Sailormoon: Dark Jewel
by: Marie Kelly
Chapter 9


The man stared forward, his eyes unblinking. His hands were neatly folded his lap, and his back was set in a perfectly vertical line. His breathing was quite calm and pronounced.

{Too much so,} thought Kunzite, observing the tenseness of Zoisite's temple, and the way his nostrils flared ever so slightly as he breathed. Had he not been the younger man's lover, Kunzite assuredly would not have realized anything was wrong--at most wondering why he was being so quiet. Kunzite knew better, however.

Zoisite was furious.

Not angry, furious. Kunzite had dealt with Zoisite's anger several times, and knew what that entailed. Pain, abuse, yelling. Anger was one of Zoisite's most common emotions. No, this fury was quite different. It was subtle, planning. The fury waited to be revealed.

"Zoisite," Kunzite knew it best to attempt to squelch the fury before it became rage--the uncontrollable, most dangerous of all the emotions Zoisite displayed. "What's the matter?"

Zoisite didn't turn his head to find his lover as he previously would have. "I don't understand what you are saying, Kunzite-sama."

Kunzite sat down on the bed next to Zoisite. "Zoisite, last night you were ..." -- he searched for the proper word; one that wouldn't offend -- "rather unresponsive."

"Was I?" Zoisite sounded slightly interested, but not more so.

"Yes. What happened?"

Zoisite swallowed rapidly several times. "I feel sick. I had to capture him."

"Tuxedo Kamen?" Kunzite was mildly surprised, though in retrospect he supposed he shouldn't have been. Zoisite hated Tuxedo Kamen with a vengeance, so much so that he avoided even thinking about the masked man unless he absolutely had to. Both men knew that to do otherwise would drive the younger king insane.

Zoisite lifted his hand, and several cherry blossom petals floated by. One landed on his palm, and he stared at it before closing his hand protectively. "They're my petals, Kunzite. They're beautiful, perfect. They're mine...and they touched him!" Zoisite's face twisted into an ugly visage of disgust and anger. "I used my petals to capture *him*! That foul, disgusting..." Zoisite stopped, his voice dropping. "I'm corrupted, Kunzite. If I had known...I want to be clean, again."

"Zoisite." Kunzite suspected he knew where this was headed, and he also knew that it was best to nip it in the bud early, before Zoisite did anything foolish. "Zoisite, do not let your temper gain control of you." He drew Zoisite closer to him. "Always remember, reason is best here. We are still Queen Beryl's servants."

Zoisite rested his head against Kunzite's chest, and slowly closed his vengeful green eyes.




Urawa pressed the pads of his thumbs against his eyelids until his vision wavered, small yellow and red spots dancing in front of him. He released his fingers, dropping them to his side.

How long, he wondered, until they killed Ami? How long until they gleefully removed the life from her? Urawa had no idea how. He had no idea why. All he knew was that somebody, somewhere, would make him hate Ami. Hate her enough to kill her. Hate her enough to laugh at her death; take the most intense pleasure in it.

There were a few small problems. He did not know who it was. Certainly, he had tried to find out, but his powers were not as strong as they used to be. He did hear a female giggle in his voice, but, to him, all female giggles were alike. They provided no hint as to the clue of the giggler. A shadowy shape superimposed over a female body was another useless clue, as he could not make out the face of the woman.

Urawa tensed, his ears perking up. There was a car. How? This was the most deserted street he knew of. If he avoided people, then, perhaps, he could avoid the woman who would make him kill Ami. He was clinging to straws, and clinging desperately. Urawa swallowed rapidly, and slinked back into a deserted alley three feet behind him. He quietly watched the car pass by him without any incident, sighed loudly, turned around, and gasped.

Ami was there, kneeling down next to some stray cats. She giggled lightly, picking one up and nuzzling it. "Oh, you are precious!"

"Ami--" Urawa whispered, slowly reaching out his hand. How desperately he wanted to tell her that she must, under all circumstances, avoid him. How easy it would be.

"Pity," a voice sneered behind him, and Urawa turned to see Sailormercury smiling ever so slightly. "She's happy."

"Who are you?" Instantly, Urawa was defensive. "You're not Ami-chan."

"Aren't I?" Softly, Sailormercury walked up to him. One gloved hand gently traced his cheek, and the other protectively slid across his chest. She turned him to face Ami. "Look at her. She's happy."

Urawa smiled, his heart melting. "I'm glad."

"Are you?" Sailormercury glared. "Look at her. She doesn't care about you."

"That's not true!"

"Oh, isn't it?" Sailormercury laughed, and drew Urawa in closer to her, so that he still watched Ami. "Look at her. She hasn't thought of you for days. You saved her life, and she went on with her own."

"No...no..." Urawa swallowed rapidly. "You lie."

"Do I? Why hasn't she called? Thoughtless girl."

Urawa's fists clenched, and his eyes glazed over as Sailormercury continued talking. "Doesn't it annoy you, Urawa? Listen...how loudly her heart beats. Too loud. Da-thumb, da-thump."
"NOOO!" Urawa desperately covered his ears, but was unable to drown out the sounds of Ami's heart and Sailormercury's whispers, hot and clear in his mind. "Her breathing...loud...unbearably so. You'll go deaf. You have to stop it. You must silence her."

"Stop... it..." Urawa heard himself forming the words with his lips, his body shaking.

"Yes." Sailormercury held out a length of copper wire. Urawa took the wire, and walked over to Ami. Selfish Ami. Loud Ami. She must be silenced.

He drew the wire up against her neck, and pressed.

Ami gasped, and choked out a few coughs. NO! She must be silenced. Urawa pressed it deeper against her flesh, and could feel it sinking in. It disappeared in a thin line of red, easily cutting through the jugular. Ami's eyes rolled up in the back of her head, and she slumped forward, dead.

Urawa dropped her, closed his eyes, and relished in the silence. So perfectly silent. The giggle started within his chest, and worked its way up, exploding in psychotic laughter from his mouth. He laughed and laughed and laughed.

{NO!} Urawa's mind shouted, and cleared. He looked down.

Ami wasn't there.

"A vision..." he whispered, his body trembling. "It was just a vision. Just a vision." But--was Sailormercury the one who wanted him to kill Ami? Why? If he did so, then she, too, would die. It wasn't safe for him tosee Ami. He couldn't warn her; he might kill her.

Urawa drew his arms to his chest, and looked up as though an answer lay in the stars.




Sailormercury quickly pressed her earring, and her visor faded away. Forcing her heart to stop beating as quickly as it was, she knelt down and retrieved her computer from the dirt. She carefully brushed it, off, testing it to make certain it had not been broken in the fall.

{Him,} she thought, detransforming. {Of all the...he is dead. But how--?} Spirits weren't Ami's cup of tea, and she had no idea how to deal with this one in particular.

Rei did. Knowing nothing other than Rei was the expert in the situation, and might be able to offer at least a little help, Ami ran towards Usagi's house.

The door was open, yet Ami still knocked first. "Hello?" she said, raising her voice so as to be heard. "Rei-chan? Usagi-chan!"

"Upstairs." Ami looked around for the owner of the voice, only to find Mrs. Tsukino sprawled out on a chair. The woman pointed one hand towards the stairs.

"Ma'am, are you quite all right?" Ami was quite perceptive in matters such as this. Mrs. Tsukino snorted. "Go. I still say Usagi needs to be by herself, but maybe you'd be good for her."

"Thank you, ma'am." Politely, Ami remembered to bow before running up the stairs.

"Ami-chan!" Rei, holding a quivering Usagi, looked surprised to see her. "What are you doing here?"

"I went back to the shrine. I did some readings on my computer. I discovered a spiritual aura. I know who it belongs to."

"Mako-chan's." Usagi whispered, her voice light and dry.

"No." Ami swallowed and closed her eyes. "It wasn't hers."

"Then...who's?" Rei's brow wrinkled in concentration. The spirit who had destroyed Makoto's soul was completely unfamiliar to her.

Ami spoke only one word. "Nephrite."

Usagi's eyes snapped open. "Nephrite?" she asked, standing up. Rei slowly loosened her grip, and looked up at Usagi.

Ami merely nodded. "That is what I have discovered."

Usagi bowed her head. "Nephrite. I will...I will...I will--" her head snapped upright, and eyes glared with fierce intensity. "I WILL NEVER FORGIVE HIM!!!"

"Usagi!" Rei stood up, so that she was higher than Usagi. It still bothered her when she was below the smaller girl. "What are you talking about?"

"He killed Mako. He probably killed Minako. He cursed Naru. Naru loved him, and he turned her evil. I will never forgive that." Usagi held her transformation pen at eye level. "Let's transform!"

{No,} Rei thought, observing Usagi fading away, being replaced by Sailormoon. {That wasn't Nephrite I sensed on Naru. I would have known if it was.} Rather prudently, she did not say a word. It was such a relief not to have Usagi wailing her eyes out, that she felt it quite best not to say a word that could possibly revert her newfound spirit. Instead, Rei merely transformed.




Hikawa Jinja was empty. Rei's grandfather and Yuuichiro were asleep, and the visitors that flocked the place by day did not do so by night.

Sailormars concentrated, trying to sense an aura. Nothing. Oh, certainly, there were auras, but too many for her to get a clear and accurate picture without a fire reading. Those who visited during the day would often leave a piece of their auras behind, and they would all melt together. It was all separate.

Save one. A new aura...strangely familiar...had appeared. Sailormars snapped her head around in the direction from whence it came, and Sailormercury and Sailormoon followed suit. Sailormoon gasped, her eyes filling with the salty liquid. "Tuxedo Kamen-sama..." she breathed out. "You're safe. You're all right."

Tuxedo Kamen stepped forward, his costume melting into a figure of armor. Sailormoon gasped. "Endymion-sama..." she whispered.

He smiled gently down at her. "Serenity..." He held his hand out, warm and inviting like his voice.

"ENDYMION-SAMA!" With that desperate cry, Sailormoon rushed forward, flinging herself into Endymion's chest, her arms tightly encircled around his neck. "Endymion-sama...thank you. Thank you. I remember. I remember everything. I remember...I remember us." She stood up on her toes, her lips gently pressing against Endymion's. Tears streamed a wet path down her cheeks as she kissed the unresponsive prince.

"Endymion-sama?" Usagi drew back, and looked up at him. "Why are you being so still?"

Endymion smiled the smallest of smirks, and drew his palm back. He then shoved it, hard, against Sailormoon's chest. The young girl slid back several feet, landing on the ground.

"Endymion-sama?" Sailormoon drew herself to her knees, watching Endymion walking towards her. "Why are you doing this?"

"You must die, Sailormoon."

"Die?" Sailormoon was certain her ears must be failing her. Why would Endymion, her true love, want to kill her? "Please, Endymion-sama. Don't you remember. Remember our past..."

Endymion shrugged lightly. "Of course I do," he answered as he unsheathed his sword. He raised it above his head, preparing to split Sailormoon in two. "But that doesn't matter. That was the past. Now you must die."

Sailormoon bowed her head, closed her eyes, and folded her hands, praying.

Endymion smiled, started to bring the sword down, and gasped. His body quivered still, the sword still raised in the air. Sailormoon dared to peek, wondering why she was not dead. She saw Endymion spit up blood and fall forward, dead.

"ENDYMION-SAMA!" The grief of a lost princess filled Sailormoon's soul. She desperately hugged his still warm body, her hand brushing against the sharp blue
shard imbedded in his back, which quickly disippated in a swirl of vapor. "Endymion-sama...please...come back!"

The laughter, though quiet and delicate, definitely bordered past insane. The man looked to the sky, smiling brightly. "I am finally clean again." He was faintly aware of another man appearing next to him.

"Zoisite!" whispered Sailormercury, to which Sailormars replied, "Kunzite!" The senshi of flame drew the tips of her fingers together, and began her attack.

Kunzite looked at them, slightly disinterested, out of the corner of his eye. He pushed out his arm, whispered "kou" and let the blast of energy hit Sailormercury and Sailormars. The two senshi were forced backwards, until they met up with the side of a part of the shrine. Their heads hit first, and two thin trails of blood stained from where they had hit, to where they landed in a silent heap below.

Kunzite turned away. Sailormoon would not be a bother; she was too busy grieving over Endymion.

"Zoisite!" he hissed. "Don't you remember our promise?"

Zoisite looked up at the older man. "I made no promise," he said, his voice cold and hard. Kunzite had no reply to that, for Zoisite, indeed, had not promised anything.

"What are you going to do? You killed Endymion. Queen Beryl will not be pleased."

"She will kill me." Zoisite's voice was quite matter of fact. "That is the only possibility." Vemon entered his voice. "I will *never* live with the inferior humans. That would be as unbearable as living in the Dark Kingdom with Endymion. Death is the only logical alternative."

Kunzite replied to that by fiercely slapping Zoisite, calling the younger king the most selfish man he had ever met.

"Selfish?" Zoisite placed one hand against his reddened cheek. He sounded shocked at what Kunzite had said. In his state of rage that he was now in, Kunzite could not tell whether or not Zoisite was faking it.

"Damnit, Zoisite, what about me?!"

"You?"

"Yes." Kunzite drew his lover tight into his chest. "Zoisite, what the hell made you go off and do a stupid thing like this without considering me?! Do you think I'll live easy after you die! You're everything to me!"

"Kunzite-sama."

"Zoisite, I was alone before I met you. Never again. I don't want to be alone ever again."

Zoisite said nothing as he stared into his lover's eyes. No words passed between them, yet clearly only one thing had to be done; and done quickly.

The two men stepped back, and raised their hands. Energy shimmered into weapons--a thin blue shard of ice, and a sharp, straight pink blade. Without a word, the two kings silently pressed their weapons against each other's chests, breaking through to the heart.

Zoisite and Kunzite fell into each other's arms. "I will never leave you," Zoisite whispered, weakly drawing a trembling hand up to stroke Kunzite's white hair.

"Neither will I." Kunzite drew Zoisite's body in close to his, and their lips touched. Zoisite seemed a bit surprised at first, but quickly responded in turn. The two men kissed passionately, their bodies fading into each other and then completely away.



Urawa stood in front of the lake. The wind did not blow, and so the surface was a dark sheet of glass, which reflected the moon above. He swallowed deeply.

Ami. He coudn't risk killing Ami. There was only one way to avoid his fate. His hand reached into his pocket, and drew out a knife. He snapped the blade open, and stared at it. It was sharp enough, and would certainly do the job with ease.

Only...Urawa could not stab himself. Each time he pointed the knife towards himself, he remembered. He remembered he was a youma...the knives he had used then. Knives, which had almost killed Ami. Sickness filled his stomach, and he quickly closed the knife and pocketed it before he became physically ill.

Then...the other method must be used. Urawa stepped forward. His foot broke the surface, and small frothy crest of white splashed up. He continued walking forward, the water churning around him, soaking through his clothes. He paused at waist level, enough to hear the voice.

"It is not a good night to die." Urawa turned around, and spied a girl. She was slightly unfamiliar, having wavy red hair slightly tied back with a blue bow. A diaphanous dress covered her small body. The girl smiled brightly at him. "It is, however, an excellent night to kill."

She giggled, and Urawa gasped, recognizing the giggle. That was it! That was the person that would make him kill Ami. Still giggling, the girl stepped forward. The wind started, and her hair blew gently across her face.

"Stay back. I'm warning you." Urawa could not explain why he did not run from her, or else pressed further into the lake. Only, his muscles were completely unresponsive to his will.

The girl, only fourteen at the most, stood next to Urawa. The water crept up the her breasts, occasionally a few droplets reached it, increasing the transparency of her dress. Though he felt fear and hatred towards her, Urawa was male and could not help but look.

The girl slowly opened her palm to reveal the gem nestled within. It was decidedly ordinary looking...a small crystalline structure, slightly circular in appearance. She placed it within her thumb and index finger, and held it up.

Waves of power surged through Urawa. He stepped backwards, knowing. This was it. This was what would take control of his mind.

"NO!!!" With that cry, Urawa fell to his knees, pressing his arms tightly against his head. Water covered his entire body, his lungs burning for oxygen. He desperately screamed out, hoping that it would remove what was happening in his mind.

Ami, he thought, slightly detached, must die. She was worthless, and selfish and--

NO! Urawa forced himself to his feet. He must fight it. He opened one eye, staring. The girl still held the jewel, her face twisted into sickening visage...eyes closed, mouth open in insane laughter. The laughter of madness...he laughter of pain...

The laughter of one who has been rid of a worthless enemy; one who has known the joys of killing the innocent. Almost against his will, Urawa started to smile. His hand brushed against his pocket, feeling the object nestled within.

The knife! Urawa took it out, and flicked it open. He had to stop this madness from taking any more control than it already had. Praying for forgiveness, he pressed the blade towards the girl's chest.

Urawa felt the knife pass through skin, muscle, and bone. The girl gasped, and the jewel slid from her fingers into the lake.