A/N: Originally, this was supposed to be longer, but I made some cuts and I was left with this short chapter. Anyway, I hope you enjoy. There is also some stronger language included, but not much.
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Sailor Moon.
Chapter Four
"Call me crazy--"
"You're crazy."
"Mako, why can't you ever let me finish a sentence without--"
"Interrupting?" Makoto asked, grinning mischievously.
"Urgh! Yes!" snapped Minako, glaring harshly at her tall friend before turning around and continue walking. "As I was saying… call me crazy, Usagi, but I don't remember you ever telling us that you had a cousin. Heck, I didn't even know you had an aunt."
Usagi pursed her lips, adjusting her backpack strap on her left shoulder, mentally berating herself for not telling them sooner. "Actually, we don't really see them that much. I mean, Aunt Setsuna joined the Peace Corps right out of high school and I've literally only seen her once in my life, I don't even remember what she looks like. I was like four years old when she came to visit, but I have never met Chibiusa. And I guess I just never felt the need to bring it up."
The five diverse friends walked leisurely on the cracked sidewalk, soaking up the heat of the afternoon sun. They were famished, sweaty, and immensely tired after a long, laborious day at Azabu's district high school. Usagi and Minako had both dolefully served their after school detentions, while Ami, Rei, and Makoto had attended their extra-curricular activities -- Latin Club, Archery, and Student Council, respectively. There was no time to visit the Crown Arcade, a habit that had become a daily routine over the course of the past year, and they opted to go home instead to prepare for Minako's birthday bash later that evening. It was going to be an absolute ball, as they had been looking forward to it for the past few months. Minako was the only child of a wealthy family, therefore, anything her parents did for her would be nothing less than extravagant.
"Chibiusa," Ami repeated, scrunching her face in contemplation. "Strange that your mother and aunt chose the same name for their daughters, don't you think? I can't imagine what the probability to that is." She tapped her fingers together as if actually trying to determine what the exact odds were. "It's sort of amazing… unfortunate that you have to share your name, but still rather incredible."
"I think you mean weird," Makoto supplied wryly, pulling at a stray string on her blue, pleated skirt. "I would be upset if I had to share my name. At least she goes by a nickname." She placed her hand on Usagi's shoulder from behind. "But if she looks like you, too, then we are definitely entering 'what the fuck' territory."
Minako swiveled her head, giving Makoto a critical eye. "What's with the curses today? Hanging out with dirty sailors again?"
"Yes, unfortunately. Being part of a sports team forces you to use very colorful words."
"Just admit you like using them. You shouldn't limit your already limited vocabulary, anyway," Rei teased, poking her in the ribs with her elbow. Her violet eyes brightened at the sight of a familiar street sign up ahead. "Well, this has been fun, but this is where I bid you all a farewell. Bye, girls!" she waved, crossing the street.
"Wait! You're coming tonight, right?" Minako worriedly asked, her twinkling blue eyes prepared to burst into tears in the case of refusal.
"I already told you I would!" Rei retorted in irritation as she walked away, mumbling about amnesiac blondes and pointless repetitions.
Minako pouted, knowing it was best not to push the topic further, and turned to a giggling Usagi. "Makoto and I have to go, too," she said, giving both Usagi and Ami a bright smile. "But make sure to bring your cousin with you tonight, that way we can meet her and she can get socialized! She'll definitely make a boyfriend by the end of the night. Oh, this is going to be so much fun! See you two later!" She squealed in delight, grabbing Makoto by the hand as they bounced away in the opposite direction, leaving Usagi and Ami shaking their heads in amusement.
"I've been meaning to tell you," Usagi said to Ami after a few silent moments. "I passed my literature test. Barely, but at least I don't have to re-take it. "
"That's fantastic, Usagi! You see? With just a little extra help, your marks will go up significantly. It's a slow process," Ami said, noticing Usagi's shy smile, "but one that will have remarkable results. If we keep this up, we'll soon be rivals and you know how competitive I can be." She grinned.
"I doubt it, but I just wanted to say thank you, you know, for being patient with me."
"You're welcome."
"But that's not what I wanted to talk to you about."
The mood instantly darkened, making Usagi feel as if a rock had settled in the pit of her stomach. The two girls looked around guardedly, making sure no pedestrian was within hearing distance. They slowed their pace, allowing a few moments to pass in the uncomfortable air.
Ami began to fidget with her small ring, a birthday present from her mother the month before. "I know," she answered simply.
"I just…" Usagi hated having to bring it up, even though it was imperative to be in the know, but she had been waiting to get Ami alone and this was her best chance. She took a deep, discomforting breath, fighting the strong urge to bite her nails. "Have you, Luna or Artemis been able to find anything? A clue or something?"
"No," Ami replied, reverting to her old, soldier mode of intelligence. "We have found nothing. We rotate going out each night to search for a trace of a negative vibe or any unusual criminal behavior, but it always ends up being the standard store robbery or car theft. Honestly, it worries me, Usagi, because before, we didn't set out looking for the enemy, the enemy found us, by causing massive chaos, public hysteria, et cetera. So really, we don't know exactly what we are looking for in the first place, and quite frankly, I'm beginning to believe that it is all for naught."
Was it truly possible? That in a few, short months an entire kingdom of darkness completely disappeared? Was it possible that Queen Beryl and her sadistic generals were gone for absolute good? Usagi closed her eyes in hope. "Are you sure there's been nothing?"
"Absolutely. We've researched various news articles and news reports. I even managed to get into the police database with the Mercury computer, but no evidence turned up, either. It only served to waste my time and fill me with guilt." Ami rolled her eyes. "Usagi, I think it's time to conclude that the Dark Kingdom is officially gone."
Usagi nodded compliantly, unsure as to why she did not feel content. "Six months of waiting."
"Yes. Almost as long as their existence… or at least just here in Tokyo. There never were reports of youmas in other parts of the globe… I've checked, so don't worry, " she assured, giving Usagi a small smile.
"I just want to make sure. It makes no sense that it would all stop, just like that. We can still transform, and I thought the reason we could in the first place was to fight off these monsters."
"I will have to look into that," Ami replied, furrowing her dark brows that matched her short, blue hair. "I have yet to determine the reason for our transformations. Luna and Artemis said that we became soldiers in order to defeat the Dark Kingdom, but we didn't, and that is one of the main inquiries; that does concern me. I hardly believe Queen Beryl and her subordinates decided to suddenly give up their destructive tendencies."
"I agree," Usagi muttered, shuddering at the memory of Nephrite's terrifying shadow. "So," she said, attempting to change the subject entirely. "That's all I wanted to know. I also didn't want you think I had forgotten… I think about it almost everyday, you know, like I have to be ready for something big, the calm before a huge storm, and it scares me, Ami, scares me like you wouldn't believe."
"I know, Usagi. We all feel the same."
"No, you don't," she shot back, pointing to herself with fervor, making the Soldier of Ice jump in slight surprise. "I am the leader of this team and it is my responsibility to know if the enemy will attack or not. I know none of you thought much of me as a leader, but I didn't choose it -- it chose me. I know that I'm a clumsy, lazy girl who only likes to eat chocolate and read Manga, yet I did try to be what I was supposed to be. I didn't ask to be Sailor Moon, but I accepted it and didn't run away like the coward people think I am. And if it was not for the four of you, I don't think I would be here today."
And you, Tuxedo Kamen…
She looked away, an old pain settling in her chest, a fierce reminder of her never-ending uselessness. Perhaps she was only kidding herself in believing that she had truly tried in her duty as a Sailor Senshi. How many times had she run away in fright or tripped over her bumbling, red-booted feet before being whisked away to safety by her gallant Tuxedo Kamen? How many times had Luna reprimanded her for being a faulty member of the team? It was the reason she only confided her true feelings to Ami, cool and levelheaded Ami who would never judge her with those all-knowing cerulean eyes of hers and the gentle soul Usagi hoped she would always possess.
"I never thought that about you," Ami offered quietly and honestly. "You always were a true leader to me. If it weren't for you, I would have never had the guts to agree to be a Senshi. What you have is low confidence in yourself, Usagi. I don't think you realize what you are capable of achieving. To be honest, I think you were meant to do great things, and you have. Just look at the improvement you are doing with your schoolwork. A lazy person doesn't try, and that is the opposite of what you are doing."
Usagi bit her lip, coming to a stop in front of a large, stone house. "Maybe you're right."
"Of course. I always am," Ami, affirmed, a joking lilt to her soft voice. She looked to the long, winding driveway to where her mother's classy-car was parked. "I mean it, though. Continue with this effort and you won't be disappointed. Maybe you can join our study group on Wednesday afternoons! We have students of all grades involved and it will be an influx of information and help for you."
Usagi forced her mouth into a tight smile. Here we go… "I don't think that's a great idea and I'm pretty sure you know why."
"Oh, Usagi," Ami said sadly. "You can't allow a small squabble between you and Mamoru to get in the way of furthering your education."
"Small? Small!" Usagi shouted incredulously. "Have you forgotten what that horse's ass calls me? Or has your worship of him blinded you?"
Ami covered her mouth attempting to hide a small chuckle. "I'm sure he means that in jest, not for the sake of ridiculing you."
"He hates me!"
"He does not hate you," Ami argued, wondering why she had brought up the delicate subject of Mamoru, the only thing that irked Usagi almost as much as the Dark Kingdom. "I am certain that he likes you and considers you a good friend. He just teases you to get a kick out of you. Lighten up a bit."
"You think I need to lighten up?" Usagi asked in disbelief and betrayal. Her mouth had formed into a big 'O.'
"No, that's not what I meant," Ami sighed. This was hopeless. A raging bull was more complacent. "What I meant was, um, you know -- will you please just think about it? We study in the library where it's a nice, quiet atmosphere and no place for obnoxious behavior." She looked to her pig-tailed friend pleadingly. "Will you?"
Usagi sighed, running a hand through one of her blonde pigtails. "Sure, I'll think about it."
"Good! Makoto has come a few times and I was hoping that you and Minako would eventually come, too. Rei would go if she didn't have to look after the temple, but she's an excellent student anyway. Maybe your cousin can study with us, too! " She opened the front gate to her house. "I'll see you tonight, Usagi."
"No promises on the study-group thing!" Usagi called out to her waving friend. She watched as Ami crossed the front lawn of her house and made her way inside, leaving her alone on the pavement.
She bit her lip, wondering why she was even considering joining the renowned study group. Many students that she knew were members already and many girls had joined for the sole reason of being in the presence of a certain raven-haired senior who was deemed an academic god… and gorgeous. Usagi rolled her eyes in disgust at the thought of those silly girls and their ridiculous love for the insensitive Mamoru. She couldn't deny that he was handsome, she wasn't blind and there were a few embarrassing times that she was stopped in her tracks when he walked into the room… but then he opened his mouth and she remembered what a jerk and an ass he truly was. A jerk to her, at least, another mystery of the universe that took pleasure in irritating her to no end. She wished Mamoru would take a nice big dive off the edge of a very steep cliff.
If there was one thing that gave him complete satisfaction, it was pointing out her pitiful grades in school (and her odangos), as if she wasn't aware of the true and cruel fact.
Agreeing to Ami's request would help end it… and make her a better student in the process. All she needed to do was get along with the evil deviant for a few hours every Wednesday afternoon and then she would rub her eventual greatness all over his shocked and stupid face and enjoy every minute of it.
She had nothing to lose and so much to gain. Usagi walked the rest of the way home with an unwavering smile on her face.
There were many things in the universe Chibiusa had the ability to accept into her brightly open, yet young mind. But being blackmailed by a conniving social recluse -- who needed to grasp that it was not Halloween -- was not one of them. Being deceived by a formerly-trusted friend, finding out that your parents were ex-superheroes, getting clobbered on the head by a Talisman (whatever the hell that was), being thrown back in time, and then told that she was in charge of making sure that her parent's relationship progressed like it was "supposed to" before it was too late? Was that even possible? She was more willing to believe that atoms were surrounded by electron clouds and that Uranus rotated on a horizontal axis -- both of which she had never seen -- than the riffraff revealed to her in the past twenty-four hours. The discovery of life on the surface of an exploding star seemed more plausible.
There was just something about being kidnapped (or perhaps it was a problem with authority -- she wasn't sure) that Chibiusa did not appreciate. Not even forty-year-olds didn't have this much stress placed upon them in such a small amount of time, so how was she, a teenager with absolutely no experience in the field of love, supposed to handle this? Especially since the Time Guardian had not revealed why it was so crucial to alter the timeline.
She had complied with Setsuna's request of staying quiet… for about five minutes, around the time Setsuna had revealed her grand plan of Chibiusa setting her parents up together, which was an odd request considering it was going to happen anyway. Apparently, however, six years of separation was loathsome in the eyes of the Time Senshi.
"Reach out to them," Setsuna had said, looking directly into Chibiusa's mystified eyes. "Expose them to their fears so that they can learn to overcome them. Their union is an eternal one and no one and nothing can shatter it, not even themselves."
Chibiusa had frowned at her words, wondering what the Senshi of Time had meant by "eternal." After voicing said inquiry, Setsuna grinned and went into lucid detail about a princess that had lived over a thousand years ago on the kingdom of the Moon. (Chibiusa wanted to protest the fact that there wasn't and never had been life on the Moon, but she kept the thought to herself) and her love for the Earth prince that resulted in destruction and death.
Chibiusa had been about to comment on what an interesting tale it was and that she should definitely consider publishing it, when Setsuna reached for her white staff and recited a small chant in a language she could not interpret. In a swirl of white smoke, several images appeared within it, showing key events of a period known as the Silver Millennium, a peaceful time that had ceased to exist and would never be seen again. After watching carefully and even asking Sailor Pluto to repeat some of the scenes, all of Chibiusa's doubts concerning her present situation vanished into oblivion.
They had spent almost five hours in that time-reduced space, a lot of which were spent consoling a crying Chibiusa, who after witnessing her parents' first deaths in the white smoke, could no longer sustain her famous stoic façade. There were yells, screams, accusations, cries of despair and disbelief, but in the end, there was no more room for questions or deliberations. Chibiusa -- as a last attempt to dispute the achievement of temporal paradox and for the sake of her sanity -- questioned the effect her presence in this foreign time would have on her own life. Setsuna simply replied that everything that was meant to happen would, which made Chibiusa roll her navy eyes at such a pathetic and unconvincing line. Setsuna sneered, pointing out that Chibiusa was still alive and converting oxygen into carbon dioxide. Chibiusa blushed to the roots of her hair.
When Sailor Pluto had gone, leaving no specification as to when she might return or when Chibiusa could go back, she had restored time to its normal pace and left a more composed Chibiusa standing defeated on the staircase. Before Setsuna had left, Chibiusa had gone to check the suspended milk being poured by her grandmother -- it had not moved even a single millimeter.
Now, after a few hours of relaxation and conversation with Ikuko, she sat on her grandmother's plush, emerald couch in the drawing room, going over Setsuna's warnings (not mentioning future events or inventions or who she truly was to people, et cetera) in her mind while biting her nails nervously. Ikuko had conveniently forgotten that she needed diced peaches for whatever concoction of food she was making for dessert, leaving Chibiusa waiting alone for -- and she cringed when she thought about this -- her mother to come home from school. The irony of it was not lost on her.
Her soul nearly left the restraints of her body -- at least, it felt like it did -- as she jumped a foot in the air at the sound of an opening and then slamming front door. A shout of "Mom, I'm home!" had Chibiusa on the verge of a panic attack. She was not prepared for this. She could not meet her mother and act completely normal or treat her like a cousin. She couldn't do this.
An image of a young girl, no older than herself, plunging a sword into her abdomen in complete agony flashed before her eyes. She could do this.
Her heart beat uncontrollably in her chest as she heard the loud footsteps edge closer to her position at the back of the house. Oh, kami…
"I have come bearing good news, my Lord. We have located the girl." She bowed in reverence at the noble figure slouched elegantly on the stone throne.
He took a delicate sip of his wine. "Have you, now?"
"Yes. It seems that our esteemed little rabbit has sought refuge in Tokyo."
He pressed his lips into a thin line, beginning to feel the frustration of his disciple's debilitating incompetence. "Then why, pray tell, have you returned empty-handed?" he roared, hurling his wine glass to the floor in rage. "I would think that having the rabbit in such a convenient location would give you enough sense to easily bring her to me!"
"W-with all due respect, my prince," she stammered in absolute fear. "I'm afraid that there is an even bigger problem with the situation. She is not exactly in this Tokyo."
The prince shot her a murderous glare. "Stop smothering me with drivel and specify thoroughly what you are trying to say."
She bit her lip, looking anxiously at the floor. "What I mean, my Lord, is that the rabbit is not in the Tokyo of this time but of another."
"Another time? You speak nonsense." He was beginning to get a fierce headache.
"It is not nonsense, prince. The rabbit has somehow managed to travel over a thousand years into the past. The oracle has confirmed it."
At her last words, his eyes shot to a marble statue in the middle of the room. "Into the past?"
A/N: Sorry that it was so short, but I promise that the next chapter will be longer and include some more Mamoru. Hope that the inclusion of the last scene does not confuse some of you, but it will be explained MUCH later in the story... but hopefully some will understand its importance --wink--
Now, how about a review? :D