Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Neptune: Year One ❯ V ( Chapter 5 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
-Neptune: Year One-

Disclaimer: I do not own the Sailor Moon series or the character of Sailor Neptune, so please don't sue me.

--

-V-

The daemon reached the top of the stairs, licking its lips as it started to slowly creep past the first two rows of bookshelves. It was about to make its way past the third, when an explosive noise startled it into backing up. Looking up, it saw what looked like a water spout shoot up from between the seventh and eighth rows, knocking nearby science and mathematic books into the air and out into the other aisles as it reached to the roof.

The daemon looked down at Zultan on the first floor. "Saintu?"

The witch was just as mystified as her daemon. "Don't ask me," she said as she shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe the brat hit some weird sprinkler system hoping to touch off the alarm. Just get her now before we..."

"Guided by a new eon," a voice announced, "Sailor Neptune acts with grace."

Both witch and youma turned to see Sailor Neptune standing next to the aisle of now scattered books, the Senshi standing in a fighting stance.

"Cute," Zultan smirked. "Daemon, get rid of this clown and find the girl!"

"Saintu, saintu!" the thing cried as it lunged at the Senshi.

Sailor Neptune meant to only jump back a foot or two to get out of the youma's range, but instead she leaped back to the far wall of the library, some twenty feet back. When she finally landed, she looked almost as shocked as the daemon. "Pluto never told me about that," she mumbled to herself. Looking at the daemon in front of her, she remembered the words Pluto taught her. She didn't know whether it was instinct or simply that feeling of deja vu again, but she first raised her hands above her head, her body becoming a conduit as all the energies of the ocean's depths traveled through and around her, concentrating itself into a large blueish-green ball of kinetic energy, a ring circling it just as one encircled her henshin wand's crescent.

"Deep Submerge!" she cried out, sending the attack at the daemon. It traveled from her hands at incredible speed. Unfortunately, the thing was somehow able to leap out of the attack's way, the ball of energy instead plowing through three reference computers and the second floor rest room before blowing a very large circular hole out the second story east wall.

Neptune raised her hands up once more to attack, when her opponent landed just a few feet in front of her. The daemon aimed it's hand at her and three of its long red claws launched out at her, one missing the Senshi completely while the second and third ended up in her right shoulder and bicep. As Sailor Neptune shrieked out in pain, the youma grabbed her by the front collar of her fuku.

"Saintu, Saintu!" it growled, picking the injured Senshi up and hurling her over the second story railing towards the first floor below.

--

Outside the library, the sudden explosion on the second floor had the entire campus in an uproar. Students ignored the prohibitive curfew and ran out of their dorms even as the nuns tried to round the girls back up again. Sister Claire ran out of the greenhouse in alarm, the concussive impact of the explosion having broken several glass panels of the hexagonal building next to the library. Careful of the fallen glass all around her, she headed for the library in order to check on the safety of anyone who might still be in the building.

--

Back in the building, Zultan watched as Sailor Neptune tried to land on her feet on a table over by the biography section, only to have the table collapse beneath her with a crash. She frowned, turning away from the groaning Senshi as she pulled out a large leather sachet. This was more than she was prepared for. What's worse, there was no way she'd be able to stay now that her cover had been blown. Opening her pouch, she realized she'd have to grab the two heart crystals and run while she still could.

Sailor Neptune struggled uneasily to her feet, tears running down her cheeks as she painfully pulled out the two nails from her arm and shoulder. She could see the witch going towards her classmates while she could hear the youma up above her. Wiping the tears from her eyes, she grabbed the nearest two books and flung one at Zultan, hitting the witch's hand and causing her to drop her bag with a loud curse. She then turned her attention back to the daemon who was hopping down the stairs. It looked angry, scary, and ready to rip her apart limb from limb.

It did not, however, look very bright.

"Quick," Neptune yelled as she tossed it the other book, "catch!"

The daemon caught the book with both hands before it had time to think. "Saintu?"

Sailor Neptune took advantage of the confusion to raise her arms once more above her head for her attack. "Deep Submerge!" This time, she struck the youma full-blast. The thing screamed in pain as it dissolved into a small statue of St. Rita and struck the floor, a small seed then popping out of it and crumbling to dust. She turned her attention back to Zultan, who had run into the librarian's office.

"Damn you!" the witch shrieked as she locked the door behind her, "This isn't over between us, Sailor Neptune!" As a large white car with a black five-pointed star on the driver's side door crashed out through the wall of the librarian's office and raced off into the night, Neptune made her way to Miki and Miyuki, their heart crystals both still levitating in the air above them. She didn't know what the talismans were supposed to look like, but somehow she knew that these weren't them. Wiping more tears of pain from her eyes, she knelt down over the two unconscious girls.

They both looked like they were simply sleeping, and as she looked at her sempai an idea presented itself. "Forgive me, onee-sama," she whispered, "But this may be my only chance." She closed her eyes, bent down, and brought her lips to Miyuki's. The kiss was awkward and one sided, but it was still enough to make Neptune's heart race faster. Pulling back, she then quickly returned the heart crystals to their rightful owners. As Miki and Miyuki slowly began to come around, Neptune looked over at the pouch Zultan had dropped, and was surprised to see it floating slightly off the ground.

"Nani?" she asked as she opened it. There was a heart crystal inside it.

"Hello," a voice from outside the building called, "Is anybody in there?"

Neptune quickly closed the leather bag and jumped to the second floor, leaping from the gaping hole as Sister Claire from the greenhouse ran in, the nun shocked to find two groggy students lying on the floor and the library itself looking like some sort of wrecking crew had bet set loose inside it.

--

The nun lay in the hospital room, monitors and tubes sticking in her and displaying her vitals as the nurse and doctor quietly watched over her. "Dr. Mizuno, is there anything else I can do?"

The doctor sighed deeply as she shook her head. "We've tried everything, but it's not enough it would seem. Her metabolic readings are continuing to spiral downward. She's not going to make it."

The nurse nodded in understanding. "A representative from the convent will be here soon. You look frazzled. Care for a cup of coffee? My treat."

Dr. Mizuno looked over at the nurse and smiled weakly. "Thanks. You know," she said as she followed the nurse out of the room, "I wonder what my Ami-chan would think if she knew her mom really wasn't Mrs. Super Doctor..."

As the door to the room shut, the window to Mother Superior Ichi's room was opened from the outside. Racing from rooftop to rooftop, it had only taken Sailor Neptune roughly fifteen minutes to arrive at Tokyo General. Ignoring her own pain, she entered the room. It didn't take a genius to figure out who the third heart crystal must've belonged to, and as she took the glowing object out of the bag and walked over to the nun, Ichi opened her eyes.

The nun didn't have her glasses on, but she was able to make out the blurry shape of a beautiful young maiden wearing a crown and holding something shiny. "M... Mother Mary..." she weakly whispered.

Sailor Neptune returned the crystal to the principal, waiting until it was safely absorbed back into her before she exited through the window and headed back to St. Agatha's. Landing on the roof of her dorm building, she detransformed and quickly made her way in. The building was strangely quiet, and she made it into her room and then into the bathroom undetected. Reaching into the medicine cabinet, she quickly cleaned and bandaged the two nail wounds. There were black and blue marks all along her side and the upper thigh of her right leg, but luckily nothing showed thanks to her school uniform other than the scrape she had sustained to her shin when she'd first run up the library stairs. Her hands were shaking, and beads of sweat were forming on her forehead as she exited the bathroom and entered the room she shared with her roommate.

Noting that Takayo wasn't in the room, she looked out the dorm room window and saw everyone outside. She made her way out of the building and saw police and ambulance trucks parked out on the parking lot.

"Michiru-san?"

Michiru turned to see Sister Claire coming up to her with her sempai Miyuki. The freshman looked down awkwardly, "Onee-sama..."

"Michiru-chan, thank goodness you're alright," Miyuki said as she came over. "It's alright, Miki hasn't come to just yet, but the doctors say she'll be okay."

"I... I see..." Michiru said, a bit confused. "Tell me, what exactly do you remember?"

"She said she went out with you and Miki to investigate the library," Sister Claire answered. "She then said the three of you reached the building, and then she blacked out." The nun then crossed her arms as she stared at the violinist. "You realize of course that ignoring such a curfew is punishable by detention, even expulsion?"

Michiru silently nodded her head.

"Right then," the nun continued. "Just try not to let it happen again, okay?"

Michiru looked up at the nun in surprise. "You... You're not going to reprimand us?"

The nun chuckled a bit. "I'm just in charge of the green house," she said, "reprimanding would be a job for your teachers. Give me your word you won't do something like this again, and we'll let it go."

"Don't worry," Miyuki spoke up, "She does."

The nun turned away and headed back over to the greenhouse where a group of students were already starting to pick up the broken glass. Michiru turned to her sempai, "Onee-sama, I'm sorry for..."

"It's alright, Michiru-chan," Miyuki said as she crossed her arms, "Like Sister Claire said though, don't go running around after hours like that again, okay?" Looking closer at the freshman, she noticed something off in Michiru's eyes. "Michiru-chan, you are alright, aren't you? Do you need to have a doctor look at you?"

"No, really," Michiru answered, "I... I'm fine." She turned before she said or did anything more embarrassing in front of her sempai. As Miyuki watched the freshman walk away, she smiled. The girl could be a bit aloof, but was hardly stuck up as Beniko had said. Maybe she was right for the role of Joan after all. She certainly was beautiful enough, with her long wavy hair, deep blue eyes, and those full lips...

Miyuki stopped herself. "Where did that come from?" she muttered before heading back to her dorm room.

--

Michiru managed to make it back to her room right around the same time as her roommate Takayo. They'd found the librarian Sister Philomena unconscious but safe in the library basement. And that Sunday, there was a special mass to celebrate the Virgin Mary's healing of Reverend Mother Ichi.

Over the next few weeks, she went about her daily routine, somehow managing to keep her injuries from being discovered. She also continued to spend time with Miyuki, the two of them becoming almost inseparable to the point where Michiru now could feel at ease around the object of her crush.

During this period, there had been no further attacks by any daemons. And, while there was an ongoing official investigation into just what had happened that night in the library, Michiru's secret seemed safe for the moment. One night, three and a half weeks after the library incident, Michiru turned the lights off, said goodnight to Takayo, and went to sleep.

--

She looked down at her unconscious sempai, and bent down to kiss her. Miyuki woke up and returned the kiss as she wrapped her arms around Michiru, opening her mouth so that the younger girl could deepen the kiss. As both girls began to moan, somewhere the sound of a woman's laughter was heard.

Michiru looked up with a start. The laughter was neither malicious nor sinister, but mirthful.

"Your wasting your time dreaming of her, you know."

Michiru was indignant, "Wasting my time?"

"She can cause you to rise, but she'll never cause you to swell. She'll never be able to reach your depths, never know your soul. The ocean holds within itself great secrets, but it takes the right person to unlock them."

"What do you mean?" Michiru asked angrily, ignoring the vanishing image of Miyuki as she stood up and defiantly balled her hands up into fists. "Speak plainly."

"The sea cannot move a sailboat on its own anymore than it can create a hurricane or carry its briny salt-scent to the mariner's nostrils under its own power. No, to do any of those things, you need the wind."

"The wind?"

"Remember me," the voice said as it started to fade away, "Remember me..."

--

Michiru opened her eyes with a start. "The wind?" she asked. "What did it mean, 'remember me?'"

She silently got out of bed and pulled out her henshin wand. "Pluto," she whispered so that Takayo wouldn't wake up, "If you can hear me, take this back. I don't know what you did to me, or why, but take it back." After a few seconds of nothing happening, she sighed and put the wand back. Laying back down, she eventually fell back into into a troubled sleep.

-To Be Continued-