Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Watch me Shine ❯ Chapter 9
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Serenitas 
Anime/Manga: Sailor Moon Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 10.20.2002 | Pages: 5 | Words: 3.4K | Visits: 782 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Sailor Moon Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 10.20.2002 | Pages: 5 | Words: 3.4K | Visits: 782 | Status: Completed
Author: Serenitas
Email: serenitai@sailormoon.com
Title: Watch me shine - Chapter 9
Rating: R
Series: Sailor Moon
Allright here is is and extra long to beseech forgiveness to all for not updating for two and a half weeks! I HATE, HATE, HATE writers block and bless Bon Jovi and my writing cd's for helping me snap out of it! Please don't hunt me down and hurt me, here is a humble offering for you! And thanks for your wonderful wonderful support, trust me that these days I need it. So on with the story, please read and review but be kind. No Flames. Good reviews and ratings please! I am accepting fanfic on my websites, anything, any rating, any couple (Sailor Moon that is). All you have to do is specify what music (if any) you want in the background and what character you want to introduce your story. All my background music is MP3 not midi (Wreath of Roses that's for you) so please feel free to submit and check out my websites eh? Ok, enough rambling and on with the story!!!!!
A heavy silence hung in the air in the wake of Usagi's startling announcement, and Setsuna's jaw hung open - the first kind of obvious emotion she had ever shown. "I'm sorry Usagi but I seem to be hallucinating. Could you repeat that?" she asked slowly.
Usagi, never taking her eyes off Mamoru who looked as shocked as anyone, but nodded to her, drew in a deep breath. "No, I won't do it. My life will not be controlled on a timetable. Crystal Tokyo is developing and I have trials to face. I can do that, I understand that and I will face them albeit with trepidation in my heart, but as to conceiving THAT child...no, I won't do it. I am the one who will have to carry her, give birth to her and raise her. I do not like her, in fact I think I hate her. I won't do it. I cannot even say that I am sorry because I am not."
Mamoru crossed the room to stand by Usagi. "I will support you in this decision." he said quietly, knowing that in the end it wasn't really his decision to make.
Setsuna sat down heavily in a chair, her head held between her hands. "Usagi you don't have a choice here....you HAVE to do this. The future...."
"Is not set." Usagi finished. "Why follow a pre-ordanined path? Let's make the future up as we go along. I will no longer be a pawn in a destiny that has already been decreed."
Never in her millennia of existence had Setsuna ever heard of anyone ever blatantly refusing destiny in such an extreme manner...wait...she had. Her eyes lit up as she remembered the last time and she winced as she remembered the repercussions that still echoed through the timeline. "Usagi..."
"You're afraid." Usagi said quietly. "You are so used to seeing into your gate and knowing what will happen. The predicitability is comforting to you, the never changing present is your comfort zone. For the first time in millennia you will not be able to look into your gate, for the first time you will not know what is going to happen next, and that my dear Setsuna, is the essence of life. Life is to be taken and beaten and wrestled and formed in your image." she shook her head. "Perhaps if Chibi Usa had been nicer to me I would be willing to give her life, but as it stands now, I refuse to. However now you have said it is free and clear for Mamoru and I to be together."
"But if you are not going to conceive...."
"It changes nothing Setsuna. It's allright for me to get pregnant, but not allright for me to have safe...."
"This was never forseen by me." Setsuna said, a catch in her voice almost tears.
"Setsuna, you have always been Usagi's strongest advocater, both in this life and in the past. You have said that you have complete trust and faith in her to do the right thing, for she always does. Trust her in this decision. She is about to face difficult trials that she has no concept of...but we do. Usagi would never destroy all that is meant to be, but instead of being shaped by the timeline she is shaping it around her - as she should for one with her wonderful and terrible power." Hotaru said, speaking up at last. "I confess to not being upset at the fact that Chibi Usa may not be born and that if she is she will be a very different person from the one I know...I accept that. If I am willing to face that fact Setsuna, then you should be too."
"Only once before..." Setsuna trailed off softly. "And the Galaxy wept, as it weeps still. I shall never forget."
Usagi closed her eyes and then walked over to Setsuna, placing her hand on her knee. "I know of what incident you are speaking of and yes it was terrible and I too can still feel the aftereffects of it. But I changed destiny once before, a thousand years ago in an incident that you are not speaking of and now I change it again. I promise you this Setsuna...I will not let anything as terrible as that happen again, but I will no longer be told what to do, not by you and not by anyone, for if I do then I become a puppet losing my goddess given free will, the very essence of what makes me human...or Lunarian as it were. Have faith in me Setsuna and I swear on my soul that I will create a utopian society."
Setsuna's magenta red eyes met Usagi's silver blue and for a moment there was silence as the Time Guardian contemplated all that she had been told. Slowly she nodded. "I trust you with destiny itself. Your Trials will begin in a few days, I suggest you prepare yourself however you can. If you have God in your life then please make contact." she said in a reluctant voice. "I can use power you don't know of to overcome your will and force you make things as I wish, but I will not for I respect you too much."
Usagi stood and smiled softly at her. "I play hard and I play to win." she glanced at Mamoru who had a look of pride on his face. "I know no fear still standing tall."
Hotaru helped the stunned Senshi of Time to her feet. "We will be in touch. I think right now Setsuna needs a stiff drink. Usagi for what it's worth, I am proud of you, and your future self is proud of you, your mother is proud of you. You see what needs to be done and you are going to do it. As your mother was determined to shape destiny herself, so do you follow in her footsteps. Truly the Royal Lunarian family is great and honoured are we to serve, even if you do give us grey hair."
Usagi said nothing as they vanished and she turned to Mamoru who's eyes had turned dark and dusky. "Now it's allright as long as precautions are took." He said in a husky tone that she was starting to recognize.
"And you have a date with Rei." Usagi reminded him.
Mamoru cursed as he realized she was right and knew he couldn't cancel and risk Rei's ire, risk her finding out the truth that she was being played like a violin. "Tomorrow Usako is for us."
"How do you feel about a son?" Usagi asked casually.
Mamoru closed his eyes as emotion pierced his heart. The one thing he had always wished for. The one thing he had sworn never to tell her he desired above all else. An heir of his own. A daughter was well and good and he couldn't wait, but a son...."I think a son would be wonderful Usako."
Usagi wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a kiss that made his knees weak. "The future is mine Mamo-chan and I am in full control. I am afraid of the Trials, I am afraid of what is to come...I've been knocked down so many times." she paused. "Call it karma...." she trailed off. "Damned if I am going to fall and fail when I've come so far. In destiny's face I call it's bluff. Bring it on I like it rough!"
"I love you." he said as she finished her vehement declaration. "I am so proud of you and I am discovering that you have hidden more from me than I ever though possible if the change in your vocabulary is any indication. I look forward to discovering more about you."
"Enough Mamoru. You have to go. We cannot risk you being late for Rei. Go and I will be here when you get back. I have a rendezvous of my own tonight." Usagi stepped away from him, unable to look at him suddenly. She had other plans in motion, plans he knew nothing about, plans no one knew about and she would make them come true and destiny be damned. 'I'm taking full control this time.'
Minako lay on a ratty pallet on the ground, under the eyes of Luna while Rei and Chibi Usa exchanged details on the best way to seduce Mamoru, Rei gloating that she would have what Usagi never would, her joy and reclaiming her former boyfriend making her lax, but the harsh words of Chibi Usa, her stiff domination damping Rei's joy. She wiped tears from her eyes as she dared not move. She had been whipped, harshly, cruelly, with something other than the stick Rei had used before. Her back was raw as the blood finally stopped running, and despite the cold heartedness of it, she was grateful she had been let off easier than Haruka who had fought back and her fate was yet to be decided. "Minako."
She raised her head slowly at the rapid and whispered voice that came to her through the trees where she was condemned to sleep. "Who's there?"
"You wanted to go to Usagi? Well come on if you are coming."
Minako recognized Michiru's voice. "I can't get up Michiru."
"Your wounds are not as bad as Haruka's and she's here. Usagi will heal you and if you wish it she will protect you. You have to decided here and now which way you will go for Haruka and I will not return if we can help it. Haruka is going to kill Rei if we do."
Minako pulled herself to her feet. "I come with you."
"Should we report this?" Makoto asked Ami as she watched Minako hobble off behind the Outer Senshi.
"Say nothing, do nothing." Ami replied looking up from her book. "We now know that Usagi has a plan of her own in action - how I miss her! - and while we do not know what it is, we can only assume that she is plotting the downfall of Rei and Chibi Usa. We cannot vanish, we have to appear to completely support Rei on the surface."
"And underneath?" Makoto arched an eyebrow.
"I don't know Makoto, but I know that this can't continue. Something is changing, I can feel it in the water, I can smell it in the earth and no matter what happens, I know that something is changing, something is happening and we will soon have to choose a side."
"But who will we choose? The leader who is capable yet hurts us, or the leader who's killed us yet is showing a cunning we never knew she had?"
For that Ami had no reply.
Usagi opened her door as her eyes widened when Michiru led Haruka and Minako in. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at Minako. "What the HELL is SHE doing here?" she demanded of her senshi.
"Healing first, talking later." Michiru said to Usagi point to Haruka who's face was pinched with pain.
Usagi murmured a few words and Haruka smiled at her. "Thank you Kitten, and now Minako."
"Give me one good reason why I should." Usagi said, crossing her arms in front of her.
"She got this beating because of you, because her loyalties have shifted, because she wants to serve you." Michiru said gently.
Usagi walked over to Minako and healed her reluctantly. Minako looked at Usagi, at how different she looked, at the cold expression in her eyes as she looked at her former best friend - who had abandoned her, had left her to exile. "Usagi I want to come back to you. I am your senshi if you'll have me."
Usagi looked at her directly. "No alibis Minako. You've obviously been trying to work up your nerve, but we both know without a word what you did to me cannot be easily rectified. If I have my senshi then they will be loyal to me and not cast me out into exile, taking my tools from me and leaving me because of who I am. Like a man I won't settle for less than the best. I'm not afraid because I have Trials to pass. If you want to come back to me then you had better to be willing to do what I want you to."
Minako was startled as she realized how far above her Usagi was, how she was going to have to work - and work hard - to get back in her good graces, to get her to trust her again. "Usagi, Rei used a..."
"The best excuse is no excuse Minako. No alibis, no lies, no excuses. Take responsibility for what you did, for charm or not you had free will and you used it to betray me." Usagi told her as she sipped at a glass of water.
"She let us off easy." Haruka confessed, "And yet she's been hard as nails on us. I see just from looking at her that we will have to return to Rei and pretend to be her senshi yet."
"Many things have been made clear to me this night." Usagi affirmed. "Nonetheleast of which is the future. Oh and Haruka, Setsuna and Hotaru have decreed that it is allright for Mamoru and I to be together at last, which means no more interruptions from you."
"Then you must have to conceive Chibi Usa." Michiru said in a dead voice, shuddering internally.
"No, I have refused to give birth to Chibi Usa." Usagi smiled at them. "Make yourselves comfortable my friends for this is a story that is long in the telling."
Minako lept to her feet. "Like her or don't, you can't deny her living!"
Blue flames lit Usagi's eyes. "'I can't?' I can't." she repeated. "Minako you forget yourself, I ask for neither your company nor counsel. The best things in life are worth waiting for. I'm keeping my eyes on the prize - and Chibi Usa is not it. If you must be here then be seen and not heard."
Minako sat down heavily, tears welling up in her blue eyes, not having realized before this instant how much they had hurt Usagi, how angry she was at them. She couldn't take this anger, this contempt, not from her best friend. She had realized her error and returned to her only to be cast away when she had the best of intentions. She froze as she realized Usagi did to her what they had done to Usagi, and now knew how she had felt. She dropped to her knees at Usagi's feet, tears falling down her face. "Forgive me, forgive me, forgive me, forgive me. I never realized or understood until this moment, until this very second how much we hurt you. Please give me another chance. Mercy Usagi, have mercy or have pity...I care not, but don't turn away from me. I am your senshi, I am your friend, I am....sorry." she wept through her tears.
So consumed with her grief was she that she did not notice her tears being wiped away. She looked up into Usagi's face, next to hers as she too had fallen to her knees, as she too wept and smiled. "It will be long and hard for you Minako, for you hurt me so badly, your betrayal hurt worst of all. You must believe completely in me."
"I do, oh I do." Minako said through shuddering sobs.
Usagi held out her arms. "Sailor Venus, I bind you to me, welcome back though on probation you are."
Minako didn't care if she died in this instant, for she was forgiven. Michiru and Haruka smiled gently at the scene. "Now Usagi, tell us all that transpired here tonight and why you will not have Chibi Usa."
Usagi nodded and sat back. "First I must tell you of some new plans I have made, new decisions and reckonings I have reached, and of a future that has come much sooner than I thought."
Mamoru climbed the stairs to the Hikawa Jinja with a heavy heart. He didn't want Rei to touch him and he certainly didn't want to touch her, not with Usagi waiting at home. Home. The word had never sounded so sweet to him, never had any meaning. Conceive or not, make love or not, he worshipped Usagi as she was meant to be, and his love was so strong that it hurt his heart. She had told him he was free to do as he wished with Rei, knowing that it would be all he could do to kiss her and not vomit. Praying he could summon some contempt for his beloved - how proud he was of her! How strong she was! - he approached the entrance to the Temple and hoped he could pull this off.
Setsuna tossed back another stiff drink...where HAD Hotaru found this stuff? She didn't care. Her greatest fears were going to come true, she was certain of it. A thousand years ago her instructions had been defied and it had caused the greatest genocide in existence. It happened before and it would happen again, she was certain. She and Hotaru alone knew what Usagi's final Trial would be, and it was uncertain if she would succeed or not. "We must have faith." Hotaru added as she saw Setsuna toss back one more.
"This is a disaster." Setsuna said grimly. "You see what will happen as clearly as I do. With her refusal the beginning of the end has begun and it draws closer. I KNEW she was going to do this again!"
"Again?" Hotaru looked at Setsuna with wide eyes. "When did she do it before?"
Setsuna fell into silence, cursing the alcohol that had loosened her tongue. "It will all work out in the end." a new voice cut into the terse silence.
Setsuna and Hotaru stood and held their weapons ready. "Show yourself." Hotaru demanded in place of Setsuna who was not quite in a position to talk.
The figure stepped forward into the light, a broad smirk on features that had been long forgotten, and there was thump as Setsuna, the mighty Senshi of Time, Guardian and Warrior fainted. Hotaru was stunned speechless. "Now things will be done properly." the figure said with satisfaction evident in the voice. "And you no longer have the right to interfere."
This was bad, this was very bad, and Hotaru glanced at the inert form of Setsuna and cursed to herself. She should have known that Usagi's choice to not give life to Chibi Usa would anger the wrong people, and Usagi's danger mounted. Hotaru knew as Setsuna did not that Usagi had other plans in mind, other things she intended to do, things that no one knew of yet. Everything stood upon the blade of a knife, and Hotaru had plans of her own to put into action, for Setsuna had done her duty to Usagi and now it was time for Hotaru to do hers.
Ok, done this chapter! Next one coming very soon because I don't want any more death threats and I have gotten a whooping funt of them emailed to me! Remember no flames and good ratings and reviews! I write based on reviews so please do review! Check out my websites too eh?
Ja ne!
Email: serenitai@sailormoon.com
Title: Watch me shine - Chapter 9
Rating: R
Series: Sailor Moon
Allright here is is and extra long to beseech forgiveness to all for not updating for two and a half weeks! I HATE, HATE, HATE writers block and bless Bon Jovi and my writing cd's for helping me snap out of it! Please don't hunt me down and hurt me, here is a humble offering for you! And thanks for your wonderful wonderful support, trust me that these days I need it. So on with the story, please read and review but be kind. No Flames. Good reviews and ratings please! I am accepting fanfic on my websites, anything, any rating, any couple (Sailor Moon that is). All you have to do is specify what music (if any) you want in the background and what character you want to introduce your story. All my background music is MP3 not midi (Wreath of Roses that's for you) so please feel free to submit and check out my websites eh? Ok, enough rambling and on with the story!!!!!
A heavy silence hung in the air in the wake of Usagi's startling announcement, and Setsuna's jaw hung open - the first kind of obvious emotion she had ever shown. "I'm sorry Usagi but I seem to be hallucinating. Could you repeat that?" she asked slowly.
Usagi, never taking her eyes off Mamoru who looked as shocked as anyone, but nodded to her, drew in a deep breath. "No, I won't do it. My life will not be controlled on a timetable. Crystal Tokyo is developing and I have trials to face. I can do that, I understand that and I will face them albeit with trepidation in my heart, but as to conceiving THAT child...no, I won't do it. I am the one who will have to carry her, give birth to her and raise her. I do not like her, in fact I think I hate her. I won't do it. I cannot even say that I am sorry because I am not."
Mamoru crossed the room to stand by Usagi. "I will support you in this decision." he said quietly, knowing that in the end it wasn't really his decision to make.
Setsuna sat down heavily in a chair, her head held between her hands. "Usagi you don't have a choice here....you HAVE to do this. The future...."
"Is not set." Usagi finished. "Why follow a pre-ordanined path? Let's make the future up as we go along. I will no longer be a pawn in a destiny that has already been decreed."
Never in her millennia of existence had Setsuna ever heard of anyone ever blatantly refusing destiny in such an extreme manner...wait...she had. Her eyes lit up as she remembered the last time and she winced as she remembered the repercussions that still echoed through the timeline. "Usagi..."
"You're afraid." Usagi said quietly. "You are so used to seeing into your gate and knowing what will happen. The predicitability is comforting to you, the never changing present is your comfort zone. For the first time in millennia you will not be able to look into your gate, for the first time you will not know what is going to happen next, and that my dear Setsuna, is the essence of life. Life is to be taken and beaten and wrestled and formed in your image." she shook her head. "Perhaps if Chibi Usa had been nicer to me I would be willing to give her life, but as it stands now, I refuse to. However now you have said it is free and clear for Mamoru and I to be together."
"But if you are not going to conceive...."
"It changes nothing Setsuna. It's allright for me to get pregnant, but not allright for me to have safe...."
"This was never forseen by me." Setsuna said, a catch in her voice almost tears.
"Setsuna, you have always been Usagi's strongest advocater, both in this life and in the past. You have said that you have complete trust and faith in her to do the right thing, for she always does. Trust her in this decision. She is about to face difficult trials that she has no concept of...but we do. Usagi would never destroy all that is meant to be, but instead of being shaped by the timeline she is shaping it around her - as she should for one with her wonderful and terrible power." Hotaru said, speaking up at last. "I confess to not being upset at the fact that Chibi Usa may not be born and that if she is she will be a very different person from the one I know...I accept that. If I am willing to face that fact Setsuna, then you should be too."
"Only once before..." Setsuna trailed off softly. "And the Galaxy wept, as it weeps still. I shall never forget."
Usagi closed her eyes and then walked over to Setsuna, placing her hand on her knee. "I know of what incident you are speaking of and yes it was terrible and I too can still feel the aftereffects of it. But I changed destiny once before, a thousand years ago in an incident that you are not speaking of and now I change it again. I promise you this Setsuna...I will not let anything as terrible as that happen again, but I will no longer be told what to do, not by you and not by anyone, for if I do then I become a puppet losing my goddess given free will, the very essence of what makes me human...or Lunarian as it were. Have faith in me Setsuna and I swear on my soul that I will create a utopian society."
Setsuna's magenta red eyes met Usagi's silver blue and for a moment there was silence as the Time Guardian contemplated all that she had been told. Slowly she nodded. "I trust you with destiny itself. Your Trials will begin in a few days, I suggest you prepare yourself however you can. If you have God in your life then please make contact." she said in a reluctant voice. "I can use power you don't know of to overcome your will and force you make things as I wish, but I will not for I respect you too much."
Usagi stood and smiled softly at her. "I play hard and I play to win." she glanced at Mamoru who had a look of pride on his face. "I know no fear still standing tall."
Hotaru helped the stunned Senshi of Time to her feet. "We will be in touch. I think right now Setsuna needs a stiff drink. Usagi for what it's worth, I am proud of you, and your future self is proud of you, your mother is proud of you. You see what needs to be done and you are going to do it. As your mother was determined to shape destiny herself, so do you follow in her footsteps. Truly the Royal Lunarian family is great and honoured are we to serve, even if you do give us grey hair."
Usagi said nothing as they vanished and she turned to Mamoru who's eyes had turned dark and dusky. "Now it's allright as long as precautions are took." He said in a husky tone that she was starting to recognize.
"And you have a date with Rei." Usagi reminded him.
Mamoru cursed as he realized she was right and knew he couldn't cancel and risk Rei's ire, risk her finding out the truth that she was being played like a violin. "Tomorrow Usako is for us."
"How do you feel about a son?" Usagi asked casually.
Mamoru closed his eyes as emotion pierced his heart. The one thing he had always wished for. The one thing he had sworn never to tell her he desired above all else. An heir of his own. A daughter was well and good and he couldn't wait, but a son...."I think a son would be wonderful Usako."
Usagi wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a kiss that made his knees weak. "The future is mine Mamo-chan and I am in full control. I am afraid of the Trials, I am afraid of what is to come...I've been knocked down so many times." she paused. "Call it karma...." she trailed off. "Damned if I am going to fall and fail when I've come so far. In destiny's face I call it's bluff. Bring it on I like it rough!"
"I love you." he said as she finished her vehement declaration. "I am so proud of you and I am discovering that you have hidden more from me than I ever though possible if the change in your vocabulary is any indication. I look forward to discovering more about you."
"Enough Mamoru. You have to go. We cannot risk you being late for Rei. Go and I will be here when you get back. I have a rendezvous of my own tonight." Usagi stepped away from him, unable to look at him suddenly. She had other plans in motion, plans he knew nothing about, plans no one knew about and she would make them come true and destiny be damned. 'I'm taking full control this time.'
Minako lay on a ratty pallet on the ground, under the eyes of Luna while Rei and Chibi Usa exchanged details on the best way to seduce Mamoru, Rei gloating that she would have what Usagi never would, her joy and reclaiming her former boyfriend making her lax, but the harsh words of Chibi Usa, her stiff domination damping Rei's joy. She wiped tears from her eyes as she dared not move. She had been whipped, harshly, cruelly, with something other than the stick Rei had used before. Her back was raw as the blood finally stopped running, and despite the cold heartedness of it, she was grateful she had been let off easier than Haruka who had fought back and her fate was yet to be decided. "Minako."
She raised her head slowly at the rapid and whispered voice that came to her through the trees where she was condemned to sleep. "Who's there?"
"You wanted to go to Usagi? Well come on if you are coming."
Minako recognized Michiru's voice. "I can't get up Michiru."
"Your wounds are not as bad as Haruka's and she's here. Usagi will heal you and if you wish it she will protect you. You have to decided here and now which way you will go for Haruka and I will not return if we can help it. Haruka is going to kill Rei if we do."
Minako pulled herself to her feet. "I come with you."
"Should we report this?" Makoto asked Ami as she watched Minako hobble off behind the Outer Senshi.
"Say nothing, do nothing." Ami replied looking up from her book. "We now know that Usagi has a plan of her own in action - how I miss her! - and while we do not know what it is, we can only assume that she is plotting the downfall of Rei and Chibi Usa. We cannot vanish, we have to appear to completely support Rei on the surface."
"And underneath?" Makoto arched an eyebrow.
"I don't know Makoto, but I know that this can't continue. Something is changing, I can feel it in the water, I can smell it in the earth and no matter what happens, I know that something is changing, something is happening and we will soon have to choose a side."
"But who will we choose? The leader who is capable yet hurts us, or the leader who's killed us yet is showing a cunning we never knew she had?"
For that Ami had no reply.
Usagi opened her door as her eyes widened when Michiru led Haruka and Minako in. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at Minako. "What the HELL is SHE doing here?" she demanded of her senshi.
"Healing first, talking later." Michiru said to Usagi point to Haruka who's face was pinched with pain.
Usagi murmured a few words and Haruka smiled at her. "Thank you Kitten, and now Minako."
"Give me one good reason why I should." Usagi said, crossing her arms in front of her.
"She got this beating because of you, because her loyalties have shifted, because she wants to serve you." Michiru said gently.
Usagi walked over to Minako and healed her reluctantly. Minako looked at Usagi, at how different she looked, at the cold expression in her eyes as she looked at her former best friend - who had abandoned her, had left her to exile. "Usagi I want to come back to you. I am your senshi if you'll have me."
Usagi looked at her directly. "No alibis Minako. You've obviously been trying to work up your nerve, but we both know without a word what you did to me cannot be easily rectified. If I have my senshi then they will be loyal to me and not cast me out into exile, taking my tools from me and leaving me because of who I am. Like a man I won't settle for less than the best. I'm not afraid because I have Trials to pass. If you want to come back to me then you had better to be willing to do what I want you to."
Minako was startled as she realized how far above her Usagi was, how she was going to have to work - and work hard - to get back in her good graces, to get her to trust her again. "Usagi, Rei used a..."
"The best excuse is no excuse Minako. No alibis, no lies, no excuses. Take responsibility for what you did, for charm or not you had free will and you used it to betray me." Usagi told her as she sipped at a glass of water.
"She let us off easy." Haruka confessed, "And yet she's been hard as nails on us. I see just from looking at her that we will have to return to Rei and pretend to be her senshi yet."
"Many things have been made clear to me this night." Usagi affirmed. "Nonetheleast of which is the future. Oh and Haruka, Setsuna and Hotaru have decreed that it is allright for Mamoru and I to be together at last, which means no more interruptions from you."
"Then you must have to conceive Chibi Usa." Michiru said in a dead voice, shuddering internally.
"No, I have refused to give birth to Chibi Usa." Usagi smiled at them. "Make yourselves comfortable my friends for this is a story that is long in the telling."
Minako lept to her feet. "Like her or don't, you can't deny her living!"
Blue flames lit Usagi's eyes. "'I can't?' I can't." she repeated. "Minako you forget yourself, I ask for neither your company nor counsel. The best things in life are worth waiting for. I'm keeping my eyes on the prize - and Chibi Usa is not it. If you must be here then be seen and not heard."
Minako sat down heavily, tears welling up in her blue eyes, not having realized before this instant how much they had hurt Usagi, how angry she was at them. She couldn't take this anger, this contempt, not from her best friend. She had realized her error and returned to her only to be cast away when she had the best of intentions. She froze as she realized Usagi did to her what they had done to Usagi, and now knew how she had felt. She dropped to her knees at Usagi's feet, tears falling down her face. "Forgive me, forgive me, forgive me, forgive me. I never realized or understood until this moment, until this very second how much we hurt you. Please give me another chance. Mercy Usagi, have mercy or have pity...I care not, but don't turn away from me. I am your senshi, I am your friend, I am....sorry." she wept through her tears.
So consumed with her grief was she that she did not notice her tears being wiped away. She looked up into Usagi's face, next to hers as she too had fallen to her knees, as she too wept and smiled. "It will be long and hard for you Minako, for you hurt me so badly, your betrayal hurt worst of all. You must believe completely in me."
"I do, oh I do." Minako said through shuddering sobs.
Usagi held out her arms. "Sailor Venus, I bind you to me, welcome back though on probation you are."
Minako didn't care if she died in this instant, for she was forgiven. Michiru and Haruka smiled gently at the scene. "Now Usagi, tell us all that transpired here tonight and why you will not have Chibi Usa."
Usagi nodded and sat back. "First I must tell you of some new plans I have made, new decisions and reckonings I have reached, and of a future that has come much sooner than I thought."
Mamoru climbed the stairs to the Hikawa Jinja with a heavy heart. He didn't want Rei to touch him and he certainly didn't want to touch her, not with Usagi waiting at home. Home. The word had never sounded so sweet to him, never had any meaning. Conceive or not, make love or not, he worshipped Usagi as she was meant to be, and his love was so strong that it hurt his heart. She had told him he was free to do as he wished with Rei, knowing that it would be all he could do to kiss her and not vomit. Praying he could summon some contempt for his beloved - how proud he was of her! How strong she was! - he approached the entrance to the Temple and hoped he could pull this off.
Setsuna tossed back another stiff drink...where HAD Hotaru found this stuff? She didn't care. Her greatest fears were going to come true, she was certain of it. A thousand years ago her instructions had been defied and it had caused the greatest genocide in existence. It happened before and it would happen again, she was certain. She and Hotaru alone knew what Usagi's final Trial would be, and it was uncertain if she would succeed or not. "We must have faith." Hotaru added as she saw Setsuna toss back one more.
"This is a disaster." Setsuna said grimly. "You see what will happen as clearly as I do. With her refusal the beginning of the end has begun and it draws closer. I KNEW she was going to do this again!"
"Again?" Hotaru looked at Setsuna with wide eyes. "When did she do it before?"
Setsuna fell into silence, cursing the alcohol that had loosened her tongue. "It will all work out in the end." a new voice cut into the terse silence.
Setsuna and Hotaru stood and held their weapons ready. "Show yourself." Hotaru demanded in place of Setsuna who was not quite in a position to talk.
The figure stepped forward into the light, a broad smirk on features that had been long forgotten, and there was thump as Setsuna, the mighty Senshi of Time, Guardian and Warrior fainted. Hotaru was stunned speechless. "Now things will be done properly." the figure said with satisfaction evident in the voice. "And you no longer have the right to interfere."
This was bad, this was very bad, and Hotaru glanced at the inert form of Setsuna and cursed to herself. She should have known that Usagi's choice to not give life to Chibi Usa would anger the wrong people, and Usagi's danger mounted. Hotaru knew as Setsuna did not that Usagi had other plans in mind, other things she intended to do, things that no one knew of yet. Everything stood upon the blade of a knife, and Hotaru had plans of her own to put into action, for Setsuna had done her duty to Usagi and now it was time for Hotaru to do hers.
Ok, done this chapter! Next one coming very soon because I don't want any more death threats and I have gotten a whooping funt of them emailed to me! Remember no flames and good ratings and reviews! I write based on reviews so please do review! Check out my websites too eh?
Ja ne!