For all the NA viewers out there, here's a quick table for you:
| Japanese Names: | English Equivalent: |
|
Usagi
Mamoru Rei Ami Makoto Minako Naru Umino {this is his last name} |
Serena
Darien Raye Amy Lita Mina Molly Melvin |
Okaa-san means "mother"; minna means "everyone"; and a fuku is usually a
uniform worn by all Japanese school students. [unlike us, they have to wear
uniforms....yeech.]
I think most people know about the -chan, -san, and -sama endings...if not,
just ask.
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Crystal Mirrors--Reflections, Part 1 (Naru's Story)
�����By: odango ([email protected])
�����"Oh, you look so lovely, Usagi-chan!"
�����"Good luck, Usagi-chan!"
�����"Usagi-chan!��Congratulations!!"
�����"Minna-chan!��Arigato!" Usagi-chan looks so pretty today, in her
delicate white dress, covered with white satin roses.��She looks so much older,
so much mature, than the first time I met her.
�����In fact, I'm surprised she even invited me to her wedding.��I don't
mean to sound bitter or angry, but over the years, we've drifted apart.��It
makes me sad--we had been friends ever since the first year of school, at
Juuban Elementary.
�����"NARU-CHAN!"��The cry bursts out of Usagi in an excited shriek of joy.
She crushes me in a huge embrace, still squealing, "Oh, I'm so glad you could
make it!��You've met Mamo-chan, haven't you?��Here, Mamo-chan, shake
hands with her or something!"
�����Mamoru-san smiles down at me, cordially extending his hand.��"It's nice to
see you again, Naru-san."��He doesn't really seem to mind Usagi-chan's
hyperness.��The distinct twinkle in his eye says it all.
�����So does the sparkle in Usagi's eyes.
�����A knife of pain pierces me as an old memory surfaces to haunt me.
�����But that's not something to think about on a happy day like this, I chide
myself, and push the thought away.
�����I take another look at Usagi-chan, who seems to be glowing with life.
She's laughing and giggling with her other friends now.��They seem so close,
even closer than Usagi and I were.
�����If I think about it carefully, Usagi-chan has seemed more confident and
tense since she began to hang out with those girls.��There's this air around
them, as if they know more than they let on.
�����And they're never afraid if a youma bursts out of the bushes at them.
�����Which is why I just know, deep down inside, there's a link between
Usagi-chan and Sailormoon.
�����I don't know how I know, it's just a feeling I got long, long ago, when
Usagi-chan and I were back in junior high....
* * *
�����"Usagi," I ventured, "I'm worried about you.��Do you know anything
about that huge dome over there?"
�����Usagi wore a pained look on her face, which was quickly (almost in
panic) replaced by a more cheerful expression.��"Of course not, Naru-chan,"
she said, a bit too cheerily.��"What would I know?"
�����She was lying.��I knew it, deep down, she was lying.��"I think you do
know something, Usagi-chan," I replied, swallowing past the lump in my
throat.��A bit shakily, I reached for her hand, finishing, "And I won't make you
tell me what's wrong, Usagi-chan...but if you need to talk or anything, I'm
always here for you."
�����A relieved look passed over her tense face.��When was the last time I
last saw her without that tension in her face?��She seemed so different now, so
much older in ways I couldn't quite put my finger on.
�����"Thank you, Naru-chan," she told me, the relief in her voice evident.
She glanced once more in the direction of the black dome, then murmured a
quick "bye" before running off.
�����"Please take care of yourself, Usagi-chan," I whispered as I watched
her back grow smaller and smaller.
�����There wasn't any other place for me to go but home.��Everything
seemed so quiet....too eerily quiet.��Okaa-san wouldn't be home till late, she
always worked late at the jewelry store.��Up in my room, I looked outside the
window to check on that black dome.��Still there.��Out of the corner of my
eye, I caught a ball of yellow, green, blue, red, and orange light filtering
through the black dome.��The Sailor Senshi.
�����There was a drawer where I kept remembrances of all the weird things
that happened to me.��I didn't have many, but still, I had the feeling that odd
things, many many odd things had happened to me already.��There were so
many pieces of a puzzle I just couldn't figure out.....starting with Sailormoon.
�����I had a picture of her, a fuzzy photo from when a lucky photographer
managed to get a shot of the sailor senshi.��Her features were blurred, but the
expression on her face was the same--the same as the tense look I'd seen on
Usagi-chan's face.
�����How had Usagi-chan gotten to know Kino-san and Mizuno-san? I couldn't
remember.��Or, for that matter, who that raven-haired girl was, the one that
Usagi went to meet with every so often, along with that blonde girl, that
bubbly, happy one.��When had Usagi met these people and started leaving
me alone?
�����Not that I really faulted her.��I had a feeling of that Usagi-chan was doing
something important with those girls.��She must have; she always knew more
than she let on.
�����A flash of light suddenly filled my room, and when the dots faded from my
vision, I looked out the window and saw that the black dome was gone.
�����Just like that.
�����The sun was shining once more, and everything was as if nothing had
happened.
�����But I knew better.
�����'It's alright,' I thought to myself, carefully stowing the picture away.
'I'll keep your secret safe, Usagi-chan.'
* * *
�����"Naru-chan!" I'm startled out of my reverie.��Usagi-chan's smiling
face is peering into mine.
�����"Come, Naru-chan," she says, giggling to herself, pulling me into a
side room.��From a small mob of people in the room, Usagi's family stares at
us hollowly as we enter, and I get an unsettling feeling in my stomach.��Why
are we all grouped in here like this?
�����Minako-san, Makoto-san, and Ami-san leave quietly, all giving Usagi
secret smiles.��Rei-san, the raven-haired girl, also gives Usagi a private smile
and shuts the door firmly; she stands in front of it, like some sort of guard.
�����"Well!" Usagi says, sounding a bit nervous.��She smiles broadly, and
carefully deposits her bouquet on a nearby chair.
�����"Well!" she says again, nervously twisting a lock of her hair.��"There's
something I want to tell you all, something I've been wanting to tell everyone
for years."��She laughs nervously.
�����Shingo frowns.��"Usagi, get to the point."
�����"Alright...." she says hesitantly.��"I don't quite know where to begin."
She looks past me, to Rei-san.��"Rei-chan....."
�����I turn to catch the look on Rei-san's face.��"It's alright," she reassures
Usagi.��"You can do it."
�����Usagi takes a deep breath and exhales slowly, nodding.��"I can do this.
Minna....Mama, Papa... Shingo....Naru-chan....now, don't freak out on me,
but, I've got something to show you."
�����My ears pick up on this.��'This is it, this is it,' my brain keeps chattering
to itself.
�����Through the worry and anxiety shadowing her face, a sudden smile
appears, and for a brief second, I wonder if she's just doing this so we'll
get even more jumpy than we really are.��Then her gaze hardens slightly and
she places her hands over the center of her chest.��Her mouth moves,
chanting words I could only dream of her saying, but for some odd reason,
I can't hear them, my brain doesn't process it until she's already saying
the next set of words.
�����"MOON ETERNAL-"
�����For a brief moment, time freezes, and no one's breathing, no one's
twitching a muscle.��From a distance, I hear someone murmur softly, "No
way," but I might be imagining it.��I'm probably even the one saying it, but I
can't tell.
�����Then time unfreezes long enough for my brain to make out the last phrase.
�����"MAKE UP!"
�����A burst of pure white light fills the room, and my arms involuntarily
fling upwards to shield my eyes.��Then the light dims, just a fraction,
enough for me, along with the rest of Usagi's family, to witness what
else is to come.
�����Like a flare of hope, a golden crescent moon ignites on Usagi's
forehead, and no matter how much the rest of me wants to take a
look at what else is happening, I find I can't pull my eyes off of the
shining symbol.��The rest of Usagi's body suddenly comes in focus with
a smooth motion of her head and wings burst open, releasing Usagi from
their hold, like some angel being released from a long sleep.
�����Feathers begin to swirl everywhere, blocking my vision...I think I can
see gloves and boots forming on her body, but then there's a rush of...
well, SOMETHING, and the next thing I realize is that's over.��She's
in some sort of finishing pose, and the light from the henshin sequence
is dying, fading away.��Only one thing remains.
�����Usagi.
�����No, wait.
�����Eternal Sailormoon.
�����She's standing in a fighting pose, her arms in front of her, fists clenched
tightly, and for a brief second, her eyes flash back as those of a warrior's.
For that instant, I can't even believe this is supposed to be Usagi-chan.
����Then she blinks, and her combat stance relaxes, as if she's just
remembering that this was meant for demonstration only, not because
there's a real fight to come.
�����She grins at us, a huge, happy, tooth-baring grin.
�����It's then I realize that my mouth is open.��I close it, still dumbfounded.
�����But I have been expecting something like this, after all.
�����"Masaka," Shingo chokes out.��"It just can't be."��The look on his face
mirrors his parents'.��He slowly walks up to his sister.��"Are those wings
REAL?"
�����Usagi grins impishly.��"As real as I want them to be, buddy."
�����Shingo gags and slowly sinks to the floor.��A string of incoherent words
leave his mouth; the most I'm able to understand is, "Sailor...living....house...
near...I...related to..."
�����Usagi-chan looks at all of us, and says softly, "I wanted to tell you all
sooner, but I wasn't sure you'd be able to understand.��I've had to wait almost
a thousand years to tell you."��An Usagi-ish smile overtakes her face, and she
says happily, "But now you all know!��I'm so happy!��So, what do you guys
think?"
�����"A...thousand....years...?" her father chokes out as he leans on Usagi's
mother.��The poor man almost looks like he's AGED a thousand years in
these past minutes.
�����"Oh..um..yeah." Usagi says, looking a little flustered.��"Well, it goes like
this...."��She launches into a long description of the latest adventures of
Sailormoon, right up to the present.
�����".....then Guardian Cosmos sent us all to 30th century, into the lives
we're leading right now.��I revived some of you right away, because I missed
you all, but soon, I'm supposed to revive everyone else from the deep sleep
they were placed in, and--."
�����Rei-san sighs from the doorway.��"Usagi no baka," she snaps, "you're
telling them way too much.��I can see their eyes glazing over from here."
����Heh.��Rei-san has NO idea how true her words are.��But Usagi IS Usagi,
and to expect anything else would be....silly.
�����"Oh." Usagi says, flustered.��"I'm sorry, everyone.��You see, everyone,
you've all been here for me all these years, and I wanted to thank you."��She
closes her eyes briefly, and the fuku unravels to ribbons, then fades away to
show Usagi wearing her wedding gown once more.
�����She moves toward us, eyes shining brightly, she finishes, "This was the
only way I could think of thanking you--by telling you who I really am."
�����Usagi suddenly turns to me and grabs my hands, saying with somewhat
un-Usagi-like solemnness, "Naru-chan, I never got to thank you for
always being there for me, even when I wasn't able to be there for you."
She leans forward and kisses my cheek, then pulls away, her eyes shining
a faint mist.
�����A mist is rising my eyes, too, the first sign that my body is returning
to my control.��"Thank you, Usagi-chan," I whisper to her as her family
begins to clamor around her.
�����I ache to ask her for details, I yearn to hear it all, but it's not my place.
Her family comes first, and I respect that.��Smiling while brushing away
my tears, I nod once and turn away, brushing past Rei-san--no, Mars--
on my way out.
�����For now, this will enough.��I don't really need to hear the details right
away, just knowing I have been right all these years is enough.
�����'Just knowing is enough for now,' I tell myself as I settle myself into
my seat.
�����One day, I'll know it all.
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Hello again.
Yeah I know, you want to tell me about the silly/rushed ending.
Please send all comments, questions, ideas, etc, etc my way at
And to David ([email protected]), the best editor in the world: Thank You!!
If you really hate, this, keep this in mind: this is just a test.
Seriously though, this is a brainchild of mine, one that wouldn't leave me
alone when I wanted a good night's sleep.��So I began, not knowing exactly
what the heck I was supposed to be doing (
with this empathy for Naru's position as the one lost in the shuffle of
everything, so I tried to see things from her perspective.��But, there's not
much to go on, which is why this is so darn short.
[email protected].��I'd sorely appreciate all of them.
(You can read his fanfic, "Sailormoon: Shades of Light and Dark",
at http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Atrium/2429/)
What else did I want to say?��Ohhhh yeah....I really am sorry about excluding
all those who haven't seen or don't know about the manga and/or anime
ending(s) for SM.....