The Lost Library of Florestica

A Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon story
by Elsa Bibat

Disclaimer: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon belongs to Takeuchi Naoko, Koudansha, TV Asahi, and Toei Douga, and DIC. This is used without permission.

Foreword: Hiya, kiddies. This is a fragment of a fic that I started for Two Heavens. That was a year ago. Anyway, found this baby as I was researching my notes folder for the fic, and decided to polish it.

Apologies to Jim Bader, the guy who originally came up with the A Very Scary Thought concept; I'm just borrowing it.

Anyway, I am willing to continue this but I need a co-writer, more or less, since I have romance novellas/novels to be written to feed me, articles and essays for the serious literary journals that pay for my other needs, more fiction to pay for the electric bill and the fanfics that are currently invading my brain as we speak. Fanfics are already a top priority since it is summer and I don't have to worry about food and other basic necessities for a while.

Well, here it is…

Chapter 1

The morning sun shone into the room as outside the birds chirped their dawn song. The room in question seemed to be a normal except for the fact that the predominant decor for it was rabbits. A lot of rabbits. Stuffed rabbits. Wallpaper with rabbits. The blanket on the comfortable bed that covered a sleeping form had rabbit figures aplenty.

All was nice and serene as the figure under the blanket moved a little, refusing to rise to a new day. Thus it was quite appropriate that a wake-up call would be in order. The door to the room slammed open as a young boy decided to give his elder sister a rude awakening.

"Rise and shine, Usagi-chan!!!!" Shingo shouted with a wide grin on his face, intent on ruining his sister's day. Besides, he had to get even with what she did to him yesterday…

The effect of that remark on the sleeping figure was instantly seen. A scowling face appeared from beneath the sheets, green eyes flashing. Frazzled sandy-blonde hair cut in a boyish style framed a beautiful face. "Shingo! Stop calling me that!"

"Well, if the shoe fits, 'Usagi'-chan," Shingo said with a smirk.

"Why, you little brat!" the blonde girl shouted at her little brother. She leapt out of the bed and was about to give the bratty kid his just desserts when a sharp voice intruded from downstairs.

"Haruka! Stop picking on your little brother! Get dressed; you'll be late!"

Haruka glanced at the alarm clock beside her bed and her eyes widened. "ACK!!"

Shingo gave her elder sister the red-eye as she proceeded to slam the door in his face and started to throw off her pink pajamas and get into her school uniform at record speed.

Looking at herself in the mirror, she gave a victory pose, complete with the V-sign. Pulling open the door, she gave Shingo a good smack with her study bag, and ran like the wind to the dining room downstairs, picked up her bento, got a piece of toast, gave her mom and dad a hurried kiss and was out of the door like a tornado.

Ikuko Ten'ou shook her head as she looked to her husband with a slight smile on her face, chuckling. "With the practice Haruka gets every day, the track team will be a cinch."

Haruka 'Usagi-chan' Ten'ou ate the toast in two quick bites as she glanced at her watch. Ten more minutes. Okay, she could do it. Home to Juuban High was five minutes, if she pushed herself. At her current speed, she would be able to do it in eight. Two minutes to spare.

She ran like the wind, passing people by, shouting "Excuse me" all the way. After almost crashing into a salaryman — and dancing out of the way with incredible agility — she turned another corner as she continued on her merry way. She glanced again at her watch. Six minutes.

She was so intent on looking at her watch that she didn't see the group of delinquents ganging up on a cat in her path. Slamming into one of them, she tumbled and crashed.

"What the HELL?!" Haruka shouted from her prone position from the ground. Hearing no response, she painfully brought herself to stand and glared balefully at the stunned group of delinquents.

"It's… it's… Haruka!" one of the delinquents said, his voice quavering.

"AAAAAAGGGGHHHH!!!!" The mass of young men tumbled over each other trying to get away as fast as they could from the 'Rabbit of Juuban High'.

Unfortunately for them, Haruka heard one of them call her that. Thus, that was how four young delinquents were introduced to the many ways a school bookbag can be used to inflict pain…

"…And if I see your damned faces again, I'm gonna show you how pissed off I can get!" Haruka declared, giving the collective pile of crap that were formerly delinquent students another swift kick.

She glanced at her watch. Two minutes to beat the idiots up. Four minutes to go. She was about to set off on another dead run, when she heard the faint meow. She looked down to see her first sight of the animal that would change her life.

A ragged-looking black cat, who had obviously seen better times. What drew Haruka's attention was what she saw on its forehead. A crescent moon. Another meow and she was gazing into the black cat's eyes. Intelligence seemed to sparkle in those eyes.

Moments later, the cat was gone, as it jumped up the wall, a feat quite remarkable since it was obviously still injured. With a final meow and a glance at Haruka, it disappeared.

Haruka blinked. Now, that was strange. Then she remembered what she was about to do. Three minutes. Hell, time to cut loose. Haruka took a deep breath and ran for school.

Naru glanced worriedly at her watch. A minute to go, and Haruka still wasn't here. She was usually here at least two minutes before the bell.

The door opened and Haruka trudged in breathing hard, and sweaty with effort. Everyone stared as the young girl walked slowly to her seat and collapsed into it. Umino put out a hand, and the boy seated beside him grudgingly paid him with a thousand yen bill.

Naru gave the bespectacled boy a disapproving glance, to which he responded with a shamed look. She shook her head and decided to check on her best friend. "You okay, Haruka-chan?"

"Just fine, Naru-chan. Had to beat up a few idiots on the way," Haruka said with a groan as she propped herself up.

"You know, if you keep on beating guys up like that, you won't get a boyfriend," the red-haired teen said teasingly to her seatmate.

"Most boys are idiots. And if they aren't idiots, they're like Umino over there," Haruka said, emphasizing her point with a nod of her head in the young boy's direction. "Besides, who needs 'em anyway?"

Naru giggled and was about to answer when Haruna-sensei entered the room. Everyone stood up, bowed and sat back again.

"Okay, class," the rather frazzled homeroom teacher for class 2-1 said as she pulled a sheaf of papers out of her bag. "I hope you're ready for this test."

"Oh, shit!"

"I'll take that as a 'no', Ten'ou-san," Haruna-sensei said with a pained look on her face.

"I can't believe you didn't study for the test, Haruka-chan!" Naru exclaimed as they both sat down. "What was it this time?"

"Well, you remember that last night was supposed to be when they broadcast the replay of the Grand Prix I missed last week?"

Naru shook her head as she put her hand up. "No. Don't tell me. I can just guess what you did to catch one of those races. That why you forgot to study?"

"Yup," Haruka said with a pained look on her face. "Mom is gonna kill me."

"Well, at least you got to watch the Grand Prix you've been raving about for weeks."

"Yeah," the blonde said with a dreamy look as she finished off her lunch and smoothed her blue skirt. She put both her hands behind her head and relaxed against the tree. "One of these days, I'm gonna be in one of those races."

Naru smiled. Haruka with her crazy dreams. "By the way, Mom's having a sale today. Think you can pass by, Haruka-chan?"

"I'll try, Naru-chan. But I'll probably be at the arcade working off some tension."

The indicator said a hundred fifty miles per hour and rising. Haruka bit her lower lip as she made a particularly difficult turn, her foot easing up. As she reached the straightaway, her foot slammed into the accelerator, putting the pedal to the metal.

Two hundred miles per hour. Haruka leaned back into the seat, hands tight on the steering wheel.

Only a little more

It was just a little mistake; just a little bit more speed than necessary. But it was enough. Her car went off the track, crashing into the grandstands, exploding into flames.

"AAAAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!"

"Haruka-chan, please don't scream when you lose a game."

Haruka turned to look at who was addressing her. Motoki Furuhata, Crown Arcade's manager, smiled at her. She was a frequent customer there, and she got the chance to know him better awhile back. Nowadays they treated each other like brother and sister.

"Motoki-kun! The game cheats!"

"Now, now, Haruka. The fact that you didn't win doesn't mean that the game cheats," Motoki said with a light chuckle.

"Yes it does. I always win in this sort of thing," Haruka said with a smirk.

"Give it a week or two, Haruka-chan. The game's just arrived. You still don't have the hang of it."

"Ah, well. Okay." Haruka got out of the racing game's seat, picking up her school bag while smoothing her skirt. "I'll drop by again tomorrow."

"All right, Haruka-chan. See you around."

Haruka contemplated her test paper as she walked home, not hurrying one bit — no need to hasten the lecture she was going to get. The red failing mark was quite prominent on the upper right hand corner. Haruka sighed and bowed her head. Lucky thing that her failing a test wasn't a common occurrence, or she'd get a worse chewing out than she was currently expecting from her mom. What she was worried about was what her mother would think of as a proper punishment. She couldn't afford to be grounded, not with the qualifiers for the track team coming up. Also, she'd finally gotten a ticket for the F1 race that was scheduled this weekend, having saved up on her allowance for the past two months. Haruka sighed again.

As Haruka contemplated her upcoming doom, she was pretty much oblivious to her surroundings. So she didn't notice the tall and handsome dark-haired man that turned the corner in front of her. He was wearing shades, and was also obviously not looking where he was going, so the inevitable happened.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!"

"I should say the same to you, idiot!" Haruka answered with a huff. Haruka was already in a bad mood and her hair-trigger temper was starting to act up again. She really didn't need this right now!

The tall man in front of her wasn't going to let her off that easily.

"Me?! An idiot?! Better look at yourself first, girl," the handsome man said as he picked up Haruka's test paper, which had fallen to the ground when they had bumped into each other. "You'd better study more before you start calling people idiots, little girl."

Haruka restrained herself. It would be ridiculous to get into a fight because of a simple accident, but this stranger was starting to get on her nerves. She snatched the paper from the man's hand and decided to just walk away. No need for more trouble.

"Kawaiikunee otemba!" The tall man muttered as Haruka started walking away. Unluckily for him, she managed to hear the remark.

Haruka snapped. She turned around trembling with anger.

"What did you call me?! Why, you—" She hefted her school bag up to teach the arrogant idiot a lesson.

And that was how Mamoru Chiba got introduced to Haruka Ten'ou. And how he learned the amount of pain a bookbag can deliver when in the right hands.

Haruka sighed as she finished her Math homework. "At least I wasn't grounded," she said to herself as she leaned back in her chair and relaxed. A double duty of chores was fine with her. She could handle the extra workload and it didn't hinder her one bit. All that she needed to do was just finish them earlier, and she would be free for the race on Saturday. All right!

Haruka stretched her legs and arms a little, just to get the kinks out, before she went back to her homework. She was interrupted by the sound of something knocking on her window. She frowned at the disturbance and decided to investigate.

As she opened the window to check where the sound was coming from, a small black figure jumped into her room. She looked down and saw the cat she had seen earlier that day, recognizing it by the queer crescent mark on its forehead. She smiled. Haruka always had a soft spot for small furry animals; that was how she got her nickname of 'Usagi' back in grade school.

"Hiya, pussy cat! You must have followed me home," Haruka said as she bent down to look at the cat. She gave the cat a good scratch behind the ears and gave it a reassuring smile. "Wait a minute, I'll get a saucer of milk from downstairs."

Then a strange thing happened. The cat talked back.

"Haruka, that can wait. You have to go rescue your friend Naru!" The cat said with urgency in its voice. Strange, one part of Haruka's brain thought, she sounds like my aunt. The other parts of Haruka's brain was screaming in hysteria the mental equivalent of the statement, "The friggin' cat talked!"

Haruka's eyes bulged and she looked over at her desk. Damned algebra always brings on the hallucinations. She returned her gaze to the ebon-hued cat at her feet, who was starting to perform an incredible feat of gymnastics for a feline. A gold brooch fell to the ground, and the cat picked it up with her mouth and threw it at Haruka. She caught it by reflex, mostly because her brain had now gone into autopilot. I really shouldn't have watched Wedding Peach before doing my algebra, Haruka thought as she gave the brooch a once-over. Pretty nice-looking, yes, but Haruka really didn't like jewelry that much, especially the more feminine ones. She looked back again at the cat. "Who are you?"

"My name's Luna, and I need your help to find the Moon Princess. But before that, transform and go out to save Naru!"

"Save Naru? From what?! And transform?! How?!" Kami, I am losing it, Haruka thought in disbelief. I really should lay off from watching Wedding Peach. The cat's gonna say I have to save Naru from the Kingdom of Darkness or something and look for the four talismans of love or somesuch.

"The Dark Kingdom! Naru's mom was replaced by a youma and you have to save her! And all you have to do is say the words that are already in your head!"

"You mean Moon Prism Power?"

After an incredible shower of light and a really cool transformation sequence with violins and pianos playing in the background, Sailor Moon walked the earth for the first time.

Haruka dived behind a display case as the youma's zombies started throwing really big things at her. Luna was also at the same hiding place.

"Luna, if this isn't a hallucination I am going to slam my head against the wall. Repeatedly."

"Um… well, the speech wasn't that bad."

"It's not the speech I'm worried about! I'm worried about the two dozen women out there who are throwing things at me that would really hurt if they hit!" As if to emphasize her point, a fire extinguisher flew over their heads, hitting the wall with a resounding crash. "And I really don't want to hurt them. Naru-chan's one of them, along with a few of my other friends."

"Take out the youma, and they'll be released from the spell."

"Take it out with what?! I'll have to go through the zombies to kick its ass!"

"Take your tiara and say the words 'Moon Tiara Action' while throwing it. That should be enough to take the youma down."

"Figures." Haruka muttered under her breath. I really should stop watching Minky Momo, Wedding Peach and all those magical girl shows. Really tacky attack names and very short skirts. I really hope this is some sort of wacky dream after doing too much algebra. "Luna, I need a distraction. The zombies are going to be in my way when I throw my tiara. Besides I can't stand up to get it off with all this artillery flying."

Luna nodded, and was about to bound away when suddenly the throwing stopped. Luna looked up and smiled. "Well, it seems I won't be needed to do the distraction after all." Haruka followed her gaze, looking up at what had distracted the zombies and the youma. A handsome young man in a tuxedo and cape, with a mask covering his eyes. Haruka felt her heart flutter a little. Only a little, mind you, but that takes a lot of doing, you know. At least my speech wasn't that bad, she thought as she absently noted what he was saying.

"Sailor Moon! Now!" Luna shouted to get her attention.

"Uh… yeah. Okay. MOON TIARA ACTION!!!!"

Expecting a rather pansy attack with the name, Haruka was quite surprised. The tiara glowed a brilliant yellow, turned into a ball of crackling energy and streaked at the youma at an incredible speed.

*BOOM.*

"Damn, Luna! You didn't tell me that it was that powerful." Haruka said, as pieces of floor and youma started raining down.

Haruka awoke slowly at her study desk as the morning light crept into her room. She was face down on her algebra homework, a bit of drool staining the paper. She blinked slowly as she sat up in her chair. Damn, what a strange dream. Talking cats, magical brooches, evil monsters and mysterious masked men. I really have to lay off on those magical girls. And damn those algebra hallucinations.

She stretched a bit, yawning a little to get the kinks out, when she noticed something. There was something on her chest. She looked down and saw a golden brooch, a crescent moon featured prominently on the front of her dress. "Shit."

"Ohayo gozaimasu, Haruka-chan," a voice that Haruka remembered from last night said from behind her. She swiveled her chair around to see if it was really the talking cat.

Luna yawned as she licked at her fur. "I'd really like that saucer of milk right now."

The sounds of a teenage girl falling off her chair and fainting on the floor were heard moments later.

To be continued.

Author's notes: Biles-sama once said in a post long ago that he'd really like to see how Haruka would have handled it if she were the Moon Princess. At least, I think it was Biles-sama. Well, if it was him, hell, here it is. Well, not totally, but hey…

Anyway, as mentioned, this is part of Two Heavens continuity. The events of Two Heavens happen in the equivalent of early SMR, just before Chibi-Usa shows up. And I assure you; Mamoru and Haruka are going to end up together, after, of course, several Mamoru beatings and several lengthy discussions involving Michiru and Mamoru. ^_^

If you haven't pieced it together yet, or haven't read Two Heavens, this is the scheme:

Haruka - Sailor Moon
Hotaru - Sailor Mercury
Michiru - Sailor Mars (Oooh, just had to have the lesbian thing didn't you, Elsa-chan?)
Makoto - still the same
Setsuna - Sailor Venus (Thank you very much, Jeff Hosmer!)

Also note that Sailor Moon's attacks are a bit more powerful. 'Ruka-chan's Moon Tiara Action ( a revised World Shaking) is a reflection of her attitude, as much as anything else.

Two Heavens part 2 is midway complete, along with Pissing Off Pluto 3. TH has that extra special scene where we get to meet Chibi-Ruka-chan, pink-haired tomboy brat of terror!

A co-writer, as I mentioned, is wanted. Badly.

And hey, any fan art of Haruka in Serenity form would be cool! ^_^