Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Conflict and Courage ❯ Answers and Questions ( Chapter 4 )

An Unaccepted Love

by Damien Frost

~

I'm broke. I don't own anything, much less something as cool as Sailor Moon.

~

Chapter Four: Answers and Questions

~

Usagi awoke to Rei's alarm blaring. She rolled over to smack it, grumbling all the while. After hitting the off button, she lay there for a moment, hanging half off the bed.

"Rei-chan?" she called out sleepily. When she received no response, she rolled over to where the miko usually slept when Usagi was over. Realization hit her when she saw the sleeping bag hadn't been slept in.

`She never came home last night.'

Usagi shook her head and got ready for school. Today was her mid-term in physics. That thought alone was almost enough to make her cry. And her problem with Rei the night before just added to it.

`I hope she'll be okay,' she thought as she got out of the shower. As she walked back into Rei's room, she realized she would have to stop by her house to pick up her uniform.

"Great. Well, at least I woke up early enough that I won't have to worry about it."

She pulled her clothes on and thought about the look that had been on Rei's face when she left. It had been one of defeat, one of heartbreak. She seemed so lost when she left. `And all I did was watch her go.'

Usagi sighed as she left the shrine.

~

Rei woke with a splitting headache. "Fuck," she said as she reached a hand to rub her temples.

Or at least tried to.

Her eyes shot open as she realized she was bound to a chair, unable to move. She quickly took stock of her situation. She was in what appeared to be an upscale home. It was done in a Western style. And more importantly there was a man sitting across from her, glaring at her.

"Who are you, where am I, and what the hell am I doing here?" she asked, a dangerous edge to her voice.

The man regarded her evenly. "Those are all valid questions. But before I answer them, I have a couple of my own," he leaned forward in his chair. "If you answer my questions, I will answer yours."

Rei blinked. "Deal," she said after a moment's consideration.

"All right. First, do you know who you are?"

"Do you?" she replied snidely. Receiving a glare from the man, she answered him. "Hino Rei."

"Good, the blow to your head didn't disrupt your memory," he sighed in relief. "Second, if I untie you, do you promise not to try turning me into charcoal?"

Rei sat stunned. How did he know she could command fire? "Yeah," she squeaked.

"Good." He stood and walked behind her. Rei took in her opponent. He was roughly seven feet tall, and a body that seemed pure muscle. His head was shaved and he seemed to be in his mid-thirties. He seemed wholly unremarkable except for his piercing eyes.

The same strange shade of purple as her own.

She felt the tension on her limbs loosen, and immediately brought her hands to her head. She felt a wave of nausea come over her at the sudden motion. She leaned over and retched into the garbage can that had appeared at her feet.

She felt a reassuring hand on her shoulder and heard a soothing voice. "It's okay. Sorry about that, I think Kilag must have hit you harder than he meant to. You done? All right sit up now and let's get you cleaned up."

Rei sat up and looked into the eyes of the woman.

They were amethyst as well.

~

Usagi stood and handed her test to the teacher. She was the second one done, Umino had finished before her. She smiled and waved to the teacher as she walked out the door.

She walked to Crown, her mind wandering all the way. The gang had agreed to meet there to celebrate the end of mid-terms.

Usagi prayed Rei would be there.

When she walked in, she noticed Ami had been the only one to arrive so far. `She's probably been done with her tests for a couple hours by now,' Usagi thought as she walked over to the table where her friend sat reading a book. She pulled out a chair and plopped herself down, resting her head in her hands and staring at Ami, waiting for the blue-haired girl to notice her.

After about five minutes, Ami glanced up and blinked. "What?" she asked, slightly nervous under her friend's intense gaze.

Usagi smiled mischievously. "Can I ask you something?" she asked sweetly.

Ami closed her book and looked at her friend warily. "You can ask, of course. I just may not choose to answer," she smiled at her friend.

Usagi took a moment to build up her nerve. "When did you know you were in love with Mako-chan?"

At that moment, Ami's face could have been mistaken for a cherry tomato. "What do you mean?" she asked, keeping her voice level.

Usagi gave her an oh-come-on look. "Ami-chan, I may not be Mina-chan, but I'm not blind either."

Ami shook her head, and the blush in her cheeks rapidly faded. "Yeah, I suppose I never tried very hard to hide it," she laughed softly. "Why do you want to know?"

Usagi looked away. "I'm not sure if I'm in love or not," she whispered.

"With Mamoru-san?" she asked timidly.

"No…" she smiled sadly. "I think I may love someone else," she almost whispered.

An `oh' appeared on Ami's mouth. As she was about to say something else, the door to the arcade burst open and Minako and Makoto rushed over to their friends. Makoto looked angry and Minako seemed worried.

Usagi looked at them strangely. "What's the rush?"

Minako sat down next to Usagi and grabbed her hand. "Usagi-chan, I think you need to sit down for this."

Usagi just looked at her friend dumbly before replying. "Ummm… Mina-chan? I am sitting down. Now what is going on?"

"We were walking here and we saw Mamoru-san in the park," Minako blurted out, then stopped not really wanting to voice what she had seen.

But Usagi already knew what the Goddess of Love was going to say. She just shook her head and sighed. "And he was with another girl and they were kissing. Is that what you were going to say?" she looked pointedly at her friend.

"You knew?" came Makoto's shocked voice.

Usagi smiled sadly and leaned back in her chair. "Yeah, for about a month now."

Minako looked at her friend, disbelief written all over her face. "And you just neglected telling us?" she asked, anger seeping into her voice.

Usagi rolled her eyes and was about to reply when she heard Ami say something. She turned to look at the girl. "I'm sorry Ami-chan, what was that?"

The girl looked at her with a strange twinkle in her eye. "Was it your choice or his to end it?"

Usagi smiled softly, realizing why the girl was asking. "I don't know. It just kind of happened. From my end it did anyway. I don't know about him," she whispered, trying to conceal her tears. "I don't want to talk about this anymore, okay," she said, looking at each of her friends, waiting for them to agree.

"You asked me about my love life," Ami mumbled, a little too loudly.

Minako, being Minako, took the opportunity and pounced.

"Oh, who is it? Do I know him? Is he here?" she shot out question after question, hoping to wear down her friend's defenses by the sheer number of them.

Ami sighed and did her best to ignore Minako. "So, Mako-chan, how did your tests go?" she asked over the incessant noise that was Minako.

Makoto groaned and plopped down in a chair next to her. "I knew I forgot something today."

Ami gasped in shock at her friend and was about to berate her when she noticed a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. She shoved the taller girl playfully. "You jerk, making me think you skipped out on mid-terms."

"If for nothing else than to see you make that face," she said, the tug becoming a full smile.

Minako stopped talking and blinked at Makoto. She turned back to Ami and saw a blush creeping across her face.

And it took all of a second for it to click in her head.

"No way…" she breathed in disbelief. Before she could say anymore though, she felt Usagi's hand on her shoulder. When she turned to look at her, the princess jerked her head toward the food counter.

"Let's go get something to eat." It wasn't a question or a request. It was a command.

So Minako followed Usagi, shaking her head the entire way.

~

The only question of Rei's that had been answered so far was who her captors were. The man was Kilag. The woman, who seemed no older than Rei, was Telanis. She had golden hair with streaks of red running through it, contrasting very badly. She was also shorter than Rei, but the fire senshi could feel a strong power emanating from her.

`Freaky names for freaky people,' she thought as she walked around the room she had been led to. `Well, more like forcibly moved to.'

Rei sighed. As angry as she was at being abducted, she couldn't help feeling intrigued by her… hosts.

But through this all, Rei's mind kept wandering back to the only real reason she had to get out of there as soon as possible. She wanted to see Usagi.

To just… see her.

Rei sighed again and shook her head, trying to banish the depressing thoughts.

She turned to look as the door to her room opened, revealing both Kilag and Telanis.

"Ah, the princess is awake," Telanis smirked as she walked into the room. Although she had been very comforting during their first encounter, Telanis had quickly become a - for lack of a better word - bitch.

Rei glared at the woman. "I never fell asleep."

Kilag just shook his head. "You very well should have. You will need your rest for the upcoming… events," he said, emphasizing the last word a little more than Rei liked.

"What events?" she ventured, hoping for a little more information.

Telanis just smiled at her. One of those I-know-something-you-don't-know smiles.

"Not yet. That was your last question. Your first has been answered. Now your second shall be answered. You are currently in Sapporo."

Rei's eyes widened. "How long was I out exactly?"

"Only a couple hours. We were here long before you decided to rejoin the world of the living," Telanis replied nonchalantly.

"But… how did we get from Tokyo to Sapporo in so little time?"

Kilag smiled softly. "We have ways."

"B… but… Hey where are you going!!" she shouted at the pair as they turned to leave.

Telanis merely glared at the senshi, a cruel smile dancing across her mouth. "To stir up some trouble."

~

"So they have the hots for each other, but neither one of them knows what the other feels?"

Usagi smiled at her friend. As calculating and level-headed as she was in a fight, Minako sometimes seemed to try epitomizing the blonde stereotype in her everyday life. Usagi knew it was usually just the girl trying to get the youth back she had missed out on by being the first to awaken, by taking on the mantle of Sailor V. "Yeah, that's pretty much the… story…" Usagi trailed off as she noticed Minako staring behind her.

Before she could turn to see what was diverting Minako's attention, she heard a voice she dearly wished she hadn't.

"Usa-ko."

She froze. Her face flushed, her blood boiled and her heart broke all over again.

"I'm sorry… I mean Usagi-chan." She turned to face him and saw the sad apologetic look on his features.

"Mamoru-san," she inclined her head, trying her best to not allow any emotion show. She was having a hell of a time of it.

"Ummm… Listen, I saw Rei-chan last night, and -"

"Do you know where she is?" Usagi interrupted. He could only blink in response, surprised at the sudden stop in his train of thought. Usagi's face fell, knowing his answer. She then looked at him with a resolve in her eyes. "Then I have nothing to discuss with you," she stated, eerily calm. She turned to Minako and pulled her back to the table where Makoto and Ami were talking quietly.

Usagi rolled her eyes, fed up with her friends antics. "All right I'm sick of this." Her friends looked at her, dumbfounded. She looked at Ami. "She loves you, you love her." She turned to Makoto. "Ditto for you. Figure it out for yourselves from here. This place just got really uncomfortable for me, so I'm gonna take off." She started toward the door with Minako still in tow. "Call me and tell me how it goes," she called out as she walked out the door.

Ami and Makoto stared at the door for a second before looking at each other. The realization of what Usagi had said finally registered in both of their minds and they couldn't help but chuckle nervously.

"Well, that was unexpected," Makoto smiled, then sighed. "I think we need to talk. Wanna go to my place? I'll make dinner"

Ami nodded emphatically, feeling the stares of everyone else in the arcade on the two girls.

~

A/N

All right. I just had to stop here because I felt like I was beginning to ramble. I know it doesn't really seem like an appropriate place to stop, and I apologize.

Before I go, I would like to thank everyone for their wonderful reviews. They just encourage me to write all the more.

And to fan_rei, I have two simple words: you rock.

Anyways, as always

THANK YOU FOR READING!!!

-Damien