Great Expositions!
An Affirmed Love and a Heroic Cat.
The Hikawa shrine seemed unusually quiet as Rei dragged herself
from her bed. There was a peaceful serenity about the gentle sunlight
that seeped into the room, and the occasional chirping of birds
outside, punctuated only by the coarse cries of Phobos and Deimos. In
fact, even those crows seemed content to break the calming mood only
occasionally.
If Rei had forced herself to stay in bed for another minute, the
calmness might very well have driven her mad. She had lain there for
the best part of an hour, staring at the ceiling and trying very hard
to have a well-earned lie in, but it wasn't happening. Her brain had
filled itself with nagging thoughts far too readily, and now the
world conspired to show her just how peaceful everything but her own
head was. That was it, she thought to herself as she pulled on her
clothes, it was a conspiracy. Just when she needed to relax the most
she was going to be forced to stay awake and ruminate. Well, sod that
for a game of soldiers! She was going to get up and get on with her
morning!
She looked over at her clock, which blazed 7:23 at her a little
too happily for her liking. She sighed. Why was she getting angry at
inanimate objects so early in the morning? The answer was simple: it
was something to do. After all, for all her errand running the day
before, there hadn't been much on her mind besides Makoto, and there
was nothing she could do about that. Michiru, for as much support as
she had been able to give, hadn't actually been able to help her out
of the hole she had found herself stuck in.
Rei tied her hair back with a little red bow, wanting it out of
the way for once, and padded out into the shrine proper, and to the
kitchen. It would have been nice if she had simply been able to shrug
her shoulders and say she had made a decent go of it, and that was
that, but almost immediately she began to miss the long, soft fingers
that would intertwine with hers, eager and hesitant in equal measure.
There was something about playing with Makoto's fingers that Rei had
found incredibly entertaining. Her hair as well, when she let it
down. She could have spent hours twirling those indecisive curls
around her fingertips.
"Maybe Michiru-san was right," she said to herself, trying to
remember where she kept the coffee in their cupboards. "I think I've
got it pretty bad."
So then why the uncertainty? Why that crawling discomfort? And
where on earth was that wretched coffee?
"Grandpa!?" she called out into the shrine, knowing full well
that he had likely got up well before she had. "Where have you left
the coffee?!"
The little priest poked his bald head around the door. "I'm not
*that* deaf yet Rei. It's in the cupboards, where it always is."
"*Which* cupboard?!" Rei asked in exasperation. "There's more
than one! Honestly, you do this every time you have guests round."
Her grandfather just smiled, unaffected by her sour mood, and
opened the leftmost door to reveal the jar in question.
Rei sighed. It was just his logic to put everything he had used
away in the same single place. "Grandpa, coffee lives here," she said
pointing to the first door she had looked behind, "with the rest of
the dry drinks-things. So does the tea for that matter."
She plucked them both out and put them where they 'should' have
been, before starting to made herself her early morning caffeine fix.
"And you know," she added, without the annoyance this time, "if
you don't want me around when you have guests you could just say so.
You didn't have to send me across half of Tokyo for the day."
"You saved me the effort," her Grandfather explained, "and you
did say you had someone to meet." His eyes twinkled impishly,
guessing who she might have gone to see. "I trust you had a good
time?"
Rei shrugged. "I just needed to talk to her."
The old priest blinked. "Just talk?"
"Grandpa," Rei sighed, "it's personal."
"Fair enough. But you can tell me when you want some space to
have a guest over too."
Rei had to wonder what was going through his head. "What? I don't
think I've ever invited Michiru-san over here."
Grandpa Hino blinked again, even more confused than his
granddaughter. "Michiru-chan?"
"And since when are you so familiar with her anyway?"
Her grandfather sniffed, holding his nose in the air. "I happen
to be good friends with Setsuna-san."
This time it was Rei's turn to blink in surprise. "You are? When
did that happen?"
"What, an old man isn't allowed to make new friends?"
"I didn't mean that Grandpa. You are old enough to be *her*
grandfather too you know."
Grandpa Hino have her a look. "Now look who's getting strange and
unnecessary thoughts! It looks like you have some of my blood in you
after all Rei!"
Rei groaned at the thought. "Just don't... Who did you think I
was going to meet anyway?"
"Well, you have been spending more time with that attractive
Mako-chan recently. Even though you both work... She's a good
influence on you I think."
However, it saddened him when Rei's face turned sober. "Really?"
she asked, looking at her coffee as she poured in the milk, the
concoction slowly turning a lighter chocolate brown. "I don't think
most people would agree with you there."
Her grandfather stood observing her for a moment. "I suppose it's
good that I'm not most people then. Is this about... your 'trip'?"
"No, not really," Rei replied. "She doesn't care about that."
"Even if you do?"
Rei didn't answer that, as much as she wanted to. "Grandpa, if I
said that Makoto isn't exactly a 'traditional' girl, and that I might
not be either, would that bother you?"
"I doubt it," he replied honestly. "As long as you were discreet
when you were here. Which, incidentally, is a hint to invite her. I
know there are some worries that an old man like me can't help you
overcome, and by the look of it you've had a good case of them since
you came home."
Rei looked at him, trying to see what he was thinking. "You
knew?"
"I wouldn't say that," he replied, "but you did seem to enjoy
having her here."
"Well, it doesn't matter. All our lives are kind of awkward right
now, and anyway, Mako-chan's working all day today."
Her grandfather considered that. "You girls have all been close
for a long time, Rei. In my experience, things will only be awkward
for as long as you let them stay that way - especially with the way
you all know each other - so don't put it off. I'll let you skip this
morning so you can have breakfast out."
Rei just looked at him before leaning down to give him a hug. He
had just given her the excuse she had wanted to see Makoto again. And
after all the support he had already given her. "Thanks Gramps. I'm
sorry I shouted. You're really the best."
Grandpa Hino just grinned. "Of course! Now get going. Another
thing I learned is never to keep an anxious lady waiting!"
***
That was exactly what Maxill was going though, and not for one,
but for four very different and very powerful ladies.
Sailor Venus stood at the fore, having an authoritative 'all
business' moment, while Sailor Pluto and Sailor Moon flanked her.
Luna sat with quiet dignity, perched carefully on Sailor Moon's
shoulder.
Though Maxill did not know it, they had decided to keep her
close, in the unused basement of the Meioh/Tenoh/Kaioh residence.
From there Sailor Pluto could keep a close watch on their captive,
and they would not have to go out of their way to provide what she
needed.
At least, that was what they had thought. Maxill had kept quiet
ever since she had woken, but the Sailor Senshi's powers of
bargaining were not impressing her. Especially when it came to the
assurance that she would be provided for.
"Do you think your material food will sustain me?" she said,
breaking her silence as the words issued from her black, mouthless
face.
"Actually," Sailor Moon admitted, unknowingly providing the 'good
cop' role, "I don't know what youma really eat."
Maxill looked towards one of the open boxes in the corner of the
room. The Senshi had trouble following that lidless gaze with no
irises or pupils to guide them, but they saw the box in which they
had put their scavenged loot. "Those crystals?" Sailor Moon asked.
Pluto on the other hand leaped on the implication. "You subsist
on our life energy," she said darkly.
The girls could have sworn that Maxill's blank, oval head tweaked
its non-existent lips in a smile. "Not 'life' energy. Just parts of
it. Just a little. And not just from you. Unlike you, we do not need
to kill to feed. Anything we take can be regained."
"That's just how it is for humans," Sailor Venus admitted, her
honesty allowing her to keep the high ground. "But you kill, even
when you don't have to. You took our lives, and turned people into
monsters to save your own worthless hides!"
"That was war," Maxill accepted. "We were serving our Queen, and
our Goddess!"
"So what is it this time?" Sailor Moon asked, even though she
didn't want to know the answer. No matter what it was, it would mean
that innocent people were being hurt.
"Energy raiding?" Sailor Venus asked, not bothering to pull her
verbal punches. "Subversion? Harvesting?
Maxill clammed up again, only giving them a single word.
"Survival."
Sailor Pluto narrowed her eyes. "Then I will make sure that you
fail in that goal, monster."
"How many of you are there this time?" Venus asked, but she knew
that it was futile now. The youma wasn't going to say anything else
after that.
From Sailor Moon's shoulder Luna realised that, with such
opposing extremes between Sailor Moon and Sailor Pluto, these
interrogations would end up as little more than window dressing. If
anything Sailor Moon's concerned and caring approach would yield more
information, but by that same token she would no doubt end up
sympathising with their captive without a stronger hand there with
her. Pluto would just make the creature hate them, and it didn't seem
arrogant or wretched enough to be cowed by anything less than a
dangerous show of force.
Instead, Luna decided just to continue with her own
investigations. At least her girls would balance out each other's
extremes and make sure that the youma remained confused.
Maxill on the other hand, bound to the chair so tightly even her
malleable body could not squeeze out, just glared at them with her
yellow, multi-faceted eyes as they left. Maybe Myoshiya was right
after all, she thought. If these were the best of the humans, did
such a race of creatures really deserve to live? Especially after
what they had done to her people, and her sister.
***
Like Usagi, Makoto hadn't thought much of the idea of keeping a
prisoner. Both of them, along with Hotaru and Ami, had thought that
it was more than a little distasteful. But, where their future
princess had objected on purely idealistic grounds, and had been
eventually worn down by Minako and Setsuna's mission oriented
pragmatism, Makoto's concern had been much simpler. It was too
underhanded for her liking. Necessary perhaps, given the
circumstances, but with the benefit of hindsight Makoto would much
have preferred taking the direct approach and finishing the fight
properly.
Of course, she had also been hoping that Usagi, or rather Sailor
Moon, would have been able to 'heal' their captive, but this wasn't
one of the once-common transformed youma monsters. This was a youma
in the flesh. Even Sailor Moon couldn't fix someone who had been born
a youma. If youma were even born. Maybe they came from eggs or
something.
She put those thoughts out of her mind. That fight the day before
had got her a little worked up, and she resumed her tuneful humming
as she brought her mind back to the job in hand. The noodle bar's
glassware wasn't going to polish itself.
"Hey, songbird," Matsubashi said after a few minutes, catching
her attention.
"Oh, sorry!" she apologised. Had she been too wrapped up in her
own head to realise they had a customer? "Welcome! What can I..."
Makoto stopped in sentence, her heart skipping a beat as she saw
Rei sitting at the only occupied stool, resting her head on her hands
and smiling at her with undisguised amusement. "R-Rei?"
"You looked like you were having fun without me," Rei teased with
a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. "I didn't want to interrupt."
Makoto didn't know if she should feel relieved or guilty, so she
felt both at once, and promptly tried to mask both with
professionalism. "W-what can I get you?"
Rei looked a little disappointed by the response, but in truth
she hadn't let it bother her. "Just something small, and maybe a
little spicy?"
From the other end of the bar Matsubshi shook his head. While he
didn't understand his girl in the least, she could at least do better
than that. "Mako-chan, I've got this order."
Not that he approved either, given how easy this pair kept making
it to see the 'closer than normal' relationship they had come back
with. No, he didn't approve in the least. Or so he kept telling
himself. He wasn't getting involved in anything messy like that. He
was just looking out for Makoto's interests.
"Thank you Matsubashi-san," Rei said with a broad smile, and the
aging chef just nodded and fired up his grill.
'The cunning old fox', Makoto thought. Now she had no choice but
to talk properly to her girlfriend, and she had evidently needed the
push.
"I'm sorry I didn't stick around yesterday," she admitted,
feeling a little ashamed of herself for not making the effort, "but
right then it was all a bit..."
"Hectic," Rei finished for her. "It's alright. I've needed some
time myself."
Makoto nodded, but in her mind she was still clearly the one at
fault. "I shouldn't have got mad, back then. I know I keep pushing
you too much."
"Makoto, it wasn't your fault..."
"But it was!" the tall girl countered. "I know what I'm like. I'm
clingy, and I push. That's why everyone used to run away from me, I'm
too eager and desperate!" She looked up into Rei's eyes. "I don't
want to drive you away too."
Rei felt the heat flush into her cheeks as Makoto admitted that.
Those big green eyes of hers were so sincere. "Stop it Mako. I didn't
want to make you mad at me either. I should know how I feel by now."
She smiled, trying to break the heavy air. "We're a really helpless
pair, aren't we?"
Makoto nodded, a smile of her own forcing its way onto her face.
"Yeah... I guess we are."
"And Minako told me that you were helping Haruka-san too," Rei
added. "I think you might be doing more good meddling than before you
started working here."
From the grill Matsubashi laughed heartily. "I can believe that!
Our Mako-chan must need to get all that selflessness out of her
system after picking up her tips every other evening!"
"Matsubashi-san!"
Rei just laughed along with him. "I bet they tip pretty well for
an attractive girl like you too!"
Makoto wanted to make her exclamation at that as well, but she
was too busy blushing. "Both of you... Stop making fun!"
"An elegant face, big breasts, long legs, pretty eyes," Rei said,
staring at Makoto to watch her reaction. "Don't give me that look
Mako. You're beautiful, however much to want to deny it."
It didn't have the effect she was hoping for though.
"... Then why did all the boys I liked run away?" Makoto asked,
her eyes downcast. "Why did my sempai turn me down? Why isn't it
working for *us*? It can't be just my personality. I try so hard. I
learned all the things a girl is supposed to, and I love them now! I
try not to be selfish. I even slept with my last two boyfriends so
that they would stay with me, and they still left!"
"Makoto..." Rei could only stare in disbelief, watching as the
tears welled in her girlfriend's eyes.
"Shit, I didn't want to say all that," Makoto said, wiping her
eyes with her palms and putting on a sheepish face. "Sorry. Heh heh,
I guess it's just lucky I didn't end up in Haruka-san's situation,
huh?"
Rei wasn't going to have any of that though. Not after what she
had just seen. She took Makoto's hands forcefully in her own. "What's
with all this personal complex stuff?! If no-one's said it before
then I'll say it! You're beautiful, and you have a wonderful
personality! Maybe those guys were just jerks, or they were just
having fun with you, or you just went for guys who liked the wimpy,
vacant type. Whatever it was, it wasn't because of you. How on earth
did you get through school thinking all that?! And after you wanted
to play snow white because you had the breasts! Jeez."
She took a deep breath and sighed heavily. "Seriously, has no-one
ever told you that you are attractive?"
Makoto felt ashamed of that. "Yes. Sometimes, if they wanted to
get into my pants. Or when one of you was just being nice."
"It didn't occur to you that maybe we said it because it was
true?"
Makoto had to look away from Rei's gaze. "Sorry."
Rei sighed again. "What's the point of me doing all this soul
searching if you're just going to blame yourself for everything. I
didn't come here this morning for the food you know, Mako. Well, not
just the food. I wanted to make up too. I'm sorry for giving you
weird signals, and I want to try my best to fix that. Michiru-san
said that we're very different, you and me, but that doesn't mean
that we can't work. And I'm not going to let you push me away. I love
you, and I'm going to make 'us' work, so you'd better help with that,
okay?"
Makoto nodded, her slowly spreading smile threatening to
overwhelm her. "I love you too. I'll do whatever you need, just tell
me."
Then an idea stuck Rei. They were very different people indeed,
and yet...
"Makoto, do you want to come over again, after work? Grandpa says
it's okay. He sort of found out about us, but he said I could invite
you."
"Sure," Makoto replied, still beaming. How had she ever found
someone like Rei? Rei thought she was pretty, and was determined not
to be driven off, and for the first time it was Makoto who was the
one eager for sexual contact. She had to wonder how much heartache
she could have saved herself if she had just fallen in love with Rei
from the beginning. "I'll come over as soon as I finish. Thank you."
Then, from Makoto's left hand, a small plate of Thai noodles
appeared between them. Matsubashi just nodded at Rei. "Here, it's
done."
"Thank you," Rei replied, taking the chopsticks her offered her.
"Oh, Matsubashi-san," Makoto said, suddenly realising they had
had such an emotional and personal flare-up right next to him, in his
own restaurant. She didn't even know if he was okay with her
preferences. "I'm really sorry, about all of that. I promise it won't
happen again!"
The old barman just looked at her, feigning ignorance. "What are
you talking about? Did something happen? Oh, and your break is over
by the way, so you can start on those pans," he said pointing to the
utensils he had just used. "This may be a slow morning, but our
regulars will be coming back now that junk stand is gone, and you
have to make up for running off yesterday as well! Honestly, you
missed an amazing show. I still can't believe that woman and her
sister were youma, but the Sailor Senshi sure lived up to their
record! You should have seen it."
Makoto and Rei just gave each other a look. "Yeah," Rei said with
a smirk, "I bet it was something, seeing them in action like that. I
hear Sailor Jupiter really kicked ass, and looked drop dead gorgeous
to boot!"
"You've got that right," Matsubashi agreed as Makoto smiled
through a blush at her girlfriend's flirtatious turn. "That was one
seriously 'talented' heroine!"
He never would figure out why Rei chose that moment to bust into
such uproarious laughter, or why Makoto seemed quite so embarrassed
by the girl's hysterics.
***
"Say, Minako-chan," Usagi said, quiet and concerned as the pair
of them walked slowly through their home neighbourhood, making sure
that they weren't overheard, "I don't think she's going to tell on
her friends, no matter how long we keep her like that."
Minako nodded, also oddly serious. So much so that Usagi was
beginning to worry about her. "Setsuna-san isn't being much help
either, but it is her house."
"Trying to make her angry won't work," Usagi agreed. "If it was
me..."
"If it was you, you'd feel sorry for whoever was doing it,"
Minako interrupted, dropping a little amusement into her voice.
"Somehow I don't think she feels sorry for us though, no matter how
angry we seem."
That was the point that Usagi had been making all along. "But do
we have to seem angry? This isn't right Minako-chan. We're turning
into the bad guys now."
To her friend's surprise Minako just shrugged. "What alternative
do we have? We can't let her free, and I know you don't want to kill
her."
"Of course not! She seems so... sad," Usagi finished. "We really
are the bad guys to her, so can't we prove that's not the way it is?
Even Mako-chan said that she seemed sympathetic to the girl that
fainted."
"And you'd like to redeem them, and slot them into our society,
knowing that they will prey on us?"
Usagi actually nodded. "Yes. We did it before. I don't even think
she needs to be redeemed for anything. We just have to show her that
we're the good guys too."
"And if we can't?" Minako asked seriously.
Usagi didn't reply to that. "Minako-chan... Why did you start
thinking like that? We used to believe in ourselves, no matter what.
I know everyone else has problems now, but I thought we could still
think the same way together."
Minako's pace slowed as she looked at her closest friend. "Have I
really changed that much?"
"No," Usagi replied, "I know you were always more mature than the
rest of us, but we used to hope for the same ideals together. Now Rei
holds herself back too much, Ami-chan doesn't think she can make the
right choices any more, and..." she reached out to squeeze Minako's
arm, taking the edge off her words, "I think you've got a bit too
serious, like Haruka-san and Michiru-san are."
Minako seemed to accept that with the same unusual quiet that had
hung over her all morning. "Haruka-san won't be like that any more. I
think we might have traded places a bit, because of the powers we had
in Seiji. Haruka-san learned why not to be so unyielding, and I
learned that it was possible for me to fight like she used to.
Sometimes you don't have a choice."
"Tell me if I go too far though, okay?" she added with a twinkle
and a smile, shrugging off the tone in her voice. "I still want to be
she same Minako that I was."
Usagi nodded, happy that her partner in crime was still at least
somewhat frivolous in the face of adversity. "Sure! That means you'll
let me talk to our 'guest', right?"
Minako sighed. "You aren't going to give up on that, are you..."
"Not a chance," Usagi replied, taking her turn to be serious.
"Oh, and I think we just walked past your house!"
Minako tuned back into the world around them, and found that her
friend was right. "... Let's try that again. And yes, you try and
convert our big bad girl, however futile it is. Maybe you'll get
lucky."
"I'm always lucky!" Usagi beamed, her argument won.
Minako thought about that as they walked up the path and let them
into her house. "It would explain a few things..."
Usagi gave her a playful warning look. "Oi, oi."
However, as soon as they were inside Minako was accosted by her
very worried looking mother, wringing her hands on her tea towel as
though there was no tomorrow. "Minako! Where on earth have you been!
Couldn't you have at least called to tell us you would be out all
night?!"
Minako swallowed hard. "I didn't call?"
"No young lady, you did not! Going into show business is all well
and good, but I don't want you growing an attitude to match!"
Usagi tried to smile, embarrassed to be a spectator in yet
another Aino family quarrel. "Aino-san," she said, looking as
apologetic as she could, "I'm really sorry, that was kind of my
fault."
Kikon looked between the two girls a few times before shaking her
head. "Alright, go on, but for the last time Minako, call if you are
going to be late! There are the leftovers of last night's dinner in
the fridge if either of you want them for lunch."
"Umm, thank you Aino-san," Usagi said, but Kikon had already
shaken her head and slipped back into the kitchen. She was far too
used to Usagi and Minako's antics to take it any further than that.
Minako on the other hand just looked put out. "Never mind her,"
she said, "come on upstairs."
Usagi wanted to chastise her friend for her disrespectful
attitude, but she knew she was just as bad with her own mother at
times. She just followed Minako to her room, where Artemis sat
tapping at the girl's keyboard with his paws.
"Artemis! Are you impersonating Mina-chan online again?!"
The white cat gave her a deadpan stare, and spoke as soon as the
door was closed. "Yes, as it happens, and it's always for a good
reason."
"Oh?" Usagi wheedled. "Do tell."
"I asked him to Usagi-chan," Minako put in, taking the seat at
the desk. "Have you found anything?"
Artemis nodded. "She hasn't been into work according to some of
the other actresses and models. The company isn't saying anything
though, even to direct messages from your agency account."
"What?" Usagi asked, surprised yet another sudden serious turn of
conversation. "What's happened? Who's not gone into work?"
"Mikiyo-san," Minako replied, "my agent. We haven't been able to
contact her since yesterday morning, and I think I have a bad feeling
about why."
"Shall I go to her apartment?" Artemis asked, all business.
Minako accepted gratefully. "Yes please Artemis."
He nodded and leapt onto her bed. "I'm sure it's nothing, but
I'll see you in a bit girls," he said, sounding positive as he left
through Minako's bedroom window.
"So that's why you've been serious all morning," Usagi said, the
puzzle finally completed for her. "I'm sorry, I didn't know."
Minako just gave her a smile, shrugging her shoulders. "It's
okay. I hope I'm wrong about this, because I don't want to have had
the same plans as a youma." She shook her head, realising how cold
that sounded compared to what she felt. "No, I just hope she's okay."
"Me too," Usagi said. Too many people were caught up in this
already without needing any more innocent civilians involved.
***
Shivis had been a genius among youma, there could be no doubt
about that. Even in her youth she had been considered promising, and
had even been groomed to be the personal attendant to one of the four
great generals of the Dark Kingdom.
But honing her scientific and magical mind had brought with it
its own problems. She was, and always had been, reliant on those
around her for security, and for resources. She was not strong enough
to go out and gather energy, in case anything ever went wrong. When
the great fall of the Dark Kingdom had come, Shivis' future had been
pulled from under her in one swift battle. Once her people had turned
on each other, all her brilliance had meant nothing. Only the
protective hand of their captain, Tyranya, had kept her alive.
Tyranya also had a keen mind, Shivis knew. She was a rare thing
among their people; a leader. She had shown Shivis the kindness and
care that she needed, and that in turn had brought out the heart in
Shivis herself. She lived for her experiments, but now those
experiments, and therefore that life, had a purpose.
She shook out her orange mane of plumage, and wiped her energy-
stained hands on a nearby rag. Captain Tyranya had asked her for a
weapon, specifically suited to the energy of these humans. Very soon
Shivis would be able to provide it. A harmless little trinket of
metal and magic, which even the Sailor Senshi would not be able to
stand against. Shivis actually felt a little sorry for those human
girls. They genuinely wouldn't stand a chance, just as Shivis herself
would not if she ever faced the Senshi herself.
The commotion outside the massive metallic shell caught her wide,
bat-like ears once again, and she lay down her last energy crystal.
Pulling a few mechanical levers the hatch above her corkscrewed
clumsily upwards, before clanking to a stop outside and allowing the
feathered youma out of her machine.
"Dear Sisters, do you have to make such a racket?" She blinked,
seeing only two of their number in their warehouse base. "Captain
Tyranya? Aretsuki? Where are our sisters? Do you not have more energy
for me?"
Tyranya looked up at her unsympathetically. "Have you been living
in that thing for the last two days, Sister?" The sad thing was that
she probably had been. "It seems we have larger problems than that."
Aretsuki looked up at Shivis with tear strewn eyes, her clawed
fists balled tightly. "They found us again! They took Sister Maxill!
They just took her! We couldn't do anything, and there were only two
of them. They're so strong, and fast, and they keep having new
powers!"
Tyranya pulled the young fox-girl into another hug. "It's okay,
little Sister. You're safe, so you did well."
"But Maxill..! She was even worried about the humans, and the
Sailor Senshi just..."
"I am sure that she is alright," Shivis agreed, dropping down to
the floor and joining them. "She is strong. If she has also kept her
heart even after losing her blood-sister, then all the better. We
know that at least some of the Sailor Senshi are reluctant to fight
to the death, so that heart of Maxill's may have saved her."
Tyranya looked at her seriously. "But Myoshiya said that her
plans also involved taking a captive, and she has not yet returned.
If this turns into a war of retribution..."
"Then we will have to hope that Sister Kaizi is successful in her
plan," Shivis explained. "Do not worry, Captain. We have covered all
our bases. We can only hope that they intend to keep our Maxill alive
long enough for us to execute our main plan. We can rescue her then,
if she needs our assistance."
Shivis knew that Tyranya would have preferred not to wait, and
that they would need every one of them to stand and face the Senshi
when it came to that, but they could not jeopardise their carefully
laid plan. "I am worried as well, Sister. But, even after her loss,
Maxill is not helpless."
"I know," Tyranya replied as she stroked Aretsuki's fur,
comforting them both. "She is a strong one. I can only hope she is
safe."
Shivis nodded. "Yes. Now, do we have any news of when our next
batch of crystals will be ready? I am down to my last few, and the
more I delay the siphoning the more energy I will eventually need."
"I will get it from Kaizi myself, tonight," Tyranya replied,
asserting her authority over the situation once again. Then she
pulled Aretsuki from her embrace and knelt down to her. "Little
Sister, can you be strong for me now? Sister Myoshiya is still
working to find the Sailor Senshi, so we can fight them as soon as
the time is right. Can you do your part as well? For Maxill?"
Aretsuki nodded her eyes still teary but soon filled with
determination. "I... I will. I'll be brave."
Tyranya nodded. "Good girl. You know where to go," she said,
handing the girl a newspaper that had lain open on Shivis' workbench
since they had first moved into the warehouse.
Shivis stepped closer and gave the young youma a hug of her own,
flexing the lines of feathers that ran down her forearms so that they
stroked against the fox-girl's cheeks. "And stay hidden, Aretsuki.
Come home to us safely."
***
Maxill herself would have wished she could live up to her
sisters' thoughts of her, had she been able to hear them. The Sailor
Senshi had left the light on for her in that box-strewn basement, but
that was as far as their hospitality had gone.
Her joints ached from having the malleable flesh squeezed out of
them for so long. The ropes that bound her to the old chair were so
tight that only her flattened, jet-black skin stood between them and
the wooden chair legs and back. It wouldn't cause her any permanent
damage, but it was very uncomfortable. The knots were so numerous and
well tied that she had no leverage at all, unless she wanted to tip
herself over completely.
She didn't relish the thought of lying on her side in that
position though, so she had taken the path of least resistance and
decided to simply wait until her captors returned.
It wasn't her captors who would visit her though. At last as far
as she knew.
"That can't be pleasant," Haruka said as she emerged from the
darkened stairway, clad in a simple white shirt and slacks. She
motioned to Maxill's feet, which bulged a little where they met the
rope, somewhat like a plastic bag that had been tied too tightly at
the top.
Maxill just looked at her new and unexpected visitor. "You're not
one of the Sailor Senshi..."
Haruka's eyes rose to meet Maxill's. "... No," she said, slow and
deliberate. "... I'm not."
If fact, Maxill recognised her. "You're the racer, the one who
went missing so you could cheat on your girlfriend."
Haruka's gaze hardened even more. "I would stop there, if I were
you." She reached into the box beside her and pulled out an old and
dusty golf club. "I'm not the one tied to the chair."
Maxill didn't care one bit. "Go ahead. You're just one more type
of human who deserves your fate."
Haruka cocked an eyebrow, took two steps forward, and swung.
Maxill couldn't close her multi-faceted eyes, and watched out of the
corner of her eyes as the driving iron sped towards her head... and
stopped only inches from it, wavering in the air. Her head had never
moved, but she breathed an internal sigh of relief. "You can't do
it?"
"Believe me," Haruka replied, lowering the club, "I want to. If
you freaks had popped up only three months ago, I'd have beaten you
into a pulp. Be glad I've been taught otherwise since then."
"It wouldn't have solved anything either way," Maxill retorted.
"You humans can't kill us so easily."
"It would have made me feel better."
Maxill tilted her head, offering it. "So do it. Your Sailor
Senshi friends won't lose anything."
"Would have," Haruka replied, sitting heavily on the edge of
another box. "Past tense."
She gave Maxill a limp smile. "It hurts to be powerless, doesn't
it," she observed with simple dejection.
Maxill sat there in silent surprise for a moment. "... Yes. It
does. You envy your heroines?"
Haruka looked resolute. "Do you?"
Maxill was surprised by that reply. "Of course. Their power
destroyed my world! With that we could take your world in the blink
of an eye. I could bring back my sister! Your Sailor Senshi would
never have dared commit the genocide they perpetrated!"
"Genocide?" Haruka asked. "So that's what this is about? An eye
for an eye? I know the story. You came to prey on us. Sailor Moon
defended us the only way she could."
Maxill realised then that she had said too much. "... Why do you
not envy their power? You could do anything."
Haruka huffed. "The only things I want can't be won by beating
them into submission. I just want the chance to protect them."
"You care for them," Maxill realised. "They are apart from you,
but you feel for them. You, and those girls you pretend to copulate
with, and the Sailor Senshi, you are all intertwined."
This time it was Haruka who knew she had said too much. "As if
you could understand, monster."
"I have never killed a human," Maxill justified. "Have you ever
killed one of us?"
"Have you ever died for the ones you loved?" Haruka threw back.
"You have?" Maxill asked dismissively.
Haruka just nodded. She looked strangely happy about it.
"I would, if I could turn back time," Maxill finally replied, not
believing her hostess for a second but determined to prove her moral
superiority. "Because of what your 'heroines' did, I lost my only
blood-sister. If she could be here instead of me, I would make that
sacrifice."
As much as she didn't want to, Haruka could respect that. "I
wonder."
"Believe what you wish," Maxill said.
Then, from the stairway, Hotaru's voice broke the tension in the
air. "Haruka-papa? W-what are you doing down there?"
Haruka got up and strode to the doorway just as Hotaru emerged.
"Hotaru, it's okay, don't come down here."
Maxill just watched, intrigued. "So... you play the role of
'father', despite carrying a child of your own."
"Shut up!" Haruka snapped, but Maxill was not about to remain
quiet just yet.
"I wonder how you managed it," Maxill asked rhetorically. "Human
reproduction would not seem to allow sisterly offspring."
Haruka was ready to storm out, but was stopped when Hotaru
stepped forward to take a stand. "It was a gift," she said, her weak
voice given strength by her conviction. "It doesn't matter how it
happened, or who the parents are, or how strange it seems. That baby
happened because Haruka-papa is loved, and it is going to be my
little brother or sister. Somehow our family worked out, so it will
work out for Haruka-papa's baby too!"
Both Maxill and Haruka stayed silent, letting that speech sink
in.
"You know," Maxill finally said, "among youma, your polyamoury
and reproduction would not be abnormal. We can arrange it."
Haruka glared. "Thanks, but I like us just the way we are."
Even without a mouth of her own, Maxill seemed to smile. "Is that
not your problem?"
Neither Haruka nor Hotaru replied as they took each other's hands
and left the basement. In that one respect, they knew the youma was
right.
And the youma, despite her predicament, found herself adding them
to her mental list. Those two, for all their faults, would make fine
youma sisters.
***
Night had fallen again by the time Usagi had finally finished
preparing dinner that night. It wasn't, however, strictly her fault
this time, as she was both trying to cook and defend herself at the
same time. No matter how gently Mamoru did it, Usagi never liked
being told off.
"I'm sorry," she said for the seventeenth time, watching as he
stirred the rice for her so that it wouldn't stick. "I just didn't
want you to get into trouble again."
Mamoru shook his head. Even after five years her logic could
still mystify him. "Usako, if my phone goes off like that I'm going
to be leaving work regardless. It didn't matter whether Minako-chan
and Makoto-chan had the situation covered or not. It is much harder
to explain how a sudden family emergency can be 'cancelled' than it
is just to leave for the afternoon."
"But you said they are starting to look down on you for all the
times we call you away."
Mamoru just shrugged. "I have better things to worry about than
what my bosses think of me." He smiled at her, and wrapped an arm
around her waist as she added the last ingredients to the rice to
finish off. "Just the way you don't have time to worry about what
your teachers think."
Usagi nodded, finally understanding where he was coming from. "I
guess so."
"And next time," Mamoru added, "I'm coming with you to visit our
'prisoner' too. I would have liked the chance to speak with a youma
face to face."
Usagi chose that moment to lighten up, and she poked him in the
side, letting out a giggle. "I suppose after spending so much time as
one you'd know better than anyone how to deal with prisoners!"
He raised an eyebrow at that. "Oh? I remember being your black &
white knight often enough as well."
"...Who then had to be saved in return," Usagi added with a
cheeky smile. "My cute boyfriend-in-distress."
"Well, at least you didn't cut me out of the paging notice this
time," Mamoru mused. "So, will you also save our meat from a fate
worse than grilling, my fair and pretty damsel in shining armour?"
"Ohhhh, you sweet talker...What? Eeep!"
Mamoru smirked as Usagi raced to retrieve the rest of their food
from under the heat. "I guess that makes us even."
"You just wait, Mamo-chan. Pretty Knight-ess Usako will have her
revenge!" Then Usagi blushed as her stomach rumbled. "After we eat."
***
Rei was running alone again. Her friends never appeared there in
the blackness, to run beside her. Had they stayed behind to fight
what she was running from? Had they been forced to protect her, now
that she could not fight death? Had that great shining fortress
swallowed them because she had been too afraid to face it?
Rei could feel herself tiring. No matter how hard she gasped she
could not get enough air to keep her going. Her muscles burned and
her joints felt as though they wanted to scream, but still she tried
to run. Because if she stopped running, she would be forced to fight.
She would fight her. She would become it.
Then she felt the hand fall lightly on her shoulder, and in that
instant her very skin was set afire. She wanted to scream, but no
sound came from her lips. All she could do was shudder as the dream
failed to shatter around her, and her holy fire filled her veins. Her
faith, her past, her fear; they had caught up to her, and they gave
her what she needed. Even if she didn't want it. Even though it would
cost her dearly.
Sailor Mars stopped running. She had the power. She was made
exalted by the flames. She raised her hands, said the words, and let
the fire consume her soul.
In a single jolt Rei awoke, a soundless cry escaping from her
lips. She gasped for air as she collapsed bonelessly in the futon.
That same dream had returned to her, yet again. A little different,
just as the last had been. These nightmare were become a nuisance,
she thought, as her wits slowly returned to her. She didn't need this
now.
She turned over to see Makoto's sleeping face resting against
their pillow.
Especially not now.
She saw Makoto shift, curling up slightly, and one of the
sleeping beauty's hands felt its way back to its place across Rei's
side, grasping gently at Rei's pyjamas.
Rei felt herself going red all over again. "Honestly Makoto...
You can't even wake up to comfort me after that?" she asked, but
without the slightest trace of annoyance. It was nice to be so
wanted, even in Makoto's dreams.
The making up that morning had given Rei an idea. After all the
little things Michiru, and indeed Makoto herself had said, compounded
with Rei's uncertainties, a common thread had come to the surface.
One that Rei had been trying so hard to forget since returning to
Tokyo.
Publicly Rei knew she had always been the pro-active one in their
relationship. Makoto herself had said as much, being far more worried
about making a scene than Rei ever had been. Rei enjoyed playing with
Makoto, because her girlfriend was happy to enjoy it, and Makoto
looked so adorable when she was happily embarrassed by the attention.
As Michiru had pointed out, Rei was an outgoing and confident person,
while Makoto was a far more personal, adoring romantic.
Which made her intense. Michiru had said Makoto's crushes had
always been obsessive, and she was right. When they were alone, it
was Makoto who lavished attention and affection on Rei, so much so
that Rei felt swept away by it. She loved it, she could surrender all
her self-possession, trusting Makoto with all her control...
Except that Rei cold no longer give up that control. All the
pain, and grief, and conflict that she had suffered in Seiji had been
because she had lost her control to Desir. That demonette had held
her happiness, and even the lives of her closest friends, in the palm
of her hand, and Rei had not been able to do anything to change that.
She had been helpless.
Together with Makoto she had re-learned control. A control that
meant safety for herself and everything that she held dear.
A control that she could no longer bear to give up, even to the
woman she loved. It was so incredibly irrational, and yet now that
she had realised it she could try and do something about it. She
would have to re-learn that she could trust Makoto to sweep her away.
How, she didn't know, but this evening had been a start. Rei had, for
the first time since returning, taken the initiative when they were
alone. Just as she had that night in Seiji, where they had slept
naked beneath the same covers.
She had not let Makoto lead, and some small part of her felt
saddened that she had to do that, but she had seduced the girl
properly.
And Makoto had let her.
Rei smiled as she gazed at Makoto's sleeping face. She slipped
Makoto's hand further over herself beneath the futon, and nestled in
close against her girlfriend's body. Their legs laced together, and
Makoto stirred as Rei rested her head against the taller girl's
chest.
"Wh.. Where..? R-Rei..?" Makoto asked, her eyes blurry but her
body warm as Rei held her.
"It's okay Makoto," Rei replied, smiling up at her. "Sleep."
Makoto smiled back down hazily. "Love you," she said, before
pulling her closer and tilting her head upwards. "Sorry."
Rei closed her eyes as she was kissed, and she reciprocated
gently, just enough so that she would still stay safe in her own
heart. "What for?" she asked as their lips parted, but Makoto's
eyelids were already drooping.
Rei smiled and shifted back down on her Makoto pillow, leaving a
kiss on her collarbones as she went. "I'm sorry for waking you, Mako.
Sleep well."
***
When morning came Maxill only realised it by the hunger that
gnawed at the pit of her stomach. She had slept fitfully and her
semi-solid flesh felt as thought it had been left to sag inside her
skin for too long.
She missed Aretsuki as well. The little fox girl was innocent and
naive, but she had been good company during their quest for energy.
Some of that child-like insight and hopefulness would have been
welcome right then. Even that human woman and her daughter would have
been better than the darkness that surrounded her.
"Its morning, right?" she called out towards where she thought
the stairs were. "You could at least turn the light on now! I'm going
to have to eat soon too, unless you're just going to leave me to rot
down here."
Silence was her only response, as it would be for some while. She
began to call out more often and with greater urgency as the morning
wore on. Anger, and even a little desperation, had long since crept
into her voice when she began struggling in the chair again, but to
no avail. All it did was stretch her skin and make her flesh ache
more painfully.
She was not the only one agonised by the situation though. Sailor
Pluto stood guard at the top of the stairs that led to the basement,
but by 11 o'clock not a single one of her companions was willing to
sit and hear the cries any longer.
"Pluto," Sailor Neptune said, the last one to finally break her
silence, "for God's sake. Surely that's enough. If you won't let
Sailor Moon attend to it then at least let's kill the creature and be
done with it."
Beside her, holding her hand for emotional support, Sailor Saturn
nodded. "This is unnatural, keeping the youma in limbo," she said,
her strange form of speech affected by Hotaru's own feeling. "Do you
intend to torture her into submission?"
Sailor Pluto shook her head, her face as sternly set as it had
been an hour ago. "We brought it here to gain information," she said.
"A desperate and frustrated captive is more likely to speak openly."
"And you've frustrated her enough!" Sailor Moon exclaimed.
"Please, this is cruel!"
Pluto knew she could not postpone the inevitable forever. "Tuxedo
Kamen..?"
"Open the door Pluto," he said quietly but with as firm a
conviction as Sailor Moon. "You have done enough to soften her up.
Let's not portray ourselves as too villainous. There are already
people questioning our returned members' moral judgement over taking
a youma captive."
From the back Haruka huffed. "There would be. Some people are
ready to believe anything."
Sailor Pluto on the other hand just nodded. Tuxedo Kamen was
right, she had done enough to ensure at least a little forthrightness
from their captive. "Very well. Go on Sailor Moon, work your magic. I
will stay here and await news."
The rest of them made their way down until Pluto barred the door
again, stopping Haruka in her tracks.
"What?"
Sailor Pluto gave her a level look. "It was foolhardy to go down
there, Haruka."
"This is my house too," Haruka glared back. "Just because... Just
because I can't fight, I won't let you stick me in a cage."
"I am only thinking of your health Haruka."
Haruka nodded reluctantly. "But what about my sanity? This is
hard enough already, okay?"
Pluto nodded in return and dropped her arm. "Very well. Just
exercise caution, please."
Haruka agreed, and by the time she got down the stairs the Senshi
had already put the lights on, and were receiving a tongue lashing
from the youma. It was obvious that the lot of them had waited,
otherwise they would not have come down in such a group.
Haruka found it strange, seeing that almost featureless alien
face with only slight indicators that she was even cross, despite the
anger in her voice. Equally strange was Sailor Moon's ability to put
it past her, as their princess reached into the open storage box and
pulled out the energy crystal inside. It was glowing only faintly
now, Maxill having had several meals from it already.
"Here," Sailor Moon said, offering the crystal to where Maxill's
lips would have been. "You said you were hungry."
Maxill glared at her, but her vitriolic tirade ceased.
"I'm sorry," Sailor Moon added sincerely. "We shouldn't have kept
you waiting, but we..."
"We had a lot to discuss, considering the situation," Tuxedo
Kamen finished for her. "No doubt you would have the same problems."
Maxill didn't reply, but she leaned forward and the front of her
jaw stretched outward, enveloping the point of the crystal as she
slowly began to drink.
"If this is all you are after," Sailor Neptune said as the youma
fed from Sailor Moon's hand, "then why risk coming here? You call
this survival, but surely you knew that if you preyed on us then we
would retaliate. It is common survival sense. Given how outmatched
you are, it seems far too risky just to steal 'food'."
Sailor Saturn agreed with that statement. "You would have to be
here in great numbers," she added. "And if you are, then you pose a
large enough threat to put down with proper force. Are the lives of
your people worth that?"
Maxill wanted to ignore them, but she was far too riled at their
treatment of her before, and put off guard by their sudden act of
generosity. "Either we eat or we die," she spat out. "And we have you
to blame for that!"
"How?" Sailor Moon asked. "We... I re-set everything. I brought
everybody back, and stopped you invading us. What could I have done
to leave you with no choice but to prey on us now?"
"Your silver crystal gave you one single wish, and you used it,"
Maxill finally said, looking up at the circle of stunned faces around
her. "Don't look so shocked. Shivis, our genius sister, understood
what happened. You wished to turn back time, to before you all died
on your crusade, and you wished that Metalia and Queen Beryl had
never existed, but what about the rest of us?
"You cut us out of the universe!" she exclaimed with righteous
wrath. "You made sure history couldn't repeat itself even without our
Queen and our Goddess. But you didn't know anything about our
Kingdom, did you?! You just cast us out in our own little reality
bubble, without even thinking of what would happen to us! We had no-
one to lead us, and nothing to survive on."
"What?" Tuxedo Mask asked. "Your own world couldn't provide for
you?"
Maxill glared at him. "Why else would we have waged war on you
since the age of Silver? We wanted your worlds for what they *had*!
Our people had always had to subsist on what we could take from
others, a little here and a little there, since the beginning of time
itself. Of course there would be brothers and sisters who wanted to
conquer! If we had succeeded we would have never had to worry for
food or power again!"
"And so eventually you just got used to preparing for invasion,"
Neptune observed.
"It was Metalia's will," Maxill retorted. "But what happened when
you trapped us in that bubble of reality? We could not drain our
Kingdom's flora for energy, it was immune!"
She stared Sailor Moon straight in the eyes. "So we had to turn
on each other. We were forced to become cannibals, because of you!"
Sailor Moon could barely believe her ears. "No..."
"The strong trampled the weak, and drained them dry," Maxill
continued darkly. "Spawnlings were easy targets, and those of us who
weren't fighters only survived because we banded together with our
sisters, sharing the energy of the ones who tried to hunt us."
"Then Shivis found you," she explained. "She discovered the
energy trail as you broke through reality, and created a machine to
force it open for us as well. Once it was complete we just had to
fuel it and wait for you to do it again." Her voice turned sad. "By
the time you did there were only a few of us left. We were the last
sisterhood, escaping the few powerful tyrants who had risen to the
top, and even then we did not have enough energy for all of us to
make it."
"So here we are," she finished. "All five of us. Will you kill
the last five of our kind?"
However, she stopped when the tears began to flow freely down
Sailor Moon's face. "I'm sorry!" the girl hero whispered hoarsely. "I
didn't mean to do anything like that. I should have tried harder, but
I was only fourteen! I just wanted us to be safe!"
Then, to the alarm of the others, she removed her left glove and
offered her hand to Maxill. "There wasn't much in that crystal,
right? You can have more, if you want. I'm sorry, but I... I don't
know what else I can do."
"Sailor Moon!" The other's exclaimed, but Maxill looked up at her
with curiosity.
"I could drain you to a husk."
Sailor Moon just tried to smile through the wetness that covered
her cheeks. "Will you?"
Maxill looked at the others around her, then turned her head
away. "I've had enough. Besides, if I kill you, you would make sure
to slaughter us."
"Yes," Sailor Saturn replied. "We would."
"But maybe we don't have to," Sailor Moon added. "I don't think I
can make it right, but I'll try. If you can help us."
Maxill didn't know what to think of that. "As if we could ever
trust humans, let alone you people."
Haruka got up and stepped forwards. "Maybe, but that wasn't what
you said yesterday."
Tuxedo Kamen followed her up on that. "You should think about it,
youma-san. If you're lucky, it might save your lives."
***
With lunchtime fast approaching Artemis was wishing he had made
that detour past the old fish shop before trekking across town to
Minako's agent's apartment block. He wasn't used to being hungry, and
it was distracting him from an otherwise very satisfying bit of
stalking. After all, he couldn't just walk in through the front door.
He was only a cat.
However, while Luna was happy to leap through an open first floor
window getting into Usagi and Mamoru's place, Artemis liked a
challenge. It satisfied the would-be hero in him, and the combination
of window edgings, garbage chutes and unnoticed, lightning dashes
through lazily closing doors filled him with a great sense of
adventure.
He wasn't kidding himself though. Either all this exercise would
be for nothing, or he would have to make an equally quiet and smart
retreat back to Minako to confirm her suspicions. Still, he would
worry about that when he needed to. For now he simply scooted past an
affluent old dear, making her jump as he risked the stairs again,
just making it into the tenth floor corridor before the door caught
his tail.
"So, apartment 1012... this way."
Of course, actually checking on Mikiyo would be another trick
entirely. He couldn't just use the standard catty trick of scratching
at the door, because he needed to make sure that nothing seemed out
of the ordinary. He couldn't knock either, because his fur would
muffle the noise and render the exercise pointless.
So, Artemis trick number two it was. With one deft leap he made
for the door knob and, with another quick swat at that to give him
the extra lift he needed, he could just about reach the doorbell with
his hind legs as he turned to land from the apex of his jump.
One rung doorbell later and Artemis was feeling very satisfied
with himself. All except that the door wasn't answered. He knew she
was home, otherwise she would have collected her mail on her way out
the way she always did. More to the point he wouldn't have heard
voices inside, muffled but undeniable to his feline aural abilities.
After a little wait he pulled the same trick again. Either he
needed to see who answered the door and get a peek inside before she
noticed him, or he would have to try to look in from the outside.
However, the voices had died and it seemed that either she or they,
whoever they might have been, didn't want to be at home.
With that established Artemis grinned and padded over to the
window at the edge of the corridor. "The difficult way it is then,"
he said to himself. Thankfully these windows always had a decent sill
so he could just about perch there to open it before slipping out
onto the ledge. Frankly the decorative sill around the outside of
these building was less than ideal, but it gave him just enough
purchase to work his way around to the windows.
What he saw confirmed Minako's fears, and Artemis found himself
growling. The multi-limbed youma the Senshi had first battled had
Mikiyo tied up on the floor, and she looked more than worse for wear.
The youma seemed paranoid, no doubt because of the noise he had made
at the door.
"And here I was worried that this was so frightfully boring,"
Myoshiya said, as much to herself as her captive. "Do you think that
was Aino coming to your rescue? Did you assume I would just open up
for her?" Myoshiya chuckled. "No, let's see if she's the one to
leave, because that's all I'll need."
Then Artemis realised his position. This apartment was directly
above the entrance, and all the youma would have to do was look down
to see who left the building in the next few minutes. And she would
see him in the process. He started to sweat. Did these youma know
that the Senshi had cats as allies?
Myoshiya seemed to be creating a magic disguise for herself when
she stopped, the image dissipating like smoke as she saw him. And she
smiled, cutely. "Well look at that. Poor thing, tottering around out
there."
She walked over and undid the window latch, opening it for him.
"In you come..." she said, but Artemis wasn't about to be handled by
her. If she somehow sensed that his energy was different from a
normal cat's then he was in big trouble. The problem was he didn't
have any room to manoeuvre out on the ledge, so he had to scoot past
her and into the apartment.
"A-Artemis..?" Mikiyo said dully, staring hard at him.
He hadn't thought of that. Myoshiya didn't need to recognise him.
Mikiyo would, and in her current state worrying about keeping a cat a
secret was the last of her concerns.
"Oh, you know him?" Myoshiya asked, losing the playfulness in her
voice. She picked up one of the magazine she had brought with her, as
much to keep herself occupied as anything, and turned to the only
pertinent page. "Aino Minako... Favorite foods: Gyoza, ramen and
curry rice. Favorite pastimes: Volleyball, dancing and spending time
with friends. Favorite animals: Song birds, and her pet cat...
Artemis."
Myoshiya smiled, but this time with menace in her lips. "Well
well, how fortunate."
Artemis didn't waste any time with fear. He dashed straight for
Mikiyo and grabbed the knot at her wrists, trying to bite through it
as best he could. The rope was thick but rather weak, and his teeth
shredded it with far more ease than simple tugging and stretching
would have done. However, Mikiyo - hungry, dehydrated and deprived of
sleep - was in no condition to make the most of the opening he had
given her, and Myoshyia simply knocked the girl out against the wall,
her lowermost left hand grabbing Artemis by the tail as he tried to
slip past her.
"You're a clever little thing, aren't you?" she asked as she held
him up.
Artemis replied with his claws, kicking at her wrists and making
a swipe for her face, cutting a deep gash across her cheek. Myoshiya
screamed at the pain. Even though the wound was barely even
superficial to her it had still hurt like hell, and given her a nasty
shock. She clutched one hand to her cheek as it bled greenly, and she
dashed Artemis against the window.
Artemis bounced off the glass with a dull thump, and it took him
a moment to find his feet again. His only option against a real youma
was a tactical retreat, since he knew that backup would not arrive in
time to help him. And the only way out was the way he had come in,
with no time for care about where he put his feet this time. Either
he fell victim to the youma, or he took the window.
With a single meowl he jumped for the ledge and leapt, leaving
Myoshiya staring in dumb fury after him. He would have to get to
Minako and tell her fast, because who knew what that youma was going
to do, especially if Mikiyo was in bad shape.
The problem was, as he righted himself out of reflex, he was now
aware of the window he had just passed, and the other eight rushing
up below him. He had made sure not to jump in the direction of the
paved path, but he had still leapt out of the tenth story window of
an apartment block.
Then there was the rather nice ornamental tree directly below him
too. That would have been a bonus if he hadn't picked up so much
speed on the way down.
'This,' he thought, with a distinct tremor of fear, 'is really
going to hurt.'
***
A similar thought went through Mizuno Katsura's mind at just
about the same time, but for a very different reason.
"Good afternoon, Meioh-san. What can I do for you?"
Of course she knew the answer already. She just hoped the
artistic savant had no ill intentions.
"Good afternoon, Mizuno-sensei," Michiru replied pleasantly, but
it was obvious that she was not quite at her best. She was pushing
herself a little too hard to do this. "Is Ami-san at home?"
Katsura gave her a guarded smile. "I will see if she is free."
Ami, after reassuring her mother that nothing unpleasant would
come of it, decided that she was, and she soon found herself in
Michiru's car, being driven aimlessly around the Tokyo suburbia.
"The view is very nice," Ami complemented as they rounded a hill,
giving them a vista over the countryside that stretch out beyond the
city.
Michiru just nodded. "It is. Though I've never appreciated it as
much as Haruka does. It seems a shame not to stop and enjoy pleasant
scenery."
Ami agreed, "But it is Haruka that you wish to talk about,
naturally," she added, very obviously addressing their shared love
interest more intimately than she would have normally.
It got the point across. "So, you do consider yourself a
contender for her side after all. You have a lot more resolve than I
have given you credit for, Ami-san."
Ami nodded, though she did not like the fact. "So I keep finding
out. If it had not been for Desir, things would have been different.
She really did make things more 'interesting'."
Michiru could hear the inverted commas loud and clear, and looked
out towards the moving scenery again. "Yes. That she did."
Ami, however, found herself uneasy as the conversation stalled
there. "So, why was it that you invited me on this drive, Michiru-
san? I do not think it was simply to learn my intentions, was it?"
"No," Michiru replied, a satisfied smile on her face. Ami was
very good at knowing people. Even people as difficult to know as her.
"I have been wondering a lot, Ami-san, but most importantly I need to
know what you think of your child."
Ami took a long time to take in those words. *Her* child. Her own
mothering instinct, however late it had been in coming to her, warmed
in her chest. "If she wants to keep the baby, then I want to be its
mother." She looked up at the clear sky, a faint smile of her own
tugging at her lips. "I am not ready to become a parent like you did
Michiru-san, but I think that is true for a lot of parents, when they
face the reality of it."
"And what if I was to be the parent? Would you allow that?"
Ami lost the happiness in her smile, but she continued to stare
at the clouds that drifted by as the drove. "If that is what Haruka
wants, then I am not in the position to allow or deny you anything,
Michiru-san."
In truth Michiru had expected a little more fire from her, given
that Ami still wanted to pursue Haruka, but it fitted better with her
own thoughts about the girl. "Very selfless of you Ami-san, but don't
worry. Haruka has not decided anything of the sort, and neither have
I, though I would be able to live with another daughter who was not
genetically my own. I am surprised though. You don't seem to know
Haruka as well as you think you do."
Ami conceded to that. "Given your time together I doubt I can
hope to rival you in that regard, Michiru-san."
"So," Michiru continued. "Why did you decide to make love with
her when you know you do not know her as well as you might like? You
have never been the type to take that sort of approach to anything."
Ami wondered why Michiru would torture them both with such a
question, when it was bound to be a subject that neither of them
wanted to think about. But, if she was going to ask it, then Ami
would answer whether Michiru liked it or not. "Because I needed it. I
needed the comfort like nothing I have ever known. Every time I
wanted to use the magic I learned there, I needed to recall my most
painful memories. I was afraid that, when we were captured, we might
never find a better way home than to trap ourselves in that gilded
cage. And I was lonely. Even with everyone there, I missed home, and
my mother, and Usagi-chan," she looked down from the clouds to
Michiru, "and you, and everyone. I am often given encouragement,
Michiru-san, but very few people ever comfort me, even if it is my
own fault for hiding that need away. After all that time I just
wanted that comfort, and Haruka gave it to me. She and I had found
that we could talk to one another again, as equals this time, and
when I needed it most I found out that she would give me everything I
wanted."
She looked at Michiru with that same determination in her eyes.
"We chose to do what we did together. And I am not sorry that I could
not let go when I should have, because something wonderful has come
out of it. Even if it means I cannot share in it."
"As I said," Michiru repeated with a quieter, more reflective
voice, "Haruka has not made that decision. I know that she will want
the baby. She also thinks the same way that you do about your... time
together, though she will not say as much to me, for the sake of my
feelings."
Ami was surprised by that confession, and by those facts
themselves. "Michiru-san..."
"I fell in love with her much the same way you did, I suspect,"
Michiru continued, "I had been attracted to her since the time Elsa
first introduced us. She was rough and seemed uninterested, but that
challenge excited me. We slowly became able to talk to one another,
as equals as you said, and found that we had, on occasion, things in
common. Neither of our parents were wholly there for us the way we
would have liked, we both had little use for our wealth beyond
frivolous play, and we both enjoyed the arts, though Haruka would not
admit to it at first.
"Our duties as Senshi drove a wedge between us though. When we
awakened her as Sailor Uranus she was convinced that I had been
manipulating her from the start, and she was appalled at the way
Setsuna and I approached our work. It was a side of her I had never
seen. She is a rational girl, and we could explain the necessity of
what we did, but even after that I seemed unable to win her trust
again."
Michiru felt uneasy as she spoke. She was admitting these things
to her rival after all, but, somewhere in her mind, she had decided
that Ami needed to know these things. If Haruka truly did feel for
Ami as strongly as she did for Michiru herself, then both Ami and
Haruka could be spared that.
"You see, Haruka may be confident now, but she still has many
problems with herself and her self-image. Unlike me she was not
careful with showing her more unusual interests, in her case almost
everything from her clothing to her cars and bikes. She did not even
know she needed to be careful about it. Because of that, when she
discovered that she was so different from her peers, it seemed to
happen all at once. Everyone turned on her in what seemed to be the
blink of an eye.
"That was what made her angry and brusque outside her own circle,
which at the time consisted of few besides herself. That incident,
and the way she was treated from then on, has made her focus herself
on those things that people consider strange. Much like Mako-chan I
think, Haruka sees very little good in her appearance, and it took me
a lot of time to convince her otherwise. Even so, I have still not
convinced her into a dress or swimsuit unless we are alone together.
It took us long enough to persuade her to wear her Sailor Senshi
fuku, even given the sense of power that comes with it."
Ami remembered their little shopping trip in Seiji, and Haruka's
resolute refusal over the clothing that Minako and Rei had suggested
for her.
"She covers for that perceived inadequacy with her charisma,"
Michiru continued, "and it does her good that her combined charms,
and the reality that she is in fact attractive, makes her adored by
the younger girls. But what it doesn't give her is room to be
sensitive, needy or, for lack of a better word, feminine. Those
things have been hidden. She is a very sensitive person, more so than
I am, I know, but instead of focusing on what people thought she
should improve in herself, she rebelled against them. She never once
tried to hide or deny that she was a lesbian, and she made sure to
focus on her boyish interests and the harder edges of her
personality, just to act out against the people who derided them."
"But," she finished, "that does not mean that the feminine girl
inside her is gone. She has a passion for lingerie, for example, and
no matter what she says she is no more Hotaru's 'father' than I am.
She dotes on her, and the role of 'Haruka-papa' plays into her own
attitudes about herself, but she has her maternal moments just as we
all do. That is why I know she will keep the baby... and why I can
believe that she does honestly love you. Before the problems with
Galaxia you rarely fell into the trap of treating her as anything
other than the person that she is, despite her jokes and her silly
flirting."
Ami had remained silent while Michiru spoke, but her mind had
been awhirl the entire time. "Why are you telling me this?"
Michiru gave her a serious glance from the wheel. "Because one of
us is going to make her a happy woman," she replied. She was serious,
but there was a light touch to her voice even so. "I have no
intention of losing her to you, but I will not sabotage your victory
either, just as I know you will not sabotage mine. We have always
been rivals of a sort, haven't we... Ami-chan? I am afraid of the
outcome, but I would like to be friends with my rival again."
It was only then that Ami realised what she had been doing.
Michiru's history with Haruka, and their deep understanding of one
another, was her weapon against Ami, while Ami's was the child that
Haruka now carried. Today they had just levelled the playing field.
"I would like that Michiru-san. There should be no hard
feelings."
Michiru shook her head at that little display of idealism. "There
will be," she said with a smirk. "But we are both intelligent enough
to deal with them ourselves."
***
Normally, when someone screams, they will attract just enough
attention to get help if they really need it, and then only from
those who can see what is going on or from those close to them,
assuming these onlookers don't find the situation funny at their
friend's expense.
When a superhero's mother screams, however, and screams like she
means it, there can only be two outcomes. Either there is going to be
a very long lecture on how to behave from one of them, or something
is going to get the crap kicked out of it with deadly intent.
"MINAKO! ARTEMIS IS HURT! GET DOWN HERE, I'M CALLING THE VET!"
Minako flew down the stairs, barely touching them, and when she
saw him she knew this was going to be the latter. "Oh my God!" she
cried, scooping her cat from her mother's arms, not even caring that
the front door was still wide open. "Artemis, what happened!?! Was
it..?"
The cat just mewled weakly, knowing that Kikon was still within
earshot. He was a terrible mess; he was cradling his right front paw
against his chest and his fur was faintly matted with blood down his
side. And he felt even worse than he looked. He was pretty sure he
had broken more than his leg falling through that tree, and he had
still limped and stumbled all the way back without being caught by
any well-meaning passers by, just in case they took him away for
treatment, leaving him unable to tell Minako the truth.
He looked over to see Kikon on the telephone, and let out a
pained whisper. "Mina-chan, I'll be okay. I've had worse than this,
probably."
"Probably?!" Minako asked in tearful astonishment.
"That's not important," Artemis carried on, ignoring her
outburst. "That shiva-youma has Mikiyo, and she's in bad shape. You
have to help her fast!"
"What about you?" Minako asked, steeling herself but still too
concerned about her battle partner and confidant to abandon him like
this.
"I said I'll be fine," Artemis growled. "Your Mum can deal with
me fine. You have a mission Minako!"
Minako swallowed hard and nodded. "Mum!"
"What?! What?" Kikon replied, jumping from where she had been
standing in the kitchen.
"Take Artemis," Minako said, with a rare tone in her voice that
brooked no arguments. "I have to go. I'll be back soon."
"What?" Kikon asked, shocked. "N-now? You can't be serio..."
But Minako had already handed her injured informant over, and was
running out of the door, grabbing her bag as she went and reaching
straight for her pager.
Kikon couldn't believe it. "Minako! Come back here this minute!"
Minako was gone though, and no sooner had she sent the call to
the others she had her communicator in her hand, and Usagi appeared
on the small pink-bordered screen. "Minako-chan? What is it? We're
coming already!"
Minako shook her head. "Don't come to me. You know where my agent
lives, right? Tell everyone to meet there."
"Minako, wait..."
The leader of the inner Senshi wasn't having a conversation
though, and shut the girlish device. She just ran, looking for a
convenient place to transform.
Barely five minutes later she was there, the energy and agility
of Sailor Venus' power having taken her right into the city proper,
and she looked up at the tenth floor window. The only thing that kept
her on the ground was knowing that, if she ran in alone, the youma
would get away again.
And she wasn't going to allow that.
"Venus!"
Sailor Moon ran up, panting heavily and looking very concerned.
"Venus, are you okay?"
Venus gave her a dark look. "They have a hostage, and they almost
killed Artemis. Let's go."
"Shouldn't we wait for the others?"
Sailor Venus shook her head. "Artemis said we needed to hurry. I
think that together we can take one youma."
Sailor Moon would have liked to discuss that, but Venus knew the
situation better than she did. "Okay, let's go!"
In no time at all they were up the stairs, and Sailor Venus
didn't waste a second, kicking the apartment door right off its
hinges. Venus glared into the main room. The youma wasn't even trying
to hide. Five of its hands rested on its hips, while the sixth
pointed at them. "Sailor Senshi! So, you are more intimate with the
Aino girl than even I expected!"
Sailor Moon struck her pose. "Agents and managers are the
backbone of an industry fulfilling girls' dreams and entertaining the
public! For depriving us of them, and making their friends fear for
them, in the name of the moon I will punish you!"
Myoshiya just shook her head at the egotistic display. "And you,
Orange Sailor Senshi, do you have any proud and boastful inanities to
spout?"
The next thing Myoshiya knew was fear as Sailor Venus leaped at
her, and in one move slammed her fist onto the youma's unprepared and
undefended stomach. "You won't get away with this!" Sailor Venus
said, standing solidly as Myoshiya hit the wall opposite and
staggered to her feet.
"No matter," the multi-limbed youma said, two of her hands
clutching her abdomen. "At least we know enough to be of use now!
Queenmaker! Take care of these people!"
Sailor Moon and Venus looked over to the subject of the youma's
words, and Venus felt her heart drop. "Mikiyo-san..."
Mikiyo stood there with vacuous confidence, but she was barely
recognisable as the stubborn, hard working agent Minako knew. Her
face was contorted into a freakish smile of cartoon friendliness, and
her huge, unnaturally wide eyes seemed glossy and shining like a
doll's with their single fixed and lifeless expression. Her face was
over made-up and her hair, once beautifully simple, straight and
black, now frazzled out from her head in caricatured orange curls.
But worst was the fawning, doe like way she held herself, wearing
a bright red suit that showed off every overworked gesture of her now
green tinted body.
"You had better buck up your ideas if you want to be famous
missy!" the 'Queenmaker' squeaked, dropping into a computer character
style combat stance.
It should have been funny, or ridiculous, or even just pathetic,
but Sailor Venus found tears falling down her cheeks as she looked at
the twisted and perverted creature that her agent and friend had
become. "Sailor Moon, you can heal her, right?"
Sailor Moon nodded. "I'll try my hardest."
"Okay." Then Venus turned her teary gaze to Myoshiya. "... Venus
Love and Beauty Shock!"
Sailor Moon averted her eyes from Venus' bright attack and
focused on the freakish monster that was dashing towards her. She
remembered having so much trouble with these youma creations at the
start of her career as a Sailor Senshi, but that had been years ago.
Now she was worried about killing her, because if she did that then
Minako's agent would die as well. Even her tiara attack, the weakest
of her offensive powers, might be enough to kill the Queenmaker.
Especially since these youma seemed weak even compared to some of the
ones they had faced when they were fourteen years old.
Sailor Moon leapt, easily jumping the charging caricature and
backing up, her sceptre in hand as the Queenmaker looked around
dumbly for her prey.
"Hey," the youma-creation cried indignantly. "You have to work
hard, or else you won't get anywhere missy!"
From inside its suit the creature pulled a huge red pen. "Maybe
we need to review your contract missy!"
The Queenmaker slashed twice into the air, spraying two great
arcs of ink towards Sailor Moon, who only just managed to avoid the
strange liquid projectiles. Then behind her, her heard a creaking,
and looked back to see that the ink had cut right into the walls.
"Wow, that's dangerous!" Sailor Moon exclaimed, but she knew
better than to stand there being impressed. She levelled her sceptre
at the Queenmaker and drew her power up from within herself. "Moon
Healing Escalation!"
The torrent of light burst from her weapon, silhouetting the
Queenmaker against the wall as it let out its cry. "Refresh!"
When the light faded Mikiyo sat there slumped in a heap,
unconscious but alive and safe. Sailor Moon turned to help Venus now,
but what she saw stopped her in her tracks.
Sailor Venus was the only one standing, and she held her Love-Me
Chain in her hand, pulling on it as she looked down at her victim. At
her feet Myoshiya choked and struggled, three hands struggling
against the chain that wrapped around her neck while the other three
clawed as Venus's heeled boot, pressed into her chest.
"V-Venus," Sailor Moon stammered, stepping forward, "what are you
doing?!"
Venus just glared down at the youma beneath her heel. "I'm
getting away with murder."
"No... you... are... not!" Myoshiya gasped out, but before Sailor
Moon hand a chance to help the youma braced all six of her arms
against the floor and lifted herself bodily off the ground. As soon
as she was high enough to feel Venus trying to step down harder she
bucked her legs, flipping them both into the air. Venus slipped
backwards while Myoshiya turned herself on her head, before landing
on all eights by the window. "You think too highly of yourselves
Sailor Senshi!"
However, she didn't wait to gloat as both Sailor Moon and Sailor
Venus readied their next attacks, and Myoshiya climbed out of the
same window Artemis had escaped from, her hand and feet groping for
purchase as she scaled the building like a giant blue spider.
The Senshi ran to the window, but they knew there was no way they
could catch her. Venus just turned back and walked over to the
unconscious Mikiyo, only now realising that she should have waited
for more help after all. "Damn it."
And Sailor Moon watched her unhappy friend, worrying for her all
the more now that she had seen just how dark Minako's serious side
had become.
***
"Be a good boy now Artemis," Kikon said as she handed him over in
his cat-box to the vet who had come to collect him. "Not that I can
really say that to a cat, but still..."
Artemis thought he saw a glimmer of uncertainty in her expression
as she had said that, but he put it out of his mind. He was far too
tired, and he hurt far too much. "Mreow," he agreed from the cloth
bedding of his travelling cage.
Kikon nodded, as if satisfied with that, and left the rest to the
vet.
As soon as she had closed the door, however, her hand went to her
chest. No matter how she looked at it, this was all wrong. Even for
Minako.
She heard Artemis suddenly kick up a fuss outside, probably as
they got to the vet's van, but she paid little attention to it. He
always did that, and she had been surprised he had been so
unresisting as she had put him into his box. Instead she went to the
phone and dialled a very familiar number.
"Hello, Tsukino residence."
Kikon swallowed hard. "Good afternoon Ikoku-san, it's Kikon
here."
"Ahh," came Usagi's mother's cheerful reply, "Kikon-san, how are
you?"
"Honestly? I'm rather worried," Kikon said, sounding it. "Minako
disappeared earlier, and just when her cat turned up injured. I don't
suppose..."
"Well," Ikuko replied, "I can't speak for Usagi. Since she
doesn't live here now I can't keep tabs on her like I used to Kikon-
san, but I must admit that doesn't sound like Minako-chan at all. I
remember that she made a real pest of herself playing nurse when
Usagi was sick once, just so she could stay here."
"The thing is," Kikon continued, "I'm sure - and I know I will
sound like my husband here - but I am positive she was talking to
Artemis while I was calling the vet. Talking like he was actually
saying something meaningful to her! And I know she was too upset to
be playing around. And the worst of it is that I can't even seem to
entertain the possibility that my husband may be right. Surely, given
the circumstances, I should at least be allowed to suspect!?"
"So you think there might be something to Yokozuki-san's theory
of some sort of supernatural mind block after all? Really, Kikon-
san."
Kikon knew she sounded crazy, but she was scared. Because if her
husband really was right, in spite of everything her rational mind
was telling her, then her daughter had lived this double life of hers
all alone for the last eight years!
"But... what if they are, Ikuko-san? Even if they won't let us
believe it, what if our children really are the Sailor Senshi after
all?"
Kikon suspected that Ikuko thought she had finally gone off the
deep end, but she persevered until her friend agreed to another
meeting, assuming Kikon could also convince the others to come.
Kikon thanked her and hung up the phone, proceeding to call the
Hikawa shrine next.
And, from the kitchen window, two bright fox-like eyes peered in,
memorising everything that they saw. She was very grateful that the
stupid white cat hadn't given her away as it had caught sight of her
in the bushes. Luckily the uniformed human carrying it hadn't given
the cat's noise any more thought than the Aino woman had. This was
very exciting news, Aretsuki knew, even if some of it didn't make
much sense. Why couldn't this human believe that the Aino girl was a
Sailor Senshi? It would explain an awful lot, Aretsuki thought, and
it made a lot of sense. After all, the Aino girl had left just before
the Sailor Senshi had turned up to ruin their plans.
Maybe the humans just had strange brains. Aretsuki didn't mind.
It would make finding their enemies even easier, and that would make
Big Sister Tyranya so proud of her!
***
To Be Continued...
***
Please send any comments and constructive criticism to me.
They are always greatly appreciated, and there is no better reward
for a writer than to hear back from the readers.
Many thanks to Richard King for his proofreading assistance.
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