Tsukino Usagi
For once, she gets almost two whole weeks free of any monster activity. It's peaceful, though Luna often hounds her to stay alert in case anything were to happen. She understands the first couple of days, but after that it just gets annoying and she takes to hiding out in the shopping district in order to avoid the cat. It's nice to be able to spend hours at the Game Center like she used to. Motoki-oniisan also seems to enjoy having her around as well, so that's always a bonus.
"Bye, Motoki-oniisan," she calls out on a Friday evening, having stayed out a little later than usual. It's pouring rain outside as well, and she'd hoped that by now it would have abated but apparently that isn't the case. She sighs as she opens her umbrella. 'I really hope this humidity won't frizz my hair,' she thinks, stepping out from under the awning.
She takes two steps before a figure is crashing into her, nearly knocking her off balance. "Watch where you're going," she snaps, assuming it's that boy again. She always has the worst luck running into him. "And this time it's definitely your fault."
"I'm sorry!" the man blurts. "I'm so so sorry please forgive me."
Usagi pauses, stunned by the words. She's never once heard him apologize before, and after she gets a good look at the figure in front of her she realizes it's not the same guy at all. She immediately feels sheepish for her earlier words. "Oh jeez, no I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap. It's fine, I'm a clutz anyways," she blurts out. "Please, get up, the ground is wet. Here, you can share my umbrella."
He hesitates for a second before standing. It's a little awkward since Usagi is nearly a foot shorter than him, but the man doesn't complain. Usagi doubts it really makes much of a difference anyways since he's already pretty soaked. "Thank you," he says politely.
"Uh, sure, yeah, no problem," she replies. "Are you okay?" she asks, taking in his harried expression. He doesn't look too well, and given his reaction to bumping into her she's pretty curious.
He grimaces. "Not really," he admits. "I think I might be going insane."
Usagi blinks, taken aback by his frank reply. "Do you…want to talk about it? I can walk you wherever you need to go."
"Um, thanks, I'd appreciate that," he says, and then gestures in the direction he had been running. "I work at a club, you see. My shift starts in a little bit," he explains.
"That's cool, what do you do? I'm Tsukino Usagi, by the way," Usagi asks, intrigued.
"I'm a composer. My name's Amade Yusuke. You probably haven't heard of me, though. I usually work on classical pieces," he says. "N-not to say you don't look like the type to listen to classical music," he immediately continues, flushing slightly. "I didn't mean to offend. I just meant that I'm not a very popular composer yet."
"It's fine," Usagi waves him off, more amused than offended. He isn't wrong, either; she's definitely not a classical kind of girl. "Is it your job that's driving you insane?" she prompts, trying to lead the conversation back to why she'd originally offered to walk him in the first place.
"Oh, no," he says, a heavy look darkening his expression. "It's…hard to explain. I feel like I'm being followed, but every time I go to look there's no one around. But I swear I saw someone this last time," his voice grows intense as he recalls the encounter. "It was in the alley behind the recording office where I usually work, not too long ago actually. There was a woman there, I swear, and she had glowing red eyes. And there were bats, too. A lot of them. But when I tried to ask who she was she vanished with them."
Usagi doesn't know what to say. On one hand, it isn't the worst thing she's encountered lately, so for all she knows the guy is telling the truth, though why a monster would be after him in particular when they usually target multiple people at a time is a little odd. But then again, this could just be the imaginings of a guy who's worked too many late nights or something. He does look a little haggard, after all.
"I don't know," Usagi finally says. "It is weird, for sure. Why would a monster be targeting you, do you know?" she asks.
He digs into his pocket, pulling out a small cassette tape. "I think it's after this," he says, his voice hushed like he's telling her a secret. "I don't know why. It's a recording of my latest tape, as of yet unreleased."
Usagi's gaze narrows on the tape, though to her it doesn't appear odd in any way. But…there's something, a sort of unusual feeling she gets the longer she looks at it. She tries to focus on the sensation, but the sensation is gone as soon as he puts the tape back in his pocket. Usagi has to blink a couple of times before she realizes he's talking again.
"There must be something special about it," he says, a concerned expression on his face. Something about it tells Usagi he might know what that special thing is, but before she can really pry him for information he's stopping so suddenly he leaves the protection of her umbrella before she notices. "Anyways, this is my stop. Thanks, Tsukino-san, for walking with me and listening to my insane ramblings."
"Yeah, no problem," she replies, and with a backhand wave he's entering the club.
"Made a friend, have you?" a voice near the ground speaks up and Usagi jumps into the air with a startled squeal. She only barely manages to not trip on the wet sidewalk. Once she's regained her balance she glares down at the cat beside her, her eyes narrowing when she spots a cheeky grin.
"Luna," she growls, "when did you get here?" she asks.
"Not long after you passed the arcade," the cat replies. "I was coming to see what was taking you so long when I heard you talking to that man and I got curious. It's your fault for not noticing me."
Usagi makes a displeased noise, looking away. "His name's Amade Yusuke, and I wouldn't say he's a friend. Apparently he's being followed by a monster, and I was curious."
Luna looks towards the club, intrigued. "Yes, I'd heard about that. Do you think there's any truth to his story, Usagi-chan?" she asks.
"Hmm," Usagi mumbles, contemplating what she'd felt earlier. That she'd felt anything from the tape at all was beyond weird, but she was a Sailor Guardian, so she was far more in tune with evil in the world than the average human. Luna would probably have understood it more than her, but for a beginner it was certainly something. "I think so," she finally admits, drawing Luna's attention. She goes on to explain the tape and the feeling she'd gotten from it.
"That is unusual," Luna says once she's finished. "Though I'm surprised your intuition has developed enough to even sense that, given how recent your awakening as a Guardian was."
"Do you think it warrants an investigation?" Usagi asks, internally pleased.
Luna nods. "I should think so. We can start here."
She starts to walk forward, but pauses when Usagi tells her to stop. She gleefully points to a sign just outside the door. "'No pets allowed,'" she reads off of it.
"Wh –" Luna splutters. "I'm not going to let you go in yourself."
"Don't worry, Luna. I have an idea." She pulls the Disguise Pen out of her jacket's inner pocket, stashed there with her transformation brooch. "Moon Power! Change me into a hip new indie artist!" she shouts. When the warm feeling fades her comfy clothes are gone, replaced with a white lace halter top under a bright red leather jacket, a short black skirt and fishnet stockings with short black boots. The best part of her disguise, though, has to be the lime green hair she's now sporting. Usagi grins down at her cat. "How do I look?"
"Unrecognizable," Luna remarks, mildly dumbfounded. "But how do I factor into all of this?"
Usagi winks playfully and then picks her up, laying her over her right shoulder. "You're my stylish accessory," she replies. "Now don't move, you're supposed to be fake." Then she enters the club.
It's a fairly low-key place, dark enough to offer the illusion of privacy but lit enough that you aren't stumbling around trying to navigate the area. There are a couple of people around, and up on stage at the grand piano is Amade Yusuke himself, looking much more put together than he had been when he'd left Usagi. She quickly makes her way to a circular table in the back, settling down to watch. Just moments after she sits a waiter makes his appearance. "Can I get you anything to drink?" he asks, bowing politely.
"A glass of red wine, if you please," she says. "Whatever is fine."
"Coming right up, miss," he replies before walking away.
"Usagi," Luna hisses in her ear, "you can't drink. You're underage!"
"Shh, Luna," she retorts. "Fake animals don't talk. Besides, this isn't the first time I've had wine, and for all they know I am of age so I've got to act like it. I'll be fine, stop worrying."
She's probably saved from Luna's retort by the waiter's reappearance with the glass she asked for. She swirls the wine around the glass before raising it to her nose to take a whiff, and then takes a small sip. Usagi has no idea what she's supposed to be getting from this wine, but that's something she's seen her mother do when drinking wine and figures it's just what she's supposed to do. "This is good," she tells the waiter, who had hung around to hear her verdict. He nods and disappears.
Then she settles in to watch Amade's performance. It's not her usual kind of music, but it's not bad. Usagi wonders if it's his own compositions, or other pieces; she can't tell the difference. She still claps at the end of each piece when the rest of the crowd applauds.
After nearly an hour passes – and she's drunk about half of the wine, ignoring Luna's displeased growls each time she so much as touches the glass – Amade finally gets up from the piano to a louder applause before disappearing into the back. "I think that's our cue, Luna," Usagi mutters as she stands. She leaves what she hopes is enough money to cover the glass on the table before making her way over to the door where Amade disappeared. It's marked employee only, but a quick glance around shows the area clear so she slips inside.
She drops the disguise once they're in the back. The composer is nowhere to be seen so Usagi wanders further, peering into the unlocked rooms she finds. "Where could he have gone?" she wonders aloud to Luna. Then they heard the muffled sound of someone screaming and share a look.
"The stairs!" Luna shouts, darting forward with Usagi hot on her heels. They go down a couple of flights of stairs before it opens up to a parking garage half-underground. Usagi gasps as she spots Amade Yusuke a couple feet away, some sort of vampiric monster across the garage from him. "He was telling the truth," Luna mutters incredulously.
"Hey!" Usagi snaps, drawing it's attention. Fighting it will be an issue since she isn't Sailor Moon, and she can't transform in front of Amade, but she wasn't thinking before she spoke.
She's concerned for nothing. The monster takes one look at her, screeches, and then leaps back, using its wings to escape through the gaps in the wall.
Usagi blinks in surprise before turning to the man. "Are you okay?" she asks. He doesn't look injured, only spooked, and she can't blame him.
"She stole the tape," he replies, sounding defeated. "That was my waltz for Akiko, and she stole it."
"Uh," Usagi stutters, glancing down at Luna. "Well, we'll just have to follow it and get your tape back then, won't we?" she says. There's something about that tape, she's sure of it now, and if the monster has it then it can't be good. "I have no idea how we're going to do that, though," she admits quietly to Luna.
"The studio!" Amade speaks up suddenly, drawing their attention. "That's where I first saw her. Maybe she's gone back."
Usagi considers it before shrugging. "It's as good a guess as any, I suppose."
He gestures her forward. "Come on, I'll drive." She nods and dashes forward, nearly hesitating when he gets into a flashy red sports car that looks very expensive. "Come on," he urges her.
"Right," she mutters, climbing in with Luna.
As soon as she's got her seatbelt on Amade is peeling out of the garage and onto the road. She barely resists the urge to grab onto something. "So," she begins to distract herself from his intense driving, "what's so special about this waltz?"
"I wrote it just for Akiko," he replies a moment later. "She's…the producer working on this album with me."
"And you're in love with her," Usagi continues, filling in the blanks.
"Yeah," he quietly admits.
"And she doesn't know," Usagi guesses.
"Yeah."
"You're not going to tell her?" she asks.
"Well, I was," he admits. "I've named the song after her; it was supposed to be a surprise for when we finished the recording, but I missed my chance earlier today and then this happened."
"Ah, that's unfortunate."
"Yeah."
"Well," Usagi says, forcing enthusiasm, "once we get the tape back you can give it to her and properly confess."
"I suppose. If we get it back," he says glumly.
Usagi shakes her head in admonishment. "You can't be such a pessimist," she says. "It'll be fine and everything will work out. You're in love; you're supposed to be optimistic."
He makes a noise in response, though Usagi has no idea what it's supposed to mean. "We're here," he says instead of replying. She steps out of the car and looks up at the tall building. "Come on." He leads her inside and straight to an elevator, pressing a button for the 47th floor. Usagi swallows heavily at the height. "We'll check the recording studio first," he explains, and Usagi nods.
The exit the elevator to a quiet hall, and she follows as Amade heads to one of the studios. He glances inside the small window before quickly retreating. "She's inside," he whispers.
"Okay, so we need to come up with –" Usagi begins, and then halts when Amade completely disregards her to storm into the room, throwing the door wide with a shout. "Or not," she mutters. "Shit."
Luna is quicker than her when they enter the room. The woman – presumably the monster from before – is holding the tape in her hand and Luna immediately leaps for her, aiming for the face. The monster in disguise is startled enough into dropping it and Usagi lunges forward, scooping it up off the ground. She pauses when she sees another woman lying unconscious on the ground, but scrambles away when she hears a loud growl.
The monster tosses Luna away from her and Usagi is momentarily concerned until she sees the cat land on all four paws, unharmed. But her attention is drawn back to the monster as she reveals her true form, turning into the large vampire woman that had attacked them before.
"Time to go," she mutters to herself as she quickly darts out of the room. She doesn't quite make it, a heavy weight hitting her body and slamming her into the wall opposite the studio. Sharp nails cut at her shirt as the monster grabs for the tape, but Usagi quickly switches hands and tosses it to Luna further down the hall.
"Hey!" she shouts, drawing its attention from Usagi. "If you're looking for this, then I'm not sorry to disappoint." With a defiant glare she stomps down on the tape, shattering it to pieces.
"Noooooo!" the vampire screeches, the volume making Usagi wince and slump to the ground. Her wings flare out, narrowly missing her face, and then the monster is taking flight, making a hole right in the ceiling.
"Usagi, hurry and transform before we lose her!" Luna shouts.
Usagi groans but pulls out her brooch. "Moon Prism Power Make Up!" Warmth flows through her, marginally easing the pain in her back from the collision. "Alright, let's go," she says, leaping out of the hole behind the monster. She can just barely see it a couple of buildings away and quickly gives chase. She's a little apprehensive at first to be leaping off a 47 floor building, but once she gets into the pursuit she barely thinks about it, entirely focused on following her target.
The vampire eventually stops, landing in what appears to be a large arena. It's empty at this time of night, but there's still equipment set up from the day's performances. Usagi lands easily on the stage, Luna not far behind, with the vampire monster standing across the arena from her on the ledge separating the stands from the ground floor. They size each other up for a moment before Usagi speaks up. "I don't know what you were after with Amade Yusuke's composition, but it's over," she says. "And now, in the name of the Moon, I'm going to punish you!"
"You brat!" it screeches before letting out an ear splitting wail. If Usagi thought her earlier sound was bad, it had nothing on this. She drops to her knees, her hands futilely covering her ears in an attempt to lessen the attack. When it finally ends her ears are ringing and Usagi has trouble focusing. Her vision swims and she thinks she sees Luna in her peripheral, probably shouting something, but she can't hear a thing besides the ringing in her head.
She has to blink a couple of times to fix her vision, but when she looks back up the vampire is opening its mouth again and pain blossoms through her head again. She curls up again in agony, probably screaming her lungs out, and it feels like ages before the feeling stops. Or rather, lessens, she supposes. Every part of her body is throbbing dully right now, and she can barely tell which way is up. A soft touch on her arm draws her attention, and some distant part of her recognizes it's Luna but Usagi can barely gather herself to do anything.
'I have to move,' she thinks to herself, instinctively realizing that she's in a very dangerous position right now, but the rest of her body doesn't want to cooperate.
And then she's flying through the air. She thinks she hears – feels? – that horrible noise the vampire monster was making, but there's no accompanying pain to follow and Usagi is confused. Something gently shakes her and she tries to focus on the feeling. It's not Luna anymore, this is too big a feeling for her tiny paws. So who…? She tries to blink to see who it is, but the world is still so blurry and dark that she can't make out any shapes.
She keeps blinking as the world slowly comes back into focus, and then she can almost make out the shapes. There's a figure in dark clothes and a white mask that she recognizes, and then it hits her. Tuxedo Mask. She tries to smile. He saved her, or at the very least got her out of the monster's line of attack. But the monster?
Her faculties are barely starting to return to her and Usagi feels well enough to sit up. When Tuxedo Mask figures out what she's trying to do he helps her, and that's when Usagi notices Luna right beside her, concern etched onto the cat's face. She feels bad for making her companion worry so much and tries to convey this with her expression. She isn't sure how well she succeeds.
"M'nst'r?" she mumbles. Her ears are still ringing and she's got a killer headache, but she isn't sure they're out of danger just yet and knows she can't truly relax. She sees Luna saying something, probably an answer to her question, but she still can't hear. But the cat is gesturing back to the center of the stage and Usagi assumes it must still be out there. That it hasn't come to find them is a mystery, but she doesn't know how to ask.
She raises her arm, though it's a minor struggle, and grasps at her tiara. Then she starts squirming in Tuxedo Mask's grip, trying to get her legs under her, until he gets the hint and helps her stand. She's definitely not steady and has to lean heavily on the man, but he doesn't seem to mind and Usagi appreciates him more than anything right now. "Fin'sh 'er?" she tries, though it doesn't come out nearly as completely as she would have liked.
Luna says something else she can't hear, so she looks to Tuxedo Mask instead. His lips are easier to read, but he isn't saying anything, to Usagi's frustration. She can't even see his eyes so she has no idea if he's even paying attention to her or not with his head turned to the side. She wonders if he can see the monster. She sways into him to grab his attention and he finally looks at her. Then he speaks, and she can sort of understand what he says. He has a plan, apparently, but doesn't bother to explain it to her.
Instead he maneuvers her so she's leaning against the wall on the side of the stage, making sure she's got a solid grip on the curtain bunched there before he walks away, quickly returning with a microphone in hand. She has no idea what it's for, but he grabs her again and, when he noticed her attention is focused on him again, mouths, 'Ready?'
She nods, and then Tuxedo Mask steps back out onto the stage. The monster is pinned to the wall by several red roses, though she's steadily removing them from her person. It doesn't take her much longer to free herself and then her attention is focused entirely on them on stage. She snarls, though Usagi doesn't hear it, and then opens her mouth again. Usagi braces for that crippling screech of hers, when Tuxedo Mask holds out the microphone.
The attack hits them for all of a second before the speakers placed around the front of the stage are echoing the amplified noise back, throwing the monster's attack back at herself. She immediately cuts off to clutch at her own head, though Usagi is jealous that she can remain standing under that onslaught. As she tries to scowl at the monster, Tuxedo Mask jostles her again, and once he's got her attention back he sends a pointed head tilt down at the tiara she's still holding.
"Right," she mumbles, trying to stand separate from Tuxedo Mask now. He takes a step back, though a comforting hand remains placed at her back. Usagi gathers as much strength as she can muster to put into this throw, focusing all her effort on hitting the monster. "Moon Tiara Action!" she shouts, enunciating as clearly as she can as she throws it. Miraculously, in her opinion, the tiara strikes true, hitting the vampire monster while it's distracted with its own pain. Usagi has a moment to congratulate herself before everything goes black and she slumps to the ground, barely aware of strong arms catching her.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
When Usagi starts to awaken the first thing she becomes aware of is a pounding headache throbbing behind her eyes. The second thing she becomes aware of is how cold she is, and how hard the ground she's lying on is. Moving her body is a struggle, but a manageable one at that and she forces herself into a sitting position, opening her eyes as she does so. She blinks a couple of times to clear her vision, and then frowns in confusion as she registers the stage she's lying on, facing an empty amphitheater as light slowly begins to crest the edge of the roof. Then she notices a tiny black figure curled up near her and blurts out, "Luna," in shock.
The cat's eyes snap open at the call of her name and then Luna is instantly on her feet, approaching Usagi with concern clear on her face and in her voice as she asks Usagi if she's alright.
"No, I'm not," she replies grumpily. "Why am I still here? What happened?"
"Come on, Usagi," Luna says instead. "I'll explain on the way back but we need to get home. The sun's nearly up and we don't want to get caught here, not to mention there's no telling how worried your family is." Usagi groans but slowly gets to her feet. Luna doesn't try to rush her and she's grateful for the cat. She follows her out of the amphitheater, and once they're out Luna starts speaking. "After that monster hit you with her attack, you didn't get back up. I was so concerned that you'd be in trouble, but I couldn't move you myself. And then that man came, scooping you up off the ground and taking you to safety," she begins.
"Tuxedo Mask," Usagi mumbles, filling in the name Luna clearly didn't know.
"We couldn't wake you for several minutes, and when you finally stirred you didn't seem well enough to fight, yet you still tried. Long story short, with Tuxedo Mask's help you managed to defeat her, but immediately afterwards you passed out," she continues, her voice growing stony. "He caught you and laid you on the ground, but then he left. As I had no means to get you back home myself, I had no choice but to leave you there for the night and hope you awoke before it got too late."
"He left me?" Usagi asks incredulously. It's upsetting to think Tuxedo Mask didn't even try to help her out or take her home, but another part of her is glad that he didn't. She's not sure she wants a stranger knowing where she lives, or even her identity since clearly she lost her transformation sometime in the night.
"I know," Luna agrees. "For someone in a tuxedo, he wasn't very gentlemanly. Though perhaps it's for the best. Either way, as soon as we get home I want you in bed and resting for the remainder of the day. You went through a lot last night, and we're going to take full advantage of this weekend for you to recuperate."
"No arguments here," Usagi grumbles, her headache still pounding away. When she rubs at her temples her fingers glance over something sticky, and when she touches it she realizes there's dried blood trailing from her ears, likely a result from that blasted attack. She really hopes they don't encounter too many people as she makes her way back home because her appearance will be hard to explain.
She lets Luna lead the way back, and the cat thankfully keeps them to the back alleys and empty sidewalks. When they finally make it back to her house she has no choice but to go through the front door with her condition, not to mention she left her window closed in the first place. She quietly creeps through the first floor, though it's early enough that not even Miharu-san is up yet. She can only hope they didn't notice she never came home last night. Her family probably wouldn't, but Miharu-san might and she doesn't want to deal with the lecture her parents will likely give her once the woman tells them.
But those are problems for later. As soon as Usagi sees her bed she's slumping onto the covers, not even caring about her clothes or the dried blood covering the side of her face. She's warm and she's comfortable and that's all she needs to quickly fall asleep.