Title: Stigmata
Author: Grace
Parts: 3/6
Rated: R
Email: GraceSpradlin@hotmail.com

Third Sign....

	Minako grabbed Usagi around the back and hoisted
her up, bringing her arm on her shoulder to help her stand.
They walked out of the hospital room in silence. Minako
didn't know what to make of this. It was getting violent and
she had to admit that she was scared for Usagi. They turned
the corner and started walking down the hall. A man
stopped them in the hallway and Minako recognized him as
the priest on the train. "Yes?" He looked nervous, and she
didn't know why. "I saw what happened. Have you ever
heard about the crucifiction of Christ?" Minako wasn't a
christian herself and didn't want anything to do with it so
she shrugged him off and walked Usagi out to her car.
Minako drove her home and told her that she would take
her place and work for a couple days, but Usagi, as
stubborn as she is, refused.

	The next day, it was the same as always. Usagi
dashed out the door with her purse in hand. But this time
when she reached work, EVERYONE looked up and stared
at her. Usagi walked into the backroom and put her ear up
against the door. She could hear them whispering and was
gettin quite annoyed. After all, she wasn't the one doing this
to herself. She walked out of the room quietly so they
couldn't hear. "You guys can stop whispering. It isn't worth
it when the person that you are whispering about can hear
every word your saying." She walked over to the hair-
cutting chair and looked at the young woman at the door
who was waiting for her hair cut. "I can take you now." She
grabbed a pair of scissors off the tray. "No, that's ok. I'll
have Aino-san do it when she's done, thank-you." Usagi
looked at her oddly and put the scissors down. She
shrugged then turned back around.

	She turned to look at the door when she heard the
bell ring, signaling that someone had come in. A tall man
with jet-black hair walked in. "Do you have an
appointment?" Usagi got ready for the usual. "No, actually,
um...." He looked around the room. "That's ok. We can give
you a hair cut, manicure, pierce your nipple...." She had an
extremely calm and serious expression on her face.
"Uh...I'll just start off with a hair cut." She nodded and he
sat down in the chair. She grabbed the plastic clothes-cover
from the table. "I'm just gonna put this over your nice suit
here, and we can get started." She placed it over him and
velcroed it in the back. She noticed that he was wearing a
priest suit. The white collar gave it away. She tried to be
polite and start a converstaion as she gathered her cutting
tools. "So, where ya from?" She grabbed the scissors and
trimmed the bottom of his hair. "New York." "That's nice.
What's your name?" She started trimming again. "Father
Chiba Mamoru" That made her stop dead in her tracks and
so did Minako. Usagi glanced at Minako and they
exchanged looks. She turned back to Mamoru and saw him
looking at her in the mirror. "I've actually been expecting
you...." She trailed off as she didn't know what else to say.
He seemed to understand, which toatally confused her.

	After his haircut, Mamoru took Usagi out to lunch
at the local cafe, to talk. He told her that he was sent to find
her and talk with her. She didn't mind because a lot of
weird things were happening lately that she didn't even
want to think about it. "So. I heard what happened to you."
She knew what he was talking about: her back. It was in the
newspaper. The incident with her wrists was private
because it happened within her home. She nodded and
looked out of the window. "The only explanation for it that
I can give you is the 'Stigmata'." She looked at him oddly.
She had no clue what that word meant. "Well, lets start
from the beginning. What church do you go to?" She
looked at him again. "I don't go to church. I despise God.
Especially if he is the one doing this to me." This time it
was his turn to look at her oddly. "Well, that's all that I
need to know." She was startled. "That's all?" He nodded
then continued. "Well, the 'Stigmata' only happens to very
holy people like priests or priestess'." Her eyes brimmed
with tears. "Then what is happening to me? I am not
CRAZY!!!" She was angry. She knew that he thought the
same thing that everyone else was. 

	Mamoru, for his part, didn't know what to say. But
he tried to calm her down. "Tsukino-san. Please, calm
down. There has to be an explanation for this." She looked
at him with hope dawning in her eyes. "If I show you
something, will you tell me why it happened and what it
means?" He nodded as she drew her hands from under the
table where they had been the whole time. She placed her
wrists on the table and he just stared for a minute. He
looked in her eyes and she nodded. He picked up a piece of
the bandage on her left wrist and looked underneath. Sure
enough there was a deep circular gash in her wrist. He did
the same for the other wrist, which turned out the same
way. He didn't know how deep they were or what it meant
until she turned her wrists over and showed him the other
side. He did the same as he did on the other side of her
wrists and gasped in shock. It went all the way through on
both of her arms.

	Usagi looked up into his eyes and knew what he
was thinking. Unconciously, she grabbed a piece of paper
out of her pocket and handed it to him. "What does that
say?" On the paper there was written something that was in
a different language. He glanced at it then looked back at
her. "Where did you get this?" "Just what does it say?" She
wanted to know what it said and didn't want to chat. He
looked back down at the piece of paper and sighed. "Split 
a piece of wood and I am there. Lift a stone and you will 
find me." Mamoru handed the paper back to her. "Oh." She put 
it back in her purse.

	"From the looks of the wounds on your wrists and
what happened to your back, all I can say is that it is a
mystery. I don't think that this is the 'Stigmata'." She was
thrown back by his words. For a minute there, she thought
that he could help her. Now he was saying that he didn't
know what to do at all. Usagi stood up and grabbed her
purse. "YOU CAN'T DO ANYTHING FOR ME!!! SO
DON'T EVEN TRY!!!" She ran out of the arcade and
jumped into a cab. Mamoru didn't even have time to say
anything to her.

	Usagi arrived at the dance club at around 8pm.
Minako, Rei and Yuuchirou were already there. Hino Rei
was her best friend since eighth grade and Kumada
Yuuchirou had just moved the Philadelphia last year and
was going steady with Rei. Usagi walked up to them and
grabbed a beer. She gulped it down and sat next to Minako
who was far from sober. Rei and Yuuchirou got up to
dance to the music that was blaring through the whole
building. "So. You doing ok, Usagi-chan?" Minako,
although pretty drunk, was concerned about her friend.
"Yeah. I'm great!" She had to yell over the noise. The
conversation went downhill from there. They didn't know
what else to say. Minako was thinking about Usagi. She
knew that her friend was sane, but everything that had been
going on these past few days, had drawn up a doubt in her
mind. Usagi, on the other hand, was thinking about the
conversation she had previously had with Father Mamoru.

	They stayed like that until around 11pm. when they
became extremely tired. Minako, had stopped drinking
since Usagi arrived at the club 3 hours earlier. She had
somewhat calmed down since then. "I think I'll go home.
It's kinda getting late." Minako nodded and Usagi got up to
leave. When she was halfway across the dance floor and
still within eyesight of her friends, something jabbed itself
into her forehead. Actually, a bunch of somethings. She
screamed in pain and blood started to trickle down her
head. Blood soaking her face, she ran from the building.
She had seen the expression of pure horror on Minako's
face, and didn't want to face it. Besides, she was in hell
right now. She screamed and ran as fast as she could go. It
felt like thorns stabbing her head. It was raining out so she
could barely see where she was going. People heard her
screams, and stopped to stare. Her face was covered in
blood that ran all the way down her body.

	Somehow, she managed to get to her apartment
building. Before she could go inside, she saw Father
Mamoru standing outside it. Once she saw him turn around
to look at her, she fled. She ran across the street and down
an alley. Mamoru followed close behind her. Neither
knowing it, Minako was following close behind Mamoru.
He came to the end of the alley and found Usagi on her
knees, on top of a car. She had some broken piece of a
bottle and was writing something into the hood of the car.
All the while, chanting something in a different language.
Her body was being controlled by something and she
couldn't stop it. Mamoru took out his tape recorder and set
it on the ground after he pressed record.

	Usagi looked up when she saw him, but didn't stop
chanting nor writing. Finally, she stood up and looked him
straight in the eye. She said some two sentences loud
enough for him to hear but yet, in a language that he didn't
know. He had it all on the recorder now. Usagi got off the
car and held the bottle above her head but the force left her
body and she fell to the ground. Mamoru ran up to her and
scooped her into his arms. He brought her to her apartment
and layed her on the bed. Taking a bowl of water, he
dabbed at the gashes in her forehead. She flinched a little
but didn't wake up. He cleaned them up and set the bowl
back down. He said good-night to her and left her
apartment. Intending to go home to his own place.

	Minako was stunned to say the least. She never
knew that her best friend knew another language. In fact,
she couldn't even recognize it. She had watched the entire
exchange between the two, before she decided to leave.
She needed time to think to herself. Her thoughts were
getting so jumbled up and she didn't know what to believe
now. She loved her friend but Usagi kept on acting weirder
and weirder. First, her wrists are stabbed straight through,
next she is whipped severely in the back, and now she, for
some reason, had her head being cut terribly by something.
Minako had seen that happen and couldn't believe what she
had saw. Actually, what she didn't see. Usagi being
attacked by some invisible force was very hard to believe,
but many things were hard to believe. Minako sighed then
went straight to bed, hoping that all this was just some
dream.

TO BE CONTINUED....

So? I know....this one was short.
That's all that I could fit in this part without stealing from
the next part.
Well, send some FEEDBACK!!!!
Thankz to those who emailed me back.
Well, on to chapter four.....tomorrow.
Three chapters in 7 hours is alot. Ja!