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Foreign Correspondent by Loki

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“I’ll show you Rei, and you too, Mr. Baka!”

Were these to be my famous last words, or would the dangers make my friends respect me finally. I had to find out, and now was the time.


Tokyo Japan

Crown Arcade and Fruit Parlor


It had been eighteen months of struggle for me and the girls, all of us finding out we were ancient warriors reborn to fight a dark enemy; the battles were hard-fought and I wasn’t coping but I knew Luna was right. I needed to get my act together, for now the Dark Kingdom was regrouping. Jadeite was gone and a new Dark King would soon descend upon Tokyo. I had to step up and before this guy showed up, I had to be ready and so I did the only thing I could do under the circumstances.


“What, you’re going?” Naru said, incredulous, but I nodded, determined to prove a point even if it meant going into the danger zone.

“It’s the only way I am going to prove to people that I’m no cry-baby, klutz or airhead. I will be Juuban Jnr. High's representative and foreign correspondent, it’s a chance of a lifetime and I'm grabbing it with both hands. Everything is arranged; the trip is booked. I’ve Okayed it with my senshi. I’m going and there is nothing, anyone can do about it. My parent supports me on this; if they had any doubts I wouldn’t be telling you this. Besides, I will be secure in a military compound with all those cute marines from the US and elsewhere around the world. I feel like one of Indiana Jones' girlfriends, on an adventure, danger and hot guys Naru-chan!”

“I can’t believe you’re doing this. I’ll be keeping tabs on you through Facebook and twitter, so keep me up to date, girl!”

“You bet!”

I hugged Naru, she was a mess of tears and I handed her my handkerchief, and giggled as she blew her nose, it sounded like a marching band. She began to laugh in response to my pretending to play the trumpet in sync with her nasal honks.

“I know you’ll be okay, but I worry as I’m your best friend. By the way, you all packed and ready to go?” she sniffed, padding away her tears.

“Yup, Motoki is driving me to the airport. Shingo, mom and dad will be coming along to see me off as well, and you’re coming with me, as there is room. Mamoru will be driving the girls to the airport as well,” I said, feeling a warm sensation rushing through me at the fact all my friends, even Luna and Artemis would see me off too. I was a little sad, but after all we’d been through, the fact we had to find the Moon Princess, I didn’t want to lose my friendship with Rei, even if she pinched that baka from me, and she thought I wasn’t cut out for the job and failed in the leadership department.

---

I sat on the seat by the window, crying soft tears of regret, excitement and a host of other mixed feelings ignoring the startling views of the coast and the sea as the jet climbed higher.

‘Could I do this? Yes!’

I was on the Boing jet that would take me to Bagdad, wasn’t I?

Yeah, hostilities had ended, a decade or more had passed, and still things were on the brink, but war, nah, I didn’t believe that possible. Things would work out somehow in this troubled part of the planet.

I was ready for boot camp, to become the best senshi I could be and show my friends I could lead them and have them all proud of me.

I wrote in my diary, going over all that had happened since my induction into the Sailor Senshi. I was impressed at how much it had altered my outlook on life. I was stronger, more mature and appreciated how valuable life was; it had and was changing me.

I was just a kid, like any typical Japanese schoolgirl, with my hobbies, my predisposition to hate study and read comics, and hang out with my friends then my life went Swiss-Cheesy: youma dark kings and evil queens, yup, life wasn’t boring that’s for sure.

I had become a warrior, well, a warrior in training, though I wasn’t proud of my weaknesses, but hey, how many girls my age get to play leader of an elite team of female super heroines huh?

I was being much too hard on myself. After breaking down in Naru’s arms and pouring out everything, she swore not to tell a soul, and even when we talked alone, she pretended as if I’d not said a word, as the Dark Kingdom was keeping tabs on both of us, and why? I thought at first that it was because they knew we were friends, but now, I am not so sure.

Luna and Artemis would keep an eye out for her, so if the Dark Kingdom tried to harm her the Senshi would be there in a flash to protect her, and yeah, even that baka.


Bagdad International Airport Terminal


Within two minutes of exiting the air-conditioned building, I felt sweaty, tired and a little footsore after customs waiting for almost an hour for them to do their thing and I had all my identity papers and whatnot checked, double-checked and bleh.

Armed with a floppy sunhat, sunscreen and shades, I was crushed by the heat of the day, boy the sun was freak’n hot. I only had my carryon over my shoulder, but I was thirsty. Buoyed to learn that everything was already packed into the military vehicle, they were ready for me. I was acutely aware of the wet patch on the back of my Tee shirt, but the cool pink cotton calf-length skirt felt cool and comfortable despite the conditions. I was not used to heat like this back home. I reminded myself that this was a desert-like and very dry climate and the adjustment would be tough but I’d beat it and do fine, I was determined.

With a sigh of relief, I noticed a drink stand nearby, and licked my parched lips.

“Ma’am, allow me,” a gorgeous hunk of a guy said, immediately making me feel ten times better, and I smiled like an idiot, looking up, and up I was awestruck. Yes, he was definitely tall, and in that uniform; I gulped.

“S-sure, can I have-“

I looked longingly towards the refreshments stand.

“Of course Ms. Tsukino, the shakes are on me, I’m Corporal Simmons, US Marine Corp at your service, and it is a pleasure to meet you,” he said, beaming that sweet American smile my way. I felt like melting on the spot, and brightened like a button. “c’mon!”

I took his arm and we were making our way to the drinks stand, and I ordered a triple chocolate malted shake and some cute sugary cakes all the rage in Bagdad and I soon knew why.

After we’d eaten and washed everything down, we were on our way to the compound.


Bagdad


International Compound


I was escorted to my living quarters, a nice three-girl apartment, moderately adorned in soft mauve and purple velvet drapes and floor rugs, very pretty actually for the female contingent. My roommates and I were ensconced in the international section: Kira Tompkins, a journalist with the BBC, and Eliza Yukito, a fellow Japanese compatriot, she was a physician, who worked for Doctors without Borders and was a keen photographer. Stacy Collier was a sergeant and she served with the marines as had her brothers and sisters, a huge family of nine children, their mother a schoolteacher, and father an air force colonel.

I would be staying in Iraq for six months and knew we’d all get along.

“Usagi, I just love your hairstyle, it is really pretty,” Kira said, scanning my images into her IPad.

“Thanks, I am glad you like it, although my ex-crush, a guy who is the bane of my existence back home teases me about it all the time and doesn’t speak so kindly of it.”

“The guy’s crazy, I wish I had hair long enough to wear the way you do, but this ponytail will have to do,” she said, as she pushed several indoor plants tucked into their pots to more suitable positions. “That’s better.”

Kira told me she had a friend who was an interior decorator who had passed on some of her tricks to prettify a room as she began making improvements that added a charm and homey look too the place. I smiled as her dark hair fell over her face making Kira look so funny; she reminded me of Rei who also liked to shift things around at the Sakura Jinja until she was both satisfied and sufficiently exhausted.

“So, what’s it like being an international correspondent? I mean, I am only representing my school, I could use a little help though,” I said, pawing at the hem of my dress feeling so inadequate in the light of this professional but I needn’t have worried.

She sat beside me and patted my hand.

“Here, allow me,” she said, lifting my IPad off my lap and setting it upon her own she began to go through a checklist of basic rules of journalism. “By the time we’re through Usagi, you will be an up and coming journalist and, my assistant here in the Middle East.”

“Wow, I don’t know what to say, that’s awesome!” I hugged her.

“You’ve already said it, no trouble at all. I had a sister like you,” she said, her voice choking up a little, I hugged her as she lowered her eyes as tears fell upon the backs of her tanned hands. “Yeah, she was killed in Yemen. Felicity and I were very close, twins in fact; my soul ripped apart I could barely function. With a connection like that, and having gone through so much together here in the Middle East I almost lost my mind. You see Usagi mom and dad were bringing her body home and were killed in a plane crash whilst on their way to Iraq by enemy fighters that shot their Hercules Transport down over the desert.”

“I am so sorry,” was all I could manage.

“That was a year ago now. I and my brother Wade, who thankfully is back home and completing his college finals is all the family I have left aside from our uncle where he is living in Wisconsin.”

We sat there in silence as she offered a sheepish smile and pointed to the IPad, and I took her cue to read. She stood up then and patting my shoulder made her way towards the door.

“Usagi, thanks for listening.”

I looked up to reply but she was gone.

---

“Good to see you again Ms. Tsukino, remember me?”

“Yes of course, Corporal Simmons,” I said shyly, and looked out into the vast desert, adjusting my hat and shades.

The vehicle was an open jeep and we had escort, several hummers behind and ahead of us leading the way to the training camp, my real boot camp. I signed up for this as I needed the skills to boost my self-confidence and to get fit and prove to myself I had what it took to be a warrior in the total sense of the term.

---

I started badly though, on the first day of my training, I thought the woman in charge was worse than Tetis the Arch Youma Queen that I managed to defeat only after Tuxedo Kamen and the girls made her flee through a dark portal back to wherever it was she’d come from and this woman, scared me more. I had not even finished unpacking when a banshee began yelling at me and I was about to retort when I caught the rank on her shirt, she was a captain, lean, mean and would be considered pretty if not for the sour expression and cold steel-green eyes that reminded me of a feral cat about to tackle its prey.

“You’ll find Tsukino, that while you’re under my loving care, that you will be expected to behave by the same rules as any soldier, get it?” she barked, and I swallowed my icy response with all the willpower I could muster. I surprised myself in that moment much too stunned to let her dose of shock treatment incinerate my courage. I straightened and met her gaze and nodded. “We understand each other then, you are young, but you are more of a liability Tsukino, so listen up girly…, I want no slackers, and if you’re not out of bed at dawn with the others here, you’ll do 100 pushups till you drop, are we clear?”

“Yes Captain, I understand.”

“Ah, I see you speak good English for a foreigner, you might be useful to me yet, all right, get unpacked and everyone assemble in the mess hall in one hour.”

The woman was a viper, with a head of chestnut locks packed into a bun as mean as she was, I wondered if there was a snake tucked inside her hair; that wouldn’t surprise me in the least.

I saluted, as did the other women who were a mixture of marines and civilians supporting the war effort some scientists, medical staff and professionals to people like me in less defined roles.

Great, this was going to be a nightmare and I was suddenly grateful for Luna and wished I’d not been so disagreeable on our first meeting and the months I’d deliberately dragged my feet; she was an angel compared to this youma.

I don’t know why she took such a disliking to me, but I would need to watch my step with her.


TBC



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