Half Demon Swordsman
Chapter Thirty Four: Hiding in Plain Sight

Asagi

I returned the folder to Lori, who was completely oblivious, that night. Outside I saw Neflite. It seemed that the mysterious woman from my dream was right: Lori was the next victim. Neflite was so shocked when he found out his magic wouldn't work. I think he nearly wet himself in frustration. This was way too good, so I took a few pictures from the shadows of him just about tearing his hair out, the ones that developed as soon as they came out of the camera (thanks to Jedite and his sealing talent, in one of my numerous sealing scrolls, I had an old camera stashed away, the one that gave you the photos as soon as you took them). It was, after all, perfect blackmail material for when we finally purified him. I could only imagine the havoc Jedite would wreak with these photos.

"Oh Jedite," I sang as I opened the door to his room. "I have something for you."

"Not now." He snapped. "Can't you see that Sammy and I are busy trying to create Mica's morpher? You do want her to be a Ranger, don't you?"

"You're going about it the wrong way." I informed him. "I don't know what the right way is, but that's what this mysterious woman said in my dream last night."

"Long, silver, Serena meatball styled hair, blue eyes of the same shade, upturned crescent moon on her forehead, like yours?" My brother listed off.

I nodded. "Yeah. Have you been having dreams about her?"

Jedite nodded. "Yeah, a few. They started last week. She told me that very soon, we would find the ones they seek, but for now, it would be impossible to find them, and they would reveal themselves when the time is right. She also said that we wouldn't find the Imperium Silver Crystal just by looking, and that we must first unite the Rainbow."

"The ones we seek?" I repeated. "Could that be the princesses of the sun and moon?"

He nodded again. "I think so. So, what's this you have for me?"

I showed pictures in my hand. "They're of your least favorite brother's failure to bewitch something of someone's and plant a monster inside of said something." I explained. "Well, of his reaction to it anyway. Check 'em out, they're prime blackmail material."

"Really?" He asked eagerly. "Okay, this I gotta see!"

I laughed and handed the photos over. "Here you go Jedite." I said, seeing that he was practically foaming at the mouth.

Hanyo-hime, I have decided that tomorrow I will take all of your energy. Tell your parents that you do not feel well and wish to stay home. Act normal. Do not let them suspect anything. They would be in grave danger if they found out that you are the Moonlight Warrior. The voice from earlier informed me.

I nodded, and not realizing I spoke aloud, I replied; "Hai."

"Um, Asagi-chan?" Sammy asked cautiously. "What's going on?"

I sighed. "Long story short: this morning I made a deal with someone, though I don't know his name, that if Lori, Neflite's would be victim, was protected from said Neflite, I would give that someone all of my energy for twenty four hours. I'm supposed to tell Mom and Dad that I'm not feeling well."

"Oh. So I guess it's safe to assume you'll be staying home tomorrow, right?" Sammy asked. "If you do, I'll stay home with you." His eyes twinkled. I think he just wanted a way to get out of school for the day. Sammy hated school with a burning passion.

I sighed. "Sammy, you have school, and you really do need to get good grades in it." I reminded. "Or do you want Sensei to punish you for having bad grades?"

My little brother shrugged. "I'll just get Jedite-nii-san to help me with my homework, and Mica-chan will bring me said homework."

I sighed. "Look, I know you don't like school because you're dyslexic-"

"Understatement."

"But you really should go. It's not like I'll actually be sick, remember?" I reminded, ignoring his protest of understatement of the century. "Just drained. So I won't hear any reasons as to why you can't go to school tomorrow."

His face broke into a sly grin. "But what if I was sick too?"

I groaned. "Sammy!"

"Yes nee-chan?"

"Sammy, you're going to school tomorrow, and that's that."

The next morning

"I can't believe you managed to talk them into this." I grumbled.

Sammy beamed. "I'm evil, I know, thank you." He pretended to bow to an invisible audience. "But someone had to stay home to take care of you while you're sick."

"And I'm not really sick, remember?" I reminded. "Just drained. I've got barely enough energy to function so that Mom and Dad don't get suspicious. I'll need to sleep from time to time, but that'll just help maintain the image that I'm sick. The voice said that they would be in grave danger if they found out I'm the Moonlight Warrior. I'm assuming the same goes for Serena being Sailor Sun, you being the Red Turbo Ranger, and Jedite being the Jungle Fury Red Ranger."

"Okay, so we can't tell them until it's all over. Anyway, anything you want to eat?" He asked heading downstairs. "I'm going to make pasta."

I grinned. "Pasta sounds awesome."

Suddenly, Jedite burst into the room. "Asagi-chan, Asagi-chan, I have a message from Queen Serenity!" He announced.

I gave him a blank look. "Who?"

"The queen, from the moon. She's the one who looks like a silver haired Serena." He explained. "Anyway, I have a message from her."

I raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in class? You know, so you don't get bad grades?"

"I left a Shadow Clone." He said dismissively.

I rolled my eyes. "And what will your Shadow Clone actually do?"

Jedite poked his fingers together. "That's classified?" He tried.

I slapped my head. "Just give me the message from Queen Serenity."

"Alright, alright." He grumbled. "She told me how to make the morphers for girls. She also said that 'the ones you seek are hiding in plain sight.'"