They gathered beneath the old railway bridge, just as both had
previously agreed on. The gangsters looked on in surprise at the two
younger girls and their taller companion who was waiting there
patiently for them.
"Do you really think she's going to be able to protect you?"
the boy who looked to be their leader loudly scoffed
The taller woman's voice came out as a dangerous purr, "Stop
trying to shake down the girls and just walk away. This is the only
chance I'm giving you."
"Shut up," the leader cried angrily, running at her and
getting ready to punch her out.
POW!
He never saw the blow coming, she was that fast. He hit the
ground hard, obviously not planning on getting up any time soon. She
seemed to disappear, reappearing in the middle of the gang, striking
out swiftly and efficiently. A punch and sweeping kick, and three more
boys hit the dirt even as the others backed away from her slowly.
"Wait a minute," one boy looked at her wide eyed, "there's a
story about a girl who doesn't belong to any gang and fights only for
money and the challenge."
"She can punch right through a man's chest," another said
fearfully.
"They say that she's the strongest girl in Japan," another
quietly offered.
"This can't be," a third looked at her in fear, "Makoto
Kino?!"
Makoto grinned evilly, "Well, looks like my reputation's
finally spreading." The brown haired woman cracked her knuckles loudly
into the stunned silence and offered them a dangerous little smile,
"So who's next?"
The young men exchanged worried glances, then looked over at
the confident young woman who was standing in front of them. Almost at
the same time they all turned tail and ran away.
"Come back here," Makoto roared out as they ran from her. She
sighed softly, "Not even a good fight." Walking over to where the four
unconscious boys lay she pulled their wallets out, quickly emptying
them of all their cash and producing quite an impressive pile of yen
bills. "Busy little boys, weren't you?" she murmured.
"Makoto-sama?" one of the girls had stepped forward and was
holding out an envelope, intending to pay her with what was inside it.
"Don't worry about it," Makoto waved it off as she casually
pocketed all the boy's money. She smiled at them with a surprising
gentleness, "Give me a call if they try something again. You've got my
pager number."
Noticing Makoto's discontented expression one of the girls
shyly asked her, "Is something wrong, Makoto-sama?"
Walking away from the girls they could hear Makoto answer them
quietly, "Just wishing I could find a fight that's worthy of my
strength, I guess."
"Sorry," Ami smiled over at Rei, "I had assumed Usagi had
already told you."
"Haven't had much time," Usagi gave a slight shrug of her
shoulders.
"Well then," Ami pushed up her glasses, taking on a lecturing
tone, "over the past few months, there have been a rash of killings
around the campus."
Rei's eyes widened, "I heard about that. The police couldn't
seem to find any trace of the perpetrator, though."
Ami nodded, "Usagi was visiting the campus a few weeks ago,
and discovered the cause. She slew the youma, and in the process saved
my life."
"But the master of the youma," Usagi said quietly, "Zoisite
escaped me through what looked like a kind of hole in space."
"Some of the equipment in my lab picked up on the energy the
portal used," Ami explained, "so I offered to try to create a tracking
device to follow the portals back to their source."
"So what do you mean, it's too complicated?" Usagi leaned
forward intensely.
Ami met her eyes calmly as she took out what looked like a
modified laptop and sat it on the desk. "The tracking system should
work," Ami said quietly, "but interpreting the data will require a
great deal of expertise. Skills I doubt you and your new ally have."
"This could get very dangerous," Usagi finally said, "and I'm
nervous enough having to pull Rei into this fight. I don't need to
have to watch out for you, as well."
Ami gave her a gentle smile, "I don't see that you have much
choice."
Luna looked up at Usagi, "She may have a point."
Rei felt a sudden chill in her bones, almost as if someone had
walked over her grave. "What was that," she shuddered visibly.
Usagi turned to her, "Is something wrong?"
"Just a bit of a chill," Rei blushed.
"Where would you say it's coming from?" Luna stood up from her
relaxed position on the desk to ask her softly.
Without really thinking about it Rei found herself answering,
"From the west, I think."
"We'd better go check it out," Usagi smoothly got out of her
chair and walked to the door.
"Just because I felt a chill?" Rei scrambled to her feet even
as Luna leapt down off the desk.
Usagi smiled slightly, "You're a miko as well as being
sensitive. Now that you've encountered the youma, I bet you can sense
their presence."
Ami nodded thoughtfully, grabbing the laptop and some silver
metallic capsules from off the top of her desk. "That's why you need
her with you, to find the disguised youma," she said softly.
"But," Rei stammered as they walked down the hallway, "I
thought your sword could detect the youma. It found Jadite easily
enough."
"It only works if I'm near them," Usagi explained, "otherwise
I can't find them magically." She looked at Rei intently, "How does it
feel?"
"Worse," Rei said honestly as they neared a stairway.
Usagi's sword began to glow softly, and she drew it out almost
silently. "Looks like you were right," she murmured to Rei. She looked
over at Ami, "Please stay back."
"Right," the professor nodded.
They entered the stairway, and looking down saw a young man
and woman standing close together, seemingly kissing. But there was
something... off about the picture. The boy didn't look like he was
enjoying himself, it was as if he was in pain.
"Stop what you're doing," Usagi cried.
The woman jerked back, her face revealed to be strangely
monstrous. "You?" she looked up at Usagi in surprise even as the boy
slid bonelessly to the floor, "what are you doing here?"
"Stopping you," Usagi said coldly. "Who are your masters?
Where do they come from?"
"You'll find out soon enough, little princess," the woman
laughed, an odd hiss in her voice. The laugher trailed off into
silence as she saw who stood beside Usagi, and she softly murmured,
"The seer of fire? The wise woman of frost?"
Rei frowned slightly, the words seeming familiar to her,
somehow.
"You can not be allowed to gather the five," the youma hissed
as it's form continued to change, becoming strangely snakelike. A
clawed hand was flung towards them, stretching out to reach all the
way up the staircase.
Usage moved like the wind, her sword moving so swiftly it
disappeared. The creature howled in pain as it's sliced arm hit the
floor, but Usagi was still moving.
Ami pulled two of those silvery capsules from her pocket,
tossing them at the creature with a surprising amount of force. They
struck it on the chest and bust open, spilling a fluid on it that
rapidly froze it where it stood.
"Can't move," it growled, then looked up with wide eyes to see
that Usagi was upon it.
The katana sang as it cut through the air then almost as
easily sliced through the frozen creature's body. It crumbled where it
stood, breaking down swiftly into an odd ooze.
"Oh god, oh god, oh gosh," the boy repeated weakly, eyes wide
with shock and fear.
"What do we do about him?" Ami asked softly.
Luna leapt down the stairs, her form shifting from cat to
human. She knelt down by the boy and cupped his face in her hands
looking into his eyes. "Forget," she murmured, a soft glow shining
from her brow to light up his forehead.
"Forget," the boy echoed weakly.
"You had an perfectly ordinary day," Luna said softly, "you
didn't feel well, and had to go home. Do you understand?"
"Home," he agreed. He rose to his feet, straightened out his
clothes and left.
The two women watched him go in surprise, the turned back to
see Luna back in her cat form and sitting comfortably on Usagi's
shoulder. "I'm not quite sure how it works, but it does," Usagi
shrugged, bouncing the cat slightly.
Rei was giving Usagi and Luna a curious look, "The seer of
fire, wise woman of frost, what did it mean by that? It sounded like
it was talking about Ami and I."
"Yes, it did," Usagi agreed. She looked over at Ami, "After
what you've just seen, do you still want to come along, Prof. Mizuno?"
"Ami," she corrected her, "and I wouldn't miss it for the
world."
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