100 Sailor Moon Stories

002. Complicated (Usagi)

The Tsukino family sat around the dinner table in silence as Usagi’s mother shook with rage. Usagi’s knuckles were white as she fisted her skirt in her lap and noticed her brother’s satisfied smirk out of the corner of her eye. If he only knew why her grades were what they were. Why sometimes her father would knock on her door to wish her good night and find her missing, only to find her sleeping in the next morning.

If they all only knew…

The only sound that filled the room was the shaking of her report card in her mother’s hand as she stared at the grades incredulously. The column of F’s and one C+ was the worst she’d ever gotten. Ikuko couldn’t even look at Usagi as she hissed through her teeth, “...why. Just, tell me why, Usagi.”

Usagi inhaled a long, slow breath. If there were ever a time to come clean, it was now. Maybe her family would understand, or even embrace the idea of their daughter being Sailor Moon. They would cry tears of joy and thank their daughter for protecting Tokyo from all the bad things they’d read about in the papers and seen on TV. She’d be given dessert and hugs for the first time in months, and her family life would be back to normal. For a brief moment, her chest constricted with hope.

Then she got realistic. More than likely they wouldn’t believe her, and this whole situation would only be made worse. What would her parents do then? They couldn’t lock her in her room; they’d tried that already and she’d had to break the window when Ami called her about a Kunzite sighting. They’d probably try to send her away somewhere, and her only option then would be to run away and sever contacts with her family entirely.

“I’m waiting, Usagi!” Ikuko cried, obviously doing everything in her power not to explode or die of a heart attack at the table.

Usagi’s pained eyes went from her mother, to father and brother, and finally to Luna. The cat’s dark red eyes stared up at her with a mix of concern and encouragement as she gave the girl a subtle nod.

She wouldn’t cry. No matter what, she resolved that tears were not an option. “Well, you see Mom… it’s complicated...”