The Conspiracy Wore My Face Chapter 1: Haunted House, a sailor moon fanfic

THE CONSPIRACY WORE MY FACE
Chapter 1: "Haunted House"
A Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

A green Nissan Stanza pulled up in front of an egg-shaped domicile, one of a row of such structures. The building looked like every other building in the row. There were, however, two exceptions that differentiated this home from the others on the block.

One was the utter lack of life in the building. The windows were dark and unadorned. The small lawn in front was overgrown and unkempt. The vegetation in the small lawn was overgrown with produce unpicked and rotting.

The second difference was the fact that, in overcrowded Tokyo, there was an open space to park. This in itself was unheard of at this time of day in this kind of neighborhood. It was as if no one wanted to risk parking in front of the building.

Two women emerged from the Stanza. One was exceedingly tall for a woman, athletically built, her brown hair pulled back in a pony tail by a green beaded clasp. She wore beige slacks and a light brown turtleneck as a concession to the turning season. The other woman was dressed in the blue and white robes of a Shinto priest. Beneath a thick mane of jet black hair, penetrating violet eyes looked over the scene, trying to see that which wasn't visible to the untrained eye.

"Well, if you were going to make a haunted house," Makoto Kino-Ikegami commented, standing next to the driver's side of the car, "this would be it."

"Except that it looks like a giant egg," the priest, Rei Hino, added cynically.

"Hey, she did the best she could," Makoto grinned.

"Yeah, that's part of the problem," chuckled Rei. Then she grew serious. But Makoto noticed she didn't step toward the house.

"Sure you're up to this?" Makoto asked. "Nobody wants to rush you."

"No, I want to try," Rei confirmed. "Our talks have actually done me a lot of good. I've actually had a few intuitive flashes recently." She lowered her eyes shyly. "I actually read something in Derek when we were in bed last night."

"Bet that wasn't too hard," Makoto grinned. Rei smiled conspiratorially. "OK. You want me to come with you?

"It's not necessary," Rei replied. "I shouldn't be in any danger. But be ready. If there is a yurei here, there's a chance it could become violent."

"How big a chance?" Makoto asked. Rei turned to her and squeezed her thumb and index finger close together.

Entering the front of the property, Rei moved toward the building slowly. She tried to concentrate on the psychic surroundings as well as the physical. As she stepped, her mind sank deeper and deeper into the background, trying to let her second sight come forward. Rei could feel it was there, but it continued to be just out of her reach.

"Something's not right with this place," Makoto observed out loud, so Rei could hear it. "Did you notice there's no birds?"

"Yes, I did," Rei replied distantly.

"And all of this food in the front yard, but it doesn't look like it's attracted any squirrels or mice or raccoons. That's not normal."

"It could be some sort of electrical field from the transformer up there is scaring the animals off," Rei suggested. Makoto glanced up the utility pole next to the property. There was indeed a massive transformer atop the pole.

Reaching the front of the house, Rei pressed her fingers together in front of her nose. Makoto watched her with growing anxiety. On the one hand, she hoped the reports of yurei in the dwelling were false and they could all go home. On the other hand, she hoped something was there just so Rei could sense it. Rei needed a victory.

Moments dragged on into minutes. Rei just stared. Makoto worried. Finally, the priest dropped her arms and turned to her friend.

"I don't sense anything," Rei proclaimed.

"You sure? The folks who lived here last seemed awful scared."

"Well, I'm as certain as I can be," Rei offered. "My sight's not completely back yet. But there are an awful lot of people who see demons and yureis when it's often simple carelessness that . . ."

Suddenly a cloud of billowing, dense smoke exploded around the priest. Makoto lurched forward immediately, her henshin stick out. But the smoke quickly dissipated and Makoto saw Rei was all right. The priest was waiving her arms trying to further dissipate the smoke.

"What was that?" gasped Makoto. Rei bent down and picked up a broken plastic container.

"I think it was a smoke bomb," scowled the priest. "Probably some kids were shooting off fireworks. I must have detonated it when I stepped on it." She glanced at Makoto and grinned sheepishly. "What was I just saying about carelessness?"

"Yeah," chuckled Makoto. "So no yurei?"

"I don't think so," Rei replied. "There may be human mischief behind what may or may not be going on here, but I don't think it's supernatural. Maybe someone is playing an elaborate trick on the landowner."

"Or they just don't like living in an egg," Makoto shrugged. Rei said no and that was good enough for her. The pair climbed into the Stanza and drove off.

Ami entered the room in the palace that served as Queen Serenity's "office", though it was anything but. In one corner of the room was a drawing table with a taboret and a small bookshelf with books containing reference pictures. Pinned to the board was page twelve of the latest chapter of "Fire Princess Rika" in pencil, waiting to be inked. Against the opposite wall was a desk facing four plush chairs. Hung on the wall connecting the two corners was a giant screen television, which Luna had dubbed "Her Majesty's goof-off corner". Facing the television in the center of the room was a huge sofa and coffee table.

She found Serenity at her desk, hard at work on a list. Serenity looked up as the doctor approached and Ami noticed the light of excitement in the Queen's eyes.

"Ami-Chan, you're just in time! You can help me make plans!" exclaimed the Queen.

"Plans?" Ami asked. "Are you conceiving of new reforms to put through to the Diet?"

"No!" howled Serenity. "Setsuko-Chan's birthday party! She's going to be five in a few days! Honestly, I haven't been able to give it as much attention as I wanted to. Government keeps getting in the way!"

"While I understand your enthusiasm, Serenity, perhaps you should consider something less grand," Ami suggested gently after perusing the list. Serenity responded with a stricken look. "Setsuko has a great many more birthdays to look forward to. If you make this one the spectacle of all spectacles, she will only be disappointed when future observations don't measure up."

"I hadn't thought of that," Serenity frowned. "I just - - want her to be happy."

"She's soon to be five, Serenity," Ami reasoned. "As long as you and Endymion and all of her extended 'family' are here, she'll be pleased." Ami took a seat across the desk from the Queen. "I did want to discuss something concerning her turning five, if it's all right. Have you and Endymion considered enrolling her in school? Schools are starting up again, granted with an abbreviated term."

"I thought you had to be six to get into first grade," frowned the Queen. "I know I had to be six."

"I was thinking more along the lines of kindergarten."

"I never went to kindergarten. Mom and Dad couldn't afford it," Serenity recalled. She paused for a moment to let the sting of remembering her recently deceased parents pass. "Do you think it would be good for Setsuko-Chan?"

"In my professional opinion, yes," Ami nodded. "While I know very little about Setsuko-Chan's family life before the disaster, and she seems to recall little beyond general impressions, I am certain of one thing: Her life here in the palace has become quite insulated."

"I do my best," Serenity moaned. "But so many people need me."

"And you do a fine job," Ami quickly added. "It's obvious that Setsuko-Chan is quite taken with you and you fill her need for a surrogate parent very well. But children her age need other children of the same relative peer group to interact with. Interacting with adults doesn't fill the same needs. Right now the only other children she interacts with are Ichiro Ikegami and to a lesser extent Akiko. And they're both going to be returning to school soon. That's going to leave a void in her life."

"That sounds terrible," Serenity responded in mild shock.

"Talk it over with Endymion," Ami advised her. "Ask Luna's advice if you wish. If you'd like, I can make some suggestions. There are several fine kindergartens that are reasonably close to the palace. And if you don't like them, I can ask Mother for some recommendations as well."

"I'll talk to Endymion," Serenity nodded. "But I already know what I think: If you think it's the right thing to do, it's the right thing to do."

"Thank you for having confidence in my opinion," Ami chuckled.

"OK, back to the party!" Serenity gasped. "What do you think about - - a pony!"

Ami grimaced.

"Too much?" Serenity squeaked.

"And that was all there was to it," Rei shrugged as she and Derek finished the last of their meal. The pair sat on the balcony outside of their quarters, watching the view of Tokyo Bay. The sun had set and the quarter moon was rising, hitting an angle that made a rippling reflection in the waters of the bay.

"No ghost?" Derek asked.

"No ghost," Rei smiled contentedly. "Whatever is causing the trouble in that dwelling isn't supernatural."

"So does this mean your abilities are coming back?"

"Slowly," Rei admitted. "Much too slowly for my taste. But I can feel them. And I have enough sight to sense a yurei." She smirked. "It's not THAT difficult."

"So talking with Makoto is helping?" Derek asked. There was more concern in his voice than he liked showing, but the burly athlete didn't shy away from it.

Rei snuggled up against him. "It's helping," she said. "But what helped even more was the love and support I got from you." Rei turned up her face to look at him. "I'm not certain I could have made it this far back if you hadn't been there for me."

"No charge," Derek smiled.

"No, I mean it," she emphasized, putting her hand on his chest and straining up to get closer to his face. "There were days when I couldn't be strong. Days when I didn't know if I'd ever be strong again. But I didn't have to be. You were strong for me. You let me cling to you until I could - - find my footing. I'm really grateful to you."

At once the pair realized how close their mouths were to each other. Each one stared in surprise into the other's eyes. But all at once their surprise disappeared.

"Very grateful," Rei whispered and pressed her mouth to his.

The quarter moon's reflection rippled on the surface of Tokyo Bay.

"All I've ever wanted was for you to be whole," Derek confessed. "For you to be that woman I fell in love with again."

"I can be that woman," Rei whispered. "It hasn't been easy for you. I know that. I apologize. I think I can do it now." Her eyes darted downward. "If you'll have me."

"Do you have to even ask?"

At once Derek scooped Rei up in his arms. She giggled, then lay against his chest as he carried her inside. Once inside their bedroom, Rei slid from his arms and scampered into the bathroom. Derek thought it odd, but said nothing, reminding himself that she was still working her way back. He slid from his clothes and was climbing into bed when Rei emerged.

"One of these days I'm going to get you out of those pajamas and into something sexier," Derek grinned. Rei was wearing her pastel red loose pajama top and matching loose pajama pants.

"And I thought you loved me for my spirit," Rei replied with a mock pout.

"I love your spirit," Derek volleyed back. "It's just a shame to hide that gorgeous body in something that doesn't flatter those curves."

"Well," Rei smiled, her eyes hooded, "if it's curves you want," and she playfully reached for the top button on her pajama top.

Then reached for the light switch with her other hand and turned off the lights.

"You never needed it to be dark before," Derek observed.

"Baby steps," Rei whispered. "Bear with me? Please?"

There was just enough light reflected into the room from outside to allow Derek to see her shimmy out of the pajama top. The silhouette of her upper torso brought back memories of happier times. Then Rei's silhouette disappeared in the darkness. Moments later he felt her soft form slide in beside him.

"Thank you for being patient with me," Rei whispered and kissed his bare chest.

"Thank you for coming back," Derek whispered back. He leaned in and sought out her mouth with his.

Rei suddenly felt consciousness flood over her. With it came a disorientation - - her last memory was of walking away from the supposedly haunted house, and then the smoke. She knew that she had lost some time and didn't know how it happened. Adding to the disorientation was the fact that she couldn't see. Everything was pitch black around her.

No. There was a cloth over her eyes. Rei moved to push it from her face, but her arms held firm behind her. Cold thin metal dug into her wrists. She was handcuffed, her arms forced behind a wooden post that pressed into her back. Through the material of her priest robes, she could feel the coldness and hardness of a dirt floor.

A panicked dread seized her chest. It was happening again. She was a prisoner again. They'd come back for her. Those awful, terrible Frost People who had kept her prisoner for two hideous years and ground her spirit to a fine paste had come back for her. They'd gotten her again.

"Stop," Rei whispered to herself. "It's not going to help anything to panic," she told herself, her voice trembling.

She was free to speak.

"Hello?" the priest ventured, trying to will the fear out of her voice. "Is anyone here?"

Silence.

"ANYONE?" Rei shouted, struggling to keep her head. "I NEED HELP HERE! IS ANYONE THERE? HELP ME!"

There was no response. To keep herself focused on something other than dissolving into a quivering mass, Rei tried to assess her surroundings. First of all, the floor was different from her cell in the other dimension. This was soil, where the other had been stone. Then she realized that there hadn't been any reverberations when she shouted. Her cell had possessed an ever so slight echo to it and this had none.

The priest sniffed the air. She got a faint whiff of herbs that could be used in traditional medicines. A root cellar? If so, then the walls were made of stone and lined with wood, and she was underground. So it wasn't the Frost People who had her. It was someone else. For a moment Rei felt herself sag with relief.

"Time to get out of this," she whispered and mentally summoned her henshin stick. That was when the panic returned. Her henshin stick didn't appear. Rei tried again, her desperation rising. Again, nothing.

Then she recalled that ancient practitioners of the supernatural often cast spells using herbs. Was this who had her? Was she stuck in some sort of mystic circle that cut her off from reality? Rei's mind raced. She struggled to summon everything she could recall about such magic and such practitioners. Oh how she wished she had access to her library in the shrine back in the palace.

Her ears caught the sound of footsteps on a wooden staircase.

"Who's there?" Rei demanded.

"You see, Master," a voice said, a voice that didn't sound quite human. "She has awakened."

"Are you the one who abducted me?" Rei asked as forcefully as she could. "Who are you?"

"Yes, and full of questions, I see," came another voice. This one was a man. His voice spoke of knowledge, of confidence, and of ambition.

"Name yourself!" Rei barked.

"Quite demanding for someone in your position, Sensei," the voice replied. The other voice emitted a laugh that was almost like a hiss.

"Name yourself, coward!" Rei snapped. "Are you that frightened of me?"

"You can't sense what I am?" he asked. "The rumors are true. You are fallen. It explains why you were so easy to capture." Rei felt a furry mass brush against her cheek and flinched. "While I have a healthy respect for your abilities, Hino-Sensei, I have no fear of you. You're quite sufficiently restrained, both physically, meta-physically and psychically. As for my name?"

Though Rei couldn't see him, she could almost feel him grinning.

"You may call me the future ruler of Japan."

Continued in Chapter 2