Arc Two - The Whims of Chance

Chapter Three - Pretty Detective Usagi Investigates! There's no Smoke without Fire!

The sun shone down on another day, banishing the rainclouds of the night before. Sadly, the day it was shining down upon was a school day, and so the light was forced to make its way into a dreary first-floor classroom to shine on students who should by all rights have been allowed outside to enjoy the finer weather while it lasted. Lessons had not yet started, and the students had a few more moments to talk before their teacher arrived. It was the end of the week, and so conversation was lively as the teenagers anticipated getting out and enjoying the weekend.

And with any luck, the weather would stay clear long enough for them to enjoy it properly.

"So Mum's still in a vile mood, and there were workmen everywhere downstairs when I left in the morning," Naru was saying. "I heard one of the insurance people start to question Mum about why all the security cameras failed. And the police don't know who did it. Of course they don't." The girl snorted scornfully and squared her jaw. "And I'm sick and tired of having to tell people that I don't really remember anything about the night."

Usagi made a muffled sound from the comfort and security of her arms. It may have been meant to indicate assent, but came out more like an unintelligible grunt. She had tried to talk to Naru, but the other girl had clammed up about the events, saying she didn't remember anything. And obviously Usagi couldn't let her know about everything she knew, so it was very hard to start a conversation. And her normal chances for hanging out had been much-reduced by the way that her mother had not relented on her grounding. Luna had gone off to do something nearly a week ago, but not before levelling several dire and terrible threats at Usagi. Despite her absence, she had decreed, Sailor Moon would be patrolling the city and looking for threats or youma activity, and would not be giving away her secret identity in any way whatsoever.

Usagi was not keen to find out if she would actually follow through on her promised retribution if necessary, and so she had – with a fair amount of grumbling – gone on patrol. While having to hide the fact she was leaving the house while grounded from her mother. It had actually been fairly boring for the most part. Roof-hopping was fun, but there had been no attacks that she'd found. She did think she was losing weight from the exercise, though. There had been only one rather close call, where her mother had nearly caught her sneaking out, but she was fairly sure she had managed to talk her way out of that one with a hurried explanation that she had been leaning out of the window to shoo away a bird.

The late-night scouting trips had taken their toll on her sleep schedule, though. The energy boost from transforming – which still hadn't gotten any less exhilarating – was something of a help in sloughing off weariness. But even the lingering magical charge couldn't entirely do away with the need for rest, which was why she was currently trying to catch as much sleep as possible before maths class.

"Oh! And I heard that Sailor Moon was sighted again last night!"

The blonde head rose slightly from where it was cushioned, and emitted a somewhat more interested noise. Naru nodded eagerly, her sullen, edgy mood blown away like mist on a morning breeze. "It was only a quick shot on a rooftop, but it looks amazing!" The girl had become something of a fan of the new heroine after her rescue, and had been following her exploits religiously. Usagi found it… actually kind of flattering. And it meant she got to hear rumours of her sightings without having to answer questions from her dad about why she was suddenly interested in the newspaper, which was a big plus. She heard one of the other girls ask for a look, and Naru dived into her bag for a second, rooting around until she came out with a newspaper cutting. "Yeah, see? Here!"

The girls who had been listening to her clustered round to see, and the excited gasps and exclamations drew Usagi's attention. Blinking wearily, she got up and shuffled over, innocently elbowing a couple of girls aside to get a better look. When she saw the picture next to a headline that read 'New Sailor-Suited Vigilante', though, the lingering tiredness dispersed rapidly. She sucked in a sharp breath.

The picture was obviously taken more by luck than skill; the camera had been at a misaligned angle when it was taken and it gave the distinct impression of having been cropped and blown up from a larger image. Nonetheless, though the building and city skyline in the background were grainy and distorted, the girl in the centre was crystal-clear. She was standing right on the edge of what seemed to be an office block, turned away from the camera with one leg slightly bent as she prepared to leap from her vantage point.

And she was outlined in stunning clarity. There was an air of vitality and dynamism to her that made it look as though she would leap off the page at any second. It seemed as though every thread of her long streamers of hair was detailed, every fold of her costume. Even if the rest of the picture hadn't been grainy, it would have faded into the background around her.

Usagi whistled, impressed. She hadn't realised she looked that good when she was transformed. Then she frowned. She was turned away from the camera, but… her hairstyle was distinctive. Very distinctive. She could see that it was her, clear as day. Had… had her secret identity been blown? Damn! She should have worn a mask… like Sailor V! Or something… she threw a worried glance at her friends and flinched, bracing herself for screams and admonishments.

None came. Usagi cracked an eye open and looked around, confused. Were… were they all okay with her being Sailor Moon? They weren't even reacting!

"Uh… you guys aren't… mad?" she asked tentatively. Several confused looks were turned her way.

"Mad about what?" asked Naru, puzzled. "Heck, I think it's cool! Our city has its own Sailor Warrior now! Just like Sailor V! I bet she's busy fighting all kinds of evil," she added, with iron-hard certainty, "and if it's not making the papers... well, that's just a sign of how good she is!"

"Heh… yeah, well, I don't like to…" Usagi preened for a second, before realisation struck like a bolt from the blue. "Wait, do you mean you don't know… ah… know who she is?"

Her friends were staring at her now, in equal parts confusion and interest. "Uh… no?" Naru said, as if explaining something to a very small child. "You mean to say that you do? Who is it? How?"

"Ah… uh… I… um…" Usagi's eyes widened as she realised how close she was to blowing her cover herself. "I… just thought that… uh… since she saved you and all, and carried you upstairs, you might have noticed something about her that gave you a clue as to who she was! That's all." And please, please, please, she prayed, let the universe be kind enough that if Naru did work it out from that, she wouldn't say anything, at least not immediately.

Luckily, she was saved from having to having to answer any pointed questions by the arrival of their homeroom teacher, Haruna-sensei, which distracted most of the girls around her. Naru wasn't quite as put off, and gave Usagi a hard look, but even she ceded to confusion and interest in their teacher's state.

It was an unusual entrance for a normally upbeat woman. Muttering furiously, she flung the door open with a bang and stalked over to her desk. A rather severely dented thermos was slammed down along with her bag, and she all but threw herself into her seat, scowling furiously. Choosing caution over valour, the class huddled in their seats and tried not to do anything that would set her off. Haruna was generally a cheerful woman, but her temper – as Usagi could attest – was legendary. And she was currently showing all the signs of being at a simmering boil.

But no explosion came. After a few seconds of sitting there, the muttering tailed off and she slumped slightly. Her eyes wandered over to the large dent in what had probably contained her morning coffee before something had bashed the side in, and her lip trembled slightly.

Usagi recalled that Haruna had been excited earlier in the week about a second date with a cute guy. From the quiet murmurs spreading around the classroom, she wasn't the only one putting two and two together. Eventually, Naru was the one to tentatively raise a hand.

"Ah… Haruna-sensei? Did… um…" Bleak, dead eyes focused on her and she gulped nervously before continuing in a very small voice. "Did your date not go very well?"

And that seemed to break whatever mental dam remained. Haruna growled angrily and stood, slamming her chair back as she gestured dramatically at the ceiling.

"Men are pigs!" she declared angrily, and brought her hand down in a swooping motion that covered the male portion of the class. "You boys! Let me tell you something! If you ever treat a girl badly on a date, Justice will not forgive you! If you make crude suggestions to her, act like a common lout instead of a charming prince and then blow her off to go spend time at some stupid new gambling parlour… and… and drinking with your friends, and then say that she's shrill or prude, the vengeance on heaven will descend upon you!"

There was a general murmur of assent from the schoolboys, who wisely chose not to comment on the rather specific nature of the example. Usagi eyed the dent in the thermos and winced, imagining the form that the vengeance of heaven had presumably taken.

But there was something still niggling at her, a detail that seemed odd. Haruna's judgement in the past had been a bit… strange, when it came to dating, that was true. Having her as a homeroom teacher had been an education in its own right. But still, she had been sure that this latest man was wonderful, gushing about how sweet and kind he had been on their first outing. Usagi had remembered it rather well, since it had taken place in the middle of an English class and gone on for long enough that she hadn't been forced to try and stumble her way through reading out a passage from the textbook. But what could cause such a sudden change in temperament? Maybe her mum had been right, and gambling really was evil?

Usagi's eyes narrowed slightly, and she resolved to look into this. It could be nothing, but if something was ruining dates and turning cute guys into jerks? That could not be allowed to stand.

…

The crackle of a pocket radio drowned out the faint pounding of the rain outside, accompanied the scratching of a pencil as Usagi did her homework and listened with half an ear. And when she got bored, she started flipping channels to try to find something interesting, before she hastily got back to work. She was permitted to have a radio on when she worked, as long as she was working when she was checked on. She really wanted to turn her computer on, but her mother had declared that if she did that before her homework was done, her punishment would be swift and terrible.

"…ksshhrrt… further news, Adrasteian Industries have announced that they will be showcasing their latest advanced prosthetic limb technology in… ksshhrrt… new late-night program, coming soon, which I'm personally looking forward to hearing! Now, over to… ksshhrrt… no matter how far apart we are,/We are together in my heart… ksshhrrt… another night of rioting in the Roppongi district has left the police hard-pressed to… ksshhrrt…"

Usagi hastily stopped her bored flipping through radio channels and backpedalled to the one she had just skipped over. Rioting? She hadn't heard anything about rioting. Though… she had been a bit snowed under lately, with patrol cutting into her free time. And she was still grounded. And she hadn't been out that way much, because it was far away. Dutifully sliding her homework to one side in the name of Justice, she listened more intently.

"... concerned that the public disorder might be spreading, with multiple reports of attacks on police officers outside Roppongi. On the streets, rioters have been setting cars alight and engaging in looting of shops. Firefighting crews are having to work under police escort as they try to bring fires started by arsonists under control. Public officials have called for all citizens to keep off the streets, and report violent behaviour immediately. Inspector Saito Koizumi-san had the following to say; 'In no uncertain terms, we call for an end to the deplorable violence among a small minority of the population. This violence is entirely senseless and without good reason, and should be condemned in the strongest possible terms. We will be bringing the full force of the law against guilty parties, and are already engaged in gathering evidence against all and any suspects.' However, despite multiple such statements, tonight looks to be an even worse night than yesterday, with the hope that the poor weather would keep people indoors looking..."

'So you've noticed it too. Good.'

"Gah!" Usagi jerked violently in surprise, twisted round to see where the voice had come from, overbalanced and tipped over backwards. A loud thump carried through the floorboards as both chair and girl hit the floor, and downstairs in the kitchen, Ikuko sighed.

"Usagi!" she called up the stairs. "I told you not to jump around your room like that! Are you hurt?"

Wincing, rubbing the back of her head and throwing a dirty glare at the black shape on the windowsill – and how did she keep opening the window anyway? – Usagi cracked the door open and called back down. "I'm fine, mama! Just… uh… fell off my chair."

She could almost hear the exasperated eyeroll as her mother returned to her work with a parting comment of "Try not to put yourself in hospital, sweetheart." Flushing, Usagi retreated back into her room, closed and locked the door carefully, and then rounded on Luna.

"Don't do that!" she snapped. "You scared me half to… wait. Wow, what happened to you?"

The drenched cat on her window sill glared at her, and jerked her head back at the rainstorm hammering the ground outside. 'What do you think?' she asked irritably. 'Now if you want to make yourself useful, get me something warm and dry. Like a towel.'

A few minutes later, with Luna reduced to a wet little black head poking out of a bundle of blankets next to the radiator, Usagi squatted down next to her and cocked her head. "So," she asked curiously. "Where were you, anyway?"

A crimson eye cracked open. 'Away. On cat business.'

"… cat business?" Usagi blinked, now even more confused. "What's…"

'Business.' Luna interrupted her, opening her eyes fully. 'Which is for me to know about, and for you not to worry about. Now, what are you going to do about those youma attacks?'

"… huh? What youma attacks?" Usagi's eyes widened. "I've been patrolling! Honest! You don't have to…"

'I know you've been patrolling, Usagi-chan,' sighed Luna, and ignored the girl as she mouthed something that looked suspiciously like "oh yeah, psychic" to herself. That was not a fight Luna was prepared to have while this wet and this cold. 'I mean whatever youma is causing those riots.'

Usagi blinked again, her hands coming up in a 'wait, wait' gesture. "Wait," she said in confused tones. "Wait. I thought youma drained energy? That's what you said! You said they stole energy and made people sick and… and collapse and things like that! Rioters are breaking the law, not being ill!"

Luna shook her head, staring up at the girl with those deep red eyes. 'No,' she corrected, 'no, they can affect behaviour as well. And emotions are as much a form of energy as raw life force. Widespread rioting like this… the youma responsible must be altering their behaviour and then collecting the anger and aggression they generate. You need to stop them!'

"How, though?" Usagi spread her hands helplessly. "I don't know where they are! Last time I could tell Naru was in danger, but this isn't threatening anyone I know!"

Luna's tail twitched, and she nodded. 'I know. That's part of what I was gone for. I was getting you something.'

The girl's mood underwent a rapid turnaround, and she bounced back onto her bed. "Another present? Yay! Is it as pretty as my brooch? What is it? Will I be able to take it into school with me, too? What about…"

She trailed off as she caught sight of Luna's expression. "Ah heh… maybe I'll just be quiet now and let you do the weird summoning thing for it."

'How very kind of you,' Luna responded, more than a little sarcastically. She shook her way free from the bundle of towels, her fur mostly dry now, and leapt up onto the bed. Pacing around for a few seconds to find a comfortable spot, she settled down and curled up as she had done the last time. Her fur rippled, a glossy sheen passing over it like polished jet or obsidian, the moon on her forehead a crescent of burnished gold.

And then she was merely a cat again, with something gleaming amidst the velvet fur. She stretched out, kicking it away from her gently, and then returned to her curled-up ball, purring softly. Usagi idly stroked her, missing the surprised look and louder purring she got in return, as she examined what Luna had brought for her.

It was a pen. Or looked roughly like one, anyway. It was a little thicker than most pens she had seen, though not unduly so, and was made of some sort of pink material that felt smooth and cool to the touch, though she was pretty sure it wasn't metal. Twisting what appeared to be a cap, she found an ornate quill, like those fancy fountain pens she'd seen given as presents occasionally. The other end bore a faceted red jewel that neatly capped it.

She replaced the cap and twirled it in her fingers experimentally. "So… it's a pen," she observed. "Um. Thank you? What's it… actually do?"

Luna rolled her eyes. 'It's not just a pen,' she corrected. 'I wouldn't go to all that trouble for just a pen. No, this is something much more advanced – and much more useful to your cause, and current problem. It's a…' She hesitated, reviewing what she was about to say and what the chances were of Usagi understanding it. '… it works by sheathing your… hmm. It draws upon the grand coll… uh. It…'

The cat paused, sighed, and gave up. 'It's a magic wand which will disguise you,' she explained. 'It looks like a pen because the… so people don't suspect it. It should help you investigate. Activate it while picturing a false identity in your head, and it will disguise you as whatever you're imagining.' She paused. 'Well, within reason. But most real jobs will be fine. It'll even give you a basic competence in whatever it is for as long as you're transformed – enough to play the part convincingly.'

"Oooo…" Usagi turned it over in her hands, examining the pretty jewel on the end. "Does it work as an actual pen, too? Does it have special powers when you write with it? Only I think I lost mine at school today, and…"

'Usagi! Focus! And… yes, it works as a real pen. But it… doesn't have any special powers like that, no.' She gave a feline cough, and moved on hurriedly. 'Now, to activate it, say "Moon Power", and then what you want it to make you into.'

The blonde threw her a cheerful salute. "Aye aye, Captain Kitty!" she acknowledged. "Hmm. For investigating evil deeds… I should be a detective!" Twirling the pen between her fingers, she held it aloft and called out, "Moon Power! Make me a…"

'Usagi.'

The girl stumbled over the final words of the incantation, and turned a quizzical and slightly annoyed look on Luna. "Now what?" she complained.

The cat stared up at her with a flat, sardonic air. 'It might be an idea to leave the house before turning into a complete stranger your mother won't recognise.'

"… oh. Uh… ah… eh heh heh…" Usagi grinned sheepishly. "Whoops? But… I'm still grounded. How do I get out?"

Luna rolled her eyes fondly. 'Same way you've been getting out for your patrols. Wait an hour or two for it to get dark and then leave through your window as Sailor Moon. And don't forget something waterproof. It's tipping it down out there. I can tell you. Accursed Ea… accursed weather.'

…

And so it was that an hour and a half later, a pretty young detective in a waterproof coat and hat strolled along under the light of the streetlamps. She was talking quietly to the cat that sat in her shoulder-bag, the rain pattering down on the covering.

"So I can't use it to transform when I'm already Sailor Moon because… it's like I'm already disguised?"

'Yes, simply put. It's the same mechanism, just a lot stronger. While you're Sailor Moon, people can only see you as that identity. They literally can't make the connection between Sailor Moon and Usagi Tsukino – it just doesn't occur to them, any more than it would occur to them to think that Sailor Moon was really the Prime Minister in disguise.'

Usagi made a face at that, and Luna chuckled softly before continuing. 'The only way to break the protection is for them to see you transforming. Or for you to tell them yourself, which is why you need to keep it a secret.'

"…" said Usagi to that, guiltily remembering how close she had come to spilling the beans that morning in school. "Urk. Heh. Yeah, I'd… ah… better be really careful. Not to let anything slip accidentally. I really wouldn't want to do that."

Luna shot her a mildly suspicious look, but decided that it probably wasn't worth worrying about if Usagi wasn't actually panicking over it. 'Right now, you'd do better being careful about those rioters. Where are you going, anyway? Do you even have a plan worked out?'

"I'm heading towards Roppongi," answered the young woman distractedly, pausing to admire her reflection in the glass panel of a phone booth. She looked to be in her early twenties, dressed in a casual suit under the raincoat. Her hair, in a short bob cut, peeped out from under her hat – just like the detectives in the old films she'd seen. And it was doing a really good job keeping her dry, too. "Hmm. I wonder if this is what I'll actually look like when I'm this old for real?" She flicked her fringe out of her face, winked at her reflection, and moved off again. "Anyway, I'm going for sweet and simple at first. Find a group of the rioters and follow them for a while. Without anything more to go on, information is the best thing to go for. Maybe… like… the youma has to go from person to person to collect their energy, and so if it comes for them, I can ambush it!"

She paused reflectively for a moment, considering. "Hmm. Maybe if that doesn't work, I'll try transforming into a pretty punk rocker and trying to talk to them. But that's not my plan A, since… violent rioters."

'…' Luna stared at her. 'That's… a good plan. A very good plan,' she said in shock. Then her eyes narrowed. 'Wait, are you sure you're still Usagi? Even the knowledge that comes with the transformation shouldn't make for that large a change.'

"Hey!" Usagi pouted at her. "What's that supposed to mean? And this was my plan before I transformed, I'll have you know! Is it so hard to…" She trailed off as Luna raised a paw, her ears twitching. She turned her head to the side, eyes fluttering closed, and scented the air delicately. After a moment's concentration, she spoke.

'Well, whether it's really your plan or not,' she said, 'you're about to get a chance to try it. There's a group coming. Loud voices. Smashing glass. Probably rioters.'

"Ha!" hissed Usagi triumphantly. "We have good luck, see? Can you tell how many of them there are?"

'What do I look like, a dog? I can't smell that kind of detail, especially through the rain!' hissed Luna right back. Nevertheless, she closed her eyes again, ears twitching intently. 'I think… there are at least four or five different voices. Probably not many more than that. They're getting closer, hide. Now!'

Usagi was already moving to obey. She could hear the approaching group as well now, the drunken shouts and occasional sound of smashing glass. She hurried over to someone's front gate, where a break in the thick hedge that walled off the tiny front garden gave her a nice shadowy alcove to hide in. Pulling her coat collar up over her face, she peeked out as the source of the sounds came onto the junction with the street she was on.

There were half a dozen of them. They looked like office workers, from what she could see –certainly, three or four of them were wearing suits that were somewhat the worse for wear, and one had a tie around his head as some kind of headband. Another was carrying a crowbar, and seemed intent on smashing the windows of every car he passed, egged on by his laughing comrades. Usagi winced as he drove it through the front screen of a Honda, setting off the car's squealing alarms, and swaggered onwards. Nobody was coming out to stop them, though she suspected there were probably a few discreet phone calls to the police being made from inside the locked houses.

She slunk out of the shadows as they passed, ghosting along with quiet, wary steps to the corner as they continued down the road. She didn't think it was likely that anyone could hear her in this rain, but there was no such thing as being too cautious when there were groups of men – who were affected by evil youma magic! – with crowbars around. There weren't many other people nearby, what with the weather and the warnings on the news, so following them on the same street wasn't an option.

Nodding to herself, she turned on her heel and made for the next street across from theirs, running parallel to their course. She wondered, as she did so, exactly where all these ideas were coming from. Luna had said that the disguise would give her a basic competence in the skills that the disguise should have, but… it was weird, experiencing it. Like she was drying her hair, or following the route to school, an instinctive knowledge so familiar that it was barely even conscious any more.

The hoodlums weren't moving too fast. She felt a little bad thinking of them that way, since at least half of them were probably law-abiding citizens when not under a youma's influence, but it was a pretty good description of their behaviour. She could only imagine that the fact they hadn't been picked up by the police yet must be due to how many other gangs of youma-thralls were on the streets tonight. And this close, she could tell that they definitely were under the power of some dark magic. She could feel it in each of them, like a wriggling worm at their breast, fangs fastened leech-like onto their heart. It was disgusting even from a street away, and a convulsive shudder went through her as she imagined actually having one attached.

It was at this point, after about five minutes of following them, that Usagi noticed something. Not about her targets, who were still blissfully unaware of the shadow dogging their footsteps from a street away, catching glimpses and glances of them through junctions and keeping track of them easily by the noise they were making. No, she noticed something about herself.

She was wearing heels.

In and of itself, that wasn't too surprising. She had asked the Disguise Pen to turn her into a pretty young detective, after all, and a nice attractive set of short heels worked nicely with that. No, the surprise was that she had been walking for at least half an hour since she left home in them, and she was still upright. Usagi was normally barely capable of walking in inch-high heel-platforms, but these were at least three inches, and she was moving just fine. Her face lit up in triumph, and she cheered in…

"…!"

… and she very carefully stifled the cheer that would have alerted her quarry to her presence, as well as a scream from the bolt of panic that had shot through her like a lightning bolt. And then a second scream from the fact she had just stepped in a puddle and her feet were soaked. Trembling slightly, she leaned against a wall to let her racing heart calm down a bit. That had been a scarier moment than she was willing to admit. Beside her, Luna seemed to think so as well, as her fur slowly settled from where it had briefly stood on end, and her tail relaxed from its rigid line. She quietly retracted her claws before Usagi looked down, and was casually licking a paw by the time she did.

"Luna!" murmured Usagi in hushed delight. "Look at me! I'm walking! In heels!"

'Yes yes,' agreed Luna, not unkindly. She could see that it was a big thing for the girl, and empathised a bit with the clear delight she was radiating. It was hard not to, she was all but glowing. 'It's something that humans would believe a person like the one you're disguised as could do, I would imagine. Do it long enough and it might carry over to your untransformed form. But for now, they're pulling away, so maybe we should move on?'

"Right, yeah. Sorry." Usagi stood again and moved off, this time paying attention to how she was moving, how she was walking. Maybe if she concentrated really hard on how she was balancing now, it would give her some understanding in how to balance when she was normal. It sounded like it should work, and she focused on the easy rhythm she had been moving with only a moment before.

It didn't come. Too late, Usagi remembered the way that some things were only effortless as long as you weren't concentrating on them. The thought came just as she stepped on an inopportune rain-slick pavement slab, and from there it was an achingly long journey downwards past a couple of bins waiting for the rubbish collection the next morning, with her limbs flailing wildly to find some kind of purchase.

She found purchase alright. Unfortunately, her grip on the bins only served to pull them down with her, a great clatter rising as they hit the ground in a heap. Her purse and Luna went flying – the cat voicing her protest as she and the bag landed in a puddle – and a heel broke off her left shoe. Struggling to her feet, pulling the now-useless footwear off and throwing them to one side, Usagi froze, hoping against hope that they would write it off as something innocent…

"Hey, what was that?"

"Came from over there!"

Usagi didn't wait for any more. She turned and ran.

…

It was dark. It was cold. It was wet. She was tired. She was scared. Her feet stung and ached from the abuse she was putting them through, and her tights were torn and soaked. She had lost her hat. Angry shouts and sounds of pursuit echoed behind her, and the biting shrill of the wind whistled in her ears.

Eyes wide, breathing harsh, she ignored it all and ran. And if there was one thing Usagi Tsukino could do, it was run. Anyone who had seen her on a schoolday morning could attest to that. Her bare feet pounded the pavement as she fled like a terrified gazelle, turning down side-streets at random, keeping to the smoothest pavements she could see.

The shouts grew further and further behind, and eventually she ducked behind a car, cradling her stinging feet. A few tears slipped out, invisible against the rain streaming down her face, but she bit her lip remorselessly. She was too terrified to even think about screaming. Luna had disappeared at some point – left behind by her rapid flight. She couldn't bring herself to worry about it. She had to hide, she had to get away. She had to do something about her feet, too, because she couldn't escape if she was hobbling. Digging the Disguise Pen out of her pocket, she held it tight and whispered to it.

"Turn me back."

A faint wash of cool air skimmed over her, and she shrunk back down into her teenage self, still dressed in her school uniform. Shoes, thankfully, included. She peeked out from behind the car, carefully. Hopefully, she had lost them, she couldn't see anyone…

"Hey!"

The shout had come from behind her, but she recognised the voice. Without even bothering to turn around, Usagi launched herself back into a flat-out sprint, turning the fear and terror into raw adrenaline. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she realised that they couldn't have recognised her, she looked different like this… but it was too late. She was already running now, and they were giving chase. She couldn't stop and turn into Sailor Moon, not where they might see her. She would have to do this the hard way.

After a nearly a minute of running, she was just about beginning to flag, when salvation beckoned. She darted left and made for an ill-lit path that wound around a wooded hill. The men came around the corner a few seconds after her, screaming hoarse threats at the fleeing figure, and pelted off down the shadowy road after their quarry.

Or at least one of them did. The other one paused, clutching his knees and gasping for breath. The rain was getting heavier, and the fall of droplets filled the air as it beat down upon leaves and stone like. In the street lights, the man's breath steamed.

No.

That wasn't steam. Thin white columns of smoke crept out of his nostrils, joined moments later by a thicker cloud from his mouth. It was almost as if he had an unseen cigarette, but the smoke was too thick for that, and it did not dissipate in the wind. It flowed to the left, and then to the right, ignoring the beating rain and the hacking coughs of the man – of its host. In the street lights, the cohesive smoke almost looked like a face.

It hissed, the hiss of a deodorant can thrown onto a fire, promising violence. The man stumbled forwards, limbs moving all wrong. His head and his torso led; his legs followed, desperately trying to keep a grip on the ground. It was almost like... like if someone had tripped him, his legs would have been dragged behind, as he was drawn on by his chest, by the smoke. He was drawn to a small hokora which stood by the street light, the water running down the hill past it in gushing rivulets.

There was a second hiss, and the passage of the smoke was stopped, like fog against unseen glass. For a moment, it curled and coiled against the flat pane, billowing out angrily as if trying to seek a way through.

And then it was inhaled again, a gasping shudder that left the man flat on the ground. Coughing – the sound somehow more healthy this time, rather than the desperate hack it had been before – the man pulled himself to his feet, and blinked heavily. His tie-headband had slipped back down around his neck, and his bald patch was a crop circle which shone with sweat and rainwater in the orange light of the streetlamps. Without a second look, he turned on his heel, and headed directly away from the shrine.

A moment or two passed. Then the bushes rustled, and a teenage girl rolled out of them and pulled herself to her feet.

Usagi coughed, pushing sodden hair away from her face. "That… that was…" She gulped, "way too close. That… there was…" A distant yell and another smashing sound punctuated the pounding rain, and she flinched. "And… uh… I really don't wanna be here if they come back."

She looked around for somewhere better to hide than the bushes, and remembered the noticeable absence of her cat. "Uh… Luna? Luna?" She tried to call out her partner's name while simultaneously keeping her voice as quiet as possible, resulting in a loud whisper. A soft thud from behind her sent her spinning round, arms raised protectively, heart thudding in fear.

A small black shape paced delicately out of the shadow of a streetlamp.

'Here,' said Luna quietly. 'And keep quiet. Those two were the only ones to keep up, but the others were following you too.' Another yell came from the direction they had come from, proving her point. 'I, of course, just followed those two idiots without them noticing,' sniffed the cat. 'Which wasn't difficult. Your talents at staying undetected, however, need work. Now, you should find someplace to hide until they get bored and leave the area. Other than the bush.'

Still breathing too hard to speak easily, Usagi nodded distractedly. "Luna..." she began, "Luna... there's... there's smoke living inside them. It's... I felt something was wrong, but... that. It. It has to be stopped! It's wrong" Impulsively, she knelt down and gave the soaked cat a quick, relieved hug. She'd been scared for a moment that she'd lost her snarky feline friend, and... no, she wasn't afraid to tell anyone how the sight of the man flailing and pulled along by the smoke he had breathed out had scared her.

'I know,' Luna said, enduring the hug. She sniffed at the air. Iron... yes, iron, so very strong. A bad scent. But there was something else. No, several somethings. Several somethings she couldn't separate, and which bore investigation. And at the moment, her ward was in no state to continue investigations. 'Come on, you need to find somewhere hidden. And out of the rain, if at all possible.'

Usagi nodded again, and began to look around for a hiding place. Spying a long set of stairs topped by a shrine gate, she checked the opening times on the sign at the foot of the steps and… yes, a quick check of her watch told her it should still be open, just about. And… hey, shrines were holy ground, right? If a minor shrine like that had been able to stop the smoke up close, then a proper one... well, they might not go up there at all! Even if they didn't care about that, it was a long set of stairs. Normally she'd balk at that, but in this situation, any reason for the thugs not to go up there was a good enough one for her to do so as fast as possible.

Pausing only to hastily scrub some of the dirt and leaves off her dress, Usagi bolted up the wide stone steps. Soon, she was lost in the shadows that clung to the hill, a dark shape amidst the evening murk that slipped under the torii and into the shrine proper.

The legend on the white wooden gate was just barely visible in the low light of the moon and stars.

Hikawa Shrine.

…