Jeanne shivered. Nothing could banish the cold in her bones, not even the warm Morocco sun that shone down this festival day. The past few weeks had been hell for the street urchin. She had been targeted by one of the more ruthless gangs in the streets. Every scrap of food, every cent she had begged or stolen had been taken away from her. She had not eaten in three days and her body is protesting this unusually harsh treatment. Today, festival day, was her best chance to grab some food. The gang would be too busy begging or likelier yet, stealing from the celebrants to notice her. She hoped fervently for them to do so. Whispering a small prayer for any gods to look after her and prevent the gang from seeing her, the small figure slipped out into the streets and began begging.
Nearby, there was a bustling market, where customers haggled over the prices of the goods, with vendors extorting the value of their wares. A young couple stood by a silversmith's stall, examining the exquisite items on display.
“Look, Haruka, this would be perfect for Sakuya,” exclaimed the green-haired woman, holding up a beautiful silver necklace. Her tall companion obligingly gave the trinket a quick glance and nodded her approval. “Yes, very pretty,” and returned to looking at the parade of cars. There would be a race later and although Haruka seldom compete now, she was still interested in the races.
“Haruka! You're not even looking!” the green-haired woman said in exasperation. “I did look, Michiru. And you're right, it's perfect for Sakuya.” The tall woman dragged her attention from the parade and smiled at her lover friend. “We'll take it.” She told the vendor, reaching into her pocket to get her wallet. After paying for the necklace, the two walked on towards the parade, unaware of a pair of pain dulled eyes staring at them.
Jeanne fought to keep back her tears of pain. Today had been one of her best days. People had seen her thinness and took pity on her. As a result, she had more money than she ever had. Using some of the money to purchase a piping hot meal, the urchin settled back to watch the parade and have her first meal in three days. That was her first mistake. The gang had found her cheering along with the others at the brave young men who would race the treacherous circuits. Their discovery was the end of her enjoyment and the beginning of theirs. They dragged her to an alley and grabbed every cent she had. She had tried to fight back but to no avail. There was five of them and one very small her. It was no contest. The five boys strutted out of the alley, pleased with themselves, leaving a beaten young girl behind.
Desperate with hunger, she lurched out of the alley. She couldn't take it any longer. She would find money, or die trying. She moved through the crowds, shivering in spite of the beads of sweat at her forehead, trying her best to imitate the pickpockets that shared her world. {There. They looked rich. Surely they won't miss the money} Jeanne thought to herself as she decided on a young couple.
Sidling up to the couple, Jeanne slowly lifted her hand to the young man's pocket. {Stop shaking, you stupid!} She told herself fiercely. {Do you want to be caught?} Slowly, she placed her hand into the young man's pocket. Quicker than thought, a hand grabbed hers,
“And just what did you think you were doing?” enquired a deep throaty voice.
CAUGHT! Jeanne tried to twist out of the firm grip but for the second time, she was trapped. “Nooo! “She yelled, doubling her efforts at escape, twisting and kicking out with her feet. The hand that imprisoned her merely shifted her out further, so she could do no harm.
“Stop that!” the voice commanded.
Sobbing silently in helplessness, Jeanne obeyed reluctantly. “Let's have a look at what we have then. Look up at me.” The voice said in a more gentle tone. Jeanne looked up into the couple's faces.
Haruka gasped. That face! She knew instantly, without a shadow of a doubt that she had found another of the figures in her vision. Michiru looked at her partner. “What is it?”
“She's the next one. We've found her, Michiru. We've found my–” Haruka stopped, unable to say anything more. She stared down at the dirty face, overwhelmed by emotions that she could not identify. Her descendent, this small, dirty urchin. And yet, something in the urchin's eyes held her. That look of desperation, of hunger and pain intermingled.
Jeanne was terrified. The young man stared into her eyes like he was weighing her soul and judging her unworthy. The combination of her three-day-old hunger, the beating she had suffered and the shock of getting caught finally caught up with her. Jeanne felt the world spinning around her and then everything went black.
“Haruka, she's hurt! We've got to get her to a doctor.” Michiru interrupted her thoughts. Haruka barely listened as she shift her hold on the little urchin in order to catch her as she fell down in a faint.
Haruka hovered about the bed, the little child, her descendent, looked so small and lost in the large bed. They had carried the girl back to their hotel, where Michiru summoned a doctor to tend to the girl's injuries. Bathed and bandaged, it turned out that behind all the layers of dirt, was a child with silvery blonde hair. Her face had too many angles to be called beautiful, a result of prolonged malnutrition. Haruka's eyes darkened as she thought about the bruises on the girl's body, her thinness. She clenched her fists, if she ever gets her hands on those who did this to her descendent. Her expression promised retribution in kind to those who dare hurt her child.
Michiru walked in. A quick glance at her partner was more than sufficient for her to gauge the intensity of her current feelings. Truth be told, Michiru wouldn't mind getting her hands on the creeps that could do this to a child. She walked over to Haruka and placed her hand on Haruka's clenched fist. “She's going to be all right, Haruka. We found her and no one will ever hurt her again. They would have to go through us first, ne?”
Haruka looked at her partner, her anger slowly fading under the care and love in Michiru's eyes. She nodded.
“Why don't you get some rest, I'll stay here, in case she wakes up in the night.”
“Alright, I'll take over in a few hours.” Giving Haruka a quick embrace, she walked to the adjoining bedroom. “The doctor left some pain killers on the table and I called room service, they'll send up some soup soon,” she reminded her partner as she walked through the door.
Jeanne gradually came out of the darkness that had engulfed her. She found herself staring at a white ceiling. {Where am I?} She wondered. Then the memories of the events before came back to her. {Oh sweet Serenity help me! I was caught, and, and, I fainted.} She thought the last in disgust. {I never faint.} Struggling a little, she tried to sit up. A gasp escaped her as she looked around the room. She was in the most beautiful room ever. The movement attracted the attention of the young woman sitting in a chair beside her.
“Haruka! She's finally awake.” Michiru called out from beside her bed. Softening her voice, she asked the awe-struck girl, “How do you feel? Do you think you can eat something?” she gestured at the covered tray. Jeanne nodded shyly at the beautiful stranger. The green-haired woman smiled and lifted the tray. “Shoot, it's gone cold. Hold on for just a minute.” She muttered a short incantation and soon, the bowl of soup started steaming. “There. Hot chicken soup.”
Michiru helped Jeanne up and lifted the tray to her lap. Just then, Haruka strode into the room. “I just finished making the arrangements with the Welfare department here. We can take her back as soon as she is fit enough to leave,”
Jeanne stared at the new-comer. Recognition and the words sank in at the same time. {Take me back?} Jeanne thought about the words for a bare second. Then the implications hit her. “NOO!! “ she yelled again, “I won't go back. I won't,” she struggled with the bed covers for a moment, nearly upsetting the tray before Michiru caught it. Frantic, she finally untangled herself from the bed linen just to find Haruka and Michiru right over her.
“Idon'twanttogoback,I'msososorryforstealingyourwallet, please don't–” she stopped as Haruka placed a finger at her lips.
Pale with fright, she looked into the tall woman's eyes. And found an emotion she had never seen before except in her mother's eyes. The sight of that almost forgotten expression, brought memories of her mother back. The hazy image of her mother seemed to superimpose on the tall blonde woman's face, “Mama?” she croaked, tears choking up in her throat.
The soft garbled word hit Haruka like a blow to the heart. Unbidden, her arms opened up to offer an embrace and the child hurled herself into Haruka's arms. Haruka held on to the shaking child for dear life and Jeanne curled up in her firm embrace like she would never leave. Michiru smiled through her own tears and hugged both of them.
The two women and child clung together.
Two days later, Jeanne, holding tightly on to Haruka and Michiru's hand stepped onto the plane for the very first time in her life and left Morocco forever.
Outside the rain pelted down. Jeanne shivered and drew the thick warm comforter closer around her. It was cold, this new place that the two women had bought her, but Jeanne was swiftly discovering the comforts that was available on cold days like this. Jeanne sipped at the hot chocolate, she was in her favourite place, a cosy room with huge windows. Currently, there wasn't much to look at, but on a clear sunny day, Jeanne could look out and see the mountains in the distance. She sighed contentedly. Good food, nice clothes, toys; she had everything a child could ask for. She hugged the new toy Aunty Michiru had bought her. It's a big stuffed bear.
Jeanne could hardly believe what had happened in the past three days. She had been fed and clothed and loved. Loved, she mused as she recalled the words that the tall blonde woman said. She looked so much like her mama. Jeanne could not believed that she had mistaken this woman for a man. She shrugged, {Must have been hungrier than I thought} Haruka said that she and Aunty Michiru had been looking for her for a long time and asked if she would like to live with them. There were a lot of other things that Haruka had told her, but she did not quite understand. Something about a vision and senshi and that she, Jeanne, would be part of it. Busy with her thoughts, Jeanne did not notice the car that had just pulled up at the front.
Rakurai Sakuya strode in with RH clutched under her arm cursing at the rain. She drowned out the AI's comments about the view with some carefully selected curses.
Haruka-sensei and Michiru-sensei had sent a message to her, informing her that the Younger Uranus had been found in Morocco. Upon receiving the message, she dropped everything and immediately flew back to take a look at this new companion that would be joining them. {Wonder what's she like? Haruka-sensei and Michiru-sensei were really abrupt in the message. Well, we'll see soon enough.} Selene was waiting at the foyer. “Sakuya! You're here at last! We've been expecting you since yesterday.” The cat exclaimed with relief, “Everything all right?”
“Sorry I'm late, I had to take time out to link this dumb machine to the new lap top. And I am positive that I will live to regret this.” Sakuya shook the laptop that she was holding.
“Hey! Careful how you handle my new body! You wouldn't want dents on me before you sample more of my new improved body, would you?” an indignant voice rang out.
“Oh! Is that RH in there?”
“Hello there! Like my new body? It can do anything the old one can and more. Oh boy, can it do more. Honeykins here can tell you all about it. Just ask her!” the computer smirked.
“Shut up RH. Anyway, Selene, I'm here now. Where's the new Uranus?” Sakuya asked.
“Oh, she's here somewhere. Why don't you change into some dry clothes and go see your sensei.”
“Okay, tell them I'll join them in a few minutes,”
Later in the living room, the senshi and the two cats were talking about the discovery of Jeanne in Morocco when suddenly the lights went off. “What the–” Haruka swore. Sakuya stared at the table, where she left RH. His screen was glowing. “What did you do now, RH” she walked over to the errant AI. “It's not my fault that the house can't take the increased” the AI's voice slowly dried up, as he perceived that there was three very angry looking senshi walking in his direction. “I was just downloading the new hentai from that kinky new website” he continued in a small voice, “don't hurt me, or, you can hurt me but not terminally and only if you wear the leathers–”
“I wouldn't talk so much if I was in your position” Michiru snarled. She had never gotten along well with the AI, especially after she found out that the infernal machine had witnessed her embarrassing situation 20 years ago.
“Calm down, Michiru,” Haruka interrupted before Michiru could do some real damage to the AI. “Sakuya, why don't you go look for the power box. He's probably tripped the power circuits or something. Michiru, the cats and I will go look for Jeanne. She might get frightened by the darkness,” And that was how Sakuya found herself groping around in the darkness, “Let's see, Michiru-sensei said that the power box was in a closet in the room with the big bay windows. That should be about hereOUCH! Damn that RH, the next time he pulls a stunt like that, I'll trash his hentai collection,” muttering curses and descriptions of what she would do to RH; Sakuya finally made her way to the room. {Finally, the room} Scowling, she flung open the door, just as a particularly bright flash of lightning lit up the room.
Jeanne was scared when the lights suddenly went out. Stifling an urge to scream, she cautiously felt her way to the door, clutching her new teddy bear close. {It's probably just the lights, Aunty Haruka and Aunty Michiru would come look for me if there was any real troubles} she told herself, {and don't be such a fraidy cat! Since when are you afraid of the dark.} Just then the thunder boomed. {maybe since now} She gulped.
The lightning lit up the room with alarming frequency, making the once comfortable room eerie with strange shadows lurking in the corners. Just then, she heard a loud bump, followed by the sound of muffled cursing. Terrified, she held the teddy bear closer to herself. Jeanne was about a few feet to the door when the door suddenly opened. The lightning flashed and lit the room. It leeched all traces of colour from the room and showed with disturbing clarity, the fearsome scowl on the intruder's face.
Jeanne screamed. She threw her teddy bear at the intruder's face and taking advantage of the person's shock, she wriggled past and ran for dear life. She heard a loud boom behind her and ran even faster. In the darkness, she did not see the two cats running towards her and promptly managed to trip over them. The fall knocked all breath out of Jeanne. She collapsed onto the floor, slightly stunned.
That was how Haruka and Michiru found them. Jeanne and the cats were still entangled in a heap on the floor while Sakuya and bits of the teddy bear were found back in the room. Michiru brought Jeanne and the cats back to the living room where she administered first aid to the casualties. Haruka got the lights back on and convinced Sakuya that there was no danger and that she could de-transform. By that time, Jeanne had calmed down sufficiently to protest the destruction of her teddy bear.
“You killed my teddy bear!”
“Well, you threw it at me!”
“That doesn't mean you can kill it!”
“Oh, please. It isn't even alive for crying out loud!”
“There isn't even enough of him left for a decent burial, you big meanie!”
“Fine! I'll buy you a new one, satisfied?” Sakuya glared at the sulking child.
Jeanne stopped and looked at her. She finally asked in a small voice, “Would you really?”
That stopped Sakuya in her tracks. She thought back to what her sensei had told her about Jeanne's background. How Jeanne was starving when they found her. The bruises on her body that were still healing.
Sakuya nodded, “Really.”
“I guess it's all right then.”
That night, Jeanne slept with a huge teddy bear by her side. The End
That's it. Please send comments or flames to me at
<sherlyn.lim@student.canberra.edu.au>