Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Sailor Centauri ❯ Chapter 2

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

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

SAILOR CENTAURI
CHAPTER 2

It was the end of Noriko's first day at school. She had enrolled in
Juuban High School, and was in year two class three. All the senshi
except from Setsuna, Hotaru and Rei also attended this school. Most
people were going to their clubs now, and Hotaru had suggested that she
join one herself. But Noriko wasn't sure, there were so many to choose
from.

"Noriko!"

She turned at the sound of her name. It was Aino Minako; Sailor Venus.

"Minako. What is it?" She asked, pleased at seeing the energetic younger
girl.

"Have you decided what club to join?" Minako asked as she ran up to
Noriko.

"No, I'm not really sure what do do. What club are you in?" Noriko
asked.

Minako drew herself up. "How can you ask that? I'm Aino Minako, the best
volleyball player in all of Japan!" She said dramatically.

"Well I am from another planet." Noriko smiled, and was surprised that
she hadn't suddenly been put in a bad mood by mentioning home.

Minako seemed to notice this and changed the subject. "You do seem to be
settling in well, what do you think of Earth?"

"Its a lot like Centauri," In spite of herself, she did start to feel
more melancholy at the actual word Centauri, but continued anyway. "The
sun's more yellow, and the gravity is less. But it is still similar
enough that I'm finding it easy to adapt." Except for the dreams, she
finished silently. It was nearly a week since she had arrived, and every
night she had been plagued by nightmares of Centauri's destruction and
its peoples demise.

Minako frowned slightly at seeing Noriko's expression stiffen and
decided that this topic of conversation wasn't worthwhile. She was
trying to quickly come up with something else to talk about when a
distraction presented itself. "Look, its Ami-chan!" She said excitedly,
hoping some of it would rub off on Noriko. "Ami! Over here!" She waved
frantically at her friend who was walking by with a book clutched
tightly to her chest.

"Minako, Noriko." Ami greeted them as she came over.

"So Ami, what's new?" Minako asked, hoping Ami would talk about
something interesting which was unlikely, but at least it would get them
off the subject of Noriko's home.

"Nothing much... I got a book from the library about Unix programming.
Want to see?" She held the ridiculously thick book up to them."

Minako recoiled slightly, but noticably "Uh.. No thanks!"

Noriko managed a slightly more polite "Some other time."

Ami seemed disapointed, but not surprised. "Oh well. I'd better get to
computer club anyway." She walked off with her book.

"Oh, I'd better get to volleyball practice!" Minako ran off, and Noriko
was alone again. Then she remembered the notice for the karate club,
karate was like the martial arts she practiced on Centauri. I'd be good
at that, she thought as she went to the gym.

"I haven't seen you before." The teacher in charge of the karate club
observed as Noriko entered.

"I just transferred here. I'd like to sign up for karate club." She told
him.

"Name?" He asked.

"Ka'tenmei Noriko."

"Any previous experience?"

She hesitated, not sure how different it would be to what she knew, then
settled on "Yes."

The teacher caught her hesitation and smiled. "It's alright, I'll pair
you up with another beginner." He called over to a first year student
who was waving his arms in a most uncoordinated fashion, "Shiromizu
Koichi! You're fighting Ka'tenmei Noriko!" he pointed at Noriko. The
boy's eyes lit up as he looked at Noriko.

"Yes sir!" He said eagerly.

"Noriko, the changing rooms are there." He pointed to a door with Girls
Changing Room written on it.

"Okay." Noriko went in and got changed into her PE gear. Professor Tomoe
had bought all her clothes for her, since she only had the clothes on
her back when she came to Earth.

She emerged in her t-shirt and shorts, and dropped into a combat stance
opposite Koichi.

"I'll go easy on you." Koichi smiled condescendingly at her.

Poor kid doesn't have a chance, she thought as she looked at his stiff
combat stance and obvious ungainliness. "Please." she matched his smile.
"Don't hold back on me."

"Begin." Another student, acting as umpire called.

Koichi inched his way closer to her a little at a time. Noriko
waited...and waited. The fool wasn't even in striking distance, he must
be really bad to be this cautious, she thought.

Suddenly he charged at her. Noriko resisted the urge to laugh as she
neatly stepped away to the side and brought her foot up to kick the back
of his head as he passed. Shiromizu Koichi collapsed to the ground with
a grunt.

"I submit." He groaned as he attempted to get up.

"Good fight." Noriko said as she relaxed her stance barely stifling a
chuckle.

The teacher had been watching. "It was for you." He said. "You really
weren't kidding about experience. I'll put you with someone a bit more
advanced." He looked over at a muscly guy on the floor. And standing
over him, a third year girl with soft features and shoulder length red
hair. "Takaya Kimiko." The teacher shouted, the girl looked up. "You're
fighting Ka'tenmei Noriko now."

She smiled at Noriko when she saw Koichi trying to massage the back of
his head. "Sure, but I'll be a little tougher than poor Koichi was."

"I like a challenge." Noriko replied as she went to the mat Kimiko was
on and assumed her stance oppisite Kimiko. Another student dragged off
the muscly guy, who showed no signs of getting up. Most of the others
had stopped to watch.

"Begin." The teacher said.

Kimiko came at Noriko like a shot from a gun, sending a flurry of
punches at her. Noriko was surprised, but able to avoid or block them
all. Kimiko jumped back to avoid any counterattack and they faced each
other.

"Impressive." They both said in unison, before looking at each other in
surprise.

Noriko then went on the attack. Feinting with her right before throwing
a punch with her left. But Kimiko caught her fist before it landed.
Acting on instinct, Noriko kicked Kimiko's hand before she could do
anything. Kimiko yelped in pain as she released Noriko's hand and backed
off. A murmer of surprise went through the other students. By now all of
them had stopped to watch the fight.

Noriko was enjoying herself. The fight was requiring so much of her
concentration that it totally took her mind of the depression she was
feeling recently.

Seeing that Kimiko was now dropping her left arm, Noriko decided to
attack again. She quickly advanced and kicked at Kimiko. Kimiko however,
was not as hurt as she made out, she grabbed Noriko's foot and pushed
against it, knocking Noriko over. Putting out her arms before she hit
the floor, Noriko was able to go into a backflip and land perfectly on
her feet.

Some of the students whistled and clapped. but Noriko couldn't
concentrate on that. She was totally intent on her opponent. Nothing
existed outside the small area of the mat.

Kimiko looked at Noriko in shock, but recovered into a more defensive
stance before Noriko could take advantage of it. They began circling
each other, searching for an opening. It was a question of who would
snap first and attack. Noriko decided to give Kimiko the opening she
wanted. She raised her left arm a bit and relaxed her right. She
straightened her legs slightly.

Kimiko grinned and waved her finger at Noriko. "I'm not going to fall
for that."

Not what I had in mind, but it'll do, Noriko thought as she saw how
Kimiko had shifted her balance slightly as she chided Noriko.
Noriko advanced quickly, Kimiko threw a defensive punch, but Noriko hit
her elbow mid punch and pushed her now dead arm away as she used the
heel of her other hand to hit Kimiko's solar plexus.

She gasped as the air was forced from her lungs, but Noriko wasn't
finished, she held Kimiko's dead arm up and stepped behind her, tripping
her over, but retaining her grip on her arm. She twisted it viciously as
Kimiko tried to cry out, but her empty lungs wouldn't cooperate.
"I yield!" She managed to gasp out.

Noriko relaxed her grip and helped Kimiko up. "That was a great fight!"
She said.

Kimiko rubbed her arm. "Where did you learn to fight like that?" She
asked.

"You don't want to know." Noriko said. She looked around and saw
everyone looking at her in awe. Just like when I was Sailor Centauri,
she thought.

"Noriko, that was incredible." A younger girl with short black hair
said.

"Hotaru! What are you doing here?" Noriko went to her young friend.

"I came here straight after school. Usagi said she saw you going into
the karate club, so I came to see, I wanted to walk you home." Hotaru
said.

"Sure, I'm about finished here. I'll get a quick shower and get changed.
Back in a minute." She went into the changing room. Kimiko followed her.
Noriko turned the shower on and started washing the sweat off. "That was
quite a workout." She said to herself.

"Only a workout?" Kimiko asked as she got into the showers herself.

Noriko was surprised, she thought she was alone. "No disrespect, you put
up a tremendous fight." she offered consolingly.

"I was undefeated. I really would like to know where you learned to
fight." Kimiko said as she started washing herself.

"Fighting evil for love and honour." Noriko whispered almost silently

"What?" Kimiko questioned.

"Nothing!" Noriko covered. "Anyway, my friends waiting, I'd better go."
Noriko turned her shower off and left to get changed.

Kimiko shrugged her shoulders, but winced in pain at the action. "I'll
find out your secret." She said to herself.

***

Noriko and Hotaru were walking from the High School to Hotaru's house.
"I've never seen anything like that when you beat up that girl. And I've
seen a lot of wierd stuff." Hotaru said in admiration.

"Yeah well.." Noriko said modestly. "When I awakened as a senshi, I knew
I had to get in shape, and physical violence gives me another option in
a fight, so even if I lost my powers, which has happened a few times, I
can still put up a fight."

"I've always been physically weak..." Hotaru said sadly.

Noriko put an arm around her. "don't worry, you're young. When I was
your age I was totally out of shape. Hermes was not very happy with me.
But I worked hard, and look at me today!" She gave Hotaru a squeeze.
"All you need is a good mental outlook and anything's possible." Noriko
was surprised at how upbeat she was, but decided not to think about it
in case it went away.

"I've been thinking Hotaru, you're a lot different to the other senshi
of this solar system." She continued. She could feel Hotaru tense up a
little. "I don't mean in a bad way." She said quickly.

"I know." Hotaru said. "It's just that I've always been ostracized for
being different. When I was younger, I died in a lab accident."

Noriko was speechless, so Hotaru continued. "Papa was so sad, he made a
deal to keep me alive, he was posessed by a daimon, and I was brought
back to life, but I had changed."

Noriko thought about how Professor Tomoe doted on his daughter, was he
trying to make amends?

Hotaru went on with her story. "I would do bad things, but couldn't
remember. I had a strange ability to heal people, but it grossed out the
other students at school, so they stayed away from me. Once, I saw a boy
was really hurt, I went over to see, but everyone acted scared, they
said I had hurt him, but I couldn't remember." Hotaru drew herself
closer to Noriko. "I was alone for a long time, but then I made friends
with a girl called Chibi Usa. She didn't judge me for being different. I
would be able to play with her and her friends. But then stranger things
started to happen. I had to stop being her friend in case I hurt her."
Hotaru smiled in recollection. "But she kept coming to see me. Even
though Haruka, Michiru and Setsuna had told her to stay away. Then I
started to awaken as Sailor Saturn. They tried to kill me, but Usagi
protected me."

"They tried to kill you?!" Noriko repeated in astonishment.

"Yes." Hotaru said matter of factly. "You have to understand, I was
posessed by an alien being. They couldn't allow my power to be used for
evil. When Mistress 9 had total control over my body, only Usagi still
believed in me, she gave me the Holy Grail, knowing that it could make
Mistress 9 unstoppable, but I managed to defeat her in my mind and
awakened as Sailor Saturn. By then Pharoah 90 was already coming to
destroy us. I used my power to destroy the entire planet, and in the
process Pharoah 90. Sailor Moon still believed in me, and saved me from
being killed by using my power, she rebuilt the world and I was reborn
as a baby."

Noriko was totally shocked. There was a lot more to this little girl
than met the eye. "You have the ability to destroy an entire world?!"
"It's not something I'd do lightly. It was the only way to stop Pharoah
90."

"I don't envy you having that kind of power." Noriko finally said.

"It is a heavy burden." Hotaru agreed.

Noriko knew what would cheer them up after that melancholic discussion.
"Hey, lets go get some ice cream. My treat!" She said to Hotaru.

"Thanks... but Noriko, you don't have any money." Hotaru reminded her.

"Oh..." Noriko was slightly crestfallen.

***

"Hey guys, what's up?" Rei asked as she appeared behind the other inner
senshi.

"Rei-chan! What are you doing here?" Makoto asked, surprised at seeing
Rei at Juuban High School.

"I came here after school ended. What's going on?" Rei replied, forcing
her way in between the others to see what they were looking at.

"Takaya Kimiko." Ami said seeing Rei looking at the girl who was
training. "She's been training like this since Noriko beat her a few
days ago."

"Thats nearly two hundred push ups, more than I've done in my whole
life." Usagi said in admiration.

"Usagi, you haven't done one push up in your life never mind two
hundred." Rei scolded her.

"Rei-chan, why are you so mean to me!" Usagi wailed.

"Have you Usagi?" Mako asked.

"That's not the point." Usagi complained.

"Hey look." Minako pointed at the girl with long white hair striding
purposefully from the school. "Noriko! Over here!" She called.

Noriko paused, looked at the girls, then at the gate before deciding to
go over. "Yeah?" She asked as she went to them.

"Kimiko's training really hard, I think she wants a rematch." Ami
informed her.

Noriko arched an eyebrow. "Really." then she called over to Kimiko, who
was now doing sit ups. "Hey Kimiko, want a rematch?"

"Yes, but not today, I'm not ready." Kimiko half grunted between sit
ups.

"Good." Noriko replied. "I'm busy today."

"What is it?" Rei asked her.

"Hotaru's in bed with flu. I promised I'd come straight from school."
Noriko said.

"We'll come over too!" Usagi said for everyone. Fortunatly no one had
better plans.

"I think she'd like that." Noriko said as they all left Kimiko to her
training.

***

"It's me." Noriko called as she entered Hotaru's, and my own, she
reminded herself, home.

"Hello everyone." Setsuna came into the hallway with a mug of steaming
yellow liquid.

"Setsuna!" Noriko said in surprise. She lived with Hotaru and saw all
the other senshi at school, but hadn't seen Setsuna since she had moved
in with Hotaru. "What are you doing here?" She asked.

Setsuna smiled. "Helping to care for Hotaru. The professor is out
shopping for groceries, so I'm here to look after Hotaru. Of course,
your cat has provided more" she grimaced slightly "than enough help."

As if on cue, Hermes' voice carried down the stairs. "Hurry up with that
flu remedy! She's burning up!"

"Coming." She said through gritted teeth as she went up the stairs to
Hotaru's room. Everyone else followed her.

Hotaru was sitting in her bed, propped up by a mass of pillows. A box of
tissues and a bin full of used tissues was next to her. Her face was
bright red and her hair was all mussed. Hermes was snuggled up against
her stomach.

Hotaru smiled at everyone. "It's so nice of you all to come." She said,
her voice was strained.

"You'd better not talk, drink this." Setsuna gave the mug to Hotaru, who
drank some, grimaced then put the mug on her nightstand.

"Thanks." she croaked.

"You won't get better if you don't take your medicine." Minako chastised
her.

"Just pray you don't get a visit from 'Nurse' Minako" Rei warned her.

"Well, you did recover after I helped you." Minako said in her defence.

"Only to make sure you wouldn't come again." Rei replied.

Minako started to look sad, so Usagi put an arm around her. "Don't
listen Minako, I think its sweet that you cared enough to do all that
you did for us."

"Thankyou Usagi." Minako hugged her friend tightly.

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Ami asked Hotaru.

"No, I'm fine-" Hotaru attempted to say, but Hermes quickly spoke over
her.

"Turn down the heat, she's boiling. And get her something cold to
drink!" He ordered.

Hotaru just rolled her eyes in resignation."I'll go get something from
the fridge." Noriko said. "Hermes, you come too."

"My place is here!" He protested.

"Now!" Noriko ordered firmly. Hotaru mouthed a thankyou at her as Hermes
reluctantly leapt off the bed.

"I thought a talking cat would be great at first too." Usagi consoled
Hotaru after Noriko and Hermes had left the room.

"He means well." Hotaru told them.

"The road to Hawai is paved with good intentions." Minako said sagely,
nodding at her own wisdom.

Rei and Setsuna looked at Minako like they had given up hope. "The road
to Hell." Ami corrected her quietly.

Minako held a finger up to her mouth as she considered the correction.
"That would make more sense... after all, how could you have a road to
Hawai? It's an island!"

Everyone just stared at her.

"But how can you have a road to hell either? I mean, it's not like you
can just drive a few miles out of town to reach it..." Minako continued
her musings.

Everyone else continued staring at her.

"Hey, listen!" Mako got everyones attention. They all strained their
ears as they could hear yelling elsewhere in the house. It was difficult
to hear properly, but they got the idea that Noriko was telling off
Hermes for being an interfering busybody. It ended with a final loud
exchange of:

"Get out until you grow up!"

"I'm just looking out for her, you should be grateful!"

"You're suffocating her!"

"I'll come back when you grow up!"

Everyone looked at each other in silence. Usagi broke it. "I wish I
could boss Luna around like that."

Noriko came in holding a glass of cola with ice cubes in it. She smiled
sweetly at everyone. "Hermes had some errands to run." She said as she
handed the glass to Hotaru.

"Thankyou." Hotaru said quietly. Everyone else just stared at Noriko.

Noticing everyones stares, Noriko shrugged her shoulders and said.
"Don't worry, he'll be back."

They all murmered in agreement and Ami tried to change the subject. "So,
uh, Rei... what's new with you?"

Rei looked startled then answered. "Well... I cleaned the fire pits at
the shrine yesterday..."

"Huh. That's interesting." Makoto said slowly.

"Looks like I've made everyone feel awkward. Sorry." Noriko apologised.
Everyone quickly refuted that, but they all made excuses and left
quickly, leaving Setsuna, Hotaru and Noriko by themselves.

"Never mind. I'm sure some of those reasons were at least partly true."
Setsuna consoled Noriko.

"Yeah." Noriko sighed as she slumped into a comfy chair. "Being a
solitary senshi left little time for social skills..."

***

A few days later, Kimiko challenged Noriko to a rematch after school.
They were facing off before their fight. The other senshi except Setsuna
were all watching. Noriko was surprised that Haruka and Michiru were
there. Unknown to her, another sailor senshi was also watching.

"The karate champ could have the star seed.." Lead Crow wondered aloud
as she observed her target.

Kimiko had finished her stretches and called over to Noriko. "Ready?"

"I always am." Noriko replied.

"Makoto, you can be umpire." Kimiko said to Mako.

"Sure. Begin." Mako told them.

They both charged at one another, Noriko throwing a punch at Kimiko's
face, but Kimiko caught her fist and punched Noriko in the stomach
before throwing her to the ground. Noriko quicly regained her feet. "You
have been practicing." She said in admiration.

"I try to stay on top." Kimiko replied as she kicked at Noriko. But she
was ready and grabbed Kimiko's foot and twisted it, causing Kimiko to
fall flat on her face.

"Come on Noriko!" Hotaru (who had made a remarkably fast recovery)
called out.

"I'm doing my..Uhhf!" Noriko couldn't finish because Kimiko kicked her
in the jaw. Backing off and holding her mouth, Noriko admonished her.

"That wasn't nice.."

"You shouldn't get distracted." Kimiko replied.

"Still wasn't nice." Noriko griped as they circled each other. Hotaru
guiltily hung her head.

Suddenly, Lead Crow appeared and fired her bracelets at Kimiko. The
senshi quickly ran off to transform.

Noriko watched as a flower appeared on Kimiko's head, and from it, her
star seed emerged. It shone brightly then turned black.

"Not the one, but there's still you." Crow turned to Noriko.

Noriko didn't know why she had kept her transformation wand, but it
instinctively appeared in her hand as a million thoughts ran through her
head. But, already on an irrecovacable course, she said the words she
had said a thousand times before. And had promised never to say again.
"Centauri Planet Power, MAKE UP!"

She spun the wand and twirled around as her transformation took effect.
Sailor Centarui had returned.

***

END CHAPTER 2