RRRAAWWWWWRRRRR! SHEEEE'S ALIIIIIIIVEEEE!
(By "she" I mean me. Or more accurately, the story. Either one.)
I hereby repeal my own right to beg for reviews because I haven't updated in, um, months? Wow. Updatingfail. But I'm trying to convince myself (trying) that I'm not going to give up on my stories.
I just leave them on really long hiatuses. Heh. Heheh...
Episode 111
Recap: Uh, nothing much. Basically no one IMPORTANT dies; the grail appears from Pluto's garnet, Uranus' sword, and Neptune's mirror; and Sailor Moon does a pretty little transformation stunt. Lots of pink light. And then Eugeal dies. Aw, man. She was my favorite. Mimet sucks, her voice is, like, squirrel pitch.
The reason they're all whining is that they were engulfed by FIRE BUSTER ATTACK for literally like 5 minutes. I mean, maybe it's just me, but I think that would hurt.
"Next," Mamoru called.
Shivering in relief, Ami stood and stretched. "Arigato, Mamoru-kun. It feels much better now."
A howl echoed through the apartment. "Mako-chan, it hurts!"
"Because you're thrashing around! Just hold still!"
"I can't hold still, because it hurts!"
Mamoru slapped his palm to his forehead. "I think you'd better send Usako in, Ami-chan."
She nodded vigorously and hurried back into the bedroom.
"Makoto, aloe vera is for sunburns!" Rei's voice roared.
"So, what's the difference?"
"This is a fire burn, baka!"
"What's your point? It's supposed to be soothing, right? And healing and… and stuff, so I thought since Usagi had to wait –"
"It HURTS!" Usagi wailed.
"Usagi-chan, Mamoru's ready for you," said Ami's voice tentatively.
"Good," she growled. "Took him long enough."
He thought about telling her to heal second-degree burns within a matter of minutes. The thought was short-lived.
"Oh, you think you're such a martyr," Rei was grumbling. "Some of us take it in silence, you know."
"Who?" asked Minako doubtfully. "Not you, you're talking too much."
There was a very loud and heated pause. Soon after, a pattering of feet alerted Mamoru of Usagi's arrival.
He grinned up at her expectantly, but the smile faded when he saw how red she looked places that weren't covered by his old t-shirt. "How's it feel, Usako?"
"Hurts," she pouted.
"Sit?"
"I can't!" Her lower lip quivered dangerously. "It stings too bad!"
"Fine. Strip."
"WHAT? PERVERT!"
He sighed patiently. "You're wearing something under that, aren't you?"
"Oh." She blushed. "Right." Tenderly, she lifted the t-shirt over her head. Mamoru winced a bit, seeing the broiled tissue that was beginning to scar over. Thank goodness for sparkly pink moon power, or she'd've been burnt to a crisp.
"Scared me today, Usako," he murmured as he placed his hands lightly over the burns on her neck.
She was silent, her eyes half-open. He pressed his hands more firmly against her skin, and the redness slowly dissipated, blended away into healthy flesh. "Feels good," she muttered. "It's cool."
"I wanted to tell you," Mamoru said, moving to her shoulders, "but it never seemed the right time – Eugeal's dead."
Usagi's chin drooped onto her clavicle as her muscles relaxed. "How?" she asked dully.
How nice of her to show so much interest. Or to sound completely unenthusiastic. Either one. "The people she's working with sabotaged her car. Pulled out the brakes. She flew off into the water."
"When did you see it?"
"Just when we got back here."
"Mm."
His hands flowed languidly over her skin, and she rolled her spine at the contact. The vertebrae, each so delicate, so refined, shaping her torso like the neck of a swan, entranced him, and gradually his original purpose became secondary to watching Usagi, simply feeling her, knowing she was alive and beautiful and good beneath his fingers. The less he concentrated, the more he could feel his power spreading through her body, growing in intensity and volume, washing out of his grasp like a speeding train, as though someone had injected it with adrenaline. A surge of intuition told him that his healing, though arduous and grueling when applied to the other girls, became second nature, as simple as touch, when it collided with Usagi's power.
Which was kind of convenient. He was sort of wiped out.
At first, she broke into pale goosebumps; his palms rubbed over her arms in response, tracing down her elbow to her wrist, and from her wrist to her hips. Her body began to twitch slightly, and suddenly broke into a series of convulsions as his hands wrapped around her waist and he would have stopped, would have stepped back, but this connection, it was ensnaring; she rose slightly off the ground, her head and her hair lolling back onto his shoulder, her eyes squeezed shut, her lips parted; and from her pores burst a million rays of blinding white light.
Her mouth quivered, her body throbbed, and she let out a ragged groan of sensation. She shone there, floating, pulsing in his arms, for a moment; he felt her tremble beneath his fingers, and though she was the one half-naked he felt uncomfortably exposed, as if he'd violated her somehow, as if he were observing something supernatural (which it was) and hallowed (no doubt) and utterly intimate (but how – and why?).
But then the light died out, and her toes touched the ground, and she sagged against him, breathing heavily.
"Mamo-chan," she said after a moment.
He found his voice. "Y-yeah?"
"Was that you?"
"I think it was both of us," he replied frankly.
She glanced up at him with wide, fearful eyes. "Mamo-chan?" she repeated.
"Hm?"
She swallowed heavily. "I feel like I've done something…wrong."
He knew she wouldn't say it aloud, and he wasn't sure if he dared to himself. "It's alright," he said, trying not to sound uncertain. "Nothing – happened. It was just – "
"It just felt –" Usagi interrupted before cutting herself off.
"Well." Awkwardly, he stroked her head between the odangos. "Your skin's better, anyhow."
Rei came barreling into the midst of the room just then, the angry red welts across her cheeks matching the fervor in her eyes. "What are you two doing? Are you trying to send out a flare? 'Hey, look, come over here, Eugeal, I'M SAILOR MOON!'" She waved her arm sarcastically; the other hand clutched at a pair of Mamoru's boxers to keep them from sliding off her narrow hips.
"It was an accident," Mamoru replied coolly. "And anyway, it doesn't matter. Eugeal's dead."
Rei raised a thin eyebrow. "Since when?"
"Since her car got rigged."
"It blew up?" The excitement in her eyes was a little disturbing.
"It ran over the edge of some cliff into the water."
She pursed her lips. "How do you even know?"
"I saw it," said Mamoru with an air of wounded pride. "In a vision. I saw it."
"Oh." Rei wrinkled her nose. "Well. Are you done with Usagi, then, Mamoru-kun? I don't mean to complain –"
"But she won't stop whining," Makoto supplied, sticking her head out from the bedroom.
"I don't whine," insisted Rei imperiously. "Minako whines. Usagi whines. I do not whine. It just stings."
He felt revitalized, renewed, through the blast of Usagi's power. "No problem," he said.
Rei moved closer and eyed Usagi's exposed skin. "Do I have to take off all my clothes, too, or is that just for people you're dating?"
"What precisely are you insinuating, Hino-san?" asked Mamoru coldly while Usagi glowered and shoved the t-shirt on once more.
"Oh, nothing," she said loftily.
"You don't have to take off anything," Mamoru said. "I've got an idea. Usako, stay here," he added as Usagi inched away.
"What for?"
He took her hand tightly in his and felt the radiance still glowing beneath her skin. "Just – this." Reaching out, he pressed his other palm against Rei's cheek.
"Whoa!" Rei shouted, jumping back as an effervescent shock bolted through his and Usagi's connection. "Jesus, what was that?"
"Hmh." Mamoru smirked, leaned forward, inspected the vanishing welts on her face. "Not bad, eh?"
"You did that just by touching Usagi?" Rei's lips turned down, as if she were less than impressed.
"Sparkly pink moon powers!" said Mamoru in a high imitation of Usagi's voice, by means of an explanation.
Usagi growled. "Ba-kaaaa!" Her bare foot stomped down hard on his shoe. "Oh, ow!" She proceeded to hop around on one leg, clutching at her heel. "That hurt!"
Mamoru gazed at her with a mixture of amusement and disdain before glancing back at Rei. "Anything else you need?" he asked rather sardonically.
"God," Rei muttered, turning to leave. "If you can do that just by touching, what the hell is sex gonna be like?"
"REI-BAKA!" Usagi screeched.
Mamoru clapped his palms to his face yet again.
C'mon, kids. Just spit it out. WHY DID USAGI JUST PSEUDO-ORGASM? That's what we all want to know. Sheesh.
So kind of weird, right? I'm not really sure how I feel about that.
Anyhow, thanks for reading! Hope to see you again soon! As in, within the next few weeks, not months. *Berates self*
Love, SB