From: Carrie Hill(Mercury Blue)<thill@jetsream.net>
To: fanfic@fanfic.com
Subject: [FFML] [Sailor Moon][Dark] Cry Me A River (First Draft)
Date: Friday, June 20, 1997 4:25 PM


Warning: This is my first fanfic, so it probably sucks, but if you are
willing to brave it, go on ahead.  This is supposed to be a short story,
because I'm looking for more inspiration, but who knows where it'll go.
Forgive me if I write out of character occasionally.  I tend to tap into
the character, and try to figure out how they would react to certain
situations, which isn't always easy to do.  

This is just one of the filler stories that I typed between ideas, because
I am in the middle of a series.  The series is called "Forever Friends",
and is about Ami and Rei (of Sailor Moon)'s future lives.  Look for the
first episode, "Forever Friends I: The Betrayal" in about a month.

Now that I'm done advertising, time for the story.  
*Added note:  The characters' names go from the North-American dub version,
to the original Japanese, depending on my moods.  For this story, I'll use
the Japanese version's.  

__________
Cry me a river
             by Mercury Blue



The rain was beating a steady rhythm on the streets of night-time Tokyo.
Mizuno Ami dodged through the rain, though her attempts at staying dry were
haphazard.  She held her black book-bag over her head like an umbrella,
shivering violently as stray droplets of water trickled down her neck and
slid down her spine.  Normally, the rain didn't bother her.  In fact, she
loved it.  That was her name after all.  Mizuno Ami; friend of water. Lover
of all things wet.  Her very power as Sailor Mercury was something called
'shining aqua illusion.'.  She should be loving the sky's tears.  Yet she
wasn't.  

Something was clearly disturbing the young girl.  She bore a look of fear
on her face that was evident even through the pouring rain.  It was the
expression of a trapped animal; a deep, emoting gaze of someone who was
being pursued.

Her school uniform clung to her legs, wet and cold.  Her blouse was nearly
soaked through, and her sensible white bra could be seen clearly underneath
it.  Although aware of this last problem, Ami did nothing to conceal
herself.  She was too concerned with that of which she was running from.
It wasn't a person, or an animal.  It wasn't even one of the youmas that
she fought regularly as Sailor Mercury.  The thing she ran from was knew
her better than anyone.  
The thing she ran from was herself.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Ami entered the doorway of her home.  It was beginning to get dark, and the
sky was beginning to turn an angry shade of purple which made her unlighted
house look gloomy.   She glanced nervously at her watch.  It was 8:09, and
she should have been back an hour ago.

"Okaa-san?" she called, not really expecting an answer.  Her mother was
probably out, working the late shifts of a pediatrician, nothing new.  It
wasn't as if she was ever there anyways.

A lock of unruly blue hair fell in her eyes, and she pushed it away,
juggling a shopping bag at the same time.   It had taken a fair amount of
convincing, but her friend, Kino Makoto, had finally convinced Ami to
accompany her on a shopping trip.  When Ami had finally grudgingly agreed,
Mako-chan had dragged to the nearest mall right after the last schoolbell,
where Ami wound up spending a fair bit of her time, and not to mention, her
allowance.

"Ami?"  Ami jumped at the sudden sound of her name.  Turning sharply
towards the sound, Ami saw her mother standing in the doorway that lead to
the living room.

"O-okaa-san!" Ami was startled.  

"Where have you been, Ami?".   Her mother stood with her arms crossed in
front of her.   Ami didn't even try to make up an excuse.

"I-I was at the mall. Mako-chan asked me to go shopping with her, so...  
I didn't think you'd mind."  Mrs. Mizuno stared coldly at her daughter.  

"Do you have any idea what time it is?"  Ami nodded.

"Hai, okaa-san."  

"You are over an hour late.  What do you want people to think?  Do you
want people to think that you are a prostitute?  That you're trolling the
streets for the sheer reason of making some extra change?"  Ami shook
her head.

"They don't think that, okaa-san." she protested.  Mrs. Mizuno cut her off
with a glare.

"I know what those young people think .  I was once one, too, you know.".  
She gestured for Ami to sit on the couch.  Ami did so, and Mrs. Mizuno took
a seat in an armchair.  "Show me what you bought."

With trembling hands, Ami handed her mother her shopping bag.  Mrs. Mizuno
opened up the bag, and removed the contents.  

It was a shining skirt of blue silk, knee-length and flowing.  Ami had fallen in
love with it at first sight, and Makoto had finally convinced her to purchise it.

"It makes your eyes shine,"  Mako-chan had told her.  And Ami had smiled.  
Yes, it was a lovely skirt indeed.

Mrs. Mizuno looked at the skirt in her hands.  It was well-crafted, and she
smiled cruelly as she gazed at it.

"How much did you spend on this skirt, Ami?".  Ami swallowed hard.  

"This week's allowance."  She whispered.

"I didn't hear you, Ami.  Please repeat yourself more clearly.".  Ami repeated
herself, this time more loudly.

"Really now?".  There was the sickening sound of tearing fabric and ripping
threads as Mrs. Mizuno tore the skirt in two.  Ami choked back a sob.  Her
eyes filled with tears.  "Well then, I think this takes care of that." said Mrs.
Mizuno cheerfully.  She stood up, brushing a loose thread off of her pressed
pants, "I suppose you won't be tardy again." she said.  Ami didn't reply.  
Rather, she was strangely quiet.

"Ami?"

Ami raised her head.  Her eyes were pressed together in a evil glare, and her
breathing was shallow.

"Ami, enough with that!  You will mind your mother...!"

With a peircing scream, Ami stood up.  Her hair fanned around her head in a
halo, ironic when compared to the hateful expression on her face.  

"I hate you!" Ami roared, " I wish you would die!!!!!".  A bright orb of glowing
blue light escaped her fingertips, and surged through the body of her mother.
Mrs. Mizuno let out a cry of pain, and fear.  She glowed brightly for a moment,
and then suddenly, as if shut off by an invisible switch, the light surged, and faded.

Ami glanced down in terror.  She couldn't believe what had just happened.  
But it had.  At her feet, her mother lay in a pool of blood.  She was badly
burned, and whatever energy had surged through her body had escaped
through her eyes, leaving empty sockets.  She was quite obviously dead.

"Okaa-san!  Nonononononononononoooooooo!!!!!!!!!"  Ami didn't know what
to do.  A dead fear ran through her, and she bolted through the front door.
For reasons she didn't know, she grabbed her bookbag on the way out.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

I killed my mother.  That was the only thing Ami could think.  My mother is
dead, and I killed her.  She continued running blindly, not knowing where
she was going.  Not caring.  She just had to get away, go...

... Ami cried out as she tripped over a jutting rock.  Her feet deserted her,
and she fell, scraping her hands as she fell, landing in a mud-puddle.  The
liquid was cool, and strangly refreshing.  She decided to stay there, just for
a little while.

So nice, she thought, so nice...  Ami let the cool raindrops roll down her face.
The water, so comforting... if only...

Ami's last thought left her as she slipped out of conciousness.


The End?


:)  Sorry, If that was a little dark.  It didn't start out that way.... Maybe I
should write a sequal that takes place after she wakes up.  Well, Maybe.

Oh well.  Any constructive critisism would be appreciated.  Tell me what
you liked or didn't like.  Ami's mom was a little out of character, but other-
wise, I enjoyed writing it. (Well, not that much, I'm not a loon.)

Hope to hear from you.


Mercury Blue