Anomaly
~Chapter 5~
Dear Mamo-chan,
I miss you so much! I hope classes have been going well (getting all A's so far, right?). I guess mine are, but it's so hard to concentrate knowing I haven't seen your beautiful smiling face in a whole week. Don't worry, Luna hasn't lost her frightening way with persuasion, so I have no problem keeping my nose to the books... (when I have to! =^.^=). Lately it's been pretty rainy, though the sun has finally decided to peek out and help us celebrate the weekend! Yay! What is the weather like in America?
Usagi grunted and tossed her pencil at the wall with an ornery glare. School? The weather? How dull could she be in seven sentences or less?
"I give up," the girl grumbled, crumpling up her fifth attempt at a cheerfully engaging reply that wouldn't just succeed in putting Mamoru to sleep. She threw it aside and stood up, stretching her sore back muscles with a satisfying pop. Moonlight streamed in from Usagi's open bedroom window. Nimbly, the blonde poked her head outside, taking in a deep mouthful of cool evening hair. She contemplated starting another letter, but Usagi realized what she needed most was to leave this stuffy room and clear her head with a nice, relaxing walk.
An escape, she thought. That sounds positively appealing.
Unfortunately, like most nights when she tried to sneak out, Tsukino Ikuko was there to accost her daughter at the front door.
"And just where do you think you're going at a quarter to eight, young lady?"
"Mama, it's not a school night! And I just want to take a walk, okay?" Usagi whined, trying to inch around her dishcloth-wielding mother. To most, the old rag was less than intimidating, but Usagi knew Ikuko packed quite the punch when it came to whapping one with said cloth.
Ikuko chewed her lip, deliberating. Her light blue eyes searched out Usagi's face, some foreign emotion hiding behind her features. "Alright. But I want you home within fifteen minutes, do you hear me? I want us to spend time together as a family for once. I know you love your friends, but Usagi- dear- your father and I hardly ever see you anymore! You don't talk, you disappear for hours at a time- frankly, Usagi, I'm worried."
Usagi blinked, averting her gaze in shame and regret. "I'm sorry, Mama. I'm just... so busy..."
Ikuko sighed, shoulders drooping ever-so-slightly. "And I understand. Truly, I do. I remember what it was like to be a teenager; to be in love and to be surrounded by friends who were more like my sisters than my own blood relations... Just be careful, okay? One day you might wake up and find you've ostracized yourself from your own family."
Usagi sucked in a pained breath, pushing past Ikuko with a bowed head and quick, "Yes, Mama." She burst out the door, waving wildly toward the house and jogging around the corner. It wasn't until Usagi was sure she was out of her mother's sight that she let the carefree smile falter.
Oh Mama, I hate it too... If only I could tell you the truth...
The blonde frowned at the sidewalk as she meandered slowly through the familiar neighborhood, hopping cracks almost unconsciously as her mind dwelled between the conundrums her mother and Mamoru had inadvertently created. Why did life always feel the need to become complicated in the absence of ethereal beings bent on taking over the world? Usagi sighed. At least personal problems weren't life threatening. She could still count on some things to never change.
There was a blur of ebony and Usagi yelped when it collided with her shoulder.
"Usagi-chan?" Crimson-colored eyes stared up in confusion at the surprised teen.
"Luna! I thought you were visiting Artemis?"
"I already did. I was on my way home. And I thought you were finishing up your letter to Mamoru-san...? It's getting late, young lady. You of all people know wandering the streets at night is not the brightest of ideas, Usagi-chan."
"You sound like Mama," Usagi huffed, carefully extricating Luna from her guardian feline's perch. Not that she minded Luna stealing rides on her shoulder, but at the moment Usagi wanted something to cuddle. "And I was. Until I starting hitting the wall, once again."
"... figuratively, yes?" Luna sounded worried, and Usagi couldn't help but roll her eyes.
"Nooo, sometimes I just get random urges to pummel my bedroom wall with the Moon Tier when things get frustrating," she drawled sarcastically. "Of course figuratively, Luna! What kind of person do you think I am?"
"I don't know, Usagi-chan. You've been awfully distracted lately," Luna broached delicately, and Usagi said nothing as she realized the veracity in her companion's observation. "Truthfully, I'm a little worried. Yesterday I caught you staring into space when you should have been doing homework. And this afternoon I had to remind you to look both ways for traffic before you stepped into the intersection!"
"My mind's been preoccupied," the girl interjected, just a touch defensively.
"And I realize that. But Usagi-chan, please, you can't let your worry for Mamoru-san detract from all that progress you managed to make. It isn't healthy for your grades and it certainly isn't beneficial for your safety, either."
"I'm sorry, Luna. I'll try harder; I will," Usagi promised, scratching the cat behind her ears. Luna purred contentedly at the sincerity in Usagi's voice. "After all, Mamo-chan is-"
There was a sudden explosion of gold in the sky, so brilliant it temporarily blinded the seventeen-year-old. She forgot what they had been talking about as shock took a clamp to her vocal cords, and throughout the street, curtains were being thrown open as curiosity sent people searching for the source of the strange light.
"C-Chibi-Usa-chan?" Luna wondered aloud, and Usagi could tell their train of thought was barreling down the same track. Without even so much as a warning, the blonde dropped Luna and began sprinting in the direction of the familiar energy beam, currently pulsing like a giant arrow in the sky, pointing Usagi in the right direction. It was instinctual; Chibi-Usa was here and she was in danger. Usagi knew beyond a shadow of a doubt something was wrong; that this was perhaps the catalyst to igniting the storm that had been slowly brewing ever since Mamoru's departure. She had to get to the girl; had to save Chibi-Usa before someone else stumbled upon her future daughter first. Usagi could hear Luna trotting in her wake, but didn't stop to let the cat catch ground.
The pair were in propinquity of the park when the light dissipated into nothing, leaving behind a suddenly darker night and a bitter, hollow taste in Usagi's mouth. She continued racing onward, however, determined to reach Chibi-Usa wherever the child may be.
"Usagi-chan, stop!"
Usagi ignored Luna, staggering into a cluster of trees, where she had seen the residual energy last. Chibi-Usa had to be around here somewhere.
"Us-a-gi... dammit, STOP!" the cat snapped in a hiss, and at Luna's unexpectedly fierce tone, Usagi paused. She whirled to glare at her celestial-born guardian.
"What?"
"I want you to consider our situation. I want you to stop and think before you run headlong into what may very well be a trap," Luna preached, and her fur was standing on end as the black feline's eyes flicked this way and that for anything that might jump out and attack her charge. "Why have we not heard from Chibi-Usa-chan if she is, supposedly, here? Why her signature out of the blue?"
"I... I don't know, maybe she tried to contact us and couldn't; maybe this is her way of signalling for help," Usagi rambled, and as her mind spun worst case scenarios her hands began to wring anxiously. "Luna, Chibi-Usa is here and she's in danger... I can feel it, in my gut. Please, we have to at least look..."
Luna was silent for a few seconds until she finally relented with an aggrieved groan. "Alright. I will trust you on this. But if anything happens, you transform. Immediately. Got it?"
"You don't even have to remind me," Usagi smiled softly, and then she threw herself into searching every mossy nook and cranny. Luna kept uncomfortably close, practically curling around Usagi's legs as she appraised their surroundings, watching for anything out of place. And that's when she spotted it; a gentle rustle in the bushes and a flash of white, almost undetectable to her nocturnal eyes were it not for the cat's heightened senses on alert for any form of movement.
"Usagi-chan, over there," Luna whispered, gesturing to an overgrown thicket. Usagi put a finger to her lips and tiptoed over to the aforementioned bush, hands unsteady as they parted the evergreen. She was terrified about what she might find.
"Oh my. Luna..." Usagi gasped, and her face drained of color until it was a chalky white.
TBC
