This is where it all began…
August Moon
Part 1 : A Step Through Time
©MM T h r e a d s
To Kris- because you wanted one of these stories so badly ^_^
Thin rays of sunlight slipped through the treetops and filtered delicately to the ground, illuminating the dry dirt and leave on the forest floor. Trees of all shape, size and color surrounded Naru on this warm August afternoon.
Naru hadn’t walked through there almost four years to the day. Almost four years since Nephrite had died.
It felt so strange, thinking about him like that now. She hadn’t thought about him in years, but his memory had always come back to her. Whatever it was, something had reminded her of him.
Until one day.
One day she just let go. She said good-bye and went on with her life. But now she had to say good-bye to him again, it seemed the appropriate thing to do. She was saying good-bye to everyone else today - her mother, her friends… her world here. Tomorrow she would gather her bags and move on with her life, further her education and enroll in university.
She just wanted to think of him one last time before she went away.
Though she had never thought of him directly, sometime she would catch herself talking to him, not literally of course.
When she lay awake in her bed when she should be sleeping, when she walked home late at night, as she sat bored in class sometimes he would even come and visit her. But in another moment she would catch herself and feel ashamed for talking to someone who didn’t exist anymore.
Then she would blush and plod on with her life.
She wrapped her arms around her body; the thin sweater over a tank top didn’t do too much insulation wise. Though it was August, sometimes the days would hold a light chill of the coming fall. She ran a hand through her short red hair. It had always looked the same- she was 18 now, but she still had the same style she had when she was a kid.
But she was grown up now.
She continued walking on thought the forest, still following the path, not daring to stray from it and forge her own through the dense wilderness.
Naru paused to look at the tranquil scene beside her. The forest was so still, so silent, so calming, so mysterious. She closed her eyes and breathed in the light cool feel of her surroundings. Mixed scents filtered through her nose. She loved being away from the cluster of the city, Usagi loved the bright lights and fast paced commotion, but it wasn’t for Naru. Or maybe it was because Usagi was engaged to Mamoru now, and that the city wasn’t for the single, it always seemed to remind her of how alone she really was. Or maybe it was because Usagi was Sailor Moon, and that cities were only for the important.
She took another deep breath and continued walking.
She walked for a while, both mind and emotion wandering.
“I’m so excited,” She said aloud. “I never dreamed I’d go away to university… but now I am.”
“Oh, I’m really going to miss you Nephrite, but you can come visit me anytime.”
“Promise?”
Then she stopped herself and blushed. She was doing it again.
Suddenly the bushes next to her rustled quickly; not from a breeze, and the distinct sound of laughter could be heard.
“Whose there?” Naru called, looking about blindly.
Further laughter was the only response.
“Who is it? Usagi?” She called again.
The laughter continued.
Frustrated by her watchers shyness, she stepped off the path into the underbrush and through the bushes.
She saw no one.
“Are you still there?” She called again, examining her new location.
The laughter did not respond.
Naru continued, forging her own path through the fauna. She stepped carefully, not to kill any young plants, and moved branches away from her face.
There was laughter again.
Not wanting to scare it away again, she remained silent.
She heard it again, to the right of her.
“Come,” The voice giggled. “Try and find me.”
Naru whipped around trying to identify the source. She jumped through the brush, and ran frantically about, trying to find it.
“Come on,” It taunted. “It’ll be fun.”
“Where are you?” Naru responded, looking in all directions.
“Right behind you.”
Naru whirled around to see…
The forest.
She frowned and began walking through slowly again; trying to find the path she had strayed from moments ago. She walked a few meters before she saw an opening between the trees.
Strange, She thought. I don’t remember a field in here before.
Naru stepped quietly through the last of trees and erupted before her was a small field encased by more trees. The green grass was washed over by the golden glow of the sun.
Before her sat a young woman on a rock.
“You found me she said.”
“Yes I did. Who are you?”
The girl stretched out her tanned legs and brushed her long black hair behind her back.
“Who are you?” The girl asked.
“I asked you first.”
“Oh come on, you can tell me.” She said tilting her head and smiling.
“Osaka. Osaka Naru.”
The woman grinned a wide smile.
“My name is Daun. Welcome to Hell.”
End Part One.