Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Runaway Heartstrings ❯ Ending ( Chapter 1 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Kihin Ranno 
Anime/Manga: Sailor Moon Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Suspense / Romance / Psychological / Drama | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 09.29.2002 | Pages: 9 | Words: 6.1K | Visits: 320 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: Sailor Moon Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Suspense / Romance / Psychological / Drama | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 09.29.2002 | Pages: 9 | Words: 6.1K | Visits: 320 | Status: Work In Progress
Runaway Heartstrings
Chapter One: Ending
2/15
by Kihin Ranno
goddess_branwen@hotmail.com
http://www.geocities.com/kihin_ra nno/starlithorizon.html
R
~~Date Started: September 13, 2002~~
~~Date Completed: September 18, 2002~~
And here we have the new first chapter. ^^; Don't you all feel special
that you're reading this? This was just so you all go one last final
look at the inner senshi before the next few chapters are focused
on Usagi and Mamoru solely. I also wanted to follow up that fight
scene with a meeting so we can all see what happens when the senshi
don't have to keep their composure before the public. O.o
Be afraid.
This story is an alternate reality taking the characters from Sailor
Moon and inserting them into a different situation while remaining in
their own universe. In essence, I am screwing around with the story of
Sailor Moon because I can. This in no way reflects Naoko Takeuchi's
version of Sailor Moon or the anime version. However, I hold no claim
onto Sailor Moon as that is owned by Naoko, Bandai, Kodansha, Toei
Animation, Mixx, DiC, Cloverway, and I'm sure about 100,000 others. I
am merely doing this for my own sick amusement and once again, because
I can.
~************************************************************ *********~
The night had begun peaceful enough as it always did. This particular
one had a bright full moon out, and it cast enough light so that one
could have been able to see without the streetlights that lined the
sidewalks. It was perfectly clear so that you could stare upwards
for hours, counting the stars and watching them wink at you like so
many blondes did during the day. There was next to no one out that
night as the majority of Tokyo had decided to go to bed early due to
school and work beginning the next day...
Next to no one.
There were two people and one thing out that night. The two people
were a young, teenage couple who had snuck out of their houses that
night for a late rendezvous. They were walking arm in arm, talking and
giggling quietly about absolutely nothing relevant as couples often do.
The girl made several comments about the cold night air in an attempt
to get the young boy to put his arm around her. The boy, being
oblivious to that particular advance, gave her his jacket. She was
about to give up on the coyness that she sometimes felt was required in
her position when they came into contact with the thing.
That thing, and that was the only thing it could be called, was some
type of disgusting cross between a lizard and a bat. It was orange,
with glowing red eyes and bat wings that appeared to be falling apart
from battle. It was distinctly female, judging by the slight
projections coming from the chest area. It was most certainly not
like anything that science had ever seen before. At first it just
floated in the air, inverted of course, and stared at the young couple.
The young couple saw nothing that they could do so they stared right
back at it in awe and horror. After a time, they thought they might
actually be safe when it opened its mouth and screeched. It bore fangs
that would make a vampire shrink away... Fangs that had a slight
reddish tinge from past meals.
Thus the couple immediately realized that this was not exactly a safe
place to be. They screamed in the same terrified breath and began to
run away from it, but then that was why the demonic looking thing had
wings. It let out another high pitched, grating shriek and flew after
them, clawed hands extended. It swooped down and reached out for the
boy...
When another cry pierced the night, "Fire Soul!" and suddenly fire lit
up the darkness as well as the moon. The raging orange and red inferno
sped towards both the monster and the boy. But the loud cry had
alerted both to the impending doom. Both mercifully and tragically,
both human and thing managed to dodge the stream of flames just before
it burned them.
"Damn it!" a raven haired girl in a red sailor suit swore.
A blonde one, dressed in gold appeared at her side and said, "Mars,
could you have at least waited for Jupiter to get the poor kid out of
the way BEFORE you blasted the monster?!"
Mars scoffed, tossing a lock of dark hair of her shoulder and up her
nose at the other girl, "You are not the boss of me, Venus. So don't
act like it,"
"She wouldn't have to if you'd try thinking once in a while," an
imposing figure in green shouted from over where the young couple was
quivering in fright as their eyes frantically searched for the demon
that had flown away, "Mercury, have you found it yet?"
"No... Sorry," a smaller, blue girl said meekly as she typed away
furiously on a small computer. She wasn't sure where this thing could
be... Bats would hide up in the air or hang from a tree or something
of that nature, but a lizard would stay close to the ground. A youma
that had a mix of both could be anywhere.
Mars rolled her eye, "Well excuse me for trying to help the guy,"
"I'm sure he would have been grateful for the third degree burns,"
Venus quipped before walking off and inspecting the area for the
monster. Soon enough, all the senshi were looking in various places
for the thing, save Jupiter. She was staying by the teenagers and
trying to decide if she should make them try and run for it or stay
here and guard them...
The four soldiers soon discovered that it had chosen a tree when it
suddenly swooped down from a branch and flew up behind the teens and
Jupiter. It screeched just before it was right on top of them, making
them jump. Before anyone could react to its reappearance, it had the
girl in its clutches, and they were both high above the earth and out
of their reach.
"Damn it!" Venus cursed as she watched the animal ascend higher and
higher as the girl screamed and struggled against its tight grip. The
blonde offered up a silent prayer that she would not fall to her death
after escaping its grasp in the anti climax of the century.
"Hisa*!" the boy shouted at the top of his voice in fear. He turned to
the Sailor Senshi and said, "You have to do something... Save her!
You're the only ones who can!"
Venus' face softened as she felt a pang deep within her heart about the
concern and love this boy was showing for the girl. It struck a chord
deep within her. And it was one that seemed to spark a mix of envy and
sympathy.
It reminded her so much of the past she had dreamed up without even
knowing it and of a future she could not have. This girl, Hisa, had
what she had lost. Or what she had never had to begin with. This
simple, innocent, unsuspecting girl had just been out for a walk with
her love and now her life was on the line... And for a brief moment,
Venus wondered if she deserved it.
Then the senshi of love heard the girl shriek from above and she was
snapped back to reality. She had wasted three seconds in her silent
lamentations. Those three seconds could cost this girl her life.
So, without even a moment's more hesitation, Venus knelt down and
cried, "Jupiter, get under them now! Be ready to catch the girl!" then
she pushed off the asphalt with her legs and shot skyward.
Her senshi form added to the height she could attain with this leap,
but the monster and her captive were still out of her reach. Still, as
she traveled upwards, she began to be able to tell the difference
between monster and maiden... And she began lining up a shot so she'd
be ready the moment she was as close as she could possibly get.
From below, Mars watched her with a fiery resentment. Her eyes
narrowed at the display and she spat, "Show off. She's going to get
herself killed one of these days," then she crossed her fingers and
quietly whispered, "Just don't take the girl with you this time
Venus..."
Jupiter had only heard the first and shouted back, "If she does start
falling, why don't you make yourself useful and catch her, huh?" then
she rolled her eyes and muttered, "Bitch,"
Mars did hear the last, but held her tongue. That would wait until
after the fight... unless the Amazon repeated it.
Up above, Venus felt that she would soon run out of force with which
to get any higher. She quickly finished taking aim at the monster.
Its face was buried in the girl's neck and there was blood. Hisa was
still alive and was struggling against it, but she was growing weak...
Venus took a deep breath. The youma and Hisa were awfully close to one
another. If she miscalculated the shot by even an inch, it could mean
the girl's life... She bit her lip wondering if she should even take
the shot for but a moment.
Then she realized the girl would die if she didn't do something fast.
Venus felt herself start to fall and she quickly made sure that her
aim was exact. She took a deep breath whispered the attack call so as
not to alert the unsuspecting youma of her presence, "Crescent Beam," a
laser like beam of golden light came forth from her outstretched finger
as Venus' descent quickened. All present watched it as it traveled
closer and closer...
And nearly jumped for joy when they heard the monster scream in pain.
Venus whooped and even did a flip mid air for effect. She was close
enough to hear Mars' comment about being a show off, but Venus paid it
no mind. The monster was falling, and while it did still screech, it
would be easy to kill once it hit the ground. it was too disoriented
to take flight again. Jupiter was ready to catch the girl as she
plummeted to the earth and Mercury was running over to attend to the
girl's wounds.
Venus landed on her feet, only flinching slightly when her ankle
threatened to twist beneath her due to an old injury that chose the
most inopportune times to act up. She fell to her knee out of habit
in order to keep from hurting it, scraping her knee on the pavement.
She hissed as blood formed on her knee and prayed the demon they fought
couldn't smell blood. She quickly wiped it off and hoped no one had
noticed.
The monster and the girl landed simultaneously a few moments later, one
to the hard black pavement and the other into the protecting arms of
Jupiter. The green senshi quickly laid the girl down so that Mercury
could get a good look at her. Hisa was moaning slightly and clutched
her neck where the monster had bitten her. Jupiter narrowed her eyes
and swiftly reassured the teenager that Mercury would take good care of
her. She heard Mercury trying to make the girl feel at ease as she
checked over her wounds and distinctly heard the words, "Jupiter will
take care of that thing. It won't hurt you any more. I promise,"
Not wanting to break a promise, Jupiter cracked her knuckles menacingly
and growled, "That's right. Jupiter will take care of this creep all
right..." then she smirked and walked over to the youma just to see if
perhaps it was dead...
It was still breathing.
Jupiter narrowed her eyes. The senshi of thunder was by no means
merciful. She had a strong sense of justice, right and wrong, and
often acted as judge, jury, and executioner in real life and on the
battle field. She felt that two young people in love who had been so
nearly ripped apart by these means was most certainly wrong. It
reminded her of how viciously her own parents had been ripped from
her...
And Sailor Jupiter would not tolerate it.
She stalked over to the youma, listening to it wheeze and struggle
to get to its webbed feet. It looked up at Jupiter, its eyes glowing
but no longer so brightly. It seemed to have some sort of mocking
expression... And silently said, "I dare you,"
Jupiter never turned down a dare.
She walked up closer, kicking the demi-animal in the gut. It sent the
creature sprawling, and it hissed in pain. Jupiter walked up to it
once more and kicked it again. The kick was a great deal harder this
time, and it was propelled into a tree. Then the senshi ran up to it
and began assaulting it with her fists. And all the while, Jupiter's
face remained frozen in a look of cold rage.
Venus narrowed her eyes in acute interest as she saw the devil's skin
beginning to take on a shade of brown. She quickly forgot about it
when Jupiter didn't immediately blast it or at least do it after she
had gotten it into a vulnerable position and shouted, "Jupiter, just
blast it and finish it off! Kill it and be done with it!"
But it was as if Jupiter did not hear. She was on another plane,
completely separate from the one the others were on. She was where
vigilante justice ruled and capital punishment was the only solution
to injustice and wrongdoings. She continued to pound her fists into
the youma.
The thing howled in pain know, and its mouth was now filled with its
own blood instead of that of another. It seemed to try and form words,
but it had not the intelligence or the ability to do so. Instead it
made noises that sounded like the beginnings of syllables or broken
Japanese, but nothing intelligible.
And throughout the beating, its eyes were not on Jupiter...
Venus noticed this eventually and her eyes widened with horror when
she saw it was staring at Hisa with hunger. She waved her arms
frantically and shouted, "Damn it Jupiter! Blast it! End it
now, before it's too late!"
As if one cue, the monster seemed to be hit with what would have been
an adrenaline rush in humans but could have been something entirely
different for this demon. It grabbed both of Jupiter's fists and
tossed the strong girl out of the way, sending her rolling down the
street like a barrel. On instinct, Mercury left the girl's side seeing
as Hisa was all right. Her back was turned as the monster began to
fly towards the defenseless girl on the ground...
Mercury would have picked up on where the animal was looking had she
not been so focused on her "patient". And now she was so focused on
checking on Jupiter, she did not hear the cries and curses and
screeching behind her.
Mars was too busy holding the boy back, wrenching his arms behind his
back with a strength she normally didn't have. They were both
shouting at the top of their lungs for someone to do something. Mars'
eyes were on Venus, pleading with her to run towards the girl and do
something. But Mars could see a split second hesitation on Venus'
part before she began to run forward.
That spilt second was all it took.
The monster reached the girl quickly and laid on top of her so that it
was impossible to blast it without hitting Hisa. The victim beneath
it shrieked and struggled, but to no avail. Soon the monster's fangs
were embedded deep into her neck as it sucked out what was left of her
blood.
Venus ran as fast as she could, paying more attention to Hisa than the
vampire like thing above her. She watched in horror as with each step,
Hisa's struggles became weaker and weaker... Until they stopped
entirely.
Venus screamed with violence and launched herself at the monster,
knocking it off of the girl and tearing its teeth from her neck. The
senshi landed on top of the youma, but their position soon switched as
the monster flipped her on her back. Venus cried out as she saw the
monster bend down and actually lick her bloodied knee...
It could definitely smell blood.
Then the monster looked back to Venus, its eyes suddenly glowing with
eerie crimson light again. It let out yet another shriek and Venus lay
there, frozen in fear as she stared at the frightening bloody fangs.
She barely noticed that they were getting larger from her perspective
as they grew near...
That's when Mars suddenly appeared, having let the boy go when Venus
had torn the youma off of Hisa. She knew she didn't have the strength
to pry the monster off of her fellow senshi, but she did have something
that could make it stop moving. She pulled out a white scroll with
Japanese writing on it and held it out in front of her. An unseen wind
seemed to blow her hair upwards as she chanted, "Rin, pyou, tou,
sha, kai, jin, retsu, sai, zen. Akuryo... Taisen!" she placed the
paper on the devil's back and then it could not move.
Mars quickly grabbed Venus' arm and tore her out from underneath the
thing, never once asking if she was all right. The red senshi started
chastising her the moment she was out of harm's way, going on about a
multitude of things that didn't matter in the slightest. She knew
Venus wasn't going to hear a word she said at this point, so she saved
the real tongue lashing for when she would...
Venus was shaken and most certainly disgusted, but otherwise fine save
for the overwhelming urge to scrub her knee until she could see her
reflection in it. But she remembered the matter at hand soon enough.
She felt as though she had to say something that made it better. She
had to shout just to make this night mare end. She stuttered slightly
as she searched for an order to give that would finish this...
But Jupiter seemed to know what to do as at that precise moment, her
weak and pain filled voice reached their ears, "Supreme... Thunder!"
lightning streaked towards the now helpless monster and the sounds of
rolling thunder raged so loud Mercury thought she might go deaf. Soon
the elements of stormy weather engulfed the creature and then there was
a screech of pain... Then there was nothing more of the vampire than a
pile of dust that soon took to the wind.
All seemed to fall silent for a moment. All of the senshi exchanged
a few wary glances and fidgeted. Nobody wanted to say anything because
they all knew that they had done horribly in this battle. They were
scared that if they spoke, they'd be jumped upon by the remaining two
and be unable to defend themselves. It remained in uncomfortable
silence until Mars finally spoke, "You hesitated,"
Venus knew who it was directed at. She sent Mars a glare and said, "I
know that,"
Mars glared right back at her and raved, "Why the hell did you
hesitate?! You're the one always screaming at us for doing it! I seem
to remember you saying that a single second could cost someone their
life. That was exactly how long you waited before you reacted. Why
don't you listen to your own advice instead of preaching like you're
some kind of God!"
Venus rolled her eyes and said, "I'm not a God! That's just it! I'm
not infallible! I'm human!" Venus felt an old, undeniable anger rise
up in her throat, but she quickly bit it down.
"Did your instinct not tell you to run and save the girl?!" Mars
shouted.
"Actually human instinct would have told me to run away from danger not
into it," Venus snapped, in no mood to deal with Mars' holier-than-thou
attitude when she had better things to do...
Like yell at Jupiter.
Mars was about to say more to Venus when the blonde stalked over to
Jupiter, who was leaning against a tree since she could not even
support her own body weight. Her eyes held the same accusing
expression that Mars' held and she was aware of the fact that Jupiter
knew the look well. This was not the first time Venus would have
reprimanded her for screw-ups in battle.
And Jupiter did know the look well. She would have liked to clean
Venus' clock one of these days for always expecting so much of them
all, when she was hardly perfect herself. But the emerald eyed girl
knew that she could do better. She knew that she shouldn't pull stunts
like that... Jupiter just wished Venus could think of some way to
motivate them besides yelling. But for now she put on her poker face
and looked to Venus for the reaming.
Venus tried to keep her voice steady for once, but after Mars' comments
it wasn't easy. The blonde took a deep breath and said, "Jupiter...
did you not hear me tell you to stop?"
Jupiter looked down, clutching her wrist which she thought the monster
had sprained when she threw her away like that. She cleared her throat
and said, "Well kind of... You see, I was really focused on hurting
that thing and sometimes I just get so caught up in what I'm doing I--"
"Jupiter this is the third time this week that you've done this and the
third time someone besides the youma has gotten hurt because of it!
Now I know that you only want to avenge people, and I can understand
that. I want that too. But you have to do it quickly or things like
that happen!" Venus shouted angrily.
"I know that!" Jupiter hissed, "I just got pissed, that's all. It
won't happen ag--"
"But it will happen again, Jupiter. It always does." Venus said, her
voice disdainful, "Don't give me false promises!"
"Fine!" Jupiter shouted back, "But how the hell was I supposed to know
the thing was going to have enough strength to throw me off and go
after the girl again?!"
"It's like a vampire! Once they taste someone's blood, they don't stop
drinking it until they've attained every last drop! And they'll do
anything necessary in order to get it! Vampire's have inhuman
strength; they're much stronger than you are! You should have just
blasted the stupid thing and gotten it over with!"
"If it's so damn vampire like, why didn't we have to drive a stake
through its heart?" Jupiter said snidely.
Venus' glowered and said, "Because it's also half lizard... That's why
we couldn't find it. It used camouflage and color changing abilities
to conceal itself. I noticed it happening when it was against the
tree."
Jupiter sneered and said, "Since when have you been so observant?"
"Since it became a matter of life and death,"
"Speaking of life and death..." Mars said, stepping between them. She
had been listening in, waiting for an opportunity to humiliate Venus
some more and said, "What was with the little flying display earlier?
Do you have a death wish or are you just a show off? Or maybe you're
a show off with a death wish?"
Venus flinched at being called a show off. She had never particularly
liked braggarts, even though she knew she did have a tendency to try
to be the center of attention in real life. But as a senshi she
never did it on purpose. She knew that Mars was just trying to get
under her skin. She resented Venus because up until she had shown up,
Mars had been the unofficial leader of the Sailor Senshi... Venus had
unconsciously stolen the position from her, not realizing it until it
was brought to her attention. The gold senshi knew that Mars would
eventually get over it... But until then, they were being reduced to
these petty arguments.
"Mars you know full well that I couldn't have hit the monster unless I
got closer to it. Since it was up in the air, I had to go into the
air to do so. It's called logic. And I didn't see you even trying to
do anything to help the situation."
Mars turned red, her fists clenched and shaking. She hated it when
Venus shoved things like that in her face. She always had to play hero
and save the day. And she would also get ticked off because she
claimed no one else would do anything.
But Sailor Mars had been just a little bit busy keeping the boy from
doing incredibly anything stupid. Namely getting involved. She had
kept him calm to a degree, no easy task considering you could tell he
was easily excitable from three miles away. She had even convinced
him that everything would be okay because Venus was handling it...
And now she had the gall to say that Mars hadn't done anything?
Mars cleared her throat and said, "I'm going to ignore that only
because it's not important right now... I _will_ take it up with you
later. Now I would like to remind you, once again, that you are NOT
the leader here! We're a team, remember? Teamwork is the key! This
is not Sailor Venus and the Sailor Senshi! You're not Sailor V, the
phantom warrior, anymore! We are here to find the Moon Princess and
simultaneously get rid of these weird monsters that continue popping
up all over the place and the Shitennou and whoever the hell they work
for! So stop acting like you're the only one who knows what the hell
they're doing!"
Venus nearly yelled exactly what was in her thoughts at the very
moment, but by the grace of the gods she managed to hold her tongue.
She took a deep breath, counting to ten in her head. Finally, she
felt calm enough to speak to Mars and said, "I know that. I
just..." she looked over to where she had last seen the couple and
said, "I just don't like seeing innocent people get hurt."
Through out all of this, Mercury had stayed out of the argument. She
preferred to distance herself from the others while they argued...
Unfortunately they argued so much there seemed to be a constant
distance between Mercury and the others.
Instead of listening to them argue, she had watched silently as the
young boy clutched the unmoving body of his girlfriend to his chest.
He was sobbing like a little boy, repeating her name over and over
again. He would shake her sometimes and her arms and head would flop
around a bit as though she were nothing more than a rag doll. She did
not respond to anything. Her eyes remained open and rolled up into
the back of her head. Her skin was an awful shade of ash white and the
drops of blood looked like rubies on white silk...
She didn't breathe.
Mercury's back was perfectly straight as she watched this scene. It
always was straight. People would often wonder if it were possible
for the girl to slouch. And because it was so rigid, no one could
overlook the fact that her shoulders were shaking violently. She was
crying with the young man, mourning the loss of Hisa with him.
Venus looked down and said, "We lost another one... That makes five
this week,"
"We can count," Mars snapped, her voice breaking slightly as she tried
to fight off her tears.
"It was just a comment. You don't have to bite her head off," Jupiter
said, her voice surprisingly steady.
Mars looked over at her and said, "Since when do you stick up for her?"
"I don't need someone fighting my battles for me Jupiter." Venus said
coldly.
"Well excuse me for living," Jupiter muttered. Then the taller girl
folded her arms in front of her chest and quietly said, "What was her
name again?"
Venus looked down at the ground again and said, "Hisa..."
Mars flinched and said, "Oh my God..."
"I guess she didn't live up to her name," Venus continued morbidly,
her face remaining towards the ground as her silent tears made dark
spots on the faded asphalt.
"He did," Mars said softly, her voice cracking again.
"What do you mean?" Mercury asked, moving by them now. She had a bit
of a sixth sense for when their arguments were over, "What's his name?"
she queried.
"Yuki," a male voice called out from behind them. The Sailor Senshi
spun around to see the masked hero, Tuxedo Kamen standing there. His
cape billowed in the wind and it was dark now, making him hard to see
with his black attire. But despite all this and the fact that he was
wearing a mask, they could see his torment.
"His name is Yuki..." the man repeated somberly. Then he sighed and
removed his top hat in respect for the fallen and said something that
would haunt them until their dying day, "He was going to propose to
her tonight."
******************************************************** ***************
Usagi gasped, sitting bolt upright in bed. Her breathing was ragged
and quick, and she was on the verge of hyperventilating. Her eyes
darted about the dark room in fear, and she started slightly each
time so much as a shadow moved. She was drenched in sweat and her gold
hair clung to her neck and face like cat hair on an expensive black
dress. The thin, old sheets were wound around her legs and Usagi
discovered that she had accidentally torn them in her nightmares. She
sighed and rubbed her temples to try and ease away the throbbing pain
that had formed there the moment she had awakened.
Other than that, it was a peaceful night.
Usagi wiped her brow, cringing at the amount of perspiration that
came off on her hand. She wiped it on the already soiled sheets and
thought about that dream...
'It was so real... It was like I was actually watching this take place.
Almost like television I suppose. I wish I knew...' Usagi's face fell
slightly as she remembered that she had seen a television only once
and had never watched it... At least not that she could recall.
"I wonder if it could be real..." Usagi wondered aloud. Then she
sighed and said, "Of course not. There's no such thing as girls with
magical powers or princesses anymore..."
Suddenly, there came some loud knocking and aloud, slurred voice
shouted, "Usagi! What have I told you about making any noise when I
have guests?!"
Usagi flinched at his loose definition of the word "guests". Guests
implied that they came of their own free will and not because they
were paid. Guests also implied that they deserved an inkling of her
respect. The ladies in her stepfather's room were by no means
deserving of anyone's respect.
Usagi just took a deep breath, gulped and meekly said, "I'm sorry,"
"Sorry... Sorry is not gonna make up for all that racket you made.
Your ass will pay in the morning... Right now I got business to do.
Stupid brat. Never does anything I tell her..."
Usagi breathed a sigh of relief when she heard his voice trail off as
he lumbered down the hall. She was grateful that he wasn't going to
punish her right now. But her respite was bittersweet. She knew that
she would pay for this little slip up in the morning.
Usagi shuddered in fear tears stung at her tired eyes. She had barely
managed to recover from her last "punishment". Who knew what would
happen to her once her father awoke.
Usagi looked out her window, trying to figure out how much longer she
had until he did so. The glass was covered in her varying fingerprints
as she often spent many a night standing at her window just staring at
the moon. And because the teen spent so much time looking at it, she
noted that it seemed much brighter than it usually did. It was as if
the silver moonbeams entered her room like it were a conscious act and
not just a miracle of science.
Usagi couldn't help but smile a little bit as she thought back to her
dream and the mention of a princess on the moon. She snuggled back
under her thin, grimy covers and said, "Well it's nice to dream... And
maybe I'll see that man's face in my next dream. Maybe he'll...
rescue... me..."
*********************************************************** ***********
Usagi awoke the next morning to the feeling of her stepfather's
familiar man slapping her in the face. Usagi shrieked in surprise and
pain and fell out of the bed to the cold, hard floor without ceremony.
She groaned, aching from old wound, the slap, and the impact with the
floor. She rubbed her hear for lack of anything better to do and
stared up groggily at the man who made her call him 'Daddy'.
Tsukino Yukio*** stared down at the pathetic little child whom was his
daughter in all but blood and ties of love (so technically that would
mean that she was not his daughter at all. She was just a girl who
happened to have the misfortune of living with him). His head ached
with a hangover, but he was, for once, sober.
Sober enough to remember Usagi's interruption which had come at a very
inopportune time for him and his "guests". He shook his head and said,
"You disappoint me, Usagi,"
Usagi took a deep, steadying breath and said, "I know... Daddy," she
spit out the last, the word leaving a vile taste in her mouth as it
always did.
And she got a kick in the stomach for the sarcasm. That was nothing
new either.
"You don't take that tone with me," Yukio growled, "Now apologize,"
Usagi took a deep, shuddering breath and for once in her life, didn't
do what Tsukino Yukio told her. Something stirred in her, and she
remembered those girls from her dream... Even though they had failed,
there was something about them that made her remember. She knew for
certain that they would not have taken this lying down. It might have
been silly to be so affected by such a thing, but maybe it was right.
And so, with a pride and defiance that Usagi had never known, she
looked up in the face of her eternal abuser and said, "No."
Yukio blanched and repeated, "No?"
Usagi very slowly, painfully slowly as a matter of fact, got up off of
the ground. She had been subservient to this man for years. She had
bent to his will and his command for almost as far back as she could
remember. She had let him call her bitch, whore, pathetic, and weak...
She was no whore, she was no bitch, she was not pathetic, and now, she
refused to be weak.
"No," Usagi repeated harshly, clutching her throbbing stomach, "It is
you who should apologize to me... Or maybe I'll leave you once and for
all,"
~*************************************************** ******************~
* Hisa means long lasting in Japanese and is a girl's name.
** Yuki means lucky and is a male name as well... I felt both were
fitting. And this should explain the comments at the end of the senshi
scene/dream sequence.
*** Roughly translated, it means Gets What He Wants from the Moon...
Somehow, it's fitting. I wonder how... *shrugs* Beats me.
Pun not intended... I swear! --;
I know Rei seems like a huge bitch, Makoto can't control herself,
Ami's a mouse, and Minako's just a little tense... See what happens
without Usagi?
And doncha love my ending? ^~ Yes I am evil personified... By all
means, call me Satan!
This is dedicated to victims of abuse along with their friends, and
families. And if you are suffering from abuse of any kind, it isn't
hopeless. There are people and organizations that can and will help.
Also, if you know or suspect that someone is being abused, don't keep
it to yourself. Don't be a coward and look away. Do the right thing
and confront the problem. Get help, for yourself or for them...
please... don't do it because I'm telling you to. Do it for yourself
and the ones that didn't make it.
If you need help, call:
The National Domestic Violence Hotline
1-800-799-SAFE
The Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network (RAINN)
1-800-656-HOPE
Childhelp USA National Child Abuse Hotline
1-800-4-A-CHILD
Or call your local authorities or any state/local agencies that can
help you or someone you know get out of your situation.
Coming Soon: Chapter Two: Defiance
Chapter One: Ending
2/15
by Kihin Ranno
goddess_branwen@hotmail.com
http://www.geocities.com/kihin_ra nno/starlithorizon.html
R
~~Date Started: September 13, 2002~~
~~Date Completed: September 18, 2002~~
And here we have the new first chapter. ^^; Don't you all feel special
that you're reading this? This was just so you all go one last final
look at the inner senshi before the next few chapters are focused
on Usagi and Mamoru solely. I also wanted to follow up that fight
scene with a meeting so we can all see what happens when the senshi
don't have to keep their composure before the public. O.o
Be afraid.
This story is an alternate reality taking the characters from Sailor
Moon and inserting them into a different situation while remaining in
their own universe. In essence, I am screwing around with the story of
Sailor Moon because I can. This in no way reflects Naoko Takeuchi's
version of Sailor Moon or the anime version. However, I hold no claim
onto Sailor Moon as that is owned by Naoko, Bandai, Kodansha, Toei
Animation, Mixx, DiC, Cloverway, and I'm sure about 100,000 others. I
am merely doing this for my own sick amusement and once again, because
I can.
~************************************************************ *********~
The night had begun peaceful enough as it always did. This particular
one had a bright full moon out, and it cast enough light so that one
could have been able to see without the streetlights that lined the
sidewalks. It was perfectly clear so that you could stare upwards
for hours, counting the stars and watching them wink at you like so
many blondes did during the day. There was next to no one out that
night as the majority of Tokyo had decided to go to bed early due to
school and work beginning the next day...
Next to no one.
There were two people and one thing out that night. The two people
were a young, teenage couple who had snuck out of their houses that
night for a late rendezvous. They were walking arm in arm, talking and
giggling quietly about absolutely nothing relevant as couples often do.
The girl made several comments about the cold night air in an attempt
to get the young boy to put his arm around her. The boy, being
oblivious to that particular advance, gave her his jacket. She was
about to give up on the coyness that she sometimes felt was required in
her position when they came into contact with the thing.
That thing, and that was the only thing it could be called, was some
type of disgusting cross between a lizard and a bat. It was orange,
with glowing red eyes and bat wings that appeared to be falling apart
from battle. It was distinctly female, judging by the slight
projections coming from the chest area. It was most certainly not
like anything that science had ever seen before. At first it just
floated in the air, inverted of course, and stared at the young couple.
The young couple saw nothing that they could do so they stared right
back at it in awe and horror. After a time, they thought they might
actually be safe when it opened its mouth and screeched. It bore fangs
that would make a vampire shrink away... Fangs that had a slight
reddish tinge from past meals.
Thus the couple immediately realized that this was not exactly a safe
place to be. They screamed in the same terrified breath and began to
run away from it, but then that was why the demonic looking thing had
wings. It let out another high pitched, grating shriek and flew after
them, clawed hands extended. It swooped down and reached out for the
boy...
When another cry pierced the night, "Fire Soul!" and suddenly fire lit
up the darkness as well as the moon. The raging orange and red inferno
sped towards both the monster and the boy. But the loud cry had
alerted both to the impending doom. Both mercifully and tragically,
both human and thing managed to dodge the stream of flames just before
it burned them.
"Damn it!" a raven haired girl in a red sailor suit swore.
A blonde one, dressed in gold appeared at her side and said, "Mars,
could you have at least waited for Jupiter to get the poor kid out of
the way BEFORE you blasted the monster?!"
Mars scoffed, tossing a lock of dark hair of her shoulder and up her
nose at the other girl, "You are not the boss of me, Venus. So don't
act like it,"
"She wouldn't have to if you'd try thinking once in a while," an
imposing figure in green shouted from over where the young couple was
quivering in fright as their eyes frantically searched for the demon
that had flown away, "Mercury, have you found it yet?"
"No... Sorry," a smaller, blue girl said meekly as she typed away
furiously on a small computer. She wasn't sure where this thing could
be... Bats would hide up in the air or hang from a tree or something
of that nature, but a lizard would stay close to the ground. A youma
that had a mix of both could be anywhere.
Mars rolled her eye, "Well excuse me for trying to help the guy,"
"I'm sure he would have been grateful for the third degree burns,"
Venus quipped before walking off and inspecting the area for the
monster. Soon enough, all the senshi were looking in various places
for the thing, save Jupiter. She was staying by the teenagers and
trying to decide if she should make them try and run for it or stay
here and guard them...
The four soldiers soon discovered that it had chosen a tree when it
suddenly swooped down from a branch and flew up behind the teens and
Jupiter. It screeched just before it was right on top of them, making
them jump. Before anyone could react to its reappearance, it had the
girl in its clutches, and they were both high above the earth and out
of their reach.
"Damn it!" Venus cursed as she watched the animal ascend higher and
higher as the girl screamed and struggled against its tight grip. The
blonde offered up a silent prayer that she would not fall to her death
after escaping its grasp in the anti climax of the century.
"Hisa*!" the boy shouted at the top of his voice in fear. He turned to
the Sailor Senshi and said, "You have to do something... Save her!
You're the only ones who can!"
Venus' face softened as she felt a pang deep within her heart about the
concern and love this boy was showing for the girl. It struck a chord
deep within her. And it was one that seemed to spark a mix of envy and
sympathy.
It reminded her so much of the past she had dreamed up without even
knowing it and of a future she could not have. This girl, Hisa, had
what she had lost. Or what she had never had to begin with. This
simple, innocent, unsuspecting girl had just been out for a walk with
her love and now her life was on the line... And for a brief moment,
Venus wondered if she deserved it.
Then the senshi of love heard the girl shriek from above and she was
snapped back to reality. She had wasted three seconds in her silent
lamentations. Those three seconds could cost this girl her life.
So, without even a moment's more hesitation, Venus knelt down and
cried, "Jupiter, get under them now! Be ready to catch the girl!" then
she pushed off the asphalt with her legs and shot skyward.
Her senshi form added to the height she could attain with this leap,
but the monster and her captive were still out of her reach. Still, as
she traveled upwards, she began to be able to tell the difference
between monster and maiden... And she began lining up a shot so she'd
be ready the moment she was as close as she could possibly get.
From below, Mars watched her with a fiery resentment. Her eyes
narrowed at the display and she spat, "Show off. She's going to get
herself killed one of these days," then she crossed her fingers and
quietly whispered, "Just don't take the girl with you this time
Venus..."
Jupiter had only heard the first and shouted back, "If she does start
falling, why don't you make yourself useful and catch her, huh?" then
she rolled her eyes and muttered, "Bitch,"
Mars did hear the last, but held her tongue. That would wait until
after the fight... unless the Amazon repeated it.
Up above, Venus felt that she would soon run out of force with which
to get any higher. She quickly finished taking aim at the monster.
Its face was buried in the girl's neck and there was blood. Hisa was
still alive and was struggling against it, but she was growing weak...
Venus took a deep breath. The youma and Hisa were awfully close to one
another. If she miscalculated the shot by even an inch, it could mean
the girl's life... She bit her lip wondering if she should even take
the shot for but a moment.
Then she realized the girl would die if she didn't do something fast.
Venus felt herself start to fall and she quickly made sure that her
aim was exact. She took a deep breath whispered the attack call so as
not to alert the unsuspecting youma of her presence, "Crescent Beam," a
laser like beam of golden light came forth from her outstretched finger
as Venus' descent quickened. All present watched it as it traveled
closer and closer...
And nearly jumped for joy when they heard the monster scream in pain.
Venus whooped and even did a flip mid air for effect. She was close
enough to hear Mars' comment about being a show off, but Venus paid it
no mind. The monster was falling, and while it did still screech, it
would be easy to kill once it hit the ground. it was too disoriented
to take flight again. Jupiter was ready to catch the girl as she
plummeted to the earth and Mercury was running over to attend to the
girl's wounds.
Venus landed on her feet, only flinching slightly when her ankle
threatened to twist beneath her due to an old injury that chose the
most inopportune times to act up. She fell to her knee out of habit
in order to keep from hurting it, scraping her knee on the pavement.
She hissed as blood formed on her knee and prayed the demon they fought
couldn't smell blood. She quickly wiped it off and hoped no one had
noticed.
The monster and the girl landed simultaneously a few moments later, one
to the hard black pavement and the other into the protecting arms of
Jupiter. The green senshi quickly laid the girl down so that Mercury
could get a good look at her. Hisa was moaning slightly and clutched
her neck where the monster had bitten her. Jupiter narrowed her eyes
and swiftly reassured the teenager that Mercury would take good care of
her. She heard Mercury trying to make the girl feel at ease as she
checked over her wounds and distinctly heard the words, "Jupiter will
take care of that thing. It won't hurt you any more. I promise,"
Not wanting to break a promise, Jupiter cracked her knuckles menacingly
and growled, "That's right. Jupiter will take care of this creep all
right..." then she smirked and walked over to the youma just to see if
perhaps it was dead...
It was still breathing.
Jupiter narrowed her eyes. The senshi of thunder was by no means
merciful. She had a strong sense of justice, right and wrong, and
often acted as judge, jury, and executioner in real life and on the
battle field. She felt that two young people in love who had been so
nearly ripped apart by these means was most certainly wrong. It
reminded her of how viciously her own parents had been ripped from
her...
And Sailor Jupiter would not tolerate it.
She stalked over to the youma, listening to it wheeze and struggle
to get to its webbed feet. It looked up at Jupiter, its eyes glowing
but no longer so brightly. It seemed to have some sort of mocking
expression... And silently said, "I dare you,"
Jupiter never turned down a dare.
She walked up closer, kicking the demi-animal in the gut. It sent the
creature sprawling, and it hissed in pain. Jupiter walked up to it
once more and kicked it again. The kick was a great deal harder this
time, and it was propelled into a tree. Then the senshi ran up to it
and began assaulting it with her fists. And all the while, Jupiter's
face remained frozen in a look of cold rage.
Venus narrowed her eyes in acute interest as she saw the devil's skin
beginning to take on a shade of brown. She quickly forgot about it
when Jupiter didn't immediately blast it or at least do it after she
had gotten it into a vulnerable position and shouted, "Jupiter, just
blast it and finish it off! Kill it and be done with it!"
But it was as if Jupiter did not hear. She was on another plane,
completely separate from the one the others were on. She was where
vigilante justice ruled and capital punishment was the only solution
to injustice and wrongdoings. She continued to pound her fists into
the youma.
The thing howled in pain know, and its mouth was now filled with its
own blood instead of that of another. It seemed to try and form words,
but it had not the intelligence or the ability to do so. Instead it
made noises that sounded like the beginnings of syllables or broken
Japanese, but nothing intelligible.
And throughout the beating, its eyes were not on Jupiter...
Venus noticed this eventually and her eyes widened with horror when
she saw it was staring at Hisa with hunger. She waved her arms
frantically and shouted, "Damn it Jupiter! Blast it! End it
now, before it's too late!"
As if one cue, the monster seemed to be hit with what would have been
an adrenaline rush in humans but could have been something entirely
different for this demon. It grabbed both of Jupiter's fists and
tossed the strong girl out of the way, sending her rolling down the
street like a barrel. On instinct, Mercury left the girl's side seeing
as Hisa was all right. Her back was turned as the monster began to
fly towards the defenseless girl on the ground...
Mercury would have picked up on where the animal was looking had she
not been so focused on her "patient". And now she was so focused on
checking on Jupiter, she did not hear the cries and curses and
screeching behind her.
Mars was too busy holding the boy back, wrenching his arms behind his
back with a strength she normally didn't have. They were both
shouting at the top of their lungs for someone to do something. Mars'
eyes were on Venus, pleading with her to run towards the girl and do
something. But Mars could see a split second hesitation on Venus'
part before she began to run forward.
That spilt second was all it took.
The monster reached the girl quickly and laid on top of her so that it
was impossible to blast it without hitting Hisa. The victim beneath
it shrieked and struggled, but to no avail. Soon the monster's fangs
were embedded deep into her neck as it sucked out what was left of her
blood.
Venus ran as fast as she could, paying more attention to Hisa than the
vampire like thing above her. She watched in horror as with each step,
Hisa's struggles became weaker and weaker... Until they stopped
entirely.
Venus screamed with violence and launched herself at the monster,
knocking it off of the girl and tearing its teeth from her neck. The
senshi landed on top of the youma, but their position soon switched as
the monster flipped her on her back. Venus cried out as she saw the
monster bend down and actually lick her bloodied knee...
It could definitely smell blood.
Then the monster looked back to Venus, its eyes suddenly glowing with
eerie crimson light again. It let out yet another shriek and Venus lay
there, frozen in fear as she stared at the frightening bloody fangs.
She barely noticed that they were getting larger from her perspective
as they grew near...
That's when Mars suddenly appeared, having let the boy go when Venus
had torn the youma off of Hisa. She knew she didn't have the strength
to pry the monster off of her fellow senshi, but she did have something
that could make it stop moving. She pulled out a white scroll with
Japanese writing on it and held it out in front of her. An unseen wind
seemed to blow her hair upwards as she chanted, "Rin, pyou, tou,
sha, kai, jin, retsu, sai, zen. Akuryo... Taisen!" she placed the
paper on the devil's back and then it could not move.
Mars quickly grabbed Venus' arm and tore her out from underneath the
thing, never once asking if she was all right. The red senshi started
chastising her the moment she was out of harm's way, going on about a
multitude of things that didn't matter in the slightest. She knew
Venus wasn't going to hear a word she said at this point, so she saved
the real tongue lashing for when she would...
Venus was shaken and most certainly disgusted, but otherwise fine save
for the overwhelming urge to scrub her knee until she could see her
reflection in it. But she remembered the matter at hand soon enough.
She felt as though she had to say something that made it better. She
had to shout just to make this night mare end. She stuttered slightly
as she searched for an order to give that would finish this...
But Jupiter seemed to know what to do as at that precise moment, her
weak and pain filled voice reached their ears, "Supreme... Thunder!"
lightning streaked towards the now helpless monster and the sounds of
rolling thunder raged so loud Mercury thought she might go deaf. Soon
the elements of stormy weather engulfed the creature and then there was
a screech of pain... Then there was nothing more of the vampire than a
pile of dust that soon took to the wind.
All seemed to fall silent for a moment. All of the senshi exchanged
a few wary glances and fidgeted. Nobody wanted to say anything because
they all knew that they had done horribly in this battle. They were
scared that if they spoke, they'd be jumped upon by the remaining two
and be unable to defend themselves. It remained in uncomfortable
silence until Mars finally spoke, "You hesitated,"
Venus knew who it was directed at. She sent Mars a glare and said, "I
know that,"
Mars glared right back at her and raved, "Why the hell did you
hesitate?! You're the one always screaming at us for doing it! I seem
to remember you saying that a single second could cost someone their
life. That was exactly how long you waited before you reacted. Why
don't you listen to your own advice instead of preaching like you're
some kind of God!"
Venus rolled her eyes and said, "I'm not a God! That's just it! I'm
not infallible! I'm human!" Venus felt an old, undeniable anger rise
up in her throat, but she quickly bit it down.
"Did your instinct not tell you to run and save the girl?!" Mars
shouted.
"Actually human instinct would have told me to run away from danger not
into it," Venus snapped, in no mood to deal with Mars' holier-than-thou
attitude when she had better things to do...
Like yell at Jupiter.
Mars was about to say more to Venus when the blonde stalked over to
Jupiter, who was leaning against a tree since she could not even
support her own body weight. Her eyes held the same accusing
expression that Mars' held and she was aware of the fact that Jupiter
knew the look well. This was not the first time Venus would have
reprimanded her for screw-ups in battle.
And Jupiter did know the look well. She would have liked to clean
Venus' clock one of these days for always expecting so much of them
all, when she was hardly perfect herself. But the emerald eyed girl
knew that she could do better. She knew that she shouldn't pull stunts
like that... Jupiter just wished Venus could think of some way to
motivate them besides yelling. But for now she put on her poker face
and looked to Venus for the reaming.
Venus tried to keep her voice steady for once, but after Mars' comments
it wasn't easy. The blonde took a deep breath and said, "Jupiter...
did you not hear me tell you to stop?"
Jupiter looked down, clutching her wrist which she thought the monster
had sprained when she threw her away like that. She cleared her throat
and said, "Well kind of... You see, I was really focused on hurting
that thing and sometimes I just get so caught up in what I'm doing I--"
"Jupiter this is the third time this week that you've done this and the
third time someone besides the youma has gotten hurt because of it!
Now I know that you only want to avenge people, and I can understand
that. I want that too. But you have to do it quickly or things like
that happen!" Venus shouted angrily.
"I know that!" Jupiter hissed, "I just got pissed, that's all. It
won't happen ag--"
"But it will happen again, Jupiter. It always does." Venus said, her
voice disdainful, "Don't give me false promises!"
"Fine!" Jupiter shouted back, "But how the hell was I supposed to know
the thing was going to have enough strength to throw me off and go
after the girl again?!"
"It's like a vampire! Once they taste someone's blood, they don't stop
drinking it until they've attained every last drop! And they'll do
anything necessary in order to get it! Vampire's have inhuman
strength; they're much stronger than you are! You should have just
blasted the stupid thing and gotten it over with!"
"If it's so damn vampire like, why didn't we have to drive a stake
through its heart?" Jupiter said snidely.
Venus' glowered and said, "Because it's also half lizard... That's why
we couldn't find it. It used camouflage and color changing abilities
to conceal itself. I noticed it happening when it was against the
tree."
Jupiter sneered and said, "Since when have you been so observant?"
"Since it became a matter of life and death,"
"Speaking of life and death..." Mars said, stepping between them. She
had been listening in, waiting for an opportunity to humiliate Venus
some more and said, "What was with the little flying display earlier?
Do you have a death wish or are you just a show off? Or maybe you're
a show off with a death wish?"
Venus flinched at being called a show off. She had never particularly
liked braggarts, even though she knew she did have a tendency to try
to be the center of attention in real life. But as a senshi she
never did it on purpose. She knew that Mars was just trying to get
under her skin. She resented Venus because up until she had shown up,
Mars had been the unofficial leader of the Sailor Senshi... Venus had
unconsciously stolen the position from her, not realizing it until it
was brought to her attention. The gold senshi knew that Mars would
eventually get over it... But until then, they were being reduced to
these petty arguments.
"Mars you know full well that I couldn't have hit the monster unless I
got closer to it. Since it was up in the air, I had to go into the
air to do so. It's called logic. And I didn't see you even trying to
do anything to help the situation."
Mars turned red, her fists clenched and shaking. She hated it when
Venus shoved things like that in her face. She always had to play hero
and save the day. And she would also get ticked off because she
claimed no one else would do anything.
But Sailor Mars had been just a little bit busy keeping the boy from
doing incredibly anything stupid. Namely getting involved. She had
kept him calm to a degree, no easy task considering you could tell he
was easily excitable from three miles away. She had even convinced
him that everything would be okay because Venus was handling it...
And now she had the gall to say that Mars hadn't done anything?
Mars cleared her throat and said, "I'm going to ignore that only
because it's not important right now... I _will_ take it up with you
later. Now I would like to remind you, once again, that you are NOT
the leader here! We're a team, remember? Teamwork is the key! This
is not Sailor Venus and the Sailor Senshi! You're not Sailor V, the
phantom warrior, anymore! We are here to find the Moon Princess and
simultaneously get rid of these weird monsters that continue popping
up all over the place and the Shitennou and whoever the hell they work
for! So stop acting like you're the only one who knows what the hell
they're doing!"
Venus nearly yelled exactly what was in her thoughts at the very
moment, but by the grace of the gods she managed to hold her tongue.
She took a deep breath, counting to ten in her head. Finally, she
felt calm enough to speak to Mars and said, "I know that. I
just..." she looked over to where she had last seen the couple and
said, "I just don't like seeing innocent people get hurt."
Through out all of this, Mercury had stayed out of the argument. She
preferred to distance herself from the others while they argued...
Unfortunately they argued so much there seemed to be a constant
distance between Mercury and the others.
Instead of listening to them argue, she had watched silently as the
young boy clutched the unmoving body of his girlfriend to his chest.
He was sobbing like a little boy, repeating her name over and over
again. He would shake her sometimes and her arms and head would flop
around a bit as though she were nothing more than a rag doll. She did
not respond to anything. Her eyes remained open and rolled up into
the back of her head. Her skin was an awful shade of ash white and the
drops of blood looked like rubies on white silk...
She didn't breathe.
Mercury's back was perfectly straight as she watched this scene. It
always was straight. People would often wonder if it were possible
for the girl to slouch. And because it was so rigid, no one could
overlook the fact that her shoulders were shaking violently. She was
crying with the young man, mourning the loss of Hisa with him.
Venus looked down and said, "We lost another one... That makes five
this week,"
"We can count," Mars snapped, her voice breaking slightly as she tried
to fight off her tears.
"It was just a comment. You don't have to bite her head off," Jupiter
said, her voice surprisingly steady.
Mars looked over at her and said, "Since when do you stick up for her?"
"I don't need someone fighting my battles for me Jupiter." Venus said
coldly.
"Well excuse me for living," Jupiter muttered. Then the taller girl
folded her arms in front of her chest and quietly said, "What was her
name again?"
Venus looked down at the ground again and said, "Hisa..."
Mars flinched and said, "Oh my God..."
"I guess she didn't live up to her name," Venus continued morbidly,
her face remaining towards the ground as her silent tears made dark
spots on the faded asphalt.
"He did," Mars said softly, her voice cracking again.
"What do you mean?" Mercury asked, moving by them now. She had a bit
of a sixth sense for when their arguments were over, "What's his name?"
she queried.
"Yuki," a male voice called out from behind them. The Sailor Senshi
spun around to see the masked hero, Tuxedo Kamen standing there. His
cape billowed in the wind and it was dark now, making him hard to see
with his black attire. But despite all this and the fact that he was
wearing a mask, they could see his torment.
"His name is Yuki..." the man repeated somberly. Then he sighed and
removed his top hat in respect for the fallen and said something that
would haunt them until their dying day, "He was going to propose to
her tonight."
******************************************************** ***************
Usagi gasped, sitting bolt upright in bed. Her breathing was ragged
and quick, and she was on the verge of hyperventilating. Her eyes
darted about the dark room in fear, and she started slightly each
time so much as a shadow moved. She was drenched in sweat and her gold
hair clung to her neck and face like cat hair on an expensive black
dress. The thin, old sheets were wound around her legs and Usagi
discovered that she had accidentally torn them in her nightmares. She
sighed and rubbed her temples to try and ease away the throbbing pain
that had formed there the moment she had awakened.
Other than that, it was a peaceful night.
Usagi wiped her brow, cringing at the amount of perspiration that
came off on her hand. She wiped it on the already soiled sheets and
thought about that dream...
'It was so real... It was like I was actually watching this take place.
Almost like television I suppose. I wish I knew...' Usagi's face fell
slightly as she remembered that she had seen a television only once
and had never watched it... At least not that she could recall.
"I wonder if it could be real..." Usagi wondered aloud. Then she
sighed and said, "Of course not. There's no such thing as girls with
magical powers or princesses anymore..."
Suddenly, there came some loud knocking and aloud, slurred voice
shouted, "Usagi! What have I told you about making any noise when I
have guests?!"
Usagi flinched at his loose definition of the word "guests". Guests
implied that they came of their own free will and not because they
were paid. Guests also implied that they deserved an inkling of her
respect. The ladies in her stepfather's room were by no means
deserving of anyone's respect.
Usagi just took a deep breath, gulped and meekly said, "I'm sorry,"
"Sorry... Sorry is not gonna make up for all that racket you made.
Your ass will pay in the morning... Right now I got business to do.
Stupid brat. Never does anything I tell her..."
Usagi breathed a sigh of relief when she heard his voice trail off as
he lumbered down the hall. She was grateful that he wasn't going to
punish her right now. But her respite was bittersweet. She knew that
she would pay for this little slip up in the morning.
Usagi shuddered in fear tears stung at her tired eyes. She had barely
managed to recover from her last "punishment". Who knew what would
happen to her once her father awoke.
Usagi looked out her window, trying to figure out how much longer she
had until he did so. The glass was covered in her varying fingerprints
as she often spent many a night standing at her window just staring at
the moon. And because the teen spent so much time looking at it, she
noted that it seemed much brighter than it usually did. It was as if
the silver moonbeams entered her room like it were a conscious act and
not just a miracle of science.
Usagi couldn't help but smile a little bit as she thought back to her
dream and the mention of a princess on the moon. She snuggled back
under her thin, grimy covers and said, "Well it's nice to dream... And
maybe I'll see that man's face in my next dream. Maybe he'll...
rescue... me..."
*********************************************************** ***********
Usagi awoke the next morning to the feeling of her stepfather's
familiar man slapping her in the face. Usagi shrieked in surprise and
pain and fell out of the bed to the cold, hard floor without ceremony.
She groaned, aching from old wound, the slap, and the impact with the
floor. She rubbed her hear for lack of anything better to do and
stared up groggily at the man who made her call him 'Daddy'.
Tsukino Yukio*** stared down at the pathetic little child whom was his
daughter in all but blood and ties of love (so technically that would
mean that she was not his daughter at all. She was just a girl who
happened to have the misfortune of living with him). His head ached
with a hangover, but he was, for once, sober.
Sober enough to remember Usagi's interruption which had come at a very
inopportune time for him and his "guests". He shook his head and said,
"You disappoint me, Usagi,"
Usagi took a deep, steadying breath and said, "I know... Daddy," she
spit out the last, the word leaving a vile taste in her mouth as it
always did.
And she got a kick in the stomach for the sarcasm. That was nothing
new either.
"You don't take that tone with me," Yukio growled, "Now apologize,"
Usagi took a deep, shuddering breath and for once in her life, didn't
do what Tsukino Yukio told her. Something stirred in her, and she
remembered those girls from her dream... Even though they had failed,
there was something about them that made her remember. She knew for
certain that they would not have taken this lying down. It might have
been silly to be so affected by such a thing, but maybe it was right.
And so, with a pride and defiance that Usagi had never known, she
looked up in the face of her eternal abuser and said, "No."
Yukio blanched and repeated, "No?"
Usagi very slowly, painfully slowly as a matter of fact, got up off of
the ground. She had been subservient to this man for years. She had
bent to his will and his command for almost as far back as she could
remember. She had let him call her bitch, whore, pathetic, and weak...
She was no whore, she was no bitch, she was not pathetic, and now, she
refused to be weak.
"No," Usagi repeated harshly, clutching her throbbing stomach, "It is
you who should apologize to me... Or maybe I'll leave you once and for
all,"
~*************************************************** ******************~
* Hisa means long lasting in Japanese and is a girl's name.
** Yuki means lucky and is a male name as well... I felt both were
fitting. And this should explain the comments at the end of the senshi
scene/dream sequence.
*** Roughly translated, it means Gets What He Wants from the Moon...
Somehow, it's fitting. I wonder how... *shrugs* Beats me.
Pun not intended... I swear! --;
I know Rei seems like a huge bitch, Makoto can't control herself,
Ami's a mouse, and Minako's just a little tense... See what happens
without Usagi?
And doncha love my ending? ^~ Yes I am evil personified... By all
means, call me Satan!
This is dedicated to victims of abuse along with their friends, and
families. And if you are suffering from abuse of any kind, it isn't
hopeless. There are people and organizations that can and will help.
Also, if you know or suspect that someone is being abused, don't keep
it to yourself. Don't be a coward and look away. Do the right thing
and confront the problem. Get help, for yourself or for them...
please... don't do it because I'm telling you to. Do it for yourself
and the ones that didn't make it.
If you need help, call:
The National Domestic Violence Hotline
1-800-799-SAFE
The Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network (RAINN)
1-800-656-HOPE
Childhelp USA National Child Abuse Hotline
1-800-4-A-CHILD
Or call your local authorities or any state/local agencies that can
help you or someone you know get out of your situation.
Coming Soon: Chapter Two: Defiance