Apparently being Moon Healed was pretty rough on Kyouko. This could be because she's a Puella, because she was so chock full of Dark Energy, or for any number of reasons, but the bottom line is the shock of it basically knocked her out. She collapsed in the alleyway where said Moon Healing occured, and has been unconscious since then.
Mamoru brough the unconscious Kyouko back to his apartment, because her own apartment had been blown nearly to rubble a few hours before and was currently unlivable. So, for the past little while she's been laying on the couch. She doesn't seem injured, at least externally, and her Apatite henshin has fled, leaving her in her old clothes which apparently had been under that henshin the whole time. Funny how magic works like that.
Anyway, a few hours after arriving, she finally begins to stir.. a soft groan escaping her as she shifts on the couch, then flickers her eyes. "Nngh, god, I feel like I have the worst hangover.."
Usagi hums in the elevator and she (finally!) rests the heavy bags on the floor.
At the ding, she picks them up and lugs them down the hallway. (She is neither quiet nor stealthy about this, because heavy!)
Outside Mamo-chan's door, she sets the bags down with a huff before giving the door (and doorbell) her usual exuberant attention.
"Kyouko-san~! It's Usagi~! I brought foooood~!"
Most of it isn't altogether healthy, but there's some actual meal type things buried somewhere in those bags!
Kyouko blinks a few times as the doorbell begins to ring rapidly. "Agh.. good lord.." She mutters, pressing the heel of her palm to her forehead as she stands up and staggers towards the source of the sound. She bumps her shin into the coffee table and nearly falls over it in the process, cursing in a way that only a girl who's lived on the streets for three years is capable of.
When she finally opens the door, she glares at Usagi with slightly bloodshot eyes (although her eyes are red anyway) and scowls. "Alright already! Jeez, lay off, my head is pounding." She steps back to let Usagi enter with the bags.. and after a moment, reaches to help her with one of them.
"Umm.." She says after a moment. "Why am I in Mamoru's apartment, anyway? Wher is he?"
Usagi has the good grace to look a bit sheepish at the admonition, but that doesn't erase her smile!
Arms heavy with bags, she slips out of her shoes and into a pair of bunny slippers. (Just for her, yay!)
"Oh, ah, heh. Oh, thank you. He started staying at a friend's after..." She scuttles toward the kitchen. "AfterApatitestabbedSailorMooninthebedroom..."
She plops the bags on the counter and starts taking various food stuffs out. She organizes it in two piles - Yummy Snack Food, Tasty Meal Food. "I hope these are okay. I didn't know what you liked, so I just went ahead and got some of my favorites."
She spins to face Kyouko. "Speaking of Sailor Moon! She's so happy you're okay. And so is Mamo-chan, and I know a bunch of other people will be, too!"
Then she's beaming. "And I am, too! And hi! I'm Usagi!" She holds out her hand.
Kyouko blinks again.. and doesn't miss that bit about Apatite stabbing Sailor Moon. A shadow suddenly crosses her face, and she glances down at the floor. "Ah.. shit." She mutters. It seems like she does remember all that stuff, even if it seems sort of like a dream, or something. "I'm surprised he even let me back in here.." She trails after Usagi though, with the bag she had taken, and adds it to the pile.
"I really need to.. well." She gives a little bitter laugh. "I think I need to apologize to half the city.. but especially to Sailor Moon. She's the one who snapped me out of it too, I think." Well, her Moon Beams and Sayaka's 'stop being a coward' speech.
She looks at the food, though, and brightens a bit. "Honey, anything I can eat is wonderful at this point. I'm starved." Then she glances over again as a hand is held out.. and after a moment, takes it. "Kyouko Sakura.. but I figure you know that already."
Usagi blinks at Kyouko. "Of course he let you come here. You're an important person to him." Then she's smiling again. "And since you're important to Mamo-chan, you're important to me!"
She pauses a bit at the mentioning of apologizing to Sailor Moon. Her heart flutters a bit, and though she'd never really blamed Kyouko to begin with, it's still such a nice thought on Kyouko's part. She's such a sweet girl!
"Well. I know she'll really appreciate it, but I also know she doesn't blame you for it." She taps her chin in thought and gives Kyouko a sly look and a wink. "Though I think she wishes you'd have stabbed her on a Monday so she could at least have missed some school because of it..."
Then her eyebrows are raised. "Oh, good! I got these curry things...Um, I stink at cooking. I'd burn the place down, and Mamo-chan would be sad if I did... So it's...instant. Sorry..." Then she's grinning again. "But it's filling!"
And her grin turns into a giggle. "And yep!"
Wait.
Blink blink blink.
"Do you know of me, even a little, or are you basically being accosted by someone you've never even heard of?"
Kyouko actually blushes a little bit at being told she's an important person to Mamoru. Hopefully Usagi won't get the wrong idea- this isn't a romantic blush, its a blush because, well.. she's gone quite a while without anyone to care about her at all, and it's a strange and strangely good feeling to know that people care about her.
"Ah.. man. I've got so much making up to do.." She mutters softly.. "Mamoru, poor old Tachibana-san.." She gets a little pale all of a sudden. "Sayaka. Oh crap, what am I going to say to her?" She actually staggers a bit and grips the counter as a wave of semi-panic washes over her.
But she banishes it as Usagi brings up food, her eyes fixating on something which she can use to distract her for the moment from uncomfortable thoughts. "Ah, well.. when you live in a burned-down church you learn not to be too picky." She says. And then blinks back. "Um.. I think he mentioned you.. once or twice.." In a pretty vague way, the whole 'girlfriend' thing came about while she was Apatite, but it's not too hard to figure out!
Usagi doesn't get the wrong idea. (If she does, she hides it even from herself!)
She doesn't say anything during Kyouko's panic. She does, however, pull out her phone and hands it to her. (The wallpaper is group selfie. She's grinning all wide, and he's trying to hide from the camera in her hair.)
It isn't until she's preparing curry (some for herself, too, sorry she's hungry!) that she addresses the meltdown. "I know Sayaka was very worried. From what I know, she didn't give up."
While she waits for the microwave to finish heating the food, she leans against the counter. "I know it's not gonna be the easiest thing ever. But I don't think it's anywhere near impossible!"
Kyouko takes the phone, looking at the picture. Aw, how cute! After a moment she puts it down though, chewing on her lip. "Yeah.. I.. she was the one who woke me up. I mean.. she was yelling at me from a building, and I just knew I had to listen to her. Her voice got through to me. I.. really need to talk to her."
She blushes again, for an entirely different reason, and then hides her face in her hands, turning away. "Ah, god I'm such an idiot." But the smell of cooking curry soon has her uncovering her face and looking over her shoulder. "Nngh.. well.. it's like I always say. If you have to do the impossible, you might as well do it on a full stomach." Sighing, she turns back and pulls a chair out from the table, falling into it.
*BEEP!*
Usagi pulled out the bowels of curry and stirred them a bit. She stuck her pinky in hers to make sure they were warm. Satisfied, she brought them to the table, placing a bowl in front of Kyouko, and then grabbed a couple bags of chips.
"I like your way of thinking! A full stomach is the best thing in the world. Er, well. One of."
She sits in her own chair and wiggles about.
CHOM!
"It's good she got through! I don't think Sailor Moon's escalation thingy would have done much if you didn't have a little bit of a foothold."
Kyouko's belly rumbles as the bowl is put down in front of her. Instead of being embarassed by this, though, she merely picks it up and starts chowing down. Kyouko puts food away with a single-minded intensity not often seen except.. well, in Usagi herself!
When she takes the edge off, though, she lowers the bowl enough to speak.. nodding her head slowly after a moment. "Well.. I don't know about that. But I do know that it probably would have been harder to get me with it.." SHe sighs, taking another bite and then putting the bowl down on the table. "I remember everything that happened while I was... not myself. BUt it's all hazy, almost like a dream. Like somebody else was doing it. But I know it was me."
She stirrs the bowl with her spoon disconsolately. "I'm just glad.. well, I'm really glad people wanted to get me back. A year ago, that wouldn't have been the case."
Usagi is just a veritable black hole of stomach. So she doesn't necessarily slow down.
She does, however, listen, and pauses with the spoon to her mouth to speak. "I don't think it was you you." NOM! CHEW! SWALLOW! "You didn't remember much of anything outside of Apatite, at least not for long, so I think it was kind of like...having evil amnesia?" She shrugs. She's not sure.
Nom nom nom.
"Sometimes, knowing people care, makes things better. Even when other stuff is bad, just remind yourself that, okay? Because we do. So there."
Kyouko chuckles, although it's a bit of an ironic sound. "That's the kicker though. It /was/ me.. or at least, how I could have been. How I might have been if I had kept going, hadn't.. turned around." This is a bit of a cryptic remark to Usagi no doubt, although Mamoru probably would understand what she means. Either way, she doesn't seem to want to go into it at the moment, because she moves on.
"But.. it's not me now. It's not who I want to be. I guess that counts for something." She picks her bowl up again, and takes another few bites.. then offers Usagi a bit of a lop-sided smile, one fang peeking from the corner of her mouth. "I dunno, you barely know me. What if it turns out you think I'm a jerk?"
Usagi doesn't push, but her interest is show with a bite in her mouth that she doesn't chew until it's obvious nothing more will come of it.
Then she's chewing and swallowing.
"Well, I think it counts for a lot. And now you know who you could be, and you're going to do your best not to be. Which, I think, counts the most."
Another chew, and then she nearly chokes, swallows, and is in a peel of giggles at 'jerk.'
And she giggles for a good while.
When she calms down enough to be able to breathe, she's wiping her eyes and her cheeks hurt with how wide she's grinning. "I used to think Mamo-chan was the biggest jerkity jerk faced jerk ever. And sometimes he still can be (though not to me), but I still smooch him and give him all the hugs. So I think you're safe!"
"Yeah.. maybe." Kyouko says, a little contemplative. She smirks a little bit at the comment about Mamoru, her mouth twisting to the side slightly. "You know, the fact that he's a jerk is probably one of the reasons we became friends." She laughs softly.
Then she blushes just a little bit at the mention of smooches and hugs.. possibly thinking of who she hopes will one day give /her/ smooches and hugs despite her definite tendency towards jerkishness.
"Oh well.. it's not like I could be Apatite again even if I wanted to, now. I mean, withoutthe Dark Energy I don't have-"
As she was speaking, she brought her hand up in front of her face to look at the ring containing her Soul Gem.. and her mouth drops open, eyes widening. "It.. it's not cracked!" She summons the gem, pulling out the egg-shaped magical bauble from the ring, and turns it over in her hand. "It's.. it's really not cracked!"
Usagi preens a bit. "Well, he's my jerk, so." Her eyes light up. "Oh, you know how he had those sad eyes all the time? Not as much anymore! Whatever caused that, I hope it keeps happening!"
Happy wiggle.
Fortunately for Kyouko's sanity, Usagi is distracted from further poetic waxing by Kyouko's excitement over the gem. "Oh, yay! I don't know what that means, but I'm so happy for you!"
She may not know what it means, but she knows it's Very Important!
Kyouko is staring at the gem as if at a new puppy on Christmas morning. "It.. I broke it. I broke it because I was stupid and I.. I did some things I shouldn't have, and then I couldn't use my magic anymore." She looks up to Usagi, cradling the gem in her palm. "I wonder if.. I dunno if the Dark Energy.. or Sailor Moon's healing or.. or what, but. It's whole again!"
She beams, then stands up from the table. "ONly one way to find out if it's really fixed or not.." She holds it out, and suddenly is encased in bright red light! (No catchy transformation phrases for Puella!) When it clears she's standing there in her frilly red Puella outfit! Except maybe with just a little extra white trim.. She looks down at herself, grinning and spinning. "Yeah! It works! I'm a Puella again!" Well, she always was really ,but you know what she means!
Usagi squees and claps in excitement for Kyouko. (She also tries not to think that it WAS her that fixed it, because if it wasn't, then she'd have an inflated ego for nothing!)
"YAY!" And then she's looking at the outfit. "Oh my gosh, that's such a pretty uniform!"
Part of her wants to compare hers to Kyouko's, but that would mean, you know, going into henshin. Which would reveal her secret and the girls would likely be annoyed she told someone and...
Sigh.
"Does this mean I'll get to fight with you sometime?"
Um. Ignore that, Kyouko.
Kyouko grins, unable to keep the happy expression off her face! She's not even normally the type to care about how 'pretty' a uniform is, but when Usagi compliments her she can't help but grin even wider!
She runs around the table and hugs Usagi! This is a measure of how excited she is, because normally she wouldn't hug anybody she didn't know really well! "Honey, I'll fight you anytime you want!" She exclaims, laughing.. then seems to realize what she did and blushes, letting Usagi go and walking back around the table. "S-sorry.. it's just.. well, it's been a while. And now I can finally.. well.. be myself again. Without having to worry about not being able to protect myself.. and the people I care about."
Well, that's not quite what she meant, but oh well!
She is hugged! She likes hugs!
"That's okay!" She really likes hugs. "You're excited! Happy! No need to feel bad for that!"
Okay, Usagi really likes hugs.
Poor Kyouko.
GLOMP!
Kyouko grins.. then shakes her head, backing off again. "I gotta go.. I gotta find Sayaka." She laughs again, suddenly so exhuberant! "Thanks, Usagi. Thanks a lot." For what? Maybe just for being here. "Tell Mamoru I'll come talk to him soon. I have things to tell him too."
And then she dashes to the balcony. She pulls the glass door open and.. just like old times, she runs straight out and leaps over the balcony into open space, disappearing from view.
It's good to be a magical girl again!
Usagi watches Kyouko go with a happy sigh. Granted, she probably could have done something to try to convince her to stay until she was stronger, but. Hey, she's in henshin, and likely stronger for it!
Before she leaves, she cleans up the bowls (read: puts them in the sink with water) and puts the food away (read: finds and empty cupboard and shoves it all in there.
Then a sticky-not on the cabinet:
:::::Food's in here!
:::::/(^.^)\
:::::-Usagi