InuYasha Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Breathless ❯ Misunderstanding ( Chapter 48 )

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or the anime shows, mangas, videogames and others where they appear.

 

 

Chapter Forty Seven.

 

 

`Misunderstanding'

 

 

A week and a half ago…

 

 

“Jaken-sama, don't you think Sesshoumaru-sama's been gone for too long now?”

 

 

“You nosy brat, you're always asking the same thing. Look at how quiet the taijiya is being…you should follow his example” the toad reprimanded.

 

 

“Oh” the little girl glanced at the older boy, but noticed then that he wasn't being just quiet. Something must have gotten him worried, for he was gaping intently at the horizon with an astonished pale expression.

 

 

Rin grew worried at his silence. “Kohaku? Is something wrong?”

 

 

“Look in the direction Sesshoumaru-sama went” the boy pointed at the sky urgently “…M-Mister Jaken… do you see it?! …W-What in the world is that!?!”

 

 

“Huh?” alarmed at what might have unsettled the slayer in such a way, the green retainer turned around curiously, only to have his eyes grow wider at the sight of a monstrous wave of blinding light approaching them like a typhoon “I…I-It's PURIFYING ENERGY!!!!!” he squawked “RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!!” he snapped back to run screaming away from there like the wind… and watching his hysterical reaction the two human children and dragon rushed to follow suit in a similar fashion.

 

 

…But it was all in vain, for the wave of light reached them as soon as they'd advanced a short distance, slamming into them with such brutal explosive force it snatched them away from the ground.

 

 

“AAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!!!!! JAKEN-SAMA!!!!!!!!!!”

 

 

“RIN!!!” Kohaku shouted as his hand lashed out to grab her arm as she was blown past him, whereas he struggled to keep his hold onto a root buried deep into the ground. “Hold on tight!!!!!”

 

 

“But, but, but…Kohaku!! Jaken-sama is!!!-” she didn't get to finish for they instantly heard a familiar call; the two headed dragon, who had managed to get a hold of the toad by his collar, was struggling to fly towards them.

 

 

“AH-UN!!” the little girl shouted with relief, seeing he'd rescued their guardian. It was not long before the animal took them all to a nearby harbor.

 

 

Present time

 

 

“…after it finally passed, we all mounted on Ah-Un and went looking for Sesshoumaru-sama” Rin told Usagi “Jaken-sama was very concerned because he said the hurricane had been of purifying energy; not sure about whether it should have harmed us, but still afraid for our Lord's wellbeing… We were lucky to come across him right there in mid-flight… he was flying in our direction, carrying you and Aku-san inside his snout. That Aku-san person looked so worried that you weren't going to wake up”

 

 

Usagi blinked at the only word she'd retained in her tiny brain… It was midday now, and the Taiyoukai's group were preparing for lunch. The two human children had invited the blonde to join them.

 

 

“Snout?”

 

 

The blonde watched with a sweat-drop as Rin just nodded, as if the fact that Sesshoumaru could have a snout was the most natural thing in the world for her, and then continued cooking some fish in the fire along with Kohaku as if it was nothing.

 

 

“What do you mean with…-?”

 

 

“Eh, um, um!! Do you like fish, Usagi-san!?” Kohaku rushed to interrupt them, offering a small piece to Usagi; he knew where this was going and he didn't think that their new friend would take the information that she'd been carried around in a giant dog's mouth, while unconscious, very well.

 

 

“Uh? Y-Yes” Usagi replied, perplexed at the deliberate change of subject as she took the fish and thanked Kohaku.

 

 

`Snout…what did she mean by that?'

 

 

The truth was, though, she didn't get to mull over this very much right then, as she chewed the fish that the boy had offered because, and luckily for Kohaku, her thoughts had already been taken elsewhere despite the oddness of the little girl's statement. Truth was there a lot of other things to think about as well, and she couldn't keep the questions from entering her thoughts more often than she would have liked and intruding right in the middle of their conversation.

 

 

For example, as Rin kept talking more and more about people flying and youkai and purifying auras, Usagi was realizing for the first time how, ever since she'd first opened her eyes here, and found herself at Lord Niraya's side, some part deep in her had questioned them all as impossible, for they were completely different than the flashbacks that harassed her mind.

 

 

`All those voices, sounds and images in my head…they were Tsukino Usagi's memories… …they were also telling me I didn't belong in this time'

 

 

`…Or… is it just that Tsukino Usagi doesn't belong?'

 

 

`Tsukino Usagi doesn't belong… but is this Sailor Cosmos' time?'

 

 

`In other words… do `I' belong here…?'

 

 

It was strange.

 

 

Her vague sense of history already told her that, if this wasn't some sort of almost identical alternate universe, and supposing she wasn't crazy or asleep and dreaming… then she obviously had to be somewhere after the first Silver Millennium.

 

 

`It has to be, because if it isn't… why did that Shishinki person call me `Princess Serenity' and then mentions my mother, the Queen, as deceased? …How did he know who I was?'

 

 

`Who was he… and what did he want?'

 

 

Yes; it had to be somewhere after the first Silver Millennium…

 

 

`And if this isn't Tsukino Usagi's time, then…'

 

 

Then it had to be somewhere between the first Silver Millennium and the birth of the second, Crystal Tokyo, with her true second incarnation, Tsukino Usagi… the same as Neo Queen Serenity...?

 

 

`Of course, if this body that I'm in doesn't happen to be actually hers, that I've accidentally taken… that is… In that case, `her' would be the same as `me'… and if it was, would then I be Sailor Cosmos in the body of Sailor Moon…?…Or is it that I'm confounded, and I'm actually just Sailor Moon, the soon-to-be Neo Queen Serenity… with part of the memories and latent powers of the future Sailor Cosmos…?'

 

 

`I've been just assuming that I am Sailor Cosmos, and not Sailor Moon anymore…'

 

 

`But…'

 

 

`…What if it's the other way around?'

 

 

Could anything that she did here…change her own future life?

 

 

`But my travel to the 20th Century certainly didn't…Did it?'

 

 

Which lifetime was she asking about, anyway?

 

 

Sailor Cosmos' life…or Sailor Moon's?

 

 

She stared down at her hands. `I feel like I'm somehow lost in between… where I am both Sailor Moon and Cosmos, but I am also neither…'

 

 

`The perfect time for change, don't you think?' she unexpectedly thought she heard the same echo of a childlike voice from before whisper. “HUH!?!” Her head immediately whipped upwards.

 

 

Nothing…except the light blue sky.

 

 

“Usagi-san?” Rin asked, as both she and Kohaku looked at her surprised at her outburst. “Are you okay?” the boy asked.

 

 

“Oh, um…Yes, I am. Pardon me, Rin-chan, Kohaku-kun…” she tried to reassure them as she decided to come back down to earth for now “I got a little distracted. I just thought I had heard…” then she paused.

 

`Better stop worrying about it just now… After all, there's not much I can do about it in this current state… is there? “I don't think we should be rushing to any fast conclusions just yet”… that's what Kaede-sama said…I think may be I should keep following that advice'

 

 

“…never mind” she decided to wave it off.

 

 

“Oh” the two children both stared at her in slight bemusement before the little girl decided to shrug it off and continue talking “well… as I was saying, we were all starting to think you weren't going to wake up! Rin was so happy when you finally did, Usagi-san…” the little girl didn't try to hide her relief as she looked up at her.

 

 

“Rin-chan…” the blonde's attention went to her “…You were worried about me?” she whispered then, once again feeling touched by this pure-hearted child.

 

 

Despite the circumstances, one could still say Rin barely knew her… yet she'd still worried about her sake?

 

 

“Hai! You were so nice to me the first time we met, Usagi-san! You listened to me and didn't say Rin was weird…” the little girl said with gratitude “you didn't say it was strange that me and Kohaku traveled with Master Jaken and Sesshoumaru-sama…and you also like my Lord!”

 

 

“Oh!!!” though the blonde was truly moved by the first sentences, the last one made her blush deep red. The little girl couldn't have been thinking what Usagi thought that she might be thinking… could she?

 

 

Nah…she decided. Rin must be too young to think yet of `that' kind of things. `She probably said it because I gave him the locket' “Then I… I am sorry I made you worry…” she stammered, blushing a bit still.

 

 

“I-I wasn't sure if it was you at first! Because, Usagi-san, you looked so, um, different in your new costume” the older girl watched the child fight to find the right words to express how she'd been mysteriously unable to recognize her at first, and then as she finished absentmindedly “but Jaken-sama said that Sesshoumaru-sama had said that you were the same annoying wench we'd stumbled upon before, and I believed him”

 

 

“…Err…he actually put it like that?” Usagi said, now fully back into the conversation. Rin again nodded.

 

 

“Yep!” The blonde couldn't help but sweat-drop at the fact that both demons would speak in such a manner in front of the youngsters they supposedly cared about.

 

 

“Do you want to know something else, Usagi-san?” the child began a new topic before she put some food on her mouth, chewed and swallowed “Kohaku-kun always helps me catch the fish along with Jaken-sama. But yesterday Sesshoumaru-sama sent just the two of them to the river and when they came back they said they'd caught all these… I like catching fish with them, though. May be next time I'll get to go too... and may be you can come with us! If Sesshoumaru-sama lets you come I'll show you how we get them… it's very easy! Do you ever catch fish, Usagi-san? Am I talking too much? I forgot to tell you last time we met that I'm often getting told to shut up” the little girl babbled, repeating once again what she'd once asked to Kohaku.

 

 

Surprised of the unexpected statement at the end, Usagi glanced at the young taijiya, who just shrugged with a small embarrassed smile.

 

 

“Erm…that is Lord Sesshoumaru and Mister Jaken most of the time”

 

 

Glancing curiously at the Demon Lord still resting against the tree in apparent meditation, who opened his eyes to return her stare, and then at the toad falling asleep against the dragon, the young woman laughed lightly.

 

 

“I can see why…they seem to be very quiet” she giggled, turning back to the little girl “However, you can always speak to me as much as you want if you think it doesn't bother Sesshoumaru-sama” she didn't see the aforementioned demon raise an eyebrow.

 

 

“Really?” the child said looking up at her in awe “Thank you, Usagi-san!”

 

 

Pleased to see her so happy, Usagi laughed.

 

 

“Can Kohaku talk to you too?”

 

 

“Awwww…, of course he can!” the blonde said then, overwhelmed at such cuteness and laughing more when the little girl began giggling as she started ruffling her hair.

 

 

Then something truly evil occurred to her then, and she gave Rin a flash of a wicked smile before starting to gag and sound like she was in great pain…

 

 

“I can't take so much cuteness…argh! I can't take it!” she started holding her throat and chest like she was choking.

 

 

“Usagi-san??” Rin said as she and Kohaku watched her in alarm, clueless at what she was doing. Laughing madly in her mind, the blonde continued with the show, unaware that Sesshoumaru was watching, as Rin got up and approached her.

 

 

“I can't take such cuteness… It's just too much for me!” she fake-moaned as she peered at Rin coming to put a hand on her shoulder, looking worried. `Just a little bit closer' “Come here, you cute little monster!!! I'm a monster that likes to eat little girls!”

 

 

“USAGI-SAN?!?!!!” Rin shouted, bewildered at the last statement and waking up Jaken with her shrill scream when the blonde suddenly threw herself over her. Gasping, Kohaku grabbed his sickle and Sesshoumaru got up in a flash. The Demon Lord approached them quickly but stopped dead when he heard that his ward was…

 

…

 

 

…

 

 

…laughing?

 

 

“AHAHA!! Ahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!! Usagi-san!!!!!! STOP!!!!!” Rin managed to say between bursts of laughter, as she tried to wriggle out of her grasp.

 

 

But it was no use… the blonde just kept tickling her just as she'd done so many times with the children of the village, whereas Kohaku gaped at them for a moment before he too started laughing.

 

 

“Oh, Usagi-san…” Kohaku immediately put his sickle away “You did give us quite the scare!” he protested, watching them and snickering while Sesshoumaru just stood there, watching. `I think I understand now why Rin likes her' the young taijiya thought to himself `Usagi-san really is nice…'

 

 

“…Stop, Usagi-san! It tickles!” the younger child kept on between her giggles. “It's supposed to tickle!” the blonde giggled as well, recurring to the usual answer she gave the village children. “It wouldn't be fun if it didn't!”

 

 

“Do you amuse yourself doing something so ridicule?” a cold voice cut through their laughter, also cutting their fun short. Stopping what they were doing right then and there, both the dark and blonde heads turned to look up at Sesshoumaru, who was standing above them.

 

 

“Sesshoumaru-sama?” Rin called, noticing her Lord was angry.

 

 

“Sesshoumaru?” Usagi noticed as well “w-what…is something wrong?”

 

 

“You vile ningen! Were you trying to hurt Rin!?” it was Jaken's accusing voice as he came to stand beside his master.

 

 

“Huh?! No…why would you think that?” that was when she recalled she had said she was a monster that ate little girls “I… I don't eat children!” she laughed nervously “please don't think I meant what I said…it was only a game”

 

 

“I do not find your games amusing, human” Sesshoumaru told her icily.

 

 

“Lord Sesshoumaru?” this was Kohaku.

 

 

Usagi stared into the Taiyoukai's hard gaze. Feeling depressed all of a sudden, the blonde let go of Rin slowly, sitting away from her, almost like curled into a ball and lowering her eyes.

 

 

“Usagi-san? …Sesshoumaru-sama?” sitting up too, Rin looked from one to the other.

 

 

“No…Sesshoumaru-sama…it-it was a misunderstanding. Usagi-san… she didn't mean it that way…” Kohaku said then, trying to aid in the situation. “She wasn't trying to attack her”

 

 

“Eh? That is right, Sesshoumaru-sama!” the little girl echoed instantly when she realized what her Lord was thinking.

 

 

The Demon Lord's eyes were still severely focused on the older one, though.

 

 

“Sesshoumaru-sama” the Inuyoukai glanced down when he felt the little girl take his hand “please don't be angry at Usagi-san… she didn't harm Rin… I… Rin got confused for a moment there… but then Rin realized Usagi-san wasn't trying to. Please… she didn't mean to make me scared…forgive Usagi-san?”

 

 

“Rin?” Kohaku looked at her in wonder as Jaken stared on with narrowed eyes.

 

 

Everyone waited to see what Sesshoumaru was going to do, as he turned to look at the curled blonde one more time.

 

 

Evaluating.

 

 

“Is that true?” he asked after a long moment of silence. Usagi's downcast gaze widened.

 

 

“Y-Yes” feeling his stare still on her, she cautiously lifted her head to once more look up at him, fear and shy hope battling it out in her eyes. For a long moment, neither said anything, they just stared at one another.

 

 

“Alright” Sesshoumaru said with finite, turning around to return to his tree.

 

 

Rin and Kohaku sighed.

 

 

The green retainer merely remained silent.

 

 

“S-Sesshoumaru!?” the older girl urgently got up just like that, surprising them with her new resolve.

 

 

“What?” he stopped walking but didn't turn to look at her.

 

 

“…Thank you…”

 

 

To Be Continued.