The Purest Heart, Part 2
The day after the attack, Jadeite awoke still feeling uneasy. He and the other three generals sat in Mamoru's living room, and they listened intently as he explained what had happened.
"So, these monsters are after hearts?" Zoisite asked, leaning forward in his seat. He picked a coffee cup up from the table and took a drink before speaking again. "Why do you think that is?" Jadeite shook his head, averting his gaze to the floor.
"They're not just after any hearts. They have to be pure. You all know as well as I do that Rei and the others have the purest hearts on the planet." The other three men nodded in agreement at his statement.
"You're right" Nephrite mumbled. "Well, if they go after Makoto, I'll make them wish they were dead" he said, furrowing his brow.
"I'm honestly more worried about Usagi than anyone" Kunzite said with a sigh. Mamoru, who was walking down the hall, stopped in the doorway at the mention of her name.
"What are you guys talking about?" he asked, poking his head into the room. Kunzite motioned for him to join them, and he walked into the room, sitting on the couch next to Zoisite. The four of them explained what was going on, and when they finished, Mamoru sat in silence.
"Are you alright?" Jadeite asked, turning toward him. Mamoru nodded in response, letting out a sigh.
"This is scary…I mean, fighting Beryl, then the Black Moon, those were bad. But this could get nasty fast. We're going to have to protect those girls from these monsters the best we can" he declared. Kunzite, Zoisite and Nephrite nodded in agreement, but Jadeite sat silent. They turned to him, confused. "Jadeite?" Mamoru questioned. Finally, he spoke.
"There's one more thing I forgot to mention" he began. "After Rei's heart was taken, two other women showed up and defeated the monster. Before they gave Rei's heart back, they said something about it being the wrong one. I don't know who they are, or what they want, but we may have to keep an eye on them too."
At the Tsukino residence, The five girls sat up in Usagi's room, listening as Rei shakily explained what had happened to her.
"I'm so sorry we weren't there" Minako said, her eyes filled with sadness. "We could have helped…" Before she could continue speaking, Rei stopped her.
"I don't know if you could have done anything" she said softly. She then explained the two women she saw briefly in the shadows after regaining consciousness.
"Do you think they could be Sailor Soldiers too?" Usagi wondered aloud, stopping suddenly when she heard her mom in the doorway.
"I just wanted to let you know that I have to run to the store to pick up a few things" she said cheerfully. "I'll be back in a little while!"
"Okay! Bye Mom!" Usagi called after her. The girls then resumed their conversation.
"I don't know" Rei murmured. "If they're after these 'pure hearts' too, they might be our enemies. We'll have to keep an eye on them." The other four agreed. A moment later, the phone rang. Usagi got up and called out into the hall.
"Shingo, can you get that?" Shingo?" After there was no answer, she sighed and ran to answer the phone before it was too late.
"Tsukino residence!" she chirped. "Oh, Mamo-chan! You are? Sure, we can meet you. See you soon! Bye!" She hung up the phone then walked back into her room, reclaiming her spot on the floor.
"What's going on?" Makoto asked, curious.
"Mamo wants us to meet him and the others at the fruit parlor. He said they have something to talk to us about." The five girls got up and walked out of Usagi's room, heading down the stairs and out the door.
Meanwhile, at the grocery story, Ikuko glanced down at her shopping list to see what all she needed. She walked down one aisle and grabbed a bag of rice off the shelf. As she turned to leave the aisle, she bumped into someone.
"Oh, I'm sorry" she said, turning to look at the woman. She brushed a lock of red hair out of her face and smiled.
"Oh, don't worry about it" she said cheerily. When Ikuko's back was turned, the woman's smile turned sinister. "I found you" she muttered under her breath, placing one of the daimon pods into the bag of rice. she quietly watched Ikuko as she shopped, and after she paid and left, the woman casually walked out of the store, following her.
At the fruit parlor, Usagi and the other girls sat in the large corner booth, waiting for Mamoru and the others. When they arrived, they walked over to the booth and greeted the girls. They pulled chairs from surrounding tables and sat. No one spoke for several minutes. Finally, Rei decided to break the silence.
"So, what's going on?" she asked, sounding worried. Jadeite was the first of the men to speak. He reached over and grabbed her hand, taking a breath before he did so.
"We're all worried about you ladies" he said, his voice shaking slightly. "After what happened to you yesterday, I don't ever want to be apart from you. If anything happened to you and I wasn't there, I could never forgive myself" he explained.
"We all feel that way" Nephrite agreed, Zoisite, Kunzite and Mamoru following suit. "If we couldn't protect you, we'd feel awful."
"You don't have to worry so much" Minako assured him. "We can handle anything. If we couldn't, it wouldn't be our mission to protect this planet."
Meanwhile, back at the Tsukino residence, Ikuko had arrived home, and was putting the groceries away.
"Usagi! I'm home! Can you help me, please?" she called, then waited a moment. When there was no answer, she began to put everything away herself. After several moments, she heard the front door open, and was greeted by Usagi and the others.
"Oh, mom, you're back!" she said, walking into the kitchen to greet her.
"Well, it looks like we're going to have plenty of dinner guests" she giggled, seeing the other girls plus the five men in the family room. "I hope you all like curry" she said with a smile. Usagi turned to walk back to her friends, and as they wer heading up the stairs, they heard a scream.
"Mom?!" she called out, panicked. She raced down the stairs and back to the kitchen, where she was now face to face with a hideous monster. The others were soon behind her, standing there in complete shock. Beside the monster was a woman with long red hair. Usagi turned to her, demanding answers.
"Who are you? What do you want with my mom?"
"Don't worry about it" the woman hissed. Usagi ran from the room and up the stairs, quickly changing into Sailor Moon. The other girls followed her, transforming as well. They ran back down the stairs and prepared to fight. When they got back to the kitchen, they saw they were already too late. The red haired woman was holding a shining crystal in her hand, and her mom was unconscious. Jadeite and the others were knelt beside her, shielding her from anymore potential danger.
"Who are you?" the woman hissed.
"Don't worry about it" Usagi quipped, charging at the woman and knocking her to the ground. A moment later, the monster was killed by two mysterious blasts of energy. The crystal fell from the woman's hand, and Venus scrambled to catch it. Before she could, it was snatched away by a mysterious woman.
"You" Mars said, recognizing her and the other woman. "Who are you?" They looked at her, their faces emotionless. Without answering her, they began to examine the crystal. Annoyed, Jadeite stepped forward and placed his hand on the teal-haired woman's shoulder.
"Who are you?" he asked again.
"I'm Sailor Neptune, and she is Sailor Uranus" she said softly. "We are on a mission to find the three pure hearts that will save this world from destruction."
"You're after hearts too?" he asked, suspicious. "Does that make you our enemies too?"
"That depends" Sailor Uranus began. "Do you want this world to be destroyed?"
"No, of course not" Jadeite argued back. "What if all of you worked together?" Sailor Neptune shook her head, but before she could speak, Jadeite continued. "You're Sailor Guardians too, so if you all worked together, you could…" he was cut off by Sailor Uranus.
"You don't understand" she said, slightly aggravated. "Our mission is different from theirs."
"Saving the world from destruction? Sounds like you all have the same mission to me" Jadeite muttered.
"They'd just get in the way. They're not as strong as we are" Uranus scoffed. Jadeite was about to argue again, but Mars stopped him.
"It's not worth it" she said softly. "They don't want anything to do with us. Just let them go." A moment later, Uranus and Neptune were gone. Usagi gently picked up the crystal and placed back into Ikuko, then ran upstairs to change before she woke up. The others followed. Ikuko stirred, and when she awoke, Usagi and the others were looking down at her.
"Mom" she said softly. "You're okay!"
"What happened?" she murmured.
"There was a monster, but Sailor Moon and the others got rid of it" Nephrite explained. After a moment, Ikuko had regained enough strength to get up.
"Who's hungry?" she asked with a wink. It seemed everything was finally back to normal for the time being.
