Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Sailor Centauri ❯ Chapter 1

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

As always, Sailor Moon is property of Naoko Takeuchi/Kodanshsa. Not me.

SAILOR CENTAURI
CHAPTER 1

"Starlight Honeymoon Therapy Kiss!" Sailor Moon used her attack to turn
the monster back into the ice cream van driver.

The other senshi all breathed a sigh of relief. "Is it just me, or do
our enemies have the dumbest ideas about where to get heart crystals
and dream mirrors and star seeds." Jupiter said in exasperation.

"It gives Usagi a chance to say some dumb speech about ice cream being
nice, and not forgiving them for ruining it or some other nonsense."
Mars pointed out.

"Maybe, but Lead Crow got away again." Uranus said harshly.

"WAAAAAUUUHH, OOOOFFF!"

Everyones attention was grabbed as another senshi appeared five metres
in the air and fell to the ground rather painfully. No one noticed the
small white cat which also fell, and landed gracefully on its feet. The
new arrival picked herself up and dusted herself off. She looked around
at the seven senshi looking back with expressions ranging from shock to
hostility.

Sailor Uranus acted first before anyone else could do anything. "World
Shaking!!" she sent her attack at the new arrival.

But Sailor Centauri saw it coming and leapt backwards out of harms way.
"Too much to hope for a warm welcome." She bit out.

"Wait! Why are you attacking her?" Sailor Moon asked.

"The outer senshi protect the solar system from enemies from outside."
Uranus said coldly.

"That means her!" Neptune finished.

"You don't know that!" Sailor Moon said, then to the white haired senshi
who was eyeing them all warily "Who are you?"

Centauri brightened a little. She went through some poses and said
dramatically "For love and honour, I am the sailor suited beautiful
fighter Sailor Centauri!"

"Sounds like someone we know." Mars whispered snidely to Venus.

"Well I'm the sailor suited beautiful fighter for love and justice
Sailor Moon!" Sailor Moon went through her poses.

"Invited by a new age, I am the magnificent Sailor Uranus!"

"Also invited by a new age, I am the elegant Sailor Neptune!"

The other senshi shrugged their shoulders and decided to do their fancy
introductions.

"For fire and passion, I am Sailor Mars!"

"For love and beauty, I am Sailor Venus!"

"For..uh..fog and studying, I am Sailor Mercury!"

"For..erm..tree's and cooking, I am Sailor Jupiter!"

Everyone looked at Jupiter and Mercury, who just hung their heads in
shame.

"Now, what are you doing in our solar system?" Neptune demanded.

Centauri put a hand behind her head and laughed nervously. "Funny
story..."

Neptune had had enough and launched her Deep Submerge at Sailor
Centauri. Sailor Centauri was able to avoid this attack as well. "Ok,
I've had a really bad day-" she hesitated, wondering if it could be
counted as a day since she went through time, then decided to put the
matter aside for a later time. "And now I'm gonna kick some ass!"

Picking the loudmouthed Sailor Uranus as her first target, Sailor
Centauri fired off her basic attack. "Centauri Star Shot!" the glowing
white sphere knocked Uranus back, but she was stopped from falling over
by Sailor Neptune who staggered as she caught her fellow senshi.

"Who else wants a piece of me?" Centauri asked nastily. She looked at
the senshi surrounding her, and saw they were all looking pretty PO'd
and were preparing their own attacks. "Uh oh..." she backed off a
little.

"Centauri, use your Siren Song attack, it will distract them and we can
escape!" Hermes said urgently.

"Right, siren song, got it!" She gave the cat a thumbs up. "Centauri
Siren Song!" She began to sing a haunting melody which affected the
senshi less than other enemies she'd fought, but still allowed her and
Hermes to escape from the dazed and confused senshi.

"That was close-" She began telling Hermes, but he interrupted her.

"Centauri look out!!" He yelled.

"Huh-" she quickly spotted the threat and ducked under the wicked blade
which occupied the same space her neck would have if she'd continued.
Going into a quick somersault, she got up and faced the new threat.
A young girl who didn't look any older than twelve, was holding a
glaive, she quickly spun it above her head and pointed at Centauri. She
was wearing a sailor senshi outfit, but it was slightly different in
design to the ones worn by the senshi that Centauri had just escaped
from.

"That's a nice weapon girl.." An increasingly pissed off Centauri
growled.

"And I know just how to use it." The girl said cooly as she moved closer
to Centauri.

"Really..." Centauri snarled as she withdrew a small tube from her
pocket dimension, she activated it and it extended to its full length of
almost one and a half metres and a glowing axehead appeared on its end.
She assumed a combat stance opposite her opponent. Neither seemed in a
favourable position to attack.

The girl seemed impressed, "Now, who are you?" Centauri asked, curious
in spite of herself about the numerous senshi of the Earth. And their
apparent hostility, so unlike Sailor Pluto, but they didn't seem to be
in league with Galaxia...

"I am Sailor Saturn. The soldier of destruction and rebirth." She
shifted her glaive into a slightly better position, Centauri shifted
accordingly. "And you are?"

"As I told your friends, I am Sailor Centauri." She said, becoming aware
that others had arrived, but not daring to take her eyes off Sailor
Saturn.

"World Shaking!"
"Deep Submerge!"

The two attacks headed right for Centauri, twirling around each other as
they homed in on their target.

Caught between Saturns glaive and the two energy attacks she had avoided
earlier, Centauri didn't know which way to turn. Everything seemed to
happen in slow motion. A voice, Sailor Moon's probably, cried out
"Wait!"

Sailor Saturn smiled at Centauri, a warm gentle smile which immediately
put her at ease. The noise of the attacks bearing down on her grew
louder. Saturn turned toward Neptune and Uranus and said "Silence Wall!"
The two attacks were blocked harmlessly just in front of Sailor Saturn.

At the same time, both the Outer Senshi and Sailor Centauri asked
"Why!?"

Saturn looked between them, and at the relieved Sailor Moon and said "I
don't sense any true evil in her. And Sailor Moon told you to wait."
Realising that she might not have to fight all these people, Centauri
deactivated her Astral Axe and returned it to her pocket dimension, "I
don't want to fight you." she told them.

"No, you just want our Star Seeds don't you?" Uranus said, her voice
even harsher than usual. Sailor Moons naive idealism she could take, it
was expected even, but Saturn!

"Star Seeds..." Centauri remembered that Galaxia had wanted those, they
must think I'm working for Galaxia. "You mean Galaxia's here too?"

Before anyone could answer, Sailor Pluto arrived. "Sailor Pluto!"
Centauri cried in relief at seeing one familiar face, even though she
didn't really know the mysterious senshi of time. She ran towards Pluto,
but Uranus and Neptune blocked her way

"Not so fast!" Neptune said sternly.

"No, its al-" Pluto began, but it didn't matter since Centauri leapt
over the two Outer Senshi and ran to Pluto, stopping just short of
hugging her.

"I'm so glad to see at least one person I know here!" She said happily.

The remaining senshi, surprised enough that Pluto seemed to know this
Sailor Centauri, were even more surprised when a small white cat with a
star on its forehead said "Hey, what about me!"

"Oh..er..I meant a human person!" Centauri backtracked.

"She has a talking cat! She must be good!" Mercury exclaimed.

"I"ve never met a talking cat I didn't like." Venus said, noticing the
cat looked a lot like Artemis.

"But we still don't know why she's here." Jupiter pointed out.

"I don't intend to stay for long." Centauri explained. "I"ve come back
through time so I can stop Galaxia. She defeated me before, but I'm sure
I can find someway to stop her and save Centauri."

Pluto grabbed Centauri's arm, drawing her closer. "We need to talk."

"Sure." Centauri said, mildly surprised at Pluto.

"Not here, come on, we're going to my place."

"Ok.." Centauri allowed herself to be dragged off by Pluto. Hermes ran
after them while the other senshi just looked at each other as they
tried to figure out what just happened.

***

When no one was around, Pluto transformed back into Setsuna. "We're less
conspicous this way." she told Centauri.

Centauri decided she was right and transformed into Noriko. Then they
went to Setsuna's apartment. She offered Noriko some tea but she
declined. "You said we needed to talk?"

"Uh..yes." Setsuna became a little uneasy. "Noriko, you think you've
travelled into the past. You haven't. I don't know how far, but you have
went into what from your perspective would be the future." She let the
consequences of those words sink into Noriko.

"The future..." she said numbly "Then it's...too late. Galaxia has
destroyed Centauri..."

Setsuna and Hermes went to comfort her, but she pushed them away sobbing
wildly. "They're all dead!" She screamed "Dead! Everyone! And I did
nothing! I wasn't even there!! Some protector I was. I let them all
die!"

She got up and ran outside tears streaming down her face. Setsuna got up
to follow her, but Hermes stopped her. "She needs to be alone right now.
She'll be back when she's come to terms with it. I'd half expected this
anyway."

But Setsuna noticed tears forming in the cats eyes.

***

Noriko ran through the streets, crying freely. Eventually she ran out of
energy and just slumped to the ground against a lamppost. "all gone..."
she kept repeating. She held her knees against her chest and rocked back
and forth. "all gone." She just stopped talking and buried her head
between her knees as her body convulsed with sobbing.

She became aware of someone near her and looked up through tear strained
eyes. A cute little girl with red hair and heart shaped odango's was
looking at her with a mixture of child-like curiousity and compassion.
"Chibi chibi." she said in a cute voice as she offered a candy to
Noriko.

"T-thankyou." Noriko said shakily as she accepted the candy. She managed
a smile for the little girl.

"Chibi chibi!" She repeated happily as she skipped off.

Haruka was still upset about this whole Sailor Centauri business, so
Michiru had told her to take a walk and blow off some steam. And it was
working, she was starting to feel better. Then she noticed the
attractive girl with long white hair sitting on the ground crying. Much
better, she corrected herself as she went over.

"What's wrong? A cute girl like you can't have too many problems." She
said, slipping into her routine. Pity Michiru's not here, she thought,
even she'd be impressed with this one.

The girl looked at Haruka for a moment and Haruka felt as if she was
being probed down to her soul. "You have no idea." the girl finally
said. Her voice carried an edge of bitterness.

Hope I'm not biting off more than I can chew here, Haruka thought.
"Boyfriend trouble?" She asked hopefully.

Noriko let out a short laugh that chilled Haruka with its emptiness.
"I've never had a boyfriend in my life. Now I doubt I ever will."

"Some people would see that as a problem." Haruka was starting to regret
her decision to hit on this girl. Something about her made Haruka deeply
unsettled.

"If that was my only problem, I'd be ecstatic." Noriko was starting to
get annoyed at this boy...at least she thought it was a boy.

"What other problems do you have?" Haruka asked.

"You couldn't understand. Now if you'll excuse me, I'd rather be alone
right now." Noriko got up and started to shakily walk away.

"It can't be that bad-" Haruka put her hand on Noriko's shoulder. She
was shocked when Noriko grabbed it and threw her over her shoulder. She
was holding Haruka's arm as she lay prone on the ground. She twisted it
causing Haruka to wince in pain.

"Never touch me without my permission. Not any time, but especially not
today!" Noriko said menacingly. She gave Haruka's arm another twist then
let go and stalked off.

Haruka rubbed her sore arm and looked at the girl with a new
appreciation. "Wait, what's your name?" she called after her.

"Ka'Tenmei Noriko." She said curtly without turning.

"I'm Ten'ou Haruka, maybe we'll meet again."

Noriko didn't respond.

"Must be her time of the month." Haruka muttered as she decided to go
see Michiru.

***

"It's getting late." Hermes observed as he saw the darkening twilight
out the window.

"Maybe she got lost, she is in a totally new place." Setsuna said.

"I think I should go look for her, maybe she's in danger, or maybe
she..." Hermes found himself unable to complete the sentence as he
considered the possibility that Noriko might have taken her life.

"I think she's probably just lost." Setsuna reassured him, "We should go
look for her though, I'll phone the others and ask them to look for her
too."

"Are you sure thats a good idea, after what happened earlier?" Hermes
questioned her.

"She could have attacked them after doing that Siren Song thing, she
didn't, she also could have killed Saturn while she was putting up her
Silence Wall, she didn't. I'm sure that wasn't lost on everyone else."

As it happened, she was only able to get Ami, Rei and Makoto to help.
Usagi was at the game center, Minako was doing 'idol stuff' with the
three lights, and Haruka and Michiru either weren't in or weren't
answering their phone. She didn't want to bother Hotaru since she was
still pretty young to be going out alone at night.

***

Makoto noticed the girl with long white hair standing forlornly in the
park. She was just staring up at the stars with a vacant expression.
Guessing that this was the girl she was supposed to be looking for, she
walked over. The girl didn't seem to notice her, so she cleared her
throat and spoke. "Excuse me, are you Ka'Tenmei Noriko?"

The girl looked at her cautiously. "Yes..." she said quietly. "Who are
you, and how do you know me?"

"I'm Kino Makoto, Setsuna and Hermes are out looking for you. She asked
me and my friends to help. Although we actually met earlier today..."
She checked that no one else was around "...Sailor Centauri."

She started a little at that. Then looked Mako straight in the eye. "Not
any more." She said, her voice carried a touch of regret.

"What do you mean?" Mako asked.

"I'm guessing that you're Sailor Jupiter." Noriko said then looked at
Mako for confirmation. Mako nodded so she continued. "What would you be
if there was no Jupiter?"

Mako didn't quite understand. "What exactly do you mean?"

"If Jupiter was destroyed, what would you fight for?" Noriko explained.

Makoto didn't hesitate. "I would fight for the Princess. Sailor Moon!"

"And what if your princess was dead?" Noriko asked.

"I would fight for the other planets in the solar system." Makoto said.

Noriko gave a sigh of frustration. "If you had nothing left. Nothing. No
planet, no princess, no solar system. What then?"

I wish Usagi was here, Mako thought, she'd be able to deal with this. "I
don't know." she said at last.

Noriko gave a sardonic smile. "Then you understand my position." She
resumed looking at the stars while Mako stood next to her uneasily.

Just to break the silence which was starting to get to her, Mako asked
what she was looking for, even though she knew the answer.

"Alpha Centauri, which one of those dots of light is my home...well
what's left of it. Is it even visible from this planet?"

Mako didn't know. Ami would, but she was off looking for Noriko
somewhere else. So she just said nothing.

After a few minutes, Noriko turned back to Makoto. "I'm sorry for
fighting with you earlier." she said.

"That's all right. Haruka's the only one who really got upset about it."
Mako laughed a little.

"Haruka....Ten'ou Haruka?" Noriko asked, a little worry in her voice.

"Yes, how do you know her?" Mako replied.

Noriko became a little nervous. "I thought she was a boy. She acted like
she was coming on to me."

Mako laughed a bit more. "Yes, she does that a lot."

"But I beat her up!"

Mako was shocked. "You beat up Haruka! Wow! I'm impressed."

"She must be Sailor Uranus, oh no, she will not be happy with me." Noriko
became more worried.

"Probably not." Mako agreed. "How did you beat her up? I got in a fight
with her once and she kicked my ass. "

"She didn't put up much of a fight. She grabbed my shoulder so I threw
her over it and twisted her arm a bit then let her go. She didn't seem
too mad, but she didn't know who I was!"

"Don't worry." Mako tried to reassure her. "Setsuna vouched for you.
Haruka will back down."

Suddenly Noriko remembered why Mako had come up to her in the first
place. "Setsuna and Hermes are looking for me you said. We'd better go
and tell them I'm alright. I can imagine Hermes will be crawling out of
his fur with worry by now."

"Right, lets go." Mako was just glad that Noriko seemed to have
forgotten her depression for now.

***

"You can sleep here tonight" Setsuna said, indicating the futon she had
put in the living room. "We'll see about arranging something else
tomorrow."

"This is fine." Noriko assured her. "Thankyou for your kindness." She
smiled at Setsuna. "I'll just have to start a new life on this planet I
suppose."

"It will be hard at first, but this is a wonderful place, I'm sure
you'll adapt." Setsuna told her. "Well, goodnight, we'll talk more
tomorrow." Setsuna went into her bedroom.

Noriko got undressed and laid down on the futon as she pulled a blanket
over herself.

Hermes jumped up and curled up on her stomach. She patted her cat and
whispered it goodnight as she drifted off to sleep.

***

Noriko was standing in a strange blasted landscape. Ruins were all
around, the architecture of some of it reminded her of home. She looked
into the distance and saw the enormous Cybele Palace, except it too was
in ruins. Many of the spires she remembered were gone, the great central
dome was split wide open. The sky was a cold grey, although no clouds
were visible.

She heard footsteps approaching and turned. It was her best friend,
Meimi.

"Noriko! I thought you were dead!" Meimi said. She herself looked half
dead, her skin was an unhealthy grey, like the sky.

"Meimi, what happened?" Noriko asked.

"Galaxia happened." Another voice said, Noriko turned and saw the
newcomer. It was her mother!

"Mom!" Noriko exclaimed.

Her mother laughed coldly. "At least what's left of me." She pointed to
the stump where her left arm should be. She too was the same grey
colour, and her vibrant blue hair was now more like an elderly persons
blue rinse.

"Galaxia did this." Meimi said. "We couldn't stop her."

"She was too powerful."

Noriko looked and saw the princess and many others emerging from the
ruins.

"We called for Sailor Centauri, but she didn't come." the princess
continued.

"She abandoned us." Meimi said.

"That's not true!" Noriko protested.

"Why are you defending her, Noriko?" Meimi asked.

"Because she's Sailor Centauri! You did this! You let us die!" Noriko's
mother pointed an accusing finger from her remaining arm at Noriko.

A rumble of displeasure rippled through the assembled crowd.

"N-No.." Noriko tried to back away, but she had nowhere to go.

"Get her!" The princess cried as they all dove on Noriko, tearing at her
clothes and then her bare skin.

They were like a pack of animals, clawing at her, ripping her flesh,
tearing her eyes out so she couldn't even see them.

"Nooo! Mother I'm sorry! Please!" Noriko cried hysterically.

***

"Nooo! Mother I'm sorry! Please!"

Hermes and Setsuna started at the slumbering Noriko's outburst, Setsuna
went over and shook her awake. "Noriko, wake up!"

"No! Ah, what?!" Noriko leapt out of the futon and looked around in a
panic. Then, seeing Hermes and Setsuna she relaxed a little. "Just a
dream..." she sighed.

"Uh...Noriko.." Hermes pointed a paw at her while studiously looking
away. She noticed that Setsuna was covering her eyes.

"What.." then she looked down and her brain registered the fact that she
was nude. "Ahhh!" She snatched the blanket and wrapped it around her.

"You can get dressed in the bathroom." Setsuna pointed to a door behind
Hermes.

"Thanks..." Noriko grabbed her clothes and hurried into the bathroom,
emerging fully clothed less than two minutes later.

"Rice cake?" Setsuna held up a plate with some rice cakes on it.

"Yes please." Noriko took one and started to eat it. "Did I say anything
in my sleep?" she asked them nervously.

Hermes and Setsuna exchanged glances then simaultaneusly said "No."

"Good." Noriko said, slightly dubiously.

After a few minutes of strained silence, Hermes decided to tell Noriko
about what was happening later. "Noriko; Haruka, Michiru and Hotaru are
coming over soon."

"So, who are they?" Noriko asked, taking another bite of rice cake.

"Sailors Uranus, Neptune and Saturn respectively." Hermes said.

"What!" Noriko started choking on a piece of rice cake, but after a
brief struggle, forced it down. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"They need to be sure that you're not a threat to our solar system. They
take their duty very seriously." Setsuna informed Noriko.

"So what will it take to convince them that I'm just an emotionally
disturbed girl who came here by accident and should by all rights be
dead." Noriko said flatly.

"Noriko!" Hermes sounded shocked. "You're Sailor Centauri!"

"No Hermes!" Noriko snapped at him, then more softly. "I'm not. I
stopped being Sailor Centauri the moment Galaxia killed everyone on
Centauri."

"You don't know, maybe some survived." Hermes tried to console her.

"I know. And I can never again become Sailor Centauri. She died with her
people, I have to let go." Noriko said, her voice shaking slightly.

"Noriko, as long as you have hope, Centauri will live on." Setsuna put
her arm around Noriko. "I know how you feel. When Queen Metallia
destroyed the Silver Millenium and killed the senshi, I could do
nothing. I stayed at the time gate and watched them all die. But now, a
thousand years later, the senshi have risen again and there is hope."

"That hope is dead if Galaxia is here now." Noriko told Setsuna. "My
strongest attacks had no effect on her, she's invincible."

"We believe in our princess. There is always hope." Setsuna said simply.

"I wish I could believe you." Noriko said sadly.

Just then, there was a knock at the door. "It's us." Michiru's voice
carried into the apartment.

"Come in, it's open." Setsuna shouted.

Michiru came into the room, quickly followed by Haruka. Hotaru entered
last.

Hotaru sat down next to Hermes and patted him, he purred as he rubbed
against her. Michiru sat with Setsuna, and Haruka leaned against the
wall, looking at Noriko distrustfully. Noriko smiled nervously at
Haruka.

"So, uh...you think I'm trying to invade your solar system then?" Noriko
said light heartedly to try and break the tension.

"Are you?" Haruka asked coldly.

"No, I came here by accident, and if I had a choice I wouldn't be here.
But I am so deal with it." Noriko shot back.

"I believe you." Hotaru said. Hermes had curled up in her lap.

"I'm not sure yet. I suppose, if you are invading, you're going about it
in a funny way." Michiru said.

"I know how she came here, and she has done nothing hostile to any of
us." Setsuna said firmly.

"Yeah, right." Haruka still wasn't convinced.

"Self defence!" Noriko stood up and glared at Haruka. Haruka balled her
fists and took a step towards Noriko.

"Calm down both of you." Michiru said soothingly.

Noriko stared at Haruka a moment longer, then broke her stare and sat
down again. Haruka relaxed a little.

"I guess I'll go along with the majority. I hope you're right about her
though." Haruka said in resignation.

"Good, I'm glad its settled. Now Noriko, we are under attack by Galaxia,
can you help us at all?" Setsuna asked.

"If you want me to fight, I can't-"

"Can't or won't?" Haruka interrupted.

"I don't have to answer that!" Noriko said indignantly, then turned to
Setsuna. "But I will tell you what happened to my world, it might help,
I don't know."

"Anything is better than nothing." Hotaru said.

So Noriko told them all that had happened. Copper Eagle taking the
princess' star seed, Centauri killing Copper Eagle, Galaxia's offer to
make her an animamate, and Galaxia almost killing her before she escaped
with Hermes.

"You know everything that happened after that." Noriko concluded.

"Well, two of Galaxia's animamates that came here are now dead, but
there's still two more, and Galaxia herself." Hotaru stated.

"You've convinced us that you're not a threat Noriko." Michiru smiled,
then through gritted teeth "Right Haruka?"

"Alright alright, I believe you." Haruka said. "Well, now that's dealt
with, we may as well go." She started towards the door.

"Wait, there's still one thing." Setsuna stopped her. "Noriko needs a
place to stay, my apartment is too small."

Michiru was about to say something, but a glare from Haruka caught her.

"You can stay with papa and me, we have a big house and it gets pretty
empty. If you want..." Hotaru offered.

"Are you sure that's ok?" Noriko asked.

"I'm sure professor Tomoe would be happy to help." Setsuna said.

***

END CHAPTER 1