Title: Sailor Moon N(ouveau)
Chapter: 1. Silver Stone
Rated: PG-13
The small village slept with uneasiness as it always had. For at any moment, danger could come to their bed, and steal away their souls. What little light came from the distant sun through the black clouds signified the morning’s beginning. The militia of the village began their morning march. With the tattered and faded, black and white robes, they marched through the center of the village. They sounded their low-toned horns and made their way from one way from one side of the village to the other.
“Wake and serve your master!” was the cry that came from their mouths. Their voices were cold and dry; to match their expressions for the years had not done them well. Neither did it do well for the villagers that awoke from their broken homes and beds.
But one girl woke with an _expression that was alien to all others in her village. This _expression had been wiped out along with their hopes. This _expression was a smile, for she was filled with a wonderful feeling known as happiness. She was happy because in her heart, she knew a secret that only she remembered. It was her fourteenth birthday by the recollection of what her grandmother had told her. She had been told the way she had brought a lively energy to the darkened household, and how her father was the proudest man of the village. Still, over the years, her grandmother’s age made her forget things in life, but Shakunage remembered it well for nine years.
She got up and walked over to the water bowl that held pure water from the rain that they got. She looked into the bowl and saw the reflection of a naturally beautiful face. Her eyes were the blue as the sky, and still held some what of the innocence that many like her had lost after they were chosen to be the militias’ geishas.
Her hair was a light golden brown that was long and almost endless. She usually wore it up on a ponytail by twining it with some string. But sometimes, when she wanted to feel pretty, she wore it down and let part of it fall over her left eye, giving her a sense of mystery.
Her nose and mouth were small, but when she smiled, her mouth retreated great distances to reveal a beautiful set of pearly whites. Puberty had been generous to Shakunage, for she had slightly larger breasts than most girls. Her hourglass figure, however, was a liability to her virginity and was often covered in layers to protect her by grandfather.
She washed her face and dressed herself in hand made clothing that her mother had worn a long time ago. She missed her mother a lot and it hurt sometimes when she thought of her. Mama was a magnificent woman, who was full of compassion and kindness. Her father had died in battle a few days after her birth, so mama moved in with her grandparents. Then one day, when she was only six, her mother disappeared for good, leaving no clues as to what happened.
Shakunage remembered of how she would wait for mama to come home. Shakunage began to weep softly, for this memory had brought back sad moments in her life and which she had to suppress for the longest time. Within a while, sobered up from the crying spell, and dried her tears from her face.
“Shaku-chan! Your breakfast is getting cold!” yelled Grandmother as she stirred the porridge mixture in her old cauldron over the fire. Shakunage came out from behind the flap which covered her room and sat down at the table that Grandpa had made from rotted and warped wood in the trash heap. She saw a sparkling dot fall from the sky and onto a pile of garbage at the dump, through the window hole of her grandparents hut.
“Shaku-chan, finish your porridge and get ready for your village chore, or else you’ll be in big trouble!” said Grandma with her back still turned away from Shakunage. She always wondered how Grandma did that. It was almost like she had eyes in the back of her head.
Shakunage shrugged it off and finished her porridge. She got up, kissed Grandma, and went outside to join the group of girls that were marching behind a militia member, who was pounding on a drum. She caught up with the group and was walking next to a girl of about sixteen, who had short black hair and light gray eyes. Her face was seen as plain by men, but beautiful was the word to describe her face by women. For she had sincerity and a genuineness that made her face glow and shine.
“Hey Takura!” said Shakunage, waving to the girl.
“Hi Shaku-chan!” implied to Takura happily. The two had been friends for a long time. So even though their job was to dig for grub worms in the garbage dump for Modoky, the bird lord of Asia and his dinner. Their friendship kept one another happy and content with their lives.
“Guess what” whispered Shakunage.
“What?” asked Takura.
“ I saw something shiny fall into the dump earlier and I am going to find it!” answered Shakunage. Her eyes had been lit with flames of determination burning with the fuel of desire.
“ Ok! I’ll help you find it!” whispered Takura.
The groups of girls made their way to the dump and were sent to their assigned work areas. Luckily, Shakunage and Takura’s area was near the place were the shiny object had fallen. They began to do their usual work of digging through rotten food and under broken objects. They came across a stench that was coming from underneath as car door. They picked it up and yelped with fright, for they had stumbled upon the decaying remains of a dog’s corps. They quickly but solemnly covered the dog’s body back up, for they would not be the ones to disturb the dog’s soul by bringing its attention to the cooks’ gophers.
They had been searching for about five hours now, half heartedly for the food Modoky requested, and the rest of the time, for the shiny object that fell from the sky. At last, they had finally come upon the impact sight. A five foot area was charred around the mysterious item. Takura was hesitant, but where Takura’s bravery could not take on, Shakunage’s bravery shown with bright colors.
She leaped down into the crater without any anticipation. She inched towards the center, with the light from it getting brighter and brighter, causing her to squint until her eyes were completely shut. Strangely, when she reached down and touched the object, the light disappeared without any trace of where it went.
After readjusting her eyes, she looked at the cool store that sat in the palm of her hand. It had an opaque silver color to it, and it was cut into a diamond shape. It was larger than most jewels she had seen on Hooky’s mistresses, but was logically still too small to create such an impact. The gem gave off a sense of déjà vu to her, as if she had seen this before, in maybe a past life, or something.
“Hey you two!”
The two girls spun quickly, with Shakunage hiding the stone in her pocket. A gopher had called in them; he was rather old, with his back twisted into a hump. By disturbing the bodies of dead creatures, both human and animal, in order to make good with Modoky, it was probably the reason why it was so deformed. His face was heavily winkled, with his sunken eyes shadowed by his brow.
“Come help us move this damned dog’s corpse that you passed up!” growled the old man. The girls walked behind him obediently to the spot where they had found and recovered the poor animal. Takura and Shakunage removed the car door and brought the cloth that would carry the corpse to the kitchen. The old man and another twisted old woman lifted the rotting corpse onto the sheet and ordered the cloth to be folded over so that they could carry it.
Shakunage hesitantly began to cover the dog as she was beginning to cry. She never felt so emotional before, but she didn’t want it to stop either. A couple tears fell on the dog’s fur and a light shimmered and engulfed the dog. When the shimmering stopped, the dog stood up and began to bark and wag its tail. The dog was alive! Its coat looked brand new and no skin was hanging off the bones.
“By the gods! She’s a witch!” said the woman in awe.
“But witchcraft practicing is against the law! Modoky will have your neck!” said the old man as he got up. The two began running to the guards at the gate, nothing in their hearts could keep them from sharing themselves. For their pride was given up a long time ago.
“Run Shaku-chan!” yelled Takura.
“What? Why?” asked Shakunage.
“They’ll be coming after you for that stone! You have to keep it hidden, for it is the only hope of being happy ever again!”
Shakunage looked at the stone, then at Takura. She didn’t want to leave, but she had no choice. This cursed stone had bonded with her and there was no way she could leave behind. She hugged Takura for the last time until they would meet again.
“I’ll miss you!” said Shakunage, “Good….” Takura placed you hand over Shakunage’s lips and slightly nodded. Shakunage returned the nod, then dashed into the dump, she knew what Takura had meant by that nod, and she wasn’t about to betray that promise. She headed for the caves in the east where it was ultimately abandoned. She heard the guards coming from behind, yelling and scrambling to find the other girl. They quickly snatched up Takura and took her back to headquarters, where they would do know knows what to her in order to get the information they needed.
It wasn’t long before she reached the dark and desolate caves of Akioshido. She gathered some berries and plant that were edible, since cooking meat would be out of the question. For the smoke would reveal her hiding place. She ate the assembled greens and made herself a bed of leaves in side the cave. She stared blankly into the night, wondering what she was going to do.
“Come here Shaku-chan! I want to show you something!” Mother picked up little Shakunage and put Shakunage in her lap. She pointed to the western horizon where the sun was setting. “There towards the western coast is a magical temple that was built by your ancestors, for they foretold of the return of a magical girl, who would one day bring peace back to the entire universe. The only one that can see this temple however, is the one who bears the Silver Imperial Crystal. Hopefully the moon will bear a crystal once more…”
Shakunage let a tear fall from her face. These memories were almost too strong to bear in her mind, but at least it gave her the idea she needed to figure out what to do. She would go there and find out everything she could about this crystal. With the issue solved, she turned onto her side, and let sleep take her quickly into her dreams.