The Return of Tenshi
Ch6
Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket or Sailor Moon. I also don't own any songs I put in.
AN: Thank you for the reviews again. In the last chapter I had issued a poll on which character you, the readers, would want to show up again. Here are the votes:
Chibi Chibi: 5
Starlights: 3
Both: 7
The votes would still be counted until later chapters. You could actually vote with each review you sent in, it really doesn't matter unless you voice your opinion. By the way, if you chose the characters, would you mind telling me the reason why? It just interests me to see why you like the characters. Thanks a lot!
Tohru walked to the house with a smile on her face. She didn't have to go to work that day and had walked Arisa and Saki home before heading back to the house by herself. She was hoping to spend the time getting to know Usagi better. Her eyes were then cast down to the floor as she remembered Saki's words about Usagi.
"I wonder what happened to her. She seemed to be okay," Tohru whispered. She looked up and gasped, "Unless she's hiding her sadness just like the rest of them!"
Tohru continued walking to her home as she tried to guess what might have happened to Usagi to make her upset. "Maybe I can help cheer her up!" Tohru said, brightening up again. And with that, she hurried back through the forest to hear laughter coming from the settlement.
Tohru entered the house and went into the dining room to see almost every one of the zodiac members were there. Hatori and Shigure were sitting on he porch with lighted cigarettes in their mouths. Ayame was drawing designs of brand new dresses on a piece of paper as he sat down beside his two best friends. Kagura was talking to Rin with cups of tea in their hands. Hatsuharu, Yuki, and Kyo were laughing as they talked about activities planned for later days and watched as Usagi, Shingo, Kisa, Hiro, and Momiji play a game of freeze tag. The only ones who couldn't make it was Kureno, who was waiting on Akito's hand and foot, and Ritsu, who lived up in the hot spring resort in the mountains.
Shigure looked up to see Tohru staring at everyone with amazement. "Okeari nasai(1), Tohru-kun," he said, smiling.
Momiji stopped running after Shingo and raced onto the porch. "Tohru's back!" he shouted. He hugged her tightly around the waist and with a POOF! a yellow rabbit with bright red eyes was cuddling onto the surprised girl.
"What do you do that for?" Kyo asked, getting annoyed, "You just saw her a while ago."
"I know," Momiji said, rubbing his face against Tohru's cheek, "But I don't care."
"You are such a brat, ya know that?" Kyo muttered, stomping over to them. He grabbed the pale yellow rabbit and the clothes scattering around Tohru. "You'd think that you've gotten smarter to know that you can't keep on hugging Tohru, but no," he said, swinging the rabbit from side to side.
"Waah! Tohru, Kyo's picking on me!" Momiji cried, "Tenshi, make him stop!" He lifted his front two paws towards Tohru with tears cascading from his eyes.
"Oh, come on, Miji-nii," Shingo shouted, "Did you have to do that in the middle of the game?"
"What's your problem, baka usagi?" Hiro shouted, "I can't believe that you would go and ruin our game just so you can hug that stupid woman!"
Usagi placed a hand on his shoulder and whispered, "That's not nice, Hiro. Don't put the blame on Momiji-kun or Tohru-san." She glanced over to Kyo and said, "Kyo-kun, can you put Momiji-kun into the bathroom? I sense that he's about to change back."
Kyo sighed and stomped out of the dining room, muttering about stupid rabbits that can't keep to themselves, causing everyone else to laugh out loud. Everyone kept quiet when they heard another POOF! followed with "BAKA USAGI! One of these days, I'm going to kill you for making my life miserable!" and "Waah! Kyo's picking on me!", laughter was sent around the room.
Tohru went over to the kitchen to get started on dinner as Usagi followed her to help out. Kisa and Kagura went along to lend a helping hand. All the adults stayed seated as Momiji, Hiro, and Shingo continued their game of freeze tag.
(next scene)
"So, Usagi, how was life over at Juuban?" Kagura asked, "What had you been doing for the past six years?"
Kisa nodded her head. "Usa-nee-chan, why is your hair silver?" Kisa asked with a curious look in her eyes. "Usagi looked at Kisa with a blank look then back to her task of rinsing the rice. "Usa-nee-chan, where is Auntie Ikuko and Uncle Kenji?"
Kagura stopped chopping the vegetables and stared up at the ceiling. "Now that you mention it, I haven't seen them at all," she said.
Tohru glanced over to the three cousins as she heard Usagi reply in a soft distant tone, "That's something I'll discuss after dinner."
Tohru's brown eyes watched as Usagi became quiet and focused on her task only. "I wonder what could be wrong. With the way she's acting, it almost seems like her parents had passed away," Tohru thought silently.
(next scene)
Dinner passed by pretty quickly with pleasant conversations, laughter, and the occasional arguments being passed around. Wanting to hear what their cousins had been doing, everyone in to help clean up.
The Sohmas and Tohru sat patiently in the dining room as Usagi and Shingo went to the attic to put their things away and talk to Luna and Artemis who sat perched on a bed.
The attic was furnished with a single bed with two drawers. Shigure had no idea that Shingo would be staying as well and apologized but promised to have another bed purchased. Usagi said that they were okay and that she could sleep on the floor.
Shingo opened up the only suitcase they brought and immediately started to pull out another baggage the same size from the subspace pocket. "So are we going to tell them the whole story, onee-chan?" Shingo asked.
Usagi pulled out several clothes and packed them away in the drawers. "Define 'whole story', Shingo-kun?" she answered.
"You know, the same story you told okaa-san, otou-san, and me," Shingo replied, "They know about supernatural things because of the whole zodiac curse and all, maybe they can understand the whole Sailor Moon business."
Usagi sighed and stopped what she was doing. She saw down on the bed and replied, "I don't think that's a very good idea, Shingo-kun."
Artemis and Luna stood up on all four legs and looked at the two children. "Usagi-chan's right," Luna said, "It's better if there is very few people who knows the truth about us."
Artemis nodded his head. "For now, we'll try to keep it short and simple," he added with a serious tone.
Usagi got up and picked up the two cats. "Let's get going before they send a military here to check on us," she said with a smile.
Shingo jumped up and followed his sister as she climbed down the ladder and down the stairs. The two Tsukinos entered the dining room and sat down between Tohru and Hiro. Luna and Artemis leaped over to the table and studied everybody in the room.
"Aw! What adorable cats you have!" Tohru exclaimed. She glanced down at the two cats sitting on the table with a dignified manner, like they were the king and queen of the world. She spotted the golden crescent moons on their forehead. "That's strange. I never saw a cat with that kind of a birthmark before," she said.
"Oh great! Just what we need, more cats," Yuki muttered, covering his eyes with his hand.
Kyo heard the comment and shouted, "What do ya mean by that, kuso nezumi? At least I don't have those stupid bald spots on my forehead like…OW!"
In the midst of his yelling, Luna and Artemis slowly sauntered over to Kyo with an appearance that their only intention was to purr and curl up to him like most cats would do. Instead, they lifted up their right paws, extracted the claws, and immediately connected the claws to the top of his arm and drove it straight down.
Now, I'm not trying to say that Kyo has very slow reflexes, quite the opposite, Kyo has cat-like reflexes…well, most of the time, but he was too busy yelling at Yuki, to even notice Luna and Artemis. And we all know what our favorite hot-tempered orange-head would do. Scream and get pissed.
"What was THAT for?" Kyo shouted. His red eyes glared at the two cats, who was glaring at him with the same intensity. He was about to go and kill the cats when he heard Yuki's comment.
"Then again, I welcome these two cats into our house. They must be pretty intelligent if they could attack you without you even knowing, baka neko," Yuki said, smirking slightly, "Even though that's not very difficult."
When the two advisors heard that, they went over to Yuki and curled up against him as if he had just handed them a whole pot of fish. The Juunishi were shocked to see that event. Normally it would be Kyo who the cats would choose to go to, Usagi and Shingo couldn't help but laugh at the two cats' behavior.
"There's just a couple of rules, you should learn whenever you are around Luna and Artemis. The foremost important rule is to never comment that their mark is a bald spot. And another rule is to never say that they are stupid cats, they're actually quite intelligent," Shingo said.
Hiro rolled his eyes. "The day when cats reign supreme in the brain department is the day the curse would be lifted," he snorted.
When Luna and Artemis heard him, they planned on giving Hiro the same treatment they gave to Kyo, but with a threatening glare from Usagi they kept close to Yuki and stayed put.
"So what's been going on in Juuban, Usagi-chan?" Shigure asked, "Did you have any friends? Any cute girl friends? What about a boyfriend?"
Usagi nodded her head with a sad smile on her face. "I actually made about eight friends, the best friends anyone could ask for," she said, thinking back to her fellow scouts who died a short while ago.
"Tell us about them," Kagura said abruptly with a sparkle in her brown eyes, "I want to know all about them."
Usagi produced a photo album out of nowhere and showed everyone the solo pictures of her friends. Ami was sitting in the library with her nose in a book. Her blue hair was cut short, up to her ears as her blue eyes stayed glued to the pages in the book. Rei was dressed in her usual red and white priestess garb and was sweeping the front yard. Her long black hair was flying to the side as her purple eyes stared off into space. Makoto was in front of a stove, her green eyes eyeing the baking cookies inside the oven. Minako was in the air, readying her strike on the volleyball coming her way, the red bow laid fastened in her palish blond hair as her blue eyes flashed with determination. Hotaru was reading in her room filled with different kinds of lamps that she collected. Her dark purple eyes stared attentively to her book as one side of her face her short purple hair was curled behind her ear, while on the other side it laid against her cheek. Haruka leaned against her racecar with a just won trophy in her hands. Her dark blue eyes lit up with triumph, as her short blond hair was messy due to the helmet she wore. Michiru was performing on her violin with Haruka playing the piano nearby. Michiru's sea green hair reached up to her shoulders and her blue eyes were closed as she concentrated on her music. Setsuna was reading a book in a café with a cup of coffee in front of her. Her long dark green hair was but up with a single bun, her wise red eyes concentrated on nothing but the book in her hands.
"Oh my god! You're friends with THE Haruka Ten'oh!" Kagura exclaimed. Usagi just nodded her head.
"Who the heck is he?" Kyo asked.
"HE just so happens to be the number one racer in the world," Kagura said happily, "He never lost a race ever since he started competing, in fact, he always finishes first. He's also very young, just only eighteen."
"I didn't know that you were friends with Michiru Kaioh," Hatori said, looking at her picture with a blank stare.
"Haa-san, I never knew that you had a secret crush on someone," Shigure teased in that playful tone of his, "Though, she is quite the looker, so I can't blame you."
Hatori sighted and shook his head as a way to say 'Why me?' "Michiru Kaioh is actually a very good musician and her music tends to help release me from the stress I had to endure from both you and Ayame."
Usagi nodded her head in agreement. "Michi-chan plays such wonderful music. Even if you're listening for the first time, you become ensnared in the music and it just keeps on drawing you in."
Kagura squealed and said, "I still can't believe that you are friends with Haruka Ten'oh! Is he as fast as they really say? Is it true that both him and Michiru are going out? How in the world did you guys meet? What was it like having him as a friend?"
As Usagi tried to calm the excited college student down, Shingo was trying to keep his laughter locked up inside his body. He bit his bottom lip and used his hands to cover his mouth as his shoulders shook at the thought of Haruka's plan to make the whole world think she's a man actually worked. He figured that Haruka enjoyed playing the man's role in life, what with her pale blonde hair cut in the boyish style, the men clothes she wore, her harsh personality, and her love for speed.
Usagi probably decided to play along and not burst Kagura's bubble as she continuously referred Haruka as a 'he' rather than a 'she'. Usagi explained everything about her friends, leaving everyone in the room amazed as they listened to the senshi's distinct personalities and abilities.
Kisa stared at the pictures with awe. She noticed that was more pictures then the ones Usagi had just shown them. Cautiously and slowly, Kisa turned to the next page and gasped, seeing more of her friends, this time mostly boys. Three men with equally long hair were smiling at the camera, one with black hair, another brown, and the last gray. There was a little girl in front of them, she was about the age of five at least, her red hair was put up in heart shaped buns on top with little curls coming down, her dark blue eyes reminded Kisa of the eyes belonging to Usagi. There was another handsome man with short black hair with dark blue eyes. Standing next to him was a girl about her age with pink hair that was put in the very same style Usagi has, just like the child in the photo before.
Usagi noticed Kisa studying the photos and smiled. "Those are my other friends. Those three are brothers and singers of Three Lights, Seiya, Yaten, and Taiki Kou, and that little girl is Chibi Chibi. The other guy is my ex-fiancé, Mamoru Chiba, and that girl is my…cousin, Chibi-Usa."
"Ex-fiancé," Yuki repeated, "You had a fiancé at your age?"
"We weren't planning on getting married until I graduated from high school," Usagi replied as if it was am everyday thing, "And we've been going out for about two years."
"You've been going out when you were fourteen!" Kyo shouted, "How old was this guy?"
"He is three years older than me."
"He was seventeen when you started going out! Isn't that like pedophilia or something? How the hell did you know that he was the one?" Kyo asked.
"I just do," Usagi replied softly.
Kyo opened his mouth to continue his angry words when Rin picked up a small piece of cake and stuck it in his mouth. "Just keep quiet," Rin hissed as Kyo started to choke.
"Without using the offensive language," Shigure said with a smile, "But if he was 'the one', then why did he become your ex-fiancé?"
"It wasn't by choice," Usagi whispered, "He passed away some time ago." A tear fell down her cheek as a weak smile crept up on her face.
A cold chill came around the room when they heard it. "What?" they all said at the same exact time with the same exact shocked tone.
"Mamo-chan passed away, along with my friends," she said, "They all died in…an accident." Usagi licked her dry lips as she tried to come up with a story they would believe.
Sensing that something was troubling her, Hatori walked over to Usagi and placed a hand on her shoulder. "When you're ready, you can tell us. I'm pretty sure that in the future, you'll feel more confident and secure."
"Where are auntie and uncle?" Hiro asked. He immediately regretted asking that question when he saw his two cousins glancing over at the table top with sad eyes. "You mean…that they…" he stuttered as his whole body became racked up with fear.
"They passed away almost a week ago in a car accident," Shingo said.
Usagi motioned Luna and Artemis to go to her as she helped Shingo to his feet. "We best be going to sleep, we do have school tomorrow," she said softly.
"Do you want me to go get the uniforms or register you to a school tomorrow?" Shigure asked with a concerned tone.
Usagi shook her head. "We got registered and everything this morning before we got Momiji and everyone."
"Okay. Oyasuminasai(2), Usagi-chan, Shingo-kun," Shigure said.
"When he was sure that they had left and couldn't hear anything from the dining room, Shigure sighed. "I can't believe it. Ikuko and Kenji…what did they do to deserve that?"
"I think that the question should be, what did Usagi do to deserve this much tragedy in her life?" Yuki said, correcting his cousin.
"Do you think we should tell Akito-san about this?" Kisa asked in a worried tone.
Ayame shook his head. "It's better to leave Akito ignorant about all this. If he finds out that Ikuko and Kenji are dead, the first thing he'll do is to take Ten-chan and lock her away."
(next scene)
While the Sohmas talked quietly, Tohru cleaned up the table and headed up the stairs. "So Usagi-chan lost both her parents and friends," she said softly, "It's strange that she could even smile after all that." A thought came up to her as she smiled softly, " I guess, in a way, we're both alike."
"Onee-chan?"
Tohru glanced up to see that the trapdoor leading to the attic was still open. She climbed up the ladder and peeked at the scene in front of her. She watched as Shingo was snuggled underneath the dark blue blankets with his brown eyes on his sister, who was spreading a sleeping bag on the floor. Luna and Artemis were already asleep on the bed next to each other.
"Onee-chan, can I ask you to do me a favor?" Shingo asked.
"Sure, kiddo, what do you want me to do?" Usagi asked, leaning against the bed, closer to her brother.
Shingo closed his eyes to think for a minute. He opened them slowly. "Can you sing? Just like how okaa-san use to do when we were little?"
Usagi sat on the bed and started humming in a low tone as she combed her hand through his hair. She continued to hum the soft notes and opened her mouth to sing the song that was sang to her when she was a child, even when she lived in the main house, she could hear her mother's soothing voice.
I believe children are our future Teach them well and let them lead the wayShow them all the beauty they possess inside
Give them a sense of pride, to make it easier
Let the children's laughter, remind us how we use to be
Everybody's searching for a hero
People need someone to look up to
I never find anyone to fulfill my needs
A lonely place to be, so I learned to depend on me
I decided long ago, never to walk in anyone's shadow
If I fell, if I succeed, at least I lived as I believe
No matter what they take from me
They can't take away my dignity
Because the greatest love of all, is happening to me
I found the greatest love of all inside of me
(next scene)
Everyone in that house stopped what they were doing as they heard a soft voice singing. They all kept silent as they listened to the angel's voice attentively as if the singing is a ways to reassure them that weren't all dreaming that Usagi is back and when they wake up, she'll no longer be there.
(next scene)
I believe children are our future Teach them well and let them lead the wayShow them all the beauty they possess inside
Give them a sense of pride, to make it easier
Let the children's laughter, remind us how we use to be
Everybody's searching for a hero
People need someone to look up to
I never find anyone to fulfill my needs
A lonely place to be, so I learned to depend on me
I decided long ago, never to walk in anyone's shadow
If I fell, if I succeed, at least I lived as I believe
No matter what they take from me
They can't take away my dignity
Because the greatest love of all, is happening to me
I found the greatest love of all inside of me The greatest love of all is easy to achieveLighting to by yourself, it is the greatest love of all
And if by chance, that special place that you've been dreaming of
Leads you to a lonely place, find your strength in love
(The Greatest Love Of All, I'm not sure who sang this song, but I really like this song when I first heard it)
Usagi stopped singing and beamed when she heard a somewhat quiet snoring. She made sure Shingo was tucked in tightly before going underneath the covers of the sleeping bag.
Tohru climbed down the ladder and closed the trapdoor. "Usagi-chan has a really good voice," she said to herself, "I have a feeling that there's a lot of things that I can learn from Usagi-chan. I'm sure that Uo-chan and Hana-chan will absolutely adore her."
She entered her room and changed into her pale pink pajamas. "If Yuki-kun has a fan club at school, something tells me that Usagi-chan will have one too."
(next scene)
"She hasn't lost it at all," Yuki said with a faraway smile on his face. "Tenshi still has a very beautiful voice as always."
"I remember that she would sing to Akito whenever he was ill," Hatori said, "It always makes him fall asleep faster and a lot more patient with others."
"Why don't you guys head back to the main house? You kids have school tomorrow," Shigure said, smiling as everyone got up and left to go home for the night.
(1) Welcome back
(2) Good night
So how was it? I know I kinda made Usagi into almost a mother figure to Shingo whereas they're usually at each other's throats and acted like children in the manga and anime, but I wanted to make Usagi and Shingo's relationship between each other into something like between a mother and child (despite the age). I apologize if the last chapter was too short, hopefully my other chapters won't be as short. Continue reading and send your reviews and votes. So far the votes for both Chibi Chibi and Starlights are in the lead.