Chapter 14 – The Play's The Thing
"Rei-chan! TELEPHONE!"
A fuming Minako stood, hand clapped over the receiver, and bellowed at the top of her lungs. She was tapping one foot in agitation. Why Rei hadn't gotten the telephone, she didn't know. "It's some guy!"
"I TOLD YOU! I'm not taking calls from men!" Rei bellowed back to her. "Is growing all that extra-blond stuff on your head these days making you lose your hearing or just making you as ditzy as Usagi!"
Well that was gratitude for you!
Minako slapped the telephone down on the table with a snarled, "One minute please," then went to extract Rei from her fiery hidey-hole if she had to drag the other woman out by her two-toned hair.
She flung open the door to Rei's inner sanctum and caught the other girl by the shoulder, spinning her around on the tatami mat-covered floor. "I have been doing unpaid slave labor all morning and dealing with the cops too, thanks to your little outburst, and I do not have time to play message girl for you, Rei-chan. It's some guy…" –she jabbed a French manicured finger in Rei's face, cutting off the other woman's protest before she could even start to voice it– "…and he wants to know why you're not at some big-deal rehearsal. He also said something about a concert and it being a major part of your grade this term. If you insist on not talking to him, I can just hang up. But I'm not taking messages."
Minako watched with some satisfaction as the angry color drained from Rei's face, leaving her wan and pale. "I am such a baka!" snapped Rei. "I can't believe I completely forgot about the rehearsal. Baka! Baka! Baka!" With a flutter of carmine and dove-colored robes, she was up from her kneeling position and running toward the telephone in seconds, leaving Minako standing there rolling her eyes.
What seemed like mere moments later, a completely changed Hino Rei was sprinting down the jinja's steps, a heavy garment bag slung over her shoulder and her hair fluttering out behind her like a silken banner. As she made it to street level, she elbowed her way through a crowd of camera-toting, map perusing tourists, skidded past a slow moving gaggle of old women on their way to an afternoon tai chi class, and hotfooted it toward the college. So intent was she on her purpose never noticed she'd acquired a handsome blond shadow until, just steps from her goal, he cut in front of her, arms open wide.
It was the last thing she'd expected and, had he not been prepared, the force of their crash probably would have knocked them both down. He, however, caught her shoulders cushioning and absorbing the force of the impact which hurtled her into his arms where he knew she belonged.
"Sorry," she yelped reflexively as she collided with the man she believed was simply an unfortunate random pedestrian.
"Rei," Jed said with unusual soberness, ignoring her automatic apology. He stroked her cheek gently before returning his hand to her shoulder. "We have got to talk."
Realizing just who held her, Rei's pansy purple eyes first widened in shock, then narrowed dangerously and she gave him a shove. "I don't have the time for this. Let go or suffer!"
"No," Jed replied implacably, holding fast to her as she wriggled temptingly in his embrace. Though he stubbornly refused to step aside, he couldn't help the tender but heated look in his eyes as he gazed on her. Gaia but she was stunning. And if she didn't stop rubbing against him like that… He swallowed hard, then grated out hoarsely, "This is important, Firebird."
'So is my grade!' Rei thought acidly, grinding her teeth. He had no right to look so…so…eminently kissable while he was holding her back from her goal. Or to hold her at all. 'I'm late!!!'
"I am not having this discussion now," she announced in the ringing tones of a queen to a lowly serf. Re-tightening her grip on her garment bag, she jerked a knee violently upward, though the fire flash in her gaze telegraphed her actions and Jed leapt back just enough to save his manhood. Quicker than most would have been able to follow, Rei hooked a small foot behind his ankle and he stumbled backward, completely off balance. Jed fell heavily, landing on the cracked concrete at her feet with a stifled oath. Her destination now within arm's reach and her freedom at hand, Rei leapt nimbly over his sprawled legs and bolted for the college theater's side door. Flinging it open, she disappeared within.
"Dammit," growled Jed darkly, first rubbing his painfully bruised thigh and then his now aching backside for good measure. "Why does she always have to go for the balls?" he demanded, shaking a fist at the sky. "I could have gone for a cute little good-natured thing like Mercury-hime, but noooooo…"
In spite of his heated words, though, he knew very well that it had to be his Firebird and only her. From the first time he'd seen the elegant Aresian princess glaring down her patrician nose at him (a true feat since he stood considerably taller than she, even when she wore her trademark crimson heels), there'd been no one else for him. He would have been bored senseless in no time by someone without the fire to challenge him, and the seemingly bloodless, courteous to a fault Mercurian princess simply hadn't the passion (though he grudgingly supposed Zoisite would disagree) that drew him to his Firebird.
Grimly Jed picked himself up and followed. He was determined to have it out with her, and if it meant following his fiery little termagant into Hell itself, then he would do it. So this was nothing. In fact, a part of him couldn't help but reflect that it was rather appropriate that this meeting would take place at a theater. What with the legendary fights and the tempestuous romance, their relationship always had been something of a grand drama.
"Grandma would've loved it," he muttered under his breath, pushing open the side door.
A few dim work lights led him down a shadowy corridor and he looked around curiously. He'd never been backstage at a theater before. It was larger then he had expected, but cluttered heavily with pieces of old scenery and bits and pieces of props and costumes that had been stashed wherever a body could find room for them. Looped ropes and cables which were, he assumed, for the lights and stage curtains hung above his head like lianas in a tropical forest. It smelled of greasepaint and dusty canvas cloth and the oil for the rope pulleys, and overlaying it all was a faint mustiness of a building closed up for too long.
Carefully he picked his way in the direction of the voices he could hear but not yet put faces too, but froze when one called out to him. "Who are you?"
A harried young man with a clipboard and the all black garb of a stage ninja was pointing a pen at him accusingly. "I've never seen you around before. You're not supposed to be he…"
"I'm with Hino Rei," Jed cut in, flashing what he hoped was winning grin and bobbing a bow. "Sorry, but she said I could watch."
The smooth lie made the young stagehand's eyes widen behind his glasses and then he let out a long, low, and very impressed whistle. "You're with Hino-san, eh? Good luck. You're gonna need it."
Jed couldn't help but smile ruefully as he unobtrusively rubbed his backside again. "I see you've dealt with her before."
The stagehand rolled his eyes, more than answer enough. He jabbed his pen in the direction of a door that Jed had not noticed in the darkness. "If you want to watch, you can do so a lot more comfortably from the seats. Just through there and keep quiet. As long as you're quiet, I don't suppose anyone will mind."
The young man paused in reflection. "Heck, they probably won't even notice you. They're having a crisis now anyway. A few of the important singers…the other one from Hino-san's number, actually, were in a car accident last night. In fact, Hino-san's partner reportedly broke his jaw. So she doesn't have the other half of her duet and everyone's in a tizzy because this was supposed to be a dress rehearsal and the performance is…well, now her number's all messed up."
Jed's brows drew together as he frowned. "No understudy?"
"Same car," answered the chatty stagehand with a speaking shrug. "And it didn't help matters any that she was late." The man shot Jed a measuring look that seemed to imply he might know something about just why Rei was late. Jed found himself bristling at the thinly veiled implication. Not that he cared for himself…hell, he only wished it was true, but Rei's reputation was another matter altogether. No stupid little stage ninja was supposed to be speculating on his princess' private life.
"But they'll sort something out," continued the oblivious stagehand. "They always do. After all…"
"The show must go on?" interjected Jed a bit harshly, knowing he'd answered right when the stagehand grinned at him.
With a wave and a nod the young man was gone off down the corridor, checking off items on his clipboard and muttering to himself. Thinking that Rei wasn't the only one capable of picking up her cues, Jed pushed through the door that had been indicated to him and made his way to a seat, in the front row. With any luck and with stage lights on, she wouldn't even be able to see him there. And after she was done with what was obviously a very important school function, then he'd pin her down for their chat.
Rei was no where in sight, but he could hear her now, arguing with someone.
"It's the only possible solution," she was saying, her tone hovering just under a yell. "It's the only one that the orchestra can play as well and that I've practiced enough that I can do it as a solo instead. I know you didn't want to do it this close to Valentine's Day, but we've simply got…no…choice."
With a rustle of skirts, a transformed Rei stepped out from the wings, rubbing her temple in exasperation as if she had a headache.
Jed stared transfixed, catapulted back to the Silver Millennium in the blink of an eye. In that moment Crown Princess Reina of Mars lived once again.
Rei was resplendent in a heavy gown of what appeared to be rich violet silk, rather Renaissance in style, shot through with gold and trimmed exquisitely with pearls and garnet red stones and ribbon with a pattern of golden leaves. A pert Juliet cap of golden beads was perched high on her head, its point coming forward to dangle a single teardrop shaped amethyst bangle on her forehead. A soft cloud of gold veiling dangled from the cap, misting her raven and burgundy highlighted mane with a warm sheen. Jed had no idea how she'd managed to change her clothes so swiftly, but he knew she couldn't possibly look more breathtaking. In fact he was almost holding his breath to hold onto the vision of the princess who had loved him.
Impatiently Rei hitched up her skirts so that she could move more quickly. "Look at it this way, professor," she was saying to a fussy looking, myopic older man who was trying hard to get away. "We won't even have to change the set and my costume will still work. It's even from the same show. I can improvise something easily enough. We can even come up with something to surprise them. It's perfect."
"Oh all right, Hino-san. All right," he finally agreed, giving in to what could not be helped and the will of a much stronger personality than his own. "We'll do it your way. I'll have them play all five choruses." The fine arts professor bustled away for a word with the musicians, wondering not for the first time what possessed him to stay in his job.
In spite of himself, Jed chuckled softly, been there and done that thoughts flitting through his mind.
With the chatter on stage and the trill of instruments there was no reason why Rei should have heard him, but she did, as if attuned to the slightest sound of his voice. She outwardly betrayed the knowledge of his presence, though, by only a slight stiffening of her spine as she moved to a spot upstage. Though if her sailor crystal had been capable of granting wishes as was Usagi's ginzuishou, only a mere pile of smoking ashes would have been sitting in Jed's seat.
A hush settled over the theater and then the music began to play. In spite of knowing the need for their discussion, Jed nestled into his chair, temporarily willing to wait and eager to hear Rei sing. Long ago…a lifetime ago, she had sung for the gods in temple rites, but she had also once sung for him alone, her sweet voice strong and clear and altogether lovely.
Death and rebirth and a thousand years had done nothing whatsoever to mute either her rich voice or her magnetic stage presence. Sliding into shrewish character, Rei began to sing…with gusto.
"I hate men! I can't abide them even now and then." Rei tossed her head coltishly, Kate-ishly, kicking aside a wooden stool with a violent clatter and crossing her arms over her chest defiantly. It was truly amazing the feeling she managed to wring out of the words, despite the fact that they weren't even in her native tongue. Still, the battle of the sexes was universal and Mars never backed down from a battle.
"Then ever marry one of them, I'd rest a virgin rather, for husbands are a boring lot that only give you bother." She flashed a sly smile out toward her special 'audience', wondering if he was enjoying the performance. "Of course, I'm awfully glad that mother had to marry father. Still…I hate men!"
Jed suddenly sat bolt upright, fuming as he heard the special emphasis she'd laid on the last line. That little minx! She knew he was there. As sure as he was a natural blond, he knew she knew.
He was right.
Rei knew it was petty to bait him so, but she just couldn't seem to help herself. Ever since the man had reappeared in her life, she hadn't had a single moment's peace. She could feel the haunting, watchful presence of those azure eyes even when they weren't there. Painful memories and sultry dreams and dreams that might have been memories kept her constantly on edge and she couldn't forgive him for it. Just by the very fact of his breathing, he was driving her insane, but if she was going to go crazy, she wasn't going alone. She was only afraid it was going to be a short trip.
She was on a roll as she continued, striding boldly, with arms swinging, across the stage as she sang. "Of all the types of men I've met in our demo-cracy, I hate the most the athlete with his manner bold and brassy." She paused to tug at one of the strands of her hair as if contemplating it, then thumped her own breast. "He may have hair upon his chest, but sister, so has Lassie! Oh, I hate men!"
Jed glared, raking his fingers through his own tumbled golden waves. That 'brassy' comment was getting personal, not to mention the canine crack. And he knew worse was coming.
Though Zarek and Neil would have laughed themselves to death had they known and Jed sooner had his fingernails pulled out than admit it before them, he was not unfamiliar with the theater. His grandmother, having been a legendary beauty and a Ziegfeld showgirl in her youth, had a passion for the theater, musicals in particular, and she had dragged her only grandson to every local playhouse, musical theater and light opera performance she could find until he was old enough to protest. By that time, though, he had come to appreciate the works for their own sake. He was definitely familiar with this show and this song in particular. Quickly Jed mentally ran through the lyrics to see what was coming next...then he winced.
Rei paused to catch her breath, wondering if she had the acting chops to pull off the next part. What the hell, she finally thought. Why not?
"Avoid the trav'ling salesman though a tempting gent he may be," she sang as she sauntered merrily across the stage. "From China he will bring you jade…" she paused and jerked her head defiantly, making it clear that it was definitely personal before she continued. "…and perfume from Araby. But don't forget 'tis he who'll have the fun and thee the baby…." Rei staggered back against a prop table and clenched it hard, bending backward and squatting as if a woman bearing down in the throws of giving birth. The last line, predictable was it was, was delivered as if howled through teeth gritted in labor. "Oh I hate men!"
A wicked smile crossed Rei's face as she launched into the next bit, knowing it would drive the knife in a little bit harder. Suck it up, Jadeite, you murderer, she thought venomously. It's no more than you deserve! And you too, father…and every other bastard who's ever broken a woman's heart!
"I hate men! They should be kept like piggies in a pen." Taking the bit fully in her teeth, she all but skipped downstage until she was right where she figured he would be. She only wished the bright stage lights weren't so blinding. She would have paid ridiculous amounts of her father's wealth to see his face just then. The general audience would never know the double meaning behind the words. But a certain arrogant ass of a king-general would understand perfectly, she knew.
"You may be wooed by Jack the Tar, so charming and so chipper. But if you're wooed by Jack the Tar, be sure that you're the skipper. For Jack the Tar can go too far," Rei paused again, lifted an invisible dagger and plunged it into her chest, then staggered against the velvet curtain, 'dying' melodramatically. "Remember Jack the Ripper?" she asked, sneering broadly, then launched into the last line. "Oh, I hate men!"
That was it! She'd pushed him too far!
For any man who could call himself such, there were limits to patience. He could only be pushed so far before pushing back. Hino Rei had just shoved past those limits with all the grace of a soldier firing off the first shots of a war and now her challenge had to be answered or he could no longer call himself a man.
In one swift motion, Jed was out of his seat and had vaulted up onto the stage, startling the heck out of folks on the wings, though the musicians played on without missing a beat. He caught Rei in a single athletic bound before she could flee and clapped a broad hand over her mouth, bursting into his own clipped variation of the song's infamous final lines, his azure eyes burning with an intense blue flame to match her own element.
"Of all she's read, alone in bed, from A to Zed about 'em, since love is blind, then from the mind, all womankind should rout 'em." Practically seeing the smoke begin to pour from her ears, Jed smirked challengingly at the blazingly furious young woman who was staring full daggers at him. It was the taunting little smirk that had always and ever made Rei absolutely see red. "But, ladies," he continued, sounding surprisingly polished as a singer, "you must answer true. What would you do without 'em?"
And without another word, as the instrumental section soared into the rafters, he bent her startled form backward and crushed her siren red lips in a scorching kiss that seemed to make her bones melt. The demanding lip-lock curled not only Rei's toes, but those of every other young woman present and waiting her turn to go onstage. And for a single moment in time every last one of those young women hated Hino Rei with an almost inconceivable passion.
Rei's gaze was dazed and unfocused when he released her lips and she could almost hear the sound of bells ringing…or was it the bubbling sound of her own heated blood. Blinking, she shook her head hard, trying to regain a measure of her scattered wits. Her temper then came to her rescue and deep within the rich violet depths of her eyes, a light of pure crimson rage burst into flame. Nobody, but nobody, kissed her into senselessness like that, and especially not HIM. Furious, she slapped Jed hard, simultaneously kicked him viciously in the shins and jerked away just in time to come in on her last line. No one could ever say that Mars lacked timing.
"Stiiiiiiiill, IIIIIIIIIIIIIII…HATE…MEN!!!" Letting out a screech of pure indignation, she hurled a prop pot of red geraniums at Jed's head and stormed magnificently off stage in the manner of a pure diva, moving faster than a body should have been able to manage in her heavy costume, and scattering folks in the wings. Fortunately for Jed's future wellbeing, the geranium pot was light and thin and his head was naturally very hard.
Surrounded by shards of pottery, the sound of stunned applause ringing in his ears, a groggy and incoherent Jed lay on the floor wondering if she'd left singe marks on him. Then his personal curtain rang down and for Jude Edward Daito the Third the stage went black.
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Carried away by the force of her passion (in this case, rage), Rei was actually manifesting a visible aura, though she showed no signs of being aware of it. A wash of violet red light shimmered around her, fluctuating wildly, as she stalked down the hallway to the dressing area.
Slinging open the door she fixed a gimlet eye on two unfortunate young women who had the misfortune to still be in the dressing room putting on their costumes. Their eyes widened at the sight of her and all laughter between them ceased as dread thoughts of witch lights filling their brains. When she spoke, demanding, "OUT!", they flinched and then ran for their lives. Half dressed was better than wholly dead.
Rei slammed the door shut with a bang that nearly knocked the flimsy door right off its hinges, locked it, and stalked across the room to fling herself into a chair, whereupon she buried her burning face in her hands. Hot tears sizzled into steam on her still hotter cheeks before they had a chance to fall and allowed Rei to pretend that she hadn't cried for him at all, the miserable, stinking, golden-haired, silver-tongued wretch.
She could not have said how long she sat there, consumed in her fury and misery, but she was jolted from it by the sound of applause and a sneer of, "Brava, my dear."
Her head came up so fast she nearly snapped several of her own vertebra and then she paled.
Towering above her, far too close for Rei's sense of personal boundaries, stood a man who bore an almost eerie facial resemblance to the pink-haired freak from Valentine's Night. His hair, however, which hung over his flesh-hugging black body suit, was done up in a cascading brilliant lime-colored mass that put Rei in mind of a bad 80's hair band. His face was almost chalk white and streaked with black lines like war paint…except Rei had the disturbing feeling that his skin was not painted.
A quick glance at the door confirmed her worst fears. It was still locked. He'd gotten by some other non-human means.
"You're one of Pinky's brothers?" she accused, pointing a ruby-tipped finger in his face.
He made a mocking bow. "Very quick, my lady of the fires. I am Thanatos. And Pinky, as you call him," –he snorted disdainfully– "would be my brother Azrael. I must thank you for your splendid little light show." He waved a hand, airily indicating the shimmering aura around her, calling Rei's attention to it for the first time. "Had you not done so, I would have found it much more difficult to pick up on your position. The heat, though, loves your spitfire temper. It's both drawn to it and feeds it at the same time, making an unmistakable power signature. You saved me much time, my dear."
"I," Rei ground out, "am not your anything!" She bit back the urge to call him a freak. He'd probably take it as a compliment. "What do you want with me?"
"Many things," he murmured smarmily, raking his gaze lasciviously over her form.
Though her own native curves were relatively modest, at least in comparison to others like, say, Makoto, her gown's tightly boned bodice did have a certain molehills into mountains effect. Rei flushed, protectively covering her cleavage with both arms as she crossed them over her chest. Her eyes flashed with outrage. "Over my dead body."
"Only as a last resort," Thanatos assured her. "First I'll take the crystal, if you don't mind. Or, for that matter, even if you do."
Now the only crystal that Rei knew she had was her Sailor Crystal, which she'd lost once before to Galaxia (and losing that had HURT) and she wasn't about to give it up without a fight. Kicking out with her legs, she caught her unsuspecting would-be attacker in the gut, sending him careening away where he left a nice depression in the wall.
A flashfire enveloped Rei as she yanked out her henshin wand, cried out her transformation phrase, and the magic took hold. Yet as the rings of flame died away, the mysterious Sailor Mars stood before him, but she had changed. No longer was her hair the rich ebony so beloved by fanboys, nor was it either its recent mix of red and black, but it was now fully as scarlet as the fluttering silken skirts of her uniform and the crimson of her stiletto heels.
"I don't think so, you lime-sucking twit," Sailor Mars retorted, "for in the name of the warrior planet Mars, I will chastise you."
To her fury, he threw back his head and laughed. She aimed a blistering Fire Soul at his head but he ducked. Mars swore, backing up across the room to get a little more space to attack. There wasn't room enough for her Flame Sniper unless she wanted to send the whole theater up in flames.
"Impressive performance," he sneered. "But not nearly fast enough, Red. I want that fire crystal and you're going to give it to me."
"I don't know what you're babbling about," snarled Mars. "But I'm not giving you so much as the time of day! Happy immolation, you fruit loop!"
Again she hurled a searing blast of fire from her fingertips at him, and yet again he dodged, moving with preternatural speed.
She shrieked as she felt his hands, moving so fast her eyes hadn't even been able to follow, clamp round her shoulders, slamming her against a wall with incredible force, actually imbedding her in the plaster. Razor-sharp claw tipped fingers ripped through the soft but tough leather of her uniform top as though it wasn't even there and dug into yielding flesh, drawing blood as they did so. She cried out in sudden pain and he grinned ferally, licking up the rich-tasting, ruby-red, Martian fluid of life that stained the tip of one of his talons.
"Really," he smirked, baring fangs, his face rippling and contorting itself into something that was definitely inhuman. "You're just making this harder on yourself. Now about that crystal."
"You're a…a demon," gasped a stunned Sailor Mars, realizing that she couldn't move a centimeter. He was simply too strong.
"Or fallen angel," Thanatos agreed with an unpleasant smile. "Take your pick. But you can just call me master, fire wielder. By the time I'm done extracting your fire crystal, you won't be able to call up even a spark with a full box of matches and a flame thrower. I will bend the flames to my will."
He bent his head and sniffed avidly at the blood that was beginning to stain her bodice, licking his lips hungrily. A lewd gleam that was equal parts lasciviousness and bloodlust filled his opaque eyes and Sailor Mars felt her soul turn to ice when he said, "You though, I think, Lady of Fire, will, when I'm done, make an amusingly docile pet…at least for a little while.
She was, Mars realized, completely and terrifyingly alone there. Not a single senshi would know she was in trouble until it was far too late. The only body nearby who could possibly possess the power to save her from the demon was also, after her repeated attacks on him, the least likely to want to do so. The knowledge that she most assuredly would have been safer in her one-time killer's avid and vexingly tempting embrace was a bitter pill to swallow, and had she been able to move it, she probably would have banged her head into something at the mere notion. However, bitterer by far was what would happen next.
As a clawed hand ripped through the tough leather of her bodice like it was tissue paper, she felt the malevolent magic pierce through her, searching for the pulsing core of her being. And then she felt the most brutal and agonizing pain ever as with a rending tear deep within her chest, something was mercilessly ripped from her.
The instinctual scream of denial that ripped from her throat was silenced in the most horrible way as Thanatos' icy mouth closed over her own and the bile rose sickeningly in her throat. She could only let out a psychic scream for help, hurling the plea into the ether as she prayed for salvation.
JADEITE!!!
(Author's Note: MintChocolate5 wins the 100,000 What's My Line points for figuring out that the previous chapter's title was a song by The Police. Rei's catty little vocal number was from Kiss Me Kate, a funny musical variation by Cole Porter on The Taming of the Shrew.)