Chapter 10: Misunderstandings

"…the horrific attack started at around seven thirty last night as witnesses reported a loud explosion from the basement of the building. The siege lasted almost three hours as police became trapped inside offices during the shoot out that has claimed…"

"…12 dead and at least 30 severely wounded marks one of the gravest acts of terrorism in recent memory in this country… the Minato distinct police station last night became a deadly urban battle zone, as an unknown band of terrorists stormed the building. Reports of police officers fighting a ruthless enemy have emerged as survivors told stories of…"

"…Denying that anything was stolen, but will continue to investigate as forensic and crime scene investigators continue to search the building this morning…"

"….became a triage as overflow forced patients to be flown across the bay to Kiba university hospital. Chief surgeon of Tokyo general hospital reported that the small hospital had done 'as best as they could' with the small staff on hand…"

"…government officials in Japan are now calling a full investigation from both the Tokyo metropolitan police service and an independent investigation to be conducted by their Public Security Intelligence Agency…

"…Witness reports have cited seeing popular civilian militia group the sailor senshi at the scene of the siege and have reported their actions had brought a quick conclusion to the siege…officials however have…"

"…Currently investigating if they were the cause…or if the terrorists were trying to steal important evidence pertaining to the Juban super center attack in which the popular militia group was also involved…From outside the Minato police station… this is Tomoyo Miyazaki for NHK morning news"


Standing a fair distance from Tomoyo and behind a crowd of passers by, Minako and Usagi stood and looked up at the place had been fighting in just over half a day ago. Their quick departure to seek treatment for Mercury had belayed any attempt in assisting in quelling the fire; as a result, the fire started by that last fireball explosion on the roof had gutted the top of the building and spread down one side of the building. Additional fires from other explosions were easily marked against the silver and grey walls of the building. In all; it was amazing the building was still standing. The two of them were heading home after staying the night at Setsuna's house. For measure they were sure, both of them would have some explaining to do when they got back, but for the moment, their attention was focused on the police station.

"What a mess" Artemis spoke from Minako's shoulder "It's going to take them ages to repair the damage"

"Any clues?" Usagi asked

"Nothing" Luna reported from her respective owner's shoulder "we searched all night, nothing around the area, and even if we could…the place was swarming with police and rescue personal, we wouldn't have been able to get close without ending up in the pound"

"So we're back at square zero…" Minako concluded

'It's square one…' Artemis corrected

Their discussion was simply put; a briefing on how they had failed. It had taken long enough to realize it, but no matter how they could look at it, last night – despite its successful execution of the primary objective – had been an utter whitewash failure for the senshi. In two decisive ambushes, the entire force had been wiped out of action and had their enemy chose to finish them off, it was possible that one or two of them might not be alive this morning. It wasn't good news, whoever had been fighting had been prepared for the senshi this time, the larger numbers and cunning ambush tactics had thrown everyone into a state of shock and the leaders – whoever they were – had been very good at evading the senshi.

Now that the dust had settled, it was time to pick up the pieces and work out what went so wrong. For Luna and Artemis, it had involved a chilly night on the streets and rooftops looking for vital clues to the origin of the enemy. Nether the less, like the news media and on site investigators now coming the site, neither had found much in the way of clues.

"Lets go" Usagi replied

The two girls and their cats left the station and started to walk down the street.

"So any suspects on your mind?" Minako asked Luna

"Nobody comes to mind sad to say" Luna explained "assault raid on a police station? Not even Shadow Galactica was that overt"

Artemis thought about that for a moment and asked a question "You say that the enemy was identical in shape and size?"

"Pretty much, more of the small ones and more of the big ones…" Minako reported before adding "And there were a lot more than we saw at the super center"

Artemis paused for a moment and thought about it, since the battle with Shadow Galactica; his long term and past-mortality memory was foggy at best, but something about what Minako had said before had just struck a tone with him. Overt attacks, identical robots, and violent battle tactics, three things you didn't really associate with any of their previous enemies.

"So…Whoever it is has to know about senshi right? How else do you explain those robots?" Artemis debated "Come one Luna…mass produced combat robots…who does that remind you of?"

"I honestly can't think of anyone" Luna said without thinking it through.

Her memories post Shadow Galactica had been whitewashed – dying had that effect – and was even worse that Artemis's. She had retained memory of her past life as advisor to sailor moon, but her even more distant memory of the Silver Millennium had still been locked up tight. It didn't help her analysis of the situation very well. Someone that knew who would be defending this city was making bold moves…but towards what? Both places had been very public attacks with very little restraint on collateral damage. If the battle at the Juban super center had made things hard to figure out, last night's siege at the Minato police station just added another layer to the puzzle that had yet to be solved. One thing for certain, didn't need a lot of thought, whoever it was had the resources, the will and the strength to fight anywhere for any reason, and that unpredictable nature made them dangerous.

"Any word from Mamoru?" Minako asked Usagi.

"I left a message on his machine after the attack happened" Usagi replied "But with the time zones...it might be awhile before he replies, if he can at all"

"Then it might be time to restart patrols" Luna spoke seriously.

"Isn't it a bit too soon to be thinking of that?" Minako said

What Luna referred to was how the senshi had operated in the aftermath of the Shadow Galactica affair. Their threat of attacks had forced senshi to change their operating method to an ad-hoc patrol in calculated hot spots to be ready to instantly respond to any occurrences where they were needed. The plan originally drafted by the cats had been sufficient to react to any crisis with two sailor senshi on patrol with two more on ten minutes notice. It results however had been fruitless searches at all hours of the day and had been murder on lives and consequently burnt all the senshi out, consequent to its eventual scaling back and termination.

"Not in the slightest" Luna replied "if they can do this much damage on a whim, then I think we need to consider it"

Neither girl liked the idea, but in the abstract, they were both now more mature than they had been when they had been fighting before. There would be complaints, but none would be able to weigh in on the scale their enemy was willing to go to achieve their yet to be determined objective.

"Now what's the story with Ami and her mother?" Artemis asked


Ami could've sworn she had woken up earlier, but hadn't quite clicked inside to wake up fully when she did. As a result, the she had awoken far later than she had expected, far later in fact than she could recall in recent memory. Whatever time it was, it was late enough that the light had stopped shining through her window, a sign that it was past eleven in the morning. Logic told her that her wound – it still hurt more than it was comfortable – and exhaustion were the reasons, along with loss of blood and other human factors that came from saving human lives. Therefore in the time it took her to get her mind functioning again; it took Ami fully three minutes for her mind to rewind back to what happened last night before she had gone to bed. When her mind finally remembered, she simply froze.

It came back to her, standing in the living room being told she was reckless, irresponsible and that she was risking her for the wrong reasons and the subsequent fight that erupted. It had been quite a reversal from the acceptance that came from her initial fears and that now seemed like a distant memory. She started to reflect; Ami knew that it was her own fault for not explaining that it was part of her job description to be in the line of fire sometimes. But Ami remembered she'd had been so happy to pass the initial hurdle that it never occurred to think of what would happen after that. Like all things discovered or disclosed, there was a time where its nature had been misunderstood and a period where the subject became taboo or hard to discuss. Right now, this was their time, and like it or now, Ami was faced with an impossible problem.

How could she to explain all this. What she said last night in a moment of irrationality had made her actions now seem even more irresponsible in Ami's mind. To her way of thinking; she now feared that her mother was under the impression that the sailor senshi were reckless and irresponsible being with very little apathy for their own well being. It just wasn't true Ami knew, but how else did one explain it to one who had the image of a bloodied up senshi in her head? From what she could tell in the brief time she was awake at Setsuna's house, her mother had arrived while she was still unconscious and had been around long enough to treat Jupiter and talk to Pluto about what happened.

It would've been worthwhile if someone had found out how her mother even knew she was badly injured, but apparently nobody had seemed to work that one out. Regardless, she had found out, probably from a patient and now her mother was quite aware of one aspect of the senshi that the public didn't know about; their invincibility was only a facade and they bled just like normal humans if they weren't careful, they could die. After getting out of bed, Ami walked to her door; the first task on her late morning would be to shower; injured or not, the hot water would be refreshing and wake her up more than a meal or coffee could at her age.

As she stripped down for the shower and started, stepping inside gave her the momentary awe that hot water on her back did as it started both cleaning the skin of dirt and healing her of aches and pains under her skin. After a long exhale; Ami thought about what to do with her problem. First priority would be to try talking her back from seeing the senshi as reckless; years of training and experience had gotten them out of bigger problems than last night – Hadn't they? – And she and the other senshi had been very careful the whole night. After that; who knew? Ami knew, or at least suspected that her mother would no longer have faith in her abilities as a senshi.

And why not? Had her mother not told her of the virtues that Sailor Mercury had, didn't they apply anymore? More then likel; her mother hadn't considered that with every fiction, there were at least two truths to them.

'What had she said to me?' Ami thought as she leaned her head against the wall and starred at the tile floor 'she said I was a careful thinker, smarter then the rest, elegant, and always helped the other senshi'

Well she had certainly been a careful thinker the whole night; right until she fell into a trap and got a three foot stone pillar through her right lung. 'Smarter than the rest; only when she had the numbers to back her up and even then, it was sometimes dumb luck. Elegant, only when she had the upper edge and the whole of last night she hadn't. Finally, what help had she been? Planning that assault on all those robots was her best moment, but it was really Pluto and Saturn who deserved marks, their brave no-holds-barred approach, running into the enemy with full energy. Objectively, she was being uncharacteristically negative to herself, but the results spoke volumes to debate that such criticisms of her conduct last night were justified

When she felt she had been in long enough; Ami turned the handles to cease the humid warm rain and stepped out of the tile lined cube. In a minute she was dried and with her towel, simply walked back into her room. She opened her wardrobe doors and proceeded to change into fresh clothes. Everything was just as so, as she did the hook on her bra in the mirror, she took a moment to inspect the remaining visible marks of her supposedly fatal wound. It was now just a faint pink outline and by afternoon it would be as if she never had it. The stiffness in her chest would carry over for another day she knew from experience; but it would be like nothing ever happened. Now if she could just get her mother to think like that, she would be in a much healthier mindset.

When Ami finished up, she walked out her room, expecting nothing. In the whole time she had been getting ready for another day; she had found no evidence to suggest anyone else was home. This confirmed it, no television turned on, no activity in the kitchen or the smell of food; just silence. Ami walked around the kitchen bench and along the way she read the whiteboard to confirm her suspicions.

'Got called in to work early today, I'm sorry we didn't get to talk last night but I want to talk to you about this, I promise I'll be here to talk to you tonight' Ami read it before asking herself her one thoughtless question of the day "Well if you wanted to talk to me, why aren't you here now?"

Ami sighed and walked to the fridge; they had little in the way of breakfast food, a hindsight from her earlier shopping, but there was always cereal. After retrieving the milk and searching the cupboard for the box that she and mom shared from, she poured some in an empty bowl and in a minute sat down to eat. Her day so far had not been a promising one, one for the pain in her chest and two for her problems with her mother, the third she was sure she could get on the news. For the first time; Ami reflected on the battle itself, it had been a disaster. Whoever they were fighting didn't have much respect for human life and doubly so for the senshi. The lower floors had been a real mess, a sign of a truly bloodthirsty chaotic warmonger. Higher up however, she had encountered very little injury, a sign of a conservative combatant who didn't seek to kill as savagely as was needed.

So there had been two leaders maybe, but they had been both very good, delaying methods, cunning ambushes – she'd heard part of what happened to the other team – they were dealing with real professionals this time. They were people who learnt very quickly the senshi's weaknesses and how to work around them. She would have to discuss with the others about this later; after she had dealt with her mother first. Ami finished her impromptu meal and started to walk to the sink when the telephone rang. Normally she had an urge to pick it up, but Ami decided to let the answering machine get it. After five monotone rings, the answering machine picked it up.

"Hey Ami, I guess you're not up yet…listen, the director wants to call us in for a meeting about last night later today, I'm going to have to come home a little later, one hour, I promise...it'll be one hour…and we can talk about your…I mean our problem…I'll see you soon"

The answering machine beeped and the little red light started its blinking. Standing in the kitchen, Ami's esteem dropped back to the floor and her anger from last night found new fire. Had she being thinking in other terms and objectively, Ami would've put it down to mean a 'problem in understanding' or a genuine mistake in wording or something else. But the words in her mind from last night had not abated since she remembered them and fuelled her irrational bias towards her mother's opinion, and subsequently her message. Now she was calling her senshi persona a 'problem'. It was too much; it was bad enough that she had called it reckless and irresponsible, now she was tagging it as a problem; a term associated with talks she had given Ami about under aged sex and drinking. It was like a sudden change in respect had occurred without her notice; now it felt like Ami was being talked down to like a child for being out late at night.

"…and even if you promise an hour, it'll be midnight before you even come home" Ami said to the phone.

Ami left the kitchen and turned for her room again, she needed somewhere to think. Inside her room she landed on her bed and looked up, but she couldn't get it out of her head; talk about her problem? Ami knew what the problem was, that her mother wasn't going to listen to her side of the story – probably – and would probably try to find a way to devaluate her argument about duty. After resting on her bed for a few minutes, she felt it wasn't enough…she briefly considered the living room before she decided to think outside the box. She needed to get out; not just out for a walk, not down to the park, she just needed to get away from this place, not just to get some fresh air, but she needed some space. Ami rolled out of bed and grabbed her bag as she walked out of her room.

She needed to think, and she needed someone to talk to since her mother probably wasn't going to listen – If she was going to be home at all – so did it really matter if she was here at all? As she decided on a location, Ami wrote on the whiteboard in her best penmanship and left it no return time. In another minute she was out the door.


Her task had started with drawing up a plan to how she would evaluate the data and how she would accomplish the task she and her dead sensei had envisioned this load of information would obtain. The task was a daunting one, not only because she had to do it alone, but she had to be extra diligent in finding what her teacher had given his life to finding out himself.

First, she organized the tapes by their name; Vita recognized straight away that every one had been properly labeled what the original copy had been, and then with a map that one could easily obtain from an information booth at any shopping center, she started looking for tapes that corresponded with the numbers of stores. For the most part, they were ones that had nothing on them, and she placed them to the side for the moment. When she had sorted the ones Vita could identify where they had been placed, she had still a box and a half of tapes from the hallways in that massive building. Vita didn't how they sequenced and would have to work this out as she went.

When she had accomplished that, she took the first three tapes and placed them in the center of a ring she had drawn up. Despite their obvious form, data media was the same to her form of magic, where they are orbs, or these boxy plastic microfilm containers. She closed her eyes and concentrated on the first set of cassettes. Above them, a ball of glowing green aura formed and became semi-solid and then beams of light shot down at the tapes and her task began.

At once, she saw three, distinct and three very different viewing angles, one looked oddly familiar. But was not quite close enough to the action; it promised to be a long day for her.


Half way across the district and in her third floor office, Saeko pondered over her salad and continued to ask herself how she could've potentially handled yesterday better. This morning had been a really annoying affair; she had been reprimanded for a number of offenses, including taking a paramedic bag for personal reasons – something that drew especial attention from the rest of the staff – Saeko had been assigned to do some rounds and not much else. Now three hours later; Saeko had found herself on duty with surprisingly little work. It was a waste of time she admitted; here she was having a late lunch at her desk when she could've been at home trying to talk to her daughter. Well, the world wasn't always fair, nor did it seem to follow any sort of profound logic that indicated that she was allowed to take time off to resolve problems.

But she couldn't complain, especially not after having some desk clerk quote the law to her pertaining to the use of controlled substances – not that he really understood a thing about them – on authorized patients. It was just depressing to the clinical doctor that so much of her time was being wasted on doing nothing but being here, obeying her duty to the hospital as one of its healers, clocking in when needed and as this morning had shown, occasionally be talked down by a man whom was ten years her junior. She reflected again as she had done all morning on the events of last night, not of the actual time spent here, but after that, when she had in the words of the desk admin 'effectively abandoned her post and stole valuable supplies' to see her daughter.

In hindsight, there was really no other way she could've done yesterday better; it had been her inexperience at the situation that caught her by surprise, not the thoughts that fueled her mind, though they certainly didn't help paint a rosy picture of the senshi for her that she now regretted thinking. Now that she had sleep and time apart to think of the details, a lot of things came across more clearly than her tired, fatigued mind had assumed. From the moment she had walked into the door at their place however, it seemed set that every false perception that she had about the senshi had been debunked.

The first and foremost in her mind had been subject of a sleepless few hours last night for the middle aged doctor. Despite knowing for a fact that all humans were prone to injury; it somehow ever came across to her that the senshi were just as vulnerable and could be hurt. The difference she had learned was that their powers had anticipated that by giving them all special abilities to at least compensate with still being impaired with minor injuries. What should have impressed her, rather than scare – and later enrage – her; was for the much more difficult problems, at least one of them had a select skill that defied human medical understanding and of the impossible. It seemed practical, but for them to need such skills undermined the very invincible nature of the senshi.

'So…' she asked herself quietly 'does it mean they know the danger they are walking into?'

And that had been what enraged her before, but with the benefit of hindsight, Saeko admitted that her mind had given a false understanding of the situation. As Uranus and the others repeated, what they encountered was not typical of their usual business, a business of which she had the least knowledge of, after all it was Saeko who hadn't taken an applied course in sailor senshi. Later on, Ami further reminded her that by driving home the very point she had actually admired before realizing the danger involved, that she had been doing it for quite some time, and they subsequently use to the risks by now. But that still didn't quite make Saeko feel as accepting of the facts as her daughter had hoped.

Her thought process was promptly interrupted when someone knocked on her office door. She looked up and saw, much to her relief a friendly face.

"Still eating?" Hiroyoshi asked "or are you going to experiment with that piece of lettuce?"

"Come in" Saeko rose to meet her guest "when did you arrive?"

"Just now, I haven't even had breakfast yet…" Hiroyoshi answered before going on "they want to talk to be about how I handled last night"

"But you did everything right" Saeko protested

"Yeah, I suspect that the administration people upstairs have a couple of questions about how we managed to get those four cases wrong…plus I imagine they'll want to know why I let you go"

"What are you going to tell them?" Saeko asked worried

"That you were fatigued…that you were too exhausted to continue" Hiroyoshi answered "guidelines say that I couldn't have you on if you weren't alert enough…that sort of excuse"

Saeko saw the implicit message between the lines that he had forgiven her absence and understood why she had to go out, even if they didn't see it quite that way.

"Thank you" Saeko responded.

"You're welcome" Hiroyoshi went on "Don't know how I'm going to explain the missing paramedic bag, but I'm sure something will come to mind…"

He produced his lunch and unwrapped the paper packaging to reveal hospital cafeteria low grade sandwiches. If there was one disadvantage staff had over patients is that the patients had to only endure the low grade food for as long as they were interned here, the staff had to sometimes live on tasteless, poorly prepared and bland meals to work through the day. Saeko had long since bought her lunch on the way to the hospital just prior to her arrival to work.

"I don't know what I was thinking…" Saeko replied

"Yes you did" Hiroyoshi replied candidly "you thought like any concerned parent would and prepared for the worst case scenario…in your case, your status here allows you to prepare for worse scenarios more than the ordinary"

Saeko merely nodded like a child as she finally ate the piece of lettuce she had been picking at.

"So how did your daughter end up?" Hiroyoshi asked "Is she alright?"

"Yes…turns out she wasn't hurt as bad as I thought" Saeko quietly added 'at least not by the time I saw her she wasn't'

"Well that's a good thing right?" Hiroyoshi replied "Do you know where she was when it happened?"

In a moment, she caught herself short at realizing that despite being confident friends with this man, it was suddenly a question that she couldn't quite honestly answer that question.

"She was near there…but she wasn't inside or anything" Saeko lied carefully before speaking a truth

Hiroyoshi caught the lie between his teeth, but he didn't seem to catch the right context of the lie. He wondered for a moment why his esteemed colleague would try to pass it off so lightly in front of him, and decided to probe further.

"You don't seem that happy about it" Hiroyoshi said" is something the matter?"

"Well…" Saeko knew she couldn't talk about the senshi, but it hurt to think about it. Carefully, she picked her own words apart and started explaining. She relayed as best as she could the events leading up to her arrival to and from her friend's house and the argument she had with her daughter when they got home. It was hard to compare the story without knowing the actual reason for the argument, but Hiroyoshi listened on, taking careful note as she explained the details. As she explained it without the senshi details; she somehow felt clearer in her mind than it had been before. When she had finished, Hiroyoshi took a minute to think things over.

"Sounds like you two didn't really listen to each other" Hiroyoshi answered finally

"Huh?" Saeko responded with some confusion

Saeko had listened hadn't she, heard every word; how Ami had boldly defined in clear terms how she gave everything she had to be a senshi. How Ami made her stop and think when she rattled on at her for insulting the comparison to duty that Saeko had passed off as an exaggeration.

"Well…" Hiroyoshi explained "…she didn't listen to your concerns and I guess you didn't listen to her side of the story either"

"That's crazy" Saeko dismissed "I did…"

"You did what any mother would do…" Hiroyoshi replied "That part nobody faults you for…but did you actually believe in Ami when she told you what she said?"

That took Saeko a moment to think about as she picked her words and thoughts carefully to answer the question. First of all it was kind of hard to compare what Saeko said to her fellow doctor to what really happened. But in Hiroyoshi's mind, did they have the same context? Well they did in a way, but the level of both was vastly different. In this case, Saeko's trust in her daughter was constituted on the grounds that she had thought she had known her daughter well enough that Ami had abhorred such risks. Last night had erased that misconception from her mind; the previous conclusion that Ami was not a risk taker had been reversed. But did that mean that Ami was irresponsible?

Briefly Saeko was lost in answering that question; how did one really believe your daughter when you didn't know the facts yourself? As Ami had related, and she had realized afterwards, Saeko was not an expert on the subject and couldn't dictate the dangers involved to a senshi. So when confronted with something as radical and as deadly as last night; could she believe her daughter and her friends word that what risks they took were – by their standards – typical and if so, did that make her concerns a product of cynical bias? That was a question with serious ramifications; if it was such the case, then she hadn't listened to her daughter at all and was now guilty of ignoring Ami's defense of her activities and rational attempt to explain things. As a result of such a rejection of belief, would Ami then be able to trust that her mother could believe her?

Hiroyoshi could see it in her eyes that Saeko was, unlike most people he had known, at least had the sense to think about past actions to see if they were just. In this case, Saeko was actually unable to judge as far as he could tell if Ami's actions were truly irresponsible. But in Saeko, he saw in her eyes that to a professional doctor or any profession where the expression a face told everything; that her mind that dawned on something missed in their brief talk last night and it had taken hindsight and time to generate thought properly. That she had without saying anything admitted being wrong was her strongest attribute.

"It's a lot harder when you don't know how she thinks isn't it?" Hiroyoshi continued "whether or not it's wrong or right, what it comes down to is your ability to believe in your daughter's word"

"I guess…" Saeko replied admitting defeat

Hiroyoshi leaned forward to eat his lunch as he thought.

"I would say she isn't really feeling safe now if you've accused her of something without hearing her side of the story, disregard the subject" Hiroyoshi spoke as he continued to think "but if she is as smart as you…she'll eventually come around to the same conclusion as you are right now and try talk to you again…"

"What do you mean?"

"Smart people think" Hiroyoshi spoke "If you and Ami are as smart as you keep telling me, she'll be thinking it over just as much as you are right now trying to find away to tell you her side of the story in a way that you can believe…and if she can't, she has friends just like you do to talk things over with right?"

"I guess…"

Hiroyoshi finished "I'm not an expert on daughters, even on my own two…but if you just give her the time to think about it…Ami will find a way to tell you what happened a lot easier that before…and when that time comes and Ami is ready to talk…listen to her…even if she wants to talk when you have to work…"

"I can't…"

"Sure you can…" Hiroyoshi spoke "you did it once already just this week…just make the time again"

Saeko sighed in defeat and briefly wondered why Hiroyoshi never became a psychologist or even a marriage counselor. The reason simply was that society enforced that one didn't have mental problems, just psychical shortfalls and failure to keep marriage afloat was the fault of the two persons from finding love in their union…was it? Saeko continued to think about the situation, before she even approached her daughter; she had to clear her own mind of all the misnomers and misunderstandings, both from her outsider's experience, and the ones that she had experienced thus far, from witnessing it herself and from her discussions with her daughter.

"Okay Hiroyoshi" Saeko nodded in acceptance "I'll do my best"

It was time to change the topic; they for different reasons didn't want to make their entire lunchtime about Saeko's daughter. For Saeko; it would be something she would have to think about later however. From her brief session with her associate; Saeko had come to learn that she would have to think about the issues that came up with Ami. Realizing that she didn't have a full understanding of the issue, she would have to rethink her position before confronting her daughter when she was ready to talk to again. When it came down to it, the one thing that was at the core of her problems in understanding was the one thing that her daughter had said; it was her duty to be a senshi. For someone who had used that word into repetition for over a decade, it was hard to imagine the term applying to her daughter and to a greater extent, to the senshi as a whole.

Hiroyoshi started on the other half of his sandwich and then thought of something else to say.

"Speaking of timetables, you know we have that meeting for later today right?" Hiroyoshi asked

"Yes" Saeko reported "any idea what it's about?"

"I don't know to be honest, but…" Hiroyoshi spoke before being interrupted by the door.

"Come in" Saeko told the door.

It opened and another fellow doctor appeared.

"You two are still having lunch?" Ryosuke asked and saw for himself the answer

"Why, what's wrong" Saeko replied with a tone of alarm

"Nothing wrong…just trying to find somewhere to eat without a police officer on my back" Ryosuke explained offhand "they have the cafeteria pretty much marked out as their territory at the moment"

"Well, Come on in and have a seat then" Saeko replied

The man did so and took the spare client seat to the left of Hiroyoshi. In a minute the three doctors continued their discussion on as before. While it had been a rather personal conversation until minutes before; neither Hiroyoshi nor Saeko would fault the man for interrupting them; after all, their topic now was one that all three doctors had a shared concern for it.

"…Yeah, I know what its about" Ryosuke spoke "I overheard one of the clerks upstairs this morning…they want to basically go over what we did wrong again as a group"

"That's going to take more than an hour…" Saeko sighed "Can't the administration just leave us doctors alone. It's not a factory down here…"

The two nodded their heads in agreement, it was an age old saying in the hospital community that an administration official was probably the least informed person about what a hospital was and how it operated. While the administration had done a marvelous job in funding the new equipment that they needed; it had been at the cost of staff billets and that had been one of the reasons why there were only a minimum number of doctors on staff and why it felt like they were counting every single Band-Aid. Understandably even hospitals had to stick to a budget, but the administration had been very conservative on spending despite the replacement of the hardware now complete.

"Well, I'm sure they'll learn a thing or two as well" Hiroyoshi spoke for the two others "it would be nice if they finally got more staff"

"Won't happen…not with people like Mei still in the administration office" Ryosuke noted a split second before Saeko did

"The head of our department has been saying it for ages" Saeko replied more educated on the subject "we need more help, last night proved it"

"Well, we'll see..." Ryosuke replied dryly, he had been at this hospital just long enough to know better. With that brief protest done, he had decided to change the subject. "So what did you think about the news?"

"What news?" Saeko asked

"You didn't hear?" Hiroyoshi queried; wondering if she had even bothered to watch a television in the last 18 hours. "That battle last night, they said all the senshi had shown up to fight"

"I…didn't know…" Saeko replied acting suprised "I've been too busy…"

"I'm amazed you missed out, you're usually the one to find out first" Hiroyoshi pointed out, understanding that her problems with her daughter had superseded any trivial details about last night.

What Saeko didn't mention was the obviously tinge of guilt in her chest at the subject. While previously accustomed to talk about the senshi; Saeko had suddenly found herself in an awkward position that this morning when the administration hounded her on the paramedic bag. Unlike before, and unaware to her associates, she had now become privy to just such information. It was a subtle but important change in affairs that Saeko just realized changed a lot more than just her relationship with her daughter. No longer was Saeko like the guys, in endless speculation over the plethora of subjects related to the sailor senshi…her blind speculation was now, or at least for this battle, informed speculation. And the worst part was she could not relate a single part of it.

Despite having a rather well engrained knowledge of the sailor senshi prior to her accidental discovery, Saeko now knew – thanks to one brief morning with daughter and one evening with the entire senshi – more than was reasonable and saying so would cause her fellow doctors to speculate her for things she didn't want to seen as. No more could she as careless in her speculation, worse; she could not let the slightest sign of hesitation tip her friends off that something wasn't right about their friend Saeko Mizuno. It was a balancing act of fact and speculation, and both had been changed for the clinical doctor.

"It is suppose to be a rare occurrence for so many to show up…at least they all were in the right place, that was one really messed up battle" Ryosuke added before chuckling "but it wasn't every senshi Hiro-san…nobody I've talked to said they saw Sailor moon junior or prince moon"

Saeko briefly wanted to correct that but found herself stopped by need to restrain herself.

"I wonder if anyone got the chance to take pictures…" Ryosuke pondered "I heard from a police detective that their CCTV room got blown to bits by something…so they don't have a single thing…"

"They don't?" Saeko replied, playing along in case her absence of remarks caught their attention.

"Nothing left of the room…" Ryosuke repeated "probably the only thing we'll get out of this one is all the interviews the police are conducting"

Their discussions could be compared to those nerds in their society had over the intricate consistencies in a show or character they liked. For Hiroyoshi and Ryosuke, the talk was reminiscing of their earlier days working at this hospital when the fairly routine discussion was on who the senshi came to rescue and who had come to do it. In their time, they developed about as good an understanding of them as the official police task force assigned to investigate their activities. They're understanding of the senshi was flawed, but they had the basics right and along with their understandings, they had their favorites, but no least favorites – since no true fan of the senshi could dislike one – and had developed an affinity to cheer for the times their favorite showed up.

Hiroyoshi continued to speculate "So, how do you think they faired?"

'Pretty badly' Saeko thought before replying "I don't know, I'd have to be a senshi to know that!"


Rei didn't really abhor the duties that came with being a shrine maiden, it had after all given her a home, a meal every night and something to focus her energy on, but there were times where it really didn't feel like it paid off. While Usagi and Minako had to entertain their respective families, Rei was left to entertain herself as she sat at the charms booth with nothing to do but hold the store front open. Business was slow today, like any other day around this time of the year; typically the shrine was a lot busier with people getting love charms prior to Christmas, and other impending preparations for new years. But this morning, much of the crowds were focused on the bigger attraction in the Minato area today. Already past lunch and coming close to the time she would be returning home from school. She grumbled at the wasted energy placed in her day, she could've spent more time meditating in the shrine.

She had done so upon her return home and did so very briefly. She had needed to cleanse herself of the images she had seen the night before; not just of the horrific scenes inside the police station, but stating at the body of her fallen comrade while another senshi reversed the damage. It had been almost too much, Rei was not one to falter in disturbing situations, but last night had pushed herself to the very limits. She had almost wanted to not leave the flame to continue on her search for answers. She could've left the task of running the stall to her faithful – If somewhat dimwitted – student of the Hikawa Shrine, Yūichirō Kumada, but he wasn't even here now and even if he was, he had been pulling double duty last week for her while she tackled her exams.

Last night had been all about cruelty. She had seen dead bodies, lain like lifeless dolls; all for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. All the way to the roof, she had seen it repeat, not dead – but badly wounded – people all struggling to stay awake let alone alive. It carried over as bad feeling to see so much and still face the next morning ignoring what had happen. But how else did a senshi continue to operate if she lamented on what had happened? It had been a question that she had asked herself all morning, all the senshi had, at least except the one who hadn't need to ask that question by now. The short answer was they had to ignore it, had they not done their bit in rescuing the people, saving lives that were nearly ended, and drive the enemy out of the building so better, more experienced paramedics could tend to the injured?

'Yes we had' was the universal answer, but was that good enough for those people who didn't live? Rei lived in a temple for which her religion told her the sprits could answer all kinds of questions if you prayed the right way. But Shinto didn't have an answer for the value of her deeds last night; saving lives while others hadn't been so lucky. It never had an answer for every scenario, just the assurances that it offered to those scared of fate's final act. You couldn't blame it for not having it written down somewhere, after all, the heartaches of senshi duties weren't something that the practitioners of Shinto had thought much about, let alone know one of their maidens was one. When it came down to it, she could only say they had done their best to save lives, and they had. That was the mission statement of every senshi right there, until the time for the new kingdom, it would be their task of ensuring the safety of the people.

Rei sighed, such time for thoughts could only come from an empty effort day, not one charm sold, nothing that would make her grandfather proud of. She decided that if she had time to think uninterrupted about the morality of the mission of the senshi had undertaken, then she might as well close up shop for the day. Rei picked up the display boxes and walked them to the back of the stand, stowing them somewhere safe. She then returned to the counter and closed her money box and put it in her pull string bag that she had taken out with her this morning. Once she did a quick inspection of her surroundings to see everything was neat and tidy, she walked outside to lower the wooden doors that doubled as shade for the customers during their purchases. Having lived her life at this place, Rei had the procedure down to only a few minutes. Upon the closing of the third such window, Rei returned to collect her pull string bag and exited the building.

"What a waste…and I have to look over my assignment work later" Rei arched her back for a stretch before walking back to her home only thirty meters away.

Had she closed up sooner, Rei might not have noticed the footsteps coming up the pathway to the temple grounds. She worried at irony for a moment at what disservice it would appear for a customer to show up just as she was about to leave for overdue rest, and stayed to wait and kindly hope that he or she wasn't asking her to reopen the store. To her relief, it wasn't a customer, however to her surprise someone she wasn't expecting.

"Ami?"

Ami stood there, backpack over her shoulder and looking like she had been run over by a bus. Messed up and looking exhausted; it was almost painful to see the genius in this state.

"Rei…" Ami replied simply before asking what for her was the near impossible "…I need a place to stay"


It would've been wrong of Rei to merely dismiss this as merely a house call. From the moment the resident shrine maiden made proper eye contact on Ami, she could tell something was very wrong. After conducting her guest to her room, Rei had gone off to get some tea but upon discovering that no hot water was readily available; she kindly instructed Yūichirō to bring it to her room when it was ready. In several minutes from Ami' arrival; the two were sitting at the low table in Rei's room.

"What happened?" Rei started off

"I…I just needed to talk to someone…" Ami started

She hadn't made her pathway to Rei's place direct. In fact it had been over two hours since she left her apartment, far longer than one needed to walk to the temple. In all, the walk had helped Ami clear her head, she just didn't have it clear her mind of the problems she had worried about, just the anger she felt. She first had tried at the park, at first thinking in the open air about the situation, but the combination of chilly air and people had made it hard to clear her mind and Ami had decided that she would finally seek the opinion of a friend.

"Well I'm here for you" Rei replied "What's on your mind"

"Well, mom and I had a talk last night…"

Rei simply nodded before asking "What happened?"

"Well you see…" Ami started to retell what happened the previous night and this morning. She was a lot calmer than she had been when she heard the answering machine, not that Ami was really one for getting angry. Rei listened on, reconstructing the series of events as her friend went into detail, ascribing what she and her mother had said, eventually this morning when her mother promised to talk before promptly negating that promise for the sake of her duty…a word that Ami's mother had insulted her for comparing senshi business to doctoring. From what Rei could tell, it was a misunderstanding; but it had none the less shook even her that Ami's mother could be so cruel to her daughter after all she had been through. The resident shrine maiden knew she wasn't really educated in maturity, she admitted to it; but Rei could tell that last night that neither Mizuno had exercised any rationality in their brief midnight debate.

Despite the flawed nature of their state of minds and the poor choice of words for their arguments, it none the less was a serious thing to consider. During her time at Setsuna's house, Rei hadn't taken much attention to the state of shock that Saeko was in. Her attention had been focused on the girl across the table; at the time in a coma thanks to the exhaustion her shock had given her. From what she had gathered from the other senshi after they had gone home however was shared concern, especially from setsuna who had after all been by her side the whole time she had visited the house. Of course at the time, Rei had other concerns besides Ami, but now it seemed in hindsight, it should have been her first concern.

"She really called you irresponsible?" Rei said with some alarm

"She did…" Ami confirmed "At first I thought it was a mistake…but this morning, she called me a problem…"

Rei's face froze at hearing that; it couldn't mean anything good. Was Ami's mother seriously reversed on her opinions? Had the near tragedy of her daughter's life ending struck a cord and now she was regretting it? Rei had moments ago assumed that it had been a brief misunderstanding the night before, but upon hearing about the phone message, it did not prove that it was the case. Something had changed in the mind of Ami's mother, and it proved to be just as worrisome as Ami relayed.

"…I don't think she understands fully what we do" Ami continued to explain "I tried to explain that's all apart of what we do…but I don't think she was listening"

Rei nodded understandable; how did one explain the dangers of being a senshi to one who wasn't?

"Well, I guess you have to understand how she sees things Ami" Rei started to cast her opinion "You were almost killed, you were pretty lucky that we had Saturn along in your team…"

Ami nodded before asking "Then what do I do? She doesn't even trust me anymore to listen to me"

That one stumped Rei; there wasn't really a lot of explanation to what to do in situations like this, even for normal problems. What's worse, being a senshi was not a normal problem; it was dangerous work, but so was being a construction worker…the difference between those two jobs was one had an understandable and well established risk, the other simply didn't. Children didn't wish they could be a professional senshi because of the dangers; they did so because of the status.

"…and then I came here" Ami concluded her story "I thought of asking the others, but everyone else is busy right now…so I'm sorry if…"

"Stop" Rei motioned. Ami did as commanded.

"I guess I can understand your hesitation…" Rei replied "But if you think I would turn you away like this…you've been my friend far too long for me to do that"

"Thank you" Ami replied softly

"I guess we all have problems with home sometimes…though in your case…" Rei thought about it "…I mean after what happened at the shopping center…I thought…"

"I don't know what she is thinking…" Ami spoke depressingly, but with some intelligence "if she doesn't trust me anymore then…I don't know what to do"

"To be honest?" Rei responded "I think you should think about what your mother said and maybe see if there is a way…"

"…I don't want to return home…not yet" Ami replied "But…I do want to fix this"

Ami probably would've been surprised that Rei had felt that was going to be the case the moment she had eyes on Ami at the top of the stairs. In her instruction to Yūichirō, she also asked him to prepare a spare futon. The timing wasn't really the best, but as Rei had just said, she would not turn away her friend, besides where else could she go? Setsuna, Usagi, Minako? Makoto was an option, but she was now staying at Usagi's place for Christmas and it would make matters worse if she had to cancel plans. So for Ami, Rei was the only place she could go to. Besides, hadn't she offered a week ago her home as a place to stay for Christmas?

"Well, I have no problem with you staying for now…" Rei replied sighing "But on one condition"

"What is that?" Ami looked up in surprise

Rei leaned over and reached for her school bag. In a moment she produced a thick history textbook and her notebook and placed them on the table with a heavy drop. Rei bowed and raised her hands to pray to her guest. Ami saw without being told how badly she had wanted help and nodded approvingly.

"Best deal I've made today"


Author's Commentary: This chapter was actually alot easier to work out after the previous chapter since by now i had a fairly good idea of what the disptue between Ami and Saeko was really all about. I didnt quite out all the details straight away thought, but this chapter was really the start of the rest of the story leading upto the third act.