Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ A Simple Knock ❯ Chapter 3 ( Chapter 3 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Title: A Simple Knock
Author: Maetel
Email: maemaechan@yahoo.com
URL: http://www.geocities.com/dawnbabu/
Rating: M 15+
Summary: I'll let the plot of the story remain a mystery until people
start reading.
Chapters: 3/16
Status: Incomplete
Year Completed: N/A

The sound of Mamoru calling out drug Usagi from her slumber. She blinked away the sleep from her eyes and carefully walked over to him. She watched him silently for a few moments, attempting to ignore the painful throbbing in the back of her head where she had struck it in the battle the night before.

"Itai," she whimpered softly as her recent shoeless dash was being relived in her mind as she walked. The blonde finally made it over to the chair Mamoru was in and knelt in front of him. She lightly placed a hand on his forearm and shook gently. "Mamo-ba- Mamoru-san?"

"No, please don't go..." he muttered softly.

'He's dreaming... About someone leaving him... I think... I wonder who he's dreaming about?' Usagi pondered. With a quiet sigh, she gently shook his arm. She looked up and saw that his face was growing almost fearful... Not in a way that she had seen people look during a youma attack, but like a scared little boy lost and looking for his parents.

"No," she heard him repeat as she felt the previous night's wound become too much to bear. She felt her hold finally slip as the word, "Serenity," escaped his lips.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Mamoru suddenly shot up from where he was laying on the couch and saw Usagi slumped over, one hand to her temple, the other on his arm, lightly clutching.

"Daijobou?" he asked softly causing her to look up in surprise. A small smile graced her features as she nodded.

Something was different about her. Something... Something he couldn't place exactly. Maybe it was because of the fact that she was so close and smiling instead of arguing or in pain. Maybe it was the way he noticed her silver eyes shone in the light- Then it hit him... 'Wait a minute. She has blue eyes doesn't she?'

"Perhaps I should be inquiring as to how you are feeling?" she said a moment later after she studied him quietly.

"I'm fine... Just thinking," he assured her as he carefully pulled her up onto the couch. "By the way, how do your feet feel?"

She blinked before the slight stinging coming from the balls of her feet finally registered. She looked down at her bandaged appendages and cocked her head to the side in confusion. "How did that happen?"

"I found you a few blocks away from here. You had been running barefoot for a pretty good amount of time I'm guessing. Don't you remember?"

He watched her brow scrunch in an attempt to remember before she finally lowered her head. "I can't seem to recall any of what you have just told me. It makes sense, but I just do not remember running from anywhere."

"Don't tell me you've had another memory lapse?" Mamoru sighed as he lifted her face to look at her eyes. "Usagi-" He almost jumped when he saw her silver eyes flicker from the color they were to the blue he more commonly recognized. "Doushite..."

"Nani?" she asked as she lifted her head to look at him without his hand for support. "Mamoru-san, daijobou?"

"Hai, demo, Usagi-chan, do your eyes usually do that?"

"Do what?" she replied.

"Change color?" He saw her expression become thoughtful. 'The senshi have said that my eyes look different after a battle, but I can't tell him that.' "Not normally. I've been told that maybe when I am really exhausted or stressed they look different, but I never noticed."

"Well, that explains it," he murmured. "Anyways, as I was going to ask, have you had any recent blows to the head?"

Usagi blinked. 'How in the... Why is he asking about head injuries?' Shaking her head, she answered, "I- Iie..."

"You're a bad liar, you know?" he quipped. "Usagi-chan, please. Tell me the truth. It might be what's causing your memory lapses."

"What do you mean memory lapses?" she inquired. "I've only had one..."

"A moment ago, you were saying that you don't remember how your feet were hurt," he stated.

"That's silly. I know how my feet got hurt... I had run from Mako-chan's here," she retorted.

He then thought of something. "Usagi-chan, what was the first thing you said to me after I woke up?" It hadn't been ten minutes and from the way she was acting, he was wondering if she was suffering from another lapse.

"What a silly question," she said with a laugh as she struggled to think back. "Nani? That is what I said."

"No... It wasn't... Usagi-chan... Please tell me. Have you suffered any sort of head injuries? A blow maybe? Did you hit your head on the pavement on your way to school ," he told her.

"No, I usually bump my head on your chest..." she stated flatly. "I an usually careful enough not to hit my head when I do fall..." she trailed on quietly, "Just when caught in an explosion..."

"What was that?" he inquired. From the sound of the last word, he could he sworn she said, "explosion."

"Nothing... Just I think I might have been hit once a while back during one of the attacks at the temple," she stated. "But that was a long time ago. I doubt that it would have anything to do with now."

"How long ago?" he asked.

"You know when those buses were disappearing. I was on one and the ride was so rocky that I ended up smacking my head on one of the metal walls," she told him "I was unconscious for a while, but otherwise I was fine. I even had a clean bill of health from Sailor Mercury."

Mamoru thought back and knew that that was almost four months ago. "I suppose you're right, but I still think that you should go see someone about why you keep having these episodes. I mean they could be a sign of something really dangerous."

"Dangerous?" Usagi whimpered as her eyes watered up. "What do you mean? You don't think I'm dying do you? I'm too young-"

"No, I don't think you're dying," he said in an attempt to avert the blonde's wailing. "Just that you should go get your head checked out, and I do not mean that in any sort of offensive manner."

"I-I'll think about it..." she sighed softly. 'More like have Mercury check me out, but he doesn't have to know that now does he?'

"Arigato," he told her; now, how are your feet feeling?"

"They feel kinda numb... I mean I can't really feel them as long as I don't wiggle my toes... I do that, and it feels like they are bleeding again."

"Since I doubt you crawled over here from your chair, how about I check out your feet one more time. Clean them up a bit," he offered. "Then we can go and see if Motoki has managed to contact any of your friends."

Once again the young blonde was taken aback by the kindness he was showing. Well the kindness and the fact that she finally took the time to look at his features. Strong chin, piercing blue eyes, and a face which looked like it should be in magazines, and from what she remembered from when he was holding her, the body to match. She blushed softly when he smirked at her, letting her know that he had caught her staring at him.

"That's odd..." he murmured after removing the bandages from her feet.

"What is?" she questioned.

"I could have sworn that your feet looked worse when I first bandages them, but now they looked like they have been healing for the past few days instead of past few hours," the dark haired upperclassman admitted. "It's probably the fact that I hadn't gotten any sleep that they looked so bad."

"Yeah..." she breathed in relief as he started bandaging up her feet again. 'I'd forgotten about the fast healing that I have! How could I have been so stupid?!'

"Well, I am going to go see if Motoki has gotten in touch with your friends. Then I'll drive you back to wherever you need to be," Mamoru said as he stood up and walked to the door. "I'll be back in a minute."

Usagi nodded and waited for his return. She slumped back in her seat boredly after about a minute or so and perked up when she saw the door open. Instead of the black head of hair that she had been expecting, Makoto entered the room.

"Usagi-chan!" the brunette exclaimed. "What happened to you this morning? Do you realize how worried we were? Rei, Ami and I have been out looking for you ever since Rei woke up."

"I- I just..." The blonde had no idea how she was going to explain what had happened, because she wasn't so sure herself. "I don't know... I fell asleep in your living room, and the next thing I knew was that I had fallen on a street corner, barefoot with the bottoms of my feet... Well you can see..."

"Oi... Usagi-chan..." the tall Amazonian girl sighed. "Well, at least you are all right. Anyways, I think it might have something to do with what happened last night, but we'll explain that once we get back to my place. This place is the slightest bit too crowded right now to actually discuss senshi business."

Usagi nodded. "Mako-chan, not that I don't appreciate seeing you, demo, where is Mamoru-san?"

"He went to Motoki-kun's car," she replied. "He should be out front by now."

"Actually, he has been for about a minute," Motoki told the two. "I just thought you might need some help carry Usagi-chan out there, so I decided to offer my sevices."

"Arigato, Motoki-onii-chan!" Usagi exclaimed as he walked over and carefully picked up the young woman. No wonder Mamoru had made it look so easy. The blonde in his arms didn't weigh much at all, which surprised him considering how much she usually ate while at the arcade before spending money on the games. How did she work it all off was what he wanted to know.

He carefully walked her through the entrance, thankful for the sliding doors which had only been installed a year before. After Mamoru pushed the door open, Motoki allowed Makoto to enter the vehicle and sit in the back seat before settling Usagi into the passenger seat.

"Well, I hope your feet get better quickly, Usagi-chan," Motoki told her as he closed the door.

"I'll be back in a little while, Motoki-kun," Mamoru said as he watched Usagi nod. "I'll take good care of your car."

"All right," the blonde man replied before watching his best friend drive away. "Wait a minute, I never found out why Usagi-chan was running with no shoes on..." He simply shrugged and sighed as he turned around and walked into the slightly crowded arcade.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Usagi looked at the radio in the car for what time it was, but sighed when she saw that the display wasn't working. "Oi..." she muttered softly.

"What's the matter, Usagi-chan?" questioned Makoto.

"I was wondering what time it was. I mean, I know that Mamoru-san and I fell asleep in the back room, but how long were we asleep?" the blonde replied before suddenly feeling the car suddenly stop.

"What the hell?" the two heard Mamoru question softly as people ran out in front of the car.

"Kaijuu!!" erupted from different people as they ran from the large office building causing Makoto and Usagi to shoot each other a knowing look which was ignored by Mamoru as he quickly got out of the car and went around to Usagi's side.

"I doubt we're getting anywhere in the car at the rate the people are coming out of that building, and frankly we need to get out of here," the dark haired teen stated. 'And since I can't exactly become Tuxedo Kamen, I need to do something until the senshi arrive.' He then carefully picked up the blonde.

"Mamoru-san, what are you doing?" questioned the blonde.

"You can't walk, and I doubt that you'd get away fast enough by crawling, so I'm getting you out of danger. I know this neighborhood a little bit, and I think I might know a way out of here," said Mamoru before he noticed Makoto standing in front of him.

"Mamoru-san, give her to me. I know this place a little better than you do, so I think I'd be able to get her out of here faster," advised the brunette.

The upperclassman knew that she had a point, but a surge of protectiveness rose up in him and he fought back the urge to tighten his hold on the blonde in his arms. He looked over towards the building when he heard a roar erupt from it. He looked at Makoto one more time and felt a sense of confidence in her ability to protect the small blonde.

'It would give me a chance to change into Tuxedo Kamen...' he thought. "All right, but if anything happens to either one of you, I'm going to come after you."

"You have my word that we'll be all right," Makoto stated as he handed her Usagi. The three then took off into a run, Mamoru heading towards the crowd as it escaped the building, the two girls running into an alley.

Makoto carefully sat the blonde on a garbage can and pulled her broach from her pocket. "I'm glad I made sure to grab this off the chair this morning. Usagi-chan, do you know if this still works after what happened last night?"

"What do you mean?" replied the blonde as she took her broach and noticed the small crack in the seal. "That... Well, I didn't change back from Sailor Moon last night, so I guess it should be all right. There's only one real way to check."

"Henshin yo then," muttered Makoto as her henshin wand appeared in her hand.

"Moon Prism Power..."

"Jupiter Power..."

"Make up!" cried the two before the alley was filled with green lightning and pink ribbons, transforming the two girls into the senshi, Sailor Moon and Sailor Jupiter

"It works," Usagi stated. "And I think the powers healed my feet!!"

"Great, now come on..." ordered Sailor Jupiter as she helped the smaller girl from where she was sitting. The two senshi then broke into a run, giving them enough momentum to leap up to the second story window. They saw that Tuxedo Kamen had surprisingly enough already shown up before any of the other senshi.

It was at that moment that Usagi felt an intense presence overpower her.