It had been almost a whole week since Trevor-nii had been captured by Jadeite and put into that coffin, and she and Naru-chan had made sure to go and visit him every day once school was over. She'd also been trying her best to get up earlier, so that she could get to school on time without having Trevor-nii there to help her get up in the morning.
"So, where are you headed off to in such a hurry, bun-head?"
"Mamoru-san," she sighed, turning to look at the older student who'd fallen into step with her and Naru-chan as they continued on their way to the hospital.
"Didn't you hear? Usagi's older brother came down with a late case of the sleeping sickness that was going around just a few weeks back," Naru-chan said. "The doctors didn't know what to make of it at first, but he has all the symptoms, and he was exposed to me and Haruna-sensei when we came down with it, ourselves." Naru-chan sighed deeply, and Usagi wished for a moment that she could actually tell her friend what had really happened; it wasn't Naru-chan's fault that Trevor-nii had fallen into a coma the way he had. "I guess he really wasn't immune."
Biting her lower lip, even as Mamoru invited himself along – he actually seemed worried about Trevor-nii, so she didn't try as hard to stop him as she would have if he was being a jerk – Usagi hurried a bit more as the three of them continued the rest of the way to the hospital where Trevor-nii was staying while he got better. She was just hoping that he would get better soon. Even Shingo was getting worried, and that wasn't something that happened easily.
When the three of them finally made it to the hospital, Usagi took the lead as the three of them made their way into the building. Trevor-nii was staying in room 503, so that was where the three of them were going to go. Once they'd made it into the room where he was staying, Usagi took her place at the head of Trevor-nii's bed. She'd been trying as hard as she could, to draw up that same type of energy that her older brother had called on after he'd had those two youma from the Dark Kingdom had drained his energy those last times.
Still, maybe she couldn't quite manage it because it hadn't been just one of the Dark Kingdom's youma who'd attacked him, but that jerk Jadeite. She didn't quite know if that was all there was to him, but Jadeite looked a lot different from any of the youma that she had seen while she had been fighting against the Dark Kingdom. She didn't know if he was really that different, since all of the youma had looked human before they had turned into those monsters that kind of looked like something from Kamen Rider or another tokusatstu show. But she couldn't help thinking about it.
She was going to ask Luna-sensei about it the next time she saw the cat, but all of that was for after she had finished visiting Trevor-nii for the day.
Gently smoothing her older brother's hair back, Usagi put her right hand on the center of his chest and closed her eyes. She'd been trying this every time she paid her older brother a visit in his hospital room: trying to find the energy that her older brother had used to revive himself when he'd been feeling tired; the energy that seemed to make the Dark Kingdom to eager to capture him. If it was always going to be there, then she was going to use it to help her brother as best as she could.
When she felt someone else's hand cupping around hers, Usagi wondered if she should open her eyes to look at whoever it might be. But then she felt the energy inside Trevor-nii's body beginning to resonate with whoever it was that was trying to help her, Usagi turned her attention back to Trevor-nii where he was resting. If this was Naru-chan's way of trying to help her, she was going to accept whatever it was that Naru-chan would be capable of doing. Even though she didn't know quite what that would be.
When she felt the energy inside Trevor-nii's body beginning to resonate more powerfully with whatever new energy was coming from whoever it was – she didn't quite think it was Naru-chan anymore, but she could at least hope that it wasn't Mamoru-baka – that was trying to help her to help Trevor-nii.
It was almost like she could feel Trevor-nii's heart beating in her fingertips, but much warmer and more powerful. Smiling even as she felt Trevor-nii's heart – or at least the energy that felt like it was from his heart – beginning to beat more strongly, Usagi opened her eyes slightly. She saw that it was Mamoru-baka who had been the first one to put his hand on top of hers when she had been trying to help Trevor-nii. Naru-chan's hand was resting on top of both of theirs, and she could actually see the energy that was pulsing through Trevor-nii's body coming out from the spaces between their fingers.
She wondered if anyone else could see it, but since she didn't want to stop helping him with whatever it was that the three of them were actually doing, Usagi closed her eyes again and started concentrating again.
~SM~
He didn't know just what it was that had compelled him to join that weird girl Usagi in laying her hands on her older brother's chest, but Trevor-kohai was a good guy in spite of how weird his younger sister was, and he didn't want him to just lay there in bed if there was actually something he could do to help. He could feel the energy that he was feeding into Trevor-kohai's body being slowly absorbed into… something that he couldn't quite sense the shape of. It was strange, the way he could almost feel the edges of whatever it was that was taking in the energy he was giving to Trevor-kohai.
He wondered if Usagi's older brother had the same kind of powers that he did; if he would have been capable of learning how to heal in the same way that Mamoru had taught himself to do ever since the day his parents had died in that car crash. He didn't know if Trevor-kohai would have been able to learn psychometry, or if that was just something that he was capable of, but at least knowing that there was someone else capable of some of the things he'd learned to do over the course of his life was a good thing. At least he didn't feel so alone anymore.
When Trevor-kohai's eyes began to flutter, Mamoru pulled his hand away from the younger boy's chest even as Usagi and her friend Naru did the same. It seemed that he was going to wake up soon, and Mamoru wanted the chance to speak with him about the abilities that he might have possessed. It was a connection that they shared, if it were true, and he wanted to know more about if they might have had something like that in common.
When Trevor-kohai's eyes finally opened, Mamoru stood back as Naru and Usagi crowded around him, talking and laughing as the two of them greeted the last member of their trio of friends. There were things he wanted to talk about with Usagi's older brother, but he didn't want to have that kind of a conversation when someone like Usagi was around. And, there was also the fact that he didn't know just what kind of a person Naru really was.
Though, since she was friends with Usagi, he didn't know if he should talk about those kinds of things with her around, anyway.
Leaving without a word, with only a promise to himself that he would speak to Trevor-kohai when the two of them had the chance to meet up without any interference from his younger sister or her friends, Mamoru made his way back home. Perhaps that was what he should do: invite Trevor-kohai to meet him at his apartment so that the two of them would have the privacy to discuss what was going on with the two of them. He didn't think Usagi or her friend even noticed it when he left, but he caught Trevor-kohai's eyes and nodded briefly.
At least one person seemed to have noticed that he was there.
~SM~
When the three of them left, after checking Trevor-nii out of the hospital, Usagi couldn't help grumbling about the way Mamoru-baka had just up and left without saying anything. It was just like that rude jerk to just invite himself along and then leave without actually saying anything. Trevor-nii seemed to be kind of curious about him, but that was just because her brother had never actually seen how much of a jerk Mamoru-baka really was.
When the two of them finally made it back home, she cheerfully announced that the two of them had made it home, and that Trevor-nii was okay. Mom and Dad were really happy to hear that, and even Shingo came out to see him now that he was back home. The five of them settled down at the table for dinner, and Usagi gently leaned against Trevor-nii's left side as all of them ate the wonderful dinner that Mom had fixed for all of them.
When she and Trevor-nii headed off to bed, Usagi found that she couldn't stop smiling after today. Today was a great day: Trevor-nii was back, and he'd gotten over whatever it was that that creep Jadeite had been doing to him when they'd gone into that gym that the Dark Kingdom had been operating out of. The two of them changed into their pajamas, and Usagi helped him to set up his futon next to her bed.
Smiling as the two of them settled down into their respective beds, Usagi pulled up her covers and snuggled deep into her pillow; tonight was a great way to end the best day she'd had in awhile…
Watching as the long, wicked black tendrils of the monster curled themselves tighter and tighter around Trevor-nii, Usagi tried as hard as she as she could to get her older brother free. Nothing she was trying to do was getting through the monster's defenses, and even as she continued pulling at the monster's tendrils she couldn't manage to budge even one of them. The monster threw her back with a slap from those same tendrils, and Usagi forced herself to get back up after she had landed. When she was just about to run back to deal with the monster, though, she found that Tuxedo Kamen had already destroyed the monster with one of his roses.
Running over to cradle Trevor-nii in her arms, she found that Tuxedo Kamen was doing just the same on the opposite side of her. Then, just as she was about to ask Tuxedo Kamen why he kept trying to help her when she was fighting youma from the Dark Kingdom… the sound of Shingo's frightened yelling caused her to sit up in bed. Trevor-nii was the first one out of the room, though, so Usagi let herself lay back down on her bed. It was so nice of Trevor-nii to take care of things like this.
~SM~
Making his way to Shingo's room, Trevor quickly opened the door to find his and Usagi's younger brother curled up at the head of his bed, yelling in fright at the sight of-
"Luna?" He came over to pick up the cat, stepping back so that Shingo could stretch back out on his bed.
"What was that cat doing in the house?!" Shingo demanded looking up at him.
"Well…" He couldn't really say anything about what Luna was actually doing there without Shingo thinking he was crazy, but he couldn't really leave Shingo without an explanation, either. "Usa-ko found her wandering the streets, and now it seems like she kind of adopted us."
Shingo sighed. "Yeah, that sounds like Usagi, all right. Listen, aniki, do you think you could talk to her about that? I mean…" Shingo looked away. "I don't really like cats."
He didn't know why that was, but it seemed like something that Shingo didn't want to talk about; maybe he would ask Usagi about what had happened later, but for now he just left for Usagi's room once again. When he came back into the room that he and Usagi shared, he found that she had gone back to sleep. Smiling slightly as he made his way back over to his futon, Trevor checked the clock to see just how much time he and Usagi had before they would have to get up and go to school for the day.
"Thank you," Luna said, settling down on his lap after he'd sat down on his futon.
"What were you doing in Shingo's room, Luna-sensei?" he asked, looking down at the cat as she curled up in his lap.
"I was tired after all the work I'd been doing," she said, looking over at Usagi as his younger sister continued sleeping. "I guess I just ended up in the wrong room by mistake."
He nodded in understanding. "I think you should try to stay out of Shingo's room from now on, though. I don't think he liked you being there."
"Yes, I'd have to say you're right," the cat said, nodding herself. "Still, I think you should wake Usagi up now. It's going to be time for the two of you to get to school soon."
"Yeah, you're right."
~SM~
Watching as Trevor Tsukino and his sister began to prepare for their coming day, Luna found that she couldn't quite stop thinking about what had happened a week ago. It seemed that the Dark Kingdom was particularly interested in the boy. With her memories of the Moon Kingdom not entirely whole, she couldn't know everything that they could have done for someone like Trevor. She'd never encountered someone with energy-levels comparable to a Chosen Guardian who wasn't one of them, and particularly not one who was male like Trevor.
Every one of the Chosen Guardians was female.
Standing just outside of the kitchen, Luna found herself listening in on a rather interesting conversation. Apparently, Trevor and Usagi's mother and father wanted Trevor to stay at home, since they were worried that he might have a relapse of the sleeping sickness. That kind of a misconception would be useful for her purposes, and in a way it wasn't even really a misconception at all: the "sleeping sickness" had truly been caused by the activities of the Dark Kingdom, just like what had afflicted Trevor just a week prior. Usagi was fully in favor of that; probably for her own reasons, but that kind of thing would only help her in the end.
It wasn't as though she could make her case to Usagi and Trevor's family, after all.
Once the matter had been settled in favor of Trevor staying home for at least the day, Luna made her way over to him and gently brushed up against his legs. When he looked down at her, she winked back at him and subtly gestured in the direction of the room he shared with Usagi. When his mother had given him a gentle shove in the very direction that she wanted him to go, admonishing him to rest so he wouldn't risk triggering a relapse of the sleeping sickness – something she knew was impossible, or at least unlikely unless he encountered agents of the Dark Kingdom again – Luna followed him back into the room.
"I'm glad that we could have the chance to talk in person like this," she said, after he had closed the door behind them. "You see, there's a small favor I want to ask of you."
"What would that be?"
"I was wondering if you would be willing to attempt to draw on that power that the Dark Kingdom was so interested in," she said, placing her right paw on his right hand as the two of them continued to speak. "I think I might have a way to help you."
"Help me with what? You came here for Usagi, not me," Trevor said, biting his lower lip.
"I know that my mission only included Usagi at first, but after seeing your circumstances, I think there might be something I could do to help you," she said. "But first, I need to know how well you can control that energy of yours."
"All right; I'll do my best."
Watching as Trevor gathered himself, cupping his hands in front of his chest, Luna saw the subtle glow of pulsing energy gathering between the palms of his hands. Stepping forward, so that she could see and sense the energy Usagi's older brother was gathering more clearly, Luna stared deep into it. It's just the same kind of energy that a Chosen Guardian would have.
It seemed that Usagi's older brother might have been meant to be one of the Chosen Guardians alongside Usagi, but had ended up reincarnating male instead of female.
"Well, it looks like you might have been one of the ones I was sent here for," she said, as Trevor opened his eyes and the energy faded away.
"What do you mean by that?" he asked, tilting his head slightly as he folded his hands in his lap.
"This might sound strange to you, but the only ones who could be Chosen Guardians are women," she said, settling herself for what would probably be an involved explanation, if not a long one.
"You're right, that does sound a bit strange." Trevor bit his lower lip, looking uncertain. "Do you know if there's a reason for that?"
It wasn't an easy question to answer, mostly since no one in the Moon Kingdom had ever asked a question like that. She could almost recall someone who had, but the memory was fragmented and it slipped away even as she tried to reach for it.
"I don't know if there's really an answer to your question, Trevor," she said thoughtfully. "No one I knew from the Moon Kingdom really seemed to question it."
She'd decided not to raise the issue of the person she might or might not have remembered, since there wasn't anything she could recall about whoever that might have been beyond the fact that someone like that had once existed at some point in time. It was really just best not to bring confusing things like that up in a conversation like this.
"I guess that's only natural," Trevor said, sounding a bit embarrassed to have brought the subject up in the first place.
"It's all right to ask questions about something you don't understand," she said, laying her right paw on his right knee. "In fact," she continued, deciding to share a bit of her memories that she could still recall; if nothing else, it might make him feel a bit better about things. "The kingdom of Mercury was based upon doing just that; as long as their intentions were honorable, and their methods humane, the people of Mercury's kingdom were encouraged to seek the truth behind everything."
Trevor didn't seem to know what to say in response to that, so conversation on that topic was set aside, and Luna began to gently question Usagi's older brother about his experiences with the energy that he could channel from within himself. She wanted to know everything she could about the energy that Trevor Tsukino seemed to have at his disposal, even if he couldn't truly command it as yet.
~SM~
While he was at school, listening to the teachers drone on and on, Shingo couldn't help but think about how lucky Trevor-aniki had been. Sure, catching the sleeping sickness wasn't very good, but getting to stay home from school for an extra day when he was actually conscious to enjoy it had to be at least a little fun. Once the day had ended and all of the students had been let out, Shingo called his goodbyes to them and made his way out of the building.
But, when that same weird cat that had shown up in his room last night jumped onto his shoulder, without Trevor-aniki to scoop the thing up and take it away, Shingo screamed and jumped backwards. Tripping, he fell against one of the supports for the gate just outside.
"Shingo-kun?"
"The cat… Where's that cat?" he asked, forcing his eyes open just to make sure that that horrible cat was really gone.
The person standing over him laughed softly, and it sounded like a girl's laugh so he knew that it was a girl. "Shingo-kun, you don't like cats?"
"Oh, Mika-chan," he smiled, feeling his face beginning to get warm.
She invited him to walk with her, but also seemed interested in what had happened, so the two of them talked.
"I'd be okay with a different type of pet," he said, as the two of them continued walking.
"Oh, there's something that would be perfect for you, then!" Mika-chan said, smiling.
"Huh?"
"There's a new pet shop that just opened a few days ago," Mika-chan smiling and sounding enthusiastic. "Let's go check it out."
"Uh, all right."
Maybe he'd even be able to convince Trevor-aniki to talk to Usagi about not keeping that cat anymore. Aniki had always seemed to be better at talking Usagi into things; he didn't get angry when Usagi was being an airhead. And since she was so much of an airhead, it was easy to get angry at her when she was being worse than usual. When he and Mika-chan reached the pet store that Mika-chan had been talking about, Shingo was surprised to see how big and fancy it was.
He hadn't been expecting a place that had only just opened a few days ago to have the kind of money that people needed to make something so big and fancy. When the two of them went inside, Shingo found himself greeted by a wall of scents, wafting gently out of the front door of the building.
"Wow, it smells really nice in here," Mika-chan said, as the two of them made their way into the pet shop.
"Yeah," he said, smiling as the two of them continued deeper into the store. "It smells like perfume."
"It seems like the scents are coming from these pets, here," Mika-chan said, smiling softly.
Making his way over to the large stack of enclosures that held the small pets that Mika-chan had said that all of those nice scents were coming from, Shingo heard the sound of someone coming up beside him.
"Are you children interested in buying a Chanela?" the woman who seemed to be running the place asked, as she came over.
"A Chanela?" he asked, looking over at the woman.
She was wearing a pale blue, knee-length dress, and had her brown hair piled on her head, with only a few strands escaping to trail elegantly down her neck. "These little animals are called Chanelas, and each of them emits a unique and different scent."
"Wow." He made his way over to one of the enclosures, looking at the cute little animal inside; it looked kind of like a tiny rabbit, and it smelled a bit like oranges. Oranges were one of Trevor-aniki's favorite scents, and the Chanela in front of him didn't look anything like a cat. It was the perfect pet. "I'm going to buy this Chanela."
"I'd like one, too," Mika-chan said. "But they must be expensive."
"You kids can pay me anything you want," the nice lady said, laughing softly.
"Really?!" that was great; he couldn't wait to get home and show aniki his new pet.
~SM~
He'd found himself pretty much at loose ends without having to go to school for the day, so he'd ended up helping mother with her cooking and cleaning during the day.
"It's good to know you have your energy back, Trevor-chan," mother said, as the two of them settled down on the couch together. "But, I think you should take it easy for the rest of the day," mother said, reaching out to press her right hand against his forehead. "I don't want you having a relapse, after all."
"I'm sorry to have worried you, mother," he said, as she tilted his head, looking into his eyes as the two of them sat down on the couch together.
"Why don't you go lay down, Trevor," mother said. "I don't think any of us want you getting sick again. Usagi in particular; you know how she worries."
"Yes," he said softly. "I'm sorry to have been so much trouble."
As he made his way back to his and Usagi's room, Trevor turned as he saw the front door opening.
"Aniki! I'm glad to see you're still up," Shingo said, racing over to him. "I bought this great new pet today!" Shingo held up a small rabbitish looking creature, pressing it close to his face. "It's much better than that mangy old cat Usagi found on the streets. I'm sure Mom and Dad will be a lot happier to see my Chanela than that stupid old cat."
He knew that it was rude for Shingo to say those things, but he couldn't know that Luna wasn't an ordinary cat, or any of the circumstances behind her showing up at the house all those times. No one who wasn't a part of their struggle could know what was really going on, since it would only put them in danger from the Dark Kingdom and all of their youma.
"Come on, aniki," Shingo called, taking his hand and pulling him toward his room. "It's such a great pet, I want you to see it!"
"Shingo, is the orange scent coming from your Chanela?" he asked. "It's very nice."
"Yeah, that's one of the reasons I picked this one out, aniki," Shingo said, grinning as he held the Chanela up to him. "Isn't it great?"
"That new pet of yours is cute, Shingo," he said; but there was something about it, beyond the scent of fresh oranges that continued to waft out from the odd little animal.
It was- but that was silly. There was nothing wrong with Shingo's new pet; he'd probably just been imagining things; after all those attacks by the Dark Kingdom, anyone could be forgiven for getting a bit paranoid. Reaching out to stroke the head of the Chanela Shingo was holding out to him, Trevor let his and Usagi's younger brother pull him into his room. The two of them settled down in front of Shingo's desk, with Shingo putting his cute little Chanela in front of them, and Trevor laid his head atop his folded arms.
The sweet scent of oranges drifted gently around them, and as Shingo leaned softly against his left side, Trevor half-closed his eyes and let himself drift. He could remember eating fresh oranges back home; back when his other parents had been alive, before the fire; before he'd been scarred so deeply on the back of his body that he couldn't feel anything on his back or the backs of his thighs. Smiling as he gently stroked the Chanela's head, Trevor heard the sound of his and Usagi's parents calling them in for dinner.
It was a bit hard for him to want to get up, but everyone was going to be worried if he and Shingo didn't come down to have dinner, and he was starting to get a bit hungry. Shingo picked up his Chanela, and the two of them made their way out his room to meet up with the rest of the family to sit down to dinner. Sitting down between Shingo and Usagi, Trevor tried to ignore Luna. He didn't know just why Usagi would bring that stupid cat to the table; it wasn't as though she could learn anything about what she had to do to fight the Dark Kingdom here at the table with all of the family here.
Still, the discussion at the table revolved around whether or not they were going to keep Luna as a pet, or whether they were going to keep Shingo's Chanela. He was fully in favor of keeping Shingo's Chanela, but when Usagi gave him a look as though he had just personally betrayed her, he didn't say anything else for the rest of the meal. When he and the rest of the family went to the bath room by turns to shower, Trevor found himself wishing for a moment that he could stay in Shingo's room for the night.
"C'mon, aniki," Shingo said, taking his right hand as his and Usagi's younger brother made his way toward his own room. "You can stay with me tonight, away from that stupid cat."
"Thank you, Shingo," he said, allowing his and Usagi's younger brother to lead him to his room.
He was glad that he and Shingo understood each other so well, and that he wouldn't have to hurt Usagi's feelings again by asking for something like that. As the two of them settled down at Shingo's desk, with Shingo gently setting his Chanela down in front of them, Trevor smiled as he laid his head down on his folded arms. The scent of fresh oranges followed him down into sleep.
~SM~
When she woke up the next morning, Usagi decided that she would have a long talk with Trevor-nii about how mean he'd been to Luna-sensei yesterday. That kind of thing wasn't like him at all; he knew how important Luna-sensei was to them, with the Dark Kingdom attacking and everything, and he'd been really nice to her before today. She didn't know just what had gotten into him, but she was going to get to the bottom of it.
When she opened the door to Shingo's room – she'd seen her younger brother dragging Trevor-nii into his room – though, Usagi found the two of them slumped at Shingo's desk, staring at the Chanela sitting in front of them. She would have thought that that was kind of weird to begin with, but the dull, unfocused looks on both her brothers' faces made it clear to her that there was something else going on. Probably something to do with the Dark Kingdom, too!
After she'd called out to the pair of them, informing them both that they were going to be late if they didn't get up and start getting ready soon – which was kind of weird; like she and Trevor-nii had traded places, or something – but with the way neither of them seemed to be interested in doing anything but staring at that Chanela, Usagi was even more sure that what was going on had something to do with the Dark Kingdom. Now she knew why Trevor-nii had been so mean to Luna-sensei, too.
The Dark Kingdom didn't seem to like anyone; not caring about what they were doing to all of the innocent people that they targeted with their evil plots and schemes. That was just one more reason that she had to stop them, though: so they wouldn't be able to hurt any more innocent people. So that no one on Earth would ever be in danger from them again.
First, though, she would have to get Trevor-nii and Shingo to get up and go to school; not something she thought was going to be easy, since it looked like the both of them were under some kind of spell from Shingo's Chanela, but Usagi pressed forward anyway. If she was going to keep the promise that she had made, she was going to have to do some things that were harder than what she'd done before. But she wasn't going to give up just because something was hard.
That was a promise she'd made to herself.
Once she'd managed to get Trevor-nii and Shingo to get up and get ready for their day, with Mom insisting that Trevor-nii take it easy today, since what the Chanela had done to him looked a lot like a relapse of the sleeping sickness that Mom and everyone else had thought he had, Usagi herself went to go find Luna-sensei. She really needed to talk to the cat about what was going on.
When she and Trevor-nii made it to school, though, there were a lot of students with Chanelas on their desks. Usagi didn't know quite what to make of it, but she didn't think it was a good thing.
"Wow, those Chanelas are really popular right now," she said, looking out over all of the girls who had bought those new pets for themselves; probably at the same place that Shingo had gotten his.
"That's right, they're a huge hit," Naru said; Trevor-nii didn't make a sound, but she'd caught him looking back the way Shingo had gone, so she hadn't been expecting him to.
She was starting to get worried, though; there was no way this whole thing didn't have something to do with the Dark Kingdom.
"But, should they really be bringing them to school?" she wondered aloud; she wasn't given long to wonder about that kind of thing, though: "Oh, it's Haruna-sensei! Hurry up and hide them, quickly!"
Haruna-sensei made her way into the room and up to the desk where she sat at the head of the class not long after she'd seen the last of the girls who'd had Chanelas out on their desks had hidden them away, and Usagi sighed in relief. Sure, it might not have been a good thing that all of them were so… so obsessed about something that was probably from the Dark Kingdom, but she didn't want any of them to get in trouble over something that wasn't their fault.
"Okay, let's begin; turn to page 234."
Haruna-sensei turned to write the main points of the day's lesson on the board, and for a little bit their was something like peace in the classroom; or at least as close to it as Usagi thought could happen when Trevor-nii seemed a lot more interested in the door than what Haruna-sensei was trying to teach them. She reached over to tug at his left arm, to see if she could manage to get him back on track before Haruna-sensei got mad at him, when one of the girls who had had a Chanela on her desk shouted that she couldn't take it anymore.
After that, Haruna-sensei got really mad and tried to confiscate the Chanela, and then the girl who had it pushed Haruna-sensei over! No one in the room seemed to know just how to react to that, but when all of the girls with Chanelas walked out of the room, Usagi turned to Trevor-nii to see what he thought about that- and found that her older brother had joined up with the group of girls making their way out of the class room.
Haruna-sensei isn't going to be happy about this…
~SM~
Trevor knew that neither Usagi or his mother were going to be happy with him for cutting class the way he had, but somehow that just didn't seem important when he thought of Shingo's Chanela. Turning, knowing that Shingo would still be in school about now – and ignoring the voice in the back of his mind that told him that that was where he should've been – Trevor smiled slightly as he caught sight of his and Usagi's younger brother at last.
"Shingo!"
"Aniki!" Shingo called happily. "I was just going to the pet shop where I bought my Chanela," Shingo grinned. "You can come with me!"
"That sounds nice," he said, smiling as he and Shingo made their way to the pet shop.
It was certainly a beautiful place; the sign was painted, and even lighted, in such a way that it almost seemed to glitter even in the daylight. Trevor also thought the name of the shop was really appropriate, too; what else would you think of when you saw a pet shop called Perfume but the beautiful scents of the Chanelas they sold. The interior of the shop was just as beautiful as the outside, and smelled just as wonderful.
"I'm glad to see you came back," a pretty woman in a powder-blue dress greeted them as they walked in through the door. "And, who is this young man? Is he a friend of yours?"
"This is my aniki," Shingo said, tugging him forward as the two of them passed over the threshold and into the store itself.
~SM~
"It's very nice to meet you, young man."
Oh, yes; Master Jadeite had told her all about this particular human. He was the one with the reserves of energy that would have made him a Chosen Warrior if he had had the good fortune to be female. Still, all the better for them that he wasn't. Taking his hand, Iguara led him into the back of the store. He was already firmly under the spell of the Chanela that his fool of a younger brother had bought, and now all that remained was to prepare him for transport so that Master Jadeite could take him back to the Dark Kingdom.
Master Jadeite would be so pleased with her efforts here.
Looking back over her left shoulder as she continued on her way to a small room at the far end of the store, Iguara smiled wider as she saw the dazed expression on his face – the same expression that was on each and every human that she had given a Chanela to – as he continued following docilely along behind her. Picking out one of the Chanela from a nearby cage, Iguara held it in her hand as the two of them reached the room she was taking the boy to.
Once she had gotten the human into the storage room, Iguara took a moment to get him settled down in a chair, and then gently placed the Chanela on his chest when he began to look up at her in a way that suggested he was coming out of the trance that all of her Chanela put their foolish human "owners" into. He could clearly see the way the fool boy looked into its eyes, and then feel the surge of energy as her Chanela began to drink him dry.
Smiling, she turned to deal with the other humans she had managed to ensnare.
~SM~
Trevor couldn't quite tell what kind of scent the Chanela sitting on his chest was giving off; sometimes he thought it smelled like strawberries, other times he thought it might have been vanilla, and once he even thought he smelled the same kind of orange scent that Shingo's Chanela gave off. He thought it was very nice of the lady who ran the pet shop to let him stay with one of her Chanelas while she was busy.
He didn't quite know just what the lady was busy with, but it'd probably been something important to make her leave so quickly the way she had.
When his eyes were just about falling shut from the comfortable atmosphere, combined with the soft scent of the Chanela that the lady who owned this shop had let him stay with, Trevor saw a familiar person coming into the room with him.
"Usa-ko," he muttered, smiling as he tried to keep his eyes open; he was really starting to get tired now, for some reason or other.
The last thing he heard, and not very coherently at that, was his younger sister calling his name with worry in her voice… he wanted to say something to ease that worry, but he was just so tired…
~SM~
Gathering Trevor-nii's unconscious body up in her arms, Usagi lifted him up onto her back – something that was a lot easier as Sailor Moon than it was as plain Usagi – and carried him out of the building. She'd already healed the kids that had been changed by the Dark Kingdom's youma, and now all she had to do was hunt down the youma itself and deal with it. But first, she really had to get Trevor-nii to a safe place.
Running out of the store, Usagi found herself in the parking lot, with the youma close behind her. She didn't want to end up accidentally hurting Trevor-nii when that youma attacked her, but she didn't want to give the thing a chance to capture her older brother again, either. Usagi found herself forced to jump out of the way as the youma's tail came swinging at her, but the youma managed to knock Trevor-nii off of her back when it swept its tail back around.
Trying to grab Trevor-nii back from the youma who had wrapped its tail around her older brother's neck even as she watched, she turned to see Luna-sensei standing on top of a nearby car.
"Usagi, that youma's weak-point is at the base of its tail," Luna-sensei called out; Usagi nodded sharply.
Calling her Moon Tiara, Usagi slammed it into the base of the youma's tail, and quickly lunged forward before the unconscious form of her and Shingo's older brother could fall to the ground.
"Aniki!"
Looking up just as Shingo came running over to the pair of them, Usagi tried to compose herself. She didn't want Shingo, of all people, to find out about her, since he wasn't nearly as mature as Trevor-nii and would probably end up in worse trouble than their older brother did if he knew.
"Thank you for saving my aniki, Sailor V-san," Shingo said, bowing deeply.
"You're welcome, Shingo-chan," she said, pausing for a moment before deciding to tell him what was on her mind. "I'm actually Sailor Moon, though."
"Oh," Shingo said, crouching down to try to help Trevor-nii to sit up. "Well, then thank you, Sailor Moon-san."
"Shingo, I'm going to see if I can help your aniki, all right?" she asked, pressing her right palm into the center of Trevor-nii's chest, just over his heart.
Shingo didn't say a word, or at least nothing that she paid much attention to under the circumstances, but she could feel the energies from whatever it was behind Trevor-nii's heart that helped him to recover so fast when the Dark Kingdom's youma tried draining him. When Trevor-nii opened his eyes again, Usagi could see that he was just about to say her name, but then Shingo hugged him and he fell silent.
"Thank you for all your help, Sailor Moon-san," Trevor-nii said, as both he and Shingo bowed respectfully to her.
"Shingo-chan, there's one last thing I wanted to say to you: you make sure to be nice to that black cat your sister brought home, all right?"
Shingo agreed quickly, and he and Trevor-nii bowed to her again before the two of them began making their way back to their house.
~SM~
Hugging aniki's right arm as the two of them hurried back home, Shingo wondered just where and when Sailor Moon had first shown up, and if she knew Sailor V. Maybe the two of them were even friends! He was also thinking about what Sailor Moon had said to him; he still kind of thought cats were scary, but after what Sailor Moon had done for aniki, he was at least going to try to be nice.
When the two of them made it back home, Mom and Dad weren't so happy to hear about how aniki had left class in the morning, but Usagi talked them out of being so mad. Aniki was given a lecture by both of their parents, but since aniki was so humble and worked so hard, neither of them were really mad at him.
Shingo was happy about that, at least.