Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Duty to the Princess ❯ Chapter 2 ( Chapter 2 )

An Alt SailorMoon Fanfic:

Duty to the Princess

By Adyen (senranda@yahoo.ca)

Author¡¦s Notes: Yay! I¡¦m getting reviews! ^_^ Thanks for anyone who read chapter one...

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The police quickly realized that the disappearances were not an one-time thing.

It has been four weeks since the disappearance of Osaka Naru, and ever week, another teenager around her age would disappear as well.

At first, the primary suspects of at least helping the kidnappers were friends of Naru, seeing that the second person who disappeared was one of her friends. However, that was quickly forgotten for two reasons: One was the fact that nobody had any reason to kidnap them. The second because the third and fourth kidnappings took place on the other side of Tokyo.

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For Aino Minako, things quickly went from ¡¥normal¡¦, to ¡¥strange¡¦, to ¡¥suspicious¡¦. It all started on the day when the second teen was kidnapped; when Sailor Pluto, otherwise known as Setsuna, asked the other senshi if Usagi, their princess, had visited them and asked them a strange question or not.

She was about to reply ¡¥no¡¦, when she heard the doorbell, and her parents opening the door for someone. Peeking out, she found that it was Usagi entering with a somewhat cheerful look on her face, but any long-time observer of her would notice the tinge of strain in the smile.

Minako quickly led her friend into her room, and cheerfully (or at least as cheerfully she could pretend to be) asked what Usagi was doing here.

It seems that Usagi was there to ask a strange question, especially coming from her.

¡§Why do you guys always protect me?¡¨

Minako was somewhat stunned for words. After the two years of hard battles, she would have thought that Usagi, of all people, would understand why all the senshi protected her. Anger bubbled below the surface of her normally cheerful mood and she replied, in the calmest voice possible at the time. ¡§What do you mean ¡¥why do you guys always protect me¡¦? Why *shouldn¡¦t* we protect you?¡¨

Usagi hesitantly answered the rhetorical question. ¡§I don¡¦t deserve all of you to protect me...¡¨

¡§That¡¦s bullshit!¡¨ Minako had cut in, grabbing Usagi¡¦s hands. ¡§You¡¦re the most wonderful, caring, loving person I have ever met. I don¡¦t care who told you otherwise, but it¡¦s true. No matter what you do, who you are, we¡¦ll still be here for you. We¡¦re not doing this because you¡¦re Sailor Moon, nor is it because you¡¦re some reincarnated princess of some dead kingdom, nor is it because you may one day become the Queen of some magical kingdom in the future. We care about *you*, and if you¡¦re in any kind of trouble, just tell us, and we¡¦ll help however we can.¡¨

Usagi stood there, stunned at her friend¡¦s words. For a moment, things were silent as they stared eye to eye, with the senshi of Venus firmly holding the senshi of the Moon¡¦s hands. Then suddenly, like the snow melting to the mid-day¡¦s sun, tears formed around Usagi¡¦s eyes and she leaned her head in, onto Minako¡¦s shoulders, crying softly as if she¡¦s just been told that her parents survived a nuclear bomb dropped on them.

This went on for half an hour or so while Minako awkwardly, for the lack of a better term, petted Usagi¡¦s golden hair and murmured soothing words to her.

By the time Usagi was done, it was around 4, and before she left, she told her, ¡§Thank you Minako-chan. I really needed that.¡¨ Leaving a somewhat confused Minako watching Usagi leave, then paging Pluto on her communicator, saying, ¡§Yes, she did.¡¨

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However, that was the last time that Minako had privately seen Usagi. For the next day, Usagi seemed to be her own cheerful self again, though with a touch of sadness. Understandable, seeing that another person suddenly disappeared, not to mention she was Naru¡¦s friend.

It was when the third disappearance happened that Minako started feeling more than ¡¥strange¡¦. The day after that happened, Minako asked for all the senshi to meet in order to talk about the recent happenings. Seeing that the shrine was being used that day, they met at the Outer¡¦s home instead.

When they all arrived, Usagi being early for once, Minako started the meeting.

¡§As you all know, three girls has disappeared in the past three weeks.¡¨ Sensing the hurt feelings coming from Usagi, she turned to their leader and apologized. ¡§I know you don¡¦t like it when people brought it up, but this is becoming a serious problem.¡¨ Everyone nodded, though with Usagi it was reluctantly.

¡§I think it¡¦s time that the Sailor Senshi started to look around. We have more chance to find whoever is doing this, not just because *most* of us can be bait, but also because we can communicate with each other through our communicators, which doesn¡¦t look like one.¡¨

Surprisingly, *very* surprisingly, the both the Outers and Inners agreed on helping, except Usagi.

¡§We don¡¦t know if the kidnappings would continue.¡¨ She argued. ¡§Or the police may find them before, and if, there would be a next kidnapping.¡¨

Things became tense at this point. The feeling lasted until Minako conceded, though reluctantly, to the point. ¡§Alright, then we¡¦ll hold off for now, but if it happens again, we¡¦ll start our search.¡¨

Everyone started to leave at the point, lead by Usagi, but Ami and Minako stayed behind.

¡§Did that seem weird to you guys as well?¡¨ Minako asked. Everyone there nodded. ¡§You would think that Usagi would be the first to *want* to look for whoever took Naru.¡¨

¡§She does have a point, I guess¡K¡¨ Ami commented, frowning. ¡§But I highly doubt that these disappearances would just stop because Usagi thinks the police would find them.¡¨

¡§You¡¦re right.¡¨ Setsuna said. ¡§I¡¦ll keep an eye from the Gate, while Haruka and Michiru can start informal patrols around the area. Minako, I suggest you stay with Ami and try to find if there¡¦s some kind of pattern to these disappearances. Your experience from London will help us now.¡¨

Agreeing to the plan, they quickly left to their own investigations, while Hotaru promised her housemates (or parents, depending on your point of view) coffee when they returned.