Kiss Me Only With Your Eyes
A Yami no Matsuei/Sailor Moon Fanfiction
A week after Neo Queen Serenity died, the offices of Meifu came under attack.
It wasn't completely unexpected. The Court of Crystal Tokyo, through the personage of Helios, ruler of dreams, petitioned Enma-Daioh for an audience. Even the ruler of Meifu had to hear them. They demanded that the soul of Her Majesty, once known as the girl Tsukino Usagi, be allowed to return the the mortal realm.
The kiseki had written the queen's name down, though, and no change could be made. Only the ginzuishou had the power to erase a name that had been written, and there was no one who could wield it with enough mastery to save a soul as powerful as the Neo Queen's. They explained, with regrets, that the situation could not be changed and that Serenity had merely followed her destiny.
The Shokan division thought little of the matter after dismissing the request. Helios had gone back to the senshi and the mourning Neo King Endymion, and Meifu officials thought that was the end of the matter.
The senshi arrived a couple days later, right as dawn broke. They assaulted the entrance of Meifu with their powers, and the sturdy gates cracked and fell, letting the torrent of enraged soldiers enter. The Shinigami, used to the quiet that was the inadvertent byproduct of Crystal Tokyo, were taken off guard by the attack, and hurried to rally the troops and make an effort to stop the incarnations of nature that rained down their fury.
Tatsumi was one of the first to respond to the scene, but the senshi had already scattered, looking for the soul of their beloved ruler. He shifted his glasses on his nose, and got to work, trying to figure out which directions they had headed. There were at least ten intruders, maybe more, and all of them willing to throw themselves into battle with suicidal devotion.
It wasn't that he didn't sympathize with the senshi; far from it. He knew how it was to love someone so utterly that your own existence ceased to matter in comparison. But he was a kagetsukai, one of the most powerful magic users in Shokan, and he knew this attack had to be stopped. The very nature of reality depended on following the rules laid out by Enma-Daioh.
He found the last of the senshi, the one wearing the blue and white of Mercury, as she crossed the boundary. Her eyes were covered by a blue visor, but the tension in her jaw was enough to let him know that letting her go any further would be a mistake. Unlike Tsuzuki, he didn't have to chant to summon his powers. She didn't even cry out when he enveloped her in darkness. Killing people – especially nearly immortal ones like the senshi – was something all shinigami disliked, but the intruders had brought it on themselves. At least he had been kind enough to make it painless.
By then the rest of the senshi were out of sight, and he stretched out his senses to search for Tsuzuki, who was surely in the middle of the fray. He found his former partner easily enough, with a sense of fire flaring around him indicating he was battling Mars. Tatsumi made a move to step into the shadows, but was stopped when he heard an angry cry. Turning, he focused on the golden soldier who practically materialized in front of him.
The woman was slender and on the short side, but what he noticed was her eyes. They were as hard as ice, and she already had blood staining the heart-link chain that encircled her small waist. She was beautiful, he thought, but beauty wasn't going to save her. He summoned the shadows to take her as they had Mercury, but the darkness would not touch her. Stunned, he stared at her, his mind mentally noting this was Sailor Venus herself, leader of the senshi and avatar of love and beauty.
"Venus Crescent Beam!" she called, pointing a finger with grim determination at him.
He tried to duck it, realizing in a split second why his powers had failed. This soldier fought with light itself, the bane of shadows. He only had a second to reflect that he had found the worst possible person to fight before his shoulder erupted into agony.
He raised a hand to the wound, noting that it had been cauterized as though by flame. He had been lucky to avoid a fatal hit. It would wisest to slip away before she gathered her powers to make another attempt, but he could not leave. The seconds he delayed her might be enough to buy Tsuzuki time to finish off Mars. He didn't want to think of what would happen to his former partner should the senshi take Tsuzuki on as a group.
She stepped closer, the eternal sakura falling around her like a backdrop of purity. He stared down at her feet, before raising his eyes to meet her exquisite face.
"I'm sorry I killed your comrade," he told her, hoping to stall her with conversation.
"Ami knew the risks," Venus replied. "When Serenity returns, she can undo the damage."
"We cannot release the soul of Neo Queen Serenity," he said.
"We cannot let her go without fighting," Venus returned. "Tell me where I can find her, and I'll spare you."
He would not survive another attack. Tatsumi had his duty, and would not back down. Tsuzuki would have to be the one to finish this, he thought. "No," he said simply, waiting for her wrath to descend.
"I'm sorry," she said flatly, and in her face, he saw his true death. Instead of fear, a sense of rightness developed, and he smiled. At that moment, he fell just a bit in love with Aino Minako, the woman who was Sailor Venus.
"Venus Love and Beauty Shock!"