Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Chasing the Moon ❯ Chapter Four: Lost ( Chapter 4 )

Chasing the Moon

By Kuroi Koneo

 

AN: I AM ALIVE!!!!

 

Sorry for such a long delay, and THANK YOU to everyone who reviewed and emailed me. I would've been typing sooner and faster, but the end of my school year was coming up and that took a LOT of my time.

 

But I'm finished with High School... FOREVER!!! I have officially graduated, finished moving into my Mom's new house (I wish we hadn't moved, I LIKED our cozy li'l condo), started summer, and I'm not going to fuss around with my college prep stuff for a month. Dratted forms and scholarships....

 

Anyway, I had to reread my chapters to recapture my train of thoughts and whatnot. But I now have the time to write, so expect updates for my stories about once a week (I hope)!!

 

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Chapter 4: Lost

 

 

The settled routine of school, gymnastics class, and secret weekend training sessions continued on for several months without interruptions or many problems. School was coming to an end and summer vacation was just a few weeks away, and with it came Serena's eighth birthday. Serena's baby sibling, a healthy boy her parents named Samuel, was born two months before her birthday (1). With her brother's “arrival” her birthday party was a bit less... extravagent than what the girl had wished for. She didn't mind too much though, she was thrilled with having a little brother and her birthday all within a short period of time.

 

Her mother, having only recently come home from the hospital, had been restricted to bed rest for several weeks. The vast majority of her time was spent either caring for little Sammy, sleeping to recover her own strength, or doing little chores around the house to keep up her stamina and make herself feel useful. She deeply regretted not being able to spend much time with Serena, constantly telling her daughter how much she loved her and spending as much time as she was able to with her young and energetic daughter.

 

Serena was a bit disappointed that her mother couldn't spend the day with her, especially on her birthday, but her father promised to make it up to her by making it a Father-Daughter's day out on her birthday. He promised he'd use his camera only for fun-pictures and not work-pictures (2), and he took the day off from work too.

 

And so Kenji (3) took Bunny to the zoo for the day, treating her to ice cream, popcorn, peanuts, and the various other unhealthy foods being sold. Kenji cringed at what Ikuko would have to say when he got back, but looking at his daughter's bright eyes and delighted smile made him smile too thinking it was worth the awaiting lecture.

 

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(That evening)

 

Kenji gently carried the sleeping Bunny into her room, standing by the bed as Ikuko turned down the covers so he could slip Bunny under the covers and then tucking the edges around her as she snuggled into their softness.

 

Ikuko stood looking over her daughter, her namesake evident as she wandered in her dreams, as Kenji came to stand beside her with his arm wrapped gently around her shoulders. Ikuko leaned her head against her husband's chest as a few tears escaped her clenched eyes. Kenji made soft murmurs into her hair, hoping to comfort her but to no avail.

 

“How are we going to tell her, Ken-koi (Ken-love)? She'll be devastated that we have to move - and so soon after her birthday, too! She'll be leaving behind all her friends, everything she knows!” Ikuko wailed softly, absently allowing Kenji to lead her from the room so as not to wake the sleeping child.

 

“Sh, sh, now. This is for the best - for all of us. It isn't as if she'll never come and visit, or keep out of touch. We'll make sure of that, I promise. There's always the snail-mail, or we can do the internet-thing, phone calls may be a bit scarce since it's long distance -” Ikuko chuckled softly through her tears and Kenji smiled, “but she won't forget her life here, or the people. We're moving onward to something new, dearest, not leaving something behind. I promise.”

 

Ikuko looked intently at him for a few long moments, his expression earnest and sincere in her scrutiny.

 

She gave him a small smile and nodded.

 

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“Bunnykins, honey, your father and I have something we need to tell you.” Ikuko patiently buttoned up Serena's raincoat before saying anything else.

 

Serena stopped her impatient bouncing when she heard her mother's tone. It was the tone that said “there's-something-you-need-to-know-but-you're-not-going-to-like-it&# 8221; tone. She knew it had to be really important, too, because her mother only uses “Bunnykins, honey” when she's done something wrong or it's something really important.

 

Serena peered up at her mother through her bangs, her hands clasped behind her back, a booted-toe digging into the carpet. She chewed a bit on her lip before replying in the most “I'm-totally-innocent-so-whatever-it-is-I-didn't-do-it” voice possible.

 

“Yes, Mama?”

 

Ikuko smiled at her daughter's obvious attempts and reached out to gently tug on one of her pigtails to reassure her daughter it was nothing bad.

 

“Baby,” Kenji took over. He took a breath to gather his courage; how hard to tell your child she has to leave what she knows behind! “Sweetheart, we're going to be moving somewhere new in a few weeks.”

 

Serena stared blankly at her parents, blinking as she tried to process the news that she'd had dropped on her.

 

“Mo...ving? What? Where? When? WHY?! We can't- my friends- what about - ” she took in desperately needed breaths, pausing only for a moment. “We CAN'T!!”

 

“Now, Baby, it isn't that bad! I promise. You can still keep in touch with all your friends, we'll come and visit; I promise this isn't as bad as you make it seem, Sweetheart,” Kenji said, forcing a more cheerful voice. His reassurances were ignored as Bunny began crying softly, repeating over and over `we can't'.

 

Kenji could only kneel there in the doorframe looking helplessly at his wife as she gently rocked Bunny back and forth, the same helpless look reflected in her eyes as she looked up at him.

 

“Everything will be alright, Bunnykins, everything will be alright. I promise, I promise... Sshh sshh, now, it'll all be alright...”

 

 

Ikuko quietly closed the door to Bunny's room, making sure that the little rabbit sign declaring “Serena's Room” didn't knock against the door as she pulled it shut. She lifted her head and faced her husband dejectedly, tears lingering in the corners of her eyes as she searched for the right words to say.

 

“We need this job, Ikuko,” Kenji began. “The pay is better, I'll have better insurance for the both of you and little Sammy as well. We can get a bigger house for the four of us, Bunny will still be getting a good education - the schools in America are supposed to be very good (4). It'll be good for us.”

 

Ikuko looked up at Kenji, searching his desperate eyes.

 

“I know, Ken-koi, I know. But it'll be hard for all of us to adjust. The language is so different from ours-”

 

“We'll have time to learn some basics; we'll pick it up as we go along. At least Serena will be able to adjust better.”

 

Ikuko sighed, closing her eyes tiredly.

 

“Yes. We'll adjust.” She looked up with a small, forced smile. “We'll adjust.”

 

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(Several weeks later, nearing the end of summer. Moving day.)

 

Serena stood off to the side, arms crossed and pouting, as she watched the last of the boxes being carried into the truck that would ship them off to their new home across the world. She didn't have anything to do really, but suddenly remembered that Luna had been absent for quite some time now; she had been so busy sulking over her parents' decision that she had completely forgotten about her training and even about her cat. Ikuko and Kenji were so busy taking care of Sammy, the moving plans, the packing up, the required paperwork so the necessary people knew they'd moved, and trying to get Serena to stop sulking that they too had forgotten about the self-sufficient feline. It was Serena's sudden urge for a friendly ear and a purring cuddle that reminded her of her friend's absence, and with her mind made up with a decisive nod, Serena set off the find her missing companion.

 

She didn't get very far at first, though.

 

“SERENA!” Kenji cried. “Where do you think you're going, young lady?” He marched over to her from his spot supervising the movers.

 

Serena flinched slightly at her father's disapproving tone before putting on her most innocent “who me? I'm not doing anything” face. Kenji frowned harder.

 

“Papa, where's Luna? Isn't she moving with us? Where is she?” she asked childishly.

 

Kenji stopped abruptly, the reminder of the absent feline shocking him momentarily. Where did that cat go? He wondered idly. He shook the thought off so he could focus on his daughter who stared up at him questioningly.

 

“Papa?”

 

He smiled at the girl before replying. “Well, that's a good question. I don't know where she is right now, Sweetheart-” he felt himself wince when he saw Serena's eyes start to fill up with tears and her lower lip started quivering. He hurried on, “but I'm sure if we go look for her she can't be too far away from home right now...”

 

Bunny nodded happily, a big grin growing on her face as she and her father went hand in hand looking for Luna.

 

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(Elsewhere...duh)

 

Luna jumped quickly from panel to panel, rapidly scanning each screen before moving on to the next one.

 

“Come on, come on,” she muttered impatiently, jumping off the panel she had been on to cross the room. Leaping onto another set of panels she paused to look down at the buttons before her. “Let's see, now,” she stepped to the right, pressing a blue button, “...then...” she quickly hit the red button on the left before rapidly switching back over to the blue button. The screen flashed a list of numbers at her before they suddenly froze.

 

GAME OVER...GAME OVER...GAME OV-

 

“YES I KNOW!” Luna screeched at the blinking words that mocked her, “just give me the darn listing already!”

 

As if startled by the cat's outburst, the words stopped blinking and the demanded list popped up.

 

Please enter password.

 

Luna bounced on several of the consol keys. Left red, left blue, left blue, right green, middle red, middle blue, left green, she thought to herself.

 

“Welcome. Please enter voice activation code,” a mechanical voice drifted from the game set.

 

“Agent Kitty One.”

 

“Pass code, please.”

 

“Dogs may be mans' best friend, but Cats are mans' owners.”

 

There were a few long moments were the silence was punctured only by Luna's soft breathing and the stop-and-go buzzings as the machine analyzed the given data.

 

“Thank you. Welcome back to Base, Agent Kitty One.”

 

“Finally,” Luna mumbled under her breath. She took a moment to settle her ruffled fur with a quick full-body shake before gracefully leaping off the consol into the small passageway revealed behind the game screen. “Computer, please contact Control Center. Request files on possible Senshi candidates in Tokyo.”

 

“One moment, please.” There was a soft humming as the A.I. system followed the cat's request. “Shall I report them, Agent One, or would you prefer to view the list on a consol?”

 

Luna paused a moment to consider.

 

“Report, please.” Another soft hum.

 

“Very well. Control Center reports no new signs of any unusual auras in the Tokyo vicinity. A suspicious spike was recorded momentarily several days ago; further investigations returned a negative on Senshi compatibility-”

 

“What was the cause of the spike?” Luna interuppted.

 

“Control reports indicate -” the A.I. paused to access the information, “- that the spike was caused by an old Shinto priest. He was apparently setting up protection wards and unwittingly stumbled upon an energy hotspot. There was no reaction from the man, but hotspot was temperarily tapped into which authenticated the protection wards.”

 

“What of the energy site?”

 

“Reports say that the energy site is now within the wards' protected area. The wards have been keeping various low-level youmas (5) at bay. They have apparently given up on scouting the area.”

 

Luna sat back on her haunches as she contemplated this information. “Hmmm... Thank you. So there was a negative Senshi compatibility, you said?”

 

“Correct. Control said there was a young child there, but investigation didn't get very far: apparently, she was only there for a short time. Scouters reported that she did not seem to have any sign of a Senshi aura.”

 

“I see. Very well then. Does Control Center have any new orders for me?”

 

There was again the faint humming sound as the A.I. scanned the downloaded information for orders while Luna sat patiently in silence. The humming slowly died down until there was only the silence, broken occasionally by the soft swish-ing sound of Luna's twitching tail. Luna's tail began to twitch more frequently as the silence lengthened. Her ears began to twitch next, keeping a counter-rhythm to her flicking tail. Then...

 

“COMPUTER!”

 

“YES?!” The A.I. sounded startled. “Yes, Agent One?” it continued more calmly.

 

Luna's body twitched once. “Are there any new orders?” she grounded out.

 

“No.”

 

Luna let out a deep breath. She got up and headed towards a tunnel opposite the one she came in through.

 

“Then that's all for today. Please open the alleyway exit. The Arcade has been opened.” A door about 2 feet square opened up in front of the waiting feline. “Good day, Computer.”

 

“Good day, Agent One.”

 

Luna walked out into the secluded alley, the silent closing of the door behind her acknowledged with a soft breeze from behind her.

 

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Serena and Kenji began their search around the house, then expanded it to the rest of the quiet neighborhood. Kenji would knock on neighbors' doors while Serena asked whether anyone had seen her cat. Each time they would receive a negative answer, and each time Serena grew more despondent.

 

Kenji looked over at his quiet and bounce-less daughter, frowning when he heard her sigh yet again.

 

“Chin up, Bunny. Luna's bound to turn up soon. She probably wanted to go explore her new teritory; speaking of which, why don't why try town? She may have wandered through there.”

 

Serena lifted her head to meet her father's encouraging gaze and nodded. We WILL find Lunakins, she thought determinedly. She grasped her father's hand and the two walked into bustling crowds of town.

 

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Luna was calmly walking along the sidewalk, dodging in and out of people's way every-so-often to avoid being stepped on, when she suddenly stopped. Her fur began to stand on end, slowly rising until she could feel every strand moving involuntarily. A rush of hot air blew past her, forcing her off her feet and off the sidewalk. Her body reacted automatically, twisting itself in midair until she landed feet first on the ground. Luna froze a moment, something around her feeling off again, a different kind of danger than what she previously thought she sensed.

 

And then her ears perked up as she heard her name being called by a familiar childish voice.

 

“LUNAKINS!! LUNAKINS! where are you?!” her young ward cried.

 

“Luna!! Luna!! Here kitty!” shouted Kenji.

 

Luna cocked her head to the side, momentarily wondering why they were so frantically searching for her. She nearly hit herself as she remembered that she had been doing side-missions for close to two months now and her absence was bound to be noticed eventually. She gave a loud meow, the best she could manage to be heard over sounds of the city. She jumped onto a car-hood and then balanced on a parking meter, meowing as though she were serenading the passersby.

 

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Serena was searching everywhere she could find: she looked in the alleys (which her father determinedly dragged her out of), she looked in windows, she looked under cars, behind trash cans, in trash cans and under them, anywhere she could imagine. She continually walked up to people walking along the sidewalk and asked if they had seen her cat anywhere; all she received were sympathetic glances and negative answers. No one had seen a black cat anywhere.

 

It was like Luna had fallen off the face of the earth.

 

Then she heard it, faintly, but it was there. A very familiar wailing sound...

 

“LUNA!!” Serena shouted gleefully when she spotted her black feline companion balanced precariously on an expired parking meter. She quickly dodged her way in and out of people's legs to get to the noisy cat.

 

Kenji, hearing his daughter's calling abruptly change in tone, spun around just in time to see the little Bunny bounce away towards the street. Worried she was going to cross the busy road he quickly darted after her, only realizing that the missing pet was in plain view on the same side of the road when he caught up to Serena.

 

Just as the two were a handful of paces away from reaching Luna, a harsh wind suddenly blew out of nowhere and the wobbly cat's claws lost their fragile grip and blew off the parking meter -

 

- and right into the busy road.

 

There was a loud screech, followed by a car's frantic honking. Tires squealed as the vehicle frantically tried to avoid hitting the disoriented animal weaving in front of it, but it was far too close, and far too late to stop in type.

 

There was an inaudible thump covered by screeching tires and a child's distraught screaming.

 

And nobody noticed the darting shadow.

 

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Luna had the uncomfortable sense of weightlessness, the feeling distorted her equilibrium and she could not tell up from down. So it came as a rather painful surprise when she felt something slam into her side causing her to roll-slide along the unforgiving pavement.

 

She could hear a screeching sound in her sensitive ears and desperately tried to cover them to block out the sound but found her paws would not respond as she wished. In fact, she found she couldn't even feel her body, and that unnerved her more than her sudden loss of hearing.

 

And then she felt her side being hit again; it was an odd sensation since she couldn't feel the what was pushing against her but she could feel the pressure of it, the force of it knocking the air out of her lungs.

 

She could feel that weightless sensation again, feel herself slamming back down onto the immovable ground, rolling over and over again.

 

And then the world became a blurry mess of colors before falling peacefully black.

 

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Serena had screamed only once, after the truck had been unable to stop and the mangled body of a red-spattered cat was seen lying half under the wheels, she had screamed.

 

And she hadn't made so much as a single sniff since.

 

Kenji had quickly gathered up his immobile daughter and carried her home, away from the tragic accident. He had paused only to inform the driver, who was out-of-sorts about hitting the “poor animal”, that he was the owner and if he would kindly call a vet so the remains could be properly taken care of? He also gave the driver his cell phone number so it could be passed onto the vet and he would be contacted when the cat had been collected. Everyone looked on with sympathetic and mildly understanding eyes when he motioned to his wide-eyed and slack-jawed daughter.

 

The day, which had began as a hectic but supposed-to-be-exciting day, had somehow turned into a horrible, horrible day.

 

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Sorry if this is inaccurate, but I don't know when Sammy's birthday is so I kinda just twisted things around for my own convenience.

I honestly can't recall what Kenji did for a living, but I'm making him a photographer for my fic. This has a dual purpose in my story, obviously.

I didn't like how I had `Iris' and `Kevin' for her parents' names, so I've changed them to the original versions, which I've also corrected in the other chapters. If this bothers anyone, let me know I'll change it back.

Okay, I know it's lame sending them to America. But hey, I live here and it's familiar territory. And if you're LUCKY, you can get a good education in some of the schools. It mostly depends on the other students you have to put up with to get it. The colleges and Universities are supposed to be good though. Serena can also pick up the attitude I want her to have later on in America, where anywhere else it might be more difficult for me since I'm unfamiliar with the lifestyles/cultures.

I'm using “youmas” (correct me if that's spelled wrong, please) because my idea(s) of demons don't fit what the...creatures the senshi fight are. And it's more accurate too, I think, since isn't that what they're originally called?

 

 

I happen to be fond of using the japanese language mixed with my English, but I am not at all fluent or adept at it. Most of the words I pick up from other fanfics, my brother (who's self-teaching himself), or from various websites I browse through. If there's anything wrong with my usage, please TELL ME so I can correct it.

 

If you haven't noticed yet, I interchange Bunny and Serena a lot. I'll probably use Serena for the most part, but I have reasons for using them both (later on, anyway).