This is my first attempt at writing a Sailor Moon fan-fiction.  I
am hampered in this endeavor by the fact that while I am certainly
trying to see every episode of the second season of Sailor Moon, I have
seen only a handful of the first season, which is when this short story
takes place.  I have, however, read the translated scripts.
Unfortunately, I have no idea what DiC left in any given episode.  Thus,
I may actually be making references to scenes that the majority of my
readers have never seen ...
     (Note:  At least one of my readers has indicated that she wasn't
familiar with one of the scenes I mentioned -- just for reference
purposes, the scene where Raye slaps Serena and calls her a wimp
*should* have been in the episode preceding "Bad Hair Day.")
     Still, this is a story that I think should be told.  It was
inspired by reading the script for episode 36 ("Bad Hair Day" in the NA
version -- doesn't really compare to "Usagi in Confusion", does it?)  It
takes place somewhere in between that episode and episode 41 ("Tuxedo
Unmasked")
     I'm going to try to use the North American names of the characters
in this story, even though I instinctively think of "Serena" as "Usagi".
Since, to the best of my knowledge, no last name for Makoto/Lita has
been given, I feel free to use her Japanese last name.
     Enough exposition.

Rating: PG-13
---------------------------------------------------------------------------



                None of your business
                        by
                   Chris Davies
            cdavies@gpu3.srv.ualberta.ca

     Raye felt, rather than heard, the padding of stocking feet behind
her as she knelt before the sacred fire.  *Heavy footsteps, but
graceful, too.*  It could be Chad, the young would-be rock star who had
taken to life in the shrine better than anyone had expected.  *No.  It's
Lita.*

     Lita knelt a respectful distance behind Raye.  The irony of this
deference was considerable on several levels.  Raye's unclear memories
of their previous lives as the Silver Millennium Sailor Scouts indicated
quite clearly that Lita ... she had just been Senshi Jupiter then ...
had been the leader of the defenders of Princess Serenity.  But because
of Raye's status as a priestess in THIS life, she was deferred to.
*More proof ...  as though Serena isn't proof enough ... that we truly
are different than we were back then.*

     "Are you actually praying, or could I have a word?"  Lita's husky
voice interrupted Raye's musings.

     Raye turned around smoothly.  "Yes?"

     Lita was frowning.  It wasn't her "I'm peeved to the max" frown.
It was more like a "I'm not sure quite how to say this ..." frown.  "I
think ... that you have some explaining to do."

     Lita got up, and started to pace the width of the hall of the
sacred fire.  She stopped momentarily.

     "I am not Amy."

     Raye was somewhat bewildered.  "I never realized," she said,
trying to relax the tension in the room.  It didn't work.

     "What I am trying to say," Lita continued, taking great apparent
care in her choice of words, "is that I do not often think with my head,
like Amy does.  I think, more than I should, with my fists.  But also,
more than I should, with my heart."

     Lita turned away from Raye, and continued speaking.  "I know that
you all think that I'm silly to chase after every guy who looks or even
sounds like my ex-boyfriend ... but I do have my reasons.  He ... meant
a lot to me.  He was the only guy I ... well, you know."

     Hoo boy.

     "No," Raye replied after a moment to recover from the surprise
that Lita had just sprung on her.  "I didn't know."

     Lita continued to look away from Raye.  "That's not much of a
shock, y'know.  I think with my fists, Amy thinks with her head, you
think with your soul ... I don't know what Mina thinks with ... I don't
know if Serena thinks ..."

     "This is true."

     Lita turned her gaze back to Raye.  "This isn't about Serena.
Well, it is, sort of.  But not yet.  This ... I came here to talk about
you."

     "Is this ... Truth or Dare, Lita?" Raye asked, baffled.

     "No.  That little ... revelation was more to explain where I'm
coming from."

     Lita pursed her lips, again giving the impression of trying to find
the best way to put this.  "I know that you and ... Darien had a dating
thing going for a while.  But recently, I've been watching you, and it's
seemed to me ... that something more was going on."

     Raye instantly knew what Lita was talking about.  That time in the
Negaverse when Serena had decided to quit being the Princess, and she
had accused Serena of being a wimp whom Darien had been a fool to risk
his life for.  And later, when Darien had returned ... but as a pawn of
the Negaverse, Endymion ... she had wept and pleaded as much if not more
than Serena had.

     "Raye ... we're not close.  We're friends, but we're not good
buddies.  If it weren't for the fact that we knew each other in a
previous life, I doubt that I'd ever even have met you.  But we have to
be comrades; I watch your back, you watch mine, and we both watch the
other Sailor Scouts'.  Now, I think that it's important ... not just to
me, but to all of us ... that we know."

     Raye gazed unblinkingly at Lita.  "Know what?" she asked, calmer
than she felt.

     Lita held the gaze.  "Did you have sex with Darien?"

     Raye let out the breath she'd been holding.

     She had, on some level, expected one of her fellow Scouts to come
asking the question for some time now.  She had hoped that it would be
Amy, who would be nervous about asking it.  Better that than Mina, whom
she hardly really knew yet.  Or worse, Serena.  She envisioned the
temper tantrum that the Princess (and oh, it galled her to accord the
little so-and-so that title) would throw.

     She had not expected the asker to be Lita.  She had underestimated
the tall, non-feminine Scout.

     "Lita," she began quietly, "whatever there was between me and
Darien was over the moment I saw the two of them looking at each other
just after he took that shard for her."

     "That's not what I asked," Lita interrupted.

     "I won't get in their way if ... WHEN we get Darien back from the
Negaverse.  That's what you were concerned about, wasn't it?"

     Lita closed her eyes, and sighed.  "That's one of the things." Eyes
opened, she continued, "But I'm also worried about what happens if one
of us is in danger from Endymion, and you freeze, because you don't want
to hurt YOUR *sempai*."

     That hurt Raye more than she would ever let show.  She wanted to
let the fiery rage that burned through her loose at Lita.  But she knew
that it would do no good.  Lita would simply stand in the center of the
rage, not blinking, not backing down.

     "If that happens ... I'll do what I have to do.  The old
relationship doesn't matter to me.  What matters is protecting Earth
from the Negaverse."

     "All right.  So your answer is, it doesn't matter?"

     Raye nodded once.  Lita turned to go.

     "Lita!"  Raye suddenly called out.

     Lita turned back to gaze at Raye.

     "What you said about you and your old boyfriend ... was it true?"

     Lita nodded.  "We did it when I ..."

     "I don't need to know," Raye interrupted.  "But you gave me the
truth, and so I owe you the truth.  The real answer to the question of
whether or not I had sex with Darien ..."

     "Yes?"

     "Is 'NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS.'"


Chris Davies.

The characters depicted and described in this piece of short fiction are
trademarks and copyrights of various corporate entities.  No challenge
is made to the proprietary rights of these corporate entities through
usage of these trademarks and copyrights.

Comments, criticisms, invitations to dinner?