[SM/TK][HE]One Hour Challenge #6
Title: Usagi's Sacrifice
Author: Aisuru
Email: [email protected]
Rating: G
Summary: Challenge Response Fanfic #6. Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen (who, through the power of my creative license, know each other's identities, have the Silver Imperial Crystal, and are battling the Dark Kingdom generals) are on one of the most important missions of their super- hero lives. They are investigating the kidnapping of all the toy bunny rabbits from the mall! Who could do such a horrible, heartless thing? Take a wild guess.
Sailor Moon stood frozen in fear as the youma attacked her. 'This is it,' she found herself thinking. 'After all these months of fighting, discovering my destiny as the moon princess, and finding my soul-mate, I am going to be killed by a stupid slime monster.' Even as these thoughts formed in her mind, Tuxedo Kamen swept her off her feet and out of harm's way. The youma, which really was a weak thing after all, was easily destroyed by the other senshi as Sailor Moon convinced Tuxedo Kamen that he had rescued her in time.
"You may have escaped us this time," Zoicite threatened, "but the Dark Kingdom will not be defeated so easily. We will be back, and next time we will strike much closer to home." Zoicite's fingernails-on-a-chalk- board laughter polluted the air before he disappeared in a swirl of something pink - rose petals? Crystals? The senshi had never cared enough to figure it out. The point is, the most annoying of Beryl's general was finally gone.
"Great going, Odango," Sailor Mars scolded when Tuxedo Kamen finally determined that is was safe for he and Sailor Moon to abandon their tree- top hiding place. "If you are determined to get yourself killed, could you at least have the decency to freeze in a total panic in front of a more dangerous youma? It would be a shame for you to be killed by something so."
"Asinine?" Sailor Jupiter supplied helpfully.
"Impotent?" Sailor Venus added.
Sailor Mercury just rolled her eyes. "We have more important things to worry about," she told the other senshi. "Zoicite mentioned attacking us closer to home. It is possible that the Dark Kingdom has discovered our true identities. I suggest we stick together as much as possible for the next couple days."
"I will stay with Tuxedo Kamen," Sailor Moon offered. The other senshi rolled their eyes as Tuxedo Kamen shook his head.
"That would hardly be proper," Tuxedo Kamen said. "It also would be foolish. We should all stick together. Then if one of us is attacked, the others can transform and fight."
Sailor Mars sighed, brushing long black locks of hair out of her eyes. "I suppose everyone is coming to my house," she muttered, not really minding but feeling it was her obligation to look put-out at once again being the hostess.
"Your place is the biggest," Tuxedo Kamen admitted.
"And you don't have a nosy little brother," Sailor Moon added with a snort.
"I'll bring all the food," Sailor Jupiter offered.
"And we will all help you with your chores for as long as we stay," Sailor Mercury added. Sailor Mars fought to hide a grin. When the senshi stayed over, her chore time was greatly reduced, which almost made listening to Usagi's hyena laughter and Minako's misquoted antidotes worth the trouble.
This is how, several hours later, five teenage girls and a high school senior found themselves collapsed in front of the small television in Rei's bedroom. "If I never sweep again it will be too soon," Usagi complained. With all the stealth of an elephant she slipped her arm around Mamoru and rested her head on his shoulder. Mamoru, fear of public displays of affection firmly in place, froze at the contact. Everybody was too tired to notice.
"Do you really do all of those chores everyday?" Minako asked as she stretched her aching arms.
"What can I say, it is hard being a priestess-in-training," Rei said, not really answering the question. Of course she had dumped a week's worth of chores on the girls, but she would never tell them that. The girls lapsed into an exhausted and uncharacteristic silence as they turned their attention back to the television.
"And in other news," the newscaster with the bad toupee was saying, "a new brand of criminal, being labeled the soft-toy bandit, has stolen all of the stuffed toy rabbits from the Juuban mall. The intentions of this bizarre action is still a mystery."
The panel of experts that had been assembled to debate the psychological profile of the soft-toy bandit went unheard as Usagi's wail filled the room. "Who could do such a horrible, heartless thing?" she cried. "All those poor bunny rabbits should be in loving homes, like my room, but they have been kidnapped and are being held hostage! As the champion of love and justice, I demand that we liberate them!"
Her impassioned speech was met with confused looks.
"Kidnapped?" Mamoru asked.
"Held hostage?" Makoto wondered.
In the silence that followed, Usagi's temper built and then exploded. "How can all of you be so calm? Bunny rabbits have been kidnapped!"
"They are just toys, Usagi," Rei tried to reason.
"Just toys? Just toys!?! As your leader and your princess, I demand that you take that back!" Neither the girls nor Mamoru had ever seen Usagi act so regal and commanding, and they were impressed by her seriousness until they remembered the topic of discussion. Then the laughter began, and continued until Usagi had stormed out of the temple, a suddenly sobered Mamoru at her heels.
When Mamoru reached his soul-mate, she was crying, and her pain wrenched deep into his own soul through their bond. "I'm so sorry, Usako," he murmured, easily taking her into his arms now that they were out of sight of her friends. "It was cruel of me to take your feelings about this matter for granted. I promise to help you solve this, uh, toy-napping."
"Oh, Mamoru, I love you so much!" she gushed, giving him a rib- straining hug before grasping his hand tightly into her own and half- pulling his towards the temple stairs.
"Where are we going?" he asked, following her lest his hand be pulled off at the wrist by her exuberance.
"To the mall, of course," Usagi said, "to look for clues!"
Mamoru had convinced Usagi to transform in case they ran into trouble, so it was officially Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen that broke into the mall that night. The news report had left out the details of the toy- napping, details like the energy burns on the blown-in door of the toy store and the fact that all of the employees and several bystanders were now at the hospital being treated for exhaustion.. Tuxedo Kamen picked the lock to the security control room, deleted their little break-in from the tapes, and watched in stunned amazement as tapes filmed earlier that evening showed Zoicite and Kunzite forming energy bubbles around the toys, which promptly disappeared.
"Oh, you don't think they'll hurt them, do you?" Sailor Moon mourned.
Tuxedo Kamen gave his very unusual girlfriend a few reassuring words before calling the other senshi on Sailor Moon's communicator. "This is bigger than we previously thought," he said before explaining the situation in more detail. Ami agreed to run computer scans to try to locate the generals and/or their stuffed toy stash, and she and the other senshi would get back to them as soon as they had some useful information. Noticing that Usagi's attention was elsewhere, he asked them to please take Usagi's feelings into consideration, as he could feel her pain, which was nearly unbearable at the moment. When Tuxedo Kamen broke the connection, he looked at Sailor Moon and sighed. "I guess its just the two of us for a while," he said.
"I have a plan," Sailor Moon answered. Tuxedo Kamen was stunned. Sailor Moon never had a plan! He was even more stunned when the super- heroine pulled a stuffed bunny rabbit out of her subspace pocket. "Don't leave home without one," she quipped before growing more serious once again. "My Little Fluffy will have to be bait. When those Dark Kingdom scum-bags show up, we fry their butts. Please don't be scared, Little Fluffy." Sailor Moon continued offering support and encouragement to her stuffed toy, and Tuxedo Kamen found himself very contented with the nickname 'Mamo-chan' - it was so much better than 'Little Fluffy.'
Sailor Moon wiped a stray tear from her cheek before laying the sacrificial bunny on the floor. She and Tuxedo Kamen hid behind a potted plant several yards away. "Are you sure this is where you want to hide?" Tuxedo Kamen asked Sailor Moon yet again. She ignored him, all of her mental energies devoted to wishing Little Fluffy safe.
Tuxedo Kamen was actually quite surprised when Zoicite and Kunzite showed up to retrieve the toy. It made absolutely no logical sense, unless. Zoicite's words from earlier that day flitted into his mind: 'We will be back, and next time we will strike much closer to home.' What could hit closer to home than Usagi's love of bunnies? It was a trap!
"Nooooo," he cried as Sailor Moon rushed towards Zoicite, who had just picked up the toy.
Zoicite was thrown off guard by the attack. They had expected the foolish Sailor Moon to attack, but they had underestimated the fury with which she would lash out. The most annoying of the generals might have become moon dust if Kunzite hadn't blasted Sailor Moon with an energy projection, sending her hurtling backwards into the potted plant and knocking Tuxedo Kamen unconscious.
"So glad you decided to show up," Kunzite said with a smirk, and with a wave of his hand all of the kidnapped stuffed bunny rabbits appeared. "Now you have a choice to make, and I want you to think very carefully about your answer. I want the Imperial Silver Crystal. You want the toy bunnies. I am offering you a trade. Refuse me, and the bunnies are toast!"
Sailor Moon hesitated only a moment before summoning the Silver Crystal. She held it in front of her, her eyes dimming as she watched the pulsing light in her hands. "I give up," she cried. "I can't stand the idea of seeing any of you in pain!" She was referring, of course, to the stuffed toys.
"No, Sailor Moon, don't do it!" the other senshi called as they rushed into the mall.
"Be brave, Sailor Moon!" Sailor Jupiter encouraged.
"If you give them the Imperial Silver Crystal." Sailor Mercury continued.
"All of the stuffed bunnies of the world will be in danger!" Sailor Mars finished.
Sailor Venus, the senshi that had been active for the longest, looked at Sailor Moon with understanding and pain in her eyes. "It is hard," she said, "to sacrifice something you love for the common good. I don't want to see Little Fluffy hurt any more than you do, but you can't give over the crystal. You have been entrusted with its power, and you must protect it with the power of your love at any cost!"
"The power of my love," Sailor Moon repeated Sailor Venus' words of wisdom. She looked behind her to the fallen form of her beloved. "No! I will not put more power into the hands of such evil creatures as yourselves!" Sailor Moon focused all of her love of stuffed bunnies into the crystal, and it flared with a rainbow display of light. The stuffed toys were whisked back to their places on the shelves, and Kunzite and Zoicite were forced to retreat in the face of its power. When the intensity of the light lessened, the floor of the mall was deserted of Dark Kingdom generals and stuffed toys.
Sailor Moon sank to her knees, spent from the channeling of so much energy. Tuxedo Kamen, who had regained consciousness when touched by the crystal's miraculous light, made his way to her and pulled her into his arms. "Why are you crying, my love?" he asked. "You protected the galaxy, the other senshi, and your bunny friends. The general will think twice before messing with any more toy stores!"
"Little Fluffy," was all Sailor Moon could moan. The toy was gone.
Down in the Dark Kingdom, an irate Queen Beryl was upbraiding her two most senior generals. "You assured me this plan was fool-proof!" she yelled. "You promised to bring me both the Imperial Silver Crystal and the broken body of Sailor Moon, but instead you bring me this?" She held up Little Fluffy by one pink, floppy ear.
"A valuable bargaining tool," Kunzite said, trying to placate his monarch. "Sailor Moon values this toy above all else."
"Somehow I doubt that," Queen Beryl growled before burning the toy to a crisp in her hand.
This short epilogue was added after the initial hour to ease the minds of my concerned readers: It is important to remember that when Sailor Moon defeated Queen Beryl and Metallia with the Silver Imperial Crystal, she wished that she and all of her friends could live normal lives. The Crystal knew Sailor Moon's heart, so Little Fluffy, her dearest friend, was restored to her, and her memory of this traumatizing event erased, never to be recovered again. Also - and to me this is more important - when the senshi and Tuxedo Kamen returned to the Cherry Hill Temple with the despondent Sailor Moon, they helped her through her grief with Makoto's homemade cookies and (Tuxedo Kamen's) sweet kisses. Sailor Moon learned to treasure the loved ones that were still with her without forgetting the lost love that had come before. These lessons stayed with her even after she lost the memory of Little Fluffy's demise, and made her a better friend to the senshi and wife to Mamoru in later years. See? A happy ending!
Title: Usagi's Sacrifice
Author: Aisuru
Email: [email protected]
Rating: G
Summary: Challenge Response Fanfic #6. Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen (who, through the power of my creative license, know each other's identities, have the Silver Imperial Crystal, and are battling the Dark Kingdom generals) are on one of the most important missions of their super- hero lives. They are investigating the kidnapping of all the toy bunny rabbits from the mall! Who could do such a horrible, heartless thing? Take a wild guess.
Sailor Moon stood frozen in fear as the youma attacked her. 'This is it,' she found herself thinking. 'After all these months of fighting, discovering my destiny as the moon princess, and finding my soul-mate, I am going to be killed by a stupid slime monster.' Even as these thoughts formed in her mind, Tuxedo Kamen swept her off her feet and out of harm's way. The youma, which really was a weak thing after all, was easily destroyed by the other senshi as Sailor Moon convinced Tuxedo Kamen that he had rescued her in time.
"You may have escaped us this time," Zoicite threatened, "but the Dark Kingdom will not be defeated so easily. We will be back, and next time we will strike much closer to home." Zoicite's fingernails-on-a-chalk- board laughter polluted the air before he disappeared in a swirl of something pink - rose petals? Crystals? The senshi had never cared enough to figure it out. The point is, the most annoying of Beryl's general was finally gone.
"Great going, Odango," Sailor Mars scolded when Tuxedo Kamen finally determined that is was safe for he and Sailor Moon to abandon their tree- top hiding place. "If you are determined to get yourself killed, could you at least have the decency to freeze in a total panic in front of a more dangerous youma? It would be a shame for you to be killed by something so."
"Asinine?" Sailor Jupiter supplied helpfully.
"Impotent?" Sailor Venus added.
Sailor Mercury just rolled her eyes. "We have more important things to worry about," she told the other senshi. "Zoicite mentioned attacking us closer to home. It is possible that the Dark Kingdom has discovered our true identities. I suggest we stick together as much as possible for the next couple days."
"I will stay with Tuxedo Kamen," Sailor Moon offered. The other senshi rolled their eyes as Tuxedo Kamen shook his head.
"That would hardly be proper," Tuxedo Kamen said. "It also would be foolish. We should all stick together. Then if one of us is attacked, the others can transform and fight."
Sailor Mars sighed, brushing long black locks of hair out of her eyes. "I suppose everyone is coming to my house," she muttered, not really minding but feeling it was her obligation to look put-out at once again being the hostess.
"Your place is the biggest," Tuxedo Kamen admitted.
"And you don't have a nosy little brother," Sailor Moon added with a snort.
"I'll bring all the food," Sailor Jupiter offered.
"And we will all help you with your chores for as long as we stay," Sailor Mercury added. Sailor Mars fought to hide a grin. When the senshi stayed over, her chore time was greatly reduced, which almost made listening to Usagi's hyena laughter and Minako's misquoted antidotes worth the trouble.
This is how, several hours later, five teenage girls and a high school senior found themselves collapsed in front of the small television in Rei's bedroom. "If I never sweep again it will be too soon," Usagi complained. With all the stealth of an elephant she slipped her arm around Mamoru and rested her head on his shoulder. Mamoru, fear of public displays of affection firmly in place, froze at the contact. Everybody was too tired to notice.
"Do you really do all of those chores everyday?" Minako asked as she stretched her aching arms.
"What can I say, it is hard being a priestess-in-training," Rei said, not really answering the question. Of course she had dumped a week's worth of chores on the girls, but she would never tell them that. The girls lapsed into an exhausted and uncharacteristic silence as they turned their attention back to the television.
"And in other news," the newscaster with the bad toupee was saying, "a new brand of criminal, being labeled the soft-toy bandit, has stolen all of the stuffed toy rabbits from the Juuban mall. The intentions of this bizarre action is still a mystery."
The panel of experts that had been assembled to debate the psychological profile of the soft-toy bandit went unheard as Usagi's wail filled the room. "Who could do such a horrible, heartless thing?" she cried. "All those poor bunny rabbits should be in loving homes, like my room, but they have been kidnapped and are being held hostage! As the champion of love and justice, I demand that we liberate them!"
Her impassioned speech was met with confused looks.
"Kidnapped?" Mamoru asked.
"Held hostage?" Makoto wondered.
In the silence that followed, Usagi's temper built and then exploded. "How can all of you be so calm? Bunny rabbits have been kidnapped!"
"They are just toys, Usagi," Rei tried to reason.
"Just toys? Just toys!?! As your leader and your princess, I demand that you take that back!" Neither the girls nor Mamoru had ever seen Usagi act so regal and commanding, and they were impressed by her seriousness until they remembered the topic of discussion. Then the laughter began, and continued until Usagi had stormed out of the temple, a suddenly sobered Mamoru at her heels.
When Mamoru reached his soul-mate, she was crying, and her pain wrenched deep into his own soul through their bond. "I'm so sorry, Usako," he murmured, easily taking her into his arms now that they were out of sight of her friends. "It was cruel of me to take your feelings about this matter for granted. I promise to help you solve this, uh, toy-napping."
"Oh, Mamoru, I love you so much!" she gushed, giving him a rib- straining hug before grasping his hand tightly into her own and half- pulling his towards the temple stairs.
"Where are we going?" he asked, following her lest his hand be pulled off at the wrist by her exuberance.
"To the mall, of course," Usagi said, "to look for clues!"
Mamoru had convinced Usagi to transform in case they ran into trouble, so it was officially Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen that broke into the mall that night. The news report had left out the details of the toy- napping, details like the energy burns on the blown-in door of the toy store and the fact that all of the employees and several bystanders were now at the hospital being treated for exhaustion.. Tuxedo Kamen picked the lock to the security control room, deleted their little break-in from the tapes, and watched in stunned amazement as tapes filmed earlier that evening showed Zoicite and Kunzite forming energy bubbles around the toys, which promptly disappeared.
"Oh, you don't think they'll hurt them, do you?" Sailor Moon mourned.
Tuxedo Kamen gave his very unusual girlfriend a few reassuring words before calling the other senshi on Sailor Moon's communicator. "This is bigger than we previously thought," he said before explaining the situation in more detail. Ami agreed to run computer scans to try to locate the generals and/or their stuffed toy stash, and she and the other senshi would get back to them as soon as they had some useful information. Noticing that Usagi's attention was elsewhere, he asked them to please take Usagi's feelings into consideration, as he could feel her pain, which was nearly unbearable at the moment. When Tuxedo Kamen broke the connection, he looked at Sailor Moon and sighed. "I guess its just the two of us for a while," he said.
"I have a plan," Sailor Moon answered. Tuxedo Kamen was stunned. Sailor Moon never had a plan! He was even more stunned when the super- heroine pulled a stuffed bunny rabbit out of her subspace pocket. "Don't leave home without one," she quipped before growing more serious once again. "My Little Fluffy will have to be bait. When those Dark Kingdom scum-bags show up, we fry their butts. Please don't be scared, Little Fluffy." Sailor Moon continued offering support and encouragement to her stuffed toy, and Tuxedo Kamen found himself very contented with the nickname 'Mamo-chan' - it was so much better than 'Little Fluffy.'
Sailor Moon wiped a stray tear from her cheek before laying the sacrificial bunny on the floor. She and Tuxedo Kamen hid behind a potted plant several yards away. "Are you sure this is where you want to hide?" Tuxedo Kamen asked Sailor Moon yet again. She ignored him, all of her mental energies devoted to wishing Little Fluffy safe.
Tuxedo Kamen was actually quite surprised when Zoicite and Kunzite showed up to retrieve the toy. It made absolutely no logical sense, unless. Zoicite's words from earlier that day flitted into his mind: 'We will be back, and next time we will strike much closer to home.' What could hit closer to home than Usagi's love of bunnies? It was a trap!
"Nooooo," he cried as Sailor Moon rushed towards Zoicite, who had just picked up the toy.
Zoicite was thrown off guard by the attack. They had expected the foolish Sailor Moon to attack, but they had underestimated the fury with which she would lash out. The most annoying of the generals might have become moon dust if Kunzite hadn't blasted Sailor Moon with an energy projection, sending her hurtling backwards into the potted plant and knocking Tuxedo Kamen unconscious.
"So glad you decided to show up," Kunzite said with a smirk, and with a wave of his hand all of the kidnapped stuffed bunny rabbits appeared. "Now you have a choice to make, and I want you to think very carefully about your answer. I want the Imperial Silver Crystal. You want the toy bunnies. I am offering you a trade. Refuse me, and the bunnies are toast!"
Sailor Moon hesitated only a moment before summoning the Silver Crystal. She held it in front of her, her eyes dimming as she watched the pulsing light in her hands. "I give up," she cried. "I can't stand the idea of seeing any of you in pain!" She was referring, of course, to the stuffed toys.
"No, Sailor Moon, don't do it!" the other senshi called as they rushed into the mall.
"Be brave, Sailor Moon!" Sailor Jupiter encouraged.
"If you give them the Imperial Silver Crystal." Sailor Mercury continued.
"All of the stuffed bunnies of the world will be in danger!" Sailor Mars finished.
Sailor Venus, the senshi that had been active for the longest, looked at Sailor Moon with understanding and pain in her eyes. "It is hard," she said, "to sacrifice something you love for the common good. I don't want to see Little Fluffy hurt any more than you do, but you can't give over the crystal. You have been entrusted with its power, and you must protect it with the power of your love at any cost!"
"The power of my love," Sailor Moon repeated Sailor Venus' words of wisdom. She looked behind her to the fallen form of her beloved. "No! I will not put more power into the hands of such evil creatures as yourselves!" Sailor Moon focused all of her love of stuffed bunnies into the crystal, and it flared with a rainbow display of light. The stuffed toys were whisked back to their places on the shelves, and Kunzite and Zoicite were forced to retreat in the face of its power. When the intensity of the light lessened, the floor of the mall was deserted of Dark Kingdom generals and stuffed toys.
Sailor Moon sank to her knees, spent from the channeling of so much energy. Tuxedo Kamen, who had regained consciousness when touched by the crystal's miraculous light, made his way to her and pulled her into his arms. "Why are you crying, my love?" he asked. "You protected the galaxy, the other senshi, and your bunny friends. The general will think twice before messing with any more toy stores!"
"Little Fluffy," was all Sailor Moon could moan. The toy was gone.
Down in the Dark Kingdom, an irate Queen Beryl was upbraiding her two most senior generals. "You assured me this plan was fool-proof!" she yelled. "You promised to bring me both the Imperial Silver Crystal and the broken body of Sailor Moon, but instead you bring me this?" She held up Little Fluffy by one pink, floppy ear.
"A valuable bargaining tool," Kunzite said, trying to placate his monarch. "Sailor Moon values this toy above all else."
"Somehow I doubt that," Queen Beryl growled before burning the toy to a crisp in her hand.
This short epilogue was added after the initial hour to ease the minds of my concerned readers: It is important to remember that when Sailor Moon defeated Queen Beryl and Metallia with the Silver Imperial Crystal, she wished that she and all of her friends could live normal lives. The Crystal knew Sailor Moon's heart, so Little Fluffy, her dearest friend, was restored to her, and her memory of this traumatizing event erased, never to be recovered again. Also - and to me this is more important - when the senshi and Tuxedo Kamen returned to the Cherry Hill Temple with the despondent Sailor Moon, they helped her through her grief with Makoto's homemade cookies and (Tuxedo Kamen's) sweet kisses. Sailor Moon learned to treasure the loved ones that were still with her without forgetting the lost love that had come before. These lessons stayed with her even after she lost the memory of Little Fluffy's demise, and made her a better friend to the senshi and wife to Mamoru in later years. See? A happy ending!