Sailor Moon is copyright 1992 by Naoko Takeuchi.
North American Rights for Sailor Moon are owned by
D.I.C.

Rating: PG-13

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  Life  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Part II - Unravelings
Chapter II -  . . . and it begins


	It was a cool day in late November.  The trees
were shedding, coloring the sidewalk with dark shades
of yellow, brown, orange, and red.  At this time of
the year, the sidewalk became a child's favorite
playground.  They loved stepping on the leaves and
hearing the crunch.  They loved kicking up the piles
and making a mess.

	As Usagi hurried along towards the bus stop,
she let her gaze linger on the children doing so,
wishing she could turn back the clock and just play
for a little bit.  But she couldn't; she had a lunch
appointment with Noriko and Kiyoshi.

	As she passed the park, she heard a scream and
felt the ground tremble.  'What the -'

	She heard several more screams, before racing
towards the commotion.

	There in the middle of one of the park's
pathways stood something Usagi hoped she would never
see again.  She groaned audibly.

	'Perfect.  You idiots have to show up when _I_
have an appointment to keep.  Fate sucks!'

	Using the trees as protection, she called out,
"Crisis Make-Up!"

	In the arcade, Chiba Mamoru sensed something.
He got tense, his instincts telling him something was
wrong.  'It's gotta be something with Usa.'

	It took him a while to confirm that she had
transformed.  Ever since May, his link with Usagi had
dimmed.  He could barely feel her now, and it was
growing weaker with each day.  Everything was weak.
Her sadness, her joy, her pain, even her
transformation.  It took him time to decipher what it
was that she was feeling.

	He had eventually figured out that that was
what he felt disappear in May.  It was on that night
that Usagi had decided to detach herself from him.
How she managed to do so, he had no idea.  But she
had done it.  And it saddened him to know that she
hated him so much that she could not even stand their
link; the link sometimes being the only thing that
could save her life.

	After the confirmation, he excused himself from
Leslie, who hung onto his arm like a child begging
for candy, and Motoki, who raised his eyebrows at
Leslie's dependence.

	"I'll be right back, Leslie," he said
impatiently.

	"But baby, I don't want you to go," she said
longingly.

	"I'll be back soon; I forgot something."  And
with that pathetic excuse, he rushed off quickly,
towards the park.

	Leslie sat back in her chair and crossed her
arms over her chest.  She let out a "humph" before
proceeding to pout.

	Motoki could only laugh silently.


^ ^ ^  at the park  ^ ^ ^


	"C'mon!  You gotta be able to do better than
that!" Sailor Moon taunted as she dodged a beam of
energy the youma threw at her.

	Actually, the youma had already gotten Sailor
Moon twice, but she refused to let it see that she
was afraid, wounded, and tired.  'Shimatta!  Where
are the others?'  By now, they should have heard
about the attack.

	The youma was about seven feet tall.  It was a
grotesquely shaped cupid.  Instead of a sweet boyish
face with curly blonde hair, it had an obnoxious
sneering face with dirty blonde hair, a condescending
laugh, and black wings.  It's bow and arrows glowed
with dark energy.

	The youma let out a frustrated yell at Sailor
Moon's taunting.  Instead of letting another arrow
fly, it raced at her through the air, thrust out a
leg, and kicked.  While running, she felt the foot's
impact against her shoulder, and she stumbled
backwards into a tree.  The youma punched her and her
head snapped back against the tree.  She stood
wobbly, trying to clear her head of the blinking
white lights she was seeing.

	The youma took a few steps back, grabbed an
arrow, and aimed at Sailor Moon.  As the arrow took
flight, she dimly heard, "Venus Love and Beauty
Shock!" and "Look out!"

	The arrow hit Sailor Moon's shoulder and she
screamed as she felt the dark energy surround and
infest her body.  She felt somebody quickly take hold
of her and push her firmly against a tree, while
another quickly pulled the arrow from her shoulder.
She screamed when they did so because of the sudden
pain.

	In her short suffering and breathlessness,
Sailor Moon opened her eyes to Sailor Venus and
Tuxedo Mask.  Fending off Cupid were Sailors Mars,
Mercury, and Jupiter.

	"Sailor Moon," Tuxedo Mask said somewhat
tenderly.  "Daijoubu?"

	Groggily, she looked up to come face-to-face
with Tuxedo Kamen.  Or rather: face-to-mask.  'I
always hated that mask.  How can he even see with
that damned thing covering his eyes?'

	"I'm fine," she replied curtly.

	"Sailor Moon-" Venus tried to caution.  But
Sailor Moon cut her off.

	"Let's get this over with," she said harshly,
pulling herself from their grasp.  "I have to be
somewhere."  The other two looked at each other
surprised . . . and hurt.

	"Mercury!" she called out sharply.  "What's its
weakness?"

	"Uh . . . it doesn't appear to have one.  I
think you can defeat it with your attack; we just
need to distract it momentarily."

	"Fine.  Block its vision," she commanded.  The
others were surprised to see her handling everything
with so much authority.

	Mercury stretched her arms forward.  "Mercury
Aqua Rhapsody!"

	"Moon Spiral Attack!"

	The youma paused to let out another frustrated
cry with Mercury's attack and then a cry of pain with
Sailor Moon's.

	Once the fog had cleared, the six heroes faced
each other, dust settling around them.  Tuxedo Kamen
standing next to Venus.  Mercury by herself.  Mars
and Jupiter together.  Sailor Moon by herself.

	"Are you guys okay?" she asked shortly, as if
it were a duty to ask.

	A series of quiet 'yeah's went around.

	"Good."  She looked around to make sure no one
was there.  Then, she powered down into Usagi.

	"Usagi, you're hurt!" Mercury exclaimed.

	"I noticed," she said dryly.  "I'm fine."

	"But Usagi-" Jupiter tried.

	"I'm _fine_!"

	Nursing her bleeding shoulder, she limped away.
'Need to find phone.'

	Finding one, she dug into her pockets for
change and glanced at her pager.  'Shimatta!  I'm 45
minutes late.'

	She looked at the keypad and punched in a
number.

	"Moshi moshi?"

	"Kiyoshi.  Konnichi wa."

	"Usagi!  Where are you??  You're late!"

	"I know.  Gomen."

	"What happened?"

	"I-" she inhaled sharply as new pain overtook
her shoulder when she shifted her position.

	"Usa?  Usa, daijoubu?" he called into the phone
frantically.

	"Hai," she gasped out.  "I got caught up in
some work.  I'm sorry.  I won't be able to meet you.
Gomen."

	"Usagi, are you sure you're okay?"

	"Yeah, I just feel bad," Usagi said
regretfully.

	"Don't sweat it," Kiyoshi said off-handedly.
"You sound tired, though."

	"I am."

	"Well, get some rest.  We'll talk later, ne?"

	"Hai.  Tell Noriko I'm sorry."

	"I will."

	"Arigatou.  Ja ne."

	"Ja."

	With that, she trudged home to attend to her
shoulder and get some rest.


^ ^ ^  at the park  ^ ^ ^


	The senshi surveyed the masked man.

	"Konnichi wa, Tuxedo Kamen," Sailor Mercury
finally said, breaking the silence.

	"Konnichi wa, Mercury . . . minna," he replied.

	The rest nodded in response.

	"Are you all right?" Mercury asked.

	"Hai," was the soft reply.

	He powered down to Mamoru and looked at them.
They did the same.

	They had changed, subtly, but changed
nevertheless.

	Rei had lost weight, a considerable amount.
Makoto looked tougher, no longer the friendly girl
Usagi had introduced to him.  Ami had dark circles
around her eyes.  Only Minako seemed to be the same -
physically.

	"Gomen, minna," Mamoru said, remembering
Leslie.  "I need to go."

	They all nodded their heads in response.

	Minako spoke, "Hopefully, this is only
something left over."

	"_Hopefully_, Minako-chan," he replied softly.
With that he turned and left, going to the arcade
where his pouting girlfriend awaited.

	The four girls looked at each other and began
to depart from the park.


~ ~ ~  End  ~ ~ ~


Author's Notes:

	Yeah, I know.  I'm not too good with the
fighting scenes.  Oh, well.

HoNeY
Hnymustd@hotmail.com
5/17/00