Half Demon Swordsman
Chapter Twenty Eight: Sammy's Secret

Asagi

I sent Luna ahead to warn Serena, but she didn't believe either of us. She claimed Peter had just been spending too much time in front of a shutter bulb, and that was why he was acting so weird. I nearly tore my hair out in frustration. How could Serena be so dense?! And here I thought Sensei was actually making progress with her. Tattletale or not, I'd have to tell Sensei about this to beat it out of her. Sometimes, there was only one way Serena learned anything: having it beaten into her.

I told Luna that it was hopeless and when Serena had her mind set on something, there was no changing it. Still, Luna didn't give up. She grabbed a bow from Serena's somewhat repaired, moth-bitten swimsuit and took off. I was impressed with Luna's quick thinking. I sure wouldn't've thought of that. Then again, I'd known Serena my whole life, and learned that certain tactics worked and stuck to them. Maybe it took Luna, who had only known Serena for a few short months, to get her to listen.

She ran to a patio near where the shoot was being held. Peter snapped a picture and the girls and Ms. Haruna disappeared. I was pretty glad I'd managed to talk Molly out of coming. Luna wanted to know if Serena believed her now. She did.

"Moon Prism Power!" I shouted.

"Sun Prism Power!" Serena added and together we rushed to the site of the shoot.

"Hey you!" I yelled at the possessed Peter. "Let them go, or I'll slash right through that precious camera of yours." Like Sensei, I wasn't one to idle threaten. "The Peter I know would never do this to anyone."

He didn't, so I knocked the camera out of his hands and into the water, causing a monster to appear. "Oh Moonlight Warrior," She sang. "Smile for your final portrait!"

I rolled my eyes. "Dramatic much?" I grumbled. "Seriously, can't there ever be a monster who just gets right down to trying to destroy us? That'd be a lot more fun."

An eye opened on her hand. "Negazoom!" She declared. She shot a disappearing beam at us, but we dodged it. Instead, the beam hit Peter, and he disappeared. More beams came at us, and one nearly hit Serena, but I pushed her out of the way. The beam grazed me in the process. Luckily, only direct contact made you disappear. That didn't stop it from injuring me. I got a nice long gash on my leg that bled like crazy. I'd have to wrap that later. One came at us and with my injured leg I couldn't get out of the way in time. Luna jumped in the way.

"Luna!" I cried as she disappeared.

The monster tossed me a pair of pictures, one of Luna and one of Peter. "I get to keep the negatives." She sang gleefully.

"Where are they?!" I demanded. "You give them back right this instant!"

"Now why would I want to do that?" Monster-teme asked mildly. "And why would you want to? Because as soon as I reload, you're joining them!" She pointed her hand at me, probably about to take my picture. I shoved Serena out of the way. It was my duty as an imouto to protect my nee-chan, though Serena would argue that it was the nee-chan's duty to protect her imouto, not vice versa. Unfortunately, this action caused my leg to bleed more. I couldn't move. I crossed my arms over my face in a useless attempt to protect myself as Monster-teme got ready to shoot a disappearing beam at me.

"Hold it, slimeball!" My friends called.

Ai ran over to me. "Oh dear." She sighed. "Let's get that leg tended to. From what we had dubbed our subspace pocket, Ai pulled a long ace bandage. "You'd better lay off the Sailor business until it heals." She warned. "No sense aggravating it. While you're at it, take it easy in class next time."

Because Ai was a half demon, she couldn't be a priestess like Ray, so she decided she wanted to be a doctor. If she said take it easy, I'd listen. Mostly.

"Mercury Bubbles Blast!" Amy yelled.

Ray shot sealing tags (I forgot what they were called) at the monster. She made the disappear, and then made Ray and Amy disappear.

"Damn it!" I swore. "They're gone too! Ai, get out of here!"

"Not a chance." She shot back. "Come on. If we work together we can take her down easier than Sensei tortures us."

"They're all gone because they tried to save us." Serena cried.

I tried to stand up, only to get pushed back down by Ai. I backed up against the mirror. Wait a minute, a mirror! That was how we were going to beat her. "Hey, Ai, Serena, I've got a plan." I told Ai my plan in demonic language and signed it to Serena. They nodded. So when Monster-teme tried to fire a disappearing beam at us, I rolled out of the way, and Ai and Serena jumped over it.

Monster-teme zapped herself, giving Ai and Serena the opportunity they needed to throw their tiaras at her. As usual, she was dusted.

I breathed a sigh of relief as Ai helped me up. "Thanks Ai-chan." I said, wincing as I tried to put weight on my injured leg. "Boy. I can imagine Sensei's not gonna be too happy with me for this. Yikes."

"Shit happens." Ai reminded.

"And then you fall in it." Serena finished.

I nodded, smiling. "And then you fall in it." I agreed.

At home, I was almost too tired to see the results of the modeling contest. Apparently, Peter found a new inspiration: a heroin moon princess who had long blue hair pulled into a ponytail with a white ribbon and pointed ears. I nearly swore. That looked like me, though why he thought I was a princess, I didn't know.

"Hey," Sammy asked curiously. "Where's Serena? And what happened to your leg Asagi? It looks like it's been bandaged by Dr. Ai."

I laughed. "Yes, it was bandaged by Dr. Ai Sammy. My friends and I were sparring and Moegi accidentally grazed my leg. Don't worry about it."

Sammy didn't look convinced. "Really? Are you sure it wasn't while you were fighting that monster, the one that controlled Peter?" His voice dropped to a whisper.

I stood up abruptly. "Hey, Mom, I'm gonna go sit outside." I announced. "Why don't you come too Sammy?" He gulped. He knew that despite the wording, it wasn't a question.

"Right. Coming."

As soon as he sat down, I had one thing to say; "Alright, you're going to tell me exactly how you know about us."

Sammy sighed. "Alright, alright. You act like the Moonlight Warrior. You look like her too." He replied. "And she always keeps Sailor Sun in line, like you do to Serena. I just put the pieces together. And of course, Jedite is the Red Ranger. If I've heard it once, I've heard it a thousand times; 'with the strength of a tiger! Jungle Fury Red Ranger!'"

"Yup. It's him alright. Anyway," I went back inside. "I'm going to bed. I'm tired. Goodnight Sammy-otouto."

"Goodnight Asagi-nee-chan." He replied as I crawled into bed and pulled the covers up so that they were nearly over my head. "Don't worry, I'll cover for you."

But I didn't hear him. I was already sound asleep.