Previously on Sailor Moon: Shooting Starlights
"We're going and it's final. Earth is not our responsibility. End of discussion. And you're forbidden from seeing Tsukino-san at all. If you do come near her, you'll be considered a traitor and we won't hesitate in putting you out of your misery, understand?"
"I don't know. He has to check if he'll be home for Christmas. But he's doing just fine with his studies."
"Lying to protect us, ne, Odango? That's impressive."
"I'm sorry ... Odango."
"This is going to be fun ..."
Minako looked around their booth at a café, eyes shimmering with a sparkle of hope. "Have any of you guys heard anything from Usagi-chan?"
The other three occupants of the booth shook their heads, a feeling of sadness coming across them at not hearing from their golden-haired princess.
"I quite figured that, " sighed the blonde-haired singer, stirring her drink once again. "It seems like she's avoiding us or something since she left to do whatever weeks ago."
Ami nodded her head and chimed in, "I haven't even been able to catch her at her house for the past few weeks. Not even Luna knows what exactly has caused the change in her mood."
Makoto took a sip of her drink and sat it down. "Maybe she's still coping with Mamoru-san not being here right now. Their anniversary is coming up soon."
"Quite true; still in love with each other after four years of being together. I'm still jealous of their love, " gushed Minako, getting heart eyes in her eyes.
"It is admirable that your love is still going strong, huh?" mused Makoto, taking a bite out of her pastry. "What do you say might be wrong with her, Rei-chan?"
Violet eyes stared out of the window as their owner responded almost breathlessly, "I don't know, but whatever it is – it impacted her mood much more heavily than anything else in her life ever did …"
At the Tsukino Residence, inside of Usagi's room
Usagi laid across her bed, headphones atop her head as she listened to the same tune for the thousandth time that week.
I want to help you, I want to rescue you, if I can do it
I would even throw away my life, all for you…
When you're uneasy, when it's painful, I am there with you
Always keep showing to me your smiling face …
"You lied …" sobbed Usagi, still listening to the song, "You lied about always being there for me. You've abandoned me like everyone else has. I thought you were my friend."
She curled into herself, closing her eyes as tears flooded from them in trickling streams. "You were my friend. I had faith in you and in our friendship, but you just abandon me as if I were nothing to you. Was I truly nothing to you? Do you hate me? Am I not good enough? Why won't you get out of my head?!"
"Usagi-chan?"
The young princess opened her eyes to spot Luna staring up at her from beside her bed and sniffled. "What is it, Luna?" asked Usagi, wiping her tears away from her eyes.
Luna, red eyes filled with worry and concern for her young charge, hopped up on the bed to nuzzle Usagi's arm. "What's wrong, Usagi?"
Usagi sniffed once more, taking off the headphones. "Nothing's wrong really. This song just breaks my heart, that's all, " she chirped with fake positivity, avoiding eye contact with Luna.
"Are you sure? You haven't been out of the house for a few weeks now. You haven't even been answering any of the girls' calls either. Everyone's worried about you, " pointed out Luna, watching as the blonde looked away in shame.
"I'm sorry … I didn't mean to scare everybody. I've just been in need of some alone time, " muttered Usagi, tucking strands of hair behind her ears.
Luna sighed. "I understand that, but you could at least let us know what's truly bothering you. Is it Mamoru-san?"
No response. The moon princess just looked out at her balcony, staring at nothing in particular – lost in thought or memory.
"Please talk to me, Usagi. I'm trying to help you. You just seem lost lately."
"I'm just confused about a few things in my life, Luna. No need to worry, " Usagi reassured, turning to face Luna with a brilliant smile. "I'm perfectly fine, I promise. I'll figure myself out somehow before the week ends. Go on and visit Artemis. He probably misses you since you've been hovering over me for the past few weeks."
The black cat made to protest against her mistress's wishes, but after seeing the heart-wrenching emotion fluttering around within the blonde youth's eyes – she just gulped and hopped off of the bed to head to the door.
"Okay, but know that I'm here when you need to talk."
A hum was her only answer.
The guardian looked over her shoulder at Usagi, her heart breaking at the sight of the sorrowful look sprawled across the teenager's face; headphones back on her head.
Turning away from the young woman, the cat made her way out of the house in search of her white counterpart with one thought on her mind.
'Her spirit is breaking and we don't know why …'
Meanwhile, Usagi took in a deep breath and closed her eyes once more as she curled into a fetal position once more. Allowing one particular song to haunt her once more.
I have finally realized that
The broken pieces are not enough (Please stay by my side, sweetheart)
…
"Seiya, get up. We've got start moving out."
No answer.
"Seiya, we've been planning this for weeks. Don't back down now."
Still no answer.
A growl soon sounded before a slap whipped itself across the dark-haired warrior's face as its owner basically screamed at the top of their lungs, "SEIYA!"
The afore mentioned teen regained her composure enough to glare at her companion who just slapped her. "What the fuck you want?" she hissed through clenched teeth, anger burning deep within her eyes.
"You know exactly what we want! Now get your lazy ass up and let's go!" screeched Yaten, suitcase in hand.
Seiya narrowed her eyes at her. "No …"
"What do you mean by 'no'?" hissed the silver-haired youth, ready to pounce on her stubborn leader.
"As in 'no, I'm not leaving Tokyo'. I refuse to abandon Odango while knowing that she might be at risk because of me, " declared Seiya, head held high as she eyed her friends calmly.
Yaten snorted, "You can't be serious! We've been planning this for weeks and you -." She is silenced by Taiki who gave her a scolding look, before the brunette turned her attention onto her friend.
"Seiya, be reasonable. She'll be in danger if we stay. We must leave immediately since our cover has been blown. You know that we're in hiding from our own planet; you can't just forget that, " Taiki stated, trying to reason with her youngest friend.
Seiya shook her head. "I am being reasonable, Taiki. You should know that it's unfair and thoughtless to throw our friends into a pack of hungry wolves after us. We owe it all to Odango and her friends to at least stick around and help them protect their planet against whatever is threatening Earth after they've -."
"Seiya, we've already paid our deb -."
The amazon gave her intuitive comrade another glare, effectively silencing her once more. She turned her attention back onto Seiya and questioned her, "What exactly are you asking us to do, Seiya?"
Seiya gave them both a stern look, arms folded across her ample chest. "We help our friends while trying to stay under the radar from our planet. Odango and her friends do need our help, and Earth is the safest place that we can be from how there's so many places that our hunters think we could've hid at."
Yaten snorted once more with an eye roll. "You're making excuses now," she declared, taking a seat.
Seiya glared at her. "No, I'm not and you know it. But since you're so dead set on leaving, I'mma go find myself a place of my own so that I don't have to worry about you two, "she snarled with venom, making her way to the front door but Taiki grabbed her arm.
"Can't we all just calm down and talk this out? Everything's taking a toll on all of us nowadays. We need to relax and-."
"Oh, just go to your precious Odango already. You obviously don't care about us, "snapped the former Starlight of healing.
The bluenette huffed, yanking her arm away from Taiki. "Whatever, Shrimp, but I hope that you're able to look at yourself in the mirror once you abandon Minako again. You only have room to care about yourself, " retorted Seiya as she made her way to the door, glaring at Yaten.
"Fuck you, Seiya, fuck you!" shrieked Yaten, throwing a vase at Seiya only for it to shatter against the apartment door.
Taiki sighed, rubbing at her temple. "Could you not do that? She was trying to compromise with us, " she lectured and sat next to the green-eyed woman.
A scoff was her answer: "Are you serious?! She's done blown are cover, severed our plans, and is off to most likely pout over Usagi-san again even though she bit her head off weeks ago!"
"I know, I know. But she and we need to look inside of ourselves and figure out what we truly want. We can't keep running and hiding like before; it's irrational and does make us selfish for thinking about endangering our friends with our misdeeds, " breathed Taiki, sighing. "But, Yaten, please stop being so hard on her. She's had it hard also. We need each other during this time, understand?"
Yaten pouted for a few more minutes before leaning against Taiki. "I understand, but that doesn't mean I'm happy."
The amethyst-eyed teen giggled, "I already knew that, my friend."
"Stupid Yaten! Stupid Taiki! Always questioning me!" grunted Seiya as she kicked at a soda can on her way to the park near the Lights' apartment.
Another kick and grunt. "Always thinking that I'm stupid and reckless because I'm younger! Psst! I'm far from being an amateur!" she scoffed, kicking at the can still. "We've known each other for years; trained together for years, but they still have little faith in me!"
One final kick landed the can in a trashcan. "I'll show them both who's capable of being a lioness!" growled Seiya, a sorrowful look coming across her features as she eyes the few couples at the park.
"Odango … I miss you, do you miss me?" she sighed wistfully and sat down at a bench.
"I wish that I could've carried you off like I promised. If only I'd were an actual man and had met you soon …" Seiya trailed off when a shadow fell over her and looked up to meet a pair of familiar teal-colored eyes. "How may I help you?"
Haruka narrowed her eyes at Seiya, her next few words sending a slight chill down the younger girl's spine as well as stopping her heart cold. "You can start by staying away from Koneko-chan, " sneered the formula racer before a pregnant silence fell between them.
To be continued