Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Shadows of the Past ❯ A Mother's Touch ( Chapter 7 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Hey, everyone! I'm back at the keyboard and working furiously on this
project. Mostly because I'm eager to get started on my other project. I never
start a new project unless I've finished the previous one. (Right, just keep
thinking that, M.H.)
But anyway, on with the speech. I don't own most of these characters, but
the ones I do, I will let you use them if you acknowledge that I created them.
The ones who own the characters that I don't is Naoko Takeuchi and, of course,
many others.

Shadows From the Past
by: M. H. Torringjan

Part seven: A Mother's Touch

Lita awoke the next morning to the smell of food being cooked. She went
into her kitchen and found Jennifer cooking breakfast.
"Good morning, Lita!" Jennifer said as she noticed Lita standing
in the doorway.
"You didn't have to do this," Lita said.
"Are you going to turn down home cooking?" Jennifer countered.
"No, I was just saying that you didn't need to do that. Thank you for
cooking." She sat down and waited for the food to be served and talked to Miss
Hino. "So, what all are you going to do today?"
"I don't know. If I've been dead for ten years, then I won't have a job
or a driver's license. Would you happen to know anything about my husband?"
Jennifer responded.
"Raye doesn't talk about him much. All we know is that Raye isn't staying
with him. She once said that she preferred staying with Grandpa at the Temple.
We aren't going to pry for stuff like that."
"Good idea. I might see him sometime."
"Okay, how are you going to explain that you were missing for ten years
and he saw you buried? He'll probably freak out and call the police or
something. That would tend to be the reaction of any sane person."
"So, I've been wondering, where are your parents?"
Lita paused a moment. She hated remembering the accident that had killed
her parents. "They died in a plane crash when I was younger. I've lived alone
for a long time now."
"I'm so sorry! I had no idea Are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine," Lita responded. She held out her plate as Jennifer gave
her some breakfast.
"So, what Sailor Scout are you?" Jennifer asked.
"I'm Jupiter, controller of lightning," Lita said after some bites of her
food. She finished her food and said, "I've got to go to school now, so if you
could excuse me..."
"You have to go to school? You're a super-heroine. Why would you need
school?" Jennifer asked.
"That's the same thing that Serena wonders, but we go because no one knows
that we're Scouts except for us, our guardians, some people who've found us out,
and you now. We've got to keep up our guises while we're not fighting, and
we've got to keep our secret. We don't want people to interfere with our
adventures asking for autographs, do we?"
"You have a point. You just run along or you'll be late." Lita followed
her advice and rushed out of the door with her lunch at the speed of Serena on a
late day. Jennifer sat around the apartment for about an hour before she got
bored. She proceeded to clean up what she could to occupy her time. She then
sat down to watch her favorite TV show. She turned on the channel that it was
on, only to find a talk show in its place.
She checked the TV guide to see if there was another TV slot or perhaps
that the talk show was a special presentation. She found nothing even slightly
resembling her show. It made sense to her. TV schedules change a lot in
fourteen years.
She decided to go out and do something. Maybe she would get a job or
something. She wondered how Lita could pay for the apartment. Before going
out, though, she would need the newspaper. She found that day's newspaper
where Lita had laid it after picking before leaving.
She fingered through the want ads and found a nice-sounding job at the
place across town, the Tiara Arcade. It was new and had just opened for
business. She went outside and got on the bus to go there. She arrived just as
the interviews were beginning. As she walked in, she thought of the girls and
what they would be doing.

At that moment, Serena was softly crying to herself. She had spent the
whole night before the test studying, and she had even gone over the stuff
before the test with Michael. She felt a surge of grief pass through her when
she received the test, which said that she had failed with a grade of fifty.
Michael had done better, but only marginally. He had passed with a
ninety-five. Miss Haruna had gotten on him for not getting a hundred. He
argued back that anyone could have simple algebraic mistakes from time to time.
She left him alone for the rest of the class.
Amy had, of course, gotten a hundred, plus the extra credit that she had
earned earlier on. She got a couple of jibes from Michael about that.
"You're too smart for your own good!" Michael teased, smiling.
"There's nothing wrong with being smart, Michael," Amy said.
"I guess you've got me there," Michael replied.
At lunch, they went out into the school yard to eat and chat.
"I still think that she graded these tests wrong," Serena said bitterly.
"Now, now, Rena," Michael said, "It's not like it's a matter of life and
death. It's just one measly test, and we've had others. How did you do on the
geography test?"
"I passed it, but barely," Serena replied. "And that's because you helped
me on it."
"Look at it this way, a passing grade is a passing grade any way that you
get it."
"That's easy for you to say, Michael, you get those types of grades, even
if you don't study. You're just like Melvin."
"Don't say that, even in jest!" Michael exclaimed, smiling. "We consider
ourselves geniuses, and that's fine with me. Isn't that right, Amy?"
"Well, I wouldn't call myself a genius," Amy declined.
"Oh, you're being modest," Michael teased. "You should be proud of your
intelligence like you were a minute ago."
"I was just saying that you shouldn't be ashamed that you're smart. You
also shouldn't boast about it. No one likes a boaster."
"You're all against me, aren't you?" Michael said, effecting
defensiveness. The others knew that he was just acting. He had told them that
he had been in the drama class where he had lived.
"So, what do you think that Raye's mom is doing now?" Serena asked.
"Considering the condition that my apartment was in before I left," said
Lita, "She's probably cleaning it up or perhaps finding things to ask me about
that will bring up my past."
"Lita, did she ask you about your parents?" Amy asked.
"Yeah, but I was able to shake her off with a simple answer. She must be
a mind-reader, because she could tell that it hurt. I don't mind having her
with me. It seems like she'll be good company. I just wish that we had another
of those Moon Resurrections. We could bring back one of my parents, probably my
mother. Oh, well, it was more important to have Raye's mother anyway."
"Yeah," Michael said. "When do you think that the next Droid's gonna try
to take the next Carrier?"
"It's coming now," Rigel said from his usual hiding spot, "And it doesn't
look pretty. Central's picking up about two hundred blips coming straight
towards us, and they're going to arrive in about fifteen minutes. We've go to
hurry, or the world's gonna be toast."
"Isn't it always?" Michael asks.
"How will we get out of school?" Serena asked.
"We could just say that we've come down with something," Michael said.
"Nah, it'd be too obvious if we came down with something all at the same
time," Lita said.
"Use the Luna pen," Amy said. "When one of us gets outside, we'll throw
it back inside for the rest to use." Serena pulled the pen out of her subspace
pocket and held it up high.
"Disguise Power! Turn me into an administrator!" Serena stood there a
moment later as a woman in a long, black dress with glasses. Her hair was loose
and about shoulder-length. She walked to the front door of the school,
apparently, no one noticed her, and went around to where the others would be
waiting for the pen to come over the hedge. She lobbed it over as she was
supposed to.
Amy was the next to use it. She didn't have much of a chance to get out
with her conspicuous blue hair. She thought up a clever plan to get out without
anyone noticing her, though,
"Disguise Power! Turn me into my mother!" When the smoke had dissipated,
Amy's mother stood where Amy had a few moments before. She casually walked out
of the school and went to where Serena was waiting for the rest and threw the
pen over. Lita came next. She chose a teacher. She was wearing a suit and her
hair out of the familiar ponytail for once.
When it came time for Michael, he was stumped. He didn't know who he
would choose for his disguise. He spoke too quickly and didn't know why he said
what he said.
"Disguise Power! Turn me into Mina!" He stood in wonder as he saw
himself turn into Mina, red bow and all. He didn't like the thing, so he took
it out. When the others saw him, they couldn't help but laugh at his disguise.
"What's it feel like to be a girl?" Serena asked.
"You should know," Michael replied. "You just keep yucking it up. You
never saw this if Mina asks. Understood?" The others agreed reluctantly, but
Michael suspected that they wouldn't keep the promise. He wondered how long it
took for the magic to wear off.
Rigel joined the three at that time. "I like the new look, Mina," he
said. "Oh, that's you, Michael! I didn't expect you to be that crazy for
Mina!" Everyone burst out laughing at the comment.
"Okay, that's it!" Michael exclaimed. "I'll take all of you on! Who
wants to die first!"
"That's enough, Michael! We've got to go!" Rigel interjected. He led the
way to where the portal was targeted at, hoping that they wouldn't be too late.

At that moment, Jennifer Hino was coming out of her interview. It had
lasted a long time, and she thought that the people had been interested in her.
She really hoped that she could get the job. She would like to help Lita pay
for the rent out of thanks. She also liked that place. The place had been
opened because the Crown Game center had been demolished a couple of days ago.
Actually, it had been opened for the heck of it, but the owners liked to think
that someone had blessed them by ridding them of their competition.
She looked around and saw a grave yard. She wondered if that was where
she had been buried. She saw that the graveyard was empty except for a lone
priest wandering it, waiting for any soul who might need consolation. He looked
like the priest that Lita had described to her that was the last Carrier needed
for the Negaverse's plans. She decided to stay with him for a while, maybe talk
with him.
She approached him, and he rounded to see who was there. He had a
surprised look on his face when he found Jennifer standing there.
"Yes, ma'am, is there something that I may help you with?" the priest
asked.
"No, I just wanted to see if you wanted to talk for a while. You looked
lonely out here alone," Jennifer replied.
"Well, I get by. I've got my Bible, and my mind, and that's all that I
really need. I do like a good conversation every now and then. I've always
felt uneasy in here since I had that strange encounter about a year ago. That's
why I was surprised when I turned to you."
"I understand completely. I had an encounter like that just the other
night. Man, was it nasty..." she drolled on with him interjecting every once in
a while with a statement of his own. When she had finished talking, she let him
go on with his own story. He was incredibly boring, but she should probably
stay with him. As they talked, the sky was getting gradually darker. As they
talked, a group of people walked into the graveyard followed by a dog. There
was a woman with blue hair, Mina, and two women that she didn't recognize. They
motioned her over to them. She excused herself from the priest and went to the
people who wanted her.
"Jennifer, we need your help," the administrator said.
"Excuse me, but the only one who I know from here is Mina. Is there
something that you'd like, Mina?" Jennifer responded.
"Jennifer," Mina said, "It's us, Serena, Amy, Michael, and Lita. We've
just used Serena's Disguise Pen."
"Okay, I'll bite. I've had stranger things happen to me," Jennifer said.
"What do you need me to do?"
"We need you to go and get Raye as quickly as is possible," Amy said. She
gave Jennifer directions to Raye's school and told her to hurry.

Jennifer was back as quickly as was possible, considering the fact that
Raye's school was only a couple of blocks away. She had gotten Raye out of
school by saying that she was Raye's doctor and that Raye had a special
treatment that she needed. When they arrived, the other four Scouts were
already transforming and ready to fight. They would need to be, if they were to
battle a hundred, maybe more, Droids from Rubeus.
As the Droids began coming through, Venus showed up on the scene. Raye
had been ready for a couple of seconds and was transforming at that moment.
"Mars Power Transformation!" Raye called out. A few short moments later,
Mars stood there in her new armor with the sword at her side. She was ready for
action, as were the rest of the Scouts. The first wave hit them as Mars took
her place. She was the first to attack.
"Mars Explosion, Blast!" The initial attack sent about twenty flying.
They didn't even pause to help their comrades, only thinking of blood. The
group hit the Scouts before anything else could be done. Their eyes were turned
squarely on the priest as they tried surging past the Scouts.
"Moon Scepter, Elimination!" Moon called out, letting her scepter take out
large numbers of smaller troopers.
"Mercury Ice Storm, Blast!" Ice pellets hit the Droids as they came out
of the portal. They were unable to hide from the attack as Mercury tried
holding fast.
"Jupiter Thunder Dragon, Zap!" A large dragon made out of electricity
flew from Jupiter's outstretched hand, mowing down Droids as it went.
"Europa Earth, Drop!" Europa called out, trying to clear a path for him to
get to the priest. Venus helped out by tying up Droids with her love chains,
but they were too late. By the time that Europa and Venus had worked their way
to the place where the priest had been, he was gone. They looked towards the
portal and saw the priest being carried over the heads of the Droids to protect
them from Mercury's Ice Storm.
"Hey, look at it this way," Europa said after he punched a Droid out for
coming near him, "Maybe he'll be killed by the ice, then they won't be able to
use him."
"Not a good idea," Venus said as she watched the bedlam around the
cemetery. Jennifer was nowhere to be seen. Hopefully, she had gotten away with
enough time. Mars would never have forgiven herself if she had let her mother
die again, this time without being able to bring her back.
A small troupe of Droids had grabbed on to Mars from the back. "You want
a piece of the hot stuff, huh? Fire Armor, Sear!" The suit of armor lit up
with the heat and set the Droids on her back and a couple of nearby ones on
fire. They streaked through the crowd of Droids waiting to try the Scouts,
cursing at the tops of their lungs. There were only about fifty left. They all
ran a kamikaze attack at the same time.
"Mercury Ice Storm, Blast!" Mercury called. The storm that resulted
killed about half of the remaining Droids, but the others kept on coming.
"Europa Earth, Drop!" Europa called as he dropped a large ball of dirt on
the enemies. About ten were buried. The remaining droids wouldn't stop.
"Sword, I lend you the power to deal with these enemies as you feel fit,"
Mars said, almost chanting. The sword came out of her hands and flew towards
the Droids. They were frozen out of fear. As they watched, the sword started
flying around them in circles. They followed it with their eyes. After it had
gone around them a couple of times, it slashed through the enemies, dropping
them to the ground.
"Good job, Mars," Europa said.
"This isn't a time for compliments," Rigel said angrily. "We just let
them get away with the final component for their plan. What were you all
thinking back there? You fought pitifully! Mercury, what were you thinking,
letting the Ice Storm go on while they were dragging our ward through it? Mars,
what is this crap about letting loose with an explosion in the middle of a
cemetery? Europa, why did you just stand there while they were carrying the
priest away? Venus, what happened to that electrobolt attack? You can all do
better than that, and you know it! I want you all to go home and think about
what you did, or didn't do in some cases."
While Rigel was walking away, Luna and Artemis stopped him.
"What did you think that you were doing back there?" Luna asked.
"I was educating them in their mistakes," Rigel returned.
"That's so pointless. They just lost an important battle, they don't need
criticism. We've lost before, and it's not that big a deal. You remember,
Artemis, when we had just found out that Serena was the Moon Princess?"
"That was a nasty one," Artemis replied.
"Anyway, you don't need to do that sort of stuff to them after this
happens. We almost lost Serena that way. We don't need that to happen again.
When this happens, you have to encourage them, make them feel better about
themselves."
"That's what you think," Rigel interrupted. "We can't afford mistakes
like they made in our business. We have to keep them from doing that again.
Well, there might not be a next time now that they've got the Super Shadow
Warrior. We'll have to be on our highest guard from now on."
"Well, at least we agree on one thing," Artemis said coolly. "Friggin'
dog," he thought to himself.

"Man, Rigel really let us have it," Michael said. He and Mina had
starting walking home after Rigel had finished ranting. "There's only one other
time that I can remember him doing that, and that was when I dropped some earth
on a small building by accident. The place had to be evacuated by crews working
around the clock on digging the door out."
"Was that when you were first learning?" Mina asked.
"No. I had had my powers for about a year then. He was fussing at me
that I," he switched to his Rigel impression, "shouldn't be making those sorts
of mistakes with the experience that I had." Mina laughed at the voice. It did
sound like the dog's voice and something that he would say. "He said that if
you're afraid enough, you'll want to prevent it from happening again, so you
won't do the deed again."
"He's right. I sure don't want to make him mad again," Mina agreed.
"Anyway, what do you want to do now?"
"I don't know. Why don't we go and do something outside?" Michael said.
"Okay, I'm game. How about tennis?"
"Sounds good to me. Let's stop off at my place and get my racket."
"Don't forget about me. I need one, too. I might have one at home that I
can still use. It's been a while since I've played the game. I might need a
refresher," Mina said.
"I can help you review your strokes and the rules."
Artemis caught up with them without Rigel. Mina wasn't surprised. They
didn't like each other as much as their owners liked each other.
"Where are we going?" Artemis asked.
"To play some tennis," Michael answered. "If you want to watch us, you're
welcome to it."
"No, I think that I'm just going home to take a nap. I've missed it so
far today, and I don't want it to give me a miss altogether."
"Okay, see ya'!" Mina said as the two groups parted ways.

Raye and Serena were walking home after their defeat at the hands of their
own guardian. Their egos had taken a beating, but they were able to go with
what they had left.
"You know, he's wrong," Serena said after they had walked along for a
while in silence.
"About what?" Raye asked.
"About how we fought today," Serena clarified. "We did just fine,
considering the odds. Winning a battle of two-hundred to six is pretty darn
hard."
"You're right, it's just that for some part, he's right. I've got to be
more careful with those explosions."
"Oh, you're being too hard on yourself. That explosion was at least fifty
feet away from us all."
"But, it was still close enough to harm us. I've got to be trained in
these new powers, or I'll hurt someone."
"You won't hurt anyone, especially not us. Besides that, these Nega-
creeps are getting bad, and they'll hurt us if you don't help us out. You did
just fine with your new attacks, and that's that. I'm saying this as Sailor
Moon, not Serena. You've got to be realistic about this."
"You mean like you usually aren't?"
"Look, did I insult you?"
"No, I'm sorry. We'll talk about this later, after we get through today
with school."
"Uuum... Raye, we're finished with school for the day. It's four
o'clock." Raye looked at the nearest clock and saw that Serena was right.
School had been let out for the day. She must have lost track of the time with
the fighting. Luna caught up to the two girls as they began to head for home.
Raye wished that she would find some way to rebuild the Temple. She liked
living with Serena and all, but she missed her real home. She wondered how Chad
was doing at finding a new place and a job. She sort of missed him, too.

Amy walked home, feeling very dejected and lonely. She wanted to have
someone to walk home with, but she knew that it was impossible. She lived so far
from anyone of the other Scouts. She also wished that she had done better in
that battle. Everything that Rigel had said was right, especially what he had
said about her. She should have been paying more attention to what was under
the storm instead of the storm itself.
She just wanted to go home and do what little homework she had for the
day. She hadn't wanted to leave early, but she was needed. The way that Rigel
had gone on, you'd think that they would have been better off without her. It
sure would have given him other things to fuss about to the other Scouts.
She missed Greg. He should be there with her so that she could apologize
for what she and Lita had done to him while they were under the evil influence.
That was, of course, impossible. She went into her house and into her room for
the rest of the night.

Lita walked off in the direction of her apartment building. When she got
outside of the graveyard, she found Jennifer. Jennifer had gone to get a safe
seat for the show. They were ready to go home and relax for the rest of the
day. On the way, Jennifer delivered a shock to Lita.
"Lita, I went out and interviewed for a job," she said.
"Why?" Lita asked.
"I wanted something to do during the day. I get bored when you're not
around to talk to," Jennifer said.
"That's understandable," Lita agreed. "I get bored when I'm alone, too.
Where did you interview at?"
"The Tiara Game center over across town. It's just opening, and it needed
to fill some spots. I met some of those already working there, and they seemed
really amiable."
"Do you know any of them?" Lita asked curiously.
"There was one named Andrew there, and one named Chad."
"Chad and Andrew? Working at the same place as you? Cool! Raye'll be so
excited to find out. Let's go home."
They went back to their apartment, where Lita cooked some dinner for the
two of them before they went to bed.

Darien woke up in a sweat. The dreams had come back to him again, only
changed this time. There was a character standing in the background, laughing.
It looked like Rubeus, but a bit older. He saw Rini in the background, crying
for her mother. There were the Sailor Scouts, including the newest member of
the team, standing in a corner, battling a host of creatures. The voice said
that he had failed all of the Scouts and all those related to them, and that he
should stay away from them.
In his dream, he told the voice to shut up, and it did. The dream even
went back to the usual, Serena being blown up by some force. He knew then that
the dreams meant something, well, some of them at least. He went back to sleep,
after getting a small snack of an orange, and dreamt of more pleasant things.

End of part seven

Coming soon: The Final Showdown

I'm almost finished with this story. I like getting comments and
critiques, so E-mail me at: jmh6187@uncwil.edu. I'll take any type of stuff
that you send me (praise, flames, suggestions, or if you just want to chat).