Chapter Twenty-One: Pestilence and Penitence

"Stay down!" Hiiro barked gruffly at the silver-haired woman who stood a few feet from him. As she dove to the ground an arrow clipped just over the top of her head. She hit the ground and there was no time to pause to even consider how close a call she had just had. Serena grunted in effort as she rolled on the ground and finally managed to drag herself back onto her feet.

Taking a moment to survey the situation, she grimaced. Not good. There were tall buildings surrounding the intersection they stood in—each flat façade of the buildings stared back at her cruelly, taunting her as walls to a fence. She found herself penned in, not necessarily a good situation. There was little in the way of places to retreat and hide, meaning she would have to fight this threat head on, no backing down allowed, even for a moment's regrouping. And the monster Plague itself was massive, the horse's body alone was taller than she was… including the human torso, neck, and head the enemy she was about to face stood nearly eight feet tall. Serena let her eyes flitter between the monstrous creature and Hiiro for a moment, then nodded in self-decision.

"Hiiro, get out of here!" She yelled out. There was no need to put anyone else in harm's way—even a soldier who was trained for battle. This was different.

Hiiro rolled his eyes at her words. "You're getting emotional. I'm not a civilian, and I won't be a casualty." Arrows darted between the two and Serena jumped high to avoid being hit. When she landed, she narrowed her eyes and glared straight back at Hiiro.

"This is not your fight. You're under no obligation to stand here and put yourself in harm's way. You're a distraction." She coldly told him. Hiiro blinked. She dared…. His thoughts were cut-off by Plague as the monster opened its mouth. The Sailor and soldier watched as Plague stretched and contorted its jaw as a light yellow-browned smoky liquid poured out and spread to cover the ground around them.

"What is this?" Serena looked around. She had enough sense to realize inhaling the gaseous mixture was probably not a bright idea; still she had no idea what the actual smog was.

"Mustard gas, don't breathe!" Hiiro yelled, his hand covering his mouth and nose. "We need to get out of here, it causes blisters, blindness, and pulmonary edema!" Serena heard his words and understood. Running towards Hiiro and grabbing his arm, she made no pause in hastily bounding up, as high as she could get, and landing, Hiiro in tow, on the top steps of a large bank building. Turning to look back down at the ground, she was pleased that at least the gas seemed to stay near street level.

"You stay here." She let go of his sleeve.

"What the hell? No way!" He growled. But the Sailor had already slipped away back towards the fight. Feeling useless, Hiiro pulled his gun out and took aim at the center of the intersection, just in case she needed cover fire.

"I'm glad you're still standing Sailor Moon!" Plague giggled in delight. "I love it when I find so much resistance to my viral personality, it's so rare!" The taunting, lilting tone which was condescending and dry struck a chord in Serena.

"Well I'm not going down without a fight, so bring it on!" She grabbed her tiara and whirled around in flashing lights. "Moon tiara magic!" Flinging the glowing white disk as hard as she could, Serena stood still and watched as Plague readied one of her infected arrows and fired at the attack. With a loud crash and clang the arrow brought her tiara to a dead stop and both clattered to the ground. Serena gasped, but had no time to regroup as she was beginning to feel the effects of the surrounding mustard gas. Her skin was beginning to burn and her eyes were watering as though she had just chopped a fresh onion. Her dry, scratchy throat burned and the stench made her nose twitch and nostrils flare.

"It's okay, stop fighting, give in to the gas Sailor!" Plague heckled. "Soon enough everyone will be either infected by the plague or starving anyway! And you know, Sailor Moon," Plague paused as it drew another arrow from its quiver and steadied a shot at the Sailor Scout, "even if you killed me, it wouldn't change who's been infected and who's sick! The beauty about viruses is that they're almost impossible to eradicate once they've infected a certain amount of the population. And I promise you… The entire colony of L2 is living proof of that!"

"What!" Serena shouted in horror. In her shocked state she did not see Plague let go of the arrow it had been holding. The feather and metal-tipped projectile speed toward her at an alarmingly fast pace. A lone gunshot rang out split seconds after the arrow was released. Trapped like a deer in headlights, Serena was witness to an amazing shot as the bullet struck the metallic arrowhead inches from her heart and obliterated it to splinters.

"Sailor, now!" Hiiro yelled. Serena, still in a daze, found her body knew what she wanted quicker than her mind, because in her hand materialized her scepter, and before she knew it she was performing an attack.

"Moon Scepter Elimination!" The power she gathered shot forth in bright pink, red, and white light beams and covered Plague, horse body, human face, bow, and all. Hiiro shielded his eyes, and when he finally looked again all that remained where the streets had been masked in poisonous gas was Serena, alone. She slowly turned, looked in each direction on the city intersection, and finally her eyes landed on Hiiro, who was staring straight at her.

Without any words she slowly climbed the steps toward him. Face to face with Hiiro, her cold sapphire orbs met his with such intensity he felt her stare through his face and into his soul. And then Serena fell into him, tears leaking down her flushed cheeks. For a moment Hiiro dared not breathe, dared not move. Slowly he brought his strong arms up and wrapped them around her heaving form; even going as far as to truly hug and hold her softly to his solid frame.

"L2." She whispered. Hiiro breathed in the scent of her shampoo, the scent of dust, the scent of woman. He hesitated.

"It was the only colony we didn't have anyone stationed. If Duo had been there…" Hiiro shook his head and she felt him finally begin to lean on her in return. "If he had been there he would have shared their fate. Instead his daughter is sick…" Neither could speak after he stopped short. They both stood quietly, holding each other. Finally, Hiiro began to pull away from Serena.

"Come on Sailor, we need to get going. I need to contact Une and Winner, and there are still two Horsemen on the loose." Serena nodded.

"You're right." She patted her silver hair and smoothed her skirt. "Let's get going."

IIIOIIII

"What do you mean 'it's time to face the facts'?" Quatre worriedly cried out in the Colonial Hall. The men around him shifted uncomfortably in their seats.

"Senator Winner. Although we do appreciate your valuable insight to the politics of war and peace, and we understand your call for more time, we feel that more time will be problematic. Too many of us see the Earth as a threat Quatre."

"We have no proof!" His blonde bangs shook to their tips with his anger at the men for their impatience.

"We voted to pre-emptively rebuild the military here in space Senator. Voted. I'm sorry, but the majority has spoken, and they've said they fear Earth."

"Senator Dreyfus, Prime Minister, is there no way we can come to trust Earth again? Is there nothing I can do or say to postpone this madness? Relena Peacecraft would never allow the Earth to pick up arms against the colonies! Why now, in these times of uncertainty, would we do such a heinous act and provoke war?" Quatre passionately argued. But his words seemed to be falling on deaf ears.

"I'm sorry Senator Winner. The majority has spoken. The Lunar Base has already begun its production of mobile dolls and suits again. There will be a call to arms, to rebuild our military. All able-bodied men will join for the protection of the colonies. We must arm ourselves in defense. The time for waiting, for Relena Peacecraft's idealism has gone. People are rioting out there! Do you really think that these riots won't lead to worse problems? The unrest on Earth is like a virus that plagues the space colonies. We must arm ourselves with a flu shot, with our weapons, dolls, and suits, only to be prepared to take on the invading specimen. This is the way it must be Quatre, I'm sorry." The Colonial Prime Minister sadly shook his head at Quatre.

"No! We can't! You can't!" Quatre slammed his fist down on the table before him. "We just can't!"

"We can, and we are. Another outburst like that Senator Winner, and we will kindly ask you to remove yourself from this meeting."

"Don't you worry about that!" He growled. Standing and collecting his jacket, papers, and briefcase, Quatre glared at the men in the room and then turned on his heel to make his way down the aisle of seats towards the exit. At the door he paused. Without turning to face the room, he issued a final warning: "If you mobilize troops and suits you will be sorry. I'll do everything in my power to stop you." With that, he grasped the doorknob and furiously stormed out.

IIIOIII

"I'm glad you're checking in again so promptly Preventer Zero." Une's cold voice filtered through the laptop speakers with grainy white noise rushing behind her words. "What is the status of your current mission?"

"Target Plague has been eliminated." Hiiro and Serena were sitting in the same car they had been picked up in. There were still holes in the hood and the windshield was still shattered, but the radio and equipment seemed intact enough.

"I've come across information which you need to have verified without delay: all life on L2 has been terminated." Hiiro made an attempt to sound callous and apathetic. It made the situation somehow seem less horrific to pretend it wasn't a big deal to begin with, that it didn't matter to him personally. Truth be told it was personal. Any fight, battle, war was personal. And all civilians and innocents who lost their lives, or their loved ones, that was the most personal aspect of the fighting. The loss of L2 was staggering.

"Terminated?" Une's repeat was barely audible. She gave a moment of silence, then cleared her throat. "From bad to worse. I'll have that looked into right away, but Hiiro, you have to put aside your search for the other two Horsemen right now and get into space! I recently received a communicate from Preventer Barton. He and Preventer Chang are locked in a battle for L3 with monsters of the Sailor's caliber. They've been doing their best, but can't hold out for much longer. I sent word to the nearest space port to you that you would be on your way and need transportation as soon as you arrived. They have a shuttle prepped and ready for you and the Sailor."

"Roger that. The next time I contact you will be from a liberated L3." Hiiro ended the satellite link without allowing Une to squeeze another word in. Then he turned to Serena, who had been sitting patiently and quietly beside him.

"Where's the space port?" She asked calmly.

"Close, the other side of the city. We can be there in fifteen minutes if we walk fast enough."

"Okay, let's jog it. If they're up against a monster from the Negaverse, I doubt it will let them live once its bored with them. How long is the trip to space?"

"Usually close to eight hours. We're going in a military shuttle, it will be closer to four hours for us." Serena rolled her eyes.

"Figures. So not fair that the military gets places faster than the rest of the world." Hiiro had to smirk.

"Come on, let's go." They took off racing against not each other but their internal clocks. Both felt the desire for speed and their bodies pumped molten blood through their veins in the rush.

Soon the streets of the city became wider and less congested. The buildings were fewer and far between, and a large fenced field came into sight at the end of town. As they heaved and came to a halt at the base entrance, both smiled haggardly at each other. Hiiro quirked his eyebrow up and deadpanned as he looked at her and said: "You're fast."

She gave a short laugh, throwing her head back in idle disbelief. "Sure. You're pretty fast yourself, Preventer Zero." The use of the nickname caught Hiiro off guard and he felt strange that she had used it. He didn't mind the name. But she was someone he, for once, wished wouldn't think of him as just another soldier. And the nickname was the embodiment for his very soldier-oriented self. Still, just about any name she called him sounded sweet coming from her laughing, upturned pink lips.

"Hiiro?" Serena said, this time more seriously. He shook the last thoughts from his head and reached into his pocket to pull out his Preventers badge. Flashing it at the man in the guard-post of the space port gate, he walked straight on ahead and forced Serena to walk quickly behind him to catch up.

"That one, over there." He pointed to a readied shuttle on the runway. They jogged over and found themselves quickly loaded and strapped in, made ready for space travel. Hiiro was amazed at Serena's limited knowledge of space and space-related travel though she claimed to be Lunarian. Then again, she had also holed herself up into an orphanage for the last few millennia, so he had to take that into consideration. She had been impressed that he was going to be piloting the shuttle; and even more impressed that space travel was preformed with such ease considering the technology.

"Its just so different from what you hear on television, being here and seeing it." She claimed. Hiiro said nothing, making sure to grunt every so often. Recently his mind had been flooded with problematic thoughts that had been distracting. Really, annoying more than anything. And he was doing his very best to clear his mind once more.

Serena sat still as she could as the shuttle took off and ascended into the atmosphere. She had tried to convince herself that this was safe, but no amount of convincing would help. Unless it involved Sailor teleporting, space travel was not ready for humans in her opinion. Still, when Hiiro put the shuttle on autopilot and unsnapped from his seatbelt to float around in the empty passenger cabin behind her, Serena looked longingly at him. To afraid to un-strap, she sat and pondered the strange boy she had met and was coming to know so well. He had warned her about space debris and the ride maybe being a bit bumpy, then gotten up smirking and without looking back shut the cockpit door, leaving her in a slightly scared mental state all alone.

Hiiro was by far one of the most layered people she had ever met. He hid himself behind his job, behind his lifestyle, behind his past. His entire existence depended upon his persona in the military career. She saw that he realized this. She saw that he was uncomfortable with this. And yet he very obviously did not know how to go about changing. Yet here he was, still fighting, though he wanted to change, still putting it off to once again take care of the greater good. Still fighting. Did anyone, she wondered, ever thank him? Being a soldier on the front lines of a battle for the Earth was a tireless, thankless job, she knew. Did anyone ever take care of him? Let him rest? Did anyone ever just let him be himself?

Hiiro sat in the middle of the passenger section of the plane with his laptop, writing an up-to-date report on their status. Concentrating on work seemed to be his only option left. They had at least two more hours before they reached the colony, and he was planning on refreshing his memory of the colony blueprints as well. The cockpit door slid open and his eyes slid up from his glowing screen to see the only other person on the shuttle.

Serena's silver hair shone brightly in the yellow light above and behind her. Her Sailor outfit, pristine and unwrinkled from the last battle, lit up the room brightly. The colors in the outfit themselves seemed to bring happiness and cheer into the cabin. Hiiro felt his eyes freeze on her large, expressive blue eyes which were trained directly on him.

"Hey Hiiro." She smiled gently as she bounded off the floor lightly and enjoyed the lower-gravity sensation she had gained in space. She landed next to him in the center aisle and settled in the seat right next to him.

"I see you un-strapped." He smirked at her, folding his laptop screen down. Her smile was blinding.

"I did." She nodded.

"You're not afraid?" His voice remained even.

"I was. I'm working on it. Long as there's no turbulence I'll be okay."

"But if there's turbulence you won't be?" She smacked him lightly on his shoulder.

"Brat."
"Never been called that before." Hiiro turned his face away from her—he didn't want her to see the smile she had just placed across his face.

"Why, Hiiro Yui, is that a smile?" She smiled. He was so relaxed right now—nothing like the uptight guy he could be in serious situations. It seemed as though their return to space was making him a much more content person.

"Hnn." He grunted, hoping she would be annoyed and get bored with him, or leave and leave him to blush on his own. She did not.

"I believe you are smiling!" She proclaimed. He felt his cheeks grow redder. Hiiro imagined Serena's face was lit up with delirious glee as she made him twitch and squirm in an awkward awareness of her warm frame laughing at him in good fun.

"Hnn." He grunted again. This time before she could respond, their shuttle hit a piece of debris and the metallic walls reverberated around them. Serena heard the dull metal clang with the debris and felt the vibrations.

"AhahEeep!" She cried out, sounding much like the old teenage version of herself. Jumping into the air in fear and alarm, Serena stood up and gripped the shuttle seat in front of her for dear life. Hiiro, who had instinctually turned to look for Serena when the shuttle collided with the fragments simply watched her panic attack in quiet and collected amusement. Still, he could see what amused him terrified her. Her fingers dug into the chair, knuckles white and muscles tensed.

"Serena, sit down." He commanded her gently. She shot him a cold look of disdain, and finally Hiiro had had it. He broke out in a short chuckle of laughter and stood up from his seat. Serena, in mild shock from both the small impact and hearing Hiiro, made no move. Hiiro gently placed his hands over her gloved ones and coaxed her to sit in the seat beside him once again. He felt her shaking, and placed his arm around her shoulders comfortingly.

"Wow." She whispered. "When you said bumpy ride, you weren't kidding."

"None of it's dangerous. Part of Duo's day job is to come up here and blast these pieces into small enough pieces so they won't hurt anyone and then collect them for recycling. He and Hilde have a good business." He tried to speak as though he was not fazed by the collision, or by the smell of the vanilla perfume that wafted from her hair.

"Hmm. Well thank goodness for Duo." She smiled, looking up directly at Hiiro. "And thank goodness for you too." He looked at her questioningly, and she continued. "You're an amazing shot. That arrow almost nailed me. You saved my life twice now."

"It's my job." Serena paused, then started again.

"You know, you and I, we're very similar. We both fight thankless wars to save others from knowing the hells of war. We sacrificed everything in order to continue to fight for what we think is right. And we sacrifice ourselves and our lives to being soldiers, we even go as far as to define ourselves through the battles we've fough. Those battles, they help us tell other people about ourselves and what we are." She was still looking him directly in the eyes as she spoke, watching his own orbs shift and blink with trepidation and acknowledgment.

"I fight because it's my purpose, just like saving people is yours." He finally whispered. Serena let a tear flow freely down her cheek.

"When do you ever just get to be yourself then?" She asked, tearing her gaze from him and staring at the seat back in front of her. Hiiro slowly brought his hand up and used it to turn her face back towards his.

"Right now, when I have nothing else I can do. I've written my report. I'm traveling to a fight, which I may not make it out of alive. I am in the middle of space. I've done all I can do until I reach my destination, and all that's left right now is for me to relax and think. This is the time when I can be myself." His velvety, dark voice lulled her into a deep state of relaxation. Hiiro slowly slid his calloused, warm hand from Serena's cheek to the back of her neck. Softly running his fingertips through her slinky silver strands at the base of her neck, he made her melt closer into him. Ignoring the armrest, which separated both shuttle occupants closer to their hips, Hiiro pressed Serena's forehead to his and ever so gently rubbed his nose against hers.

Serena could feel his hot breath against her lips, and her own labored breathing came in quick, short bursts. Licking her rosy lips and closing her eyes, she stopped short. This was his moment? This…

"Serena." He breathed. He too licked his lips. "I'm going to kiss you now."

Quickly, before she could respond, Hiiro covered her soft, full mouth with a firm but dazzlingly careful kiss. He teased and toyed with Serena until she openly submitted to his onslaught. Warm, tingling lips crashing together in mutual attraction.

IIIOIII

Wow! This was an interesting chapter to write. My reviewers, who I love dearly, you are awesome! Serenity Wayne, Lilaclight, Maq, Patricia16, chibi-chibi-tenshi, Tenshi-Chikyuu, Wicked Tenshi, THANK YOU! LilacLight, I don't know about the bullet being found, but yes her hair is definitely silver all the time now, it was only blonde in her memory. And thanks Maq—I have been reading a lot of poetry lately, which is probably where the elements came from! But I've also been horrible with spelling, oh well! I don't proofread or grammar read ever really, I'm lucky things go as smoothly as they do lol! This chapter is for you guys, since you've been waiting forever, an eternity (HAHAHA) to see the romance!