Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ When Destiny Changed ❯ Too Many Questions ( Chapter 5 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

<!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en">Hmmm, some more reviews, not too many but still good. I've had a conflict of ideas so it will surprise from one chapter to another. sigh In the words of a fellow writer (Reia waves like crazy at Kitty Angel. Hiiiiiieeeeee Kitty!!!), one at a time. Too many story ideas and not enough time or story. On with the story!

Thanks reviewers! And a special thanks to Fee. I was so touched that someone who does not speak English first, read my story and wished it to continue no matter what. Just that one review has been such an encouragement. Fee, you're one in a million! ^^

Definitions: For those who don't know what these mean (Sorry if the spelling is wrong ^^;):

Nani: What

Demo: But

Arighato: Thank you

Sayanora: Good Bye

Mushi mushi: Hello

-chan: friend

-san: elder or in respect (Stranger, teacher, adult, or to be polite, someone of importance)

-kun: I'm not entirely sure but friend of some kind, I believe.

Disclaimer: You know, or you should. So, need I say it? Oh come on, do I have to? Really? Please come on.... *grumble* Fine. SM is not... mine. But the others are! So there!

Chapter Five

"How about this one?" I asked Hotaru, holding the small dark blue outfit. It had lovely silver clasps on its puffed sleeves top and pleated skirt. A nice pair of black gloss shoes would go nicely.

The twelve-year-old didn't answer. She was staring outside of the store, her eyes so distant. It pained me to see this. She's known pain and loss and it had been a great toll on her. Yet she had lived through it, continued on. Perhaps there had been something to live for, a goal or a future she knew would come if she just carried on. Now, it seemed nothing mattered to her. She looked so much like that girl I first saw before we had ever met. It worried me to no end, as it did Haruka and Setsuna.

So I felt I needed to get her out and about, see a little bit here and there, do normal things. Like shopping. I remember a time when this would thrill her. Not anymore it seemed.

"Hotaru-chan," I spoke up. She jerked a bit and turned her face incoherent before focusing again.

"Nani? Oh, it's okay." She looked away again.

I sighed as I set the outfit aside, "Hotaru-chan, that's the 15th outfit that was just fine. At this rate you may be a just `finely' dressed girl." I sighed as she looked away, bending on knee beside her.

"I'm sorry. Just, I wish you would have a little more thrill in shopping as you use to."

She didn't reply. With the look of defeat I rose and turned to another rack.

"Where is the Princess?"

I nearly jumped at the question, feeling cold inside. "W-what was that?"

"Where is Usagi-chan?" her small voice spoke with conviction.

I nervously went through the rack. This I remembered, this I knew. Since the… accident, Hotaru had asked at different occasions the same question. Where was her body? Where was the Princess, Usagi-chan? I swallowed hard, taking a top at random. I couldn't handle this like Haruka could.

"How about this one?"

Her eyes said she didn't listen but instead expected an answer. I'd been able to avoid it but now I was stuck. I clutched the top tightly.

"Hotaru-chan," my nervous voice whispered, "She… Usagi-chan, she… she has returned to the Moon. It… has reclaimed its princess." I shut my eyes against tears I knew threaten to come.

Hotaru didn't phase. She just stood there, her look so strange, no emotion in sight. She turned away, whispering, "No. The Moon is dark and its princess lies alone."

Always this same riddled answer. It was confusing but we felt it was her way of dealing with it. But denying the obvious couldn't last. Still, her words always caused a chill in my heart. I turned to find something else to busy my mind.

I heard the faint gasp but as I turned I saw only her small form rushing away.

"Hotaru? Hotaru!" I dropped the item in my hand and ran after her, reaching the outside of the store and pushing past mall people as they past. I soon saw her a few meters ahead just standing and looking across a large open area in the second floor, revealing the ground floor with a beautiful display of fountains and plants directly below. I came quickly up to her, my hands gripping her shoulders as I bent down, "Hotaru, why did you run away?"

She spun around, her eyes wide and her face so confused and yet amazed. "Didn't you see?"

Confused I only stared, "What? What did you see?"

She was quiet, so very quiet I didn't quite catch a word.

"Him."

~~~

"She won't say a thing," Michiru said as she paced, " She was so pale and then she looked fine but said nothing. Either something really spooked her or she took a great shock. Of what I'm not sure."

I held a hand to my chin, a worried expression developing, "And you have no idea what she saw? What would cause her to react like that?"

"None! None at all! What am I going to do, Setsuna? Should we tell Haruka? Is it something to really worry about? I mean, Hotaru hasn't been herself since… well since then. Could this just be her mind developing fantasy to calm her pain? I'm at a loss as to what should be done."

"First," I spoke calmly, "you should sit down and breathe. I haven't seen you so agitated before. It won't help the situation for you to be like this, especially when Haruka gets home. She has enough on her mind."

She nodded as she sat quietly, her hands held tightly before her face, "I know. It's all she can do to keep Mamoru-san from going deeper and watching over Hotaru slip like this, adding on that the others are trying talk to Rei again." She grew quiet as she looked at me sadly, "Has she spoken to anyone yet?"

I shook my head, "No, she has been in seclusion ever since. She speaks to no one but from what Yuuichirou has said, she prays and sits by the fire most all of the time. She rarely eats or sleeps and has kept her silence." I took my head in my hand again, "I don't know what to think of it. I don't know if it's as bad as Mamoru or Hotaru or if it's something else entirely. Rei has always been a strong-minded person. I just wish she would be with the others, share her pain with them. This silence doesn't seem right."

Michiru was quiet as she looked down at the floor, "The Senshi are falling apart."

"No," came a husky voice from the doorway, "we aren't."

I looked up as did Michiru. "Haruka-san."

She stepped into the room, hand in her pockets as she took a seat in an armchair, "We have never let anything phase us from our mission. Nothing has stopped our will to fight for what is right. The future is for us to protect. Without us, there may be no hope. And I refuse to give in that easily."

"Haruka-chan," Michiru said quietly, then her face became determined as she nodded, "Yes. We need to stay strong. For them. For Hotaru." She brought a hand forward.

I felt my strength grow as I spoke, "For Rei." My hand touched hers.

Haruka nodded, her hand coming forward to clasp ours.

"For our Prince."

~~~

I could hear the beeping sounds coming from near the tank. One of the aides was going over the board and her face grew shocked as I approached.

"Sir! This can't be but… I'm picking up readings of… another life form!"

My eyes narrowed as I check the board, tapping here and there, "Run an ultra sound. I want to be perfectly sure." This was impossible? How could there be…

"Running test, getting readings soon… Nani? This can't be right. Rechecking panel results…"

"Seska-san, what happened? I'm finding nothing."

Her brow furrowed, "It was here a minute ago, I swear it was. But suddenly… everything just returned normal. This doesn't make sense. I…"

Beeps sounded again and this time she jumped at it, tapping panels like a pro. She really had magic in her finger when it came to her work. "There! I'm sure I've got it this…" Her face fell as the beeping ceased, "Damn! What's going on?" I could tell she felt more frustrated then surprised now so I approached it carefully.

"I'm not sure I understand, Seska-san. What just happened?"

She turned with a panel board in her hand. Tapping it a holographic image floated above it and I felt surprise run through me, "Are you saying this…"

She nodded, "For about a second or so, yes. It seems impossible, I know but it can't be explained. We really don't know where she came from or what happened. Demo, even that can't explain this. She has been here after all for what, a month or so?"

"Almost a month and a half actually. Demo you are right. This would have shown up much sooner and it couldn't disappear and hide like this at will. But is it a life form?"

"Yes, very much so. I can't explain it anymore then that. But to determine it as what…"

"Give me what you speculate. This image looks almost what I fear you'll say."

Biting her lip a little in that way I knew meant she was thinking, she took a deep breath, looking as professional as ever.

"From my point of view as a scientist and as a female, I'd have to say," she glanced at the tank, " She is or was pregnant."

~~~

Darkness became almost a second nature and seemed a first for this being. He reveled in watching her squirm and writhe at times. He would show himself if he could help it. No, he left that for her dreams. He knew what she tried to do at times. Purposely or by pure coincidence, he wasn't all too sure of. He only knew, she wouldn't succeed.

`You may as well give up, my dear. Where ever you go, I am always a step behind you.'

She could only give a faint cry of sorrow. Her voice had begun to abandon her after a while in that darkness. Already he knew she grew pale, weak and fragile. He chuckled darkly at her petty attempts to go no where. So like a delicate flower… ready to be crushed.

`Your fate has been decided. Why do you fight it?'

Her voice may have been gone but I knew her thoughts when they directed at me.

I wish for more then what this is! I hold a strength you'll never possess!

`Ah, but I do. You see, your will already crumbles. You know it as well as I. I feel your sorrow, you confusion. Already you begin to forget who you are. But I do not.' His voice sounded darker and she was sure his face would reflect it if she saw.

`As I have said, you escaped me once and I will not ever have it happen again. So, your feeble attempts can stop. I can feel a part of you is not all here. But sooner or later, you will be mine entirely.'

She cowered down, curled in a tight ball, her continual spill of tears flowing into the darkness. Why do you speak of this? I don't know what you mean? I've never known you. I'm sure of that. And attempts, that I don't understand. I only weep.

He bitterly threw something with a crash and she could feel him coming closer. Frightened, she cowered in a corner of what she felt was a wall. His steps sounded thunderous and she suddenly felt herself lifted high, clutched at throat of a dress she believed she wore. Her weak body could not fight and she could only hang there limp in the air and not able to see her assailant.

`Don't try to fool, Little One! You once said this before in our first encounter and I laughed then. Your mind, your power,' there was the feel of a cold gloved hand stroke down the side of her face and neck, `your beauty. It astounded me. I've been compelled to capture that. I will not have that which I sought denied me again!'

She fell with a hard drop and could only lie there in pain. Yet she felt him stand over her, the very presence seeping into her like a damp fog.

`Your power is no match anymore. I own it as I own you. Once you realize that, it will be complete. No one can find you this time. There will be no pathetic hero this time. He thought he'd freed you. But I found you before he. And once he knows the truth… it will be all the sweeter.'

I-I don't understand. What hero?

He was angered, `I grow tired of your little game. Though I know your mind grows empty I know that you still hold the hope of his return. Don't pretend you don't know. Was it not the first who you tried to speak to? But his defiance died with him. This was only some figment of what you lost. You pretend this life was one of your making, of an original plan. But I felt the same power and knew it to be you. And I knew how to release that power. So easily you crumple, my dear. But as for the one I speak of. He will never find you.'

Somewhere she felt she knew of someone… someone dear to her heart. But she knew not of this hero he spoke of. And even as this thought came, it left, her mind growing emptier and emptier of thought. It frightened her and she wept.

`Drop this façade, Little One. Where is that glow I saw when you escaped and tried once again? I know you hold that power. Show it! I love a good chase. I seek the thrill of the hunt, the delicious reward of the capture.'

Again she felt his cold presence near her, almost encompassing her, the feel of hands up and down her arms and once to trace her lips in a tease and swirl around her throat. A cold air moved at her throat as she clutched her arms. Still she saw nothing. Only knew he was there.

`I wouldn't try to leave again,' came the icy whisper at her ear. `I know he will try anything. But like I said,' there was a sudden freeze shooting through her chest as if a hand itself hand entered and clutched her very heart. She gasped, couldn't breath and felt her body freeze. He chuckled at the flutter of her heart in his hand, the tiny quiver that gave her glow life and felt as it grew cold. Her face was so pale now, almost blue. His voice was so close to her ear, almost as if the sound came from her very mind.

`I own you.'

Her tears felt as if they would freeze on her cold skin. Who are you?

He spoke like a cold wisp of winter wind.

`Your Forbidden Darkness.'

~~~

So, I know my adding English with Japanese is a stretch but I hope the results are good. And yes, as Fee pointed out, this is a difficult story to write. It takes the very deepness of my mind and puts it on paper. My sister likes it and thinks I should publish something like it. Don't think I'm that good.

But please, if you will, R&R.