Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon.


Chapter 4 - Shield

Sailor Moon was on the ground, her mouth agape, when the first thing she saw was blood on skin. She then traced its flow with her eyes, trying to figure out where it had oozed from. The body on top of her wiggled weakly as she continued tracing.

"Sailor Moon, are you okay?"

Mars' voice had turned rather hoarse, but still managed to make the blonde princess stop staring at the blood line and to look at her. Moon discovered Mars' adamant expression, and she hoped it was a sign that the dark-haired senshi was okay, or at least, not badly wounded. She nodded to confirm her answer.

Mars then made effort to get up, using her hand to push her weight and her toes to get back to the ground. When she was finally able to stand on her two feet once more, she winced painfully, forcing her uninjured hand to touch the hurt one. She pressed her palm onto the cause of her pain, which was somewhere on her right upper-arm, as if she wished by doing that she could stop the throbbing sensation. Her action had given Sailor Moon the clue as to where the source of the red liquid had been.

"Mars, you're bleeding!" The blonde said, almost yelling.

That made Mars let go of her pressed hand on the injury, revealing to their sight a horrifying, deep cut. Sailor Moon was no doctor, and she had always scored pretty low on Biology, but even with her limited knowledge she knew the cut must have penetrated certain layers of her fire-senshi's skin. She was certain of that when she saw her friend's soft pinkish flesh inside the opening wound. Blood had once again erupted and flooded her lower arm. The lips of Sailor Moon had quivered upon the sight. Had Mars failed to shove her away or failed to dodge the dark laser even just by a few centimeters, one of them, or both, could have succumbed to an early death.

Mars' face, however, appeared to lose none of its tough essence. Instead, she then gave Moon a serious stare. "We should combine our power!"

"Right!"

The youma had resumed its attacks and the two senshi both rolled as quickly as they could to their left.

"She attacks really fast, so don't go far away from me" Mars whispered when their shoulders met back to back.

"Why?" Sailor Moon readied her legs, knowing that she should put them into good use that day. "Wouldn't it be better if we attack from different angles? To startle her?"

"No!" Mars snarled immediately. "Because… because… We need to discuss our strategy without her listening!"

The blonde had rolled her eyes upon that. "But she seemed to have no ears, Rei-chan"

Another shot flew towards them before Rei could speak up and the two had to dash out again.

"Whatever! I don't care if she listens or not but don't stay away from me! Got it!?" Sailor Mars boldly continued, and soon Moon knew that whenever Rei wanted something certain way, then certain way it would be.

"Got it"

So that was what she did – following Mars' command, although performing it was not as effortless as mentioning it as she kept up with her comrade's pace. No, evading flashing sets of beams which you knew could annihilate your existence in one shot was not an easy task in the first place, even for a sailor guardian; Sailor Moon thought as she jumped for the nth time together with Mars that day.

"We should attempt our attacks once more" The fire-senshi's whisper almost sounded like a breeze in her ears; her mind has gotten exhausted juggling between dodging and landing safely.

"But how?"

"Shit!" Mars cursed when another lightning charged towards them.

The blonde senshi was up in the air, mimicking Rei's rapid movement, when she heard her best-friend's yell. "Sailor Moon! To inside the building!"

By the time Moon shouted an 'alright' to her, Mars had come across an unclosed window from the second level of the said building. With their senshi ability, jumping and entering the construction became sort of a walk in the park. Sort of, because the odango's fingers still slipped just right after she took a grip on the window's frame and would plummet to the ground if not for the fire-senshi's assistance.

A brief overlook confirmed the princess that they had stepped inside a department store, and although all the fancy, costly stuffs displayed were mostly still in tact and the lights were still on, the place seemed to have lost its lively atmosphere. The opportunity to check on any remaining humans, however, had to slip when Mars turned around to face the window once more and picked up the sight of their enemy flying a few meters before the frame; the demonic eyes were obviously trying to spot the youma's two fleeing targets. The sailor in red fuku had to grab Moon's hand, forcing her to duck along.

"Let's crawl, quietly"

"But, where to?" Moon replied, trying to make her volume as low as that of Mars.

She saw amethyst eyes motioning from left to right and she waited rather in impatience, like a princess expecting reports from her scouting warrior.

"We could use those mannequins as covers" The raven-haired girl met Moon's stare. "Usagi, hide. Hide until you hear me shout my attack. When I do, launch your own so we can corner her with our combined powers. Don't come out until you hear my attack, do you understand?"

"Y- Yes"

"Alright, let's get moving" Screeches could be heard as the fire-senshi's knees made harsh contact with the tiled floor. "Usagi, remember. Whatever happens, do not come out until the right moment"

The blonde swallowed her saliva. It was hard to describe how commanding Mars' scowl and tone had been, and she wondered if the owner of those eyes and voice actually realized that too. The instruction given to her was affirmed by a nod, although in her heart she knew she did not fully agree to the deal. If something happened to Mars, if it had something to do with Mars getting hurt to protect her like what she had witnessed over and over again, she knew she could not just 'not come out until the right moment'.

After seeing her comrade's figure slowly distancing to the left side of the huge room, Sailor Moon commenced on starting her own journey to one of the mannequins on her right. She was disrupted once by a sudden loud noise that sounded like metals crashing to the ground, and after she stopped to make sure that it had nothing to do with harming her friend, she continued and the rest of the trip was safe.

The colorless mannequin in the form of a slim female body was her companion for the next few minutes and, despite being obviously dead and steady as a rock, managed to act as her covert as she rested her back there. Half an hour was probably all that had passed since she first met the unwelcomed intruder to her and Rei's halcyon life yet she felt sores all over her body – legs specifically.

She let those few minutes she had with the lifeless statue to be her resting moment, though her heart did not stop reminding her of all the bad possibilities that could happen to Sailor Mars while she herself was in a tranquilizing state here. She thought about it then. Mars had been clamorous and protective that day, to a great amount. And no, she was not talking about the act herself, for Mars had always been like the untamed fire that she was. She was talking about the look of Mars' eyes and the tone of her voice. It was almost like she could not say no to any of the fire-senshi's commands that afternoon. It was as if Mars could die if she ever did. Of course, back again, she would rebel anyway if it meant saving the raven-haired girl from any form of painful sacrifice.

Sailor Moon's eyes were in total alert for one more time when angry, evil roar accompanied by the sound of something breaking onto the ground reached her ears. She stood up and was about to reveal herself from behind her current curtain, but held back when she recalled Mars' instruction. Curiosity was what pulled her to peeking over the scene as secretively as possible.

From the little sight she could obtain through the corner of her eyes, it looked like their enemy had found out Mars' hideout, and they were facing each other on eye level, ready for another affray. Soon, the devil had lifted her hand up in the air again, and Sailor Moon knew what it meant. Much to the princess' shock and anxiety, however, Sailor Mars did not look like she was prepared to flee. Instead, the fire soldier had once again released her fiery bow to come into hands.

The dark sphere was shot and the blonde could not resist breaking out from her hiding. She commanded her legs to bring her to the battle scene as Mars stood motionless, appearing to hopelessly receive the strike on her body as the ray came closer and closer to hit her hard. Before arriving, however, Moon witnessed Sailor Mars dropped herself to the ground, just when the beam was a few inches away from her stomach, which made her successfully avoid the attack with her weapon still burning in her hold.

Silently but wildly, Mars casted loose her fire arrow for the second time that day. The effectiveness of that attack, however, the princess doubted would be high, for she had seen how the youma had exterminated her comrade's attack with probably only a half of its full power. And she was proven right, when the said monster had once again halted the arrow's full-speed motion with one hand and destroyed it effortlessly.

"Mars Flame Sniper!"

Sailor Mars' fiery bow had made its appearance once more before Moon had even determined on what to do next. Her brain was still processing why and how the fire senshi launched her attacks two times in a row, but her memory had thankfully reminded her of her friend's briefing from minutes ago – that she was supposed to shoot her attack at the same time as Mars', which meant, right at that very second.

Her stunned face changed to austere one as the holy rod returned quickly to her hold. She glowered at the youma, transferring with it all her resentment and wish for the evil spirit to be gone and to not ever reappear.

"Starlight Honeymoon Therapy Kiss!"

Her own pink bright rays had flashed and illuminated almost her entire surrounding, and Sailor Moon had to look cross-eyed through her own attack to be able to check if this last effort Mars and she attempted had in fact inflicted any damage to their enemy. In the midst of blinding lights she spotted the youma, turning her head back in shock, with Mars' flame sniper in her strong grip. A few seconds later she could faintly see the monster's figure slowly distort in every direction and lose its humanly shape. Standing still to prolong her attack as far as she could to push the evil being to total extinction, Sailor Moon waited until she was convinced that the youma was no more.

After what it seemed like long rather than short minutes for her, the blurry image had taken the form of what it seemed like a human's shadow; although she had no clue of whose it was, for all she could see was a black silhouette. The blurry image then fell limply to the ground before moving like a wind like something had dragged it away from their sight; its motion was in such a speed that the two senshi could not even follow where it had flown away. One thing that both Mars and Moon were certain of was, their plan had succeeded and they were safe for now.

"Mars! We did it!" The blonde princess had yelled triumphantly without noticing the fire-senshi's sudden stoic expression, and it took her seconds to do so. "Mars?"

"S- Sailor Moon, the youma…" The raven-haired scout muttered.

"What? What of the youma?"

"I saw it… and I just realized it… right before I shot the last arrow towards her. I know that face"

"What do you mean, Mars? Who is she?"

Sailor Mars finally welcomed the odango's curious eyes. "Rika-san"

Moon's palm met her lips while fear mixed with terror was born in her eyes. "It can't be!"

"I wish I was mistaken, too" Mars looked away, as if she was paying attention to the broken mannequins that had scattered around them. "The youma's figure was pure darkness, even her face. But when I was concentrating on targeting her, the features – the eyes, the nose, and the mouth, they all resembled Rika-san's"

"Does that mean…" Sailor Moon had wished her lips to pull up upon their victory, just as they always did in the previous times after fighting a good fight with a terrible youma, but this time those lips had to pull down instead. "Does that mean we have… killed… her?"

"We can't have done so! I mean… she is – she was still in the hospital before we left…" Mars' amethyst eyes had crossed path with the princess' blue ones. "Let's detransform and go to the hospital once more"

Not wanting to attract attention by exiting the building through jumping out of the window, the civilian forms of Mars and Moon departed through the main gate. Usagi had once again let Rei be ahead of her, either because she was too tired already to keep up with Rei's pace, or Rei had once again been quicker than her. As soon as the street lights assisted her vision, though, she did not fail to catch the sight of the miko's horrible wound, and she put herself into an immediate stop when she remembered how deep of a cut her friend had suffered.

"Rei-chan, your arm!"

The raven-haired girl simply reacted to the call by turning her head back, but when she saw that the blonde had halted her steps, she held back her legs from moving again as well.

"It's not that bad" The miko answered while Usagi came closer to her; her sapphire eyes did not flinch at all from the injury.

"How is it 'not that bad'?" The odango put a gentle touch on the area a few inches from the cut, which resulted in Rei's wincing and trembling. "I can even see your salmon flesh!"

"But Usagi, we need to head to Rika-san first. I will be fine"

"That's true, but what if the wound is actually poisonous? I am worried about Rika-san too, that's true, but I can't just let my best friend run all the way bearing a painful injury, right?"

"Usagi, I said I would be-"

"Let's at least stop the bleeding" Knowing how stubborn Rei could be, the odango quickly cut her friend's argument, and grabbed her injured arm. How she would actually complete the task, though, she had no idea. She secretly prayed if Mercury could transfer all the knowledge to her brain from such a distance, even for mere sixty seconds.

She continued after a sudden light-bulb moment struck her. Her hand had inserted her short-pants' pocket and roamed there before pulling out an ivory-colored handkerchief. She thanked herself for bringing it that particular day, with the intention of wiping her face if she happened to sweat a lot that afternoon.

She had to meet Rei's rather-hesitant stare before she rolled up Rei's long white sleeve, and soon the deep cut was uncovered to their naked eyes. The white clothing in Usagi's hands then was lingered carefully several times around Rei's arm, and both girls were quiet during the treatment. The odango had put almost all of her concentration on securing the handkerchief tightly to stop the blood flow, and when she looked up for a split second she spotted Rei looking at her. The miko's expression was hard to read for her, however, for it was full of tenderness that was tainted with sorrow. When she recalled that they were in rather a rush, she tried focusing once more on finishing her first-aid medication, but the horrifying appearance of Rei's pinkish flesh was once again visible to her, and her heart felt terrible pain.

Albeit aware that they had to go on with their trip to the hospital, Usagi could not help but to pay another worried, sad look to her best friend. She had to say it right then. Otherwise she would get frustrated after all the despairing memories of the past flooded her mind. The aching memory of Mars' death – of Mars fading away in her very arms had crept on her, and it scared her to death just by thinking the possibility of the history repeating itself. She had never said it out loud to anyone, even to Rei, about how bad that memory had affected her.

"Rei-chan, thank you"

"For what?"

"For saving me"

"That's not really something we have to tell each other again, is it?" Rei threw her gaze away to the long, dim road that awaited them ahead. "You know that I… We will always protect you"

"No, thank you, really!" Usagi's tone had turned more of an insisting one, and that seemed to have regained Rei's stare at her. "You have constantly protected me… All of you have, but you have made yourself like a literal shield, always throwing yourself before me to shelter me and carried with you all the inflictions that were supposed to be mine, for so many moments"

Her statements had delivered temporary quiescence, before Rei raised a smirk. "Since when did you get so poetic? I guess taking art as a major is not really that bad of a decision for you, Usagi"

"I'm serious, Rei!" Sapphire eyes had begun glooming. "I beg you. Do not do it again, please? You know I cannot just let you get hurt over and over again for my sake. Do not, Rei. Do not die, again"

"Baka, I will not die" The raven-haired girl drew near to her, to where she was standing right under the shower of the sodium streetlight. The glimmer let her see the purple shade of Rei's strands. She saw the miko's arms heading towards her shoulder, but seconds later the said arms had rerouted back to their previous position. The tears that had started pooling in her eyes must have distracted her, and the next thing she knew was that Rei had put one hand on her head instead, patting her. A pair of amethyst eyes locked her gaze. "Not until I make sure you will live on. But, well, I could accidentally die on the way there…"

"No!" The blonde princess wiped away one falling tear while frowning deeper, angry that her fire-senshi still had time and a thought to let a joke slip at a moment like this. "Accidentally or no, real or fake death, you cannot die again, Rei-chan!"

"I know, I know" The miko had replied her serious setback with a light laughter. "Let's go now. We still have Rika-san to make sure about"

Usagi's upper teeth had slightly bit her lower lips; she was pissed off that she still did not manage to make Rei promise what she had wished her to. Seeing her best friend had started stepping again, she followed along, hoping that the miko was not actually oblivious that she was being dead serious about what she had just said.