Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Sanctuary ❯ Chapter 3 ( Chapter 3 )

Title: Sanctuary
Author: Maetel
Email: maemaechan@yahoo.com
URL: N/A
Rating: M 15+
Summary: When Sailor Moon witnesses the death of an innocent, Usagi ends up turning to Mamoru in her darkest hour. Minor alterations have been made on the timeline so that Mamoru knows who he is, while Nephrite is around.
Chapters: 3/?
Status: Incomplete
Year Completed: Incomplete

A dirtied dream, before it rotted I heard your voice
The overlapping winds, the whisper I heard was only your voice
In the shadows of clouds in the declining sky I found it now Your Song
In the growing darkness, all I can hear is your voice
Zwei - DNA

Mamoru tossed and turned in his bed, his entire body covered in a thin layer of sweat. Once more, strange dreams of his unreachable princess plagued his sleep, but this time, the dreams were different.

Instead of her being silhouetted by the moon, and asking for the ginzuishou, his princess’ face was obscured by smoke, as she knelt over, sobbing, for an unmoving form with dark hair and wearing dark armor. Mamoru tried to move, but found himself frozen, forced to watch as the events transpired right before his eyes. He watched as the girl he dreamed about reach out a shaky hand to the hilt of the sword that lay fallen by the man’s side. His eyes looked around to see a reason as to why she might need a sword until it hit him.

“No!” he shouted. “Princess, don’t do it! Stop!”

His cries stopped when he saw her plunge the blade through her chest, and out her back. Unnoticed tears began to fall as he watched her fall forward onto the body of who he could only believe to be her love. He then heard a shrill cry, and saw a brilliant flash of light, which forced him out of his world of dreams, with two words left to haunt him: “I‘m sorry…”

Mamoru shot up into a sitting position, breathing harshly, trying to figure out what he’d just seen. What could have set off his dreams to change so dramatically? Only one thing came to mind.

“Usagi wouldn’t… It’s just my worry getting to me and affecting my dreams, but why that one?” Mamoru tried to think things out, but he wound up falling back onto his pillow with a groan.

The dark haired young man got out of bed after a while and walked out onto the balcony. He looked out over the city as it twinkled in place of the sky that the bright lights did away with. His thoughts floated to the girl who had been through so much in the past twenty four hours, and wondered how she was faring this first night. Part of him wanted to go to her house and make sure that she was all right, but the logical side of him said that if she needed him, she would call.

“But she might have lost the number,” Mamoru reasoned. “I’ve-” His thoughts were interrupted when he felt the all too familiar pull of Sailor Moon’s transformation causing his own powers to awaken, clothing him in the tuxedo that he felt more comfortable in than most of his own clothing with exception of the footwear. With a tired sigh, he leapt from the balcony to the rooftop of a nearby building, heading towards the girl.

As he neared the origin of what he was feeling, he noticed that he was in the general vicinity of Usagi’s home, and getting ever closer to said residence. When he finally found the young heroine, he saw that she was sitting on the roof, clutching to the black cat that he knew had to be Luna. He leapt to her home, and landed quietly behind her. He blinked when he heard the cat hiss at him in an almost ferocious manner.

“Luna, quiet,” he heard the blonde say quietly to the feline before turning to look at him. “I- I’m sorry for… well… calling you like this, but…” She sighed heavily as she put the cat on the shingled roof. She stood straight once again, but kept her gaze lowered as she spoke. “You probably think I’m just being really immature, but you are the only person I could ask to be here when I told the final person about what had happened.”

Tuxedo Kamen shook his head as he lifted her head to look at him. “No, I understand, but who else is there to tell? I thought the senshi were the only ones who knew who you-” It was then that everything she had told him throughout the evening sunk in. “The cat,” he sighed as he looked down at the night colored feline that was currently glaring up at him with an all too human gaze.

The blonde nodded and looked down at Luna. “It’s all right Luna. He knows that you can talk. I told him.”

“Sailor Moon, how could you do something that irresponsible?” reprimanded the cat. “Why did you do it? You cannot be sure whether or not he is the enemy. How could let him track you to this loc-”

“I think I understand all the more why you needed support to tell her,” Tuxedo Kamen interrupted as he looked to the blonde, whose head was, earning a stern look from Luna. “Be quiet now, Luna, Sailor Moon has something that she needs to tell you, and I suggest you not interrupt her. Is that clear?”

The cat was taken aback by the tone that the masked man had used. Never had she heard one speak to her in such a manner. Despite how much she wanted to snap back, something in the back of her mind, like some training long forgotten, forced her to hold her tongue, and instead say, “You have my word that I will not utter a thing while she speaks.”

Sailor Moon gazed up at him with a purely curious look. She couldn’t even get Luna to do that. Shaking her head, she muttered a soft word of thanks to him before kneeling down in front of Luna, to retell the events that had taken place. She paused for a moment as she retold how she had revisited the scene, and looked back to the masked man and remembered his words. She took a deep breath before she turned her attention back to the cat before her.

Tuxedo Kamen noted how it seemed easier for her to tell what had happened this time, though it was obvious that she still blamed herself for what had happened by the sound of her voice, though her choice of words had changed. He also noticed how she had left out the part about who he was, or how he had been the one to find her in the park.

Luna looked shocked by the words that her young charge had spoken, but now knew why she had woken up only a while before and clutched so tightly to her. “Usagi-chan… I-” The black feline wasn’t sure what to say. Nothing seemed adequate. She’d been given enough information to awaken and tell the senshi their mission, but never had she considered the idea of having to console any of them after the death of someone. Especially one as sensitive as the blonde she‘d first awoken.

Sighing, Luna looked to the masked man standing behind the young heroine. “Might I ask, how you know of what happened? According to what Usagi-chan has told me, you were not there, and yet, you know what has taken place.”

“I…” Tuxedo Kamen tried to think of some way to answer the cat’s question without giving away who he was at least partially. He didn’t know if the cat knew when her charge henshined. “I felt her distress, just as I feel when she is in danger when she is fighting. I’m not sure how it works, but… It‘s just been there for as long as I can remember being Tuxedo Kamen.”

Luna looked at him curiously, considering his words. “You can feel what Sailor Moon feels? Or at least when she is in danger?”

“I can feel what she does when she fights and if the emotions are extreme enough, such as earlier, when she is in what I suppose would be civilian wear,” he said, attempting to make some excuse so that he wouldn’t have to reveal himself.

“Then do you usually feel a great deal of pain coming from her side of your, well, bond, or annoyance? I ask since I want to see just how extreme the emotions have to be,” Luna said, not noticing the look of alarm forming on the blonde’s face at her words.

Tuxedo Kamen looked minorly confused by the cat’s words. “No… Why? Should I?” he asked looking towards the blonde who looked as though she were about to gag the cat.

“Luna, I am sure that he doesn’t want to hear about that. We know that he can feel what I am feeling if the emotion is extreme enough. Can’t we end it at that?” the girl pleaded tiredly, leaving the cape wearing guardian slightly confused as to what the two were talking about.

“Usagi-chan, what is she talking about? Has something else been bothering you?” he asked, concern evident in both his voice, and his body language. “You know that you can tell me.”

Two blonde pigtails moved from side to side as she shook her head in response. “It’s nothing. It’s stopped now, so there’s nothing left to worry about.”

Luna watched the two. She wondered why the girl didn’t want him to learn about how much she felt when concerning Mamoru. It would have been an interesting experiment in learning about this newly revealed link between the two. Revealing the arguments between the blonde and her arch-rival wouldn’t be giving away her identity since he already knew. Shaking her head, she sighed and looked at the blonde. “Usagi-chan… Perhaps you should come inside and try to sleep a little bit more. Tomorrow may be the weekend, but that doesn’t mean you should rest.”

“Hai, Luna,” Sailor Moon said. “I’ll come inside soon. Go on to bed.”

Luna studied the two, her eyes suspiciously studying the dark figure, before she sighed and nodded. “All right, just don’t stay outside too long,” said the cat before she walked to the ledge of the roof and hopped onto the balcony that led to Usagi’s room.

The blonde then allowed her henshin to fade, as she turned away from Tuxedo Kamen, her blonde odango fading, revealing long waves of shining hair which almost completely concealed the pink and white bunny pajamas she was wearing. “I- I’m sorry for Luna. She’s just very curious when it comes to certain abilities of ours. You should have heard her when she noticed that Rei had been able to use her abilities before she was ever given the henshin wand,” she said, her tone nervous, as she rambled on unconsciously. “The fact that you told her that you were somehow linked to me just must have set her off. I hope she kno-”

“Usagi-chan, calm down,” he told her as he lifted a gloved hand to her lips to quiet the blonde. “I don’t mind Luna asking questions. She actually made me want to ask a few myself.”

“Really?” replied the blonde with a look that was both curious and worried at once.

He nodded, wondering what had made her so… He inwardly told himself that it was probably just getting over having to retell everything. “I was wondering why she asked if I felt emotions of annoyance and pain? Well, mostly pain since I can guess where the annoyance comes from,” he told her with a little smirk.

“She probably means whenever I feel everything finally getting to me, like when Rei chooses to yell at me after a battle, or at a meeting, or at the arcade, or o- I’m guessing that you get the picture,” the blonde said hurriedly, as if she were giving an answer that made her seem to be paying attention in class.

“Usagi-chan… You’re not being completely honest,” he told her softly, to try and keep from making her feel insulted. “Seriously. What was Luna talking about?”

Usagi looked down and sighed heavily. “You. There were times when… I’d be having a bad day at school, or Rei would choose to let loose because I’d messed up during a battle, and then when you picked on me… I couldn’t help it, and Luna would be the one who’d see it. That was what she was talking about. I didn‘t want you to know. Especially after the talk that we had when you drove me home.”

Hearing those words, Mamoru could have kicked himself. He never believed Motoki when he kept saying that he himself was being too harsh on the girl. Shaking his head at his own behavior, the masked man then reached out and gently grasped her chin with a gloved hand, lifting her head so that she could look into his eyes. “Usagi-chan, I apologize for all of the taunting. I didn’t know that I was hurting you like that. I just enjoyed seeing the look in your eyes whenever you were aggravated.”

“What look? Complete annoyance?” she remarked with a raised eyebrow as she sat down, shivering lightly at the coldness.

He laughed quietly and nodded, as he sat down beside the blonde. The shoes he wore with the tux may have looked nice, but they hurt after a while. “I suppose that’s one way to put it. It’s just… It’s like a fire inside of you that comes to life when you are angry. It just… I’m not sure how to describe it.”

“I’m not sure if I should call you a jerk for just admitting that you like seeing me angry or not,” Usagi admitted after a moment. “I suppose weird will do. It seems to fit right now since you’re still wearing the tux, not that I mind of course, but it’s just… Why are you still wearing that?”

“I doubt you want to see me in what I sleep in, so I’ve just decided to stay like this for now,” he told her, noticing the face she made when he told her what he’d been wearing.

“You were sleeping?” she asked, her tone apologetic, he face slightly red in embarrassment. “Sorry for waking you up.”

“You didn’t wake me up,” he replied. “A dream did, so don’t apologize for something you didn’t do.”

“A dream woke you up? And here I thought it would have been the coffee that kept you up,” she joked as she lightly poked him on the arm. “What sort of dream was it?”

“It- It was nothing for you to worry about. Besides, what were you doing awake. From the way Luna sounded, it seemed as though you’d been sleeping before you henshined.”

Usagi sighed and looked at him. “You noticed that, huh? Well, you weren’t the only out woken up by a dream… That was the main reason why I needed to tell Luna tonight. She just… I kinda wound up flinging her across the room when I woke up, and I couldn‘t tell her when I‘d just woken up, so I did the only thing I could think of, and well, you know how that turned out.”

Tuxedo Kamen nodded. “Mind telling me what the dream was about?” he asked her gently. “Just to get it off of your chest.”

Usagi looked at him for a moment, considering telling him. He’d been so kind, despite the odd crack about something that he would make every so often. He was the first one she told about what had happened, and he did tell her that he was Tuxedo Kamen.

Sighing, she looked away from him and out over her neighborhood before starting. “I… I dreamed about what happened, but instead of the youma having killed the little boy… I did, and… I- In my dream… I enjoyed it. I… I enjoyed it as much as I do when I defeat a youma. It was that feeling that woke me up. I-I don’t…”

Tuxedo Kamen turned and wrapped his arms around the girl as tears began to fall from her eyes. He wished that there was some way he could make her feel better about herself, but such was the grieving process for her he supposed. He heard her muttering softly, and whispered softly to her, trying to calm the girl down. “Usagi-chan, what happened, it wasn’t your fault. You didn’t hurt that boy, and I know by simply watching you, talking to you, that you didn’t, nor could you have enjoyed hurting him. You are too kind of a person, too pure hearted. Nothing could make you feel that way.”

Just as the blonde looked up at him with tear stained cheeks, a deep rumbling laughter came from behind them. The two turned and saw the dark haired general Nephrite floating in the air behind them.

“Stay behind me,” Tuxedo Kamen told Usagi as they both shot to their feet. He wasn’t going to risk saying her name in front of the general, and possibly putting her in even more danger than what she was already in.

“To think, I watched you, Tuxedo Kamen, what happens, you lead me straight to Sailor Moon, and might I say, what a pathetic little speech. I’m sure that the Dark Kingdom could make enjoy taking life, but then, why would we waste our time training a warrior so useless, when she could simply be destroyed in the amount of time it takes for me to give this little taunt,” mocked Nephrite as he unleashed the ball of dark energy he’d been forming behind his back as he spoke.

Before the energy struck, Tuxedo Kamen had grabbed the girl and leapt from the roof to the ground below. He looked down at her, and softly ordered, “Henshin, now. I‘ll keep him distracted.”

Usagi nodded and watched as he jumped back up to the roof to face the Dark Kingdom agent. Taking a deep breath, Usagi called out her henshin phrase and felt as the energy wash over her for the third time that night. Once her transformation was complete, she noticed that lights were coming on in her house.

“Oh no… I‘ve gotta get Nephrite away from the house…” she murmured before looking up to the general who was currently locked in battle with Tuxedo Kamen. She leapt to the roof of her home and quickly struck her pose. “Oi, Nephrite! If you want me, then you are going to have to catch me first!” she called out mockingly before jumping up, making sure to step on the top of Nephrite’s head before landing on the ground below.

Nephrite moved away from his battle with the masked man before he started to chase after the blonde. He growled as she managed to keep a good foot between herself and him, and he decided to stop the chase before he wasted anymore energy. Teleporting in front of her, he glared down at the young heroine.

Sailor Moon looked up nervously, hoping that she had gotten him away from her house before he’d seen any of her family inside. In an attempt to hide how she was really feeling, Usagi went for the option she‘d depended on so much. “It’s pathetic how someone so powerful has to track a young man in order to find a blonde girl in Japan. I am Sailor Moon. I fight for love and justice. Tsukini kawatte, oshiokyo!” (AN: I realize I probably spelled the last word wrong, but I’ve never been real sure how to spell it.)

Nephrite scowled at the girl and was preparing to attack when a red rose, pierced the material of his jacket, and almost his chest. He looked over to see Tuxedo Kamen standing on a lamp post, with three more roses in hand. “Attacking a house filled with innocent people just to strike at one person. Tuxedo Kamen will not forgive this.”

While Nephrite was distracted, Sailor Moon lifted her tiara from her brow and charged it before launching it and calling out, “Moon Tiara Stardust!” She knew that he would move before the tiara would hit, so instead she surprised him when the tiara released multiple balls of light which struck out at the general. She winced slightly when she heard him roar in pain and anger at being surprised by the attack.

“You will pay for that, Sailor Moon,” threatened Nephrite as a shadow formed on the ground behind the blonde. Before either she or Tuxedo Kamen, a pair of hands moved out of the ground and grasped the blonde’s ankles and pulled her feet out from under her.

The minute he saw her fall, the masked fighter hurled the roses in his hand at the shadow, one striking each hand and the third sinking into the shadow, from which a harsh shriek erupted, followed by the rose and then its source: a horrendously beautiful creature with dark eyes, ice blue lips, and pale pink skin. It was completely covered by vines that seemed to writhe thought the youma itself wasn’t moving.

Sailor Moon turned to look behind her at the creature and swallowed loudly. She quickly started to scurry away, but was soon gathered up in the arms of her dark haired protector.

“Are you all right, Sailor Moon?” he asked.

The blonde nodded and glared down at the remaining enemy. She guessed that Nephrite had left while the youma had tripped her. “I’m just tired right now,” she said as she moved to once again pull her tiara from her head, only to remember that she hadn’t had the chance to replace it when it had returned after attacking Nephrite. “My tiara…” She looked where she had just been, and saw the golden band resting on the ground two or so feet behind the youma.

“Stay here, I’ll go get it,” Tuxedo Kamen told her only to have a hand placed on his arm before he had a chance to jump down.

“No,” Sailor Moon said simply as she held her hand out before her and her nose wrinkled in concentration. A moment later, the tiara disappeared from where it had been resting and dropped into her hand. “I knew that there was something that made the tiara come back every time, she said. “Now, to take care of that thing…” She charged the tiara, and cried out the first attack she had ever used.

Sailor Moon willed her tiara to return to her hand once the youma had been destroyed, and almost fell to her knees, but instead fell back against Tuxedo Kamen. Three attacks in one day combined with the want to sleep were finally kicking in. “So tired…” she muttered.

“Good work, Usagi-chan,” he told her as he carefully picked her up. “Don’t worry. You can rest now. I’ll take you home, and-”

“Will you stay with me for a while?” she asked with a yawn as she rested her head on his chest, just above his heart.

Tuxedo Kamen looked down at her, and knew that he should say no, but couldn’t bring himself to speak the word. “I’ll stay as long as I can,” he told her. “Is that all right?”

“Arigato,” she mumbled, already half asleep, as her henshin faded.

Tuxedo Kamen smiled softly at the sleeping girl in his arms and headed back towards her home.

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Many thanks to those who critiqued and/or commented on the fic. Much love to those out there reading this!