Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Pretty Soldiers ❯ Act 01 - tomodachi : Beginnings ( Chapter 1 )

Prelude

       It began in sunshine.
       On a playground set in Ichinohashi park, a little girl with blonde ponytails the size of fat sausages swung hard and high towards the sky. She pumped her legs viciously to gain altitude faster, the determination on her young face almost frightening. Up and up she swung, until she was almost completely parallel to the ground, the chains slack as she hung in the air for one brief, tantalizing moment.
       Then, she let go, leaping. And she hung in the air once again for a split second of sheer, dizzy joy, feeling the breeze, as she was free of Earth's constraints. It was amazing.
       And then, gravity took over. She dropped, hitting the dirt in a rough tumble that settled her into a huddled ball near the sandbox. Her knees were two red, raw scrapes, flecked with gravel, and her blonde hair was now dusty and dim. The damage done to her school uniform was barely a worry in her mind past the pain, and she let loose with a crying wail on a decibel level known only to four-legged creatures. She rocked and held her wounded knees and cried her little heart out.
       "Yare yare, odango atama, why're you crying?" The blonde child stopped her wailing long enough to lift reddened crystal blue eyes up towards the tree above, where the voice had originated.
       "It hurts!" she whimpered, a few more tears spilling out in fat drops. The leaves rustled as whoever it was moved, dropping down to a lower branch.
       The blonde's tears were forgotten as a girl her age swung down from the tree branches, tangled copper hair sporting a few leaves from her climbing. She grinned, eyes the color of a rich lapis glinting with good humour despite her young age. "I saw you swinging. You went really high before you finally jumped off, it was amazing!"
       "But I didn't expect to land so hard." Another sniffle, and the blonde child finally seemed to calm down some. "I wanted to touch the sky…"
       The redhead simply nodded at that, plunking down next to the other; she wore no public school uniform, simply a skirt that looked as it if'd been rubbed in the grass, and a shirt. "What's your name? I'm Chouno Moriyakumi, but everyone calls me Moriya."
       Chubby hands were rubbed at crystal blue eyes before the blonde replied, sniffling just a bit for effect. "Tsukino Usagi, grade four, Juuban Elementary School," she recited carefully, if a bit more cheerfully then she'd been a second before.
       "Oh. Public school," Moriyakumi mumbled, shuffling her feet. Then, she gave a helpless shrug up. "I don't go to a public school. I'm an orphan. It's not fun."
       Usagi's eyes widened at that, lighting up as if she'd been told a great secret. "You don't have to go to school?" she whispered, awed. Definite childhood Nirvana, that.
       Moriya shrugged, trying to act nonchalant about it; though really, how does one act casual about having no family? "The ladies at the orphanage teach us. But they say I'm reallyreally smart and should be at a public school…"
       "Wouldn't it be so great if they sent you to Juuban?" Usagi squealed suddenly, clapping her hands, caught up in a sudden zeal. Moriya regarded her a bit oddly at that; she was strangely excited at the meager prospect, and they'd only now met. "It'd be so fun! We could eat lunch together!"
       "It probably won't happen anyway," Moriya put in, interrupting Usagi's daydreams of food. "I'm an orphan….no one cares about us."
       Usagi stilled at that. She simply sat there, grimy and tousled from her spontaneous act of freefall, crystal blue eyes gone very wide. The look was so unsettling for a ten-year-old that Moriya actually began to worry, even going so far as reaching over and shaking her new associate's shoulder. "Hey…Hey, Usagi? Daijoubu?" Still, she didn't move, didn't even blink. She had settled back into a reasonably proper sitting position, skirt tucked modestly beneath short legs, staring at - if not looking right through - Moriya. "Usagi-chan!"
       She smiled. "I care about you, Moriya-chan. But I have to go now!" Moriya blinked, stunned out of her state of mind as Usagi crawled up as best as her scraped knees would allow, skipping (or at least attempting to, and managing more of a graceless stumble) over to her yellow backpack. She hoisted it onto her back, waving madly back at a still-gaping Moriya. "Ja mata ne!" Down the park path she stumble-skipped, ponytails bouncing merrily…only to stop halfway and turn back around.
       The redhead was only now beginning to shake her head. She crawled up at well, not even bothering to dust off her clothes, or straighten them, and stared down the path at Usagi. "Aren't you leaving?"
       "Hai! I'll see you at school!" And back off she went, avoiding a man walking his dog as she went around a curve and out of sight.
       Two days later, that same smiling face beamed as her teacher introduced a new student to her class.

Several Years Later

       *RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII----* The plastic bunny alarm clock was suddenly muffled by the big feather pillow that had somehow flopped atop it. It kept on ringing bravely for a minute or so more, vainly trying to serve its purpose, before a hand slapped it, pillow and all, onto the floor. Both batteries popped out on impact, and all was silent.
       For approximately 2.5 seconds, anyway. Then the screaming started. "KYAAA! MAMA! WHY DIDN'T YOU WAKE ME UP!?" The bedroom was thrown into chaos as its sole occupant literally tumbled out of bed, tangled in moon and bunny adorned sheets, and tried to madly dash over to the closet. Unfortunately, the laws of physics and bound limbs didn't work that way, and she went face down onto the floor the moment her legs began moving. It was a mess of unprepared dirty clothes…truly a catastrophe and a horrible loss. "Why does this always happen to me?" she wailed, struggling to kick the offending sheets away.
       Downstairs, Tsukino Ikuko just sighed heavily, popping two pieces of bread into the toaster. The family enjoyed a Western-style breakfast, tailored especially for those on the go, which was why she was up early every morning to prepare pancakes, eggs, and toast. Her life thrived on making her family happy and well-fed, even if that family included an extra child. "More scrambled eggs, Moriya-chan?"
       "I'm too full, Ikuko-mama," the redhead groaned, pushing her plate away. Four years had passed since she'd been officially enrolled into public school and had become inseparable friends with Usagi. One of those perks had been an instant opportunity to become another member of Usagi's family, which meant a lot to the orphan who hardly remembered her own. It was like a golden sort of touch: whomever Usagi befriended usually gained a lot of wonderful things in return besides friendship.
       One of them was unfortunately not promptness. Moriya had finished her glass of orange juice before Usagi finally came thundering down the stairs, still frantically tying one of her trademark odango up. She nearly slipped as she landed on the first floor, dashing into the kitchen to grab some toast as both previous occupants just smiled ruefully. "Don't forget your lunch this time, Usagi," Ikuko scolded her, holding up the pink bag that held her daughter's lunch, adorned with tiny cartoon rabbits.
       "Arigatou, mama!" The blonde grabbed both lunch and friend, pulling Moriya with her to the front door to trade slippers with outdoor shoes. Usagi wore black Mary Jane's; Moriya had simple black flats that were only a tiny bit scuffed. "Itekimasu, mama!"
       "Itekimas-Usagi, you're pulling my arm off!" The door slammed shut behind them as Ikuko smiled, reaching out in perfect timing to pull the just-popped toast out from the machine.
       Outside, both girls had just made it onto the sidewalk before they heard school bells ringing. They weren't necessarily from their school, but they knew what they meant; class was starting. They were late late late, and already in massive trouble with their first hour teacher. "Run!" they both yipped, taking off down the street, shoes slapping the pavement in uneven symphony. As usual, they passed very few other students who were late; Japanese educational systems were nothing if not firm in instilling promptness and responsibility. Very few children forgot that lesson after grade one; Usagi and Moriya were in grade eight now, and looking to spend the rest of their life in it if they didn't shape up.
       Just as they made it to the corner right across from their school, the sign started blinking 'DO NOT WALK' lethargically. Cars zoomed past them as both gave their school a mournful look; they knew they were too damn late. "Late for school too, huh?" a long-haired blonde laughed behind them. She was wearing the uniform of a private junior high school both Usagi and Moriya had applied for, a white cat plunked sedately at her feet. "Me too. I'm always late." A grimace formed at that, and she heaved a long sigh.
       "The light's going to take forever to change," Moriya simply noted, shaking her head. She'd given the counselors at her orphanage a heart attack when she'd cut her own hair off, shortening it to chin level. Thankfully, it had been neat, and nowhere near outlandish enough for the school to penalize her for it…much cooler, too. She shifted impatiently, swinging her attaché-like schoolbag over her shoulder.
       Usagi was doing her own little hop from foot to foot, not quite impatient, but in a manner that suggested she just wasn't fit for standing still for too long. It was a humorous little quirk Moriya had long ago noticed in her, and her amusement reached new heights when she saw the other blonde doing the very same little dance. Her cat looked horribly annoyed, and, if possible, relieved, when the sign changed. "It's about time." All four ran across, not wanting to take a chance with the Tokyo traffic being the pedal-happy lot it was, and barely made it across before the light turned again.
       Once they were safe, the long-haired blonde gave them a sunny smile. "It was nice talking to you. Ja ne!" she giggled, running off towards her own school a few blocks away, white cat close in following. Both girls then looked at one another, then at their own building.
       "We're doomed. Utterly. Haruda-sensei is going to lock us up and throw away the key this time," Moriya finally commented, breaking the sudden silence that had fallen over them both. Usagi nodded, chewing her lower lip.
       "And I didn't even get to eat breakfast today…no fair!"
       A silence even more ominous than the first dropped as they slunk towards the front doors, quiet as they could muster. Moriya was just waiting for Usagi to have a massive clutz attack, hit something, and have the entire school rushing down at them, but they miraculously managed to reach the doors without a problem. "Do you think they're locked?" Usagi whispered, a bit too loudly.
       "Let's hope not-ahhhh!" Both girls screamed as their English teacher suddenly shoved the doors open, grabbing each by the ear. "H-H-Haruda-sensei! What a surprise to see you heeOWCH!"
       Sakurada Haruna, her face twisted in a rather-pissed scowl, pulled them into the building literally by their earlobes. "Tsukino Usagi! Chouno Moriyakumi! This is the FIFTH day in a row you've been tardy! Almost an entire week! This is becoming reprehensible!" She let them go, pointing a stern finger at the cubbies in the hallway. "Exchange your shoes quickly, so I can punish you two properly!"
       "But at least we've been late in a good pattern…um. Yeah. Shoes." Moriya wilted under her teacher's glare, reaching back to clamp a hand over Usagi's mouth to stifle the inevitable bawling of how mean she was. Haruda stalked back to the classroom, which faced the front courtyard; obviously the woman had watched them out the window.
       Moriya hesitantly let her friend's mouth go once Haruda was gone. Crystal blue eyes shimmered with held-back tears, but Usagi kept her mouth shut, sniffling softly as she moved over to her cubbyhole to retrieve the soft-soled, white canvas shoes everyone wore in the building. Hers were scribbled on with pink pen, forming the shape of ill-drawn bunnies and flowers. She tugged them on, sliding her Mary Janes into the vacancy left behind, then began to absently tug at one of her ponytails. "What do you…think she'll do?"
       "Probably make us wash the entire room by ourselves again." Moriya slipped her own shoes on, adorned with ballpoint pen-scribbled lyrics from some American band she liked, the name of which escaped Usagi's mind entirely. Both girls were positive Moriya's parents had been bilingual before they died; her English was flawless. She listened to obscure music that made Usagi's ears hurt with its harshness and unfamiliar language, that reflected her friend's depression and loneliness in regards to the world outside of her own tiny bubble.
       Both picked up their cases and bags, beginning the long trek to their classroom. "Maybe she'll let me eat, if we're made to stand out in the hallway again," Usagi mused, crystal blue eyes suddenly alight with hope.
       Her red-haired friend just snorted, eyeing her balefully. "It's amazing how food eclipses everything else in your world, Usagi-chan. We'll be lucky to get out of this alive…"
       "But on full stomachs at least!"
       "Yare, yare…" The red-haired orphan sighed, flinching as the stormy gaze of their teacher peered out of the classroom door, awaiting them both.

       Tokyo was a city mired in time. The past and the present could easily pass each other on the street, not giving a second glance to the other, and disappear their separate ways. Businessmen stood on street corners next to transvestites. And transvestites stood on street corners next to children just leaving school, waiting for the lights to turn.
       Usagi and Moriya found themselves next to a young OL and a punk this time, the odango-haired blonde doing her little dance in nervousness as they waited. It seemed to take forever for the light to change, and vehicles simply kept streaming on by, more than a few belching exhaust in their faces. "They should build walkways over the roads," Moriya muttered, tapping a foot.
       They'd spent almost two extra hours after class cleaning the room all by themselves from top to bottom, a job normally done by a changing group of their classmates. Haruda had come back after the day's lessons had been done to personally make sure they'd stayed, and worse still had been the unwavering glare of their teacher as they'd scrubbed the desks. She'd added an extra hour when Usagi began her usual crying of hunger-pains.
       "Oh, look, it's a black kitty!"
       "What?" Moriya blinked, her mind switching gears from sour memories of their two wasted hours to her suddenly-gleeful friend. Usagi was already bounding off by the time the redhead had realized something else had grabbed her friend's attention, and waving her case at a group of younger schoolkids.
       "You leave that poor kitty alone! Leave it be!" Usagi yelled, nearly tripping over her feet as she swung her case about to drive them off.
       One of the kids, a brown-haired boy with freckles on his cheeks, simply stuck his tongue out at her. "Leave us alone, old lady, we're having fun!" And he proceeded to poke his pencil at the cat, who was by now curled up in a ball and meowing pitifully. A crumpled wrapper lay nearby, which had once held the Band-Aids that were plastered on the feline's forehead in a rough 'X.'
       "That's cruelty, not fun, now beat it, you little punks!" Where the clumsy image of Usagi had failed, the glowering stare of Moriya, who held an inch or more over her friend, did the job. She snatched the pencil away as they began to scramble off, the freckled boy last in retreat with the subtlest tendrils of black in his wake. The pencil was slipped into her case as she simply smiled. "No sense in wasting a perfectly-useable pencil," she explained to Usagi's puzzled look.
       Then, she crouched down to see the cat, who was starting to uncurl. "They put Band-Aids on its head, how mean," the odango-haired blonde murmured as she knelt next to Moriya. The now-changed WALK sign had been forgotten by both junior high schoolers.
       Moriya nodded, reaching out to pull the cat into her lap and hold her steady. "Ara, they're easily removable…hold still, koneko-chan…" She began to peel one off as carefully as she could, only to have the feline begin squirming madly. "Usagi-chan, hold onto her, will you?"
       "She sounds hurt, poor kitty….."
       "Poor HER? It's ME she's scratching up like a post! Just keep her steady, please!?" Since slow and careful was getting her nowhere but an antiseptic bath, Moriya just gripped and yanked, removing a lot of black hairs in the process. The feline yowled to wake the neighborhood, scratching them both as it bounded up and away.
       "ITAAAII!" Usagi yipped, holding her arm. A few large red welts now decorated her skin, though they were hardly deep enough to bleed. She whimpered and curled both limbs to her chest, looking after the cat. "At least now she doesn't have that horrible Band-Aid on her head, right, Moriya-chan?" Silence. The red-haired girl was apparently musing over something a bit too deeply to have even heard her. "Moriya-chan!"
       "What? Oh…that cat had a crescent-shaped bald spot on its head. How odd," Moriya finally remarked, tossing the Band-Aid aside. She stood up, grabbing her case. "Oh well. C'mon, Usagi-chan, let's go wait for the light to change again…"
       The odango-haired blonde nodded, hopping up as well. "Maybe that's why the kitty had those Band-Aids on, to hide the mark! You know, from embarrassment?"
       "Usagi-chan…" Moriya sighed, grabbing her friend's hand. "It's a cat. Not a human being. Now let's go before we miss the light again."
       The two girls walked back to the crosswalk, where the selection had changed from OL girl and punk to businessman and school boy, the latter wearing a suit and trying to calmly ignore the businessman's cell phone conversation. When they came up close, they could see he was reading a textbook on ancient Greece, his wire-rimmed glasses balanced carefully on the edge of his nose. Moriya suddenly grinned and elbowed him in the ribs, despite Usagi's swallowed shriek. "Hey, Chiba!"
       It was probably a good thing the light changed just as he went sprawling into the crosswalk. His book skittered a few feet in front of him, along with his case, the businessman calmly walking over, around, and past him. Thankfully, his glasses remained on his nose, and he whipped them off to glower at the still-grinning Moriya. "Now I've lost my page."
       "You study too much anyway, Mamoru. Lighten up a bit." Out came a hand as the odango-haired blonde simply stared at them both, puzzled. "Now, maybe if we all run, we can finally make it across the street," she grunted as she helped Mamoru stand. He just continued to glower, though it lost the slightest bit of its edge as he gathered up his fallen materials.
       "That's the smartest thing I've heard you say yet," he snorted in return. He jogged off ahead of Moriya's swing, with the redhead in close second, Usagi a skittering third. She made it just as the light changed again, and a car bumper brushed her skirt. A yip, a jump, and she was latched onto Moriya's arm. "It looks like your cow-tailed friend is a jumpy sort."
       Silence fell for a minute. Usagi disentangled herself from her friend, crystal-blue eyes starting to frost over. "WHAT did you call me?" She stalked up towards Mamoru with a furious stomp in her step, the male unmoved. At least until she got right up into his face as best she could. "They are PIGTAILS. Pig. Tails. Do not call them cow tails!"
       "How about odango atama then?" He smirked as Usagi froze again…the proverbial calm before the storm. But this time, Moriya latched onto her from behind, holding her in place as she just started yelling incoherently about 'dark-haired jerks.'
       "You enjoy this, don't you?" the redhead sighed. She'd learned early on not to tease Usagi about her unusual hairstyle, good mood or no.
       Mamoru smiled faintly. "Who, me? I do what I can…is she going to burst a blood vessel?" he queried, peering at Usagi as she flailed.
       Moriya was the one glowering this time as she finally released Usagi, who had tired herself out. She slid down into a little huddle on the ground, gasping for air in her usual exaggerated manner, hugging her attaché case. "The same old Chiba Mamoru. Her name is Tsukino Usagi by the way." Then, the redhead smirked. "So how's Moto Azabu? Still insanely selective and annoying as always?"
       Mamoru dropped his studious veneer to wink. "It isn't my fault they select only the best…"
       Usagi stared listlessly up at them both from her spot on the ground. Tokyo was indeed a mire of time, and right now, it felt as if she wasn't really here, or there. Somewhere else, maybe. But she couldn't name the place, only think of it in her mind.
       And she could feel the eyes on her back as the black cat stared at her from the top of the opposing wall.

       Night crept across the city, and with it ran a girl with long blonde hair. The wail of police sirens was her song, and she sang with it as she leapt across rooftops with the ease of a humanoid gazelle. Muscles bunched and sprang like well-oiled machines, gathering her to a safe and silent stop atop one of several indistinguishable concrete block buildings in the Shinjuku district.
       The cacophony was insane. Whoever was inside the building was a silent type, but dangerous enough to be a threat judging by the sheer amount of officers. Japan was relatively peaceful in regards to the mongrel United States (and severely less armed), but they had their moments. Particularly now that the Kabuki-cho was so ridden with criminal syndication. One could only imagine the various drugs the man inside was riding high on.
       A flip backwards off the edge of the roof had the blonde swinging down and around, dropping in through an open window she had noticed on her landing. Twilight blue eyes narrowed in the twin holes of her mask as they scanned the empty room she had landed in; nothing but dust and the chittering of rats greeted her. "Too bad you didn't come with me, Artemis," she whispered ruefully, her voice almost painfully quiet.
       She was on the opposite side of the building from her target, which meant time was wasting. That same haunting, almost animalistic grace was put in motion again as she went down the hall, blue high heels strangely silent despite their usual affinity for clicking. Maybe it was the strip of worn-down carpeting in the middle of the hall, or maybe it was just the fact she wouldn't allow herself to make noise.
       Most likely the latter. Silence was golden in this business.
       Almost too soon did she reach the room. The door was thankfully ajar, and she could hear the man and his hostage through it: "Soon, oh, soon. I'll be rich, and I'll be happy, and I won't be a failure anymore…"
       "Oh please…please don't kill me…I haven't hurt anyone, I have a child…"
       "Rich…"
       That was all she needed to hear. With a bare inching of body, she positioned herself just right to be able to see the man and his hostage. One hit was all it would take to knock him away, and she would be able to save the lady. Her hand crept out, holding what looked to be a compact, in the shape of a crescent moon, open in the palm of her hand. The moonlight trickling in through the window gave it the smallest shine.
       Now. Even as she heard the man mumble his fantasies and ignore the bullhorn outside, the police still attempting to plead with him, she heard only the words in her mind. And as she called them out, she felt the fire suffuse her veins again as a beam of light shot from the compact, striking the man in the shoulder and spinning him off-balance, away.
       The gun went flying, went off into the wall.
       Freed, the woman fled towards the opening door and out past the sailor-suited girl.
       And the man, now sobbing inconsolably, lashed out as she came at him, ingrained training from years spent in a dojo before his fall from grace coming into play at the most unexpected time. She barely ducked his fist, and winced as she felt her mask take the hit, spinning off with a flash of crimson into the shadows.
       Then her own innate knowledge turned on once more, expressing itself in the dancer's spin of her body, the contortion which sent her leg around as she yelled "Sailor V Kick!" And even as it impacted with his ribs, she was twisting away and out of reach with a snap of hair the color of gold, of the crescent moon itself. Dancing, it was, around another oncoming blow. And another. She kicked again. "Stay down, you nasty man!" she snapped.
       Apparently a bloodstream full of toxins and adrenaline wasn't infinite, for the second kick took him down. He fell heavily onto the carpet, wheezing a bit from a sudden lack of air, unnoticed of the tears running down into his mouth. "I was going to be rich…"
       "Metropolitan Police! You're under arrest!" The door didn't survive this time, one hinge letting loose with a squeal of un-oiled screws as a squad of uniforms slammed it into the wall. They paused, however briefly, to stare at the crying criminal who they had been dealing with so careful just minutes before, the sounds of his former hostage's own tears nearly eclipsing his. The aura of black that surrounded his head and wisped away like smoke from a cigarette was hardly noticed, or maybe ignored.
       And in the windowsill, the sailor-suited girl flashed them a V sign. "Sailor V to the rescue again! And be sure to lock him up well this time, he's becoming a menace!" She grinned at them, her mask settled firmly over her eyes once more; it didn't seem to matter that its predecessor was still in the corner. Such technicalities were nothing to one's identity; it would disappear soon. "Ja mata ne!"
       Sighs and rapid murmurs of adulation followed in her wake as she dropped from the windowsill. One of the police polished off his Sailor V pin with childish pride.

       Morning in Tokyo was a cavalcade of chirping birds and screaming schoolchildren. One in particular, in fact, which was nothing unusual, and nothing to turn one's head at. "Ma-MA!" Thundering steps. The entire Tsukino household shook with the force of Hurricane Usagi as it traveled in its usual daily path down the staircase and into the kitchen.
       It was flawless in motion, really. Ikukko held the paper open in front of her as Usagi ran by, grabbing her lunch from her mother's outstretched hand. Then, that emptied hand reached back to grab the toast as it popped up, transferring both slices to Shingo's plate, and grabbed two more to be put in. Around the table went Usagi, gulping down a glass of orange juice at almost inhuman speed, a plain waffle shoved into her mouth and chewed noisily as she finished her circumnavigation. Back out the kitchen door she went, and Ikukko and Shingo could hear her dancing around in the front hallway, trading slippers for shoes. Then, the slamming of the door, and silence fell.
       Outside, the silence followed the odango-haired blonde as she crossed the concrete path that led to the sidewalk. It was an uncomfortable silence, and Usagi was so suddenly frightened by it that she didn't see the black cat from yesterday until she'd literally tripped over her. The thud was relatively quiet in the silence. "…itaai!" So was her wail.
       When crystal blue eyes lifted, they met relatively annoyed cerulean. "I was expecting more than this, I really was. You didn't even see me!" A paw shook, the cat apparently oblivious to - or openly ignoring - Usagi's shock at hearing her talk. "Clutzy, clumsy, a crybaby, and a bottomless stomach. THIS is my heroine?" she sighed, curling her tail around her back legs.
       "You…you…" A fingertip wavered as it pointed at the black cat. The black cat that was looking more annoyed as time passed.
       "Yes? I can talk. Very perceptive. I simply couldn't talk while those horrible things were on my head, nor could I talk to you while in the middle of a crowd….NYAOW! Put me down!"
       The prodding fingertip had turned into a full-out grab as the odango-haired blonde had apparently decided it wasn't her imagination, and was most likely a trick. She shook the cat despite howls of protest, and turned her upside down. "Where do the batteries go?" Usagi mused, prodding the cat's soft underbelly. "Moriya-chan? Can you hear me? This wasn't a very good trick!" She probably looked utterly ridiculous yelling into a wriggling black cat's ribcage, but the eerie silence around them continued.
       "Baka!" A slash of claws came down along Usagi's arm, much deeper than the kitty scratches from the days before. Usagi screamed bloody murder, clutching her forearm and letting the cat go, not even bothering to watch her twist and graceful landing. "This is reprehensible! I am not a damn mechanical toy, I am a living animal!" She slapped her paw against the concrete, lips drawn back over her teeth; she was livid over this.
       Crystal blue eyes wavered with unshed tears as Usagi stared. "But cats don't talk," she whispered weakly. Then, as if it needed to be said, she added, "You have a bald spot on your head."
       "It is not a bald spot! Niaaow! Serenity, spare me from this insanity," the cat hissed through clenched fang-teeth. The name invoked was merely that, and called nothing to mind of anything but a dire importance and empty memories. Yet she uttered it in complete seriousness anyway, as a Christian would his God, and stared Usagi down. "My name is Luna. And I've been searching for you long and hard, Tsukino Usagi."
       A breeze had finally come up from somewhere, ruffling Usagi's uniform and whip-like ponytails. "But I'm nobody special, koneko-chan…Luna," she hastily amended. "I'm just a gentle girl who likes to play video games and hates English." Then, she touched the tip of her fingernail to her lower lip thoughtfully, crystal blue eyes hazing over momentarily. "I like cake too, and puff pastries…"
       The cat uttered a long-suffering sigh. Paws padded her up onto Usagi's lap, where she shoved her face up into hers, whiskers twitching. "You're someone very special, Usagi. And it's time you became that person, because the enemy has come." Her tail twitched to indicate the surrounding silence, curling back around her feet. "This is their work, this quiet. Some sort of magical waves through the air, child's play really, that affected everyone and everything. It silenced people, the birds, cars and trucks. And it's slowly sapping away their energy to be able to live, the life force that powers them, and you, Tsukino Usagi, have to stop it."
       "But…mama…Shingo…they were fine when I left, and I'm alright and you're alright…" This was all too much for her to digest. She held the sides of her head, shaking it vigorously. "And, and, Moriya-chan, she usually meets me here in the mornings, and she wasn't here today because she had to meet Haruda-sensei before class…!"
       "Usagi, snap out of it!" A paw briskly slapped Usagi's cheek, claws sheathed. Then, as the odango-haired blonde flushed from the suddenness, Luna calmed again. "It's been moving in a steady wave, and it hit here just as I made it here to your house. And it hasn't affected us, I assume, because of who we are," the cat stated airily in that time-honored tone of 'I only think I know what's going on, when I really have no fucking clue.'
       Unfortunately, Usagi was not skilled in the knowledge of reading between the lines. She was too busy envisioning horrors upon horrors visiting her family and best friend, and she had quite an overactive imagination for a fourteen-year-old. "Oh no, mama, Shingo, papa…Moriya-chan…I have to do something!" Up she jumped, Luna flying with a yowling shriek off her lap. She managed to land yet again on her feet, and turned to see something beginning to smolder in those crystal blue eyes. A spark, if you will.
       Unselfishness. Luna smiled as only a feline could, and nodded briskly. "And you will do something, Usagi."
       Paws danced across the concrete as the black cat moved far enough away to put enough space between her and the still shell-shocked girl. Then, with a coiling of limbs, she sprung into the air and spun about in a perfect looping circle, her eyes bleeding away into a solid, opalescent white. At the arc, something coalesced and formed, breathed into existence as magic electrified the air, sent a tingle down Usagi's spine. She breathed out in an awed exhale as something bright and glittering fell to the concrete, and she cried out in fear that it'd break or scratch before kneeling down to see it.
       It was a brooch of white gold (or was it silver?) that was decorated at the four outer cardinal points by, respectively, an emerald, ruby, sapphire, and a…citrine? No, a gold sphere…or was it a topaz? She couldn't tell, as it seemed to writhe the longer she stared at it, like it couldn't decide what to be. And in the inside rim of the brooch was a crescent moon, a diamond set atop it, the inner edge decorated by tinier siblings of the outer four stones. It looked priceless. "It's gorgeous, Luna! It's so beautiful and shiny…is it for me?"
       Luna looked exasperated. "Of course it's for you! Why else would I summon it, for Serenity's sake!?" She eyed the odango-haired blonde as, her sorrows temporarily forgotten, she pinned it onto the knot of her red kerchief bow, doing a little spin in glee, preening a bit. "Now, if you could just stand still for a minute or so, we can get down to business."
       "What? Oh…everyone's in trouble, but how can I do anything? I'm just ordinary! Although," she murmured in addition, her gaze fixated on the brooch, "I feel funny now. And it's glowing, isn't it? It's glowing like a star…"
       "Say the words, Usagi." Luna was up on all fours now, tension wrought in every muscle with anticipation. This was what she'd been searching for, waiting for, all these years. This very moment, this very singular action, was the culmination. "Say them. You know them!"
       She did. The strange feeling inside of her gathered into a ball in her stomach, but it was of the same anticipation as the black cat below her was feeling, although she didn't know why. But she knew the words that would make it all right, and she crossed her arms over her chest, over the glow. "Moon…Moon Prism…MOON PRISM POWER!
       "MAKE UP!"

       Every horrible event that occurs in Tokyo culminates at the Tower. It's an unspoken, unwritten, unsanctioned rule. If you're planning to take over the world's largest city, you're going to damn well do it at the Tower, and smile while doing so.
       Goddamn stereotypes. Not that he was one to question them.
       What wind there was so high up in the sky ruffled casually cut blond hair, the edge of a gray tunic. Hands gloved in immaculate white gripped the observation deck's railing as he looked out over the annoyingly bright city in the daytime, taking measured glee in the silence. He didn't even bother to turn as he felt the energy signature of a teleport behind him. "Report, Anmoku."
       "Hai, Jadeite-sama." The youma's voice was as gravelly and rough as her looks; femininity was almost non-existent in the scraggled contours of her face and torso. But she was also a lackey, a drone, and had no need for such things as vanity. "The outer limits of Tokyo are silenced now, along with the rest of the city. The feeders are in place, gathering the energy of the luckless humanoids as we speak."
       Fingers tapped the metal rhythmically. "Do you have the controls to modulate the output of Our Majesty's life-force and the collection of their energy?" It was, after all, a fragile direction of such potent magic; just the tiniest bit of their queen's power could control the weak-willed minds of the feral humans.
       The youma, ever the subservient, bowed, holding out the device. It was almost laughably simplistic, just a box with a switch. "Excellent. Did you encounter any resistance while setting up the collectors or infusing the drones?"
       "Iie, Jadeite-sama. The humans I filled with Our Majesty's force spread Her taint quickly and easily, and no one took notice of the collectors. Pitiful mortals," she spat, her face twisting into a mask of wrinkles and pitted pores. The urge to shudder had long, long since fled the blond general's mind.
       Along with many other emotions which, if he'd even remembered having them, he'd probably miss.
       "How nice of them to have such a tall tower for us to direct the energy to our kingdom," he mused aloud, motioning at the radio tower itself. "Although I daresay it wasn't used to its full advantage when Danburite was attempting his failed mission. Yes," he added then, glancing out at the city, "I do believe this will be too easy.
       "Tokyo will make a lovely observation station once the Dark Kingdom has asserted itself." A smile that looked almost uncomfortable lifted to his lips as the youma, unsure of his intentions, gave up a wobbly smile of her own. "Don't smile. I didn't say you could." Back down it went, and Jadeite resumed his almost laughably casual regard of the city. "Go check on the collectors, Anmoku. I want a secondary report within the next two hours."
       Another twisting spiral of energy flickered in and out of existence as the youma vanished, and the blond general sifted flakes of rust between his gloved fingertips as that smile lingered.

       "Maaa, kami-sama..."
       "You've said that twice now." Whiskers twitched.
       "But…but…KAMI-SAMA! I'm like Sailor V!" The shriek carried through the quiet courtyard like knives through hot butter, and although the black cat knew no one was conscious enough to care about the decibel level, she winced anyway. "I f-feel a draft…"
       Paws slapped at the odango-haired blonde's legs as the cat tried to get her attention. Then, as crystal blue eyes wavered down, Luna settled back to stare at her handiwork.
       Usagi was tugging down a short blue flared skirt over her hips, blushing furiously. Her legs were bare except for lace-less red boots striped at the top with white, marked in the middle by a yellow crescent moon. The bodice was like a white swimsuit with padded shoulder flotation devices, and the brooch was clipped in the exact center of her kerchief bow, blue collar sporting three white stripes instead of two. Another crescent was sported on her throat choker, along with a hanging bauble that resembled her brooch in smaller relief; crescents indeed seemed to be the theme, as they hung from her earrings as well.
       She removed the red mask that decorated her face, feeling at the gold and red-jeweled tiara on her forehead, tracing the scrollwork. "Wow," she breathed softly, moving her hand up to feel over the six pearl and feather barrettes in her hair, and up further to the ruby and silver circles pinned to the front of her odango. "I…who am I? I'm not Usagi anymore…"
       It was too sunny for this first transformation, Luna decided. Nevertheless, she nodded curtly, motioning a paw at the girl. "You're the chosen warrior, Usagi. It's your celestial mission to fight the enemy now that they've arrived."
       "But who am I? I look…I look…" Usagi cried, stumbling over her words. She touched the mask back on over her eyes, not even recognizing the fact it seemed to stay on by sheer attraction and nothing less. Then she tugged at her skirt again, that blush returning in full force as she realized she couldn't get it down any further, and that a stray wind was going to show more than she was willing to even think about. "And this outfit, Luna! How does Sailor V catch criminals in such a tiny skirt?"
       "Very carefully," Luna snapped, then jumped up onto her paws again. "Don't you realize the importance of your duty? Of how long I've been searching for you…what's wrong?"
       Usagi had gone very still, staring at something only she could see. Then, as if in a self-induced trance, she slipped off her mask and held it out to the cat. "There's a movie playing in them, Luna…" She held them steady as Luna balanced on her back paws to see, indeed, a movie playing in the eyeholes of the mask, like miniature video. People laying still where they had fallen when the wave had passed by, their energy like brilliantly pale snakes arcing away from their bodies, some into strange little devices for collection, or storage.
       The cat watched it for a minute more, meowing in protest as the mask was suddenly yanked away. Luna pitched forward as Usagi slipped them back on, before crying out "Moriya-chan, Naru-chan!" and leapt. Leapt high enough to clear the street, no less, landing on the other side in a move no normal girl could have managed, much less the queen of clumsiness herself. The cat barely had time to scramble after as the scantily clad, sailor-suited girl ran down the sidewalk, blonde ponytails streaming.
       Today, unlike a normal day, the worry of oncoming traffic was nonexistent. Usagi barely noticed Luna running behind her as they reached the crosswalk, her school visible on the other side. The twisting tendrils of white that had been exuding from the movie-characters were thick as fog around the building, coalescing at the top of the roof, and around a humanoid figure.
       A humanoid figure whom, at the moment, was very gleeful. The energy signatures were powerful for the feral humans she was collecting from; it would make a wonderful meal for their mistress. She watched the collector nearly hum with the energy it was sucking in, and smiled a sharp-toothed grin. "Delicious," the youma sighed happily. "So much quiet, so much…silence."
       Her hand stroked over the hair of a student collapsed against her leg, sifting brown strands through her fingers. She'd carefully gone over the entire building and selected the humans who had been giving off the best energy, leading them up to the roof and the collector to fully drain them away into husks, not wasting a drop. One, however, she had propped up right next to the collector itself, the entire machine glowing like a beacon from the input. She couldn't fathom why this particular redhead was so potent, but…
       "Stop right there!" The youma didn't swivel her head. Or, even, twist it all the way around on her neck. She simply turned her torso completely about, staring up rather painfully at the sun and its newest silhouette. A silhouette with silly floppy rabbit ears, she noted. "Get away from Moriya-chan, you ugly hag of a woman, and stop your evil!"
       Hag? She called her a HAG? "You little wench! Come out of the sunlight so I can see the little child I'll be sacrificing to my lord!" Clawed fingers raked the air as the youma waited, teeth grinding.
       Usagi's spirit suddenly faltered. She couldn't go down there near that…that…THING. But Moriya-chan was in danger, and she could see Naru-chan out of the corner of her eye, and she had to do something. Gloved hands clenched as she jumped down off the utility shed's roof and down onto the main roof, trying to look as menacing as possible. "You're not going to hurt anyone else today, you evil witch! I'm a champion for justice and love! I'm…I'm…" She gripped her mask, flicking it away towards the sky as she assumed what she took to be a superhero's pose. "I'm the pretty soldier Sailor Moon, and I'll punish you for your misdeeds!"
       Luna hung her head, sighing from her spot in the tree below. Did the girl really have to make a speech?
       The youma started laughing, Luna's ears folding back. "Sailor Moon? Like that Sailor V girl, and her little skirts? Pitiful! I was expecting someone taller, maybe stronger and better dressed, not some kid!" A hand waved languidly, some of the students struggling up in true zombie-like fashion, their skin pale and ghostly from lack of energy.
       Sailor Moon stared like a deer caught in headlights. A lot of these kids she knew, if not personally than through simple association, and to have them in this condition…she felt fury rising beneath her fear. But it wasn't enough, and she turned tail and ran towards the stairwell. "Sailor Moon, turn around and fight them!" Luna yowled from below.
       "I can't, Luna! They're kids I know! There's Yuuri-chan, and Tomoko-chan, and Maike-kun…" She gripped the door handle and twisted at it furiously, a few tears sliding free. "Oh, I can't do this, Luna, I can't, I can't! I want to go home and sleep and find out this is a bad dream!" the sailor-suited soldier cried, slumping against the door as her sobs pitched a high note.
       Then, just as some of her classmates were reaching out for her, her crying started to echo. Not even that…they started reverberating painfully, shockwaves arcing out from the two jewels on her odango in concussive force. The zombie-kids moaned in painful realization that the noise hurt, covering their ears as they staggered back in slow motion. The youma simply screamed, writhing about; apparently her hyper-senses amplified the sound on a massive level. Her eardrums burst, toppling her over from lack of equilibrium.
       "Sailor Moon!" The black cat landed in a graceful crouch next to the still-sobbing girl, although her tears were beginning to die down, and flicked her tail angrily. "Stop crying and listen to me! Do you see the creature?"
       The odango-haired blonde nodded, sniffling loudly and a bit too wetly for Luna's taste. "Uh huh. She's by that machine thing and Moriya-chan, but what can I do?" She patted at her skirt, looking for pockets that might've been hiding something useful…a bomb, perhaps. The cat just batted at her again, shaking her head.
       "Take off your tiara and throw it; shout 'Moon Frisbee!' when you do." Luna exhaled when she saw Sailor Moon hesitate, and stamped her paw. "You have to save these children and your friend! Do it!"
       "Alright!" She slipped the gold tiara from her forehead, holding it between her hands, a slow expression of awe working onto her face. It formed a glowing disk of energy, and she brought her arm around, hoping she wouldn't mess this up; there was a reason she was always last to be picked in softball. "Please let me aim right," she whispered.
       The crowd was beginning to crawl up again, and she could see Luna becoming agitated next to her boot. The youma was still writhing in her corner, coming up and going down at intervals in her pain, and Sailor Moon whipped her arm about in what she thought was a straight throw. "Moon Frisbee!"
       If the possibility of coherent prayer was in the odango-haired blonde, it was being put to good use. Crystal blue and earthen brown eyes watched the glowing tiara with apprehension, both marked with sudden fear as the grasping hands of the students started to pull at them. Luna jumped for higher ground as quickly as she could, narrowly avoiding a hand aimed for her tail. Sailor Moon simply started whimpering, flailing her arms out, trying to keep her eyes on the youma even as fingers tried to dig into them.
       Bright light filled her vision as the tiara impacted. The resounding noise and release of energy was nothing short of immense; Luna dug her claws in with a pained yowl as students went flying past, skidding along the roof. For most of them, the railing was all that saved them from toppling off the edge and into the concrete courtyard below, considering all of the students had gone unconscious from the sudden severance of control the youma had over them.
       The cat could spot her new charge's friend near the fried collector, its circuits smoldering from the overload. Another girl she'd seen Usagi around, Osaka Naru, was half-buried beneath another group of classmates, pale and wan, but breathing. And speaking of Usagi…. "Sailor Moon? Answer me!" Down the cat jumped, lightly rebounding off a boy's head with a mumbled meow of apology. "Sailor Moon!"
       "Here…itaaaai…who's elbowing me?!" A white gloved hand waved up from beneath a pile near the roof's edge, holding the now-dull tiara. The black cat exhaled loudly, padding over to try and push some of the students off of Sailor Moon. "This isn't as fun as I thought it might be," the odango-haired blonde warbled, her voice muffled.
       Luna just grunted, putting all of her ten pounds into trying to move a particularly stubborn student. It was the equivalent of her trying to move Mount Fuji, but the cat kept at it gamely anyway, hiding the smallest beginnings of a proud smile as she saw a blonde head emerge from the pile. "Yare yare…"

       It was indeed too bright for such an occasion, the girl decided. She swung her legs lazily as she perched within the high branches of a towering tree, casually scratching the ears of the white cat sitting beside her. Noon was starting to approach, and the situation on the roof was still one of relative chaos as awakening students tried to assess what had happened to them. Rumours spread like wildfire, and one was of a blonde-haired girl in a sailor suit who had saved them from something terrible.
       "So it's begun then, Artemis?" Dangling legs crossed at the ankles and stilled. Fingers continued to scratch, however, and the cat purred with contentment despite the question. "We're not alone anymore in the battle against our enemies."
       Pointed ears flattened back as the cat lazily stretched beneath her hand. "Not anymore. She's awakened…but we have to keep protecting her, Minako. The enemies can't be allowed to find her, or to even know of the truth-"
       "Ara ara, Artemis! Of course they won't find out; I won't let them. I swore an oath to our princess long ago to protect her in this fashion." There was a second's flash in the leaves as the girl held up a crescent-shaped compact, flicking it open to peer within.
       A crescent moon glowed on her forehead; a mask the color of rubies covered her eyes. "Even if it means taking her place." She clicked the compact shut again, giving Artemis a sunny smile and the V sign. "It'll be alright, Artemis; we won't fail in this, our chosen mission."
       "There's no room for failure, Mina-chan," he shot back seriously. "No second chances. We have to be dedicated to our cause, and we have to wait until the right time to reveal ourselves. And until then…" A paw was idly groomed, fanged teeth nibbling between his toes. "Until then…we help in our own ways."
       Minako stared off towards the roof of Juuban Junior High again, intent on two in particular as they helped one another stand. Then, she stared upward at the sky, and smiled at the bright beams of light. "Hai. In our own ways. As Sailor V, I'll help them be strong. But for now…" Artemis yowled as the long-haired blonde suddenly leapt from their branch, dropping down towards the ground.
       She caught a branch on passing, swinging around like a pro on the bars to one lower down still, and then down, to land on the ground. Again did she flash the V sign up at her cat, who was currently thanking his personal gods that his fur was already naturally white and not gone stark from absolute shock, and grinned. "It's lunchtime! Come on, Artemis, I'm starving!"
       The white cat just hung his head. "Minako-chan, you're unreal."

       "….and I had the biggest headache when I woke up, it was surreal!"
       "Hai, hai…I'm glad I missed it then," Usagi sighed, opening the door to her bedroom. Moriya followed her in, holding the loudly purring Luna in her arms. Explaining to her best friend why she had suddenly adopted the 'bald-spotted kitty' had been quite a task…not to mention doing the same with her parents.
       The room was a hazardous zone, but both girls picked their way through it with relative ease, though Usagi nearly took a header once or two en route to her bed. "So what did the doctors say happened? Haruda-sensei wouldn't tell the rest of us."
       Moriya let Luna jump onto the bunny and moon patterned bedspread before settling on the edge herself, shuffling her feet inside of her slippers. "They blamed it on stress, because we're going to be taking the tests next year for high school, but I just think they made something up to make us feel better." The redhead reached over, lightly taking hold of a snow globe that sat on a small shelf above Usagi's bedside table, and shook it.
       "But at least you're ok, and that's all that matters," Usagi murmured, fidgeting a bit. Lying to her friend was killing her, and the truth was just on the tip of her tongue, just begging to be told. But she couldn't do it with Luna in the room - the cat was giving her suspicious looks when Moriya wasn't paying attention - and maybe not ever. A change of subject was in order, and had she not been so worried about keeping her secret, she may've been scared by the fact she'd even come up with such an adult solution. "Isn't it pretty?"
       "Huh? Oh, you mean this?" Moriya held up the globe, the 'snow' sifting to the bottom. "I think it's beautiful, Usagi-chan, you know that. I wish I had something like this from my parents…so I could remember them…" She shook it again, watching the swirl of white around the pearlescent, domed castle inside. If one looked closely enough, they could see a tiny small figurine standing at the top of the steps in tiny detail. It was a work of art, and an obvious labor of love.
       Usagi frowned a bit, sitting down next to her friend with a careful smoothing of her skirt. Luna immediately sidled into her lap, eyes intent as they all watched the snow fall within a glass-encased world. "I'll give it to you as a birthday present someday, Moriya-chan. I promise."
       The redhead just smiled, shaking the globe one more time and set it back on the shelf to watch the spiral. "I don't know what I'd do without having you as a friend, Usagi-chan." She laughed then, turning sparkling lapis towards her friend. "Maybe jump off a swing."
       "I was only ten!" Usagi wailed, looking a bit chagrined; a look that disappeared with the impact of one of her pillows. Luna screeched and beat paws for the safety of the doorway as the odango-haired blonde dived for another pillow. The pillow fight began in earnest, both girls laughing loud and without a care in the world as feathers rained down onto the floor. "You're so cruel, Moriya-chan!"
       "Only because I'm good at it!"
       Laughter followed the moon across the night sky as Tokyo hummed around them.