THE SECRET COLONY OF YAKUSHIMA
Chapter 4: "Hunted"
A Sailor Moon fanfic
By Bill K.
The first thing Haruka noticed when she opened her eyes was how harsh the sunlight was. It was so harsh that it actually hurt her eyes to keep them open. Forced to close them to ease the pain, Haruka tried to bring her hand up to shield them. That's when the jabbing pain in her right shoulder hit. It felt like a knife, a sensation she was familiar with, and radiated down her right arm to the knuckles of her two middle fingers. Her teeth clenched tight, but she didn't cry out.
A sound indicated something moving toward her. Opening her eyes as much as she could, Haruka looked toward the sound. Relief filled her when she saw it was Dr. Kuroi.
"Finally awake?" Kuroi asked with professional reserve. Without asking permission, she pulled back one of Haruka's eyelids and flashed a penlight in it.
"Easy on that light, Sensei," grunted Haruka, teeth clenched against the discomfort.
"Have you ever had sensitivity to light before?" Kuroi asked.
The woman thought with some difficulty. "Once," Haruka replied. "Cracked up my car in Barcelona during the Spanish Grand Prix. Came out with a concussion and two lacerated shins." She thought some more. "Can't remember the year. Is that what I got now?"
"That and a separated shoulder," Kuroi told her. "There may be more injuries that I haven't found, but I don't think anything is broken and I don't see any signs of internal bleeding. Which is good."
"Got that right," Haruka agreed. Then she frowned. "What happened?"
Kuroi looked at her suspiciously. "What's the last thing you remember?"
"Um," Haruka paused and thought. It was hard to think, like her brain was packed in cotton. She must have a concussion. "Piloting the copter. Looking for the clearing we were supposed to land on. Not seeing nothing but - - jungle." She squinted at Kuroi. "Then I woke up here. We're in the jungle. Did we crash?"
"Somebody shot at us," Kuroi replied, looking away as if the memory distressed her. "They shot out the tail rotor."
"Hey, any crash you live through is a good crash," Haruka advised her. "I must have been real lucky to get her down without killing everybody."
"Yes," Kuroi added reluctantly. "You were . . . you saved us all. Thank you."
"Part of the job," Haruka dismissed it. "At least you got through it OK."
"You're wrong," Kuroi told him. "I have five cracked ribs and I strained ligaments in my neck."
"Then stop worrying about me and tend to yourself," Haruka advised her. She began to rise to a sitting position amid the jungle underbrush. Kuroi tried to stop her with a hand on her stomach.
"You really shouldn't be moving," Kuroi warned her.
"You shouldn't be, either, but you are," Haruka replied. "I've got to get on top of our situation. If somebody shot at us like you said they did, they're probably looking for us to finish the job. I'd rather they didn't find us." Haruka's hand went to her forehead.
"Is it your head? I warned you not to try to get up."
"No, just," Haruka mumbled. "I keep thinking I'm forgetting something. Wasn't there someone else with us?"
"Hiroyama-San," Kuroi nodded.
At Haruka's insistence, she and Kuroi got up and walked over to a nearby tree shielded by some dense bush. Propped up against the tree was Kaburo Hiroyama. Both legs were broken and splinted by Dr. Kuroi, using torn cloth and tree branches. He had several bandaged cuts on his face. The man, not in robust health when Haruka first met him, seemed pale and fatigued. He looked up with some difficulty and smiled wanly.
"I have to apologize, Tenoh-San," he said, the act of speaking seeming to tire him out. "I didn't strap in quickly enough."
"It would be a great help if we could get him to the research facility," Kuroi said. "I've done all I can for him, but he needs to be hospitalized. We all do, but him most of all."
"I doubt you'd make it," Hiroyama wheezed, "even if you weren't injured. I'm not very light. Maybe you should go on without me."
"I don't think very much of that idea," Haruka replied.
"Get to the research facility," Hiroyama continued as if Haruka hadn't spoken. "Contact the authorities at Yakushima. Lead the air rescue team back to me."
"Hiroyama-San," Kuroi began.
"I'll be all right," he weakly waved his hand. "There aren't a lot of predators on the island. The chances I'll encounter a wild boar or a mamushi viper are slim."
"You forgot about one predator," Haruka argued. "And that one's carrying a gun. Besides, with your injuries, I'd rather not leave you here by yourself."
"I can stay with him," Kuroi offered.
"I like that even less."
"If you think I can't handle myself . . ."
"More like I can't handle myself," Haruka replied. "I've never been to Yakushima. I don't know this jungle or where the research facility is. And that was before I got my brains rattled. If I set out on my own, it's more than likely I'm going to get myself lost. And that's not going to help anyone. No, we either all leave together or we all stay put and wait for search and rescue to find us - - hopefully before the guy with the gun finds us first."
"You make a convincing argument," Dr. Kuroi admitted.
"Yeah. I've had experience surviving on my own," Haruka tossed out off of the cuff. It was a memory she didn't want to dwell on.
"Tenoh-San," Hiroyama exhaled. "Why don't you just become Sailor Uranus?"
Kuroi's eyes widened in shock. She turned and stared at Haruka.
"You're," she gasped, "one of them?"
"Them?" Haruka asked.
"I thought everyone knew. The Senshi are so famous," Hiroyama added, surprised by the reaction of the doctor.
"I don't make it a habit of following celebrities," Kuroi said dismissively.
"What do you mean 'them'?" Haruka persisted.
"I," she began. Then she thought better of it. "It's not important. If you have a means to help this situation, please do so."
Haruka wasn't satisfied, but she let the matter rest. There were more important concerns at the moment. She searched her mind for the means of transforming into Sailor Uranus. This in itself was a surprise, because it was something she felt she should know automatically. But then, up until the moment Hiroyama had suggested it, she'd forgotten she was also Sailor Uranus.
"Tenoh-San?" Hiroyama asked pensively.
"I don't remember," Haruka answered, fighting down a rising panic. "I don't remember how to become Sailor Uranus."
"I'm sorry, Michiru," Artemis broadcast over the Senshi Communicator. "I tried contacting her the moment I heard she'd gone down. There's no response."
There was a sick moment of silence.
"It's possible that her communicator is damaged," the white cat heard Michiru respond over the communication channel.
"I'd call it likely," Artemis told her. "I tried to triangulate her GPS signal from the communicator, but there's no transponder signal. That tells me it was damaged in the crash." He paused uneasily. "So it doesn't necessarily mean she's dead."
"Understood."
"Want to save me the effort of tracking you and tell me where you are now?" the cat asked.
"Mom and I are on the Shinkansen Bullet Train to Kagoshima," Michiru informed him. "We're about two hours out. From there, we'll catch the high speed ferry to Yakushima." There was a pregnant pause. "Has - - there been any word?"
"Nothing from Yakushima. Sorry," Artemis said.
The communication severed from Michiru's end. Artemis took no offense. She had other things on her mind. He was about to contact Minako when Luna raced into the room, her tail straight in the air.
"Artemis, I got here as soon as I heard!" she panted, out of breath. He wondered if she'd run all the way from Toho Studios. "Has there been any news?"
"Nothing about Haruka," Artemis replied. "I was just telling Michiru that her communicator must be damaged, because I can't get a GPS location on her. She's on her way to Kagoshima on the bullet train."
"Has His and Her Majesties been informed?"
"Haven't had a chance to tell the King yet," Artemis said as he worked his computer. "I called Australia and got Ami. They know, but Queen Serenity overtaxed herself and is laid up for the next eighteen to twenty-four hours. So they're all stuck in Darwin."
"I knew it!" fussed the black cat. "I told her and told her she was doing too much, but she WILL NOT listen!" Taking a moment, Luna got her emotions back under control. "Continue trying to find a means to trace Haruka, if possible. I'll inform His Majesty." Luna paused for a moment, considering whether to say something.
"Never gets easier, does it?" Artemis offered.
"Never," Luna shook her head and scampered out the door.
Haruka felt soft hands on her shoulders. They gently but firmly guided her down to a sitting position on the ground. It was hard ground as befit a mountainside, but padded by the dense foliage that grew on the side of this rocky terrain. She looked up and found the hands belonged to Dr. Kuroi.
"It's better if you sit," Kuroi advised her. "And try to remain calm."
"I know how to transform like I know my own name," Haruka fumed. "Why can't I remember? Why do I feel so confused?"
"The concussion," Kuroi told her. "You suffered a bruise on the tissue of your brain. That bruise is interfering with the normal synaptic processes. It's making it hard to perform certain brain functions."
"Fine time," muttered Haruka. "How long?"
"Until the condition passes?" Kuroi asked. "That depends on how deep the injury is and where. Once the initial shock of the trauma wears off, you could start regaining synaptic processes in anywhere from two to twenty-four hours."
"Yeah. The last one I had was a couple of hours - - if I remember correctly." She smiled briefly at the joke, then glanced at Kuroi. "Worst case?"
"I've," Kuroi replied reluctantly, "read of cases that took several years for the patient to completely recover."
Haruka digested this. "OK. Doesn't change our present situation. We've got to assume whoever shot at us is looking for us to see if he needs to finish the job. We need to see him first."
"Maybe one of you could scale one of those trees," Hiroyama suggested weakly. "Keep watch for anyone approaching."
"It's a good idea. Just one problem," Haruka said. "I can barely move my right arm, so I doubt I'll be climbing. And I don't think Kuroi-Sensei can climb with those busted ribs."
"And obviously I can't," Hiroyama mumbled. "It seems like a dire situation."
"We can make it, Hiroyama-San," Kuroi told him. "We just have to . . ."
Haruka waved for quiet. Kuroi and Hiroyama watched the tall blonde woman stare out into the jungle. No one moved for a few moments.
"Something's coming," Haruka hissed. She got up, grasped Kuroi by her jacket and pulled her toward a clump of thick bushes about twenty feet past Hiroyama. As they stepped over Hiroyama, Haruka could see the fear in his eyes.
"Don't leave me," Hiroyama pleaded.
"Just getting cover so I can scope out who it is," Haruka assured him. "I won't let anything happen to you." Staggering past him, the two women took cover in the thick underbrush, wincing in pain as the sudden movement aggravated their injuries.
"We're just going to leave him exposed?" Kuroi whispered in astonishment.
"Well we can't move him," Haruka replied, then cut off any further comment with her hand.
Kuroi peered out of the bush. She could hear the rustle of the trees and bushes now. Her heart began to pound. Self-consciously she tried to make her breath slow and shallow, so as not to be heard. The woman glanced at Haruka, staring intently out of the bush. In spite of her dislike, and there was much about Haruka Tenoh for her to dislike, Masashi Kuroi suddenly felt glad the woman was by her side at this moment. If only Tenoh could remember how to transform into her Sailor Senshi self. Peering back out of the bush, Kuroi saw the newcomers emerge.
"It's," Kuroi whispered with relief, "just a troop of macaques."
Indeed, five Japanese macaques emerged into the little clearing where Hiroyama sat propped against the tree. They were nearly two feet tall with bowling ball bodies and wiry arms and legs, their bodies completely covered in beige-brown fur, except for the faces. From the looks of it, all five were males. Three of the males walked naturally on all fours, but two of the macaques stood upright. Their awkward two-limbed waddle seemed almost amusing.
"Yeah," she heard Haruka whisper to her. "But a couple of them are packing."
That's when Kuroi caught sight of the guns. The two walking upright had automatic pistols in their paws. Not being someone who dealt with guns, she didn't know what kind of gun it was. At the moment, she didn't care. Her mind was too busy trying to process the incredible sight of two wild animals carrying automatic pistols, and carrying them like they knew how to use them.
"Kel-Tec PRM-30s," she heard Haruka mumble.
She was about to rail against Haruka for so calmly accepting what was the most utterly fantastic sight she'd seen since the ice giants roamed through Tokyo proper. Haruka held up a hand for quiet. Kuroi obeyed, occupied with wondering if the entire fabric of reality was now beginning to unravel.
Then it got worse.
"You. Human," one of the macaques said in a high-pitched voice as he raised the PRM-30 and leveled it at Hiroyama. "Where are the others?"
"You talk?" Hiroyama wheezed as he stared in amazement at the macaques. "How can you talk?"
"Where are the others?" the macaque demanded with growing ill temper. "Tell me or I'll kill you."
"This," Hiroyama mumbled, shaking his head, off in his own little world again, "this is the discovery of the millennium!"
"That's it!" Kuroi heard Haruka whisper. Moments later there was a flash of light next to her.
The macaques were all alerted. Their attention as one shifted toward where Haruka and Kuroi were concealed. But moments later a thunderous bubble of geo-force sent them scattering for the trees as it ripped through the brush, gouging a furrow in the rock of the mountainside. Safely in the trees, the five macaques looked back at the clearing.
Sailor Uranus stood tall, glaring back at them.
"Take a hike!" Uranus bellowed a challenge. "I don't like having guns waved at me, no matter what species does it!"
The macaques' reply was two shots fired off from one of the PRM-30s. Uranus crouched to avoid the fire.
"World Shaking!" Uranus roared. Another force bubble gouged its way up the side of the mountain. It struck the trees, leveling them on impact. The band of macaques scurried for safety, shrieking as they fled. One fired wildly as it fled, the bullet speeding far from where Uranus was. Uranus watched them flee, turning when she felt Kuroi standing next to her - - but only when she was certain the macaques were gone.
"How?" Kuroi stammered. Uranus turned to her sympathetically. "They - - they talked! They shot at us! THEY'RE MACAQUES!" She looked into Uranus's eyes and when she didn't find the same confusion and intimidation that she was feeling, Kuroi grew angry. "How can you just stand there and - - NOT REACT?"
"I've seen worse," Uranus shrugged.
"Yes, YOU probably have," Kuroi scowled. "This shouldn't be possible. This isn't possible! How is this possible?"
"I don't know," Uranus said bluntly. "Maybe we'll find out at the research facility. Even if we don't, we can get some medical attention and maybe contact the authorities in Yakushima." She brushed past Dr. Kuroi. "Now that I'm in my Senshi form, I can carry Hiroyama-San. Are you up for a little hike?"
"Anything to get out of here before those - - come back," Kuroi replied.
Looking down, she didn't see Uranus had stopped until she ran into the woman's back. About to ask why, Kuroi noticed Uranus was looking at Hiroyama. When she looked at Hiroyama, she saw the fresh blood staining the front of his shirt and her professional training took over. A cursory check was all she needed.
"He's dead," Kuroi said softly. "One of the shots hit him in the chest. Probably pierced the heart." She stood up and looked at Uranus, noticing the angry scowl on the woman. "Are you going after them?"
"I want to. I ought to," Uranus said angrily. "But the smart thing to do is get to the research facility, make sure you're safe and contact Yakushima. Then call in the other Senshi and flush these monkeys out."
And Sailor Uranus started walking, expecting Dr. Kuroi to follow. She did.
Continued in Chapter 5