"Moon Prism Power!......Kami-sama, I hope no one saw that!" Lina, now Sailor Moon, discreetly sped out of her hiding place and headed for the stairwell.
"Lina, wait."
"What is it, Luna?" Sailor Moon glanced back impatiently at the fushia-black cat.
"You can jump up to the roof from here." Lina looked up the 4 story building and made a crooked expression, which she then gave to Luna. "Just do it, Lina." Luna commanded flatly.
Lina sighed.
"This is stupid." She muttered. "If I end up looking idiotic, you're going to get it, Cat."
As Sailor Moon made the impossibly high distance, Luna made a mental side comment about how they already looked stupid.
Lina landed, surprised to see the Mazoku had not noticed her. He was so focused on gathering the Negative Energy swirling around him, that he hadn't even turned from the roof's edge.
This was going to be a piece of cake. Lina silently reached for her tiara, whispered Moon Tiara Magic, and let it fly.
It crackled and rebounded off some invisible shield. Lina ducked her returning tiara and caught it on the way back.
"Hmm?" The Mazoku turned slightly, slowing his work to a minimum. "What's this?" He had to completely stop his work when the girl threw her tiara a second time. He quickly dodged. "How rude! Not even an introduction? A warning?"
Lina scoffed, catching her tiara and trying to hide the tinge of fear from her first mystic fight. "Did you want to be friends? I came up here to fight! But still," Lina again readied her glowing tiara on the tip of her finger, and stood smug. "If you want to know, I'm Sailor Moon."
The Mazoku smiled and divereted some Negative energy her way. "Pleased to meet you."
Lina threw her tiara, and he dodged and kept firing away, as expected. Lina continued dodging his blasts.
His amused grin began to fade and he asked, "Why are you smiling?"
Lina was no longer just dodging the blasts. Now, she was working her way past them, to get in close to the Mazoku. Of course, he wasn't worried at all about the prospect of physical harm, and grinned, amused again, at her futile tenacity. To his own surprise, she managed to get and stay within striking distance. He decided to leave the orb of collected energy and play her little game. Slowly, she backed him up towards the corner of the rooftop, as he floated and dodged each of her punches and kicks. He simply glided backwards, laughing the entire time.
"Do you need a break? You're starting to look tired!" Lina managed to smack him. And he just held still for a minute, savoring the sting. She took the time-out to quickly brush her bangs away from her bare brow. The Mazoku opened his eyes slowly as the pain dulled, and saw an incredible flash of light.
Lina's tiara hit him straight in the head during its controlled return trip, and he toppled off the rooftop.
The Mazoku lay on his back down below, and struggled to open his eyes. He berated himself for being so careless. He had forgotten about her tiara and let her back him up into its path, not to mention distance him away from the orb of Negative Energy that was reinforcing his powers. He fully opened his eyes now and saw Sailor Moon's tiara again heading straight for him. He managed to roll away, just as Sailor Moon jumped to the ground, reclaiming her tiara again.
"What kind of human are you?" He glared. "No human has magic that strong!"
"Well, I do!" Lina smiled and finished him off. whew Wait..."that strong"?...Hmmm... Lina set her tiara back on her forehead and stared at the spot where her first real enemy disintegrated.
"Not bad, Sailor Moon." Luna tried not to say too enthusiastically, as she came from behind.
"Oh, hey, Luna." Lina continued as the cat came to stand by her side. "Looks like I've completely mastered controlling this tiara. Now, with that, and me being an incredibly fast learner, when do you think I'll be able to cast other magics?"
Luna smiled. "Soon enough. But first, what are you going to do about them?"
"Them?"
"Them." Luna directed Sailor Moon's attention towards the still-quarrelling school girls.
"Why do I have to break up their stupid fights? I already killed the bad guy!"
"Lina..." Luna started in a nagging tone.
"Oh, alright, alright! Geez. You'd think everthing would be back to normal when the Mazoku died." Lina began to mutter as she turned towards the cat fights.
"The Mazoku didn't mind-control them to argue and become violent." Luna explained. "They only helped encourage events to result in their favor. What's happening now is independent of whether that Mazoku you beat is dead or not."
Lina sighed again. Great. But how am I going to clean this up?
Something zipped to the center of the courtyard, and within a few seconds, the girls had calmed down.
"What the - ?" Lina stood staring. Good thing she had good vision, or she would have been able to make out the " - rose? What the heck?" Sailor Moon caught sight of movement out of the corner of her eye.
"Sailor Moon! Where are you going!?" Luna called as Lina dashed off into a grove of trees.
Lina could see the sillouette between the rush of branches and brush. Simple. She'd just veere a little off her pursuit so he'd loose track of her, then she'd cut him off ahead. Lina swerved to the left in her run, found an opening of branches to the sky, and leapt ahead. During her descent, she could see him. Damn! He was fast! Lina took the chance to block him off with some fallen trees. She found her tiara, aimed at trees far ahead, and noticed him swerve away from the obstacle. She tired to compensate by landing before his new direction. Finally, something worked.
"You're a pain to catch, you know?" She smiled the smile of a well-earned victory. Sailor Moon stood before the one who she guessed threw the rose. She started to stare. There were patches of shadow all throughout the canopy of trees, but it wasn't hard to see what stood before her. "A tuxedo and top hat?" Lina crossed her arms. "Add that rose you threw and you're too overdressed for battle."
"And I suppose you're perfectly happy with the way your powers manifest?"
Lina looked down at her short sailor skirt, bows, heeled boots, and long gloves. "Hey! It's the power that matters!"
"Exactly." He crossed his arms.
"Just what was with that rose, anyway?"
"It had a psychic spell attached to it."
"Giving the girls an imperitive to lean towards positive emotions, no doubt."
He simply nodded.
"I could have handled it myself - "
The caped boy snorted.
Lina glared at him but continued. "But...well......thanks. Just who are you anyway?"
"I don't know what I am." With his painful emphasis on "what", Lina tried to get passed this subject quickly.
"I'm just curious about a name, Mr. Tuxedo."
"'Mr. Tuxedo' - ??" His face quirked. Lina smiled and rested her hands on her hips.
"Have you got an alternative?"
The young man sighed. "Tuxedo Kamen."
"Now, why did you - " Tuxedo Kamen blurred and a wind blew past Sailor Moon. " - help me? Hmph." Lina stared into the trees where he disappeared. Earlier he was trying to hide his face in the shadows and under the brimm of his hat, but Lina could still make out an odd skin tone and strange blotches on his face. This guy wasn't human. So what was his interest in her?
Later in class, the effects of Tuxedo Kamen's rose could still be felt.
Lina covered her hands over her head and tried to drown her face in her desk top.
"Oh, I'm so sorry!"
"Please excuse me."
"That is SOOO sweet of you!" Giggles, squeals, and sticky sweet niceness could still reach Lina's ears. At least she didn't have to see all the perfectly plastered smiles filling the classroom.
"...I don't know what evil got me to take the rumors so far!" Mikuko's voice came in. "And I'm so sorry I didn't listen to you before, Amelia! You were trying SOOO hard to break up the fights...that I...caused!" Mikuko almost cried into Amelia's shoulder.
"Don't be so sad, Mikuko-san!" Amelia replied. "It only matters that you've repented from a life of malice!"
"Oh, you're so kind!"
I'm going to get that Tuxedo Kamen for this! Lina gritted her teeth as the sugary-niceness continued all around her.
Part 5 | Fanfiction