Title: Shipwrecked

Author: Lisa

Chapter: 3

Rating: G

Author's Notes:

I'm pretty surprised at myself too, but after about a decade, here's a new chapter to "Shipwrecked!" I'd like to push this story and "Remembrance" as far along as I can while I have some free time on my hands during the holidays. Doubt any of my original readers are still with me, but hope my writing has improved somewhat since the last chapter. ^^;; Please enjoy, and I'd love to hear from you afterward!

Disclaimer: Sailor Moon and the others don't belong to me, but this story does.


Usagi bit back a cry as she tore off a piece of what remained of her ragged shirt and gingerly wrapped the damp cloth around her injured hand. Despite her best efforts to apply as little pressure as possible, a searing, sharp pain ripped through her left hand, sending an electric shock of agony that reverberated throughout her petite form. Usagi's stomach reacted violently to the pain, and she soon found herself on her knees, purging herself of an acidic mixture of the half-digested remains of her morning meal and the seawater that burned her lungs onto the cool sand beneath.

"Mamoru," she whispered, her desperate eyes falling once more on the unmoving man before her. She knew that he was losing too much blood, and each second that she delayed in reaching him brought him a second closer to…she couldn't bear to finish the thought. With a sudden burst of adrenaline, Usagi rose to her feet. However, the blond only managed to take a few shaky steps before her legs gave out beneath her. A fresh wave of pain hit Usagi, and she felt hot tears sting the corner of her eyes. But now wasn't the time for tears—she blinked back the intruding drops with newfound determination and pushed herself up from the ocean's edge.

Time seemed to move in slow motion as Usagi stumbled her way toward Mamoru. Torturous foot by foot, she closed the distance between them until finally he was within arm's reach. She placed trembling fingers against his neck and nearly shouted in joy when she felt the weak thump of his pulse against her fingertips. Yet craving additional confirmation, she next placed her head near his face and again rejoiced silently, letting out a ragged breath that she hadn't realized she'd been holding. Mamoru was alive and breathing. She didn't dare to think of what she would've done had the opposite been true, had she been left stranded alone in the dark on this foreign rock that seemed capable of being swallowed up by the ocean at any given moment…

Usagi felt her mind scattering once more, and she shook her head to clear herself of the all-too-inviting haze of unconsciousness. Drawing upon her limited knowledge of first aid from one of her previous classes (though she was embarrassed to admit that she had daydreamed more than listened during those rather dry lectures), Usagi tried to assess the extent of Mamoru's wounds, which was made difficult by the unnatural angle in which his form was twisted. Hesitant to turn him in fear of causing further damage, she instead decided it was more prudent to wake the man in question. If he wasn't able to regain consciousness, then…Usagi bit her lip until she tasted metallic in her mouth and carefully nudged his shoulder, which thankfully didn't appear like it had sustained any serious injuries.

"Mamoru," she called, cringing as her voice cracked and the sound was promptly eaten up by the crashing waves, "wake up. Mamoru. It's me, Usagi." He didn't respond, and Usagi felt terror grip her insides with icy fingers. "Mamoru!" Her pleas became more urgent as the seconds ticked by without a response. "Mamoru! Please…" Tears ran freely down Usagi's cheeks now, but she didn't bother wiping away the salty trails that dripped and disappeared onto Mamoru's shirt. "Please…don't leave me alone…"

His groan was barely audible at first, a ragged whisper that Usagi was half convinced had been a figment of her overworked imagination. The blond fixed anxious eyes on Mamoru's face yet was fully unprepared when his tired blue eyes fluttered open and held her gaze.

"Oh," she breathed, suddenly incapable of coherent thought as her fingers took on a life of their own and found themselves gently tracing the length of a thin cut on his cheek.

"U—Usagi?" Her heart leapt as recognition lightened his eyes. "Where…where am I?"

Usagi found her voice at last. "I'm—I'm not sure really. It looks like…an island of some sort." She flushed under the intensity of his stormy gaze. "Do you remember what happened?"

He closed his eyes briefly, and when they opened again, they were unfocused as their owner struggled to recall the tragic turn of events just hours prior. "I remember…voices," he replied shakily, "so many voices. Screams. The water…then…nothing." His eyes suddenly came into focus, and he grabbed Usagi's wrist with alarming force. "My father…is he…?"

Usagi swallowed the whimper that gurgled in her throat from the strength of Mamoru's grip. "I don't know," she answered. "I didn't see him. But that doesn't mean he's…maybe he got help, maybe…" She trailed off pathetically, a touch of fear travelling up her spine at Mamoru's emotionless stare.

"Or maybe he's dead."

"Mamoru…" Usagi placed a comforting hand on his shoulder and squeezed gently. "We have to hope, right?" She ran her gaze over his form and silently berated herself for temporarily forgetting the much more pressing matter of his injuries. Did he not see that he was covered in his own blood? His blood…her hand was now dyed crimson with his blood. Usagi's stomach heaved once more. "Mamoru, you're bleeding pretty badly," she choked out, relieved that she had already emptied out the contents of her stomach, else Mamoru would've been the likely recipient of such unpleasant contents. "We have to stop the bleeding."

Mamoru seemed confused at first, before his eyes swept over his clothes and the sand beneath him. "I—" He tried to sit up, only to feel a sharp pain in his side which drained what little color remained from his face. He couldn't suppress the groan that escaped his lips before he laid back down, his chest heaving as wave after wave of agony shot through his body like lightening.

Usagi hovered nervously above him, her eyes drifting to the wound on his right side that Mamoru now pressed with his hands.

"Mamoru, are you alright?" she asked hesitantly, her words barely above a whisper. "Here, let me help." She tried to rip another piece of cloth from her torn shirt but was stopped by a light touch on her knee. She flushed despite herself.

"You barely have a shirt on your back as it is," he said wryly, then offered up his arm. "Take the fabric from here instead." Usagi kept her eyes averted from his face as she tore off part of his sleeve with her good hand and ripped the cloth until it formed a long strip.

"I'm ah—I'm going to need to lift up your shirt to dress…um…" Usagi was pretty sure her face was tomato red at this point. While she had her share of admiring attractive members of the opposite sex—in fact, many a lunch period had been spent giggling with her friends over said attractive male specimens—her actual experience with them had been laughable up to this point thanks to her overprotective father, who had purchased a shotgun on her fourteenth birthday for the express purpose of "chasing away eager boys." The thought of being alone with a boy who was not fully clothed (never mind the perfectly innocuous circumstances) left her heart pounding in equal parts nervousness and excitement.

"So you're going to take advantage of me in my incapacitated state, is what I'm hearing."

"Iie, of course not! I'm only trying to help, baka," Usagi huffed, half-wishing that the sand floor would open its arms and suck her within its depths right then and there. The blood loss clearly hadn't done anything to stem his arrogance.

"Usagi." Warm fingertips lifted her chin to meet his gaze. "I'm only teasing. I am grateful, of course. Gomen…I don't tend to handle stress very well, as you've probably already noticed." Mamoru shifted his weight slightly and immediately regretted the movement. He tried to hide the wince from Usagi, but she was at his side again in a second.

"No sudden movements, remember? Now, this may hurt…" As gingerly as she could manage, Usagi began peeling away the bottom half of his shirt, which stuck to his frame from caked blood. When she had lifted the shirt to the edge of the wound, she stopped and looked at him with hesitation. Armed with his quiet nod of encouragement, she removed the rest of the tattered fabric in one swift pull. Mamoru stifled a groan and drew in several deep breaths, forcing himself to remain conscious by focusing on the warmth of Usagi's hand on his abdomen.

The blood was still oozing steadily from the wound, which Usagi guessed was caused by some sort of glass shard or piece of jagged metal. She whimpered at the sight, her hand shaking noticeably so that she almost lost grip of the makeshift bandage.

"Usagi, it's okay," Mamoru placed one hand over hers, "it's okay." He managed a weak smile, and she drew strength from his reassurances. After securing the bandage as best as she could, she pulled his shirt down and exhaled deeply.

"That should hopefully stay the bleeding for now. But…"she faltered, her eyes darting frightfully up to meet his pain-filled gaze. "We'll need to clean it, make sure it doesn't get infected…but where would we get fresh water? And…" Her mind was racing, and she again mentally kicked herself for not paying better attention in class. 'Baka Usagi,' she chided herself, 'if he dies, it'll be your fault.'

Mamoru, for his part, did everything in his power to calm the frantic blond. He was touched that an almost stranger like Usagi would care so deeply for his well-being, even at the expense of her own. 'How does someone like her exist?' He wondered as he studied her with curious eyes. 'It must be exhausting to care so much.'

"It's alright. Let's just take it one step at a time, okay?" He offered her another smile; the last one seemed to have worked in soothing her frazzled nerves. His gaze fell on Usagi's wrapped hand, which she was cradling gently on her lap. "How is your hand?"

"Hm?" She looked at him distractedly, before following his eyes to her left hand. "Don't worry about me," she replied quickly, "I'll live."

Mamoru opened his mouth to object but was rudely interrupted by a flash of lightening that split open the night sky in a blaze of white fury. Its rumbling companion soon followed, filling the distance with a boom so powerful that Mamoru felt the ground shake beneath him. Distracted by the display of natural force, he didn't notice that a certain blond had curled herself against him, eyes squeezed shut in instinctive fear.

Usagi had always hated thunderstorms, and today had only cemented this terror in unspeakable ways. When the immediate danger had passed, she extracted herself almost unwillingly from his frame.

"Gomen," she mumbled, embarrassed to have been caught whining like a schoolgirl. "It'll start storming soon," she said hurriedly, and stood up before Mamoru had a chance to react. "I'm going to see if there's any place we can take shelter. Otherwise we'll be drenched."

"Usagi…just…be careful."

She looked at him, before the faintest of smiles curved her lips upward. "Hai, I will."

Usagi hadn't been gone for more than five minutes before Mamoru felt the iron grip of panic clutch his insides. Perhaps she'd fainted out of exhaustion and hit her head against a rock, or…encountered some native who'd taken her prisoner…or attacked by some wild beast in search of a delectable treat.

Mamoru groaned, his imagination running wild. He had always prided himself in being completely rational and level-headed. Yet with Usagi, somehow, he was incapable of maintaining his composure. Even before this entire ordeal, on the ship, he had felt himself inexplicably drawn to her. He had deliberately incited her anger and delighted in seeing the fire in her eyes that transformed them into the most magnificent shade of blue. And now, in this impossible situation…

He scanned the darkness for her small form, but she was nowhere to be seen. 'That's it,' he resolved, 'I need to go after her. What kind of man would I be if I left her out there to fend for herself all night?' He sat up after some effort and a string of rather colorful curses, momentarily thankful that he couldn't burn Usagi's ears with such foul language. As he struggled to stand, however, he came to the dismaying conclusion that not only did he have a sizeable gash on his side, but his left ankle, it appeared, was also broken or at least badly sprained.

"Great," he muttered to the clouds that loomed menacingly above. "If this is some kind of cruel trick, I don't find it funny at all." His answer was another loud crash of thunder. Wherever Usagi was, she was undoubtedly scared to death by now. Mamoru tested his bad ankle and gritted his teeth at the pain that shot up his leg like wildfire. 'At this rate, I'm just a liability to her,' he thought gloomily. 'Without me, she has a much better chance of surviving until someone finds us…if they're even looking…'

"Mamoru, I think I found somewhere we can rest for the night!"

Usagi's return brought a halt to the rather dark turn of Mamoru's thoughts. She plopped herself down with a small sigh, her face pink with pride at her successful discovery.

"There's a small cave not too far from here. The opening's a bit small, but I think we can both fit in. It'll get us out of the storm for the night at least…" She trailed off upon seeing the faraway look in Mamoru's eyes. "We better hurry if we're going to make it before the rain starts."

She placed a hand on Mamoru's forearm, which he shrugged off decisively. Usagi immediately felt tears form in her eyes at his rejection and wondered what had changed in the brief time she had left him.

"Usagi, you should go without me for now," he finally said. "I'll catch up later." He almost smiled at the force with which she shook her head.

"If you think I'm leaving you out here, you don't know me at all."

"You're right…I don't know you at all."

Usagi rolled her eyes and tugged on his arm once more. "Lesson one: I don't let people die if I can help it. Now please work with me here, or I'll have to drag you myself."

Mamoru chuckled bitterly despite himself and met Usagi's determined eyes. "I suppose I've got a lot to learn then. But…I hope you were at least half-serious about the dragging."

He rolled up his pant leg and revealed his injured ankle, which was already noticeably swollen and a deep shade of purple. She pulled him up without another word and bravely shouldered his weight as best as she could to minimize any jostling of his bad side. They hobbled across the beach together, hearts beating wildly from a dizzying mixture of pain and heightened awareness of their closeness.

By the time the pair had reached the opening of the cave, the first fat raindrops had already splashed upon the ground. Usagi settled Mamoru on the floor and fussed around him, making sure the bandage around his side hadn't unraveled during their journey. Finally satisfied that there was nothing more she could do for her unwilling patient, she rested beside him, maintaining just enough distance so they were not touching.

The two laid in silence for some time listening to the heavy storm outside, both lost in thought about what had to be the longest day of their lives.

Usagi was the first to break the silence. "What are we going to do about water and food?"

Mamoru frowned. He too had worried over how they were going to procure such obvious necessities but didn't say anything to not cause the blond any further concern.

"We'll figure it out tomorrow. It'll be easier to take in our surroundings in the daylight," he replied. Mamoru had a sinking thinking that, given his luck, their surroundings would amount to nothing more than endless sand. Yet Usagi seemed comforted by his answer, and that was enough for now. He looked at the girl, taking in her side profile with quiet admiration. He had truly underestimated Usagi before tonight. Who knew that such a tiny person could hold so much strength within? She shivered involuntarily, and Mamoru immediately wanted to slap himself for not doing everything he could to take care of her, as she had done for him.

Usagi was startled to feel a warm arm wrap around her slender shoulders. She turned to find her face mere inches from Mamoru's, so close that she could feel the warmth of his shallow breaths against her cheek.

"Body heat," he mumbled before she pulled away. "It'll only get colder as the night goes on."

Usagi nodded and bit her lip, wishing that her traitorous cheeks would stop burning every time he so much as touched her. But…she couldn't deny it. Even in his injured state, cut, bruised, and battered, he was still devastatingly handsome. Throwing all caution and decorum to the wind, she seized her chance and—taking care not to cause him any further discomfort—molded her frame to his and rested her head gently against his shoulder. Her eyelids soon began to grow heavy, and she knew she could not keep unconsciousness at bay for much longer.

"Mamoru…will…will you still be here when I wake up?"

In the darkness, she felt his smile.

"I plan to be," he answered simply.


Not too bad, I hope. The next chapter is in the works, along with a new chapter to "Remembrance." Please leave a quick review—your support will only encourage me to write quicker! Hope everyone has a happy and safe New Year! :)

This chapter was written and posted December 2014.