Sister Earth
Part two
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Duo called the other pilots and it didn't take them long
to catch up with the fleeing Nataku. It was a surprise the
girl who stole it could operate it, but she still couldn't
get it to go as fast as its potential. The other gundams
had her surrounded within minutes.
"Okay, babe," Duo said, opening a communications link to
Wufei's gundam. "Time to come out now. You shouldn't play
with things that don't belong to you."
"Oh, but it's so fun," a surprisingly sweet voice
answered, startling all the pilots.
"Get out of the gundam," Heero demanded coldly, ready
to kill her as soon as she touched the ground.
"Naw, I don't think so. Not right now."
A link opened from Sandrock. "Please come out of there.
If you do it peacefully, I promise not to let anyone hurt you."
"Yeah, I'll come out, just as soon as at least one of you do."
"No way-" Heero began to say, just as Sandrock opened
and Quatre stepped out.
"What are you doing?" Wufei demanded.
"I'm here," Quatre yelled out, then jumped to the ground.
"Now it's your turn."
"I want the others out, too. I am not putting my life in
the hands of some big machines again," her voice sounded tired
all of a sudden. "Look, I don't shoot you, you don't shoot me."
The hatchet door of Heavyarms opened and Trowa stepped out,
then leapt to the ground silently. Feeling foolish for taking
orders from a prisoner, Heero, Duo, and Wufei followed.
A lone figure jumped from "Nataku" and landed semi-
gracefully on the ground in the middle of the circle the pilots
formed. The figure stumbled at the last second, then stayed
kneeling on the ground for a few minutes, before standing with
a grunt.
Everyone was shocked to say the least. Before them stood a
small girl around their age, with extremely long blonde hair
tied in an odd style. Her eyes were deep blue and held something
none of them could recognize. For some reason she was holding
her thigh, just below the short skirt she was wearing. Wufei
stared. This was the weak woman who had stolen his Nataku?
She looked so harmless, so innocent. She gave a soft smile.
"Are you okay?" she asked, surprising him and everyone
else. "I was worried you might have gotten hurt when I threw
you out."
It took him a moment to realize he was mad at her. "What
made you think you had the right to kidnap my Nataku?" he asked, realizing
in the back of his head that he didn't sound as angry
as he should.
"You're awfully attached to that thing, aren't you?" she
asked, peering at him with those blue eyes. "I'm sorry then. I
didn't know it was that important. I just wanted to get away
from the battle and it seemed the perfect distraction for my
friends."
Heero "hmphed" and pulled out his gun. "Who are you working
for?"
"Hey, didn't you know those things are dangerous?" she asked.
"It's in the rule book, right next to not playing with matches
and running with sharp objects. Look it up."
Heero lowered his gun (for once) out of confusion. "Huh?
You don't make any sense."
"I like your outfit," Duo said, beginning to drool.
"If you will please come with us," Quatre said, moving to
take her arm.
"What are you doing?" Heero demanded.
"We should take her somewhere else to question her," Trowa
answered instead. "Oz should be here soon, and gundams aren't
that hard to spot from the air."
"Oz?" The girl asked, images of a little black dog and a
yellow brick road filling her head. She started to hum 'We're
Off to See the Wizard,' but quit when she noticed Heero was
pointing his gun at her again. "Hey, dude, I'm beginning to
think that's an extension of your arm."
"Tie her hands," Heero said, ignoring her comment.
"No!" she said, surprising everyone. Up till now, she'd
been docile. "You can't do that!"
"And why not?" Trowa asked suspiciously.
"Because, then I can't stop the bleeding, and it's really
yucky-looking."
"Huh?"
The girl pulled her hand away from her thigh for a minute,
revealing a gunshot wound. She grimaced and covered it back up.
"When did you get that?" Duo asked.
"Before I stole the giant robot."
They stared. She had a wound, one that no doubtedly hurt
like crap, and she'd still managed to jump into a gundam, kick
its owner out, then jump back down later.
"Pretty impressive for a woman," Wufei said.
"You have a thing against females, don't you? Sheesh, this
is just my luck. Ok, I'll go where you guys want, and if you
promise me some first aid, I'll answer some of your questions."
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They'd blindfolded her, taken her to the base where they
hid their gundams, then taken her to their apartment. No one
talked much on the way, each having something on their minds.
"Is this where you all live?" she asked, eyeing the small
apartment as soon as the blindfold was gone.
"None of your business," Heero said gruffly.
"We're the ones asking the questions, remember?" Wufei
reminded her.
She smiled at him, the strange look still in her eyes.
"Right, I forgot, but where's my first aid? I have to admit,
the sight of blood makes me queasy, especially if it's my own."
She didn't look like the wound, which was very bloody by now,
despite the fact her hand covered it, bothered her a bit.
"Here," Quatre said, bringing the white box. He began to
clean off the blood and the girl winced.
"Okay, so you've kept your promise, I'll keep mine. What do
you want to know?"
"Who are you?" Wufei asked. It was his right to question
her first, since it was his gundam she'd stolen.
"You can call me Sailor Moon, but that's not my real name.
I refuse to give you my real name."
"Why?"
She winced again. "'Cause I don't want Rei to kill me."
"Who's Rei?"
"A friend."
"Your friend would kill you if you told us your real name?"
"Yup, if the others didn't get to me first. It's a rule.
We preserve our identities at all costs."
"The others?"
"My senshi. I'm the leader, despite my many...shortcomings."
"Who are the senshi?"
"The protectors of love and justice. Their main mission
though, is to protect their princess."
"And who's that?"
"Me."
"You're a princess?"
"Believe it or not, I am. It took my friends weeks to accept it."
"Why are you answering all my questions without trouble? Is
it because Quatre's helping you? Because of a promise?"
"No."
"Then why?"
"I'm stalling so my senshi can find me." Quatre finished
with her leg and she closed her eyes. "In fact, they are right
outside the door." When she opened her eyes, he could finally
understand what she said. She was sad, hurt, and scared. Wufei
recoiled just as the door slammed open and eight girls wearing
outfits similar to Sailor Moon's barged in.
"We've come for our friend," said the one in green, a
brunette with a ponytail.
"What took you so long?" Sailor Moon questioned, standing
up. "I had the tracker on my communicator going forever."
"We had to get away from the battle first, Odango Atama,"
replied the one with raven hair, wearing red. "You didn't tell
them anything, did you?"
"Nothing important."
"What's that supposed to mean?" the one who looked kind of
like a boy asked.
"Put it this way, they know as much as the press back home does."
The group of girls broke into relieved laugher. Suddenly
the one in blue gasped. "Usa-chan, what happened to your leg?"
"I got shot. It hurts, and I feel like crying."
"But you didn't? That's a first," the one in orange grinned.
"We need to call the World Records people."
"Haha, Mina-can. I feel so loved," she said sarcastically.
The youngest one of the girls was peering at Sailor Moon
oddly. "Why didn't you heal yourself?"
"I didn't want to waste the energy."
"You don't want to go home, do you, Usa-chan?" the little
girl asked. The other girls turned to their friend and leader.
"Why don't you care what happens to you?"
Sailor Moon sighed in defeat. "Because if I go home, I'm
going to have to see who Mamoru chose over me. I'll have to
see him walking down the street with her when he gets back from
school, I'll have to go to their wedding. None of you realize
how hard it is for me without him." She gazed at them sadly.
"Can we go now? I don't want to talk about this right now,
especially in front of a bunch of strangers. My heart is no
one's business." She pushed through her crowd of friends, and
limped out the door. The other girls were silent for a few
moments.
"That," said the girl with green-black hair, "is why she's
to be queen. She's gotten wise, and none of us have noticed that
she isn't the same girl we met years ago."
"Poor Usa," muttered the one with aqua hair. "She's the only
person I know who doesn't deserve to suffer."
"She just better keep her promise not to change her pure
heart," the tomboy grumbled. "Come on, let's go. We have stuff
to do and evil to fight."
The group left silently, and when Trowa and Quatre went
outside to see where they went, they couldn't find them.
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To be continued
Ok, not much of a cliffhanger here, but oh well. How's it going so far? What
do you think? Let me know.