A Double-Edged Sword Part 1
Dark Light
by
Sailor Janus
Disclaimer: Everything in this story is property of Naoko Takeuchi except Janus/Deidera and the villains unless she wants them.
*~*~*~*
"It had been several months since we had defeated the Chaos possessed, Galaxia. All seemed to be perfectly normal and soon we were able to enjoy our freedom from fighting evil for a change," Sailor Pluto reminisced, staring out at the endless night sky as her dark green hair blew gently in the breeze. The look in her garnet eyes expressed deep thoughts, which seemed to overwhelm and almost pain the soldier of time.
"How, naive of us to believe it was finally over. That we were free from our eternal duties so simply, when in reality, the war has only just begun." Pluto dropped her head as she softly spoke the last few words. She was only talking to herself as if to find comfort in hearing her own voice being that she was alone. "If only I could have warned them. If only we had known of the danger. Of course, it was impossible to have known this was going to happen. That everything was about to unravel under our fingers with no possible way to prevent it."
*~*~*~*
It was a beautiful, bright and sunny day. The streets of Tokyo were bustling with activity as adults and children alike, traveled them in hopes to savor the last of the weekend before the daily grind was to begin again.
"Wow, I didn't think it'd be this packed!" Minako exclaimed as she and her friends tried to weave their way through the crowds to their destination, the shopping center.
"Guess our great idea was the same as everyone else's," Rei said through gritted teeth as she tried to avoid being hit by a frantic lady's purse. "Whose stupid idea was this anyway to go shopping on one of the busiest days of the year right before school starts?!"
"Umm, uh...." Minako and Usagi both sweated as they tried to avoid looking at Rei. "Hey! We're here!"
"And, so is everyone else, eh," Makoto sighed as they stared wide-eyed at the huge crowds. "So, where to first?"
"CLOTHES!" the two blonde-haired girls cried out as they excitedly jumped up and down.
"Actually, there is a book I am dying to buy at the bookstore on where the best colleges are. After all, soon we will be graduating from high school and still have our futures to look at," Ami suggested as she began discussing the last thing the others had on their mind. School.
"Hi you guys!" someone said slowing their pace to match the five girls.
"Hi, Haruka! Hi Michiru!" the girls greeted as they recognized the two newcomers.
"Wow, it's been a long time since we you saw you two!" Minako grinned enthusiastically, flipping her long blonde hair off her shoulder.
"So what are you two doing here? I mean your mansion is in the next town after all," Makoto questioned the two girls curiously since whenever they ran into the outer senshi it meant there was a new villain to fight.
"We went out for a ride and then decided to go shopping instead since Haruka needs new track shoes and I am in dire need of a new dress for my concerts," Michiru explained as she smiled at the five girls who she had fought along side in battle several months ago.
"So what about you guys? Trying to savor the last of summer vacation?" Haruka asked as she shoved her hands in the pockets of her jeans.
"Yeah, We still can't believe that classes start tomorrow!" Minako answered with a depressing sigh. 'More tests, more homework…..more cute guys. Maybe it won't be so bad after all.'
"Oh! Look! There's a sale at the culinary shop!" Makoto pointed, not really paying to what was going on around her as she accidentally hit another girl with her hand.
"Ow!" the girl cried out as the brunette's hand smacked her in the face. "Hey! What was that for?!" Makoto froze for a brief second out of embarrassment as she turned to look at what all the commotion was about.
Makoto quickly unfroze and turned to the girl, her blood rushing to her already red face. "Ah! Oh, I am so sorry! I wasn't really paying attention to where my hand was going. I just saw the sale and my hand took over I guess," The pony tailed girl nervously laughed as she turned a brighter shade of red. 'I can't believe I just hit a total stranger in the face! Usagi must be rubbing off on me!'
The girl stared at the tall brunette for a brief minute and then laughed as she flicked a burgundy strand of curly hair off her shoulder. "It's okay, you just caught me by surprise. Don't worry, I'm not hurt or anything. Just try to be more careful next time I guess." She smiled as she turned and walked away while the other senshi stared after her.
"Well, that went better than I thought. I was afraid she was really mad or something!" Minako said with a shrug watching the girl depart.
"I wouldn't expect her to make a scene. After all, it was an accident," Ami explained as she and her friends continued walking through the busy shopping center.
"I have an odd feeling about that girl," Michiru quietly said to Haruka out of earshot of the talkative teenagers.
Nodding her head, Haruka agreed. "I know, it's like we know her from someplace but I can't really put a finger on where."
*~*~*~*
In a dark unknown location, a very mysterious man cackled fiendishly as a magenta-haired woman entered the darkly lit room.
"Chimaera, have you located the girl yet? We need her to carry out our plan. Without her, then success will be impossible," the man said with his back turned to her.
"Not yet, Lord Cacus. She is quite a difficult one to find, but no worries, she will soon reveal her location in due time," Chimaera replied as her black eyes shone in the dim light.
Slowly turning around, the man chuckled as he faced the woman, "Excellent. Soon I will finish what others only have started. However, unlike Queen Beryl, Wise Man, Pharaoh 90, and the many others, I have shall acquire the correct key to conquering the world, this one however they either did not know existed or have simply forgotten, just like those insipid Sailor Senshi."
"Would you like me to prepare an attack now?" Chimaera asked as she smoothed her midnight black dress.
"No, no, let's give the girl sometime to adjust to this new place before we tear her from it!"
Evil laughter begins to fill the room.
*~*~*~*
Back in the shopping center, each of the seven girls had finally found an item of purchase, which pleased them as they now attempted to make their way through the horrendous crowds of people so they could return home. Unfortunately, this was a rather difficult task to achieve.
"Ugh! Why do I feel like a salmon trying to swim up stream!" Rei muttered as she tried to maneuver herself around a family with two hyper kids and an elderly couple walking very slowly.
"I have no clue. OW! HEY! WATCH IT!" Minako cried out as a lady's purse hit her in the arm. The woman however didn't even apologize. "Geez! Some people!"
"Oh, I wish Mamoru were here!" Usagi sighed as she walked slowly behind her friends who appeared rather annoyed at her comment.
"Usagi, you know very well, that Mamoru cannot be with you every single second of the day!" Rei stated dryly.
"Why do you have to be so mean to me, Rei?!" Usagi whined as the others tried to ignore her.
"Because you're so annoying," Rei said under her breath softly so Usagi wouldn't hear. She really did like being friends with Usagi, but sometimes the girl just got so irritating that it drove her crazy.
"Hey look! There's Hotaru! I wonder what is she doing here?" Ami said as she pointed out the Sailor Senshi known as Saturn who was glancing through a window of an antique store staring at a beautiful glass lamp with lilac flowers painted on it.
"Wow, it's been awhile since we have seen her. Let's go say hi," Michiru said as she smiled at the girl whom herself, Haruka, and Setsuna helped to temporally care for.
The others agreed as they smiled. Just as they were about to greet her, however, the girls abruptly froze dead in their tracks as Hotaru spun around. There was something very different about the girl.
"Hotaru! You-you aged again!" Makoto managed to say as they gaped at the girl who was once a child but had changed once again into a teenager.
Laughing Hotaru nodded her head, "Yes, I did age again and hopefully for the last time. If I keep it up at this rate, I'll be a senior citizen before all of you reach 30!"
"So are you at the age you were before you died or older?" Minako asked still rather shocked.
"Yes, I am now the age I am supposed to be and have actually grown taller, which is why I am here, shopping for new clothes," Hotaru smiled as she held up the bags she was holding.
"But isn't this a long ways from home?" The blonde race car driver asked, feeling happy to see Hotaru's face again.
"Actually, this is where my new home is. Since the lab and the academy where I went to school are gone, Papa wanted to move on and start a new, so we moved into a house here. Oddly enough, after I got my results back from the school entrance exams, they allowed me to skip a grade because my scores were so high. This will mean I'll be going to the same school as the rest of you, not the same grade of course."
"Wow! Good for you, Hotaru! Does your father remember anything that happened from when you were possessed?" Ami thoughtfully asked, as the girl cringed for a split second to her friend's unawareness.
"Surprisingly, no. Somehow I managed to make him believe that the head trauma that he suffered from was due to the explosion of the academy and that while he was recovering, I was staying with family."
"But, what about when he saw you as a baby again?" Rei questioned the girl.
Laughing, Hotaru smiled, "It was only a dream. Even the nurses do not remember much of what had happened, so they cannot verify that I actually was a baby for well over a year, as well as the fact that they never saw me grow into a toddler. Everything seems perfectly normal now," she smiled as she checked her watch. "Anyway, I hate to run, but I must get back home or my father is going to worry about me. Not to mention the fact that he is letting me borrow his credit card. See you guys later!"
With a faded smile Hotaru disappeared into the crowd, heading in the opposite direction of the other Sailor Senshi.
"I swear he spoils her rotten! Of course so did we when she was young," Michiru giggled, recalling the times the outers had together when Hotaru was reborn as an infant and then grew into a toddler.
*~*~*~*
In the darkly lit room of Lord Cacus's private chamber, the man stood with his back towards the door examining what appeared to be a crystal-like ball with flashes of color glowing about it. He seemed almost in trance when suddenly he sensed someone's presence.
"Have you found the girl yet, Chimaera?" the man crisply inquired, never breaking his gaze from the colors in the ball.
The magenta-haired woman looked surprised that he knew she was there but recovered. "Yes, we believe that we may know the location of the girl. We just need to find the perfect moment to allow her to reveal herself."
"Excellent. Soon I'll have her under my control and then we can begin the next phase of my plan!" Lord Cacus cackled as he thought fiendishly of exactly what he was going to do as soon as he once again had the girl in the palm of his hand. "You may go now, Chimaera, and please notify me as soon as you find the girl. Understand?"
"Yes my Lord."
*~*~*~*
Author's Note: This has been completely revised by the time you are reading this. I've completed all the necessary grammar checks as well as changed the dubbed names, although I do not know too much of Japanese so I'm not incorporating too much other than the names.
This was my very first story to be posted here and to tell you the truth, I have improved, dramatically since then so I decided to give this one the overhaul it very well deserves. It's only far to Deidera after all.
Hope you enjoy it and don't forget to review.
