Episode 2: Lure of the Radio Siren

For 14-year-old Shingo Tsukino (Cancer, Type O blood, Pearl birthstone), his routine had changed for the relatively and decidedly strange. For example, he was currently hiding a stray white cat named Artemis in his bedroom. That alone would not be strange, but this particular cat had the ability to talk, had a crescent moon marking on his forehead, and would inexplicably enter a sort of trance, informing the boy of what he should do, if such things were important enough. Another strange thing was that Shingo had found himself leading a sort of double life as the gold-clad armored samurai known as Zangetsu... not that anyone outside of Naru's little grouping at school particularly knew.

Already, the boy turned samurai protector of Tokyo had clashed with his mysterious foes once more, for a mysterious fortune teller had turned some of the boys in his school, including one Gurio Umino, into deviants. Suspicious, Artemis had urged Shingo to investigate the situation further (running into the raven-haired woman once more), and together, they had discovered that the fortune teller was, in fact, another youma named Bam. Tuxedo Mask had intervened a second time during the fight that ensued, allowing Shingo to once more destroy the foul beast with his Daisharin, freeing its victims from the cards that they wore on their lapels. The next day, Umino approached Shingo and apologized for his actions, even though he had not been of sound mind. The incident had also managed to clear up some of the bad feelings the two boys had toward each other.

All of that had happened about a week after the first incident, and all Shingo could wish for was for the rest of his natural life to conclude in peace. Unfortunately, fate had other plans...

All in all, it was not a good day to be one of the Shittenoh, Jadeite had to admit to himself. He had now lost twice to the unknown interloper, and Queen Beryl had requested his presence so that he could give his report.

"Jadeite," she commanded, "what of the energy that we are to give to our great ruler?"

"Queen Beryl," he bowed, "please give us a little more time. Everything is going as planned." And indeed they were, even though the process was currently at a very slow rate. This time, he had a different strategy in mind: drain a few people at a time instead of targeting a mass of individuals in one fell swoop. He hoped that this would be enough to keep the interloper's eyes off their objective.

"Is that so? It had better work this time," the Queen warned; if this man continued to fail, then she had no qualms about silencing him forever.

"Yes," he responded. "As you know, Flowa is helping me to collect energy discreetly so as to keep our new enemy off-balance."

"Very well," she concluded, "it all rests on your hands. Make sure you remember that."

"Yes, ma'am," Jadeite affirmed, bowing before his mistress.

It was nearly midnight in the Juban district of Tokyo's Minato ward, and there were many girls staying up past their bedtimes listening to the radio. As of recently, this was not a strange phenomenon. What was strange was that a certain 14-year-old boy numbered among them this night... and it was all because a dare from his friend Naru.

I can't believe I ever agreed to this... Shingo thought to himself as he was listening to the radio, a comically large sweat-drop on his head.

"'My old diary was full of you,'" the DJ on the program being broadcast read out, "'And my diary is now full of the past. I want to see you.'"

…

In her bedroom above the jewelry store, Naru listened to her radio, enraptured by the suave voice of the (no doubt) handsome DJ behind the mic.

"'I want to see you one more time. I want to tell you my true feelings.'"

…

Elsewhere, a certain long-haired brunette was dancing and whooping it up; after all, it was her letter that had just been read on the air!

"This was sent to us by Haruna the Dreamer from the Juban district," the DJ announced.

…

"Haruna!" Shingo cried out in shock. "As in, Haruna-sensei!" After thinking it over, however, Shingo concluded that there was no possible way that his teacher and the sender of that letter could possibly have any relation. After all, there could be more than one Haruna in the district past the one he knew.

"We're sharing everyone's love letters on this show," the DJ continued. "For those whose letters were read, we will send you a flower brooch that makes love come true."

"Well, that's a stupid gift," Shingo muttered to himself. "What sort of self-respecting person would want a dumb flower?"

"You know what they say, Shingo," a voice from the floor sagely said, "'Desperate times call for desperate measures.'" Shingo took a glance at the floor, noticing the white cat sitting at the foot of his bed.

"This has been #10 Midnight Zero," the announcer said. "I want to make your love blossom, and I'll be back tomorrow night. J-Dite, signing off."

With a sigh, Shingo got up and turned his radio off, glad that the ordeal was over... finished.

"I better get to bed," he said, pulling over the sheets on his bed, "I don't want to oversleep later than usual."

"Which should be never," Artemis snidely added.

"Quiet, you," the spikey blonde muttered as he drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, Kenji Tsukino was reading the newspaper when a certain article jumped out at him. Its headline read, "Is it a new modern disease! Mysterious sleeping illness going around!"

Wow, the patriarch of the family thought to himself, a sleeping illness that won't let you wake up once you've fallen asleep.

"I wish I could get that sleeping illness, if only because I could finally get some rest," he remarked out loud.

"What are you talking about?" his wife asked, putting breakfast on the table (Kenji had a small bead of sweat form on his forehead). "We need you to work hard!"

"I was just kidding!" Mr. Tsukino told Ikuko, nervously chuckling. "If I were asleep, I'd miss your delicious cooking."

"You're such a flatterer, dear," Ikuko responded, giggling herself. Poking her husband's cheek, he opened up his mouth to accept the fresh toast in her hands.

"GAH! I'M LATE, I'M LATE, I'M LATE!" a masculine voice cried out.

"Huh?" the father commented, his mouth still clamped onto the toast. "Shingo's still here?"

"I forgot," Ikuko replied embarrassingly.

It was then that a boy with spikey blonde hair in a blue boys' uniform dashed in, rapidly yelled "Morning, I'm heading out!", grabbed a piece of toast, and rushed out the front door, all within the space of a few seconds. The couple in the kitchen were left speechless.

Damnit! Shingo inwardly cursed as he rushed into school (taking his outside shoes off and putting his indoor school shoes on), Haruna-sensei's really gonna let me have it for being so late!

Rushing up the stairs, Shingo stepped into his classroom... only to find that, inexplicably, Haruna-sensei had not yet arrived.

Huh? he thought to himself, What's going on here? He maneuvered his body towards his desk, which was situated right next to Naru's.

"Naru," he asked his classmate, "Where's Haruna-sensei?"

"She doesn't seem to be here yet," she replied.

"Heh," Shingo chuckled to himself as he put his hands behind his head. "Lucky me."

"Strange," Umino stated as he popped out of nowhere (as was usual), "Haruna-sensei isn't usually late."

It was then that the door slid open, and a thoroughly dis-shelved Haruna-sensei shuffled in, dropping several of her books as she did so. As Shingo could only gape, he noticed that her eyes were oddly unfocused; she had a slouch to her shuffle, and she probably wasn't paying any attention to where she was going... which made several of the students jump when she almost tripped over her podium. When she yawned, nearly everyone face-faulted... except for Shingo and Naru, who could only stare at their usually strict teacher in amazement.

"Better take roll call..." she mumbled to herself as she opened the class register... and she dropped it rather quickly, revealing a strange purple flower pinned to her suit's lapel, something that only Shingo really noticed. "Actually, maybe we'd better have some self-study today," she sleepily announced, almost nodding off. No one had even noticed that the flower she wore had any significance to her increasing drowsiness. "I can't believe that I'm so... sleepy..." she yawned, stretching. She then put her head down on her desk and started to soundlessly drift off into slumber. Silence reigned in the classroom for a time.

Umino was the first one to break it. "Shingo, do you know what could be wrong with Haruna-sensei?"

"I'm a student, not a doctor!" the spikey blonde quipped. "But, man! I totally lucked out today!"

On the street, Artemis walked down to a specific location to make a report to his superior: ever since the fortune house incident, he had been given Luna's assigned duty to look after the Tsukino boy until they could sort out just what in the blue blazes had happened.

"Not that Shingo's been really helping me any," he mumbled to himself as he passed the shutter to the arcade. "He's argumentative and doesn't really take his duties that seriously. But when his friends are in trouble, I guess that goes all out the window."

Suddenly, the shutter opened, signifying the arcade being open for business. "Hey there!" a male voice shouted out, causing Artemis to look up. The man wore nice, simple work clothes with a work apron as part of his uniform. He had dirty-blonde hair and brown eyes, with a generally easy-going face; to a girl, he'd look like quite the catch. "So we meet again, kitty!" the man said to the white cat.

Artemis, surprised at meeting this man again, quickly sat, closed his eyes, and started to meow; after all, other humans weren't supposed to know that he could talk. To assume that he didn't hear anything was all the cat could hope for.

"Aren't you with Shingo today?" the man asked. All Artemis did in response was meow. "Oh, that's right," the man said in realization, "Shingo's in school right now." He then knelt down and started to pet the white cat on his head.

Whew, the cat thought to himself, I think I'm safe for now. I need to be more careful around this guy in the future. What was his name again...? Oh yeah! Motoki Furuhata!

"There you go," Motoki told the cat. "If you wait right here and be good, I'll get you some nice warm milk." With that, Motoki went back inside to get the milk for the cute kitty.

Wow, Artemis thought, I wish Shingo would treat me to milk more often. The cat's thoughts were disturbed, however, when an ambulance sped on past the arcade... towards Shingo's school. What's this all about?

The medics were rather quick to place the slumbering Haruna-sensei on a stretcher, and the students really had no choice but to watch from the window as they loaded her onto the ambulance.

"I really wonder what got into her," Umino mused.

"Yeah," Shingo added. "I mean, nothing any of us did woke her up. Is being a teacher really that draining?"

"Actually, I heard that there's a disease going around just like this," Naru stated, "where you don't ever wake up."

"I like my rest just as much as the next guy, but forever? Think I'll pass," the blonde boy stated. "I sure hope that Haruna-sensei's dreams are peaceful, though. It looks like she'll be experiencing them for the foreseeable future." The ambulance, with its precious cargo, sped off towards the hospital.

Things were starting to get even more perplexing over at station FM No. 10, as one could see in the office of a certain executive.

"Mr. President, we got more letters addressed to Midnight Zero," the man who brought the letters in reported.

"Again?" he noted with exasperation. "Why do we get so many responses for a show that doesn't even exist?"

"What should I do?" the man in the blue suit asked.

"I don't care, just put them away somewhere," the president irritably ordered.

"Right away," the underling confirmed. However, as he was about to move them away...

"I'll take care of those," a new voice announced. It belonged to a red-haired woman wearing a green business jacket with a black dress to match... and she wore a strange flower on her lapel.

"Oh, really?" the president exclaimed, with an eye behind his glasses wide open. "Thank you."

The woman merely chuckled... and as she did so, her brown eyes, unnoticed by normal eyes... momentarily flickered red.

"You gotta be kidding me, Naru," Shingo groaned as the two walked down the street. "Why do you keep writing love letters to these guys? You and I both know full well that you're not going steady with anyone else."

"Doesn't matter to them, Shingo," she responded. "As long as it's intended to be a love letter, they'll read it regardless. It can be a future lover, even!"

Shingo only sighed and sweat-dropped with beady little eyes. Will I never understand how girls work? he bitterly thought to himself, not watching where he was walking. As a result, he planted his face right into a pair of perky breasts.

"Dear me, the third time already? If this keeps up, people are gonna start talking about us..." the owner of said breasts commented. Shingo looked up into the face of the Raven herself – his personal nickname for the woman that had so earned his ire. Naru stopped herself and looked into the face of the blue-eyed woman Shingo kept running into... not that she knew. "Then again," the Raven continued, "I probably wouldn't be doing any favors to my reputation by taking out a schoolboy! Oh ho ho ho!" The Raven then proceeded to walk on, continuing to laugh into her hand all the while.

"Wow, I didn't know you were into older women, Shingo," Naru noted.

"I'm not into her, I'll tell you that much," Shingo deadpanned.

After Shingo returned home, he saw his sister sitting at the kitchen table with her stationary laid out in front of her.

"Hey, Usagi, what are you up to?" he asked.

"I'm writing a letter," the odongo-haired girl responded.

"A letter? Don't tell me it's for Midnight Zero..." he commented.

"It's for Midnight Zero," she confirmed.

Shingo sighed. "Listen, I don't want you up all night, you do have school tomorrow," he plainly stated.

"What, and you're different?" she snottily responded.

The boy ignored her; after all, responding to her taunts was an excellent way of getting into trouble with his parents. Instead, he turned around and headed up to his room. As soon as he closed the door, he saw Artemis sitting on the bed waiting.

"Shingo, I'm starting to get a little suspicious about that radio program," the cat stated, waiting for no preamble.

"What do you mean, Artemis?" Shingo asked in response.

"Well," the cat continued, "I followed your sister down to the radio station. Apparently, she decided to go down there to meet with J-Dite for help on writing letters."

"That makes sense," Shingo commented. "After all, she doesn't really know her way around kanji yet." Well, neither did he, but Artemis didn't know that.

"Here's where things start to get strange," Artemis reported, jumping off the bed and waking towards Shingo. "The guard on duty told her that the station didn't air any program called 'Midnight Zero'."

"! ..." The gears in Shingo's head had started to turn, his chin resting upon his pointer finger and thumb with his eyes closed. "Artemis," he announced, opening his eyes once more, "it looks like we'll be listening to that program again tonight. I want you to search through the newspaper listings for radio programs and see if there's anything like Midnight Zero listed."

Later that night, with the radio on and Artemis furiously searching the newspaper listings, Shingo anxiously awaited for the moment when the clock struck midnight and the alleged "phantom program" began. Tick... tick... tick... midnight.

"Good evening," J-Dite announced, "It's time for 'Midnight Zero'."

"OK," Shingo said as J-Dite went on, his arms folded, "either that guard was lying or something seriously screwy is going on around here."

"You're telling me," Artemis responded. "I've looked all over the listings, but every indication is that there's supposed to be a different program airing at this time on FM 10."

"Great... the mystery deepens..." Shingo muttered as the suave DJ continued.

"The first love letter we will read is from Naru of the Minato ward's Juban district," he announced.

"Naru..." the blonde whispered.

…

At that time, in the studio, all but the DJ and another certain woman were asleep at their posts.

"It's nice to believe in fate," the blonde man behind the glass quietly said, holding a strange flower in his left hand, the letter in his right. As he turned the flower over, Jadeite of the Shittenou smirked a menacing smirk, the rest of his face concealed in shadow.

EYECATCH

The next day at school, Naru was holding a wrapped package in her hands, courtesy of Midnight Zero; the girl was positively beaming with happiness, and her little clique had gathered around for the big reveal. Shingo, however, was watching from his desk.

"So that's the flower brooch?" one of the girls asked.

"Yep," Naru confirmed, "it arrived this morning.

"Naru, hurry up and open it!" another of the girls demanded.

Naru, waiting for this moment, opened the package, revealing the flower... and it looked very familiar to Shingo from where he could see it. Wait a second... he thought to himself in realization. He got up and walked over to Naru's desk. "Naru, isn't that the same flower brooch that Haruna-sensei was wearing?"

The girls gaped at that question.

"So the letter that was from the Haruna in love was..." one of the girls started to realize.

"Haruna-sensei's..." a third finished.

"Yeah, kind of odd, isn't it?" Shingo noted.

Naru put the brooch on her uniform, ready to show it off to the world. However, unbeknownst to anyone else, said flower had begun to drain the poor girl's energy, and the effects upon Naru herself began showing immediate signs, as she began to nod off, just like Haruna-sensei had the day previously.

"I'm... awfully... sleepy..." she mumbled before closing her eyes and entering dreamland herself.

"Naru?" Shingo asked nervously.

"Hey, what happened?" one of the girls asked, waving her hand in front of the sleeping Naru's face.

"Naru, wake up!" the blonde boy demanded, shaking her shoulder. Unfortunately, the flower was still draining energy, but this time, it's draining tendencies had latched onto Shingo himself. The boy got steadily more woozy and he collapsed to the floor sleeping without noticing.

Shingo opened his eyes. Things were still a little blurry, so he blinked a couple of times to restore clarity. He was currently looking at the ceiling of the school nurse's office, and from what he could feel, he was currently laying down on a bed... and there was a small pressure somewhere on his midriff. He looked down and saw Artemis sitting on his stomach, evidently waiting for the boy to awake.

"How was your... er... nap?" the cat asked.

"..." Shingo hesitated to respond. In truth, no dreams came to him... save for one: that of a woman, blonde hair done up in odango, with sad blue eyes and wearing an ornate white dress, hands clasped in front of her chest as she waited on a balcony in the black night. "Not the best rest I've had. How long was I out?"

"Long enough that the rest of the students have gone home for the day," Artemis replied.

"And Naru?"

"She's still out of it, as far as I could tell," the white cat reported. "Her mother came by right away to pick her up."

"Well, that's just great," the boy grumbled. "Looks like she's the latest victim of these flowers. And if what I'm thinking is right, then J-Dite and Midnight Zero are somehow behind this. There are just too many connections for this to be a coincidence."

"I agree," Artemis concurred. "It looks like we need to investigate the radio station a little more in-depth."

Far from prying human eyes, energy stolen from the latest victim swirled in Jadeite's hands.

"We've gathered quite a bit now," the Shitennou's brunette accomplice stated.

"Yes, thus far the experiment has been a success," the man clearly stated. "Flowa, I never even imagined that young women with dreams of love could have so much energy. The flower brooch puts girls to sleep and absorbs their dreams of love. This invention of yours is very useful indeed. But enough of patting ourselves on the back: it's almost time for Midnight Zero."

With that, both faded out of the darkness with smirks on their faces.

Well, he certainly saw what he didn't want to see.

Suspicions growing, Shingo and Artemis immediately headed over to the radio station to investigate Midnight Zero and its connection to the strange flower brooches it had been delivering to its letter senders. Unfortunately, the guard was still on duty even as they waited for hours on end for him to leave his post.

"Alright, Artemis, it's almost time for the show to start," Shingo stated, checking his watch. "So, you mind telling me how we're supposed to sneak in now?

"Hey, don't ask me!" the cat snapped. "How was I supposed to know that the guard didn't take any breaks?"

In irritation, Shingo looked away from the cat and back to the guard post. "If we take our time sneaking in, then there's a good chance that we'll miss Midnight Zero's broadcast... is there something else I'm not thinking of?"

"Do not be discouraged, warrior," a deep voice behind him stated. Sure enough, when Shingo looked back at Artemis, the white cat was in one of his trances. "You have a power that is capable of fooling even the sharpest of eyes. Concentrate on your hand and let your body handle the rest of the motions. This power is known as Kabuki!"

"Kabuki, huh?" Shingo repeated. "Well, I'd better give it a shot." Taking a deep breath, he started concentrating on his left hand. Streams of energy emitted from each of the fingertips. Letting his body do what felt natural, the boy ran said fingers over his face; the energy left a trail of red where it touched skin. When these red lines connected, the gaps of skin between them turned a stark white. "KABUKI!" Yelling out to the heavens, the boy struck a pose as the moon's light washed over his body. When the light receded, an older man was standing in his place, complete with narrow, framed glasses, a sharp, gray business suit with red tie, and black briefcase. The man's hair was also blonde, but also elegantly swept back.

"Alright," the man said, "just what in the hell was that supposed to be?"

"Take a good look at your reflection, warrior," the voice announced. "However, be forewarned that even this new ability is not without limits."

The man immediately turned around and got a good look at his reflection from a nearby store window. Surprise registered upon his face as he saw what had happened. Quickly gathering his wits (realizing that he had precious little time to waste), he made haste to get into the studio. Whoever J-Dite was, the disguised Shingo Tsukino wasn't going to let them off the hook.

…

"Good evening," Jadeite announced into the mic right at the stroke of midnight, "It's time for Midnight Zero."

Unfortunately for the Shittenou, this time, someone very much unwanted was watching him and his cohort. If either of them were more observant and cautious, they would have noticed the man's face through the mixing room's door window.

Let's see here... Shingo thought to himself as he observed the scene. The blonde guy at the mic is obviously J-Dite, and the woman must be his supervisor... if that's the case, then why is everyone else out cold? Probably for one reason... these two have been hijacking this time slot for their own uses! With that in mind, the disguised boy threw open the door and marched on in, heedless of the woman's warnings that they were still recording.

"Our first letter this evening–" was all that the faux DJ managed to get out before the door opened and the bespectacled man sat down in front of the mic opposite.

"We apologize in advance for interrupting this broadcast. The government has recently obtained knowledge that suggests a strong connection between the recent rash of sleeping illnesses and the flower brooches handed out by the program known as Midnight Zero," the man announced.

What? Jadeite visibly paled. How did the humans' government figure out our plan?

"We therefore urge all listeners to dispose of any brooches they or anyone else they know that have received them... immediately. I repeat, dispose of any brooches you or any acquaintances have received, immediately. When doing so, ensure that you do not come into physical contact with the brooch. That is all," the government worker concluded.

"What nonsense is this?" the man in the strange uniform yelled out, rocketing out of his chair.

"I repeat, that is all," the man in glasses repeated. Once he was sure that the broadcasting had ceased, he stood up to face the fake in the eyes. "I don't know who you think you are... but in my book, toying around with the hearts of innocent young women is strictly taboo."

"You have a lot of nerve," J-Dite growled. At that moment, the glass separating the sound room from the mixing room shattered, forcing the (fake) government worker to the ground as the woman in green-and-black dress jumped in. With an evil grin on her face, she assumed her true (monstrous) form as soon as she had both feet back on the ground.

"Don't think you'll get away with this!" the youma known as Flowa cried out. From her mouth burst a stream of flames, the force of which threw the government worker out of the recording booth (with a yelp of pain). The youma used its frightening ability again, but the man managed to recover in time to flee from the mixing room.

"Listen well, warrior," a voice in Shingo's head rang out. "While in disguise, you are not able to don your chain mail."

Which would be the weakness of Kabuki, the boy-in-disguise quickly figured out.

"You must first dismiss your guise," the voice continued. "To do so, you must chant 'Kabuki Kai'."

"Kabuki... Kai!" the man uttered. As a plume of smoke passed him, the disguise was gone and Shingo's normal appearance was exposed for all to see. Fortunately, no one else saw. "Time to get this show on the road..." he muttered to himself. "KUCHIRIKATABIRA! BUSOU! TSUKI!"

The change took but a minute, long enough that when the smoke cleared, the samurai had his back facing the blonde evildoer and his youma underling.

Is this our interloper? the Shittenou thought to himself.

"There exist writings that many in this world consider sacred," the golden warrior stated. "Their purpose is to send feelings from one person to another. Yet, these writings lose their meanings when the words do not reach their chosen individual. We call such things... love letters."

"Who are you?" Jadeite demanded.

"You want to know who I am? Very well," the samurai acceded, turning around to face his enemies. "The light of the moon is also the light of the heart!" he cried out. "The power of the moon is also the power of the heart! I am the Samurai of Righteousness... Tsuki no... Zangetsu! And for the sake of the moon," he added, pointing a finger towards his foes, "I... will defeat you!"

"Nice speech," the evil boss bitterly spat. "As for me, you may call me Jadeite."

"Which means that you're the one behind this incident... and the last two!" Zangetsu deduced.

"Very good," Jadeite leered.

"Enough talk, Zangetsu!" the youma roared, "Now DIE!"

She dashed forward, intending to skewer the armored fool on her claws. Unfortunately for her, Zangetsu delivered a roundhouse kick that knocked her to the floor.

"Not here!" he demanded.

"Why not?" the youma demanded back, firing off her dreaded breath weapon once more. Zangetsu barely dodged the blow, which had created a hole in the hallway's ceiling as an unintended side-effect.

"Let's take this outside!" Zangetsu called out, then jumped up into aforementioned hole, clearly as an attempt to limit the damage. Teeth bared, Flowa followed.

No sooner than Zangetsu emerged onto the roof that Flowa had rocketed out, floating in midair. Immediately, the crone fired off her devastating weapon, forcing the golden warrior to roll to the right in response. Eyes cast skyward, he began to think. Too high up to reasonably jump to, he pondered as he dodged another blast by jumping onto the top of the roof's entryway. If I'm right, this'll be my best shot...

"Hissatsu..." he cast; once more, the horns on Zangetsu's helmet detatched and rocketed up into the sky, before coming down as an enlargened crescent blade. He reared up, even as Flowa was preparing herself for another breath beam. "GEKKOU... DAI! SHA! RIIIIIN!" he then cried, letting the now-glowing blade fly into the night, right towards the youma.

"Nice try!" she shouted, bending her body out of the blade's path. When she thought all was clear, Flowa righted herself to take another stab at the samurai. "Prepare to die!" she exclaimed, charging her attack... before hearing a strange woosh sound from behind her: the glowing instrument of her demise was acting like a boomerang. By the time she heard it, it was too late; the blade had impacted her from behind, bifurcating her at the waist like the two other victims that had come before her.

Jadeite looked on in frustration; with a pitiable scream, the youma Flowa died, her body transformed into disappearing sand. All he could do was just stand there in a state of semi-shock.

"Jadeite!" a voice from behind called out. The man turned around to see Zangetsu, his Daisharin still in hand... and his righteous gaze was fixed on the wrong-doer.

"You wish to fight against me? Is that it, Zangetsu?" he snidely crowed.

"GEKKOU..." the samurai shouted once more, blade glowing alight, "DAI! SHA! RIIIIIN!"

Again, the boomerang was hurled toward its intended target...

Jadeite, however, was not some two-bit youma. With a flick of his wrist, the Daisharin eerily hovered in midair for a moment before crashing to the ground, all light gone from it. In a quick flash of light, the giant blade disappeared, the horns once more materializing upon Zangetsu's helmet.

"Damnit..." he muttered, rushing into closer quarters. In his recklessness, however, Zangetsu had not noticed (or even conceived) that Jadeite had put up a force field to protect himself. The samurai slammed into it before getting tossed back onto the ground for his pains. Jadeite walked closer to his quarry.

"Do you see now?" he lauded. "Now you see that your pitiful abilities are no match for one of the Dark Kingdom's four Shittenou!"

"Dark Kingdom?" Zangetsu wondered. "Shittenou?"

"Did you not wonder who you were fighting against?" the evil blonde scoffed as he came ever closer. "In the name of the mighty Queen Beryl, I sentence you... to death!" With murderous intent, he came ever closer... until a red rose, thrown from who-knows-where, impacted the ground in front of Jadeite's right foot. In silence, the two men regarded the majestic flower. With a nasty sneer and narrowed eyes, Jadeite leaped into the air, floating towards a portal of darkness. Said portal absorbed him in an instant before disappearing itself.

"Tuxedo Mask..." Zangetsu muttered to himself as he saw said woman gliding along in the pale moonlight.

"May we next meet again..." she called out as her image disappeared.

This sudden disappearing/reappearing act of Tuxedo Mask's continued to baffle the samurai, even though this was the third time that they had met. However, some other things had been made clear... such as the identity of his enemy, the Shittenou of the Dark Kingdom... and (by the sound of it) their ruler, Queen Beryl.

As the sun rose, all of the victims of Jadeite's latest plot had woken up; that included Haruna-sensei in her hospital bed, the regular crew out cold on the floor, and Naru in her bed at home.

A woman in white

Gazing upon the night sky

What do her eyes see?

With a small flourish of his pen, Shingo finished up the haiku he had been writing up ever since he had gotten home early in the morning. Thankfully (and miraculously), he had made it to class on time, and had struggled to finish it up before Haruna-sensei's arrival. Just as he was admiring his work, he found the paper snatched away. A quick glance told the shocked schoolboy that Naru was the perpetrator.

"Shingo," she wondered, "I didn't know that you wrote love letters."

"It's not a love letter," he deadpanned, eyebrow twitching. "It's a haiku."

"Still, hard to believe that someone like you wrote poetry," Naru remarked.

"It was on a whim," he blandly revealed. "Now, please, give it back..."

"Hmmm..." she pondered in thought. "Nope!" she decided, then dashed off around the classroom with the incriminating evidence, a furiously blushing Shingo chasing her all the while.

Shingo: Things have been getting pretty interesting lately, haven't they, Artemis?

Artemis: I'm more interested in the blue-haired boy that attends your school, Shingo. They say he's a genius.

Shingo: Oh yeah, him. He must dye his hair to get it like that.

Artemis: Umm... I was talking about the fact that he's a top-tier genius, and that there's a lot of computer accidents happening lately...?

Shingo: You think...? Nah, you're just being paranoid, Artemis. Next time, on Tsuki no Zangetsu: Believe in the Sign of the Water Star! For the sake of the moon, I'll defeat you!

A/N: Aww... no reviews yet? You wound me, people... you really do.

Anyways, I will say that the woman in white will become somewhat of an obsession with young Shingo. As for what the vision means, I'm not saying what it is just yet! We also meet the black-haired woman once more, and I think that I'm writing her as a "Hooker with a Heart of Gold", as TV Tropes would put it. In any case, I won't say any more about her.

As one might have guessed, I glossed over the second incident, which was (for all intents and purposes) a filler episode. We had no real important plot information in that episode. That's probably gonna be standard operating procedure with this fic: gloss over the filler, but cover the plot-relevant stuff in full detail.

Again, no flames, but please review! Oh, and cookie to the intrepid viewer that manages to notice the small little shout-outs I placed in this chapter!

Remember, don't be a maniac... that trait is reserved for yours truly!

T/N: "Sensei", in the sense used in the fic, is a teacher