Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon.
Chapter 3 - Like Never Seen Before
Honks from cars and motorbikes and their roaring engines, along with the chattering of packs of grown-ups swarming the pavements of Juban all sounded like passing buzzes to a particular blonde-head. Stinging heat of the sun penetrated through her skin layers yet the girl's sapphire orbs did not motion from the cemented track below her. Her brain could have unintentionally recorded the bricks' pattern as her mind wandered off to nothing in particular.
Dressed in her pink strapless t-shirt that revealed her milky-white shoulders, the blonde dragged her way to a certain café in Minato-ku where she had always been a regular customer. Why she bothered to leave her convenient air-conditioned bedroom, she was not sure either. It could be the boredom, or it was probably the solitude of the silence around her.
"Usagi-chan!" One pair of green eyes and rust hair that almost mirrored those of Makoto's welcomed her.
"Hi, Unazuki-chan" The blonde grinned to reply the smile thrown at her from Motoki's younger sibling. She briefly scanned the room and came up with a conclusion that the girl's brother was absent.
"Is it only you? I mean, it's pretty crowded today"
"My brother is off to the hospital" The statement seemed to have pulled the anxiety out on Unazuki's face.
"Motoki-niisan is sick?" Usagi let her fingers partially cover her mouth.
Her question earned a shook from the worker of the café. "Rika-san is"
"She is? What happened?"
"As much as I want to answer you, Usagi-chan, my brother and I are completely clueless as well. Motoki-niisan said he got a call from Rika-san's parents, who frantically informed him that my brother's fiancé was found lying with color draining from her face and totally lost any sign of life"
"My goodness, I am sorry to hear that, Unazuki-chan! How is she now? She is in a better shape, right?"
Her question had triggered the opposite repercussion rather than retrieving bits of hope like what the odango had wanted.
"When we were permitted to see her at last, she was still… nothing different than when her mother had found her, or even declining, I cannot tell. Her heartbeat was there, though faint"
"I will make a visit today. Poor Motoki-niisan having to go through this. Three months from now is their wedding…"
Although not obvious, a dim smile did make its way to Unazuki's face. Usagi was like how Usagi had always been, no matter how old she grew. The depth of her concern regarding those who were dears to her remained unchanged.
"Thank you, Usagi-chan. But I am now honestly doubting that that ever occurring…" The café staff had to pause when she caught a glimpse of another familiar human at Usagi's back. "Rei-chan!"
Perplexed by the sudden utterance of the name of her senshi, the princess directed her eyes to where Unazuki's had fixated on.
"Hi, Unazuki-chan" The fire senshi stood; beaming an elegant smile was her only gesture. "I see that Usagi has been bothering you again"
"Who's bothering who!?" Ignoring the fact that Rei's statement was intended for the other girl, Usagi exploded a snarl.
"In fact, I quite enjoy Usagi's company today, Rei-chan. I've been here alone since the place opened" Unazuki slipped in a chuckle before she paid another appreciative look to the miko. "Where were you from, Rei-chan? You are somehow… in a distinctive appearance today?"
Usagi had not been solely oblivious to the style that her raven-haired friend was in, but Unazuki pinpointing it made her stare secretly fly all over the civilian form of Mars. It was then that she noted that Unazuki's remark was legitimate. The white long-sleeved shirt was enveloping her friend's slim body; her contrasting dark-colored hair effortlessly flowed to decorate it. The black pants did nothing but outlining her perfectly-shaped thighs and calves. There were the crimson kitten-heels, too, which polished the girl's overall height. Her study of the miko had made her cheeks slightly redden and what had ironically made her blind to her own blushing. If this new style of Hino Rei had been an essay, Usagi would put an ending summary that those attributes made Hino Rei look dazzling in her blossoming age.
"I just completed my first day of orientation at Temple" The miko carelessly answered as her hands were busy flipping over the menu page.
"I see your college days have begun! When will yours start, Usagi-chan?"
"Ah, that… I am starting next week" As much as she did not want to be reminded of studying, the moon princess then recalled that she had enrolled in a different college from the fire senshi.
"So you two were in a rather serious discussion when I got here" Rei proceeded on shifting the subject of their talk. "Anything happened?"
Usagi and Unazuki fleetingly shared looks, and Motoki's sister sighed before repeating what she had told the blonde and continuing where she had left off.
It turned out that not all streets of Juban was packed of joyful chatters in the midst of a pleasant dusk, for one was swarmed by panic yells and agonizing screams.
"Run! Ruuun!" Though sure that his voice was most likely sunk in the ocean of massive, hectic crowds, one stubborn police officer was still seen oscillating his arms here and there, making the best effort to pilot people to safe-and-sound destinations. Which best direction he was trying to show them to go to, he was not convinced either. One thing for sure: these citizens had to flee from the raging devil that was knocking human unconscious. The terrifying part was that, it did that just by a simple matter of deadlocking one's gaze.
Air gulped down all his syllables, however, when the said devil announced its arrival right before his eyes. Upon witnessing the dark form of legs landing and blowing dust to their surrounding, his upper and lower teeth had been pressed altogether so hard they might as well pulverize at that very second. By the time he began assessing the ghastly frame of the shadowy demon, he had let out a low whimper – one too imperceptible for anyone to hear.
Energy had started getting stolen from him, but from a distant he swore he heard a female boldly stating stuffs about punishment from the moon.
"I can't believe Motoki-kun could do such thing. I mean, at least he doesn't seem to be that kind of guy…"
Usagi had been tailing Rei ever since they made their way out of the hospital, giving permission for the other girl to lead the path. The words that came out from Rei's mouth, however, she had been paying only half of her attention. The other fifty percent went to her own analysis of the situation.
"Usagi!"
Annoyed amethyst eyeballs were what could finally snap her back to her best friend.
"Hmm?"
"Geez, now I am curious of which planet you would drag us to had I not been kind enough to shepherd you!"
"Oh" The princess broke the exchanged looks. "Sorry"
She heard Rei sigh in defeat. She must have looked so lost and troubled to have Rei do that.
"So what is occupying your own little world now?" The fire senshi questioned; her tone was tenderly concerned yet demanding as Rei would be.
And it was usually that tone that cracked Usagi to open up to her. No, Usagi made a mental note; it was more like Rei herself – something about Rei – that had always managed to make her confide in the dark-haired miko.
"Mamo-chan" She admitted naively.
"What happened? You two are just fine, right? Or did you lose contact again?" Fiery eyes of Rei shifted subtly to doubtful ones. "Or did he… hurt you?"
"No!" The princess gave an impromptu shout. "I received his email, three days ago. He is doing fine, and we are fine. It's just… some sort of curiosity passed by my mind"
"And that is…?"
"I am just… really taken aback, I guess. I mean, if Motoki-niisan could do such a thing after declaring his love for Rika-san in front of everyone… Then, it is not totally unimaginable if… if… if Mamo-chan could..."
"Usagi" The miko's expression hardened. "If he ever commits anything of that sort, then I swear I would-"
"I am sorry, I was just talking gibberish" Blue orbs averted Rei. "With the future he and I have, he wouldn't do that, would he?"
Usagi was not sure if any part of her statements had come out weird, but whatever it had been, she seemed to have quieted the fire senshi. The silence that Rei had let to follow after was what pulled the blonde to examine Rei's face, trying to make out what it was that the miko was actually feeling through her hurt expression.
Like a wind taking a sudden turn of direction, the look on Rei's face took a change of behavior. Her eyes expanded in terror and her lips left only a small space in between them. Usagi could barely hear the gasp that she made, but it was there, lasting only a split second.
Rei's finger nails had sunk into her palms when Usagi finally grasped her change of aura. "What is it, Rei-chan?"
"Dark, something very dark" The reply that came out was with a rather quivery voice. The raven-haired girl then ran off like she cared about nothing but where her senses were leading her to.
"Rei-chan, wait!" The blonde made an inner complain as her legs began moving speedily, trying to catch up with her comrade. A rather blurry image of the past perched on her mind. Back then, Rei had done exactly the same when she sensed the youma that Fiore – a being from Mamoru's childhood – had sent. The miko just ran off with the pack of senshi following her from behind.
But this time she wished from the bottom of her heart that it was not youma or any form of evil awaiting them, that Rei was having a mistaken hunch. Forcing her legs to keep up, Usagi was now almost side-by-side with the miko. Buildings by buildings passed until the two young women finally arrived at another turn of the streets. From there, screams were already within the reach of their ears.
Rei had put herself into an abrupt stop, and had this been five years ago, the blonde would not have been able to avoid colliding with her. Thanks to years of being Sailor Moon that most of her body parts had good reflex now, Usagi praised herself. Without time for any discussion, the two had seen with their own eyes a form of dark shadow, standing still before a police officer who was obviously powerless.
Usagi shuddered. This youma was… nothing like she had ever encountered before. This was not that kind of youma who seemed to have appeared from a static object as a result of a daemon egg, having ridiculous figure and all. Nor was it the kind of silly youma who was capable of doing circus or a human turned into absurd monster after losing a star seed. This creature was… was simply human-like, a woman, albeit dark from head to toe and naked. Usagi squinted to focus on its face, but failed to catch any glimpse of the normal color of a human's orbs. It was all just dark, and rather blurry, just like the rest of its body. The thing that had her tremor in great amount, however, was not that.
She could not identify what caused it, but her heart felt heavy, like tons of bad things in the world had weighed upon her. A look to the right revealed a Rei who seemed to be in the same aghast state, although the miko would probably prefer to come out stronger, unlike her.
The two then proceeded on a short escape to the nearest empty space in between the buildings.
"Usagi, transform!"
The blonde nodded, trying with all her might to suppress the horror creeping in her soul.
"Mars crystal power, make up!"
"Moon Eternal, make up!"
Red, fiery lights wrapped Rei's body and the princess let golden ones enveloped herself. Coming out in her eternal form, Sailor Moon threw a momentary look on Mars, who harmoniously mimicked her. Moon silently agreed on revealing herself first.
"Wait a minute there!" She yelled, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "Causing disturbance in the middle of a beautiful evening and scaring people to death – what in inexcusable sin! I, Sailor Moon, will not be restless just watching you do that! In the name of the moon, I will punish you!"
What she had just spoken, although not the most suitable things to say for a girl about to enter college, would normally manage to earn a puzzled expression of their enemy, or minimally she would succeed on having the evil halt whatever crime they were doing. Moon let a few seconds tick by, thinking that that was what it took for her words to sink in the youma. Mars being silent while standing equally elegant next to her confirmed her decision.
It bothered them, though, when it dawned on them that the youma had not even bothered to flinch to meet their faces even after those few seconds slipped. Sailor Moon tightened her own fists into balls and gritted her teeth.
"Do you even have ears!? I swear I yelled it out loud enough!" She whined.
"Usagi" Mars' voice was as concerned as her look. "Be very careful. She is… very powerful. My senses told me"
Just right after she gave Mars a nod as a reply, a bumping sound gained her attention back to the focus of the fight. The police officer had fallen victim to the shadow as his body dropped backward limply, totally out of energy.
Only then did the youma finally lay eyes on the two females, boring blackness through the windows of their souls. The two scouts had not even discovered the right terms to put that demonic glare into description when the shadow flew like a wind and arrived right in front of them in a blink of an eye. As if intending to startle the two warriors in fuku, the naked evil stilled on its spot, performing nothing though her eyes looked like it was searching for something. And that something was the eyes of Sailor Moon.
The blonde warrior shuddered for the second time that day as her sapphire eyes crossed path with those black ones of the youma. Her trembling muscles were still able to cooperate with her to put on a fighting stance, expecting a hand-to-hand combat with the monster before her. Much to her dismay, however, those muscles soon began losing whatever strength they had had just a few seconds prior. In a jiffy, she started to feel the aches and sores all over her physic. Sailor Moon groaned weakly as she felt the pain begin to creep into her joints. It was not like she was unfamiliar to this occurrence; she had suffered through it so many times before during their encounter with the enemies in the past and she was a hundred percent aware of what was happening to her. The youma was absorbing her energy. What scared her like never before was how it was all done in a flash, without her and Rei being able to attempt evading, without even the slightest physical contact.
"Sailor Moon!" Conscious of what was happening to her princess by that moment, Mars took her first critical action. Her gloved hand bloomed and enraging fire swirled out from inside her palm before the hot element took the form of an arrow and a bow. Like a skilled trooper, Mars stretched her weapon; the sharp projectile was readily aimed at their current adversary.
"Mars Flame Sniper!"
The arrow was freed from its place, transporting like a wind into its target – the youma's chest. The dark shadow quitted her torture for Sailor Moon to turn her head, welcoming the fiery missile about to strike her bosom. As if the weapon had been but a childish toy, the youma took a quick grip on it before it reached her figure, halting its speedy motion; the element of fire seemed to give no damage to her hand. And as if wanting to exult over her might, the youma lifted the projectile above her head before her clasp on it strengthened and crushed it, resulting in the arrow turning to tiny bubbles and fading away.
Mars and Moon gaped in terror, almost simultaneously. They did not have much time to think about it, though, for their devil enemy had then shifted to face Mars, neglecting her previous victim. The youma raised her left arm up in the air for one more time, appearing to be up to something with her point finger. Small, dark sphere was collected on the tip of her pointy nails before it was launched in the form of laser, pregnant with power, along with the raging roar of the youma.
It clicked on Mars that if she did not take leave from her current spot as soon as possible, that black thing would most likely deliver a considerable pain to her flesh. So that was what she did, using a kick on the ground with her stiletto to help her dash out further to somewhere in her right. She paid attention to the newly-created hole on the X where she had stood previously during the process. When she landed once more, the spot had looked like an ugly mole that stained the earth ground. Even from a distance, Moon and Mars could tell that the hole was in such a depth, and the smoke that followed after was another proof of what destructive power the dark ray had brought.
Again, left with no time to even inhale air properly, the fire senshi put herself together as her eyes detected the next movement of the youma. The index finger of the youma had been once again erected, signaling that the same attack was to be repeated. Her prediction was right as another beam was shot towards her, forcing her to jump with all her strength to avoid hole in any of her body members. Not even a second after her red shoes touched the ground, she had to witness yet another set of lasers. With a grunt, she jolted to fly again to her right. Her violet eyes found way in between her dark bangs to see more and more of the same dark rays coming forth.
Sailor Moon had been watching, almost pessimistically, how the intimidating youma had slowly but surely pushed her best friend with the attacks, to the point where Mars was almost running out of breath. It was not like she was not trying to find a way to help; she had regained some of the energy that left her body earlier, but no matter from what angle she examined it, the devil looked almost invincible with no weak point. If only Mercury had been here, she thought. That genius would have scanned the youma with her little gadget to work out its fragile part for them to shoot at.
No, she could not rely on her comrades' power for the rest of her life. Those senshi might be her protectors, but they were having whatever short amount of time they could obtain to enjoy their ordinary life and the princess had no heart to take it away. Besides, Mercury was not there at that very moment, so she felt she might as well quit complaining and start racking her own brain.
She should attempt her most powerful attack. Yeah, that would work. That had always worked with the preceding enemy. She glared towards the youma before taking out her pink-and-white rod and spinning it elegantly with her hands. The stick stopped motioning in her firm palms and started glowing in pink, blinding light.
"Starlight Honeymoon Therapy Kiss!"
The center of the rod radiated brightly as Moon released its hidden power. The pink rays made their ways to the targeted youma and illuminated its body. Still not hearing agonizing scream, Sailor Moon stood solid, deciding to prolong the attack for a while more. Her eyes were fixated on the scene before her and she waited impatiently for any sign of the youma's defeat.
"Sailor Moon! Watch out!"
Mars' voice coming from somewhere around her north-east was what made her flinch from her frozen pose.
"Your back!"
Mars had shouted again, this time making her turn a-hundred-and-eighty. The sight that welcomed her, however, was an unpleasant one. The devil had been several meters behind her and she noticed that it had evaded her attack, for its physic was free from any burns or cuts. How the youma had succeeded on doing so was out of her reasoning, and for that moment, that was not really the question to dwell on.
She had to focus instead on how to avoid the forming dark sphere that, in a matter of seconds, she knew would change into a deadly beam. Unfortunately for her, though, she seemed to be running out of time. The said beam had darted towards her, reaching to rip out her soul. Her pupils widened in fright as her brain made a late instruction for her to move. Her eyelids closed when she knew it was too late; she mentally scolded herself.
She waited for a painful sensation to bore a hole into her flesh, but when she did hear a yelp, it was not her own. By the time she lost her balance she grasped that a pair of hands had strongly pushed her and a few seconds later, the rough surface of the street scratching her skin let her know that she had crashed onto the ground. Traumatizing images flashed involuntarily in her mind and she did not want to get familiarized with it, but she could not help it. That yelp – it was the high-pitched outcry that came out when someone had protected her from Galaxia's attack. Even without her vision, she knew that that same person was the one currently landing on top of her; their bodies pressed together. That someone was once again Mars.
Eyelids opened and she saw blood.