Disclaimer: Nope. Not owning characters placed into this fic. Fancy that, hmm? Anywho... On with the show, I believe is what they say. But ya gotta say... Demando is so seductive! He reminds me of Draco Malfoy in that matter... hmmm...
Summary: It's against all rules for a Time Guardian to fall in love if there is only one living princess to the Plutonian throne, according to the Laws of Selene. But when old once-lovers-now-enemies appear to cause chaos and a mysterious sister appear, Setsuna's more than slightly boring life is turned completely up-si-down as the fight for the Gates rages on.
Astute Observations of the Time Guardress
By: Achicagoil
rated: PG-13
chapter one: Observations of the Bitter
Michiru stared worriedly at the Time Guardress in the kitchen. For the past hour, all Setsuna had been doing was staring blankly at the wall, holding a cup of dark coffee in her perfectly manicured hand. Galaxia had been defeated years ago. Crystal Tokyo was flourishing. Hotaru had grown up, and Haruka had finally given in to letting the child date. Chibi-Usa was a bouncing, happy toddler of three. And apparently, all of the senshi had found their significant lover. Except the senshi of the Time Gates.
'It's illegal for me to do a number of things,' Setsuna had explained to the outers sadly during the wedding held for Mizuno Ami. 'Falling in love is one of them. I'm also not allowed to send donkeys in wash tubs to any dimension that's four dimensional, but I'm free to send them everywhere else. It's just one of those rules Selene made clear to the Time Guardians when the gates were first made and the first guardian was up and running. They're my laws. I follow them or I'm fired.' As hard as she try, Serenity-sama had never been able to overwrite the rule. So Setsuna stayed lonely.
'The only way for me to even consider falling in love would to be for my job to be passed to another. And that means giving birth to an heir. But you see... I can't give birth to an heir because there is no other guardian to guard the gates through my pregnancy. That is why there were always two daughters born to the Plutonian royalty, but my sister died. I have no younger sister to rotate my watching with because she was never reborn.' Michiru had never found out what had happened to the other daughter of the Plutonian royalty. It was a terse subject for Setsuna.
"How long has she been sitting there?" a voice asked Michiru. The aqua-haired woman turned to find her lover staring blankly at the Time Guardress.
"Since earlier this morning. Right when you went to follow Hotaru-dota to make sure her boyfriend didn't try to pull anything on her," Michiru replied. Haruka didn't even find the common courtesy to look abashed.
"How much longer do you suppose she can sit there, looking at the wall? And what do you suppose is the issue?" Haruka question. Michiru shook her head and shrugged.
"Who knows besides her. Something big is bound to happen sooner or later, but Kami-chan only knows where in the time warp it'll take place," Michiru replied, sighing.
Setsuna, still staring blankly at the wall, spoke up. "Communicator," she croaked, her voice cracking from having not been used. "It's Rei-san and she's asking for you to come to the palace for an overview of a new enemy she's found via the fire."
Haruka picked up the communicator and answered before the first beep finished. "Ohayo, Rei-san. Michiru and I will be right over there. Hotaru-chan's on a date, and Setsuna-san's busy staring blankly at the wall while fingering old coffee," the senshi of Uranus answered.
Minako's face stared blankly at Haruka through the small screen. "Arigato, Haruka-san. Will Setsuna-san come over as well? Sere-chan was hoping all of the senshi would be present," the blonde asked.
Haruka shot a glare at Setsuna, who shrugged in return. Couldn't always be right. "Who knows. She'll most likely show up at the end to turn down our plan and come up with an easier, more effective approach at destroying the bastards," Haruka sighed, turning her communicator off and grabbing the keys that sat motionlessly on the counter.
Setsuna snorted. "Good luck dealing with these bastards. You'll need it," was all she said.
Michiru and Haruka stopped to stare at the Time senshi. "What do you know about this enemy, Setsuna-san?" Michiru asked cautiously.
Setsuna snorted, her eyes not blinking. "They're bound to attack in the next twenty four hours. And they'll hit hard." She turned to them slowly, almost frighteningly. "The Black Moon family always struck hard on their first attacks and their final attacks."
The blood slowly drained from Michiru's face. Given, the outer senshi had not been around for the Crystal Tokyo attack on the present, but the Black Moon had been one of the planets that caused the most damage in the great war between good and evil during the state of dormancy on Earth. And it had been the Black Moon that brought most of the Moon Kingdom down. They had attacked the stronger, outer planets first, killing off the outer senshi and their families, and leaving Setsuna to suffer.
"Are you sure it's the Black Moon attacking us? From what I understand, they're early!" Haruka argued, panic slightly lighting her voice.
Setsuna let out a cold, hollow laugh. "They have access over time, don't you remember? They're forbidden to go too far in the past and anywhere in the future, other than where they live now, but they still have access to the warp. It was only a matter of time for the tides to turn and for them to figure out their folly; attacking when the senshi were expecting it. They're stronger, Haruka-san. Much stronger. It'll be like battling Galaxia, but there won't be a return. Look what happened to my sister..."
Michiru took a step forward. "Were they the ones that killed your family, Setsuna? How come your sister wasn't sent to the future?"
Setsuna sighed, putting her head down to the table. "They killed Cris before they finished off everybody else. With one Time Guardian gone, the other one was forbidden to fight. So much easier to finish off the weaker Guardian and leave the heir to watch the kingdom fall several months later. Of course, I didn't know of their betrayal until hours before the Silver Alliance fell. And by then, it was too late. And I'm sure you are aware that if Selenity-sama had used her crystal to bring back Cris, she would have died then and there. It's one thing to bring back a person or a senshi. But to bring back a Time Guardress takes power, patience, and a good debate with the Deities."
Haruka cringed at the mention of the Deities. Destiny, Luck, Virtue, Malevolence, Fate, and continued were slightly known through senshi knowledge, but the outer senshi had been given the 'opportunity' to meet the said rulers. It was not an experience to be relived was all Haruka would say about it.
Michiru tugged on Haruka's coat nervously. "Ruka-chan, we ought to go and warn Serenity-sama now, before matters get worse or anything happens," Michiru pleaded. Haruka nodded, and the two left the house immediately, leaving Setsuna in the kitchen to stare blankly at the wall once again.
She wasn't pouting, so to say. It was more of a mopey contemplation. Setsuna was a professional pessimist, she assumed. To point out the flaws and horrible outcomes most likely to happen was in her nature. But there was usually the slightest speck of hope that 'The Bastards Who Decided to Attack OUR Planet' (Rei-san's saying, not her own) would be defeated. Knowing the future usually helped with that.
Technically, Setsuna was forbidden to look to the future. However, as time usually repeated itself, Setsuna was aware of what happens and when it happens because she had lived through that period of time already. As it was, Setsuna had been through several times of Crystal Tokyo, and she always presided in the same period: Serenity's ruling around the time of the normal Black Moon attacks up until Chibi-Usa's claim on the throne. Then, she's go back in time, find the same house, furnish it for the outers, and start back up again. Because she had not died in the past, there was only one Setsuna, unlike the millions of Usagis that ran through timelines because she had, indeed, died.
However, Setsuna was not familiar with the future to happen now. Because it would be the first time Demando-oujisama decided to attack earlier, harder, and crueler than before. He always had been a bastard. And she'd be destroyed if she even thought to peek into the future for a slight hint on what was to be. Malevolence had make that clear to her.
Setsuna's thoughts were interrupted by a warm breath on her neck. She froze like a deer in the headlights of Haruka's favorite racecar. Strong arms were wrapped around her waist, and she could feel a pair of lips smiling into her neck. "Look what we have here. An unaware Time Guardress, stuck like a deer in the headlights of Sailor Uranus's favorite racecar." She cursed to herself. Damn... so masking her emotions wasn't her specialty. And the said Setsuna-seducer thought on the same plane of thoughts as she did. Interesting.
"What business do you have with me? I'm giving you three seconds before I send a Time Staff through your groin," she snarled back.
"You always were the testy one. That's why we worked so well together, isn't it. It's saddening that you're not as warm to me as you used to be."
'Those are lips on my neck,' Setsuna thought frantically. 'Definite lips, definitely kissing my neck. Sending familiar sensations of jello to my legs. Which guys do I know make my legs jello-...' Setsuna stopped mid-thought, her crimson eyes narrowing dangerously.
Jerking her neck from his grasp, Setsuna began to slowly see red. Pushing her chair out violently, not caring whether or not the intruder was hurt, she fought out of his grasp. "You have no privilege of touching me. So don't think about doing it again," she spat, backing up several paces.
Violet eyes stared down mockingly at her, and white eyebrows were raised in an amused fashion. "Here I was, thinking I was appreciated by my fiancée, when she clearly doesn't feel the same way. Why is this ever so familiar?" he asked, laughing mockingly in her face.
Setsuna's heart gave a familiar wrench in her chest, and her attacker noted her crest-fallenness. He scoffed at her. "Don't tell me you're still attached me Setsuna-chan. Not after the hell I went through to make you hate me," he wanted to know, slowly advancing on her.
Setsuna snarled, backing up as he moved forward until she was pressed against the kitchen counter. "To even suggest that I even felt pity for you after the murder of Cris-imouto would be a mis-observation, bastard," she spat back at him, nervously planning an escape route.
Granted, Setsuna wasn't often afraid, or even alarmed by people. But this said man earned her fear. It was this man who cleverly planned his way into her family, gained her trust, and murdered the members of her planet. A complete, evil genius was how she had, more than once, repeated to herself in her head.
With nowhere left to go, the man pressed his body up against the senshi, his black moon symbol blaring out like a lighthouse in the pitch blackness. "Then I suppose that would be a good thing then. I shouldn't feel guilty when I go after Serenity-sama and make her mine. That would leave Endymion-baka free for your taking. Granted, you got to him before Sailor Mars got to him," he chuckled.
Setsuna's already boiling water evaporated to fire, and she raised her hand to slap him, when he easily caught it in his larger hands. Grabbing her free wrist, he grinned evilly. "How you gunna fight now, Senshi?" he pondered, bringing his lips down to her own.
Rolling her eyes at his challenge, Setsuna fought back in her only way possible. For the third time in her life, Setsuna proudly sent her knee up to the genital region of Demando-oujisama's body and wrenched herself from his grasp.
"I was never one much for cat and mouse games, Koibito," she taunted, stepping away from his grimacing body.
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