For all the NA viewers out there, here's a quick table for you:
| Japanese Names: | English Equivalent: |
|
Usagi
Mamoru Rei Ami Makoto Minako Naru Umino {this is his last name} |
Serena
Darien Raye Amy Lita Mina Molly Melvin |
Okaa-san means "mother"; minna means "everyone"; and a fuku is usually a
uniform worn by all Japanese school students. [unlike us, they have to wear
uniforms....yeech.]
I think most people know about the -chan, -san, and -sama endings...if not,
just ask.
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Crystal Mirrors--Reflections, Part 1 (Naru's Story)
By: odango (odango@geocities.com)
"Oh, you look so lovely, Usagi-chan!"
"Good luck, Usagi-chan!"
"Usagi-chan! Congratulations!!"
"Minna-chan! Arigato!" Usagi-chan looks so pretty today, in her
delicate white dress, covered with white satin roses. She looks so much older,
so much mature, than the first time I met her.
In fact, I'm surprised she even invited me to her wedding. I don't
mean to sound bitter or angry, but over the years, we've drifted apart. It
makes me sad--we had been friends ever since the first year of school, at
Juuban Elementary.
"NARU-CHAN!" The cry bursts out of Usagi in an excited shriek of joy.
She crushes me in a huge embrace, still squealing, "Oh, I'm so glad you could
make it! You've met Mamo-chan, haven't you? Here, Mamo-chan, shake
hands with her or something!"
Mamoru-san smiles down at me, cordially extending his hand. "It's nice to
see you again, Naru-san." He doesn't really seem to mind Usagi-chan's
hyperness. The distinct twinkle in his eye says it all.
So does the sparkle in Usagi's eyes.
A knife of pain pierces me as an old memory surfaces to haunt me.
But that's not something to think about on a happy day like this, I chide
myself, and push the thought away.
I take another look at Usagi-chan, who seems to be glowing with life.
She's laughing and giggling with her other friends now. They seem so close,
even closer than Usagi and I were.
If I think about it carefully, Usagi-chan has seemed more confident and
tense since she began to hang out with those girls. There's this air around
them, as if they know more than they let on.
And they're never afraid if a youma bursts out of the bushes at them.
Which is why I just know, deep down inside, there's a link between
Usagi-chan and Sailormoon.
I don't know how I know, it's just a feeling I got long, long ago, when
Usagi-chan and I were back in junior high....
* * *
"Usagi," I ventured, "I'm worried about you. Do you know anything
about that huge dome over there?"
Usagi wore a pained look on her face, which was quickly (almost in
panic) replaced by a more cheerful expression. "Of course not, Naru-chan,"
she said, a bit too cheerily. "What would I know?"
She was lying. I knew it, deep down, she was lying. "I think you do
know something, Usagi-chan," I replied, swallowing past the lump in my
throat. A bit shakily, I reached for her hand, finishing, "And I won't make you
tell me what's wrong, Usagi-chan...but if you need to talk or anything, I'm
always here for you."
A relieved look passed over her tense face. When was the last time I
last saw her without that tension in her face? She seemed so different now, so
much older in ways I couldn't quite put my finger on.
"Thank you, Naru-chan," she told me, the relief in her voice evident.
She glanced once more in the direction of the black dome, then murmured a
quick "bye" before running off.
"Please take care of yourself, Usagi-chan," I whispered as I watched
her back grow smaller and smaller.
There wasn't any other place for me to go but home. Everything
seemed so quiet....too eerily quiet. Okaa-san wouldn't be home till late, she
always worked late at the jewelry store. Up in my room, I looked outside the
window to check on that black dome. Still there. Out of the corner of my
eye, I caught a ball of yellow, green, blue, red, and orange light filtering
through the black dome. The Sailor Senshi.
There was a drawer where I kept remembrances of all the weird things
that happened to me. I didn't have many, but still, I had the feeling that odd
things, many many odd things had happened to me already. There were so
many pieces of a puzzle I just couldn't figure out.....starting with Sailormoon.
I had a picture of her, a fuzzy photo from when a lucky photographer
managed to get a shot of the sailor senshi. Her features were blurred, but the
expression on her face was the same--the same as the tense look I'd seen on
Usagi-chan's face.
How had Usagi-chan gotten to know Kino-san and Mizuno-san? I couldn't
remember. Or, for that matter, who that raven-haired girl was, the one that
Usagi went to meet with every so often, along with that blonde girl, that
bubbly, happy one. When had Usagi met these people and started leaving
me alone?
Not that I really faulted her. I had a feeling of that Usagi-chan was doing
something important with those girls. She must have; she always knew more
than she let on.
A flash of light suddenly filled my room, and when the dots faded from my
vision, I looked out the window and saw that the black dome was gone.
Just like that.
The sun was shining once more, and everything was as if nothing had
happened.
But I knew better.
'It's alright,' I thought to myself, carefully stowing the picture away.
'I'll keep your secret safe, Usagi-chan.'
* * *
"Naru-chan!" I'm startled out of my reverie. Usagi-chan's smiling
face is peering into mine.
"Come, Naru-chan," she says, giggling to herself, pulling me into a
side room. From a small mob of people in the room, Usagi's family stares at
us hollowly as we enter, and I get an unsettling feeling in my stomach. Why
are we all grouped in here like this?
Minako-san, Makoto-san, and Ami-san leave quietly, all giving Usagi
secret smiles. Rei-san, the raven-haired girl, also gives Usagi a private smile
and shuts the door firmly; she stands in front of it, like some sort of guard.
"Well!" Usagi says, sounding a bit nervous. She smiles broadly, and
carefully deposits her bouquet on a nearby chair.
"Well!" she says again, nervously twisting a lock of her hair. "There's
something I want to tell you all, something I've been wanting to tell everyone
for years." She laughs nervously.
Shingo frowns. "Usagi, get to the point."
"Alright...." she says hesitantly. "I don't quite know where to begin."
She looks past me, to Rei-san. "Rei-chan....."
I turn to catch the look on Rei-san's face. "It's alright," she reassures
Usagi. "You can do it."
Usagi takes a deep breath and exhales slowly, nodding. "I can do this.
Minna....Mama, Papa... Shingo....Naru-chan....now, don't freak out on me,
but, I've got something to show you."
My ears pick up on this. 'This is it, this is it,' my brain keeps chattering
to itself.
Through the worry and anxiety shadowing her face, a sudden smile
appears, and for a brief second, I wonder if she's just doing this so we'll
get even more jumpy than we really are. Then her gaze hardens slightly and
she places her hands over the center of her chest. Her mouth moves,
chanting words I could only dream of her saying, but for some odd reason,
I can't hear them, my brain doesn't process it until she's already saying
the next set of words.
"MOON ETERNAL-"
For a brief moment, time freezes, and no one's breathing, no one's
twitching a muscle. From a distance, I hear someone murmur softly, "No
way," but I might be imagining it. I'm probably even the one saying it, but I
can't tell.
Then time unfreezes long enough for my brain to make out the last phrase.
"MAKE UP!"
A burst of pure white light fills the room, and my arms involuntarily
fling upwards to shield my eyes. Then the light dims, just a fraction,
enough for me, along with the rest of Usagi's family, to witness what
else is to come.
Like a flare of hope, a golden crescent moon ignites on Usagi's
forehead, and no matter how much the rest of me wants to take a
look at what else is happening, I find I can't pull my eyes off of the
shining symbol. The rest of Usagi's body suddenly comes in focus with
a smooth motion of her head and wings burst open, releasing Usagi from
their hold, like some angel being released from a long sleep.
Feathers begin to swirl everywhere, blocking my vision...I think I can
see gloves and boots forming on her body, but then there's a rush of...
well, SOMETHING, and the next thing I realize is that's over. She's
in some sort of finishing pose, and the light from the henshin sequence
is dying, fading away. Only one thing remains.
Usagi.
No, wait.
Eternal Sailormoon.
She's standing in a fighting pose, her arms in front of her, fists clenched
tightly, and for a brief second, her eyes flash back as those of a warrior's.
For that instant, I can't even believe this is supposed to be Usagi-chan.
Then she blinks, and her combat stance relaxes, as if she's just
remembering that this was meant for demonstration only, not because
there's a real fight to come.
She grins at us, a huge, happy, tooth-baring grin.
It's then I realize that my mouth is open. I close it, still dumbfounded.
But I have been expecting something like this, after all.
"Masaka," Shingo chokes out. "It just can't be." The look on his face
mirrors his parents'. He slowly walks up to his sister. "Are those wings
REAL?"
Usagi grins impishly. "As real as I want them to be, buddy."
Shingo gags and slowly sinks to the floor. A string of incoherent words
leave his mouth; the most I'm able to understand is, "Sailor...living....house...
near...I...related to..."
Usagi-chan looks at all of us, and says softly, "I wanted to tell you all
sooner, but I wasn't sure you'd be able to understand. I've had to wait almost
a thousand years to tell you." An Usagi-ish smile overtakes her face, and she
says happily, "But now you all know! I'm so happy! So, what do you guys
think?"
"A...thousand....years...?" her father chokes out as he leans on Usagi's
mother. The poor man almost looks like he's AGED a thousand years in
these past minutes.
"Oh..um..yeah." Usagi says, looking a little flustered. "Well, it goes like
this...." She launches into a long description of the latest adventures of
Sailormoon, right up to the present.
".....then Guardian Cosmos sent us all to 30th century, into the lives
we're leading right now. I revived some of you right away, because I missed
you all, but soon, I'm supposed to revive everyone else from the deep sleep
they were placed in, and--."
Rei-san sighs from the doorway. "Usagi no baka," she snaps, "you're
telling them way too much. I can see their eyes glazing over from here."
Heh. Rei-san has NO idea how true her words are. But Usagi IS Usagi,
and to expect anything else would be....silly.
"Oh." Usagi says, flustered. "I'm sorry, everyone. You see, everyone,
you've all been here for me all these years, and I wanted to thank you." She
closes her eyes briefly, and the fuku unravels to ribbons, then fades away to
show Usagi wearing her wedding gown once more.
She moves toward us, eyes shining brightly, she finishes, "This was the
only way I could think of thanking you--by telling you who I really am."
Usagi suddenly turns to me and grabs my hands, saying with somewhat
un-Usagi-like solemnness, "Naru-chan, I never got to thank you for
always being there for me, even when I wasn't able to be there for you."
She leans forward and kisses my cheek, then pulls away, her eyes shining
a faint mist.
A mist is rising my eyes, too, the first sign that my body is returning
to my control. "Thank you, Usagi-chan," I whisper to her as her family
begins to clamor around her.
I ache to ask her for details, I yearn to hear it all, but it's not my place.
Her family comes first, and I respect that. Smiling while brushing away
my tears, I nod once and turn away, brushing past Rei-san--no, Mars--
on my way out.
For now, this will enough. I don't really need to hear the details right
away, just knowing I have been right all these years is enough.
'Just knowing is enough for now,' I tell myself as I settle myself into
my seat.
One day, I'll know it all.
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Hello again.
Yeah I know, you want to tell me about the silly/rushed ending.
Please send all comments, questions, ideas, etc, etc my way at
And to David (dnk@cmu.edu), the best editor in the world: Thank You!!
If you really hate, this, keep this in mind: this is just a test.
Seriously though, this is a brainchild of mine, one that wouldn't leave me
alone when I wanted a good night's sleep. So I began, not knowing exactly
what the heck I was supposed to be doing (
with this empathy for Naru's position as the one lost in the shuffle of
everything, so I tried to see things from her perspective. But, there's not
much to go on, which is why this is so darn short.
odango@usa.net. I'd sorely appreciate all of them.
(You can read his fanfic, "Sailormoon: Shades of Light and Dark",
at http://geocities.datacellar.net/SoHo/Atrium/2429/)
What else did I want to say? Ohhhh yeah....I really am sorry about excluding
all those who haven't seen or don't know about the manga and/or anime
ending(s) for SM.....