Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon. Sailor Moon and other characters belong to Naoko Takeuchi.
Extended chapter because I wanted to include the second part and dedicate it to my new, but dear friend Sam. Geekly brother born from the twitterverse- Thank you so much for your support and spreading positivity and all around awesome vibes. Befriending people like you is what restores my faith in humanity a little in this crazy world we live in. This is one is for you.
Sappy stuff aside, thank you all for your follows and reviews! This is literally up to where I've written and I usually try to sit on chapters for a couple of weeks before posting them to think through plot stuff, but heck, I don't want to lose tracking on this story, so on with the show!
That evening the Tsukino family had a family meeting about what had transpired at Usagi's school that day. Needless to say, both Kenji and Shingo were outraged. It was amusing to Ikuko and Usagi to see the men of the family reacting in the same way. Like father, like son. After the initial outrage the family came to the matter at hand.
"I know that you said you wanted to continue studying at school Usgai, " Ikuko commented to her daughter, "but can I ask you to reconsider with what happened today at your school?"
"What?! Usagi gets to quit school?! No fair! I want to quit school too!" exclaimed Shingo.
Kenji interjected, "No Shingo, Usagi isn't quitting school." He continued to explain, "She'll just continue to study here at home. And no, you cannot quit school."
Shingo pouted in this seat while ruminating the pros and cons of homeschooling.
"Homeschooling?" Usagi asked. She was torn. She also had enough of Haruna Sensei's unfair treatment of her, but at the same time, she didn't want to miss out on her middle school experiences.
Luna, who had been perching on the windowsill, spoke up softly, "There is also Sailor Moon to consider here, Usagi." Luna could see both side of the argument. She wanted Usagi to continue living a normal girl's life, but having the freedom of home schooling would also be easier on the teen regarding Sailor Moon.
"We would be able to work your studying schedule around your Sailor Moon duties, as well as focus on a teaching method that will help you learn better," Ikuko added. "If it doesn't work out, we can also come up with other alternatives. We can keep trying new things until something works out best for you."
In the moment of silence as everyone was lost in their own thoughts, beeping came from Luna's collar. The computers had detected a Negaverse disturbance. Usagi, forgetting all about the conversation at hand pulled out her communicator and contacted Sailor Mercury as she stood up from the table.
"Mercury here," came Ami's soft voice over the communicator.
"We've got a disturbance," Usagi said. "Can you locate it?"
"It's in the shopping district," Ami stated, "By wedding row."
"Can you make it?" Usagi asked.
"I'm on my way out the door," was the reply.
"I'll see you in the side alleyway by the big bridal shop," Usagi responded. She turned off her communicator and turned to Luna, "Let's go Luna."
They had decided as team that Luna should be present at the fights. She wasn't equipped to help the Scouts do battle, but she was a pair of eyes from the highest vantage point that could give them tactical advice during the battles, as well as give them moral support. It made the girls feel more confident in their fighting and it helped Luna understand their battle tactics as well observe the enemy.
Luna jumped into Usagi's backpack as she turned to her family looking at her with a mixture of concern and pride.
"Be safe, Usagi." Ikuko said.
Usagi saluted quickly to her family and ran out the door.
"I'll never get used to her running out like that," Kenji said quietly.
"All that matters is that she comes back," Ikuko responded.
….
Meanwhile in the shopping district, Makoto had been out on an evening walk.
Makoto Kino was new to Juuban. She had moved to the quieter city a few weeks ago and transferred to Juuban Middle School. Makoto, for lack of a better word, was an orphan. She had lost her parents at a young age and was passed from home to home within the system. After a particularly rough home where alcohol and abuse was involved, she was granted her independence and set out living on her own with a monthly pension from the government. She also had a meager allowance from her inheritance from her parents that would be granted to her in full on her eighteenth birthday.
That evening Makoto was having a hard time sleeping after the commotion from the day and decided that a long walk was in order to use up some energy. On her late night window-shopping walk, she found herself in the awkward situation of a Negaverse attack.
Rumors had been buzzing around about weddings being canceled because of grooms disappearing. Makoto didn't think she'd be the one of find out why. In the middle of Wedding Row in the shopping district she came across a man dressed as a groom following a strange figure dressed in white.
As a romantic at heart, Makoto's anger flared at the strange white figure and she jumped in to help the man from giving himself up. Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury and Luna got to the scene in time to see Makoto getting attacked by the figure in white, which turned out to be a Negaverse monster.
Makoto roared in anger at the attack and a rush of emotions flooded her. The injustice, the frustration of being helpless against this kind of bad guy, and her overwhelming anger at life in general overcame her senses and unbeknownst to her, the air around her started to crackle.
Luna recognizing the aura of sizzling air rushed out to give Makoto her transformation pen. With the pen in her hand, Makoto was able to transform into Sailor Jupiter and with the backup of Sailor Moon and Sailor Mercury, they were able to defeat the monster and make sure that the grooms she had been hording were alive and well.
At the end of the battle the three girls looked at each other. Luna looked on contentedly at finding yet another Sailor Scout. As previously discussed, Sailor Moon welcomed Sailor Jupiter, asking if she would be able to follow them to talk in a more private location.
It was another late night getting to know the new member of the Sailor Scouts. Both Usagi and Ami were pleasantly surprised that their teammate was their new friend Makoto. Makoto in return was stunned speechless that these seemingly normal girls were actually super heroines.
They brought Makoto up to speed on the Negaverse situation and gave her her communicator. They decided to break for the evening as it was very late. It was a good thing that it was a Friday and that they didn't have school the next day. They exchanged numbers with Makoto and scheduled their next meeting tomorrow for an extended update on the situation.
….
Usagi woke up late the next morning. Over the course of the weeks, she found that she was getting less sore upon waking up the next day from a battle. She sent a prayer of thanks to her kung fu instructor for helping her become more fit for the battle lifestyle.
Usagi's instructor was actually impressed at the dedication and improvement of his young blonde student. He didn't actually think that the young teen would be as committed as she was. She was young and still growing into her body, which accounted for her clumsiness and her tendency to leap before she looked contributed to that factor. In the months that Usagi started training with him, her movements became more refined and graceful. She was very fast and learning to control her movements made her a very skilled fighter.
As she lay in bed she thought over the conversation she had with her family the night before. She was torn. She felt like her mother had a point about homeschooling. She wasn't learning anything with Haruna and the possibility of an attack during school hours worried her. Would she be able to leave school? What would the scholastic repercussions be? What if she couldn't get out of school? What would happen to the people that the monsters attacked? That thought alone made her shiver. She knew that the right thing to continue her education through homeschooling. It just made more sense that way, but she was still torn.
When push came to shove, what she was most worried about in quitting school was losing touch with her friends and missing out on a carefree middle school life. She knew she had to protect the people of Earth, but she was still also just a fourteen-year-old girl; she still wanted to have fun too.
Rolling over, she reached down under her bed to pull out an old-school pink rotary phone. She and Naru had gotten matching phones when they had been granted the permission to put phones into their rooms to call each other as young girls normally do with their best friends.
The phone rang three times before a perky yet annoyed Naru picked up the phone.
"It's about time you called!" came her scolding voice over the phone. "The entire class was talking about how Haruna kicked you and that tall girl out of your classroom and neither of you came back to class! You didn't leave school to join a gang, did you?!
Usagi sighed, she knew she should have called her best friend earlier. She did leave school for the day. "I'm sorry Naru-chan. It had been a hectic day."
The friendship that Usagi and Naru had was the kind of friendship that grew from infancy. They had become fast friends as soon as she had been adopted and through the years they came to understand each other like sisters. Inflections in their voices, looks and even the difference in their breathing patterns could alert the other of what was up.
With that, once Naru heard the sigh and knew that things must have been serious. "Usa-chan, what's wrong?"
Usagi looked up at the ceiling of her room chewing on her bottom lip. She knew her identity as Sailor Moon had to be kept a secret, but Naru was her best friend. She was practically family.
"Naru-chan," she said, "Do you want to grab lunch and maybe do some karaoke?"
After a moment of serious silence Naru replied, "Of course. I'll see you at the usual spot in an hour."
Usagi had said the code word. 'Karaoke.' Growing up the two girls never called it the complicated 'k' word, so when they wanted to go to karaoke, they called it singing. It was always 'Let's go singing.' As they grew older, going for 'karaoke' became their code phrase for 'I have something serious to talk to you about privately.'
The phrase had only been used twice before in their friendship. The first time was when Naru told Usagi about her parent's divorce, and the second time was when Usagi confessed to Naru that she was failing some of her classes and that she didn't know how to face her parents. It was their highest level of seriousness in their friendship.
After letting her parents know she was going to meet with Naru for a little, Usagi left home and walked to the near-by karaoke bar. Her mind weighed back and forth on what to tell Naru, but when she approached her best friend, and Naru turned to her and gave her one of those 'everything is going to be okay hugs.'
Usagi soaked up the warmth of her best friend. They made small talk as they booked an hour in a private karaoke room and ordered snacks and some tea before settling down to discuss what was on Usagi's mind.
On the way over, Usagi came to the realization that what she needed was understanding from her best friend. She needed Naru to understand why she was leaving school and why she had been so distant as of late. She knew that she hadn't been a very good friend, what with attacks happening more often, and her extracurricular activities in self-defense and trying to get her grades up.
But all of that didn't matter because Naru was her best friend. She deserved to know. Usgai knew that she was becoming fast friends with both Ami and Makoto, but neither of them were her best friend.
Naru let Usagi's mind wander over her thoughts as she sipped her tea slowly. She had noticed a change in Usagi. She noticed little things, like Usagi being a less clumsy and doing better in school. She was proud of her friend for these accomplishments. But she also noticed that Usagi was becoming more distant. They didn't hang out or talk as often. It made Naru sad to see her best friend grow apart from her. She hoped this talk would rekindle their closeness.
Usagi finally looked into her best friend's eyes. She saw love and understanding. No matter how bad of a friend she was, Naru was there for her. Usagi felt like she didn't deserve her friendship. It was time to come clean.
Over the next fifteen minutes, Usagi opened up to Naru. She first explained what had happened the previous day with Haruna-sensei and that her mom had picked up her and Makoto after scolding the principal. She then explained that her parents were thinking of taking her out of school to be home schooled instead.
Naru was aghast at Haruna-sensei's actions and even more horrified at the idea of Usagi being pulled out of school.
Before she could exclaim her horror, Usagi interrupted her. She didn't want Naru to hate her. She didn't want to lose her best friend, but if push came to shove, she would rather lose Naru and still be able to protect her than Naru falling at the hands of the Negaverse. Memories of that first fight still haunted Usagi, and she never wanted Naru to even be in that situation ever again.
"Remember that terrible nightmare when the Negaverse took your mom hostage and locked her up in the basement of Osa-p, and you got attacked by that monster that was posing as your mother?" Usagi asked.
Naru nodded, her mind going back to that terrible day. She had actually thought that she was going to die. But something in what Usagi had said made her pause. She hadn't told anyone that her mother was locked up in the basement of the store. The only person who knew that information was Sailor Moon, because she was there to help revive Naru's mom.
Naru looked at Usagi, her brows furrowed as if trying to piece two facts together that were just out of reach. "Usa-chan, how did you know that my mom was locked up?"
"Naru-chan, I love you. You're my best friend but something has happened in my life that I haven't shared with you yet." Usagi stood up and started to pace in the karaoke room. "I was sworn to secrecy, but I can't keep this a secret from you; and it definitely effects why I'm going to pull out of school."
Naru's eyes widened, trying to process everything her friend was saying. It seemed so strange, like a mist was clouding her thoughts and everything just started to seem a little fuzzy in her brain.
"Naru-chan, the reason I know about your mom, was because I was there. I helped you wake her up, and pull her out of the basement." Usagi sat back down next to her friend and took her hand into her own and spoke to her earnestly, "I know all of this stuff because I am Sailor Moon."
The fogginess in Naru's mind lifted and as her thoughts came together she could all of a sudden see the similarities between her best friend and super heroine. How did she not notice before?! But before all the other things in her mind processed, she thought of one thing. Usagi had to come her to save her. Her best friend, whom she had known to be a bit of a crybaby, a little over self indulgent with a heart of gold, came to save her.
Naru threw her arms around Usagi and sobbed, "It was you?! Oh kami, thank you!"
Usagi wasn't expecting that kind of reaction, but she hugged Naru back, both girls succumbing to tears. They talked over each other for a few moments with tears streaming down their faces, but they eventually were able to compose themselves.
Usagi explained everything, how Luna had found her, how she, as Sailor Moon uses glamour magic to protect her identity and how the attacks were becoming more frequent. She didn't mention Sailor Mercury or Tuxedo Mask, as she felt that it was none of her business giving out information about the two other heroes that helped her out daily.
"But yeah, that's one of the main reasons why I'm going to be leaving school; but I had to explain to you because, you're my best friend, and I don't want to lose you," explained Usagi.
"Oh Usa. Thank you for trusting me enough to tell me all this." Naru was a simple girl, but she was quick and put together the facts quickly enough. Knowing that her best friend was the heroine that the city had been talking about already aroused a sense of concern and pride. "You won't lose me. Not ever. We're going to be friends forever."
"Thank you for hearing me out, and for believing me." Usagi said earnestly.
Naru leaned forward on her elbows, "So tell me, what's it like? Being a super hero in that super short skirt. Your dad must Love that."
Usagi laughed. Her father was definitely Not a fan of her scout uniform. She told Naru of her heightened powers, but mostly, she told her of her concern and fear for everyone. She was very afraid of not being fast enough and someone dying because she wasn't good enough. It was bad enough having had Haruna on her tail, but this fear surpassed that. Understandably. No one would die if Usagi failed math. Being a Sailor Scout was an entirely different matter.
"I know I'm just a powerless civilian, but I'm here for you for anything that you need, Usa," Naru said.
Usagi's eyes softened and filled with tears again, "Being able to share this with my best friend is all I need, Naru-chan. Thank you."
End Scene. Thank you so much for reading. From here on in, I'm going to be changing a lot of things so if you're die hard for canon, you are NOT going to like me. Please leave a review if you can. It helps motivate and gives me a sense of how readers feel.