Edited: 5/26/16
Part II
Chapter 1
Mina sighed as she watched her dearest friend board the airplane to head towards her new life. She met up with Artemis outside in the car and made my way back home.
"Why the long face Mina?" Artemis asked.
The girl sighed again. "I'm going to miss Usagi, she was like a sister to me, my best friend. Now she's off to a new life, a new place with her sisters, and I'm stuck here, at least for a while."
"Are we moving back to England then?"
"In a couple weeks I supposed. I have to call mom and dad, but I also want to stick around for a bit and see what the traitors do. I don't have to worry about being a senshi anymore here. Since Usagi is gone, my allegiance goes with her. I'm not going to follow the dog and pony show the others have going on here."
"What about Michiru?" Artemis asked suddenly, "Should we tell her what's going on when she gets back? She probably doesn't know yet, you know Haruka doesn't tell her anything when she doesn't have to."
"Dirt bag," Mina muttered to herself, and then turned back to Artemis for a moment, before returning her eyes to the road. "We'll try to get Michiru by herself when she gets back and inform her of the situation and let her decide. Do you remember when she comes back from France?"
Artemis nodded, "Think she comes back, eh, late next week I suppose. I hope she doesn't side with the others. She and Usagi always had a good relationship, and Usagi needs all the friends she can get on her side."
Mina's eyebrow twitched at the word friend, and her eyes glazed over for a brief second, before she snapped back to attention. She always thought there was something else to Michiru and Usagi's relationship, something hidden beneath the surface. She's never been able to quite put her finger on it, but something is definitely odd going on there, something trying to get her attention. Of course Mina being a child of Venus, she was the only one to notice. The other relationships in the group also seem odd, almost as if they were forced… She shook herself out of that thought process. Nothing good would come of it at the moment.
Reaching her house, Mina quickly parked the car in the garage and decided to walk to the arcade to see if Mokoti was in today. He didn't know about what happened to Usagi, and they decided that it was better nobody else knew outside of those concerned.
"Hi Mokoti," Mina said as she walked into the parlor. Mokoti looked up and noticed the depressed expression on the girl's face.
"What's wrong Mina-chan? You look so sad, heck even your cat looks sad," he commented, motioning towards Artemis that hopped up on the bar stool next to hers.
"I miss Usagi, I can't believe she ran away," Mina muttered, putting her acting training to good work.
Mokoti's face grew sad at the mention of Usagi, and Mina felt horrible for putting him through this. "I know," he murmured sadly, "Her mom called me a few days ago. Running away because they grounded her for getting kicked out of school. I didn't think that Usagi was that immature but I guess not. Hopefully, she'll turn up soon."
"Yeah," the blonde nodded, half-heartedly. "Anyway, I thought you should be the first to know that I'm thinking of moving back to England soon. A spot in a premier private school opened up, and I was thinking of taking it."
"Really?!" He exclaimed, "That's great! Do you know when you're leaving?"
Mina shook her head. "I hadn't decided to take it yet, but with Usagi done a runner, I feel like it's a sign that I should cut my losses in Japan. I'll probably head out in a couple weeks." Mokoti nodded his head in understanding before turning back to his other customers.
Mina ordered a chocolate milkshake in homage to her departed friend and sipped it occasionally, lost in thought. Nothing specific crossed her mind; it was too full of different ideas and images of what Usagi's future, wherever she's going, might be like. The girl continued to stare into her milkshake in a pose reminiscent of has-been drunkard in a bar in silent contemplation. Her inner deliberations seemed a bit mellow-dramatic, but she is a bit partial to the dramatics. Mina flinched a little when she heard the Arcade's door open and an annoying, haughty laughter floated to her ears. Looking out of the corner of her eye, Mina observed the pansy-ass prince walking to a booth with the short fuse on one arm, and the devil's spawn on the other. Both of them were giggling like crazy, and batting their eyes' at the pompous jerk. Mina rolled my eyes, and returned to my milkshake.
"Minako!" Her eye twitched when she heard the matchstick call her name but Mina didn't move until she called her name again, "Minako!"
"What?!" Mina hissed, turning around to look at Rei.
"Geez," Rei said rolling her eyes, looking completely offended, "I just wanted to ask if you wanted to sit over here with us."
Mina shook my head, "Nah, I'm going to leave soon anyway. I just came here to grab a quick milkshake."
"We haven't seen you around this last week," the twerp commented, simpering from her place on Mamoru's lap.
"Yeah," Rei said, agreeing with the creature, "You need to come over to the temple sometime. We all hang out there now almost every night."
"I don't think so," the blonde said, standing up to leave.
"Why are you acting this way Minako-chan?" Mamoru asked, looking completely stupid with a small pink haired brat sitting on his lap, and teenager hanging all over him.
Mina turned around to glare at all three of them as she started to walk out of the arcade. "You know why," she returned, before walking out of the building.
"They disgust me," Mina murmured to Artemis, briskly walking in the direction of the park. She needed to think, and she liked to play with the domesticated ducks at the pond when thinking.
"You didn't have to listen to what they and the late Queen said to her that night, and you also did have to see the expression on her face either. It was horrible," Artemis replied, shaking his head.
Mina scowled, "I'm no where near as nice as Usagi is, I would have flipped shit and took off some heads."
Artemis was quiet for a moment as we reached the park and sat down near the pond. "You've gotten scarier since this whole thing started," he commented quietly.
"I've always been this crazy, I just never really had an opportunity to show it."
"Right, I believe that."
They sat in silence, just staring out at the water. Every now and then one of the ducks would wander up looking for a hand out. After a couple hours, Artemis and Mina decided to head home. On their way out of the park, they ran into a couple of other unpleasant faces.
"Hey Minako-chan," Makoto greeted the blonde cheerfully. She, along with Ami had their backpacks full of books, and seemed to be heading towards a studying session. Mina felt a slight twinge of guilt at the thought of hating them when looking at their happy faces. I'll give them one last chance; maybe they regret what they said to Usagi now that she's gone…
"Hi guys," she greeted them back, although less cheerfully. "Where are you off to?"
"We're going to Rei's for a study session. Do you want to come? Now that Usagi has run off we should have some peace and quiet for once," Ami replied. Mina did a double take at her harsh words. She never would have suspected the shy, quiet girl to say that.
Makoto nodded in agreement, "Yeah, and I brought cookies that we all should be able to share now that the bottomless pit isn't going to be there."
Mina's mouth dropped open in disbelief. "I can't believe you two, Usagi was your friend! Before you even had friends! She found you and talked to you when no one else would, but just because she didn't meet your 'standard' you tossed her away."
They stared at the other girl in shock. "Why are you so upset Minako-chan?" Ami asked, "You know that Usagi was annoying and whiney."
"Yeah, I know, but I loved those things about her because those characteristics are parts of what made her so wonderful. She never judged any of us; she accepted all of us, even the parts that annoyed her. How could you just turn on her?"
Makoto shook her head, "I'm sorry Minako-chan, but her flaws were too great. She has a greater responsibility and she needed to step up and take it, but she just ran away, that proves her character, always running away."
Mina just stared at them, before she turned and stormed home. When she reached her house, Mina flung herself on the couch, placed a pillow over her face and screamed. "They just make me sooo mad sometimes," she told Artemis once she had removed the pillow.
Artemis nodded sagely, but looked at her curiously. "Not all of your anger is coming from them," he murmured, "something else is making you mad."
She sighed, closing her eyes. "I began to believe them," Mina murmured, tears leaking out.
"What do you mean?"
"I began to believe the worst about my best friend, MY sister. I started to believe what they were saying, which is horrible because I know the whole story. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I believed that she was running away, so when they started saying those things about her, I couldn't handle it."
"Oh Mina," Artemis replied, jumping on the couch with his charge, "You know that Usagi doesn't run away from anything, and she hasn't run away now."
"I know that!" Mina cried out, "I know that she left in order to heal, so that she can have a new life, be a new person."
"But…"
"But I can't help the way I feel," she sighed, "I feel like she left for something bigger and brighter, and left me here alone."
Mina sat up and moved into the kitchen, browsing for something to eat. She pulled out a bowl for cereal and poured herself some lucky charms. Settling in on the couch with her bowl of sugary goodness, Mina looked at Artemis again. "I'll be myself again in a few days, I promise. I just need time."
Several days passed and Mina spent that time avoiding the other senshi, going to school and attempting to slowly pack up the house. It was hard to avoid Makoto and Ami because they went to the same school, but the others were easy enough since she didn't have time go out much any way with the preparations to move taking much of he time. One rogue monster had popped up the previous day and she ignored the summons from Rei to come help them take care of it. She didn't answer to them, and Mina knew that the demon spawn and masked florist would be there and she really didn't want to see them.
"Just a little bit longer," Mina growled as she ignored Rei's hundredth call on her phone, no doubt wanting to give her a severe tongue lashing for not showing at the fight. "I just have to put up with them a little bit longer and then I can get a new number as soon as I get back to England." She pulled up the website for one of the local restaurants and placed an order for dinner, using the credit card her parents gave her for these situations.
"Ordering dinner again?" Artemis asked, jumping up on the couch next to the girl. "I thought you were going to get some basic groceries at the store?"
"I saw Mamoru-baka and the twerp in the store and I just couldn't go in there," Mina shuddered. "It seemed tainted, the air, the groceries, just no…"
Artemisia gave her an unimpressed look, "And it has nothing to do with the fact that you don't like cooking."
"It's so boring!" Mina whined, "I got my transfer paperwork put in at school and luckily they go on break so I don't have to go back, ever again, so no more dodging Makoto and Ami in classes or in the hallway."
A loud rumble emerged from Artemis's stomach and he looked away sheepishly, crossing his legs. "What are we having for dinner and when is it getting here?"
Mina stared him down; giving him one of her famous evil grins, "Hope you can stomach Thai food tonight."
Artemis blanched, "Are you trying to kill me?"
"Nope, just trying to show you that I am back to my old diabolical self, muwahaha," the blonde laughed evilly.
The food came and Artemis looked on in relief when she opened the bag and gave him an egg roll and some mild chicken while she devoured the spicier curry. She flopped back down on the couch and flipped through the channels aimlessly, settling on a movie that she had seen thousands of times. She set the TV on a timer and dozed off soon after, exhaustion and stress finally getting to her. Artemis's stomach woke her up the next morning, along with the blinking light on her cell phone.
She groaned and sat up, swatting Artemis off her head and picking up her phone. "Artemis! Usagi sent me an email! Where's my laptop?"
"I don't know, where did you leave it?" Artemis groaned, stretching his feline body.
"If I knew that, I wouldn't have asked you where it was," the blonde retorted, dashing to her room. "Not there, no not there, whoop, ah!" Crash! "Nothing's broken! Oh there it is!" Artemis rolled his eyes listening to Mina's commentary, wondering if this girl truly was the reincarnation of the princess of Venus, heir to the throne. Something niggled at the back of Artemis's mind, almost like he was trying to remember something that he had forgotten, something important. The feeling vanished with the re-emergence of Mina from her bedroom and the cat put it out of his mind, choosing instead to think it over later.
Mina booted up her computer and clicked over to her email, opening the message that Usagi had just sent her.
Hey Mina!
I've gotten a new computer and email account so this should make things easier, as well as a new cell phone, my number is at the bottom. I have to tell you everything that has happened to me since I left you in Japan… Well, not much really, but some stuff has happened. I flew to New York, you knew that, and my sisters are here! I found them! I know I said I wouldn't tell you where I am, but I don't even care if the unmentionables find me, I'd like to see them try. I've changed my name and appearance so they won't be able to find me anyway, even if they bother looking.
Anyway, on to my sisters, Mina they are so amazing. Different from what I remember, but in a good way, they're so much more! Hikaru, my older sister, still has a temper but has mellowed out with age. She's funny and really cool. Akari, my oldest sister, is still kind and loving, but extremely protective. She had a kind of aura around her that's odd, like she's warm, so warm, but tinged with something that could be dangerous, vicious almost…
I'm losing track of the conversation, forget that part, so I've been settling in as best as I can. Some stuff still makes me sad, and it's obvious that Akari and Hikaru have this whole life without me in it and I'll have to learn more about them, but I'm looking forward to it. I'm living with Akari right now. Hikaru has her own room here, but she lives and works out of the country for the most part. She's only going to be around for a few more days before she lives for a month, comes back for her birthday and then I won't see her until Thanksgiving (an American holiday) or Christmas.
They've taken good care of me since I found them, Akari has anyway since she's going to be my official guardian. Today she took me shopping and for a makeover to help me leave behind my old life. I'm finally allowed to be who I want to be rather than what others think I should be.
And I think I've started making a new friend. Her name is Anna and she's the younger sister of Akari's best friend. They went shopping with us today. Anna's really nice, bubbly (nosey) and very energetic. She's going to be in my year at the new school Akari is enrolling me in, so there will be one person I know and she said she's going introduce me to some of her friends. School is like bleh, but it's better going when you know someone, especially when starting a new school.
You'll always be my best friend Mina, but never hurts to have more right? I'll email you again later, and don't forget to text me when you can and let me know how everything is going there.
Much love,
Serena
"Tehehe, she refers to the others as unmentionables," Mina cackled as she reread the email to make sure she didn't miss anything. "She changed her name to Serena, I think it suits her."
Artemis jumped on the coffee table to read the email as well. "Wow," he said after he finished reading, "She sounds different, happier, I guess. Do you think it's her sisters' doing?"
"Probably," Mina replied, "She was really close to them before, so being with them again has probably altered her personality a little bit. That and she's finally free to be herself, no pressure to behave a certain way, or be perfect."
"Hmmm, you have a point. Are you going to send a reply?"
"I'll text her, but I think it's in the middle of the night," Mina mused, picking up her phone. "I might wait to send an email update until after I speak with Michiru when she gets back in a few days. I know that Usagi, Serena didn't mention anything, but I think, before she left, she was really worried about how Michiru would react to all of this."
The cat observed the blonde, taking in her pensive expression. "What are you thinking?"
"Nothing," Mina replied absentmindedly. "Just a feeling…"