Red Eyed Girl
Chapter 4
The Search
While floating through time space, Usagi and Luna went over a large house in the woods. Usagi felt Evander's medical journal become warm. The moment she looked down to it, the time space pulled them away from the house. They ended up outside a huge city.
"That was weird," Usagi said, looking behind her. "Did you notice that house back there, Luna?"
Luna however was lolling about and she fell down.
"You okay, Luna?" Usagi asked.
"I don't like time traveling, as all," Luna mumbled.
Usagi laughed and picked her up, setting her on her shoulder. "I'll carry you for a while. Let's see where we are."
They entered the city. After scanning the streets to see how people were dressed and spotting the Space Needle a few miles away, Usagi was able to figure out where and when they were.
"Looks like we're in twentieth Century, Seattle Washington," Usagi said, looking at Luna. She smirked. "We're certainly a far ways from home. You think Pluto may have made a mistake? We never traveled here before."
"I'm not sensing Evander's life energy," said Luna, "but it is too early to tell.
A couple of girls walking by laughed at Usagi. "Nice outfit."
"Thanks," Usagi, looking down at her red frilly dress.
"Where'd you get it, your dead grandma?" commented another and they walked off.
"What—why you!" Usagi barked. "This came from the future, I have you know!"
"Usagi, you can't go telling people you're from the future," Luna groaned.
"I guess I'm going to need new clothes," Usagi said. "I knew I should've packed some jeans or something!"
"It's dark," said Luna. "We need to find a place for the night. Then we can make a plan. I suspect the first places to look would be a hospital."
"Hospital?" Usagi inquired. "What for?"
"It's very possible that Evander entered an occupation much like the one he had on the Moon Kingdom," Luna said.
"Well, it's a start," Usagi said and as they walked by an alley, Usagi heard an angry boy yell.
"Where's the money, idiot?"
"I—I'll get it to you soon," stammered the kid against the wall. "Relax, Jason."
"Relax?" Jason shouted. "That's what you said a week ago when I gave you weed!"
"Druggies," Usagi frowned and turned around. "All right…let's find a hotel or something."
"We've got to help him," Luna said.
"We don't have time for this!" groaned Usagi.
"It's your duty as a sailor scout," Luna told her and Usagi rubbed her head.
"Fine, let's just get this over with," she grumbled, ducked behind a dumpster and reached for her brooch. "Moonlight Rose Power!"
Once transformed, Sailor Neo Moon ran up and kicked the young man named Jason. Jason's "victim" gasped.
"Whoa—that was awesome!" he cried. "Thank you."
Sailor Neo Moon turned around and dropped kicked the person she had just saved.
"Hey, wait a minute, why'd you save me if you're just going to attack me?"
"Because you're a pothead, dummy!" Sailor Neo Moon shouted and she pulled the two boys together so they were back to back and tied them with a pink rope she summoned with her moon magic.
"What the hell is this? You some kind of freak?"
"At least I don't do drugs!" Sailor Neo Moon sneered, tightening the rope and causing the boys to squirm. "Now get up! I'm taking you guys to the police!"
After finding the police station, Sailor Neo Moon dropped them on the front steps just as a couple of policemen were on their way out.
"What the devil?" cried one policeman.
"Here chief, book 'em," Sailor Neo Moon said and she ran away.
"Wait, we're going to need a statement!" the other called after her. He sighed and looked at the criminals.
"That's it man," groaned Jason's buyer. "I'm off the weed from now on."
After Sailor Neo Moon's setback with the drug users, she found a hotel. "Luna, I don't think they'll rent a room out to a thirteen-year old kid with a pet."
"It's no problem," said Luna. She checked to see that the coast was clear and then she went in her human form. She shivered. "Oh my, it's sure chilly out here."
"You don't have your fur to keep yourself warm," snickered Usagi.
"Let's get inside," Luna said. Nodding, Usagi followed her inside the hotel room. While Luna was ordering a room, Usagi was looking at the bulletin board. There were all sorts of ads for people looking for work and notices of missing people and wanted criminals. She smirked. She found Jason's face on the bulletin board.
"Guess they don't have to worry about this guy anymore," she said to herself.
"Come on, Usagi," Luna called.
"Yes!" Usagi said and she ran after her, saying a quick hello to the old man at the counter.
Once they came inside, Luna entered into her cat form. "Much better." She turned to Usagi.
"Right, Usagi," said Luna. "We will search the hospitals and clinics in the city for Evander."
"This city's huge, Luna," said Usagi, turning to the list of hospitals in the phone book. "Lot of ground to cover."
"I know," Luna agreed. "We will start here and work our way to the other side."
"The hospitals will become suspicious if I keep using fake injuries just to get inside. I suppose I can use the 'volunteer' excuse," Usagi stated.
"I think we can fix that," Luna backfilled, and the disguise pen that belonged to Usagi's mother appeared along with the Luna-P ball.
"Luna P!" said Usagi in surprise. "I haven't used this in a while. But Luna…this worked for me when I was younger but I can't have this ball hovering behind me wherever I go."
"Remember Luna P's power to transform into anything you need," Luna reminded her. "You can transform it into a more conservative item."
Usagi put her hand on Luna P and thought of different things to change it into. She thought of a pendant and Luna P became a pendant, its face becoming a small charm.
"I did it!" she said. "Much better." She put it around her neck. "Hey, isn't that my mom's disguise pen?"
"The very one," said Luna. "You can use this to disguise yourself into a nurse when we check the hospitals."
"What about you Luna?"
"I think I'll check the college," said Luna. "Many Lunarians wanted to become Evander's apprentice. He may have become a teacher of medicine."
"All right," said Usagi. "We'll start bright and early in the morning."
As Luna checked out the medical college, Usagi disguised herself as a nurse and went to the closest hospital. Before she was able to interview any doctors, she was put to work on the maternity ward. Having no experience with pregnant women or babies, she was unsure how she got there. She frowned at a gassy baby in the nursery and looked at the head nurse.
"Hey, why do you need me here again?"
"We're shorthanded today, honey," she answered. "We'll have to work the other floors too."
"That would be Dr. Kim Hastings. She's been delivering babies for decades. Knows everything there is to know."
"No, not a woman doctor," Usagi said. "A male doctor."
"Ah, don't tell me you became a nurse just so you can date all the doctors," the other nurse said. "So many women become a nurse for that reason…"
"No I'm just curious," Usagi told her. "I mean, if you had to recommend a patient to any doctor in this hospital, who would you send them too?"
"It all depends on what for," the older nurse answered. "Pediatric doctor, OB-GYN…"
The woman was going down the list all types of doctors and what they specialized in. She was speaking so fast Usagi couldn't keep up or understand.
"What if I wanted someone that knew about diseases?" Usagi inquired.
"Oh you'd want to see a pathologist," explained the nurse.
Then she looked at the clock. She "Oh shoot, I need you to get young Bobby over to be X-rayed."
"Oh man," Usagi groaned and she did her task, followed by a hundred other things she had to do. She went from floor to floor, checking nearly every patient's vitals, bringing them their food and medicine and collecting samples.
"Hey, old man Joe is ready for his sponge bath," said the head nurse.
"That's it…I quit!" Usagi exclaimed and she ran out of the hospital.
Usagi waited at the hotel for Luna, searching the phone book of clinics and hospitals. She wasn't in a hurry to try again, certainly at the one hospital she was at today. She crossed out Children's hospitals. Evander was a healer of everyone, not just children. She knew she wouldn't find out his identity going to gynecologists either. She needed to find a doctor that knew a lot about diseases and how to cure them.
Luna jumped into the open window "Any luck, Usagi?"
"No," Usagi muttered. "I was too busy being a nurse! I came this close to giving some old creepy guy a sponge bath. Ech!" She held her forefinger and thub two centimeters apart and cringed.
"Yes, that does make things difficult," said Luna. "You can try again tomorrow."
"No way!" Usagi waved her arms back. "I came here to find one man, Luna. One. I'm not going to be able to find him collecting urine samples and giving sponge baths! Please tell me you have something. It's only our fist day and already I'm sick of playing Florence Nightingale."
"Some good professors at the college but none seem to match Evander. We will need to keep moving."
"Okay," said Usagi. "I've been going through the phonebook looking for pathologists. I've got a good feeling that Evander has become one after being reborn." She pushed forward her list of pathologists in the city.
"I've found ten so far. I've already called them up and asked if I could meet with them."
"Good thinking Usagi," praised Luna. "What's your cover story?"
Usagi smiled, scratching her pink hair. "Oh, that I'm a student writing a paper on diseases…original, huh?"
"It might work," Luna said.
"Yeah, talking to people about their work and taking notes sure beats what I had to do today!" Usagi chuckled.
The next day Usagi met with her lists of pathologists in the city. Ten minutes before her first interview, she heard the squeals of car tires and screams of terrified people. A driver in a truck was honking their horn and desperately trying to gain control of his vehicle. A girl on the crosswalk froze in terror. Without a moment hesitation, Usagi transformed into Sailor Neo Moon. She pushed the girl out of the way and used her changed her necklace into a rope to make the vehicle stop. Neo Moon turned to the girl she had saved then frowned.
It was one of the girls that had been rude to her when she had first arrived in the city!
"I ripped my dress!" she cried.
"Well, glad to see that you're okay," Sailor Neo Moon said sourly and she stepped away to check on the driver. Before she could do so, she drew a crowd. Bystanders were asking who Sailor Neo Moon was, and where she came from. Some were checking on the girl and on the driver. Flashes from cameras and camera phones went off like fireworks, making Sailor Neo Moon blink and cover her face.
"I gotta go!" she shouted, jumping clear over the crowd and away.
Once Sailor Neo Moon was in the clear, she made a mad dash to her first appointment that she was ten minutes late for.
"Yes, I'm sorry I was late," Usagi repeated to the receptionist at the clinic. "But there was an emergency. I just need to ask Dr. Hanson a few questions."
"Well I'm sorry but the doctor had an emergency," said the receptionist.
Usagi groaned and pulled out the medical journal from her bag along with her notepad. "Okay, can I leave him a message then?"
"I suppose," the receptionist muttered.
Usagi scribbled a few words from the medical journal to her notepad and handed it to the receptionist. "Just give him this."
The receptionist raised her eyebrow. "What is this? Some kind of joke?"
"I just want to know if Dr. Hanson might be able to read it," said Usagi. "It's really important. Have him call me on my cell, please."
As Usagi continued to visit the other pathologists in the city, there was a setback of one thing or another. There was a pickpocket on the bus and a construction mishap while in the middle of her lunch. Sometimes she had to transform and others she had to use her magic pendant. When she was lucky enough, she just an ordinary Good Samaritan. She didn't want to transform more than she had to.
"Man what a day," Usagi grumbled as she made her way to her last appointment. The last pathologist on her list was Chander Kavi, an accomplished medicine man from India. Being from India, it was a long shot that he was Evander but she needed to be thorough. He was her last hope and maybe if he wasn't Evander, perhaps he would know who he was.
Chander Kavi did not have a clinic but visited different clinics and hospitals offering advice. He operated mainly from his apartment. She maded it up the stairs and looked around to make sure she was alone. Then she took out her transformation pen.
"Disguise Power!" she cried. "Turn me into a college student."
Usagi's hair came out of its pigtails and shortened to her chin. She grew a foot taller. A sweatshirt bearing the legend "Seatle University" appeared on her chest along with a pair of jeans. On her face was a pair of glasses.
As Usagi came near his door, she could smell heavy strong odors from the other side.
"Dang…what is that?" she said to herself. "Better make this quick."
She knocked on the door and the same Indian man she had helped this morning opened the door. Her eyes widened and flinched in surprise. She swallowed and tried to hide her anxiety. She recognized him, but she couldn't have him recognize her.
"Hello, Mr. Kavi?" said Usagi. "I'm Usagi Chiba. We spoke on the phone?"
"Yes, yes I remember," Chander said, opening the door. The room had decorations of Indian gods and other things from his homeland. There was a desk with laptop and many papers strewn across it. "Writing a report for the University?"
"That's right," said Usagi, removing her shoes at the door.
"Can I offer you some spiced tea?" He inquired.
"Yes, thanks," she answered.
As he began making the tea, he asked her questions about what she was studying, her family and other slightly personal information. Usagi knew from meeting with other people from India, that this was one on of her customs so she didn't act offended. She came prepared with a story.
"Medicine and Languages," Usagi said. "I'm from Tokyo and I came here last year."
"Your parents did not come with you?" he asked.
Usagi shook her head. "But I visit them during my school breaks. Now tell me, Dr. Kavi, what interested you in pathology?"
"India has ancient arts of healing," he replied. "I wanted to share it with the modern world."
Usagi leaned forward. "Ancient arts? Like what?"
"The use of herbs and natural uses, like Chiropractic care. Massage. In today's world, so many people die because their doctors have misdiagnosed their illness. The medicine they prescribe may fix one thing but cause another problem."
Usagi reached into her bag and gripped the medical journal. It didn't feel warm. She bit her lip.
"Something the matter?" Dr. Kavi asked.
"No, it's all right," said Usagi. "Er, besides medicine, are you skilled with other languages?"
"A little," he answered. "Can I help?"
She slowly removed the medical journal from her bag. "I um, found this at the University library, but no one knows what language it is."
He looked over the first pages, nodding. "Ah, this is very interesting. I am afraid I haven't seen anything like this before."
"Oh, well thank you," sighed Usagi.
He looked at the back before handing it back and noticed the golden crescent symbol. "This is a moon," he said. "Interesting. I imgine this book may have been written by people who worshipped the moon."
"People worshipped the moon?"
"Oh yes, there were cults of moon worshippers all over the world," he said. "Some believed that there was a kingdom upon the moon a thousand years ago. Even today, some people believe the moon helps in healing. My mother adored the moon…I think that is why she named me Chander. Sanskrit for moon, you see."
"Wow," Usagi said.
"Is it all right if I borrow the book for awhile?" he asked. "I can call you if I find out anything."
Usagi was hesitant. Evander's medical journal was her only tool into finding his whereabouts. How as she supposed to find him if it was in this doctor's hands? She glanced around the apartment. Chander was nice but he didn't appear to be very organized. What if he lost it?
He was however a doctor. He knew things that she didn't.
"Don't worry," he said with a smile. "I'll take good care of it."
Usagi nodded. "All right. Thank you."
She left her cell phone number with him and then he noticed her pendant. "That's very nice. I think I've seen something like it before."
"Huh, oh this?" said Usagi. "A kitty charm. They're really popular."
"You must be a cat person then," Chander commented.
"I am," answered Usagi. "I have a cat. Her name's Diana."
"I have one too," Chander looked around. "Agni. He's either hiding from me or out hunting. A finicky cat."
Usagi shook hands with him and then excused herself. On her way back to her hotel there was another problem. A person's house had caught fire and people were trapped inside. There were no sirens. The fire brigade was no where to be found. It was up to Usagi to help.
She went to the back of the house to transform and then her rose moon rod to knock the door down. The fire was hot and the smoke made it hard to see. She wished that the water scouts Sailor Mercury and Sailor Pallas was with her. In ten seconds, they could get all the flames out.
"Ki—Kitty magic!" she choked and her pendant became a fire extinguisher. She used the fire extinguisher to create a path while calling out to the victims.
"Grandma, wake up! Grandma!" a young child's voice said through the flames.
"Hey, where are you?" demanded Sailor Neo Moon.
"Kitchen!" said the voice. "My grandma won't get up!"
Sailor Neo Moon followed his voice into the kitchen. She found the younmg boy and old woman against the kitchen counter.
"Who are you?" he wondered.
Instead of answering, Sailor Neo Moon pointed her moon rod to the boy's grandmother and said. "White Rose Cure!"
The old lady began choking. Sailor Neo Moon bent down to grab one ofher arms. "Help me carry her outside!" she demanded.
The young boy did as he was told and together they made their way out of the burning house. The fire brigade and the police were outside waiting. They tended to the injured woman and then the press came to Sailor Neo Moon, asking how she was able to get inside and out so quickly.
"Can't explain," said Sailor Neo Moon and she hurried away.
In the small, quiet town of Forks, a family was watching the report of the fire on the news.
"She's pretty," said a preteen girl with bronze hair and she turned to a young woman. "Don't you think so, Mom?"
"Yes, but not was pretty as you, Nessie," she replied.
"Did you notice her eyes?" said a young man with curly blond hair. "I think she's a newborn."
The small brunette with the pixie cut snickered. "Jazz, really? What newborn would dress like that?"
"Alice has a point," said a tall blond woman. "If she was a newborn, those people would be dead."
"Probably true," said the man named Jasper. "But she has the eyes and speed of a vampire."
"She didn't appear human," agreed a strong man named Emmett. "What do you think, Carlisle?"
Carlisle was standing silent in the back, arms folded and looking stern. It was unusual for the patriarch of the Cullen coven to seem uptight. He was always calm, even in the most difficult situations.
"This girl might not be a vampire, but she might attract vampires to her. It's common that vampires would seek out humans that possess any sort of strong abilities. We need to find her before they do, especially the Volturi."
Bella glanced to the snapshot of the mysterious hero of Seattle. "You know, she reminds me of one of the sailor scouts."
"The what?" said the man next to her.
"Sailor scouts," she repeated. "I've read comics about them. They're supposed to be super heroes in Japan." She shrugged. "I guess they're real."
"I'll go see if we can find her," volunteered Jasper. "Emmett, Edward, you should come with me."
The other vampires nodded.
"I can do research on the sailor scouts," said Bella. "I can find out who this one is."
"Good, Alice, you will need to watch the Volturi's decisions," said Carlisle.
"Okay," said Alice.
Esme put a hand on her husband's shoulder. "Are you all right, Carlisle?"
"Yes, I'm fine," he answered. "We just need to find this girl."
He couldn't explain why, but the girl seemed familiar to him.
To Be Continued