This was written originally in the early 2000s and then retooled a little in 2008 to fix some suffix usage and edit the ending to be stronger instead of having two possible endings. A semi pwp I wrote a while ago, and have been tweaking as I re-read it today. I'm hoping that I also got all the incorrect suffix uses, but I'm not sure. It's based around the anime, and something a friend and I noticed while we were making up her Naru & Umino shrine. The girls sat cross legged around the table at Hikawa Jinga, and frowned. Luna had called the meeting while they were in the morning session of school, and they had to wait the whole day to find out what the problem was, all the while making it worse and worse in their own minds.
“So, it looks like a new threat may have manifested itself,” Luna said, stepping slightly forward on the table.
“Again?” Usagi asked, lip pouting petulantly, as she pushed her head down onto her fists, elbows rested on the table, “How many more new threats are we going to have?”
“As many as it takes until...I couldn’t say.” Artemis answered her from Minako’s lap deciding speculation really wasn’t the best thing at this point.
“Come on, odango atama,” Rei remarked tying her hair into a bun and trying to fix it behind her head with chopsticks, “You know you wouldn’t know what to do with yourself if we didn’t have some kind of youma to fight.”
“That’s not true and you know it,” Usagi retorted.
“Peace,” Makoto spoke up, as Ami pulled her computer from her book bag and set it down on the table, “We need to see if we can come up with something to do, so we don’t take a whole year to get rid of this one.”
“What are you trying to say, Mako-chan?” Minako spoke up.
“I’m not trying to say anything,” the brown haired girl replied, “I’m just saying the sooner we nix the whatever it is the sooner we’re done.”
“We do seem to have a notoriously bad track record.” Ami remarked from her computer, “Although given the past events the youma seem to attack in a strangely structured pattern.”
“What do you mean?” Minako asked.
“I mean each group of bad guys seems to attack or go after people in a similar order,” she turned her computer around where it had pulled up an image of a girl with short wavy red hair, “moving fairly quickly to Osaka-san,” she said.
Usagi looked blankly at the picture for a moment, “What does Naru-chan have to do with all of this?”
Rei frowned at her from across the table, “Bakano! Ami-chan’s right. The last two times we’ve fought anything Naru was the first person attacked.”
“Oh,” Usagi said.
Makoto and Rei exchanged looks that meant they felt Usagi was probably still confused, but they didn’t press the point.
“But she hasn’t been attacked so far,” Ami pointed out, “Of course only two attack-like incidents have been reported–.”
“Are you saying Naru-chan’s been attacked?” Usagi leapt up and leaned over the table so her nose was almost touching Ami’s.
The blue haired girl leaned back, protecting herself from Usagi by putting her computer in front of her face, “I-I-I wasn’t saying that exactly,” her cheeks colored behind the baby blue plastic of the computer.
“Easy, Usagi-chan!” Luna chastised, jumping up on the girl’s shoulder.
Ami relaxed a little as Usagi backed down into her position on the floor once more and she leaned back towards the table and slipped her computer away, “I’m just saying it seems to be highly likely she will be, that’s all.”
“You guys will have to watch out for her...” Luna said, “Surely, Usagi-chan, you want to be sure your best friend is all right.”
****
"I don't get why Luna has to be so...the way she is," Usagi remarked as she and Ami headed home. Makoto had split off another way, and the black cat had remained to talk with Artemis, as Minako was spending the night at the shrine anyway.
"She has her reasons I'm sure." Ami said, shifting her book bag from one shoulder to the other.
Usagi nodded, and then stopped and looked back at Ami, "Ne, Ami-chan?"
"Hai, Usagi-chan?"
"Do you really think something might happen to Naru-chan?"
Ami gave a thin smile, "I really hope not, Usagi-san, twice is time enough for someone who's not a senshi..." she sighed, "And it's not even just twice really when you think about it..."
"Nani?" Usagi asked.
Ami stopped, "Well, aside from Morga that you told me about...Nephrite used her several times, then she was kidnapped to bait him, used as trade for one of the nijizoushou, and then that ninja youma broke into the Osa-P and..."
"Okay, okay I get the point!" Usagi exclaimed, worriedly.
"Anou, Usagi-chan-." Ami went on, "Are you sure she hasn't realized that you're Sailor Moon considering the amount of times you've rescued her..?"
"That's not funny, Ami-chan."
"I'm serious. What if she knows you're Sailor Moon?"
"Well, then we can always ask her..." Usagi remarked, "She's right over there."
Ami followed Usagi's gaze to where Naru indeed was walking towards them up the street. She was wearing a light blue shirt and a dark blue skirt that was just above her knee. She had a handkerchief in her hand and she sneezed into it as Usagi called out and waved to her. She put the hankie away in her purse and waved back to them as Usagi ran over, Ami close behind.
"Gomen, Usagi-chan," the red head said, "I"ve been sneezing all afternoon. I think it's the pollen or something."
Ami colored slightly as Usagi giggled nervously, "Demo..." the blue haired girl began.
"Anou..." Usagi cut her off, looking at Ami pointedly, "How are you today, Naru-chan?"
"Other than the allergies just fine. Momma was in a bad mood seeing as Osa-P's not done much business lately, so I thought I'd go for a walk."
"Oh, okay, sorry to hear that," Usagi said.
"I'm sorry about the store." Ami added, "I hope things pick up for you."
"Me too," Naru said, "So, what have you guys been doing?"
"Oh, we're just on our way home from Rei-chan's." Usagi said, as Naru sneezed again.
"Gomen..." she said.
"Maybe someone's talking about you." Ami remarked, and then colored again as Usagi giggled nervously.
"Why would anyone waste their time talking about me?" Naru asked.
Usagi's nervous giggle heightened.
"Usagi-chan?" Naru said, "Are you alright?"
"I-It was just a thought that's all." Ami managed.
"How have things been lately, Naru-chan?" Usagi asked.
Ami sighed.
"Just...fine...why?" Naru asked in a voice that floated somewhere dangerously between nerves and suspicion.
"Oh, no reason." Usagi said.
"Rei-san didn't have a fire vision with something happening to me...or momma...or the store, did she?" Naru asked.
"Not that we know of..." Ami cut Usagi off before she could suggest running back to check, 'Usagi-chan seems to have gotten some odd idea in her head..." she trailed off, "Gomen ne..."
"Don't apologize to me, Ami-chan..." Naru said, "I've known her longer than you have..." she giggled nervously as Usagi glared at Ami.
"I have not, Ami-chan! Luna said-."
Ami looked at Usagi as innocently as she could, "Cats can't talk..." she hesitated, "Did you daydream while we were at Rei's..." she tried inflecting in such a way as to convey the slip up with adequate cover so she wasn't chastising Usagi so badly.
"Anou..." Usagi giggled again, scratching her head, "I guess so...Usagi no baka...gomen ne, Naru-chan, look at me scaring you over a dream. A silly dream." she giggled again.
"Hai, Usagi-chan..." Naru said, not seeming quite convinced. She looked down at the hankie and giggled, "You know it's funny...speaking of dreams."
"Oh?" Usagi and Ami asked together.
"Yeah," Naru laughed, "I had the funniest dream last night. I went to this place...I don't even remember where now and this weird octopus like, came through the floor and grabbed me and I passed out..." she giggled, "Isn't that silly?"
Usagi and Ami looked at each other.
****
"She seriously said she had a dream like that?" Rei remarked from the other end of the phone line.
Ami nodded then realized Rei couldn't see that, "Hai," she sighed, "Do you think there could be anything to it?"
"You mean premonition-wise?"
"Yes..." Ami nodded glancing at the computer screen in front of her, "I've been compiling a list of all the Naru attacks there have been and it doesn't match up with any of the ones I have...right now, of course Usagi told me about one I hadn't got with a gym relaxation room, but-"
"Gym, what now?" the priestess asked.
"Some Jaedite thing," Ami explained, "It's from before I got to know Usagi-chan very well, so it's from before you were a senshi..."
"Oh, I see," Rei said, "Well, I can always ask the sacred flame, but right now I'm gonna have to rescue some manga from V-chan. I swear I'm never having anyone stay at the Shrine again..."
"Gomen, Rei-chan."
"I'll call you if I find anything."
"Okay."
"Oh, did you get that Cherry Blossom creature?"
"Yes, I did." Ami looked up and down the list she had.
"And the um...what was it? Tennis thing that we didn't wind up helping out with."
'Yes," Ami sighed, "Can you call me back later? I've got a call on the other line." she glanced down at the caller ID as Rei rang off to rescue her books, "Moshimoshi, Usagi-chan."
"I just remembered," the Moon princess's voice said, "there was this Midnight radio show but it was really Jaedite and..."
TWO
“So, what conclusions have we come up with so far?” Luna asked at the emergency pre-school meeting she had called at Hikawa Jinga. She sat in the middle of the steps, near the entry way to the shrine, which was thankfully free of too many visitors this early in the morning.
Rei was still wrestling with the tie to her school uniform, and Makoto and Usagi both looked a little disheveled, Minako sat on the top step, head rested in her hands, trying not to yawn. Ami was sat close to her typing on her computer.
“Naru-chan’s almost been attacked more than we have,” Usagi remarked, sounding thoroughly miserable.
“Ara, Ami-chan,” Makoto interjected, smoothing out her blouse, “Did you get the kuruzoushou carrier, the priest, from when I first arrived?”
“Hai,” Ami answered, pressing the enter key, “I did now.”
“I’m surprised she leaves the house,” Minako remarked, looking over the list from her position near Ami’s shoulder. She traced them with her finger and let out a low whistle. Artemis scrambled up into her lap to take a peak.
“Minako-chan!” Usagi exclaimed.
“Well, look at it,” Minako said, “If I didn’t have powers, I’d be scared. I mean, we have reason to be attacked, right? We’re senshi. It’s pretty much our job to be youma bait, but she—well, she’s…she’s just…”
“A senshi’s best friend!” Usagi said, sounding even more upset, “It’s all my fault!”
“Well, we’ve confirmed her dream was more than likely just a dream and not a repressed memory of an attack we had no idea happened,” Artemis said, stepping down from Minako’s lap again and taking his place next to Luna.
“…although whether or not it’s a premonition I haven’t been able to find out,” Rei apologized, finishing with her neck tie finally, “Grandpa’s not letting me near the flame lately because he thinks I’ve been driving myself too hard. I’ll have to wait until he goes into town for supplies and hope that he doesn’t put Yuuichiro on guard duty.”
“That’s okay, Rei-chan,” Luna said, “I think by now it’s a safe bet that…well, to be honest, we really don’t want to know…” she glanced towards Ami, “considering Naru-chan’s track record, we don’t want anything more to happen to her if we can help it. We must try to keep an eye on her, just in case."
“While also trying to make sure of this new enemy’s plan,” Artemis added.
“And with that let’s get to school, Usagi-chan,” Makoto remarked, “Not all of us like to stand out in the hall on a regular basis.”
“You think I do?” The blonde demanded, “Those buckets are heavy! You’re probably at least strong enough to carry them!”
“So, are you going to tell me what all that was about yesterday, Usagi-chan?” Naru asked over lunch.
Usagi swallowed the mouthful she was eating and tried her best to look innocent, while her eyes roved around the room looking for Ami and potential help, but the blue-haired girl was nowhere to be seen, so she tried for even more innocent, while swallowing, realizing too late that she didn’t actually have anything in her mouth at this point, “Mmm…what yesterday, Naru-chan?”
“You’re supposed to be my friend, Usagi-san,” Naru said, coldly, “I would appreciate your honesty.”
Usagi sighed, “Naru-chan, you know if I could tell you, I would, but…it’s just that…it’s…um…”
“Don’t you trust me?” Naru demanded, “If this concerns me somehow, which it seems to, then I would think that I have a right to know.”
Usagi found herself uncharacteristically NOT hungry and closed her lunch box, “If it were just up to me then I would tell you right now, yesterday even, but there are others involved and…”
“…is this about why you and Ami-chan and Kino-san go over to the TA girl’s house so much. I was beginning to wonder if you were in some kind of cult…”
Usagi gave a nervous laugh, “Oh…no…nothing like that.”
“So, you’re not going to sacrifice me to the Great Three Horned Monkey God?”
“No…no…we won’t sacrifice you…” she looked around again, hoping that Ami might have reappeared.
“Well, that’s good,” Naru seemed slightly appeased, but she too was toying with her food.
Usagi hit on a brilliant idea, which might just save the whole situation, “Look, I tell you what, come with me tonight and I’ll introduce you to everyone you don’t know and we can explain the whole thing!”
Naru brightened, “I’d like that…” she said.
Okay. Usagi then realized the snag to her plan, the others would be unprepared. She waited until an appropriate opportunity, and begged and pleaded, bouncing up and down in her seat for her next period teacher to let her out to the bathroom. A full three minutes of simulated agony was required before finally the teacher relented and let her go. Once she was safely in one of the stalls she punched the button on her communicator watch and called Ami.
“Usagi-chan? What are you doing calling me during class?” Ami inquired, after a few anxious moments.
“Ami-chan, you’re in independent study right now, aren’t you?” the blonde asked, hoping she was right. Surely if Ami had actually been in class she wouldn’t have answered.
“Well, yes, I am, but you’re not…” the other replied.
“I’m in the bathroom…look it’s really important that you talk to Rei-chan as quickly as possible.
“About what?” Ami hunched herself down behind the furthest bookshelves in the library in the hopes that no one would see or overhear her.
“About the fact that I invited Naru-chan to the meeting tonight…”
“Usagi-chan! You what?”
“Hai-hai, but see she really needs to have things explained to her and this seemed like the best way, so I…I have to go otherwise the teacher will get suspicious that I’ve fallen down the toilet. Okay, bai-bai…”
Ami found herself staring at a blank watch screen.
THREE
"So, what exactly did she tell, Naru-san?" Rei asked, leaving Ami more than a little relieved, all the way to the shrine she’d been anticipating a Vesuvius like explosion from the fire senshi. The others’ reactions she’d been less sure about, but they were all as calm but still perturbed as Rei.
Ami had to shake her head though, given Usagi had left her only slightly more informed than the others, "I told you...I don't know." They were sitting in the back room of the shrine again, waiting for their elusive princess to join them, "All she said to me was that she invited Naru to come with her."
"Why?" Minako asked.
"Did she tell her about the senshi thing or something?" Makoto followed.
Ami sighed, "I don't know."
Artemis and Luna leapt away from the window towards the table. They had been watching for the latecomers.
"They're coming up the steps now..." Luna said, as Artemis padded across the table to curl back up in Minako's lap.
Rei moved towards the door and stood waiting.
"I'm sure there's nothing to worry about..." the black cat went on.
"Unless Naru-san brought reporters," Artemis yawned.
"Hush," Minako put a hand over his mouth, "Although if she did I hope their photographer has plenty of film," she preened her hair, "I'm looking particularly cute today."
"Whatever, V-chan," Makoto remarked.
Minako stuck her tongue out, “I was teasing…” she tried.
"Hush." Ami interjected, as Rei greeted Usagi. The breathless blonde flopped into the shrine room, muttering about Shinto temples being too high up hills and having way too many steps.
Naru, however, stood nervously by the door, toying with the strap of her book bag. The last time she'd been to the shrine Rei had knocked Usagi out. She eyed the dark-haired priestess apprehensively.
Rei smiled at Naru and placed an arm on the red head's shoulder, "Come in, please," she said, "We're so glad that Usagi could bring you with her today. Now the human sacrifice can begin."
"Wh-what?" Naru froze having taken only half a step through the door. Her eyes whirled from one to the other sitting around the table. There wasn’t anything that looked like it could be used to lock her in one spot and then gut her, but given everything that had happened the last few months perhaps she’d been entirely wrong and they were about to flip the table over and roast her over the fire that they kept in the back room.
"Rei-san!" Ami exclaimed
"Rei-chan, don't be nasty!" Usagi scolded.
"She doesn't mean it, Naru-chan," Makoto filled in, rescuing the other girl and sitting her down at the table next to Usagi and herself.
"Why did you bring her here, Usagi-chan?" Rei demanded. She remained stood up but moved a little closer to the table and folded her arms, leveling the sort of gaze on Usagi usually reserved for when she showed up a half hour late with only the excuse that the Sailor V video game at CROWN had been free when she walked past to explain herself with.
"Because there are some things about us that I think she needs to know," Usagi said, "Particularly because they concern here."
"Quit talking about me as though I'm not here." Naru demanded, "I may as well not have come. Now, what is this that you need to tell me?"
Minako smiled with realization, "Oh-I get it."
"Hush, Minako-chan," Usagi said with a glimmer of authority, "We have to put it to the vote."
"What's the point? Naru-san, you're here already, right?" Rei put in, by way of apology for her earlier remarks, “Voting now seems more than a little pointless, odango-chan."
"Buda! Don't call me that, Rei-chan."
"I, for one, don't mind," Ami stepped in to cut off the impending argument.
"Me neither," Makoto said, "It's only fair."
"Oh, okay then..." Usagi said turning away from Rei and towards the main group. She spread her hands on the table as Luna and Artemis jumped up to sit in front of her, "If there are no other objections?" even the cats shook their heads, "Naru-chan, what we are about to tell you comes in the strictest confidence, okay?"
'Okay," Naru looked at each of the girls in turn before returning her point of focus to Usagi.
"Okay, Naru-chan, we, that is all five of us here. We're Sailor Senshi..." she faltered, "That is...um, I...I'm Sailor Moon,” she gave a very apologetic grin to her friend and waited for the disbelief, the accusations of craziness, the storming out until Usagi could tell her the truth, and the anger at such a cruel joke.
The silence extended from hesitation to strained, and then Naru started laughing. The one reaction none of them had really expected. Usagi scrambled to work out what was going on. Naru thought it was a joke and actually found it funny?
"Um...is everything alright, Naru-chan?" Usagi said.
It took her a moment of breathing deeply several times before she managed to answer, “Oh-oh, yes. I'm sorry. I don't mean to laugh, really, it's just, well, I knew that already. I was wondering how long it was going to take for you to tell me."
Usagi blinked, and almost fell out of her chair. She looked to her fellow senshi desperately for some sort of response. Naru knew? All this and Naru knew?
Makoto after a subtle pinching of the flesh on her arm asked, "Why didn't you say anything?"
"Does that mean you knew about the rest of us?" Minako asked.
Naru smiled, "Well, I guess saying I knew is a little much. I had a strong suspicion, especially about Usagi but I didn't want to come right out and say anything in case I was wrong. I wasn't going to say anything to anyone else especially not Umino-kun. He’s still firmly convinced that the senshi are aliens."
"Great." Usagi said, not sounding to enthused, she brightened up though as she moved her thoughts away from Umino chasing them down trying to do tests on them, "I'm glad that you're okay with it…are you sure you’re okay with it? I'm sorry I didn’t say anything but I was scared it would get you into trouble, and then I…we…realized just how much trouble it’s been getting you into anyway, Naru-chan, I feel so bad."
Naru shook her head, "Don't feel bad. I'm honored that you care so much about me, and it certainly keeps me on my toes." she smiled, "I just wish well, sometimes I wish that it didn't take you guy so long but I know you can't be everywhere."
"I’m so sorry, Naru-chan." Usagi said again.
"Don't apologize, please. I'm glad you guys are around," Naru smiled, "Otherwise Jyuban probably wouldn't be anymore and I would have died two years ago." she put a hand on Usagi's, "I'm just glad that you were able to tell me. I like knowing you're watching my back,” and to allay any further doubts, she got up and swept Usagi up into a big hug, which soon turned into a group hug as Usagi cried into Naru’s shoulder and the red-headed girl followed suit.
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