InuYasha Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Prismatic ❯ Renitence - Part 1 ( Chapter 4 )

“Thanks for the meal Higurashi-san!”  Practically bouncing on her heels, Usagi had all but forgotten the frightening events of the battle that had taken place earlier that night. She hadn't expected Kagome’s family to be so nice. Though, after meeting Kagome perhaps she should have.

“Of course, Usagi-chan. We're quite happy to have you here. Kagome talks very fondly of you, you know.”

Though it shouldn't have been surprising, Usagi couldn't help but to blink at the declaration.

She wasn't without friends, certainly, but none had ever gone to the lengths Kagome had, much less welcomed her so seamlessly into their homes. She'd known Naru and Umino for years at this point, they'd practically grown up together, but even they had never put in the effort to help her beyond a comforting pat on the back at her failures.

“It is good to see her with friends on this side again. I did worry… Kagome has been quite lonely since she started traveling through the well.”

Usagi looked up at the Higurashi matriarch with a start at that, concern widening her eyes a little at the revelation. ‘Kagome-chan was lonely?’

It struck her in that moment that of all the stories Kagome had shared with her, they had only been those from the other side of the well, of her companions back in the feudal era. A lump tightened her throat.

She could have been just as alone. Her thoughts traveled to the near miss at the radio station earlier that night and Usagi wondered what might have become of her if she'd had to face that man, Jadeite, alone. She wondered after that if she would have even made it that far. Fighting scared her. She hadn’t wanted to fight from the beginning, not after understanding the reality behind it was so much different from the glamorous stories about Sailor V.

“Now, Kagome has told me only a little of your own position, Usagi-chan. But I understand your family doesn’t know?”

“W-well…no. They don’t. Luna didn’t think it was a good idea and…I don't think mama would understand.”

Her mother wouldn't listen to her on mundane matters, none of them would, much less entertain something as fantastical as Usagi possessing the power and duties of a sailor soldier.

‘Mama would never believe me anyway…and if she made me stop…' Usagi straightened suddenly at the thought, looking out the window where Kagome had gone to find Luna, horror struck.

“Mm. Well, Usagi-chan, you are always welcome in our home if you need it. We've had our share of strange supernatural encounters here, so don't you worry about that.”

Usagi wasn’t certain whether to be awed or embarrassed when the older woman winked at her, the expression one of knowing and acceptance in a way that was purely motherly. Luckily, she was saved from having to decide on a reaction when the door flew open instead.

“Usagi-chan, look at this!”

Swiveling towards the doorway, Usagi nearly tumbled from her seat. Kagome stood there before them, smiling widely as she stood in a pose not unlike her own, wearing the uniform of a sailor soldier. The outfit wasn’t so unlike hers, with a blue skirt and collar, though the bows and boots were a shade of teal rather than Sailor Moon’s pink.

At first, she almost didn’t recognize the other girl. It was the twinkle of the familiar blue eyes that shone through the fog and Usagi gaped. “K-Kagome-chan? Y-you’re…”

“Isn’t it great? Luna-san gave it to me!”

Kagome held up a pink wand, the color scheme noticeably similar to the broach that the feline had given her and Usagi blinked. “You’re a sailor soldier now too?”

“Oh, well not really.” Kagome straightened out of her pose, smile still in place even as Usagi furrowed her brows, more confused than before. “But now I can look like one!”

“But…how?” Usagi shook her head, baffled, and turned to look at Luna as the cat padded in behind the giddy priestess. “Luna?”

“The Moon Disguise Pen is not bound to one user the way a sailor soldier’s transformation item is. It is not a transformation in the same way, but it can provide the same glamor.” Luna glanced over towards Kagome, who was happily twirling around to show off the uniform to her mother, and Usagi blinked a few more times. Then she straightened with a jolt, the implication rapidly clicking in her head, and Luna nodded when she caught her gaze. “You see because she wills it. The enemy will not.”

Kagome paused mid-twirl to turn back to them, brightening as she caught a flabbergasted Usagi’s hands in one of her own. “I can fight with you more in the open now!”

Usagi’s heart fluttered a bit and she smiled hesitantly, a worry she’d not really noticed suddenly lessening on her shoulders. “R-really?”

“Well, I know I’m not really a sailor soldier, but the enemy doesn’t know that, right?” Kagome looked down to Luna briefly, the cat barely opening her mouth to respond before she’d turned back to Usagi with a renewed grin. “At least this way I don’t have to skulk around and worry about them figuring out who I am.”

Usagi nodded, another little bit of weight drifting off of her as she smiled back at her friend. Then, she frowned again and tapped the tip of a finger to her chin. “Um…so what…what’s your sailor name?”

Kagome faltered a moment, then rubbed her head sheepishly, clearly not thinking that far. “Er…we’ll work on that.”

Usagi giggled and did not press, opting only to enjoy the remainder of the evening. When she finally headed home it was with a weight off her shoulders, a skip in her step, and a box of leftovers from Higurashi-san that made her eager for tomorrow’s lunch.

---

When Kagome left school to meet Usagi several days later, she wasn’t expecting to find the girl, along with several of her classmates, surrounding a short bespectacled boy who they had cornered at the end of an alleyway. The boy, to his credit, was handling it well given that he appeared torn between deciding whether he was facing his greatest fantasy come to life or whether he should be terrified for his life.

‘What in the world did he do to upset all of them?’ She recalled him, if vaguely, from the debacle with the fortune teller a few weeks back but he’d seemed a nice enough person when he wasn’t possessed. The thought made her pause and Kagome furrowed her brows, peering over the bobbing head of blonde hair as Usagi got into his face to demand something she could not hear. His energy seemed normal enough and she couldn’t sense anything particularly strange on him or the mob of angry middle school girls. ‘Well, at least weird demonic forces aren’t behind it this time...but then what-‘

Usagi’s sudden shout of victory derailed her confusion, and Kagome watched as the other girl practically bounced back to her classmates.

“I got the address! Should we go check it out?”

“Yeah! I want to see this gym that Miss Haruna goes to!”

‘A gym?’ Kagome tilted her head, now more confused than before. With a sigh, she shouldered her bag and supposed she would have to get it out of Usagi herself, especially since the other girl seemed to have entirely forgotten their plans for study and practice that evening. “Um…Usagi-chan?”

Usagi paused mid-step, the motion so sudden that she would have fallen on her face if the redhead beside her had not caught her by the arm. The rest of them hurried off down the road, oblivious and happily chatting about something to do with a weight loss program their teacher was on. The guilty look on the other girl’s face only confirmed Kagome’s suspicion that her flighty friend had indeed forgotten their plans.

“O-oh, Kagome-chan…I-“

“Oh, this is Higurashi? The new friend that’s been helping you study?”

At that, Kagome blinked. ‘Usagi-chan talks about me?’

She almost missed the greeting that the other girl offered, and Kagome snapped out of her wandering thoughts to smile awkwardly. “Ah, yes? You’re Osaka, right?”

Kagome relaxed a little at the girl’s friendly smile, suddenly knowing exactly how the two of them had become friends. “Yep! You should come by the school sometime, Higurashi-chan. Miss Haruna even said she wanted to meet the person who got Usagi-chan to be passable in English.”

 Kagome blushed a little at the declaration and giggled, wondering for a moment if the entire class was so dramatic or just the ones in Usagi’s social circles. ‘Speaking of…they said something about this Miss Haruna before…’

“Hey! What’s the holdup you two?!”

At least it seemed the rest of their classmates hadn’t forgotten them, though that brought Kagome’s attention back to her reason for being there in the first place. “Oh, right. Usagi-chan…”

“Um, I…I’m sorry, Kagome-chan. I didn’t mean to forget, but Miss Haruna looks so good, and…and-!”

“Woah, woah, wait a second.” Frowning, Kagome caught Usagi by the shoulders and glanced apologetically over to Naru who, to her credit, did not seem thrown by Usagi’s dramatic emotional swings one little bit. “I’m sorry, Osaka-chan. Do you want to go ahead of us? We’ll catch up, okay?”

Naru gave the two of them a knowing look and a smile that only spoke of amusement before lifting a hand in agreement and trotting up the sidewalk.

Letting out a huff, Kagome turned back to the sniffling blonde and shook her head. “Now, Usagi-chan…what’s going on?”

“W-well…I need to start exercising, Kagome-chan!” Usagi puffed up so suddenly that Kagome had to take a step back as she made the declaration. It answered none of her questions, but Usagi stared at her in a way that suggested it explained everything. To Usagi, Kagome supposed, perhaps it did. Nonetheless, she stared up at her with such resolve that Kagome could only sigh resolutely.

“Okay, okay…it’s probably a good thing if we’re going to be training more-eh?!” It was Kagome’s turn to nearly fall on her face when an excited Usagi suddenly latched onto her arm.

“Come with us, Kagome-chan! It’ll be fun!”

The look that Usagi gave her was so excitable and hopeful that Kagome might have thought she’d been taking lessons from Shippo if she hadn’t known better. Kagome was stuttering a baffled agreement and barely managed a yelp of surprise before the blonde burst into an excited cheer and tore off down the road, still clutching her arm.

When they finally came to a stop, she barely got the chance to look up at the building that loomed over them before she was dragged inside.

---

‘Only for Usagi-chan…’ Kagome heaved a sigh and wondered, not for the first time, if she was lucky or decidedly unlucky that she’d been carrying her gym uniform home for washing that day. Admittedly, even if she hadn’t, Usagi didn’t give her much choice with the way she latched onto her arm and towed her inside, excitedly gushing over the announcement advertising free starter memberships. ‘And who are they kidding anyway? Nothing’s ever really free. I wonder what they’re really selling…’

“Hurry up, Kagome-chan!”

Usagi bounded excitedly after her classmates and Kagome sighed. She wasn’t nearly as enthusiastic about signing up for this program as the other girls had been and she wasn’t sure what exactly had spurred on Usagi’s sudden insistence on an exercise regime, but she’d been so insistent on it and Kagome didn’t have the heart to turn her down. Usagi had clearly gotten the idea in her head somehow, and if there was one thing that Kagome had learned about her friend it was that the girl was flighty and whimsical at the best of times, but also stubborn as a mule.

It was alright though, she supposed. Usagi had been doing quite well with their lessons recently and missing a day of dedicated study and practice wouldn’t really put them behind too terribly. Besides, Kagome wasn’t so blind not to realize how rattled the girl had been after their last battle. It had only been a few days and, though Usagi had seemed alright at the time, that fight had been different from the others.

It had been much more dangerous.

The creatures that they’d fought so far, the youma, had been nothing compared to the man apparently behind them. He’d halted Usagi’s attack with a flick of his fingers and Kagome did not want to entertain the idea of what might have happened if Usagi had been there alone. For as much bravado as she had put on for the other girl’s sake, Kagome had been afraid that night. She hadn’t been certain exactly what she was getting involved in when she had gone back to the jewelry shop that night, and to an extent she really still didn’t, but it was bigger than she had thought.

She had to be stronger.

Her resolution must have been obvious when she had made her brief trip through the well that weekend because even Inuyasha had not given her a hard time. He had only looked at her once before he’d turned to Miroku knowingly and simply stepped out to allow them their lesson. She had expected at least another argument over the limited time she had been spending with them, but he had also been much more sedate since she’d declared her plans to lessen her time with them anyway. A petty part of her childishly wished it was because he felt guilty, but she swallowed such thoughts as quickly as they came. He had made his choice, she had accepted that, made her own, and she would not get caught up wallowing.

Suddenly, working off a bit of her pent-up emotional baggage against hapless gym equipment seemed a bit more appealing. A bit of exercise that didn’t involve running from demons or fighting for her life might even do her some good.

‘Besides…better not to leave Usagi here alone. This place feels…off.’

There was an unsettling feeling in the air, though it may have very well been the energy of the gym-goers already there. There was always such a mix of pride and shame in commercial gyms like this that Kagome had noticed the uncomfortable atmosphere they so often housed long before she’d ever known she was a priestess.

She’d barely taken a step out of the changing room, and suddenly she knew why. Kagome fumbled, her misstep only hidden by her position behind the group of girls, each oblivious to what stood before them. ‘That’s-!’

“Welcome to Gym Shapely.”

'Oh no, oh crud, oh- why?!‘

This was not how Kagome had been expecting their trip to the gym, however impulsive and impromptu, to end up. Admittedly, she supposed she should have expected it. Given the plots that she and Usagi had thwarted so far, an evil gym wasn’t so strange. Kagome wondered whether it said more about their research efforts into human society or the nature of commercialized gyms that they had gotten their marketing so close.

Kagome swallowed a lump in her throat, her stomach twisting uncomfortably as the group of Usagi’s classmates tittered over the blond man’s good looks. He didn’t seem to notice her stare from the back of the group as she watched the way he smiled down at them, wearing an expression that did its job in making the other girls swoon but only struck Kagome as far too similar to the looks Miroku used on a con.

“I’m the instructor here.”

‘Of course you are, you sneaky…’

“Um…w-we’re new here…”

‘Cripes, Usagi-chan, don’t look like that at him!’

“Please, come this way.”

‘No, no, no…Usagi-chan, don’t follow him!’

Usagi, as it stood, was neither psychic enough to hear her internal screams nor seasoned enough to pick up on the measuring look of a predator that trailed over their group as they happily followed his instruction and hurried into the main area of the gym. Kagome wanted to call out after the girl, to warn her away, to shout at her to get back here right now, and to drag her away from whatever trap had been set but she couldn’t. She could have cried in frustration. There were too many people here. Tipping them off and starting a fight would only get people killed. At least for now he hadn’t seemed to recognize them. Right now, they were prey, not a threat.

She still wasn’t expecting him to notice the way she hung back.

“Hm? Aren’t you going to join your friends?” He was suddenly beside her, and Kagome could not help but tense when he set his hand on her back to usher her inside. “Come, don’t be shy.”

Despite the almost gentle way he nudged her through the door, she was suddenly very aware of the underlying threat to it, and she could do little more than allow herself to be obediently led inside. She forced an awkward smile as the rest of the group were divided between a varying group of trainers and he led her to a row of treadmills.

“Don’t worry now, there’s nothing to be nervous about.” He smiled in a way that she was sure was meant to be disarming and her stomach rolled. “Here, since it’s your first day, I’ll personally see to your training today.”

Kagome thought she might be sick.

The beep of the treadmill as he switched it on echoed ominously in her ears. Surprisingly, he started her at a reasonable pace, only making her run enough to get her heart rate up before guiding her towards a rack of dumbbells. She was keenly aware of his closeness and the lingering touch of his hands as he positioned her and corrected her form. She almost thought he might be doing it on purpose. But she couldn’t be sure, and she didn’t want to risk the potential fallout of calling the behavior out, even if he only thought her an oblivious civilian.

She snuck glances at him as she went through the motions, grateful for each instance that he turned his attention away to shout encouragement to the rest of the hapless gym-goers. If he noticed, he didn’t say anything. For all intents and purposes, he played the role of a personal trainer very well. If their meeting, the sensation of his presence, hadn’t been so recent and fresh in her mind Kagome might not have thought him anything but.

‘Well…at least I’ve got plenty of practice running from demons these days.’ Kagome never thought that would have been such a relief as when her so-called instructor deposited her back on the treadmill so he could turn his attention back to the rest of the group. She only realized that she had fallen so mindlessly into the routine when Naru paused in her own to look at them over her shoulder.

“Hey, where’s Usagi?”

‘W-what? Usagi-chan?!’ Kagome could practically hear the record scratch in her head, and she looked up with such a jolt that she nearly fell from the treadmill.

 “Huh? She was doing the rowing machine until just a minute ago.”

Kagome didn’t hear the chatter after that, nor did she notice the way one of the trainers hurried to yank the emergency cord when they saw the way she’d stumbled. Their questions of whether she was alright fell on deaf ears, the sounds of the room registering as little more than white noise as she frantically scanned the room.

Usagi was nowhere to be seen.

Scrambling from the treadmill, Kagome didn’t really notice the disgruntled shout of surprise as she pushed the trainer that had come to check on her out of the way. He wasn’t important. In what was surely a Dark Kingdom trap, Usagi was suddenly missing. Finding Usagi was important.

Watching where she was going, Kagome realized a moment too late, probably should have been just as much a priority. Her foot caught on a dumbbell, forgotten on the mat, and she went tumbling forward with a cry of surprise.

She never made it to the floor, but she wasn’t certain whether to laugh or cry when she saw who had caught her.

Her eyes caught his and, for a long moment, Kagome was frozen. The way he stared down at her almost looked genuine, somewhere between surprise and concern, and she could almost have commended him on his acting skills. After a moment his expression relaxed, though she wasn’t certain that was necessarily a good thing. He righted her, one arm looped around her shoulders to hold her upright as he clapped for attention.

“Okay, that’s it for today!”

Kagome should have been relieved, but her pulse only thumped anxiously in her ears instead.

“You did well, everyone. Now, we’ll let you enjoy our relaxation pods, where you’ll be treated with our Shape Ray.”

Whatever that was, Kagome was certain it couldn’t be anything good. The others, however, didn’t seem to share her skepticism and even seemed to have forgotten the brief concern for Usagi’s whereabouts. Instead, they chattered curiously, at least having the sense to question what a ‘Shape Ray’ was, even as they were guided towards a stairway that led down.

It was very suddenly and with a heavy heart that Kagome realized she too would have to shift her priority from finding Usagi. She couldn’t very well let them walk blindly to their deaths without doing something about it.

That something, however, would not involve following them it seemed because when Kagome took a step to do just that, she nearly crumpled at the sharp pain that shot up from her foot. She was reminded again of the man who had caught her in her initial fall when the arm around her shoulder suddenly tightened and drew her back away from the staircase.

“Well, you might have to sit this one out today.” His eyes almost looked soft when he stared down at her, with such a look of pity that Kagome once more almost believed he might truly be someone else. He exhaled through his nose and let out a sound that made Kagome feel almost chastised. “Get her some ice. I’ll go take care of our guests.”

Guiltily, Kagome could only watch as he led the group down the stairs. At least the ice pack that was pressed to her injured foot gave her an excuse for the tears that burned her eyes.