Story: Love Pendant Usagi

Here goes with this. I hope you enjoy it.


“Now, it’s very important that you keep this quiet,” the talking cat said. It was rather peculiar that this was among the least strange things she’d seen the last few days, but Usagi could only shrug it off and pretend to listen. “If our enemy discovers your true identity, or believes that any civilian knows it, then they will not hesitate to torture that information out of them. And I don’t mean waterboarding, which may be nasty by human standards, but <i>magic</i> offers a few more varied and imaginatively painful ways of extracting information. Understand?”

“Right!” Usagi nodded. “Tell everyone I know that I’m a superhero, and bask in their…” she flipped through a thesaurus. “Adulation.”

Somehow, Luna managed to roll up a newspaper, grab hold of it, leap into the air and bap her on the top of the head. “Try again!”

“Okay, okay!” Usagi whimpered. “I won’t tell anyone about this whole Sailor Moon thing! I promise!”

“Good! Now that we have that established, you can tell me a little more about this strange pendant you -”

“Ohgosh! Is that the time?! I’ve got to get to school! See ya later!”

She was out of her room like a shot on a madcap dash to school. In all honesty, she had plenty of time due to her - ahem - wakeup call this morning, which had not only resulted in her being out of bed and dressed in record time but had also gotten her a few wary looks from her inexplicable new pet.

Magic. It had just sort of crept into her life right out of nowhere, hadn’t it? First the pendant, then the talking cat, and now she was able to undergo a magical transformation into a superhero with magical powers! Gosh! The whole experience was so overwhelming! Such a thrill ride! Such exhilaration! And… She couldn’t tell Naru anything about it.

Well. Wasn’t that a damper on her perfectly good mood? When she’d found the pendant, it had been Naru that helped her work out what it did. They’d been sharing it between themselves ever since, using it for this and that. Having fun. Using its effects to make their lives a little easier. Not telling her about this Sailor Moon thing, especially when she was in the middle of last night’s fight… It sat wrong, but she didn’t want to risk her friend’s life or anything.

“Usagi!” called a familiar voice, and she turned around to see that very best friend dashing down the street right towards her. “That was so awesome last night! Thank you! Thank you so much! How did you <i>do</i> that?!”

“Do what?” Usagi asked, making a point to twiddle her thumbs and look up at the sky innocently. Gosh. That cloud looked just like Naru, now that she was looking at it. Being strapped to a torture rack made of electricity, but yes, definitely Naru. “I mean, I spent last night in my room studying. I certainly didn’t have time to, oh, for example, under instruction of a talking black cat dress up in a fetishized schoolgirl uniform comprised primarily of a leotard and a very, very tiny skirt and then head off to your place to rescue you from a horde of brainwashed shoppers and the demon commanding their very will. Oh gosh, I feel dizzy all of a sudden.”

“… Usagi,” Naru carefully said, almost as though talking to someone giving serious contemplation to attempt skydiving while juggling flaming batons. “I’ve seen your eating habits, and I know you love to shovel food in… But you didn’t happen to eat a dictionary last night during dinner, did you?”

“NO!” she yelled back. Then blinked, tilted her head and meekly continued. “I… Don’t… Think so?”

The two of them laughed, Naru first and Usagi primarily because her friend’s laughter was more contagious than a yawn. “Can I have the pendant? I think it’s my turn,” Naru requested, palm upturned. “Besides. I want to have my go at being a super sexy superhero.”

“Fine. Here it is,” Usagi grumbled, passing it over. Fair was fair. She had been hogging it a fair bit. Only right that Naru gets a try. “But I really don’t know what you mean. I’m not Sailor Moon; really, I’m not.”

“Right. Sure, you’re not,” Naru said, stone faced. “I’m sure you’d have loved to be a superhero though, right?”

“Right!” Usagi replied with a smile on her face. She shuddered a little bit, and neither girl quite noticed what Naru had just done. Usagi, primarily because she was thinking about how hot she felt kicking monster butt, and Naru primarily because of how hot Usagi <i>looked</i> when she was kicking monster butt. “But I’m not! Really! I’m not!”

“Of course not, sweetie,” Naru said, patting Usagi on the head. “I mean, it’s not like you mentioned her name before I did or anything. Oh, gosh. Just forget it. It’s not like I intend to go about telling anyone anyway.”

Phew. Bullet dodged! Time for a change in conversation piece, and Usagi knew just what it should be!

“You know,” she began. “I got a hot date for tonight. Cute guy with a smart mouth.”

“Ohmigosh! That’s awesome!” Naru gasped. “Is it that masked guy in the tuxedo that threw the rose? You’d make such a cute couple!”

“If only…” Usagi sighed, not particularly thinking about it. Her mind flitted back to him, such a romantic-seeming soul looking out for her. So full of mystery and intrigue and it sent shivers right down her spine. She shook her head and smiled at Naru. “I’m going to need a dress for tonight. I’ve never been on a real date before! This is so exciting!”

“I get the feeling our lives are going to be a lot more exciting from now on,” Naru noted, linking arms with Usagi and trailing them both off towards school. “Hm… Maybe I should try to snag myself a boyfriend as well….”
<hr>
Humans only have the experience of being human. Seems a bit of a tautology, but consider the implications. What is it like to be a cat? To run around on all four legs, to have their eyesight, their range of hearing, their sense of taste and agility? There’s no basis for comparison. Under normal circumstances, it is impossible to know because - with the notable exceptions of Luna and Artemis - the vast majority of animals in the world cannot understand human speak, or at least cannot replicate it. Their bodies aren’t wired like ours. It does not make them stupid, this must be said. It makes them intelligent, but in ways other than what we might consider intelligent. Therefore, unless some scientists happened upon Luna or Artemis and contained their excitement long enough to ask some intelligent and reasonable questions, it is entirely impossible for humanity to truly grasp what the world looks like from another point of view. Similarly, it is impossible for animals to understand the reverse, even if their brains did hypothetically permit the deeper philosophical considerations of living life.

So this leads to a former youma discovering the joys of being human. Not, as in, pretending to be human. Actually being human. Morga remembered her former life. Remembered her absolute obedience to Queen Beryll, her disgust for humanity, draining people of their energy… But it seemed so unimportant now. Instead, she was serving people. Selling them jewelry. Greeting them with a smile and a bow. She was, to her surprise, enjoying herself. She was entirely human, save a small amount of magic power remaining. Not enough to do all that much. Enough to give herself a fake identity that wouldn’t be questioned, and discharge a little bit of her own rising energy into the jewels, where surely it wouldn’t do anybody any harm. Right? That was about the sum of all she could do with it.

Her changes went beyond that. Youma used to view human sexuality as something disgusting, vile. A weakness to be exploited, yet they also turned up their noses at it. Now that Morga actually was human… She got it. She understood it. She was hot, far as she could tell. The looks from the other humans gave this fact away, and she was already of half a mind to track down a worthy mate. Somehow, without being sure how she knew, there was the impression that her flexibility would be an asset in this search.

“Hello, Morga!” her employer and former kidnapping victim, Mrs Osaka, said. “You’re doing quite well today! I’m sorry to trouble you, but do you think you could do me a favour? The shop seems to be quiet at the moment, and I’m afraid I need something delivered quite urgently. It’s not in your job description, so you don’t have to do it if you don’t want to, but -”

“Oh, I’m perfectly happy to do it!” Morga replied, flashing her biggest, brightest smile. Mrs Osaka seemed to reel under it, and her eyes glazed over for a moment, which was certainly long enough for her to take the package and skip out of the door. “I’ll be back in two shakes!” she said. Skipping! Her! Skipping! She’d never have guessed it!

The sunlight felt good on her skin. Really good. Really, really good! She passed a few men on the street and gave them a playful wink that made more than one of them blush. Playful. Yes, that was a good way to describe the way she was now. If only they knew. If only any of them knew that there were such wicked things out there in the world. It seemed as though the Dark Kingdom didn’t even give all that much of a damn that she’d - so far as they would likely be concerned - died. Or converted. Surely Jedite should have come to kill her by now. Right? He would have. If he’d known. It only solidified that they didn’t care. But she cared. She cared about everyone she passed on the street. Every woman, and definitely every man.

And then a woman quite literally fell into her arms, for seemingly no good reason. Morga stared at her, and smiled as she politely apologised and straightened herself up. “It’s quite alright,” she said, finding her attention drawn irresistibly towards a flower on her lapel. She could almost smell the magic coming from it. “I’m sure you’re feeling a little bit… Drained.”

The woman nodded and staggered off, rubbing the side of her head. Drained. Of energy. By the flower. By her former employees. Morga bit her lip. She wanted to help that woman. And the other victims as well. She also wanted to help the poor youma that didn’t understand how wonderful everything was. But… What could she do? She couldn’t fight them in her current state. She couldn’t contact Sailor Moon either. Anyone she told might be a Dark Kingdom agent in disguise, and those that weren’t would never believe her… So. What could she do about this horrible situation?

1. Usagi and Naru run into Ami.
2. That night, Usagi’s date with Mamoru
3. Luna decides to investigate the pendant.
4. Naru tries to figure out how the pendant made Usagi into Sailor Moon. Which it didn’t. But she doesn’t know that.
5. Morga decides to investigate where the flower came from.
6. Something else