Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon. Sailor Moon and other characters belong to Naoko Takeuchi.
Thank you to all my new followers and my reviewers!
Over the next few weeks Usagi struggled with all of her new responsibilities and her schoolwork. While she was excelling at her fighting and self-defense classes; she was still struggling with her scholastic responsibilities. The principal of her school seemed all on board with changing the curriculum to account for students with learning disabilities, but her teacher, Haruna-sensei was being a little more than difficult.
It was during that those first few weeks that Usagi and Luna were able to discover Sailor Mercury. Usagi had gotten an afternoon alert about the Negaverse trying to steal energy via a cram school, which Usagi thought was totally superfluous. Cram students only ever spent the time studying, what kind of energy did they have?
Anyway, Usagi had successfully been able to dodge the enemy's attacks and Tuxedo Mask was able to distract the monster enough for Luna to get the transformation pen to Ami. With the revival of Sailor Mercury, Sailor Moon was able to dust the enemy and restore the energy to the cram students.
That night was a long one and had been spent mostly filling in Sailor Mercury, also known as Ami Mizuno about the Silver Millennium and telling her about the enemy. Luna wanted to prove to herself and to the Sailor Scouts that she was a good advisor to them. Usagi smiled at her with pride after the long talk.
….
Ami Mizuno, Usagi had learned was the new genius student from her school. She was the daughter of a famous doctor who had just transferred to Juuban Hospital for work, bringing along her daughter to Juuban with her.
Ami was a quiet, studious girl whom everyone thought just wanted to be left alone. Ami was also incredibly shy which attributed to her loner demeanor. After finding out she was Sailor Mercury, Usagi welcomed Ami warmly and apologized for not befriending her earlier in school. (Turns out that Ami was so quiet that Usagi didn't even realize that they were in the same class.)
Usagi felt a kind of kinship with Ami. She felt a cool calm aura emanating from the shy girl and she knew that they would eventually become great friends.
For Ami, Usagi was a breath of fresh air. She didn't seem to be intimidated by her scholastic achievements and didn't snub her for them either. She had a hard time wrapping her head around the idea of talking cats and magical planetary powers, but she couldn't deny the proof in front her eyes.
What convinced her was when Luna had presented her with her compact computer and digital visor. As soon as Ami donned the visor and turned on the computer, strange symbols ran across the screen of the visor. Symbols she had never seen before, but somehow understood.
Quietly, she read the words filling up her vision. Her eyes filled with tears and she believed. She swore herself to protecting their planet and the people on it. She knew it would take sometime for the whole reality of becoming a Sailor Scout to sink in, but in the meantime, she knew she was fulfilling her destiny.
….
Weeks passed with battles becoming more frequent for Sailor Moon and the newly acquired Sailor Mercury. The two girls had minimum contact with Tuxedo Kamen, but they both acknowledged that his sporadic intervention was lifesaving. Usagi felt herself becoming stronger and more confident in her fighting abilities; her self-defense and kung fu training becoming more second nature to her. She didn't find herself in positions that required saving so Tuxedo Mask was able to help move the battles along faster rather than having to keep an eye out for Sailor Moon and Sailor Mercury.
The morning after a particularly late battle the night before, Usagi had an even harder time getting up and ready for school. She was most definitely late for school that day, and that was the opening that Haruna-sensei had been looking for to take some aggravation out on the always almost tardy teen.
Usagi had opened the door to the classroom with an apology on her lips, but before she could even open the door all the way a cold voice from Haruna-sensei stopped her mid-door opening.
"You can just turn around and stay in the hallway, Usagi," was the clipped comment.
"But… but sensei, I haven't been late to school in weeks," Usagi pleaded. She could never understand why Haruna-sensi was always so mean to her.
Haruna scoffed at the teen at the door and led her outside of the classroom. She turned to the blonde and said in a rough whisper, "You're a disgrace as a student! You're almost always late. What kind of life do you lead that you're always running everywhere late? It's a joke that you use the excuse that you have a learning disability for your lack of intelligence!" the teacher's voice dripped with malice, no longer a whisper. Haruna turned on her heels and slid the door behind her hard.
Usagi turned with tears of anger and frustration in her eyes. She couldn't understand what was happening. She was trying so hard to be a better student; her grades were even slowly getting better! She couldn't stand it and turned and ran down the hallway.
Inside the classroom an awkward silence overcame the classroom; they had all heard everything. Everyone knew that Haruna-sensei was always a bit of a grouch, but she had never lashed out at a student before; Usagi hadn't warranted that kind of reaction from their teacher.
Makoto Kino was aghast at their homeroom teacher's behavior. She had met Usagi a few weeks ago and had grown fond of the bubbly blonde; Usagi had come up to her without fear from the rumors running around about her and quickly befriended the tall brunette. Makoto could tell that Usagi was a good girl and was trying so earnestly to meet all of her teachers' expectations. The sense of injustice welled up within her and before she could even think about it she blurted out the words, "You didn't have to be such a bitch about it."
The classroom collectively inhaled sharply. Talk about adding fuel to the fire. Haruna turned to the class amazon. The girl lived up to the title. Makoto towered over the girls and most of the boys; rumor was that she was part of gang and was kicked out of her last school for fighting. Though Haruna would never admit it out loud, Makoto terrified her. The girl was too out of control and Haruna did not like being out of control. She had a hard enough of a time with her personal life.
The class watched waiting to see how Haruna-sensei would react. Makoto's eyes faced the teacher challenging her to say the wrong thing to her. She wasn't as meek as Usagi and would not let some teacher talk down to her.
Haruna knew she needed to avoid a confrontation with the girl and just lifter her arm towards the door pointing with a well-manicured finger, "Principal's office. Now."
Makoto snorted in disgust and stood up at her full height and stomped out of the classroom into the hallway.
….
Makoto was on her way to the principal's office when she passed by the school garden where Usagi was pacing amongst the flowerbeds. Makoto walked up slowly to the girl, but not quietly. She had actually expected Usagi to be crying amongst the flowers and was proud to see that the blonde wasn't succumbing to tears.
"Usagi…" she called out.
Usagi didn't even look up, "I don't even know what I did to deserve that!" she growled.
"It's because you didn't do anything to deserve it!" Makoto replied vehemently to her new friend. She sat down on a bench to watch Usagi pace. "Don't let that lonely, wicked hag get you down!"
"It's so unfair!" Usagi yelled, collapsing onto the bench next to Makoto. "I'm so frustrated I could cry!"
Makoto nodded, she understood where Usagi was coming from, that feeling of injustice to the point where tears fill your eyes. Of course, Makoto preferred to let the frustrations out through physical violence, but Usagi didn't seem to be that kind of girl. Tears of frustration were better than tears of sadness. At least she wasn't letting the mean words get to her, but instead saw the cruelty and reacted indignantly to it.
Usagi finally got a good look at the girl sitting next to her, "Why are you out here?" she finally asked.
"I got kicked out of the classroom for calling Haruna a bitch," Makoto replied with a smirk.
That got Usagi to crack a smile, "You didn't!"
Makoto laughed, "I honestly didn't mean for it to come out that way, but it was out before I could even think about it." She shook her head. "But for once I'm glad I'm being sent to the principal's office. I'm going to give him a piece of my mind about how Haruna treated you." Makoto's fists clenched in anger. "No teacher should EVER treat a student that way."
Usagi was touched at Makoto's reaction.
Makoto turned to look at Usagi, "Why don't you come with me, and we can both complain about Haruna? It'll be better to do it together before she gets the chance to tell him another story for why we were kicked out of class."
Usagi knew Makoto was right. It felt nice every once in awhile to have someone advocate for her. A thought occurred to Usagi and she smirked at Makoto, "Let's do it, but first I need to make a phone call."
A phone call later Usagi, Makoto and Ikuko were seated inside the principal's office. Usagi had decided to utilize the cell phone that her parents had given her (for emergencies) and told her mother about how she had been unjustifiably kicked out of the classroom. Not even twenty minutes later and Ikuko was at the school seething.
Makoto and Usagi smiled smugly to themselves seeing at how outraged Ikuko was; the mama bear had been provoked.
Usagi had told her story of how Haruna had expelled her from the classroom and the vicious words that she spat at the teen. Makoto vouched for Usagi at the exact verbiage that Haruna had used and added that everyone in the classroom had heard what the teacher had said and would probably vouch for Usagi as well. Makoto also relayed her reaction to the teacher and apologized to the principal for using harsh language.
Now sitting in front of the principal with the commanding presence of a queen on her throne, Ikuko confronted the school principal, her blue eyes glinting like steel. "So please correct me if I'm wrong," she stated calmly, her voice icy. "This homeroom teacher not only kicked my daughter out of the classroom with no justifiable reason, but she has also been persecuting my daughter about her grades while at the same time impeding with her learning process by not believing that she has a learning disorder. AND on top of that ridiculed and belittled her pretty much in front of her classmates. Am I missing anything?"
The principal of Juuban Junior High was a decent man. He was proud of his work in providing a safe and educational institution for the youth of Juuban; he was used to unsavory situations that would sometimes arise in his field of work. Usually though, it was the parents that needed the reality check to how their children were doing in school; not the other way around.
He had had complaints about Haruna-sensei before and she had been given multiple warnings about her behavior towards the students and how she was not supposed to be letting her personal life affect her teaching. Clearly, the warnings were not enough. Maybe if the woman stopped trying so hard she would be able to find a husband and stop tormenting the students.
The principal winced, as he had never had to deal with as a protective mother as Ikuko Tsukino. Granted, he totally agreed with Ikuko; there was no reason for Haruna to be treating anyone in the manner that she had treated Usagi.
"Tsukino-san, I am truly very sorry for how Haruna-sensei has treated Usagi-san. No teacher has ever been given the right to treat anyone, much less the students in any kind of disrespectful manner," with this the principal stood up from his desk and bowed low to the group of women in front of him, "On behalf of Juuban Junior High, I apologize for the disrespect and insult that our teacher has shown you and your family with. It will be dealt with appropriately. I promise you."
Ikuko was hardly pacified. She had enough of sending her precious daughter through such a flawed school system. From preschool right up to Junior High, it just seemed that the public school system in their area was just not good enough. Not to say that there weren't excellent teachers, but teachers like Haruna gave them all a bad name.
Over the past few weeks Ikuko had been educating herself on home schooling and doing research on the intelligence and success rate of those who were home schooled compared to other young people who went to either a public or private schools. From her research, she felt like she could do a good job in helping Usagi continue with her education at home.
Usagi had been out late because of her evening battle, and Ikuko knew it was almost unfair to make her go to school so early that day, but as she had reminded Usagi, she had been the one who wanted to stay in school. But in light of recent events, Ikuko had had enough.
She informed the principal that she would be taking Usgai home for the rest of the day. Seeing that Usagi was with her new friend, she also asked the principal to excuse Makoto for the day and offered to take the girls out for lunch.
The trio of women spent the rest of the afternoon having fun at lunch and then they took a walk at the park and relaxed with ice cream. Ikuko liked to know who her daughter's friends were and it was a good opportunity for her to find out more about Makoto, whom she knew Usagi had just recently become friends with.
And there you have it! Please leave a review! It's always nice to know if people are enjoying this story!
And I do have a confession, I haven't been able to write as much as I'm all of a sudden dm'ing two dnd campaigns at once. So I will try my hardest to make sure I update every week, but the chapters might be a little shorter than usual.
Thanks for reading!