Usagi blinked once. Twice. Three times. Where was she again? Oh yeah, her bodyguard's apartment because her parents were so worried about her. She heard a soft laughing and turned her head to the direction of the kitchen, where Mamoru was entering from.
"You really enjoy that book, don't you?" he asked sarcastically. Usagi had gotten about fifteen pages in before she had fallen asleep.
"Tiny font, lots of pages," Usagi defended herself. "What time is it, anyways?"
"Oh, about... four-ish," Mamoru explained. "You must have been really tired to sleep all day."
Usagi's eyes widened. "Uh... gotta go," she quickly said. She leaped off the couch, her book and school stuff in her arms, and tried to walk past Mamoru. She got past him, alright, but he grabbed her wrist. Usagi quickly turned around and extended her hand, resulting in Mamoru being thrown into the wall and knocked unconscious through some form of telekinesis. The color drained from her face, but she still retreated out the door. She was way late, she had no clue where she was, and she had just gotten a major kick-up in her powers.
Just a normal day in the life of Tsukino Usagi.
Usagi looked around for one of the escape tunnels, recalling that there was one that let out at the subway station Usagi saw about five meters from her. She ran down the stairs and made a sharp turn, letting out a small yelp when she realized the tunnel was closer than she had thought. She ran through the tunnel, trying to decipher the passageways until she reached a ladder. She climbed up it and poked her head up. She was in a kitchen of some sort.
Usagi finished her climb upwards and called out, "Blueprints!" The image appeared before her. She hoped this would work. "Locate senshi." The blueprints quickly zoomed in to a room, and Usagi followed the directions to get to it. When she walked into the room, the attention of the occupants turned to her.
"You're late, Usagi-baka," Rei informed her.
"Sorry, but my parents hired me a bodyguard because they were freaked out about the whole palace-thing," Usagi explained. "Let me tell you, it was not easy to get away from him. I only got away because of an advancement in my powers. I... kind of... threw him across the room telekinetically."
The others' eyes widened, their mouths dropping. "Usagi-chan, this is great!" Luna exclaimed. "Well, it's not great that you knocked out your bodyguard, but the magic thing is good. Now how far did you get in the book?"
"The... book?" Usagi asked nervously. "Oh, about... fifteen pages."
"WHAT?" Luna demanded. "Usagi-chan, you had all day to read it! I expected you to at least be on chapter ten!"
"I'm sorry, but my bodyguard is kind of crazy and decided it would be funny to pretend he was a kidnapper and knock me out before he told me the truth," Usagi explained. "And for the record, I really am trying, but I don't really want to read about some guy who would likely want to kill us if he was alive coming to power."
"I know it may seem pointless, but it is necessary," Luna told her. "You need to know the nature of the planets you are to be ruling. You-"
"Wait," Usagi interrupted. "Last night, I went from ruling Japan to the world. Now, I'm going from ruling the world to ruling multiple planets?"
Luna seemed hesitant, but replied, "This galaxy, anyway, but you still need to know about the neighboring galaxies to keep the peace." Usagi gained a look that mixed shock and horror on her face, and she fell back into the chair next to her. "Usagi-chan? Usagi-chan? USAGI-CHAN!"
"Way to go, Luna," Rei accused. "You've made her go catatonic on us." Rei brought her hand back and slammed it down onto Usagi's face.
"Ow!" Usagi yelped. "Rei-baka, what was that for?"
"You went catatonic," Minako explained.
"You're in shock," Ami continued.
"Well can you blame her?" Makoto asked. "In less than twenty-four hours, she's gone from semi-normal girl to ruler of the galaxy. Of course she went catatonic."
"Well, she needs to understand her responsibility sooner rather than later," Artemis shot back. The entire group turned to Usagi, only to realize that she was no longer there, her schoolwork and the Book of Solaria still there.
Usagi didn't know how long she had been running through the palace, trying to get to an escape route. Somehow, she managed to get back to the place she had come in, and she took the route back to the surface, near Mamoru's apartment. Just as she was coming up the stairs, she crashed into a firm body. She looked up and saw a frantic Mamoru.
"Oh, Mamoru-san!" Usagi exclaimed, hugging him tightly. "I'm so happy you're here."
"Odango, what happened?" Mamoru asked. "One second you were in my apartment, the next I was waking up on the other side of the room."
Usagi swallowed nervously. "It's a long story," she informed him. "Can we just go back to your apartment?"
"Sure," Mamoru whispered, wrapping his arm around Usagi's shoulders and leading her back to the penthouse. The two made their way up the elevator and into the apartment, where Usagi sat down on the couch, Mamoru daring to sit next to her. "So what's up? Tell me what's wrong. I can't protect you if you don't tell me what's wrong."
"I can't," Usagi whispered. "I want to tell you, believe me, I'd be willing to tell anyone at this point, but I'm not allowed to. Besides, it's not just my secret to tell."
"Well, then... just tell me your part of the secret," Mamoru suggested.
Usagi took in a shaky breath. "I... I know why the crystal palace is there," Usagi confessed.
"What?" Mamoru asked in shock. "Usagi-chan, we have to tell the police."
"NO!" Usagi objected quickly. "I can't... people could be in a lot of danger if I did. There... there are things going on that ordinary people don't understand. No one wants anyone to get scared." She leaned against Mamoru, trembling slightly.
"But you are," Mamoru realized easily.
"Of course I am!" Usagi exclaimed, momentarily forgetting whom she was speaking to. "I-I mean... it's a big change. Everyone's scared to some degree." I can't let him know I'm at the frontlines of this! Even if he was hired to protect me. I'm Sailor freaking Moon! I can take care of myself... right? The seed of doubt firmly implanted in Usagi's mind, she snuggled down more into Mamoru's warm embrace. Hesitantly, his arms wrapped around her to comfort her.
"You're safe with me, Usagi-chan," Mamoru promised.
Later that night, Usagi was being dropped off at her house by Mamoru. "Thanks for driving me home," she smiled softly.
"Hey, it's just part of the job," Mamoru reminded her.
"Right..." Usagi replied nervously, getting out of the car. "I'll see you tomorrow?"
"Absolutely," Mamoru promised.
Usagi walked inside and headed straight upstairs. When she got into her room, she all but collapsed on the floor. Mamoru was right. She was scared. She didn't really know what was going on, she sure as hell didn't know what to do, and she didn't really have all that much guidance on it.
She struggled to her feet and grabbed a backpack out of her closet. From there, she went to the dresser and started carelessly shoving her clothes into the bag. She was sobbing as she went about her task, but she knew it had to be done. She couldn't stay and allow herself to go through this. She was no princess, no queen. She was just plain old Tsukino Usagi.
She had made it halfway out the window when her mother opened the door. "Tsukino Usagi, where do you think you're going?" Ikuko demanded.
Usagi froze in her tracks, tears threatening to fall from her eyes. "I can't do this," she whispered. She went back to exiting the room, but Ikuko pulled her back in and sat her down on the bed.
Ikuko slowly took the bag from Usagi and looked inside. "Usagi, what's wrong?" Usagi made no attempt to respond. "Come on, Usagi, tell me what's wrong. Is it a boy? Did you get into a fight with your friends?"
"I can't do this," Usagi repeated. "It's just too hard... I'm not strong enough..."
"Usagi, I don't understand," Ikuko replied. "Please tell me what's wrong."
"I'm not allowed," Usagi whispered. "I wish I could, but..."
"Oh, Usagi," Ikuko cooed, hugging her daughter. "Whatever the problem is, we can fix it. Is it drugs, a gang? Are you pregnant?"
"No!" Usagi quickly replied, getting the most reaction Ikuko had seen from her daughter in their short time together that day.
"Then what is it?" Back to no response. "Usagi..."
"I just need some sleep," Usagi whispered, lying down on her bed.
That night, Usagi dreamed of the most peculiar things. There were strangers from other planets, bizarre animals and plants, and seemingly neverending wars. Sitting up, she saw that her father was sitting in a chair to watch over her, but had fallen asleep.
She reached under her pillow and grabbed her journal, writing something on a blank page before ripping the page out and leaving it on the pillow. She raced around silently in order to get ready before she left the house. Eventually, she arrived at her intended destination: Mamoru's penthouse.
Mamoru opened the door, and he smiled upon seeing Usagi. "Aw, too bad," Mamoru complained. "I wanted to kidnap you again."
Usagi smiled and rolled her eyes. "Shut up, you jerk," she commanded, entering the apartment. "I need to be with someone I trust, just... get away from it all."
"Okay," Mamoru smiled. "I take it that means you want to watch TV and veg out?"
"You got it," Usagi grinned, flopping on the couch, Mamoru flopping down next to her. "So what have you got on TV?"
"Just about everything," Mamoru confessed. "You choose what to watch."
So the two spent the day relaxing on Mamoru's couch, just being together and hanging out, Usagi not having to worry about her destiny in the slightest.
Hello, there! It's Squirrel, once again working on fics while my parents think I'm working on my homework. ;)
Semi-UsaMamo moment there at the end. But still, poor Usagi, having to deal with all that responsibility at such a young age. She's confused, lost, and stuck with way more power than she ever could have imagined. It seems that I've been saying 'poor Usagi' in a lot of my fanfics lately, huh?
Next chapter: Usagi faces destiny, and she discovers what it truly means to be queen.
Please review!