| Of Injuries and Consequences Usagi shrieked as the youma barely missed slicing her in half. Her hair swung around, putting her off balance. She shrieked again as the youma swung an arm at her, connecting solidly with her ribs. She slid to the ground, eyes unfocused. Rei hurriedly sent out a barrage of flame and rushed over to her friend. She lightly shook Usagi, but the blond stayed huddled on the ground. Silently praying for forgiveness, Rei slapped Usagi on the cheek. That shook Usagi out of the daze she was in as her eyes focused on Rei. "Come on! We need you!" Usagi nodded, then shakily stood up. She quickly took her tiara off her head, then threw it at the youma. The tiara wobbled slightly, but made it to it�s goal. The monster turned to ash, screaming. Usagi slumped against Rei, too tired to think. Giving a concerned look to the other senshi, Rei slung an arm around Usagi�s waist, slowly walking her towards Usagi�s house. Makoto and Ami jogged up, and Ami immediately started to check Usagi for serious injury. After a few tense moments, she looked up at the other girls. "It�s not serious. She�ll be fine." The other girls nodded silently as they continued their silent trek towards Usagi�s house. Within a few minutes they reached it, and after a bit of a struggle they got Usagi safely back in her room. They lay Usagi on her bed and stood back. Usagi moaned, they abruptly detransformed. Makoto bit her lip. "Will she be alright?" "She�ll be fine, I hope." Usagi groaned as she woke up to Luna�s persistent voice. She turned over, trying to block out the noise, when she abruptly felt nauseous. Her body felt like mush as she sat up cautiously. Luna was gone once she saw Usagi get up, going downstairs to read the paper and eat. Usagi carefully lifted herself out of bed, and started to get dressed. As she turned to her bedroom mirror she gasped. Spreading from the top of her ribs to the opposite hipbone was a purpling bruise, and another was starting to form on her cheekbone. Quickly she took stock of the rest of her injuries. A large scrape was on the side of her leg, she had a semi-deep cut on her thigh and all her muscles felt like water. As she heard her mom�s voice yelling at her to hurry up, Usagi stopped her contemplation of her injuries and quickly got dressed, wrapping a makeshift bandage around her thigh in case it would start bleeding again. She hurriedly applied foundation to the bruise on her face and then rushed out the door. She ran past her mom, grabbing a slice of toast and her lunch bag on her way. As she rushed to school she arranged her sloppily put-together odangos more to her liking. She inhaled her toast and narrowly missed colliding with Mamoru. "I�m late!" She called back, feeling slightly sorry for that particular break in her routine. School that day was horrid. Usagi dozed off in two of her classes and was late to a third. Her muscles barely wanted to work and she found herself favoring one leg. Added to that, her head started pounding and her nausea kicked back in. By the time school was over she was feeling light-headed and more than a little sick�but she still had detention for being late to class and falling asleep, as well as having detention the following day for falling asleep in the other class. When her day was finally over she dragged herself towards the Arcade, a welcome respite between working at school and working at home. When she was half way there she started to feel dizzy, and leaned against a lamppost to try and get her balance back. "Can�t stop now." She rasped. Usagi swayed, and continued walking. Mamoru left his apartment, and started on his daily walk to the arcade where he would tease the Odango Atama, drink coffee and talk to Motoki. Unfortunately he was running a little late this day. Up ahead he saw Usagi rest against lamppost She muttered something that he couldn�t hear, then she started walking again. But it wasn�t her usual look-at-me-I�m-so-happy-and- the-world-is-great walk, it was a slow shuffle, with each foot placed with careful intention but poor execution. She stumbled and nearly fell. Concerned, Mamoru walked up to her. "Odango Atama? Are you ok?" Usagi looked in his direction, eyes unfocused. Then, without warning, her eyes rolled up into her head and she collapsed in a dead faint. Mamoru quickly gathered her up into his arms as panic started to set it. He made the quick decision to bring her back to his apartment instead of carrying her all the way to the Arcade. He turned and entered the doors he had just come out of, all the while thinking of what could be wrong. Mamoru hefted her onto his side, holding her up with one hand while he fished for his keys with the other. *This girl is way too light. She needs to eat more.* Mamoru gave an internal snort. *This is Odango Atama, remember? The girl who eats enough for two?* His mirth quickly turned to worry as he contemplated what could be wrong with Odango to make her so skinny if she ate so much. Finally his door popped open and Mamoru gently placed Usagi on his couch. He closed and locked his door, then stared at Usagi. *Well�I guess you can�t find out what�s wrong with her if you don�t do anything,* he reasoned. So thinking, he professionally gathered up his tools and equipment and started to work. He first took off her school shirt, freezing when he saw her bruise. "Shit!" He cursed under his breath. "Where�d she get this?" He labored quickly, binding her bruise and bundling her up in one of his old shirts. While he worked, her leg wound, which had opened up during her grueling walk towards the Arcade, started to bleed sluggishly. It soaked through her makeshift bandage and started to absorb through her skirt, showing up as a dark red- brown against the blue. It quickly caught Mamoru�s attention and he hesitantly lifted her skirt up. He cursed again as he saw the cut and it�s bandage. He carefully unwrapped the blood-coated material from around her thigh, wincing as he accidentally touched the wound. He slowly cleaned the injury, checking for dirt or infection. He sighed in relief as he found neither, then turned his attention to the abrasion on her leg. He dressed that, then uncertainly decided to change her into a pair of his shorts to avoid the blood on her skirt getting on her. He had just finished when her face caught his eye. What he had previously thought dirt he could now see as a poorly concealed bruise. His fists tightened as he thought of what he would do to the person who had done this to innocent Usagi. Usagi woke up feeling much better, although a lot stiffer, than where she was. She grew taut as she realized she didn�t recognize where she was. "Hi Odango! Feeling better?" Her head whipped around, and she ignored the pounding headache and queasiness the sudden movement had cost her in order to make sure her ears weren�t deceiving her. "Mamoru? Where am I and what am I doing here?" "You fainted, Odango Atama. You�re in my apartment. What I want to know is *how* you got those wounds." Usagi�s mind raced as she thought of what she could say. To buy her some time, she asked for some water. Mamoru brought her a cup, then helped her to hold it as she weakly drank the liquid. Finally, she devised a story. "It�s like this Mamoru�You know those monsters that are around? Well, I was hit by one but I couldn�t tell my mom because I wasn�t supposed to be out." She grew more enthused as Mamoru seemed to be buying her story. "It was a great ugly thing, the one that hit me! Ugly for a youma, even." "How do you know about *youma?*" Mamoru exclaimed. Usagi clapped her hand to her mouth as she realized what she had said. Only the Senshi and Tuxedo Kamen used that word for the monsters�*Waitaminute�only the Senshi and Tuxedo Kamen used *that word** "You�re Tuxedo Kamen?" She blurted out as she finally made the connection. Mamoru remembered in slow motion seeing Sailor Moon being *hit in the stomach by the youma.* "You�re Sailor Moon?" He exclaimed at the same time. They stared at each other, uncomprehending for one long minute. "Oh My God!" Usagi kept saying. "Oh My God!" "I can�t believe I didn�t see it. You were right in front of me the whole time!" Mamoru groaned, mentally bashing his head against a wall as he thought of all the times he had wondered who Sailor Moon was. "Well," Usagi said, "is it disappointing, learning that the girl you hate is the one who you like?" Usagi had found out awhile ago that Mamoru had a crush on Sailor Moon through eavesdropping and lurking about. Mamoru turned towards her, an odd look in his eyes. "Actually, it solves a slight problem of mine," he murmured, and Usagi got an odd feeling in her stomach not at all like the nausea she had felt this morning. She unconsciously angled her face up towards his, lowering her eyelashes. Mamoru slowly bent his head down towards hers, softly capturing her lips with his own. Usagi closed her eyes, savoring the feel of his lips on hers. When they broke apart, each head leaning on the other�s, she whispered, "And what problem would that be?" Mamoru smiled, and brushed her cheek with the back of his hand. "Which girl to like." |