Her name was Usagi Tsukino, a perfectly ordinary young girl in every way. Unless you count her inherent laziness. Or her far too vivid imagination that prompted her into fantasies at inappropriate times. Or her appetite, that somehow never led to her putting on significant amounts of weight in spite of the fact that she was indeed digesting it all. Or that she was a hopeless romantic, or that she was a terminal crybaby... Or maybe even that she was destined to become a superhero, save the world and the universe several times over, then rule over planet Earth.
So, the first sentence was a flat out lie. Let's start this again.
Her name was Usagi Tsukino, and she was an exceptional young girl that thought herself to be remarkably ordinary in every way. This would of course change on the day that she ran out of her home, late for school once again only stopping when she saw a cat being bullied by a bunch of brats. On that day she learned that she was Sailor Moon, soldier of justice and truth and love and all that jazz. She would battle evil in a fancy leotard and a skirt far too short to be considered practical by anyone's standards. She would gather friends around herself, allies in her ongoing struggle with powers of their own that would serve only to supplement hers. Yes, on that fateful day the very course of her life would change inexorably...
"Wah!" Usagi cried as she ran out of the door. "I'm late!" She ran out of the door at full pelt, panic mode fully engaged. She had slept in due to a malfunctioning alarm clock, and had to rather rush breakfast a little more than she might have enjoyed. Nothing could stop her on her attempt to beat the bell! Nothing could slow her down now! Nothing except - hey, what was that?
For those expecting her to encounter a set upon black cat with a bandaid over its forehead, think once again. This was not that fateful day. Usagi Tsukino had not stopped on her mad dash to school in an act of compassion towards an unfortunate set upon feline. In truth she had stopped because, as she so delicately put it...
"Shiny! And cute!" she exclaimed, holding up - an admittedly cute and shiny - heart shaped pendant. "Who would ever drop something so pretty?"
No time to consider that now! She could hear the first bell ring, even at this distance! The pendant was stuffed, forgotten, into her pocket and she dashed off to class hoping against hope that she would make it before the second bell. Legs don't fail me now, she thought as her feet pounded against the street pushing and propelling herself faster and faster than she ever thought possible. It was an odd paradox to most people that knew her. She was one of the laziest people they knew, yet had a seemingly boundless array of energy that could spring out of nowhere at a moment's notice.
Faster and faster she ran on through the streets, leapfrogging over some man that had dropped his keys, cutting corners at every turn, sliding under a pair of men carrying a ladder. 'Has my life turned into a video game?!' she wondered, and then dismissed the thought. It wouldn't have been very interesting if that ever did happen. There was nothing particularly special about her that would make such a game any good.
How little she knew.
Her exhertions caught up with her as soon as her butt hit the seat. A minute to spare. It was impossible, but she'd pulled it off somehow. Now if only she could get some air into her lungs, massage some feeling back into her legs and keep her eyes open until at least lunchtime she would be just fine. Hmm... Maybe she could sneak a snack before the teacher arrived, replenish her energy a little...
"Morning Usagi!" Naru, her best and oldest friend greeted. Wide awake, breathing normally, smiling warmly. If not for the fact that she was out of reach right now, Usagi might have tried reaching out to strangle the morning person. Might have. Probably not. "You don't look so good. Didn't get enough sleep last night?"
Usagi's entire response consisted of three deep breaths and The Look. Naru chuckled, patting Usagi on the back while staying well without strangling distance. Clever girl.
"I don't know what you mean," came the voice that Usagi really did not want to hear right at that moment. Umino. His voice grated her ears like a fine cheese. "After all, the sleepy look really works for her!"
She rolled her head around on her arms to look at him, giving him an even darker look than she'd givne Naru. The little creep had a major crush on both of them, but had a better chance jumping clear to the moon and back than dating either one of them. It wasn't that he was physically unappealing - though he was - and it wasn't because of the glasses - which made him look like a dork - but with a personality like that there was simply no saving him. Or saving them from his attention. It was annoying, but normally she'd have just ignored it. Right now? Usagi was afraid he might send her to sleep with some boring talk about something sciency.
Right at that moment though? Usagi wished the little creep didn't have a crush on either of them. Maybe then he'd leave them alone or at least stop being so creepy!
Usagi shuddered and didn't know exactly why. She wouldn't have put any more thought into it, maybe dismissed it as her body trying to tell her not to push it so hard in future or at least get a better night's sleep tomorrow... But for one simple fact. At the same moment she shook, so too did Umino. That... was a little unsettling. The fact that Naru had also shuddred, well that drove it off unsettling avenue and fast into disturbing drive.
"Uh... Sorry about that!" Umino said, scratching the back of his head nervously. "I didn't realise until now, but I must've been really bugging you girls. Sorry about that. I'll just... I'll just leave you alone, okay?"
Off he slunk, shoulders slumped, sitting at his desk just as the bell rang. Naru and Usagi stared up at each other in mild confusion about what had just taken place. "Did... Did he just..." Usagi mouthed. Naru nodded, and both of them looked back at the nerdy boy with steadily increasing confusion. It was weird, but as she looked she started noticing little details about the dweeb, new little things that she'd never seen before. His impossibly thick glasses suddenly didn't seem quite so impenetrable, his hair was still unkempt but honestly looked kind of... Kind of cool, honestly. Now that she could properly see his eyes she could see that they burned with determined intelligence, an effect that made him seem sort of... handsome. She sighed, and was slightly horrified that not only had she sighed about... about him but so too had Naru! In unison with her, even!
Taking a left turn from disturbing drive into what-even-the-hell lane.
As Miss Haruno entered the class to begin homeroom, Usagi noticed something else that was a ltitle bit odd. There was some weird heat coming from her pocket... It was starting to bug her a little, actually. Not like it was scalding hot or anything, but whatever it was... distracting was the word. She slipped her hand into that pocket and quickly located the source. Ah! That pendant she'd found this morning! How very strange, why was it so hot all of a sudden? She snuck it out and hid it using her desk. The best place to get a discrete look at it, she hadn't much of a chance earlier on. She concentrated on it and soon saw a hinge on the reverse side! The catch was easy enough to find, just on the other side of the hinge, and she flipped it open to see an array of tiny dazzling lights...
"Usagi Tsukino!" Haruna's voice intruded on her thoughts. "Pay attention!"
She pocketed the pendant for now, electing to look at it in more detail later on. "It's not like I want to wait," Usagi thought, "But I don't have any real choice!"
- At lunchtime, Usagi shows off the weird pendant to Naru and Umino.
- Usagi forgets all about it by the time lunch rolls around.
- Naru develops a very strong attraction to Umino, in spite of herself. All because of the pendant's meddling.
- Usagi accidentally uses the pendant at various points throughout the day.
- Something else
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