It's Just Too Horrible

A Sailor Moon fanfiction by June "KaraOhki" Geraci
September 21, 2003

Sailor Moon and its characters are owned by Naoko
Takeuchi, and belong to her, not me.  This story is
for entertainment only, and not to be used
commercially.

-------------------

It had been a terribly long, difficult day, and Rei
was tired.  A combination of exams, housework,
homework, and a late-night youma attack had made
her want only one thing, and nothing else would do.

She opened the bathroom door, started filling the
tub, and added a couple of capfuls of foaming
scented bath oil.  A few moments of reflection on
her day made her uncap the bottle again and add
another large splash of the oil.

"That should do it," she murmured happily when the
tub was finally full.  "Now all I need is a good
romance novel to read while I soak."  A detour to a
bookstore on the way home had used up most of Rei's
pocket money, but the weight of the heavy bag on
her wrist had made her smile as she walked.  There
was enough reading material here for weeks.

Rei returned to her bedroom and upended the bag of
books onto her bed.  She selected one, turned, and
the phone rang.  Rei growled in annoyance and
picked it up.  Before she could say hello, Usagi
started talking.

"Rei, Rei?  Is that you?"

"Well who else would it be?"

"Help me!  You've got to come right now, please!
It's just too horrible, and I can't fight it
myself!"

"Where are you?"

"In my room!  I'm trapped!"

The romance novel hit the floor.

*****

As Rei ran, she wondered how an enemy had found
Usagi at home.  Had she been followed?  She had a
vague memory of her friend mentioning that her
family was out of town, and that she'd have the
house to herself.  If Usagi's secret identity had
been discovered, her enemies would consider it a
perfect time to go after her.

There was nothing out of the ordinary to see on the
street when Rei arrived, and Usagi's home seemed
undamaged.  Rei scanned the area cautiously before
pulling out the key her friend had given her and
letting herself in.

"Usagi?  Usagi, are you here?"

"Rei, hurry!!!"

Rei flew up the stairs and into Usagi's room.  Her
scream ripped through the night air.

*****

The annoying beeping sound woke Ami just as she was
beginning to drift off.  She reached for her alarm
clock, but it wasn't making the noise.  A few
seconds later she realized that it was her
communicator.

"Yes?  Yes?"

Two screams came over the device.  A few short
questions later, Ami was out of bed and hurrying
across town.  She took the liberty of calling
Makoto and Minako as she ran, and the three girls
converged on Usagi's house.  A quick conference got
them organized.  Ami and Minako came in through
Usagi's window, while Makoto let herself in by the
front door.  The results were the same--a lot of
screaming, and some whimpered sobs.

*****

Mamoru always knew when Usagi was in trouble.
ALWAYS.  He'd been sitting with his feet up,
enjoying a nice cup of tea, when this feeling of
dread overcame him, and he hurried out of his
apartment.  Behind him, the phone began to ring.

*****

"He didn't answer!" wailed Usagi.  "What are we
going to do?"

"We've got to fight it," was the answer from Ami.
"It's the only alternative left to us."

The answer from the other four was unanimous, and
deafening:  "Noooooooo!!!!"

*****

"I'm coming!  Hold on!" shouted Mamoru.  Seconds
later, he arrived at the Tsukino house.  He burst
through the door, and flew up to his girlfriend's
bedroom, expecting the worst.  Mamoru kicked the
door open, and discovered all five girls huddled up
together in the corner, crying hysterically.  Other
than that, everything seemed perfectly normal.
Mamoru scanned the room.

No youma.

No madmen.

No anything.

Usagi leaped across the room, tripping over her
chair and her bed in the process, and wrapped
herself around her boyfriend.  "Mamo-chan!  You
came!"

Mamoru kissed Usagi's forehead and disentangled
himself from her death grip.  "Yes, but what's the
problem?  I don't see anything."

Five fingers pointed across the room.  "It went
into the closet," said Minako.

"It what?"

"It's been doing that every few minutes," explained
Makoto.

Mamoru was about to ask for clarification when he
saw something out of the corner of his eye.  A
rather small red and white striped spider was
crawling out through the crack beneath the closet
door.  The girls screamed, held onto each other,
and shook.

Mamoru put his hand to his forehead, and shut his
eyes.  After he slowly counted to ten, he opened
them again.  "Okay, you're telling me that THIS is
the problem?"

He got five identical nods.

"This evening the five of you fought a twenty foot
tall youma, who was dripping with ichor, and who'd
destroyed a six-block stretch of downtown Tokyo,
without even blinking or thinking twice.  Yet
you're afraid of this little--"

"YES!" screamed Usagi.  "Yes yes yes yes!!!  It's
just too horrible!"

Mamoru sighed, and stomped the spider.  He was
immediately dog piled by five grateful girls, who
covered him with kisses.

"I guess that was worth it," he said.

Two cats entered through the open window.  Artemis
ran directly to the splotch on the floor and stared
at it, horrified.

"Who killed the ambassador?" demanded Luna angrily.

------------------------------------------------

My thanks to the guys in group #2 in tonight's FFIRC one hour
challenge for your help and suggestions.

My blame and thanks to my brother, for suggesting the revised
ending.






--------------------------------------------------
http://karaohki.anifics.com
--------------------------------------------------
     You could turn this way,
I'm also lonely
     this autumn evening

Basho

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