"Where do these things COME from?!?"

It was, of course, a rhetorical question, especially uttered as it was
in the heat of battle.  But it was also an honest one: to their
knowledge, the Sailor Senshi had cleaned up every last youma, cardian,
daimon, and other monster that their various enemies had deployed on
Earth.  And yet here was another one, seemingly with no plan other than
to cause general havoc and massive property damage.  So far, it was
succeeding.  Usagi and Minako were the most distressed about this, as
this had been their favorite shopping mall.

"I don't know, Moon, but I know where it's going!  LOVE ME CHAIN!"

Golden metal arced out from behind their shelter of an overturned table,
heading straight for the vaguely humanoid mass of exposed muscles and
claws.  Venus felt the chain hit its target, but was then dragged to her
feet when the enemy grabbed and pulled the chain.  She let go, letting
her weapon dissipate, and ducked behind the table just in time to avoid
some thrown boulders that had recently been part of the street.

"None of our attacks are working!"  Moon cast another pained glance at
her scepter, dangerously near the monster's feet.  Fortunately, the
monster seemed to be paying it no attention, but they both knew it would
be impossible to reach now.  "If only Tuxedo Mask were here."

"He's still stuck fighting the other one."

Moon glanced behind her.  "Chibi-Moon?"

"They've got it under control, kinda, so I thought I'd come over here
and see if you needed any help.  Looks like you do."

Venus pulled the pink sailor closer as yet another projectile sailed
overhead, this one targeted at Chibi-Moon's head.  "Keep down!"

"Why aren't you attacking?"

"We've tried.  Nothing works.  If you have any ideas, we'd like to hear
them."

Chibi-Moon peeked over the table, then ducked a third boulder.  "Just
one.  Mommy said not to use this unless I had to; I think she meant
now."  She tossed her black, feline-head-like toy into the air.
"Luna-P!  You know what I want!"

Venus watched the ball ascend and transform, then twitched as she
recognized the object.

Moon rolled her eyes as her daughter caught it.  "I don't think your toy
gun's gonna help, Ch-"

*BANGBANGBANGBANG*

Venus's jaw dropped when she saw four holes blossom in their enemy: one
in each eye, one between the eyes, and one where the heart probably was.
All noise and motion seemed to have halted in an instant, save for the
echoes of Chibi-Moon's pistol's report, though the monster did crash to
the ground a few seconds later.  Unable to resist the urge to pose,
Chibi-Moon blew the smoke from her gun, twirled it, and holstered it in
the ribbons on her back.

"..."  Moon articulated.

"It might not be completely dead," her daughter responded.  "Better
finish it off."

"...uh, right."  Still dazed, Moon stood up and walked over to retrieve
her scepter.  Never in her life had her heart been so completely out of
her final attack, but given the monster's state, it was still more than
powerful enough to reduce it to dust.

******

.45 Chibi-Usa

Written by Adrian Tymes

[Legal disclaimer:

This story is based on characters created by Naoko Takeuchi.  Permission
is granted to freely distribute this story, so long as:
a: no recompense of financial value is received or given by the person
who distributes the story, and
b: the distributed copy is identical to the story as originally
authored.  In other words, don't sell it, and don't alter it.

Copyright (c) 2001, all rights reserved, et cetera.]

******

Even though the police only formally taped off the areas that the
monsters had actually damaged, monster attacks had a way of clearing out
an area for quite some time.  Thus, the Sailors had no trouble finding a
private booth in one of the unscathed cafes whose workers had hidden in
the kitchen instead of fleeing.  In fact, they were the only customers
present, and their booth offered them good fields of view to notice when
the waiter was approaching while being out of earshot of anyone else.
Ami sat on the edge of the side facing the kitchen, with Makoto next to
her for backup, while Minako was on the opposite side's edge in case
anyone came up the other way.

Mamoru rubbed his shoulders.  "I'm sorry I couldn't help this time,
Usako.  We were a little busy with the other one."

Usagi leaned into Mamoru, one arm around his back.  "Maybe next time.
You *did* finish the other one off, right?"

Makoto smiled and nodded.  "Yep!  I took it down, but it was Ami's
plan."

"Oh?"

Ami blushed.  "It wasn't much.  Rei, Mamoru, and I distracted it while
Makoto snuck around and electrocuted it."

Makoto shook her head.  "But what a distraction!  You could get an Emmy
for that kind of acting!"

Usagi's smile grew with open curiosity and high expectations.  "What?
What'd you do?"

"It wanted to be a love counselor.  So Rei and I pretended to fight."

Usagi's smile faltered.  "Over...*my* Mamoru?"

"At first.  Then Rei threw in a curveball."

Makoto picked up one of Ami's hands in her own and put on a pleading
expression.  "'Oh, Ami-chan.  Why should we fight over him when we both
know who I really need and love?'"

Ami placed her other hand over Makoto's, and returned a surprised
expression.  "'Do you mean...are you saying...do you love me as much as
I worship you?'"  She gazed at Makoto for a moment, then kissed her.

Which evoked a furious blush from Rei, shocked disbelief from Usagi and
Chibi-Usa, and laughter from Minako...until, and even after, Minako fell
out of the booth, holding her sides in slight pain from her expression
of hilarity.

Mamoru sighed.  "That's when they stopped trying to pull my arms out."

Rei coughed.  "Yeah, well, we didn't kiss *this* long.  Makoto was
already there.  And I said 'Mercury', not 'Ami-chan'."

Usagi and Chibi-Usa looked again at Makoto and Ami, now hugging each
other while they kissed, and sweatdropped in unison.

"I *said*..."  Rei pulled Makoto away from Ami.  The two promptly
returned their hands to their laps, adopted guilty expressions, and
studied the plates in front of them.

Minako kept laughing on the floor, though more quietly now.

"..." Usagi articulated for the second time that hour.

"So," Mamoru queried, "how did you fare?  I sent Chibi-Usa to help you
after I heard Ami's plan, fearing things might get a little more risque
than they did."

"Huh?"  Chibi-Usa blinked.  "I thought it was just because the four of
you had things under control."

"That too."

"Anyway..."  She pointed at Usagi and Minako.  "...these two were in
over their heads, so I bailed 'em out.  Piece of cake."

Minako had finally stopped giggling, so she resumed her seat and brushed
off her side that had been on the floor.  "Maybe for *you*.  You had a
gun.  .45 caliber, if I'm not mistaken."

Four pairs of eyes turned towards Chibi-Usa.

"You're right.  But I'll bet you can't guess who designed it.  Luna-P!"
Again, the black ball came forth and turned into a pistol, which
Chibi-Usa casually laid on the table.

Minako quickly turned it to point at the wall instead of Makoto.  "I
*can* guess that you need some gun safety training.  Rule number one:
*NEVER* point it at anything unless you intend to shoot it."

"Hmm?  Oh, yeah, that's right.  That's what you said in the future,
too."

"Hmm."  Makoto shrugged.  "Looks like you get some experience with guns
between now and Crystal Tokyo, Minako."

"Already have it, actually, from being Sailor V, but I wouldn't be
surprised if I run into them again."  She leaned over to inspect the
pistol.  "No manufacturer's mark, no serial number...did you get this on
the blue market?"  Though she had meant 'black' market, all of those at
the table thought there was enough of a chance she was referring to some
not-widely-used criminologist term that no one corrected her.

"Nope.  Made it myself.  With help from you, for a science project.
Mama made me give the original to a museum - they know it's modern, but
they couldn't find any originals - but I had Luna-P remember the design
first."

"Psst," Ami interrupted.  "Put it away.  Waiter coming with food."

The firearm was once again an oddly shaped toy ball by the time the
waiter arrived, and was not discussed again for the duration of the
meal.

******

That night, as Usagi prepared for bed, a knock on her door precluded
slumber.  "Usagi?  Can I come in?"

"Sure, Chibi-Usa."  Usagi sat on her mattress as her future daughter
opened the door.  "What's u-"  She frowned.  "Hide that before anyone
sees!"

Chibi-Usa jumped at Usagi's sudden change in tone, then stuffed her
pistol underneath her jacket.  "Sorry."

"And close the door."  Once Chibi-Usa had done so, Usagi continued,
"Guns are illegal in Japan in this time.  There could be trouble if
anyone saw you with one, *especially* if they saw Chibi-Usa instead of
Sailor Chibi-Moon."

"Yeah.  They're not real welcome in Crystal Tokyo, either.  That's what
I wanted to ask you about, Usagi: why?"

"Well..."

"Because they are an abomination," Luna replied from the windowsill.
"They have one purpose and one purpose only: to kill."

Usagi blinked.  "Luna?"

"Even the Silver Millennium knew about these devices.  We eradicated all
record of them from Earth, though the basic knowledge of gunpowder
remained in China.  Once the Moon Kingdom fell, it did not take long for
mankind to reinvent this weapon.  There were, of course, arguments in
its defense: it could be adapted to stun or wound - but all the
adaptations we saw still had risk of death, especially if used
improperly.  The most noble defense I heard was using it to hunt for
food, to engender respect for a person's place in the circle of life -
but one of the most basic uses of magic was to create food without
having to harm a living thing, thus placing humanity outside and above
the so-called circle.  That is, of course, no longer possible, but
hopefully it will be again in Crystal Tokyo.  But the point is, these
devices were made to kill whatever they are pointed at, indiscriminate
of good versus evil.  As such, in light of better alternatives, they
were not allowed to exist."

Chibi-Usa frowned in thought.  "But...I used it to kill a monster today.
I saved Usagi and Minako with it.  Was that wrong?"

"Of course not.  But you should have used your magic instead.  You *are*
here to learn to be a Sailor Senshi, you know."

"My magic wouldn't have worked.  Theirs didn't."

"There's always a way, Chibi-Usa.  Sometimes, it can take a while to
see.  Now, it's getting late, so why don't you think about this while
you go to bed?  If you're lucky, maybe the answer will come to you in a
dream or something."

Chibi-Usa sighed.  "Ok, Luna, if you say so.  But I *wanted* to talk to
Usagi about this.  Alone."

Usagi shook her head.  "Luna's right.  It's way late, and we've got
school tomorrow.  If I oversleep again, Haruna's gonna kill me.  We can
talk about it after school, ok?"

"Ok."  Chibi-Usa yawned.  "G'night."

******

Half an hour later, when he heard slight snores coming from the attic
which had become Chibi-Usa's bedroom, Shingo snuck up the stairs.  He
had not dared to listen in on her conversation with Usagi, but he had
seen Chibi-Usa walking down the hall with that object.

He had heard legends about it, and seen pictures and drawings, but never
had he dreamed he would see the real thing in Japan.  And in his
cousin's hands!  She was still a brat just like his sister, but she was
now one step cooler, in his opinion.

He just had to have a closer look.  Ever so quietly, he tiptoed up to
Chibi-Usa's bed, eyes straining to make out details in the moonlight.
His search was soon rewarded by a glint of metal on the stand next to
the bed, which on closer inspection turned out to be the prize.
Reverently, he picked it up, almost as if afraid its holy nature would
burn his unworthy hands.  But no such burn came, and Shingo was soon
turning it this way and that to see it from all sides.  He even looked
down the barrel, trying and failing to see if it was loaded.  With no
satisfaction there, he chuckled at his own naivite: surely Chibi-Usa was
not such a ditz as to leave it lying around load-

******

Usagi dragged herself into class ten minutes late, a new record.  Not
even trying to hide, she opened the front door and waited for Haruna to
notice her.  "Sorry I'm late, but-"

"I heard.  Is he...ok?"

Usagi blinked.  "Huh?  When I woke up, the house was deserted!  I had to
fix my own breakfast, and-"

"You mean, they didn't wake you?"

"What?  Who?"

"Usagi.  Sometime last night, your brother was shot in your cousin's
bedroom.  The police think he was trying to protect your cousin from a
burglar, but they couldn't get anything coherent from her.  Your parents
called before school this morning, saying not to expect you.  I'm
surprised you slept through it, but given your record, I can believe
it."

It was not true that all the color drained from Usagi's skin, for it
still had a color: the color of snow.

"Naru, I think Usagi will need help getting to the nurse's office.  Can
you walk her there, and tell the nurse to call her parents at the
hospital?"

******

"Usagi Tsukino?  We'd like to have a word with you."

Usagi limply let the police escort her away from her brother's side.
Chibi-Usa had clearly cried herself to sleep, Luna-P clutched tight in
her hands, while Usagi's parents were on the other side of the room
conferring with the doctor and signing forms.

The officer who dragger her away did not take her far, merely to the
unoccupied conference room two doors down the hall.  He sat her in one
of the chairs, then glanced at some vending machines.  "Do you need
anything?  Water?"

"How is he?"

He nodded.  "He's a survivor, but more importantly he got lucky.  The
bullet passed through his shoulder, missing his heart by one centimeter.
He was actually hurt more by the knockdown.  They're not sure if he got
a concussion from hitting the floor, and won't know until he's awake.
But there's a good chance he didn't, and if not, he should be out of
here tonight."

"What happened?"

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about.  Just how heavily *do* you
sleep?"

"..."  Usagi blinked.  "Very.  Why?"

He nodded.  "That's what your parents said.  Apparently, whoever did
this got into your house through your window.  That was the only open
entrance, and there were no signs of forced entry."

"I only leave it open so Luna can get in and out..."

"Don't blame yourself.  This is the first intrusion in your neighborhood
we've had in over ten years, and there's reason to hope it may be the
only one we'll have for ten more.  Nothing was stolen, and there were
no fingerprints other than your family's anywhere, so whoever it was
must've been using gloves.  This person probably entered your window,
saw you sleeping there, and went into the hall before you or your cat
could wake up.  Either Shingo was already there and chased the intruder
upstairs, or woke up and followed the intruder who chose to loot the
attic first; either way, that's where Shingo was when the gun went off.
>From the powder on his hands, we think the intruder pulled a gun on him,
and they struggled for it.  Unfortunately, it was counterproductive:
Shingo had such a good grip on it, it's almost as if he shot himself.
Anyway, we couldn't find the gun anywhere, so we think the intruder got
scared - especially once your cousin woke up and screamed - and ran off,
back through your window.  The intruder was gone by the time your
parents got upstairs.  We couldn't find any traces, but we're hoping
that whoever did this was nervous to begin with, and won't be trying it
again."

"I see."  Usagi folded her hands in her lap.  "So he wasn't shot with
Luna-P?"

The officer blinked.  "Your parents said they keep no guns in the house.
And you know they're illegal anyway.  Isn't Luna-P just that ball with a
cat face your cousin won't let go of?"

"...yes.  Never mind, it was a silly thought."

Any reply by the officer was forestalled when Usagi's father bolted into
the room.  "Usagi!  Shingo's awake!"

******

"Well, doc?  What's the verdict?"  Usagi smiled, anticipating good news
from the doctor's smile.

"Your brother will be just fine.  The injury should heal completely
within a couple weeks, so long as he doesn't exert himself too much, and
if the tests turn out ok, he can go home tonight.  We'll have to keep
him here until then, you understand, but there's no concussion, so he
can handle visitors.  Your cousin in particular seems dead set on
keeping a vigil over him."

"I was wondering why she wouldn't come out here for the diagnosis."  She
smirked.  "Hey, Mom, Dad?  Would it be ok if we...didn't tell her, for a
little bit?  Let her think there's something to protect, until it's time
for him to come home?"

Her father shared Usagi's mischievous look.  "Well, I dunno.  Getting a
chance to play hero for real is so *common* these days.  I don't
remember at all treasuring the memories of the few chances I had."  He
chuckled.

Usagi's mother rolled her eyes.  "I swear, she gets it all from you.
Let's go, dear.  Usagi, do you think you can get back to school ok?  And
I mean it: I'll call your teacher and tell her to expect you this
afternoon."

"Aw, mooom!"  Usagi pouted, then sighed.  "Ok, fine.  Just let me say
goodbye to Chibi-Usa and Shingo first."

"Ok, de-"

Usagi would later reflect on Minako's comment of the prior day.  Where
were these monsters coming from, anyway?  And why did they have to
attack places like malls and hospitals?  Why couldn't a monster just
trash an empty lot, or a building that was *supposed* to be demolished,
for once?  At least no one tried to stop her when she headed for
Shingo's room - except for the monster itself, which had materialized
from the door of said room.

******

The heartbeat monitor in Shingo's room registered a high enough pulse to
trigger an automatic alert to the nurse's station.  Normally, this
would have prompted a doctor or nurse to hurry to the affected patient,
discover the cause, and intervene if necessary.  Standard procedure was
followed here, too, though the cause was visible from said nurse's
station, and several of the braver doctors were already rushing to the
scene to try to wrestle the monster down until the police animal control
unit could arrive.  The nurse on duty merely noted this all down as her
way of coping, much preferring that to the alternative of fainting just
in case the monster chose to come any closer her.  Even though the
monster was blocky and angular like some polyhedral golem, her
imagination insisted on flashing back to the tentacle anime marathon she
had once watched on a dare, and insisted that she - being, in her mind,
the prettiest lady and only virgin over the age of 13 in the immediate
vicinity - would of course be its target, especially if she could not
resist for silly reasons like being unconscious.

The monster, however, preferred closer targets.  Only two of those
already within reach had not fled, primarily because there was nowhere
for them to flee to.

Chibi-Usa knew this time would come eventually.  Every time she thought
about it, in fact, she was surprised it had not come for any of the
others save Ami.  And, indeed, her situation was much like Ami's: secret
revealed to one she cared about.  Even if Shingo was, in Chibi-Usa's
opinion, a brat.  Sighing in acceptance, she reached for her brooch.
"Moon-"

A solid fist to the brooch cut that plan off.  Not that the monster saw
her about to transform and wanted to destroy the focus of her magic; it
just hated shiny things.  But the effect was the same: while Usagi could
repair the brooch with her own magic easily enough, it was rendered
unusable for the moment.

Shingo looked around for something to use as a weapon.  The IV stand
next to his bed seemed like a good candidate, but it had two problems.
First, as Shingo discovered when he tried to lift it, it was too heavy
to effectively wield.  Second, the glint from its saline solution bag
made it the monster's next target.  Shingo's shoulders were nearly
dislocated when the IV stand was ripped from his grip, causing his wound
to flood his mind with pain.  He gripped his shoulder and dropped back
onto the bed, out of action for the moment but fortunately ducking the
stand, now swung by the monster as it found the stand made a decent
club.

Chibi-Usa looked around desperately for anything that could help.  Her
magic was gone, and for all she knew Usagi was still trying to find a
place to hide and transform.  Her eyes fell upon Luna-P, but as she
picked it up, Luna's words came back to her.

"They are an abomination."

...then what am I facing?

"In light of better alternatives..."

...there are none.

"You *are* here to learn to be a Sailor Senshi, you know."

...what is a Senshi, without magic?

"There's always a way, Chibi-Usa.  Sometimes, it can take a while to
see."

...but I don't have a while to act.

Shingo's eyes opened at the sound of four pistol shots.  Four holes had
appeared in the golem, three in a line on the head and one in the chest.
The head shots seemed to have taken out its eyes, for it clutched at
them and staggered back.  He heard some shouting outside, then what
looked like a giant heart crashed in on the monster and dissolved it.

But what captured his attention was his cousin, eyes locked in
determination and pointing the gun as if daring the monster to make a
move, or perhaps looking for other weak points.  This image stayed in
his mind well after Chibi-Usa lowered the gun below the bed, and her
hand came back up holding Luna-P.  It stayed even after she looked at
him, waved a hand in front of his eyes, and whispered, "Shingo?"

"Chibi-Usa?"

She slumped, letting go a breath and tension she had not realized she
had held.  "I thought you had a heart attack or something."

"That...was...cool!"

Chibi-Usa started, then looked up, meeting his adoring gaze with a
slight scowl.  "That was desperation.  And it's our secret, ok?  Usagi
would freak if she knew."

"Ok!  But can you teach me to shoot?"

"No."

"..." Shingo articulated, in a behavior that some studies in the future
would show was genetically influenced.

She sighed.  "There's always a better way, Shingo.  I sometimes don't
have time to find it...but you do.  You're in here because of my error."
Chibi-Usa leaned up on tiptoes to stare into his eyes.  "Don't you
*dare* look up to me because of this.  If you let yourself die because
of me, I'll kill you."  She smiled to reduce the impact of her words,
and in reaction to the look of confusion on his face.

Any further questions were forestalled by the horde of doctors who had
tried, and failed, to control the monster, and now checked on the
patient out of an urge to do something.  As it turned out, those few who
had heard the gunshots over the general commotion, attributed them to
the monster.

After that day, rarely would anyone else see Chibi-Usa's gun, except
those who were about to fall victim to it.  Luna was most pleased with
herself when she reflected on this, until Chibi-Usa taunted her with an
alternate reason: the weapon was much more useful if no one thought she
had it, and how better to hide it than to have it not usually exist?
Luna never would figure out whether Chibi-Usa did the right (according
to Luna) thing, or just the more effective one.  Or if there was any
difference.
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