Alone No More: Minako's Story
by Jason C. Ulloa


Chapter 13

"So, this Alan Nelson's supposed to be picking us up?" Ryoku asked as he and Minako started 
wandering around the airport. "Any idea where?"

"Anou...," Minako began thoughtfully as she tried to remember. "Actually... I don't know, 
Ryo-kun."

Ryoku facefaulted immediately. "Nani?"

"Ehehe... I guess I forgot to ask. Gomen, Ryo-kun," she replied, laughing in chagrin as she 
put a hand to the back of her head. Ryoku sweatdropped silently in reply.

"Oi! Aino-san! Kino-san!" a male voice shouted in Japanese from across the section of the 
airport that they were in. "Over here!"

"Eh?" Ryoku said as he and Minako turned to see a black-haired young man waving at them. "I 
suppose that's Alan?"

"Oh! He's cute!" Minako said aside to him.

"Nani?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Eh? Oh, gomen, Ryo-kun. Reflex," she explained.

"Yare, yare...," he  grumbled flatly as he sweatdropped again.

"At any rate," she added as they started to walk over to the man, "how do suppose that he 
knew that it was us? I don't remember meeting him before."

"Now that you mention it...," he began, but cut off when the man started walking up to them.

"Ah, so you two are Aino Minako-san and Kino Ryoku-san?" he asked, still speaking in 
Japanese.

"Hai," both replied in unison.

"Good," the man replied with a smile. "My name is Alan Nelson," he continued in English. 
"I'm pleased to meet you two. I must say that it was hard finding you, especially since I 
didn't know where to meet you both."

"I am sorry about that," Ryoku replied, also in Enlgish. "Minako-chan and I did not know 
where to meet you."

"I am too sorry," Minako added, also speaking in English. "I too forgetted...."

"Forgot," Ryoku told her in a quiet whisper.

"...forgot," she corrected herself with hardly a pause, "where we were to meet."

"Ah, so you both have been studying your English as well, I see," Alan said with a pleased 
grin. "Please, come with me. My car's parked not too far from here, so we don't have that 
far of a walk."

"Great!" Minako said in relief, reverting back to Japanese. "I'm very tired from the plane 
ride and all this walking...."

Alan chuckled softly. "It must've been quite a trip for you and Ryoku-san," he said, also 
reverting to Japanese.

"Hai!" she agreed. "It was especially hard on poor Ryo-kun," she added. "He's not too fond 
of flying."

"I'm sorry to hear that," he said, frowning disappointedly at him, then smiling again. 
"Well, you'll be glad to hear that you don't have to worry about planes for a while, ne, 
Ryoku-san?"

"Right," Ryoku agreed. "By the way, Nelson-san...."

"Alan, is fine, Ryoku-san," Alan interjected.

"And so is just Ryoku," he replied with a grin. "No honorifics is needed, or you can always 
call me, Ryo-kun."

"I prefer Minako-chan!" she chimed in cheerily.

"Very well, then," Alan said with a laugh. "Minako-chan and Ryo-kun."

"As I was saying, Alan," Ryoku continued, "how did you know it was us when you saw us? Did 
you see a picture of us before."

"Actually, I didn't know it was you," Alan admitted. "I guessed."

"Nani?" both Minako and Ryoku said at once.

"Well, since there aren't many people in England who speak Japanese and who have last names 
like Aino and Kino, I just watched for the two young people who reponded to the names and 
understood Japanese."

"Ah," Ryoku said as he nodded. "No wonder."

"How smart of you," Minako commented with a smile.

"Why, thank you, Minako-chan," Alan replied as he smiled back. "Ah, there's my car." Minako 
and Ryoku glanced over to see that Alan was pointing to a small, light blue car parked not 
to far from the entrance to the airport. "You don't know how lucky I was to get a parking 
space so close! Usually, I'd have to go about half a kilometer before I could find a 
parking spot."

"Is your house far from here?" Minako asked.

"It's a not too far," Alan replied as he unlocked the car's doors. "Since you two are tired 
why don't you two just take a nap for a bit. I'll wake you when we get there."

"All right," they both agreed as Minako climbed into the front passenger seat and Ryoku 
hopped into the back. Within minutes of Alan starting the car and pulling out of the 
parking lot, they were both fast asleep.

            **********************************************

"This is your place?" Ryoku asked as soon as they had all exited the car. In front of them 
was a small, two-story brick house. The house had a nice, pleasant atmosphere around it; 
the lawn and hegdes surrounding the house were neatly trimmed, and the one tree in the 
front yard looked as though it had been recently trimmed of its dead branches. The roof of 
the house consisted of dark gray roofing tiles, while the wooden window frames were painted 
a nice snowy white with no signs of chipped or peeling paint. The solid oak door was also 
painted the same snowy white as the window frames, which made a bright contrast with the 
dark iron knocker and doorknob on the door.

"Yes," Alan replied, reverting back to English. "It once belonged to my parents, but they 
left it to me when they died."

"I am sorry," Ryoku said solemnly, also in English.

"That's all right," Alan told him. "You couldn't have known. It was a long time ago and my 
parents lived long, happy lives in this house, as have I. I try to keep this house looking 
just as good as it did when they were still alive, just to keep their spirits happy. I know 
that whenever they look down at this house from wherever they are now, they are content 
knowing that their son is still doing fine."

"How beautiful...," Minako sniffled as she wiped a small tear from her eye. "This's such a 
beautiful house. You must've had such wonderful parents."

"That I did," Alan replied, going back to Japanese again as he took out his keys. "They 
were the ones who helped me go to college in Japan, and supported me when I choose to stay 
there after college."

"So, that's why you can speak Japanese so well?" she asked.

"That's it," he agreed. "When I learned that my parents had taken ill and might not have 
long to live, I immediately came home to see them." He paused as he opened the front door. 
"They both were happy to see me again and told me how proud they were that I had succeeded 
in the things that I wanted to do. They told me that my happiness was all that mattered to 
them and that they could rest easy knowing that they had succeeded in helping me get to 
where I was.

"When they died, I made a promise to them that in return for taking care of me, one day I 
would take care of others in the same way. I suppose that is one reason why I volunteered 
to take in exchange students. If I can help others to succeed in life, then I would be 
making my parents happy."

"How wonderful," Minako sighed dreamily while Ryoku walked into the house behind her and 
closed the door behind him.

"I'm sure that you've been doing your parents proud," Ryoku said as he glanced around the 
house. "So, where're we going to sleep?"

"Oh, the rooms are upstairs to your left," Alan told them as he pointed toward the 
staircase.

"All right," he said as he lifted his suitcase. "Let's go, Minako-chan."

"Right behind you, Ryo-kun," Minako replied as she followed him up the staircase.

Alan watched them turn left from the top of the staircase, then sweatdropped as he noticed 
that they had both gone into the same room. 'Now, that's different,' he thought to himself. 
'Usually the males and females would go into separate rooms....' He turned and went up the 
staircase and toward the room that they had went into.

"Oh, hi, Alan," Minako greeted him as he walked inside. "This's such a nice room. Was it 
yours when your parents were still alive?"

"Uh... yes, it was," he replied uncertainly as he glanced from her to Ryoku. He was busy 
placing a couple of blankets on the floor at the other side of the room from Minako as she 
set her stuff on the bed. "You two... weren't planning on staying in the same room... were 
you?" he asked, slightly confused.

"Well, we didn't want to impose upon you," Minako said as she moved some of her clothes 
from her bag to the top drawer of the dresser at one end of the room.

"After all, that other room is yours, ne?" Ryoku added. "We wouldn't want to intrude on 
your privacy. Minako-chan and I'll be fine in here. Ne, Minako-chan?"

"Hai!" she agreed with a nod as she finished moving her clothes into the dresser. "Oi, 
Ryo-kun, are you gonna open your suitcase, yet? I wanna put away the rest of my clothes!"

"Eh?" Alan said and blinked as he noticed that one third of Ryoku's large suitcase held 
female clothing.

"Thanks, Ryo-kun," she said as she took the rest of her clothes and started putting them 
away.

"Um... okay...," Alan murmured and sweatdropped slightly.

"Well, she's got a lot of clothes," Ryoku explained when he noticed Alan's expression. "I 
didn't really need so many clothes, so I let Minako-chan carry her extras in my suitcase so 
she didn't have to carry another bag."

"I'm still going to have to get some more clothes during my stay here," Minako said partly 
to herself. "Ooh! I wanna try out all the latest English fashions!" she said excitedly as 
Ryoku sweatdropped and proceeded to put his clothes away in the bottom drawer of the 
dresser.

Alan smirked to himself as he turned to leave. 'Those two seem to act like a close brother 
and sister would,' he observed to himself. 'I suppose that it'll be all right to let them 
share the room. Besides, the boy doesn't seem to be the type to take advantage of a girl, 
especially when they're obviously best friends.'

"Oi! Quit throwing my socks at me, Minako-chan!"

"Biidah!!! You missed, Ryo-kun!"

"That's it! Time for some payback, Aino!"

"Iku wa yo, Kino!"

Alan chuckled to himself at the familiar sounds of the traditional first pillow fight when 
spending the first night in a strange place. He quietly went down the stairs and into the 
kitchen. His guests were always hungry after a good pillow fight, so he'd have dinner ready 
when they were done.

            **********************************************

"I can't believe it, Ryo-kun!" Minako exclaimed excitedly. "Our first day in an English 
school! Oh, I'm so excited! I wonder if our school has a good volleyball team?"

"I'm sure that you'll blow them away with your skills, Minako-chan," Ryoku said wryly. "At 
any rate, while we're out here, we should keep our eyes open," he said in a more serious 
tone. "Remember why we're here."

"Hai, hai...," she replied with a tired sigh. "I know. The Dark Agency. Come on, Ryo-kun, 
we don't have to spend our entire time here doing nothing but work! We're in a faraway 
country seeing and doing things that none of our friends back home have ever dreamt of! 
Lighten up a bit, okay?"

Ryoku sighed as he looked over to Minako, then grinned slightly. "I wonder if they have a 
fencing team?" he said partly to himself.

"Now that's more like it!" she cheered as she took Ryoku's hand and started running down 
the street. "Come on, Ryo-kun! Our first day in a foreign school is just starting!"

"Funny, you were never this excited to go to school back home," he commented wryly. "By the 
way, Minako-chan, you just ran past the street we were supposed to turn onto."

"Eh?" she asked as she skidded to a stop. "Oh... Oops."

"Come on," Ryoku said as he started to run, dragging her along just as she did before. "We 
don't wanna be late on our first day."

A short time later, both Minako and Ryoku were standing out in the hallway in front of 
their first class as it began. "Well, we almost made it," Minako said sheepishly.

"Fifteen minutes late is not almost making it, Minako-chan," Ryoku replied flatly as he 
sighed.

            **********************************************

"Finally!" Minako exclaimed as the final bell rang, releasing the students from school. "I 
thought school was never gonna end!"

"So much for an exciting first day at a foriegn school," Ryoku muttered as he and Minako 
left. "Everything was practically the same as school back home, except that it was all 
taught in English!"

"Hai," she agreed with a sigh, "Almost every class was like English class. I could barely 
understand anything that they were saying, especially with those accents!"

"At any rate, Minako-chan," Ryoku said as he pulled out a map that he picked up on the way 
to school, "I think we'd better find that place that Natsuna-san was telling us about 
before we left."

"You mean...," she began, then paused in thought. "Anou... what was that name again...? Oh, 
yeah! Interpol!"

"So, you didn't forget?" he asked wryly.

"You don't have to act all surprised, Ryo-kun," she replied flatly. "I can be serious when 
I have to be."

"Of course," Ryoku agreed with a nod as he glanced back down at the map in his hands.

"You know, Ryo-kun, that map was the reason why we were so late," she added with a small 
frown.

"Okay, so I got lost, too," Ryoku admitted with a sigh. "We needed this map to find our way 
around, right?"

"Right," Minako agreed. "But, couldn't you have at least tried using that pocket translator 
of yours before starting a conversation in English as if you were fluent in it."

"Okay, okay!" he retorted defensively. "So I was being a little cocky. You have to admit 
that the man could understand part of what I was saying."

"You tried to ask for a map. He pointed out a hat, a pair of pants, a candy bar, and a box 
of trading cards."

"So, we had some slight miscommunications. I eventually got the map, ne?"

"After I found it myself."

Ryoku grimaced slightly. "We have the map. I say leave it at that."

"Hey!" a voice shouted urgently out of sight behind them. "Help! Someone help! She's not 
moving! Call a hospital!!!"

"Eh?" they both gasped as they whirled around in the direction of the voice.

"Somebody stop him!" another voice shouted. "Police! Call the police!"

"I think we'd better check this out, Minako-chan," he told her.

"Right," she agreed. "The Dark Agency might've struck again already." With that, they 
quickly rushed forward, toward the cries for help.

As soon as they turned a corner, a man rushed past them, running as fast as he could go. He 
pushed past them, knocking Ryoku into the wall and shoving Minako toward the street, almost 
into the path of an oncoming car. She regained her balance enough to avoid falling entirely 
into the street, but not enough to keep from getting hit by the car coming toward her head. 
Just as she was about to get hit, Ryoku pulled her back toward the middle of the sidewalk. 
She hugged her arms around him, relieved that she had avoided getting hit by that car.

"Minako-chan," Ryoku said gently as he moved away from her enough so that he could examine 
her for any injuries. "You're okay."

"Thank you, Ryo-kun," she said gratefully as she glanced in the direction that the man fled 
in. "You check the victim. I'll take care of him."

"Wait," he said as he handed her a small device. "I tinkered with them a little more while 
we were in school. They're fully functional now. We may need them."

Minako nodded as she pocketed the communicator. "Let's get to work," she told him with a 
serious expression on her face.

"Hai!" Ryoku agreed as he turned and ran toward where the victim was. Minako scowled as she 
dashed into a nearby blind alleyway and brought out her transformation pen. "Moon Power 
Transform!" she yelled, changing quickly into Sailor V. Once transformed, she quickly 
leaped up onto the roof of the nearby building and began to chase the man by leaping from 
rooftop to rooftop.

Ryoku knelt down next to the lifeless woman and examined her closely. 'Completely drained 
of her energy. This is the Dark Agency's work, all right.'

He quickly jumped to his feet and ran into a nearby blind alleyway and brought out his Star 
Sword. "Star Sword Power Transform!" he yelled, changing quickly into Masked Knight. Once 
transformed, he quickly leaped up onto the roof of the nearby building and hurried in the 
direction he last she Minako heading in.

"Venus," he called into the communicator, "where are you?"

"Knight, I'm following that man that shoved past us now," she replied. "I'm up on the 
rooftops."

"I see you. I'm coming your way." Masked Knight shut off his communicator and ran faster 
until he caught up with Sailor V. "Oi, Venus," he said as he joined her. "I think I saw a 
policewoman chasing after that man as I was catching up to you."

"Nani?" she said, glancing back at him. "Already? That was fast; the police were never that 
fast back home."

"The police here never had Sailor V or Masked Knight to help them," he added. "Then again, 
they never had the Dark Agency to deal with, either. Look!" he shouted as he pointed down 
toward the street.

Below them, the man had stopped and was now holding a little girl hostage. "How dare that 
man use that little girl as a hostage! No one has the right to mistreat an innocent young 
girl like that!" Sailor V exclaimed angrily.

"He's gonna drain that little girl's energy just as he did that woman," Masked knight 
stated. "That policewoman isn't going to be able to stop that guy by herself."

As soon as he said that, the man quickly began to drain the girl's energy. As he did so, 
his form slowly began to change into that of a winged creature. It screeched in anger as 
glared out at the other people around it as it tried to drain all of the girl's young 
energy. The policewoman aimed her gun at the creature, but hesitated for fear of hitting 
the little girl by mistake.

The creature was about to finish off the girl when something flashed by, slashing the 
creature's arm and striking the ground between the creature and the policewoman. "What's 
this?" she muttered quizzically to herself. "A sword?"

A loud shouting overhead drew everyone's attention as two figures leaped off the edge of a 
building, each executing a flying kick that connected hard with the head of the winged 
creature. The force of the combined attack was enough to destroy the creature and free the 
young girl. The policewoman blinked in surprise as she noticed the two saviors: a masked 
boy and girl, each wearing what looked like strange school outfits from her home country of 
Japan.

"Daijoubu?" the masked girl asked the little girl as she knelt down beside her.

"Huh? What'd you say?" the girl asked in English.

"Baka...," the masked boy sighed as he shook his head. "She asked if you were all right?" 
the boy asked in English.

'Those two are Japanese!' the policewoman thought in shock. 'What are a pair of Japanese 
junior high-school kids in strange fukus doing here... and fighting a winged creature?'

"Oi! Hey, you two!" the policewoman shouted at them as she walked over toward them. 

"Eh?" the boy said as he turned toward her. "Excuse me, but you are a policewoman, ne? ...I 
mean, right?" he asked.

The policewoman smiled at the boy. "Hai, sou desu."

"Ara!" the girl exclaimed. "You can speak Japanese, too? Sugoi!"

"Excuse me, but we're searching for a police building called Interpol," the boy said. "Do 
you know where we can find it?"

"I work for Interpol," the policewoman said with a laugh. "So, you two are the Japanese 
transfers we were expecting, ne? I'm Katrina Nagashi."

"I'm Masked Knight," the boy said. "And she's Sailor V."

"You know Natsuna-oneechan?" Sailor V asked.

"You mean Sakurada Natsuna?" Katrina asked. "Well, not personally, but I did talk with her 
over the phone. I am one of the few people in Interpol who speaks Japanese, you know."

"I see," Masked Knight said with a nod. "So, I suppose we'll be working with you, then?"

"Yes," Katrina agreed. "But I would like to ask you something first. What was that... thing 
you two had just taken out? I suppose he was behind the rash of mysterious attacks we've 
been having lately."

"Attacks?" both gasped at once.

"Yes," she confirmed. "They've been going on for almost two weeks straight. Everyday, we'd 
get report after report on these attacks. People would fall over unconscious and stay in a 
coma for days before waking up weak as a baby. Do you two know what is going on?"

"All we can tell you is that the attacks were the very reason we came here," Masked Knight 
explained.

"The same people behind the attacks back home in Tokyo are trying to do the same thing here 
in London," Sailor V added.

"Do either of you know who's behind this?" Katrina asked.

"We do," they replied together.

"Who?"

"It's a long story, Nagashi-san," Masked Knight began.

"Please, call me Katrina," she told him.

"Katrina-san, this isn't exactly something that people would believe...."

"I've seen what you two can do, and I want to help you both," she said pleadingly. "You 
both can confide in me; I fight for justice, just like you."

"Katrina...," Sailor V said as she turned to Masked Knight. "I think we can trust her."

"If you say so," Knight acquiesed as he turned from her to face Katrina. "Okay. If you 
would meet us...." He paused in thought for a second as he glanced around. Suddenly, a loud 
chiming could be heard from a distance away. "Of course," he said with a grin. "Meet us 
near the south side of Big Ben at 6:45pm."

"Big Ben?" Katrina repeated. "Why? Why can't you tell me now?"

"We need to go home first," Sailor V explained. "We just got out of school a while ago and 
we are kinda late getting home. We might be in a little bit of trouble with the person 
we're staying with. After all, he might be getting worried about us being so late."

Katrina chuckled slightly at that. "I understand. 6:45pm it is, then."

"We'd better get going," Masked Knight said. "Ja matte ne!"

"Ja ne, Katrina!" Sailor V added as they both leaped back up toward the rooftops and dashed 
off.

"Sailor V and Masked Knight...," Katrina murmured to herself. "They're only a couple of 
children... but, I wonder who they are...."

            **********************************************

"Tadaima!" Minako and Ryoku shouted as they walked into the house.

"You two get lost?" Alan asked, his voice showing concern for them.

"Uh, kinda...," Ryoku admitted. "I had to get a map just to find our way around."

"I see," Alan said, obviously relieved. "I'm glad you two are okay. It would be a horrible 
thing for me to have to tell your families that you two had ended up missing."

"Aw, Minako-chan and I can take care of ourselves," Ryoku said confidently. "We just lost 
our way, that's all."

"Right," Minako agreed with a grin. "Ryo-kun's always looking out for me, so you don't need 
to worry so much, okay?"

Alan chuckled to himself. "Of course," he agreed. "Well you two, just don't give me any 
more frights, all right? I may not have to worry about you, but I'd at least like to know 
where you to are for my own peace of mind."

"Okay," Minako agreed as she walked over to him and smiled up at him. "Next time, Ryo-kun 
and I'll make sure you know where we are, ne, Ryo-kun?"

Ryoku sweatdropped at Minako's behavior. 'Great. Looks like the Aino Minako crush strikes 
yet again and Alan's the next target. Oh, great. She's gonna start acting all dreamy-eyed 
for the whole time we're here!' He sighed to himself as he nodded. "Hai...," he agreed with 
a small sigh.

"That reminds me," she continued, "Ryo-kun and I promised to meet someone near Big Ben at 
around 6:45pm today."

Alan nodded. "Okay, Minako-chan, just make sure you and Ryo-kun aren't out for too long."

"Thank you, Alan!" Minako cried as she hugged him then started for the door, grabbing 
Ryoku's arm along the way. "Come on, Ryo-kun! I wanna go look around before we have to meet 
Katrina-san!"

"Oi!" he managed to gasp out before he was dragged out the door.

Alan stared at the door Minako and Ryoku ran out of. "Have fun...," he chuckled to himself 
as he shook his head in amusement.

            **********************************************

Disclaimer: All original materials belong to their respective owners. Sailor Moon belongs 
to Naoko Takeuchi and a bunch of big companies. No copyright infringement is intended. This 
story belongs me, so I would appreciate it very much if you would ask for permission before 
posting it anywhere else. Thank you.

The Question and all stories included are:
Copyright © July 6, 2001 Jason C. Ulloa. 
All Rights Reserved.