Sailor Moon Snippets Twenty-one

(Sailor Moon S - during ep 98, changes and additions)

The other dirtbikers started to close in around Haraku. Micharu stepped in front of her friend, "Would you attack a woman?"

Mamoru walked around them and touched her gently, pulling her out of the way. Micharu looked at him in amazement. He put her behind him, standing near to Haraku, but not too close. "Would you cancel out the very point Haraku has just made?" His gaze swept the bikers, "In a fair fight, Haraku is perfectly capable of taking care of herself. In a fair fight -- or race -- it doesn’t matter if one is a woman or a man; the best will win." He let his gaze turn slightly menacing, "And if it’s not fair, it proves nothing. So we will keep the rules fair, and let the best win." He bowed slightly to Haraku without taking his gaze off the bikers, who had stopped advancing at his speech and seemed disconcerted.

Haraku looked at him in amazement and not a little gratitude. Even among those who would be her friends, rarely had she met somebody who understood her. She was more than ready for a fight, and only wished that it would allow them to accept her as true competition, not a threat.

The dirtbikers apparently made up their minds and started to move in again, when another biker came from behind them and quelled them with some sharply spoken words. As he drove them away, and turned to leave himself, he nodded in respect to Haraku. She looked after him, he sees me as competition. A pure heart? She turned to Micharu, who was thinking the same thing. When they parted, Micharu followed to watch the potential pure heart.

(etc.)

The bus drove on, and the girls shifted from foot to foot, easing the cramps in their legs from standing in the crowded group. Mamoru was a figure of stillness in the restless crowd, the girls chattering around him, and occasionally to him. Suddenly, he began to curse, loudly and fluently. He started out in Japanese, but changed to English and spent several minutes going through that language’s repertoire. When he finished, he became aware of the stillness around him, and looked to see that the other passengers on the bus had drawn away from him, leaving a clear spot around their little group. The girls hadn’t drawn back, but were looking at him in various expressions of shock. Ami’s face was very, very red, and Mamoru felt his own become warm.

"Mamoru-sama!" Minako exclaimed in a tone of reverence, "I didn’t know some of those words even existed!"

Mamoru bit his lip and glared at her.

Rei sighed, "That idiot. We can’t even leave her alone for ten minutes, can we?"

The other three girls turned to look at her, "What?"

Makoto looked between Rei and Mamoru and nodded slowly, "That’s what I felt then. She changed, didn’t she?"

"She did," Mamoru replied glumly, "and we’re stuck here on this stupid bus." It was an express bus back to Tokyo, and wasn’t scheduled to stop for another 20 minutes until it got back into town. They could, potentially, get the driver to let them off just on the side of the road, but that might draw more attention then they wanted. And no guarantee that they’d be able to get back to Sailor Moon in time to help.

Ami swallowed, "What’s happening?"

Mamoru transferred his glare to her, "I don’t know, I’m not Tuxedo Mask!" Abruptly, he felt ashamed for taking his frustrations out on poor Ami. He continued more gently, "I can’t see without changing. But I don’t feel any immediate danger."

"Nor I." Rei sounded surprised, "I do think Usagi is actually handling it, whatever it is."

"But what will we do if it gets serious?"

Mamoru sighed, "Well, if there’s immanent danger, I can just phase there." He looked around them, "It might cause a few questions and comments... But nobody here knows us."

Rei glowered at him, "That’s fine for you, what about us? Can you take us with you?"

"No," Mamoru was definite, but then his face turned thoughtful, "normally not. But a direct phase to Sailor Moon..." He fell silent. The others watched him. Finally he looked up, "I think I could take Ami with me. Mercury’s power is a non-offensive one that doesn’t conflict with mine. Nobody else, though."

Makoto shrugged, not happy, but accepting. "That’s it then. We wait. And if needed, you and Ami will go help."

Minako looked out the window at the passing hills, "We wait." She placed a hand on Rei’s shoulder, knowing the trapped fire that swirled in her soul, frustrated and worried. "But we won’t be needed -- Usagi can take care of it herself."

"Sure she can!" Makoto agreed heartily, only the faintest of worries tingeing her voice.

The bus drove down towards Tokyo, away from Usagi, Sailor Moon.