Chapter Four
I love him not, but shew no reason can
Wherefore, but this, I do not love the man.
-Rowland Watkyns
Nick recovered first - or at least, he pretended. Lips curved upward, but his eyes betrayed him, flashing apprehension rather than confidence. Jenny doubted the other two knew him well enough to see it. When Nick took the stage, whether in life or a play, the audience was blind to all but what he wanted them to see. The actor cleared his throat, certainly conveying calmness and cool disapproval of the girl before him, but she noticed that he glanced at Usagi, as if searching for an anchor, before addressing her.
"This is a surprise. I thought I would never see you again."
The bitterness in his voice stung. Jenny's pride rose to the surface, smothering all other feelings that might have come forth. "Funny," she mused. "I was hoping you never would."
If Nick found his solace in pretending blue, Jenny was unable to feel anything but red. Fire rushed through her veins, a fire that only surfaced when he was around. Nick… in Tokyo… why had nobody said anything, even mentioned the remote possibility of running into him? Part of her wanted to scream and rage at the injustice, and the other…
"You know each other?" Mamoru asked. His voice broke the spell, and Jenny arranged her face into a look of disgust.
"Of course," Nick said easily. "Last time we met she slammed a door in my face."
"You deserved it," Jenny snapped. Mamoru looked sharply at his roommate, but Nick merely shrugged. Usagi gaped at them both, her mouth hanging open.
Standing there awkwardly, the chill of night breezing in from the open door, Jenny felt quite miserable. She had been looking forward to seeing Mamoru, to spending the evening with him, but now all that was shattered. Why, with the billions of men on the planet, did Usagi's friend have to be Nick? For years she had hated him, a thousand times more than Brian Dirkson; and if they thought she was going to place her personal feelings aside and put up with that jerk for even a minute so Usagi could get whatever satisfaction she wanted, they were mistaken.
"I'm sorry. I don't want to do this anymore," Jenny muttered.
Nick smirked. "That's right, run away. You're good at that."
"You would know." Jenny glared at him until he shifted his gaze.
Usagi laughed nervously. "Surely whatever happened between you two doesn't matter. Not tonight. We can still have a great time together."
"No, we can't," Jenny said firmly. "I'm not going anywhere with him."
Usagi opened her mouth to protest, but a look from Mamoru silenced her. He was frowning at Nick, his expression oddly intent, and Jenny wondered uncomfortably what Nick had told him. When Mamoru's blue eyes shifted to her, she froze, but seeing the uneasiness on her face, he only smiled and gave her a little nod before turning back to the whimpering Usagi.
"We'll go," he said softly, "The three of us. There's always next time, right, Jenny-san?"
"Yeah," Nick said sourly, "If she wants to be a little brat, fine. That's no reason to spoil our fun." He yelped as Mamoru irritably shoved him out the door. Usagi quickly followed, glaring over her shoulder, and before Mamoru turned after them, his eyes met Jenny's.
"Goodnight," he said peaceably. He shut the door.
Jenny never knew afterwards how long she stood in the hallway staring at the closed door. Eventually the reality of passing time pressed into her, and she sighed before heading for the stairs. She wished she could slow her heart, but it was impossible when her thoughts raced ahead at light speed. Why was Nick in Japan? Was this another drawn-out scheme to torture her? But maybe it wouldn't be so bad. Tokyo was a big city. Surely it wouldn't be that difficult to dodge him. Feeling more confidant, Jenny entered the room she shared with Usagi.
Without bothering to change, Jenny crawled under the sheets of her bed and closed her eyes, but it was a long time before she could stop shaking.
0 0 0
The rest of the week passed without anything particularly remarkable happening. Jenny was grateful when the first day of school came, providing a break in the monotony. Although the rest of the family continued to treat her very warmly, Usagi was rarely around, running off to meet her friends at every chance, ignoring pointed hints from her parents that she should take Jenny with her. But Jenny didn't mind, especially if staying in the house meant avoiding Nick. So she amused herself as she could, drawing, dreaming, occasionally playing video games with Shingo, and tried her best not to think that somewhere out in the city, maybe only blocks away, was Nick.
Despite having looked forward to school all week, Jenny couldn't help feeling a little grumpy as she sat sipping her orange juice next to Shingo that morning. Usagi had done nothing to acknowledge her presence at the table - in fact, she had barely said a word to her since the night of the failed double date. If Mrs. Tsukino hadn't cheerfully announced to their mutual surprise that Usagi would walk her to and from school, Jenny was sure the offer would never have come.
The bulk of the walk was spent following Usagi rather than walking with her. Jenny didn't mind. She was absorbed in the morning activity of the Azabu-Juban neighborhood, from frowning businessmen anxiously checking their watches to skipping schoolchildren, calling out to friends they hadn't seen in weeks. Some stared as she walked by, and a group of middle school-aged girls actually pointed and laughed. Usagi scowled at them as she looked behind, but only gave Jenny a strange fleeting glance before continuing on her way.
A dense crowd of excited, chatting students barred the entrance to the school. Jenny soon lost sight of Usagi in the sea of faces, and began to gently push her way through, apologizing often. Once inside, she looked around with badly concealed awe. It was much larger than her old school, where her class of 108 had been the largest in years. But other than that, the crisp white walls, stern-eyed teachers and teenagers greeting one another provided a familiar scene. Jenny was struck with a sharp throb of homesickness, but she quickly brushed it aside. She refused to fall for that: this had been her decision.
In distraction, Jenny impulsively stepped up to a passing blonde girl. "Excuse me," she said politely. "Where is the main office?"
The girl paused, and Jenny was relieved to see her smile. "Straight down the hall that way, turn right and it's the first door on your left. You're new here?"
"Yes," Jenny said, a little embarrassed. "I'm staying with Tsukino Usagi."
"Ah." There was a sparkle in the girl's blue-grey eyes as she looked her over. "You're Thomas-san, then?"
Before Jenny could reply, Usagi appeared at the girl's side and seized her arm. "Come on, Minako-chan, we're going to be late."
Her friend laughed. "When has that ever concerned you?"
"Let's go," Usagi urged, her tugs becoming more insistent. Minako gave Jenny an apologetic smile before succumbing.
"Okay, Usagi-chan, I'm coming. What's wrong? She seems nice."
"You don't have to live with her." That was the last Jenny heard before the two girls were lost in the crowd. She stared after them, slightly hurt by the way Usagi had so blatantly dissed her in front of a friend. But Jenny vehemently told herself that she didn't care, and started down the hall Minako had pointed out.
She found Alyson leaning against the office door. "Hello," Jenny said happily, pleased to see a familiar face. Alyson looked up and Jenny briefly caught a glimpse of irritated purple eyes before she looked down again and scratched her wrist.
"I hate these stupid uniforms. They're itchy."
"It's nice to see you, too."
Alyson grinned. "Hi, Jen. Thank God you're here. I've been standing out here for like half an hour. Where were you? Everyone keeps staring at me, and some lady came out of the office. I didn't understand a word she said, so I just waved her away and waited for you. I don't think she liked that."
"No, I don't imagine she did," Jenny said mildly, glancing through the glass into the office where a secretary sat, indeed looking furious.
Alyson shrugged. "Well, now you're here, so we can get this over with. My host-mom called the school and asked them to schedule us together, so I think everything will be alright." Her face was casual, but there was a hint of anxiety in her voice. Jenny smiled sympathetically. Being a gaijin was awkward enough without being clueless about the language.
"A month here and I bet you'll speak Japanese better than me. Come on," Jenny said cheerfully, and went into the office. Alyson followed, much less enthusiastically. The secretary looked up as they came in, and immediately pointed to a closed door on the other side of the room. Her glasses were glowing with reflected light from the computer screen, and Jenny thanked her before pulling Alyson ahead. Before she could knock, the door swung open to reveal a short, smiling, stocky man. He waved at them gaily.
"Hello, hello," he cried, ushering them in. "We've been waiting for you."
We? thought Jenny with alarm. Her eyes flicked to a sofa against the back wall, where two other girls sat staring at her, one sulkily and the other with interest. They were both foreign, and looked just as out of place as Jenny felt. The small man smiled at them benignly, rocking back and forth on his heels. Light from the ceiling reflected off his shiny, bald pate.
"I am the principal, Tashida Makeo, and I welcome you to this school. I start each school year by welcoming our foreign guests, although this is the first time in years we have had so many. We promise to do everything we can to ensure your experiences at this school are educational and unforgettable. No exchange student has gone home unhappy, and we hope to keep it that way." He beamed at Jenny, and she smiled back faintly.
"That's… good."
"Jennifer Thomas, I presume." He consulted the papers he held. "And this must be Alyson Dunam? I understand that she has requested to be in your classes?"
"If you don't mind," Jenny said uneasily.
"Of course not. I think it's a splendid idea for you to help her out in the beginning. But if within a month she is unable to cope with the courses on her own, we will have to send her home. I don't know why anyone would apply for admittance to our school without fully understanding our language, or why we accepted them in the first place, but this year we've got three."
"Three?" Jenny looked again at the girls on the couch.
"Yes. Brenna O'Dell from Ireland and Kelly Virida from your country. They each speak Japanese, but not as fluently as you. Since you are already helping Dunam-san, I was hoping you would help these girls as well."
Jenny stared at him. She had been willing to help Alyson, but with the others tagging along, she might be translating nonstop. But then she remembered Usagi pulling the friendly Minako away from her earlier, and the feeling of hopelessness that followed. If she agreed, she would have an automatic built-in group of friends, so even if Usagi managed to make the rest of the school hate her, she'd have a few people to count on.
"I'll do it," she said eagerly.
"Splendid. Here are your schedules." And without further ado, the principal passed out the papers, and hurriedly shooed them from his office.
"Well, that was special," Alyson muttered as the door slammed behind them. "Jenny, what is going on?"
"This is Kelly and Brenna. They're going to be in our classes."
The taller girl, Kelly, smiled. Although with friendly intent, the expression looked awkward, as if smiling was not something that came naturally to her. She towered at least half a foot above Jenny, who at 5'4" had never felt short until then. "Thanks for doing this," she said with a short laugh, in a low, almost masculine voice. "My trip to Japan was unexpected."
"No problem," Jenny said, shrugging. Kelly was a pretty Hispanic girl with green streaks dyed into her shiny dark hair and slanted olive eyes reminiscent of a suspicious cat. As she moved to scratch her shoulder, a silver ring with a glittering yellow stone flashed on her hand. Brenna said nothing, and simply looked bored as she tossed red hair over her shoulder. She was also very pretty, and despite disinterested green eyes, had an aura that hinted she was used to dominating every situation. Alyson stared at her with blatant dislike.
"We should get to class," Jenny said awkwardly in the silence that followed. And without a word of question, the three girls turned and obediently followed her down the hall, like a gaggle of geese trailing their leader.
0 0 0
The front of the school was mostly deserted, save a few stragglers leaving club meetings and sport practices. Jenny glanced at her watch and leaned back against the school building, feeling depressed. Shadows around her were slowly lengthening, creeping from their objects; clouds rolled overhead; and a crow squawked indignantly from a nearby tree. But Usagi did not come. Either she had forgotten or deliberately ignored her mother's request to walk Jenny home.
Not that Jenny was surprised. In the one class they shared, Usagi had avoided her eyes, choosing to stare resolutely ahead at the blackboard. And at lunch, when Minako waved her and the other girls over to their place under a tree, Usagi had kept her distance, chewing silently with her eyes on her lunch even as Minako and her friends, Ami and Makoto, chatted with Alyson, Brenna and Kelly. Jenny, likewise, hadn't said much. She was thinking about how to finally make peace with Usagi, seeing as this silence would make for a very uncomfortable year. Unfortunately, apologizing was not something she was good at, so she simply stewed in silence as she ate, and listened.
Despite her problems with Usagi, the day had actually been pretty good. It didn't take long for the four exchange students to become friendly, although Alyson initially complained to Jenny that Kelly was aloof and Brenna an airhead. To many of the students, they had been a curiosity. Hardly a moment passed between classes when they weren't halted by someone and grilled on everything from where they grew up, what kinds of food they ate and their blood types.
Heads turned wherever they walked, and boys especially seemed involuntarily drawn to Brenna. She had an almost magnetic attraction that she could turn on and off at will, with something as seemingly meaningless as a look or a laugh. Jenny had spent much of the day playing interpreter as Brenna flirted with nearly every boy that came her way in amateurish Japanese. During lunch, half a dozen boys had hurried over to her and offered to share their lunches. One even crept hopefully up to Kelly, but she merely snorted, sending him scurrying back to his friends, looking disappointed.
Yes, the day had gone well, and Jenny knew she would fit in… with everyone except Usagi, unfortunately. She looked again at her watch and then out at the street. The thought of wandering alone through an unfamiliar neighborhood was not a welcome one, and she chewed her lower lip for a few seconds before turning back to the school. With any luck, Usagi would be waiting at a side door, scowling at her tardiness.
She passed a girl on the way in, someone friendly from her Math class whose name she had forgotten. The girl smiled and bid her goodnight, but Jenny could only nod as she walked up the steps to the nearly deserted school. It was strange to see the hallways so empty, when only an hour earlier they had been teeming with life as students hurried to get home or off to cram school. Her footsteps echoed in the silence without carpet to muffle the sound, and fluorescent lights flickered overhead. Jenny reached one of the side doors and pressed her hands against the glass to look out. No Usagi. Shaking off her disappointment, she turned a corner and continued on.
Three doors later, Jenny was forced to accept that Usagi had left without her. She knew she shouldn't be surprised. Usagi was flighty and irresponsible - but Jenny hadn't thought she would deliberately abandon her. So what, she thought, angrily stomping towards a hall that cut through the middle of the school. She had always been self-sufficient. She didn't need someone to take her by the hand and lead her home.
The lights flickered as she walked, and this irritated Jenny's already aggravated state. At first she was too upset to realize they were blinking in and out only when she passed underneath. But understanding came, coupled with prickling fear and a chill of caution at the back of her neck.
Someone was watching her. She knew it with the same faint awareness she had felt in the airport. Jenny tried to keep her steps calm and her breathing even, the way she had once walked by a coyote she had come across in the desert. But how could she feign ignorance when cruel eyes were burning her back, moving closer all the time?
Something cold swept behind her. Jenny gasped and spun around, but an empty hall was all she saw. She let out her breath, relieved and a little embarrassed. She had never been like this before, jumping at things that weren't there. Her experience at the airport had left her with unresolved jitters, that was all. The idea that something was in her school, stalking her, was ridiculous.
The lights over her head went out.
Darkness spilled into the hallway, and Jenny's calmed heart immediately sprung back into action. She took a quick, stumbling step backwards, frantically looking from side to side. The chill returned, and it spread around her until her breath became cool mist. Run, her mind urged, but her limbs trembled too badly to work. Silence thickened the air… and the shadow came.
It was faint at first, a shimmering blob at odds with the darkness around it. But determinedly it crept towards her from the end of the hall, its billowing shape slowly expanding from floor to ceiling. Jenny's mouth fell open. She couldn't move, paralyzed by the invisible eyes that held her. But an unknown surge of courage rushed through her, and dropping her bag, she turned and ran. Almost immediately, something solid rose up before her, and Jenny slammed into it, unable to breathe. Then strong hands closed over her arms, and Jenny screamed and screamed…
The lights came back on. Jenny's wild eyes focused on what held her. It was an ordinary man in a janitor's uniform… not a shadow demon. "Are you okay?" the man asked doubtfully, and Jenny looked back over her shoulder, her chest heaving.
Nothing was there.
"But the shadow… did you see it?" she stammered stupidly. The man stared at her, more than a little alarmed.
"It was a power outage," he explained. "I'm sorry it startled you. Is that your bag?" At her shaky nod, the man went back to pick it up. Jenny wrapped her arms around herself, trying to calm her shivering. She took the bag when he held it out to her but avoided his eyes. Clearly, the only thing that worried him was her behavior. He hadn't seen the dark shape. Was she scaring herself for no reason?
"I'll walk you to the door," the janitor offered, and Jenny was grateful for his presence beside her as they walked through the school.
Outside, she breathed in the air happily, never more thankful for sunlight in her life. "Thank you," she said, turning back to the janitor. He was watching her warily, as if half-expecting her to start rolling around on the ground, speaking in tongues. "I just… it was so sudden, it frightened me. First day nerves, I guess." She laughed uneasily, and the man nodded before turning back to the school.
"That's okay. Take care of yourself."
"I will," Jenny promised. But he was wrong; it wasn't okay. Even in the sunlight, she could feel the presence watching her. She shook her head, trying to push away the feeling of paranoia, and walked over to the street. Before she turned, she glanced back and saw something glimmer at one of the windows.
It wasn't my imagination, she thought darkly, looking at the flickering shape for a few more seconds before hurrying away.
Finding her way back turned out to be much easier than she had thought. Familiar landmarks were everywhere, from oddly-shaped trees to stores with brightly-colored window displays. Pushing aside her fear, however, was not as simple. Darkness lingered in her mind despite the surrounding life; and every few blocks she glanced over her shoulder, just to make sure. When busy streets and shopping centers gave way to suburban neighborhoods, Jenny started to relax. She was close.
The suburban roads were mostly still, but when Jenny turned a corner, she saw a little girl with a long dark braid walking ahead of her. The girl's head was bowed, and she moved so slowly that Jenny felt sharp sympathy. Part of her wanted to race ahead and talk to her, but the hunched shoulders didn't exactly invite company. So Jenny kept her distance, her eyes resting on the girl curiously. She never took interest in strangers, and was surprised to find herself wondering who the girl was, and where she was going with such reluctant little steps.
Before she could ponder long, the ground began to rumble and shake. Jenny grimaced and put out her hands for balance. Great, an earthquake: just what she needed to round off the perfect day. The earth lurched violently with a horrible crunching sound, and a large crack appeared in the road, running right up to the sidewalk where the dark-haired girl stood. The shaking subsided so abruptly that Jenny staggered, feeling faint, but worse was to come. Impossible as it seemed, as much as Jenny blinked, hoping the vision would go away, something came out of the hole, first a head and then arms pulling up the body. The thing stretched, touching its toes and testing its movement. It looked at the little girl, and its lips curved into a grin.
Jenny didn't know why she did it. Every instinct she had was telling her to run, but somehow she was running towards it instead of away. It had been inching towards the girl, its blue claws extended ominously, but it paused when Jenny came skipping to a halt beside it. Jewel-blue eyes looked dumbfounded, and its rich orange scales flashed in the sun.
The girl looked at her with round dark eyes and a trembling mouth. Jenny was surprised to see that she was neither Japanese nor as young as she had thought, maybe thirteen or fourteen years old. "Run," Jenny urged, grabbing her by the shoulder, but before they could move, the creature got over its surprise and opened its mouth in a confident cackle.
"You stupid girl," it drawled, sparkling amusement and cruelty in those shiny eyes. "I'm sent out to scout for something to amuse my master, and run into the prize flower herself. How pleased he'll be with me." That repulsive orange arm lifted towards Jenny and she gulped, taking a few cautious steps backwards.
"You see," the youma said casually, as if commenting on the weather, "my master was displeased, so very displeased, about you getting away at the airport. You were supposed to go with him, but now that you've escaped we must make the best of the situation. You have a choice to make, my dear."
Jenny was stunned that it knew who she was, and even more surprised that she had a voice when she opened her mouth. "A choice?"
"Yes," the creature affirmed pleasantly. "Either come with me quietly or I use force. The end is the same, and he prefers not to roughhouse you more than necessary. It is your decision."
"My decision?" Jenny's fear was washed away with a quick flash of anger. She hated the ugly youma and even more the arrogant shadow that was for some reason single-mindedly pursuing her. "If it's my decision, I choose to leave by myself."
The orange creature sighed. "Forcibly, then." Its long blue finger nails grew and shot out like ropes to encircle Jenny's body. Her arms were pinned to her sides before she had a chance to dart from the scene. She cried out as the sharp edges dug into her skin, and looked desperately at the silent girl, who watched them with a look reminiscent of a frozen doe.
"Run," Jenny begged her, but the girl frowned. There was something stubborn in her face as she clenched her fists. She wasn't leaving.
The orange demon was gleeful. "Two for one today!" it cried happily, reaching out the other arm.
"No!" Jenny screamed when the small girl was also tangled in the nails. But the youma laughed, pulling them closer. The girl's eyes started to close, and Jenny feared she was fainting, but suddenly there was a flash of light and the girl… glowed. Jenny's anger and fear were replaced with awe. A strange symbol was shining on the girl's forehead, scattering light.
The girl turned her head slightly, and behind her, trotting towards them on the sidewalk, was a large, rust-colored dog, head down and teeth bared. The girl's eyes were blank as the light from her forehead continued to flash. This was too much for the startled youma, and although its grip tightened around Jenny, it released the other girl and tossed her aside. She hit the sidewalk and lay still. The light immediately disappeared from her forehead, and the dog hurried over to nudge her gently. Then it looked up at the youma and growled before striking.
The youma shrieked and held Jenny out of the way while it clumsily tried to fend off the dog's attack with its free arm and leg. It slashed with its nails and the dog yelped, bleeding from a fresh cut in its side, but it was not deterred. The dog dove in again to close its jaws around the orange creature's ankle, and the corresponding howl of pain carried down the street.
For a moment, there was only the dog's angry barks and the youma's shrieks of pain, before another sound broke through the dull ringing in Jenny's ears. "Powerstorm Flash!" As if knowing its cue, the dog leapt aside to make way for blue-green lightning that was hurtling through the air. The screaming orange creature released its grip on Jenny and she went tumbling to the ground before the lightning hit. Jenny, sore and in shock, looked up dazedly to see the yellow senshi warrior who had saved her in the airport standing atop a fence.
The youma writhed under the lightning surrounding its body. It lifted a weak arm towards Jenny, who immediately scooted back, but the creature had no strength left to chase her. With a mournful cry, it started to shrink and melted into a puddle that gleamed and slithered back into the hole. The sidewalk closed after it and was still.
Jenny looked in wonder at the girl who had rescued her again, and was surprised to receive a little wink. "You okay?" the warrior asked, grinning. She brushed wayward strands of dark hair from her forehead.
"I… yeah. Thanks to you." Jenny closed her mouth and stared, not knowing what to say, except: "Who are you?"
A flash of white teeth. "Me? I'm no one. See ya!" The mysterious girl turned and prepared to flee.
"Wait!" Jenny cried in a panic and the girl paused, looking around with dark eyes. She hesitated, looking at Jenny oddly as if she wanted to say more, but then she hopped over the fence and was gone.
It took Jenny a moment to remember the other girl lying so still on the sidewalk. The dog was beside her, licking her face, and as Jenny crawled over, she was relieved to see her stirring. Brown eyes opened and looked startled to see the two faces peering down at her. The dog wagged its tail and smiled before turning and trotting off the way it had come. Slowly, the girl sat up with a hand to her head. She saw Jenny and cringed.
"It's okay," Jenny said quickly. "It's gone now. The dog and one of the senshi chased it away." She spoke in Japanese out of recent habit, and the girl responded fluently.
"The dog?" she said hesitantly.
"Yes. You called him, didn't you?" Jenny didn't know how, but suddenly she was certain of it. The small girl met her eyes levelly and shook her head, frightened.
"No," she whispered. "How could I? I've never seen it before." Looking at her anxious eyes, Jenny decided not to mention that she'd also been glowing. She changed the subject.
"I'm Jenny. What's your name?"
"Adiel Austin," the girl said. Unexpectedly, she smiled. She had very long lashes and a tiny beauty mark on one cheek.
"Austin. You're American, too?"
"Canadian." Adiel spoke English now. "My daddy's an ambassador." She looked closely at Jenny. "You came to help me," she said suddenly. "From that… thing. You didn't have to. Thank you."
Jenny blushed as she looked at the younger girl's honest face. Her forehead was blank now, but the glowing symbol Jenny had seen there was fixed in her memory. "I think we saved each other," she said casually. She stood and offered Adiel a hand.
"Come on. I'll get you home."
Adiel nodded and took her hand trustingly, and although both were wobbly, they walked together down the street without looking back.
0 0 0
Adiel lived in a stately mansion appropriate for an ambassador, complete with a fluttering Canadian flag dangling from the porch. She apologized for not inviting Jenny inside (her father wasn't fond of unannounced guests), but thanked her again for saving her, with an enthusiasm that made Jenny blush. Adiel looked a great deal happier than she had walking alone earlier that afternoon. When Jenny finally turned to leave, Adiel looked oddly small and helpless standing among the massive porch columns, but she was smiling.
Jenny limped home. She was so exhausted her knees were shaking. Part of her had considered calling the Tsukinos from Adiel's house, but she decided not to trouble them. At least, she was consoled knowing it was hardly possible for anything worse to happen on the way home. After an addition twenty minutes and several wrong turns, she finally reached the street with great relief. She had been looking forward to relaxing with the family for the rest of the evening, but the angry voices she heard as she neared hinted at the impossibility of even that. Usagi and her father were standing on the porch arguing… and Nick was with them.
Seeing him standing there so coolly, his hands deep in the pockets of his jeans, Jenny stumbled. Oh, she definitely did not need this, not when any semblance of control she had was in tatters after the unbelievably long day. Her first wild impulse was to sneak around to the side of the house and crawl in a window before any of them saw her, but she forced herself to hold her head high and continue forward. The only thing she wanted Nick to perceive from her was indifference - and running from him would create more problems than it solved.
She shouldn't have worried. Not one of them noticed her approach, so heated was the discussion between Usagi and her father. Jenny hesitated when she saw Mr. Tsukino's face. He had always seemed to her a kind and pleasant man, but now he was positively livid as he spoke to his daughter.
"…don't know why. You may think it's okay to run around picking up boys after school rather than taking care of our guests, but those are not the values of our family. She was your responsibility, Usagi. We asked you to look after her."
"I didn't leave her… I didn't mean to," Usagi faltered, looking ashamed rather than angry. She was oddly flushed. "It was… my friends… sort of an emergency…"
"An emergency?" Mr. Tsukino was turning purple. "And when did this young man turn up? I'm surprised you think meeting boyfriends is more important than your duties."
"He's not my boyfriend! I just ran into him on my way home. He came to see Jenny. They're old friends."
Jenny was annoyed that Usagi was making her a scapegoat. She stepped forward and bitterly said, "He's no friend of mine." Conversation halted as three pairs of eyes looked at her and promptly widened in shock.
"What happened?" Mr. Tsukino asked in a horrified voice, rushing over to her. Jenny blinked and then glanced down at herself, for the first time realizing how horrible she must look. Her brand new uniform was dirty from crawling on the ground, and there were tears in both the shirt and skirt from the orange youma's razor-edged nails. She tried to smile, as if she came home looking like this every day, but Mr. Tsukino's fatherly instincts weren't fooled.
"I was attacked," she explained, trying to avoid his eyes. Somehow, she found herself looking at Nick. He made a quick movement as if to go to her, but she stopped him with a tiny shake of her head. He stared at her for a few more seconds and opened his mouth, but Usagi spoke first.
"Again? What's so special about you?"
"Usagi, that's enough!" her father said sharply, concern vanishing in the face of fury.
"No, don't worry about it," Jenny said quickly. "I completely agree." But Mr. Tsukino ignored the defense, and glared at his daughter as he put a comforting hand on Jenny's shoulder.
"Do you see what happened? If you had walked her home like you were supposed to, this wouldn't have happened! Honestly, I don't know what's gotten into you lately!"
"It's okay. She couldn't have stopped it. It's really not her fault," Jenny protested weakly just as Nick stepped forward and said in a low voice, "Jen, we need to talk."
Usagi and her father were arguing animatedly, ignoring them both. Jenny turned on Nick and dodged the hand he held out to her. "I have nothing to say to you," she hissed and without another look, she brushed past him into the house. She shut the door behind her, heart pounding, and then proceeded to climb the stairs. Her feet dragged, and her entire body winced when she heard the front door open. She turned her head, prepared to tell off Nick again, but it was Usagi, advancing angrily.
"What is your problem?" the small girl demanded, hands on her hips. "He came all this way to see you, and you didn't even let him say a word!"
Jenny's head hurt. "Look, Usagi, now is not the time…"
"I don't understand you! What happened to make you hate him so much? He's a great guy!"
"What do you know?" Jenny demanded as she spun around. Her eyes were tingling with repressed tears and she hated it. "You don't know him like I do. You don't know anything about him, what he's like beneath that smile… Oh, please, Usagi, I really can't do this right now."
Usagi frowned, taken aback by her passion, but she looked doubtful. Jenny didn't care. She advanced the steps and was relieved when Usagi did not follow. Her move to Japan was supposed to be a fresh start, a new life, but with getting attacked by strange creatures, a hostile host-sister and Nick, she felt drained.
Jenny slammed the door to the room she shared with Usagi and limped over to her bed. Of course, she knew Usagi's hostility was her fault since she had done everything to make her hate her that first week, but even so she thought Usagi was being a little excessive in her rudeness. Especially considering that Jenny was becoming the target for supernatural activity in Tokyo.
Jenny slipped into her favorite jeans and a t-shirt and flopped back onto the bed, intending to nap. She closed her eyes, but a dull scratching on the window caught her attention. Her eyes snapped open at the sound, and horrifying images of the creeping shadow, Nick and the orange creature flashed through her mind, but when she looked she saw a small golden blob peering in. Her alarm disappeared. Curiously, she reached up and opened the window. Instantly, the gold blob bounced in.
"Hey," Jenny protested in surprise. She shut the window and sat back on her bed, looking at the creature uncertainly. It was a little orangey-gold cat, which far from being threatening, rubbed against her legs and purred. Jenny laughed despite herself and pulled it onto her lap. All tension from the day left her as she felt its wriggling, warm body in her arms.
"You little trespasser," she told the kitty happily and scratched behind its ears. It extended its head lazily. "You better not let anyone see you, or…" She broke off and looked at it more closely. This cat looked exactly like her own Cat, from the golden lion-like mane and blinking red eyes. A chill run across Jenny's back and along her arms. But it couldn't be him. It was impossible. Maybe she just had a flair for attracting that particular breed. Besides, her mom would have called and told her if Cat had escaped… And even if he had, how would he get to Japan? Cat's couldn't swim - not across an ocean!
"No," Jenny told herself with a short laugh. "You can't be." But he was rubbing against her and purring, so intimately… just as she remembered. Jenny flushed and pushed him aside, needing to think. When he tried to dart back into her lap, she stood and paced the floor. It had been a strange week, but there was no reason everything in her life had to be from the Twilight Zone. There was such a thing as coincidence.
She turned back to the cat and pointed at it. "You are not Cat," she told it sternly, mostly to assure herself. But her bones grew cold when the cat smiled - it actually smiled. A wide silly grin. Jenny stared.
"No," it agreed pleasantly. "I am not Cat, although that was your name for me not long ago. My name is Surya, and I have been searching for you for a long time, my princess."
Jenny looked at it for three more seconds before fainting.