Title: The BIG Wish -- Chapter 1
Rating: PG
By: Lilac Summer
First off . . . I thank every single person who e-mailed me about this
story. The feedback has been a balm to my soul, and I hope that I don't
let anyone down with this chapter. Another HUGE thanks to Artemis
and Luna and Andrea Hui for posting this.
I BEG forgiveness to any of you who were waiting for Mamoru! You'll
see he isn't in this chapter. WAIT!!! DON'T LEAVE! He *will* most
definitely be a HUGE part of the story. Heck, the whole thing centers
around him and Usagi. But, today I had to focus on all those loose ends
called "explanations" so that I could set everything up. A seduction
takes planning, darn it all!
Finally, that stuff about 'Eve of Serene' is all, of course, made up by
me, who has absolutely no concept of true astronomy. If I describe
something that is totally outrageous and impossible, I humbly beg
forgiveness. But answer me this: how many girls do *you* know who
can transform into warriors by waving around big pens, huh? HUH?!
Disclaimer: As always, Naoko Takeuchi refused my offer to buy
Sailormoon from her. Thus, it *still* isn't mine. I'm using them
illicitly (like a drug . . ooh, I feel like a rebel!) and with no hope of
monetary gain. As much as I may need it . . . .
Okay, okay! I'm done! On with the story.
************************* @>---;----'------ *************************
The BIG Wish
By
Lilac Summers
Chapter 1
Streaks of pink and orange were barely coloring the sky when I awoke,
feverish and disoriented. Luna snored peacefully as I groaned and
turned over to glare through bleary eyes at the clock on my bedside
table. 6:00 AM.
I felt icky, heavy and unusually gangly, as if my limbs were disjointed.
I rolled, or, more aptly, fell out of bed and stumbled towards the
bathroom, tripping over my hair in the process. The light, when I
switched it on, struck my eyes like a million tiny daggers piercing into
my brain. With a little yelp of pain I covered my eyes with a hand and
fumbled towards the sink, keeping my eyes tightly shut as I turned on
the water and began to splash my face. I dreaded looking into the
mirror, fearing I would look as bad as I felt, but after the cold water
dripped off my nose and I could sense that my eyes had adjusted to the
light, I raised my face towards the mirror and carefully opened my eyes.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRGHHHHHHHHHHH!" Thunk.
The thunk, Luna later informed me, was the noise my body made as I
fainted dead away.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Luna was meowing furiously in my ear when I came to, sprawled with
as much grace as a beached whale on the cold bathroom floor. Luna
must have shut the door as soon as she saw what had made me
scream, because I could hear my family questioning me anxiously from
the other side.
"Usagi, honey, are you okay? Usagi!? Answer!!! What's wrong!?"
The doorknob jiggled dangerously as my mother tried to open the door,
but Luna had locked it (though I am still at a loss as to how she
managed *that* feat.)
Whimpering, I sat up and brought my hands up to my head, where it
encountered the root of my panic. My hair! It was *white*!
"Luna!" I moaned, "look at me! My *hair*!"
Luna did not seem suitably impressed. Instead, she hissed at me
furiously, "that's hardly your problem right now! Tell your parents you
are okay before they come barging in here and see you in that state!"
I stood on unsteady feet and planted myself by the door, trying to
sound as normal as possible to my mom with a voice that seemed
strangely deep to my ears. "Uh, yeah mom?"
I heard the sigh of relief straight through the door. "Usagi! Why
didn't you answer? Honey, what's wrong?"
Uh-oh. Excuse time. I was never very good with those. "Uh, nothing,
mom. I-I slipped and fell on the floor, that's all."
I could practically see my family conferring on the other side, trying
to decide if this excuse was viable. It must not have been deemed so.
"Um, Usagi, bunny, " that was my dad, "why did you scream?"
I think the slipping excuse could have explained that one. Obviously,
my parents did not think that a headlong flight towards cold linoleum was
worth a blood-curdling scream. "A zit?"
Silence. Then all three voices: "What?!"
Think, Usagi. Make it good. "A zit. HUGE, daddy, really. Biggest
darn zit I ever saw. You don't wanna see. In fact, I don't want anybody
to see it." Let's add a bit of melodramatic teenage horror. "Dear God,
my life is ruined! Everyone's gonna stare at me! Mamoru's gonna
break up with me and leave me for a zit-free woman of the world.
Wahhhhhhhhh!" Patented Usagi cry, three full decibels higher than any
sound a human can stand. I could hear my family scurrying to get away
from the door. My mother, the brave one, stayed close enough just to
send the obligatory consolation speech.
"Don't worry, Usagi. I'm sure it isn't that bad! You just see, in a
day or two it'll be gone." My raised wailing was answer enough for her,
and she no doubt thought that she would leave mothering to another
occasion. Their running footsteps echoed all the way down the hall
and each one barricaded themselves in their respective rooms, fearing
the Great Zit-monster.
My crying died an instant death and I slumped to the floor in relief,
only to feel like crying in earnest when I saw the silvery strands of my
hair that settled around me. "Luna!" I wailed.
"Shush, Usagi! What did you expect, playing with the Luna pen again.
You know you just have to transform to nullify it' affects. I don't see
what the big brou-haha is all about." Brou-haha. She thought I was
having a brou-haha, whatever that meant. It's annoying when your cat
has a better vocabulary than you do. But I digress.
"I DIDN'T use the Luna pen! You took it from me that last time when I
wanted to see what I would look like as an exotic dancer, remember?"
Luna stared at me in shock. "You didn't?"
"NO! And why would I ask the Luna pen to give me white hair for
anyway?"
Luna's eyes had glazed over and she said, offhandedly, "the white hair
is a sign of your maturity. Your mother had it, and her mother before
her."
Oh, no! "Maturity?! So I'm gonna be stuck with white hair forever?
I'm gonna be the only 16 year old with white hair!"
Luna was slowly going white, very difficult for a black cat to do, I
assure you. "Usagi-chan, I don't think the white hair is your problem."
"What!? Not a problem? Everyone is going to laugh at me when I go
back to school."
"Usagi-chan, did you look at yourself in the mirror?"
I glared at a rapidly-fading Luna for a second and harrumphed angrily.
"Why did you think I fainted? I saw my hair in the mirror!"
"Did you notice anything else when you looked in the mirror?"
"Oh my God! There's more? Do I *really* have a zit?!" I whirled and
turned to the full-length mirror in one corner of the bathroom, trying my
hardest to ignore the shock of silver hair that floated around me to the
floor. With panicky glances I searched my face for the blemish.
"Hey, Luna! Was that your idea of a joke? That was not . . . "
Silver hair that fell to the *floor,*
" . . .very . . ."
Slanted blue eyes in an older face,
" . . . nice . . ."
Pajamas that rode high on my calves where before they had reached
to my feet,
" . . . of . . ."
And most of all: BOOBS!
" . . . you. "
Thunk.
Thunk.
The second thunk, I believe, was Luna joining me on the floor.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Keeping true to the recurring theme of that morning, when Ami first
saw me this was her reaction:
"GYAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" Thunk.
Somehow, I always thought Ami was made of sterner stuff than that.
But then again, I thought *all* the girls were made of sterner stuff than
I, but that morning when I walked into Hikawa Shrine, the effect was not
unlike dominos.
Rei: "EEk!" Thunk
Minako: "Urgh!" Thunk
Makoto . . . actually, Makoto didn't utter a sound. Her green eyes
simply rolled to the back of her head and she fell on top of Minako.
Great. Just dandy!
Luna walked up to me, glancing dispassionately at the jumbled mass
of arms and legs that were my friends. "Humph. They'll be awake soon
enough."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1 hour later
"Soon enough, huh Luna?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1 1/2 hour later.
"Hey, Usagi . . . are you sure they're breathing?"
They were.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2 hours later.
"Uuuuuuhhhhhh . . ." The first one to stir was Ami. She looked up at
me, who had been patiently sitting by the table consuming anything
edible, and got a strange faraway look in her eyes. Almost
somnambulent, she disentangled herself from Minako's hair and kicked a
leg (it looked like Rei's) out of the way. Somewhere along the way she
also stepped on Makoto's hand, which elicited a grumbled "eech" from
somewhere deep in the pile. This all went unnoticed to Ami, who
stalked towards me with an almost predatory look of glee upon her
usually placid face. The mad scientist had just found a subject.
She whipped out her palmtop, wordlessly, and began to scan me from
all directions, a fiendish smile creeping upon her lips and scaring the
heebie jeebies out of me.
Suddenly, three faces popped into view and made me lose what little
hold on control I had after Ami's silent examination.
"That's IT! I'm not some FREAK, you know!"
Rei pushed an engrossed Ami out of the way and looked me up and
down. I was wearing my longest skirt, a pink denim number that usually
swept to my ankles. It now brushed the backs of my calves. The shirt I
wore was usually lose and airy, and now seemed to constrict my
breathing due to . . . to . . . .
"HEY! Stop that!" I swatted Minako's curious finger, which had just
poked my cleavage.
Minako continued to look curiously at my bust, inquiring innocently,
"are those real?"
The other three gathered around me to add their opinions.
"They seem real."
"They look real."
"Boy, is Mamoru gonna be happy . . . ."
"Hello? HELLO?! I'm still here, you know," I grumbled.
Makoto stood next to me and, for the first time, I noticed that she did
not seem as tall as she usually did. Granted, she was still taller than
I, but she no longer towered over me.
"Yes, you are still here. And DAMN, girl! You are big!"
"Indeed. Although I don't think the word 'big' is actually correct. I
believe the term is 'old.' Twenty-one years old, to be exact." Ami, I
just realized, has a great panache for the dramatic.
Silence. . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .. . . .
"@%$K! 21 YEARS OLD?! HOW the $%^# COULD SUCH A
$#@#$%@ THING HAPPEN!"
Luna, indeed, has a much more developed vocabulary than I. We
were all a little more than shocked to hear the beautiful string of curses
that would have made a sailor's mother proud fly out of Luna's mouth.
Our ever-logical, ever-dignified Luna . . . I'm so proud . . .
"Uh, yeah. What Luna said . . . sort of," piped in Rei.
They all turned to look at me, as if *I* had any answers! "Don't look
at me!" I wailed, "I just thought I was having a bad hair day!"
Ami sighed, taking it upon herself to explain the unexplainable. "Well,
girls, something has caused Usagi's growth rate to speed up tremendously."
Rei cackled. "So, you mean she's gonna get even older? Hey, Usagi,
if your hair is white at twenty-one, what color do you think it's gonna be
when you're eighty?"
That girl never did like me much.
"No, actually, her growth rate sped up, but now it stopped. She isn't
going past twenty-one, from what the computer says," Ami expounded.
"But, wait. How do you know I'm twenty-one, exactly? What if I just
went into a growth spurt? It could be a growth spurt, you know. I've
heard that growth spurts . . ." I babbled on a little hysterically.
"I'm afraid not, Usagi. I have a projected composite field diagram of
all your expected physiological growth rates and any expected change
thereof. You are most definitely twenty-one years old at the moment."
Silence . . . . . .. . ..
and blank stares . . . . . . . . . .
"A big table with lots of numbers telling me what you'll look like at
any age. It tells me you are twenty-one."
"Oh," we all said.
"Wait!" said Luna, sudden euphoria leaping into her face, "so, are you
also saying that Usagi has matured into a twenty-one year old? Has
her brain reached her mature potential!? THANK YOU, GODDESS!"
"Uh, no."
Euphoria waved good-bye at Luna and packed her bags, leaping off
her face as quickly as it had gotten there.
"Usagi's psychological readings remain in conjunction with those that
are projected as her sixteen year-old norm."
Silence . . . . . .. . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Ami threw her hands up in the air and chilled us with any icy glare. "I
GIVE UP! She's as scatter-brained as always, okay?! Inside, Usagi is
still sixteen-years old! GOOD GOD, people! Buy a dictionary, will
you!?"
Poor Ami. I like to think the stress was getting to her at the moment.
I mean, surely she could have picked a nicer word than scatter-brained ...
"Oh," we all said, again.
Breathing heavily, Ami smoothed down her rumpled hair and brought
herself under control. "What I can't figure out, is why." She turned to
me, "Usagi, tell me exactly what went on in the past twenty-four hours."
Okay. Easy enough.
"Well, we all went to the mall, remember? And Rei got mad because
she looked like a tomato in that red dress, and I escaped to the
bathroom so Rei wouldn't roast me. Then Mamoru followed me to the
bathroom and . . . " WAIT! I couldn't tell them *that* part! Backtrack,
backtrack!
They all looked at me, waiting. "And . . . .?"
"AndhehelpedmetiemyshoelacescuzIcouldn'tdoitbymyself!" Phew!
First rule of lying: if you talk fast enough, anything is believable!
Minako looked at me with raised eyebrows. "He had to go to the
bathroom with you to tie your shoe laces 'cuz you couldn't do it by
yourself? Really, Usagi!"
Okay. Note to self: think up a better rule number one.
"ANYWAY, so we came back and you guys left because Makoto said
she'd throw up if she saw Mamoru hug me one more time . . . which, by
the way, Makoto, was pretty lousy of you."
"Eh. Shoot me," shrugged Makoto, unconcerned.
"So, Mamoru and I went to the park and he bought me ice-cream. And
then a hot dog. And a soda . . . and cotton candy. Oh! And a
hamburger, cuz I was a little hungry."
Minako poked my cleavage once again and looked at the others
knowingly as I swatted her hand away. "I got it, guys! THIS is where
she stores all the food!"
"Har har har! Very funny, Minako. As I was saying, before I was so
rudely interrupted, then we went to Mamoru's apartment and we . . ."
ARGH! Can't say that out loud, either! Backtrack, backtrack!
The girls waited. "You . . . .?"
"We . . . uh . . . decided to . . . uh . . . *blush* . . . um . . .
Hey, girls! How 'bout them Bulls, huh?"
Well, what did you expect? I hadn't had time to think up of another
'rule number one.'
Rei cleared her throat. "Well, I think it's safe to assume that nothing
more happened . . . that required any talking, at least . . ."
*BLUSH*
"And, finally, I went home. Ate dinner. Got into bed and fell asleep
watching the moon. Then, I woke up around 6 AM because I felt sick
and weird, went to the bathroom, and realized that I was big!"
"Hmmm. Well, I certainly don't see what could have caused the
change, then," murmured Amy.
Yeah. She was telling me! As if my day hadn't gone bad enough.
First Mamoru gets all noble on me because I'm not big enough to be
legal, and then I wake up and I have aged . . . have aged to . . . OH MY
GOD! I WAS LEGAL! Heck, I was more than legal! I was twenty-one!
I WAS OLDER THAN HE WAS! But how?! I mean, it wasn't every day
that stuff you just wished for . . . stuff you wanted . . . uh oh. Luna
was gonna kill me . . .
The girls were in a football huddle, discussing any way that I could
have aged five years overnight. I, however, had the sinking sensation
that I already knew.
"Um, guys?" Four pairs of eyes swung at me, three human, one feline.
"I think, " I began in my cutest I-am-not-to-blame-here-cuz-remember-
I'm-your-princess-and-you-won't-have-any-Crystal-Tokyo-if-you-kill-me-
now voice, "I might have . . . uh . . . wished . . . *accidentally*
wished, of course . . . that I were . . . well . . . uh, big."
The four swayed alarmingly before Ami whispered a bit hoarsely,
"How?"
If you scuff your shoes and twiddle the ends of your hair, looking up
through your lashes *just so* I have found that you reach such
unprecedented cuteness levels, that even youma think twice before
attacking. I used this skill to the fullest at the moment. "Well, I was
just thinking (not wishing!!) that it'd be neat to be big. And the full
moon was so pretty, and the Silver Crystal was underneath my pillow . . ."
"AAARGH!" screamed Luna, flying for my face with claw outstretched.
Guess my cuteness factor wears out with age . . . "WHY did you have to
wish for something so lame-brained on last night of all nights! WHY!!!"
I stepped to the side so she flew right by my face and made a "clunk"
noise on the wall. "Why not last night? What was so special about last
night? None of my other wishes ever came true!"
Ami's eyes bulged nearly out of their sockets. "Oh my goodness, how
could I have forgotten?" In a second she pounced upon her computer
again, typing furiously. "AHA! I knew it! Yesterday was the Eve of
Selene!"
"Eve of Selene?"
Luna limped out from behind me,hanging her head wearily. "I just
never thought that it would matter . . . I didn't even think to tell you .
. ."
"WHAT?! What's so special about this 'Eve of Selene' thingy?"
Ami drew in a deep breath, getting that look that signifies, to me, that
it's exposition time. It's not unlike the look Wilma gets when she's
figured out who the monster is on that American cartoon "Scooby Dooby
Doo." "It's a very rare astronomical occurrence that happens only once
every three thousand years. There are very few mentions of it in ancient
Mayan tomes. On that night, the moon crosses the plane of Sagittarius
and ends up in complete alignment with a little-known constellation
called 'Lunasis.' I only know about it because the Mayan translations of
that long-lost text are entered in my computer."
Luna all but wept. "That's right. It's a night of very great power to
the Lunarians, but I did not want to tell you because I feared you would
do something stupid, Usagi."
"Like wish to be big?" I asked.
"YES!"
"Just checking . . . "
Rei spoke up, asking what was on all our minds. I was too scared to
ask, personally. "So, is it permanent?"
We held our collective breaths, waiting for the verdict.
Ami, as I mentioned, seems to have this melodramatic streak, quite
sadistic, actually, that pops out at the most angst-filled moments. She
let the silence hang for a full minute, none of us daring to breathe . . .
"The answer is . . . no." Ahhhhhhh! Fresh air! "The moon will move
slowly out of alignment over time, and, since you did not consciously
focus energy into the Crystal for the wish, the wish is quite weak. It
should end when the moon goes back to its regular place."
Makoto: "And when will that be?"
Ami looked at us fearfully. The bearer of bad news . . . "Well, I don't
actually know . . ."
"WHAT?!"
"The computer doesn't say! This phenomenon is so rare, it isn't
properly documented. It could be a day, it could be a month! No more
than that, I promise!"
"A week? A MONTH?!" I wailed. "Where am I gonna stay! I can't be
home like this!!"
Rei looked at me apologetically, "and my grandfather would definitely
find out."
Minako: "as would my parents . . ."
Ami: "as would my mom . . ."
Makoto: "and my landlord doesn't let people stay over for more than a
day . . . . ."
So that left . . . .
Ami, always the fast one, said, "hey, Usagi, just stay with Mamoru!"
Mamoru! Of the blue eyes and raven hair! Mamoru of the perfect body
and loving gaze! Mamoru, of the "I can't be with you until it is
legal . . ."
I don't think anybody actually *saw* the little devil that climbed up
and sat on my shoulder, frankly booting aside the little angel
that usually resides there. I don't think they heard us making our
plans . . .
Because, suddenly, I'd remembered why I wanted to be big in the first
place!
*********************************************************************************
Jeepers! I admit it straight up, I had to work through a major case of
writer's block to get even this much, so I beg you, be kind! Send all
comments to me, please! Even if it's a little one, like, "Jeez, I wonder
where Artemis was," or *anything.* And, uh, as for the Artemis
question, I forgot him, okay? Just imagine he was out chasing mice or
something!
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