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Third Time's the charm

2009-07-30T10:07:38Z

Third Times the Charm.

Summary: In a world where the fight against Galaxia didn’t end quite so well Tsukino Usagi in a fit of desperation uses the Ginzuisho in a way she hadn’t for almost two years… and wakes up fourteen years old …again.

Chapter Eight: Face to Face

Coming out of her neighborhood Usagi was rather glad she had chosen to disguise herself as she passed by several people on their way home, imagining having to explain to her parents why the neighbors had seen her wandering outside at nighttime had her pulling a face.

That was one lecture she wanted to avoid this time around.

Running over to the park she’d transformed into Sailor Moon the other night Usagi carefully checked her surroundings to make sure she was alone.

The ‘disguise’ she had on right now was good enough for someone walking past or someone watching from far away but anyone standing close enough would be able to tell she was a girl, not to mention it did nothing to hide her voice!

She hadn’t had the chance to check if she could call the Luna Pen to her earlier in the day and she’d only come across Jadeite after school, being caught in her father’s web of sparkly fuzziness had sucked up the rest of her free time.

Hopefully she had enough time to check now…

Looking up to the full moon Usagi breathed in a deep breath and tried to calm herself down, getting too excited wouldn’t really help her right now and it would really suck if she tried to call for the Luna Pen and nothing happened.

“Ok… You can do this!” she assured herself, patting herself on the shoulder. “It worked with the locket last night… it should work with the Luna Pen…” she laughed nervously to herself and very firmly ignored the feeling that she had moved to the same park as the other night in the faint hope that the place would prove lucky a second time.

‘Ok just like last night… I needed my henshin phrase to change to Sailor Moon and I got my brooch when I transformed back…’ her thought trailed off as the idea struck her.

Perking up Usagi quirked an eyebrow up at the moon above her. “Would that even work?” she asked the white orb, not really expecting an answer.

The pen’s activation phrase was “Moon Power” plus the name of whatever she wanted to transform into…

Usagi pondered her choices before shrugging, lifting an arm into the air. ‘Well Ok… I’ll just go with my current disguise.”

Imagining the Luna pen in her hand Usagi closed her eye and flicked her fingers in the way she would have if she’d had to flip the Luna Pen up and as such missed the way it shimmered into the air at her fingertips, flipping end over end as if she’d just thrown it.

“Moon Power! Transform me into a… teenage boy!”

Unseen by her, several different colored lights shot out of the red crystal set on the top of the pen, curved back around to reflect off of the faceted jewel in a shower of star studded beams that momentarily obscured her form.

Feeling her feet lift off the floor Usagi gasped lightly, surrendering herself to the transformation she flung her arms backwards as her back arched in one long curve, a tingle washing over her entire body.

Opening her eyes as the wash of power started to disappear the blond released the breath she’d been holding and felt her feet touch the floor, feeling her hand lift up of its own accord she caught the brim of the ball cap she’d stolen from her brothers room as it tumbled out of the air in front of her and felt herself lift it up and place it brim-backwards on her head.

Her transformation finished with one hand in her pocket and the hand that had just placed her brothers cap on her head in a loose two fingered salute just above her right eyebrow.

She was quiet for a few seconds, trembling in excitement.

“Yeah-hheesss! IT WORKED!” she crowed triumphantly in a voice that managed to startle her with its new tone, one hand punched into the air as she started laughing like a maniac. “Thank you football field!” she grinned, tapping the grass with a sneaker that now looked two sizes bigger than it had been.

Giving herself a once over, she took in the differences she could make out without looking into a mirror.

Removing the ball cap from her head she glanced at the letters on the front which had changed from ‘SHINGO’ to ‘MOON’ and laughed. Running a hand through her hair she managed to pull her fringe a little forward and quirked an eyebrow. Her hair was now a short mass of loose curls, much like Mamo-chan’s only shaded a sandy blond colour in between her brother’s shade and Haruka’s.

Her bulky grey jacket had stayed the same, only this time fitting a little better onto her new frame, hanging open to show off the new white turtleneck she was wearing and her jeans had changed into a stonewashed, ripped-at-the-knees pair.

‘Wow, how weird… I’ve never turned myself into a guy before’ she thought to herself, finishing her self inspection with another laugh.

Replacing the cap back onto her head, right way around this time, Usagi took off, heading in the direction of the shopping district and the newly made Fortune house.

Stopping in front of a large shop window the blond took the chance to take a look at herself and gaped.

“Hey! I’m hot!” she blurted out before she could quite stop herself, hands touching the glass and staring bug eyed at her reflection, turning around so she could see herself at a few different angles, earning herself more than a few weird looks.

Feeling the stares on her the blond turned around met the sight of the crowd of people who had stopped walking at her outburst and the semi-circle of clear footpath now surrounding her.

Blushing to the tips of her hair the blond laughed brokenly and pulled her ball cap down over her face and hurried off, not bothering to explain her admittedly odd behavior.

‘Think before acting! Think before acting!’ she wailed to herself as she raced away from the scene, ‘God, how embarrassing!’

Slowing down to a quick jog the blond managed to get herself under control, the only sign of her earlier blush was a small dusting of pink across her cheeks that could easily be blamed on her run.

Stepping out onto the street she had been aiming for Usagi was careful to look casual, walking past the building she’d seen change that afternoon and moving purposely over to a nearby vending machine. Keeping an eye on the building out of the corner of her eye the blond put a hand into her pocket, reached for her brooch and palming it as she pretended to ponder on her choice of drink.

Two gigantic calligraphy brushes framed the door and easily reached up to the top of the three story building with a sign that spanned the top two floors. The sign was held up between the brushes with a bunch bright neon lights that, considering the size of the sign, seemed to be overkill. Had it been created by anything but magic it would have been a fantastic and complete waste of money.

Jadeite needed a few more lessons in design if he wanted to pass as an architect… the entire look was hideous! And to someone who had been fighting the Dark Kingdom and other denizens of their ilk for at least three years (not including the one year that had re-wound itself) it practically screamed ‘Suspicious!’

Even at fourteen (for the first time) she’d found the place overly gaudy…

Tapping out a random drink from the vending machine Usagi made a show of turning around to lean her back against the wall near the vending machine, adopting Haruka’s casual slouch in an effort to make herself seem more like a guy waiting for a friend rather than a girl staking out a particular store.

She had a brief thought of transforming into Sailor Moon and marching right inside to finish off the monster, but dismissed it when she remembered the trouble she’d had with the last one. Sure she’d been able to defeat it on her own but it had taken much longer than what she’d expected it to and it had called Mamo-chan from clear across the city!

His ability to sense when she was in trouble had apparently been heightened by his transformation into a Senshi, he had come directly to where she had been fighting and there had been no confusion in the way he’d walked through the doors of the jewelry store. He’d known exactly where to go… and had walked right in without so much as checking to see if it was safe to do so!

Sometimes Mamo-chan seemed more hot headed than Rei! And she had the excuse of being a real fire elemental!

His sense of Self Preservation had seemed to have taken a back seat to his instincts… either that or his common sense had died the second he’d transformed into Tuxedo Kamen! If she transformed now there was little doubt as to what his actions would be…

First he’d transform into Tuxedo Kamen, then he’d either drive or ride his bike to get to her in his Senshi form, he’d come directly to her to save her from the monster she’d been trying to sneak around. He’d blow whatever cover he had and get himself kidnapped, brainwashed or worse! There was no way in hell Usagi was going to risk his safety on a situation she could handle by herself!

Making a face, the girl snorted softly to herself, it was lucky no one had figured out his identity the last time around! With the sheer number of times he’d used his motor cycle as Tuxedo Kamen to get around? It was a minor miracle no one had taken down the number of his license plate and used it to track him down!

‘Idiot…’ she thought to herself fondly, for all that everyone thought she was the group’s dunce they’d all had their stupid moments…

Fiddling with the ring tab of the can in her left hand as she tried not to drop the brooch cradled in the palm of her right hand, Usagi looked out from under the brim of her cap and grimaced once again at the Fortune House with its overly bright neon lights. For a moment wished she had thought to bring along a pair of sunglasses before letting go of the thought.

‘Its too dark for a pair of sunglasses anyway.’ she mused to herself, taking an idle sip of her drink. The shadow made by the brim of her cap should be enough to hide what little of her face could be seen at this time of night.

Pausing briefly to blink at the rather weird flavor of her drink, she looked down at her can and raised an eyebrow at her choice, one of the ‘new’ blended styles that would stop being in circulation within the year.

Smiling wryly to herself Usagi tipped her head back, finished the drink in one long gulp and huffed out in contentment, there were some good points to time travel after all… even if she did have to be on the look out for them.

Seeing and not being recognized by her loved ones was an experience she had briefly tasted in the aftermath of the final battle with Beryl… when her memories had been revived but before the others had as much done for them. This time though, there would be no Luna to revive memories of events only she had experienced and there would be no Moonlight Knight to merge with her amnesiac Mamo-chan.

Her head dipped forward and the hand not holding the can rose up to thumb away the sheen of wetness gathering at the corner of her eye, the girl grit her teeth and glanced down at her palm, at her brooch.

‘Not going to think about this right now, I’ve already had one breakdown, I don’t need another one right now!’

Usagi pushed herself off the wall and exaggerated her look around for a bin, crumpling the can in her hands, all the more to seem like a guy, she made herself look across the road and moved towards the bin in front of the fortune house, dropping it in with a distracted air.

She went to walk past the door of the Fortune House, purposely walking close enough to the automatic doors that they slid open as she passed by so she could looked inside.

Acting as if she’d been surprised by the doors opening, the blond looked over her shoulder checking the inside of the shop out of the with a quick glance. ‘No one at the front desk…’ the blond thought to herself, ‘that’s one less problem to deal with…’

Stepping into the store with a little more confidence now that she was sure no one was watching her Usagi moved through the inside of the building and paused just outside the large room where she vaguely remembered dusting the same monster the last time around.

Placing her back against the rather ugly wallpaper the blond crept crablike across the wall, inching her way towards the half open door and where she knew the Youma likely was. Peering carefully through the gap she scanned the room with cautious blue eyes and almost swallowed her tongue.

Standing in the middle of a crowd of hypnotized civilians was the Youma, laughing gleefully as she moved from person to person handing out orders.

But that wasn’t what had almost made her swallow her tongue. In comparison, taking care of the Youma would have been easy, one good Stardust to free the people in the room from the Youma’s control and a well placed Tiara Action would have finished the job…

The smirking blond standing in the corner was an entirely different story.

‘Jadeite!’ Usagi hissed to herself, shocked hands flying up to cover her own mouth ‘What is he doing here!?’

She couldn’t face him alone, she’d already tried that idea once the last time and the experience hadn’t gone the way she’d expected it to go at all! Unlike the Youma she’d previously destroyed he’d been able to repel all of her attacks and had only backed away when he’d been outnumbered with Tuxedo Kamen's appearance.

Besides, changing into Sailor Moon wasn’t much of an option right now, not only would it bring an inexperienced Tuxedo Kamen running into a situation too hot for him to handle, it would land him face first into an encounter with Jadeite, who at this point in time, might be an opponent she really didn’t want to face until she was absolutely ready him.

‘I don’t even know how much stronger than me he is right now and that’s not counting all the energy he’s holding right now either!’ she fretted, eyeing the growing ball of light with a critical eye, what he had in his hand was more than enough power to pack a world of hurt!

‘Damn! If jadeite wasn’t here this would be so much more simple, I’m just going to have to wait until he leaves, I‘m not risking Mamo-chan’s safety in a situation like thi…’

“Alright Ba’am I have enough to create the conduit now.” Jadeite announced, eyes concentrated on the swirling ball of light in his hand “Come here!” he commanded sharply.

Feeling her non-existent hackles rise at the snide tone in his voice and way he was barking out orders, Usagi narrowed her eyes and hissed quietly onto a fist as she reminded herself that the dark haired lady he was talking to was a Youma, and not the woman she appeared to be.

‘… but he really does sound like a sexist pig!’ fighting against the urge to spit the henshin phrase trying to bubble out of her, the blond bit her lip as she continued to watch and blinked as the monster shifted form.

‘Gyuck!… and the award for the ugliest monster of the week goes to… hmm actually the other one was pretty ugly too…’

Pale, creamy white skin had shifted to a sickly green colour as her charming elfin like features changed to a lizard like snout, catlike gold eyes with tiny slitted pupils and a head of hair that looked like it was growing a pair of arms… and yes those were definitely claws growing out of the arms her hair had formed.

Almost like she needed proof that the people in the room were being controlled, for just a moment, as if in sync with the Youma, every person in the room shifted as well, their skin tinting to the same pale green with a golden light glowing out of their eyes like muted lamps, the tarot cards the Youma had been slipping into her victim’s pockets glowed brilliantly, showing through their clothes.

The Youma had already started to gather energy from her victims in the short time she’d been at home…

‘Shoot! Couldn’t it have taken just a little more time…?’ the thought trailed off as she stared bug eyed at a familiar figure she’d just caught sight of.

Usagi grit her teeth to stop herself from screaming in frustration and whimpered softly as she massaged her right temple for a brief moment, hoping she could somehow ease her brand new headache.

‘I take back everything about Umino not having the Youma attracting ability!’ she moaned to herselfat the he sight of her friend. ‘How the hell did he get dragged into this one?’

Umino’s skin, like all of the others, had been tainted the same sickly green and the golden haze in his eyes were magnified by his glasses, making him look slightly more sinister than the rest.

Feeling a shudder of disgust ripple through her Usagi leaned further forward to get a better look at what Jadeite was doing, her blue eyes taking in the scene of the hideous Youma kneeling down in front of the Dark Kingdom general as if he were some sort of king.

‘that’s right… he said something about creating a conduit.’ the girl thought to herself, swallowing against the bile rising up her throat.

Jadeite took a hand away from the swirling ball of light he was holding, guiding a small whisper of energy from it and onto the Youma’s bowed head, stopping there briefly before moving his hand again, this time guiding the small strain of energy to the tarot card the Youma held up for him.

A flash of light and the Youma rose, her features shifting again back into the dark haired girl Usagi had first seen her as and the crowd of people in the room flickered back to normal.

“Keep the flow of energy coming to me as smooth as possible and don’t gather too much all at once.” Jadeite ordered the Youma, his hand now carefully skimming along the cord of light now tied to the ball of energy in his hand. “Just keep it at a steady stream, I don’t want this blowing up in my face, increase what you take each day by about… three units.”

The Youma bowed low, her now green eyes smirking with self confidence. “Hai Jadeite-sama, I will not disappoint you!” she vowed “Did you want me to help set up a conduit to the Dark Kingdom? You need not stay here the whole time.”

Carefully moving the energy that he was staring at down from eye level to his waist so he could look past it Jadeite considered the proposition, it would be easier to transfer the energy to Beryl if he was already in the Dark Kingdom and it wouldn’t take that much more effort.

“Alright, hurry up and give them their orders.” he nodded to the group of enthralled humans. “I want to get this set up as soon as possible!”

Decision made the Dark Kingdom General gestured sharply, waving his free hand at the empty air beside him.

As the familiar looking black hole appeared out of the air close to his hand, the dark haired Youma Ba’am turned to the crowd of zombies she’d gathered and spread her arms out theatrically, the violet sleeves of her robe like dress flapping with the sharp movement.

“Everyone, I want you to head home and spread as much havoc on the town as you can, go to your schools and work places and be sure to spread out as far as you can! Bring more people to this place afterwards, each of you is to convince at least two or three people to come here! Is that understood?”

The crowd wavered before answering with a jagged cheer and started shambling towards the door with frightening grins stretched across each of their faces, Usagi barely had the chance to dive for door across from the one she’d been spying through and hide in the opposite room before they flooded the area she‘d just been standing in.

Keeping the door open a crack the girl gasped and panted around the yelp she’d swallowed with her hands clutched over her frantically beating heart. When the crowd of zombies had turned around she’d almost had a heart attack!

‘Whoa! That was way too close!’

Jadeite had meanwhile finished opening the portal to the Dark Kingdom and was now standing in front of it as if waiting for something.

Blinking for a minute, Usagi held her breath. ‘Wait a minute… he isn’t going to…’

Grabbing Ba’am by her arm the blond General steered her roughly to the portal and pushed her forward and through, followed behind her and disappearing into thin air all before Usagi could even complete her thought.

“E…eh?!” stumbling out of the room she’d hidden herself in the blond skidded up the portal just as it closed, leaving her gaping at thin air.

Without the ‘zombies’ in the room and the Youma she’d snuck out of the house hoping to dust Usagi was left standing in the middle of an empty room, staring indignantly at the space the Youma she’d wanted to get rid of had disappeared through.

“H… hey! Come on!” she stuttered “That’s not fair, I went to so much effort…” she trailed off into silence, slapping a hand over her face.

‘Ugh, I think my headache just got worse…’ she whimpered to herself as she drooped.

Had the others been there to see this they would have laughed at her for days.

All that was missing from this moment was the gust of cold wind and the rolling tumbleweed.

She booted a chair over on her way out…

OoO

Meanwhile just a few doors away a certain dark haired boy paused in his headlong rush away from arcade, panting as he struggled to catch his breath. He’d run almost the entire way home from the arcade and the burning in his lungs told him it hadn’t been one of his brightest ideas.

Tugging up the collar of his jacket against the cold Mamoru shifted the shopping bags in his arms so they hung from one hand and crooked his elbow to brace the dark furred cat as she shifted herself out from among his shopping so she could lift herself up onto one of his shoulders.

“Your friend is pretty sharp.”

The quiet comment from the feline nearly made him jump, still not quite used to the fact that the cat was talking to him. Snorting softly at the remark he let his eyes shift over to the dark shape on his right shoulder and lifted an eyebrow.

“… how hard is it to notice how weird it is that a cat is reacting to every spoken word?” he replied back sarcastically, reaching up his free arm to wipe at his forehead. “It might not sound very strange to you but normal cats don’t act like that!”

Luna glared at her charge, lightly digging her claws into his shoulder in retaliation to his snide tone, it really had been stupid of her to react the way she had but what kind of attitude was that for a Senshi to have?

She’d never met one with such an acidic personality! If she hadn’t been the one to have seen his transformation and to make him his Amulet she wouldn’t have believed he was one at all despite his rather strong aura.

‘Maybe I just have to get to know him better, I did barge into his life rather suddenly and his friend seems to like him a fair bit…’ she sighed, her glare softening to a frown, unpicking her light hold on his shoulder and hooking her claws into the fabric of his jacket instead. ‘It speaks of his personality that he’s rather good friends with someone as easy going as that boy’ she thought to herself, having seen the blond in passing on several occasions. However…

Looking sideways at the matching frown on his face, she growled lightly, aside from that one moment when he’d been looking up at Sailor Moon’s retreating form and when he was playing that game with his friend in the arcade she hadn’t really seen him in any other mood than ‘Mule-headed-ass’.

Even now she was half tempted to swat him upside the head, just to flatten his ego somewhat.

“Hey! Earth to Luna? Come on, did you just burn out you brain?” the boy teased, tapping her on the nose with a finger, a smirk stretching across his face.

Feeling her patience snap Luna unsheathed her claws and readied herself to teach him a lesson, her growling becoming audible.

She’d been about to take a swipe at the smirking boy when someone walked out of a nearby building and collided into him, sending them all to the pavement in a tangle of limbs.

Sheathing her claws Luna managed to leap away the moment she could get herself clear of the tangled mess, landing lightly on a post box she watched in justified amusement as the boy groaned to himself, apparently having hit a wall on his way down, her earlier anger drained away at the sight of his predicament.

“Oww! Get off me you oaf!” the stranger wheezed from underneath Mamoru, pushing ineffectively against a shoulder, his ball cap having fallen over his face.

“O…Oaf!?” Mamoru asked incredulously , levering himself up so he wasn’t quite crushing the rather skinny teen he’d bowled over.

Pushing against him again the younger teen growled, “Yes oaf! Do you see anyone else I could be talking… to…” the other boy, who appeared to be a few years younger than him, shoved himself away and sat up, whipping his ball cap out of his face to stare at him with shell-shocked blue eyes.

The boy squeaked.

The next second Mamoru was left staring at a retreating dust cloud.

“What the hell just happened?” he asked Luna, who was staring after the odd boy rather incredulously herself.

“Maybe he didn’t realize he was picking a fight with someone bigger than him?” she hazarded, watching from her perch on the post box as Mamoru gathered the tin cans that had rolled out of his bag when he’d collided with the stranger.

“No way, everyone that guy meets would be bigger than him!” he snorted, “He was tiny! And with that attitude? He only freaked when he heard my voice, maybe he’s met someone with a voice similar to mine before?”

“But he looked at you before he bolted… maybe he’s met you before.” Luna commented, her tail swishing behind her in amusement. ‘and you left behind a less than favorable impression…’

“Hmm, maybe… Oh hey, what’s this? Did that guy drop it?”

Coming out of her thoughts at the question Luna watched her charge bend down to pick up something from the footpath, curious at what had caught his attention.

‘That couldn’t be a communicator… could it?’ Luna thought to herself, boggling for a second and leaning forward to get a better look at the pink rectangular object he’d picked up, only to sigh with relief at the sight of the large screen taking up most of the front.

‘Goodness, I really am starting to jump at shadows, I would have thought finding a Senshi would have calmed me down somewhat…’ leaning back on her haunches the dark furred feline curled her tail around her and looked down at her feet.

‘Although I don’t think I’ll be doing much relaxing until my mission is over… Princess Serenity…’

“Is this some sort of game?” Mamoru murmured to himself, flipping it over to look at the back. “It doesn’t look like a calculator…”

“Can we figure out what it at home?” Luna suggested delicately as Mamoru finished picking up his fallen shopping and got to his feet. “It’s rather late for anyone to be outside at this time of night and who knows who else you’ll bump into, and the next person might not be as inclined to leaving peacefully…”

Mamoru glanced down at the street the mysterious boy had disappeared down and hesitated, visibly torn between doing as suggested and seeing if he could find the guy he’d bumped into.

“You can’t seriously be thinking of returning it now are you? At the speed he was going that boy should be halfway across the city by now!” Luna asked, in a tone of voice that left little in the way of misinterpreting just how smart she thought that idea was.

Garnet red eyes met flinty blue and held for several seconds, locked in a stubborn staring match.

After a minute or so Mamoru released an annoyed growl, shoving the pink rectangle into a pocket, scooped up a surprised and protesting cat as he stalked off in the direction of his apartment.

“Alright already! Its not like I was seriously thinking of going after him.” he muttered under his breath.

‘Sure you weren’t’ the dark furred cat thought to herself as she settled in the crook of his arm, resigning herself to another few hours of dealing with her charge’s ‘Mule-headed-ass’ mode.

Mamoru reached the end of the street and paused before turning off into the street that would lead him home, giving the empty street a last glance backwards before he left, frowning at the strange sense that he somehow recognized that kid from somewhere, even though he knew he would have remembered a guy with such a small build coupled with foreign looks and that outsized attitude…

“Mamoru-san? Is something wrong?”

Jolted out of his thoughts the black haired boy shook his head to clear it and started walking again, dismissing the idea.

“No, its nothing.” he replied, boosting the cat in his arms a little higher and unconsciously scratching the fur between her ears, a strange pensive mood overtaking him. “Lets go home.”

OoO

Usagi ran all the way back to her house, not even stopping by her ‘lucky’ football field to transform back into herself.

Tripping lightly over the raised tile in the footpath the blond tottered in place for a bit, her arms pin-wheeling to keep her balance and managed to catch herself by grabbing the concrete wall surrounding her house.

It was quite lucky that she’d stopped in front of the window to her room that faced the side street instead of the one facing the front of the house otherwise her parents, who had stayed up late to finish watching a movie, would have been treated to the site of a strange and slightly hysterical teenaged boy hyperventilating outside their house.

Taking a quick look around to make sure no one was looking Usagi squirreled up the wall and jumped, catching the ledge of her window and swinging into her room in one smooth practiced motion.

Getting up from the kneeling position she’d landed in the blond straightened and checked the street to make sure no one had seen her, closed the window, drew the curtains closed and moved further into the room so she wasn’t immediately within sight from the street.

Catching the Luna Pen as she dropped her disguise Usagi grabbed the nearest pillow from her bed, sat down, pushed her face into it and screamed.

First the Youma she wanted to dust had disappeared on her off to the Dark Kingdom where she couldn’t follow, which was frustrating enough all on its own given the effort she’d put into getting out of the house, disguising herself and then sneaking into their current hideout undetected!

Second she wouldn’t have been able to do anything about the Youma anyway! Even after all that! Jadeite had been there and so she’d been forced to watch instead of running in to dust him!

Lastly, as if she really needed anything else to end the night with, after all the trouble she went through to make sure he wouldn’t show up, Mamoru had been a hair’s breath from walking into trouble anyway, had he been just a few minutes earlier he would have walked into the crowd of brainwashed zombies coming out of the Fortune House!

As it was he had bumped into her as she was coming out and given the way her luck had run recently, she’d be mistaken for a Dark Kingdom flunky when they realized it was were Jadeite had temporarily set up base for his current round of energy collection.

Letting her scream peter out Usagi let the pillow fall from her face and panted a little, burying her face in her hands instead, groaning at the thought that had just occurred to her.

She had run away the second she’d realized who she’d bumped into, with the kind of speed only another Senshi or altered being could hope to match. Hopefully they hadn’t noticed, it wasn’t like they’d been holding speed meters in their hands.

‘Like running away the way I did wasn’t suspicious at all!’ she whimpered to herself, getting up so she could change into her pajama’s and put away the ‘disguise’ she had cobbled together before she realized she could call the Luna Pen to her.

Unlocking her door she hobbled down the stairs and into the kitchen, grabbed a plate full of meat buns from the fridge and a tall glass of orange juice.

Taking her captives up to her room she paused in the hall just outside of the living room and glared at the sight of her parents still watching the same movie as they had been before she’d left.

Flipping a meat bun off the plate with a deft flick, she bit into it savagely as it ascended and continued up the stairs, growling around it as she ate.

‘What a night!’

Kicking the door shut behind her with a foot Usagi placed her spoils onto the small table in her room, hungrily polishing her plate off and draining her juice in a single gulp.

Slamming her glass none-too-gently onto the plate the girl brushed off her hands and pulled back the blanket on her bed, crawling in and closing her eyes against her annoyance.

‘I’ll get that stupid Youma tomorrow!’ she vowed to herself, wondering in passing if this was how her enemies felt when she foiled their plans.

Usagi rolled over onto one side and pulled her blanket up over her shoulder, curled around herself, opening her eyes for a brief moment the blond reached a hand out of the blanket and scooped up the two items on her bedside table and cupped them between her hands.

‘At least tonight wasn’t a total waste of time…’ she thought to herself as she brushed a gentle thumb over her brooch and the Luna Pen, her eyes growing heavy as the whole emotional rollercoaster effect of the nights events caught up with her.

‘Still going to kick it's but back to the Dark Kingdom though…’ she thought to herself sleepily as she closed her eyes again.

Snuggling into her bed the girl drifted off to sleep, hugging the two items cupped loosely in her hands, the frown on her face smoothing out in her sleep.

She never noticed them glowing softly in the dark.

OoO

Back at Mamoru’s apartment Luna stared down at the plate of cat food her charge had placed down in front of her and blinked in disbelief. Sure it was sweet that he’d thought to by her something but…

“You don’t really expect me to eat this do you?”

Looking up from his own dinner, a bowl of leftover Chinese takeaway, Mamoru blinked himself, chopsticks halfway to his mouth.

“Why? What’s wrong with it? Don’t you like chicken?”

The dark furred feline’s mouth pursed.

“It’s cat food…”

“Uh.. Yeah?” not seeing her problem.

Closing her eyes and Luna silently started counting slowly to ten.

This was going to be one long and tiring relationship…

OoO

Chapter end!

Ok, wow that was a monster of a chapter to write! This is what i had planned for half of a chapter, I just had no idea just how much this fic had pulled the reins out of my hands! lol

As requested we have more Luna and Mamoru scenes as well as more of Usagi as she struggles with her rather sticky situation. No action, which is not what i had planned, but this chapter is longer than any of my others so forgive me for cutting it short. If i hadn't you wouldn't be getting to read this for quite a while.

I kicked the writers block that kept me from writing this chapter and should have a fair bit for the next chapter before i get bitten by that particular affliction again. Hopefully a whole chapter's worth.

Thank you for reading and for god's sake NO I HAVEN'T GIVEN THIS STORY UP! I just have a lot of real life to deal with. Compared with my other fics? My updates on this one come rather frequently.

Not that I'm going to slow down or anything...

reighost @ 2009-02-17T21:58:00

2009-02-17T13:05:29Z

Third Times the Charm.

Authors Note: Just remember to stretch that boundary of belief and we’ll get along just fine lol!

Chapter Seven: Fast Approaching Battle.

The chambers where Beryl held her daily gathering of Youma was a dark place, the only light coming from four tall pillars, radiating blue light into the darkened caverns from small crystals that made the whole place look unnecessarily colder than it actually was.

Standing just out of the circle of light, Jadeite took the time to scan the area, waiting for the moment when the horde of Youma left in their search for the legendary crystal. Taking his queue from the mass exodus of Youma, Jadeite moved, shimmering into place directly in front of Beryl’s throne.

Let the others risk themselves searching for a crystal that, no doubt was more than likely lost within the realms of time. As long as he could harvest energy from humans he had a comfortable job without the risks failure would bring. He was set.

It would be like taking candy from a child…

As the queen of the dark kingdom proclaimed her wish for human energy he bowed deeply, to keep her from seeing his expression, he couldn’t help the triumphant and self satisfied smirk that crossed his face as he relayed his plan, he’d known she would ask for human energy, it was the logical step that he would have taken in her place.

“Queen Beryl…” he purred, clenching his fists to stop regain control of himself “It has already been taken care of…”

OoO

Aino Minako stared at the screen of the television, her attention focused on the small figure all but dancing across the screen and felt her lips twist into an involuntary pout when Artemis, who’d been watching the video he’d stolen from the police station with the rapt sort of expression on his face of a truly devout fan, quietly moving closer to the screen every time he saw something he was impressed with.

If he moved any closer he’d merge with the glass!

But then again it was hard to watch the video without gaping at some parts, it took strength to pull off some of those moves! and how in hell hadn’t she broken that glass cabinet when she’d landed on it? Not to mention the fact she should have slipped off it!

The video ended with Luna and what was apparently her new charge, a tall, good looking guy in a black tux.

“So that’s ‘Tuxedo Kamen’ …” Artemis mused to himself, moving away from the screen to pad over to the newspaper spread out over the floor, the articles of sailor moon face up on the carpet. “Unbelievable… finding a Senshi in the middle of all this mess…” he trailed off for a moment, staring through the stack of manga she’d forgotten to hide from him and apparently not even noticing they were there.

“Do you remember when I told you about the other Senshi? Do you remember their names?” the white cat asked her, the gold crescent moon on his forehead glinting in the sunlight.

“Mercury, Mars and Jupiter right?” Minako replied, using his distraction to her advantage, she quickly whisked the stack of manga under her bed before tuning back into whatever her guardian was talking about. Taking his nodding as the confirmation it was meant to be Minako frowned. “So which one is she? And why on earth do you look so worried? You should be happy that we have someone else to help us fight!”

“Why I look so worried is Luna didn’t find her and since it wasn’t me then she was forced to awaken by an outside force and activated by herself…” Artemis answered her third question, flexing his claws in silent frustration.

“Moments of heightened stress and a threat from a Youma will trigger the fight instinct in a Senshi and force them to awaken, but if that had been the case I would have found it on the sensors and Luna would have felt it!” he continued, for once almost talking to himself, almost like he didn’t really expect or care if she was listening to him or not.

“I’d have to have a look at her for myself before I make any solid judgments but my first guess is she isn’t any of them.” he said tapping a paw to the picture on the front page. “The name she used and the attacks Luna described are proof… I never would have thought I would see her in my lifetime…”

Watching this, Minako perked up, looking at her cat with a new-found light. For once she felt a connection with him she’d never felt before, drastically different than the other connections that already existed.

“Artemis…” she breathed, practically sparkling at the picture that was coming into focus…

“Don’t worry I completely understand!” she continued, missing the surprised look on her guardian’s face. “And I’ll support you the whole way!”

“M…Minako… you’re starting to understa…”

“The life of a fan is pretty hard huh?” the blond nodded sagely, interrupting him to give him a few rough pats, eyes shining.

“… Minako…”

Turning to dig into a drawer she pulled out a blank scrap book and started to gather all of the loose clippings of sailor moon that lay all over her carpet.

Artemis found himself wishing he could pop the lid off a bottle of aspirin… whiskers drooping and thoroughly disillusioned, he left his charge gushing where she was happily involved in ‘making him his first fan book’ and slunk out the door.

Eyes narrowed into slits, he wrapped his injured dignity around him and stalked out of the house muttering to himself, forgetting that someone might just find a talking cat the strangest thing they’d ever seen.

“Could have chosen Mercury, she was so level headed or even Jupiter at least she was a hard worker… why the hell did I choose Venus? The whole planet’s population…”

OoO

‘Fortune House? More like Fortune Palace…’

Umino Gurio couldn’t help the gasp of awe as he took in the shop front of the fortune teller that Naru had recommended earlier in the day and cringed slightly, turning around to look at the empty alley way nearby and sighed in disappointment.

The old man that habitually set up shop there had been the one he’d originally wanted to get his fortune told from, unfortunately…

The man had already packed up for the night, leaving only his stall table behind, folded away and propped against the wall for use the next day.

Grimacing at the thought of waking into the gaudy looking shop, Umino pulled out his wallet and counted silently, places like the one in front of him usually cost an arm and leg to get a consultation out of… but it couldn’t hurt to take look, he should have more than enough to cover the standard fare the poster on the shop’s window quoted.

Pulling out the small game he’d made the night before from his pocket he stared at it for a few minutes, undecided.

A brief flicker of the shop curtains caught his eye and suddenly the choice was taken right out of his hands.

A beautiful girl, perhaps a few years older than him was watching him from window, her flowing black hair glinted with blue highlights. Her lips twitched up into a shy smile, and the bow she gave him before disappearing back from behind the curtains was as graceful a movement he’d ever seen.

‘So… so… beautiful!’

Utterly charmed by the remembered smile and blushing lightly even as he dropped the little game to the pavement with suddenly nerveless fingers, the boy crossed the road, intent on talking to the alluring beauty he’d caught a glimpse of.

All thoughts of Tsukino Usagi were washed away when the Youma posing as a young woman made the cards on the table she’d sat him down at flip over without touching them.

The last thing he would remember as his world drowned in the sickly dark green haze of her eyes were the eerily silent crowd of onlookers, seemingly content on just watching the fortune teller read his fortune. With his mind already foggy from the second he’d stepped within the confines of the shop, he completely missed the sight of one of the cards lifting off the table to slip into the breast pocket of his shirt.

The smirking blond male standing in the corner of the room stayed unnoticed, even with his form thrown into sharp relief as the swirling ball of light revealed his position in the shadows.

The people in the room were now little more than puppets, puppets who would spread among the populace of Juban and widen his net of influence, drawing more people into the shop and thereby repeating the process.

The amount of energy he could potentially collect this way would be limitless.

OoO

Trying to find a way to sneak out of her house without Luna acting as scout and running distraction was a trial in patience.

More than that, Usagi was finding it difficult in keeping her mind strictly on the Youma while she was stuck in the house. With an all too attentive set of parents and her little brother determined to get in his free entertainment watching her squirm, it was hard to get a moment by herself let alone the chance to get away from the house.

It also didn’t help that her father’s presence almost completely drowned away anything close to resembling clear thought, his good humor and cheer picked up instantly and passed right on over by her natural Lunari empathic gift, overwhelming her almost instantly with rainbows, sparkles and soap-bubbles.

Powerful and completely untrained she sensed her father as a warm and fuzzy presence, had she remembered anything of her lessons during the Silver Millennium she would have been able to shield herself from it and others like her father, namely Futahara Motoki…

As it was though… spending too much time around her father lost her in a world of stupefying sparkly bliss.

It took a while for her to actually notice the effect her father was having on her, drawing into focus on how she managed to brush off all concerns as she chattered with her father, and how quite suddenly everything else seemed to be too much trouble, she could always deal with the Youma later…

Her father, unaware of the effect he had on his daughter, completely used to it after fourteen years, thought nothing of it. Gently jolting her slightly out of her sparkle induced haze when it seemed she had spent too long smiling dopily at thin air, Tsukino Kenji shook his head and sent her up to her room to do her homework, more amused than anything else.

After speeding through her homework, and taking the time to make sure she didn’t do too well, Usagi managed to finish in record time, leaving her to crouch at the top of the stairs like a sun topped gargoyle, waiting for her chance to sneak out.

‘Note to self, keep away from dad if on urgent business…’ the blond thought to herself mournfully as she glanced at her watch.

It was still early, barely even night-time, however every trace of daylight had disappeared without even a hint of acknowledgment from her.

God how much time had she wasted? Chatting with her father on the way home, putting the shopping away, lingering on dinner and conversation…

Now safely out of her fathers ‘sphere of influence’ Usagi listened to the faint sounds of the television and her parents various quiet comments.

Waiting for her parents to finish chatting and head up to bed was boring! How had Luna endured it?

An image of Luna came to her then, sitting stiff-backed with her tiny shoulder blades drawn together, muttering words like ‘mission’ and ‘duty’, visibly swaying with the urge to move and nodding forwards every now and then as if to stop herself from thinking of moving or distracting herself with inane thoughts.

‘… answered my own question… damn! I never had this much trouble sneaking out before!’

Twitching in annoyance Usagi got up out of her crouch and padded her way back to her room on soft feet, all the better to avoid the annoyance that her parents had called her little brother, and carefully closed her bedroom door.

She’d wasted enough time, hopefully her parents wouldn’t feel the need to investigate any noise she made leaving the house…

Locking the door she headed to her window, tying her hair into a single braided ponytail, she jammed ball cap she’d stolen from her brother’s room onto her head. It wouldn’t be enough to hide her face from someone particularly determined to find out who she was, but it would work for now…

A pair of jeans she hardly ever wore on account of their being too ‘boyish’ and a slightly over sized jacket later and she could hardly recognize herself.

Tucking her long braid into the collar of her jacket, Usagi made a face at the boy in the mirror and moved to the window. Gingerly crouching on the window sill the blond wistfully thought of the times when she’d simply used her rather large balcony to come and go, secure in the thought that Luna was on lookout duty.

With the living room window directly under her balcony it was a wonder she’d never gotten caught before.

‘Oh Luna…’

Shaking her head at more evidence of her old selfishness, Usagi poked her head out of the window and scanned the immediate area, measuring the distance she’d cleared so effortlessly the night before with her eyes, checking the area was clear before drawing in a deep breath.

She launched herself off her window sill and landed near-silently in a crouch on the wall outside one hand flung out to her side and the other gripping the wall beneath her feet to help her keep her balance.

‘Yeah! 9.9! Now if I could only pull something like that off when everyone is watching…’ she thought to herself, heart racing slightly as she turned to lower herself down to street level.

Landing with a soft “Hup!” the girl paused to make sure her parents hadn’t heard anything suspicious, one hand hovering lightly on the surface of the wall, before setting off on her way, making sure to side step the part of the walk way she had stumbled over the night before.

She had some cleaning up to do…

OoO

Spending the day scouring the city and its surrounding areas for suspicious activity while searching for the missing Senshi was harder than it sounded like…

Especially when she was slightly smaller than the average household cat.

Luna grumbled to herself as she picked her way through the sea of giant legs, keeping her tail high off the ground. People had the most unfortunate tendency to ignore what was under their feet and she really didn’t feel like nursing a bruised tail for however long it took to heal.

Getting stepped on once was more than enough for her, thank you very much!

At least the person who’d stepped on her hadn’t gotten off lightly, he’d walked away with two nicely matching sets of scratches down one leg as a warning to watch where he was putting his feet.

Still that was a lesson she didn’t need learning twice…

Keeping to the side of the walkway the Mauan daintily darted towards her destination, ready to make her report for the day.

The Crown Arcade was a busy place, with people coming and going at all times of the day and the door opening and closing so often that no one paid any attention when it opened again. No one noticed the small black cat walk past the front counter to let herself into the rear of the shop.

Or more importantly into the ‘disused’ basement.

‘I am so glad no one knows how to check for a glamor these days.’ she thought to herself as she walked through the invisible barrier placed on the room ‘this one would have been discovered in an instant!’

Sighing the cat leapt up onto a faded ‘bar-stool’ near one of the computers and wondered for what had to be the millionth time just who had set up ‘Central Command’ it had all of the comforts one would expect of a place someone had to spend more than a few hours in as well as the heart achingly familiar technology from the Silver Millennium.

She had woken up from the ‘cold sleep’ the queen had placed her into in this room and without the timely intervention of the pre-recorded message set to play at her return to consciousness, she would have wondered out into a world guaranteed to shock her into the next life!

Those first days had been tough, although she could just imaging how much worse it would have been if she hadn’t been warned of what she would have to face when she walked out into the world for the first time…

As it was she had made a few mistakes even with the warning and the preparation videos she’d watched, up to and including the one time she’d stopped someone to ask for directions to the nearest park... She’d thanked the boy for it too.

Making a face at the memory, Luna checked the console nearest to her for any messages or new videos she was supposed to watch and hummed slightly in disappointment at the lack of any new messages, Central Control must still be investigating the validity of ‘Sailor Moon’

‘What a claim to make though, if it is a Dark Kingdom plot it’s a stroke of brilliance they haven’t shown before and if its real…’ she shivered lightly as an excited tingle raced over her at the thought.

If it was real they would have an allay so powerful it might just turn the fight over into their favor…

‘If Central Control doesn’t leave a message by tomorrow I’ll try contacting him again’ she thought to herself as she leapt to the floor, she would have to wait until the shop closed the next day but it would be worth it to talk face to face.

‘Who’s idea was it to put the live interface on the shop floor anyway?’ the cat asked herself, slinking out of the basement to take another look at the piece of Silver Millennium technology masquerading as common arcade game. It wasn’t like they hadn’t had enough room in the basement for it.

‘Whoever it was had an interesting sense of humor though, ‘Sailor V’ indeed…’

Ducking into the row of games where she knew the ‘game’ was sitting, she carefully hugged the ‘wall’ of games as she rounded the corner and sat back in surprise.

Sitting at the game console was her newest charge, plastic bag of shopping at his feet and a cheering blond boy his own age at his shoulder, watching as he passed through level after level of the ‘game’

“Damn it Chiba! How are you doing that?” the blond asked, practically bouncing in excitement. “I only got up to level three, how on earth did you get up to thirteen?!”

“Skill, Motoki, its called skill!” her dark haired charge smirked, eyes glued to the screen as he managed to make his way through yet another level. “Some of us are just that good!”

Ducking under the playful swipe his friend sent him the boy turned his full attention back to the game, unconsciously tensing as the difficulty of the ‘game’ increased.

Luna crossed the small isle and sat herself down on the game bench next to the new Senshi for Earth and watched his progress, unnoticed by either teen at the machine, interested despite herself.

The piece of Silver Millennium technology sitting in the Crown Arcade pretending to be an arcade game was more than just a communications console, it had another feature to it that Luna had found rather dubious when she’d first heard of it.

It was a training device, one geared to trained Senshi through virtual experience. If there was any doubt that he was a Senshi it would have disappeared at the exact moment she caught sight of his current score, who else would move through a training simulation that fast?

Luna, who had grown up herself on the ‘learn by experience’ way of schooling, was a firm believer of training the mind along with the body rather than training them at two separate time’s, and as such hadn’t ever so much as touched one of the devices before.

Imagine having to constantly adjust how you moved just because your mind moved faster than your body!

Sparing a glance to the blond haired boy who had been cheering his friend on, Luna stifled a snort, of course the sandy haired boy would find the game hard… he wasn’t a Senshi…

The strange noise drew two pairs of eyes in her direction.

“Luna! What are you doing here?” came rather sullen question from her charge, a question she pointedly ignored when Mamoru’s friend Motoki reached down to scratch between her ears.

Giving her best ‘meow’ to remind the boy that she wasn’t supposed to speak in front of anyone, Luna deliberately ducked under Motoki’s hand and leapt to the floor, meeting Mamoru’s eyes.

“Oh hey, this cat’s name is Luna? I’ve seen her around her quite a lot lately and… hang on! Is this the cat you were talking about earlier?” the blond asked incredulously, crouching down to get a better look at the cat that had somehow managed to get itself adopted by the ice prince Chiba Mamoru.

“Yep, that’s her…” the boy in question answered, looking like he wished he could form daggers out of his eyes.

“Funny how she doesn’t look that much like the ‘destructo cat’ you described earlier” Motoki teased his friend gently, grinning cheekily up at him.

As such he missed the look of pure outrage and offended dignity that no ordinary cat should have been able to pull off.

Pulling his hand back sharply as the friendly looking kitty pulled back her ears and hissed, Motoki gave his friend a slow look and stood back up again.

“That was so weird…” the boy murmured as she growled at his friend. “It was almost like she could understand me…”

Luna froze, startled out of her indignant hissing.

Mamoru, having frozen for a split second, swung down to pick up his shopping bags and scooped up the almost-sweating cat in the same move.

“Y…you know Motoki, its getting late and seeing as Luna came all this way to pick me up I should head home now.” he stammered quickly, moving hurriedly towards the Crown’s doors without meeting his friends eyes.

Pausing only to wave a rather forced good-buy Mamoru all but bolted, leaving his friend still standing with his hand pulled back the way it had been when the otherwise friendly cat had hissed.

Staring mutely at the door the boy quirked an eyebrow.

“Weird…”

OoO

End of chapter seven…

Hope you liked it.

Okay! Reposted with several mistakes fixed. When i posted it up before i'd hardly had any sleep so this should read better than its last incarnation!

third time's the charm chapter 6

2008-11-11T11:37:51Z

Chapter Six: Endless Times

Sitting through a class that, by now, she could probably teach with relative ease was strangely relaxing. Since she’d studied the subject material more than she’d ever really wanted to class was now a place to confirm what she already knew and daydream safely without getting caught out by either the teacher or, as was more likely, her own ignorance.

After coming back from seeing the nurse Usagi took her seat at the only desk left open after Naru sat down and sighed. God how odd had that been, listening to an overenthusiastic Naru cheerfully reciting her encounter with the Youma had been downright weird. The level headed girl she had known from her own time was nowhere in existence and in its place was a carefree attitude that almost set Usagi’s teeth on edge.

Oh and the gushing…

This Osaka Naru was hardly anything like the down-to-earth friend she had grown up to be, the one that shrugged off Youma attacks like a seasoned Senshi, having gotten semi-used to them after a while.

No, instead Naru had found the whole event exiting, and was cheerfully recounting the tale to everyone who would sit still long enough to listen.

‘Yare-yare, as if I ever needed proof that the world was coming to an end… though if I did this would be it.’ she thought to herself as she snorted lightly, listening to the low hum of conversation around her table as people chattered to each other.

When lunch time came around Usagi remained in her seat, opting to eat her lunch in the relative peace of the classroom instead of joining her usual gaggle of friends. Chuckling to herself when she caught sight of Naru leave the classroom with a crowd around her eagerly listening for more deteails, the blond haired girl looking watched her cheerful and innocent friend and let a fond smile slip onto her face. She hadn’t seen Naru act like that for a long while.

‘Well… hopefully I can keep things this way for her…’ she thought to herself, selecting an egg roll out of her lunch and chewing on it thoughtfully.

Umino Gurio was also someone to keep an eye on as well. Even if he didn’t have that Youma attracting quality that his future girlfriend did he stumbled into trouble more often than the blond felt comfortable with for someone so close to her.

Thinking of the brown haired boy made Usagi turn around in search of him, her eyes lighting on his desk and catching on something blindingly pink almost half hidden by his text books.

Something that looked suspiciously like the old type communicator Luna had given her when they’d first started to find the other Senshi…

Curiosity peaked as the blond dumped the load of rice she’d just picked up into her mouth before setting her chopsticks down, chewing as she reached over and picking the small pink rectangle off the desk with one hand while she finished off drinking her juice box.

Setting her drink back down and turning her attention to the small pink thing she sighed around the straw she’d pulled out of the juice box, examining her find, giving a sigh of disappointment when it turned out to be just one of the many inventions the boy tinkered with.

Flicking the on switch even though her interest was already beginning to fade Usagi only had time enough to read ‘Romantic Fortune!’ as it scrolled across the display before she saw a digitally rendered, but still recognizable, version of herself march across the screen.

Her mouth dropped open, making the small straw tumble out to bounce off an arm and land near-silently on the floor.

‘Oh… my… god…’

Eyes bugged out as she watched the chibi version of herself parade across the screen, shock gluing her eyes to the screen when, after only a minute or so of randomly pressing buttons, a chibi Umino paraded up to digi-Usagi and married her.

‘I… just… married… myself?’

The game ended with a gigantic love heart flashing across the screen with the words ‘Congratulations! A Happy Couple!” brilliantly flashing with light in time to the sound of victorious wedding bells loudly blaring from the little game’s speakers.

Breaking out into a cold sweat as almost everyone left in the classroom turned around to look, trying to figure out where the noise was coming from, Usagi flicked the game’s switch off and waited until they turned around again. Moving robotically as she jerkily replaced the disturbing game back where she found it, running a hand over her face to get rid of the look she knew was probably plastered across her face and helped herself shut her mouth.

Squeezing her eyes shut at the mental image of her and Umino getting married the blond promptly tried to forget she’d ever even seen the thing driving the thought out of her mind by diving into her lunch as with as much energetic gusto as she could muster.

‘Maybe I should start playing matchmaker…’ she thought, keeping her eyes firmly shut, desperately trying to resist the frightfully familiar and recurring urge to just go ahead and headdesk.

‘he really needs something more to do with his free time…’

OoO

School ended the same way it usually did, with kids streaming out of the doorways and waving goodbye to their friends, Usagi herself bid everyone a hasty goodbye of her own and hurried away from the pack before they could do more than wave in return.

‘Fortune telling? Yeesh, talk about awkward…’ she thought to herself as she slung her bag behind her back with one hand, it had been a pretty popular topic of discussion, rivaling the chatter about Sailor Moon.

Feeling more than slightly off kilter Usagi wandered around the shopping district, peering into shop windows and buying a small box of pocky to eat on the way home, taking her time instead of rushing home to sort out her newly returned abilities like she’d intended to do in the privacy of her own room.

For some reason she wanted to head towards the Crown Arcade.

Raising an eyebrow at her own whimsical mood, she gave herself a little shrug and meandered on over, absently taking in the shops as she passed. Wondering to herself why she didn’t feel like testing what she knew of her powers any more.

She’d been about to walk right passed a bakery and the long line of excited people that extend out of the alley next to it when she stopped, shocked to a freezing standstill for the second time that day.

Standing in the middle of the long line of girls waiting to have their fortunes told by the old man renowned in Juuban for his accurate readings, dressed in full Dark Kingdom regalia with only a long black coat, sunglasses and purple banded black fedora thrown over the top was one of the Dark Kingdoms Generals.

More specifically… Jadeite of the Shitennou.

Standing there stunned and slack jawed, Usagi felt the pocky she’d been about to bite into fall out of her mouth and onto the floor.

Making no effort to hide himself besides wearing the rather ridiculous and obvious disguise, Jadeite visibly smirked to himself as he stepped out of line. Pausing only to fix the position of his sunglasses before practically sauntering across the street. The Dark Kingdom General stopped to stare rather openly at the building across from the bakery.

Usagi watched dumbfounded as the he walked right through the front doors of the building he’d been admiring and almost dropped her bag as well when the building changed, jumping back and clutching it to herself as it morphed into what had to be the gaudiest looking shop she’d ever seen.

Glancing around the blond continued to gape. No one, not a single person walking down the street had seen it or even paused to take in the very obviously different building that had just popped out from no-where.

When Jadeite paraded back out of the building with a young black haired woman bowing after him Usagi felt rather proud of herself for not groaning, settling instead on just watching incredulously as the man dismissed the Youma with a curt word, ordering it to collect energy in a clear resounding voice before disappearing right off the street!

Eyelids lowering into half slits in disbelief the blond watched the Youma walk back into the new shop and started laughed humorlessly.

‘Oi oi! This is the enemy we took so seriously before?’

Flicking her eyes back to where the Youma had disappeared into the newly changed shop with the type of cackle only ever really heard from by dark kingdom denizens Usagi dug a hand into the pocket of her skirt and clamped her hand around her brooch and moved to stalk purposely across the busy street.

Dragging her hand out with her brooch cradled in her palm and ready to be used the blond started to look around for a safe place to stash her bag when a voice called out to her from behind, making her jump.

“Oi! Usagi!”

Clutching the hand that held her brooch to her chest in surprise, as if to stop her heart from leaping out of her chest to complete its heart attack on the footpath, Usagi turned around.

‘Oh no!’

Jogging happily up to her with a wide smile on his face was her father, quite obviously having been roped into grocery shopping and balancing several bags of shopping in his arms.

Shoving her brooch back into her pocket Usagi plastered the biggest smile she could muster onto her face and tried not to let the small trickle of panic show, or the shellshock that was currently draining the color from her features.

“P…Papa! What… I mean… have you been shopping?” she asked jerkily, trying to cover up her stuttering by peering into the bags her father held.

Thankfully her legendary luck held, as her father simply chuckled at her apparent curiosity, swatting her inquiring hands away from the bags before she could do more than peek inside.

“Ah, I got home early for a change and your mother caught me!” he answered ruefully, shifting the shopping bags into a more comfortable grip.

“You’re such a push over!” Usagi giggled, grinning at the mental image of her mother roping her reluctant father into doing the house hold shopping for her.

“Well your Mama does all of the house work so this is the very least I could do!” lifting the shopping bags in example her father gave her a speculative glance and held up a shopping list.

“Want to help your poor Papa get the rest?”

OoO

Usagi was mincing around the cleaning products isle, trying to find a way to duck out of the store while her father was distracted, when a tingle washed up her back. Carefully lowering the bottle of detergent she was looking at among the other groceries her dad had wanted her to gather, she turned away from her trolley and cautiously turned around.

Nothing…

Frowning now the girl swiveled her head, looking for the presence that had touched on the edges of her awareness

‘For a second… that… felt like Mamo-chan?’

Having been able to sense him had been a rather dubious talent that she’d used to avoid him way back when they’d first met, it hadn’t been all that reliable and it had been touch and go as to whether she’d sense him at any given time, making her feline companion skeptical as to whether or not she was telling the truth about it.

At the time she’d jokingly referred to it as Yoki before Luna had swatted her upside the head for it.

Mamoru had kept his Prince Charming side so well hidden in those days…

‘That’s pretty strange… usually when I feel this way he’s pretty close…’ she thought to herself, scanning the isle for the dark haired boy, but he wasn’t anywhere within sight.

Abandoning her trolley Usagi peeked into one of the neighboring isles, frowning when the tingle made itself known again.

‘Where is that coming from?’

Sneaking over to the isle on the other side the blond cautiously peeked around the edge and almost squeaked.

Standing directly in front of the cat food section stood Chiba Mamoru, giving the shelf he was looking at a flat glare, staring with his lips thinned into an annoyed line as he took in the rows and rows of tinned food.

He wasn’t looking very unimpressed.

‘He isn’t thinking of getting Luna cat food is he?’

Grimacing at the thought, Usagi carefully crept away from the corner she was watching the black haired Senshi from and moved straight for the tinned food section, selecting out a tin of Luna’s favorite tuna before creeping back.

The last time she’d tried to give the Mauan cat food really hadn’t been pretty.

Waiting for the right moment the blond paused until her target was distracted with moving out of the way of a harassed looking mother before making her move.

It only took one swift flick of her wrist to send the can flying neatly into his shopping basket, it landed with a gentle clink against his other purchases, the noise and the slight shifting of weight going unnoticed.

‘I’m so glad I kept up the practice with my tiara…’

Taking a moment to bask in her own awesomeness Usagi backed away again, making sure to keep him in sight, and herself out, as he made his way to the register to pay for his goods.

‘And there we go…’ the blond laughed softly to herself as she watched her prince stare off into the distance as the cashier rang up his purchases, shaking her head. She used to take advantage of that all the time, slipping sweets or deserts into his basket when he usually wouldn’t get it for himself even if he really wanted to.

Catching sight of her father walking out of one of the other isles nearby that she jolted back into reality, diving into the isle where she’d left her own trolley Usagi stifled a yelp, reminded of the task her father had given her.

Yeesh… that had been close! Imaging the scene her father would have made at catching his only daughter smiling dreamily after a guy the blond shuddered, shuffling over to her trolley and huddling over the handle bar. Scooting around the shop gathering the items on her list with lightning speed the girl managed to finish right before her father met up with her again.

That was not a confrontation she wanted to see just yet…

OoO

When Futahara Motoki caught sight of Chiba Mamoru walking through the doors of the Crown Arcade without his green jacket anywhere in sight and wearing a brown leather one in its place he nearly dropped the coffee pot he was holding.

The blond stared gape mouthed at his friend before shaking himself out of it and gently placed the coffee pot drooping out of his hands onto the nearest available surface.

His friend wasn’t wearing his woman-repelling jacket.

Swallowing the question bubbling up inside him the blond gave his friend a smile that was just a tad quizzical and watched as the black haired boy sat down, shifting the pile of shopping bags he was holding so he could dump it on the counter.

Raising an eyebrow when the plastic shuffled as it settled Motoki asked the less loaded question.

“Cat food? When did you get a pet?”

‘Oohh that isn’t a happy look…’ the boy thought to himself, cringing slightly as Mamoru’s face darkened and wondered belatedly if he should have asked what had happened to his jacket instead…

OoO

Usagi paused outside the shop her father had dragged her into and tried to unobtrusively take another look at the transformed fortune parlor that had just sprang up nearby.

She couldn’t even begin to describe the heart attack she’d had when her father, noticing her interest, cheerfully suggested they go get their fortunes read.

It was somewhat akin to being hit head on with one of Makoto’s higher level attacks, it left her feeling the same way afterwards too, a little crispy around the edges and lethargic like she’d just tried grabbing a live power line bare handed.

Frazzled Usagi dragged her father away from the store, promising herself that she would sneak out of the house the first chance she got.

OoO

Chapter end.

Usual warnings here, please stretch your boundary of belief when reading this fic. Its called Fanfiction for a reason…

Oh you want spoilers?

(Phlirbbit!) *blows raspberry*

Not telling!

third time's the charm chapter 5

2008-11-11T11:37:08Z

Chapter Five: Growing Pains.

Someone ‘up there’ had to be laughing at him…

Artemis gave the jewelry store he was looking at a baleful look and sent a light glare to the police officers who had been coming and going all morning, consequently blocking his entrance to the building itself.

They’d already thrown him out more times than he could count and one police officer who looked on the verge of a sneezing fit actually tried to kick him! The few times he’d tried slinking around in the shadows had been off put by his blindingly bright white fur and his none-too-subtle attempt to take a look around before everyone started to clean up.

It had come to this…

Perched up on a near-by building the white cat readied himself, lowering his body down and wriggling a bit to make sure he was ready to jump properly and fixed his eyes on the ledge he wanted to land on, the one that just happened to lead to the large set of windows leading into the ‘scene of the crime’ the police officers seemed to care so much about preserving.

Flexing his claws the white cat leapt, landing near-perfectly on the ledge he’d been aiming for, lightly padding around to the inside ledge to peer down into the room below.

Well that didn’t look too much like the war zone Luna had reported… without the ‘bodies’ of the victims lying around it looked nothing more than a none too successful robbery. A few smashed cabinets, upturned signs and rends in the carpet looked normal… if you chose to ignore the dents and claw marks on the walls and floors.

Apparently Sailor Moon had a very vicious kick

Raising an inner eyebrow at a particularly large dent near the ceiling the cat made sure he was in no danger of finding himself face to foot to a particular police officer and leapt nimbly down to the floor, moving over to the small area seemingly roped off for no particular reason.

He froze about midway to the middle of his destination, his nose wrinkling at the odor burning the insides of his nostrils.

He hadn’t even needed to get more than a meter from where he’d landed when he jumped from the window before the distinct scent hit him, a Youma, and not a weak one … a full fledged Youma that probably ate Youma like the one’s Minako had met in England for breakfast…

Feeling his fur puff out with no cooperation from his mind Artemis backed away from the roped off spot, flattening his ears against his skull and fighting the urge to hiss, telling himself that the monster that had left the preternatural stench behind was long gone.

Minako was nowhere near ready to face a thing that powerful and yet according to Luna this ‘Sailor Moon’ had fought the thing alone, with ease that spoke of years of experience…

Well, if that didn’t tell him anything about this new Senshi nothing would.

Still he was a little skeptical… or at least he didn’t seem to be picking up another Youma-scent other than the one staining the carpet and Luna would have picked up any trace of Yoki had it been anywhere within several miles radius of herself, her senses were unrivaled, it was one of the reasons she’d been so respected during the Silver Millennium.

Cautiously creeping over to one of the cabinets that had also been roped off Artemis slunk up the side and perched himself neatly on the glass, sniffing delicately at the light footprints left behind from where Sailor Moon had supposedly stood.

Luna hadn’t been the queen’s second adviser for a reason, while he couldn’t read an aura to save his life his other senses were as unrivaled as the other Mauan’s, not to mention his gift with technology…

Aura’s could be faked, a strong illusion could blanket the original and broadcast a fake that would have had Lunarian specialists believing it if they didn’t know to check for it.

Hiding one’s scent was that much harder to do and so much easier to detect.

Frowning quizzically at the spot in front of him Artemis ran a soft paw over the edge of one of the foot prints and brought it up closer, trying to figure out exactly what was tickling the back of his mind.

The scent was almost overpowered from the stink coming from the middle of the room but it was still there. Freshly crushed grass, clean air and…

Moonlight and Starsong.

Feeling every hair on his body stand on end the cat froze, his mind whirling through the implications and a tiny shudder rippled through his small frame, if he’d been human goosebumps would have been visible all over his skin.

He’d never been able to explain it properly when people had asked him how he could pick a Senshi out of a crowd even in their ‘civilian’ form and the few times he’d tried to explain to Luna the concept of scenting Starsong had left the cat escorting him to the nearest mind-healer.

The only person who had understood had been the Queen, who had once confided in him that she knew exactly what he meant, she sensed it differently but it was the same thing.

A warrior born from the very stars themselves…

“Oh my god!” he whispered to himself softly, eyes wide with awe.

He’d never sensed Starsong on anyone who hadn’t later become or already was a Senshi, it wasn’t a scent that could be replicated or faked, hell he’d been the one to put a name to it!

Sailor Moon was genuine! Completely and utterly genuine! Who else would have the clear scent of Moonlight attached to that?

The implications were astounding, a Senshi was the culmination of everything a society was, the pinnacle of evolution that every planet strove for.

It was one of the reasons he had brought Sailor V into being. The rumors of a Sailor Moon had reached the Dark Kingdom and it was the perfect bluff that had worked to keep the strongest of Youma away from his charge while she grew into and got used to her newfound strength.

Everyone had assumed that the White Moon didn’t have a Senshi because of the number of planets allied to it and the rumors of a Sailor Moon had been talked about in half wistfulness and half jest.

It would have meant every planet in their system had evolved to its peak and united under a single ruler and belief, the potential a Senshi born from that would have been staggering… but hadn’t Saturn been without a Senshi until the very end?

Jumping to his feet Artemis whipped his head up, scanning the ceiling for the camera he knew was there and narrowed his eyes, somewhere in this shop or probably already in the police station was a copy of the security video taken last night.

Leaping down to the floor the cat dropped any pretense of sneaking around and headed straight to the shop’s small office, scanning the thankfully empty room for what he was looking for.

Cursing softly under his breath when he couldn’t find it and assuming correctly that it had already been taken to the police station for analysis the cat streaked back into the main room and followed Sailor Moon’s scent over to the opposite window he’d come in from and followed it across the rooftops, thanking every god he could think of that it hadn’t rained the night before.

Coming to a stop at the edge of a football field where the crushed grass scent had probably came from Artemis boggled at small patch of grass where the scent came to a dead end.

Gone… completely gone.

Sailor Moons scent… every trace of it beyond where she had probably transformed had disappeared leaving nothing behind.

‘How… is that even possible?’

Artemis stayed staring at the patch of grass for a while, moving to check every now and then to see if he was somehow mistaken and the Starsong wasn’t gone.

But no… somehow Sailor Moon had succeeded where every Senshi before her had failed and had completely disappeared from his senses.

Even in her civilian form she should have had that scent of Starsong but…

Feeling a headache coming on the white cat slunk away, heading for the police station and the one lead that could possibly tell him more about the enigma Luna had found.

Whiskers drooping Artemis gave the trail one last check as he passed by, frowning at that sense of tickling familiarity he had sensed back at the shop.

It shouldn’t be familiar but it was… though he couldn’t remember meeting Sailor Moon for his life…

Shaking his head he dismissed it, his head already full from almost more than he could handle.

It was a shame he’d never met the Princess Serenity without a Senshi guarding her, and that his memory was so full of holes that he didn’t recognize the scent that blended in with the Starsong for what it was.

He was going to kick himself rather hard when he found out the truth.

OoO

The day kicked off clear as a bell with the sky a pure shade of blue and the air carrying the sweet promise of a gorgeous day, people everywhere where in high spirits and walking around with real springs to their steps.

Eighth grader at Shiba-Kouen Junior High, Aino Minako was coming close to a manic episode that would probably scar her classmates beyond the point of therapy.

The cause? She was surrounded with cooing and love struck couples.

‘Yeah yeah live it up you showoffs…’ she directed mentally at a particularly annoying couple she happened to be sitting in the middle of, who were throwing each other starry eyed looks that made her feel like visiting the dentist. The blond grumbled to herself, crabbily shoving the thought that she’d be showing off if she’d been in their place to the side the, hunching over in her seat she glared daggers at the thin air in front of her.

Stabbing her pencil into her notebook hard enough to leave it standing up freely, impaled in the pages, Minako gritted her teeth, giving herself a spit second before yanking it out and plastering a fake smile on her face, giggling and smiling to cover the odd looks she was getting from her fellow classmates.

“Hello, nothing to see here, nothing at all…” she chimed brightly, breathing a small sigh of relief when they turned away, chalking the incident up to another of her weird quirks.

At least they’d stopped with the ‘cows eyes’

God she needed something to distract her, or else she was going to go post-it on everyone!

Shoving all thoughts of love, romance and the couples-in-danger-of-being-chased-out-of-the-school-via-chainsaw Minako leaned back and tried to think of anything and everything except England or boys in general.

Rocking slightly in her chair the blond thought back to when Artemis had woken her up that morning, the thought was perfectly distracting. Hell it had distracted her perfectly then, making her slower than usual in her rush to school, ultimately making her late for class as had become the norm since she started moonlighting as a ‘defender of justice’.

Straightening up in her seat Minako absently started tapping the rubber tip of the pencil against the desk top and stared at the teacher with her eyes glazed over, thinking it over.

She’d been having a rather good dream, one without a certain male in it for once, when she woke up to the sound of the alarm that told her someone, namely Luna, was accessing the communications console in the Crown Arcade with Artemis freaking out slightly as he quickly jumped off his spot on the bed to put on the set of kitty adapted head set that allowed him to talk to Luna.

“WHA-AT!”

Minako, who had taken the time her cat was distracted by his conversation to get ready for school, froze in the act of shoving her homework into her schoolbag and had turned around to stare at the frazzled looking feline sitting in front of the communications console, watching as he hastily made a strangled sounding promising to look into whatever news was making the cat look so nervous and hang up on his partner mid question.

“Lovers tiff?” she’d asked sweetly, grinning widely at the sweating cat.

The white cat had sent a dirty look in her direction before wriggling out of the modified headset he’d been using to disguise his voice.

“Funny Minako, really funny …” he’d muttered absently, tail twitching in agitation. The cat stood up to pace the area in front of the bulky com-unit her parents thought was a games console, before dashing through her partially open bedroom door, calling out that there was something he needed looking into.

‘Hmm, joking aside that didn’t sound anything like an argument… maybe Luna’s starting to figure out who Central Control is?’

Minako smothered a giggle behind a hand hastily clasped over her mouth, god that was a confrontation she wanted to see! When Luna figured out who was making her recite ridiculous sounding passwords for fun and hiding behind a fake voice and blank screen there was going to be fur flying!

Unless he did it over the com-unit… smirking slightly at the thought the blond brought her attention back to the topic on hand and hummed briefly to herself.

The white cat usually walked with her on her way to school, or in most cases dashed along side her as she sprinted for the school gate had instead forgone that option and had all but evaporated the moment he’d stepped out of her bedroom.

‘One of these days I’m going to catch him walking through a wall… I always knew cats could do it and he’s going to prove it to me!’ Minako cackled lightly, imagining the look on the cat’s face when she did.

He’d always protested that even though he looked like a one he was more like a human in cat-shape and not real cat… some of his arguments made sense but when he got distracted by a cat toy or ran off flipping through the air after a butterfly in mid-rant it did kind’ve make him look a little stupid.

He was also a pretty good target when it came to jokes as well.

She’d sent him off into hour long rants whenever she hit a sore spot and the time she’d bought catnip for him had left her laughing for days afterwards, which had so been worth his ire and the week long lecture she’d gotten for it!

Sighing in contentment as a toothy grin spread across her face Minako leaned her head against her head and giggled quietly.

‘Catnip… heh he!’

The people sitting closest to Minako looked at her with frighteningly similar expressions on their faces, watching as she started to draw small plants and flowers around the hole she’d stabbed into the book earlier, alternatively giggling and cackling in a very concerning change of mood that was about a one eighty from the one that had made her stab her notebook.

Ever since she’d been asked to perform Sailor V in a short movie the already strange girl seemed to have gotten stranger and ever since the gig that had taken her to England she seemed to be slightly unhinged, or at least she seemed to be having a harder time hiding it…

When the bell rang for recess they watched as she happily bounced out of her seat to spiral her way to the door, hopping every now and then to the sound of music only she seemed to hear and singing “Obento, ob-en-to, obentoooohhooohhhooohhhh” as she skipped on her way out, swinging her lunch bag in large swings that didn’t take into mind anyone else walking near her.

“There’s at least one in every class…” the teacher sighed.

Pushing up the spectacles that had somehow slid down his nose the teacher pinched the bridge of his nose and headed out the door himself, trying to rub out the headache that had started to make itself known.

Carefully juggling the stack of books he’d been reading out of, he caught sight of her through a window as she swaned her way out onto the school grounds, most likely looking for a place to eat her lunch.

Turning away and down the hall to the staffroom the teacher let himself in and headed straight to the coffee machine.

Maybe caffeine would help…

OoO

When Minako went out to one of the trees near the school fence to eat her lunch in her usual spot she was surprised to find her rather bedraggled feline companion waiting for her in one of the lower branches with his tail wrapped around his paws and a plastic bag resting on the branch next to him.

“Artemis! What are you doing here?” the blond asked as the cat picked the bag up in his mouth and slipped out of the tree, setting it down before accepting the small sausage she handed over and the rather concerned pat she gave him.

Artemis finished eating and sat up to clean himself off, batting her hand away lightly and giving himself a smooth over before answering.

“Investigating… or at least I was trying to, there was an attack on a jewelry store in the shopping district in Juban last night. If Luna hadn’t given me the heads up this morning I wouldn’t have even noticed until I read the paper this morning.” he announced somewhat dejectedly. Opening up the bag he’d brought with him he dragged out a newspaper and dump it into her lap.

“Hey!” she complained, moving her lunch and chopsticks out of the way, grumbling at the near miss. “That could have gone all over… me…” her voice trailed off as the front like of the paper caught her attention and the rather large picture that went with it.

Splayed across the front page of Juban’s most popular newspaper was “New Heroine ‘Sailor Moon’ In Action” typed across the top of the page in bold letters with a full body photo of a young girl standing lightly on a display cabinet, a winsome smile playing across her lips and the rest of her face hidden with a mask similar to her own.

Dumping her lunch onto the ground next to her, nearly on top of her feline friend, Minako ignored his indignant squawk and scanned avidly through the paper, ripping the paper open to continue reading the rest of the article when the front page proved to be too small for the whole thing.

“They got the photo’s from the security cameras of the store attacked last night.” Artemis remarked, commenting on the other pictures littered throughout the newspaper showing the new Senshi in various different ways, jumping, punching, kicking and one last one of her shielding a few unconscious bystanders with her own body.

“A new Senshi…” Minako breathed, taking in all that she could of this new figure. “So Luna found one of them?” she asked, swiveling around to grin brightly at Artemis, her mind whirling with possibilities.

“Well…” Artemis answered, “No... Sailor Moon disappeared before Luna could talk to her and she had something to take care of in the meantime that couldn’t be delayed”

“Oh? Something important enough that she gave up following a possible allay?” she asked, quirking an eyebrow at the cat as he sighed.

“I’ll explain that when we have more time, lunch time is almost up isn’t it?” he asked, dropping the plastic bag into her lap.

“Whats this?” she asked him in return, pulling down the plastic to reveal a cassette cover.

“Security video.” he answered shortly, sending her a sharp look. “We’ll watch it when we get home and please be careful with it, you have no idea what I went through to get that…” he hopped up back into the tree and found a branch, draping himself over it as he watched his charge pack her lunch and the items he'd brought with him into the plastic bag.

"The things i do for this job..."

OoO

At the Juban Police Station a police officer swore, sneezing three times in quick succession into the thick bundle of tissues he was holding as he tried to ignore the muffled sounds of his partner laughing into her fist behind him.

“Don’t you think that was a little harsh?” the curly haired officer laughed as she tried to hand him some anti allergy tablets and a tall glass of water. “Poor little kitten must have really liked you if he followed you all the way back here.”

“Harsh?!” the officer wheezed out, pausing to sneeze again and making his partner dance backwards out of the way. “If I see that thing again its going to get more than a boot to the side and broom to the ass. I hate cats… Sneeze … bloody little demons!”

“You know you wouldn’t be so bad off if you hadn’t chased the thing all over the office… you could have had someone else do it or you could have asked me to catch it for you” she remarked handing over the tablets when he reached for them and the glass of water when he popped them into his mouth.

“…Shut up Kat”

OoO

Chapter end.

Hope you liked that…

This is for all the Minako and Artemis fans out there and to those poor unfortunate souls allergic to cats…

third time's the charm chapter 4

2008-11-11T11:36:37Z

Chapter Four: Changing Fate.

The next day Usagi found her new found determination to better herself sorely tested… starting from the minute her clock started to chirp its morning alarm.

Crawling out of bed the had to be the hardest thing she’d ever done.

Groaning against the light filtering in through her lacy white curtains Tsukino Usagi tried to wriggle out of the mess of sheets and blankets she was trapped in and half lunged, half flopped in the direction of her chicken shaped alarm clock, managing to grab hold of its beak with the tip of her fingers.

Disarming the alarm the blond fell forward onto her face, her knees tucked somewhat under her, teetering near the edge of the bed.

“Usagi? Time to get up! You’re going to be late for school!”

“Mrf!”

“Usagi?”

Jerking out of the slight doze she’d unwittingly fallen into Usagi grumbled, forcing herself to move, slipping off her bed and onto the floor, jarring her knees on impact.

That had to have been the worst nights sleep she’d ever had!

Emotional, physical and mental exhaustion should have put her out like a light but something kept her from falling asleep, that same something left her twisting and turning at night and her soul crying out with need, it muffled her thoughts and left her feeling just as trapped as when she had first woke up.

She knew without a shadow of a doubt that the absence of the Ginzuisho was what was causing it, she felt it and knew it as well as she had knew her own name.

She’d always been a restless sleeper, it was a fact that Luna had lamented about endlessly and one she would harp on about every morning.

She would never have guessed the reason why was the missing influence of the Ginzuisho.

Oh it wasn’t the only reason she was so restless in her sleep but it had to be the main one, no wonder her dreams had been filled with searching for the legendary crystal!

“Come on Usagi get up! I have your breakfast ready for you and your lunch packed. If you don’t get up now you’re going to miss the beginning of class!”

“Wargh…” Usagi responded, wriggling out of her blankets to worm her way across the floor to the door, heaving herself up by grasping the handle with fumbling fingers.

‘Oh yeah, charming response, lets just scream the fact that I didn’t get any sleep last night at the top of my lungs…’ Usagi berated herself, dragging herself out into the hall and past her snickering little brother as he watched her stagger to the bathroom.

“Mom call an exorcist! We got a ghost in the house!” he sang teasingly, dancing around her half hearted swipe, apparently he was fully recovered from the fright she’d given him the day before by the display she was giving him now, laughing as he ran down the stairs.

An answering grin tugged at the corner of her tired mouth as she watched the little boy bounce down the stairs and head to the kitchen, glad that there was at least something in her world that remained a constant.

The small grin on her face disappeared however the moment she caught sight of herself in the bathroom mirror to be replaced with a gasp of horror.

‘Oh wow, no wonder he was calling me a ghost!’ she thought to herself, eyeing her wan looking features and the glazed look in her eyes. It was as far a cry from her usual creamy completion as it could get!

Her hair also looked like she’d gone three rounds with a twister and lost.

“Yeek!…”

By the time she managed to tame her hair, wash her face, brush her teeth and wrestle herself into a uniform, she knew she was going to be seriously late. Dropping by the kitchen Usagi dumped her lunch into her bag, grabbed two slices of buttered toast and sped out of the house.

Her day had only just begun and already she wanted it to end.

OoO

Chiba Mamoru’s day hadn’t started out any better than Usagi’s had, haunted by his own dreams and still feeling the energy kick his new abilities had given him he hadn’t slept more than half an hour at most and had spent the rest of the night with his eyes peeled to the ceiling.

In the morning he was confronted with the sight of a well rested Luna, who stretched contentedly and purred her pleasure at “finally getting some good rest”.

He almost threw his coffee at her.

Tired and more than a little cranky the newly minted Senshi and soon to be celebrated hero of Tokyo, held back against the urge and swallowed it down with his coffee instead, pouring himself another mug full to drink while he got ready for his day, taking a quick shower and throwing on the first set of clean clothes he could find.

He was on his third cup of coffee when he realized something was missing.

“You should eat something, it isn’t healthy to skip breakfast, it’s the most important meal of the day!” Luna chirped, her voice overly bright and cheerful. Hopping onto his kitchen counter the cat missed the look of pure poison he shot her and settled instead on watching him hunt around his apartment.

“What are you looking for?” the cat asked, garnet eyes following his progress around the living room as he scanned the chairs, couch and coffee table, craning her head when he disappeared into the small hallway near the apartment door.

“My jacket…” he replied absently, tucking the set of keys he found sitting on top of the shoe rack into his pocket, frowning at the empty coat pegs. “I know I was wearing it yesterday… thank god I emptied the pockets when I came home though or I would have lost my keys too!” he muttered, stalking into the laundry.

“Oh you mean that ugly green thing?” the feline asked, her tail freezing in mid-swish, tucking it up around her legs.

“Yeah, and it wasn’t ugly, that was my favorite jacke…” he trailed off, coming into the room just in time to witness the guilty look flash across the cats face. “What happened to it?”

Curling away from the look on her new charge’s face Luna’s ears flicked back.

“Well you were wearing it when you transformed into Tuxedo Kamen…”

“Yeeesssss?”

“… your clothes changed into the tuxedo you were wearing…”

“…and?”

“… and… we needed the tuxedo to make your transformation amulet…”

Mamoru staggered, fingers digging into his other pocket to drag out the pen in question and stared. “You mean its in…” he trailed off, staring at the cat in appalled horror .

“Yes, I’m afraid so…”

“Get it out then!” he practically howled, thrusting the pen under her nose.

“I can’t! Once the amulet is made and used for the first time it can’t be undone! To try to do so now would weaken it and warp the transformation, you could end up wearing only half the suit or worse you would transform into something totally different, if you didn’t kill yourself the next time you transformed!”

“I don’t care get it out!”

“So you want to transform into a girl?” she snarled harshly, bristling at the idea he wanted to break, maybe even cripple his own powers for the sake of a hideously ugly jacket. It went against every thing she’d ever worked for and everything she was! “I can see it now, Sailor Gaia, black skirt and collar, red bow and high heeled stiletto’s would look great with your black hair!” she hissed, truly and royally offended, even though she knew he had no idea what he was asking her to do.

To even think of altering the very base nature of a planet’s chosen guardian… the idea made Luna want to retch, fur puffing out and her skin crawling with the wrongness of that thought.

It was akin to rape! Such tampering had driven lesser Senshi than the one in front of her insane and with the amount of power he had at his fingertips it would be disastrous! There weren’t enough words to describe how wrong it was and such an offence during the days of the Silver Alliance would have meant death for the meddler in question, and with good reason as it ultimately led to the decimation of the society of the planet she came from and the death of the Senshi through self destruction anyway!

“Why didn’t you tell me!” the dark haired boy snapped, glaring blue daggers in her direction as he stormed into his bedroom again to grab his second favorite jacket, one made of brown leather this time, out of his cupboard and shrugging it on.

“I honestly didn’t think you’d care this much! It was just a jacket!”

“IT WAS NOT JUST. A. JACKET!”

“Then tell me, what was it?” Luna asked, her voice saccharinely heavy with rarely used sarcasm.

“It was the most comfortable piece of clothing I’ve ever owned and no one’s ever bothered me while I was wearing it! It was a Lucky Jacket damn it!”

Luna blinked owlishly at him, disbelief showing in every line of her body.

“A lucky jacket…” she repeated slowly, not sure if she’d heard him right. “You have got to be joking…” not realizing that it might not have been a good idea to mock the idea to his face until she felt him grab her by the scruff of her neck.

Yowling as she found herself being flung unceremoniously out of the apartment, Luna hissed angrily at being man-handled for the second time in as many days, and followed the angry teen as he stormed out of the building, disbelief still clouding the air around her.

“Unbelievable… this is what I have to work with? Selene help me, but I can’t help but feel a bit worried…” she muttered wearily to herself, watching him as he disappeared around the corner and out of sight.

Slinking out into the street Luna sighed heavily, whiskers drooping as she made her way over to where she had set up a temporary base, the place wouldn’t open for another few hours yet so it would give her just enough time to contact Central Control and tell them about the new Senshi she’d discovered last night and the mysterious stranger the night before.

She had a feeling that even Central Control wouldn’t know what to make of the new Senshi or the mysterious one last night…

OoO

By the time Chiba Mamoru had walked around the block he’d let his anger simmer down a little, down to small bursts of irritation that had him muttering to himself about annoying felines and ruined jackets.

Feeling his face twist at the reminder of his favorite jackets untimely demise, Mamoru reached a hand into the pocket of the jacket he was wearing now, a poor substitute for the one he’d lost, and palmed the pen, letting the tingle of energy he’d been unaware of before tickle his fingers, calming him down.

Sighing, the dark haired teenager slouched into his brown leather jacket and brooded, he hadn’t been kidding when he’d said that his last jacket had been a sort of luck charm. He hadn’t wanted to say it in front of the already dubious cat but he’d used it as a defensive shield of sorts against the people who’d thrown themselves at him since before he’d turned fourteen.

Others might have envied his looks but they certainly didn’t have to live with them!

“My Name is Luna, I’ve been looking for you!” Mamoru mocked, kicking a small stone out of his way, imitating the way the cat had introduced herself when she’d let herself into his apartment.

“Oh I need to thank you first! Thank you very much for removing the Band-Aid, you really helped me out! I can’t talk and my sensory powers are dulled when I’m like that, but thanks to that little prank I was able to find you” the dark haired boy tittered mockingly, gaining more than a few odd looks.

Savagely kicking the rock further down the path Mamoru scowled thoughtfully, remembering how the cat had pulled him into her story, telling him of the strange things happening in Tokyo that had the police stumped, stories of monsters that stole energy and left their victims in mysterious coma’s that had doctors all over the world scratching their heads.

Then had come the real deal, Luna had needed help finding her princess and the other Sailor Senshi.

He’d only ever told a single soul of the strange dreams that haunted his nights, of the fog-laced dream world and the princess that called out to him for help. It had been what had made him think Motoki had been behind what he’d thought was an overly elaborate prank.

It had also been why he’d acted so mulishly hard headed, the thought that Motoki had betrayed his trust in such a manner had made him furious. It had taken Luna connecting her mind to his to get him to believe her.

Wincing at the memory Mamoru kicked the little rock out in front of him again, remembering the disjointed flow of memories that had prompted his transformation into Tuxedo Kamen and the mad rush of emotions that had made him scramble out of his apartment window, following the external pull that made him completely forget he didn’t know the first thing about jumping roofs.

Luna had caught up with him a few minutes later and had praised his instincts, thinking he’d sensed a Youma.

He hadn’t corrected her… he’d been too distracted by the source.

Long blond hair dancing elegantly around a form fitted into a Sailor suit of blue and red, short skirt, long legs encased in high red boots and a face hidden by a white slip of a mask that didn’t quite hide her enchanting blue eyes, the Senshi had been a sight to behold.

Sailor Moon, according to Luna, was a ledged brought to life…

Mamoru kicked at the rock again, sending it spinning in a straight line in front of him, following it as he kicked it around the corner, he’d have to tell Luna about that at some point, the thought of being able to sense the other Senshi was… exhilarating.

‘Hmm… should keep that to myself for now though?’ he questioned himself, a grin tugging at his lips as he sent the small rock he’d been playing with ahead of him again with the instep of his foot, his mood lightening with each step.

‘Maybe I’ll get to meet her again!’ he thought to himself, the grin on his face growing at the thought.

Scooting up to the rock again Mamoru kicked it up into the air, sending it sailing. He followed its arching progress with his eyes and winced sharply even before it landed.

“ITTEEE!!”

It was the same blond girl as the other day, the one he’d accidentally poured juice over, and judging from the look on her now scraped face as she levered herself up from the concrete she did not look happy…

OoO

Tsukino Usagi felt like spitting nails.

There she’d been, minding her own business as she ran her way to school, hoping to get to class early just this once, and what had happened?

She’d gotten a rock to the back of her head.

This is what she got for being nice to the little old lady who she’d helped walk across the road, this was what she’d gotten for stopping to make sure the little girl who’d tripped over her own feet was all right.

This was what she’d gotten for losing sleep battling against monsters with evil intentions in mind for their victims.

Slamming a palm down onto the concrete beside her face one at a time Usagi gritted her teeth against the growl building up inside her and pushed herself up sharply into a sitting position, her blue eyes fixated on the rock that was now sitting innocently in front of her.

Grabbing hold of it in a vicious claw like grip the blond brought it palm-up to eye level and glared, her eyes spitting fire she turned around.

Standing still with a ‘deer caught in the headlights’ look on his face that told her all she needed to know about where the rock had come from was Chiba Mamoru.

This time she didn’t bother to hold back her growl.

Storming to her feet Usagi stomped over to the dark haired boy who’d taken an involuntary step back at her approach. She stopped to glare up at him and grabbed one of his hands, slamming the small rock into his palm, none-too-gently wrapping his fingers around it.

“I hope your day ends up as great as my morning has been so far!” she hissed, peevishly noting he looked as fresh as a daisy. He looked like he’d gotten a good nights sleep at least!

Stalking over to where she’d heard her bag land in the bush Usagi leaned against the fence and scanned the garden, her glare going up a notch as she noticed it had landed in a rather scratchy looking bush.

“Karma… I swear to god!” she spat, bracing a foot against the fence and reaching in to yank it out with a sharp tug, not caring that she got several branches worth of leaves with it.

Lifting up a sleeve of her uniform to check the time Usagi shot one last glare at the black haired boy watching her and sped off, trailing leaves behind her, leaving behind a shaking boy as he tried his best to stifle his laughter at the sight she made.

Toeing one of the leaves she’d left behind Mamoru opened his hand and looked down at what she’d put into his palm.

It was bad of him and he really shouldn’t be amused at other peoples misfortune but he couldn’t help the roaring laugh that ripped out of him at the sight of the sight of the small rock he’d started kicking from his apartment door.

Flipping the rock into the air and catching it again Mamoru burst out laughing again when he reached the corner she’d disappeared around, having to lean against a telephone pole clutching at his sides because he was laughing so much.

Starting from where she’d pulled her bag out of the bush was a clear trail of green leaves that would probably end at her classroom door!

Classic, just classic!

Shaking his head as he got himself under control Mamoru thumbed the rock in his hand and slipped it into his pocket, still grinning from the encounter, he hadn’t even gotten the chance to return her handkerchief to her but then again she probably would have tried to strangle him with it or stuffed it down his throat if he’d tried.

‘Oh well, there will be other chances to return it.’ he thought to himself, following the trail of leaves she left behind since it was on his way to school anyway. ‘Juban Junior High… well at least I know what school she goes to now.’ laughing again at the confused look people were giving the trail of leaves Mamoru left, heading off to his own school with a smile on his face that hadn’t been there earlier in the day.

OoO

When Usagi made it to the classroom her teacher took one look at her and sent her off to the school nurse, making Naru lead her as if she couldn’t walk there on her own.

“What happened to you Usagi? You look dreadful!” Naru had gasped into the silence that had greeted her upon opening the classroom door.

She’d given her a confused look and accepted the small hand mirror off the girl nearest to the door, gaping at her reflection.

Her hair, despite the taming she’d given it before she’d left the house now looked like it had gone eight rounds with a twister and lost miserably each time, there was dirt and scratches all over her face and now that she noticed it there were leaves stuck to her uniform like little burrs.

Other than all that her face seemed to have regained some of its colour…

“… I was running so I wouldn’t be late when something hits me in the back of the head and the next thing I know I’m eating asphalt…” she answered grimly, tugging the leaves off her uniform as she walked.

Naru, trying to brush off what dirt she could reach off her friends uniform, winced in sympathy, it seemed as if her friend was always finding new and interesting ways to fall over, at least this time it didn’t seem to be her fault… the poor thing…

Leading her into the nurses office and sitting on a vacant bed Naru watched as Usagi submitted to the tutting care of the Nurse, holding out her hands so that the scrapes there could be attended to.

“You know, speaking of injuries what happened to your neck?” the blond asked absently, catching sight of the bruises and momentarily forgetting what had happened the night before.

Naru visibly perked up and launched into what sounded like a well hashed over story of how Sailor Moon, Sailor V’s partner had saved her life the other night.

“…and no one would have believed me if it hadn’t been for the security video and the bruises on my neck! The police wouldn’t have either! You should have seen their faces when they came over!”

“Wow… that sounds impressive…” Usagi drawled, trying to hide her sarcasm behind wide impressed eyes, disbelief over how fired up Naru seemed at having nearly been strangled to death kept firmly on the inside.

Eying Naru as she nodded her enthusiasm the blond sighed inwardly and just because she could, knowing the reaction she was going to get, asked a question that made Naru nearly slide off the bed.

“Who’s Sailor V?”

“Don’t act so impressed if you don’t know who she is!”

‘Oh yeah… its great being fourteen again… just great…”

OoO

Chapter End.

Authors Note.

Okay usually I’m very lenient to people pointing out things I missed and such but this time…

I know that at least one of you readers is going to ask this question or point out my ‘mistake’ so I’ll shoot you down before you do.

When Usagi got hit by the rock she said “Itee!”

This is correct Japanese and is in fact used by Mamoru when he gets hit by Usagi’s shoe during the second episode… watch it if you don’t believe me!

Be warned I will flame the idiot who points it out or argues with me… it is three am where I am and I haven’t had much sleep. Believe me when I say that right now I’m quite capable (and willing) of verbally ripping someone to shreds. GRIN.

Oh and Allen Pitt? This is not an invitation to test me… so please don’t… (half joking here)

Boundary of belief people… boundary of belief… and again some warnings for people who ask for spoilers…

(Phlirbbit!) blows raspberry

Not telling!

third time's the charm chapter 3

2008-11-11T11:35:32Z

Chapter Three: Future Uncertain.

Standing outside the window of Osa.P’s Jewelry store after she’d leaped out of it Sailor Moon bit her teeth rather savagely into her glove to stop herself from voicing the surprised cry she was desperately trying to stifle at the sight of Luna slung over Tuxedo Kamen’s shoulder like she belonged there.

There was no need to announce her presence after all… especially after the effort she’d just taken to make sure it had looked like she’d just left.

Was this why Luna hadn’t turned up earlier in the day?

Trembling the blond twisted again against the unnatural angle she was holding her body in, trying to get a better look at the two who’d shown up to the battle during its final moments and bit back a curse. She’d just had to choose the narrowest ledge on the building to do her snooping!

When a sudden burst of light in her face nearly made her plummet to the rather unforgiving looking sidewalk below Usagi had to stuff her fist into her mouth and flatten herself to the wall to stop from simply sliding to her death… or rather painful fall.

‘God who needs Beryl to do me in when I can just do it to myself!’ she wailed inwardly, heart beating a mile a minute and panting arround the fabric of her glove, that had been close!

Calming herself down Sailor Moon took a minute to figure out what had caused the flash of light that so surprised her and nearly slid of the ledge she was standing on anyway.

There was a movie playing out in front of her eyes, or more specifically on the surface of left eye piece of the mask she was wearing.

‘Not that this isn’t really cool but What. The. Hell?’ she floundered, taking the mask off her face to watch the little screen. The idea she was holding a portable spy camera in her hand had her mentally screaming with the wish for someone to explain!

Sailor Moon watched the little screen as Tuxedo Kamen beat a hasty retreat through the door he had burst through and jumped as the sound of his ‘farewell!’.

‘Eh? What now? I shouldn’t be able to hear that from here! Where did that come fro… oh…’

Raising the hand not holding the mask Usagi ran her fingertips over one of her buns, a ‘Whoa!’ of amazement escaping her before she could stop it.

She’d always known the red jewels in her hair amplified the sound of her own voice, she’d discovered that on accident that first first day as Sailor moon, wailing at the top of her lungs and quite accidentally making the crowd of zombies that had been chasing her collapse and even the Youma itself latch its hands to its ears in an effort to stop what Luna had later called an ‘ear-bleeding wail’

She’d never figured out it worked the other way around…

Feeling rather wobbly Usagi shook herself out of her inner contemplation and launched herself off the ledge and onto the roof of a nearby building, keeping her eye on the retreating figures of Tuxedo Kamen and Luna, making sure to keep her footsteps light so that the sound blended into the night time traffic.

She was going to find out what Luna was doing with her prince…

OoO

Chiba Mamoru, now safely returned to his apartment, didn’t know whether or not to start cursing or just plain find somewhere quiet to sit and stare.

When Luna had first touched her mind to his it had been a shock, images and memories almost too disjointed to string together properly had rushed through his mind and when she’d disengaged it was hard to tell who was more stunned him or Luna.

Luna, having been expecting him to be one of the four reincarnated warriors the Queen Serenity had sent forth to the future, had instead found the Senshi for Earth, the first male Senshi she’d ever heard of.

Hell she’d been flat out dumbfounded that Earth had ‘matured enough’ to produce a Senshi, but that hadn’t been the real kicker.

She’d found out about his dreams, the dreams of the princess he’d been having for as long as he could remember, the ones he now knew were about the Moon Princess Serenity.

He now had a name to go with the haunting figure in his dreams.

“I can’t believe what a stroke of luck this is!” Luna muttered out loud, pacing back and forth across his coffee table, every now and then throwing a look of amazement in his direction that made him want to throw something at her. “To find out that Earth could produce a Senshi… and finding a link to the Princess like this… its nothing short of amazing!” she exclaimed, pausing to sit in front of him with her tail lashing behind her in excitement.

“I still don’t see what’s so surprising about that.” Mamoru grit out, trying to undo one of buttons that held his cape to his shoulders, he’d already thrown his top hat onto the nearby couch and thrown in his mask, gloves, shoes, socks, the few random roses, and the retractable baton he’d found in a coat pocket into the wide opening.

When Luna tipped her head to the side indicating she was asking what he meant the black haired boy sighed, leaving his cape for the moment and untying the white bow at his neck, dumping it into his top hat with the rest of the outfit he’d managed to remove.

“What’s so surprising about Earth having a Senshi?” he clarified, stalking into his bedroom to grab a change of clothes and hopefully successfully wriggle out of the form-fitting outfit he wished he could rip apart, it would be so much easier to get out of that way!

He’d already tried cutting it but the fabric it was made out of was tougher than it looked.

“A Senshi usually only appears when the society she, or in this case he, is born into is reaching the pinnacle of its evolution. A Senshi is the physical embodiment of her… or his people. I would have thought it possible of the human race during the Silver Millennium but have you actually seen the world as it is today?” Luna answered, the tone in her voice clearly showing her disdain. “Crime flows freely, your society is so disjointed and its beliefs and customs all so different that its mind boggling.”

Finally managing to free himself from the outfit Mamoru changed into a pair of boxer shorts and the sleeveless t-shit he usually slept in and picked up the armful of clothes to bring them into the living room, dumping them on over the top hat to make a nice neat pile.

“How does the actions of society affect there being a Senshi?” Mamoru asked, as he moved to the kitchen to make himself something to eat, curious despite himself.

Luna sighed, stretching a little before lowering herself onto the coffee table in a graceful move, tucking her feet under her just like any other cat he’d ever seen, settling into a comfortable position.

“When a planets society is whole and united under a single ruler and belief it produces an energy that accumulates and eventually coalesces into a single being, the representation of that society at its best and purest. It’s a process that takes many thousands of years and it’s considered the height of prestige, to be able to claim a Senshi came from your planet…” Luna trailed of wistfully, her tail swaying behind her slowly.

Mamoru paused in the middle of fixing himself a sandwich and frowned in confusion at the cat that had made itself at home on his coffee table.

“You mean a Utopian society? But Earth is nothing like that!”

“Which is exactly why you are such a mystery! The only time Earth came close enough to that was just before the fall of the Silver Millennium, mind you it still had a fair way to go.”

Mamoru absently picked up a piece of cucumber and popped it into his mouth, chewing it as finished making his sandwich, grabbing the coffee pot and pouring himself a mug as he thought over what he’d learnt.

“Wait a minute, how do you even know I’m the Senshi for Earth? How do you know I’m not one of the other Senshi you’re looking for?” he asked, picking up his plate and bring it with him as he walked over to the couch, carefully placing it and his mug on the table so he could move the pile of clothes he’d dumped there earlier on a clear space on the table.

“Other than the fact you’re male?” the cat asked wryly “It was the symbol that appeared on your forehead when we connected minds, it was quite clear… you know its quite strange, every Senshi I’ve ever heard of was female when they transformed, even if they were born male they had a female form.”

Laughing at the suddenly pale look on her new charges face Luna straightened up into a sitting position and wrapped her tail around her feet, the tip flicking lightly in amusement.

“Well…” Mamoru coughed, somewhat glad he hadn’t been chewing or drinking anything when she told him that “These symbols… do they always appear on the forehead?” he asked, blatantly changing the subject.

“Yes.” she answered simply, standing up to examine the pile of clothes he’d moved to the coffee table, walking around it as if judging it for something.

“Why did you want all that anyway?” indicating the pile of clothes she’d instructed him to remove, taking a long pull from his mug as she gave him and the pile of clothes a measuring look.

“So I can make you your transformation amulet of course!” she answered matter-of-factly, pausing to push a stray bit of cape that was draping over the table back into the pile at the centre. “You’re actually quite lucky I found you when I did, I wouldn’t be able to do this if you’d transformed even once before. The ambient energy from that first transformation would have dissipated. At best you would have been slightly stronger than the average human, capable only of the weakest of your planets attacks and only managing to transform during moments of heightened stress… and let me tell you such transformations are usually painful…”

“A transformation amulet? You can do that?” the black haired boy asked, blue eyes as wide as they could go.

“Of course I can!” Luna answered, sounding slightly offended. “Senshi from all over the galaxy would come to me for training, Queen Serenity even made me one of her royal advisers for that my aid!” she said, gesturing to the upturned crescent moon on her forehead.

“And you had to have all the clothes I was wearing to do this?”

“Yes… it was the same for every other Senshi I’ve ever trained, every piece of cloth, every accessory and weapon that appeared during the first transformation has to be retained to make the transformation amulet, otherwise the Senshi in question won’t be nearly as powerful as they potentially could be.” she lectured, adjusting the pile of clothes here and there to make as neatly rounded pile as she could.

Mamoru helpfully moved his plate and mug out of the way, draining the last of his coffee and eating the last bites of the sandwich he’d almost forgotten about so he could place them in the sink, keeping his eyes on the feline perched on his coffee table the whole time.

“Aside from the fact that we now have another mystery to add to those we already have, it’s a good thing that you didn’t have to fight earlier, it leaves me more to work with… every bit of energy helps with this process, you’ve actually left me with quite a bit!”

“And that matters?”

“Um hmm… its like I said earlier, the more energy I have to work with, the more powerful you’re going to end up being and with this much I’d say you’ll end up being a match for the Guardian Senshi… ”

“The ones you’re looking for?”

“Yes… with enough training. Now hush, I’m going to have to concentrate for this…”

Walking back around the kitchen counter to stand a short distance away from the coffee table Mamoru watched in fascination as the small cat, who was now facing in his direction with the pile of clothes between him and her, started to glow.

He started a little when the pile of clothes lifted from their position on the table to float a good distance above the now-standing cat.

Luna, with her eyes closed and her head slightly lowered, was chanting something under her breath in a liquid sounding language, the words flowing together like water and rising and falling in cadence like music.

The language touched something in him and without knowing what he straightened, eyes half lidded and glued to the spectacle that was now happening right in front of his eyes.

Luna, as if she’d been waiting for him to do that, snapped her eyes open and moved, flipping through the air in a neat circle around the hovering pile of clothes, a rush of light following her progress.

When she landed the cat raised her head as high as it could go and uttered a few last liquid words, pushing the light into a spiral that centered on the now formless black and red shape in the middle of the loop she’d made.

With a snap the explosion of light focused and a small black, silver and red pen tumbled gently through the air to land softly on the table, moving as if it had been dropped through zero gravity.

Panting a little Luna examined the object, sniffing it delicately before picking it up in her mouth and tossing it across the room at him.

Catching it instinctively, Mamoru let his fingers uncurl from the object and blinked at the small pen in his hand. Other than the strange symbol on the silver disk at the top of and the sinuous red rose twined around it, it looked like a normal (if slightly fancy) pen.

"A pen!?” he asked incredulously, “All that mystical chanting and the light-show was just to make a pen?”

“It. Is. Not. Just a pen!” Luna hissed, her ears flattening to the back of her head in annoyance and offended dignity, growling low in her throat. “Close your eyes and focus on your new transformation amulet and you should hear a phrase unique to you!” she instructed stiffly, biting back the lecture building up behind her teeth and sitting back on her haunches when she realized she’d gotten up at the insult.

She watched sharply as the black haired boy closed his eyes, bringing the pen up to chest level and nodded to herself in satisfaction as the small pen glittered for a moment, a wand would have been easier to make but at least this way he’d be able to carry it around with him without suspicion and the glamour she’d built into it was working perfectly, as shown by the glitter it had let off when he’d focused on it.

After this transformation it wouldn’t let off those sparks again as the glamour she’d set into the amulet would have molded to him with this one. ‘it’s a good thing I thought to add the glamour…’ she thought to herself as she scanned her new charge from top to toe. ‘he really is too distinctive looking to go around unnoticed, if someone managed to get that mask off him he’d be too easy to find…’ her thoughts were interrupted by his voice as it deepened and echoed in the classic show of gathering power

“GAIA POWER… MAKE UP!”

A burst of black, red and white tinged with edgings of gold hid the boy for a few minutes before it cleared, leaving a stunned Senshi standing in his place.

“Now…” Luna breathed, she’d always liked this part of initiating a new Senshi “Tell me who you are!”

“I… I am… I am Tuxedo Kamen!”

Luna grinned.

“Well done.”

OoO

If Usagi had been trembling before it had nothing on the shaking her body was doing now!

Having long since let her legs fold underneath her the blond Senshi sitting on the rooftop of Mamoru’s apartment building held her mask in clenched fists in an effort to hold it still, tears streaming down her face in shock and thanking every god and goddess she could think of that she had gotten rid of the Youma before he’d gotten there.

She couldn’t believe it, she couldn’t believe it at all! She’d always thought Mamoru’s powers came from him being Endymion but now… why hadn’t Luna ever said anything?

Wiping away her tears as she watched Tuxedo Kamen take a few swipes at the air with his cane-baton she thought back to the conversation she had witnessed and swallowed down her anger, thinking it through.

‘by the time she knew who he was… there probably wasn’t anything she could do to change the situation… and he had to have learnt how to transform painlessly at some point hadn’t he?’

Coming out of her thoughts Usagi turned her attention back on the small screen in her hands just in time to see Mamoru power down and to catch mention of herself.

OoO

“Ah yes… our new mystery…”

“Sailor Moon.” Mamoru supplied, twirling his new pen around his fingers, fighting the urge to fidget. “She one of the Senshi you’re looking for?”

“Outside old legends and rumors a thousand years old Sailor Moon has never existed! But the outfit, the way she moved, the aura of power she excludes, there’s no room for mistake, she matches all the descriptions I’ve ever heard and then some!”

“So she’s not one of yours?” the black haired boy asked, eyeing the cat who was lashing her tail with renewed fever.

“No… or at least I didn’t expect her to be, bright stars above this is confusing, if she is Sailor Moon how did she get hold of a transformation amulet and who trained her? Such complete and tight control over herself and the varied nature of her powers all indicate she’s been active for quite some time… years even, but I know for a fact that the only Senshi active is Sailor V and that was not her!” Yawning tiredly the feline dragged herself onto the couch and lay down, curling into a tight ball as the events of the day began to catch up with her.

Deciding to leave the cat to her fast approaching sleep the newly minted Senshi sighed and decided to get some sleep himself, heading to his own room.

It was only when he was about to crawl into bed when something occurred to him.

What had happened to the clothes he’d been wearing before he rushed over to the jewelry store?

OoO

By the time Usagi let herself back into her room she felt numb, she’d had so many shocks today and learnt so much that if she had to think of it all too much her brain might explode!

Approaching the mirror above her dresser she gave Sailor Moon a long look, hand clutching the brooch she’d been so worried about earlier.

She didn’t look that much different than her first transformation, apart from the hairpins and the mask she was exactly the same…

But there were so many things she’d discovered that she hadn’t known she was able to do before, had she always had the ability or was it something new that had developed?

Moon Twilight Flash… she’d been desperate to distract the monster and had been reaching for her tiara, hand ready just in case she got an opportunity to fling it when the words had echoed through her mind.

And the effect… a blinding burst of light that had no effect on the people she didn’t want it to had sprung out of the red jewel set into the tiara, she hadn’t even had to take it off to get it to work, just the touch of her thumb and forefinger had been enough to initiate the attack.

Clenching her fists so hard that the fabric of her gloves protested against it with a strange noise Usagi grit her teeth, that attack… it hadn’t felt like something new, in fact it felt like something old-hand, something she’d felt she could have done all her life.

In other words… it was an old ability, one she’d never discovered before.

Slamming her fists down onto the desktop of the vanity scattering the little knick knacks there Usagi bit back a howl.

Selfish, self-centered, spoiled and lazy fourteen year old Tsukino Usagi had wasted her life away, always winging and whining of how she’d wanted to be a normal girl and in the end that same selfishness had ended up costing the lives of everyone around her!

Powering down Usagi caught the brooch as it tumbled off her chest, snapping it out of the air with one hand and eyeing her reflection again, this time with hard eyes.

“Never again.” she told the girl looking back at her.

“Never again”

OoO

Chapter end!

(falls out of chair to twitch on the floor)

Gah! Need sleep!

Authors Note: Usagi lived her life as a fourteen year old the first time, then she went accidentally used the Ginzuisho to go back in time after defeating Beryl so her friends would be alive, so fourteen again... and at the end of the series I had Usagi go back in time again to when she was fourteen years old…

This is how she ends up being fourteen for the third time so stop freaking asking!

Anything else… creative license damn it! Stretch your boundary of belief a little! Jeez!

Oh and those of you asking for spoilers…

"Phlirbbit!" (blows raspberry)

Not telling!

third times the charm chapter 2

2008-11-11T11:34:42Z

Two wrong classrooms and an ear splitting screech from a teacher she barely remembered had Usagi sitting at her desk staring at a very familiar test paper, the chagrined expression on her face threatening to overwhelm her. This had to be the third time she was seeing the paper and to her ultimate embarrassment the red mark at the top, that first thirty percent, was thoroughly earned.

Reading through it again she cringed, her fourteen year old self, to put simply, had been an idiot…

At least her grades were going to be something she didn’t have to worry about this time around, being mentally sixteen had to have some advantages…

Resisting the urge to plant her forehead to the desk the blond rested her chin on hands, watching the teacher explain the short English sentence written on the board, her eyes misting over, this time out of sheer disinterested boredom rather than confusion. Repeating the eighth grade for the third time guaranteed you with having learnt something …

By the time school ended Usagi felt as if she’d been put through a human sized blender, having to pretend she was as stupid as she had been was more exhausting than she thought it would ever be! At least the headache she’d earned trying to figure out ways to look stupid had given her the excuse to go home early.

She had been about to leave the shopping district when something hard collided with her head, sending her to the sidewalk with a startled yelp. The hard thing, which had turned out to be a half full can of juice, after spraying her face and shirt with its contents, landed in her lap to soak her skirt as well.

Biting back a snarl and levering herself up off the floor to push aside her soaked bangs Usagi caught sight of the one person she had half expected to be able to avoid until she could get her feelings under control.

Frozen in the act of throwing the can he’d been holding into the bin that she realized she’d stepped in front of stood Chiba Mamoru, arms still extended from where he had flung the can.

Well this was a change… instead of her hitting him with her test paper he hit her with a can of juice… Was it because she had left her test paper folded neatly in her bag? Where was the fairness in that?

“Oh just great! Just what I need to complete a great day!” she muttered darkly to herself, tears threatening at the corner of her eyes. Pushing herself to her feet she desperately tried to stifle her tears at seeing him alive and well again.

“Ah… are you alright?”

Ignoring the question for the moment Usagi gritted her teeth, pulling her handkerchief out of her pocket and began to roughly scrub her face, hoping to hide the fact she was this close to bursting into tears, either that or throw herself at him.

That latter wouldn’t be such a hot idea though, she already knew what his reaction would be to a strange girl he’d never met before latching onto his arm and proclaiming to be his long lost love, he’d have bolted so fast you’d almost have expected him to have teleported.

“Yeah… sure… just great…” she ground out, her voice wobbling despite herself. Inwardly bawling her eyes out, god her day had been horrible and now here she was stuck in the past with her prince, boyfriend and fiancé staring at her as if he’d never seen her in his entire life… granted she’d been on the receiving end of this look before but back then she’d at least had the small hope that he’d one day remember her.

Wiping the last of the juice off her face Usagi bent down to pick up the can of juice off the floor and almost lost it when she realized why he hadn’t drunk the whole thing… it was orange mixed with mango, he’d always hated mango. He’d probably bought the thing and decided he couldn’t finish it, the taste of the mango too strong for his tastes.

Dropping it into the bin Usagi studied her handkerchief to distract herself from the floundering black haired boy, grimacing at the stickiness, wondering if she should just throw it out or not.

“Uh… I’m sorry I just…”

“Next time watch where you’re throwing.” she growled, trying to steady her voice, cutting him off mid-apology.

“Well maybe you should watch where you’re going next time Odango Atama!” he retorted, blinking when she blanched.

“Odango… Atama…?” she repeated faintly, not realizing she looked like she was going to keel over in shock. If she stood around him any longer she didn’t know if she was going to be able to control herself.

Slamming her handkerchief towards the bin with feigned anger Usagi stormed off, not stopping until she was home and leaving a slightly bewildered reincarnated prince behind.

It was only when her mother, not knowing she was treading on dangerous ground asked her what she’d gotten for her test did she burst into tears, dropping her bag to the floor and crouching into a sobbing ball.

OoO

Chiba Mamoru sheepishly scratched the back of his head as he watched the rather confusing blond storm off and laughed softly to himself when he realized she’d missed the bin she was aiming for and let her handkerchief fall to the floor.

‘And she was telling me to watch where I was throwing things!” he snorted to himself as he pulled his own handkerchief out of his pocket to pick up the juice soaked one on the floor, folding it neatly into the pocket of his jacket, he’d clean it and return it to her, he decided. She’d been wearing the Juban Junior High uniform so it shouldn’t be too hard to find her again.

Shaking his head Mamoru headed home, not noticing his small blue/black shadow as she slinked down the street after him. Shadowing him like she’d been doing all day.

However it was hard to miss when she followed him into his apartment…

OoO

When Usagi managed to calm down from the rather spectacular fit, the blond found herself in her room, having been ushered there by her clearly worried mother. God, her brother had even carried her bag upstairs for her! Having come home to find his sister crumpled at their doorstep crying very real tears had frightened the poor eleven year old half to death.

Grabbing a change of clothes and a towel Usagi cautiously opened her door, peeking around to make sure she didn’t bump into anyone and darted into the bathroom, cleaning off the juice that had ended up all but drying to her and leaving her a sticky, citrus smelling mess.

Now sitting in a bathtub full of water the blond gave herself time to think, the quiet giving her a sense of calm she hadn’t felt in quite a long while.

There were two possible places she could have ended up. Either she’d just defeated Beryl or… she’d gone right back to the beginning, where her life as Sailor Moon had first started.

Grimacing at that thought, Usagi closed her eyes tightly, fighting against the headache as it went up a level in pain. Tightening the hold she had on her knees the blond forced her eyes open and reviewed her day.

Naru had made no mention of a sale going on at Osa.P’s, the shop the girl's mother owned, but then again there had been no mention of two transfer students enrolling into their school either.

Fisting her hands into white knuckled grips on the edge of the bathtub rather than bruise herself, Usagi shuddered. There had also been no sign of Luna or Artemis all day and she hadn’t caught sight of any of the Scouts, barring Mamoru she hadn’t seen anyone she knew at all…

‘Oh god, I should have at least seen one of the cats by now and if this is a time when Beryl’s defeated I would have seen the both of them!”

It took a minute for the idea to sink in fully but when it did the results couldn’t have been more startling, hurriedly stepping out of the bath and throwing her towel on, the girl moved as fast as the wet tiles would let her without making her fall on her face and burst into her room, making a beeline for her dresser.

Drying herself off and pulling on the first set of clothes she could find, an long sleeved orange shirt and a pair of black slacks, Usagi gave her hair a cursory pat down and tied it off in a high ponytail, flinging the wet rope of hair behind her and ignoring the wet sensation soaking through the clothes.

Her brooch… it was the one thing that would be able to tell her what point in time she’d dropped herself into, grabbing her bag the blond upended it and scrabbled around, cursing softly under her breath when she couldn’t find it. It wasn’t there.

‘If I find it… I defeated Beryl, and the only thing I have to worry about is convincing Ail and An that stealing energy is a bad idea…’

Upending the drawers of her dresser, desk and nightstand didn’t produce anything except a small stash of emergency candy and pulling apart the bedding was likewise unhelpful, an old diary tumbling out to land on her foot.

Her cupboard was even more unhelpful than searching her room, a pair of unused roller blades and protective gear reminding her of that one disastrous time she’d tried rollerblading…

Sitting on her heels the blond let out a frustrated whine, slamming her fist on one of her thighs.

‘Damn it! I can’t believe this! Either I should have had a visit from Luna by now or I should be on the phone gushing my heart out to Naru-chan! What. Is. Going. On? this is way too confusing…” straightening up from where she was crouched on the floor Usagi gasped.

Hadn’t Naru been attacked both times anyway? By that dried up husk of a Youma that first time and then that strange plant like Cardian?

‘God this gets more confusing the more I think about it, maybe Ail and An are a day late for some reason and Luna is out investigating something… or maybe I really am in a time where Beryl is still running around still causing trouble?’

Usagi felt herself break out into a cold sweat at that thought, the idea of having to defeat beryl again left her cold inside. She almost hadn’t made it the first time around, god only knew if she would be able to do it a second time!

Stopping herself just before she started hyperventilating the blond staggered to her feet and locked her bedroom door before stumbling for the window, there was an easy way to check which time she was in.

Bracing herself on the ledge Usagi let herself out the window in a practiced swing, landing lightly on the wall that separated her house from the street before bouncing down to the pavement, stumbling slightly as her foot caught the upraised edge of one of the flagstones that made up the path.

‘God I can’t believe I’m actually hoping to find a Cardian…’ she thought to herself as she ran, her hair trailing behind her like a golden banner.

Stopping by a particular football field Usagi trembled as she walked slowly to the centre of the unmarred grass, the area was spotless, there was no sign of a suspicious crater in sight.

‘They could still have landed somewhere else!’ she thought desperately, clinging to that small hope that maybe she didn’t have to face Beryl again. Biting her lip on the Howl of frustration building up inside her as she glared at the empty air in front of her, this needed something concrete…

‘If I remember correctly I didn’t have my brooch that second time around either, all it had taken was for me to call out my henshin phrase and I transformed! The brooch also stayed with me when I transformed back…’

A test then… when Luna had restored her memory that time when she’d rushed over to Naru’s house she hadn’t had her brooch anywhere on her person, in fact it could have been lying somewhere in the north pole with her Crescent Moon Wand and the Ginzuisho for all she knew, waiting for her to need it again.

Narrowing her eyes Usagi lifted her hand into the air and called out a phrase she hadn’t used in two years.

“MOON PRISIM POWER… MAKE UP!”

Within the next few seconds if she could have yelped in surprise, she would have. Half expecting for nothing to happen, she inwardly blinked when her words echoed slightly, deepening with the power she was calling up and almost died with shock when her clothes disappeared and the unexpected immaterial burst of red ribbons exploded from the brooch that had suddenly appeared, forming a familiar white suit.

Gloves, boots, skirt and bow, tiara, earrings and two red jewels forming in the buns her hair had formed into of its own accord and Usagi found herself standing in her traditional pose, her right hand forming a sideways ‘v’ across her forehead and her left hand tucked behind her back in a fist.

At that moment she could have been knocked over with a feather light touch.

Sailor Moon stood gaping, dropping out of her pose to stare at her gloved hands, twisting around to observe herself from different angles.

“What? No way! What is this? I transformed? What is this? Does this mean I did defeat Beryl?” Usagi babbled, utterly thrown by the fact that she could transform. All the signs so far had indicated that she was in the time she’d had to fight Beryl, the absence of Luna and the crater the two aliens had made when crash landing on their planet making up for an almost solid case but now…

There were so many question marks!

It was when Usagi went to bury her face into her palms to stop the dizziness she currently making her feel as if she was about to faint that she noticed a few new addition to her outfit that she hadn’t noticed before, reaching out with trembling hands the blond reached out and plucked the small white domino mask off her face and stared at it for a full minute. It was an exact duplicate of the one Sailor V had… no, Sailor V still wore one like it only the one in her hand was white instead of red

What? She’d never had a mask before! And… were those hairpins in her hair?

Transferring the mask to her left hand Usagi felt around on her head and carefully pulled out one of the two hairpins out studying it in the moonlight and gaped again, it was one of the pins that had formed when she’d first transformed into her Crisis Form!

“W…well that’s a change…” she muttered, weighing the surprisingly long pin in her hand, she’d never actually pulled one out of her hair before and staring at it now she couldn’t help but think it looked somewhat like a throwing dart, the sharp point had been hidden under her hair.

Careful not to spear her own skull as she replaced it Usagi felt around to make sure the only visible parts were the three pearls and the small wing like extensions stretching away from them and absently pushed her mask back into place.

Huffing out an annoyed breath Sailor Moon grumbled a little as she considered what to do, if she was really up against Cardians… well at least her tiara would work for the first few.

Well, Youma or Cardian it was time for Sailor Moon to get back into action, attacks were usually random in a way but there was one person who always got caught in the middle of an attack.

It was time to pay Naru-chan a late night visit!

OoO

“This is one of those hidden camera shows isn’t it?”

Luna blinked, a little miffed that the black haired boy in front of her hadn’t taken her at her word, really did she look like someone who would lie?

“I wouldn’t lie about something like this!” she retorted primly, wrapping her tail around herself in offended dignity “I’ve been looking for someone like you to… yikes! What do you think you’re doing!” Luna howled the last part as the boy who she’d identified as Chiba Mamoru grabbed her unceremoniously by the scruff of her neck to look at her more closely, twisting her around this way and that.

“This is really well done though, I mean I cant figure out where the switch is or anything! And where is the voice coming from?” Mamoru asked, sounding highly impressed despite himself, neatly avoiding Luna’s claws as she took a swipe at him.

Ignoring the hissing and spitting coming from the handful of fur he was holding the black haired boy calmly walked into his laundry room and picked up the empty basked he usually put dirty clothes in and carried it into his bedroom, dumping Luna on the bed. He didn’t even give her enough time to take in her new freedom before slamming the basket on top.

Walking out into the middle of the room the boy started scanning the walls in impatience. “Come on, the game is up already, I know this is a joke! Did Motoki put you up to this?”

When the only reaction he got was a howl of indignant rage coming from the direction of his bed the boy turned around to pin the cat with sharp blue eyes, folding his arms in front of him and letting a mulish expression cross his face.

“Really I wonder how they got you so real looking if I didn’t know any better I’d say you were just an ordinary cat!” he snorted, “Luna… I suppose that’s for the crescent moon on your forehead?”

“MAMORU-SAN THIS IS NOT A JOKE!”

“Oh yeah?” Mamoru sneered, leaning over the basket. “Show us some proof then!”

“Proof? Proof? You want proof! Fine! HERE’S YOUR PROOF!” Luna snarled and with that small barely-there warning a beam of light lanced out from her forehead to his, connecting his mind with her’s.

OoO

When the people in the shop started collapsing left and right Osaka Naru didn’t quite know what to do or who to help and when her mothers only reaction to it all was to laugh evilly she started to back away, instinctively knowing somehow that she did not want to be around for the next few minutes.

When her mother turned into something that looked like it had crawled out of the screen of a b-grade horror movie and commanded the now lifeless looking people in the store to “Give up their energy for their great leader!” Naru almost felt like asking what the hell was going on and she would have if her voice hadn’t dried up the moment the thing wearing her mothers face had started to change.

“M… Mama?” she croaked, trembling as she backed away from the monster that now stood taller than her mother had.

She couldn’t help but be somewhat relieved when the thing strangling her had told her that it wasn’t her mother and that the woman in question was sleeping in the basement.

Naru was only seconds away from blacking out from lack of oxygen when a sharp voice cut through the fog in her mind.

“LET THE GIRL GO!”

A screech from the monster informed her that she could suddenly breathe again, coughing as she slumped backwards the red haired girl gingerly opened her eyes to see what had caused the monster to let her go and almost didn’t believe her eyes.

The monster was holding one of its hands in pain, what looked like a white pearl encrusted dart was lodged almost all the way through the limb and standing silhouetted in one of the shop’s high windows stood a figure that looked almost identical to the pictures she’d seen on the news and on posters.

“Sailor V?” Naru gasped in disbelief, momentarily forgetting she’d almost been strangled in light of this new revelation.

Laughing softly the figure jumped from the window to land lightly on one of the display cases, not even causing the thing to wobble, the glass holding her weight as easily as if she were only leaning a single hand on it.

“Not Sailor V… I am the Sailor warrior, Champion of Love and Justice Sailor Moon!” she informed them, her arms moving in an intricate pattern before pointing straight at the demon “In the name of the Moon I will punish you!”

The figure did look startlingly like Sailor V, the differences visible only if you looked for them. Instead of the two piece red, blue and white suit there was only one piece to it, the blue skirt attached to the bodice, the girl was wearing knee high red boots with golden crescent moon decorating the front instead of sandals, her hair was tied up in twin buns with two streamers leading from them and her face hidden by a white mask instead of a red one.

The next few minutes were what almost convinced Naru she was dreaming.

The small delicate looking figure proceeded to kick the monsters ass! Powerful kicks sending it crashing into walls and the floor, the tiara making the horde of ‘slaves’ slumping to the floor as if they were puppets with their strings cut with just a simple “Moon Tiara Stardust”

Taking a moment when the monster was distracted Sailor Moon did an impressive leap and landed just in front of her whispering for her to shield her eyes, the “Moon Twilight Flash” letting out a burst of light she could see even behind closed eyes and shielded by both her hands, the “Moon Tiara Action” made the monster scream as it crumbled away to dust.

As the light died away Naru looked up to find Sailor Moon standing over the disappearing pile of what looked like sand with a sick look on what little of her face could be seen from behind the mask.

“Are you alright?”

Naru started, that voice was totally different than the one that had been taunting the monster, soft and full of concern.

“H… hai…’ she answered, slowly getting to her feet.

“That’s good then… take care of yourself!”

Naru nodded and gasped with awe as the girl leapt straight up, higher than any pole-vaulting champion could, landing on the window ledge she had come in from and disappearing into the shadows.

“W… What? Who…?” turning around at the unexpected question Naru blinked at the strange sight. Standing in the doorway was a man with a cat sitting on his shoulder, dressed in a black tuxedo wearing a top hat, cape and holding a cane his face hidden with a mask similar to the one Sailor Moon had been wearing.

Both the man and the cat were staring at the window Sailor Moon had disappeared from.

“She said her name is Sailor Moon.” she informed them helpfully, almost giggling when he blanched.

“Sailor Moon?”

“Yep!”

OoO

Chapter end!

How’s that for an update XD and you thought I was going to make Usagi and Mamoru completely switch places didn’t you!

GRIN

Third times the charm chapter 1

2008-11-11T11:33:24Z

Chapter One.

Tsukino Usagi knew something was wrong the minute she woke up.

Throwing a hand to silence the small chicken shaped clock as it chirped its version of alarm the girl opened bleary eyes.

Levering herself out of the cocoon of blankets she’d been sleeping in the blond let her feet touch the floor, frowning dazedly at the room, somehow just looking around seemed to add to the wrongness she’d felt waking up.

There was a feeling of helplessness welling up from inside her, one that made her feel as is she were somehow… different, weakened, as if a part of her was missing and locked away so tightly it made her dizzy just thinking about it.

Her head felt muzzy and full of wool, she couldn’t think clearly at all, shaking her head for the third time in the last few minutes to get rid of the feeling the blond put a hand to her head, fingers absently carding through her hair to remove the small ribbons tied into the long ponytails to stop them from tangling while she slept.

Fighting against the urge to just crawl back into bed and let whatever was wrong with the world this time sort itself out the blond slipped out of bed and padded softly across the room. Opening her door and shuffling across the hall the girl fumbled with the handle of the bathroom door and let herself in, heading over to the sink to wash her face.

Usagi managed to wash her face, brush her hair and stumble back to her room before something caught off guard.

“MOM! WHERE’S MY SCHOOL UNIFORM?” the blond called down to her mother, slightly peeved, there was no way in hell she was going to wear her junior high uniform to school.

She’d done that once when a Youma had ripped the back of her shirt before she’d had a chance to transform and had to spend a humiliating two days waiting for the school shop (the one open only for a single day of the week) to open before she could replace it.

It had fit… barely… her poor boyfriend had nearly walked into a wall the first time he’d seen her wearing the old thing and had promptly bundled her into his own jacket to save her the embarrassment, ignoring the cold weather in order to keep her comfortable.

Her cheeks heating up at the memory of the way he’d gently wrapped it around her and the way he’d glared at everyone who so much as looked in their direction to laugh made her squirm, the moment had made her fall even harder in love with him.

‘It would so be worth wearing this stupid uniform again just to get him to act that way again… protecting me from everyone laughing at me’ she thought to herself absently, picking at the sleeve, Usagi jumped at the sound of her mother’s voice answering her earlier question.

“Your uniform should be where you last left it… oh and do hurry up and get ready you’re going to be late again!”

Rolling her eyes the girl eyed her uniform, the clock and the amount of time she had left and came to a quick decision, pulling it down off the hanger and shrugging it on. Speeding down the hall and making a quick dash into the kitchen for her lunch and a slice of toast.

Slipping her shoes on and shoving her lunch into her bag the girl ran for the door, hoping that just this one time she’d be on time for school just this once… not realizing anything was wrong beyond her uniform, or that she’d missed the fact a certain black cat had failed to wake her up as she usually did and the strangeness of being able to fit into a uniform that the last time she’d checked, hadn’t fit properly in two years.

She had no idea she’d thrown herself further back in time than she’d ever had before.

Instead of being sixteen years old and in high school, she was fourteen for the third time in her life, and she had no idea…

She also ignored the fact that she was the only one of her friends running in the same direction, and the fact that she hadn’t seen any of them at all yet, assuming that they were already at school. She shrugged aside the odd looks she got from the kids at the school gate when she went skidding past them, marveling over the fact that she was so early.

Yes, yes. So she was wearing the wrong uniform again. So what?

It was only when a girl she’d never met before had come up to her, asking for her to move because she was sitting in her seat that the fog in her head disappeared and she realized where she was.

Exactly where she was. The date scrawled in chalk on the black board seemed to be burned into her mind.

“Ah… g… gomen! Heh heh, silly me I… uh… thought this was my…my… brother’s classroom…” she stuttered, sweating lightly as she giggling nervously, ‘Nice save!’ she thought to herself, jumping out of the seat and backing her way to the door “Sorry for the confusion!”

Dropping a hasty bow she fled, eyes wide and her face burning hot enough to boil her brains, the displaced sixteen year old turned fourteen year old plastered herself to the first available alleyway wall outside the high school and cringed. Her toes curling in her shoes in embarrassment.

“God that was so stupid!” she hissed to herself, clutching her bag to her chest. “Yeesh it only takes me walking into a school I don’t attend to figure out what’s going on!” she muttered angrily, stomping her foot. “And here I was worrying about being …” she stopped, calmly lifting the sleeve of her long sleeved winter uniform to study the small watch strapped to her wrist and promptly went white.

“… late…”

OoO

In another part of town where Usagi should have been, attracted by the noise coming from where he’d parked his car a certain black haired boy, suddenly making startling sense of just what the three little boys crouched in a circle were playing with, rushed over to the small group.

“Oi what are you doing to that poor cat!” Mamoru snarled, taking a step into the parking lot, scooping up the addled feline as they took off, settling the cat into the crook of his arm as he juggled his books into a better grip.

“Damn it, what are they teaching kids these days!” he muttered angrily, soothing the poor thing as it started trying to claw its own face, the black haired boy blinked as he caught sight of the two band-aids stuck crosswise to the fur on its face.

Tisking angrily, Mamoru shifted his grip on the cat and before digging into his pocket for his keys, opening one of his car’s doors and dumped his books in. Seating himself down in the seat he sat the cat down on his lap and muttered again, this time at how cruel kids could be as he gripped the edge and pulled the thankfully loose band-aids off, smiling down at the cat as it blinked up at him as if seeing him for the first time.

Soothing down the fur messed up by the band-aids Mamoru only had enough time to take in the gold crescent moon on its forehead and its wine red eyes before it leaped out of reach to stand staring at him from at least a parking space away.

History changed…

OoO

Prologue end!

I had to get this effing fic out of my head! Even if I write no more of this than at least I’ve exercised the Sailor Moon demon that seemed to have taken residence in my head.

If you want an update just ping me and I’ll write something more.