Trevor's hand was inching toward Usagi's face, either to tweak her nose or to poke her softly in the cheek. Neither of them found out what he was planning to do, however, since at that moment Usagi's eyes opened. It took her a few moments to realize just what was happening, but in the end, she smiled.
"Trevor-nii," she said, smiling at him. "Good morning."
"Good morning, Usa-ko," he said, grinning softly down at her. "We'd better get going; I heard your mother saying it was time for school."
"Do we really have to?" Usagi said, pouting as she looked up at him; he'd already been getting to his feet before they had started talking.
"Yes, Usa-ko," he said, turning a fondly exasperated smile on her, even as he knelt down to roll up the futon he slept on. "I don't think your mother would be too happy with me if I just let you sleep in when we're both supposed to be getting to school."
"Oh, why do you have to be so... so responsible all the time, Trevor-nii?" Usagi said, and he heard her shifting around in her bed.
"I guess it's a character flaw," he said, smiling back at her over his shoulder.
Usagi laughed. "You're so funny. All right, Trevor-nii," she said, and he saw her getting out of bed. "Let's start getting ready now."
"That's the spirit," he said, as he finished folding his blanket and stored it neatly on top of the futon that he'd been using for as long as he'd been living with Usagi and her family.
As they both began to get ready for their respective days, Trevor made sure to keep an eye on Usagi. She was a good person, and the best friend that someone could ask for, but the girl really had an entirely too casual approach to... well, pretty much everything but food and video games. It was part of what made her who she was, yes, but when times like this came up, Trevor would always remember the promise that they had made to each other that day he had awakened in the hospital: that he would be the best older brother he could, even though the two of them weren't actually related by blood.
He always tried to keep his promises, even when they were hard.
"You two are just barely going to make it," Ikouko said, as he and Usagi grabbed their toast and their lunches and made their way out of the kitchen. "Try to wake up earlier next time, okay? And don't forget your bags!"
"Okay!" he heard Usagi call back over her shoulder, as the two of them grabbed their respective bags. "Sorry, Mom! We'll get up earlier next time! Promise! Big brother?" Trevor had a feeling he already knew what she was going to ask, but he knew that interrupting would be rude. "Will you… I mean…"
"Like we did back then?" he finished, when it was clear that Usagi was a bit too shy to ask him outright.
"Yeah," she looked away slightly, smiling. "Will you, Trevor-nii?"
"Of course," he said, turning so that Usagi would be able to climb up onto his back the way that she had done so many times when they were children.
The fact that he could only feel her hands where they rested on his shoulders and her legs under his arms was a troubling reminder that he had never truly recovered from the fire that day. He never would, either; the doctors had said that the nerve-endings in his back and upper-thighs had all been destroyed; he'd never have any sensation in those areas of his body again. Shoving those thoughts aside – not wanting Usagi to worry about him any more than she already did – Trevor focused on where they were going.
Even though he'd been down this path so many times before, it was always best to pay attention where you were going while you were running.
"Trevor, stop!"
He'd slammed his right foot down almost before Usagi had finished talking, and had to struggle for a moment to keep his balance and not end up falling flat of his face. He was just about to ask Usagi just why she had wanted him to stop like that – sure, Usagi was impulsive, but she still knew just how hard it was for someone to stop once they had started running – when he saw the cat. He also saw the kids tormenting it, and knew that – even though they were both going to get into trouble for this – Usagi's gentle heart wouldn't ever let her pass by a creature in distress.
It was one of the things that he loved the most about her, even if it did get them into trouble from time to time.
"Hey! You kids stop that!" he heard Usagi shout.
"Shouldn't all of you be in school, anyway?" he asked, giving his best impression of his and Usagi's mother's stern, disapproving frown.
The three kids didn't say anything to either of them, but they did run off all the same. Crouching next to Usagi as she looked the cat over, Trevor smiled softly at the look of concern on his younger sister's face.
~SM~
"Poor kitty. It's okay now," she said, those mean kids that had been hurting it ran off; Trevor had almost looked like Mom when he had frowned, and Mom could be pretty scary when she frowned like that. "Aww, did they hurt you, kitty?" There were a couple of bandages on its head, but the kitty really didn't seem happy to have them there. "Would you like me to take these off?"
The bandages did look kind of funny, but the kitty really didn't seem to like them at all; she also knew from Trevor that bandages kind of itched a lot the longer they were left on. So she peeled off the bandages as gently as she could, since she knew from both her and Trevor's experiences that pulling off bandages fast never really helped anyone at all. Really, it hurt a lot more.
When she had peeled off the bandages, though… "What? Was that a crescent-shaped bald spot?" she exclaimed.
It was the strangest thing that she had ever seen.
"What was that?" she heard Trevor ask, his right arm wrapping comfortingly around her shoulders as the two of them stood up.
The strange black cat that she and Trevor had stopped to help had – actually, literally – flipped up high into the air and landed on a red car just to the right of them. And now it was just staring at them. Or no; the kitty was staring at her; right at her. It was kind of strange.
But, when she suddenly caught a glimpse of Trevor's watch – even as the weird black cat that she had rescued from those mean kids kept staring at her – Usagi grabbed her older brother's right wrist and peered closely at it. There was no way that could be right! They couldn't have let things go on this long, right?
The sound of their high school's bells ringing let Usagi know that Trevor had set his watch right; she'd been almost hoping that her big brother's watch was fast, just for today.
Jumping right back onto Trevor's back, she winced slightly as her big brother tipped forward slightly before slamming his right foot into the ground to steady himself. "Trevor, you have longer legs than I do; so can you run really, really fast, now?"
"Yeah."
Trevor ran, his shoes slapping against the sidewalk with a sharp "clack" the way they always did. Usagi knew that they probably wouldn't be able to reach the school in time not to get in trouble; even though Trevor was really fast, even he wouldn't be fast enough to outrun the school bell before it finished ringing. They'd both get in trouble for this.
When they both arrived at the school, Trevor let her down so she could walk the rest of the way, and Usagi gave him a brief hug; they might have both been about to get in trouble for lagging behind like they'd done, but Usagi was glad to have her big brother with her, especially during times like this.
"You two are late, again," Haruna-sensei said, frowning at both of them; she looked almost like Mom when she did that, too.
People were always really scary when they frowned like that, Usagi thought.
"I'm very sorry, Haruna-sensei," Trevor said, bowing respectfully to their English teacher as she came out to meet them.
"You've got to stop being so casual about things like this, Mr. Tsukino." Haruna-sensei folded her arms. "You're supposed to be setting an example for Ms. Usagi. It's your responsibility, as her older brother, to set a good example so that she learns not to be so cavalier about things. Her studies in particular."
"Yes, Haruna-sensei," Trevor said, bowing again. "I'll try to do better in the future."
"See that you do, Mr. Tsukino."
Haruna-sensei left after that, and Usagi frowned at her retreating back.
"That's not fair," she said, frowning. "You're a great big brother; and you always do your best in school. Haruna-sensei shouldn't be mad at you for something that's not your fault!"
Trevor bit his lower lip. "She's probably right, though; I should be setting a better example for you, Usa-ko."
Wrapping both of her arms around Trevor's right, Usagi huffed. "Let's get to class now, Trevor-nii."
They would talk later about all of this; it wasn't good for Trevor to keep thinking he always had to help her. Especially when she was the one who kept messing up.
They had to stand in the hall after class as punishment, of course; Haruna-sensei really hadn't been happy with them for being late, especially after all of the other times that they'd been late. Still, she didn't think this was fair to Trevor at all; he'd only wanted to help her get to school on time. It wasn't his fault that she always seemed to sleep so late.
Sighing, Usagi looked up at Trevor as he continued to stand next to her. "Trevor-nii, I'm really sorry I got us into this mess."
"It's not your fault, Usa-ko," Trevor said, smiling softly down at her. "I should have tried to wake you up earlier. Then, maybe we could have made it here on time."
Before she could say anything else, Haruna-sensei came out of her classroom.
"Tsukino Trevor-san, you need to start setting a better example for your sister," Haruna-sensei said, holding out the tests that they had both worked on during their time in class. "Getting a 100 on an English test when it was your mother's first language is all right, but you should have helped Usagi-san enough for her to get at least a 50."
Looking down at the test paper she now held in her hands, Usagi sighed softly. She'd only gotten a 45; it wasn't something that her and Trevor's mom was going to be happy about.
After class had ended, Usagi ambled out to sit down on the stones bordering the school's front garden, Trevor's hand gently clasped in her own.
"Usagi, I don't believe you," Naru said, as Usagi herself leaned into Trevor for all of the support that he was offering her. "Your big brother speaks perfect English, and you didn't study with him?"
"I think I could have done more to encourage her," she heard Trevor say, the tone of his voice prompting her to look back up at him.
"No! No, Trevor-nii, it wasn't your fault!" she said. "I just wasn't ready, that's all."
"Usagi-san! Trevor-san! How did you two do on your test?"
"Good afternoon, Umino-san," Trevor said, seeming a bit less depressed now that he was talking to someone else. "How did you do?"
"Well, I didn't quite get a perfect score," Umino said, holding out his test paper; he had 95 points. "But, tests are really more like a game, you know? But I bet Trevor-san got 100 easy; your mother was an American, and they use English for everything!"
"Umino-baka! You shouldn't talk about that so casually!" she shouted. "After what happened, how could you be so insensitive?!"
"Ah!" Umino said, turning and bowing deeply to Trevor. "Sorry! Sorry! I wasn't thinking! I'm sorry!"
"It's all right," Trevor said, and Usagi could almost see the gentle smile on his face. "I'm sure you didn't mean anything by it, Umino-san."
There was a long pause, almost long enough to be awkward, but Naru broke the silence before anyone could actually start getting uncomfortable.
"Did either of you hear? Sailor V appeared again."
She shared a speaking glance with Trevor; he looked just as confused as she felt.
"Sailor V?" the both asked.
"Yeah; she caught the thieves from the jewelry heist."
"Wow! That's really cool!"
"Who is Sailor V, Naru-chan? I don't think I've heard of her," Trevor said; Usagi wanted to know, too, but she had to admit that she would have been just a little embarrassed to ask that kind of a question after what she'd just said.
"Sorry, Trevor-kun," Naru said, scratching the back of her head. "Sailor V is a heroine in a school uniform; she's been all over the news lately, and there are even rumors that she's a special agent from the police department, and that's how she's been able to get around so quickly."
"Wow; I definitely would have remembered hearing about something like that," Trevor said, laughing softly.
"I think it's a wonderful thing, the way she managed to save all of those beautiful jewels!" Naru said.
"Yeah, it's great!" Wrapping both of her arms around Trevor's right, Usagi leaned in closer to her older brother's warmth. "I'd love to have some jewelry, like a diamond ring, or some ruby earrings."
"I'd buy you some, Usa-ko, if I had the money for it."
"Thanks, Trevor-nii," she said, cuddling closer to him.
"You know, Trevor-kun, my family's store has been having a jewelry sale since yesterday," Naru said, smiling down at them.
"Really?" Trevor asked, shifting slightly so that he could stretch out his legs.
"Yeah," Naru said. "I bet you could also find something nice for… well, for today."
"Yeah, I probably could." Usagi turned to look at Trevor, hearing the wistful tone of his voice, and found him looking down at the space between his feet.
"What?" Umino said, looking all around at them. "What's so special about today?"
"Umino-baka!" letting go of Trevor's arm, she stood up to bop Umino firmly on the head. Really, asking that today, of all days! "You shouldn't ask such personal questions!"
"Usa-ko, it's all right." Turning as she felt Trevor's hand on her left shoulder, she saw that he didn't seem angry about the things that Umino had been saying. "Umino-san, it was six years ago today, that I moved in with Usagi-imouto and her family."
"But, I heard that you only moved in with Usagi-san and her family, after…" Umino straightened up, bowing deeply. "I'm sorry! Forgive me! I wasn't thinking!"
"It's all right," Trevor said. "Come on; I think class is going to start again soon."
~SM~
After their classes had all finished for the day he, Usagi, and Naru all went down to the Osaka family's store in Juuban. It was more crowded than he had honestly been expecting, particularly since this wasn't the first day that the sale had been going on. It was almost wall-to-wall people in there.
"Wow, there are so many people in here," Usagi said, echoing the thoughts that had been going through his head, though she probably didn't know it. "Are you sure there's enough room for us?"
"There should be," Naru said, looking around and then letting her gaze settle on her mother. "Mom seems really into all of this."
"I suppose it is a good way to bring more business," he said, studying Naru's mother as she continued to shout to the crowd through a megaphone.
"Mama!"
"Oh! Welcome home, Naru-chan!" Mayumi Osaka said, turning to look at the three of them with a sheepish expression on her face.
"I brought some friends," Naru said.
"Good afternoon," he and Usagi both said, bowing to Mayumi at the same time.
"Thank you both for coming," Mayumi said cordially. "It's rather crowded, but please do feel free to look around."
"Thank you, Mayumi-san!" Usagi shouted happily, nearly drowning out Trevor's own words of thanks to the woman.
"I know, since the two of you are Naru's friends, I'll give you both discounts!" Mayumi said happily.
"That's very generous of you, Mayumi-san," he said, bowing slightly. "Thank you."
"Ahh, are you looking to buy something for a girlfriend of yours, young man?"
"Not really," he said, looking down slightly. "I think I might buy something for my mother-"
"Ah! I understand perfectly!" Mayumi said, wrapping her right arm around his shoulders and steering him toward the main counter. "A gift for your mother! That's wonderful! We'll have to find something special, just for her."
"She always did like tiger's eye, or malachite. Those were her favorites," he muttered; it was getting harder to remember his original parents as anything more than photographs.
"Well then, we'll just have to find something wonderful! Something that she'll just love!" Mayumi said, directing his attention to the rows of jewelry. "Go ahead, pick out anything you want! I'm sure your mother will just adore it!"
"I'm sure she would," he said, looking down at the necklace that Mayumi had pulled out for him. The facet-carved tiger's eye stone in the center of the necklace was about twice the size of a 5-yen coin.
"Is something wrong?" Mayumi asked. "You look so sad. Did you and your mother… have a falling out?"
"No," he said, grateful to Naru for having kept his secret, but wishing for a moment that she had told her mother. "She died, six years ago today." He looked down at the necklace; it really was something she would have liked.
"Oh, dear," Mayumi said. "In that case, I insist that you take this."
"You're sure? I don't want to impose-"
"Nonsense, young man! I won't accept a single yen for this! You just take it, and keep it close. That way, whenever you look at it, you can remember your mother and just how much she loved you."
"I…" he trailed off, too overwhelmed to speak for a few, long moments. "Thank you very much, Osaka Mayumi-san." He bowed as deeply as he could.
"Of course," she said. "Now, is there anything else I can interest you in, young man?"
"No," he said, tucking the case with the necklace carefully into his pocket. "We really should get going now; Usagi and I planned to pay a visit today."
"Ah, I understand," Mayumi said, nodding. "Have a good day, young man."
"Thank you, Mayumi-san." Bowing, he skirted the edges of the crowd until he managed to meet up with Usagi and Naru again.
"Ah, Trevor-nii," Usagi said, latching into his right arm and squeezing lightly. "I almost thought I lost you in the crowds." She looked back out over them for a long moment. "Anyway, there are too many people for us to really enjoy shopping here right now."
"It's kind of strange, though," Naru said, looking around at the crowd again. "I didn't think that mother would have been willing to sell things this cheaply."
"It's probably meant to bring in more business later," he said, even as the three of them turned to leave the shop.
"What do you mean by that, Trevor-kun?" Naru asked.
"Well, if people get to see what kind of quality jewels she has for sale, they might be more willing to pay full price for them after the sale ends," he said, as the three of them made their way away from OSA-P and headed for the nearby grocery store.
After they had purchased a small bottle of sake and a bottle of strawberry Ramune soda, with him lingering a moment over the bottle, the three of them made their way out of the store and slowly back down the street.
"Oi, aren't you three a little early to be going out drinking?"
The voice, coming from some older boy that Trevor had never seen before, caused him to turn and look over to the one who had seemingly invited himself to walk with them. He was tall, a bit taller than Trevor himself, but that fit since he looked older, and wearing a green jacket over a black shirt. His eyes were covered by a pair of large, dark glasses. Trevor wondered if maybe he was sensitive to light.
"It's nothing like that," Usagi said, holding the bottle of sake close to her chest.
"Oh? Then what is it like, dumpling head?"
"Just because you're curious, that's no call to be rude to my sister," he said, when Usagi fell silent.
"Your sister?" briefly, the newcomer lowered his sunglasses; he had dark blue eyes. "You don't look anything alike; you're certain she's your sister?"
Usagi stamped, speaking up before he could start to explain. "Trevor-nii is my brother whether you believe it or not!"
"We have somewhere to be right now," he said, opting not to elaborate to someone he didn't know. "You'll have to excuse us, sempai."
Turning, Trevor started to lead Usagi and Naru away, but he noticed that the newcomer was falling into step with them, too. "Sempai, what are you doing?"
"Just making sure you three aren't getting into anything you shouldn't be," the older boy said, still keeping pace with the three of them.
"That's rude!" Usagi snapped, stepping around him so she could get closer to the older boy. "You shouldn't just go inviting yourself along! We don't even know your name."
"Chiba Mamoru," the older boy, Mamoru, said. "How about you, dumpling head?"
When Usagi growled, deep in her throat the way she did when she was particularly annoyed Trevor sighed softly; it was starting to look like Mamoru would be coming with them, after all. "My name is Tsukino Usagi, not Dumpling Head!"
"My name is Tsukino Trevor, and this is my friend, Osaka Naru, Mamoru-sempai."
"All right," Mamoru said. "Are you three headed to a party?"
"No, Mamoru-sempai," he said, shaking his head. "We're going to visit someone."
Mamoru paused, looking over them for a long moment. He was fairly sure that Usagi was still glaring at him, judging by the expression on his face, but Mamoru didn't react other than to raise his eyebrows at her.
"Would it be too much if I asked who you were all going to visit, Trevor-kohai?"
He didn't answer; absently tapping the cap of the Ramune bottle in his hands. Of all things, he could still remember that his mother had never quite managed to get the hang of opening them. Father had always done it for her.
~SM~
"Ah, so it's like that, is it?" he asked, not really expecting an answer.
It was clear that, as close as Trevor Tsukino was to his friends – whatever else they said, he didn't believe that Trevor and that Usagi girl were anything more than particularly good friends – he wasn't going to say anything to someone who wasn't a part of their circle. As he continued to keep pace with the group of three friends, Mamoru saw that they seemed to be heading for a particular neighborhood. One that he recognized.
It'd been in the news about six years ago; there had been a fire here, a family had died on the very block they were making their way toward. He hadn't read anything about a survivor of the fire, but that could just as easily have been something he overlooked – he hadn't really read any other articles relating to the fire after the first one, not wanting the reminder of his own parents – as the papers protecting the privacy of the sole survivor.
He was beginning to honestly believe that the people he'd followed weren't off to a post-exam party so early in the day, but it was also starting to dawn on him that – well-intentioned as he had been – he was intruding on something private. Still, at this point it would have probably been more awkward to leave rather than less. So, Mamoru decided that he would stay with the three of them.
He would also apologize later, if the subject came up.
The site of the fire had been cleared, of course, and a new house had been built there. It must have been hard, seeing another family living on the place where you had lost everything. The only real consolation that he could see to this situation was that the people who had moved into the new house – a single-child family with the surname Fukamachi – seemed to be kind.
At the very least, they had invited Trevor and his friends to commemorate the day of his parents' death at a shrine that they had placed in their front yard for just that purpose.
Looking over at Trevor, as the younger boy settled into a respectful seiza position before the small shrine that had been dedicated to his parents' memory, Mamoru saw that he was looking down at the bottle of strawberry Ramune with a reflective sort of expression.
"What is it?" he asked, curious but not wanting to intrude.
"Mother never quite managed to get the knack of opening these bottles," the younger boy's eyes seemed to stare into the past rather than what was in his hands. "Father would always open them for her."
"Would you like me to open it for you, then?"
"Thank you, sempai, but I can do this on my own."
Apparently as good as his word, Mamoru saw Trevor opening the bottle with as little difficulty as anyone could ask for. He'd always thought it was a bit funny, how the caps were designed.
"Kampai," he said softly, as Trevor poured a saucer full of Ramune for the five of them; the son of the Fukamachi family had apparently been invited to join them when he was old enough to really understand what all of this actually meant.
When they had finished paying their respects, Mamoru joined the three of them in thanking the Fukamachis for their hospitality, and followed them out of the neighborhood.
"I'm sorry for imposing," he said, having had time to think about what he'd done. "I didn't mean to intrude."
"I know," Trevor said, nodding. "It seemed like you just wanted to make sure that we weren't getting into anything we shouldn't have been. It was kind of you to worry about us, Mamoru-sempai."
"Thank you for your understanding," he said, returning the younger boy's bow as it was offered to him.
Turning to leave, even as he heard the three of them leaving in their turn, Mamoru smiled softly. Well, it looks like I wasn't right after all. Sure, Trevor hadn't been born into Usagi's family, but he was her brother all the same.
~SM~
After they had said goodbye to Naru, Usagi found her thoughts drifting back to the test that she had taken. Forty-five percent wasn't the worst she could have gotten, but she knew that Mom would have expected her to get a better score. Especially on an English test of all things, considering that she had Trevor to help her study up on that.
She'd really meant to ask him for help, but time had just seemed to slip away from her; there had been so many other things to do, all of them taking up her attention until she found herself facing the test itself.
Gulping softly as Trevor lead the way to their door, Usagi looked back down at her test paper. There was no denying it; Mom wasn't going to be happy about this at all.
"Welcome home," Mom said gently, ushering the both of them inside. "How was today, Trevor?"
"It was all right," Trevor said, the reflective expression on his face making him look a bit older than he usually did.
"Were you able to focus?" Mom asked.
"As well as I ever do, today," Trevor said, handing over his test paper.
"That's good to hear," Mom said, smiling softly as she looked over the paper. "What about you, Usagi?"
"Well, I…" There it was, something she could tell Mom so that she wouldn't be so angry about the test; all she would have to was insult the memory of Trevor's parents. But that wouldn't have been right; that wouldn't have been right at all. "I didn't do very well on my test." She handed her own paper over with a sigh.
"I'm sorry, mother," Trevor said, before Usagi herself could say anything. "I could have offered to help Usagi study, if I'd thought about it."
"Trevor, it's all right," she said quickly, shaking her head and waving her arms in an effort to get her older brother to calm down. "It's not your fault! I just couldn't keep track of time."
"And you forgot that you had Trevor there to ask about whatever problems you were having with the test?!" Mom demanded; Usagi winced.
Sure, it wouldn't have been right to bring Trevor's parents into an argument like this one, but Mom could have at least been a little understanding about things! Usagi sighed, taking the test paper back when Mom handed it to her. Mom looked pretty mad, so Usagi thought it would be best if she just went to her room.
"Hey, I'm home!" Shingo called, drawing pretty much everyone's attention to him.
"Welcome home, Shingo," Mom and Trevor said; she added her own greeting after they did, without waiting long enough for Mom to get mad at her.
Sure, she loved Shingo just as much as Mom or Trevor did, but he was still a brat. He was always picking on Trevor about his scars; well, okay, so Shingo didn't pick on him, but he still made Trevor uncomfortable when he would talk about them so casually. She always tried to talk some sense into Shingo when he would do things like that, but he would always start making fun of her when she did.
She and Trevor left the room after that, and Usagi sighed as she came into sight of her bed. Flopping down on top of it, she looked at the test paper in her hands for a long moment, before she crumpled the thing up and flung it into the wastepaper basket by her desk. Feeling Trevor's arm around her shoulders, Usagi looked up to see his gentle smile.
"Thanks, Trevor-nii," she said, leaning into his warmth as he offered it to her.
"I don't think she's really mad at you," Trevor said, holding her a bit closer as she snuggled into his right side. "Mom's just upset right now."
"Yeah, I know," she said, nodding as she leaned her head into the crook of his neck, and feeling it when he rested his cheek against the crown of her skull in turn. "But thanks, Trevor-nii. It helps to hear you say it."
He made a soft sound of acknowledgement, and that was when she noticed the jewelry case that he had sitting on his lap.
"Did you buy that from Osaka-san, Trevor-nii?"
"She gave it to me, actually," he said softly, opening the case to show a tiger's eye pendant on a gold chain. "She said I could have it, as a reminder of my mother."
"That was nice of her," Usagi said; she always liked it when people were kind to Trevor.
Well, she liked it when people were kind to anyone, but Trevor had had a lot of bad things happen to him already, so she was happier than usual when someone was nice to him.
Just as she was starting to relax, feeling an odd sort of calm settling over her as she stared at the necklace that Naru's mother had been kind enough to let Trevor have for free, something fast and black leaped in through the window. She didn't have time to see what it was at first, but she saw that it was a black cat – well, a sort of black cat – when it landed on the windowsill and threw the necklace that Naru's mother had given Trevor out the window!
"What the-!"
"That was really rude, kitty!" she shouted, getting up from her seat so she could face the cat, that she now realized that she recognized from earlier today. "And after Trevor-nii and I saved you from those kids! What do you have to say for yourself? Eh?!"
"Usa-ko," Trevor said, sounding like he was just about to start laughing in that way he did when he found something funny but wasn't trying to be mean. "I don't think the cat is going to-"
"I'm very grateful for the way you both helped me," the cat said- the cat said! "Especially you, for taking those bandages off of my head. In return, I helped you, by getting rid of that Dark Kingdom artifact."
"Dark Kingdom artifact?" Trevor asked, sounding confused.
They were talking to a cat! Anyone would be confused!
"Yes," the cat said, nodding calmly. "That gem was made by the Dark Kingdom, and it had just started draining your energy."
"Trevor-nii, are we dreaming?" she asked, looking at the cat that had just jumped onto her bed.
"If you're dreaming, then I am too, Usa-ko," Trevor said, sounding like he found all of this just as strange as she did.
The two of them slapped their hands together, and the stinging jolted her enough that she sighed. "We aren't dreaming," she and Trevor both said.
"Right, this isn't a dream," the cat said, leaping into the air, and doing an odd sort of backflip that made a brooch appear out of nowhere; Usagi was starting to think that anything could happen today. "Now, Usagi, I've been searching for you for quite some time, and now that I've found you, there are some things that you should know."
"Wow, that brooch is beautiful!" she said, smiling as she reached down to pick it up.
"That isn't just any ordinary brooch," the cat said, walking back over to sit just behind the brooch that she had somehow made appear out of thin air. "There are strange things happening in Tokyo lately; an enemy that the police can't fight has appeared."
"What do you mean by that, cat?" she saw Trevor wrinkling his nose slightly, as she picked up the brooch and looked more closely at it. "And, what's your name? It feels kind of rude, just calling you cat when you can talk like a person."
"My name is Luna," the cat said, sounding happy. "You're a very polite boy," Luna said, reaching out and patting his left knee with her paw. "And, I'm very sorry about what happened to your family."
"You know about that?" Trevor asked.
"I regret to admit that I followed you; I needed to keep an eye on Usagi, but that was no excuse for me to intrude on a private moment like that," Luna said, bowing her head respectfully.
"It's all right," Trevor said. "You didn't mean anything by it, and I'm glad to know that it wasn't anyone dangerous. You said that there were dangerous people in Tokyo?"
"Yes; those are the agents of the Dark Kingdom," Luna said seriously, sitting down in front of them. "They're what I came here to talk to you about."
"Why did you come to us?" she asked, looking from Trevor – who shrugged – back to Luna. "I mean, isn't this something you should be telling important people in the government, or something? You already said that they were too dangerous for the police to handle, so shouldn't you be talking to someone in the Self Defense Forces, or something?"
"This isn't an enemy that the Self Defense Forces would be able to engage," Luna said, shaking her head. "It's something that can only be handled by people like you, Tsukino Usagi."
"What?! Me?!" she blinked, pointing at herself in shock. "Are you sure you have the right person? I mean, I'm just a normal eighth-grader, like everyone else! I'm still in middle school!"
"Why are you looking for students to fight this enemy, if they're supposed to be too dangerous for even the police to fight?" Trevor asked, sounding like he was somewhere between confused and angry, and he couldn't quite decide which one to be yet.
"I'm not looking for students; I'm looking for people who have the power necessary to drive back the forces of the Dark Kingdom. A chosen warrior, who can wield the magics to counter the Dark Kingdom's attacks. And, more than that, be able to find others like herself. And, eventually, be able to find the princess alongside them."
"There's a princess, too?" Trevor asked, even as Usagi herself blinked in surprise; this really was strange enough to be a dream!
"Yes, and the chosen warriors are her guardians," Luna said, nodding seriously.
"And, you think that my younger sister is one of these chosen warriors?"
"I know it," Luna said, nodding. "Only one of the chosen warriors would have made that locket appear; if I had tried to summon it in front of anyone else, the only thing they would have seen is a burst of light."
"So, it really was just for me?" she asked, looking back down at the brooch she still held in her hands. It was a lot to think about: chosen warriors, and the Dark Kingdom, and even a princess to make it all seem like some kind of fantasy story. There was even a talking cat; just like the story of Momotaro and the talking animals who had helped him!
"Yes, Usagi. You are one of the chosen warriors," Luna said. "And your battle begins tonight."
"What?!" she exclaimed. "Don't I get any training? Or even a chance to get stronger? I'm just supposed to go out there and start fighting the Dark Kingdom now?!"
"Your powers will give you the guidance you need to use them, and you don't have time for training right now," Luna said seriously. "There are already agents of the Dark Kingdom in this world. You must transform and fight them!"
"Transform? Like in those superhero shows? Or, you mean like Sailor V?" she smiled; okay sure, this wasn't at all how she'd been expecting her night to go when she'd come home with the scores from the English test that everyone at school had taken today, but being able to help people was never a bad thing.
"Yes; a lot like your Sailor V," Luna said, nodding. "Just say Moon Prism Power, Make Up!"
"Right," she said, nodding as she stood up and put the brooch on the front of her school uniform, clipping it to her bow. "Moon Prism Power, Make Up!"
Usagi could feel energy flowing into her almost before she had finished speaking; it was a strange feeling, but a good one. Usagi almost thought she could see stars, when she had been in the middle of her transformation; that, and strange ribbons that had seemed to float and flow around her. It hadn't been like anything she'd seen before, but now it was over.
Usagi could still feel the new energy inside herself, though.
"Wow, Usa-ko, you really do look a lot like Sailor V."
Turning to smile at Trevor, she felt even happier when she saw him smiling back at her. "I really do!" she laughed briefly, then turned back to Luna. "Well, Luna-sensei, what do I do now?"
"Teacher?" the cat asked, tilting her head.
Usagi was about to laugh at the cat's confusion; it only seemed fair, after Luna had confused the both of them so much, but then she began to hear a voice, calling out to her for help.
"I can hear Naru's voice!" It was almost like that time; six years ago, when she'd heard Trevor crying out in pain. "What does it mean, Luna-sensei?"
"It means that this Naru is in danger!" Luna said, standing up. "You should go and help her, right away! You've just become Sailor Moon; first of the chosen warriors who will defend this world from the Dark Kingdom!"
"Right, Luna-sensei!"
"Lead the way, Usa-ko." Luna yelped in surprise as Trevor picked her up, and Usagi breathed a sigh of relief; at least she wasn't facing all this weirdness alone.
"Trevor-nii, make sure you keep yourself and Luna-sensei out of the way," she said. "I don't know how dangerous this is going to be!"
"Usagi, you're not thinking of bringing him into battle with you, are you?!" Luna demanded. "A battle with the forces of the Dark Kingdom is no place for someone who isn't a chosen warrior!"
"But he'll be safer closer to me than farther away, Luna-sensei!" she called back, dashing out of their open window with Trevor close behind her. "Bad guys always go after the families of people who fight them in the stories!"
Luna didn't say anything, but Usagi knew it was true. Their mom and dad might have been in danger, too, but mom tended to stay around the house, and the bad guys in the stories always seemed to want to keep their activities a secret. They wouldn't attack Mom, since she was surrounded by people at home, and they probably wouldn't attack Dad, since he was surrounded by people at work. So, that left Trevor and Shingo.
Usagi almost thought of bringing Shingo with her, but he wasn't as mature as Trevor; he would have probably gotten himself in more trouble than she could keep him out of.
The sound of rasping breaths coming from behind her drew Usagi's attention back to where Trevor was; he'd still been running along fine when she last checked on him, but now he seemed to be getting winded. She would have thought that was strange, since Trevor was a lot more athletic than her – he did really well when he was running in gym class – but the energy that was still running through her let Usagi know why Trevor was starting to slow down. She was about to call out to him, since he had braced himself against the side of a building and was clearly trying to catch his breath, but when Trevor pressed his hand against his chest, Usagi could feel a strange, muted surge of energy.
Trevor's head came back up, faster than she had ever seen anyone recover from being out of breath, and Usagi only had a few seconds to wonder about it, before Trevor was setting himself to run again.
"Trevor-nii, maybe you should ride on my back, this time," she said, worried.
"Are you sure, Usa-ko?"
"Yeah; we'll get there faster, and you won't be so tired."
Without another word, she helped Trevor up onto her back, and started running again. This way was much easier, and Usagi was happily surprised to learn that she could carry him on her back as easily as if he were a feather when she was like this. It would make things a lot easier on the both of them.
~SM~
Staring into the cold, black eyes of the monster that was trying to strangle her to death, Naru Osaka found that she couldn't stop shaking. The monster had said that her mother was tied up in the basement, and that after Naru died, the monster was going to go down there and kill her mother, too! Naru hated the thought of her mother being killed by this monster, but she also hated the thought of dying. Dying here and now, in the dead of night with only a monster to witness and remember her death, would be horrible!
"Let Naru go!"
The new voice that had called out – a girl's voice, Naru was sure – drew the attention of the monster that was trying to kill her, and Naru finally opened her eyes; she hadn't had much reason to, before, but now that she wasn't entirely certain that she was going to die, she wanted to know what was going on.
The monster twisted its head around, turning to focus on the newcomer; a newcomer that turned out to be far shorter than Naru had expected. She hadn't known, really, what to expect, but she'd always thought that heroes – whether they were boys or girls – who showed up to rescue people from monsters were supposed to be taller.
When the monster demanded to know just who the newcomer was, she responded just like Naru imagined Sailor V would have: "I'm the Sailor Soldier of Love and Justice! Sailor Moon! In the name of the moon, I will punish you!"
Naru could feel her consciousness slowly slipping away, but that was all right: Sailor Moon was a heroine of justice, just like Sailor V! Everything would be all right now…
~SM~
Keeping to the shadows, staying out of sight and counting on Usagi to draw the attention of that monster while he got Naru to safety, Trevor couldn't stop being frustrated by his own helplessness. He'd promised to look out for Usagi, when she'd invited him into her family and trusted him to be her older brother. He'd promised, and now here he was, hiding in the shadows and leaving his younger sister to fight a monster on her own. He clearly remembered what Luna had said to him, but that didn't stop him from wishing that he could do something more.
That didn't stop him from worrying at all.
"Trevor, you should try to get the civilians out of the battlefield," Luna said, giving him something else to think about so his worries wouldn't eat him alive. "This is no place for them."
"You're right, Luna-sensei," he said, crouching down next to the unconscious bodies – he hoped they were only unconscious, at least – of the people who had been shopping at OSA-P just this afternoon.
Before he could even start to move the first of them, though, all of them stood up at once. He was almost relieved, until he noticed the blank, half-asleep expressions on all of their faces.
"Trevor! Run away! Now!"
Before he could even consciously register the command that Luna had given to him, all of the people in the crowd that had been standing near enough to reach him lashed out and grabbed onto him without even a word. Finding both of his arms forced behind his back, Trevor felt the crowd shoving him forward through sheer weight of numbers. And, before he could even begin to wonder just where they were all shoving him, Trevor found himself face-to-face with an old, withered-looking creature that resembled a woman in only the general shape. He didn't know just what it was that he was being forced to face, but it felt wrong; wrong in some fundamental way that he wouldn't have been able to name if someone had asked him to.
"You're that boy," the monster said; Trevor shuddered. He knew that it was never a good thing when monsters knew your face. "Why aren't you a slave like the others, boy?"
Trevor clamped his jaw shut, even as the monster gripped his chin hard enough to dig her nails into his jaw. He didn't know just what kind of information this thing wanted from him, but he wasn't going to give her any kind of information if he could help it.
"No matter," the monster said, pressing the pad of her pointer-finger into the center of his forehead. "You'll soon serve the Dark Kingdom, just like all of these other humans."
He could hear fighting going on in the background, and he knew that Usagi was probably in danger – she hadn't been any kind of fighter before all of this had started, and she hadn't had any interest in physical activities, either – but as a profound feeling of apathy pressed down on him like a smothering, too-heavy quilt, Trevor found that he had no attention to spare for anything but fighting against it. At first, it felt like he would be crushed; forced to exist as an empty shell, a slave of this Dark Kingdom like the monster had said.
But, as he reached deeper inside himself, looking for something – anything – that would help him to fight off the monster's invasion into his mind, Trevor felt the same kind of warm, comforting feeling spreading out from the center of his chest. Just like when he'd been at the end of his endurance, running beside Usagi so that they could both try to save Naru from whatever kind of danger she was in. It was the same kind of energy, and it filled him just the same as it had back then; driving back the encroaching apathy and bringing him back to full awareness.
"What?! What is this strange power?!" the monster demanded, her pointed nails digging deeper into his cheeks as she squeezed tighter. "Hmm, I suppose I could make better use of you than to have just another slave."
Finding himself forced down to his knees before the monster and its horde of empty slaves, Trevor couldn't quite manage to regain his senses before he found something tight being wrapped around his throat. It felt almost like a collar, or a choker; but he didn't have time to think of what it might be before the monster buried her hand in his hair and laughed.
"Yes," he heard her say, almost sounding like she was purring with pleasure. "You'll be of much more use than just another slave, boy."
As the energy that had once allowed him to regain his senses was leeched away faster than he would have ever thought possible, Trevor found himself blanking out; forced down to the ground by the people that this monster had enslaved, Trevor found that he couldn't cling to what little consciousness he'd had remaining…
~SM~
With her back pressed against one of the columns that she'd sometimes thought to ask Naru about – since she didn't think they held up the roof in a building like this – Usagi shuddered. This wasn't anything like Kamen Rider, or Super Sentai; she didn't think it was even like the things Sailor V fought against. This was scary!
When the monster reached for her, stretching out an arm that extended longer than anyone's arm should have ever extended, Usagi froze. "I- I really don't want to do this anymore! I want to go home! Please, I want to go home!"
Shivering as she waited for the monster's sharp claws to cut into her, Usagi cautiously opened her left eye when she heard something slicing through the air. She found the monster staring up at something near the ceiling. Opening her eyes and looking up that way, even as the monster demanded to know just who the newcomer was, Usagi saw that it was some boy that she hadn't seen before. He was dressed in a fancy tuxedo, with a top hat and a small mask perched on his nose.
All in all, he looked kind of strange; but, then she'd transformed into something like Sailor V, so maybe he wasn't so strange, after all.
"I am Tuxedo Kamen. Crying isn't going to solve anything, Sailor Moon."
"But, this- this isn't anything like on TV! I didn't think things were going to go this far!" she couldn't stop herself from sobbing, and while she knew that this wasn't something that a hero of justice was supposed to do, she hadn't stopped to think about what being a hero of justice really meant!
Sobbing, terrified by everything that was going on around her, Usagi just barely heard Luna's voice, calling out to her: "Take your tiara, yell Moon Tiara Action, and throw it!"
"You're really sure that will help?" she asked, struggling back to her feet; she was supposed to be a hero of justice, but even now she wasn't quite sure she could do it.
"Yes, but only if you do it quickly! There's no telling what that monster will do to Trevor if you don't act fast!"
Trevor! Glaring up at the monster who had taken her brother captive, Usagi reached up to touch the tiara that she could feel sitting lightly on her forehead. She felt a brief surge of energy as she touched the jewel set into the center of it, but she didn't pay much attention to that. As she felt the tiara in her hand beginning to spin, faster and faster until even she would have thought it was a solid disk, Usagi could feel it gathering power.
"Moon Tiara Action!"
Throwing her tiara as hard as she could, helped along by the energy that her transformation had given her, Usagi watched in surprise as the monster dissolved into dust; dust that vanished as soon as it had all piled up on the floor.
"Good work, Sailor Moon," Tuxedo Kamen said, drawing her attention back to him where he still stood on the windowsill. "I'll remember this night."
He left quickly after that, right out through the same window he had come in through, but Usagi didn't let herself dwell on that; even if he did look handsome in that outfit he was wearing.
"You did well, Sailor Moon," she heard Luna-sensei say.
"Yeah," she said, pausing briefly to nod down at the cat, since it was rude not to acknowledge someone when they were talking to you.
Turning and making her way into the mass of people, taking the time to look them over and make sure they were all right, she quickly managed to find Trevor. Someone had put a golden choker around his neck; the stone had cracked and fallen out of its setting – which was probably a good thing, since Luna-sensei had said that these jewels had been created by the Dark Kingdom – but she didn't pause to think about it. Taking off the choker, carefully making sure that she didn't hurt him, since whoever had put it on in the first place had clasped it a little too tight, Usagi lifted Trevor up into her arms.
He looked exhausted; the same way he had when the two of them had been running. So, after a long moment of consideration, Usagi pressed her right hand against his chest in just the same place that he had when he'd been trying to catch his breath and ended up doing so much more for himself than just that. After what felt like only a second, Usagi began to feel a pulse of energy just under her hand. Trevor's eyes opened just a few seconds after that.
"Welcome back, Trevor-nii," she said, smiling down at him as she cradled him in her arms.
"Usa-ko?" he blinked up at her, and then his expression became a sad one. "I'm sorry; I guess I really wasn't that much help."
"It's all right, Trevor-nii," she said, not wanting him to be sad. "You've protected me for so long," she held him closer, enough so that she could touch her right cheek to his forehead. "Just let me protect you now, okay?"
Trevor closed his eyes, chuckling deep in his throat. "I guess that's fair."
~SM~
It took them some time to get back home; the journey was probably just the same length as the one they'd made to OSA-P, but for some reason it seemed longer. But then, Trevor had begun to notice that all return-trips seemed longer than the one you took to get there in the first place. It was kind of a strange thing to think about, but it seemed to just be the way the world worked.
When the two of them finally made it back to their room, Trevor heard Usagi sigh as she reversed the transformation that she had used to fight. "Ah, Trevor-nii, I'm so tired right now," she yawned deeply. "I don't think I ever want to get up."
He laughed softly, mindful of the rest of their family in the other rooms. "Usa-ko, that's what you say every night."
"Yeah, but this time I really mean it," Usagi said, pouting a bit at him before the two of them went to put on their nightclothes.
Usagi was the one to pull the divider out this time, letting the both of them change in relative peace. Yawning, Trevor made his way to the futon that he kept stored in their room. Unrolling it and setting it out after Usagi had gotten herself settled in bed, Trevor tucked himself in. Usagi might have been being a bit overdramatic, the way she usually was, but Trevor couldn't deny that he was more than a little pleased to be able to crawl back into bed and sleep.
~SM~
The next morning, before the alarm began to sound, Trevor sat up on his futon and turned to look at Usagi. Sighing as he saw that she had indeed slept in this morning too, he stood up. Leaning over her, he gave her a gentle shake.
"Trevor-nii, when you gave yourself more energy when we were running to fight with that Dark Kingdom monster, do you think you could give some energy to me?" Usagi asked, sounding more honestly exhausted than he'd ever heard from her, even on her worst days.
"I could at least try, Usa-ko," he said, though he still wasn't quite sure how he had managed to draw out that energy in the first place.
Even with doing it twice, he still didn't understand it.
Coming to sit behind Usagi as she levered herself upright, Trevor took both of her hands in his, and tried to call up the strange power that he had used twice only the previous night.
After a few moments of sitting quietly, focusing on the feeling that he'd had those two times that he'd felt the restorative power pulsing through him, Trevor felt that same warmth – that same power – filling him up once more. However, with nothing draining away the energy that he was drawing up, Trevor felt its full effect. It was warm, and he could feel it pulsing outward from somewhere deep inside him, but even now he couldn't determine quite where it was coming from.
He also couldn't seem to make it do anything but cycle around inside him; and after he told Usagi as much, she reached out and took his hands.
"The last time, I had my hand over your heart," Usagi said, and Trevor looked down at his hands as Usagi clasped them and pulled them into her lap. Then, as she scooted back to lean against him, Trevor felt her pressing his right palm just over her heart. "Try now, okay Trevor-nii?"
Taking another breath, just like when he'd called the energy up before, this time Trevor could feel it flowing down through his right arm and out of his right palm.
"Thank you, Trevor-nii," Usagi said, turning to smile at him, just as the alarm started to go off.
"Yeah," he said, smiling even though he still didn't know quite how he'd managed to give Usagi the energy she had wanted from him. "I'm glad I could do at least something to help you, Usa-ko."
"You've done so much to help me already, Trevor-nii!" Usagi said, turning quickly to give him a hug. "Just let me to this to help you, okay?"
The two of them touched heads for a long moment, but before either of them could say anything else, their mom started calling them. As he and Usagi got ready for another day at school, Trevor sighed. Sure, he'd promised to do everything he could to protect Usagi, but it looked like he wasn't going to be able to protect her from this. It hurt, since these monsters were the most dangerous things that he'd ever encountered. And Usagi… as strong a heart as she had, she'd always been a kind person.
He didn't want her to have to give that up.