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mycoolwritingcorner · 7 months

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Sailor Moon: Reignstorm - Chapter 8: Naru: Sailor Chaos

“Naru… what have they done to you?” Usagi asked, horrified at what she was seeing.

“You like her? I’m personally quite proud, myself.” Reign said, making their way towards Usagi, with Sailor Chaos standing in place behind them, “Originally I was torn between Chaos and Nemesis, considering that’s the tenth planet after all. Or, more accurately, was. But something about Sailor Chaos just felt… right.”

“You think this is funny?!” Usagi shouted, grabbing Reign by the collar and reeling back to strike them.

“A little bit. Sailor Chaos?” Reign said, and with a snap of their fingers, Chaos dashed toward Usagi and grabbed her by the throat, pinning her against a wall.

“Naru, please…” Usagi pleaded, trying to claw the girl’s hand off of her throat, “... don’t do this.”

“That’s not my name anymore.” She said, her voice full of malice.

Usagi conjured her wings out of her back and flew upward, finally escaping Chaos’s grip, “Don’t worry Naru, I’ll make this right!” She said, conjuring the Moon Stick into her hand, “MOON HEALING ESCALATION!” She cried as energy from the Silver Crystal washed over Naru.

“Hnngh… NO!” Naru shouted as crimson lightning exploded from her body, dissipating the energy around her.

“What? But it should’ve-” Was all Usagi had time to say before being struck by a flying kick from Naru, which sent her tumbling onto the front lawn.

“Ah ah ah.” Reign said, descending down next to Chaos, “You should know by now it’s never that easy.”

Sailor Chaos launched toward Sailor Moon with a flurry of blows, most of which she was able to dodge until one finally connected to her gut, forcing her back and knocking the wind out of her. It wasn’t until she looked up that she realized she had been forced into a cluster with her friends, with their assailants closing in from all ends.

“This is bad.” Mars said breathlessly.

“But we can’t… hurt them…” Usagi choked out.

Sailor Chaos was the first to charge, her eyes dead set on Sailor Moon. That is until she was distracted and stopped dead in her tracks by an object which had been thrown from above and was sticking out of the ground in front of her: a rose.

Wasting no time, Tuxedo Mask did a midair somersault over Naru’s head and landed next to Sailor Moon.

“You.” Reign sneered with their voice full of contempt.

“Tuxedo Mask…” Usagi said weakly.

“Save the pleasantries for later! We’re getting out of here!” Tuxedo Mask shouted, throwing down a smoke bomb. When it cleared, the heroes were nowhere in sight.

“Dammit.” Sailor Chaos muttered.

“Don’t worry.” Reign said, placing their hand on Naru’s shoulder, “You’ll have plenty more opportunities.”

…

The Inners regrouped at the Hikawa Shrine, gathered in Rei’s room, the heroes each mulled over the events of the last battle in their minds.

“I can’t believe this…” Usagi said, with Mamoru attempting to comfort her.

“Alright, well, let’s go over what happened.” Minako said, standing up while holding an ice pack on her head.

“We got our asses kicked, that’s what happened.” Makoto said as Ami applied a bandage to her arm, “Are you sure you’re okay?” She asked, turning to her blue-haired girlfriend.

“Sweetie, I’m fine.” Ami said with a reassuring, but tired smile, “Well, as fine as any of us can be, I suppose.”

“I can’t believe I didn’t see this coming.” Rei said, leaning forward while sitting on the edge of her bed, “This is all my fault. If I hadn’t stopped practicing maybe I would’ve-”

“Hey, no. Absolutely not.” Minako said, sitting next to Rei and placing her hand on her shoulder, “This is not your fault.” The Guardian of Beauty turned to her friends, all of whom wore similar faces to Rei, “It’s not any of your faults, okay?” She asked, earning some nods and grumbles from her friends.

“Alright, good. Now let’s get down to business.” The leader of the Inner Guardians continued, “We’re dealing with an enemy who knows our identities and isn’t afraid to invade our personal spaces. So from now on we’re using the buddy system. No one, at any point, is to be without another team member with them. Is that clear?”

Once again, Minako received noises and gestures of affirmation from the others in the room.

“Mako, you can stay at my place.” Ami said to her green-eyed lover.

“Alright.” Makoto replied affirmatively.

“Usako… do you-?”

“I’ll just tell my mom I’m staying over at Ami’s to study. She’ll be so happy to hear that she won’t pry too much.” Usagi answered before her boyfriend could even finish the question.

“And I guess… you can stay here…” Rei said softly to Minako, prompting a light blush from the leader of the Inner Guardians.

“Uh… yeah… sounds good.”

“Well, if we’re gonna do that I need to run home and grab some things.” Makoto said, standing up.

“Yeah, I guess that makes three of us.” Minako said, “But remember to have your communicators ready in case something happens.”

…

“Are you sure your mom will even be okay with me staying over?” Makoto asked as she and Ami made their way up the stairs of Makoto’s apartment building.

“She’s working nights through next week, so we’re good.” Ami responded, “Although even if she wasn’t, it’s not like she has to worry about you getting me pregnant or anything.” Ami said with a smirk.

“Ami!” Makoto exclaimed, shocked, “I never thought I’d hear something so crass out of you!”

“What can I say, you all have been rubbing off on me.” Ami said as she watched Makoto unlock her door.

“Sure, but-” Was the last thing the Guardian of Thunder said before she opened her apartment door and turned white as a ghost.

“Mako?” Ami asked, walking over to see what was the matter. She then looked into Mako’s apartment and realized what had invoked this reaction in her other half.

Naru Osaka was sitting on Mako’s couch. She was in her civilian form, wearing simply a tank top and shorts, but she was twirling a dark crimson object in her hand which was unmistakably a transformation pen.

“Well, it’s about time you two showed up.” Naru said, standing up from the couch and facing the couple, who finally stepped in from the hallway and closed the door behind them, both making sure not to take their eyes off of the red-haired girl.

“Oh, I heard you two finally got together, congratulations. Not sure how it didn’t happen sooner, with how obvious Ami’s crush was.”

“Get to the point.” Mako said, positioning herself in front of Ami, “Why are you here?”

“Ah, you see, that’s the thing.” Naru said, holding up her transformation pen, “I’ve kinda gotta bring you both in.”

“Yeah right.” Makoto said, pulling out her Crystal Change Rod, with Ami doing the same.

“Y’know, I would say I hoped it wouldn’t come to this, but…” Naru said, raising her pen over her head with a smirk, “... I’d be lying. Chaos Power!”

“Jupiter Crystal Power!”

“Mercury Crystal Power!”

“MAKE UP!”

While Ami and Makoto were surrounded by water and electricity respectively during their transformations, Naru became enveloped with inky black shadows and crimson lightning, before the three finally emerged, transformed into their sailor forms.

Makoto acted fast, dashing towards Naru and tackling her, sending them both crashing through the adjacent window and onto the street.

“Ooh, feisty, I like that!” Chaos said as the two impacted the pavement, sending civilians scattering in fear of their own safety. Meanwhile, Ami pulled up her communicator to call her friends to aid them in battle.

…

“Did you really need to bring that much?” Rei asked, looking at the full bag that Minako had slung over her shoulder.

“I like to be prepared, okay?”

“Tell me that the next time you bring home one of your tests.” Artemis said as he walked beside them.

“Oh, shut it you.” Minako said, before both her and Rei’s communicators went off. Opening it quickly, Minako was met with the sight of Ami’s worried face, “Ami, what’s wrong?”

“It’s Naru! She’s here! She ambushed us in Mako’s apartment!”

“Alright, don’t worry, we’ll be right there!” Rei said as the two dashed towards Makoto’s apartment building.

“Venus Crystal Power!”

“Mars Crystal Power!”

“MAKE UP!”

…

“Oh, Usagi! It’s been a while!” Naru’s mother, Mayumi said as she opened the door to Usagi and Mamoru.

“Mrs. Osaka! I was wondering if you’ve seen Naru?” Usagi asked.

“Maybe if I can find her when she’s not… that, I can help her.” Usagi thought to herself.

“No! I’ve been so worried; she hasn’t come home in days!” Mayumi cried.

“Days?” Usagi said, feeling ice running through her core.

“How long has she…?”

“Do you know where she is?” Mayumi asked, looking at Usagi with pleading eyes.

“I… I…” Usagi began, unable to figure out what to say.

“No ma’am.” Mamoru stepped in, “She was just going to meet with her at Crown, but Naru never showed up.”

“Oh, I see…” Mayumi said, disappointed.

“Have you asked Umino? Maybe he-” Usagi began, before being cut off.

“Umino?” Mrs. Osaka said incredulously, “Can’t see why she’d be with him, considering he broke up with her just a few weeks ago.”

“He… what?” Usagi asked, stunned.

“You didn’t know?”

“No, I… I haven’t really…”

“We’ll keep on the lookout for her, and let you know if we find her.” Mamoru once again interjected.

“Alright… please do…”

Before long the couple had left the premises and were making their way toward Usagi’s home.

“Usako, are you alright?” Mamoru asked, noticing Usagi’s fallen facial features.

“Yeah… I guess I just-”

Suddenly, Usagi’s communicator went off. She flipped it open to reveal Ami’s panicked face.

“Ami, what’s-?”

“It’s Naru! She’s at Mako’s apartment building!”

“Don’t worry, we’ll be right there!” Usagi said, closing her communicator.

Usagi and Mamoru ran down the street, before attempting to cut through a nearby alleyway. As they reached the halfway point of the alley, however, a flash of dark energy knocked them onto their backs.

Looking up, Usagi was met by none other than the Four Queens of Heaven.

“Sorry princess,” Haruka said with a smirk, “we can’t let you interfere.”

…

Mercury and Jupiter each held one of Chaos’s arms, attempting to restrain her while causing the smallest amount of harm possible.

“Please, Naru, stop! We don’t want to hurt you!” Mercury pleaded.

“Oh, of course you don’t. After all…” Chaos said, forcing her arms together causing Mercury and Jupiter to slam into one another, “You’re far too good for that, aren’t you?”

Chaos looked down at her opponents, who were currently crumpled on the ground after having the wind knocked out of them.

“Venus Love Me Chain!” The dark guardian heard, before being wrapped in a chain made of energy and forced onto her knees.

Venus and Mars landed next to their friends, the former still holding one end of the chain restraining Chaos.

“You guys okay?” Mars asked, helping both her friends to their feet.

“Yeah, I’m good.” Jupiter said, not letting down her guard.

“Good.” Venus said, before turning her attention back to their adversary, “As for you,” she continued, tugging lightly on the chain, “you’re not going anywhere.”

Chaos giggled in response, “Aww, you think you’re in control here.” She said, as her body began to emanate crimson electricity, “That’s adorable.”

“Everybody get down!” Mars cried as the Sailor Guardians scattered in various different directions.

“Chaos Dark Extermination!” Chaos shouted, sending hundreds of crimson bolts from her body and toward the Sailor Guardians, who were able to just barely avoid them by dodging and ducking behind objects like cars and lampposts.

“Alright, I’ve had enough of this!” Jupiter said, “Supreme-”

“No, Jupiter, we can’t!” Venus said, getting between her and Chaos, “She’s not right! She’s- gah!” Venus cried as she received a blow to the head from Chaos.

“Not right? Quite the contrary…” Chaos said, weaving between the different Guardians’ various attempts to restrain her, “I’ve never been better! Chaos Solar Winds!”

The Guardians quickly found themselves swept away by a hurricane’s worth of wind coming from Chaos’s body. While it flung them back, the wind itself felt like glass shards across their skin.

“You always looked down on me. Thought you were better than me. Well guess what?” Chaos said with a deranged smile, looking down at her foes who were still picking themselves up from her last attack, “Now I’m the one with the power!”

“Naru… that’s not true.” Mercury said, holding her injured arm, “We-”

Chaos dashed forward and was immediately face to face with Mercury.

“That’s. Not. My. Name.” She said, blasting Mercury back into an adjacent building.

“Mercury!” Jupiter cried, before turning back to Chaos, enraged, “That’s it!” She shouted before charging at Chaos, “No more playing around!”

“Jupiter!” Venus and Mars cried simultaneously, running after their friend.

Chaos sprouted a small smirk, “Suckers.” She said, as her body once again erupted with crimson lightning, “Chaos Dark Extermination!”

The trio were each assaulted by the attack, and knocked onto the ground, all three sorely injured.

Chaos warped over to where Mercury lay, and picked her up, slinging her over her shoulder.

“Well, this was fun, but I’ve got what I need.” Chaos said, turning to the injured guardians.

“N-no!” Jupiter said, forcing herself to her feet, “Put her down!” She demanded, before charging at Chaos.

“See ya.” Chaos said, and in a flash both she and Ami were gone.

“NO!” Jupiter cried, collapsing onto her knees in the spot where Chaos had just stolen the love of her life, “AMI!”

Venus and Mars approached Jupiter solemnly, both trying to figure out how best to support their friend, before she started repeatedly slamming her fist into the ground below her, creating several large cracks in the road.

“NO! NO! NO!”

“Jupiter! Mako! Stop!” Venus said, dropping to her friend's level and grabbing her arm. It wasn’t until Jupiter stopped struggling against her that Venus released her grip.

“We’ll get her back… okay?” Venus said weakly.

After a long silence, Jupiter rose to her feet, “I know we will… and when we do…” She said, clenching her fists in anger, “... Sailor Chaos is mine.”

---------------------------------------------------------

Alright so, I know it's been a minute since the last chapter and... I can explain. Long story short, over the summer I started a new job, which made it difficult to make time to keep this story updated. Not helped by the fact that, even though this chapter was pretty much finished before I posted the last one, every week that went by where I didn't edit and post it the task just felt more and more daunting, especially since this chapter is pretty important in the grand scheme of the story. I'll try to get back to bi-weekly updates after this, but I obviously don't want to make any promises that I might not be able to keep. So, for now I'll just say the gap between this chapter and the next almost certainly won't be as long between the last one and this one.

TLDR: Sorry that this took so long I was adulting.

ANYWAY. Naru has turned on her friends, but what do she and Reign want with Ami? And how could the Inners hope to get her back? Well, guess you'll have to keep reading to find out.

Also, just a quick fun fact, Sailor Chaos's attack "Chaos Dark Extermination" is largely inspired by the song "Exterminate Time" by Tetra-Fang. I was listening to the song a lot at the time when I was conceptualizing her character, and I'd go so far as to say it's basically her unofficial theme song, so go give it a listen if you haven't! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkdJ5KbS_mU

That's it for this chapter, but please come back next time for Chapter 9! Please remember to leave a comment, re-blog, et cetera! I always love seeing what people think of the story! And until next time, take care everyone!

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princesscolumbia · 8 months

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Uuuuuugh! Today was one of THOSE days! At least I got some decent Indian food out of it.

Have a chapter:

Ranma stood on the pinnacle of the wasted remains of Beryl's fortress, her Moon Crescent Wand held forth and tears streaming down her face. Her friends were dead, she knew that. One by one, they had sacrificed themselves so she could make it here in a last ditch effort to save the whole of the Earth. Rei, Ami, Makoto, Minako...this is for you! Summoning up every last ounce of power she had, forcing every bit of will in her tiny, teenaged frame into the beam of light that arced between her and the horribly mutated form of the would-be Queen Beryl, she somehow felt that, even though there was no possible way for it to be true, that her friends were by her side.

As Ranma felt the last of her life slip away into the cleansing fire from her wand, she saw Beryl's body fragment, then disintegrate into youma-dust. She collapsed to her knees, then dimly felt her body, still clad in her princess dress, thud against the rock of her lone precipice. As consciousness slipped away, one thought flitted through Ranma's head, I wish that my friends were still alive, and that everything were normal again...

She didn't notice as her Ginzuishou began to sparkle...

Ranma snapped awake. Sitting up quickly, he scanned the room he found himself in, he was...home. It was just a dream, he realized. He wasn't totally sure why he dreamt he was a princess from the moon, or why he should know four other girls that were somehow helping him, although he was sure the evil witch queen was symbolic of all the women in his life in some way.

He just prayed his mother never heard of the dream, though. Imagine how unmanly she'd find a white, lacy dress?

Usagi cradled the limp form of his fiancé in his lap. She looked so peaceful, so beautiful... "Why aren't her eyes open?"

Usagi heard Ryoga stepping closer to him. A friendly hand on his shoulder got no response from the sometimes-female martial artist.

"C'mon, ya stupid tomboy..." trailing off, Usagi hit himself in the head. He forced back tears and said, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. I meant to say, you know, thanks. For helping me."

"I know I'm no good at this feelings stuff. I just couldn't tell you how much I love you." he realized that one of the droplets of water on Akane's face wasn't from the dragon spring. Another joined it as Usagi lost the battle with his tears. "C'mon, Akane, get up." There was still no response, "Akane?"

He couldn't even tell if she was breathing.

"AKANE!!!"

Usagi found herself sitting upright in bed, sweat pouring down her face, her heart pounding like a hummingbird was trapped in her chest.

"Usagi?" came the voice of her feline advisor, "Are you all right?"

Realizing she was indeed all right and once again fully FEMALE, the young girl nodded. "Nightmare." she stuttered.

"Must have been," replied Luna, "I haven't heard you shout like that in your sleep since...well, it's been a while." Usagi nodded, knowing exactly when the Moon Cat was talking about. "Was it...Beryl?"

Although the girl's face couldn't really get more ashen, the slightly confused yet pained look was replaced by one of deep emotional ache. "No. No, it wasn't about Beryl."

They sat in silence for a while, Usagi getting her breathing under control, Luna letting her charge recollect herself.

"Usagi?" Luna queried. She waited for the girl to respond with a 'Hmm?' before continuing with, "Who's Akane?"

"I..." Usagi's face returned to the confused and pained look, "I don't know."

Nabiki heard her alarm clock go off and slapped her hand down on the end table. Having missed the clock entirely, the morning tormentor continued to blare at her. Finally opening her eyes with a groan, she turned her head in an economy of motion that reduced energy expenditure to an absolute minimum. Fixing her gaze on the fuzzy blob that was making the noise, she lifted her arm, steered it like a drunkard over the blob, and let it drop. Mercifully, this ended the noise that was piercing her brain at the ungodly hour of...What time is it, anyway?

She blinked, rubbed her eyes with the hand not presently on the clock, and squinted in an effort to focus through the foggy blur that persisted whenever she opened her eyes first thing in the morning. 6:00 AM, she read, I don't care if the rest of the world gets up at this hour; this is cruel and unusual! Sighing, she plopped her head back on her pillow and merciful unconsciousness played tag with her. Her little game with Morpheus was interrupted by Akane's door opening and shutting, indicating her little sister was on her way out for her morning run. Dimly, she realized that the male (or mostly male) Saotome's would soon be awake and sparring right outside her WINDOW! Sighing and biting back the urge to just storm into their room and give them a good preemptive chewing out (for two reasons. One, Mrs. Saotome didn't spar in the morning, so it would be rude to wake her, and two, that was Akane's shtick.), Nabiki reached up to pull the covers off her chest, with the eventual goal of also kicking them off her legs.

It was about that time she realized she had something cool and metallic on her chest. Forgoing the covers for a moment, she grasped the metal item and lifted it to her eyes. What the...? she thought. Why do I have a key on my chest?

Suddenly, her morning fog was clearing much, much faster.

Rei sighed, leaning forward slightly on her broom and gazing wistfully in the direction of the school her friends were attending. While she certainly didn't miss the homework, her priestess duties kept her from being in the one place where all her best friends gathered every single day.

Not that she cared for the Meatball Head, certainly not. Little manga thief...

Also, there had been times when she was at the shrine while everyone else was at the school, or she was at her private school her grandpa had arranged for her and her communicator would go off, and she'd have to stay put, unable to protect her friends.

Of course, a certain pony-tailed ditz didn't make things easy on that count...

Sighing once again, she grabbed her broom and began to sweep when she saw something down on the street near the temple gates. She almost didn't think anything of it at first, but then it went by the gates again. The temple wall obstructed most of her view of the street, but what looked like an odd assortment of vehicles was heading down the street...right towards the school.

Hopefully Usagi would be late again and not have to face whatever this was, especially if it was a new threat.

Not that Rei cared about Usagi, of course not.

Nabiki normally ate breakfast with her family. Today, a mystery had presented itself that was so unusual that she felt forgoing the luxury of the early morning soap opera that was Ranma and Akane's relationship was very much worth it. She sat in her room at her desk, her laptop open and in front of her, the mystery key sitting on a piece of paper next to it on the left, her bowl of soup on the right. She picked up the bowl and slurped down a bit of it, not standing on manners since she wasn't at the dinner table. Let's see...symbol for 'woman'...nothing, she moused back to the search box and typed another string, 'Female', 'brass' and 'unlock', no...'feminine key'...EW! Quickly hitting back to remove the offensive and highly pornographic search results from her web browser, she decided to take another tack. Hmmm...the symbol for 'woman' comes from the ancient Greek goddess Aphrodite, she typed in a few keywords and hit 'enter.' Damn, still nothing! Well, nothing relevant.

Sighing, she sipped at her coffee. "OK," she muttered, "Nothing for 'woman,' or 'Aphrodite' as relates to a brass key..."

Why would someone have dropped a brass key on her bed, and how did they defeat the security measures she had in place, let alone getting into a house of martial artists completely undetected? Sighing, Nabiki gulped down more soup and began to gather some of her schoolbooks and other, less reputable books on wagers and numbers keeping. There was a light tap at her door, followed by Kasumi's gentle voice, "Nabiki, you should be getting ready for school."

Nabiki tensed up. She hadn't told anyone about the key, for some reason she had this incredible desire to keep it's existence secret. "I am, sis. I'll bring my dishes down on the way out, okay?"

"Very well, let me know if you need anything. Your bento will be on the kitchen counter."

"Thanks, sis."

As Kasumi's footfalls faded behind the closed door, Nabiki's eyes fell back on the key again. Aphrodite, goddess of...

Sudden inspiration hit and Nabiki and she did another search for 'goddess of love greek.' Aside from one very odd entry for a shrine in a neighboring ward for a Norse goddess of love, nearly every entry except the Wikipedia result came up as "Venus." Gulping down the rest of her coffee and soup almost absently, Nabiki tossed in a search string of, 'venus key.'

While no results came up with anything fitting the description of the key now in her possession, there was a couple of interesting articles from several of the various boards and clubs devoted to the Sailor Senshi. It seemed that one of their members was named 'Sailor Venus' and some theories about their abilities and where they came from. Not having time to do serious study, Nabiki bookmarked the search results and powered down her computer.

Almost as an afterthought, she shoved the brass key in her uniform pocket before leaving her room.

Usagi trudged into the gates leading to her school, not really ready to face the day. She had, for once, managed to get there on time, but at the price of her much-cherished beauty sleep. A couple of her classmates called out greetings, which she returned sleepily. As she was waving to Makoto, who was chatting with the only other tall girl in school, she noticed a girl in school uniform who would have nicely qualified as a member of The Ministry of Silly Walks. She was holding her book bag up to shield her face, making exaggerated 'tip-toe' steps, and occasionally bouncing off a tree as she aimed, only somewhat accurately, toward the front door of the school.

While Usagi's namesake was never very curious, her advisor's earthen counterparts were notorious for it. Disregarding the native lagomorphic tendencies ascribed to her zodiac animal and embracing the propensity Luna rarely practiced but Artemis did with startling regularity, Usagi altered her course and went straight for the strangely stepping girl.

While high school is a time when most people learn to become adults, complete with the acclimation to what some refer to as the 'social contract' of behaving more mature than one really is, there are some people who just never grow out of the child-like tendency of asking questions in a direct manner. Usagi, as you may have guessed, is one of these people.

"What are you doing?" she asked in a straight-forward, non-aggressive manner.

The other girl tensed up for a moment, then thrust her arms to her side, taking the book bag along with them. She faced Usagi and said, "It's no business of yours what I'm doing, Tsukino!"

Usagi's eyes bugged out, "Mia?!"

Mia's face was now turning red, "Yes, it's me."

"What happened to your armor?" fell out of Usagi's mouth. It registered to the part-time magical girl that she had never seen Mia outside of the armor since the girl had transferred in.

Mia started to growl a response, "It...what is that?" she interrupted herself and looked over Usagi's shoulder.

"Sorry, Usa-chan's usually not here on time, just wanted to say hi. Where was I?" Makoto said after waiving at Usagi.

"The American, Paul?" replied Kita.

"Oh, right. Well, he was cute, but he really didn't look all that good. I just don't remember what I saw in him..."

Kita grinned, "You mean other than the fact that he looks 'just like your old sempai?'"

"Hey," snapped Makoto with a smile on her face, "You take that back!" She proceeded to put the other girl in a headlock. They began laughing, until they both saw...

"What is that?!" burst Kita from under Makoto's arm.

"...and I'm like, 'Oh, my god!'" said Minako, "And she's like, 'Oh, my god! And I'm all, 'Totally!'"

The cheerleaders that were gathered around the star volleyball player of the school simply giggled in the way that young girls do the world over as Minako's stunning use of vocabulary resonated with them.

Before Mina could continue, one of the girls pointed in the direction of the school gate and said, "Like, what is that?"

Ami was in the library, happily immersed in a book about higher functions of calculus, and so missed the whole thing entirely.

By the time the respective Sailor Senshi's attention had been drawn to the school gates (sans Ami and Rei), the entirety of the school's populous that hadn't yet gone inside stood gawking at a sight that was quite unusual for...well, just about anywhere.

A strange, somewhat futuristic vehicle that resembled a cross between a bus and a shuttlecraft from Star Trek: The Next Generation had pulled into the main courtyard of the school. Not in any sort of proper manner, following any of the proscribed paths, but straight in through the gates and right in the middle of the grassy lawn. Behind that were two smaller vehicles, rather like motorcycles but completely covered and with rather large cannon-style weapons on the sides, both bearing banners with a strange assortment of symbols that none of the students could really read. Behind them was a more platform like vehicle, with a large stage-like surface in front of the main cabin, which was actually positioned toward the back of the vehicle. Behind that was another vehicle, and another, and so on stretching for pretty much as far as anyone could see, all of them looking in some form or another very much like something one would find in a sci-fi series.

As the strange procession pulled into a parking position, a man in some sort of uniform hopped out of the lead vehicle and climbed up onto the platform vehicle. He slowly, seemingly reluctantly, grabbed a device from a compartment near the cab of the vehicle and shuffled out to the center of the platform. Sighing, he activated the device, which proved to be a microphone as feedback shot through the ears of everyone in the courtyard. It quickly died down, and the man began to speak.

"Sorry, that was unintentional. Atmospheric changes and all that. I..." he leaned away from the microphone and toward the lead vehicle, which had the head of another man sticking out of the driver's side door. While only those closest to the vehicles could hear what the driver was saying, the microphone was still on, so everybody heard, if somewhat faintly, the speaker's half of the conversation, "Listen, this is stupid...yes, I know it's orders, but the speech is ancient...it's downright archaic and you know it!" he waved vigorously in negation of whatever the driver said in response, "OK fine, whatever." He sighed and put the microphone back up to his mouth. "I bring the Court of the Moon Kingdom a message from the Mighty and Majestic Realms of the Riginium Empire, all hail the Emperor, may he continue to rule for time and all eternity. The message from the Emperor is this; We bring you greetings and good wishes, Queen Serenity of the Moon Kingdom. We wish to formalize the arrangements between our two states using the Anciente and Noble Practice of joining our two houses through matrimony."

At the mention of "Moon Kingdom," three faces in the courtyard went totally white, and they all thought at once, Oh, please don't mention Senshi!

As for the rest of the people, students and teachers alike, they were suddenly abuzz with newfound rumor. Some Emperor, from some far off country, wanted his child to marry someone from their school! They had royalty attending and didn't even know it! Suddenly the sight was less an oddity and more like entertainment.

The speaker continued, "And so, We present the heir to the Empire, the..." the speaker fought to keep revulsion from showing on his face, "The seed of Our loins, the hope and crowning jewel of all Our peoples, the Lord Prince Xavier Ba'heedan the Magnificent, the First."

As the speaker turn on his heal and fled the stage as quickly as possible, trumpets began to sound, or a very acoustically advanced sound system began to sound, there wasn't a single square inch of brass in sight. The next vehicle in line, the one behind the stage, trundled forward. It looked like a sort of futuristic mini-bus, but with tank-like treads instead of wheels. The front split open with a hiss and voluminous amounts of steam as the music blared to a crescendo and a ramp lowered down to the grass. As the vapor cleared, a teenaged boy could be seen walking down the ramp.

Older women would have called him handsome. Younger women would have called him hot. Teenage girls would have called him (and were calling him) bishonen. Men would bowed to him, boys would have glared at him in jealousy. He was good looking. Every single girl on the lawn was suddenly love-struck. They knew that no matter what guy came along, his looks would always be a distant second to this paragon of masculinity. Calmly, casually, he descended the ramp. He held up a small device, panned it across the crowd, looked up and nodded in satisfaction, then clipped it to his belt. Then he walked. Girls began to swoon as their fantasies suddenly took them away to a thousand private islands with the gorgeous hunk passing through their midst.

Usagi was frozen in panic. She didn't know who the Riginium Empire was, she didn't care. She did know that as long as she, her friends, her family, and her school hoped to have a chance in hell of never being the direct recipients of a youma attack, their identities COULD NOT be revealed as Sailor Senshi. And here was this guy, who not only knew about the Silver Millennium, but had referred to her ancient mother by name, and was talking about some 'matrimony' thing that her brain was giving her all sorts of alarms for but she couldn't quite figure out why, and looked like he was headed straight for...

"Ah," he began in a silky smooth voice, "You would no doubt be Princess Serenity. Yes, you look just like your pictures. I am surprised to find you here, of all places, but no matter." He reached out, took her hand, and kissed the back in a gentlemanly manner. What girls watching the scene that weren't smoldering with jealousy sighed heavily, a couple even fainting. "I am Prince Xavier. I look forward to a long and joyous betrothal."

...her. Crap! "Uh..." she began to stammer, "That's nice and all, but I think you're mistake...WAIT A MINUTE, BETROTHAL? MATRIMONY?"

The prince was obviously surprised, "Why, of course. Did your mother not explain these things to you? It has certainly been long enough..."

"MY MOM DID NO SUCH THING! MY MOM LIKES MY BOYFRIEND! I..." it suddenly occurred to Usagi that he wasn't talking about her Mom, the one who made her bunny shaped pancakes, but her Mom, the one who'd been dead for a thousand plus years.

The prince took her sudden stop as an opportunity to speak, "Oh, is Queen Serenity here? We didn't detect her when we came..."

Suddenly, a technique came to Usagi, one that was perfect for dealing with just this sort of situation. It was cunning, it would be unexpected, and it would win her at least enough time to find her friends, who had conveniently disappeared, and it would remove her from the presence of Mia, who was looking far too smug. She didn't know where she came up with the idea, but she made a mental note to thank whoever gave it to her.

"TSUKINO SECRET TECHNIQUE!!!"

Prince Xavier stood blinking at the spot where Usagi used to be just a moment prior. "Hmph!" he sniffed, "That was hardly proper."

Nabiki sat casually, one hand in her pocket under the desk, idly turning the key while her lieutenants briefed her on their respective spheres of influence. She was running mostly on automatic, the mystery of the key consuming a good portion of her thoughts. She still hadn't revealed it to anyone, but she had an idea on how she might get more information.

"OK," she said as the last girl spoke, "It sounds like business as usual. For now I'd like to keep it that way." As a few girls groaned, she spoke up, "Hey, not only could the school use a break, but I think we all deserve some downtime unless there's a special project." The group reluctantly acknowledged Nabiki's decision, having grown rather accustomed to the rather steady influx of money that the general chaos they stirred up could provide.

The other girls had already started gathering their books. "Junko," the older girl looked up, "You follow the Sailor Senshi pretty closely, right?"

Junko blushed slightly as the other girls began teasing her. It was rather well known among Nabiki's lieutenants that Junko was a closet Sailor Moon fangirl. "Yeah, I do..."

"Great, hang out for a bit, would you? I've got some questions about them, my little sister's birthday is coming up soon, I want to make sure I get her something nice." This wasn't a total fabrication. Akane's birthday was coming up soon, and she did have a good sized collection of Sailor Senshi manga and other assorted materials, but that wasn't the point of Nabiki's query.

Once the others got out of earshot, Nabiki leaned forward. "So," began Nabiki, "What can you tell me about the blond girl? The one that's not Sailor Moon, that's Mars, right?"

Junko giggled, "Nope, wrong on that count boss! Sailor Mars has black hair. It's Sailor Venus that has the blond hair."

Nabiki knew that from her brief research that morning, but holding one's cards close to the chest was all important in information gathering. "Right, I don't pay much attention to them myself, this is for Akane, you understand."

"Sure thing, boss! Sailor Venus is the Senshi of Love, and she can kick some real butt too!" she scrambled in her bookbag for a moment and pulled out a magazine called Senshi Beat. She took a moment to flip open to a page, then pushed the magazine over to Nabiki, "See? That's a photo spread someone did of Sailor Venus last month." Indeed, it showed the fetching blond not just in a press conference, but also doing a bit of posing and even a few shots of her in active battle. Nabiki recognized that the girl had a little fighting skill, but only street brawler ability magnified by whatever powered her Senshi abilities. Nabiki didn't grow up in a martial artist's home for nothing, and she had retained her ability to gauge the fighting form, if for no other reason than to be able to set odds in a wager.

"That's great!" Nabiki said with false enthusiasm, "Do you mind if I borrow this?" she said, already slipping the magazine into her bag.

"Oh, sure," said Junko, "The next issue is coming out this afternoon anyway."

"Thanks, Junko." said Nabiki as she stood, "Talk to you later."

Ami was casting confused glances to the other students in the hall. When she had left the library at the appropriate time to go to class, the halls were mostly empty, but they filled up quickly and with a greater amount of chatter than usual. Not one to pay much attention to that sort of thing, she generally tuned it out. The first mention of, "Moon Kingdom" was enough to cause her to stumble, but most people ignored the nerdy girl when she stumbled. She began listening closer, but the reports weren't making much sense. Something about a prince and a bunch of strange cars and trucks and a few mentions of a funny man on a stage all blended together in a very confused jumble of references that Ami couldn't make heads or tails of.

Being more focused on attempting to cobble all these various thoughts together, she was taken by surprise when a hand reached out from the girl's bathroom and yanked her in. Her startled yelp was cut off when she saw Usagi's face.

"Usagi, don't do that! You frightened me!"

Usagi ignored Ami's statement, "Is he out there?"

Ami's bewilderment simply increased. "Is who out there?"

Now Usagi looked confused, "You know...him!"

Ami simply glared at Usagi, "Is this one of those conversations where I should find Mina to translate through Makoto?"

"Grrr!" Usagi actually growled, "Lousy traitors! They just disappeared..."

Ami grabbed Usagi's shoulders and shook her, "Usagi! Make some sense!"

The blond blinked at Ami, "Didn't you see what happened in the courtyard?"

Ami thought back to the very little she had glimpsed of the usual morning crowd on her way to the library. "When, exactly, was I supposed to see anything?"

Just then, the bell rang. "Aaah! I'm going to be late!" Usagi yelped. She charged out the bathroom door, leaving a very confused Ami behind.

Nabiki was putting her books away to head out to lunch. Sure, she didn't have anyone to meet today, given that she'd dismissed all her lieutenants before morning study hall, but she didn't really like sitting in a closed classroom when the entire lunch hour was available for her to enjoy the lawns and courtyards of the school, one of the few things that their pineapple-for-brains principle had done well and in a pleasing way. Perhaps there was something of good report in that be-cursed island Kocho Kuno always rambled on about.

Besides, it got her away from Tatewaki Kuno for a while.

This led to her enjoying her noon repast beneath a rather well tended shade tree as a light breeze cooled her face. She realized that she just hadn't had the time lately to just enjoy pleasant lunches anymore. Perhaps she should find a way to do her usual lunchtime business in another way, or maybe delegate a bit more. It was her final year of high-school, about time to find a local replacement anyway, someone she could hand the reigns of her rather well established little high school empire...for a 15% per annum partial ownership fee, of course.

Nabiki's pleasant thoughts were interrupted by a shadow crossing over her. She looked up to see an older boy, very likely a 19 year old, standing in her sunlight. "Is there something I can do for you?" she said slightly frostily. Her lunchtime was going so well...

"Ah, Nabiki. Still as cool as ever. I have a business proposition for you."

Nabiki furled her brow. She was hoping to dedicate time to the mystery key, not business. Still, business is business... "Before I deal with you, I really must know who you are."

"I graduated from this school at the end of last term. I heard quite a bit about your exploits before I did so, however, and I know you will be interested in what I have to offer."

Nabiki noticed he didn't actually answer her question, but decided to play his game. "I see, so what did you have in mind?"

"I have come to learn of a shipment that went astray," began the young man, "The company that was supposed to take ownership went bankrupt, and so the shipment is simply sitting in a warehouse."

The cash register bells in Nabiki's head overrode the alarm bells briefly. "What's the shipment?"

"I can't say that here, the materials in question are in rather high demand."

"OK," said Nabiki, "Why come to me?" She had dealt with mystery shipments before, including finding some rather well placed recipients that were very...generous to her for her efforts, but this mystery former student wasn't like any of her previous contacts, who she was very familiar with.

"Quite simply," said the stranger, "My associates wanted to avoid the more...heavily monitored sources of contacts. Your name happened to come up, and I knew how to contact you."

Curious, thought Nabiki, "I assume you want me to meet your contacts somewhere?"

The man simply nodded and relayed the location of a warehouse nearby.

"Fine, I have school to finish, I'll meet your associates later on, say, five o'clock?"

"Very well, I shall tell them to expect your arrival."

Ranma lay stretched out under a tree on the other side of the school. He had his bento napkin spread out over his eyes, his hands behind his head, and one ankle resting on the other knee, lightly dozing.

Akane looked up from her English homework, "It's rather quiet today, isn't it?" she observed.

Ukyo scratched down an answer for her math homework, "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, sugar. I'm getting more work done today than I usually get done in a week."

Ranma merely grunted in agreement.

Ami was growing increasingly frustrated by the chatter going on around her. AP English was supposed to be one of her few refuges in the school from the constant chattering and nattering of the rumor crowd, yet today's favorite topic, the mysterious happenings that she had somehow completely missed that morning, was being endlessly debated by the others in her class.

"I just haven't ever heard of any 'Riginium Empire,' even anciently."

She now had a choice to make. Did she swallow her pride and show all the other geeks in her class that she out-geeked them by several orders of magnitude and thereby alienate yet another social group, or keep silent and have the unsolved mystery of just what the hell everyone was talking about plague her waking moments?

"Maybe they just changed the name of an older country? It's happened before, especially with revolutions..."

She at least had a better idea of what had happened based on the conversation. Apparently, some prince had walked onto school grounds with great fanfare and proposed to another student, one the other intellectuals in her class didn't like to much.

"That isn't the case here, if we can rely on the lackey's comments on the microphone. The speech he gave is apparently a very old one."

Her increased knowledge was obviously still not giving her the whole story. Why would Usagi have acted the way she did before class?

"I still say it's a hoax. After all, even if the Riginium Empire is real, the Moon Kingdom is obviously not."

Ami stiffened in her seat, her eyes suddenly as big as saucers. She had just added 2 and 2 and gotten 48. Without a word, she scrambled all of her supplies, papers, and books together, threw them into her bag, and ran out the door.

The rest of the class sat in stunned silence for a moment, including the teacher.

Ami poked her head back into the room, "Sorry, sensei. I...uh...need to do some research on...a sociology project." She was gone again before the stunned sensei could merely nod.

Usagi was doing her best effort to hide under her desk without actually leaving her chair. Pretty much the instant she had stepped into her classroom, her classmates were pestering her with questions, asking who the mysterious stranger was, and (the teenager rumor mill being what it was) whether she had gotten "romantic" with him or not, all conveniently ignoring her initial reaction and current vehement denials.

Just as she was about to burst into tears, two things happened.

The first and most welcome was Ami bursting through the doors and breaking very quickly into an impromptu speech in a vain attempt to get the teacher to let Usagi out of class for a bit. It was a vain attempt not due to the usual and expected reasons that no, other students could not just haul students out of class for poor excuses and Usagi's grades were slumping...again, but due to the second thing that happened.

Said second thing was presently swaying, for such a paragon of masculinity did not dangle or hang, on a well crafted tether, his foot through a loop at the end of the tether and one hand gripping the tether at shoulder height. Said tether was swaying just outside Usagi's classroom window, and a low humming noise could be heard, indicating the presence of some sort of craft holding the tether aloft. Every girl in the class was instantly up against the windows in effort to get a better look and (perhaps, just maybe) get their object of amore's attention. Even Ms. Haruna was stunned speechless.

"Fairest princess, I was hoping to...oh, dear..." the combined females of the class were devastated by the disappointed look on Prince Xavier's face. They turned to look to see what had upset their paragon of manliness, only to see Usagi's empty desk and the door to the classroom closing.

Nabiki sat in study hall, quietly soaking up information she considered vital. Said information had nothing to do with math, or science, or any of the other many subjects taught at the school, but more to do with the subject of the key still residing in her pocket. She was carefully paging through the copy of Senshi Beat she had received from Junko, earmarking pages with mentions of Sailor Venus. The teacher in charge had almost threatened to take the magazine away from Nabiki, but the mercenary girl had merely glared menacingly at the man, who quickly backed down without saying a word. Nabiki went back to her magazine with a secretive smile, making a mental note to give a bonus to whoever had dirt on the man. Or just give a bonus to whoever could dig up the dirt.

During the course of her research, she had learned what little Sailor Venus' fans could dig up. There was a strong suspicion that Sailor Venus was also Sailor V, who's crowning achievement was crushing The Syndicate, a crime organization in Europe with suspected ties to the occult. Since Sailor Venus' surfacing in Japan, Sailor V had simply vanished, and their costumes were remarkably similar, based on the few crime artist's sketches that existed from Sailor V's assault on crime and the photos taken since the first youma invasion four years ago. Nabiki had to admit that with the evidence at hand, it was quite likely true. Of course, rumors that Sailor V was still operating in Europe kept the crime activity low, so neither Interpol nor the Senshi were eager to make the connection.

Nabiki paused in her perusal of the magazine and stared hard at one of the images of Sailor Venus. Some fool cameraman with a death wish had gotten close enough to a battle between Sailor Venus and a youma as Venus was using one of her special attacks. The cameraman had to have been one of the pros, as the picture quality was high enough to clearly show each link in the chain Venus was summoning, the last link was actually in the process of forming from whatever the Senshi used to make their attacks. (Nabiki doubted it was Qi, they just didn't seem to be that good as martial artists) The chain wasn't what caught her interest. What she focused on instead was just above the Senshi's hands, hovering in space near Venus' ear.

It was a symbol, made of light, probably five inches across and six inches high. It somewhat resembled an ankh, though the bottom leg was straight down, and the top loop was shaped like a circle.

It exactly matched the symbol on her key.

The library was a place of studious learning. A place where the willing student could go and find portals to the unknown, adventures from long ago, knowledge never seen by minds so young in the history of the world. School libraries represent the greatest achievements of mankind from the earliest dawn of the species, condensed down to several thousand tomes and written in such a way that anyone of average intelligence or higher could, with a few hours of concentrated effort, gain insight into the secrets of the universe.

Consequently, it was the ideal place for Usagi to hide from her teachers and fellow students with inquiring minds, as it was the last place the bunny-haired girl would be caught dead in. She just wished she'd thought of it sooner. Or thought of it at all, as it was Ami who had dragged her into the library.

Usagi was presently fidgeting with her pencil case, trying to keep from making too much noise and getting them kicked out of the library. She had finally landed on a game of "balance the pencil," wherein she displayed some decidedly un-Usagi-like, totally not clumsy behavior of balancing four pencils, two pens, an eraser, a pencil sharpener, and two paperclips on all ten of her fingers, when Ami said, "Ah-ha!" in a definitive tone. This startled Usagi, who promptly dropped all ten implements, making a clattering noise that earned her a sharp glare from Ami. This was fine with Usagi, as Ami hadn't taken her eyes off her computer screen since they had sat down.

Ami dismissed her irritation with her Princess and turned her computer to face Usagi. "This is what I've been looking for."

Usagi felt her brain seize up at the screenfull of legalese. "Uh..."

Ami had apparently anticipated Usagi's lack of comprehension and continued speaking without a beat, "It's a treaty. More specifically it's a contract." Ami turned the computer back around, her eyes flitting over the text as she re-read the salient parts. "The contract is a mutual peace accord, where the Riginium Empire and the Moon Kingdom, who apparently shared a border when we had a functional space fleet..."

"We had a space fleet? Like with X-wing fighters and stuff?"

Ami rolled her eyes, "You watch too much science fiction. There's no such thing as an X-wing fighter." Ami ignored the disappointed look on Usagi's face and continued, "The peace accord says that the two kingdoms are to exist side by side, neither making any moves into the other's space without permission, so long as both sides remain loyal to the contract."

Usagi's brow furrowed, "So what does that have to do with this prince?"

"I'm getting to that," Ami said, "Apparently, it's traditional in the Riginium Empire to include in all treaties with other nations a clause that the Champion Prince of the Riginium Empire, who upon defeating all challengers on their home planet should..."

Ami never got to finish her sentence, because just then the library doors burst open. Framed in the doorway was Makoto and Minako, looking a bit henpecked. "Usagi!" Makoto burst out.

"No shouting in the library!" snapped the librarian, who had immediately come running when she heard the door open.

"No time for that now!" said Mina, "We've got a situation!"

Usagi stood up indignantly, "You...you guys just LEFT me out there!"

Makoto rushed to Usagi's side, "Yeah, sorry, I kinda panicked..."

"Me too!" interjected Mina.

"...but we've got to get you out of here! That prince guy has got some sort of device that he's using to track you. Right now the hall monitors've got him stopped at the end of the hallway..."

With that statement, all earlier infractions were forgotten. Usagi clung to Makoto's arm, "Get me out of here! Hide me!"

"Uhm..." began Ami, "If you'd just sit down with him..."

"That's why we're here." said Mina, plowing right over Ami's words, "I've got the cheerleading squad on standby outside the gates. They volunteered to provide a distraction while we get you home."

Ami spoke up again, "We really don't need to do this..."

"Great!" said Usagi, completely ignoring Ami as she raced for the door, "Let's get out of here!"

Makoto and Minako moved like a coordinated pair of guardians, which is technically what they were, and ushered Usagi out of the library and out of sight. As the doors clapped shut, a slightly frazzled Ami held her gaze forlornly on the spot she had last seen her friends. "...you all really need to hear about the rest of this contract..." she said to the air.

The librarian blinked at Ami, then at the doors. She sighed, muttered something about disrespectful students, and went back to her reshelving duties.

Nabiki stepped out of the school gates to find the mystery man waiting for her. "I hope this doesn't take too long," said Nabiki, "I don't want to miss my sister Akane's cooking."

"Ah, yes. That would be a shame, now, wouldn't it." replied the man.

Damn! thought Nabiki, I'd hoped he'd say something definitive. It was a rather obvious bait to anyone who knew of Akane's cooking, and even in her first year of Home Ec. class was infamous for the culinary disasters that she produced. I guess I'll have to find some other line of questioning. I know this guy wasn't in Furinkan last year, but I can't prove it without more information. Nabiki hid her frustration as she began walking next to the man.

Some time later, with Nabiki attempting several different lines of questioning to try and pull some tidbit about the enigma she was following and getting nowhere except further away from home, they arrived at the entrance to a warehouse building. It was now late enough that the sun was beginning to set. The windows, what few she could see, were dark. She glanced questioningly at her guide. "We keep them covered from the inside," he said, "This particular shipment is rather valuable, after all."

Nabiki simply nodded speculatively as he opened the door for her. Keeping her composure took quite a bit of effort, as some sixth sense was screaming at her that this situation was extremely bad news.

"No, she won't be doing an interview," said Makoto into the phone. There was a pause as she listened to the voice on the other end of the conversation, then, "I don't care if you're from Asahi Shimbun, you're not gonna interview her!" she slammed down the phone. Before she could even take her hand off it, it rang again. Makoto lifted the receiver, quickly tapped the switch hook, checked to make sure the dial tone came on, then set the phone on the table, leaving it off the hook. She sighed and walked over to the front door to help Minako.

"Listen," said Minako, "I understand you've got questions, we all do, but we really don't know anything about this prince character and what he's doing in Juuban looking for our friend."

"But if we could just ask her directly..." asked a student with a badge pinned to his uniform shirt that said, 'Student paper.'

Makoto gently pushed Minako aside, "Are you hearing impaired?" growled the tall brunette, "She aint talkin', not now, not later, not ever!" She used her height and every ounce of intimidation she could summon to loom over the student reporter. "Don't you have somewhere to be?"

The boy, knees knocking, nodded, babbled something in agreement, and took off running.

Luna watched it all from the stairs, "My goodness," she said under her breath to Usagi, "What caused all this?"

Usagi sulked in her bedroom doorway, feeling like a prisoner in her own house. "Some prince showed up today. He knew about the Moon Kingdom and everything."

"A prince?" restated Luna in confusion.

Usagi nodded. "Some sort of empire. 'Rejonium' or something like that." Unseen by Luna, Usagi began absentmindedly flipping a coin through her fingers, once again casually displaying a level of dexterity the Moon Princess had never before possessed.

Luna blinked, looked back to Usagi from her vantage point at the top of the stairs, "Riginium?" she clarified. At Usagi's nod, she gasped, "Good heavens! I didn't even know the Empire still existed!"

Usagi, having her attention distracted again, dropped the coin clumsily, "You know about these people?"

"Oh, yes," said Luna, "It's a bit hazy..." they both shared an annoyed look, as Luna's and Artimis' swiss cheese memories were a continual bane to the Sailor Senshi, "But they were a neighboring kingdom. Very warrior-like, always issuing challenges and taking it as a personal affront if you didn't accept."

"They're barbarians?!" gaped Usagi.

"No, no," said Luna, "They were very well bred, with great knowledge of science and history being a large part of their education, along with training. No, it's more like the old dueling code here on Earth. A sort of 'gentleman's duel' to determine honor. To turn down a dual was considered a tremendous insult that could result in wars if the participants were in the right families."

"Great!" said Usagi, "And now I've got their prince wanting to marry me!"

Luna blinked at Usagi for a moment, then shouted, "WHAT?!"

Unfortunately, Ikoku Tsukino, Usagi's Earthly mother, came through the door at that moment, "I'm home from shopping! Oh, hello girls." she said with a smile as she saw Makoto and Minako. Usagi rolled her eyes and shrugged at Luna, who couldn't talk now without blowing her cover in front of Usagi's mom. The younger Tsukino padded down the stairs and said, "Hi, mom!"

As Ikoku went into the kitchen, Makoto automatically following to help put away the shopping, she said, "I had the most interesting encounter today. A small gaggle of girls came up to me and asked if I had betrothed you to a prince!"

Usagi, Makoto, and Minako plastered smiles on their faces, cringing inside as they forced out a giggle to join Usagi's mom in her laughter.

Nabiki followed her guide to the center of the warehouse, her hand in her pocket and firmly gripping the key bearing the Venus emblem. Not that it would provide a whole lot of protection, but a poke in the eye with a large brass key would have to hurt enough for her to get out of a bad situation if it came down to it. "So when do your associates arrive?" said Nabiki.

"They should be here right about..." they heard a door open on the other side of the warehouse and some male voices floated over to them. Nabiki struggled to see the newcomers through the dark of the warehouse. She saw them as mere shadows as they approached, but she could hear them as they came further in.

"...I just want to get this over with. I don't like dealing with unknowns."

Reasonable, Nabiki thought. One does not become a successful business person without wanting to know all the facts.

"Listen, the boss says that this guy can deliver, and you've seen him in action. You want to tell the boss he's wrong?"

Finally, the two newcomers stepped into the light of the single bulb that was lit in the warehouse. The both wore long sleeved shirts with high collars, clean, pressed pants and sport coats, and seemingly matching ties. Nabiki's eyes narrowed in suspicion. Sure, they could be just well dressed businessmen, but they could also be well dressed thugs.

The first voice, the man on the right, didn't answer his collegues question but turned to face the mystery man that brought Nabiki. "This kid is the one we're waiting for?"

The man nodded, and the other two men simply nodded and backed away. The alarm bells were suddenly screaming at her, and one thought began to echo in her mind. It was odd, as she had never heard the particular phrase before in her life.

The mystery man turned to face her as the shadows seem to darken around him, "You have succumbed to your greed. The path to your destruction has been chosen." His form seemed to twist, his clothes shredded as his skin took on a monstrous color. The man...no, the youma (for Nabiki had now recognized what she was facing) began to grow and shift, it's torso stretching obscenely into a twisted mockery of the female form. It's arms bulked up, shadowy tattoos slithering across the skin of it's arms until it resembled a dark parody of Yakuza markings. It's face stretched into something resembling a lizard, and it's tongue flicked own, showing that it was silvery and forked.

Nabiki had already began to step backward, trying to keep her eye on the creature and evacuate at the same time. The two men, she noticed, did not make a move to assist her or the youma, but neither did they act surprised. The creature took a lumbering step toward her on cloven-hooves and hissed at her. With that, Nabiki turned on her heal and ran, hoping to make it to the doorway and out onto the streets of Nerima, where some over-powered martial artist was bound to be wandering by.

She didn't make it two steps before a massive, clawed hand slammed her against some nearby crates, pinning her face first.

Sailor Moon ran like a woman possessed, anger etched all over her face. Jupiter and Venus kept pace a few steps behind, keeping a concerned eye on their leader as they leaped from rooftop to rooftop.

When it was just her mom asking questions, Usagi could laugh at the whole thing and almost pretend the whole bad day had been some sort of silly story she and her friends had made up. When the first reporter, followed by another inquisitive group of girls, showed up at the door, it went from silly to irritating. When Mrs. Tsukino noticed the phone was off the hook and placed it back on the cradle before Makoto could warn her off, it went from irritation to nightmare as the phone once again started ringing with call after inquiring call from newspapers, TV stations, friends, associates, dubious relations, relatives, and even a few wedding planners who all wanted to get in on the action.

Ikoku had finally taken the same route as Makoto and just left the phone off the hook.

Soon thereafter the press started camping out on their street, followed shortly by star-struck girls who wanted to inveigle their way into the inner circle of a girl who would soon be a princess of some sort. About an hour earlier, the Tokyo PD had finally been summoned to evict the paparazzi and fangirls, but the police efforts weren't entirely effective, and the occasional fangirl or really stubborn cameraman would sneak through the police line.

After the fifth incident (Usagi finding a fangirl with a camera in her shower, Makoto physically tossing the girl out the front door, Minako destroying the camera and the film), the once and future Princess of the Moon decided she couldn't take it any longer, gave her mom a flimsy excuse for staying with Makoto (which her mother, too frazzled by the situation to argue, agreed to), got to a secluded spot between houses she had used for transforming in the past, activated her Sailor suit, and ran off into the night, her fellow Senshi just a few steps behind her.

Sailor Jupiter could hear Venus on the communicator with Mars and Mercury. As there was no youma present, there was no reason to do an all-call, but that didn't stop them from calling in some friends to get together to find a way to get out of the situation, or at least cheer up Sailor Moon.

Abruptly, Sailor Moon came to a stop. Jupiter and Venus stumbled into each other, trying to brake their momentum. Moon stood silently for a moment, then slumped to her knees, weakly punching the roofing tiles beneath her. "Stupid prince..."

It was at that moment Sailor Mars arrived. "I came as quickly as I could..." she trailed off when she saw Sailor Moon, and was by her friend's side in a heartbeat. The raven-haired girl draped her arm over her friend's shoulders, "Hey, meatball head, what's with the long face?"

Nabiki could feel her ribs begin to creak as the youma held her pinned against the crate. Her feet were kicking ineffectually six inches off the floor while her left arm was pinned between her stomach and the crate, and her right arm was stretched out and had somehow managed to remain unpunctured by the creature's talons. Her head was turned to the right, where she could see the key she'd been holding with a death grip glint in the low light of the warehouse.

Abruptly, she felt a tugging sensation. Having spent enough time around Ranma, Happosai, Cologne, Miss Hinako, and other Qi adepts, she knew automatically that she was experiencing her first ever Qi drainage.

It wasn't pleasant.

Her face twisted in a rictus of pain and a strangled noise escaped her throat. Were she of a mind to objectively examine the experience, she would have supposed it was rather akin to having one's brain, eyes, throat, heart, stomach, reproductive organs, and digestive tract all being pulled out of one's body through the small of one's back.

Finally, through the fog of pain and withering, smothering darkness that began to envelope her consciousness, she cried out the words that had been rolling in her mind since she had entered the warehouse.

"VENUS PLANET POWER, ACTIVATE!"

Sailor Moon was crying into Sailor Mars' shoulder as Mars uttered soothing noises to their princess and leader. Mars wasn't able to make a whole lot of sense of what Moon said, but she did gather that it had been a very, very rough day and it all involved a prince that had showed up at their school.

Mars kept the boiling fury she felt toward anyone who would do this to her friend in check as she attended to Moon. "Tell you what," she said comfortingly, "If I ever see this prince guy, I'll Burning Mandala him, OK?"

Moon giggled weakly through her sobbing, and the crying was greatly reduced. Venus and Jupiter, who had sat down nearby, smiled encouragingly at Mars, knowing that sometimes all any of them needed was a good shoulder to cry on. At this rate, maybe they could go over to Jupiter's place and stay the night and let this whole thing just blow...

"Ah, Princess. There you are. That power suit certainly does give you quite the speed boost." Prince Xavier said as he stepped off what looked to be a hovering motorcycle. "Once we had pinpointed you on our scopes I must say even the captain was impressed by how quickly you were moving."

...up. Naturally, the prince once again showed his incredible sense of bad timing, right when they had almost calmed Sailor Moon down.

Sailor Mars flinched back in surprise when Sailor Moon growled. "YOU!" spat the Defender of Love and Justice. She shrugged off Sailor Mars and stood, spinning to face the prince. "This ends right now!"

Inexplicably, Xavier's face lit up in a grin. "Oh, excellent! We are going to do it the right way!"

Sailor Moon, enraged at the apparent disregard this stranger had for her personal distress, simply howled and charged at him.

The youma was thrown back, smashing into some crates and boxes. Blinding light pierced the warehouse as the echo from Nabiki's phrase faded away.

Nabiki found herself floating above the floor, spinning slowly as her clothes seemed to evaporate. She felt ribbons of light and color swirl around her body, gently caressing her curves until they took the pattern of a jumper around her torso and then abruptly solidified into a sort of fabric. More ribbons fluttered about her wrists, then became metal wrist bracers. A bit more of the magic swirled through her hands and fingers, finally forming fingerless gloves. She instinctively gripped down, making fists with her hands. She felt a caress of magic around her feet, almost tickling her as the sensation traveled up her ankles, finally collapsing to form boots. The energy billowed around her waist and suddenly formed up a skirt. She felt rather than saw the gem form on her head and the magic spread out to create a tiara.

After a moment of blinding light and change, Nabiki found her feet settling on the floor. She felt a power surging through her like she had never experienced before. She felt like she could lift a truck...no, a building! She felt like she could jump over a building!

Nabiki wondered briefly if this was what Ranma felt like all the time.

Ranma, grateful for the brief break he seemed to be enjoying, actually smiled as he punted Tatewaki Kuno a block and a half back to the Kuno mansion. A sudden sneeze distracted him briefly, but he blithely shook it off and sauntered off to the market to pick up the greens Kasumi asked for at the last minute. He decided to whistle a tune he'd heard once.

Three minutes later, Ryoga wandered by the same spot, face buried in a map of Kenya and completely missing the fact that he was in Nerima before disappearing around a nearby corner.

Nabiki was suddenly brought back to her surroundings when she was launched into a pile of boxes by the large fist of the youma. Pushing herself up and dusting off her fuku, she realized that she had taken a blow which should have shattered at least a few bones and was able to hop back up unscathed. Another phrase tagged her mind, coupled with some gestures that seemed a bit silly. Dodging a clawing blow, she realized that it didn't really matter if it was silly or not, the last goofy phrase that went through her mind worked out pretty good, so this one might work out as well.

"VENUS ONE YEN COIN SHOWER!" she shouted. From literally nowhere one-yen coins formed in the air, already flying at terminal velocity, and peppered the youma's body. The attack lasted a second, but to Nabiki's very well trained eye, it appeared that more than 4,000 coins had struck the youma, all at very high speed.

With a hideous gurgling noise, the monster shuddered on the floor, then collapsed into a pile of quickly dissipating dust.

Nabiki stood over her foe and basked in the victory. This spot belonged to Ranma, or Akane, or any one of the martial artists that crossed her life's path. Nabiki had never understood the thrill they got from pummeling their opponents to dust until now.

A scuffling noise interrupted her thoughts. She realized the two men that were part of this little trap were still around. She smiled ferally and turned toward them slowly.

Sailors Mars, Venus, and Jupiter watched in awe as their normally clumsy leader performed martial arts combat like a seasoned pro. Sailor Moon dodged, counterpunched, slid, flipped, and kicked with all the precision of a world class martial artist, at least first-dan ranking, if not higher. To Jupiter's slightly-more-trained-eye-than-the-others, it looked like the fight would be over soon, with The Moon Princess emerging triumphant.

Sailor Mercury skidded to a stop next to Jupiter, clearly out of breath. "What's going on...MOON, STOP!"

While Sailor Moon ignored Mercury in order to dole out a Royal ass-kicking, Jupiter held Mercury back from jumping in. "Hold it there, Water-lily, she needs to blow off some steam."

Mercury struggled to get free, "But you don't understand! If she beats him..." she trailed off and Jupiter turned to see why.

The scene seemed to freeze in time for a moment as Jupiter took it all in. Sailor Moon had her right leg extended upward in a quite vicious snap-kick, her face contorted in an angry, "Kia!" her arms in balancing positions and poised in the follow-through from her last punching combination, and her left leg slightly bent at the knee, her left boot planted firmly on the roofing tiles. Prince Xavier had two swords that Jupiter didn't remember him bringing to the battle stretched out, as though both arms had been swatted aside (which they probably were), his feet were inches off the roof, his legs bent as though interrupted in a jump, back arched, head tossed back and chin pointing at the sky.

An instant later, the tableau was broken and the Prince flipped through the air, slamming down on his back, swords clattering across the roof, clearly knocked out cold.

Sailor Moon finished the follow-through for the kick, resumed a stance, then realized the fight was over. She began jumping for joy, ecstatic that not only did she win a fight without her Senshi magic, she also creamed the guy that turned her day into a living nightmare.

Mars and Venus promptly began cheering as Moon began dancing around the roof with joy. Jupiter was about to join in their festivities when she heard Mercury's quiet, "Oh, dear..." She glanced at the blue haired Senshi and saw a great deal of concern etched on the other girl's face.

Kaneda hid in the shadows behind a dumpster. The chick the demon guy had brought had to be a Senshi, that was the only explanation for the light show and subsequent total defeat of their demonic contact. How in the world someone so powerful would land in a trap like that Kaneda would never know.

The senshi had already taken out Daiki. When the demon guy had gone down, the two had made a break for it, hoping to escape while the senshi cleaned up the mess. They didn't expect her speed, however, and Kaneda once again proved that you don't need to outrun the bear, you just need to outrun the other guy.

This led him to the aforementioned dumpster and hiding. He struggled to get his breath under control, hoping that he had somehow ditched the senshi.

He realized he'd have no such luck when a fingerless glove grabbed his shirt collar. His world became a blur as the senshi effortlessly jumped like a reverse pachinko ball up the sides of two buildings, quickly landing on the rooftop of one of them and standing on the edge, casually holding Kaneda at arms length. He looked down and nearly lost the contents of his bowels as he realized he was now seven stories up and the only thing keeping him from dying was a very pissed senshi.

"So," she said, "I've already talked to your pal. He seems to believe that you'll know more about your youma friend than him." She gave him an evil smile, "You can understand how I'm rather interested in more...information."

Kaneda had heard about this sort of situation. He now had a choice of death by falling or death by hitman when his bosses found out about him turning stoolpidgin. He really wished he hadn't gotten out of bed this morning. "I...I don't know..."

"Bzzzt! Wrong answer!" she let go with the hand that was holding him aloft. Before he could scream in panic, her other hand shot out and grabbed his shirt. "So, let's try again. What do you know about the youma?"

Death by falling was suddenly a much more immediate threat. "OK, OK! The boss has been in contact with these guys, I don't know a whole lot more than that."

Nabiki smirked. This was so much more fun than simple extortion. "So, you know nothing more? Let's say I remove my fingers one by one," she demonstrated by pulling her index finger from the fist gripping his shirt. The sudden slack caused Kaneda to drop a quarter inch, "Until we get to the point where my hand just doesn't hold you up anymore?"

Kaneda panicked and gripped the bracer around the senshi's wrist, hoping to avoid a nasty destiny as a road pizza. "'Retribution!' They call themselves Retribution! They're trying to form a syndicate with a bunch of the Yakuza families!"

Police sirens could be heard from down the street. For the first time since he joined the clan, he was glad to hear the sirens. Maybe the cops could talk this crazy lady out of dropping him.

"Retribution...forming a syndicate...that's it?" said the senshi casually, pulling her middle finger out of the fist.

"YES, YES! I SWEAR, THAT'S ALL I KNOW!"

Nabiki nodded, satisfied that the hoodlum was revealing all the information he had. She pulled some bungee cable from her belt that she had picked up at a nearby sporting goods store after she'd taken care of the other thug. 'Taken care of,' of course, meant that she had tied up said thug with a display case of cargo netting after throwing the thug through the window of the sporting goods store, setting off the alarm and summoning the police. "Next time you meet your bosses or this 'Retribution' they're so fond of, I want you to tell them that I'm going to be all over them like feathers on a duck from now on." She tossed the loop she already tied on the cord around a metal fixture on the roof top.

Kaneda scrambled to maintain his grip on the senshi's bracer, "Who...who are you?"

She yanked him close, so their noses were almost touching, "I'm Sailor V."

She abruptly shook him off her hand, and he screamed as he began to plummet to the ground. Sailor V was right behind him, having leapt off the building right after dropping him. She looped the cord around his ankles and used her senshi enhanced speed to tie a secure knot in the cable. She flipped mid-air and pushed away from the building face, letting Kaneda fall to the extent of the rope, slam against the building, and get yanked back up. Sailor V flipped again, landed in the street right in front of the incoming police car, bounced up against the building on the opposite side of the street, ping-ponged back and forth back up to the rooftops, and roof-hopped away from the scene.

Sailor Jupiter gripped Mercury's shoulder, "What's wrong? She kicked his butt."

"That's precisely what's wrong." said Sailor Mercury. "It's part of the standard treaty that the Riginium Empire signs with all it's trading partners and allies. It means that..."

She was interrupted by a groan from the now stirring prince. He sat up, shook his head to clear it, then boosted himself up to his feet. "Excellent!" he began, "I shall have the captain begin the arrangements immediately."

Sailor Moon stopped her victory dance and glared at the prince, "What preparations?" she snapped.

"Why, our marriage, of course."

"What are you talking about? I just kicked your butt like a youma!"

The prince let the Earth-bound reference slide, "That's it exactly. Surely your advisors have explained the ceremony to you."

Sailor Moon turned to Mercury, "Do you know what he's talking about?"

Mercury sighed and pulled out her computer again, "As I was trying to tell you, by agreeing to the ceremonial battle and proving your worth by defeating the Riginium representative in combat, you...er, provide full consent to the, um...matrimony ceremony to..." she lost her nerve toward the end of her 'explanation' and just waved vaguely at the prince.

Sailor Moon blinked in confusion at Mercury, trying to piece together what the other girl said.

Jupiter managed to decipher Mercury's words. The blue haired girl always tended to use large vocabulary when she didn't want to deliver bad news. "You're kidding!" Jupiter blurted out.

Sailor Moon looked frantic, "What are you saying, what's going on?!" She turned in panic to look at Prince Xavier.

He simply shrugged in that annoyingly handsome way he had, "Why, we're to be married tomorrow now that you've given your consent in the traditional combat ceremony."

Moon turned to Mercury to translate. The young genius looked down at the roofing tile, "He proposed, you said yes."

It was the punctuation mark to a very, very bad day. Moon's mind was overwhelmed, and she fainted. Her last conscious thought was, Please, please don't let it be the prince that catches me!

Sailor V flew into her bedroom through her open window and landed nimbly on her feet. She had a huge grin on her face, her breathing was deep, as if she had finished a particularly good jog, but she felt more like she had just deboarded the most intense roller coaster ever.

She flopped down on her bed face up, enjoying the exhilaration and afterglow. She was going to have to get more information about the senshi, possibly by going straight to the source. The magazines were good, but there was only so much they could actually dig up on the secretive super-group.

Sailor V reached up idly and ran her fingertip over the tiara that had formed on her forehead. She touched the gem in the center and was startled when her seifuku suddenly collapsed, leaving her clutching her transformation key in the same hand that was caressing the tiara. "Well," Nabiki muttered to herself, "That solves that problem before I thought of it."

She suddenly heard the latch of her door opening and dropped the key behind her pillow. The door opened to reveal Kasumi, who did a double-take and gasped, "Nabiki? I didn't know you were home."

The younger sister propped herself up on her elbows, "Oh, sorry 'bout that. I had some unexpected business that kept me late and I didn't want to cause a fuss when I came home. I snuck in just a few moments ago."

Kasumi blinked and processed what her sister said. Were Nabiki the type to sweat under preasure, she'd be drenched. She knew Kasumi was smarter than everyone gave her credit for, but she was also nice and polite to a fault. "Well, OK," began Kasumi, "I can warm up some dinner for you if you like."

"That'd be great, sis," said Nabiki, "I haven't eaten since lunch and I've still got studying to do."

Kasumi nodded and closed the door.

Nabiki retrieved her key from behind her pillow, gazed at it lovingly, and clutched it to her chest. "All this time I never knew...WOW it feels good to be one of the power-players!" Grinning broadly, she began to change out of her school uniform and into something more casual to go enjoy her sister's excellent cooking.

#nabiki tendo #sailor moon #sailor venus #sailor v #kasumi #ranma 1/2 #ranma saotome #usagi tsukino #bishoujo senshi sailor moon #bssm

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spei-sidus · 9 months

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The Binoculars

Rating: Mature

No Archive Warnings

I didn't know if I could post this kind of content so I didn't at the time. I'm doing it now.

Written for UsaMamo Week 2023, Day 4

A day at the beach leads Mamoru to ask Usagi out.

“YAY it’s Summer Break and we get to PAR-TAY!” Usagi cheered.

“Time to hit the waves!” Ami said.

“And meet some guys!” Makoto said.

“Lots of guys,” Minako said, drooling.

“You girls,” Luna moaned.

“Speaking of guys,” Minako said slyly, "I invited Motoki-kun.”

“You didn’t!” Makoto said, blushing.

“It’s your time to shine, Mako-chan!” Usagi cheered. There was a time when she crushed on Motoki, but she was now firmly in the Tuxedo Kamen camp. She’s known Tuxedo Kamen since she became a Senshi four years ago. Meanwhile, Motoki and Reika broke up six months ago because she wanted to solely focus on her career. Makoto had been crushing on Motoki for as long as Usagi on Tuxedo Kamen.

“He didn’t want to be the only guy there, so I invited Mamoru-san, too,” Minako added.

“Of course you did,” Usagi said with a groan. Mamoru was a third year student at Keio University which just went on Summer Break. He and Motoki, being only two years apart, were good friends.

“Be nice, Usagi-chan,” Rei warned. “I want to actually enjoy this trip. It’ll be our last before we part ways.”

“Not completely,” Usagi whined. They still had to fight the Dark Kingdom and gather nijizuishou. None of them could go too far from Tokyo, where the enemy centered its attacks.

“No, not completely. But we will be on our own paths otherwise,” Makoto said sadly. All of the girls except Usagi were attending University in Tokyo, but each of them got into different schools.

Usagi didn’t try to go to college because she knew Sailor Moon would be needed at every battle, and so had to be available at all times to fight. What was the point of a career when you had to keep deserting your job all the time?

Rei laid out the beach blanket while Makoto pitched the umbrella. Minako brought out some binoculars and began scanning the beach for “hot guys”. Usagi ran after Ami to dive into the ocean.

“Cold! Cold! Cold!” Usagi yelled after she resurfaced.

Ami giggled. “Here, this’ll help you acclimate,” she said before she made a large splash.

Usagi spluttered. “How dare you splash me! That’s unforgivable! In the name of the moon, I declare Splash War on you!” She retaliated, but Ami, being the Senshi of Water, was able to dodge and redirect the flow seamlessly. Once again, Usagi was left spluttering. Ami laughed as she swam away. “Hey! No fair! Aaaaaami-chaaaaaaan!” Usagi wasn’t going to let Ami get away. She started swimming, coughing her way through the waves. Ami took pity on the Senshi of the Moon and turned about, treading water. Usagi similarly began treading water, and then it was a fest of splashing, round and round, amidst peals of laughter.

“It looks like they’re having fun out there,” Rei said with a smile. At least Ami didn’t bring a book this time!

“Look at this cutie,” Minako nudged the miko, leading Rei to look.

“Hey, girls!”

“Motoki-kun! Mamoru-san!” Makoto greeted. She nudged the voyeurs next to her.

“Oh, hiiii Motoki-kun, Mamoru-san,” Rei said, blushing a little at having been caught staring at guys.

Minako had no qualms. “Hello!” she said with a megawatt smile before getting her binoculars back from Rei.

“What are they doing?” Motoki stage-whispered to Makoto as he and Mamoru settled in.

“Boy watching,” Makoto stage-whispered back, blushing.

“Only because I was waiting for you two to show up,” Rei said smoothly, staring daggers at Makoto, and then at Minako.

“You only live once!” Minako said, correctly for a change.

“So how are you both?”

“I’ve still been managing the arcade. My parents have let me take over full-time. There’s a lot on the business side I need to learn.”

“I’m glad it’s Summer Break. I’ve been studying nonstop.”

“You haven’t been to the arcade the last couple of weeks.”

“Finals,” Mamoru said with a grimace. “I couldn’t spare the time.”

“Not even for coffee?”

“If it were just coffee…”

“Ah. No time to fight.”

“Right.” He was very moody because of it. He missed his arguments with the blonde. That was in large part why he agreed to Motoki’s invitation. “Where is Odango, anyway?”

The girls pointed over to the ocean where Usagi and Ami were still having their Splash War. The girls were circling each other and laughing. Mamoru smiled. He loved Odango for her bubbly personality, which was clearly on display now.

“I win!” Ami shouted as she swam back to shore.

“Hold it right there!” Usagi shouted.

Mamoru froze. Usagi had sounded an awful lot like Sailor Moon just then. But of course that’s just silly. Odango Atama, Sailor Moon? Odango was far too sweet and innocent to be the heroine that faced youma on a regular basis. Then the two girls were out of the water - and there was nothing sweet and innocent about that body of hers. Usagi was clad in a pink bikini which left nothing to the imagination. Wide eyes took in her perfect breasts, toned stomach, perfectly flared hips, and long, slender legs. Her wet hair and skin glistened in the sun. How had he never noticed before that Odango was downright gorgeous?

Usagi’s breath caught as she drew near the group. Mamoru was sitting on the blanket facing her, shirtless, revealing well sculpted muscles and bulging arm muscles. Eyes burning blue went down her body and back up again. He was checking her out, too! “Hi,” she croaked. She cleared her throat. “Hi, baka,” she said.

“Hi, Odango,” he said.

“Wanna play volleyball?” Minako asked suddenly.

“Sure!” Makoto and Motoki both said.

“No, no,” Usagi said, waving them off. “You know me.”

“That you’re the biggest klutz of all Tokyo? We definitely know.”

“Is there one day - just one day - where you aren’t mean to me?” The others had retreated at this point.

“The truth isn’t mean.”

“Yes it can! It’s how you say it that makes the difference.”

“I don’t think there’s a kind way to say you’re a klutz, Odango. You also walked right into that one - pun intended.”

“Ooooh,” she groused before picking up Minako’s binoculars, determined to ignore him.

“Now what’re you doing?” he asked irritably. “Watching for hot guys?”

Actually, she’d been scouting for good food places for later, but she’d never admit it. “So what if I am?”

“I’m not going to sit here and watch you ogle other guys, Odango.”

“Can you please stop with the nickname? My name is Usagi! U-sa-gi!”

“You’ll always be Odango to me.” Then he growled, “Put. The. Binoculars. Down.”

“Okay, baka, geez. I didn’t think you cared.” She did as he demanded, shifting back to look at him fully.

“I’m not having a fight with you when you aren’t looking at me.”

Looking? Usagi had to shut her eyes for self-preservation. He was still sitting there, looking gorgeously sexy, and shirtless… “I’m not looking at you,” she said with a half-groan.

He stared intently at her eyes shut noting how the lashes were long and lightly curled, all framed by her heart-shaped bangs, which still glistened. He heard her groan and decided to edge closer. “Well, I’m looking at you,” he murmured.

“Only to find fault, I’m sure,” she said, her eyes still closed.

“Far from it, Usagi.”

Her eyes shot wide open. His eyes were dark and intense as they regarded her, desire in their depths. He wanted her!

Her eyes were wide, confused, but he also found desire in their depths. She wanted him - and was likely too nervous to do anything about it. He understood. They were Odango Atama and Mamoru-baka. Could they suddenly turn from being worst enemies to being lovers?

“You’ve been missing, you baka.”

Well, that was said churlishly! “I didn’t know you cared,” he said tauntingly, throwing her earlier words back at her.

She grimaced, then said quietly. “Well, yeah. Who else am I gonna yell at?”

“We could do something other than yell,” he said seductively. “Maybe scream?”

“Umm,” she incoherently choked out, images coming unbidden from just that one word. “Can you please put on a shirt?”

“No,” he chuckled.

“Why not?” she whined.

“Because you’re still clad in that skimpy outfit, which would be unfair.”

“Unfair?”

“Yes, Odango. You drive me to distraction.”

“But - but we’re worst enemies!”

“So? I want you, and I know you want me.”

“I’m not going to - to do that. We aren’t even dating!”

“I’m asking you out, Odango.”

“Just like that?”

“Just like that.”

“Well, I can’t!”

“Why not?” he growled.

Tuxedo Kamen. She wouldn’t do that to him. Ever. “I like someone else,” she said weakly.

“He obviously doesn’t like you back, or you’d be with him.”

“It’s complicated.”

“Then forget him. Give me a chance,” he pleaded.

Forget Tuxedo Kamen?! Could she? “You can’t make me forget Tuxedo Kamen,” she murmured, and then her eyes went wide. Oh no.

“Tuxedo Kamen?” He was stunned for a minute. “You like a superhero? Someone you haven’t even met?! And that’s why you won’t go out with me?!”

“Like I said, it’s complicated.” He shook his head at her, but his eyes were gleaming. What was he so giddy about? “What are you thinking about?” she asked warily.

“I refuse to be in competition with a guy who’s never going to know who you are,” he said confidently, because he knew he was going to keep it that way.

Usagi frowned. Tuxedo Kamen certainly knew Sailor Moon, but he didn’t know Tsukino Usagi. Nor would the others ever let her reveal her identity to the hero. Perhaps she could fool around a little? Mamoru and she did have explosive chemistry together, if their fights were any indication! She took a deep breath and said, “Fine. I agree - but only to a few dates!”

“I’d say we’ve done a lot of ‘dating’. We’ve met for coffee and shakes for years. We’ve had drawn out ‘discussions’ with one another. I think we’re ready for…other things - I mean, if you are.”

The gauntlet was thrown, and Usagi was quick to snatch it up. “Of course, I’m ready,” she said hotly, “and - hey! What are you doing!” she screeched as she was tossed over his shoulder.

“They have a nice resort over there,” he said. “I’m checking us in…so that we can get on with the screaming.”

Motoki and the other girls had paused their game to gape as the blonde yelled in protest for him to put her down while Mamoru walked away.

Minako sighed. “At least one of us got a hot guy today.”

The End

#usamamoweek2023

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insomniacowl · 3 years

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Neon Genesis Evangelion analysis chapter 22: Katsuragi Misato Part 1 The cross in her hand

Kaji's final gift

The three characters representing the "Second impact generation" are Kaji, Masato, and Ritsuko. They are respectively entwined with Asuka, Shinji, and Rei throughout the characters' developments. Both Kaji and Misato self-reflect on their own pain and suffering while observing Shinji's growth and passes on their "Will" to Shinji. This "Will," shared by Kaji and Misato, refers to the desire to understand the "Truth" and the motivation to overcome any adversities standing in the way. Misato climbed up the ranks to become a high-ranked official of Nerv. Kaji became a spy acting for multiple agencies and organizations.

Due to having chosen the more dangerous route, Kaji lost his life much earlier than Misato. Knowing his impending death, Kaji passed on the pieces of information to his unanswered questions to Misato through 'Physical intimacy.' In this chapter and next, we shall discuss Misato as a character and as a person who Kaji trusted solely and lovingly.

"Until the very end, Service, Service."

Katsuragi Misato

29 years old

Blood type: AB

Height: 163cm

Weight: 47Kg

Three Size: 33-23-32

Considering her diet and drinking habits, it is a wonder how she manages to maintain such weight and proportions. As the Nerv operations bureau's leader, she was a Captain at the start of the series and was later promoted to a Major. From her rank insignia and the information from Evangelion development documents, we can see that she is from the "Japanese self-defense force." As a young girl, she was caught in the Second Impact, and this incident left a large scar under her right breast; she seems to associate the scar with painful memories. She is the daughter of Dr. Katsuragi, who lost his life in the same second impact while saving her life. This act of sacrifice indirectly provided the reason for Misato's eventual employment at Nerv; the need to find the "Truth" and revenge against those that caused her father's death.

She moved into the third Tokyo city shortly before Sakiel's advance against the city. She became the Ikari Shinji's guardian after the battle. To her, it could have been a fulfillment of a desire to build an ideal family life, one she never had as a child. For the same reason, she takes in Asuka and, along with Penpen, forms a happy cohabitating unit of 3 human 1 bird family.

The house that she lives in was provided for her by Nerv and is large enough for three people to live together without much contestation for space. To touch on Penpen for a moment, he is an animal mascot sketched out by Sadamoto following Anno's request for an animal character to brighten up the show's atmosphere. The concept of a "Hot spring Penguin" is fictional. He eats human foods and drinks beer. Inferring from his human-like diet and ability to view TV or read the newspaper, we can guess that he was born from a mutation or a lab experiment. The backpack he wears on his bag is theorized by some to be a miniaturized fridge to keep him cooled. Due to security reason, he is sent off to live with Hikari (Shinji and Asuka's classmate) and makes his final appearance in the "Omedeto" Scene,

Katsuragi Misato in the development phase.

Misato is one of the rare characters whose design has not changed from the planning phase of the series, and on a side note, Anno was a big fan of the sailor moon series. Rei's name was inspired by Hino Rei (Sailor Mars). The design of Misato was based on the image Anno had of Usagi (Sailor Moon) as an adult. Adding to this point is the employment of the same voice actress (Mitsuishi Kotono) and Sadamoto designing their hairstyles to be identical. Furthermore, according to Sadamoto, Misato is a car enthusiast, and her room is full of related magazines and newsletters.

Returning to the topic, just like Shinji, Misato is a character who was designed with careful detail. According to Anno's production declaration (What is it that we are trying to make?) Similar in vain to Shinji being the child at the center of the Third impact, Misato was conceptualized to be the adult who was once at the center of the Second impact. Furthermore, both are inept at creating meaningful social bonds and are afraid of being hurt by the other. Lastly, they are both not used to communicating their needs to the people in their lives.

The difference between the two is that while Shinji feared interaction and ran away from the other, Misato made surface-level interaction with the largest number of people while hiding her true self under a mask. While Shinji's actions are understandable as he is only fourteen and made to shoulder an adult's responsibility, Misato is presented as a juxtaposition. Misato is presented as a child putting up an adult's veneer, showing her immaturity even as she is nearing her thirties. Asuka, who was acquainted with Misato during her service in Germany, described her lifestyle as 'Hypocritical.'

As we have discussed in the previous chapter, Kaji wore an irresponsible adult's mask to hide his serious side in pursuit of the Truth. In contrast, Misato wears a serious and bright adult mask to hide her cowardice and weakness. This would have worked against those that interacted with her on a surface level. However, it would have had to come off eventually, making it impossible to hide from people she lived with. This gave Shinji the perception of Misato as a 'hypocrite,' making it easy for him to reject her kindness and run away from her house.

Furthermore, when she lost Kaji and lost all willpower to put up that front, she could not care for the children physically nor care for their mental wellbeing. Concerning this, Asuka began closing herself up from Misato due to her jealousy for Kaji. Asuka also loved Kaji to the point she attempted sex appeal but was rejected for being "too young."

In episode 15, Asuka learns of Kaji's true feelings and begins feeling defeated, resulting in her bearing fangs against Misato. When her synchronization levels dipped below Shinji's in the following episode, her confidence in herself began to bottom, and Misato was in no position to offer help.

When Kaji began a more intimate relationship with Misato, whom Asuka perceived as mentally immature, Asuka was lost and began to distance her feelings from Kaji. Asuka's heart was broken, and there was no adult she could rely on. This point about Asuka will be covered more in later chapters.

Dr. Katsuragi

Before diving deeper into the character analysis of Misato, we need to understand her father, Dr. Katsuragi, more. He was a member of the Gehrin and the first person to theorize the working of the fruit of life; the S2 engine. The 'Super Solenoid theory (S2 theory)' first theorized in 1999 attempts to explain the mysterious energy source: the 'infinite spiral energy.' This being a fictitious theory, we can not go in-depth here. Still, for the sake of explanation, it is explained as a potential source of infinite energy that Dr. Katsuragi desired to use for humanity's good. Ironically and unfortunately, it was this theory that resulted in the tragedy of the second impact.

In the year 2000, the Doctor receives Seele's funding to form the Katsuragi expedition team. He leaves for Antarctica to prove his theory and perform the 'contact experiment' with Adam. While his theory was proven to be accurate, he losses his life from the 'eventual second impact. Our dear old Keel described the Doctor demeaningly, to quote, "The type of man who was blinded by his passion and unable to see reality," this statement is accurate, according to Misato. This makes him a figure similar in character to Gendou, someone whose work always came before all else, even his family. Causing Misato's mother to always cry tears of loneliness.

Misato understood the impact her father's absence had on the household. This resulting in the pressure to be a good child to please her mother. This leads her to refute others' descriptions of him as 'Kind and sensitive,' calling him 'weak and childish'; as someone who was irresponsible to his family and ran away from responsibilities. Misato's mother eventually divorces him, and she welcomed this separation. It seems that Dr. Katsuragi was shocked by this incident; Misato described it as getting his 'just desert.'

The cross: Dr Katsuragi’s memento

But of course, we have to answer one question regarding Dr. Katsuragi's affection towards his daughter; why did he bring Misato along to Antarctica in 2000? Since there is no mention of her mother in the series, we can infer that he gained custody of Misato after the divorce, thus being her only guardian. Yet to bring a young child to Antarctica was nothing more than putting her in danger. While he did not know of his impending death, bringing his daughter to such a place was downright irresponsible. While there is not enough detail about this, bringing Misato for the expedition might have been his way of showing affection. An imperfect way to express his love for her.

Here, we can draw a parallel with Ikari Yui's actions during her contact experiment. Perhaps the reason why the Doctor wanted to show Misato the contact experiment was the same as the answer Yui gave to Fuyutsuki; "To show this child the possibility for a bright future." And like the Ikaris, Katsuragis also separated in a tragedy. A tragedy for everyone involved.

Looking at the second impact scene, we can observe the Doctor covered in more injuries than Misato. This is likely due to him shielding her from harm using his own body.

With all of his remaining strength, he hoists Misato into an evacuation capsule. His face is covered in blood, and tears roll down his cheeks as he put his cross necklace around her neck. He draws his last breath. This necklace symbolizes the Doctor's love. The love for his family. And the love for humanity. He instills it in the cross and passes on all that he held dear to Misato. She now has to protect herself. But with the cross, the Doctor's desire to protect humanity also gets passed onto her. A burden too big for a little girl to bear.

Even though she claims to dislike her father, Misato is to be confused about what to feel about him; he risked his life to protect her after all. The biggest reason she is at Nerv and fighting the angels is likely to remember him and continue his legacy. Thus, the necklace is a protection charm and emotional support for Misato. We can see this when she desperately grasps the cross as Zeruel is about to shoot its laser.

The cross in her hand

To Misato, the reason for her battle against the angels has less to do with the desire to protect humanity. She fights, as Ritsuko points out in episode 12, as a form of revenge. She admits to this fact in episode 15 during her conversation with Kaji. This is the reason why she takes on near-improbable strategies based on her 'gut feelings.' Especially in episode 12's battle against Sahaquel, the likelihood of success was 0.00001%. The subtitle for this episode is 'Don't make others suffer for your personal hatred.' This perhaps was something Ritsuko (or even Misato herself) was thinking deep down.

Yet to chalk all of this up to a simple desire for revenge is reductionistic at best. The cross in her hand was concurrently the unfulfilled love Dr. Katsuragi had for his family and also the hope for a brighter future for mankind. It was also a Cross, the symbol of the weight of responsibility, and it was what she stood for.

Various iconographies of crosses in Evangelion

The beginning of the universe?

Touching on the cross as we conclude this chapter, we are bombarded with its iconographies across the series. The most notable being the flash of light produced when the angels die. Seeing that this is observable during the third impact, it perhaps symbolizes the soul exiting the body. Another memorable cross is the one we see flashing during the opening sequence.

In the production commentary, the blue dot at the very start of the opening, which expends out in a circle and into a "red gas," is revealed to represent the big bang and the start of the universe. This is followed by the crosses that make up the transition into the title screen, the same kind of visual directions used for the in-episode eye-catch.

Beyond the surface-level representations listed, there are many more hidden references to this iconography. In episode 21, after Yui's absorption into Unit – 01's core, Gendou's shadow carries a gigantic cross. The object casting this shadow is not shown as it is only a symbolic representation. It represents the responsibility that he will carry, One that Yui used to carry and Gendou perverts. The responsibility to forgive humankind's original sin. In episode 4, when Shinji runs away from NERV, he walks down a long path shaped like a cross. This symbolizes the heavy responsibility that he is Fated to carry. That he is destined to be burdened with.

As Anno has put it, Evangelion is like a puzzle to be pieced together. There are many more such scenes, but I will leave it as it is for your enjoyment of discovery.

TBC Chapter 23 Katsuragi Misato Part 2 Dear Shinji, this is my Truth.

#Neon genesis evangelion #Evangelion #Eva #End of Evangelion #Nge #Nagisa Kaworu #Lilith #Sci-fi #Ikari Shinji #Soryu Asuka Langley #Asuka #Ayanami Rei #rei #Anno Hideaki #Katsuragi Misato #Kaji Ryoji #Anime #Analysis #Review

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writing-fanics · 3 years

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[ Mamoru x Fem!Reader ]

•Legend of the Forgotten Moon Princess•

[Part III] Mamoru and Y/n

a/n: in this chapter y/n and mamoru spend sometime together getting to know each-other a bit more...]

so complete of season one follows the manga the next part of the story will be season ii cause i really like that season.. but for the final battle im doing the show version with a twist at the end.... so im taking out the manga version of the reincarnation and having the tv show version instead since that one is more impactful and i like it more.

[ Finding Sailor Jupiter ]

[Y/n] was at the Crown Game Center, with Usagi, Ami, and Makoto. The new transfer student in Class 6, [Y/n] watches Makoto play the Sailor V, game.

"You sure you’ve never played this game before?” Usagi asks, Makoto.

”it’s the same as fighting in real life.” Makoto says, to her.

”you let the bad guy chase you so you can catch him off guard, then you hit him with your ultimate attack!” She says, as she plays the game.

”Ultimate attack!” Usagi says, in awe.

”Hi Usagi! Y/n! You’re here early today.” Ami says, as she walks towards them.

”Oh! Hi, Ami!” Both Y/n and, Usagi say. Looking towards her.

”Have you met the new girl yet? She just transferred into, Class 6 today.” Usagi says, to her.

“I’m Makoto Kino,” she says, looking over at Ami.

”I’m Ami Mizuno. I go to Juban, too. It’s so nice to meet you.” She says, to Makoto.

"Nice to meet you too." Makoto says, looking at the game. Then Motoki came over, "Hey Usagi! So are all the girls you're friends with cute." He says, and he looks and sees Makoto who turns her head and, looks at him. A blush spread across her cheeks,

"Its...you." She says, quietly looking at him. Then the sound of game over interrupted them, she turned back towards the screen.

"Oh! Nothing I thought you were someone else.." She says, looking back at them game.

[TIme-Skip] to bridal shop cause this bitch lazy..

"Well this is the bridal shop he was talking about." Ami says, as the girls look at it.

"It's also the same one Naru went to." Usagi says, looking at it.

"Where's Mako?" She says, looking around and sees her looking up at the shop, with a blush spread across her face. She sees a dress and, looks at it.

"So gorgeous. I wish I could wear a dress like that." Mako says, to herself.

As two girls pass by, "See thats the bridal shop." One girl says, pointing to it.

"You mean that's the shop thats cursed?" the girl beside her asks.

"That's right! Sometimes people see it! That ghost bride." [Y/n] says, looking at the shop.

"The mannequin on the balcony wanders around at night, trying to seduce the male-passers by Everybody! says so." She says, to them.

"And if you buy a dress from the shop, you become cursed by the ghost bride. and spend your life in misery." She says, looking at the shop.

"Whaa? Well, when I do get engaged, I'm not going to go there for a dress." Mako thinks, to herself. The girls, make their way towards Rei's.

Rei looks at Makoto and, feeling a powerful presence from her. All the girls catch Rei up, on the bridal shop.

"A cursed bridal shop? The ghost of a bride? Yes, it is suspicious." Rei says, to her friends.

"That groom who went missing...I wonder if he was seduced by that ghost bride?" Ami says, to herself.

"If he was, he's got no-one to blame but himself for being lured in by a ghost." Rei says, her arms folded. Makoto then turn back towards the girls,

"This is all too complex for me. I'm going home." Makoto says, to the girls then leaves. And, as she does Luna, jumps up onto Rei's, shoulder.

"Luna.." Rei says, looking towards Makoto...

"Yes.." Luna says, as she looks up at Rei.

"The day we're all assembled might be sooner than we think." Rei says, watching as Makoto walks away..

[Y/n] was fast asleep, in her bed when all of a sudden Tuxedo Mask, appears at her window. She gasps and, watches as he runs away. She rushes out of bed and, follows him. Atlas notices and, notifies everyone.

"Ami-Chan, Rei-Chan, Usagi-Chan, Wake up! Tuxedo Mask is leading Y/n-Chan away!" Atlas shouts, into the watch..[Y/n] arrives at the Bridal Shop from before, and gasps seeing Makoto. Everyone else, arrives and transforms. Seeing the ghost bride,

'Lunar Prism Power! Make-Up!' She shouts, as she transforms into Sailor Luna. And, everyone else into their own respective guardian.

"Stealing the sacred form of the blushing bride and whispering of love! We wont stand for it!" Sailor Moon, shouts at the ghost bride.

"I'm the Sailor Guardian, Sailor Luna. Who fights for the stars and, the moon above."

"I'm the pretty guardian sailor moon who fights for love, and for justice.."

"And, I'm the Sailor Guardian Sailor Mercury."

"And I'm, the Sailor Guardian Sailor Mars.."

"And we'll punish you"

They say..

"You were controlling and tricking people?" Makoto says, looking at the ghost bride.

"You mean you were serious damn it.." She says, as a symbol appears on her forehead.

"I'll let you know about a woman's pure feelings with raw strength." She says, picking up the ghost bride, then she suddenly transforms into Sailor Jupiter.

"Flower Hurricane!" She shouts, as a flower hurricane appears. "Jupiter, the planet I guard, bring a storm!! And down your thunder!" She shouts, at Nephrite.

"Jupiter Thunder-bolt!" She shouts, as a thunderbolt strikes Nephrite killing him...Makoto falls to the ground, and all the girls run towards her to see if she's okay and, she was. And, Luna tells her that she's Sailor Jupiter..

- sorry for it being terrible and short i was using the manga'

[ time skip ] y/n's off doing her own thing she has work to do..

[Y/n] sighed, as she looked at the papers scattered on her desk. [Y/n] wrote down stuff, from her textbook down onto the paper. She looks down and, groans. She barely got any sleep last night, since she was up all night just, working on this and, was tired really tired.

She sighs and, decides to take a break. She makes some coffee and, decides to go out for a walk. Not knowing about what was happening outside, after walking for about ten minutes, she began to feel dizzy.

'My head is all fuzzy and, my strength is going... ugh what's going on?' She says and, she begins to fall to the ground.

'Must be the work of the enemy..' She thinks, as she falls to the ground.

Mamoru rounds the corner and, sees [Y/n] lying on the ground unconscious. He runs towards her, quickly checking for a pulse. He brings his hand to her cheek, "Hey! Snap out of it." He says, to her. And, she stirs awake looking him in the eyes, but seeing Tuxedo Mask.

"Tuxedo Mask!" She says, in amazement looking at him.

"What are you doing here?" She asks, as her cheeks turn red.

"My bad judgement and actions brought us to this point." He says, to her and, she looks at him in shock.

"Tuxedo Mask! So this whole situation was your.... You did it are you actually?" She asks, worried.

"No, I'm not! I didn't mean for this to happen! I wanted to find the Legendary Silver Crystal no matter the cost. But I didn't have any information to work on!" He says, looking at her.

"And I don't have powers like you do!" He says, to her. And she gasps,

"You must transform into Sailor Luna! I can't do anything about this situation myself at this point." He says, and, she gasps once more.

"Y-You know I'm Sailor Luna.. Just who in the world are you?" She asks, looking him in the eyes.

"You're the only one who can come to the rescue." He says, to her. And she looks him, in the eyes. Those familiar eyes, that would seem that she sees everymorning.

[Y/n] stands up and, places her hands on her brooch.

'Lunar Prism Power Make-Up!'

[Y/n] then makes, her way to where everyone else, was...She gasps, seeing so many people, lying on the ground she didn't know if they were dead or just unconscious. Even though she's seen stuff from the enemy, nothing to this extent. She was scared nervous, what if she couldn't bring anyone back...

But then she felt a pair of arms wrap around her, "Snap out of it Sailor Luna! I know you can do it." Tuxedo Mask, said to her as tears ran down her cheeks. Then a stick appeared and, it was in the shape of a star. She takes it in her hands, "Please! Take everybody.. and give them back their lives! Please!" She shouts, holding the stick..

And, after she did and, everyone was waking up. She suddenly felt sleepy and, went limp. "Sailor Luna?" He says, grabbing hold of her, before she hit the ground.

"You used too much power?" He says, looking down at her. A smile, spread across his face as he looks at her. He tucks, a strand of hair behind her ear.

"But well done.. Sailor Luna." He says, to her as he picks her up bridal style.

'What is this?'

"This familiar warmth..'

"It's as if this warmth is giving me back my energy'

As he places her on the his bed, he looks at her. She seemed so at peace, even though using up so much power and energy during that fight.

[Time-Skip]

[Y/n] woke up, in an unfamiliar place. She looked around, she was lying in someone else's bed. 'Where.. am I?" she says, as she looks around. She looks down and, sees a pocket watch. She looks at it and, sees that it has the phases of the moon on it.

"So you're awake?" Mamoru says, as he looks over at [Y/n] who looks, over at him. Then she looks at the suit he was wearing,

"Why are you Tuxedo Mask...?" She asks, looking at him.

"It's for my memory. That's why I have to get my hands on the Legendary Silver Crystal." He says, to her and, she looks at him.

"Your memory?" She asks, looking into his eyes.

"I lost my parents, on my sixth birthday. There was a car accident and, I lost both of my parents. And, I forgot who I was." He says and, [Y/n] gasps tears running down her cheeks.

"And, I started having the same dream over and over. Find the Legendary Silver Crystal.. Just that phase. time and time again in my dreams." He says and, she looks at him.

"And before I knew it... I was stealing through the city at night like some strange sleep-walker! Wearing a tuxedo like some phantom thief." He says,

"The only clue to my past, are the word find the legendary silver crystal." He says,

"What about you?" He asks and, she blushes looking down.

"Um... Well it isn't so quite defined Atlas told me to find it alongside Sailor Moon, and protect it, so.." She says, blushing.

"I see." He says and, she looks at him curiosly.

[Y/n] brought the mask closer to his face, placing it over his eyes. She should've known, that all to familiar voice that she heard, every morning. Those all to familiar eyes she'd, get lost in. Even though she only lives a few doors down the hall. This moment in time between them felt like, they've met this way before but in different circumstances. But at this moment, if time were to stop she wouldn't mind at all.

She looked down nervously, her heart racing. "A-Atlas is waiting for me. I... have to go home." She says, turning to leave but stops, when Mamoru place his hand, on her shoulder. Her heart pounding against her chest, "N/n." He says, and she turns around to look at him.

A blush spread across her face, "N/n. Your bag." He says, and she nervously takes it from him. Covering her face with it, as her face turned bright red. She walks towards the door, and leaves.

'...He called me "N/n" That's who he said.' She says, thinking to herself as she walks down the hallway to her apartment, her heart racing as she thinks of him.

'Maybe I could call him "Since he's Mamoru, maybe I can call him Mamo-Chan.' She thinks, stopping outside her door. She reaches, into her pocket. And pulls out Mamoru's broken pocket watch,

'I brought it with me... his broken pocket watch.' she stares at it, bringing it to her lips and kissing it. This all too familiar warmth returning once more, but stronger than ever before. [Y/n] has never fallen in love before, but this moment was completely different, she feels like she already knows him.

He's opened up to her, he trusts her enough to tell her why he's going after the Legendary Silver Crystal. That moment, between them just moments ago. Felt as if they were in a fairy tale, as if they were two lovers. Finding out each-other's secret identities, a fairy tale she wanted to be in.

She never thought she'd fall in love so quickly, but it doesn't feel wrong. Not one bit, for to her it feels like she's falling in love with him all over again. As if she knew him from as past life. She looked up, hearing that voice once more.

'You're my one and only love.'

She walked into her apartment and, sighed as she thought of Mamoru. She brought her hand up to her face, her face bright red. A smile spread across her face, as she looked at the broken pocket watch. She held it close to her chest, holding it over her heart.

'Is this what being in love is like?'

{ Chapter Four } Princess Serenity and Princess Y/n Sneak Peek

And how Mamoru noticed, how shaken and scared she was. When they tried to talk to her, [Y/n]'s face turns red, as she feels Mamoru's hand on hers. "Are you okay?" He asks, and she looks down, then at him. Her heart racing, pounding against her chest. "Yeah, I'm fine Mamo. Just seeing them, after all those years startled me." She says, looking up at him, smiling.

They close the gap between them, their lips touching. [Y/n]'s hand places her hands, on Mamoru's chest. This kiss between them, felt magical familiar as if, out of a fairy tale. Mamoru places his hands, on her waist. She didn't want, this moment between them to stop.

He weakly brings his hands up, looking at [Y/n] who looked down at him worried, tears in her eyes. 'I remember now, I came back to be with you again. I found you, Y/n." He says, his hand going limp.

"My...Star." He says, and [Y/n] looks down at him in shock, tears streaming down her cheeks. [Y/n] shakes her head, and screams in anguish. As she wraps her arms around Mamoru, tears streaming down her cheeks.

#fanfic #x reader #angst #headcanons #fluff #romance #Sailor Moon #Mamoru x female reader #sailor moon fandom #sailor moon fanfic #x reader sailor moon #Mamoru x Y/n #Fanfic #legend of the Forgotten moon princess

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notapinklasagna · 3 years

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Ok, so i watched th new sailor moon movie and boy do i have some thoughts

Note: if you, by any means, want to talk about sailor moon lore, theories, or just fan over the show, send me a message i am in dying need of someone to talk to about this

So, i...i don't know how to feel about the way the movie just changed the dream arc plotline, i watched the 90s show, and i really adored how the whole motive of queen Negerelia was...ultimately, loneliness, as she was always praised as a queen yet never loved as a person, she has a truly beautiful resolution when she reverses into her childhood and seeks out for genuine human care...the movie kicks that and reduces her to "bad scary girl craving darkness" ...which is just a shame, i understand this, along so many other changes were made so the arc could fit a summarized movie format...but it still such a loss...also, this twisted plotline gave a reason to the down fall of the platinum millennium...which is...not great?

I also don't understand why they kind of merged the argument of the stars arc with the dream arc? Like, the whole " crystal inside you" thing is supposed to be the big deal during the stars arc but they just kind of..borrowed it so that the resolution made more sense... but ok? Furthermore, the whole "little princess guardian inside the girls" deal was weird, like, it kind of made sense? But it was weird, that, along with the "we have castles in our planets thing" just...opens so much possibilities, are the sailor scouts rulers of their planets? Do they have duties over there, if so, that applies to ALL scouts? Even the asteroid amazons? And that's another thing, the movie implies the Amazon quartet are going to be the protector sailor scouts for chibi moon? As the Senshi are to sailor moon? How does that work? Are the sailor tittles inheritable? Like, is chibiusa eventually going to be sailor moon when her mother becomes the queen, likewise, the other scouts are ever going to step down as scouts to assume other roles while other girls become new sailor Mercury, Mars and the others? Or...no? How does any of that work?

Another thing is..as much as I love Helios and chibiusa's relationship, as they said Mamoru, Helios, the earth and helisium are all connected and "the same" doesn't imply that somehow chibiusa is dating her father? What? Like, in the show it wasn't portraited that way, it was said that Helios worked under Mamoru as the guardian of helisium, and his relationship with chibiusa made sense because this two share a confidant dynamic, chibiusa told him her woes and he offered advice, building up to mutual trust on one another, and even if i crave more of this two, i don't like how the movie is like " oh yes she is my damsel, she has always been and always will be"... pleaseee i need actual romance for this two lovebirds...

Last of my complaints would be the way they treated Haruka...i absolutely adored the three parent dynamic the outer senshi have with Hotaru, it was lovely seeing them raising her! Yet, i feel they made this lesbians so, so, dirty...this movie stayed true to sailor moon's iconic gender ambiguity with the Amazon trio, going as far as to openly address the crow guy as a man as he wore a beautiful dress, putting the queerness in front of everyone's eyes..

Yet, Haruka and Michiru, both who are confirmed lesbians, where just left there...in both the gender ambiguity of our favorite tomboy Haruka and her relationship with Michiru, first, we all now that Haruka has no problem being addressed as a man, in one panel of the manga she even says it's funny, however, the movie lack the " oh she is actually a girl (or at the very least not a full on guy) , just loves manly things" moment, which i believe it's crucial to the character, with that in mind, remembering that Haruka's masculinity served as a way for her relationship with Michiru to not be as frowned upon back in the day...it really suck how we didn't get a single scrap out of them, not s loving stare, not holding hands....a kiss, perhaps? Nope, not a thing...

Now, enough with the ranting, for what i absolutely adore out of the movie, it gave us so much Mamoru x usagi romance material, the kid like dream, the dream confession before the final battle? Hell, the whole king/ queen moment at the end was pure gold and i absolutely adore out very single second of it...on that note, i love how they addressed head on the fact that Toxedo mask is indeed low-key the weakest link out of all the sailor scouts of the solar system, that was great insight on Mamoru's insecurities and how he truly feels about being a scout without it tying directly to usagi or some villain, also loved the insight on the girls insecurities about their family and desires, i found funny how on the show Rei is the only other one of the inner senshi (aside sailor moon) to have a solid romantic interest, that temple guy, but then in this movie it is mentioned that she was the only scout to make a somewhat chastity pledge to the princess and how she don't need no man, i find that hilarious.

I overall liked the movie, it was well scripted and i had a super fun time just watching this characters i love so much, i just....want to talk about this, cause it brings me great joy~

#sailor moon

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sittingoverheredreaming · 3 years

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Same Prompt Party- Rei

Like a Lion, Like a (Sacrificial) Lamb

This is a 2,500 word prequel to my first two prompt party fics. My idea was probably a little too big for what I could pull off, but I hope you enjoy!

__________

“Looks like someone’s on the prowl,” Mina said, leaning against one of the shrine walls in the morning sun, coffee in hand.

“Shut up.” Rei handed her a broom. “Get to work or get out of here.” It was the weekend, Mina couldn’t just laze about. “And get changed, if you’re staying.”

Mina waved her off. “I’ll be out of sight before anyone comes, don’t worry. Grandpa has me selling charms later, I’m just waking myself up enough to get some studying in before that.”

Rei humphed and turned on her heel, but she felt the twinge of sorrow she felt anytime she was presented with Mina taking college seriously, the same twinge that had led her to abandon all her better judgement and allow Mina to live at the shrine while attending university. She hadn’t expected Mina would go to college at all, much less put real effort into it. Mina had joked that it was to give her an extra edge, a cool air, when she finally did become an idol, but Rei saw through the classes she was taking. Politics, law, languages-- not just her easy A in English but Mandarin and Spanish and at least one other Rei could not recognize. Whatever explanation she gave for each-- Well I’m going to have international fans!-- she wasn’t preparing for a life of celebrity. She was preparing to be second-in-command of the world.

Rei was sure Mina could sense Crystal Tokyo’s approach the same as she did. Not something she Saw, but something that she felt, like it was a lion hiding in the grass behind her, waiting to pounce. If she could only see it, she could face it head on, as was the Rei Hino way, blazing forward until she could bend the future towards a shape she liked better.

“And where are you going?” Mina called after her as she started down the stairs to the road. Rei didn’t answer. If she told Mina about her planned reconnaissance, Mina would want in on it. Rei did not have the time for self reflection on whether she thought Mina would ruin it or if she just wanted to shoulder it alone.

And when she arrived at the steps of the Tsukino house, she realized she also had not reflected on an excuse for being there. Usagi had her own home with Mamoru now. Ikuko would be happy to see her, Rei was sure, but still she would ask--

“Rei, I haven’t seen you in so long! What’s brought you here?” Ikuko smiled in the doorway.

Rei opened her mouth, then shut it, no lie forming on her tongue.

“I asked her to help me with a project for school,” Chibiusa said from somewhere inside, hardly missing a beat. “Stupid Usagi says she’s too busy.

“Oh, how wonderful. Have you had breakfast? I can make you something!”

Rei said she had, a lie coming easily now that it didn’t matter. Chibiusa led her up to the room that had once been Usagi’s. It still had a good bit of Usagi’s things in it, organized like they never had been while she had lived there. Rei had to look hard to see what Chibiusa had brought down from the loft to make it hers-- a few photos of Hotaru and Momo, a stack of books that weren’t Usagi’s manga, an extra pillow on the bed.

“You want to ask about Crystal Tokyo, don’t you?” Chibiusa said as soon as the door was closed.

“It’s coming soon.”

Chibiusa nodded, face grim. She looked less like a little girl everyday, it seemed. Rei knew she was already studying for highschool entrance exams, however unlikely it seemed that she’d be able to stay in this time for them. “You can’t stop it.”

“Why not?”

Chibiusa rolled her eyes and sat on her bed. “If you could, you would have the first time. None of you would have let all the destruction that leads to it happen.”

“But now we know it’s coming. And we have you.”

“You think I can tell you things you aren’t supposed to know?” Chibiusa leaned back and shut her eyes. “It’s taboo.”

“Pluto’s done plenty of taboo things.”

“But you don’t see her stopping any of this.”

“Don’t you want--” Rei stopped herself. Would Chibiusa want to stop Crystal Tokyo? It was her home, her birthplace and birthright.

“Of course I want to stop it,” Chibiusa whispered. “I’m here. If I was born here…” She shook her head. “But there’s no way for you to make that happen.”

“There’s always a way.”

Rei left with nothing, but she was nothing if not persistent. The next time Rei came, Chibiusa let slip that the battle that birthed Crystal Tokyo occurred in early spring, and on another day she mentioned how the Silver Crystal had changed the Earth itself into its likeness to draw in the power Usagi had needed to heal everyone in the aftermath.

“That sort of healing changes things,” Chibiusa said, seemingly forgetting she’d said it was taboo. “Pluto said she thinks that’s why you all are so different from now.”

“Then just have to make sure we get through unscathed.”

“You can’t.”

“But knowing has to mean something. There’s never a future that can’t be changed.” Rei clenched her fists. “There’s no way I’m just letting this happen.”

“There’s no way you’re stopping it either.” Chibiusa crossed her arms against and leaned against the wall. “You can try all you want, or you can enjoy the time before it happens.”

“You said there’s hardly any time left.”

“Yeah, I did.” She looked murderous for a moment, but then her face softened. “You should take me for ice cream. You used to do that all the time.”

Rei nearly snapped that they were in no position to do anything of the sort, but she caught herself in time. The urge to scoop Chibiusa into her arms like she was small again overtook her anger. “I thought you were too old and cool to get ice cream with us.”

“Only Usagi.” Chibiusa stuck out her tongue. “She’d embarrass me for sure.”

Rei had to smile. “That’s true.”

She took Chibiusa to one of the many ice cream shops that had been the front for an evil scheme and then stuck around. Chibiusa stood on her toes to order from the ice cream case. She was taller than Usagi now, but only just.

“How’s living with Mina?” she asked when they’d gotten their ice cream and taken it to a bench outside.

“Don’t even ask.”

“So you haven’t kissed her yet?”

“What!?” Rei nearly dropped-- or nearly threw-- her ice cream. If it had been Usagi and not Chibiusa, she might have thrown it at her. “I don’t--! What do you mean YET?”

Chibiusa laughed. “Darn, I bet Hotaru you would before everything goes down.”

“I don’t even… Mina? Really?” Rei shook her head and stabbed her spoon into her scoop of ice cream, leaving deep crevice lines across it. Her face was warm, and that was absurd. She refused to think about it.

“You haven’t told her you’re trying to stop this either, then, have you?” Chibiusa kicked her feet up and down. “Didn’t you promise after the last time you had visions of the end of the world you wouldn’t keep these things a secret?”

“Well, I haven’t had a vision, and it’s not the end of the world. And,” Rei pointed at Chibiusa with her spoon, “you’ve hardly told me anything.”

Chibiusa pointed right back, for a moment the spitting image of her mother. “You’re just trying to save everyone from even worrying about it.”

“What’s wrong with that?” Rei set her ice cream aside. “She’s already worrying. She says she’s not, but she is.” She tilted her head back and stared up at the sky. “I want to fight this alone for her. For everyone. I know my own power, I know that if I can just find the right way to do it, I can take down whatever’s coming, and then everyone can live a life they choose. And if I can do that, why wouldn’t I?”

“Because you’d yell at anyone else trying to do the same thing.”

“No one else is me.”

Chibiusa made a sound that might have been a laugh and might have been a humph of annoyance and might have been both. “I guess I can’t argue that point.” She took a bite of her ice cream and sighed. “I’m starting to see why Usagi finds you so annoying.”

“Hey!” Rei tapped her fist between Chibiusa’s pig tails. Chibiusa stuck out her tongue, then hopped up off the bench and danced out of reach, laughing. Rei wasn’t sure if it was her own age or worry that held her back from giving chase.

And then, only weeks later, as the weather turned warm and green buds appeared on the trees, the cataclysm struck. The sky went dark and the air tasted of copper and a great distorted shadow brought forth monsters the likes of which they’d never fought from a deep crack in the earth.

Mina gave orders, and Rei ignored them all to fight forward towards the source alone. She would stop this. She had to stop this. She blazed through the hordes of beasts, even as she grew aware that they were overwhelming the others behind her. She just had to get through and end it before it was too much. She could do it. She had too.

Rei almost didn’t hear Usagi’s scream over the hiss of the monsters and the crackle of her fire, but she felt it in her bones. A jolt of fear shocked cold from her fingertips to her heart. Usagi’s scream persisted. Rei was not getting through fast enough. She called on every spark of power she had to push forward and take down as many of the monsters as she could. She was a monster of her own, a great beast of fire, unstoppable in her hunt. The monsters fell by the dozens around her, coming in greater numbers, dying in greater numbers, the closer she got to their source.

Still she did not burn them all. For every three that fell charred against the ground another two escaped smoldering, and others still skirted the range of her attacks.

Somewhere far behind her, Usagi stopped screaming. For one warm, beautiful second Rei thought she had done good enough, that the others might have been safe, and then the cold certainty that they were not settled in. Something inside her, Mars, her own psychic sense, she couldn’t be sure, knew that Usagi had been struck down, not dead but nearly, and any of the others that were not down yet would be soon.

Rei charged forward, but she knew-- Chibiusa had been right. She could not stop this. The great chasm the beasts poured from was in sight before her. Was it the same chasm the first crystal towers would rise from, when Usagi called on the Silver Crystal with the last of her strength? The shadow that had struck down from the sky had merged with the earth around the fissure, making it crackle with power that surged as she approached. It threw her back. The monsters absorbed it, growing immune to her fire.

A cold washed over her limbs. Her attacks weakened, more of her strength drawn for each one. She sank to her knees. She was going to fall, and awake as something that wasn’t quite herself, in a world that wasn’t quite her own. Rei clenched her fists against the ground. The shadows grew darker around her.

“I told you you couldn’t stop it.”

At once, a light appeared. Chibiusa stood at Rei’s side, one hand on Rei’s shoulder, the other holding her own Silver Crystal, using its power to drive back the beasts. Her hair blew wildly in the wind, her eyes were locked on the chasm.

Rei reached up to her. “Chibiusa…”

“But I can.” She glanced down at Rei and smiled. “I’ve been planning this for a while. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.” She took her hand off Rei’s shoulder and pulled her old Luna-P ball out of thin air. “You’d have tried to stop me.”

The exhaustion was creeping into Rei’s mind, she couldn’t put together what Chibiusa was going to do. “I’ll still stop you,” she said anyway.

“Yeah, I’m sure.” Chibiusa nudged her with her foot, and she fell over. Rei could not find the strength to get back up. “I know the life I want to choose, Rei.” Luna-P changed in her hand, forming the sharp, heavy shape of a gun.

“What are you…?”

“I don’t know if I’ll be able to visit anymore after this, I don’t know if I’ll even…” She trailed off, and stepped toward the chasm. “Don’t tell Usagi, okay? Or Hotaru. Hotaru knows I might not come back, since I’m supposed to be born within a few years, and that’s enough, I think.”

She took another step. The earth groaned as it opened further, the crack spreading towards her.

Rei forced herself up onto her elbows. “Watch out-!”

“I know. Don’t worry.” Another few steps, another groan as the ground split further. Chibiusa had the same air of calm Usagi got when she used the crystal. Rei felt a compulsive trust in her even as her heart beat wild with fear.

“Thank you, Rei, for trying to do this. And for the ice cream.”

The ground beneath Chibiusa opened to swallow her. As she fell, she threw the crystal into the air. A bang sounded barely a second before the earth closed, and the Silver Crystal shattered. For a moment the shards hung in the air as though frozen, and then a blinding white light exploded out from them. Heat and wind rushed over Rei, so overwhelming that she lost awareness of even her exhaustion, so intense that she thought the world might be ending after all.

And then it cleared, and she was in the middle of a Tokyo park on an early spring day, beneath a clear blue sky. Her sailor uniform was gone, replaced by the clothes she’d put on that morning. She felt none of the battle weariness that had plagued her moments before, she felt perfectly fine, except… there was something missing. There was something cold and empty where there once had been fire.

Rei swallowed hard and looked behind her. The others were sitting up from the ground, entirely unscathed. Mina met her eyes, and even from a distance Rei could see that she felt it too. Their powers, the part of their soul that had housed them, were gone.

“Is it… is it over?” Usagi asked, tears in her eyes as Rei approached. “Did we win?”

Rei sat on the grass next to her, remembering the last thing Chibiusa had asked of her. She could never tell Usagi the cost. “Yeah,” she said, forcing a smile. “We did.”

#sam writes

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docholligay · 3 years

Note

For the rewrite: You get to rewrite D-Point/S1 finale but in a way that it could still fit into where the rest of the series goes and R could start as normal. How would you do it?

UGH. So basically I have to keep the weird false divide between inners and outers. FURI YOU LOATHE ME. This is obviously only part of it, as, uh, I am long-winded and love a bit of drama, but 1800 words. please enjoy

The wind whirled grey across that empty arctic plain. Well, not quite empty. If rei had been turned another direction, she would have seen Ami’s body, perched on a mound of ice, there in the far background from where Mina had dragged them both away from the scene, as if her own element were constructing a tomb to her. She knew without seeing that Ami would be dressed in that loose grey sweater and awkward green skirt that came down to her calves, a pair of loafers on her feet. It was what she had been wearing last time they’d transformed. The uniform leaves, when a senshi dies.

She’d found that out with Mako.

Rei hadn’t seen Ami die. She hadn’t needed to. It had, like she’d said, afforded Rei and Mina the time to move forward along that plain, trying to find the place where they could enter the lair where Beryl was said to sit, on this desolate patch of earth that might have been beautiful, thousands of years ago, when it was the seat of power for the earth, but now was as lifeless as everything else behind them.

Mina’s nose was in the air, as if she could smell anything but the bright cold of the wind. As if she could hear anything but that howling which might have been the same wind, but just as likely might have been Usagi. It could have been Rei’s own soul, too, she supposed.

She wanted to melt all of it. She wanted to take her arms off from around Usagi, put her hands together, and bring it all to dirt. How foolish they would be, bringing a fire maiden to the ice, not knowing what sort of powers she contained. She was the ace in the hole, she knew. She was the strongest one, here, if her pride did not allow her to remember that might not be true everywhere.

MIna stepped back from her lookout and glanced over to Rei and Usagi. “Sailor Moon. Princess.” Usagi looked up at her, tears half-frozen on her cheeks, “We have to keep going. If we stay here, they’ll find us straightaway.”

Rei wanted to protest, but only in the way that she wanted the girl before her to be Mina and not Venus. She had never mastered that in the same way Mina had, to be two people in one body. She was always Rei, and Mars was only ever Rei with the fire at her fingertips instead of her heart. Mina was warm and bright, if a bit annoying--a neon light, flashing in the cool darkness--but Venus was sheer steel, cold and unrelenting.

Usagi began wailing.

“But, but--” she took a deep breath, and coughed against the cold, “Am--”

“Sailor Mercury did her duty. It would be worst disrespect to her death not to do ours.” She looped the chain at her waist, tightening it as she went to move forward. “It’s getting closer to the surface, over that way.”

Rei hadn’t known Mina very long, as a practical matter. It was only recently that Rei had come to see her as anything other than a usurper, strolling into the group and declaring herself the military commander of the entire operation. Luna had said nothing to disagree, simply called her Commander Venus as Rei glared.

“I am the commander,” Mina had sipped at her tea, eyes sparking in the way they often did when she and Rei were alone, something that tugged onto Rei and made her keep looking. She blamed the moon. “But you are the personal bodyguard. You are the last one standing, because that’s your job.”

“Who decided that anyway?” Rei had scowled across the table, Mina leaning toward her, those clever eyes searching her too deeply, “You? You just think you can show up and--”

She’d laughed. “Oh, I don’t decide anything.” She looked up out the window to the sky. “This is so far beyond you and me.”

Rei went to protest that it didn’t have to be that way, that nothing was beyond her exactly, but Mina never gave her the opportunity.

“Don’t you want to protect Usagi?” MIna had come just a little closer to her, and she could smell that near-syrup sweetness, like peaches in a can, “Can’t you feel that you should? Why do you think that is.”

“That’s different.” Rei said, both then and now, Mina and Usagi both looking at her suddenly.

“What is?” Mina had her hands on her hips.

Rei shook her head, but did not remove her arms from Usagi’s side. “Let’s go.”

The terrain was not so flat as it looked, and Usagi stumbled as she cried, protesting that Rei and Mina didn’t care about their friends, neither of them rising to the occasion. Even now, Usagi did not seem to realize that this was it. This was the grand battle for which they had been reborn, this was the one they had to win. Every battle leading up to this had only ever been dress rehearsal.

It was not Ami and Mako at risk, but the world entire.

Mina stopped, putting her hand on Rei’s chest to pause her, but flashing her a grin that was beyond Venus as she did so. There was a glow in the earth, here, just barely, if you looked beyond the snow. Anyone else might have walked past it, might have stepped over it, but Mina put her hand down onto it, and it pulsed beneath her hand.

There was a rumble, and a crack, and Mina pushed them both back, grabbing to the chain at her side and beginning to swing. Usagi whimpered, again, and Mina turned back to the two of them, chain still gliding in golden figure eight over her head, as if it were a crown all her own.

“You have to go.” Mina’s eyes looked greyer, somehow, in this light, “Take her and head for the point on the far horizon. You have to get her there, Mars.”

Usagi tried to pull away from Rei’s heat, to no avail.

“Venus! We can’t leave you!” She began to cry again, her whimpering cry mixing with that same cold wind and drilling into Rei’s ears. “You can’t die too!”

“No,” she shook her head, “you can’t die, Princess. You’re the key. You’ve always been the key.”

Rei saw, in that moment, that it was never going to be otherwise. This was always how it ended. It was always Mars, bow on her back, taking the princess where she needed to be. Even if they won. Even if they failed. She was always the last one standing, always the final line of defense, and it was always her fire that protected the princess. The fire hadn’t shown her that before. It had never been close enough to see by its light.

Before Usagi could say otherwise, the ground burst open, and two of the youma guards popped out, mouths wide with delight and fury as they careened toward the three. MIna’s chain curved in a broad arc in the air, and came down, wrapping around a youma’s arm, twisting it back as she drew the chain in. But the other youma was fast approaching, and Mina was forced to step back, hurtling one youma into the other with a fierce swing of the chain.

She turned her head.

“Go!”

Rei stammered for a moment, unsure in a way that felt wrong and less stable than the crust of snow beneath her feet. But what about you? She wanted to say. If we leave you, you’ll die, and she saw Mina leaning over the table again, and she felt her body close in, and she could barely draw a breath at this moment, everything that might have been burning in the fire of what was to be.

Mina whipped the chain over her, moving deftly as she looped in around her neck and rerouted it, sparking one and then the other with its tip, blood beginning to tear from the two of them. Her violence was poetry, Rei thought, the chain her pen. She was nothing like the rest of them, stronger than Ami, more elegant than Mako, and, though she would only ever allow this in though, perhaps more clever than Rei herself. She was a creature created for this moment, a valkyrie of the long odds.

They staggered back, weapons drawn, unsure of how to handle this unusual weapon.

Mina looked back, blonde hair whipping in the wind, eyes narrowed.

“Go or I will kill you myself.”

Rei nodded, in that, the first command from Mina for which she had no moment to question or balk, and for which she felt no drive to do so. She took Usagi by the shoulders, her cries fading into the background against the shoosh of Mina’s chain.

As Rei started to move away, the youmas rushed at Mina, trying to flank her from the sides, but Mina was too quick and too studied, whipping the chain around her and knelling to the ground, catching them both with the end of it, howls as they furiously took another blow before they could turn to run, but un they did, escaping back down the hole in the ice.

“Have to go after them, unsettle the place.” MIna grinned back to Rei, and blew a kiss. “Think of me, fireball.”

Rei hated the nickname instantly. Rei hoped she would say it again. But she became Venus again.

“Princess. Your duty to the world is at hand. Do it.”

She did not wait for a reply, simply whipped the chain above her and disappeared down the hole. As Rei dragged Usagi away, still crying and screaming, Rei fought back tears of her own, hearing the fighting below them, hearing the thunderous roar of the troops coming to aid, knowing that Mina would die down there, bloody and bruised, her body broken in a horrible, dark, cold cave at the end of nowhere.

There was the entrance up ahead. Mina was right, they were scattered, they assumed the senshi had all entered together, they had not thought of it as Mina had, as Venus always would, and now was their moment.

“CRESCENT!!! BEAM!!!!” She heard echoing on the tundra behind her, and then there was a grand explosion, the tearing and rending of the earth behind them, and Rei and Usagi looked back to see a golden crest in the sky, rocks and dirt and snow flying from where she had blown apart the tunnel she was in, a sudden still silence filling the air, a fine red mist settling into perfect ruby snowflakes into that same wind, and whispering out toward she and Usagi.

Usagi screamed. It might have been Mina’s name, or Venus’, but it was a tuneless thing and might have been neither of them at all.

Onward. Make it worth it.

She grabbed Usagi’s arm, and pulled.

#thoughtfulfuri #Eight Days 2020 #SM rewrites #basically what if instead of just a line of getting killed there were a handful of tactics #give them some credit

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shnuggletea · 3 years

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Chapter 22 is now LIVE on fanfiction and AO3!

For those of you keeping count, this is twenty-two of twenty-four chapters. Now that the voting has closed, I will be finishing up the finale! Thank you to all of you who voted! I will be getting that chapter to you soon! Chapter 24 will be live on Patreon asap, I have to finish writing it! But! You guys voted so now I can write the finale based on your thoughts!!

Just so people that are interested know, I’m currently working on the next chapter of Enchanted. No, I haven’t forgotten and yes, I am going to finish it someday. Better read it while you can though cause I’m going to turn it into an original and take it off the site pretty much as soon as it’s done!

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Wanna catch up from the beginning? Fanfiction here and AO3 here!

Chapter 22

“Your memory feels like home to me. So whenever my mind wanders, it always finds it’s way back to you.” ― Ranata Suzuki

Waking to black hair in the bed with her had been startling until she remembered and realized it was just Rei, her back to her as she slept.

Rising carefully, she managed to remove herself from the bed without waking either black haired guardian within it. Tiptoeing to her dresser, she traded out her PJs for a pair of jeans and a thick sweater. As quietly as possible, she pushed her feet into her boots and pulled on her coat as she left the apartment, all occupants snoring softly inside.

The frozen ground crunched under her soles as she walked, the grass-covered in ice from the morning dew that froze in the cold. Even in the middle of winter and night, the park still looked beautiful, the trees glittering slightly from the frost that covered them. The moon was still up, high in the sky as it slowly made its way down to the other side of the world. It seemed to glitter as well.

Once in the park, it didn't take her long to find him, standing in front of the pond they shared a kiss at in one of their lives. Without a word or hesitation, they wrapped their arms around each other once she neared him. There was no explanation for it, the two of them just knowing to come to this exact spot and knowing the other would be there.

He planted a kiss on her forehead, still holding on to her tight. "I'm sorry I didn't keep my promise to protect you."

"Why didn't you? And why don't I remember any of that?"

He chuckled, "Usako, you were four years old. I'm surprised you remembered your name!"

"But you weren't. If I was four then you were seven. Why didn't you remember and tell me before?"

He stiffened and she felt it all as it rushed through him to her. Her arms around his waist, she pulled him in as tight as she could. "Oh Mamo, I'm so sorry."

Silence fell over them, or at least, they would appear silent to anyone who happened to pass by at such a late hour. The two of them consoling one another with all their might. Him for not being there for her as promised at no fault of his own and her for the loss of his family and memories. She desperately wished she had memories of them for him, to share with him. If only they had gone inside; if she and her mom had gone in just to say 'hi' or let his parents know what he had done….

"Stop, Usako, it's not your fault." She let it go, nodding in understanding. Not wanting to upset him any further. "I wanted to show you something."

Pulling herself from his chest, she found him with a grin and a twinkle in his eyes, reminding her very much of Endymion at that moment. "Really? Haven't you already shown me enough?"

His grin turned to a smirk but said nothing from his link or his mouth. It fell past her face so small and fast, she wasn't sure she really saw it. But then more began to fall, the small white flakes each perfect in their own way.

He released her and she stepped away, watching as the sky turned white. Her hand stuck up in the air, catching a few flakes as if to test if they were real. Then she let them both fly out, catching as many as she could in her palms. She giggled, spinning in the white fluff, it sticking and starting to pile up on the ground already.

Even though she already knew he was, she turned back, finding his eyes on her and her heart raced. "I know what you are doing by the way." He flinched slightly, not sure how he thought he could hide it from her. "But it doesn't matter now, whether I am like Serenity or not."

A smile slowly formed on his face. "And why is that?"

Her heart was beating erratically, barely containing it inside her chest. "You know why."

He made his way to her, the thick snow crunching under his feet and not another sound other than the snow softly hitting the Earth. "I still want to hear you say it."

Her arms across her chest, she did her best to protect herself, even though there was no point. "I don't need to be Serenity because you love me." He nodded, wrapping his arms around her again. "And I love you, Mamoru."

With her heart already pulsing, she actually needed the alarm from her communicator. Mamoru released her just enough for them to look at it together. "Usagi-chan, Youma. Downtown shopping district."

Luna sent the coordinates, even though she didn't need them, already feeling the pull. She pulled the rest of the way free from Mamoru, readying to transform. "What is with these bad guys? Why in the world would they attack that area in the middle of the night?"

"Usako." He grabbed her arm, stopping her from moving or transforming. "This isn't about other people, it's about you."

"What?"

"Think about it. That last attack, they set it up for you. They are targeting you."

A shiver ran through her, a combination of their fears and worries. "Do you think that's why they attacked me in the arcade?"

His head shook, "I don't know. But it didn't feel that way. They must be targeting Sailor Moon and Usagi."

She slumped, looking at the now white ground. "Great… just great."

"I won't let anything happen to you."

"I'm more worried about something happening to you." He tried to pull her back to him, but she twisted free. "We should go. Get there and end this before anything bad happens."

~*O*~

He really should be focusing more on the fight they were racing towards, but all he could do was watch the goddess next to him as they both raced. Leaping from one building to the next, her body arched across the skyline, snow dancing around her. He probably should stop the snow now, it only being an impediment for them in battle. But it made Usagi so happy…

This wasn't going to do, he was far too distracted. Pushing, he cleared his mind of thoughts that weren't helpful at the moment and focused on the throbbing pain in the back of his brain. A reaction to the Earth and the people on it getting wrecked in one way or another.

But none of it prepared him for what they found when they arrived at the scene of the crime. Because it truly was a crime scene. It took him too long to react, grabbing Sailor Moon and pulling her into him to hide her eyes, even though she had already seen it.

Bodies. Everywhere. At least 20 all completely drained of energy.

"Welcome to the party, Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen!"

It was the same voice from before, the one that had taunted them last time. All they could tell for sure was that it was a male voice. Or at least, it sounded male to them as humans. Sailor Moon pulled away from his hold but he kept her close, a hand on the small of her back that was ready to grab and pull or toss if necessary. With their link and his touch on her, he could feel the tension she held in her body. It matched his.

"What have you done, you monsters!"

The heartache and tears Sailor Moon had were felt by him and heard by all in her voice. A high pitched and annoying giggle filled the air, a second creature taking the 'mic'.

"We took what we needed before but this time, for you Sailor Moon, we took it all!"

Rage growled from deep in his belly, the bodies around him that were killed for no reason amplifying his feelings. "How about you show yourselves you freaking cowards?"

"Hmmm… no I don't think we will. Not yet anyway."

He felt like he could spit fire at the both of them, the male in particular who continued to mock them from his hiding spot. But someone else did come out of hiding, a creature that looked like a tree with legs. Brown bark made up the skin of it and branches from the middle and bottom where its legs and arms. Its hair was twigs and leaves, twisting and shaking with every step it took closer to them.

On instinct, he threw Sailor Moon behind him. If the creature was any part of an Earth tree, this would be a short fight. Focusing, he watched as his golden cords fanned out and then wrapped around the monster. But they went no further, unable to penetrate the bark and dig into the Youma and take control. It wasn't from Earth at all.

The monster shrugged off his power, recoiling back to him with a snap and having him step back into Sailor Moon slightly. Then it started to shake, small at first but getting more and more violent until something burst out of its branches on the top of its head. Mixing with the falling snow, dark pink mixed with white, fat petals falling from the sky. Twisting, he wrapped his cape around Sailor Moon, even in her protests and shouts of fear for his safety. She was his priority.

But the petals didn't come near either of them, watching as they floated with a mind of their own only to land on the corpses around them. Attaching themselves to multiple parts and spots on their bodies, he watched in horror as the dead flesh began to twitch, tremor… then stand.

His arms still around her, they took several steps back but were quickly getting surrounded. "Tux…"

"I know, I know."

Pushing her behind him again, he punched a zombie that had gotten too close in the jaw. It hit the ground hard, a sick crunch from its bones, only to get right back up again. Laughter filled the air, his nausea burning his throat or his anger.

"I'm afraid you're going to have to do better than that, Tuxedo Kamen. Unless you want to just give us Sailor Moon?"

"Fuck you!"

Both voices erupted in laughter and his brain began to burn. Spinning on his heel, he found a wide-eyed Sailor Moon, tears brimming and making her blue pools sparkle. "Sailor Moon… they are already dead. Remember that."

Taking his staff, he pulled and unlocked the blade that hid inside it, the metal dull in the dark and early morning. The sharp intake of breath from Sailor Moon was deafening, only making what he had to do that much harder.

"Close your eyes, Usa." He whispered and prayed she obeyed.

But that wouldn't be Usako.

Grabbing it out of his hand, she flung the blade far, only getting a shocked glare shot at her before she ran from him. To make matters worse, the damn things followed her.

"Sailor Moon, cut it out!"

"I can't just let you… cut their heads off!"

He took off after her, kicking and punching as many of the walking dead out of his way as he followed. "They're already dead…"

"It doesn't matter! Think of what it will do to their families? What it will do to you!"

The idea of cutting someone's head off, dead or alive, did make his stomach turn. But it was better than the alternative, them getting Usagi. The nightmares would be nothing compared to the overwhelming pain he would feel if anything happened to her.

For a quick moment, he split from her, grabbing his blade back up and getting to her side. Sailor Moon reached for it to toss it again, but this time he was ready pulling back from her grasp to keep it in his hold. Now their backs were literally against the wall, the high brick wall that surrounded the parking lot they were in was behind them while zombies rounded on the two of them.

"Where the hell is everyone else?!"

Sailor Moon shivered from his tone and he pulled her closer to him, wrapping an arm around her waist.

"It will be okay. I promise I won't let anything happen to you."

"It's not me I'm worried about."

Her voice was shaking, the fear she had for him snaking through their connection. He couldn't stand it, her being so scared, all for him. The ground was quaking under them, his emotions taking control. But for once, he was thankful for it, the ground splitting open before them to create a deep barrier between them and the dead.

Just as they started to breathe easier, the dead began dropping into the hole. One after the other and Sailor Moon shrieked after them. It seemed pointless until they began to pile up. They were all reaching out for them, for Sailor Moon. It was enough to have his stomach turning again.

Not a moment too soon, fire filled the hole and he had to grab Sailor Moon again, covering her eyes. But nothing saved them from the smell. "Someone, kill the goddamn Yoma already!"

Now, ash-covered and charred arms reached for them, a few still on fire as they crawled out of the hole. Sailor Moon was sobbing while he was trying not to vomit. It would have been better if he had just cut their heads off after all.

"So much suffering for just one person…"

The bodies all went limp, the air shifting before them until a man stood before them. Well, not really a man, but he looked like one in a way. "You…"

"Oh? Have we met?"

Shit. This creature had attacked Mamoru not Tuxedo Kamen. He had almost fucked up royally.

"You are the cause of this? Ugly piece of shit like you?"

The creature fell for it, grimacing back at him. There had been two at the arcade the other day…

He felt it too late but still managed to throw Sailor Moon away and across the hole from them. The pink-haired bitch nearly sunk her claws into his blonde and he had to grab hold of her wrists to keep them from sinking into him.

"Tuxedo Kamen!"

"Just go!"

Sailor Moon was still on the ground, staring wide-eyed at the two of them. "Just go, Usako. I'll catch up!"

Their link was truly a blessing and a curse, her not believing him in the slightest and not moving from her spot on the ground save to get to her knees. Pain shot through his shoulder, having been distracted he now had long, pink knives sticking out of it. They appeared to be the monster's nails.

A roar erupted from his throat, now tossing the bitch at her lover who did not catch her correctly, both of them going down. Leaping across the void, he scooped up Sailor Moon and made for the others with her; Mars, Jed, Venus, and Kun going toe to toe with the tree creature. They weren't far and yet, no matter how hard he ran, it was as if they were going nowhere. It was then that Kun looked up at the two of them, his face going pale that he knew something was really wrong.

"Run all you want. Wear yourself out, it will make sucking you dry easier."

Setting Sailor Moon to her feet, he threw a rose, only to have it soar on endlessly as if time and space didn't exist. Or gravity, it hanging in the air as if it had none. "What did you do?!"

The girl shimmered before them, cackling. "Oh, not much. Just put you in a sort of...space vacuum. You're in what we like to call a time bubble, it doesn't really exist in here. And there is no exit."

"What do you want?"

He shoved Sailor Moon behind him but her words still made it out, the answer he knew he didn't want to hear. The male appeared next to his mate, looking Sailor Moon over like dinner. "Your energy was so… effective. And we are in need. So I'm going to have to ask you to give it to us. All of it."

"Will you let him go?"

Twisting, he growled back at her, but Sailor Moon didn't even flinch. "Sure. If you surrender to us!"

The smirk on the female's face told him it was all bull shit. They were going to drain Usagi dry and then him and whomever else they wanted. "Don't fall for it, Sailor Moon. They will never let either of us go."

"Tux…"

She was clawing at his back, pulling hard on his cape. He turned to her as much as he could without taking his eyes off the pair. "Sailor Moon, if you think for one second I'm going to just let you go then you are…."

She screamed, grabbing him and pushing him hard. He had been an idiot, taking his attention from them for a second to look Usagi in her eyes in hopes of bringing his words home. Instead, they had taken advantage and fucking up whatever he had hoped to tell her. His face hit the dirt but he didn't feel it, Usagi's screams making him numb all over in the worst way.

The male had her in his hold tight, pressing her against him, front to front that had him seething all the more. The female tried to stand between him and the two, putting on some sick pout on her face. There was no more control over himself at this point. Because they were touching Usagi, his Usako. So now they had to die.

His skin popped with electricity, it arching out and striking the female. She went sailing but he didn't watch to see where she landed. The male looked, watching the body of his lover go flying. But he held onto Sailor Moon still, now using her like a shield, the fucking coward.

"Let. Her. Go."

The creature shivered for a moment, but then smirked, twisting Sailor Moon around so that she was now facing him. "No. I don't think I will. Because you will never hurt her even if I do."

Sailor Moon whimpered, her arms locked in the creature's hold. She was being foolish, not wanting to strike the guy because he was similar to a human. But he wasn't human and he had killed several innocent people. She needed to snap out of it and take the fucker out!

It happened in slow motion, feeling so helpless as the creature held the woman he loved captive as a shield… and then leaned over to run his tongue over her neck and jaw.

His bones cracked from the pressure, his power surging but having nowhere to go. The creature had pissed him off so much, he wasn't sure he could contain himself and keep from hurting Usagi as well. The look on Sailor Moon's face was one of shock, having turned away from the assault to her skin. But it didn't last, her turning slowly to look at the beast as much as possible.

It was smirking, looking like he might do more to her. But then the monster started to shake, starting in his shoulders and chest and then all the way down to his toes. He could see it, the beautiful coils of Usagi's silver energy as it wrapped and twisted around her capture. The monster only felt the pain, soon losing his hold on Sailor Moon as the agony he had to feel took control of his limbs. Suddenly, his limbs snapped back, going up into the air and bending at an unnatural angle.

"ALI!"

The heart-wrenching scream woke up Sailor Moon, unfortunately, releasing the prick that had just held her for ransom. And she was still too close.

Time slowed again, him reaching for her while the female reached for her simultaneously. Her claws were out, planning on ripping Sailor Moon's heart out and he begged her through their link to move. But she was in shock, drained too, the energy she expended making her slow even though it wasn't much.

The night was just too much for her mind, making her sluggish. He wasn't slow though, grabbing her with just enough time to spin her out of the way and block the blow. Pain shot through his spine this time, the 'nails' digging in and going deep. It felt as if they touched his heart, it tripping over itself. But then he realized, it was the draining of his energy that caused the sensation, it getting siphoned off quickly.

Bright white light filled his vision, the nails getting ripped from him just before he hit the ground. "Mamo!"

She was whispering harshly in his ear, tears streaming down her face. He wiped them away with his gloved hand. "Shhh… it's okay. I'm fine."

He didn't feel fine, his accelerated healing not as quick as he needed it to be as he bled out. And shit, their link was a curse again, her hearing every thought in his weakened state. "Let me take a look…"

"No, Usa. Just get out of here. I'll be fine, I can take them myself."

"You can't even stand!"

She was right, half on the ground (and half in her lap) Usagi was holding him as he laid limp. It was as if his spine was broken.

Oh...it was.

Severed by the creature's claws. But his neck worked, looking around for the threat only to find them limping away. The two of them held onto one another, neither in good enough condition to help themselves let alone one another. They shimmered away so he looked for the other creature, catching it as it turned to dust thanks to a large blast of fire from Mars. Usagi was safe, he could rest now…

"Don't you dare close your eyes, Mamoru. I will NEVER forgive you if you die on me again!"

"I'm just going to… rest for a minute…"

"Mamoru?...Mamoru!...MAMORU!"

#sailor moon fanfiction #sailor moon fandom #love lost #shnuggletea #faulkner writing #fluffy #usa x mamo #senshi x shitennou #shitennou redemption #doom tree arc #OTP FEELS

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