Title: Coming Home~Chapter 1
Author: [email protected]
Rating: PG-13 for language and disturbing violence.
Summary: Usagi disappeared years ago, and the Senshi were never able to find her. What happens when she comes home, married and completely different?
Author's Notes: Uh, what can I say to you all? SORRY for the wait, and I'll TRY to get the next chapter out soon :)
********************************************************************************
Mamoru looked in the rearview mirror towards his wife who was quietly speaking to her brother. He was glad that he was able to deflect the other girls' curiosity about his and Usako's marriage without having to tell them everything. It was his love's story to tell, not his.
Shingo had, of course, been surprised when he found out that his sister had married, and to her teenage nemesis non-the-less, but he was glad that she had found someone to keep her safe and happy. He was quickly explaining to her what happened after she had left, leaving out the unimportant details, and only focusing on the major points. When the vehicle came to a stop, he did as well, blinking as he looked at his sister's new place of residence. He noticed that she smiled at the look on his face before beginning.
"Yeah, this was Mamo-chan's place before we ended up leaving. He the chairman of Chiba Corp, but was just a bachelor when he got the apartment. Come on," she said pulling him out of the car behind herself. "I'll fix up the second bedroom for you. He finally ordered a bed for it while we were in America, seeing that we were going to have you move in with us when we came back." A worried look suddenly crossed her face and she added, "That is, if you want to, of course. I know we left you, but I didn't think Mama would hurt you while we were gone."
Shingo smiled softly and patted his petite sister's head. "Of course I'll stay with you two. I don't blame you for leaving me Usa-chan. You were right, she didn't hurt me, even though she was livid when she found out you were gone..." At his reassuring words, she forced a smile and pulled him after herself and Mamoru towards the elevator.
When the trio reached their floor, Mamoru opened the door for the two before leading Shingo to his new room. His step faltered when Shingo turned to him smiling and said, "Thanks, bro." Mamoru had hoped that the young man would be able to accept him as family when they had finally returned, but doubted the chance that it would occur. He had taken his sister away from him.
Grinning, Mamoru replied, "It's late, but if you're hungry, go ahead and help yourself to some food in the kitchen. Usako and I are just going to go to bed, since it's been such a long day, but if you need anything, our room is just across the living room. Good night."
"Night." Shingo looked around his new room, a smile across his face. When the fatigue of the day finally hit him, he started across the room to his in-suite bathroom to get ready for bed, but a knock at his door stopped him. Usagi stepped in with some clothing in hand.
"Here's some of Mamo-chan's sweats, I thought you may want something to change into after you take a shower." She smiled softly, handing them to him. She stared at him for a while after he took the offered items, before saying brokenly, "God, I'm so sorry Ototo." When he noticed the glimmer in her eyes, he pulled her to him and hugged her tightly.
"Usagi-chan, I'm ok. Nothing happened to me while you were gone. I can take care of myself. And Mako-chan was there to help." She squeezed him back just as tightly, but when she pulled away, he was surprised to see that her eyes were already dry.
"Good-night," she said, before walking out the room, closing the door behind her.
*********************************************************************************
"How is he?" Mamoru asked from the bed when Usagi walked into their room. She ruffled his hair on her way to their closet.
"I think he'll be fine. It may just take a little time for US to get used to him living here."
Mamoru settled down into the pillows when Usagi went to shower. He wondered what he could do to make the transition better for the three of them, maybe spend some "brotherly outings" with Shingo. He would call a friend at the ballpark to see if he could land them some tickets...
When Usagi finally came out of the bathroom and slid into the sheets, snuggling into Mamoru's warm body, he spoke before she could fall asleep. "Usako, the girls know we are married."
Confusion crossed her eyes before she realized that she had not told them of the marriage. "It doesn't bother me, but how did they find out? I never got around to telling them what happened after we left."
"They, uh, saw my ring after you left." She smiled, knowing that it had to have happened when he ran his fingers through his hair; a nervous habit that he seemed to be doing more of lately.
She snuggled closer to her adorable husband and mumbled before she fell asleep. "Don't worry about it Mamo-chan. I was gonna tell them about it tomorrow."
Mamoru studied the sleeping nymph's face before gently kissing her forehead and slipping into a deep slumber himself.
**********************************************************************************
Rei stared at the red flame before her, contemplating what she saw would be coming. She knew that they had never defeated the Negaverse even though the Youma stopped showing up soon after the team had broken up. She had been wondering why the fire kept showing her visions of new beginnings and of things falling into place, but now she new. Falling to her knees before the fire, she began to pray. Pray that they would survive this battle starting anew.
**********************************************************************************
Rolling her shoulders in an attempt to loosen the tension in them, Usagi hoped that Minako would not try to confront her before or after class. She had enough stress as it was. Reflecting on Mamoru's behavior before he left that morning, Usagi smiled as she entered the lecture hall.
**********************************************************************************
Minako could tell that Usagi, no Chiba-sensei, did not want to speak with her yet. The way she tensed up upon Minako's arrival was a dead give away. Minako decided that it would just be better to ask her the question after class.
"Good morning everyone. Today I'll be lecturing on the Mayan culture. I hope you read chapter 2 because I will be asking questions. Oh yes, don't forget, your first paper is due on Monday."
**********************************************************************************
"Aino-san!" Nakayomi Ryoji, Minako's cute classmate called, "Would you like to eat lunch with me?"
Turning to face him, she replied "Sure Nakayomi-san. Just give me a second to ask Chiba-sensei a question. I'll meet you outside of class." She flashed him her winning smile before flipping her hair over her shoulder and walking up to the front of the hall.
Slightly apprehensive, she started down the isle, "Chiba-sensei." In an attempt to keep any accusations of favoritism down, Minako kept her voice formal and her eyes slightly downcast. "Is there a certain topic that you would like to see?"
Usagi had tensed up when she heard Minako's voice behind her back. She had finally relaxed when she thought she was free from any confrontations this morning. What a relief when she discovered that it was just a scholastic question. "No, Aino-san. As long as your paper covers one of the eight topics listed in the syllabus and is taken out of chapters `1, 2, or 3, you'll be fine." Usagi answered.
Minako nodded, somewhat disappointed that Usagi hadn't even bothered to look at her when she nodded. "Thank you," she said as she was turning to leave. A slim hand stopped her by grabbing her arm. She heard Usagi quietly say "Tonight at eight," handing her a slip of paper before she was released. Minako continued on her way out... happy that she had some kind of contact with her leader.
**********************************************************************************
Tossing her keys on the counter before setting down the grocery bags she had carried in, Usagi called out to her husband and brother, letting them know she was home.
Mamoru walked into the kitchen, planting a kiss on her nose before helping Usagi put the food she bought away.
"Did Shingo get home yet?"
"Yeah, he's in his room playing a video game. He ran by Makoto's place to pick up his stuff after school. He said he wasn't quite sure how she was going to react when he told her, but apparently, she took it better than he had imagined." Usagi sighed as once again, she realized how she displaced everyone with her return. "Did you set up a time with the girls yet?"
"Uh hum, I let Mina-chan know, she'll tell the others, at least I'm pretty sure she will. They had some kind of split after I left, but Shingo-kun wasn't sure exactly what happened. He said he moved in with Mako-chan after Mom disappeared, and then when the group broke up, no one wanted to talk about it. And Mako-chan refused to talk about it. Oh yeah, they'll be here at eight. That leaves me," her eyes widened as she glanced at her watch, "TWO HOURS?!?!? I only have two hours?" At that, Usagi stepped into hyper-drive with Mamoru by her side.
**********************************************************************************
Dropping on the couch with only fifteen minutes to spare, Usagi gave herself (and husband, of course) a pat on the back. The first knock came not ten seconds later and the blonde dragged herself off the plush leather to the door, figuring that Rei would be the first one there. She was right.
The miko didn't know exactly how she should act when she found herself at the front of the apartment building twenty minutes early. Pacing up and down the block, the raven-haired woman finally worked up the courage to enter when the doorman asked if she needed any help. She smiled as she asked him to direct her to the Chiba apartment.
So now, here she was, fifteen minutes early, even though she knew that there was no way Usagi was ready yet. But maybe she could offer some help. She knocked.
She felt like she could cry again when she saw her best friend open the door to her with a soft smile. "Konban wa, Rei-chan. Come in, come in." She led the miko to the living room and had her sit with Shingo, who finally had come out of hiding.
Looking around, she commented, "Usagi-chan, you have a beautiful home."
"Thanks Rei-chan, I wish I could take credit though... This was almost all Mamo-chan's from before we left. He should be out soon; he's taking a shower. It seems as if we switched, he used to be the early one, but is now notorious for being late all the time." She grinned, "Let me bring in some food." She left her brother and the raven-haired priestess to talk as she brought out a snack tray.
Before she could say a word, there was another knock at the door. "Excuse me," she said walking towards the foyer.
There she found Makoto biting her fingernails, waiting nervously. Before she could greet her, she found herself wrapped up in the Amazon's arms having the breath squeezed out of her. "I'm glad to see you too Mako-chan." Usagi said, gently patting her back.
A grim look covered Makoto's face as she replied. "Usagi-chan, I'm so sorry about everything. I wish...gods...I wish I had known." Usagi shushed the teary eyed girl.
"Mako, it's not your fault, so I don't want you to blame yourself. I hid it from you all 'cause I knew you didn't need anything else to worry about. But it's all done with now, and I hope you can forgive me for leaving you."
"Usa-chan, you did what you had to do! There is no need to apologize."
Usagi nodded, and started to lead Makoto to the room, before pausing momentarily. "Mako..."
"Yeah Usa?"
"Thank you for taking care of Shingo after I left. I worried so much about him after I left, but when Motoki told me that you had him, I knew he had to be alright."
"It was the least that I could do." The two girls smiled at each other, before Usagi lead her into the living room. Seeing how the two girls were still warily looking at each other, she lead Makoto to the seat beside Shingo, hoping that her younger brother could act like a buffer between the two.
This time when she left the group she was able to actually make it to the kitchen and pick up the sweets and tea that she had been able to prepare. After a few moments to collect her wits (she knew that she would need them this evening) she juggled the platters and kettle on her way to the living room. A smile grazed her face when she realized that the two girls were grudgingly participating in a conversation Shingo dragged them into. Setting down her load, she glanced at the clock surprised that 20 minutes had passed so quickly. Not surprised that Minako was not punctual, she was beginning to wonder where Ami was, when she heard a tapping on the door. She opened it, surprised that it wasn't Ami, but Minako. Not disappointed, she felt the Senshi of love throw her arms around her before conspiratorially whispering in her ear, "So, what's married life like?" A second smile for tonight crossed the blonde's face.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" she asked, smirking. Leading her to the living room, Usagi directed Minako to a chair saying that she was going to get Mamoru.
"Uh, Usagi-chan, is Motoki-san going to be joining us tonight?" asked Makoto.
"Not tonight. He already knows what I'll be telling you tonight and he and Rika-chan are having dinner with her parents. Do you know where Ami is?"
At the dark look that crossed their faces, she knew she had said something wrong. Forgoing her trip to get her husband, Usagi sank down into an armchair and asked, "What happened to you all? I can tell it was more than me just leaving..." or at least she hoped that it was. The knowledge that their friendships had ended because of her would just be another brick on her teetering tower of guilt.
Rei spoke up first. "I guess it would be fair to tell you what happened after you left.
"After you disappeared, your mom, for better lack of the word, couldn't be found either. It's like she had just disappeared into thin air. Shingo came to the temple first to tell me that you and she had disappeared. We knew we would have to call the cops cause there was no way that a whole family could go missing and us be able to cover it up. The cops came and searched the house and found your blood, one of the reasons that we thought you were dead," at this, Usagi's eyes slowly shut, slowly beginning to understand the ramifications of her departure.
"Before they came though, we went through the house and took out any evidence of Shingo's existence. We knew that you wouldn't want him to end up in an orphanage, and since none of us knew how we would hide him from our parents, we figured the next best thing, he ended up living with Makoto-sa...Mako-chan," the miko threw the said girl a wry smile. "Anyhow, Luna and Artemis helped us create documents that said Mako-chan was his guardian, and he was her brother...not to hard to pass off 'cause of their similar colorings. The police never found anybodies though, and left it as an open case. Ami, was able to hack into the police record database and erase any case that there was, and I, well, Sailor Mars had a little trip into the hard copy file room in the police station. Let's say that any evidence of the Tsukino family was easily wiped from any case file."
Usagi looked at Rei before thanking her. Before she got up to get her husband, she asked, "Do you think Ami will be showing up?"
"Well, there is more to the story," Rei said sighing.
Makoto picked it up from there. "After we all settled in, and finished grieving for you, we decided that we had to keep on with any kind of Senshi business. For the first few months, we still had the meetings, at least twice a week, despite the fact that there were no attacks, at all. It started to wear us down to the point that near the end of the second year, we were so stressed out as to whether or not we would be attacked or something would happen that we started to nit-pick at each other. It started out as nothing much...complaining about one another's clothing or choices of food...and then it progressed. Insulting one another's habits or actions under our breaths, until one day, Ami just snapped...
**********************************************************************************
Makoto walked into the temple, catching her breath as she tried to recover from the run up the stairs. Slightly smiling to Rei, she asked if she could be of any help. Rei directed her to the kitchen and the two started carrying the food into the room.
"Hey guys!" Minako squealed as she entered the room. Makoto was really beginning to be annoyed by her fake cheerfulness, and was about to say so when the door to the room was flung open, to the surprise of everyone.
"Ami, have some respect it's a temple!" Makoto exclaimed, before Ami glared at her. "Damn, she must be having one hell of a day," she thought.
The meeting began as it always did... dull to the point of tears until Minako said something else to her usual effect.
"Idiot..." Ami muttered under her breath. Makoto blinked, surprised at the venom in the genius's voice.
"Geez, Ami-chan, it's only Mina-chan being herself," Makoto defended the blonde, not knowing why, when she had been thinking the same thing.
"So what? She's exactly the same as she always was. And who are you to say anything."
"What the hell are you trying to say?" At this, Minako and Rei looked away from their conversation, surprised at the other two.
"You know exactly what I'm saying." At her blank look, Ami continued, "I'm tired of this. All of this shit! Nothing is happening. Nothing has happened since Usagi disappeared."
Makoto tried to calm down the girl reaching out to her, only to pull her hand back to nurse it after Ami slapped it away from her with surprising force.
"What the hell was that for?" Makoto demanded accusingly.
"Don't touch me, you freak." Taken aback, Makoto just stared at the girl before her. "Don't you all realize what has happened? God, I would have thought even you all with what little intellect you did have would have seen it. Usagi was the only thing that held us together. I know that none of you like me... you only call me when you want something...the only time you ever call me anymore is when you need help with your homework, or some other damn thing that you can't do yourself. And you know what, I'm sick of it!"
"What the hell are you talking about? We are all..."
"Damn it, Makoto. Get it through that thick Amazon skull of yours. Nobody likes you. Nobody likes any of us. Hell, none of us actually like ourselves. The only person that ever did was Usagi and now she's gone. She's not coming back either. And you know what? I'm done with this crap. Don't call me unless there is a Youma attack." With that, the blue haired girl stormed out of the temple leaving five shocked girls in her wake.
Minako was the first to regain her footing, "Uh, you think she's having a bad day?" she asked, trying to break the ice. Apparently, she did it too easily.
"You know, she's right, like always. I'm sick of this too. We're not really friends."
"Yes we are," replied Minako vehemently.
"No, we aren't." Makoto replied with just as much force. "Look, we never talk if it isn't about Senshi business and none of us have anything in common. Truth be told, I doubt any of us would have been able to stand each other if Usagi-chan hadn't been in our lives. And she's not anymore, so we can all quit with the charade. Look, I have to agree with Ami, bitchy as she was tonight. If we don't stop doing this to ourselves, we'll end up exploding just like she did. Don't call me either, unless you need Shingo for something. Otherwise, it was nice knowing you all." With that, Makoto quietly exited the room.
**********************************************************************************
"I headed home after that. I decided that I was going to transform one last time to close off that part of my life, but Shingo walked in on it half way through the transformation." Looking out of the corner of her eye, she added, "And he got an eyeful." The teenager flushed at this, before excusing himself, mumbling something or another about forgetting to turn off his Play-station. "I told him, it's not like I cared anymore because I wouldn't be involved."
Usagi looked at the other two questioningly.
"Rei-chan and I never really had an argument, but we couldn't figure out how to pull the group back together. We ended up just drifting apart because we no longer had anything to hold us together."
Usagi noticed that sometime during the story, Mamoru had emerged from the bathroom and seated himself on the arm of the chair she was seated in. Scooting over so he could sit, she asked, "Did any of you ever find out what set Ami off that night?"
"No," said Rei, sadly shaking her head. "We tried to approach Ami, but every time we did, she would ignore us, or simply just walk away. After a while, we just gave up. She wanted nothing to do with us, so we figured that it was best to just let her be."
Dropping her head to her hands, Usagi dry-washed her face before turning to Mamoru. "What did I do?" she whispered to him.
At that moment, there was a knock on the door. Usagi's head shot up. "If it's her, she's late. But at least she came." Leaving Mamoru on the couch, Usagi went to answer the door, to find a disheveled young woman standing outside the door.
Ushering Ami inside, Usagi asked her what was wrong. She just shook her head, telling Usagi that she was late because of an exam.
"I'm sorry, didn't know that you had class tonight." Usagi blushed, "I guess that I should have asked if the time was ok with everyone." Leading the final part of her group of friends to the room, she saw the dismay on Ami's face when she saw the only space left was between Makoto and Minako. The girl however stoned her face and took the spot.
"Anyhow, we were just about to start." Usagi returned to her own seat and looked at the group before her.
"I told you all yesterday why I left, and I know you're still wondering about these," she said, motioning her and Mamoru's rings. "That night my mother threw me out, I made it to a path in the park before I collapsed. I was trying to get to your house, Rei-chan. Luckily Mamo-chan," at this she gently squeezed his knee, "was going for his evening jog when he came across me." Turning to look at him, she let him know that he could continue the story.
"As Rei-san knows, I jogged every evening to release stress and what not every evening before we left. It's easier at night with no distractions to bother me. Anyhow, I usually didn't see anyone bye the time I went out, but it was different that night..."
*******************************************************************
Mamoru exhaled as he released the hamstring stretch before starting on the path at a slow jog. He allowed his mind to reach out in its environment, washing over all surfaces in its vicinity. During the day, he had to lock it all in. If he did not, he would be continuously be bombarded by the thoughts and feelings of the people around. He figured that this ability (or disability at times) was somehow tied to his Tuxedo Kamen persona, and therefore did not pursue its reasons any further. His jog stared out as any other, just him, the earth, plants and a small animals being noticed, when his psyche came across something new. As he drew further into the park, he was able to sense that it was a person, not quite a child. He figured that the person had fallen asleep and kept in the direction so he could wake the poor kid up and send them on their way home. Something seemed wrong about the situation and Mamoru's uneasy feelings grew as he approached, quickening his jog. When he saw the prone, shivering form curled on the ground, he broke into a full run. The long blond hair was matted with dirt and as he knelt down beside the body, he touched his hand to the girls shoulder. He was surprised when a hand shot out and tightly grabbed his wrist, and shocked when he realized whom the hand belonged to.
The Usagi he knew did not have reflexes like that getting over his surprise at her speed. He gently rolled her over, murmuring, " Odango, its ok, it's just me, Mamoru-ba..." All sounds coming from his mouth just stopped when she saw the girls face.
"My God... I have to get you to the hospital."
REVIEW!!!
Author: [email protected]
Rating: PG-13 for language and disturbing violence.
Summary: Usagi disappeared years ago, and the Senshi were never able to find her. What happens when she comes home, married and completely different?
Author's Notes: Uh, what can I say to you all? SORRY for the wait, and I'll TRY to get the next chapter out soon :)
********************************************************************************
Mamoru looked in the rearview mirror towards his wife who was quietly speaking to her brother. He was glad that he was able to deflect the other girls' curiosity about his and Usako's marriage without having to tell them everything. It was his love's story to tell, not his.
Shingo had, of course, been surprised when he found out that his sister had married, and to her teenage nemesis non-the-less, but he was glad that she had found someone to keep her safe and happy. He was quickly explaining to her what happened after she had left, leaving out the unimportant details, and only focusing on the major points. When the vehicle came to a stop, he did as well, blinking as he looked at his sister's new place of residence. He noticed that she smiled at the look on his face before beginning.
"Yeah, this was Mamo-chan's place before we ended up leaving. He the chairman of Chiba Corp, but was just a bachelor when he got the apartment. Come on," she said pulling him out of the car behind herself. "I'll fix up the second bedroom for you. He finally ordered a bed for it while we were in America, seeing that we were going to have you move in with us when we came back." A worried look suddenly crossed her face and she added, "That is, if you want to, of course. I know we left you, but I didn't think Mama would hurt you while we were gone."
Shingo smiled softly and patted his petite sister's head. "Of course I'll stay with you two. I don't blame you for leaving me Usa-chan. You were right, she didn't hurt me, even though she was livid when she found out you were gone..." At his reassuring words, she forced a smile and pulled him after herself and Mamoru towards the elevator.
When the trio reached their floor, Mamoru opened the door for the two before leading Shingo to his new room. His step faltered when Shingo turned to him smiling and said, "Thanks, bro." Mamoru had hoped that the young man would be able to accept him as family when they had finally returned, but doubted the chance that it would occur. He had taken his sister away from him.
Grinning, Mamoru replied, "It's late, but if you're hungry, go ahead and help yourself to some food in the kitchen. Usako and I are just going to go to bed, since it's been such a long day, but if you need anything, our room is just across the living room. Good night."
"Night." Shingo looked around his new room, a smile across his face. When the fatigue of the day finally hit him, he started across the room to his in-suite bathroom to get ready for bed, but a knock at his door stopped him. Usagi stepped in with some clothing in hand.
"Here's some of Mamo-chan's sweats, I thought you may want something to change into after you take a shower." She smiled softly, handing them to him. She stared at him for a while after he took the offered items, before saying brokenly, "God, I'm so sorry Ototo." When he noticed the glimmer in her eyes, he pulled her to him and hugged her tightly.
"Usagi-chan, I'm ok. Nothing happened to me while you were gone. I can take care of myself. And Mako-chan was there to help." She squeezed him back just as tightly, but when she pulled away, he was surprised to see that her eyes were already dry.
"Good-night," she said, before walking out the room, closing the door behind her.
*********************************************************************************
"How is he?" Mamoru asked from the bed when Usagi walked into their room. She ruffled his hair on her way to their closet.
"I think he'll be fine. It may just take a little time for US to get used to him living here."
Mamoru settled down into the pillows when Usagi went to shower. He wondered what he could do to make the transition better for the three of them, maybe spend some "brotherly outings" with Shingo. He would call a friend at the ballpark to see if he could land them some tickets...
When Usagi finally came out of the bathroom and slid into the sheets, snuggling into Mamoru's warm body, he spoke before she could fall asleep. "Usako, the girls know we are married."
Confusion crossed her eyes before she realized that she had not told them of the marriage. "It doesn't bother me, but how did they find out? I never got around to telling them what happened after we left."
"They, uh, saw my ring after you left." She smiled, knowing that it had to have happened when he ran his fingers through his hair; a nervous habit that he seemed to be doing more of lately.
She snuggled closer to her adorable husband and mumbled before she fell asleep. "Don't worry about it Mamo-chan. I was gonna tell them about it tomorrow."
Mamoru studied the sleeping nymph's face before gently kissing her forehead and slipping into a deep slumber himself.
**********************************************************************************
Rei stared at the red flame before her, contemplating what she saw would be coming. She knew that they had never defeated the Negaverse even though the Youma stopped showing up soon after the team had broken up. She had been wondering why the fire kept showing her visions of new beginnings and of things falling into place, but now she new. Falling to her knees before the fire, she began to pray. Pray that they would survive this battle starting anew.
**********************************************************************************
Rolling her shoulders in an attempt to loosen the tension in them, Usagi hoped that Minako would not try to confront her before or after class. She had enough stress as it was. Reflecting on Mamoru's behavior before he left that morning, Usagi smiled as she entered the lecture hall.
**********************************************************************************
Minako could tell that Usagi, no Chiba-sensei, did not want to speak with her yet. The way she tensed up upon Minako's arrival was a dead give away. Minako decided that it would just be better to ask her the question after class.
"Good morning everyone. Today I'll be lecturing on the Mayan culture. I hope you read chapter 2 because I will be asking questions. Oh yes, don't forget, your first paper is due on Monday."
**********************************************************************************
"Aino-san!" Nakayomi Ryoji, Minako's cute classmate called, "Would you like to eat lunch with me?"
Turning to face him, she replied "Sure Nakayomi-san. Just give me a second to ask Chiba-sensei a question. I'll meet you outside of class." She flashed him her winning smile before flipping her hair over her shoulder and walking up to the front of the hall.
Slightly apprehensive, she started down the isle, "Chiba-sensei." In an attempt to keep any accusations of favoritism down, Minako kept her voice formal and her eyes slightly downcast. "Is there a certain topic that you would like to see?"
Usagi had tensed up when she heard Minako's voice behind her back. She had finally relaxed when she thought she was free from any confrontations this morning. What a relief when she discovered that it was just a scholastic question. "No, Aino-san. As long as your paper covers one of the eight topics listed in the syllabus and is taken out of chapters `1, 2, or 3, you'll be fine." Usagi answered.
Minako nodded, somewhat disappointed that Usagi hadn't even bothered to look at her when she nodded. "Thank you," she said as she was turning to leave. A slim hand stopped her by grabbing her arm. She heard Usagi quietly say "Tonight at eight," handing her a slip of paper before she was released. Minako continued on her way out... happy that she had some kind of contact with her leader.
**********************************************************************************
Tossing her keys on the counter before setting down the grocery bags she had carried in, Usagi called out to her husband and brother, letting them know she was home.
Mamoru walked into the kitchen, planting a kiss on her nose before helping Usagi put the food she bought away.
"Did Shingo get home yet?"
"Yeah, he's in his room playing a video game. He ran by Makoto's place to pick up his stuff after school. He said he wasn't quite sure how she was going to react when he told her, but apparently, she took it better than he had imagined." Usagi sighed as once again, she realized how she displaced everyone with her return. "Did you set up a time with the girls yet?"
"Uh hum, I let Mina-chan know, she'll tell the others, at least I'm pretty sure she will. They had some kind of split after I left, but Shingo-kun wasn't sure exactly what happened. He said he moved in with Mako-chan after Mom disappeared, and then when the group broke up, no one wanted to talk about it. And Mako-chan refused to talk about it. Oh yeah, they'll be here at eight. That leaves me," her eyes widened as she glanced at her watch, "TWO HOURS?!?!? I only have two hours?" At that, Usagi stepped into hyper-drive with Mamoru by her side.
**********************************************************************************
Dropping on the couch with only fifteen minutes to spare, Usagi gave herself (and husband, of course) a pat on the back. The first knock came not ten seconds later and the blonde dragged herself off the plush leather to the door, figuring that Rei would be the first one there. She was right.
The miko didn't know exactly how she should act when she found herself at the front of the apartment building twenty minutes early. Pacing up and down the block, the raven-haired woman finally worked up the courage to enter when the doorman asked if she needed any help. She smiled as she asked him to direct her to the Chiba apartment.
So now, here she was, fifteen minutes early, even though she knew that there was no way Usagi was ready yet. But maybe she could offer some help. She knocked.
She felt like she could cry again when she saw her best friend open the door to her with a soft smile. "Konban wa, Rei-chan. Come in, come in." She led the miko to the living room and had her sit with Shingo, who finally had come out of hiding.
Looking around, she commented, "Usagi-chan, you have a beautiful home."
"Thanks Rei-chan, I wish I could take credit though... This was almost all Mamo-chan's from before we left. He should be out soon; he's taking a shower. It seems as if we switched, he used to be the early one, but is now notorious for being late all the time." She grinned, "Let me bring in some food." She left her brother and the raven-haired priestess to talk as she brought out a snack tray.
Before she could say a word, there was another knock at the door. "Excuse me," she said walking towards the foyer.
There she found Makoto biting her fingernails, waiting nervously. Before she could greet her, she found herself wrapped up in the Amazon's arms having the breath squeezed out of her. "I'm glad to see you too Mako-chan." Usagi said, gently patting her back.
A grim look covered Makoto's face as she replied. "Usagi-chan, I'm so sorry about everything. I wish...gods...I wish I had known." Usagi shushed the teary eyed girl.
"Mako, it's not your fault, so I don't want you to blame yourself. I hid it from you all 'cause I knew you didn't need anything else to worry about. But it's all done with now, and I hope you can forgive me for leaving you."
"Usa-chan, you did what you had to do! There is no need to apologize."
Usagi nodded, and started to lead Makoto to the room, before pausing momentarily. "Mako..."
"Yeah Usa?"
"Thank you for taking care of Shingo after I left. I worried so much about him after I left, but when Motoki told me that you had him, I knew he had to be alright."
"It was the least that I could do." The two girls smiled at each other, before Usagi lead her into the living room. Seeing how the two girls were still warily looking at each other, she lead Makoto to the seat beside Shingo, hoping that her younger brother could act like a buffer between the two.
This time when she left the group she was able to actually make it to the kitchen and pick up the sweets and tea that she had been able to prepare. After a few moments to collect her wits (she knew that she would need them this evening) she juggled the platters and kettle on her way to the living room. A smile grazed her face when she realized that the two girls were grudgingly participating in a conversation Shingo dragged them into. Setting down her load, she glanced at the clock surprised that 20 minutes had passed so quickly. Not surprised that Minako was not punctual, she was beginning to wonder where Ami was, when she heard a tapping on the door. She opened it, surprised that it wasn't Ami, but Minako. Not disappointed, she felt the Senshi of love throw her arms around her before conspiratorially whispering in her ear, "So, what's married life like?" A second smile for tonight crossed the blonde's face.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" she asked, smirking. Leading her to the living room, Usagi directed Minako to a chair saying that she was going to get Mamoru.
"Uh, Usagi-chan, is Motoki-san going to be joining us tonight?" asked Makoto.
"Not tonight. He already knows what I'll be telling you tonight and he and Rika-chan are having dinner with her parents. Do you know where Ami is?"
At the dark look that crossed their faces, she knew she had said something wrong. Forgoing her trip to get her husband, Usagi sank down into an armchair and asked, "What happened to you all? I can tell it was more than me just leaving..." or at least she hoped that it was. The knowledge that their friendships had ended because of her would just be another brick on her teetering tower of guilt.
Rei spoke up first. "I guess it would be fair to tell you what happened after you left.
"After you disappeared, your mom, for better lack of the word, couldn't be found either. It's like she had just disappeared into thin air. Shingo came to the temple first to tell me that you and she had disappeared. We knew we would have to call the cops cause there was no way that a whole family could go missing and us be able to cover it up. The cops came and searched the house and found your blood, one of the reasons that we thought you were dead," at this, Usagi's eyes slowly shut, slowly beginning to understand the ramifications of her departure.
"Before they came though, we went through the house and took out any evidence of Shingo's existence. We knew that you wouldn't want him to end up in an orphanage, and since none of us knew how we would hide him from our parents, we figured the next best thing, he ended up living with Makoto-sa...Mako-chan," the miko threw the said girl a wry smile. "Anyhow, Luna and Artemis helped us create documents that said Mako-chan was his guardian, and he was her brother...not to hard to pass off 'cause of their similar colorings. The police never found anybodies though, and left it as an open case. Ami, was able to hack into the police record database and erase any case that there was, and I, well, Sailor Mars had a little trip into the hard copy file room in the police station. Let's say that any evidence of the Tsukino family was easily wiped from any case file."
Usagi looked at Rei before thanking her. Before she got up to get her husband, she asked, "Do you think Ami will be showing up?"
"Well, there is more to the story," Rei said sighing.
Makoto picked it up from there. "After we all settled in, and finished grieving for you, we decided that we had to keep on with any kind of Senshi business. For the first few months, we still had the meetings, at least twice a week, despite the fact that there were no attacks, at all. It started to wear us down to the point that near the end of the second year, we were so stressed out as to whether or not we would be attacked or something would happen that we started to nit-pick at each other. It started out as nothing much...complaining about one another's clothing or choices of food...and then it progressed. Insulting one another's habits or actions under our breaths, until one day, Ami just snapped...
**********************************************************************************
Makoto walked into the temple, catching her breath as she tried to recover from the run up the stairs. Slightly smiling to Rei, she asked if she could be of any help. Rei directed her to the kitchen and the two started carrying the food into the room.
"Hey guys!" Minako squealed as she entered the room. Makoto was really beginning to be annoyed by her fake cheerfulness, and was about to say so when the door to the room was flung open, to the surprise of everyone.
"Ami, have some respect it's a temple!" Makoto exclaimed, before Ami glared at her. "Damn, she must be having one hell of a day," she thought.
The meeting began as it always did... dull to the point of tears until Minako said something else to her usual effect.
"Idiot..." Ami muttered under her breath. Makoto blinked, surprised at the venom in the genius's voice.
"Geez, Ami-chan, it's only Mina-chan being herself," Makoto defended the blonde, not knowing why, when she had been thinking the same thing.
"So what? She's exactly the same as she always was. And who are you to say anything."
"What the hell are you trying to say?" At this, Minako and Rei looked away from their conversation, surprised at the other two.
"You know exactly what I'm saying." At her blank look, Ami continued, "I'm tired of this. All of this shit! Nothing is happening. Nothing has happened since Usagi disappeared."
Makoto tried to calm down the girl reaching out to her, only to pull her hand back to nurse it after Ami slapped it away from her with surprising force.
"What the hell was that for?" Makoto demanded accusingly.
"Don't touch me, you freak." Taken aback, Makoto just stared at the girl before her. "Don't you all realize what has happened? God, I would have thought even you all with what little intellect you did have would have seen it. Usagi was the only thing that held us together. I know that none of you like me... you only call me when you want something...the only time you ever call me anymore is when you need help with your homework, or some other damn thing that you can't do yourself. And you know what, I'm sick of it!"
"What the hell are you talking about? We are all..."
"Damn it, Makoto. Get it through that thick Amazon skull of yours. Nobody likes you. Nobody likes any of us. Hell, none of us actually like ourselves. The only person that ever did was Usagi and now she's gone. She's not coming back either. And you know what? I'm done with this crap. Don't call me unless there is a Youma attack." With that, the blue haired girl stormed out of the temple leaving five shocked girls in her wake.
Minako was the first to regain her footing, "Uh, you think she's having a bad day?" she asked, trying to break the ice. Apparently, she did it too easily.
"You know, she's right, like always. I'm sick of this too. We're not really friends."
"Yes we are," replied Minako vehemently.
"No, we aren't." Makoto replied with just as much force. "Look, we never talk if it isn't about Senshi business and none of us have anything in common. Truth be told, I doubt any of us would have been able to stand each other if Usagi-chan hadn't been in our lives. And she's not anymore, so we can all quit with the charade. Look, I have to agree with Ami, bitchy as she was tonight. If we don't stop doing this to ourselves, we'll end up exploding just like she did. Don't call me either, unless you need Shingo for something. Otherwise, it was nice knowing you all." With that, Makoto quietly exited the room.
**********************************************************************************
"I headed home after that. I decided that I was going to transform one last time to close off that part of my life, but Shingo walked in on it half way through the transformation." Looking out of the corner of her eye, she added, "And he got an eyeful." The teenager flushed at this, before excusing himself, mumbling something or another about forgetting to turn off his Play-station. "I told him, it's not like I cared anymore because I wouldn't be involved."
Usagi looked at the other two questioningly.
"Rei-chan and I never really had an argument, but we couldn't figure out how to pull the group back together. We ended up just drifting apart because we no longer had anything to hold us together."
Usagi noticed that sometime during the story, Mamoru had emerged from the bathroom and seated himself on the arm of the chair she was seated in. Scooting over so he could sit, she asked, "Did any of you ever find out what set Ami off that night?"
"No," said Rei, sadly shaking her head. "We tried to approach Ami, but every time we did, she would ignore us, or simply just walk away. After a while, we just gave up. She wanted nothing to do with us, so we figured that it was best to just let her be."
Dropping her head to her hands, Usagi dry-washed her face before turning to Mamoru. "What did I do?" she whispered to him.
At that moment, there was a knock on the door. Usagi's head shot up. "If it's her, she's late. But at least she came." Leaving Mamoru on the couch, Usagi went to answer the door, to find a disheveled young woman standing outside the door.
Ushering Ami inside, Usagi asked her what was wrong. She just shook her head, telling Usagi that she was late because of an exam.
"I'm sorry, didn't know that you had class tonight." Usagi blushed, "I guess that I should have asked if the time was ok with everyone." Leading the final part of her group of friends to the room, she saw the dismay on Ami's face when she saw the only space left was between Makoto and Minako. The girl however stoned her face and took the spot.
"Anyhow, we were just about to start." Usagi returned to her own seat and looked at the group before her.
"I told you all yesterday why I left, and I know you're still wondering about these," she said, motioning her and Mamoru's rings. "That night my mother threw me out, I made it to a path in the park before I collapsed. I was trying to get to your house, Rei-chan. Luckily Mamo-chan," at this she gently squeezed his knee, "was going for his evening jog when he came across me." Turning to look at him, she let him know that he could continue the story.
"As Rei-san knows, I jogged every evening to release stress and what not every evening before we left. It's easier at night with no distractions to bother me. Anyhow, I usually didn't see anyone bye the time I went out, but it was different that night..."
*******************************************************************
Mamoru exhaled as he released the hamstring stretch before starting on the path at a slow jog. He allowed his mind to reach out in its environment, washing over all surfaces in its vicinity. During the day, he had to lock it all in. If he did not, he would be continuously be bombarded by the thoughts and feelings of the people around. He figured that this ability (or disability at times) was somehow tied to his Tuxedo Kamen persona, and therefore did not pursue its reasons any further. His jog stared out as any other, just him, the earth, plants and a small animals being noticed, when his psyche came across something new. As he drew further into the park, he was able to sense that it was a person, not quite a child. He figured that the person had fallen asleep and kept in the direction so he could wake the poor kid up and send them on their way home. Something seemed wrong about the situation and Mamoru's uneasy feelings grew as he approached, quickening his jog. When he saw the prone, shivering form curled on the ground, he broke into a full run. The long blond hair was matted with dirt and as he knelt down beside the body, he touched his hand to the girls shoulder. He was surprised when a hand shot out and tightly grabbed his wrist, and shocked when he realized whom the hand belonged to.
The Usagi he knew did not have reflexes like that getting over his surprise at her speed. He gently rolled her over, murmuring, " Odango, its ok, it's just me, Mamoru-ba..." All sounds coming from his mouth just stopped when she saw the girls face.
"My God... I have to get you to the hospital."
REVIEW!!!