Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Alone ❯ Chapter Five: A Mother's Acceptance ( Chapter 5 )

Alone
Chapter Five: A Mother's Acceptance

By Selenity Jade
Rated: PG

 

Disclaimer: I'm not creative enough to create Sailormoon...

 

Pairing: Mamoru/Usagi

 

AN: Updated - 03/19/08

 

xxx

 

The Senshi arrived at the orphanage in record time. All four of them surveyed their surroundings, looking for the youma they had been told was there. Fortunately, it didn't look like it had appeared yet. A few small boys played on the worn swing set, which sat in the barely kept yard.

 

"Do you think the information was right?" Venus asked quietly as she stood behind the tree in the corner of the yard.

 

"I think so. Chibi-Usa trusts this Puu," Sailor Moon replied.

 

"Then perhaps we should watch for awhile until one shows up," Tuxedo Kamen suggested, leaning against the trunk of the tree.

 

He stared at where he had grown up, where he had left as soon as he was able to get a job. He had loathed this place so much towards the end, and yet... he couldn't help feeling a sort of nostalgia for home whenever he looked at it.

 

He glanced towards Sailor Moon. Perhaps, It's time I made my own home now...

"Sounds good," Jupiter said, taking a seat on the grass.

 

Sailor Moon, however, stayed tense, uncomfortable. "Guys, I think something is wrong."

 

Tuxedo Kamen glanced at the woman he had sworn to protect, frowning slightly in concern. "What do you mean?"

 

The Moon Senshi shook her head, stepping towards the building. "We should check inside."

 

Venus and Jupiter watched their leader in silence for a moment before they both pushed away from the tree. "Let's go then!" Venus exclaimed, jogging towards the front door of the orphanage.

 

xxx

 

Something was definitely wrong. Sailor Moon could feel it inside. The hair on the back of her neck was standing up and every nerve was afire with tension. The four warriors crept down the hall towards the front desk silently. They hadn't been stopped or spotted yet by any of the children or the adults running the orphanage and that in itself was very odd.

 

Sailor Moon glanced worriedly around the front lobby. "It's too quiet."

 

Jupiter cracked her knuckles. "I hope we're not too late."

 

Venus gasped, backing into Sailor Moon. "We're not. It's here! In the walls!"

 

The Senshi and Tuxedo Kamen glanced around frantically, looking for whatever Venus spotted. "What do you mean?" Sailor Moon asked, her voice cracking slightly in fear.

 

"I mean, it's in the walls! I saw the walls move!"

 

Tuxedo Kamen suddenly jumped in front of Sailor Moon, holding his cane and arms out in front of him protectively. "Watch out, Senshi! It's coming!"

 

Sailor Moon couldn't see much over the shoulder of her protector, simply a shadow - a large shadow - which plowed into Tuxedo Kamen, knocking both of them into the wall.

 

Sailor Moon cried out in pain, the air was pushed from her lungs with a soft whoosh. Tuxedo Kamen tried to soften his fall against her, but failed miserably as he slammed into her.

 

"Sailor Moon!" Jupiter cried, rushing the snake-like youma, lightening flying from her hands.

 

Venus threw a Love and Beauty Shock at the creature and both the lightening and energy chain hit simultaneously, momentarily stunning the monster.

 

Tuxedo Kamen pushed himself off Sailor Moon, worriedly looking down at her. "Usako, are you alright?"

 

She groaned softly, sitting up. "Yeah." She gave him a sweet smile. "You're heavy."

 

The black-haired masked man smiled slightly. "Sorry. It's time for you, Sailor Moon."

 

She sighed and nodded, standing up just as the youma appeared to be getting its bearings back. "Alright! Time to dust the freak!" She twirled around with her wand, crying out, "Moon Princess Halation!"

 

The monster screamed shrilly as it was disintegrated into a soft, glowing pile of dust.

 

Sailor Moon slumped against the wall, sighing. "It's done."

 

Her ex-boyfriend watched her worriedly. "Are you alright?"

 

She nodded, straightening away from the wall. "Let's go, every-" She gasped, snapping her head around. "Jupiter? Venus?"

 

Both Senshi were gone.

 

xxx

 

Sailor Moon clung desperately at Mamoru's shirt, her tiny hands clenching the white fabric with trembling fingers. She sobbed softly, brokenheartedly, into his chest as he held her.

 

Usagi's parents looked on silently, each feeling helpless to ease their daughter's pain. It was the parents' job to heal and console their children, but this time, both her father and mother felt completely out of their league. How could they possibly tell their daughter - the superhero - that her friends will be fine in the hands of someone evil? How could they protect their little girl from such pain and sorrow when Usagi was who she was? How could they protect her from doing her duty, her destiny as she put it? It wasn't as if her mother could say, "It'll be okay," and it really would be, like when Usagi had been a child.

 

Their daughter had grown up, and nothing they could say or do would help ease the pain of friends and comrades lost. So, they simply watched on helplessly as the only other person who could understand her pain comforted her.

 

Mamoru knew it was nearly driving her father rabid with anger and jealousy, but he wasn't about to let his Usako suffer alone simply to appease the older man. He'd be there for her, especially after he'd done so much to hurt her.

 

"Usako, maybe you should go to sleep. We'd all think better after resting. I don't think we will figure out anything tonight," Mamoru said softly to the sobbing blonde in his lap.

 

She nodded feebly. "I... guess."

 

The young man gently lifted Usagi into his arms, and moved upstairs towards her room. He purposely ignored her father's facial twitch.

 

"How does he know where her room is?" Mamoru heard Kenji demand angrily.

 

After a few calming sounds from Usagi's mother, he couldn't hear anything else as he entered the pink, bunny-covered room. He gently set his princess on the bed, crouching beside it.

 

"I'm sorry, Usako."

 

She shook her head. "I should have been paying attention."

 

Mamoru sighed. "It is my job to protect you. I failed to do that. I failed to save your friends."

 

"No, you shouldn't have to do everything! I'm not as weak as that! I should have done it! I should have seen them taken, stopped it, something! It isn't your fault!"

 

"I still failed to do what I became Tuxedo Kamen to do. Protect the princess, the princess I love. You."

 

Shaking her head, she covered her face with her hands. "Stop it! You haven't learned to trust me yet! You can't just act like we're together! We aren't! You left me! You left me and your words won't make it alright! Nothing will change the fact you left me, you hurt me, without even giving me a choice. I'm not a possession, I'm not a pet! I have free will! I can choose what I want, who I want to be with, even if I die because of it!"

 

Mamoru looked at her sadly. "I can't, Usako. I can't stay with you, knowing that if I stay... you'll die. Don't you understand? If... being apart from you will save you, I will stay away!"

 

She sobbed into her hands softly. "Just... go, Mamoru."

 

He sighed sadly, standing up from his crouching position. "I'm sorry, Usako," he murmured, moving towards the door. He could do nothing else to ease the pain of losing her four best friends, or stop the hurting he had inflicted on her. So he left her to cry herself to sleep.

 

xxx

 

Usagi opened puffy blue eyes, glancing around her room slowly. Something seemed out of place, though she couldn't remember quite what it was.

 

Slowly sitting up, Usagi pushed back her blankets and blinked. She was still dressed in her Sailor fuku. What happened last night? she wondered.

 

Then it all came crashing back.

 

Makoto and Minako had been taken by the Doom Phantom. And she hadn't even seen it! It had all happened right under her nose! It was all her fault. The only reason they were being taken was to weaken her! They knew - he knew - that she relied on her friends. Even if she didn't strictly need them to survive a battle - she was capable of handling one on her own, if she had to - she did need them with her. She loved them. They were her friends, a part of her family. Their strength is what gave her the strength to survive, to fight!

 

She blinked back another tirade of tears as the sound of soft footsteps stopped outside her door.

 

The door opened slightly and her mother stood there silently with a sad, sympathetic expression on her face. "Usagi-chan?"

 

Usagi smiled weakly and gently touched the brooch on her chest, dispelling her Sailor uniform. "Hi, Mom."

 

The blue-haired woman entered the room and shut the door behind her. "Can we talk?"

 

Usagi nodded, pulling her legs to her chest so that her mother had room to sit down. "Of course."

 

"I had a talk with Luna," the older woman said, settling on the edge of the bed, next to her daughter. "She explained to me what happened on the Moon. I still can't... really believe all of this, even though, it's so far fetched it has to be true. And a talking cat is proof enough. To me, you aren't the reincarnation of a Moon Princess who lived a thousand years ago. You're my daughter. The little girl I watched grow up into a beautiful young woman. You're Usagi to me. Not this Serenity."

 

Usagi smiled beautifully at her mother, thankful for those words. Words she had been afraid she would never hear from anyone. She always wondered if her friends, and Mamoru, loved the Serenity they remembered on the Moon, not the Usagi she was here. She also feared that they wouldn't love the combination of the two she really was.

 

But her mother's simple words reinforced the fact that even if her friends didn't love her for her, at least her mother always would. Her mother would always love her, no matter the person she became, the person she grew into. Even if that person did horrible things, her mother would still love her.

 

She needed that.

 

"Thanks, Mom," the teenager whispered, blinking back tears.

 

The blue-haired woman hugged her daughter tightly. "Your father and I will always be here for you. We can't help you fight, not really. But we can lighten the load when you're home."

 

The complete acceptance of her mother finally sent tears down Usagi's cheeks and both mother and daughter cried together.

 

xxx

 

AN: sighs I know this is fairly short, but that seemed to be... the best ending for this chapter. Don't you agree?

 

Japanese:

- fuku: uniform basically

 

Lovies!