A/N: Introducing Lita Kino, Mina Aino, Raye Hino, and Rini Tsukino.
"CHAPTER TEN"
The blonde turned back to her friends at the round table, cupped the sides of her mouth. "Hey," she whispered. "Could Amara be on a date?"
"What?!" the others exclaimed.
Mina shushed them, waving her hands in a signal for them to tone it down some. "She's over there!" she hissed, now pointing in the tomboy's direction.
Serena looked where her friend was pointing, thinking that Mina Aino was imagining things. But, sure enough, there Amara was, walking beside... She gasped, pointing at the couple. "That's the same guy from the arcade!" she squealed.
Amy Anderson looked as well, her blue eyes widening. "You're right..."
Lita Kino crossed her arms over her chest, leaning back in her chair. "Well, look at that. Amara with a man. Who would have thought?"
"And Allen Toriyama, no less," said a familiar contralto voice.
They call glanced over to see Michelle Kai'ou at the round table next to them, her arms folded over her chest and one knee crossing the other. One eye was closed, the other blue sapphire looking at them from the side. A picture of sophistication. Serena couldn't help but be envious. How could someone be so cool like that? Maybe that's what she'd be like in high school, everyone worshipping the ground she walked on.
"That's his name?" Mina asked. "Allen Toriyama?"
Serena, Amy, and Michelle nodded their heads. And Serena remembered the guy introducing himself. His ease seemed as natural as Amara's and Michelle's, but at least the women were nice about it. Allen's posture screamed aloofness, so it was hard to see why Amara would want to date him.
It was impossible to believe that she'd accept a date from any guy, for that matter!
Michelle let out a small laugh. "Besides, I wouldn't call this a date. It's too soon for something like that."
Raye Hino tilted her head to the side, her violet eyes sparkling with a question. "What makes you say that?"
Michelle opened her other eye. "He moved here, transferred to our school only a few days ago. Our dear Amara is probably just showing him around town."
Serena felt Amy touch her on the shoulder, and she glanced at her blue-haired friend. "What's up, Ames?" she asked.
"Allen," Amy whispered. "Isn't he the same guy who had his pure heart taken?"
She nodded her head. Amy hadn't been at the fight, mainly to comfort Andrew, who had probably witnessed his first Heartsnatcher. So basically everyone had relied solely on a ditz to save them all. Just like the good ole days...
Until Uranus and Neptune decided to show up.
Rini's voice brought her back to reality. "Does Amara like this guy?"
The aqua-haired woman seemed to study them for a few moments, her blue eyes narrowed now. She then shrugged in a nonchalant gesture. "It's hard to say. Amara claims there's nothing going on between them...but she's been acting peculiar lately."
"How?" the younger girls chorused.
She shrugged again. "Being more secretive. She won't tell me what she's thinking anymore, even when it's obvious she's bothered by something." Her eyes darkened, her expression sorrowful. "She needs to open up her eyes. Because all she's been doing is trying to block the things she needs to be fighting for and fighting the things she needs to defend."
Serena tilted her head to the side, trying to analyze the meaning of her words. But it confused her, like most of the things these older women say... So it was time to ask yet another question, one that was more important. "Has he tried kissing her?"
Michelle jumped, as if electrocuted on the spot. Her whole attention swiveled to them, apparently remembering that they were still there. Finally, she said, "He can't."
All six heads were now cocked to the right, a big "what?" etched onto each face.
The older girl stood up with a smile, a quick wink in their direction. "He thinks she's a guy," she said before walking off.
Serena felt her face heat up, glanced at Mina to see that she had gone scarlet. Apparently, neither had forgotten the day they had met Amara Ten'ou and Michelle Kai'ou. The day they had intentionally skipped Study Buddies just to go spying. And the next day, how they had all humiliated themselves (all except Rini, who was still in the future) in front of the two cousins...
Raye crossed her arms with a "humph," leaning back in her chair. "I think she's hiding something," the raven-haired priestess stated slowly.
Mina looked at their friend, narrowed her eyes. "Hiding something? She's always been straight-forward with us. How'd you get that conclusion?"
"Didn't you see her reaction when Serena asked her if Amara's been kissed?"
Lita, Amy, Mina, and Rini all stared at her blankly. Serena understood perfectly. She didn't tell them everything that had happened that day, only kept the secret between Allen and Sailor Uranus a secret between the three of them, including Neptune. If she could hide this from her friends, maybe they could finally win Uranus and Neptune on their side.
At least, that was the logic she had in mind.
"Allen wasn't around much yesterday," Raye continued, "except for the Heartsnatcher attack, which Serena witnessed. All that talk about fighting and defending? Amara and Michelle never showed up to save Allen. Instead, it was Uranus and Neptune. Wasn't it, Serena?"
Serena went numb. What could her friend be saying?
"My theory is that Amara and Michelle are really Uranus and Neptune!"
And she was the first to protest. "Raye, you might be wrong!"
The young priestess flashed her violet eyes on her. "What?"
Now that she had said something, Serena guessed it was now time to back up her beliefs... "Well...you don't know this for a fact. There's an off-chance that Amara and Michelle just might be ordinary people, Raye. For all we know, Uranus and Neptune could really be...Molly and Melvin." The blonde swallowed and went on. "After all, don't they say that people are innocent until proven guilty?"
Amy lifted a finger, suddenly in school-teacher mode. "Actually, that only counts in the court of law."
"It doesn't matter what it counts for or where...or whatever! My point is: we can't go across Japan just assuming we know who they are."
Sad thing was, Serena had felt the urge to believe what Raye was mentioning just now. SO many things reminded her of their new friends... Yet it didn't seem fair to point out something that might be wrong.
Lita nodded her head. "Serena just might be right about something, you guys."
Rini laughed. "Yeah! I guess where Serena might fail in school, she aces in character!"
Originally, Serena would have pounded the little brat for that snide remark! But she just sighed to herself. It was hard convincing people...
"Still," she heard Raye say, "I sense danger when it comes to Allen and Amara." The priestess looked up in the sky. "I don't know who it's going to affect more, though..."
He watched the little junior high girls a few tables away. They seemed to know the brat pretty well; these six girls had been in the bleachers at the track this morning, watching their little friend go round and round in circles...
The big motorcross race was tomorrow. And he was ready for it, in more ways than one. He had sharpened the knife again, this time until the mere ghost of a touch could cause a human to bleed. Perfect for his intentions.
The boyfriend had better not get in the way this time. It would be quite a shame to have more of a mess than he wished. The head of the championship might kick him off the team, which was definitely not what he wanted.
Then again...maybe the brat would cooperate if harm came to the boyfriend. Pain had a weird way of doing that.
He knew.
The memory of his own suffering came to mind. The memory of the "old him" who was nice and caring and loving. Always doing what was best for Latoya.
But that side of him was long gone now. Had been for the past ten years.
And he was glad for it. Who wants to be weak like his little sister, anyway? The twerp with a conscience as big as Mt. Rushmore in America. Worrying about something as small as a cat. Or friendship.
Or the brat.
He sneered. The brat. Everyone wanted to be just like her. They loved her for her fame and fortune, the very reasons he despised her. They ought to know that before she came along, he was the victor.
Only one of the reasons why he wanted to kill her.
The other?
Because he could.
Smiling to himself, he stood up. Walked away from the outside of the café, away from those little girls. The thrill of anticipated bloodshed rang through his body, and he couldn't help but laugh out loud once he was out of earshot. The brat didn't know what was coming... Didn't know that she'll be soon going through the same things he had in his childhood, only this reenactment turning into disaster on her part...
Life was happiness, indeed.
She watched from the shadows as the man walked away, and she wondered what was going through his mind. Couldn't be good, judging by the crazed smile on his face. Definitely couldn't be good.
She had yet to drag information out of Latoya. What had made Kyo Musashi like this? What was their family life like?
What made them as different as night and day?
Michelle pondered these things, slinking deeper into the alleyway as Kyo came closer. It would take a long time for the answers to see the light of day. Their sudden friendship had started only a few days ago, if she remembered correctly, sot here was no way Latoya would want to hand them over now.
Judging by the man's history at school (from what she's seen), the time until the race, and Kyo's obvious hatred for Amara, Michelle guessed that there was more danger to be expected tomorrow than any other Sunday. A fact that she needed to point out to her cousin immediately.
But there was no real way to do this. Contacting her on the communicator would raise questions that needed no answers. Dragging her away from Allen would make the older girl irate and the boy disappointed, being that Amara seems to be his only friend.
Waiting until the girl got home didn't seem to be wise, either. There's no telling how late it would be...
Michelle sighed. "I told her to change the bandage anyway. Hate to sound like a nagging mother, but she needs to get home and stay home..." She shook her head. "She'll never listen to me," she muttered.
A/N: Looks like the big chapter's coming next week! Whee!
What exactly has Kyo been through in his life? What made him so heartless, unlike his little sister?
A reminder, I haven't seen the series in a very long time. I got most of my information from screencaps and episode summaries from a website called Castle in the Sky. I bet I've read through every single one of them about five times. But I suppose nothing's like the real thing, eh?
Anyway, thanks for reading, and thanks for the reviews that you guys have been sending!
-BDR
