and crimson met with sapphire-silver. He captured her lips and both pair of eyes fluttered closed. She leaned into him, wrapping her arms around his neck and depending on him to hold her up. He pulled her lithe frame into his fairly muscular one, as if to mold them; securely wrapping his arms around her waist. His lips prodded hers open and gently entered her mouth. As soon as a lack of air was evident, they slowly broke away, their eyes opened and Usagi's eyes quickly welled with tears. Yami caught a glimpse of the tears that threatened to spill. She broke away from his embrace and ran, darting quickly between bushes and people. His crimson eyes blinked several times before his brain had registered her departure. He quickly followed her, after releasing she had left. Before she got to the entrance of the park, he tackled her from her waist, wrapping his arms tightly around her to make sure she couldn't leave him until he heard an explanation. She ended up underneath him and her eyes refused to meet his. His crimson eyes saddened and he buried his face into her neck, where her eyes weren't looking.
"Don't leave me, ever," he mumbled into her neck, his hot breath caressing her neck in a loving manner. He wrapped his arms around her, drawing her body towards his.
"I don't want to either," she whispered, as she played with a strand of his black-crimson hair.
It took Yami several seconds to realize she was telling him goodbye.
He questioned softly in her ear, "Are you coming back?"
She nodded.
"Even if I have to escape my wrathfully senshi to return. Ai shiteru, Yami-chan. Ai shiteru," she whispered softly into his ear, her breath tickling his neck. He didn't need to be told twice as he captured her lips in a sweet and passionate kiss. She whole-heartily responded to the kiss this time and buried her fingers into the unusual mess that he called hair. He moaned into her mouth and she began to giggle as Yami unconsciously began caressing her hips. They broke away as Yami continued to caress the tenshi beneath him. She fidgeted and tried to pry his fingers away from her hips.
"Ee," she squeaked, "Cut… that out! Yami!"
Yami denied her request until he let her catch her breath and noted that her sapphire-silver eyes still held the unhappiness that she had before.
"Ai shiteru, Usa-chan. Ai shiteru eien," she heard Yami murmur softly as he gently cupped her right cheek with his right tan hand. She brushed a gold bang out of his face and heard he ask, "What are your wrathful senshi?"
Usagi giggled as she mentally pictured a fuming Haruka, or Sailor Uranus, threatening Yami with her space sword and cursing in multiple languages while demanding why he thought he was the right man for her. She smiled and said, "C'mon. Let's get the others and I'll explain it to you all at once, alright?"
Yami nodded, picked up his girlfriend princess-style and carried her out of the garden with elderly couples smiling at the young happy couple in love.
Chapter 9:
1 The dresses that Usagi and Té a wore at the beginning
I designed those of the top of my head. I actually had a cream colored dress with flowers on it and that is what inspired the one described in the beginning.
2 Senshi
Japanese for "Sailor Scout." Not the equivalent, but similar.
3 Tenshi
Japanese for "Angel."
4 Ai shiteru
Japanese for "I love you."
5 Eien
Japanese meaning "eternity," so when Yami says "Ai shiteru eien," it means "I love you for eternity."