Just as Neptune had predicted, the monster was taken care of quickly; faced with nine werewolves, there wasn't much it could do, and not even two minutes after Tatsuo had gotten moving towards the stage, the creature was gone, the pure heart crystal hovering where its body had disintegrated, the werewolves keeping a respectful distance to it now that the threat had been taken care of.
"Well, if I had known you guys are so capable at this, I wouldn't even have bothered to transform", Neptune commented as she leapt on stage, two of them making room for her so she could move to the pure heart crystal, "that was impressive."
"Thank you", Tatsuo replied, his body beginning to shrink moments later as he returned to his fully human form; to Neptune's amazement, his clothes shrunk with him, clearly having been made to stretch without actually losing shape, something which was true for the rest of the group, as well, all of them returning to their human forms and looking just as well-dressed afterwards as they had before the change.
"You again!" another female voice called out before anyone could say anything about what just had happened, making them all turn; to their surprise, they found themselves looking at a tall, redheaded woman, wearing an equally red dress and standing in the last row, glaring down at them angrily, slender, pale arms crossed over her chest.
"Neptune", she added, her eyes blazing with anger, "and you found some friends, too. Hairy ones, at that."
"Who are you", Neptune demanded to know in reply, "the source for all of this? Are you sending these creatures?"
"They're called daimons", the redhead corrected her, "and yes, I am. I thought someone as smart as you would have figured that out by now, but perhaps I overestimated you."
Behind her, Neptune heard Haruka growl lowly, probably in reaction to the way this woman was talking to her; she didn't dare to look away from the eerily pale redhead though, keeping her gaze firmly fixed on her instead, energy gathering around her as she called on her power, the other woman either not noticing what she was doing or not caring much about it.
"I am Kaorinite", the redhead now told her haughtily, as if this name should mean anything to her, "and I advise you to enjoy what little time you have left as much as you can. Because next time you disturb my work, I will be prepared and I will take you out."
"We will see about that", Neptune coldly replied, while Haruka let out another growl, louder this time, clearly not liking that woman threatening her companion; in response to the noise coming from her, Kaorinite's eyes, as red as her hair, Neptune only noted now, moved to the werewolf, a slight smirk tugging at the corners of her mouth, amusement in her voice when she spoke up again. "That werewolf you hang out with so much, Neptune? She really needs to learn how to control her temper. After all, dogs which aren't capable of that are usually put down."
At hearing this, Haruka's eyes flashed yellow, and she got moving; she only made two steps though, then Neptune had flung her arm out and stopped her in her tracks, keeping her gaze fixed on Kaorinite, but addressing her, keeping her voice low so the redhead wouldn't hear what she was saying.
"Don't", she told the blonde, glad that Haruka had stopped and wasn't trying to move past her, "she's trying to provoke you into mindlessly attacking her. I don't want you to get hurt."
In response, the taller woman growled again, but remained where she was; Kaorinite let out peals of laughter at both of them, her eyes glittering merrily as she focused on Neptune again, her voice cold as she addressed her once more.
"Well met, Neptune", she told her, blatantly lying without even blushing, "and remember what I said. You get into my way again, you die."
And with the final word, she leapt high up into the air, onto one of the balconies reserved for those who could afford the more expensive tickets; now that she was out of sight, Neptune dared to lower her arm, then turned to look at Haruka, grimacing as she thought of the clear threats Kaorinite had made, the two of them exchanging a worried look as they asked themselves how seriously they had to take her and how they could learn more about her and the abilities she might possess.
"So", Tatuso started an hour later, back in Haruka's apartment; the blonde, her parents and Michiru had split up from the rest of the group to go there after the musician had been taken care of, now sitting in the living room, drinking tea and water, having the conversation Haruka had been slightly dreading ever since she had let it slip that Michiru knew about the pack and her, "this is how the two of you met, right? Fighting one of these… daimons?"
"More or less", Michiru confirmed, glancing towards the kitchen where Ramika was moving around, having explained that they all needed food badly after changing into the beast form before she had vanished to prepare something for them, "I was fighting two of them, they'd set me up and one of them surprised me. It injured me, but before it could kill me, Haruka intervened. I passed out and she took me here."
"Michiru thinks we are supposed to work together", Haruka added, making her father glance at her, an unreadable look on his face, but at least, the blonde reflected, he didn't look angry, "and, believe me, I tried to keep the wolf from her at first, but then we fought another one, and I kinda got angry. And hairy."
"You need to get better control, dear", Ramika's voice drifted in from the kitchen, the way Haruka rolled her eyes and Tatsuo just chuckled showing Michiru that this wasn't the first time she had said this to her daughter, "what if you had frightened poor Michiru?"
"Well, as I told your daughter", Michiru replied, raising her voice slightly so the elder woman would hear her, "I'm a woman who uses a magical pen to turn into Sailor Neptune and then throws glowing ball of energy around. A bit of hair and a bit of growling doesn't frighten me."
"Anyway", Haruka said, perhaps a bit too loud, clearly eager to get the talk away from her self-control and the possibility of her frightening Michiru, "we work well together, Michiru and I. I never believed much in destiny, but it does seem as if we are meant to work together, we make a good team."
"Our gifts are surely suitable for this kind of thing", Tatsuo nodded, the strange expression now gone from his face, "but it does seem strange that you, as a wolf, are… well, chosen, for lack of a better word, to fight these things, and not another Senshi."
"We talked about this, as well", Michiru nodded, "and Haruka had the rather sound theory that perhaps, there are enough Senshi around already, there are five more, and that this is why she was chosen. She has the physical strength and the healing abilities to face these things head-on, which does make combating them quite a bit easier."
"That makes sense", Tatsuo agreed, accepting all of this surprisingly quickly, even though Michiru figured she probably shouldn't be surprised about this – after all, he was a werewolf, just like Haruka, and thus, all things supernatural surely were easier for him to handle than for the average, regular human.
"Just be careful", the elder man now went on, his gaze focusing on Haruka, "we are good with healing, but you know it has its limits. And this Kaorinite woman knows what we are, so she might use that against you."
"Silver", Haruka explained at Michiru's curious look, "the one thing which really can do some lasting harm. And probably the only thing about werewolves all those horror movies are getting right."
Horrid thoughts of silver bullets and the damage they could do danced through Michiru's mind at hearing that, and she grimaced; before she could voice any concerns though, Ramika returned from the kitchen, the fact that she carried a tray which held several empty plates and a big one heaped with steaks not really surprising the Senshi – with the whole family being werewolves, it only made sense that they would want some meat after going through the change into beast form.
"You have nothing to go with this", Ramika scolded her daughter as she put the tray down, "you know your father and I don't mind, but you should get some side dishes, for your friend Michiru."
"Oh, that's alright", Michiru reassured her at once, smiling, "my transformation doesn't take up much energy, I don't need to eat after going through it."
"More for us", Tatsuo smirked, only to cower at the look his wife shot him in reply; he cleared his throat, then silently helped himself to one of the plates and moved two of the steaks onto it, Haruka smirking to herself as she did the same, Ramika being the last one who took some of the food, asking Michiru once more if she was sure she didn't want anything.
"I'm fine, thank you", Michiru reassured her, smiling; Ramika gave her a smile as well in return, then for a while no one spoke as the three werewolves were busy eating and Michiru watched them with fascination, never having seen someone eat with such devotion.
Wolfing it down, I suppose, the Senshi thought to herself, forced to hold back a giggle; Haruka gave her a brief look, making her wonder if she had noticed something, but if she had, she didn't comment on it, focusing on her food again moments later.
It didn't take long until the impressive heap of steaks had been polished off, all three of them leaning back into their seats with small, content sighs; amused by this behaviour, Michiru did let out the giggle now, shrugging when Haruka raised an eyebrow at her, her amusement showing through her voice as well when she explained the reason for her mirth.
"I've never seen anyone so happy after a meal", she told the blonde, giggling again when Haruka blushed slightly, "not to mention seeing people eat with such enthusiasm."
"Well, what can we say", Ramika smiled, while Haruka cleared her throat rather noisily, "after that change… we're hungry like the wolf!"
At this, Michiru lost all self-control and burst out laughing; Ramika laughed along with her, and after a few moments, Tatsuo and Haruka joined in, as well, the four of them laughing off the excitement of the evening, a relaxed and happy atmosphere surrounding them.