Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ The Fragility of Time ❯ Prelude to Nurse Venus (Chap 31) ( Chapter 31 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Chapter 31: "Prelude to Nurse Venus"

"Usagi are you ready to go?" Ikuko called up.

"Just a minute mom." Usagi replied for the sixth time
from her room before turning back to her suitcase.
Picking up the last few articles of clothing from her
bed, she placed them in her bag and closed it. Or at
least that was her intention, but the bag refused to
close. Struggling against it, she repeatedly attempted to
force it closed.

ChibiUsa who was sitting on the floor by the door was
quite amused by her mother's efforts. Not able to keep
her mouth shut any longer, she said, "You would think
with all the weight you must put on from eating
everything in sight, you would have no trouble forcing
that suitcase closed."

Instantly forgetting about the bag she was attempting to
force closed, Usagi cried out "Why you little spore!" why
lunging towards ChibiUsa.

"Usagi, ChibiUsa" an impatient Kenji called from the
bottom of the stairs.

Hearing Kenji-papa's call, ChibiUsa quickly left Usagi's
room and headed downstairs to safety. Left alone, Usagi
turned back to her bag, which because of the recent
distraction had spilled some of its contents back out.

* * * * *

When ChibiUsa walked out the front door of the house a
few minutes later, it was just as another car was pulling
up in front of the Tsukino household. Parking her car,
the driver got out and walked over to where the Tsukinos
were packing their car to apologize for her tardiness.

"Forgive me Tsukino Kenji-san, Ikuko-san for my
tardiness. I was unfortunately detained at the hospital
longer than I had anticipated, but that is no excuse for
delaying you on your trip." The blue haired woman said in
an apologetic voice.

"Don't worry about it Mizuno-san, Usagi is still packing
and I never expected to be pulling out of here till at
least fifteen minutes from now, so your delay didn't cost
us anytime." Replied Kenji.

"By the way how is Ami doing?" Ikuko asked in reference
to Mercury's own injuries from the battle a week ago.
"Usagi had said that she had gotten beat up pretty badly
in the battle."

"She is pretty much all recovered. Though, I am still
having a hard time grasping how these girls are able to
heal so fast." Rikou replied

"I can imagine. I have a hard enough time myself, but you
being a doctor have much firmer understanding of how long
they should take to heal." responded Ikuko.

"Hai, though she was still down for a few days last
weekend. I know that if I hadn't learned her secret, she
would have been up and about pretending that nothing was
wrong. But as much as she might not like hearing it and I
might not want to admit it, she is a weaker warrior than
the others. And as a result she can't take quite the same
punishment, however a weekend of bed rest seemed to have
been fine for her."

"And I am assuming that as long as she had her study
materials she didn't have any problem with it?" Ikuko
asked, a bit envious with regards to Ami's study habits.

"Hai, she found ways to keep herself fully occupied over
the weekend. Though next time I think I will forbid her
from doing research while she is recovering. That
requires me carting way too many books back and forth to
her bed." Mizuno-san said.

Both Ikuko and Kenji smirked at that. Neither had
actually seen Ami's study habits, though they had heard
Ami whine about only being a dozen chapters ahead of the
class various times when the girls had been over.

"Well I better go see to Usagi's wing." The doctor said,
before taking her leave and heading on in.

Climbing the stairs to the second floor, she walked down
the hallway to Usagi's room. Even before she opened the
door, she knew what Usagi was up to, the sounds of a
struggle with a suitcase were all to clear.

* * * * *

After an umpteenth attempt to close the bag, Usagi
finally gave in, opened the suitcase back up and began
removing some items. Taking the three items out of her
bag she placed them in a pile on her bed and tried to
close the bag again and this time was easily able to lock
the latches. Taking a second look at the small pile of
clothing, she couldn't see how that little amount that
she removed could have been the difference between easily
closing her bag and being unable to.

Hearing a light knock on her door, Usagi turned and
cheerfully said, "Hi" to Mizuno-san.

"You look to be doing well Usagi-chan." The older woman
replied. "How is your wing feeling?"

"It's still a bit sore and as you have suggested I
haven't tried putting any weight on it yet." Usagi
replied as the blue haired doctor walked over and removed
the bandage.

Looking over the wing, Mizuno-san first examined where
the smaller wounds had been. However, as was the case a
couple of days earlier in the week, there was no trace of
those injuries. Unfortunately, the same could not be said
for the one that had punched a hole through muscle and
nicked a bone. That wound was taking its good old time to
heal, though the hole had finally closed up.

Before rebandaging the last remaining wound, she had
Usagi move her wing around so that she could make sure
that Usagi was not loosing any motion of her wing. Unlike
a week ago when she had first treated these injuries of
Usagi, she now had at least a partial idea of how to
treat wing injuries. Over the weekend, her daughter had
researched veterinary medicine for the treatment of wing
injuries. And as a consequence she now at least had a
basic idea of what she was doing and more importantly
what sorts of complications that she needed to be on the
lookout for. And while this last injury was taking its
time, it appeared to be doing just fine. After warning
Usagi, she probed the new skin with her fingers, looking
for tender spots and other indications that the muscle
was not healing correctly. Hearing no complaints from
Usagi and seeing no visible reason to cover the skin with
a bandage, she told Usagi what she had found.

"Well it looks like your wing has mostly healed. That
final wound has now fully closed up, so you no longer
need to keep it bandaged. Though I don't know how long it
will take before you regrow your feathers over that
region."

"Arigatoo for taking care of my wounds Mizuno-san." Usagi
replied, happy that she didn't have to mess with changing
bandages anymore. "Can I fly again?"

Mizuno-san thought about that one for a bit. "While it
looks like everything is healed, I would avoid rushing
anything. You are spending time with relatives this
weekend, so you wouldn't get a chance then anyways. And
with the way you all heal, that should be sufficient to
take care of my worry. However, when you do get back, I
would suggest not stressing it too much at first. Try
just doing some low level gliding for the first day or
two and then after that begin building up the active
flying. However, if you feel any pain, pull back and let
it heal some more. You injured a muscle and you will need
to allow it time to regain its strength. If you push it
too fast, you can seriously injure it and you can face a
sudden fall as your wing suddenly gives out again like it
did last week.

"Hai." Usagi replied with an unpleasant expression on her
face as she remembered the pain of that fall.

"Well you have a fun time out in the country." Mizuno-san
said

"I will." Usagi said with a large smile after which
Mizuno-san turned and left.

Alone again, Usagi took a final look around her room,
making sure that she hadn't missed anything. Though how
she would be able to take anything if she did find
something was a good question. Checking her desk, she
found her schoolbooks piled in a nice orderly stack there
(there was no way she was going to ruin a little weekend
trip like this to her aunt's with homework). The
Ginzuishou was safely nestled in her broach and affixed
to the front of her blouse and she couldn't think of
anything else that she needed to check on.

Returning to her bed, she got her bag and headed out the
door. Walking down the stairs and into the living room,
she stopped to pick up Luna and placed the black cat on
her shoulder so that the two of them could talk as she
walked out. "Now, Luna behave yourself while we are gone.
No throwing any wild parties."

Luna scoffed at that remark, <She's telling me to behave
myself?> "Are you sure you don't want any of the others
to come along? Haruka, Michiru or Setsuna could easily
follow you guys up and stay somewhere nearby should you
need them."

"Luna my mind is final, everyone is to stay here. This is
where they are needed, not out in the countryside
protecting me." Usagi said forcibly. "I will be fine.
Unlike Beryl, Rubeus does not have a personal vendetta
against me and anyways he seems strictly interested in
causing trouble here in Tokyo. And I'm sorry that you
can't come, but my aunt does not like cats. Gomen Nasai,
Luna." Usagi said, the last part addressing the real
reason why Luna had been so insistent the last few days
that she take some of the others with her.

After getting a goodbye head scratch from Usagi, Luna
jumped off of her charge's shoulder and walked over to
Mizuno-san's car. Arriving at the car she was picked up
by Rikou who held Luna in her arms while she watched the
Tsukinos all pile into their car. Then as the Kenji
pulled out into the street and started their drive, Rikou
gave them a wave before finally heading to her own car.
Opening the passenger door, she placed Luna down on the
seat before going around to get in on the other side.
Closing the door she watched as the Tsukinos pulled out
of their driveway and left.

Reaching over to the other seat, Rikou petted Luna for a
bit while telling the worried feline, " "Don't worry Luna
she'll be fine."

"Hai, I know. It's just that since I awoke her power I
have never been away from her for more than a few hours
at a time. Even when she is at school I am often up in a
tree outside. I know it's silly, but there was a blood
moon this morning and it makes me afraid that something
is going to happen."

Rikou gave a knowing smile for she had had many of the
same worries these past few weeks, knowing that her own
child was constantly putting her life on the line.
Putting the car into gear, she pulled away from the
Tsukino house.

* * * * *

Around seven that evening, the Tsukinos pulled off the
country highway and started down the driveway to their
destination. The car had barely come to stop before the
back doors opened and the three children bailed out of
the car, eager to stretch their legs and to get away from
being in such close quarters with each other. The parents
followed them out of the car at a bit more sedate pace,
but also just as happy that the trip was over.

Before they got the chance to remove a single bag from
the car, the door to the house swung open and Auntie
Misaki bounded out. Spotting the children, she made a
beeline to each of them. She first pulled Shingo into a
bone-crushing hug and then proceeded to do the same to
Usagi. <A youma trying to kill me is gentler than Auntie
Misaki. But I love her just the same.> Usagi thought as
her face began to turn a bit blue.

ChibiUsa looked on with amusement that was quickly
begging to turn to horror as Usagi's face began to change
color. Feeling a comforting hand on her shoulder,
ChibiUsa looked up and behind to see the warm smile on
Ikuko-mama's face. The older woman softly told her that
everything would be okay, having had expected this
reaction from ChibiUsa.

After what seemed like an eternity for Usagi, Misaki
finally released her niece, but not completely. One hand
loosely held onto Usagi's left arm, while her other hand
took a hold of some of Usagi's hair. Examining it, she
asked, "Usagi what did you do to your hair?" horrified
that Usagi might have dyed her beautiful hair.

"Nothing really." <Well nothing other than channeling a
few thousand mega joules of energy through my body.> "It
has been turning silver for about the past year. Till
recently, I fought the change by constantly dying my
hair, not wanting to have gray hair. But one day I just
decided that I liked the silver hair and since then, I
have not done anything to it. What do you think?" Usagi
asked as she stepped back and slowly twirled so that her
aunt could get a good look.

"Yes you are right it does look good on you." Misaki
replied. Then really noticing for the first time that
there was a third child here, Misaki turned to her sister
and asked. "Ikuko, since when did you have another
daughter?"

Ikuko smiled in response <Not a daughter, but would you
believe a granddaughter?> she thought to herself before
responding. "Nope she is not mine. Though when she has
her hair done the same way as Usagi it sure looks like
it." Ikuko said addressing the obvious similarities
between the two girls and hoping that that would satisfy
any potential questions in that direction. "She is
actually the daughter of a second cousin on Kenji's side
of the family. Peculiarly enough her name is also Usagi.
I guess there is must be something about being named
Usagi and wearing your hair up in Odangos."

That comment earned her an unhappy look from both Usagi
and ChibiUsa. However, Usagi was not able to elaborate on
the look she gave her mother, as her father choose that
moment to give her a bunch of stuff to take inside.

"Well it is nice to meet your Usagi-chan." Misaki said
before pulling her newest relative into a bone-crushing
hug. Then releasing the child, she said to Ikuko, "I
guess it must get a bit confusing with two Usagis
around."

"It's not that bad, as this one here has been going by
ChibiUsa the whole time she has been with us." Ikuko said
while lightly laying a hand on ChibiUsa's head. "That is
even what she goes by at school and her friends call her
by, if you can believe it."

Misaki raised an eyebrow to that. Though she guessed that
it was somewhat reasonable, a way to distinguish herself
from her older cousin. Then turning to back to the little
girl. "Well then ChibiUsa-chan it is. I think I can
remember that. And please just call me Auntie Misaki."

"Ok, Auntie Misaki." ChibiUsa replied.

"I take it that ChibiUsa has been with you a while?"
Misaki asked after returning to her feet

"Hai," Kenji replied, having just come back out from the
house. "She has been with us for some months now and will
be with us for at least a few more. Her parents moved
overseas before she was born. However, they want their
daughter to know of her Japanese heritage and decided to
have her live in Japan for a while. As luck turns out we
ended up being the best choice for the job and for the
time being she has become another member of our family."
Kenji explained, parts of which were not too far from the
truth.

"It must be tough for such a young child to be away from
home for so long." Misaki said as the three of them
headed into the house.

"Hai it is." Ikuko said. "And there are times when she
misses her parents very much and I know she would like to
be able to go home. However, most of the time she is able
to handle the situation quite well. Amazingly, Usagi is a
big part of that; she helped ChibiUsa make the transition
quite well. The first few weeks, ChibiUsa was a wreck,
but Usagi got her through it and now I am more likely to
have to save ChibiUsa from a vengeful Usagi after one of
her pranks than having to deal with homesickness."

* * * * *

Not long after the car was unloaded, everyone sat down
for dinner, which was not a moment too soon for the two
Usagis. Conversation during the meal mainly focused on
ChibiUsa, with Misaki wanting to know as much as possible
about this new relative. By the end of the meal, the
family was very glad that they had given into Luna's
insistence that they practice ChibiUsa's cover story
multiple times the previous night, as otherwise there was
no way that they would have been able too keep it
coherent under all of Misaki's questioning.

Over the course of dinner Ikuko noticed as her daughter
seemed to withdraw from the conversation, after a while
not even reacting to the barbs that ChibiUsa would throw
her way. Ikuko hoped that Usagi's behavior was just a
result of being cooped up in the car for the long ride
and nothing more serious, particularly not indicating
some kind of Sailor problem. With everyone else focused
on ChibiUsa during the meal, Ikuko was the only one to
notice Usagi's behavior. When the meal finally ended,
Usagi and Ikuko stayed at the table to clean up while the
others went to get the telescope.

"Honey, are you feeling okay?" Ikuko asked once the
others were out of the room, in case something more than
just the car ride was bothering her daughter.

Usagi put down the dishes she was carrying into the sink
before responding, "Am not sure, I kind of feel a little
out of it." Usagi said, trying to voice what she was
feeling, but not really finally feeling the right words.

Relieved that nothing more serious than maybe a cold was
bothering Usagi, Ikuko replied, "You are probably just
tired out from the car ride. It was a long trip and even
though you slept for most of it, it was not a restful
sleep for your body."

Usagi thought about that and decided that her mother's
explanation made a lot of sense. These wings she had
gotten from her battle with Beryl could at times be quite
inconvenient and this was one of those times. A long
drive crammed in the back seat of the car was never very
comfortable and having wings made it even less so. And
while she did ride here with her wings pulled in,
figuring that would be more comfortable and less likely
to cause a problem should she forget to pull them in
before getting out of the car, there was that strain
associated with just having them pulled in and she could
feel her body wanting to let her wings out.

As if reading her mind with regards to letting her wings
out, Ikuko suggested, "You might want to skip the
stargazing tonight and get a good night's rest. Plus it
will let you really stretch out after that car ride."
Ikuko finished.

"Hai," a less than happy Usagi agreed. She did not want
to miss tonight's stargazing that was one of the
highlights of trips to her aunt's. And it was something
that now that she was Sailor Moon that she wanted to do
even more so, so that she could get a good look with her
own eyes at the birthplaces of her warriors. And right
now Jupiter, Mars, and Saturn were all visible in the
night sky.

However, even though she had agreed that skipping the
stargazing was the best idea, Usagi still headed out to
the back porch after she was finished helping her mother
clear the table. If she was not going to be able to gaze
through the telescope, she was still going to take this
opportunity to look at the night sky. Plus it felt great
out this night.

Most times, Usagi and her mother were the last of the
group to be ready, but this night the others were still
in the house. Though Usagi figured that their delay was
probably caused by Auntie Misaki showing ChibiUsa her
collection of star maps, model rockets and other related
paraphernalia. And so she spent her time waiting by
gazing at the moon, which had recently risen, feeling a
bit refreshed just by being in its rays. About ten
minutes later Shingo and ChibiUsa finally came out onto
the porch and not long after that her mom, dad and aunt.

"Everyone ready?" Kenji asked.

Getting up from where she had been sitting, Usagi said,
"Oji-san I think I may be coming down with something. And
so I am going to go to bed early tonight."

"You sure about that?" Kenji asked, knowing how much his
daughter had been looking forward to this stargazing.

"Hai,"

"Well, feel better and maybe tomorrow night we can look
for rabbits on the Moon." her dad said.

"Dad!" Usagi replied in mock indignation over his usual
astronomy joke for her, though of course now it held a
lot more truth than he had known when he first made it
eight years earlier.

Before heading in, Usagi walked over to her aunt to give
the older lady her apologies. Though, Misaki did not give
her chance to even begin apologizing, as she instead
immediately pulled the teenager into a quick hug.
Sensitive to Usagi feeling ill, this time her hug was
less bone crushing and shorter. Releasing the silver
haired girl, she said, "Get a good night's rest and to
make sure you are back to yourself tomorrow I'll make you
some of my special pancakes in the morning."

"Hai," Usagi happily though sedately agreed, a further
indication to all present that she was definitely coming
down with something.

They waited until Usagi disappeared into the house before
beginning their hike out to the field where they were
going to set up the telescope. Ikuko walked beside
ChibiUsa during the short hike and let a gap open up
between the two of them and the other three members of
the family so that she could ask ChibiUsa a question. "I
would have thought her Senshi powers would keep her from
getting sick."

Chuckling at memories from her past trip into the past
that were triggered by that comment, ChibiUsa replied,
"Nope, not at all, though by my time, they rarely get
sick and generally not for long. However, I have seen all
of them completely knocked out by a flue bug that was
going around Tokyo. A bug that even you got, which left
me and Minako the only ones unaffected and responsible
for taking care of everyone."

Not realizing that ChibiUsa was talking about the
timeline which no longer existed, Ikuko was about to ask
the child what she was referring to, since she hadn't had
anything more serious than a minor cold in the past few
years. But then just as she was opening her mouth to
voice her puzzlement, she realized that ChibiUsa was
referring to the previous timeline and quickly closed her
mouth. Silently she scolded herself for almost committing
that faux pas and opening a can of worms that they did
not need to address on this trip. Though she was
intrigued by how ChibiUsa had voiced that she and Minako
were the ones taking care of everyone, as if that was
some kind of problem. Voicing her confusion, she asked,
"So what was the problem with you and Minako taking care
of everybody."

"Well there was no problem with the care I gave."

"Of course." Ikuko replied.

"However, Minako is Minako." ChibiUsa said.

That response was not much of an answer. Thinking about
ChibiUsa's response, Ikuko knew Minako to be a very
energetic and outgoing child, much like her own daughter,
if not more so. And while Minako utterly minced any
standard saying, that did not seem to be anything that
could be a real issue. Plus Minako did not seem to ever
be bothered by any of those. Furthermore, she did not
seem to be the type of person for whom failures meant
anything other than needing to try harder next time.
Reaching that point in her pondering, Ikuko began to see
the potential problem and as it became more apparent she
said, "Uh, oh."

"Hai, lets see. She tried to poison Ami, Makoto, Rei and
Usagi. Blew up a couple of stereos after killing their
eardrums. Oh and she lost control of the vacuum cleaner
when trying to clean the house for you and flooded the
laundry room when doing your laundry."

Ikuko's face just went white as she imagined the
disasters that ChibiUsa was describing. Making a mental
note to herself, Ikuko decided that should she ever think
she was going to be knocked out with some kind of illness
or injury she would immediately hire a maid service
before Minako could even think of volunteering to help.
Haruka-san or Michiru-san would probably good allies to
enlist in keeping her home Minako free as well.

"There is a reason why Momma had to sign a treaty with
other systems stating that she agreed that care of
prisoners by Venus is considered a crime against sentient
life." ChibiUsa added.

That added bit caused Ikuko to break out with her own
laughs. Thankfully, enough distance had opened up between
them and the others that she didn't have to try to
explain what she had found so funny to her sister.

* * * * *

"You should be able to see the rings of Saturn, their
inclination with Earth right now makes them quite
visible." Misaki said as she finished focusing the
telescope in on the gas giant. As was the case with the
Crab Nebula and every other object they had looked at
this evening, ChibiUsa made sure that she was the first
one to look at the planet after Misaki.

Even though she had visited the colonies, seeing the
various planets up close, there was something special
about viewing them from here on Earth with Misaki.
Looking through the telescope, she gasped at the majesty
of Saturn. Looking at Saturn was even more special than
the other planets as she had never before seen Saturn or
Pluto. Amazingly this was the first time in her life that
she had done any serious stargazing that is using a
telescope. The only reason she had seen the other planets
was because she had either been on them or on a colony in
orbit of said planet and consequently since Pluto and
Saturn had no colonies she had never seen either of those
two planets before.

A few years before the Dark Moon attack she had asked
Mercury-sensei why there were no colonies in orbit of
Saturn or Pluto. Unfortunately the multi-hour long she
got as an answer did not make things any more clear. She
did somewhat understand the part about soon after the
death of a Sailor Senshi a replacement would be born from
the colonies on or in orbit of her planet. That part made
sense, since a Mars born should really be the Senshi of
Mars and not say a Jupiter born child. But the
explanations of why Saturn and Pluto were special, she
did not follow at all.

Finished with looking at Saturn, ChibiUsa moved away from
the telescope so that the others could have a look.
Shingo was the first to follow and then followed by Kenji
and Ikuko with Misaki taking a final look after all of
the others.

Seeing Misaki pull back from the telescope, Kenji said,
"Well that is probably enough for tonight. It is time for
these two to get some sleep."

Shingo and ChibiUsa reluctantly agreed and helped to
gather up the supplies from the evening's stargazing.

"So what did you like looking at the most?" Misaki asked
the two children.

"The Horse head Nebula" replied Shingo

"And how about you ChibiUsa?"

ChibiUsa thought of the various planets and nebula they
had looked at, trying to think of which one she liked the
best. As she ran down the list she found that she did not
have a favorite, or at least that was the case until she
got to the last object they had looked at, Saturn. It
wasn't really any more spectacular, in fact some of the
nebula looked better. But for some reason she felt a
comforting feeling looking at the planet as if it would
protect her, in much the same way that her mother's smile
made her feel safe. Voicing those thoughts, she said
"Saturn."

"Saturn does look quite beautiful tonight with its
rings." Ikuko said.

"Hai, it does." ChibiUsa replied. "But I just like it."
she added, explaining what she liked about it.

Kenji and Ikuko just smiled in response to that,
wondering if the reason why ChibiUsa liked it was because
of its Sailor Senshi. Neither of them could remember any
of the girls being introduced as Sailor Saturn, but that
meant nothing from when ChibiUsa came from.

Not long after that, they arrived back at the house.
After first stopping in the bathroom to brush her teeth,
she headed to her and Usagi's room and got changed for
bed. Turning off the room's light she subconsciously
walked over to where Usagi lay sleeping first and sat
down beside her. She did not know why she wanted to come
over by her mother and so she just sat there until a
content feeling coursed through her body. Satisfied she
walked over to her own sleeping bag, crawled in and went
to sleep.

* * * * *

All too soon as far as ChibiUsa was concerned morning
came. She tried to stay in bed and get some more sleep,
but the bright morning sun soon ended that battle.
Finally admitting defeat, ChibiUsa opened her eyes and
stretched. Looking across the room, she saw where Usagi
was still sleeping. Leaving Usagi asleep, ChibiUsa
quietly dressed herself before leaving the room.

"Well good morning ChibiUsa-chan." Misaki said as she saw
the still sleepy child walk into the dining room. "Did
you sleep well?"

"Morning, Auntie Misaki. And, Hai I did." ChibiUsa
replied, to which her tummy grumbled its desire to be
fed.

Misaki just smiled to that while telling ChibiUsa to sit
down at the table while she walked into the kitchen. "If
you think you can wait a few more minutes to feed that
tummy of yours, I'll make up some blueberry pancakes for
you."

"Suigoi!" ChibiUsa replied.

The young girl did not have to wait long before Misaki
brought her a nice tall stack of pancakes to eat.
"Arigatoo Auntie-Misaki."

"Your welcome ChibiUsa-chan. Ikuko told me that you have
an appetite similar to Usagi, so I hope this will be
sufficient for you." ChibiUsa nodded an agreement that
the stack looked sufficiently large. "Speaking of Usagi
how is she doing?"

Taking a break from stuffing her mouth with pancake,
ChibiUsa replied, "Sleeping, I'll wake her after I finish
breakfast. Blueberry pancakes are sure to get her up."

"Hai." Agreed Misaki, knowing how easy it could be to
motivate her niece with food.

The rest of ChibiUsa's breakfast passed with just the
sound of her munching on the pancakes, though as usual
that did not last that long. Finished with her meal,
ChibiUsa said, "Those were very good, thank you again
Auntie Misako." as she got up from the table.

"Glad that you enjoyed them ChibiUsa-chan. Here I'll take
those from you, you go see to your cousin." Misaki said
as she took ChibiUsa's dishes.

"Hai," ChibiUsa replied as she took her leave. Arriving
at the door to her and Usagi's room, she quietly opened
it and entered. Walking to where Usagi was sleeping on
the floor, she knelt down beside her mother and softly
said, "Okaa-san, Auntie Misaki is making blueberry
pancakes for you."

"Blueberry pancakes?" came the enthusiastic reply from
Usagi as her body made a sudden transition from being
dead to the world to being full of energy. Sitting up she
turned to face ChibiUsa and could smell the blueberries
on the young girl's breath. But as she did so she found
that she needed to put a hand down on the ground to
steady her body, finding herself to be a little light
headed.

"Okaa-san are you ok?" ChibiUsa worriedly asked as she
saw Usagi sway.

"Don't worry, I think I am just coming down with a bug.
But I am sure those pancakes will make me feel better."
Usagi said trying to sound cheerful. "Here help me up."
she asked the younger girl.

Grabbing a hold of Usagi's offered hand, ChibiUsa helped
to pull the teenager to her feet. Standing all of the way
up, Usagi paused for a moment to take stock of how she
was feeling. She still felt a little woozy, but not
enough that she felt she was in danger of falling back
down. Along with the woozy feeling, there was a distinct
sense of being sick, but she could not pin down anything
being wrong in particular. She just felt overall sick,
and unfortunately, that probably did mean that she had
indeed come down with a nasty little cold bug and would
likely be out for the rest of the weekend. <Now why
couldn't I get this cold bug at a better time, like say
during the school week?> Usagi silently complained to
herself. While going back to sleep was a very tempting
option, the call of blueberry pancakes was even more so.
And anyways, Usagi told herself that she could always
return to the bed after getting her fill of pancakes.

Usagi was about to start walking to the door, when she
remembered that she could not go walking around the house
with her wings out. But that was no problem; it took just
a simple thought to initiate the magic that hid her
wings. Before the trip, she had given a fair bit of
thought to the whether she wanted to sleep with her wings
pulled in or not. While pulling them in theory would take
care of the possibility of forgetting to pull them in
before leaving her room (as she almost just did), there
were the issue of it being quite uncomfortable to keep
them pulled in for extended periods of time and now even
more so with her wing injury.

The issue of what to do with her wings had even been the
topic of a recent meeting, with Minako pointing out on
that part that Usagi was going to need to make sure that
she got a single when she went off to college. When Ami
had pointed out that singles were often hard to get for
freshmen, the blonde had just replied that Ami with her
computer could take care of that and then let her mind
wonder to other hacking that Ami could do, a train of
thought that was quenched soon after by Rei and Makoto.

Smiling at the memory of how that conversation ended,
Usagi initiated the magic to look like anyone else. All
set, she turned to look at ChibiUsa while reaching out a
hand to take her daughter's hand. However, she never
finished turning around, as her turning was accompanied
by a sudden collapse to the floor, unconscious.

ChibiUsa watched like a deer caught in headlights as her
mother fell to the ground, unable to move her body. It
was only the sound of Usagi's upper body hitting the mats
that snapped ChibiUsa into motion. The young girl cried
out in a sob "Usagi!" which while forceful was not loud,
not that she was thinking at the moment about the need to
avoid drawing Aunt Misaki's attention, while also lunging
towards Usagi.

Usagi lay on the floor for a few moments as her world
stopped spinning and she regained the ability to put a
string of conscious thoughts together. Not yet realizing
what happened, Usagi opened her eyes and lifted her head
just in time to see ChibiUsa consumed with fear hurtling
herself towards her. Maternal instincts controlling her
actions, Usagi rolled her body and lifted herself up
slightly so that she could reach out and pull the
trembling child to her chest. "Shush my muzume, I'm okay.
Guess being light headed doesn't match too well with
being a scatterbrain and klutz." Usagi said, the last
part trying to get a laugh out of ChibiUsa.

A tear streaked ChibiUsa looked up at Usagi, not quite
believing the older girl's statement. However, Usagi's
joke did have the intended effect of stopping ChibiUsa's
tears when the young girl gave a solitary giggle. Usagi
smiled back at ChibiUsa before pulling the young girl
back into the embrace, an embrace that they remained in
for a while. When they finally did break apart so that
they were looking at each other's faces again, ChibiUsa's
eyes widened in alarm.

"Usagi your moon mark is visible!" ChibiUsa exclaimed.

"Nani-ka." replied the older girl, as she reached up to
her forehead as if she could feel the mark. "I wonder why
it is visible, it should be hidden."

ChibiUsa shrugged her shoulders not sure of the answer
either. Then noticing something else, she said, "Usagi,
it's dim. It looks a lot like you do."

Usagi did not quite know what to make of that, though
filed it away for asking Luna about after the trip. She
tried a couple of times to hide the crescent moon mark,
but each time ChibiUsa just shook her head. Usagi also
tried to pull in her wings a second time, but this time
she didn't even succeed for a moment, though she at least
remained conscious.

"My cold it must be affecting my powers." Usagi
theorized. As she spoke that thought out loud, Usagi
realized that in fact she wasn't really that surprised
about this unexpected effect, part of her having
subconsciously already expected it. ChibiUsa also
appeared to buy Usagi's explanation and finally
completely calmed down.

"Of course with us being at Auntie Misaki's this proves a
problem." Usagi said

"Of course it does odango-atama." ChibiUsa said in a
harsh voice.

Usagi recognized that ChibiUsa was only voicing her
frustrations and decided to let that comment slide.
"ChibiUsa-chan, I have a makeup kit in my bag could you
bring it here. I think I might be able to hide the
crescent moon with it."

"Hai." replied ChibiUsa as she got up and walked over to
where Usagi's suitcase lay on the ground. Opening the
bag, she hunted around in it for a few minutes before
finding the requested item. Taking it out, she asked,
"Bring enough stuff?" as she walked back. Usagi just
replied to that comment by sticking out her tongue.

Accepting the makeup kit with a quiet word of thanks,
Usagi went about attempting to disguise some of her non-
Tehran heritage. She hadn't tried to do this before,
instead being able to rely on her glamour magic and as
she went about hiding the mark, she became very
appreciative of her glamour magic. The Moon mark had an
intrinsic glow that made it hard to obscure, though
thankfully with it already being quite dim from her
illness it was not too difficult. Many minutes later she
was finally satisfied with her disguise. As a final touch
to help hide it from prying eyes, she decided to leave
her hair down to partially obscure it that way as well.

With that done, there was now only the minor issue of her
very obvious wings. For a moment, she contemplated just
going back to bed and remaining in bed all weekend long.
However, she really wanted those blueberry pancakes. Of
course, she could just have ChibiUsa get them for her.
But she was going to have to be seen out of the bed at
some point by Auntie Misako, if not now, when they left
Sunday evening. And she might as well figure out what to
do about this problem. Plus, most importantly, there was
no telling how many of those delicious pancakes ChibiUsa
would pilfer while bringing the plate in.

Not sure of how she was going to hide her wings, Usagi
went over to her bag and began to rummage through it,
looking for anything that might potentially be useful.
Five minutes later, as she reached the bottom of her bag,
she found something – a slightly oversized robe. When she
had been packing her bag, she had not known why she had
felt the need to pack it, but now she was very glad that
she had. Taking it out she carefully folder her wings
before putting it on. Turning around in front of
ChibiUsa, the younger child gave her approval of the
disguise.

Now ready to be seen by her aunt, Usagi said, "Ok I think
I am ready to try this again." and reached out a hand to
take ChibiUsa's.

"Hai" ChibiUsa replied as the two of them left the room,
with ChibiUsa walking very close to her mother.

* * * * *

"Oh you poor thing!" Misaki exclaimed as she saw Usagi
enter the dining room. Quickly getting up from the table,
she walked over and pulled Usagi into hug. Even when she
was perfectly healthy, Misaki's strangulation hugs were
just a hair breath from tortuous pain. But now having her
wings out and on top of that her wing injury, that hug
caused Usagi to grimace in intense pain. However, even as
that grimace began to cross her face, Usagi hid it away
with a smile, making sure that her aunt would not feel
any guilt over the pain that she was inadvertently
causing her niece.

While Usagi was able to hide her pain from her aunt, the
same was not the case with ChibiUsa. The link the two of
them shared worked both ways and so ChibiUsa was able to
feel a shadow of her mother's pain. Knowing how much
Auntie Misaki's hug was hurting her mother, ChibiUsa
looked up worriedly. She wanted to do something, anything
to force Misaki to release Usagi, however one look into
Usagi's eyes cut those thoughts short. Instead, ChibiUsa
was left to only hold her worry in as the hug continued.
But before long, the hug was over and Misaki was guiding
Usagi to a spot by the table.

"Now you just sit right there and ChibiUsa and I will get
your breakfast for you. Before you know it, I'll have you
back to your normal self. And if this breakfast is not
enough there is always my chicken soup for lunch."

"Arigatoo" Usagi replied already feeling some of her
strength returning as she thought about her aunt's
cooking. While Makoto was a very accomplished cook,
Misaki was at a completely different level. Her meals
were simple, yet the love she managed to incorporate in
them, made them better than even the fanciest meals. And
as a result a simple bowl of her chicken soup could heal
the nastiest colds.

Before Usagi could daydream too much about her aunt's
cooking, ChibiUsa returned with a bowl of Miso soup for
Usagi to start off with. She also brought back a small
bowl for herself. Picking up the spoon, Usagi began to
sip the soup, enjoying it flavors. Looking over to
ChibiUsa, she gave the girl a smile letting her know that
she'll be okay.

Finishing the bowl of soup, Usagi placed her spoon down
in the bowl and moved it off to the side. And she was
just in time, as Misaki chose that moment to come out of
the kitchen with a heaping plate of pancakes.

"Hope that this is enough for you. Though after seeing
how many of these ChibiUsa was able to pack away, I am
not sure if I have enough pancake mix in the house for
your appetite."

"Auntie-Misako!" both Usagi and ChibiUsa exclaimed in
response to her teasing of their appetites. ChibiUsa had
initially been gloating while Misaki was saying her
taunt, but then realized that she was being taunted in
the process of the taunt at her older "cousin."

"I take it the food inhaler is awake." Shingo said as he
walked bleary eyed into the dining room. Usagi's only
response to which was to stick out her tongue and pull
down an eyelid. ChibiUsa just smirked.

"Now that is not a nice thing to say Shingo-chan. Even if
you older sister can eat an army's worth of rations."
Misaki said, getting another sour look from her niece.
"Just remember she has to be doing something with all
that food she eats. And since she has kept her slim body,
she must be using that to gain strength. If you are not
careful she might be able to beat you up even when you
grow older."

Shingo just grumbled in response to that, as he lost her
support for his taunting. <She doesn't realize how truly
accurate that prediction is.> he thought to himself.
<Even Ami will always be able to beat me up like it was
nothing.> Though as he thought about Ami, he internally
blushed, thinking about how cute she was. Of course just
like Sailor Moon, Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune,
Sailor Mercury was also off limits. That didn't really
leave much in the way of the Sailor Senshi for a young
boy to have crushes on. Sailor Pluto was just a bit too
intimidating, so that only left Venus and Jupiter. Though
Venus was the original, Sailor V, and she was the goddess
of love, she just did not stack up quite so well with her
sister in coolness (for the rescue) and Sailor Mercury
for cuteness. As for Sailor Jupiter, she was just a bit
on the tall side.

"Earth to Shingo." Usagi said as she waved a hand in
front of her brother's face. While he had knelt down at
the table, he was just staring blankly ahead lost in her
internal rating of who was the cutest Senshi.

Blushing, Shingo snapped out of his thoughts and mumbled
an excuse that nobody could make out. Thankfully, his
sister was not given the opportunity to ask any questions
as Misaki choose that time to come out with his own stack
of pancakes. Watching Shingo take a bite of his
breakfast, Usagi was reminded of her own food and dug
back in.

* * * * *

"What is it that you wished to speak with me about, oh
Wiseman?" Rubeus humbly asked as his reality became that
of the Death Phantom's prison.

"The candidate to replace Kaolinite, Eudial is no good."
The Wiseman responded.

"Why, if I might ask?" Rubeus questioned, as he had been
sure that of the remaining potential warriors, Eudial was
the best to take up the task of searching out energy and
these supposed Talismans.

"I question her loyalty." was the Wiseman's only
response.

"Her loyalty? Then should I have her killed." Rubeus
eagerly asked.

"No, right now she is fully devoted to the professor.
However, that is a result of the previous demon that had
attempted to use the professor and his daughter to invade
the Earth. I don't know how giving her more power will
effect that spell, it could very well allow her to break
free. She is entirely devoted to Hotaru and if her mind
is given the power to seek other solutions it will." The
Wiseman explained, having recently probed Eudial's mind.

"Can't you replace that spell with a better one?" Rubeus
asked, in particular referring to how the Wiseman was
planning on turning the Rabbit.

"I could, but she is not worth it. Find me another
candidate." The Wiseman commanded and then the connection
was broken and Rubeus found himself back in the real
world. Standing up he crushed the crystal he was holding,
frustrated with this complication. Not quite satisfied he
blasted the body from which he had extracted this life
force before teleporting out of the warehouse.

Ideally, he would have liked to have gifted all of the
professor's lab assistants with the power of Nemesis and
let them fight to be the best. However, the Wiseman could
not expend that much energy and so he was left choosing.
He guessed that the next best option was Mimete, however
something about her just did not strike him as right. She
was competitive, yet very lax in actually doing the work.
Maybe one of the other witches would work. Though he did
not want to send out his best warriors right away, he
wanted to save them for the final real battle against
Serenity.

* * * * *

Finishing up with her breakfast, Usagi got up and
returned to her room while Shingo and ChibiUsa headed
outside to play. Sitting down on her bed, Usagi tried to
assess how she was feeling. She definitely felt quite a
bit better having had some breakfast. Though even while
the boost of energy from breakfast was making her want to
be up and about, she could still feel that she was still
sick.

Finally deciding on what she wanted to do, Usagi went to
her bag and pulled out some of Rei's manga. With those in
hand she then proceeded to head outside. Walking out on
the porch, she went over to the swinging bench that
Misaki had and after adjusting the pillows plopped
herself down on it and proceeded to begin reading her
friend's manga.

Very quickly Usagi became lost in her reading and the few
remaining hours of the morning passed her by bringing
lunch. Eating lunch wit the rest of the family, she,
Shingo and ChibiUsa learned that their parents and Auntie
Misaki were going to go into the town for a bit after
lunch.

Finished with her lunch, Usagi turned to ChibiUsa and
asked her, "ChibiUsa-chan would you like to go swimming?"

"Hai!" the young girl enthusiastically replied.

"Then why don't you go get yourself changed and we can
head on down." ChibiUsa's reply to that statement was to
tear off toward the room that the two of them were
sharing and to quickly change.

"You sure you feel up to walking down to the pond?"
Misaki asked her niece.

"Hai, I am feeling a lot better after having your chicken
soup to eat." Usagi replied. In some ways the pick up in
energy that she was feeling was not that much different
from the energy boost she felt when here friends would
band together and lend her their energies.

"Even still Usagi, I would like Shingo to go down to the
pond with you as well." Ikuko said not entirely happy
with how Usagi looked.

Shingo who was finishing the last bit of his lunch looked
up in surprise, having heard his name called. "Huh?" he
said not having been paying attention to the
conversation.

"Shingo, I would like you to go to the pond with Usagi
and ChibiUsa-chan, so that you can keep an eye on your
sister. She may be saying that she is feeling all better,
but I know better."

Shingo nodded his understanding as he got from the table
to go get himself changed, all the while mumbling under
his breath about having to baby sit his baka sister.
Though under that mumbling was a sincere happiness to be
asked to do this, there was just something about being
asked to watch over the one called Sailor Moon while she
was ill that he found pride in, now for at least a short
period of time he could be the strong one. Of course
under no circumstances would he let anyone and especially
not his sister know his real thoughts on the matter, or
at least no one other than Luna.

"Hai, Shingo can come," Usagi said agreeing to her
mother's requirement and then took her leave to get
changed into a bathing suit.

* * * * *

An hour later found the trio down by the pond. As soon as
they arrived, ChibiUsa and Shingo dropped what they were
carrying, undressed down to their swimsuits and made a
beeline for the water. Usagi would have been right up
there with them if it were not for her illness. As it
was, she was feeling a bit winded from the walk down to
the watering hole. They had not walked that far, only
about ten minutes. But thankfully that was all the
distance they had to walk, much further and she would
have had to take a breather. And having Shingo accompany
them down was good fortune as he ended up being their
pack mule.

So while ChibiUsa and Shingo played in the pond, Usagi
decided to sit down by where those two had discarded
their clothes and Shingo had left the supplies he had
been carrying. Getting a blanket out of the bag, she laid
it out on the ground before sitting down on it lying down
on it. Closing her eyes she just enjoyed the peacefulness
of the countryside while she listened to the sounds of
Shingo and ChibiUsa playing. Usagi rested like that for a
while before finally sitting back up. While she had been
lying down, ChibiUsa and Shingo had started up a game of
Marco Polo. Currently Shingo was it and appeared to be
having a hard time catching ChibiUsa, for the pink haired
girl kept making quick dives down to the bottom of the
pond to escape from Shingo when he got too close.

ChibiUsa's strategy held up for quite a few minutes, but
eventually on one dive Shingo had managed to get close
enough to her to get a general gist of which direction
she was heading in and took off in that direction. The
two of them swam at a similar rate and when ChibiUsa
finally surfaced, she popped up right under in front of
Shingo. Coming to the surface she stopped swimming so
that she could look around and find Shingo, however,
Shingo, swimming with his eyes closed, did not stop and
as a result rammed ChibiUsa. Watching from the shore,
Usagi couldn't help but breaking into a spat of giggles
at what she saw.

Hearing Usagi's hyena laughs ChibiUsa and Shingo turned
and looked her direction. Glancing at each other, a
silently communicated plan was developed as evidenced by
the evil smile that crossed both of their faces. Turning
back to their quarry, they both suddenly dived down to
the bottom of the pound and swam for the shore. They swam
not straight at Usagi, but to points a few meters to
either side of Usagi. Surfacing in the shallow water, the
two of them quickly jogged out of the water and then made
a turn to runs towards Usagi. Usagi for her part had
stopped laughing and had just realized that ChibiUsa and
Shingo were no longer in the water. But before she could
wonder where they could have gotten off to, she found
them at her sides grabbing a hold of her arms. The two
younger children then quickly pulled the protesting
teenager to her feet and then with some more effort out
into the water.

With the two pulling Usagi, she stumbled through her
initial steps into the pond and shivered at the coolness
of the water. Though whether or not the water was too
cold for her tastes was never an option as just as she
was straightening herself back up from being pulled out
to the water, Shingo lunged for her legs and took her
under. Surfacing, a drenched Usagi gave her brother a
mock glare and contemplated how she was going to get her
revenge, though that thought process was cut short when
she was dunked a second time, this time by ChibiUsa. Not
about to let her daughter have it easy, she reached up a
hand as she went down and grabbed a hold of the little
girl, pulling her down as well.

Shingo smirked at his sister's second dunking and an
additional one for her ability to grab ChibiUsa on the
way down. However, being an expert prankster, he knew
that he was the next target and so took the opportunity
to swim away. When Usagi and ChibiUsa came up a few
moments later, he was safely on the other side of the
pond. Giving her brother a glare, Usagi decided to let
her revenge wait for later. Letting her body fall
backwards, Usagi resumed her lounging. Seeing that she
had gotten all the fun that she was going to get out of
her mother for now, ChibiUsa swam over to the other side
of the pond so that she and Shingo could continue their
game.

Some time later, Usagi noticed that the sun had fallen a
fair bit of the way through the sky. Realizing that meant
that her parents and aunt would be getting back soon,
Usagi knew it was time to get out of the water. The last
thing she wanted was for her aunt to come down here to
join them at the pond and see her wings. If only she
wasn't sick she could stay in the water a while longer,
it was just so nice out here. But as it was, she was
pushing her luck. Getting out of the water she walked
over to where their stuff lay and picked up a towel and
began to dry herself off. Examining her wings for a
moment, she was glad to see that they seemed to have had
no problem with getting wet, this was the first time she
had gotten them wet. Pulling on a shirt and a pair of
shorts, Usagi called out to the other two, "ChibiUsa,
Shingo it is time to get out."

"Another five minutes." Shingo called back

"Please, okaa-san" ChibiUsa added in her most adorable
puppy dogface.

Any other day Usagi would have fallen for their pleading
but not today. "If I have to get out of the water, then
you have to too. Now lets go you little spore." Usagi
replied

ChibiUsa responded by pulling down an eyelid and sticking
out her tongue. However, she and Shingo did do as
directed and climbed out of the pond.

Before long, Shingo was loaded back up with all of their
stuff, and Usagi was again wrapped up in her robe. All
set, they began the trek back up to the house, Usagi
wishing that Makoto was there to carry her back. Even
though she had spent the past hour just lounging around
in the water, being out in the sun had tired her out and
she was all set to drop back off to sleep.

"So ChibiUsa how is Hotaru doing?" Usagi asked, referring
to the incident the previous week.

"She seems to be all better, she was back in school on
Wednesday. And she said that her father only kept her out
of school on Monday and Tuesday because he was worried
about her. She said, she was all dressed and walking out
the door when her father told her that he had called the
school and told them that she wasn't going to be coming
in."

Usagi let out a muffled laugh at that last bit and
remembered vaguely of ChibiUsa telling her Wednesday
evening that Hotaru had returned to school that day.
"Nothing happened to her as a result of that attack?"

"She was badly bruised and cut up, but nothing more than
that. She didn't remember anything more about what
happened than I did. Both of us passed out after that
witch blasted us. I guess that must have been when Pu
arrived."

"Which reminds me, I need to find out from Diana what she
knows about that gentleman who brought you and Hotaru
back to Hotaru's house. You don't happen to know anything
about him do you?"

"Gomen, all I know is that his name is Keffer. I was too
worried about Hotaru at the time and he of course was
gone before I woke up in the morning." ChibiUsa replied.

"Don't worry about it, you had your mind full." Usagi
said as she pulled her daughter in close against her as
they walked.

Hearing the snapping of some twigs, Shingo asked, "What's
that?"

"Huh?" replied Usagi and ChibiUsa as they turned to look
at Shingo.

"Thought I heard something in the woods." explained
Shingo.

Looking in the direction that Shingo was indicating,
Usagi did not see anything and so said, "You probably
just heard a squirrel."

Though not exactly satisfied with Usagi's explanation,
Shingo accepted it and so the trio continued walking.
Though they had not walked that far when all three of
them heard a large beast grunting. Hearing that sound,
they stopped and turned in the direction of the noise,
none of them wanting to see the creature that made that
noise. This time the creature was plainly visible, having
come out of the woods and onto the path, and none of them
liked what they saw, for what stood in front of them was
a vaguely minotaur like demon with a large wooden club.

"Nani-ka, what is that doing here?" Usagi asked as along
with ChibiUsa and Shingo she began to slowly back away
from the creature. She did not know how the enemy had
found them here, but she was going to make sure that this
creature did not harm her brother or daughter. But even
as she let her body slip into a fighting stance, Usagi
knew that she could not fight this creature, she did not
have the strength or energy in her current condition. She
also knew that there was no way she was going to get
ChibiUsa and Shingo to leave her here, and so that left
only one option. Standing back up, she quickly pivoted
around and grabbed the hands of ChibiUsa and Shingo and
yelled "RUN!"

As soon as Shingo and ChibiUsa began running, Usagi let
go of their hands, to let them run faster. And given that
unlike her they were healthy, the two of them quickly
began outpacing her. While Usagi was running at a much
slower pace, the creature was not a fast runner either
and so Usagi was able to maintain her lead. Unfortunately
for Usagi, running was not a recommended activity given
her current condition, and consequently with a hundred
meters she began to tire. From her training as Sailor
Moon, she was able to force her body to keep up the pace,
but what she could not maintain were her reflexes. And so
she began to find it hard to dodge tree branches and
other obstacles.

Hearing a yelp of shock from Usagi, ChibiUsa and Shingo
stopped running and turned. To their horror, they found
Usagi splayed out face down on the ground, having tripped
over a rock with the demon closing quickly. The two of
them let out a sigh of relief as Usagi began to push
herself up off the ground, but that sigh quickly became
even more horror when Usagi collapsed right back down
this time slipping into unconsciousness from lack of
energy.

While Usagi's collapse back to the ground took Shingo by
surprise, the same was not true for ChibiUsa. From their
link she could feel her mother's life-force waver and
therefore knew that something was wrong. When that fear
was confirmed, ChibiUsa sprung into motion as she took a
hold of her transformation broach and became Sailor
ChibiMoon and began running towards her mother.
ChibiUsa's transformation snapped Shingo into action and
he also went to the aid of his big sister.

Realizing that Shingo was joining her, ChibiMoon said,
"That thing is an Oni, a naturally occurring demon. They
are not very powerful, though they are not very pleasant
either." <and quite ugly as well.>

By the time the two of them got close to Usagi, the
creature had already reached where the silver haired girl
lay and was in the process of stooping down to pickup its
dinner. Moving quickly to draw its attention away from
her mother, ChibiMoon summoned her moon wand and used her
Pink Sugar Heart Attack.

ChibiMoon's attempt to distract the demon's attention
away from Usagi was successful, as the young girl quickly
had to dive out of the way of a horn first charge by the
demon. A motion that she had to quickly follow with
another dodge to avoid being impaled by the spiked club
that the demon carried, the demon was much more nimble
than appearances would give it credit for.

Not about to let his cousin have all the fun, Shingo had
taken a few moments to grab a large branch that was lying
just inside of the woods. Using it as a club he charged
the demon, to his advantage Onis are fairly simple minded
creatures generally only able to focus on one thing at a
time. Given that the creature was focused on turning
ChibiMoon into a Sailor Pancake, it was caught unaware
when Shingo smashed his club into its back.

The creature roared out in pain and reared back away from
ChibiMoon to regard this new threat. Snorting, it swung
its club widely at Shingo. Thankfully it missed, as if it
hadn't Shingo would not have survived. Seeing Shingo
almost clobbered, ChibiMoon ran to Shingo's side, which
was unfortunately not a good idea for the beast upon
reaching the end of its swing, just swung the club right
back in the other direction equally as fast. With a large
gasp as the air was forced out of her lungs, ChibiMoon
was flung back into the woods to hit a large oak tree.
From where he knelt on the ground Shingo saw ChibiMoon
get clobbered in her stomach and then heard the sickening
sound as her head smashed into the tree.

Rage now fueling his actions, Shingo cried out, "You
leave my cousin alone!" as he returned to his feet and
swung his club at the demon again. This time the hit
caused the creature to noticeable stagger, disrupting its
on club swing thereby giving Shingo the time he needed to
hit the creature a second time and then a third and
fourth. By the fifth swing the creature was being forced
down to its knees, but on his sixth swing Shingo's luck
ran out when with a snap his own club broke in two. Panic
crossed Shingo's face, and then he was sent flying when
the demon backhanded him. With the distractions taken
care of, the Oni turned its attention back to its dinner.

Feeling a bit dazed, ChibiMoon ignored her pain and got
back to her feet. Walking back out of the woods she tried
to think of how she was going to defeat this demon.
Thinking back to her combat lessons from Jupiter-sensei
and demon hierarchy lessons from Mars-sensei, she knew
that Onis were not that difficult to take out. They were
about as dangerous as a bear, which meant that they were
nothing for regular humans to go after, but would be
nothing for a Sailor Senshi, even one in training.
However, even if she intellectually knew that she could
beat this creature that was quite different from actually
having to face one.

<What would Sailor Moon do in a situation like this?>
ChibiUsa asked herself. <Well first she would cry in
fright and then run around in circles dodging its attacks
until Tuxedo-kamen showed up. Then she would moon dust it
with her… Wait, that's it.> ChibiUsa thought as she
suddenly realized the solution to her problems. There was
one weapon that she and Sailor Moon did share in common,
or at least she hoped that they shared. She had never
actually used it before, but if she was supposed to be
Sailor Moon, then she would logically have that ability
as well.

Reaching up, ChibiMoon removed her tiara. Looking at it
she wondered, <Ok, now how do I go about making this
work. It can't be took complicated, as Usagi was able to
figure out how to do it on her own.> As she stared at the
tiara, she felt it begin to get warm as her energy flowed
into it and she found herself knowing the necessary
words. "Hey ugly, I am not finished with you." She called
out to the Oni.

The creature stopped and turned to regard ChibiMoon with
some annoyance figuring that she was going to try and
steel its dinner yet again. Seeing how banged up this
dinner thief was, the Oni decided that ChibiMoon was not
much of a threat and with a dismissive snort it turned
back to its meal. That was a mistake.

"Moon Tiara Action." called out Sailor ChibiMoon as she
turned her tiara into a discus and tossed it at the
creature. With a clean swipe it cut the demon in half,
halves that proceeded to disintegrate into moon dust.

Seeing the demon defeated, ChibiMoon released a sigh of
relief while falling to her knees grateful that she had
been able to defeat the creature. Getting back to her
feet she ran over to where Shingo lay.

Sensing somebody nearby, Shingo turned his head. Finding
ChibiUsa he gave her a smile and said, "You did it."

"We did it." ChibiUsa corrected before asking, "Are you
okay?"

Not about to let his masculinity be called into question,
Shingo lied and said, "I'm fine, nothing but some minor
scratches. Why don't we see to Usagi."

"Hai." ChibiUsa agreed and quickly got up and ran over to
where her mother lay. Shingo followed much more slowly
and in a fair bit of pain.

"Usagi! Usagi wakeup!" ChibiUsa cried as she knelt beside
her mother.

Hearing, ChibiUsa's cries, Shingo quickly jogged the rest
of the distance to where his sister lay. Kneeling down,
he placed a hand on Usagi's back to see if he feel the
rise and fall of her chest and was relieved to find her
still breathing. "ChibiUsa-chan help me roll Usagi onto
to her back." he said, as he tried to remember the little
bit of school first aid training. Though about the only
thing he remembered from those lessons was that she
should be on her back and something about raising the
feet. Needing something to use to raise his sister's feet
he asked, "ChibiUsa can you get me the bag?"

Not sure what Shingo was getting at, ChibiUsa however did
do as asked, eager to do anything that would make Usagi
wake up. When she got back with the bag Shingo took it
and placed it under his Usagi's feet. However, Usagi
still remained unconscious. With ChibiUsa getting more
worried by the minute, and himself not doing much better,
Shingo tried to think of something else to do to wake his
sister up. "Usagi, you're late for school." He yelled
into her ear, however that did not garner any response.
Then trying another phrase, he said, "Usagi, Mamoru-kun
is here."

While that attempt did not wake Usagi, it did give
ChibiUsa an idea. While unlike during her previous trip
she and Usagi did not fight over Mamoru, ChibiUsa
wondered if that might still work and decided to give it
a try. Leaning in close to Usagi's ear she softly
whispered, "Usagi, Mamo-chan is here and he is going to
take me out on a date not you."

Reacting instantly, Usagi yelled, "Why you little spore,
Mamo-chan is my boyfriend not yours!" as she bolted up
right. The sudden act of sitting up caused Usagi to get a
little light headed and she complained, "Ooh, my head."
as she placed a hand up against her head. Sitting there
like that for a few minutes, she began to remember what
had happened. Forgetting what ChibiUsa had said to wake
her, she instead just asked, "Where is the demon?"

"ChibiUsa defeated it." Shingo proudly said.

Surprised by that, but not showing it too much, Usagi
proudly looked at ChibiUsa and asked, "All by yourself?"

"Well not exactly, Shingo helped quite a bit." ChibiUsa
admitted, "And it was only an Oni."

Usagi's response was to just pull ChibiUsa into a tight
hug while giving Shingo a bright smile as well. "Well
then, it is time for us to continue on back; mom, dad and
auntie Misako are probably starting to wander what
happened to us." Releasing ChibiUsa, Usagi prepared to
stand up, but then realized that she did not have the
strength to get back to her feet. With an embarrassed
look and a hand behind her head, Usagi turned back to the
other two and admitted, "I don't think I have the
strength to get up."

ChibiUsa's reaction to that statement was to get very
worried. Seeing that Shingo said, "ChibiUsa stay here
with Usagi and watch her, I will go get mom and dad." As
soon as ChibiUsa nodded her head in agreement, Shingo
took off in a dead run.

Pounding his feet as fast as he could, it was not long
before he arrived at the house. Ripping the door open, he
found three very surprised adults. "Usagi… Usagi, she
fainted on the trail." Shingo managed to get out between
gasps of air.

"Something's wrong with my baby?" Ikuko asked, fright in
her voice and Shingo nodded.

Though even before Shingo's confirmation the there adults
were already heading to the door to put on their shoes.
Once they had their shoes on they all headed down the
trail to see to Usagi, however Shingo remained behind.
Now alone in the house, Shingo lumbered off to the
bathroom to clean his wounds. Any other time, he would
have wanted his mom to take care of his injuries. But
with a momentarily mature insight, he knew that it would
be best to let his mom focus all of her energy on Usagi
and not worry her that he had been hurt as well or even
more so that there had been a demon attack.

* * * * *

An hour later found Ikuko sitting on the floor beside
Usagi. The three of them had found Usagi easily enough
and carried her back to the house and immediately to bed.
She had feared the worst as she ran down the path to her
fallen daughter, but to her relief she found Usagi
conscious, just too weak to stand up. Though to her
dismay she found that Usagi was running a fever, which
worried her.

Misaki and Kenji had already gotten up and left Usagi to
rest a few minutes earlier and Ikuko knew that she should
do the same. There was nothing more she could do for her
daughter and Usagi did need her rest. All the same there
was just this nagging feeling in her gut that there was
more to this illness. However, she was no doctor, but
that gave her an idea.

Getting up, Ikuko left the room and silently made her way
to the room that she and Kenji were staying in. Entering
the room, she closed the door and leaving the lights off
walked over to the nightstand. Picking up her purse she
quickly rummaged through it and pulled out a piece of
paper with the phone number that she needed.

Dialing the number, it was not long before she heard
"Moshi Moshi."

Hearing Mizuno-san's voice on the other end of the phone,
Ikuko realized that while Mizuno-san had been stopping by
every few days this past week to check on Usagi, she did
not really know this woman. Feeling a bit guilty for
using Mizuno-san's services for free and also feeling
some responsibility for the fact that Mizuno's daughter
was fighting under the leadership of her own daughter,
Ikuko resolved to make an effort to get to know this
woman after Usagi was healthy again. And as she thought
about Ami fighting along side Usagi, Ikuko also realized
that she should get to know the other parents as well.
These thoughts all crossed Ikuko's mind during the time
it took Rikou to answer the phone and they all fled from
her mind as the gates of worry broke and Ikuko said,
"Mizuno-san, this is Tsukino-san there is something wrong
with Usagi."

From her years as being a doctor, Rikou instantly
recognized the fear that was in Ikuko's voice. Instantly
transitioning to her professional mode, Rikou walked over
to the kitchen counter and picked up a pen and paper
while asking, "Ikuko-san what seems to be wrong with
Usagi?"

"I'm not exactly sure. If it were not for her wings I
would have taken her to the county clinic, but I am not
sure what to do."

The mention of Usagi's wings caused a part of Rikou's
mind to register that Usagi couldn't really be seen by
her regular doctor any more. That instead she was going
to need to become this girl's regular physician, but that
was an issue to deal with later. Right now, she needed to
calm a worried mother down and then do her best to
diagnose Usagi's condition.

"How is her pulse and breathing? Are they strong?" Rikou
asked.

"Hai they are." Ikuko absently replied.

"Then you probably don't have anything to worry about.
Remember that Usagi and the others have very strong
constitutions. You have seen some of the damage left by
the battles they have walked away from, I am sure that no
illness could keep these girls down." Rikou said in an
encouraging voice, figuring that Usagi was probably
suffering from a nasty cold or a viral infection.

"Hai." Ikuko half-heartedly agreed.

"Now why don't you describe her current condition to me
and we'll see if we can figure out what is wrong with
your daughter."

Over the next half hour Ikuko relayed what she knew of
Usagi's condition and after walking back into Usagi's
room with the phone, checked various things for Rikou.
Rikou was a bit disturbed by the multiple fainting
instances that Ikuko described, Ikuko had learned of
Usagi's problems that morning from ChibiUsa, but she did
not let Ikuko know her worries and anyways Rikou also
knew that many viral infections could cause similar
results.

"Ikuko-san, I still don't think you have anything to
worry about right now. From what you have described to
me, I would have to say that she probably has a viral
infection, though without a blood sample I can't be sure.
I am sure you are familiar with mononucleosis, it has
very similar symptoms to Usagi's and in particular it
makes the patient very drained. If she is indeed coming
down with a viral infection, then this afternoon's
fainting spell in addition to the one this morning are
completely understandable and expected.

"My recommendation to you is make sure that she spends
the rest of the weekend in bed getting plenty of rest and
stays well fed. I am sure that you are going to be
checking on her frequently, so don't hesitate to give me
a call if her condition changes. About the only thing you
can do for her is to make sure that she eats, as she will
need to keep her energy levels up, which given her unique
physiology is even more important."

"Hai. Arigatoo Mizuno-san." Ikuko responded feeling
confident again. She had suppressed a chuckle when
Mizuno-san had mentioned the need to make sure that Usagi
ate that was one thing she was not worried about.

"Oh one other thing. Ami has told me how close Usagi and
ChibiUsa are to each other. The last thing you need right
now is for ChibiUsa to get sick. From my own experience
with Usagi, I know that will be the worst thing in terms
of getting Usagi better."

"You're right." Ikuko agreed, knowing very well that no
matter how sick Usagi was she would still insist on
tending after a sick ChibiUsa. And that further more that
it was going to take proactive actions on her and Kenji's
part to keep ChibiUsa away from Usagi while the older
girl got better.

"I'll call you around eight tonight to check on how Usagi
is doing." Rikou added.

"Arigatoo again, Mizuno-san. Sorry to have bothered you
for some viral infection." Ikuko said, now a bit ashamed
of her apparent over reaction.

"Not at all Ikuko-san, I am happy to help out. I owe your
daughter a large debt for what she has done for my own
daughter. And please remember that you can call be Rikou.
Now I suggest you get some rest for yourself, you don't
want to get sick."

Hanging up the phone a few minutes later, Rikou walked
back to the counter where she had left the piece of paper
with Usagi's symptoms and thought of what to do next. Her
professional mind said to just wait till 8 and then give
Ikuko a return call, but another part of her knew that
she had to go find her own daughter and tell her the bad
news. She did not want to burden her daughter with what
looked to be no more than a viral infection, but somehow
she instinctively knew that Ami would not care how
trivial the illness was.

Rikou could plainly see in the eyes of the girls and the
way they acted how protective they were of Usagi. From
her talks with Ami, Rikou knew that Makoto was open with
herself with regard to Usagi and that Rei was beginning
to go that way as well. And while she knew her daughter
did not yet realize it, she knew Ami loved Usagi very
much and was just as protective of her as any of the
others. And as such she knew keeping this information
from her daughter, would be to wrong her in the worst way
possible.

With only one option for what needed to be done, Rikou
picked up the slip of paper and folding it placed it in
her pocket. Leaving the house, she decided to walk to the
library, knowing that she needed the extra time to find a
way to break the news to Ami that wouldn't have the blue
haired Senshi making a mad dash for Usagi's aunt's place.

* * * * *

For Usagi, the rest of the weekend passed in a haze of
short and long naps interspaced with food. She had been
vaguely aware of her mom talking to Mizuno-san after she
had been brought back to the house. It was hard after all
to sleep while being poked and prodded. Around eight that
evening when Ami's mom called back she had been sitting
up eating a large bowl of chicken soup. And while her mom
talked with Ami's mom on the phone, she had talked with
her friend over their communicators. She was a bit
annoyed that they had to spend the first part of the
conversation talking about how she was feeling, but
eventually she was able to divert Ami into just idle
gossip. Unfortunately that did not last too long, as
shortly after that the phone conversation her parents and
aunt were having with Mizuno-san ended.

Though given the large yawn that Usagi gave a few minutes
after she signed off with Ami, it was probably a good
thing that their conversation had ended when it did. And
only a few minutes later found the silver haired girl
snoring heavily. The adults continued to check on her
throughout the evening.

And as Ikuko and Rikou had feared, keeping ChibiUsa away
from Usagi that night was quite difficult. During the
afternoon and early evening it was not that hard, since
ChibiUsa understood that Usagi needed her rest and being
a young child she had lots of energy that needed burning
off. So during the daytime, ChibiUsa was content playing
outside with Shingo. But when it came bedtime, Ikuko
found a pouting ChibiUsa when she told the younger girl
that she would have to sleep with Shingo that night.

Seeing the look on ChibiUsa's face as she went to
bathroom to get ready for bed, Ikuko knew that ChibiUsa
was not going to stay away from Usagi's room. Oh ChibiUsa
would go to sleep in Shingo's room, however she knew that
once she and the others had gone off to sleep that
ChibiUsa would get back up and return to Usagi's room. It
was Misaki who thankfully realized how to solve this
little problem, and the solution Ikuko had to admit was
quite simple and really straightforward. All Misaki had
to do was have ChibiUsa think of what Usagi would do if
the situation was reversed (take care of ChibiUsa no
matter what) and then have the young child think of what
that would mean if she got sick while Usagi was still
sick. The look of instant understanding and guilt that
came across ChibiUsa's face assured Ikuko that she did
not have to worry about this anymore.

Usagi slept to lunch the next morning, before Kenji woke
her and brought her some food to eat. He was a bit
disheartened to see that Usagi looked worse, but he knew
from the phones conversation the previous night that
Usagi was bound to get worse for a while. Once Usagi
finished eating he helped his daughter up and over to the
bathroom so that Usagi could get changed and ready to go.
Usagi came out of the bathroom a few minutes later, still
wrapped in her blanket, which was fitting given that she
was likely to sleep the rest of the way home. Taking her
out to the car, Kenji set her up in the passenger seat
with a pillow before going back into the house to round
up the others.

Saying their goodbyes, the Tsukinos began their trip back
to Tokyo a little after two that afternoon. After they
had been driving for a few hours, Kenji noticed that his
daughter was awake.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Tired." Usagi replied, "Though a bit better."

"That's good, though you should not get your hopes up.
The boost of energy that you are feeling right now is
just a result of having freshly woken up."

Usagi nodded her acknowledgement before turning her gaze
back to the road ahead and silently watching their drive
back to the city. But as she sat there watching the road,
she did not feel her energy drop, nor did she feel the
need to go back to sleep. By the time, they got back to
the house; she was feeling quite a bit better. <Guess it
was some nasty cold bug.> Usagi thought to herself.

Though as she got out of the car and walked into the
house, she did have to admit to herself that being sick
did provide once very nice benefit, she did not have to
help with the unpacking of the car. Opening the door and
walking inside, she found an additional downside to being
sick. There sitting on the couch was Ami who appeared to
be reading a astrophysics book while petting Luna who was
napping on her lap and on the other side of the room was
a frozen statue of Minako wearing what appeared to be
nurse's uniform. <Huh?> she thought to herself <And what
is that charred smell that I am smelling?>

Looking up from her book, Ami saw that Usagi had
returned. After placing the book down on the end table
and waiting for Luna to hop off of her lap, she got up
and walked over to Usagi. "You must be feeling better."
Ami said as she shifted into her Mercury form before
deploying her visor and taking out her computer.

Not quite sure of what to make of the scene in front of
her, Usagi's brain finally gave up and shut itself down.
And with a sudden sag, the princess of the Moon Kingdom
fell into the awaiting arms of Mercury.

-End Chapter

? Ooh, is this chapter late. Once again a short
chapter goes long and adds a few more months to the
writing process. Of course there were plenty of
other distractions: refreshing my bridge playing
skills, starting to learn a new language, trips to
visit my girlfriend, and of course work (hey being
over busy at work is quite a good thing, means you
don't have to worry about RIFs), plus new shows on
Toonami and Adult Swim.
? For those who did not get the references in the
previous chapter. Pluto's little trick with the
Garnet Orb was Sight-Beyond-Sight from Thunder Cats
and Saturn's little banishment trick is based on
what the Dark Yugi does to some of his opponents in
the Manga (currently running in Shonen Jump).
? And this chapter's bad guy of the day, the Oni, is
from one of the one-page articles in Shonen Jump.
? The given name for Ami's mother is a nod to Sailor
Moon Millennials by The Judge, as that is the name
he chose to give Ami's mother.
? I am sure everyone knows why there is a frozen
statue of Minako in the Tsukino household. Like many
elements of my story, that part was completely
unplanned and was told to me by the muse.
? Well here is to seeing if I get a manage a final
chapter this year.
? Oh and my titles have taken a break from Babylon 5,
mainly as I have used up all easy to apply ones and
plus this chapter is really hard to pick a good
title for.
? And a reminder to everyone that I have a yahoo
groups mailing list that is used exclusively for
emailing announcements of the posting of new
chapters. Either send an email to: FOTupdates-
subscribe@yahoogroups.com or visit
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FOTupdates/. And given how
infrequent that is, it is probably quite useful. ?