Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Pleiades Senshi: Awakening the Kingdom ❯ Sailor Asterope: Stormy Heart ( Chapter 3 )

Chapter 3: Sailor Asterope: Stormy Heart

By Princess Nekosama

Disclaimer: Sailor Moon is owned by Naoko Takeuchi, Kodansha, Toei, and like, half a dozen other companies. I don’t own any of it and this is not for profit in the least.

Chie had a wonderful time with Yuuko, though she had a hard time saying so outright. Even if nothing was done beyond studying and a bit of idle talk about Yuuko’s problems, briefly glazed over since Yuuko didn’t much wish to speak about them, it still felt like actually making friends instead of simply working on homework. Really, Chie had heard of Yuuko’s reputation as a troublemaker, and aside from acting a bit unpolished, Chie didn’t see any of the attitude everyone said she had. And who worries about their manners as a teenager, anyhow? Chie thought. I wouldn’t if I didn’t feel I needed to.

Still, checking in with Ms. Kusakino was a pleasant enough time, as she did once a week. Just a bit of a reprieve and an update on those she tended to tutor.

“Good afternoon, Kusakino-san!” Yuuko chirped brightly as she stepped into the lady’s office. The teacher’s deep green hair tied into perfect flower bud-shaped buns as ever, her skirt suit tidy and pristine. She always seemed to make a fuss about trying to look nice, it seemed.

“Ah, good afternoon Chie-san. So, how’s our favorite troublemaker been treating you?” Kusakino asked, folding her hands in her lap after motioning Chie to a seat.

“To be perfectly honest, she behaves quite well around me. She seemed a bit troubled yesterday, but she said it was because she was worried about her sister. Apparently the girl was nearly mugged and Yuuko came to her rescue,” Chie said, blushing a little. “Ah, I should have let her tell you that, I’m sorry…”

“Don’t worry about it, I already heard. …It’s not a problem, I won’t tell if you don’t,” Kusakino said with a smile. “I’m glad to see you two are getting along so well. I’m sure you’ll make fine friends, too.”

Chie smiled and nodded. “I know, I think we will too. She seems really nice so far, I’m sure we will.” She blinked and looked up at the time, standing up again almost immediately. “Oh! Wow, look at the time, I didn’t notice it was getting so late, I meant to pop in only for a moment! Do excuse me, I’ve got to run!”

Ms. Kusakino nodded and waved the girl off with a smile, humming softly and barely having had time to arrange a few papers on her desk before Yuuko popped into the room for her visit. “Right on time… you just missed Chie-san though, you know.”

“Ah, I saw her in the hall, she looked busy,” Yuuko said, folding her hands behind her back. “I don’t have long today, I wanted to hurry up and get to Chie-chan’s house for some more lessons. I’m already really starting to get this whole stuff they’ve been teaching in algebra lately.”

“Oh, don’t let me keep you then. I just wanted to ask you how you’ve been doing? Is your sister recovering from her scare?”

Yuuko bit at her lip and nodded. “She’s fine. She was a little shaken up but since that guy’s not gonna be a problem anymore, she’s been mellowing out,” Yuuko says softly, rubbing the back of her head.

“Glad to hear it. And Yuuko? Do take care of them, all right? Your family and friends rely on you more than you give yourself credit for. You’re a tough little lady and you do a fine job of helping them when they need you, don’t forget, all right?”

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Chie got to her house well before Yuuko did, and she had barely taken her shoes off and set her things down when someone knocked at the door. She grinned and spun back around to open the door, though her face fell a bit when she saw it wasn’t Yuuko.

“Otousan… What’re you doing here?” she asked, frowning a little bit.

The man on the step smiled weakly and trailed a hand through his hair. “That’s some way to greet your father Chie-chan,” he muttered. “…Look I can’t stay long, sorry… I just wanted to give you your birthday present early.”

“Otousan, my birthday’s not for two months,” Chie said, her brow furrowing a bit. “Is something the matter?”

“No no… it’s just about to get really busy at work and I didn’t know when I’d be able to come by again soon, and I saw this perfect present in this little shop downtown…” he said, handing her a little box.

Chie nodded a bit and took the box carefully, opening the little velvet case. Inside was a pendant of carefully worked, highly polished smoky quartz, the stone larger than her thumb, with gold wiring wrapped carefully about the stone, and an emblem carved into it shaped almost like a fletched arrow. “It’s lovely, Otousan… what does the symbol mean?” she asked, frowning slightly.

“I’m not really sure. Something about air and all and since you’re an air sign and all into that zodiac mess, I figured you’d like it. The gray stone and the gold reminded me of you and those gold eyes of yours,” he said with a chuckle. “She said it was some sort of luck charm.”

“It’s gorgeous, either way…” she said, taking the necklace out and clasping the chain about her neck. “Do call more often, hm? I know you can’t come by too often, but…”

“I know, I know. …Look I really have to go, I was just in the neighborhood and figured you’d like that early. See you again soon, huh? Maybe I can take you out to lunch sometime?” he asked.

“I’d like that, if you have time…” she nodded, sighing a little as he left. "Otousan's always so busy... wish he didn't work so far away..." she murmurs, trailing her hand through her silver hair. She hadn't even shut the door by the time Yuuko showed up.

"Chie-chan? Who was that guy?" she asked, looking back at where Chie's father's car had been.

"Ah, Yuuko-san... that was my father... he brought me my birthday present early," she said, showing off the little pendant.

"Oh, that's great! It's so pretty... I didn't know anything about your dad, I hadn't seen him before... doesn't he live here with you?" Yuuko asked, almost immediately regretting it when she saw Chie's expression. "Oh sorry, I shouldn't have asked..."

"No no, it's all right... my parents got divorced when I was younger, and my dad moved across the country... he works construction but he gets jobs all over the place, so he's never really around much... he comes by to see me if he's ever near the Minato ward, but it's so rare anyhow... so he always brings me some cute little present or will take me to lunch, and I'm lucky if I see him once a month or two," Chie explains. "Well! Let's get to studying, hm?"

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"So Luna, did you get a good look at that girl after Usagi-chan and Rei-chan left her?" Ami asked, her notebook open to the usual practice problems for Usagi.

"Fair enough of one. I followed her around until she got to this strange little shop I've never seen before," Luna said, scratching at an ear idly. "...She doesn't look like anyone I directly recognize, but she does seem familiar... I know she's not from the Moon Kingdom, but her power seems familiar."

"A strange shop? Where was it?" Makoto asked, frowning slightly.

"Well that's the thing, and why I call it strange. Once she went in the storefront almost seemed to change. I'm not sure if it's really there at all," Luna said with a shake of her head.

"So do you think she's an enemy then? Or simply suspicious?" Minako asked. "Shame for such a nice girl to be an enemy..."

"I'm not sure, but I didn't immediately sense any dark energy... not from the girl anyhow, just a strange aura from that store. Something's incredibly odd about that place, but I couldn't follow her quick enough to get in. It wasn't necessarily a negative aura, but it wasn't a bright one either," Luna said, shaking her head. "It was just... strange. Usually I can tell something about people when I see them, but I didn't get much other than this whole thing feels vaguely familiar."

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Heliodor hadn't naturally been pleased by the incident, but supposed little could be done to help it. Sailor Crystals all awoke sooner or later, and more often than not, any time they were put into such danger. He simply had to think of a way around the next one, hopefully without directly involving Cassiterite's usual, blundering youma. So as he knew her source of information, he went straight to it: Tourmaline's little tower, a perfect black spire in one of the deeper parts of the Kingdom.

Naturally, the girl wasn't expecting a direct visit, or any at all for that matter since he hadn't remotely sent ahead any notice before simply teleporting into the top room of the tower. As such, he seemed to have disturbed her in the middle of something, a small cauldron of some particularly strange smelling concoction. He wrinkled his nose a little as the girl scrambled to her feet, careful not to knock the small cauldron over. "Heliodor-sama! I-I wasn't expecting you or I'd have tidied up more! ...Sorry for the smell, trying to make a recipe I'm trying out of one of the books I found... it's supposed to help aid healing and all, though I've no idea if I'm making it right..." she says quickly, before pausing and bowing properly. "Ah sorry, you're probably not concerned with it I bet. How can I help you sir?"

"I need to find another potential Sailor Crystal, and I'd like to see if I can get to one before Cassiterite bumbles her way through awakening another Senshi," he says, crossing his arms over his chest. "...Think your crystal can find one for me?"

"Ah... well, there's one I found recently, but Cass-sama knows about it already... so if you wished to do anything, you'd have to beat her to it..." she says quickly. "I haven't had time to get another yet, though I have a feeling with this many, there's at least one more, if not more, around them... you know how strength tends to gather, and Sailor Crystals usually awaken near each other."

"Good. I've a new plan in motion... instead of just trying to suppress the likelihood of these things awakening, we'll collect the energies of the trauma of awakening and the initial power burst from the newly awakened senshi. More likely than not, she won't barely even be able to stand, let alone fight. And I've the perfect youma in mind for this job." He turned and with a flash of bright yellow light vanished from the tower, returning to his own quarters. Barely a moment later, he summoned his own youma.

"Shoai, do your thing. This one's been seen in the library quite a bit, you'd be the perfect youma to take care of her," Heliodor said with a dismissing wave.

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Kusakino Nozomi, resident guidance counselor. More often than not though, she tended to mostly look after students whose grades tend to suffer, since most seem a little hesitant to come to the guidance counselor with their issues at home and whatnot. So today, she's on a mission, bringing a rather nice present for those in need of some aid: practice books for upcoming tests, with a few answers explained out in detail as examples to help those in need. Varying skill levels in subjects, currently she's bringing the ones focused on English up to the library, setting them down on an empty table in the library once there. She sighed softly and straightened her jacket out, dabbing her face lightly with her handkerchief before tucking it back into the breast pocket of her jacket.

"Here you go Shimi-san," she said to the librarian, her voice kept soft to avoid disturbing any studying students. "I'll bring the new math practice books up a bit later," she adds. "...These things are so heavy! They hardly look it... I think it's just the size of the box, hm?"

Shimi Kanjo, head librarian at the school, nodded brightly and smiled widely when Ms. Kusakino brought the box of practice books up, clapping her hands together lightly. "Oh thank you, Kusakino-san, I know so many students who've been waiting for these to come out for this semester. They're such a big help even for those who just want to brush up and be sure they're ready and all..." she says, nodding and bowing a little. "You're so helpful, thank you."

"Well, whatever I can to assist the students, hm? I'll be back up with another box soon," she said, as she turned to head back downstairs. Yes soon, but first something to drink to refresh her from the tiring task of carrying that heavy box up the stairs. Not so much just the weight of the thing, as the awkward way of carrying it and trying to balance and see up stairs at the same time, made the task all the more tedious.

Meanwhile, the librarian simply sifted through the books, picking each one up and flipping through them idly, as if inspecting them to make sure they were all of appropriate level. Any who might be able to see it though would notice a slight change, the publisher's symbol changing to a sun shining through an open door, shining in black before fading again. Perfect. They'll study hard and we'll slowly sap their energy for the Great Seal and release our Queen soon enough. Her train of thought was interrupted there, however, as a couple of students entered.

"Normally I'd have all the materials I need at home, but I had no idea that project was coming up so fast. They've the perfect books in here to help you along on it, not to mention the computers," Chie said brightly, as she and Yuuko enter. "...I know just the section, too. ...Hi, Shimi-sensei! Oh! The practice books are in already? All right! Can I get two? I need one for me and for my friend Yuuko-san," she said, as she paused by the table.

"Oh of course... here you go," the librarian said, smiling a little. "...Kusakino-san just brought them up... she's bringing the math ones up later. Be sure to pick those up too, all right?"

Chie nods and took two books, one for herself and one for Yuuko, before heading back to the table. "Aren't we in luck, huh Yuuko-chan?" she asked, grinning widely. "These must have just come out... means we get an edge on the rest of the class. Kusakino-san's versions of these are incredible, they explain anything really confusing and all..." she said brightly.

Yuuko nodded a bit and squints a little bit at the book. "If you say so. I'm still not that great at English to start with..." Yuuko said with a rub to the back of her head. "Finding and translating a poem in English... my head's starting to hurt just THINKING about it..." she mumbled.

Chie nodded a little and hmmed. "To be honest, the place sometimes gives me a headache too, when I read too much... my mother says it's just eyestrain and that I should be careful not to read in too bright of light or too dim, or I'll hurt them worse..." she said, with a light rub to her own temples. "...But we haven't even barely started before I started getting one today."

"Maybe something's wrong... we should like, take a break and head outside, or something?" Yuuko suggested. It was a bit of an excuse to quit early, but not really. She just as much was just worried about her new friend.

Chie nods a bit and gets up from her seat, carefully packing all her books back up. Just as they were heading for the door, though, the librarian came up behind them, a hand clamped down onto Chie's shoulder. "Oh, you aren't leaving already, are you? I figured you'd study a bit longer than that... really unlike you, Chie-chan, to ditch out so early..." she said, a wide smile on her face.

"Oh... well... we were just going to get a breather... we'll be back in a little while," Chie said, as she hmmed a little. She winced when the grip on her shoulder tightened. "Hey... that hurt, Shimi-san..." Chie protested, giving the librarian a look that seemed more emotionally pained than physically so.

"Just go back to your books and study with the new guide, hm? Wouldn't want you falling behind in your work..." Shimi says, her smile a little more strained now. Artificial.

"...Chie-san, I think we really just need to get out of here..." Yuuko muttered. "I think the librarian is having an off day or something." In all actuality, she could feel her henshin necklace throbbing hot against her skin under her shirt... no idea what it meant, but it felt ominous, like it was warning her...

"You can't leave, I'm not done here yet!" Shimi screeched, not letting go of Chie's shoulder. Her expression darkens, as suddenly the doors to the library slam shut, a strange sort of silvery thread pattern spreading rapidly over their surface. Shimi's face seemed to contort, growing ashen, and then silver, as she dropped her human disguise finally and takes on her youma appearance, one that looks like a morphic silver caterpillar, her legs extended behind her into a long wormlike body.

"Youma!" Yuuko cried suddenly, as Chie looks to her friend with a near panicked look. "Chie, get away from her! You can't let her steal your energy!" she warned, remembering the incident with her sister.

Chie blinked and was near frozen, not really knowing what to do. She did her best to struggle, but the mandible-like claw the librarian hand had morphed into made it near impossible to wrench away without cutting into herself.

"Shoai doesn't let go of her readers QUITE so soon, Chie-chan... you'll be staying here QUITE a while now!" the worm-youma screeched, and opened her mouth, thick webs spewing out at Chie, starting to cover the girl as Chie could do little more than squirm and shriek.

Yuuko glared at the monster and grabbed at her pendant, glaring at the youma. First one attacks her sister, and now this! She wasn't going to let this thing go so easily either, certainly not when it was harming one of Yuuko's best friends. "Taygete Star Power! Make-Up!" The wall of heat and swirl of fire flashed around her again, burning away Yuuko's image and leaving Sailor Taygete in its wake. "And you are NOT getting away with hurting my friend, you monster," Sailor Taygete snapped, heat coalescing around her hands, as she cupped them together before taking aim at the monster. "Taygete Blazing Fastball!" she cries, throwing the ball at the monster... and doing rather little damage, just managing to singe the youma's torso carapace a bit.

Shoai grinned widely, a mouth full of needle-like spinner-teeth revealing themselves. "Oh come on. Is that all? What kind of bug would I be if I didn't know fire was a weakness and manage to do something to arm myself against it?" she asked sweetly, before spitting a ball of webbing at Sailor Taygete's eyes, causing the senshi to reel and screech. "Now be a good little brat and shut up while I finish up with this cute little Star Seed wrapped in the ugly package."

Yuuko dug at her face a little, near blinded by the webbing as it sticks to her face. The clinging goo was worse than spider webs, but eventually she got the stuff off her face to see Chie's body entirely encased in webbing by now, the whole cocoon-like casing starting to glow faintly with yellow light as the youma sucked her energy out via a few web strands still extending from her mouth.

"Excellent... this girl's Star Seed is just about awake... but we'll drain it dry before she can ever fully realize her potential as a senshi!" Shoai said gleefully, as the cocoon's light grows brighter and brighter. Her triumphant little mood was soon spoiled though, when through the open window, several thick vines shot into the room, one swinging whip like to snap the string of web between Shoai and the cocooned Chie, another using a leaf like blade to slice Chie's cocoon, revealing the girl in the yellow and silver uniform of Sailor Asterope.

"Chie-chan! Now! Use your powers to stop this monster!" a voice called from the balcony outside the library.

Sailor Asterope rubbed her head groggily, her energy fading from her from the cocoon's power still. She bit her lip slightly, and raised her hands over her head. "Asterope.... Typhoon.... THUNDER!" she cried, a storm cloud shaped ball of blue lightning forming in her hands, before striking the youma hard, effectively vaporizing the monster. Sailor Asterope grinned sleepily, before collapsing to the floor, her uniform fading back to Chie's regular clothing.

Sailor Taygete immediately rushed to her fallen comrade's side, though she shot a look out to the balcony. "Wait! You helped me before when I first awakened... who are you?" she called out to the figure on the porch.

"You'll find out soon enough. For now... I have to see that the rest of you awaken," the tall figure says from the balcony, the silhouette bowing a little before simply hopping off the balcony with a flying leap.

Sailor Taygete blinked a little before she shook her head, looking back to Chie. "...Chie-chan... hey... are you okay?" she asks, patting the sleepy girl's face lightly, trying to wake her up, to no response. However, right about then, the doors were being beaten on, someone trying to get inside. Taygete sighed softly and let her own transformation slip, reverting back to Yuuko, as she just waited with Chie. It took a fire axe wedged between the gap in the doors, to cut the webbing stuck to them, but finally the fire and rescue team made it into the library.

"One of the teachers said there was some sort of emergency up here... what happened?" one of the firemen asked Yuuko, who just shook her head.

"There was like... this big... caterpillar and um..." she said, looking at all the webbing. "Chie-chan fainted.... you gotta help her!" she cried, her eyes tearing up.

"Relax, that's what we're here for. The stretcher's on its way up to take her to the hospital. Everything will be okay, promise."

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"Heliodor!" Cassiterite shouted, as she burst into the man's room. "WHAT was the meaning of that? Getting to one of the Star Seeds before I... I had a perfectly good plan in mind!" she snapped, staring daggers at him.

"As far as I'm aware, the wakening of two Star Seeds who directly know of our activities... makes you less than qualified to judge whether you've a 'good plan' if you ask me, Cassiterite." Heliodor simply turns back to the Great Seal. "...See, the energy Shoai collected from that one girl's Star Seed..." he said, as he weaved the energy into the Seal, more Hollow Runic scribing itself into place. Little red flecks speckled themselves across parts of the Moon Runic lettering, tarnishing the pristine white letters. "Even if she inevitably awoke, we gained far more energy from her trauma than the other two of your youma managed together. You'll have to work a lot better from here out, Cassiterite."

"I'm trying not to get mine killed. You let yours be slaughtered by a half-comatose, barely awakened senshi. We really can't afford to lose too many, our army is small as it is," Cassiterite retorts. "A Leader should be watching out for his people, not leading them to the butchers!"

Heliodor let out a long sigh, resting his hand on the wall near the Seal. "Cassiterite... we're at the beginning of the next wave of our Great War. There will be casualties. All the youma know the price of victory. Why can't you accept a few losses?"

"Because it is my duty to take care of them and guard our army as best I'm able to, to restore our numbers to ensure our victory. I'm only doing my job," Cassiterite countered, hands rested on her hips.

"Then do your job, and collect us a Star Seed without waking it, next time. We almost had this one. As is I don't think she'll be a problem, anytime soon. The remnants of Shoai's web in her hair heard them say that she was in a coma, and they weren't sure when she'd wake. We likely near about sucked her Star Seed's power dry," he said with a soft chuckle. "She won't be a problem too long. And these newly awakened senshi haven't even gathered... they don't seem to hardly know what they're doing. With no guidance... they are just lost little children. See that they stay that way."

Cassiterite nodded and bowed. "As you wish. The Atlantean Princess will never see her Star Seed awaken, I promise."