Hatsu peered into her scrying bowl as she willed for the image of the prince's location to come to her while the men in the room were practicing some basic fighting skills that they hadn't used in more than a lifetime. She knew that it was necessary for them both to get back into fighting form but the distraction was more than she could bear. Especially when one of them knocked the lamp off of the small table next to the couch and caused it to shatter.
In response to the sound of the lamp breaking she wasn't surprised to hear a knock at the door. When Jed opened it he found his neighbor, Ms. Kaya, and her little pocket-sized dog. Both of them looked more than just a bit irritated.
"Ms. Kaya, can I help you?"
"Yes, you can tell me just what is going on in there. I don't think I've heard this much racket on this floor in the more than six years that I've been living here. What is going on?"
The older woman looked past her neighbor and saw the same young woman that she'd seen in the early morning hours a few days before sitting at the table but she also saw another man that she'd never seen before as he began to pick up the broken lamp that must have been the source of the noise that she'd heard just moments before she came over.
"I'm sorry. My cousin and I were having a bit of fun. I guess it got out of hand. We'll keep the noise down, now. I promise."
"Another cousin?" Ms. Kaya brought her glasses up higher on her face as she took in the appearance of the man who looked to be just a couple of years older than her neighbor. She found it strange that after never seeing anyone of her neighbor's family visit him in all of the time that he'd lived across the hall from her that not just one but two cousins would suddenly show up in as many days. Not to mention, none of them showed the slightest family resemblance. "Just how many cousins do you have?"
Jed exchanged a look with both Malachite and Hatsu before he said, "Five. I'm hoping to get all of us together sometime soon. We haven't gotten to see one another in a long time."
"I see. Well, just remember that each of these apartments are only meant to be single occupant residences. They aren't meant for long term house guests."
With that the older woman turned and opened her own apartment's door and went inside. Jed closed his own and shook his head. He could already see her hopping on the phone to the building manager to inform him that he had unauthorized guests. But at least with Malachite here along with Hatsu he'll less likely to be accused of violating the moral's clause in his lease.
"Friendly, I see," Malachite said with a chuckle. "And here I thought my neighbors were difficult to live with."
"Didn't you say that you lived in a psych ward?"
"Exactly." The two men exchanged a look before they both busted out laughing at Mal's observation.
Hatsu gave up on the scrying and decided that if she wanted to get any results she'd need to get away from the men who were enjoying getting reacquainted after a lifetime of being separated. The trio agreed that they needed to return to Tokyo the next morning but she wanted to get an idea of where they should go before they left. The last place she wanted to go was the temple that she and Jadeite had gone to earlier in the week but if she didn't have another location in mind then that was precisely where they would be going at first light in the morning.
Noticing that Hatsu was getting up and gathering her meager belongings together, Malachite asked her where she was going. After telling the men that she planned to spend the night in meditation and that she'd return in the morning she vanished. In a way, he wasn't surprised since he remembered that she had never been one to spend her free and idle time among others. She'd always preferred solitude.
The men then continued their sparring the best that they could in such a small area for a couple of more hours before they turned in for the night. The next day promised to be interesting. His day of searching for the other generals, his prince, as well as the Benu would be his first day in the sunshine in more than four years. Malachite was looking forward to exploring his new freedom with his old friends.
Serena watched as her husband and his old friend raced one another down the slope as she followed at a much more sedate pace in the waning daylight. In the last couple of days she'd seen the men compete in almost every activity imaginable. The two were fairly matched so each won nearly as often as they lost. Of course with each loss came a new challenge by whichever man had come up short, no matter how slightly.
"Men," Serena muttered to herself as she shook her head. She saw Kyle cross the imaginary finish line as he began to celebrate his small victory with a chuckle. Of course she had known that he'd win since skiing was something that he'd had quite a bit of practice at just this season alone.
Serena approached the men and heard the two joke and kid around as they removed their skis so that they could head inside the lodge to get warmed up. Despite their slight rivalry the men didn't ever seem to hold hard feelings after a small bit of competition.
"You know that wasn't exactly fair, Kyle," Serena grinned as he joined her so that she could hold onto him as she removed her own skis without worrying about falling over. She loved that she didn't even have to ask, he just did it for her.
"Who said that I had to be fair?" Kyle asked with an innocent look on his face before resuming his laughter. "This is Michael."
"Oh, it's going to be like that, huh?" Michael leaned over and picked up his skis before adding with a grin, "In that case, I think after dinner we should do something that I know you haven't had a chance to do in a while."
"And what's that?" Kyle asked as he picked up both his and Serena's skis.
"I think it's time to pull out the swords."
Michael brought his practice sword up as he waited for Kyle to make the first move. He knew that he'd have the upper hand in this particular challenge since he taught kenjutsu at the small school that he worked at and Kyle hadn't had a reason to practice his sword fighting skills in quite some time. Still, he knew that the other man wouldn't exactly be a pushover. But that was what was so fun about sparring with him.
Kyle and Michael went back and forth with each gaining the upper hand a few times as they slowly put more and more effort into the small match between the two. Michael, for one, was surprised by his old friend's sharpness while Kyle was glad that he'd been working hard to keep himself in fighting form. After all, if a new enemy showed up now he knew that he wouldn't just be protecting himself but Serena as well now that she was without any powers of her own.
Meanwhile, Serena was sitting back as both attractive men worked up quite a sweat. One of whom just so happened to be her own husband. She hadn't expected that the two would spar for so long but already they'd been working out for more than an hour. She wasn't sure but it didn't look as if one man was more of a match than the other. Both were strong and well-practiced with the sword.
Michael had the experience that came from making teaching the ways of sword fighting his career while Kyle had some real life experience that he'd learned while fighting against the Shadow scouts and their monsters last year. Fighting in a classroom was always different than fighting for your life.
Thinking back to last year, Serena couldn't help but once more think about just how eerily close Kyle's friend resembled Zoisite. If it wasn't for the fact that she knew that the general hadn't died until a few years ago she would have sworn that he had to be a reincarnation of the man. Maybe she was just seeing things. After all, how many times had she imagined that there was a new enemy of one kind or the other prowling around since she'd lost her powers? It was as if she was waiting for Queen Serenity's prediction of new opponents that her friends and allies would have to fight without her help to come true. Because she knew that whatever hardships that they faced would partially be her fault. She'd no longer be able to become Sailor Moon which means that they would be going into battle already short of the power that they have always relied on.
After such a long sparring match, finally Michael landed a blow that signaled the end of their mock battle. He'd won but Kyle had made him work very hard for it.
"And here I didn't think that you'd be that much of a challenge anymore. Not since you've been sitting behind a desk for the last couple of years." Michael grabbed up his water bottle and drained half of it in one swallow before reaching for a towel to wipe the sweat off of his face.
"That's what you get for thinking," Kyle said before teasing, "It never has been one of your strengths."
"Very funny." Okay, so he'd admit that he'd been a D student for most of his schooling. But he'd always done his best thinking while working with the blade. He didn't need to know the finer points of grammar or higher math to do what he loved most.
The men agreed to call it an evening and made plans for the next day alone since Serena had plans with Kyle's mother. He figured that would give him a chance to talk to his old friend about a few things that he'd not feel comfortable doing with the woman listening in. It'd be just the two of them. Something that Michael felt that he'd needed after the strange visit that he'd gotten before coming to the resort town.
Rei finished her morning chores and was prepared to go out to do her weekly household shopping when a chime from her computer that Ami had set up in her room sounded an alarm. The program that her friend had set up had detected someone with higher than usual energy within the perimeter of the temple. She stretched out her own senses but detected nothing but she knew that only meant that they weren't actually at the temple yet. Curious, she decided that she'd do a bit of investigating.
Rei transformed into Sailor Mars so that her senses would be heightened and headed toward the southern gate of the temple grounds. She stayed close to the wall as she approached the source of the energy. Somehow, she wasn't surprised to see the strange woman from the other day. What did surprise her was that Malachite was with her this time instead. Staying as quiet as she could she listened to hear what they were saying.
"And you are sure that you sensed the prince here the last time you were here?" Malachite stretched out his own senses but didn't detect the other man on the grounds.
"Yes. It had been a few days at least but I know that he's been here."
"He hasn't returned since then; I'm sure of it," Malachite said with a bit of disappointment in his voice. "Where were you when you sensed him the last time? Maybe if we both went there we could combine our abilities to locate him."
"There is a fire reading room in the temple but I'm not sure that I should go back. The priestess saw me using magic. I'm sure she'd recognize me." Hatsu didn't bother adding that she had no desire to have another encounter with the angry and violent woman.
"Alright, then I'll go. There would be no reason for her to suspect me. I'll just be like any other temple goer trying to meditate by the fire. I'll meet you back at Jed's later. Hopefully he's been able to find Zoy again."
"Finding him, just as with the others, isn't the hard part," Hatsu snickered since she hated to admit that a small part of her enjoyed Jadeite's frustration at his failure to convince the other general to join their cause as quickly as he'd thought he'd be able to. If it wasn't for the fact that there was so much danger involved with not finding him Hatsu would have taken much more pleasure from what had happened to Jed.
"No, but we're vulnerable until we are all reunited." Malachite then started to stroll through the cherry grove as he headed in the direction that Hatsu had told him the fire room was in. He'd dare not say that he feared for not only the prince but the rest of them as well once the Benu found them. Especially his lone friend who had no fighting skills whatsoever.
From shadows of the cherry trees Rei watched as the strange woman disappeared into thin air while Malachite headed toward the temple.
Why would they be looking for Darien? Not to mention Zoisite? Didn't they come to this dimension with the other man? Nothing made sense. The general from the other dimension knew that she'd recognize him on sight but the man acted as if he'd never even been to the temple grounds before. Something that she knew he had done since each of the generals had joined the Scouts there during their meetings while discussing the best way to fight against the Shadow Scouts nearly a year ago.
Sailor Mars watched from a distance as Malachite went into the fire room to consult the flames. He remained in there perfectly still for more than half an hour before leaving the other temple goers behind and returning to the cherry grove. Once away from the prying eyes of the others he vanished just as his companion had.
"I'd better contact the others. This is definitely weird."
Lita sat and listened to Rei tell of the latest visitation by the strange and unusual woman who had last been seen with yet another of the generals. She agreed that the conversation that Rei had overheard didn't make much sense. It was as if Malachite has never met any of the Scouts before. Looking over at Darien as he stared out of the window of his apartment where they'd all decided to meet to discuss the visitors of the temple, she wondered what he was thinking.
Darien thought over all that Rei had told them as he remembered the strange dreams that he'd been having. The woman and generals' appearances had to be linked to them. But why? The only thing that he knew was that the three of them were looking for him; him and Zoisite.
"Darien," he heard Mina say his name as if she and the other scouts were waiting for him to answer a question that he didn't recall hearing.
"Huh?"
"Why do you think that the generals are looking for you? Not to mention, why don't they remember how to find you?"
"I don't know, but I'd like to find out. Rei, do you think that you could try to track them?"
"I could try. I'll use the mat that Malachite sat on while in the fire room to help me. Once I find him, then what?"
"I'm not sure but if he's trying to find me I sure would like to know where he is, too. Maybe even find out what he's been up to since we defeated the Shadows." Darien didn't like the idea of being hunted, regardless of who was doing it. If his old allies were looking for him he would have thought that they would have taken a more direct approach. Something wasn't right.
Hatsu returned to Jed's apartment just as he was returning from his day at the shelter. Despite the fact that they all had a very important mission he knew that he had to keep up appearances at work. After all, of the three of them, Jadeite was the only one who had a job and he still had bills to pay. So he'd gone to work and left tracking down Prince Darien to his comrades. While at work he'd also learned that Zoisite, known as Michael in this time period, had taken a vacation and wasn't expected back for a couple of weeks. Still, he couldn't help but feel some satisfaction in what he had accomplished today.
Hatsu noticed that the younger man looked particularly pleased with himself and asked him what he was grinning about just as Malachite materialized in the apartment with them.
"I know where Nephrite is." Jed held up the newspaper that he'd brought with him and opened it up to an article that showed their missing general. "He's going to be in Tokyo at the end of the week."
Malachite took the paper and skimmed through it and returned his friend's smile. "That's great. Now we'll just have to work on how we'll break the news of the mission to him."
"Good luck." Hatsu was glad that the general would be in the area very soon but that was only half of the battle when it came to getting the man to join their little band of protectors of the crown.
"I don't think we'll need luck," Malachite said as he thought about how both Hatsu and Jadeite's approaches hadn't exactly had expedient results. Well, except when it had come to contacting him. But then, he already had part of his memories intact when she'd found him. "I just think that we'll need to take a different approach with him."
That caused both of the others in the apartment to sit and listen as he shared his plan for their meeting with Nephrite.
