Annalise frowned as she stared at her friend. Kaethe carried a suitcase in each hand, filled to the brim with everything she was going to take to Japan. Her outfit-a spartan but practical black jeans and a white henley-was typical Kaethe. Never immodest. Never overdressed or underdressed. "Kaethe..." She murmured, feeling tears come to her eyes despite her best efforts. Through their freshman year in college-through everything they had endured-Kaethe had been like a sister to her. They were even sometimes mistaken for sisters, with their bright blonde hair. But though they shared the same wide, pale eyes and wavy hair, Kaethe's severe features were a sharp contrast to Annalise's guileless face. "You can't really be going. It's just a visit, right?"

"I don't know," Kaethe replied. "We both know what I have to do. Who I have to chase. I'm sick of letting the priests off the hook the minute they leave to terrorize some other theater. And Rhea was the worst of them all. Plus..." She glanced away and fingered her cross, it's central intersection studded with a bright opal crescent. "We have to find Erik. He abandoned his duties-he abandoned Germany. I won't let him off the hook, either."

"We don't know the whole story. Ikkoku said-"

"I don't care what she said. He made his choice. The wrong choice."

Moon Senshi: Unmei no Kodomo

Episode 21:

The Shining Judge

Kaethe sighed. It wasn't home, but it would do. The tiny one-room apartment didn't even have an oven, and the shower was barely big enough to fit her. She had thought about staying the dorms at Tokyo U, but she couldn't imagine sharing a room with the kind of secret she was keeping.

Kaethe took off her pendant and looked at the brightly shining silver cross. it had been a long, strange journey, full of trials for her faith, but she still admired the queen-still thought of her as being something more than the rest of them, even if they were both technically Moon Senshi. The queen was their leader, after all, and she exemplified all of the traits that Kaethe most admired. Courage, purity-justice. Traits that the other Moon Senshi of Tokyo spat on.

Kaethe was different. She would show them what it meant to fight for justice-and she would be an ally to the planetary senshi where the other Moon Senshi weren't.

And she would find Erik-and take him to task for what had happened in Germany. For the job that Didrika had been doing in his place-poorly.

"Tomorrow night, right?" Tokimo said with a grin as she stood in Seisui's doorway. "Maybe next time, I'll bring Coeus. He's still settling in."

"Sure," Seisui said with a weak smile. "It sounds like a lot has happened the past few days, so I don't blame you for wanting things to quiet down first."

"Right!" Tokimo waved behind her as she skipped down the sidewalk. "I'll see you in school tomorrow!" She yelled as she ran down the street.

Seisui closed the door as her friend left and tried to take a deep breath. Tokimo was trying to ressurect their friendship after the damage that the Nemesis conflict had wrought on it. But between her decision not to fight Pinkmoon-no, Luna-and her budding relationship with Coeus, Seisui was watching the gulf between them grow wider and wider. She could feel their friendship crumbling apart, even as Tokimo tried desperately to maintain it. Tokimo was all about being a superhero, and that was something that Seisui couldn't do with her anymore. On so many levels...

Seisui held her locket in front of her and looked at it ruefully. It was nothing but a piece of junk now. She put it on the dining room table and looked toward her phone.

"If this is a place that brings you comfort, I encourage you to visit often."

Seisui felt her heart beat a little faster. Erik did make her nervous. He was so distant... He had offered, so it wasn't a big deal, right? She had no idea why she was feeling so nervous about it. She picked up her phone and dialed his number before she began to think of anything stupid again.

"Hello?" Erik said from the other side of the receiver.

"H-hi," She said awkwardly. "T-the other day you said-I just thought maybe I could, you know-come and train, or something? I don't really have anything... and I need the practice..."

"It's-" there was a brief pause. "-fine."

"W-well, it is a bit late, maybe it wasn't a good idea-"

"If you want to come over, please do. I'm just a little surprised. I remember hearing you talk to Tokimo about hanging out tonight."

"O-oh, we did it's just... she's already left..."

"I see," Erik replied, his tone unreadable. "Well, if it's okay with your parents, you can come over."

"R-right," Seisui said, suddenly more nervous than ever. "I'll be right over."

When Seisui arrived, the sky was beginning to darken a little and the pond on Erik's land reflected the bright vermillion sky.

"Something wrong?" Ikkoku asked, swooping down into a nearby tree.

"No," Seisui said quietly. "Sometimes... you just want to take it in." Seisui watched as Erik approached, his head turned up toward Ikkoku.

"Well, If I were you, I'm sure I'd appreciate the view, too," She said wryly.

"T-that's not-"

"It sounds like you're being a thorn in someone's side again, Ikkoku," Erik said irritably, looking up toward his bird. "I wish I could say I was surprised."

"A thorn? Don't you mean a talon?" Ikkoku cackled while Erik just rolled his eyes.

"I take it that you've eaten, Seisui?" Erik asked.

"Yeah," She replied, pulling a water bottle out of her backpack. "I already got changed before I headed over and everything, so we can start practice right away."

"Just as well, given the time," Erik replied. "Let's head to the barn."

It was another long, agonizing practice, the kind that Seisui had come to expect from Erik. But exercising made her feel better, somehow. She was beginning to get back a focus she hadn't had in a long, long time. Erik's encouragement when she got closer to her goals as a fencer felt more genuine than his many of his awkward attempts to reach out to her emotionally-than many of Tokimo's attempts.

"You seem distracted," Erik said. They had been sparring after the night's long, tedious drills. Erik always went easy on her-that much was obvious-but even so, he was overtaking her easily. "Maybe we should take a break."

"I'm going to have to fight when I'm distracted. In battle I-" Seisui bit her lip as she realized she would not be seeing very much of battle at all, if things kept up at this rate. "...maybe you're right."

Erik paused uneasily for a moment, watching Seisui's pained expression. "Why don't we stop for the night."

"I'll never learn if I don't muscle through it."

"Trust me," Erik replied. "I know more than anyone that some things... can't just be buried."

"You seem to do an awful lot of that from what I hear," Seisui replied caustically.

"Perhaps. But you know more about my past than anyone else at this point." He glanced up at the sky ruefully. "except for maybe Ikkoku."

"...do you think I will ever get my powers back?"

"That all depends on you. That's as it always is. The longer you doubt your ability to do so, the longer it will take."

"That doesn't sound like a good prognosis. But maybe it's better that way, I-I don't know if I could-" Seisui bit her lip as a horrible and overwhelming feeling rose inside of her. "I-I-" she began to sob despite herself. "A-always do this... n-nothing but pathetic tears..."

"Seisui..." Erik glanced away before giving her an awkward hug. "I am sure some day, you will master the emotions that overwhelm you."

"Someday looks awfully far away from where I'm standing," Seisui said, wiping away her tears with one hand before returning the hug. Her loneliness had overcome her self-consciousness. "But... but I guess it's always seems a little closer when I'm w-" Seisui paused. She was half-glad to be in the hug, where Erik couldn't see her blush. What was she saying?! This was all wrong. "-When I'm here," she corrected at the last minute, stepping out of the hug and turning away to wipe away the last of her tears.

"Well, I'm glad," Erik replied. "Were you planning on staying the night, or...?"

"N-no!" Seisui said urgently. "T-that is... maybe some other time."

"It's very late... are you sure...?"

"I, well..." It was very late. The moon had already risen high in the sky, and going home now would mean not getting home until after midnight.

"You should stay," Ikkoku said. Seisui glanced up in the trees; she was sure that Ikkoku hadn't been there a minute ago... "I don't feel right letting you go home this late."

"I didn't know this was your house," Erik said dryly. "You can go home if you like, Seisui, but please allow me to take you home if you insist. Crystal Tokyo is not completely immune from crime or danger, as you well know."

"N-no," she said. "I couldn't put you out like that. I can stay." Ikkoku was there, after all. It's not like they were alone.

"I'll set up a futon in the spare room."

Seisui looked out the window at the brightly shining stars. Somewhere, was there another senshi contemplating their own powerlessness out in the vast expanse of space?

Seisui sighed. She certainly had a flair for the dramatic. She supposed that was what had gotten her into trouble to begin with.

She tossed and turned a few more times before walking outside. She sat down on the porch for a few moments, enjoying the mild June air, and then got up to take a walk around Erik's quiet, wooded grounds. He had lent her a t-shirt and sweatpants to sleep in, and even though they were clean they had the smell of smoke and freshly-cut wood, a smell that clung to everything at Erik's. Seisui grimaced a little as her bare feet were jabbed by the gravel around Erik's porch, then sighed in relief as she stepped onto the mowed grass. She watched the moon, bright and silver, the empty-but-resurrected palace sitting abandoned on its surface. It brought memories of the "abandoned" Nemesis rushing back into her mind. The memory of the purple-clad woman holding the glaive came back to her; holding her brooch out to her, and the promise of power that came with it...

Seisui pulled out her brooch again. She had her brooch again, but she did not have power.

"You can have that power again."

Seisui looked up, shocked. It was the same woman who had given her her brooch. Her outfit was different this time; instead of the lapels and the priest-like garb, she wore a low-cut purple dress with a black corset and a mermaid skirt. Her hair was long and black and flowing. She was beautiful and her voice was kind... but it had a strange edge to it.

"Who are you?" Seisui asked, her eyes wide.

"They call me Rhea," she said, folding her arms. "So? How about it?"

"How about what?" Seisui asked guardedly.

"The power to transform again. The power to be a sailor senshi."

"For what price?" Seisui said guarded. "You work for Nemesis."

"Nemesis' deal is always the same; you work for her, you can have whatever it is you want. In this case... the power you've missed so dearly."

"What good is that power if I'm working for Nemesis?!"

"Is that really the right question to ask?" Rhea said, raising an eyebrow. "Maybe what you should really be asking is-what good is not working for Nemesis doing you?"

"What?" Seisui whispered.

"Can you really say you're allied with the other Moon Senshi anymore? When was the last time you agreed with what they were fighting for? It was before Nemesis appeared. Before they decided that Sailor Pinkmoon wasn't worth their time anymore. Before they decided that what happened to your father wasn't worth their time anymore."

"Father..." Seisui murmured.

"At first you were content to join them half-heartedly in their fight. But then you couldn't even do that. Let's face it, you've never really been on-board with the fight against Nemesis. You've always been nursing the wounds your ego suffered when they gave up the fight against Lady Serenity."

"It wasn't about my ego! It was about my father!"

Rhea scoffed. "Was it? Let's face it-you may criticize Tokimo for wanting to be the hero of her own story, but you were just as bad. You saw yourself as the tragic heroine fighting against impossible odds. You still play that role. That's how you comfort yourself, how you keep yourself company-by wallowing in your own juvenile self-pity."

"No!" Seisui said, turning away. "I'm trying to change! I'm trying to put my vengeance behind me! I'm trying to be what people want me to be!"

"But you can't," Rhea replied. "You can't be something that you're not. You try to tell yourself 'I was wrong, I need to change', but what you're really thinking, deep down, is-they're wrong. They just don't understand the truth. You don't need to change who you are if you join Nemesis, Seisui. You can be exactly who you've always wanted to be. You can finally get revenge on the White Moon Family. You can prove to everyone that you can transform and be powerful. You can get revenge on Tokimo for her wavering loyalty."

"Tokimo? But I-"

"Admit it! You've treated her friendship half-heartedly every since that day."

"I... but I..."

"And now the one person you really do like-Erik-well, I'm sure I don't have to say anything about how that will turn out."

Seisui sobbed. "I wish I could just forget," she sobbed. "I wish I could go back to the way things were at the beginning. When they were simple. When all I had to do was hate her," Seisui continued, defeated.

Rhea smirked. "Wish granted."

Seisui felt as though something was eating her alive. As though her whole body were tightening and constricting. And as though something were becoming numb...

"Seisui!" she could hear a man scream as she began to vanish. Whose voice was that calling her name...?

Tokimo was trying her best to actually bite the bullet and study for a change so she'd be able to fact it up around Ci-Ci. But she had to admit that this knowledge stuff was kind of a pain. It involved a lot of memorization. And hard work. She sighed as she rested her head on the kotatsu table and looked up at her mom. "Hey, Mom," she said, "can Coeus live in the guest room?" Having him stay at Metis was a bummer-and he was never around when she needed him to keep her company or help her with homework. Or other important stuff.

"What?" Her mother said, putting down her book and eyeing Tokimo critically.

"Can Coeus live in the guest room?"

"Your boyfriend Coeus?"

"No, my pet cat," Tokimo replied flatly.

"Of course he can't, dear," She said. "Even I have standards."

Tokimo pouted. "But Metis is so faaaar."

"Can't he just teleport?" She replied. Tokimo's mother bit her lip. That was kind of an inconvienent skill, now that she thought about it. Well... a too-convienent skill.

"He can," Tokimo replied with a sigh, "But then he'd have to do it all the time, and that's real inconvienent for him. Like having to run around all the time."

"I see."

"So can he come live with us?"

"No."

Tokimo pouted. She would have to come up with something new. "Fiiine," she said with a belabored sigh.

Yamiko immediately had a bad feeling when she heard a knock on the door.

"I'll answer it," Eros said, getting up from a desk where he had been scribbling away on a piece of paper. He smiled a little awkwardly as Tokimo appeared on the other side. "Hiya!" she said, waltzing inside. "Is Yamiko around?"

"What do you want?" Yamiko asked, putting down her book on the coffee table and looking toward Tokimo suspiciously.

"I was wondering if Coeus could stay here," Tokimo asked, flopping down in an armchair.

Yamiko raised an eyebrow. "Uh, no," Yamiko replied. "He tried to kill Eros. And me. More than once."

"Eros tried to kill you, but he lives with you."

"That's different."

Tokimo raised an eyebrow.

Eros looked toward Yamiko as though something had occurred to him. "What about the mansion?"

"We sold the mansion," Yamiko said hastily. "Too bad..."

"No we didn't," Sayoko said, entering the living room with a sandwich in her hand. She ignored Yamiko's desperate hand signals to shut up. "We totally still have it."

"I think you're mistaken," Yamiko said warningly. "We definitely sold it."

"No, no," Sayoko said, "Deed's in the safety deposit box. I think it's a great idea-we can have all the priests under one convenient roof. I mean, come on-who wouldn't want Mauros as a housemate? He's adorable."

"But Sayoko... that was our house from... you know... before."

"Yamiko, it's not a mausoleum. I know that it's filled with memories of mom and dad, but... we have to move on. Face it-we both know that that house is our home. We just didn't want to go home because it reminded us of everything we've missed.

"But we have a chance to make new memories there now. Memories with Eros, right?" Sayoko winked at him.

"Well, it would be nice to have some extra room," Eros admitted. "Not that the privacy here is terrible-it's a huge apartment-but let's face it. The three of us aren't exactly slobs when it comes to our grooming habits, and things are coming to a head with the bathroom situation."

Yamiko frowned. He had a point there-it was getting to be a mad dash to see who could get in first, with everyone taking about an hour each. The only reason Yamiko didn't take longer was that she had a uniform and wasn't allowed to wear make-up. "But... but..."

"But it's your house, my sweet," Eros added hastily. "I only say anything because Sayoko asked for my opinion."

"Yeah, it's also my house," Sayoko replied. "And I'm about ready to move in. Come on, give it some thought, eh Yamiko?"

Yamiko bit her lip.

"Why don't you head home for now, Tokimo," Eros suggested. "Give Yamiko a little time to think about it. This is a big decision."

"But-"

Eros gave her a stern look and Tokimo turned, pouting, and walked through the door. Yamiko covered her face with her hands and sighed. "There's just so many painful memories," she said at last.

Eros sat beside her and took her hand. "We could make new memories together. Don't you think it's sad to try and forget your parents? Isn't it better to remember them fondly?"

"But it's hard," Yamiko said. "Things were a lot easier when we finally left that place. I couldn't even enter the kitchen without bursting into tears." Yamiko bit her lip and looked at the floor. "I didn't realize how much I needed them until they were gone..."

"Everyone has a complicated relationship with their parents, Yami," Eros replied. "Sol knows I did. And it was hard returning to Aphrodite, remembering the horrible things that happened there... but at the same time, it felt good to be home again."

"Let's just head over there and look around, eh Yami? Maybe when you get over there, you'll find it's not as bad as you thought it would be," Sayoko suggested. "And if you find it too hard, me and Eros will be there to cheer you up."

Yamiko sighed. "Okay," she replied at last.

Yamiko looked around awkwardly as Sayoko swung the mansion's door open and led her inside. As Sayoko flipped on the lights, the streams of illumination lit up motes of dust that flew thickly through the air.

"It's been awhile!" Sayoko announced, swiping her finger across a mantle and examining the dust.

"This is a splendid house," Eros said appreciatively. "It's a shame it's been neglected."

Yamiko said nothing. She gently pulled a white sheet off of a coffee table and examined the bright, glossy picture books still strewn across the table. There was an artbook of Maxfield Parrish paintings she had adored looking through as a child, snuggled against her mother while she sat on the couch, busily typing for this and that for the Hoshino Group. Sometimes she would look up at her mother's distant expression and ask her who the maidens on the cliffs and in the castles were and what it was that it looked like they wanted. Quickly and impatiently, her mother would invent a story, usually involving princesses and freedom.

"What's this?" Eros asked, sitting down beside her at the coffee table. "Do you mind if I look?"

Yamiko shook her head and pushed the book toward him. Eros opened the book and held it up so it the light shone on the glossy pages. He smiled as he turned through it. "These are lovely," He said. "They remind me of my home." He stared for a moment at a painting of a woman, blond haired and lit by golden light. A riot of orange and pink flowers were in full bloom behind her. "She reminds me of my mother," He said a little wistfully.

"That's right," Yamiko mumbled. "Your mother is also..."

"Well, hardly surprising," He said with a wistful smile. "But my mother and I were really not very close. Like many royal parents, she was more interested in my good breeding and how I reflected on her than on a close bond between a mother and a child."

"But she was the sailor soldier of love. Isn't that... strange?"

"Well, she had many lovers. More than one husband, for that matter. And she was very busy, because of that and because of her duties. After all, she had to love Venus most of all."

"You sound like you only half believe that."

"In some ways she was a hard woman," he said with a sigh. "But what can I say? We do not choose our parents, any of us. Though we were not close, she was not cruel to me, either. I have no real complaints."

"Maybe I expected too much from my parents," Yamiko said.

Eros put his arm around her and flipped the page to a painting of a girl on a swing, flying through open sky from a tree branch suspended over a cliff. "Well," he said, closing the book. "Shall we continue on?" Yamiko nodded and they got up, following a bored Sayoko into the dining room.

Eros looked under the sheets covering the impressive art deco dining room set, smoothing his hand against the rich cherrywood table.

"Look at this," Yamiko said, opening a china cabinet and pulling out a hand-painted teapot studded with cherry blossoms. "My mother's favorite tea set. It has matching cups," she added, pulling out a delicately painted japanese-style teacup.

"It's lovely," Eros said with a smile. "Did you drink from these as a child?"

"Mother wouldn't let me," She replied. "She said I could use it when I finished my etiquette classes." She frowned. "I was almost finished them when..."

Eros kissed the top of Yamiko's head. "Well, I am sure she would have wanted you to use them."

Yamiko smiled a little sadly and replaced the tea set. "Here, I'll show you some of the bedrooms."

Yamiko led him through the rest of the house, showing him a few of the large bedrooms. Most of them had western style beds and plenty of room-more like small downtown apartments than bedrooms to most people's eyes.

"Well, there's certainly plenty of space. Not just for Coeus and I, but for everyone, really. It might be convenient to have everyone in one place..."

Yamiko looked thoughtful. "I suppose... but still..."

Yamiko moved on, walking up to a big, wooden door with a sign on it. Her name was written there in neat kanji that looked almost typeset.

"This is your room, Yami?" He said softly as she looked hesitantly onward.

Yamiko paused and rested her hand gently on the doorknob. "Yes," she said at last. She dropped her hand from the knob, and at that moment, Eros gently took her by the hand and opened the door as she trailed behind.

Everything was covered in dusty sheets, and Yamiko couldn't even describe the emotion that came over her. For a moment, she was back in junior high, writing her terrible poetry in her terrible journal, feeling small and torn over the loss of her parents after a lifetime of hating them.

Eros opened the thick, dark drapes and light flooded into the room. Then he stepped over to her bed. "May I remove the sheets?"

Yamiko hesitated and then nodded. Eros pulled the sheets off the furniture, first from her tall, western-style four-poster bed, then from a velvet loveseat printed with a small paisley pattern, then her black-stained dresser and armoire. Finally, he pulled the sheet off of an elegant victorian style desk and matching chair. To Eros' eyes, it looked like cherry; the finish on the impressive piece was still glossy and shone in the light from the window.

At this, Yamiko walked over to the desk, pulling out the topmost drawer and picking up a black diary with a lock and key that looked old and well-worn.

"That looks like a journal," Eros said, surprised. "I thought that people usually wrote things in their computers or phones these days."

"My parents looked through pretty much everything I owned that had a screen," Yamiko said. "They were pretty overprotective. An old-fashioned journal was the only way I could write something and be absolutely sure they would never see it. Even then, I had to hide the key and hope they didn't decide they'd rather break it open than keep it a secret that they'd been snooping through my things. By the time... it wasn't an issue, I'd gotten too used to it to change my habits."

"I see."

Yamiko looked down at the journal for a long time before speaking. "Maybe... maybe I could go get the key."

"Where is it?"

"In the attic," she replied. "It's kind of a haul."

"We can go together."

Two long, dusty staircases had come and gone before Yamiko reached a final, shadowy stairwell. Even when the light flickered on, it was dim and darkly atmospheric. Right at home for her, Yamiko thought grabbed the banister and pulled herself up the steep, winding staircase and into the cavernous attic, the light streaming from the top floor's dormers hitting every dust mote in their path. Eros looked around in interest at the piles of boxes, crates, and cloth covered furniture. Even with all of the things that had been collected up there over the years, the attic was mostly empty space.

"You could make another room up here if you wanted to," he said. "It's huge, and there's plenty of light."

"Why bother?" Yamiko asked. "There's so many rooms already." Eros shrugged and flipped a corner of a sheet off a what looked like a piano.

He smiled. "Why, it's a harpsichord," he said, impressed.

"My mother played the piano," Yamiko explained. "The harpsichord was a birthday gift from a corporate CEO. You can use it if you like."

Eros smiled. "Implying I'll be around here to use it after all," he said. Yamiko looked away but said nothing. "No, that's all right. I can play piano passably, but my forte is plucked instruments. What about you? Do you play piano?"

Yamiko shrugged. "I'm okay. My mom made me play but I never had any passion for it."

Eros replaced the cover on the harpsichord as Yamiko rifled through a box and pulled out a skeleton key. "Found it," Yamiko said, heading back downstairs. Eros followed close behind her until she reached her room and sat on the bed, flipping through a book of poetry and journal entries that sounded angsty and overwrought even to her. Eros attempted a glance over her shoulder, but Yamiko pressed the book against her chest, blushing.

"Sorry, Eros, but you're the last person I want to read this book. Least of all because of your own... well, that poem you wrote me was..."

"Trust me, Yamiko, I've written my share of awful poetry-enough to fill several volumes or more," Eros replied. "One of these days, I'll take you to Aphrodite and show you. Not to mention the bad paintings, the bad music compositions..."

"You're just making me feel less accomplished," Yamiko said, rolling her eyes. She glanced back down at the poems and sighed, sad memories rushing back to her.

"Let's fill this house with new memories, Yamiko," Eros replied, as if in answer to her thoughts. "Happy ones. I could live here, and Coeus and Mauros... maybe even the other priests, once they come to our side."

"If they come to our side."

"Once. Trust me, no one wants to live on Nemesis if they can see another way. All of us are hurt and broken, but if you and I can build a new future for ourselves-if Coeus and Mauros can-I believe we all have a second chance. Let's make this house a place for that second chance. Then we can heal together."

Yamiko smiled. "You sound like Princess Venus." She sighed. "You have the kind of heart I'd expect the Priest of love to have."

"Despite everything," he said, taking her hand. "We all have the hearts we need to be priests of our respective holy lands, whatever we've convinced ourselves of to the contrary. Our holy lands call to us to fulfill their noblest purposes."

"I'm not sure I would be the best hostess to a bunch of people with emotional problems," Yamiko said nervously.

"I believe in you," Eros replied. "And your sister and I are here to help you." he kissed her forehead. "In any way you need help."

Natsuko sighed as she glanced at the rows of shining motorcycles, wondering what it would feel like to be in the seat of one of her own. The dealership wasn? even on the way back to the palace, but she couldn? help taking a stroll the long way around. Sure, the dealership itself was little more than an office with a tiny showroom, but there were rows of brand new motorcycles and painstakingly restored antiques waiting for a loving home.

"Nice, aren't they?" Fubuki said, walking up and standing beside her. "We used to have a Kawasaki Ninja. It still irks me that my mom sold it off."

"Your mom drove a motorcycle?" Natsuko said incredulously.

Fubuki laughed. "Nah, my dad did. He was really into them. He used to let me ride with him... drove my mom nuts."

Natsuko paused as she looked up and down the rows of motorcycles. "Do you know how to ride one?"

Fubuki sighed. "I wish. My dad died before he could really teach anything. I know the basics... how to start and stop, But I doubt I could really ride. It's pretty fucking lame, having as much money as I do and not having the ability to go out and buy a goddamn bike."

"You couldn't drive it anyway," Natsuko remarked. "You're underage."

Fubuki shrugged. "Like I give a fuck. Anyway, now that I'm a Sailor Senshi and shit, who would stop me?"

"Don't tempt me," Natsuko replied. She herself doubted that anyone would stop her from driving a bike around town once they knew who she was-and she was a lot more popular than Sailor Miranda.

"Why not? You're rich and powerful," Fubuki replied. "Just buy a bike and ride it. Who is gonna stop you?"

"I'm not going to drive a motorcycle when I don't even know how," Natsuko replied. "...I'm hoping maybe Haruka will teach me how."

"She probably has better things to do-or thinks she has better things to do. Fucking senshi,?Fubuki replied. Natsuko rolled her eyes as Fubuki sat on one of the padded leather seats and stroked the Kawasaki Ninja appreciatively. "But if you can get her to agree to it, by all means. And give me a call-I'd like to get in on that."

"I'm not sure how popular you'll be around the palace..."

Fubuki threw her head back and laughed, crossing her legs and resting her hands on the bike carelessly. "I guess you're right. Though if I could tolerate anyone in the palace, I bet it would be her. At least she has some balls."

"I guess that's one way of putting it," She replied, raising an eyebrow. "If she's interested, I'll let you know."

Fubuki sighed and patted the bike before getting up and heading back down the sidewalk. "One of these days, I'll have a Ninja, just like my dad."

Kazeko gasped, sitting up in her cot. Fuyuko and she had gone camping, and despite the fact that only chirping crickets and singing frogs filled the night, something had pulled her from a deep sleep as quickly and terrifyingly as the sound of a predator's growl beside her.

Fuyuko was up like a shot. She looked around fearfully and then turned toward Kazeko, putting a hand on her shoulder. "What the heck happened? Are you okay?"

"S-sorry," Kazeko stammered, drawing away. "I just had... a terrible feeling."

"About what?"

Kazeko paused and pulled her bag of runes from her backpack. she reached inside and pulled out three stones, feeling the grooves gently with her hands. She frowned and replaced them. "I'm not sure. I think we've lost someone, Fuyuko. We've lost them and we need to get them back before it's too late."

"Lost? How? Who?"

"I don't know-I don't know," Kazeko replied unsteadily. "But I'd bet my life it's Seisui."

"Then we should go find her!" Fuyuko replied. "Come on."

"In the middle of the night, here? What good what it do? No... let's wait until the morning. We can't do anything until then anyway."

Fuyuko sighed. "But are you gonna be able to sleep like this? Whatever happened has you pretty freaking scared."

"I've got to sleep," Kazeko replied. "I have the feeling... we're going to need our energy for whatever has been thrown our way."

"Seisui..." Erik murmured, gasping for breath as he watched a whirlwind of white smoke transport her into thin air. He heard a flutter and turned toward the gyrfalcon. "You!" he cried. "You had something to do with this! Encouraging me to get close to her-naturally,so that you would have your chance to do-to do this!

"Then why am I still here, eh? To give you a nice, easy chance to kill me? Go ahead if you're so convinced. I may be a talking bird, but I'm far from invincible."

Erik pulled a small dagger from his pants and stared into Ikkoku's alien eyes. For a brief moment, there was... Someone else there instead. Someone...

He shook his head. "No. You speak the truth. But... Do you know... Can you guess why Morpheus took her?"

"I can think of a few reasons," Ikkoku replied. "To get everyone riled up and upset when it's clear that that's what Nemesis is all about. To lure us into a trap. Or even... To do with Seisui what has already been done with the priests at a time when Nemesis is rapidly losing generals."

"You think that would work? Could Seisui be turned against... Against us so easily?"

"She is very vulnerable right now," She replied. "Maybe even that vulnerable."

"Then we have to save her," Erik replied. "...It's my duty."

?asier said than done," Ikkoku said, looking out into the night at the pallid moon. "Now's she's in the Lion's den. It's up to Nemesis to make the first move."

"No! Who knows what might happen to her in the time that we waste!"

?hat are you going to do-take on Nemesis all by yourself, sword in hand? How well do you think that rescue attempt will end?"

Erik tightened his grip around his knife but said nothing. "I can't just sit here."

Ikkoku sighed. "You can and you will. Come on, let's go inside. I'm sure the others will be eager to help us come up with a plan."

"I need to call a meeting," Erik announced the next morning. No one had made it to class yet at this early hour but Kazeko, Yamiko, and Usako and her guardians. "we have a situation."

"Seisui," Kazeko said, clenching her fists and sharing a nervous but knowing glance with Fuyuko.

"What happened?" Usako asked, looking around nervously. "Did something happen to Seisui?"

"She was taken," Erik replied, looking out the window and to the city beyond. "I... Could not stop it in time."

"Don't blame yourself," Usako replied. "These things can't always be prevented." She exchanged a glance with Hiroshi. Once again, despite Seisui's wishes not to be thought of as being like the crown princess she detested so much, Usako couldn't help but be reminded of her own past troubles.

"We'll meet in the palace after school," Haruko said. "School is probably not a great place for a meeting anyway."

Yamiko sighed, thinking of the way Eros smiled as he was shown through her house-her memories. Fill the house with new memories, huh? Well, this might not qualify as a happy one, but it was an improvement over some of the ones that had been in her home before. "...Why don't we meet at my house? It might be more... Neutral. And once Tokimo hears the news... She might not want to meet at the palace."

"Won't your apartment be a little small?"

Yamiko joined Erik in looking outside at the very interesting scenery. "I actually have a house... I just... I didn't need the space. But we're-Sayoko and I-going to put up the priests when they aren't staying in their holy lands... so we decided to open it up. Maybe after the meeting is over we could... I don't know..." Yamiko grimaced. "Socialize. I'm sure Eros could... host a thing. With food."

"That sounds nice," Usako said congenially.

"Hey guys!" Tokimo shouted as she swung open the door. "...Where's Seisui?"

It was dark on Nemesis. That much Seisui knew already, though everything she knew seemed fuzzy and far away. She remembered Daddy, telling her stories. She remembered... She remembered Rhea saving her from some unkind people...

Seisui clung to the velveteen blanket that Rhea had given her. She was pretty and kind, but odd. She came over to Seisui and smiled.

"Look, sweetie," she said, holding up a deep blue dress with purple and black trimmings. The skirt was poofy-it was like a glamorous princess dress like Chibi-Usa wore, but all dark instead of light and white. "Do you like it?"

"I like light blue better," Seisui said hesitantly. "If that's okay."

"Light blue it is," Rhea said. She brushed the deep blue fabric and it became pale before Seisui's eyes.

"White lace?" She asked hopefully, looking doubtfully at the black lace trimming.

"Some things even I can't make possible," Rhea replied, sitting down with a sigh on her bed. It was a big solid wood bed-it had walls on three sides. Like when you got in the kitchen cupboard but left one of the doors open. "We could do black with white lace. But I think light blue with white lace puts us into flower girl territory."

Seisui had always wanted to be a flower girl and was disappointed that no one had ever asked her, even though she had been to two or three weddings. At this rate, she was going to have to wait until her older sister got married. "I guess black is okay," Seisui said half-heartedly, hoping Rhea would notice her disappointment and change her mind.

"You'll come to love it, trust me," Rhea replied reassuringly. "Besides, when you have everything else you want I think you'll agree it's a small sacrifice."

"Anything, huh?" Seisui said happily. "Anything?"

"Starting with revenge against all the people who were mean to you," Rhea said, holding the elaborate dress in front of Seisui's childish form. Seisui grinned as another memory came back to her: the memory of how Tokimo was a bad person and a bad friend. She would show her a thing or two.

"Eros!" Yamiko called out as cheerily as she could muster when she stepped into her old home... Her new home now, she supposed. Eros had made an amazing amount of progress cleaning the place in just a few hours; the vestibule was already sparkling. "Can you hear me?"

Eros leaned his head around the corner. "Yes, my sweet?"

Yamiko blushed and rolled her eyes. "P-please," she said, trying to seem exasperated. Eros grinned?e saw right through her. "I need your help... I imagine you're good at... Hosting things?"

Eros raised an eyebrow. "Is that a question, a statement, or a request?"

"A request?" She said nervously "There's a meeting tonight here... For the senshi. I need your help to make everyone welcome."

Eros smiled nervously. "Well, I'm happy you're already inviting people into your old home, but I must admit that's rather short notice."

"I-I know, but... well, it was an ideal location. You don't need to throw a party, just buy some snacks and put them on a coffee table."

Eros looked as though this idea deeply, personally insulted him. "I'm not going to go out and buy snacks. What kind of host would I be? I'm sure I can throw something decent together. Maybe some homemade hummus with vegetables, a little pita from the bakery..."

"They're going to be here in a couple of hours... are you going to have time for that?" Yamiko asked.

"I am if you finish cleaning the drawing room. Do you think you can handle it?" Eros asked uncertainly.

Yamiko frowned. "Of course I can. I'm not a child," She replied.

"Good," Eros said, redoing his ponytail and brushing off his clothes. "I'll be back soon."

Yamiko waved as he shut the dark wooden door behind him. Then she grimaced.

She had just been tricked into cleaning.

"Wow," Tokimo gaped, impressed despite all the worries that plagued her mind. "This house is big. Like super big."

That's why they call it a mansion," Sayoko remarked dryly.

It was impressive, though, even Sayoko had to admit that. Eros had turned the drawing room from a lifeless space into a room that looked like it deserved a place in their home. There was a russet coffee table in the center of the room that was newly polished to a brilliant shine-that must have been done before Yamiko started working on cleaning up. A tray of hors d'ourve style spanikopitas sat in the center of the table next to a steaming pot of tea-the same pot Sayoko knew Yami treasured from their childhood. Eros had even hung a few choice paintings on the wall-the kind of pre-Raphaelite knights and mermaids subject matter she suspected both her sister and Eros equally enjoyed.

Haruko stood in front of one of the paintings, of a lady bedecked in flowers, and nodded appreciatively. "This is lovely," she said.

"Thanks," Yamiko replied awkwardly.

"Why don't you all sit down," Eros said, motioning to several velour couches. "We all have much to talk about."

"About Seisui," Tokimo said forlornly, absently picking up a spankopita and rather ungracefully shoving it in her mouth. "Are we sure she's with Nemesis? She didn't just run off on her own?"

"I saw Rhea take her," Erik said with grim certainty. "At the very least, she's their prisoner."

"I've had a bad feeling about where things were going for Seisui for quite some time," Kazeko said quietly. she seemed deeply uncomfortable as all eyes turned toward her. "Her power is centered on vengeance, and she has a strong connection with her element. Now that power and focus has nowhere to go. She decided she was going to change herself, but her reasons were weak. She didn't change because she felt like she was truly in the wrong. She was changing because if she didn't, she was going to abandoned and alone."

Usako sighed. "Maybe we should have been more-"

"Don't even start," Fubuki said impatiently. "Seisui was being whiny and obnoxious and we all knew it. You guys fucking babied her too much and let her get away with it."

"Shut up, buttface!" Tokimo said, slamming her palm on the coffee table. "You didn't even know Seisui, hardly at all! You're just talking out of your stupid butt face!"

"That's enough," Eros said calmly. "What Fubuki says may be partly true, from what I've heard-" he held a hand aloft as Tokimo opened her mouth to speak-"But I doubt getting angry at her or telling her to toughen up would have worked to help her. She is a person who is dealing with a traumatic experience at a time of her life when things are already difficult and complicated. Something both of you should appreciate." Fubuki and Tokimo both looked at each other, perturbed, but a calm stole over them and they no longer had the desire to fight each other.

"Rather than fighting about what we think of Seisui, we need to make a plan to about what to do now that she's in Nemesis' clutches. I doubt one of us can just whisk her off her feet, as seems to have been the longstanding plan with the priests' so far."

Tokimo looked pointedly at Erik. "Well, I dunno about that." Erik frowned.

Fubuki scoffed. "You gotta be fucking kidding me. Erik is an old man. I don't think Seisui is into that."

Erik grimaced. "Fubuki is right, as much as that surprises me. Anyway, I don't think it's a good idea to rely on manipulating someone's emotions as a ploy to win them back over to us."

"My objection to that plan has more to do with the fact that I doubt it will be an effective plan with Seisui than anything else," Eros replied. "Seisui isn't lonely because she needs a romance in her life. She's lonely because she lost her friends. I think we need to convince her she still has them and that she's welcome. But I have a rather... extreme suggestion in light of that, Your Highness."

Usako perked up as Eros turned toward her. "I'm willing to listen to anything. Even if I thought Seisui deserved some kind of punishment, and I'm hardly in a position to judge, it doesn't behoove me or any of the other ruling senshi for her to be evil."

"Usako, I think we need to convince Seisui that we are willing to accept her back and accept her as a person, even if she still wants to kill you. Maybe even if she still tries to kill you. Frankly, she's not capable of much harm as Sailor Titan, and she couldn't even transform in any case when she joined Nemesis. As she is now, she can do a lot of damage. And as someone who knows a thing or two about relationships, I can honestly say that I think that Seisui's desire to hurt the royal family will diminish on its own as she gets older and feels accepted by the people she loves. Maybe, she'll even come to understand why things happened as they did."

"If we do that, we're just enabling her," Fubuki said, leaning back and scoffing. "Is that really what we want? More babied Seisui?"

"Supporting someone you love emotionally, even when they're very much in the wrong, isn't babying them," Coeus replied. "Sometimes that's what you have to do to convince them of what's right."

"That's terrible advice," Akiko replied, looking askance and folding her arms. "If you love someone, you'll support them when they do something moronic?'"

"No, no, no," Tokimo said, slamming her hands on the coffee table and leaning toward Akiko. "Coeus doesn't mean that at all. What he means is-you'll love them and be there for them even if they do something moronic. Not that you'll agree with them. Duh."

"I'm glad you're here to interpret my points," Coeus replied dryly, finishing off a spanikopita and brushing off his greasy hands on the velveteen couch. Yamiko handed him a napkin and gave him a glare that could curdle milk. Coeus accepted the napkin.

"It's not bad advice," Eros replied, "though it can be... tricky. Fubuki's words have a ring of truth in that you don't want to enable someone's bad characteristics. But in this case, I don't think confronting Seisui or giving her a hard time is a good idea. She's been confronted already. She has to decide on her own what kind of person she wants to be-I think we can all agree on that."

Kaethe pulled her communicator toward her face as Annalise's image appeared onscreen. "Have you found him yet?" She asked nervously.

"Yes, I have," she replied, standing in front of Goban school. "In a manner of speaking. I know where he works. I'm still working on where he lives."

"It's a good thing you couldn't be interpreted as creepy or anything," Annalise flatly replied, rolling her eyes.

"I hardly care about that. What I care about is taking him to task for what happened." Kaethe paused. "How are things in Germany? Has someone new appeared?"

"Yes... I believe he's the Uranian priest. Iolaus."

"Hm. Probably as bad as the rest of them."

"Actually... not really. He may end up on the side of the heroes. He's very upstanding about the whole thing."

"'The whole thing?' Chaos and destruction?"

Annalise bit her lip. "Fair enough, but... it's almost like something happened to him. I mean, I guess that happened to all the priests, but him especially-he seems to have something gnawing at him."

"Good. I hope it gnaws him in two. The Tokyo Senshi have been far too forgiving of these priests." Kaethe frowned disapprovingly.

"Kaethe... what would the Queen think of that?"

"The Queen..." Kaethe paused. "...Would never be the kind of person to shirk her responsibilities and allow the enemy to hurt the one she loved. After all, she stared at Prince Demando with contempt in her eyes when he threatened Crystal Tokyo."

"But-"

"I've spotted him. We'll have to talk later."

Erik walked out of the gates of Goban with an exhausted sigh, his looking tired and concerned. He loosened his tie and swung his briefcase behind his back, glancing down the street toward the bus. Kaethe didn't waste any time.

"You there," she said brusquely, walking up beside him. "Are you Erik vonDarkmoor?"

Erik looked at her in confusion. "I am... are you a student? do you need help with something?" He asked.

"You can help by returning to Germany and governing as your birthright demands," Kaethe said angrily. "You've shirked your duties long enough."

Erik stared at her for a long time. "...Do I know you?"

"No. I'm just an ordinary German citizen, unlike you, who is something of a prodigal chancellor and thus actually has the ability to rule the country you so happily abandoned."

"You don't know anything about me or my history," Erik said, suddenly angry. "You don't know anything about my self-imposed exile or my reasons for it. You weren't even alive when it happened."

"I know enough to understand when a duty is shirked-when you abandon a debt out of convenience."

"I didn't-it wasn't-" He shook his head. "I have nothing to say to you." With that, he turned around and walked toward his bus stop. "Don't follow me."

"I won't be put off so easily, vonDarkmoor," She shouted after him. "If you won't answer to Germany, you'll answer to me."

Tokimo leaned listlessly forward she watched a school of silvery fish swim around one of Coeus' myriad aquariums. Ever since she had heard the news about Seisui yesterday morning, Tokimo spent as much time on Metis as she could possibly manage, even skipping school early to sneak back. It took so much out of her to teleport on her own that she was pretty sure she passed out for a few seconds before waking up in the courtyard. From there, she began to wander around the palace of Metis until she found a couch in front of the fish tank. She was pretty sure they were tinfoil barbs. Tokimo had absentmindedly named the biggest one "Barbie" and tried to lose herself in what the fish were doing as they swam around the fern-like seaweed and forget about what she was doing.. wasn't doing. Whatever.

"I feel kinda useless," she mumbled aloud, wondering where Seisui was. Last time something like this happened, she just teleported to Nemesis and fetched Seisui back, easy peasy. Why didn't she have it in herself to do it this time?

Maybe she was kinda afraid that if she went to Nemesis, Seisui wouldn't want to come back with her. When she thought about that, Tokimo felt worse than she'd felt in a long time. Maybe worse than when Seisui got taken the first time. And it didn't help that she hadn't done a heck of a lot as a friend for her between the first time and now. If she had put as much energy into maintaining her friendship with Seisui as she had getting Coeus to have a crush on her, maybe things would have been different.

Tokimo didn't know how long she had been sitting in front of the fishtank, watching Barbie, but eventually Coeus sat down beside her. He sat silently beside her for a long time and watched the fish with her. Eventually, he took her hand in his.

"So, uh... I guess you guys were close, huh?" He said a little tepidly.

"I was like, her only friend," Tokimo replied. "For that matter... I didn't have a ton of friends, either. Not that I was close to like her. I want to go rescue her right now, but... I don't if she'd even listen. She felt so betrayed when we stopped going after Sailor Luna and let her become one of our allies."

Coeus put his arm around Tokimo. "These things sometimes take time... I know, with me, and with Mauros.. they took time. With Mauros, it felt like an eternity while I worried and waited."

"You two were really close, and then you fought," Tokimo murmured, "Just like Seisui and I."

"If you're truly good friends, I believe that Seisui will come back to you. Just like my brother and I."

Tokimo paused. "Maybe but... Seisui and Mauros... they're pretty different. I mean, Mauros doesn't have a mean bone in his body. Seisui's a good person but, she's..."

"Troubled?

Tokimo nodded.

"But is she so troubled that being on Nemesis seems like an improvement over her life here? I can tell you from experience, it isn't what I'd call a fun place. I'd rather go to an amusement park," he said with a smirk.

Tokimo's face lightened ever so slightly as she pulled a book from her bag. "Hey Ci-Ci, I want to show you this book I got at the library." She held up the bright, eye-catching cover that read 'The science of amusement parks.' "See, it's about how amusement parks work. I thought you would read it, and then I could read it, and if there are parts I don't get you could explain them to me."

Coeus shook his head, but he smiled a little, glad that Tokimo was at least momentarily distracted from a problem she could do very little to solve. "Tokimo, do you really care about any of this stuff? Or are you just doing it to impress me?"

"I think it looks kinda cool, actually," She replied. "It's not something I woulda picked up by myself, but now that I've started, I kinda like it. Learning can be okay when it's not the boring stuff they teach you in school. At first I just picked up the stuff I thought would make you like me. But now I kinda go after stuff I think is cool. I mean, I don't think I got it in me to pretend to be interested in boring stuff for long."

"I guess you'll never be into computers as I am," He remarked with a smirk.

Tokimo shook her head vigorously and leaned back into the blue couch, propping her legs up onto Coeus' lap. "Nah, computers are boring. Amusement park rides, on the other hand, rock."

There was a long pause as Tokimo's thoughts wandered away from the newest curiosity and back to what troubled her. She tried to think of something else, anything, but it was no use. She sighed as she watched Barbie spit out a piece of gravel.

"Coeus..." Tokimo said absently, staring up at the glass-paned ceiling, "What should I say to Seisui? To make her come back?"

Coeus smiled. "I'd think you'd know," He replied. "You were certainly successful with me."

Tokimo shifted, more from restlessness than discomfort. "How come it worked?

"You were interested in who I was, how I felt, especially more and more as time went on. It's... it's a good feeling to know someone cares about you as a person, not just as a means to an end or something that they can get something from." Coeus laughed, realizing the irony of his statement. "Of course, I didn't know you were sort of doing that at the time."

Tokimo looked down at the slate floor and winced a little. Coeus squeezed her hand and smiled. "I know that it was more in the end."

"I guess," she said weakly. "I mean, it's tough. I'm glad I did it because I saved you. And I don't think it was totally wrong, because bringing you to our side was the right thing to do, and you're here now because of it. But using you was the wrong thing to do. It's complicated. I feel complicated about it."

"What's done is done, so don't trouble yourself about it now. But, you know, some people-that's the only kind of relationships they have. A relationship where they're used-and the people that use them are not as sneaky about it as you were. It was the only kind of relationship I knew before I met you. I don't know... maybe that's what sets one relationship apart from another. I'm not exactly an expert. This is really an Eros question, as much as I hate to admit it Don't tell him I said that."

"No, I think you're right," Tokimo said. "I think maybe with Seisui... I was more about the idea of being her friend than who she was as a person. And then with you... I kinda started to make the same mistake. But then I got the idea that you were a cool person yourself, if you could get over all the stupid stuff."

Coeus raised an eyebrow and folded his arms. "Did I get over the 'stupid stuff'? He asked.

"Some of it," Tokimo replied impishly. "Anyway... I wish I'd known that with Seisui. If I had, maybe our friendship would have turned out differently. Now it might be too late to fix things. But... I have to try."

Sayoko sat down at the table across from Yamiko, bowl of chicken alfredo in one hand and ready fork in the other. Putting her feet up on one of the exorbitant number of dining room chairs and shoveling the pasta into her mouth, she looked pointedly at her sister, Ignoring the smiling figure of Eros to Yamiko's right. "So, Yami," She said. "Between the work of Eros, you, and all the people I hired, we've pretty much cleaned this place out. Are you ready to invite the boys?"

Yamiko paused. She had to admit... the place looked amazing. Eros had helped them clean every last inch of house and bring new life to all of the furnishings. Paintings and sculptures and neglected pieces of furniture that had been stacked or stuffed away in the attic or closets were brought out, cleaned up and hung on the walls. Yamiko always loved her parents enthusiasm for 19th century art and architecture, and she felt that Eros had decorated the places he knew she would frequent-the library, the study, the kitchen-with the kind of darkly ornate pieces he knew she would like. Despite Eros' presumed hatred for Coeus, he had made his and every other bedroom on the second floor themed to each of the planet's personalities and what he had called their 'soul'-a room that he felt would feel like a home away from home.

"I guess so," she said somewhat halfheartedly. "Our place is certainly ready for them. I guess I'm as ready as I'll ever be."

"If you're not ready, you're not ready," Eros replied, looking at her sincerely. "For all our prodding, we can't tell you when you're okay with having other people here."

"No, it's okay," she said. She took a deep breath and put the fork down beside her after finishing her last bites of pasta. "I'll never feel completely ready, and I've hidden behind fear and childish excuses long enough... not just about the house, really, I-I need to start letting people in." Yamiko smiled ever so slightly. "Thank you, Eros, for..." She look shyly to the side. "Letting the light in, so to speak."

"I'm in no position to-Yamiko-I am the one who should thank you." He smiled and took a sip of tea as he glanced sideways toward Yamiko over his cup.

"I'll call Coeus and Mauros right away," She said with some finality. "I'm sure they would prefer to spend more time under the same roof instead of living solely in their respective holy lands. Eros, do you have a way of getting in direct contact with the other Priests?"

"I do," He replied. "But we'll have to go to Aphrodite." Eros mumbled a prayer and they reappared in a small, immaculate room that was quite low-key in decor by comparison with the rest of Aphrodite. Eros motioned for Yamiko to sit down at a small, three-person table. He sat beside her.

"It's basically a glorified communicator," Eros informed her. "We used to use it a lot for conferences as well."

"Do they need to be near this thing to know I've called them...?" Yamiko asked, perplexed.

"No," Eros replied. "We have a link to it. Otherwise, it would be pretty inconvenient. Anyway," Eros pressed a small button, powering the device, and pressed a black button and in turn a light blue one. "It might take a minute," He said apologetically. "Mauros and Coeus have to know I'm calling them, then transport over to their Holy Lands, then take the call... Not to mention I doubt Mauros is used to getting very many calls. Coeus has no such excuse."

It was several minutes before someone finally responded to the call. Mauros looked a little frazzled. "Sorry," He said. "I was in the the middle of studying with Mayumi, and it's been awhile-"

"Don't worry about it," Eros interrupted graciously. "You have arrived in plenty of time. If it was urgent, I would have indicated thus. Anyway, Coeus has not yet arrived, and our message pertains to him as well."

It was actually several minutes more before Coeus finally showed up. He didn't seem frazzled, just impatient. "Yes?" He asked. "What is it?"

Yamiko planted her hands on her hips and leaned forward, frowning. "What is it?" She repeated, annoyed. "I'm about to do something nice, you'd think-"

"Dearest, let's give Coeus the benefit of the doubt this once, shall we?" Eros said equitably, though he hardly looked pleased with Coeus himself.

"Right!" Yamiko said as assertively as she could. She dropped her hands to her sides, clutching some of the fabric of her full black skirt as she tried to think of how to phrase her offer. "Right. Right. I uh, have a house, and I thought... maybe it would be less... less..."

"Dreary," Eros supplied.

"If you came to live, at least part-time, in my mansion together-well, I mean, not together, in your own rooms-with my family than if you lived on your Holy Lands all alone. You could still go back to sleep or.. I don't know.."

"Fufill any of your duties,"

"...but the mansion could be a place to socialize and maybe, I guess, study."

"Could I meet Mayumi there?" Mauros asked, tugging on his hair.

"I guess, I mean, sure, as long as it's not like... my house is not just a place for you to, you know, do stuff."

Mauros looked naively at the view screen, seeming to ponder Yamiko's words. "But I thought that was what you were offering me? A place to do things?"

Coeus put a palm over his face. He'd have to have a talk with Mauros. Better yet, maybe he could pawn that off on Eros, he was good at that sort of thing..

Eros laughed. "I think that Yamiko is suggesting that her house not become a site purely for you to engage in amorous activities with Mayumi." Mauros raised his eyebrows as a look of comprehension crossed his face. "Not that such things are forbidden," Eros hastily continued, "but I can see where she might not want her house to become... well, we won't get into the details."

"Right," Mauros replied a little awkwardly. "I think I follow you. I think. Coeus, will you be there too?"

"As if Tokimo will give me any kind of choice in the matter," he said, trying to seem put out about it but smirking a little despite himself. "I suppose I'll take you up on your offer. If Eros can manage to stand me."

"Yes, well, I'll try," Eros said dully, rolling his eyes despite himself.

Kazeko breathed deeply as she sat deep in the mountain forest, maple and beech trees surrounding her on every side. The huge, mossy stone was cool beneath her, even in the summer heat, making it slightly easier to focus on the problem that lay before her.

What happened to Seisui? That she was a victim of Nemesis was quite clear at this point, but Kazeko knew it wouldn't be long before she made an appearance back on Earth. When that happened, she wanted to be able to talk to her, if possible. Kazeko hovered her pendulum above the map of Tokyo that lay before her. Please, she thought, Help me find her.

Nothing happened for quite some time. Kazeko was on the point of giving up-after all, what were the chances that Seisui was even on Earth at any given time?-when her stone dove forward and hovered above Harajuku.

"Harajuku?" Kazeko said to herself, troubled. "I feel that cannot be a good sign."

Kazeko wandered through the streets of Harajuku, listlessly looking for some kind of sign. There were plenty of people there, which didn't surprise her, but nothing unusual by Harajuku standards. Kazeko tried to think of anywhere in Harajuku that might attract Seisui, either because it would interest her or she would be interested in attacking it, but nothing really stuck out to her.

Eventually, Kazeko decided that walking around wasn't doing much good. Frustrated, she sat against a tall maple tree beside the huge toy store, Kiddyland, and stared listlessly off into space.

Kazeko was struck by the brightly colored sign. Perhaps her landing her was not a coincidence. Something about the store...

"Probably nothing..." she muttered, but she entered the door under the huge red sign anyway, hoping that her premonition might lead her somewhere. Inside, the store was a chaotic blur of activity-toys made noises everywhere, displays were attractively laid out with cut-outs and gadgets, and there were stuffed animal displays piled and piled with some cartoon character that must have been popular at the moment.

There were children everywhere, along with their parents, but Kazeko didn't see anyone Seisui's age, let alone that looked like her. She scratched her cheek and glanced around, resting her eyes on a small girl with a bright blue sundress and short, brown hair. She was holding a cherubic looking doll outfitted with a frilly dress covered in lace and ribbon. Something about the girl struck Kazeko with immediate terror and familiarity; there was a sort of anger combined with ignorance and innocence on the little girl's face. It was something more out of a horror movie than the ordinary look of a child.

"No way," Kazeko murmured to herself. "But how...?" The feeling that emanated from the little girl was all too familiar. It was the same chilling, revenge-filled emanation she had always gotten from Seisui, but intensified with something so much worse. A feeling of misery, of hatred. A woman that Kazeko did not recognize stepped up to Seisui. Seisui held out the doll and looked up at the woman pleadingly. Kazeko didn't recognize her, but there was something that felt very familiar about her long, black hair and pale skin. There was a dark feeling that emanated from her, too, but it was nothing compared to Seisui's. From the woman, Kazeko felt the familiar darkness that she had come to expect from Nemesis' servants. What Kazeko felt from Seisui, on the other hand, felt like Nemesis' power distilled into its purest, most vile essence.

Kazeko watched them for a moment, hiding behind a display of stuffed pandas, hoping for a chance to speak to the odd child-Seisui alone. Eventually, the woman stepped away for a moment and Kazeko took her chance.

"Seisui," She said gently, "Seisui, is that you?"

The girl just stared at her uncomprehendingly for a moment. "I know you," she said at last, frowning petulantly. "You're Kazeko. You're one of my bad friends."

"What makes you say that, Seisui?" Kazeko asked, leaning down and keeping an eye out for the raven-haired woman. "Did I do something to hurt your feelings?" Kazeko knew better than to argue with Seisui. Danu only knew what they had done to her memories in addition to the warping her body for their own twisted purposes.

Seisui paused and stared at Kazeko. "You told me... I couldn't have... want I wanted."

"And what is that...?" Seisui opened her mouth to say something, but she was cut off. A pale, delicate hand clenched Seisui's cherubic shoulder.

Kazeko looked up to see the pale woman staring coldly down at her. The woman's dark eyes narrowed.

"Can I help you?" She asked, narrowing her dark eyes.

A dark aura swelled up around the woman. Underneath it, Kazeko thought she could almost feel the aura that hummed around the guardians of Sol, but it was pretty faint compared to the blaze of corruption and dark magic. "What did you do to Seisui?" Kazeko asked, standing to her full height.

"She's my charge now," the woman replied. "And if you cared about her so much, this wouldn't have happened."

Kazeko was shaking like an autumn leaf buffeted by the northern winds. "Seisui, come with me."

"You were a bad friend. You didn't let me do what I wanted."

"I think you'd better go. If you know what's good for you," The woman added.

"Set her free. You know this isn't right. You could come with us, too, you know-stop manipulating people for whatever it is that Nemesis has promised you."

"Lady, you don't know me. Come on, Seisui. Let's go."

"Ariel prism power, make up!" Kazeko held up her hand and her fuku formed in an icy breeze. "Boreal tempest!" she cried, sending a icy breeze blasting toward the woman. The woman pushed Seisui underneath her and exposed her back to the full brunt of the attack, ripping up her white linen blazer and covering her in cuts.

"Seisui," the woman shouted, "Hide!"

"But-"

"No buts! You'll be ready for battle later." The woman stood up and her outfit dissolved and was replaced by a purple dress, high-collared with long, kimono-style sleeves and a black silk corset. She wore the same white earrings as Sailor Saturn, and now Sailor Ariel recognized the faint aura she had felt before; it was Saturnalian.

"Were you once a moon senshi of Saturn?" Kazeko asked, taking a defensive posture.

"What I once was is none of your concern," she replied. "I will never be that again. I am as I was born, as I have always felt-Rhea. And you may call me so, little fool."

Ariel felt now was not a good time to cross-examine Rhea. "Boreal Tempest!" she cried once more, and this time, her wind was easily dissipated by an invisible shield. Toys were torn apart and knocked everywhere. Rhea sighed, looking somewhat regrettably at the mess, and plucked a stuffed bear from the floor. Instantly, the brown, fuzzy toy was covered in golden scrollwork and it began to suck shadows toward it, like a vacuum pulling dust inside of it. The once harmless bear became large and menacing, more grizzly than stuffed toy, and Ariel quickly punched "charon" into her communicator. "Tokimo, I'm at Kiddyland in Harajuku," she said quickly. "Come! Quickly! A youma has appeared."

"Let's go, Seisui," Rhea shouted, holding out her arms. Seisui ran out from one of the aisles of the toy store, looking for all the world like any frightened little girl. Rhea smiled just ever so slightly.

"Starlight Lancer!" A figure, gloriously shining as they held a glimmering spear, dove toward Seisui. Seisui shrieked and covered her head with her hands.

Both Rhea and Ariel dove for the little girl; in that moment, Ariel prayed to the spirits of wind that she knew protected her. A cold air surrounded her and she was launched forward. She grabbed Seisui's bizarrely tiny and fragile figure and held it close as her body scraped against the rug, burning her legs. She felt something sting the back of her legs-almost certainly the blade of the stranger's attack.

"Shining on behalf of the celestial bodies, Sailor Hyperion! The soldier of light has arrived!"

"Hyperion... attacking children now, too?" Rhea asked, looking at the newcomer skeptically.

Hyperion didn't waste any more time talking. Ariel glanced up from Seisui, who was shivering in fear, and couldn't help but feel that this goddess was aptly named. Her hair was a blinding shade of bright blonde and her fuku was white and shimmering gold. Her spear, too, was white with a golden tip, and her eyes were the pale, icy blue that demanded your attention. "Starlight Lancer!" she cried once more, this time at Rhea. Rhea didn't argue any longer and disappeared behind the now-fruitless attack. Instead, she turned her sights to Ariel.

"Give me Seisui," Rhea replied. "She is my ward now."

"You don't even know her," Ariel hissed, surprised at her own bravery.

"Hyperion will kill her." Rhea held out her arms and kicked Ariel's wound. Ariel grimaced and loosened her grip on the child; Rhea took her moment and pulled the child from Ariel's arms. Soon, both Seisui and Rhea were gone, and Hyperion and the bear creature remained. Ariel glanced up and watched as the bear knocked over displays and chased children; indeed, it was clawing in frustration at a screaming child who had backed into a shelf in hopes of avoiding its grasp.

"We're here!" Sailor Charon announced, running into Kiddyland. Sailor Luna and Helios followed behind her. "I brought who I could on short notice."

"Thanks," Ariel replied. "I'm afraid my leg isn't going to make me a lot more use. Take out the bear. And watch out for the new sailor soldier... I don't know what side she's on."

Charon nodded; to the Moon Senshi, being unsure of your comrades' loyalties was starting to be old hat.

"Starlight Lancer!' Hyperion called out, stabbing the bear. It turned toward her and growled as smoky shadows began pouring out of the wound she had inflicted like steam out of a teakettle.

"Chaos Compass!" Sailor Charon cried. She appeared to the side of the creature and ripped through several strips of golden scrollwork with her Naginata, sending the shadows billowing everywhere.

Hyperion turned and glanced at the Moon Senshi, lingering her gaze on them disapprovingly for just a moment. When she saw Sailor Luna, her gaze softened slightly. She turned back toward the creature and swung her spear, ripping through more scrollwork. Now it was down to little more than tatters; it was barely recognizable as a four legged animal.

"Shimmering Crescent!" Sailor Luna cried out, shredding the last of the scrollwork and dissolving the creature into nothing.

"Thank you for your help, Sailor Pinkmoon," Sailor Hyperion said, bowing on one knee to the princess.

"Well, ya know, we're just glad to do the right thing," Sailor Charon responded, folding her arms.

"Do the right thing? I don't think that's something you know anything about."

Charon gripped her Naginata tightly. "Just who do you think you are, huh? I'm Sailor Charon. I know tons about killing Youma and doing the right thing-and I've got a nigh-invincible crystal to prove it!"

"I believe you called yourself Sailor Hyperion?" Ariel asked, gripping her leg weakly. It was bleeding profusely; paling a little, Helios knelt down and began to pray, knitting Ariel's skin back together as the color came back to her rosy cheeks. "Helios," she said under her breath, "can you check to make sure no one is injured?" He nodded and headed through the aisles of the gigantic toy store.

"That's right," She said. "The soldier of light and justice. And I came here because I could no longer sit idly by and watch the Moon Senshi of Tokyo make a mockery of my sphere of influence. The holy Queen Serenity may let your childish, damaging antics go, but I will not. It was one thing to oppose Queen Diana, who was merely a tyrant. Queen Serenity is the second coming of our Savior, the Lady who has brought peace to this land, and to fight her and her peers shows a love of chaos and injustice."

"Blah blah blah I heart Queen Serenity blah blah you suck we get it. Well, if you didn't hear, we're working with the Queen now, at least until Nemesis is gone."

"First of all, it's not enough to just work with her out of expediency, which is clearly what you're doing. Second of all, you don't just have the gall to attack our Lady the Queen. You're foolish enough to let the Priests join you-and with open arms!-after all they've done, after all the sins they've committed."

"But if you think so highly of the queen, you must concede that she-"

"I appreciate the Queen's forgiving nature, but there are those of us who must punish evildoers if she is too willing to be forgiving. Such is the case with the Moon Senshi who opposed her, and such is the case with the Priests."

"Puh-lease. You're just-"

"This isn't a round table. I'm showing your the path of righteousness now. Moon Senshi: reconsider your view of expediency toward the Queen and see her for what she is-our Savior, who has defeated Chaos many times despite only having one crystal instead of many. Sailor Pinkmoon-I urge you, and by extension her Holy Majesty, to reconsider the path you have taken with the Priests. They have cost many lives in my home country and others and are not to be forgiven so lightly and without consequence. Consider my words carefully. I will not act on them on this day, but know this: In the future, if you choose to let the Priests be lightly forgiven, if the Moon Senshi do not pledge their loyalty to our Savior, I will defeat them when I see the opportunity, for I see the need to do so." Hyperion turned away from them.

"Wait!" Ariel shouted. The Sailor Senshi glanced toward her. "Don't attack the child with Rhea. Don't attack Seisui."

"That child of Nemesis is Seisui Han'i, the queen's attacker? Has Sailor Titan been corrupted at last?"

"Yes, but she's only a child! She's lost, Hyperion, and she-"

"She chose her own fate. She takes the form of a child under Nemesis because by all accounts, she has been a selfish child all along. I see no reason to show her mercy." Hyperion held her spear high above her. "Sunlit flare!" she shouted, and a lens flare-like shine blinded them. By the time they were able to look toward her again, she was gone.

Their Senshi fuku dissolved and Helios rejoined them, walking into the open foyer of the toy store a little breathelessly. "A few children were injured. Thank goodness, nothing as serious as a death. Everyone will be fine."

"Ariel..." Sailor Charon paused. "What were you and that bitchy Moon Senshi talking about-about Seisui?"

"What happened?" Luna added, stepping toward her. Ariel's look of concern was mirrored on both their faces as they stood in a ragged circle in the wreckage of the toy store.

"If anyone has a stake in what's happened to Seisui, it's us three," she said, smiling sadly. "Let's find somewhere quieter to talk."

"As much as I think he's huge grump," Charon said, "we oughta invite Erik. He's..." She paused, her eyes settling briefly on a foam sword. "He's the one that's been taking care of her a lot recently."

"Good idea," Sailor Luna agreed.

"A young child?" Erik repeated, a little shocked. "How much younger than she is already?"

"I would say seven, tops," Usako replied. "What do you guys think?"

"That sounds about right," Kazeko agreed, stirring her heavily sweetened irish breakfast tea and sipping it cautiously. They had picked a warm, homey looking caf? covered in bookshelves with worn, used books that looked to be well loved. The caf?specialized in western style pastries, and what savory dishes it offered were the heavy, stogy foods Kazeko knew and loved from her home. "Seisui is young, to be sure, but she's still an adolescent. When I saw her, she was a young child."

"What happened?!" Tokimo asked, jabbing a fork into her mincemeat pie and looking visibly upset. "I bet she went to Nemesis 'cause of how I treated her. 'Cause I swapped sides to Sailor Pinkbutt."

"Usako is right here," Helios said, exasperated.

"Let her, Hiroshi," Usako replied. "She's just venting. We've all kind of been put through the ringer with this."

"Maybe that's why I'm so upset," He said. "We've been helping Seisui all along, and Tokimo is using this as an opportunity to throw us under the bus. Have we ever been anything but understanding?"

Tokimo bit her lip. "I mean you kinda have," she admitted. "I guess I just worry that us getting all cozy is what got Seisui in Nemesis' clutches."

"It was a lot of things. but I don't think we can really blame ourselves. Seisui's had a lot of problems. I felt like I was just starting to make progress with her, make her see a way besides 'act fakey or double down on being against Lady Serenity' when this happened. The fact of the matter is, she was at a point where a lot of her feelings were wavering and her support network was-perhaps understandbly-not super great."

"Even as bad as she got, I never felt really judgey about it," Usako replied, taking a sip of her hot cocoa. "Anytime I got really angry, I remembered myself and Hotaru and what happened to us. I had faith-still do-that she just needs time to figure herself out. That's part of being young."

"I have to admire your patience," Kazeko replied. "I've read the newspapers. You've put up with a lot from Seisui."

Usako shrugged and took a bite of a cookie.

"But how are we gonna get her back?" Tokimo asked. "We gotta get Seisui back."

They paused and ate in silence for awhile. Kazeko finished her cornish pasty. "Why do you think Seisui is a child?" She asked at last.

"I'm sure I'm not the only person who has thought it," Usako interjected. "When I was taken by the Death Phantom, I became an adult-the opposite of what happened to Seisui. Being an adult was what I always wanted-to be taken seriously, to be seen as the woman I thought I was after 900 years."

"-Does Seisui really wanna be a little kid, though?" Tokimo says. "With bedtimes and all that crap? Though you do get a lotta toys..." she mused.

"Maybe," Usako said uneasily. "In a way..."

"Seisui talks a lot about how she was robbed of her childhood," Kazeko added. "I think it only makes sense. By becoming a child again, Seisui gets a... I guess you could say a chance-"

"-a do-over," Tokimo interjected, putting down her teacup and widening her eyes. "It makes perfect sense. Seisui always wanted a do-over! She'd always talk about how she hated growing up seeing what happened to her dad, how people treated her 'cause of what he did and all. Seisui woulda done anything to have that childhood back. But I always thought she wanted to do it with her dad."

"She might not if her memory's been altered," Erik said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"It's definitely possible. When I was Black Lady, I remembered a lot about reality, about my life as the princess. But a lot of my memories were warped. I thought people were crueller to me than they had been, that my life was worse. It just takes the right kind of brainwashing and dark magic. Not to mention..." Usako paused and poked awkwardly at her cupcake.

"Go on," Erik urged her.

"I'm not saying we should act hastily," Usako continued, holding up her hands defensively, "but there is a possibilty that Seisui has been legitimately corrupted-brainwashed with negative energy from Nemesis. if that's the case, we could heal her instantly by purifying her."

"We can't do that! You're gonna just brainwash her to the other end of the spectrum! I won't let you!" She nearly shouted and leaned in toward Usako angrily, jabbing her fork at the girls face. Hiroshi put a hand between Tokimo's fork and his girlfriend.

"That's if she's corrupted, Tokimo," Hiroshi repeated. "If Seisui truly is corrupted, purifying her won't brainwash her into not feeling any hatred. Like adding weight to the other side of the scale, it will just bring her back to normal."

"How do you know if she's corrupted, huh?"

"Seisui definitely has a darker aura than before," Kazeko replied. "But I don't know if she's truly corrupted. I think we should hold off on purifying her. If she were corrupted, I think she would emit an aura of darkness more like the demons that Nemesis employs.

"Is that different than the aura of the priests?"

"Yes. So far, anyway."

"So how we gonna bring her back?" Tokimo asked. "We still don't know."

"We need something that will help Seisui remember how much people care about her," Kazeko said.

Erik scoffed a little. "I don't know that Seisui ever thought any of us cared about her. If she did, I don't think this would have happened."

"Well?" Tokimo said angrily. "Do you all care about Seisui?"

"I see a kindred spirit in her," Kazeko replied. "I think we both know what it is to be seen as a heretic."

There was a brief pause as they wondered what Kazeko meant. Now did not seem like the time to press her for answers about her past.

"It might sound odd, but I see Seisui as my ward," Erik replied. "I remember what it was like to feel lonely and misunderstood. And I suppose she is teaching me some things about my own tendency to be... stubborn and antisocial."

"What about you, Usako? Seisui has never seemed to actually like you. Yet you remain oddly loyal to her," Kazeko wondered.

Usako laughed. "I see so much of myself in her," Usako replied. "And to be honest, I don't find her hatred of me very threatening. Perhaps it's the na?ete that I inherited from my mother, but I believe someday, with help-with my help, I hope-Seisui will vanquish her anger and we could even be friends."

"She isn't really a whole bunch more friend to you than when you started," Tokimo pointed out, taking a bite of cookie.

"Despite everything, until now, I really felt she was making progress. When you feel socially and emotionally isolated, sometimes you have to hit rock bottom before you can move up again. I guess in light of that, things can only get better for Seisui from here. And I genuinely believe that if she can make it through this, her perspective will begin to change."

"What makes you so sure?" Erik asked.

Usako sipped her cocoa and put it down on her saucer. "Because if it does not, I don't think she'll survive," she said darkly. She turned toward Tokimo. "What about you, Tokimo? You and Seisui were fighting. Yet you still seem loyal."

She paused. "If I'm honest, Seisui really could be selfish and a jerk," Tokimo replied. She finished her second cookie while she thought. "But we've been friends all this time. And we had some really good times together. There has to be more of the sweet, kind Seisui I got to get a glimpse of early on."

"Then for that Seisui, let's all do our best to save her," Kazeko said, smiling and looking around. "Are we in agreement?"

"For that Seisui," Erik agreed with a smile.

"For that Seisui," Usako agreed.

"Yeah! For her!" Tokimo said excited, stomping her fist on the table.

"I know we haven't always been the best of friends, Coeus," Eros said, opening the door to one fo the upstairs bedrooms, "But I do sincerely hope you like it. Despite what you like to imply, my tastes can be restrained."

Coeus seemed a little skeptical as he stepped into the room-his room in Yamiko's mansion, which was surprisingly large for the often tight confines of the Tokyo area. He took a good look around to see if it met his standards, and he hated to say it, but it didn't look bad. The room was painted a pale, tasteful shade of gray-blue and a large fish tank stood on a wooden comode. The walls were arrayed with empty bookshelves painted a dark navy to offsett the color of the walls, and Eros had wisely opted to put only a few classic books and wooden puzzles on the shelves rather than clutter them with his own selections and knick-knacks. It looked a little barren now, but that would soon change; a good printed book never went out of style, even with the admitted convienence of modern digital libraries. Eros had certainly made accomodations for Coeus' technological side as well, though, and there was a very large monitor mounted to one wall and a glass and steel desk set in front of it; a nice array of speakers nestled on the edges of the smooth tabletop. Since he apparently wasn't on a budget, Eros bought a top of the line desk chair in a sage green. There was a double bed against another wall with a simple slatted backboard. It was decorated with a green and brown quilt in the snail's trail pattern.

"Green?" He said skeptically.

"I'm not going to make your whole room blue," Eros said impatiently. "Even I have my limits."

Coeus tried not too look too pleased. "It's not bad," he admittedly. "I like the shelves."

"Thanks," Eros replied, a little pleased despite himself. He sat down in the office chair and looked sincerely toward Coeus. "How are things going with Tokimo and you? Do you need any advice?"

Coeus avoided eye contact by stepping up toward the window and looking outside. "I don't know why you would ask such a ridiculous quesiton," he practically sputtered.

"This is your first relationship, and I know you had a lot of weird attitudes toward girls because of your relationship with your parents," Eros said sincerely. "It's okay to feel a little out of your depth."

"Please. I'm from Mercury. Being out of a depth is hardly one of my problems."

"You don't have to prove anything to me, Coeus. Especially not with a bad pun," Eros replied, covering his eyes with his hand.

There was a long pause. "Sometimes I worry that I just like Tokimo because I'm not used to the attention," Coeus admitted. "What if there's really nothing between us except that Tokimo needed me on her side and I needed to feel like I wasn't a pathetic loser?" He shook his head, instantly regretting revealing so much. "Eros, are you using your magic to-"

"I think you just needed someone to talk to, Coeus," Eros replied. "No magic required. Give yourself that license. I know you think I'm an idiot about a lot of things, but even you know that I'm not an idiot about people. And you also know that I'll respect the privacy of this conversation."

"Ha! Maybe," he agreed. "I'm torn between feeling like I don't want to mess this up and feeling like it'd be easier to call it off.

"Because you're afraid of getting hurt?" he asked, leaning in toward Coeus.

"Or hurting her," he replied. "I know she seems insane sometimes. Heck, she is insane. But she's also... Good. She's totally devoted to good. She sees the good in me and I let her down, I know she'd be really disappointed. In me." He turned toward the bookcase and pretended to be interested in a puzzle box. "And then I'd be disappointed..."He clasped his hands behind his back and as the words caught in his throat.

"In yourself," Eros finished for him. Coeus glanced at the floor. "Maybe what you're afraid of isn't just messing things up with Tokimo, Coeus. Maybe what you're really afraid of is that you're messed up, and it won't matter what you do in this relationship."

Coeus covered his eyes and bit the inside of his cheek. "I think we both know that," he said. He tried to laugh but he stopped at the first dry "ha", knowing that he was dangerously close to choking up.

"Coeus, everyone has come and is going to come out of Nemesis 'messed up.' And I'm sure Tokimo has her share of problems, too. People have this idea when they enter a relationship they have to be their best selves, or that they have to hide the things about themselves that are broken. But..." Eros shrugged. "You have to accept that you aren't going to be perfect in a relationship, not now or ever." He smiled. "I think Tokimo knows that you have problems, Coeus. I think she loves you anyway."

"Does she, though? Or are her feelings based on the fact that she needed me for something?"

"There's no way to know that for sure, Coeus," Eros said. "I believe that the biggest act of faith a human can undertake is falling in love. There's never any guarantees, and someone's feelings might change at any time. But you have to trust them. You have to take them at their word. And you have to trust yourself."

"If you're trying to inspire confidence in me, you have a funny way of doing it." Coeus said, turning back toward Eros and leaning against the bookcase.

"Coeus, I have enough respect for you not to sugar coat things. And being the Priest of love means I know about love, not that I believe in a candy coated version of love. The only way for you to know if your feelings for Tokimo are real and vice-versa-and the only way to know that you aren't going to "mess it up," or that she is going to accept you despite your flaws-is to take it one day at a time, trust each other, and build a relationship where you support and care about each other and aren't just infatuated with the novelty of someone new." Eros stood up and a put a hand on Coeus' shoulder. "I wish I could tell you more about what lies ahead, but to be honest, I don't have that much experience with what a healthy relationship looks like myself. I'm mostly speaking from knowledge and not experience."

"Well, that's reasurring."

Eros laughed and took his hand off Coeus' shoulder. "I guess we're in this together, huh?"

Coeus smiled. "I suppose that's one thing we have in common."

"You shouldn't have come here, Kaethe," Ikkoku said, landing in the windowsill of her dorm.

Kaethe turned away from the textbook she was reading and toward the gyrfalcon. "I don't take orders from you, Ikkoku. You're not my guardian or my sage."

"What are you hoping to accomplish?" Ikkoku asked, preening her wings.

Kaethe put down her books and folded her hands neatly on her black circle skirt. "Rhea was the final straw, Ikkoku. She just left Berlin like a ghost, as if she'd never been here. But she hit us the hardest of anyone so far. Annalise and Fiona are still picking up the pieces from what happened to Valerie. And now it's happening again here. I won't let that happen. I can't let that happen."

"I don't believe Seisui is as bad off as she was."

"They look pretty similar from where I'm standing," Kaethe said.

"You're not standing. You're sitting down." Ikkoku said, her eyes twinkling.

Kaethe gave Ikkoku a sideways glance.

"Stay away from Erik. That's my concern," Ikkoku added.

"How is it your concern? He didn't abandon your country." Kaethe asked, folding her arms.

"Erik is my concern," She repeated, more seriously this time. "I'm not going to tell you again."

"But he-"

Ikkoku did not wait for a response. Before Kaethe could finish, she flapped her black and white wings and flew away.

~EPISODE 21: FIN~

NEXT EPISODE

Akiko: For the first time since becoming good, I feel like I'm becoming me.

Seisui: Rhea, there's something that I want to see. Can we go...?

Rhea: This is the only path available to me to become my true self. There's no point in having regrets now.

Haruka: I don't really trust the these Senshi and general and you especially, but I won't betray Usagi's wishes.

Fubuki: And that's how suckers are born. Let's do this.

Natsuko: Well, someone's got to keep her out of trouble, right?

Hyperion: I'm not going to let things run their course this time. This time, I'm going to nip them in the bud.

NEXT TIME ON MOON SENSHI: UNMEI NO KDOMO-

"Refuge in Mendacity"

Yamiko: Are you lost in this darkness?