Tsukino Usagi
"Usagi!"
She jolts awake, the remnants of her dream disappearing as she quickly wakes up. It's her brother's voice and Usagi jumps out of bed to rush to his room, her heart pounding in confusion and concern. She slams the door open, expecting an intruder at the very least, but all she sees is Shingo and Luna, who's curled up at the end of his bed. "What is it?" she asks, starting to calm. Now that her focus has faltered she can feel her ribs protesting the quick movement and grimaces.
"Get your stupid cat out of my room!" he demands, shielding himself with his blanket at the head of his bed.
Usagi raises a dubious eyebrow at Luna, who looks confused. She was probably startled awake as well. "Relax, Luna's harmless. She won't hurt you," she tries to reassure her brother.
Luna takes this as her cue to try approaching Shingo. She does so with a tiny meow, trying to look as cute and harmless as possible. It's very believable, but Usagi knows the truth. Shingo doesn't buy it, though, and throws his pillow at her. She quickly dodges, hopping off the bed to stand between Usagi's feet.
Usagi gives her younger brother a disappointed look. "You need to get over your fear of cats. Not all of them are going to try to hurt you," she tells him, quickly losing patience.
"I don't need to do anything," he retorts. "Now grab that thing and get out of my room!"
Usagi rolls her eyes and leaves to go back to her own room, Luna trailing behind. "Don't mind him," she tells the cat once they're behind her closed door. She starts getting ready for school as she talks. "A cat bit him on the nose when he was a baby. He's hated them ever since. Really freaks out, in case you couldn't tell."
"Ah," Luna says thoughtfully. "I'll do my best to avoid him, then. I hadn't meant to sleep in his room; I must've mistaken it for yours."
Usagi snorts. "Don't bother. He needs to get over it anyways."
She heads down for breakfast, hesitating only a moment in the dining room entryway. Both of her parents are already seated, a rare occurrence in the Tsukino household, what with her father's job and her mother's "hobbies." "Father, Mother," she politely greets them as she takes her seat. Miharu-san has already laid out breakfast so Usagi grabs some eggs and toast. She's not normally one to eat breakfast before school, but with both of her parents present it'll be expected of her.
Shingo joins them not two minutes later, his face twisting in a grimace when he sees Usagi. She rolls her eyes but doesn't comment. "Dad, Mom," he says, sitting down. "Did you know Usagi is keeping a cat in her room? Make her get rid of it."
Her father barely looks up from his newspaper. "As long as it doesn't make a mess it's fine."
"She won't," Usagi chirps, smirking at her little brother.
But he isn't done. "But Dad," he starts to whine, "you know I hate cats. I don't want it here."
"Usagi-chan, keep the cat in your room so it won't bother your brother," her mother says.
Usagi sighs. "She's a cat, Mother. She'll find a way out. Shingo needs to get over his fear of cats, anyways. He's already 11."
"That's right, son," her father agrees. "You're too old to be afraid of cats now. You're not going to be able to avoid them for the rest of your life."
"Kenji, he's just a child," her mother scolds.
Her father finally looks up from the paper to regard her mother with a look. He doesn't look pleased. "Ikuko, he's almost a teenager, and he needs to get over it. He won't be a child forever, after all."
She sighs. "Yes, dear." Then she turns to Shingo. "I'm sorry, love, but you'll have to get used to Usagi's cat. End of discussion."
"That's not fair!" her brother whines, standing roughly from his chair so it screeches along the dining room floor. "Stupid Usagi!"
Usagi doesn't even bother to look up when he runs out of the room. "Oh, is he not going to finish breakfast?" Miharu-san asks, coming in to clean up his plate. "And he left his lunch."
"Serves him right for being a brat," Usagi says, standing much more calmly. "Thank you for breakfast. Goodbye, Father, Mother. I'm off to school."
"Goodbye, dear," her mother replies. Her father doesn't say a word as she leaves.
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Usagi is in her room doing homework - trying to balance out her previous scores - when Shingo suddenly opens the door to her room. Usagi looks up, confused, to see her brother standing in the doorway. In his hands is some fluffy, tiny little creature with beady red eyes. She raises an eyebrow in confusion.
"This is my chanela," he says monotonously, holding it out. "It is the only pet we need, so get rid of your stupid cat." Then he slams the door with his departure.
"What?" Usagi remarks a moment later.
"I'm…not sure," Luna replies. "Did you see that thing he was holding?"
"Yeah but I have no idea what it was." Usagi turns back to her homework, her brother's odd behavior unimportant compared to her English assignment. "That was weird."
"Yes, it was."
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It gets even weirder the next day. For one, her brother doesn't bother to leave his room that morning. "I don't think he's feeling very well," Miharu-san says when Usagi makes a comment about it. She shrugs it off, figuring it's just her brother being a spoiled brat again.
But then she gets to school. Half of the students are clustered around desks looking at something. Usagi manages to catch a glimpse of one of them when she walks by, and there's more of those things her brother had yesterday. All the girls are cooing over them, but Usagi can't see the appeal. They look like tiny, hairy rabbits, but their beady red eyes kind of freak her out. They keep them out until Sakurada-sensei walks into the room, and then they have to scramble to hide them all. Usagi is pretty sure pets are against school policy.
They get about ten minutes into class, though, before one of the girls snaps, interrupting class. "I can't take it anymore!" she bursts out, surprising everyone, who turn to look at her. "I have to see my chanela!" She pulls the thing back out of her desk, and then the rest of the girls take that as their cue to do the same. There's a flurry of movement from the students before they start cooing over their stupid pets again.
Sakurada seems momentarily stunned before annoyance crosses her face. She storms over to the first girl who interrupted. "You need to put that thing away. Class has started," she tells her.
"No way! My chanela is too pretty not to look at," the girl complains, cuddling the thing closer to herself.
"I don't care!" Sakurada snaps. "Put it away, or I'm going to have to confiscate it." The girl shakes her head in the negative, so Sakurada reaches out to grab it. She doesn't get even get close before the girl is lashing out, pushing her away. The class gasps as Sakurada stumbles back, one of her heels landing wrong and sending her crashing into the desk behind her. There's a massive clatter as the desks are knocked over. Sakurada lays amongst it, and she doesn't appear to be moving.
"Someone call for the nurse!" Umino calls out. Usagi sees one of the girls near the door rush out into the hallway.
"I don't care. I'm leaving," the girl who pushed her stands, her chanela thing clutched in her hands. She's got her nose upturned, sneering down at the rest of them. The rest of the students with those pets stand as well, agreeing with the first. They all walk out under the class's stunned gazes.
"Wh-wait!" Osaka calls to them. They ignore her completely. "What's going on?" she asks.
"I've heard they're the new fad among younger students," Umino pops up. Seeing he has most of the class's attention, he continues. "Apparently they smell really nice, and you don't have to feed them at all or pick up their waste. They're supposedly the perfect pet."
"They're weird looking things, if you ask me," Usagi mutters, though Umino seems to hear it anyways.
"Yeah, Tsukino-san, I agree with that," he says. "That's the only reason I haven't gotten one. They kinda freak me out."
Class is derailed until they get a substitute to come in after Sakurada-sensei is taken to the nurse's. Usagi can't focus, though. This is the second time in as many days that those chanela things have popped up in her life. She thinks back to her brother earlier today, refusing to even leave his room to go to school. 'Perhaps it's more than just a boy's rebellion', she wonders.
After school lets out she automatically heads to the shopping district, still used to heading there straight after school even though she doesn't attend a gym anymore. 'Well, the arcade is always an option,' she figures, heading for her old haunt. It's pure coincidence that she happens to notice a new store on the way, and in its windows are cages with those chanela pets. Usagi pauses, curious. 'Are they really like Umino said?' she wonders.
"Why do you keep popping up everywhere I go?" a voice beside her says, drawing Usagi's attention.
She looks over and sighs in annoyance at the guy standing next to her. "I could say the same thing about you," she retorts. "At least we didn't run into each other," she mutters.
"Small mercies," he agrees. "You're not planning to buy one of these too, are you? I never took you for the kind of girl to follow fads, but guess I was wrong."
"I am not!" she snaps. "Besides, what I do isn't any of your business so butt out of it!" She doesn't give him time to respond before storming into the store.
Usagi is surprised to find it pretty packed. There are tons of small children with their parents all looking at the pets lined up in boxes on the sides of the store. It's almost overwhelming, and there's this smell in the air that makes it a bit stuffy. "Can I help you?" Usagi jumps when someone else speaks up beside her. She barely resists glaring at the woman, who's probably just doing her job, but if people could stop sneaking up to talk to her she'd really appreciate it.
"Umm, maybe?" Usagi replies. "I was just curious about the pets you've got here."
"Well," she says, launching into her sales pitch, "we've got a wide selection of animals to choose from, but our most popular pets are the chanela." She gestures to the displays beside them. "They're the perfect pet, you know. You don't have to feed them, they don't make any waste, and best of all, they smell divine."
"Ah, really?" she remarks, feigning interest.
"Of course! Feel free to take a look," she says encouragingly. "I'm sure you'll find a chanela just as beautiful as you."
"Sure, right, yeah. I'll just…start looking around."
"Okay! Let me know if you need anything," the woman says, smiling brightly.
Usagi manages to nod before walking away under the woman's watchful gaze. She drifts to some random shelves and barely manages to suppress a flinch as the chanela stare back at her. They do smell…pretty nice, but it's a little off-putting to be coming from such a small animal. She happens to catch the eye of one of them, and something about it draws her closer. They do look sort of cute, she supposes. 'I wonder if it's as soft as it looks,' she thinks, reaching out a hand to open the class.
As soon as her hand touches the case she jumps back, shaking her head to clear her thoughts. She frowns in concern, eyeing the chanela in the case. For a second there, it almost seemed like she'd been entranced by the thing. 'I had better get out of here,' she thinks, turning around and heading right out of the store.
When she gets home she heads straight for her brother's room. He doesn't seemed to have moved, still slumped over his desk looking at that stupid animal like he probably was this morning. "Shingo!" she snaps, but it doesn't grab his attention. She stomps over and jerks at his shoulder, drawing an annoyed sound from her little brother.
"Leave me alone, stupid Usagi!" he growls, yanking his arm out of her grip and returning to the chanela on his desk.
"That thing isn't good for you!" she retorts. "You need to get rid of it."
"No! I won't!"
"It's dangerous!"
"No!" He lashes out, catching Usagi in the chest with enough force to push her back. She missteps and falls into the wall, knocking her head pretty roughly.
"Usagi-chan!" Luna hisses, creeping into the room. She shoots a quick glance at her brother, but he isn't paying attention. "There's no point in arguing with him," she whispers urgently. "We need to get rid of these pests at the source."
"Right," Usagi agrees, standing. They quickly head to her room so she can transform. "Moon Prism Power Make Up!" As soon as her transformation is complete they're off, jumping from her room to head into the city. This time Usagi leads the way to the store, Luna hot on her heels.
It's closed when they arrive, but Usagi doesn't hesitate when entering. The shop is empty, save for the single saleswoman from earlier. "Hey, you!" she shouts, drawing her attention. "These animals of yours may sound like the perfect pet, but they're dangerous and I'm here to put a stop to it! In the name of the Moon, I, Sailor Moon, will punish you!"
She gives Usagi an odd look, snarling, "I don't know who you are and I don't care, but I won't let you interfere!" Then she transforms, her skin turning purple and leathery as scales break out over her skin and she grows a tail. Usagi braces for an attack, dodging to the side as the monster's tail comes lashing at where she'd previously stood.
She tries to hide behind the shelves, but the monster seems to have no compunctions about knocking over the cases of her precious pets. Now Usagi is forced to dodge the powerful tail as well as falling glass cases, but those training sessions of hers at the gym are paying off. She's far more agile than she was before, and by dodging she manages to get close enough to the monster to land a blow on her stomach. It doesn't do much good, though, as the monster's stomach is tougher than the rest of her skin, and the monster backhands Usagi into the other set of shelves on the opposite side of the room.
"Sailor Moon," Luna hisses from nearby.
"Yeah," Usagi replies, though she's starting to develop a headache. "What am I supposed to do? I don't think I can hit her."
"Your tiara, Sailor Moon."
"Oh, right," she mutters, getting up quickly. "Moon Tiara Action!" It catches the lizard monster in the chest as it tries to approach, but to her dismay the tiara is about as effective as her punch was earlier. Usagi quickly catches her tiara's rebound and dodges out of the way of an enraged attack from the monster. "Luna!" she snaps, hoping the cat just saw what happened. She's running out of places to run and things to try. None of her attacks are breaking through the monster's skin, and that's getting to be a problem for her. Not to mention, she's running out of space to escape with all of the glass cages knocked over and scattered about the place.
"Sailor Moon, over here!" she hears Luna call and immediately heads for the voice. The cat is deeper in the store, standing near a door. Usagi crashes through it, taking the stairs two at a time up the floors. There must be at least five or six because she's almost out of breath by the time she reaches the top. "Good, this will give us a moment to regroup," Luna says once they're on the roof. "We need to find her weak point. Try aiming for her joints like the backs of her knees or her armpits, Sailor Moon."
"Sure, I can try," she replies as they hear crashes behind them. She moves out further onto the roof and faces the doorway, removing her tiara and taking a defensive position. When the monster appears she'll be ready. "Moon...Tiara…" she begins as the crashing gets louder. Cracks appear in the concrete in front of her, and then moments later the monster is bursting through the floor instead of the door. "…Action!" she finishes, throwing it.
She aims for the monster's knees, but it grazes the side instead of hitting the back and the monster barely hisses in pain. Usagi grits her teeth in annoyance and focuses on the tiara, trying to ignore the monster charging towards her, and mentally redirects the tiara to hit the monster's back. She can't quite aim properly so it hits the thing's tail instead of her knees, but it still seems to do something as the monster scream's in actual pain.
"Again, Sailor Moon!" Luna shouts, and Usagi does her best to direct her tiara back around for a second attack. The monster screeches and tries to lash her tail out at Usagi, but she manages to block the hit with her arm – more payoff from her karate lessons – and the hit is weak enough that she isn't too hurt. In the monster's surprise at being blocked, her tiara has a clean shot at the rest of its tail and slices it off entirely.
The monster screams, writhing in pain as it starts to disintegrate into dust on the rooftop. Usagi watches it while feeling satisfied. The battle had started out a little rocky, but she was glad she had been able to put some of her training to use. "Come on, let's go check on those pet things and get rid of them," Usagi tells Luna. The cat nods in agreement and they make their way back downstairs to the ground floor.
Usagi is half surprised to see all the glass cages are empty, save for tiny piles of dust. "They must have vanished with the monster when you defeated it," Luna surmises.
"Good riddance," Usagi mutters. "Hopefully Shingo is back to his normal self now."
"Let's go see."
Usagi and Luna quickly make their way back home, sneaking in the same way they left. She drops her transformation in her room before heading over to Shingo's. She gently opens the door a crack, trying to peek in to see her brother. When she doesn't spot him at his desk she opens it fully, but the room is empty. Her and Luna share a look before she heads downstairs.
"Oh, Usagi-chan," Miharu-san calls out once she sees her in the dining room. "Dinner is ready. I was just about to call for you." She takes a seat at the table, trying to act calm despite the bit of adrenaline still flowing through her veins. She needs to know if Shingo is free of the monster's effect. Her parents are missing, but her brother is present and more alert than she's seen him since this whole pet thing started.
"So, Shingo, how are you feeling?" she hesitantly begins.
He gives her a confused look. "What do you mean?"
She shrugs. "Well, you didn't go to class today, so I figured you were sick or something."
"Oh," he remarks, his brow furrowing as he tries to think back. "Yeah…I guess so. I feel fine now."
"Okay," she replies, sharing a look with Luna in the dining room entryway. The cat nods before disappearing. 'I guess everything has resolved itself then,' she thinks, pleased.