Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Sanctuary ❯ Chapter 8 ( Chapter 8 )

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: 8/?
Status: Incomplete

Year Completed: Incomplete

“What’s the matter Mary Jane, had a hard day?

So place the don’t disturb sign on the door.

Lost your place in line again, what a pity.

You never seem to want to dance anymore..?

Rei and Ami sat in her room waiting for the call from Mamoru to let them know that Usagi was all right. The two watched as Luna nervously paced the floor, her eyes narrowed in thought.

“I’ve been trying to comprehend what you have told me, but tell me again, you let him take her why?” the feline questioned the two girls who looked down nervously.

“Because something about the way he looked… He wasn’t… It’s hard to explain Luna,” said Rei as she tried to find some way to explain her decisions that she’d made the last night.

“You didn’t see him, Luna. He looked so different. He was wearing some sort of armor, and the air about him almost demanded no argument. He was almost like royalty. It was just so strange,” Ami explained as she ran a hand through her hair nervously.

“I’m still trying to figure this out. You say he was wearing armor?” Luna asked. “That… This just draws up even more unanswered questions. I understand what you mean when you said how there seemed to be no argument with him, but I’m incapable of figuring out why.”

“Luna, could he have something to do with the princess?” questioned Rei. “Like Ami-chan said, he was almost like royalty. Could he-”

“I don’t think so,” said Luna. “I’m sure that I would remember something about a prince. I mean if there was a prince connected to the princess, then surely…” Luna tried to come up with some sort of reason as to why there couldn’t have been a prince in the Silver Millennium, but found the task nearly impossible with her memories being as scattered as they were. “I’m not sure. Something just keeps telling me that there was no prince.”

Rei sighed as her hands moved up to gently rub her temples with the tips of her fingers.

“But there is a lot that you don’t remember. Maybe there was one,” said Ami. “Perhaps if not a prince, then a male protector. That is what he has been to her all of this time. It explains why he’s involved in the battle against the Dark Kingdom.”

Luna sighed and looked down thoughtfully. “I suppose you’re right, Ami-chan. I just need to consult central control to see if it knows anything.”

The two girls nodded as they watched their advisor slowly walked out of the room before Rei sighed. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen her looking so… So old… Do you think that Luna’s going to be all right?”

Ami blinked. “She will be. She’s just been having to make sure that Usagi’s family is calm while keeping herself strong. She seems to be blaming herself for what happened, and she’s going to have to see that it wasn’t. It’s just hard for her since she’s been with Usagi since the beginning.”

The young miko nodded slowly. “Hopefully, she’ll start acting like herself when Usagi wakes up.”

The young genius smiled softly at her friend. “I’m sure she will. Once Usagi is back home and tripping on everything. Just give her some time,” she advised quietly before standing. “I’d better be getting home. Okaa-san is coming home tonight, and I said that I would have dinner with her.”

“All right,” Rei replied as she stood and led Ami towards the door. “I’ll call you if I receive any word from Mamoru-san.”

“Just have him call me. I’d like to be able to ask him a few questions.”

Rei nodded. “I will, Ami-chan. Be careful.”

Ami smiled. “Arigato, Rei-chan.” She then headed out towards the stairs and home, leaving Rei, who in turn went to the room with the great fire.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

As Luna walked towards the Tsukino residence, she allowed herself to become lost in thoughts concerning what could have happened to her young charge. She wish she’d had taken the time to learn where Mamoru had lived, then she could go and check on Usagi, but, then again, hindsight is 20/20.

She never would have guessed Tuxedo Kamen, Sailor Moon’s crush, to be Chiba Mamoru, the man with whom Usagi fought like no tomorrow. Though now that she compared the two, there were distinctive similarities between the two that should have made their connection all but painfully obvious.

She groaned inwardly as she started to cross the road, her mind still drifting, and never noticed the speeding car that was racing towards her, until she heard a familiar voice call out her name. Luna looked up and saw a multi-colored blur just before it grabbed her by the scruff of her neck and tumbled onto the sidewalk.

“Hey, you ok, neko-chan?” came a chirpy sounding voice that was eerily familiar to the red-eyed feline as she looked at the blonde girl who was currently holding her.

Luna felt the urge to speak, but bit her tongue and simply mewed curiously. She was wondering who had called out her name just moments before, and without even speaking it, her question was answered.

“Are you sure that this is Luna?” questioned the girl whose arms Luna was still being held. “She doesn’t seem to know how to speak.”

“Minako-chan…” sighed an exasperated male as the sounds of small paws moving along the pavement reached Luna’s ears. “I’d recognize her from anywhere. Look at her brow. There should be a-”

“Artemis!” exclaimed Luna when she finally saw a white cat with faint bits of faded pink in his fur. “Wh-Where have you been?!”

“I’ve been training Sailor Venus,” he told her simply as he started to back away from the red eyed feline as she hopped down from the girl’s arms with a murderous look on her face.

For a moment, Artemis thought that Luna was going to attack him for being gone for so long, but was taken by surprise when her turned sorrowful, and she sat before him.

“Um… Luna, what’s the matter?” questioned Minako as she reached down to pet Luna between her ears.

“It… It’s one of the senshi. Sailor Moon… She was captured,” Luna explained.

“She what?” questioned Artemis in almost disbelief. “We- The senshi have to get her-”

“She’s already been rescued, but from what Mars and Mercury told me, she didn’t look like she was doing very well, and now, Tuxedo Kamen is taking care of her, but-”

“Who is taking care of her, Luna?” Minako asked, confusion obvious in her pale blue eyes.

“Tuxedo Kamen. He… He’s been her unappointed guardian in battle I suppose one could say… He’s the only person who seems to be taking this as hard as the senshi with the exception of her parents,” Luna explained, not missing the look between Artemis and his own young charge. “What?”

“Luna, do you know what this young man looks like? Or who he is for that matter?” questioned Artemis.

“The senshi told me that he is a man known as Chiba Mamoru. He’s rather tall with dark hair and blue eyes. Why? Is there something that we don’t know about him that we should?” Luna questioned. “What haven’t I been told, Artemis?”

“It might just be that some of my memories have come back before yours have, but if he is who I believe him to be, history could be in danger of repeating itself. Luna, we must get her away from him at once,” he explained quickly. “We must find the other senshi. Tell me, have they all been gathered?”

“I’ve found Mars and Mercury. Sailor Jupiter has yet to reveal herself in any way or form,” Luna informed.

Artemis nodded. “The three we have now should be enough to get her away from him.”

“Artemis, what is so dangerous about him? I don’t understand what you mean by history repeating itself.”

“During the Silver Millennium, the princess wasn’t killed by enemy forces. The prince of Earth, whose planet was not aligned with the Silver Millennium, died and she was unable to go on without him,” explained Minako solemnly, revealing part of what she knew of the past that for so long had been a mystery to the dark furred guardian. “The princess killed herself. If Tuxedo Kamen, as you call him, is the prince, then he must be kept far from the princess and her guardians at all cost.”

Luna sighed softly. “This will crush Usagi-chan… After everything she’s been through… He was the only one who knew what took place the day before she was captured.”

Minako and Artemis shared a knowing look before the white feline questioned, “Luna, what took place on that day?”

“I wasn’t there, but what Usagi-chan explained was that there was a battle while the others were at school. An innocent child was killed, and she believes that she may have awoken a previously dormant power when she destroyed the youma,” the cat explained.

“That was the power you felt, Minako-chan,” Artemis said before looking at Luna. “We need to find Sailor Moon as well as grant Sailor Jupiter. I hadn’t realized that things had progressed so quickly. This planet could be in more danger that I had originally thought.”

Minako sighed. “Luna, is there any way that you can track Sailor Moo-” Her sentence was cut short by the low pitched wail coming from the nearby parking complex.

“We can discuss that later,” said Luna before taking off towards the noise, to see whether the trouble was being caused by a youma or some punk who decided to try and take advantage of people.

When she arrived in the area which the noise came from, she looked around to see a large plant like youma staring down a tall girl with dark brown hair, green eyes, and athletic build that looked like it was ready for an all out war. What drew Luna’s attention about the girl though was the brilliant insignia glowing on the girl’s brow.

“Sailor Jupiter,” she heard Artemis mutter as an orange clad senshi went racing by, leaping up to land squarely on the youma’s back before flipping to stand in front of the girl.

“Daijoubu?” questioned Sailor Venus as she took a defensive stance in front of the girl.

“I think so, but I’m not sure about the guy behind me. That thing attacked him,” the amazon like girl stated.

“Well, we can take care of him once this thing is taken care of,” Venus said as she nodded to the two cats. “Right now, there is some business that needs to be taken care of. Luna!”

“Right!” she exclaimed before drawing a strange green stick from seemingly out of thin air before launching it as hard as she could, with Artemis‘ help as he launched it further by kicking it with his back paws. “Girl, catch!”

The brunette looked slightly surprised for a moment as a sense of familiarity washed over her. She saw the stick flying towards her, and leapt to the side to catch it.

“Good girl! Now call out, ‘Jupiter power-”

Before Artemis could finish, the girl was repeating the last two words he uttered, and finished them out with, “MAKE UP!”

In a centralized explosion of green lightning, the girl was transformed into a green clad warrior. She made a fist in front of her face, in seeming awe of the new power coursing through her. Before she had a chance to fully comprehend what had just happened, Sailor Jupiter felt a body crash into her.

“You ok?” Venus asked as she rose to her feet.

Jupiter nodded and jumped up to stare down the creature before them. “I’m in better condition than that thing is going to be.”

Venus nodded and smirked. Raising her hand above her head as Jupiter crossed her arms in front of her, the two prepared and launched their attacks simultaneously. When the combination of powers struck, the offending creature shrieked in pain before disintegrating into a pile of dust.

“Now that was awesome,” Jupiter muttered as she looked down at her hands and saw faint bolts of lightning coursing over her fingers. “Who are you three? Better yet, what am I?”

“Senshi shish-kabob if I have anything to say about it,” came a mocking voice from above. The four looked up to see a man with ashen blonde hair scowling down at them. Luna and Artemis took note that he was wearing the Dark Kingdom uniform, meaning that Nephrite had been destroyed and replaced. The two senshi on the other hand took note of how he was really pretty for a man.

Jupiter shook her head and glared up at him. “Are you the sleaze that sent that thing to attack innocent people?”

Zoicite laughed mockingly at the girl, causing her temper to flare. Just as she was about to launch a lightning blast at the infuriating blonde, she was blown back by a powerful blast of sakura petals and strong winds that sent them slamming into a cement wall behind them.

“A word of warning girls, I’m only sparing you now because I want to destroy all of you together. I want to see the look of pain and fear on all three of your faces,” he told them as the two struggled to their feet, their backs and heads aching from the impact.

‘He must think that we’re Mars and Mercury,’ Venus thought as she glared up at him.

“Now, I want you two to send a message to Sailor Moon. Tell her that she will pay for killing Nephrite. That was to be my duty should he have failed his last mission,” he told the two before teleporting away in a barrage of pink.

“Nice guy,” Jupiter stated sarcastically. “Friend of yours?”

Venus simply shook her head as she rubbed the back of her head. “Never met him before.”

The taller senshi simply sighed before looking down at the cats. “Okay, now would you mind answering my questions now?”

“I am Luna, he is Artemis, and the young lady that you just fought beside is Sailor Venus. You are a sailor senshi,” said Luna as though the answer were obvious. “Sailor Jupiter to be exact. You are a guardian of the moon princess.”

Jupiter looked slightly confused as she felt herself power down, leaving her in her slightly torn school uniform. “Ok… So now answer another question for me. How is it that the two of you can talk? You’re cats…”

“Yes, we are well aware of what species we seem to be, but we are the ones meant to train and awaken the senshi, of whom you are the last to be revealed,” stated Artemis. “Welcome to the team, um… What is your name, if you don’t mind my asking?”

“Kino Makoto,” she said simply as she looked over to the red bowed blonde who was simply blinking while listen to everything that was going on.

“Oh!” she said when she realized that the new senshi was waiting for her name. “Aino Minako, desu!”

Makoto blinked at the change that had taken over the blonde. One moment a serious warrior and the next what seemed kind of ditzy.

“Sailor Venus, hmm…” murmured Makoto. “Any relation to Sailor V?”

“That’s me, too,” answered Minako.

“I thought that was more than coincidence. The red bow was a dead giveaway.”

Minako blushed lightly. “It’s kinda my trademark.”

Artemis rolled his eyes and leaned over to Luna whispering, “More like a sign that she’s too trusting. She wore the thing because a boy told her he liked it.”

Luna blinked and looked at her fellow feline with a raised eyebrow.

“Artemis, am I going to have to dye you pink again for spreading gossip like a little old lady?” his charge threatened with a menacing glare.

Makoto giggled at the two before Luna cleared her throat. “Artemis, Minako-chan, I believe more pressing matters need to be attended to than simply Artemis being a gossip monger.”

The two nodded, and Artemis looked up at Makoto. “Before we discuss things any further, I suggest we meet up with the other senshi.”

Minako looked to Luna. “Shouldn’t we be doing something to make sure the victim is all right?”

Artemis blinked and looked to where the fallen man had been lying previously. “I think it is safe to say that he left during the battle, or at least when that arrogant general showed up.”

Makoto nodded. “He hadn’t been hurt. I just knocked him out of the way of an attack, and told him to stay down.”

Luna blinked. “Makoto-chan, please tell me that he didn’t see your face.”

The brunette looked thoughtful for a moment before shaking her head. “I don’t think so. I tackled him from behind when I saw the thing materialize. I told him to stay down and not to move until it was safe. I guess he listened…”

Artemis sighed. “Well, let’s just hope that he didn’t get a good look at your face.”

“Now, I suggest that we go and talk to the other senshi. They must be informed of their new team members,” Luna said as she started towards the exit. “If you want to come, I suggest you follow me since I don’t think any of you have ever met them before.”

The three remaining looked at each other before walking after the kuro neko.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

When Usagi woke, she blinked and looked around before her eyes came upon the peaceful face of a sleeping Mamoru. She smiled softly as she carefully lifted a hand to his face to brush a lock of hair out of his eyes. She allowed her hand to drift down along his face slowly, making sure that she didn’t wake him up. Her smile was replaced by a frown when she noticed the dark circles under his eyes from lack of rest.

She sighed as she removed her hand from his face and rested her head on his shoulder. A small tear drifted from her eye as she thought back to the past few days, recalling the final scene which Nephrite had shown her. She had been shown the death of Endymion, the prince of Earth, and Selenity, the princess she was meant to protect.

Watching that scene had caused her more pain than Nephrite had planned, though the pain was emotional rather than physical, for it showed that no matter how much she wanted, nor how much she tried, any sort of relationship could never go past simply friends. At the same moment, however, the scene had made Usagi realize her own feelings.

She hadn’t been able to make out the face of her princess from the scene, just the faint glow that seemed to come from her silver hair, but the prince, Endymion. She would have recognized that face anywhere. The face of the princess’ lover was the very same as that of the man she was currently resting beside. She knew why the princess had fallen in love with him, for those reasons were most likely the same as her own.

Usagi bit her lower lip as she forced back a quiet sob. Fate was proving to be truly cruel to her. She had fallen in love with the man who had died for her princess, and she wasn’t sure that she was going to be able to handle having to watch him be with another woman every day for who knew how long. But then, who was she to think that he had fallen in love with her. He had been kind to her over recent past, but perhaps that was just some sense of loyalty to the princess that had yet to have been discovered forcing him to try and lift her spirits to the point that she would be at least an adequate guardian and sailor senshi.

The more she thought, the more she knew that she had to get away, though she doubted that she would be able to get very far. She just knew that she had to get out of the bed which they were currently sharing.

Slowly, Usagi removed herself from his sleeping form and rose to stand on protesting legs. She leaned on the nightstand for support for a moment to allow her legs to steady before walking away. She looked at the door, and wondered if it squeaked. Not wanting to take that chance, she looked out to the balcony. It wasn’t far, but at least she would be able to clear her thoughts and get some fresh air.

She slowly walked over to the glass door which separated the room from the outside, and silently slid it open before stepping out, and allowing it to close behind her.

The blonde walked over and leaned against the railing just as her legs began to once again feel that they were going to give out beneath her. She remembered the last time that her legs had given out, though that was caused more by a youma than mere weakness. Tears sprang to her eyes as she remembered the tender way which he had held her in his arms as he carried her home that night.

Unable to stop the pain in her heart, Usagi gave way to the sobs that rose up in her.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-